Star Mapping Episodes
- Thread starter Falconer
- Start date
That is not really what I was looking for. I am looking for one of two things, and ideally both:
1) An episode where the premise is that the Enterprise is on a star mapping mission, i.e., not sent on a specific mission to a specific planet.
2) An episode which features an encounter in space, ideally multiple encounters.
The article you linked does not include The Corbomite Maneuver, which does satisfy my criteria, and it does include The Naked Time, which does not satisfy my criteria.
1) An episode where the premise is that the Enterprise is on a star mapping mission, i.e., not sent on a specific mission to a specific planet.
2) An episode which features an encounter in space, ideally multiple encounters.
The article you linked does not include The Corbomite Maneuver, which does satisfy my criteria, and it does include The Naked Time, which does not satisfy my criteria.
Where No Man Has Gone Before
I once attempted to categorize the initial missions of each episode.
Source:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1EVxwzVlmlcJF-Kbh0xI1Ie57DqjaMM7stm8axj30j8o
Source:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1EVxwzVlmlcJF-Kbh0xI1Ie57DqjaMM7stm8axj30j8o
I’m not sure if this fits the OP’s criteria, but in The Galileo 7 the Enterprise is delayed because they are supposed to study the quasar-like Murasaki 312. That could be considered semi-star mapping...
That's very illuminating. Solid work.
It's funny how only one episode left us no clue what the intended mission was. Much like "Mirror, Mirror" had no stardate.My only nitpick is the episode numbering scheme. Putting "The Cage" at the end messes up the numbering of the entire list, which is otherwise entirely in production order. I prefer to see "The Cage" as 1 and "Turnabout" as 79.
Episodes like "The Galileo Seven" suggest the ship is always going places, and squeezes these idle surveys in between the mandatory ports of call. Perhaps every mission involves star mapping whenever the camera is away, Kirk rests in his cabin, and Spock terrorizes the bridge with the extra chores?
Of course, going places may involve flying in circles, too. "The Cage" already catches our heroes at impulse near nothing much, even though Pike supposedly next wants to deliver his wounded to a care facility. And these idle patrols inside an ill-defined region... Kirk just sort of stumbles upon Decker's and Tracey's ships on missions where he essentially retraces recently surveyed paths at seeming random. It's as if these incredibly busy starships actually spend a lot of time waiting for action / attracting trouble in random areas of space, outside Starfleet control or communications. And while they wait, one skipper may conduct phaser drills, while another keeps the crew busy with star charting.
Timo Saloniemi
Of course, going places may involve flying in circles, too. "The Cage" already catches our heroes at impulse near nothing much, even though Pike supposedly next wants to deliver his wounded to a care facility. And these idle patrols inside an ill-defined region... Kirk just sort of stumbles upon Decker's and Tracey's ships on missions where he essentially retraces recently surveyed paths at seeming random. It's as if these incredibly busy starships actually spend a lot of time waiting for action / attracting trouble in random areas of space, outside Starfleet control or communications. And while they wait, one skipper may conduct phaser drills, while another keeps the crew busy with star charting.
Timo Saloniemi
True. The spreadsheet was just to make the chart, which was inspired by discussions of how much the Enterprise was on the frontier "exploring." IIRC I copied it over from a different spreadsheet that had both production and broadcast order. Really "The Cage" shouldn't even be in there because it wasn't part of a season.
Success!
I wonder about the "initiality" of some of those missions. The episode may open with our heroes investigating the wreckage of the Beagle, say, but what was the mission that led them to that wreckage? Sometimes we get clues after the teaser, sometimes not. But a very low percentage of the adventures that start with the spotting of a spacecraft are explained as the culmination of a pre-episode hunt for the spacecraft, and even when we learn that a distress signal or a CQ led the heroes to the spot, we have to wonder about the circumstances that placed them so uniquely within range of such a signal. Two spacecraft meeting takes a lot of effort in theory...
Timo Saloniemi
Timo Saloniemi
For some reason, Kirk is reflying through systems he personally surveyed a year prior. And for some reason, he's unaware of the Constellation now operating in the same area. Idle charting, at the Captain's discretion, even if at the cost of efficiency? A double-blind shuffle, to keep the Klingons guessing as to where the important starships are? A mission requiring Kirk to return to this area, not important enough to be mentioned at all during this episode after the DDM business supersedes it?
Timo Saloniemi
Timo Saloniemi
I had Kirk just "passing through" that sector to get to his new patrol sector on the other side of the DDM's sector (which was Decker's patrol sector). Same thing for the Exeter. "Why did the Starship cross the sector? To get to the other side."
There is a trend for the Enterprise to move from Starbase to Starbase over the three seasons. At a glance, it appears they rotate patrol sectors (i.e. Starbase commands) every 4-6 months. "Join Starfleet, see the Galaxy!"That part makes some sense, but it still smacks of poor planning when a big part of a starship's job is to respond to local emergencies and thus Starfleet should deploy its ships as wide and evenly as possible, rather than doubling 'em up.
The part where Kirk doesn't know what Decker is doing, or Picard can't tell what Varley is up to, and apparently SF HQ doesn't have any idea where any of these folks are... Is a bit harder to explain. If Kirk is expected to carry out a patrol, how can he undertake a quest at his personal whim? If and when Varley can go on a quest in one of the biggest ships around, is this in fact best possible value for the money Starfleet put in that ship?
No matter what the mission or the degree of contact with HQ, taking photographs of starfields should always be doable. And perhaps worthwhile, too; Trek has so many dense nebulae, barriers and other anomalies that peeking around and behind them is likely to reveal whole new starscapes and wonders...
Timo Saloniemi
The part where Kirk doesn't know what Decker is doing, or Picard can't tell what Varley is up to, and apparently SF HQ doesn't have any idea where any of these folks are... Is a bit harder to explain. If Kirk is expected to carry out a patrol, how can he undertake a quest at his personal whim? If and when Varley can go on a quest in one of the biggest ships around, is this in fact best possible value for the money Starfleet put in that ship?
No matter what the mission or the degree of contact with HQ, taking photographs of starfields should always be doable. And perhaps worthwhile, too; Trek has so many dense nebulae, barriers and other anomalies that peeking around and behind them is likely to reveal whole new starscapes and wonders...
Timo Saloniemi
What is the difference between Star mapping and Bench marking or mapping? 
JB
JB
Spock actually said "charted", which to me sounds a less involved process than "surveyed". Maybe some mapping missions are just pass through all yhe systems in the sector, chart the star/s and planet/s, their classes and types, record the data and move on. Then once the data is assessed, return for a full survey of all that have potential interest ("new civilisation", potential colony, resource mining, fertile agricultural etc etc.
Why two Starships in the same place? Maybe this sector is a border between two patrol zones - Enterprise and Constellation?
That's a lot of distress.
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