Star Trek The Motion Picture 45th Anniversary Book Club

[David cgc]

I'm not sure where these spaces are supposed to be. I understand the idea that they are tucked into places where you didn't really have room for anything else. Which is cool, and even makes sense. But they have windows. I mean, I guess there are a few windows aft of the deflector assembly. But those windows aren't circular. There are a couple a little further aft, but this doesn't seem like "the extreme forward area of the engineering hull."

When I did my window-boxes for Dennis Bailey's Enterprise-refit CG model, I used the Strategic Designs deckplans as my main source. The plans, and thus my model, (and Neil F. Smith's model, which became a foundation for the Roddenberry Archive's full-interior refit model they've been working on) have a loop of those big white Jefferies Tube corridors from TFF going around the front half of the secondary hull on deck 16, one level below Main Engineering, which open up when they pass the three pill-shaped windows above the pennant and below the strongback.



They don't have the little semi-private nooks, so it'd be a lot more exhibitionist than described (not that Gene would have a problem with that), but when I saw it, I figured that the Jefferies Tubes were probably put behind the windows instead of something more sensible as a reference to Roddenberry putting the Enterprise's "Makeout Point" behind the deflector.

(When was the last time Kirk slept? Or Decker or Scott?)

My assumption had been that shift-cycles (or at least a shower and a nap) were elided over when the costume changes happen. Though, looking back on it, only one time Kirk changes his clothes is unmotivated; he needs to switch to a captain's uniform after the crew briefing either way, he changes from his white t-shirt back to the blue tunic after he does his spacewalk, and then changes from the blue two-piece to the blue jumpsuit when they go out to meet V'Ger (I guess the jumpsuit fit better under the landing party jacket). The only time he doesn't have a story-reason to have changed clothes is between Spock arriving and fixing the engines, and we know that's only three hours from the log narration. So it's entirely possible those three hours were only shut-eye he got in something like thirty-six hours.

 

[Christopher]

An interesting detail, to say the least. There is a great scene in Spock's World where McCoy learns about this. His reaction is very... McCoy. It's the only place other than here that I've heard this brought up in Star Trek.

Hm. I always thought Diane Duane invented that bit, since it's along the lines of the low-key religious ideas she expresses in other work like her Young Wizards series. I hadn't realized it came from Roddenberry.

And again, Spock's mind touches the Intruder. I honestly don't remember how this is treated in the rest of the book. (But I'll find out.) In the film other than getting his Deanna Troi on and "sensing" what the Intruder is "thinking" he doesn't really relate to the object very much.

One might think that when the Ilia probe comes aboard (spoilers) that it might say "Hey! You're that Spock thing! Wait, you're one of these carbon things? No. Way!"

I don't know about the book, but there's no indication in the film that the perception is two-way. We know the Vulcan elders sensed V'Ger too, so presumably all telepaths in the vicinity of its passage were aware of it, and there's no reason to assume any unique connection with Spock.

While I would find the ins and outs of Spock's travels to Earth interesting (wrongly so, apparently, because he's Spock and he just decided to go and he went) it still doesn't change the fact that Spock got from Vulcan to somewhere in the neighborhood of Earth in something like twelve hours. Even accounting for Kirk's travel time from Egypt and an unknown amount of delay after the transporter accident, less than a day. (When was the last time Kirk slept? Or Decker or Scott?)

It's got to be more than 12 hours, since Kirk first had to get the call, travel to Starfleet HQ, and meet with Nogura, whereupon it took 12 hours to launch the ship, whereupon they traveled at sublight for 1.8 hours before engaging warp drive, with Spock arriving several minutes later. So it's a minimum of 14 hours, plus however many hours passed between Spock sensing V'Ger and Kirk getting to HQ. And there's no way of estimating the latter. In the movie, the opening scene at Epsilon IX gives no indication of the intruder's travel time, only the fact that it's heading for Earth. We don't hear a deadline mentioned until "less than three days" in the travel pod scene. So there could've been a significant amount of time between Spock sensing V'Ger and Kirk ordering Scotty to launch in 12 hours. The book says it took Kirk 2 hours to get from Gibraltar to HQ, and that was after however long it took him to shuttle "across the Med basin" and arrange his meeting with Ciana, so let's say that's at least 16.5 hours; but it also gives the impression that he's not watching the Klingon attack live -- that after the transmission came in, Nogura decided to consult him and thus sent him a recording of the feed, which Ciana then replayed in full when they met some time later. So it could've been maybe 17-18 hours in the book, and in the film it could've been even longer.

