New Description for Ring Of Time

[Mysterion]

And, yeah, I wish we were really going to Saturn by 2020, but, given that "Tomorrow is Yesterday" took place in the sixties, I figure 2020 was about about as far in the future as I could push the Saturn mission without making Shaun Christopher a retiree!

The old Star Trek Chronology actually put Shaun's mission in 2009, but, alas, that ship has sailed.

Why can't that still have happened in '09 in the Trek universe, even if it didn't in ours?

Personally, I don't see the need to keep revising the Trek timeline of the Late 20th/Early 21st centuries to fit what is going on in our timeline. It's always been pretty clear that they are two very different places. Space Seed already shows that spacecraft technology in the 1990's of the Trek-verse was way ahead of anything we've got in our timelline. Their NASA also seems to have launched a lot more unmanned probes than we did (their Voyager 6 vs. our Voyager 2).

 

[Greg Cox]

And, yeah, I wish we were really going to Saturn by 2020, but, given that "Tomorrow is Yesterday" took place in the sixties, I figure 2020 was about about as far in the future as I could push the Saturn mission without making Shaun Christopher a retiree!

The old Star Trek Chronology actually put Shaun's mission in 2009, but, alas, that ship has sailed.

Why can't that still have happened in '09 in the Trek universe, even if it didn't in ours?

.

Well, no date is actually given in "Tomorrow is Yesterday," which gave me a little wiggle room. Giving a choice between ignoring reality and ignoring the Chronology's (non-canonical) best guess, it seemed like setting the Saturn mission in 2020 would be less jarring to the average reader than setting it in a year that had already passed. ("Huh? A Saturn mission in 2009? WTF?")

Besides, it allowed me to make the Lewis & Clark a little more futuristic than if I set the book in 2009. Plus, I was able to work in bits of Trek trivia like the Homeless Districts from DS9.

Granted, trying to keep Star Trek history and real history in synch is a losing battle, but, especially when you're doing time-travel stories, you want to at least make it seem like Kirk is visiting "our" era and not some weird alternate history.

It's just more fun that way.

 

[JD]

So does that mean that there are some scenes with Kirk on Earth then?

 

[Greg Cox]

So does that mean that there are some scenes with Kirk on Earth then?

Maybe.

 

[xortex]

Is there some way he can go back and get Edith Keeler?

 

[Greg Cox]

Is there some way he can go back and get Edith Keeler?

In 2020?

 

[rfmcdpei]

I look forward to the explanation for the early Saturn expedition!

 

[Nerys Myk]

If they're already having manned missions to Saturn in 2020, then why is it such a big deal about the Mars missions *over a decade later* (as shown in VOY's "One Small Step")?

I probably shouldn't admit this, but I had completely forgotten about that Voyager ep when I first plotted this book way back in 2009. But have no fear: I eventually tracked down a VHS (!) copy of "One Small Step" and found a way to work around it . . . .

Let's just say there's a reason we got to Saturn first.

Monolith?

 

[Relayer1]

If they're already having manned missions to Saturn in 2020, then why is it such a big deal about the Mars missions *over a decade later* (as shown in VOY's "One Small Step")?

I probably shouldn't admit this, but I had completely forgotten about that Voyager ep when I first plotted this book way back in 2009. But have no fear: I eventually tracked down a VHS (!) copy of "One Small Step" and found a way to work around it . . . .

Let's just say there's a reason we got to Saturn first.

Monolith?

Nah, monkeys.

 

[Therin of Andor]

Is there some way he can go back and get Edith Keeler?

She can't leave. We all know she went on to found a Dynasty after a fight with Krystal in a fountain.

 

[Greg Cox]

Is there some way he can go back and get Edith Keeler?

She can't leave. We all know she went on to found a Dynasty after a fight with Krystal in a fountain.

And if he goes back in time to save Edith, what about Miramanee? Or Rayna Kapec?

Things could get awkward if Kirk starts using time-travel to bring back all his tragically-deceased love interests . . . .

