In-Universe Explantion For the Change in Tone Between TMP and TWOK

[Captain Clark Terrell]

Star Trek got a makeover between TMP and TWOK, courtesy of Nick Meyer and Harve Bennett. Meyer, in particular, wanted to depict a more militaristic Starfleet (hence the uniform jackets and the more formal atmosphere) compared with TMP, but that doesn't explain why the culture of Starfleet would have changed so much in-universe. Starfleet of the 2280s appeared to be drastically different than it was only a decade prior, although the reason for the change was never made clear on-screen.

There aren't many books devoted to the intervening years between TMP and TWOK. Christopher's The Darkness Drops Again novella from the Mere Anarchy series covers much of the time period in question--and even includes a reference to the change in culture when one of the characters ponders the uniform change. Of the other books written during this era, do any mention specific events that may have influenced some of the changes we saw on-screen?

--Sran

 

[ATimson]

New Earth occurs in this timeframe, but it doesn't have anything to offer in the way of transition; they're already in the new uniforms when the first book starts.

 

[tomswift2002]

Seems to me that I read one book that used the TNG excuse for the change in uniforms in the real world, but in the Trek world in the TMP era: the uniforms were giving everyone back pain.

But you have to realize that between TMP and TWOK it has been suggested that 15-20 years have passed by, so it could be the TMP uniforms were more like the DS9/Voyager uniforms of 100 years later, they were work jumpsuits, while what we saw in the Original Series and TWOK were the more "Official" uniforms (of course in TMP Kirk's second uniform top looks very much like a pressed white shirt that he would wear under a suit coat).

 

[Captain Clark Terrell]

^Actually, that's not correct. TMP is generally accepted to have occurred in 2273; TWOK takes place in 2285, which would place it twenty years after WNMHGB and fifteen years after the end of the five-year mission.

--Sran

 

[Enterprise1701]

^Actually, that's not correct. TMP is generally accepted to have occurred in 2273; TWOK takes place in 2285, which would place it twenty years after WNMHGB and fifteen years after the end of the five-year mission.

--Sran

Not exactly 15. Christopher's Ex Machina referenced and Forgotten History depicted the end of the five-year mission with Kirk's Pelosian controversy in November to December 2270. The Wrath of Khan is timed with William Shatner's real-life birthday of March 22.

 

[Captain Clark Terrell]

Not exactly 15. Christopher's Ex Machina referenced and Forgotten History depicted the end of the five-year mission with Kirk's Pelosian controversy in November to December 2270. The Wrath of Khan is timed with William Shatner's real-life birthday of March 22.

You're right. Thank you.

--Sran

 

[F. King Daniel]

I can't remember which, but one of the old Best of Trek books has an article postulating a devastating war or even revolution(!) to explain the massive shift in tone between TMP and TWoK.

 

[Christopher]

I suspect the greater Starfleet militarism was in response to worsening relations with the Klingons. There's no mention of the Organian Peace Treaty after TOS, and there appears to be open hostility between the UFP and the Klingons by TSFS. I asserted in Ex Machina that the TOS-era Klingon regime had been overthrown, intending it to explain why the smooth-headed Klingons were removed from power -- although in light of subsequent books' revelations, I'd revise that to say that the new regime ended the policy of using QuchHa' as front-line troops in the fleet.

Now, I've never bought the assumption that the Organians actively enforced the treaty; "Errand of Mercy" made it clear that the Organians despised interacting with corporeal beings and had no interest in interfering as long as Organia itself was left alone. (After all, there was virtually no continuity in TV back then, so Gene Coon deliberately built in an explanation for why we should never expect to see the Organians interfere again.) So I see the treaty as an agreement between the UFP and Klingon governments, enforced by their mutual efforts; and once that Klingon government was overthrown, the treaty it had been party to was no longer in effect.

So if the new Klingon government and the HemQuch-dominated Imperial Fleet adopted a more aggressive policy along the Federation border during the 2270s, that could well explain why Starfleet is on a more militaristic footing by 2285.

 

[MacLeod]

I'd go with the theory that some outside force caused a shift, be it the Klingons or Romulans or some other species.

Or it could have been a single event that caused the shift.

Or that the Federation Council had members elected who were more militarlistic.

Or sme other reason

Take your pick.

 

[DEWLine]

Multiple reasons aggravating each other. That's how it usually works in real-'verse politics, right?

 

[Enterprise1701]

I don't recall if this is taken from actual dialogue, but Memory Alpha combines TNG - "The Emissary" and Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country to label the Federation and the Klingons to be in a cold war as a means of explaining why K'Temoc's crew was sent out on their sleeper mission "during war" circa 2290. That's several years after movies II to V and assorted novels such as In the Name of Honor, but Star Trek characters round numbers all the time. Maybe by the time of K'Temoc's mission, active war was threatening to flare?