Absolutely true. But if they had gone far enough for that to be worth mentioning (other than Ilia having to course correct which she would have had to do if they had moved at all because even if they aren't moving anymore the Intruder is) it would have gotten them to the Intruder either significantly sooner or or significantly later.

You're not considering the proportional distances. "Inside the Solar System" would mean within about 100 AU of Earth, which is less than 14 light-hours, or less than 1/600 of a light year. If the interception point was more than a day from Earth at high warp, then it's presumably multiple light years away. So if they'd still been inside the system, the change in position would've been less than rounding error, not enough to require recalculation.

Also, the fact that Ilia needed to recompute the ship's heading proves not only that the ship moved a significant (i.e. extrasolar) distance, but that it moved laterally relative to the intruder and thus couldn't just continue the same straight-line course. If it moved laterally, that doesn't require its ETA to have changed all that much; it could still be close to the same distance, just in a different direction. Although the fact that Kirk needed to order a course conforming to their original interception point implies that they ended up at least a bit further away and thus had to go faster to reach it at the same time.

But in all of these cases it would have taken Spock longer to get to them.

Not at all. V'Ger was coming from Kingon space. Given where TNG-era production maps and Star Charts placed Klingon space, then 40 Eridani/Vulcan is roughly in the direction of Klingon space as seen from Earth, although displaced toward the galactic south, "downward" from the plane of the Star Charts map pages. So Spock and the Enterprise would've been heading roughly toward each other from opposite directions, give or take. If the wormhole displaced the ship's course "southward" in the direction of Vulcan, it could actually have brought the ship closer to Spock's trajectory.

Since Spock docks with them literally a few minutes after they attempted warp drive either he was really lucky that the Enterprise landed in front of him or they ended up essentially where he was already going.

That is contrived, but it's the kind of narrative compression that's often necessary in movies. See also ST V, where Sulu says it'll take over 8 hours to get to the center of the galaxy (as absurdly fast as that is), but everything between that and their arrival at the Barrier is a continuous, unbroken sequence that takes only 20 minutes. It's often best not to take every detail in a story literally, but understand it's a narrative interpretation of events with certain story-irrelevant details glossed over.

But why is he monitoring the Enterprise's communications?

He says he's been monitoring communications with Starfleet Command. He would've therefore known at least 14 hours earlier that the Enterprise was the ship Starfleet Command was sending.

And is Starfleet communicating on open channels that the Enterprise is on an emergency mission to this potentially Earth-ending Intruder? Earlier in the book it indicates that they are not.

He's Spock. He knows Starfleet's secure frequencies by heart. He's "Starfleet inactive," which means his access codes may still be valid, and even if they aren't, he's one of the greatest computer hackers in the galaxy. If Spock wants to know something, he will find it out.

(Oh, not that they are in any way definitive but could be at least an indication of what the creatives might have been thinking: The Official TMP Blueprint give the Long Range Vulcan Shuttle as having a top speed of warp 4.)

The blueprint also says it's a Starfleet design even though it had a civilian registry in the film. "Official" doesn't mean the content is canonically accurate, it just means that the publisher has the copyright owner's legal permission to sell the merchandise for profit.

 

[Tallguy]

I don't know about the book, but there's no indication in the film that the perception is two-way. We know the Vulcan elders sensed V'Ger too, so presumably all telepaths in the vicinity of its passage were aware of it, and there's no reason to assume any unique connection with Spock.

From Chapter Two:

Although Spock had no idea at the time what it meant, he felt himself being examined almost as if he were a living “Rosetta stone,” capable of understanding both logic and human irrationality, and thus a possible key by which a totally logical entity might understand Earth and humanity.

The blueprint also says it's a Starfleet design even though it had a civilian registry in the film. "Official" doesn't mean the content is canonically accurate, it just means that the publisher has the copyright owner's legal permission to sell the merchandise for profit.

