Old Chronology

[ChallengerHK]

Decades ago, there was a very detailed, well-thought-out Chronolgy of all Trek which existed at the time. It had been created by fans, primarily two. If my memory is correct they were both (at the time) college students. I thought this might have been the Dixon Timeline, but everything I have found under that title is more of a prose article describing the thought process achieved in ascribing certain dates, while what I recall was a large document composed almost entirely of dates and events, broken up sproradically by some text justifying a decision; I used to have a printout that I think was on the order of 50 pages.

Does anyone recall this? Better yet, does anyone have it?

 

[Unicron]

I think the Dixon Chronology was its own work, and I have no idea if James Dixon is still around nor did I interact with him much when he was here. I honestly have never read it in full detail. It's separate from the now obsolete Chronology that was in print.

 

[Mytran]

This not it?
http://trekcreative.wikia.com/wiki/James_Dixon_Fan_Chronology

 

[Unicron]

Looks like it. For my own head canon, as much as I like the idea of "completeness", I know it would be impossible to get certain elements to agree. Depends on the level of fanwank.

 

[ChallengerHK]

Thanks for pointing me to that, bit that's not what I'm remembering. And I have to think, maybe I'm misremembering.

 

[ChallengerHK]

Yeah, I think canon may be a lost concept at this point. What I'm looking for, what I recall from that old file, was a very complete chronology of the original series, before the later series started ignoring it. Even thas impossible to do, but it would be kind of a TOS canon.

 

[Mytran]

Maybe it was one of Dixon's earlier versions? The one I linked to is #17

 

[ChallengerHK]

Could be. I'l check out some of the different versions.

 

[Mytran]

More fun Dixon stuff here:
http://www.wrstone.com/wrstone/jackelope/hoff/fiawol/james_dixon

 

[ChallengerHK]

I read through a lot of that. Very interesting, on multiple levels.

 

[JonnyQuest037]

I have no idea if James Dixon is still around...

I don't believe so. He had trouble playing well with others. He's come back a few times under other names, though. The last time was just a few months ago.

...nor did I interact with him much when he was here.

Count yourself lucky.

 

[JonnyQuest037]

Apologies. I was misremembering. After poking around in some old threads, I realized that it was The God Thing who came back under a new alias back in January, not James Dixon. (We talk about him on page 3 that I linked to, and he drops by under a new name on pg. 4.)

They're both rather fanatical about their views of the Trek universe and they're both no longer here, so I was getting them mixed up.

Sorry about that.

 

[Mytran]

Interesting read. I wonder why he would come back under a pseudonym and then refer to his earlier account in the first person?

 

[ChallengerHK]

Well, the older versions are a lot like what I remember, so I'm thinking that my memory is faulty. I sure don't recall any attempt to work in all the novels, and frankly I can't fathom the thought process that would even try that, but kudos to him for the herculean effort. I also recall what I read being much more convincingly reasoned out than at least a lot of this document, which in many places seems to take an "I like this, so this is the answer" approach.

One another note, his personal story reminds me in many ways of Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance.

 

[MAGolding]

Yeah, I think canon may be a lost concept at this point. What I'm looking for, what I recall from that old file, was a very complete chronology of the original series, before the later series started ignoring it. Even thas impossible to do, but it would be kind of a TOS canon.

I'm not sure that is impossible to do. It is very hard to prove that something is too intellectually complex to figure out, or too contradictory to make consistent. I suppose someone could quote incompleteness theorems to claim that Star Trek chronology is impossible to make completely consistent, but making Star Trek chronology completely consistent is not a system of formal logic or mathematics that those theorems apply to, but a mere problem in formal logic and mathematics.

 

[ChallengerHK]

Well...how to phrase this. I think it's definitely possible to develop a canon which will suit an individual, i.e., the person who created it. And, I think it's possible to create a list of potential solutions to canon issues, all of which are possibly correct, i.e., they cannot be disproven. That being said, I don't think it would be possible to create a canon which would be inarguably true, so that it would suit every fan.

 

[Mysterion]

Do you mean the chronology outlined in the Goldstein's Star Trek Spaceflight Chronology book which was published when ST:TMP premiered in '79? This same basic chronology was also used by the FASA RPG game in the '80s.

 

[Tomalak]

Apologies. I was misremembering. After poking around in some old threads, I realized that it was The God Thing who came back under a new alias back in January, not James Dixon. (We talk about him on page 3 that I linked to, and he drops by under a new name on pg. 4.)

They're both rather fanatical about their views of the Trek universe and they've both no longer here, so I was getting them mixed up.

Sorry about that.

TGT was always entertaining - especially regarding Harlan Ellison.

 

[Ar-Pharazon]

There was the Okuda's Star Trek Chronolgy. But like the ST Encyclopedia, it became outdated with every new season and even moreso with every new series (especially a prequel like ENT).

 

[Mytran]

There was the Okuda's Star Trek Chronolgy. But like the ST Encyclopedia, it became outdated with every new season and even moreso with every new series (especially a prequel like ENT).

View attachment 4172

Is that version 1? I have the same copy! Ends at TNG season 6 if I remember rightly