STAR TREK: THE WRATH OF THE DEAD GIRLFRIENDS!

 

[BillJ]

Is there some way he can go back and get Edith Keeler?

She can't leave. We all know she went on to found a Dynasty after a fight with Krystal in a fountain.

And if he goes back in time to save Edith, what about Miramanee? Or Rayna Kapec?

Things could get awkward if Kirk starts using time-travel to bring back all his tragically-deceased love interests . . . .

STAR TREK: THE WRATH OF THE DEAD GIRLFRIENDS!

Well... he could always settle in Utah!

 

[xortex]

Losing Dynasty would be no great loss for me or Kirk.

 

[MichaelJCO]

And, yeah, I wish we were really going to Saturn by 2020, but, given that "Tomorrow is Yesterday" took place in the sixties, I figure 2020 was about about as far in the future as I could push the Saturn mission without making Shaun Christopher a retiree!

The old Star Trek Chronology actually put Shaun's mission in 2009, but, alas, that ship has sailed.

Why can't that still have happened in '09 in the Trek universe, even if it didn't in ours?

Personally, I don't see the need to keep revising the Trek timeline of the Late 20th/Early 21st centuries to fit what is going on in our timeline. It's always been pretty clear that they are two very different places. Space Seed already shows that spacecraft technology in the 1990's of the Trek-verse was way ahead of anything we've got in our timelline. Their NASA also seems to have launched a lot more unmanned probes than we did (their Voyager 6 vs. our Voyager 2).

I so agree

 

[Sci]

Is there some way he can go back and get Edith Keeler?

She can't leave. We all know she went on to found a Dynasty after a fight with Krystal in a fountain.

And if he goes back in time to save Edith, what about Miramanee? Or Rayna Kapec?

Things could get awkward if Kirk starts using time-travel to bring back all his tragically-deceased love interests . . . .

STAR TREK: THE WRATH OF THE DEAD GIRLFRIENDS!

I can understand not being able to go back after the fact. But I gotta say, I never understood why Spock and Kirk couldn't have just brought Edith to the 23rd Century with them once they'd found McCoy. The effect -- removing Edith from a position where she could found a pacifist movement before WW2 -- should have been the same.

 

[Christopher]

^But they weren't calling the shots; the Guardian was. The Guardian wouldn't bring them back until time was restored to its original course, which means dead Edith. If they'd saved Edith and then called out, "Hey, Guardian, can you do us a favor?", I doubt it would've worked. Big glowy stone donuts aren't known for their sentimentality.

 

[Therin of Andor]

Big glowy stone donuts aren't known for their sentimentality.

And they hate being taken for granite.

 

[xortex]

They certainly would have tryed if not for the fact they met mcCoy only seconds before Edith met her fate which according to it was restoring the past and it was the Gurdian that returned them when it was satisfied history had not been changed because they didn't appear to come back on their own. I'm guessing that if Kirk saved her, they would be stuck in the 1930's? Would he have been able to stop her from getting into politics? I guess not for he would have probably been hit by that truck, Spock sent to jail and McCoy to the looney bin. I guess. Only the Guardian and Spocks little crytal ball time computer would know for sure but even that showed two outcomes. Was there a third choice?

 

[BillJ]

They certainly would have tryed if not for the fact they met mcCoy only seconds before Edith met her fate which according to it was restoring the past and it was the Gurdian that returned them when it was satisfied history had not been changed because they didn't appear to come back on their own. I'm guessing that if Kirk saved her, they would be stuck in the 1930's? Would he have been able to stop her from getting into politics? I guess not for he would have probably been hit by that truck, Spock sent to jail and McCoy to the looney bin. I guess. Only the Guardian and Spocks little crytal ball time computer would know for sure but even that showed two outcomes. Was there a third choice?

Umm... Spock would've been dissected.

 

[xortex]

Talk about monday morning quarterbacking though even for Spock to calculate those odds of negociating with the Gaurdian of forever machine's cold hard logic.