 

[Hartzilla2007]

I suspect the greater Starfleet militarism was in response to worsening relations with the Klingons. There's no mention of the Organian Peace Treaty after TOS, and there appears to be open hostility between the UFP and the Klingons by TSFS. I asserted in Ex Machina that the TOS-era Klingon regime had been overthrown, intending it to explain why the smooth-headed Klingons were removed from power -- although in light of subsequent books' revelations, I'd revise that to say that the new regime ended the policy of using QuchHa' as front-line troops in the fleet.

Now, I've never bought the assumption that the Organians actively enforced the treaty; "Errand of Mercy" made it clear that the Organians despised interacting with corporeal beings and had no interest in interfering as long as Organia itself was left alone. (After all, there was virtually no continuity in TV back then, so Gene Coon deliberately built in an explanation for why we should never expect to see the Organians interfere again.) So I see the treaty as an agreement between the UFP and Klingon governments, enforced by their mutual efforts; and once that Klingon government was overthrown, the treaty it had been party to was no longer in effect.

So if the new Klingon government and the HemQuch-dominated Imperial Fleet adopted a more aggressive policy along the Federation border during the 2270s, that could well explain why Starfleet is on a more militaristic footing by 2285.

Plus V'ger probably didn't help.

You have to admit nothing makes one paranoid like an incredibly powerful being almost frying your capital and the only thing that was able to try and stop it was one cruiser that hadn't even finished its massive refit and pretty much only manages to stop it by the skin of its crew's teeth.

Just look at NuTrek where the response to Nero's attack on Vulcan was a year later Starfleet militarizing and the federation having mounting tensions with the Klingon Empire. Familiar isn't it.

 

[Enterprise1701]

Just look at NuTrek where the response to Nero's attack on Vulcan was a year later Starfleet militarizing and the federation having mounting tensions with the Klingon Empire. Familiar isn't it.

Well Star Trek Into Darkness didn't specify how long Marcus had been in charge of Starfleet and Section 31. It's possible that the destruction of Vulcan heightened Section 31's paranoia or that the destruction of Vulcan finally gave Marcus the excuse he needed to begin militarizing Starfleet.

 

[Stevil2001]

I guess I don't see what's postulated in the thread title-- other than the uniforms, what is actually more militaristic between TMP and TWOK?

 

[Markonian]

According to the comics continuity, there was a Federation-Klingon War of 2285.

But other than a change of uniform I don't see a change of tone. Concerning the bland 70s uniforms - good riddance with those pajamas, Imho.

 

[Christopher]

According to the comics continuity, there was a Federation-Klingon War of 2285.

You must be referring to the war in issues 3-4 of DC's Volume 1 comic, which was set between TWOK and TSFS.

 

[JonnyQuest037]

According to the comics continuity, there was a Federation-Klingon War of 2285.

You must be referring to the war in issues 3-4 of DC's Volume 1 comic, which was set between TWOK and TSFS.

Which ended with the Organians and the Excalbians fighting each other outside this plane of existence, rendering the Organian Peace Treaty null and void.

 

[Christopher]

^As I said, I've never seen the need for stories that "explain" the lack of Organians by having them leave the continuum somehow. "Errand of Mercy" itself had that explanation built in by establishing how much the Organians despised interaction with corporeals. Assuming that the Organians were activists, constantly monitoring everything the Federation and the Empire did and intervening directly at the first sign of violence, is missing the point of the episode. They wouldn't do a thing as long as the fighting didn't affect Organia directly. They didn't want to take a direct hand in bringing galactic peace, they just wanted the noisy kids to stay off their lawn.

 

[hbquikcomjamesl]

Neither the uniforms, nor the general tone, seemed "more militaristic" to me, going from TMP to TWOK. I'm kind of inclined to view the TMP-era uniforms as simply having been discarded after a few years as impractical and/or uncomfortable, and the TWOK-era uniforms enduring almost to the TNG era (albeit losing the turtlenecks at some point) because they proved to be both practical and comfortable.

Now, on the other hand, going from TOS and the pre-incursion Abramsverse, to the post-incursion Abramsverse, THAT DOES seem a LOT more militaristic. And a lot more paranoid. Going from final assembly of starships in orbit to final assembly of starships in an Iowa cornfield, even while building them bigger and more heavily armed.

 

[Corran Horn]

Now, I've never bought the assumption that the Organians actively enforced the treaty; "Errand of Mercy" made it clear that the Organians despised interacting with corporeal beings and had no interest in interfering as long as Organia itself was left alone.

The novelization of Star Trek VI states that the reason for increased Federation/Klingon tensions is that the Organians had seemingly disappeared.