Of course. But these were done by David Kimble in cooperation with Andrew Probert. So I'll put them closer to the production than just another "licensed product".

And whatever the origins of the sled, the shuttle was intended to be the same design (if a bit larger) as the Starfleet shuttles that would have appeared on the Enterprise.

I'm just saying that this reinforces the idea that the production did not intend this shuttle to be faster than the Enterprise.

And whatever the details (the one piece of time I don't think I accounted for was how long was it before Kirk was contacted did the attack on the Klingons take place?) we seem to agree that it's somewhere in the neighborhood of at most a day from Spock's ceremony to setting foot on the Enterprise.

Everyone is worried about Kirk's being "out of it" after working at a desk for 2 and half years. Nobody seems to worry that Spock has been living in the desert meditating so hard that it might kill him (and presumably not brushing up on his technical journals) for even longer. They're worried about other things about Spock, but not his technical prowess.

 

[Christopher]

From Chapter Two:

I'm speaking of the movie. The book contains its own conjectures which are not part of the canonical story.

Of course. But these were done by David Kimble in cooperation with Andrew Probert. So I'll put them closer to the production than just another "licensed product".

Even so, different creators on the same project can make different assumptions about the details. And nothing that isn't onscreen is canonically binding, even if it's the producers' own intention.

I'm just saying that this reinforces the idea that the production did not intend this shuttle to be faster than the Enterprise.

It didn't have to be, since they were heading toward each other and would've met in the middle.

And again, "intent" doesn't matter. As long as it's not explicit in the actual story, we can imagine whatever we want to fill in the gaps. This is all make-believe, after all. We're allowed to use our imaginations.

 

[KRAD]

For instance, it doesn't seem plausible humans wouldn't have noticed and figured out pon farr if we'd known Vulcans for two-hundred years.

Given how fanatical Vulcans are about keeping pon farr from outsiders (cf. "Amok Time" and "Blood Fever"), it's completely plausible. Enterprise made it more clear that the Vulcans are very parsimonious with what they share with outsiders. Hell, look at how open a book Spock wasn't: Didn't tell anyone that he was engaged until he went through pon farr. Didn't tell anyone his Dad was a famous ambassador until he was standing next to him on the Enterprise. Didn't tell anyone he had a half-brother until he was standing next to him on the Enterprise.

 

[Tallguy]

Hell, look at how open a book Spock wasn't: Didn't tell anyone that he was engaged until he went through pon farr. Didn't tell anyone his Dad was a famous ambassador until he was standing next to him on the Enterprise. Didn't tell anyone he had a half-brother until he was standing next to him on the Enterprise.

Had his foster sister's existence classified on pain of treason.

 

[Airin]

But why is he monitoring the Enterprise's communications? Why not the Columbia or the Entente? And is Starfleet communicating on open channels that the Enterprise is on an emergency mission to this potentially Earth-ending Intruder? Earlier in the book it indicates that they are not.

Yeah, but remember that Spock also had a sort of mind-link with Kirk while he was still at Gol (only in the novel, not the film). If he was receiving these subconscious mental impressions from Kirk, he could have learned that the Enterprise was in a mission to intercept the Intruder, and adjusted his travel accordingly. That makes me wonder if this long-range link was included in the novel to address the plot hole of Spock finding the Enterprise so easily.

The first example of this link that I know about, comes from a British comic from 1973: https://64.media.tumblr.com/c59dd8f.../18c4607d02ba4575771068d9fd58fcbe66f762d8.jpg

After this, it appeared in some short stories collected in "The New Voyages" book. Though probably Roddenberry wasn't influenced by these sources when he added it to his novel.

 

[KRAD]

Had his foster sister's existence classified on pain of treason.

Yeah, but that wasn't his idea.....

 

[Christopher]

Yeah, but remember that Spock also had a sort of mind-link with Kirk while he was still at Gol (only in the novel, not the film). If he was receiving these subconscious mental impressions from Kirk, he could have learned that the Enterprise was in a mission to intercept the Intruder, and adjusted his travel accordingly.

No, because when Kirk got the comm-implant transmission, he didn't yet know the Enterprise would be assigned. He didn't learn that until Ciana told him.

That makes me wonder if this long-range link was included in the novel to address the plot hole of Spock finding the Enterprise so easily.

No, because Spock explicitly says onscreen that he's been monitoring the Enterprise's communications with Starfleet Command. It's not a plot hole at all, because the explanation is right there in the movie.

 

[Tallguy]

Chapter Fifteen - The Officer's Lounge.
Kirk listens to Decker's recommendation for yellow alert. This kind of detail could have gone a long way to illustrating more of the give and take with Decker as Kirk "gets better".

There's a nice description of what hyperspace (we're at SEVEN uses of the word, by the way) looks like. It sounds like a nice compromise between the "moving starfield" of TOS and TNG without getting into the "We want to be Star Wars" of JJ.

Oh, and I guess I shouldn't get too fussed about GR's putting windows on the front of the engineering section. Here the Officer's Lounge faces forward rather than aft.

McCoy liked the officers’ lounge. It pleased him that Starfleet could understand the necessity of providing luxury like this, especially for those whose years of service and distinction merited it. And it was made doubly pleasant by the fact that entry here was forbidden to no one—its exclusive use by command-grade officers was merely a tradition which had grown out of the honest respect which Starfleet’s senior officers had earned.

I've always hated this bit. Forbidden entry by manners is still forbidden entry. Which is fine, but don't act like "anyone can go". I think it's just GR's old school Hornblower tradition (and his own military, aviation, and police force experience) conflicting with his hippy-dippy egalitarianism and him striving to resolve it.

Awww. Nobody wants McCoy around. He calls people on BS too much.

This scene covers more ground than its film counterpart. It's more direct and deals more with Spock experiencing the Intruder. Of course there is a lot of exposition that we have already gotten in the text of the novel that audiences of the film did not. In the film about half of this scene is taken up with explaining what we saw in Spock's first scene.

There is more sparring (and not really good-naturedly) between Spock and McCoy. Kirk's invitation to sit in the film resolves with Kirk being exasperated and saying "Come on, work with me here, sit." Here it becomes an order, an assertion of "Hey, I don't know from Kolinahr but I'm the captain."

The discussion of Kolinahr is different. It's not mentioned by name, only that Kirk knows that Spock was at Gol and that that means Spock was studying with the Vulcan masters. And Spock does not want to talk about it! He actually refuses until McCoy calls him on it. And Spock acknowledges that he is not here just because he is interested in the Intruder (or Earth) but because he failed at exorcising his human half.

(I just realized that the spelling of "Kolinahr" changes to "Kohlinahr" in the chapter where Spock is meditating on the Enterprise.)

Kirk is far more curious and probing about Spock's mind contact with the thing that they are all risking their lives to rush out and meet. In the film as far as Kirk (and the audience) knows Spock sensed the Intruder one time and that was it.

Obviously the connection between Spock and Kirk's thoughts is only in the novel. Nobody seems very surprised by it either.

“I have accepted service here as a Starfleet officer,” said Spock, stiffly. Kirk nodded, accepting the rebuke. “This has been painful for me, too. Thank you.”

This really is a better scene than in the film. It's certainly a little more intense. Although...

Kirk shook his head. “I can’t believe Spock could ever be turned against us.” “Jim, if that consciousness is as enormous and powerful as Spock describes it, he may have no choice.”

This dialog is slightly better in the film. It gives Spock more agency and Kirk is more thoughtful. IMHO.

In the film this scene takes place right before the rendezvous with the Intruder and leads directly into the scene where they arrive. Here it happens immediately after they achieve warp. This meeting with Spock is Kirk's first order of business. Which makes sense. In the film it would seem that Kirk doesn't meet with Spock for hours after his arrival and only leaves himself a few minutes to do so.

We get a resolution to Kirk and Decker's conflict over the phaser re-design. They begin to work together as a team. (There is, not surprisingly since this is the 1.0 version, a very Picard / Riker dynamic.)

McCoy had been right; Kirk had come to realize that, too. Getting starship command again had been a secret obsession, hidden even from himself until the Intruder alert occurred. When he realized that this could mean not only returning to space again but also to Enterprise, he had closed his mind to everything else. Retaining command of Enterprise had somehow become for him the purpose of the entire mission. He was genuinely shocked as he realized how close he had come to defiling an entire lifetime’s beliefs.

Kirk had come to the bridge to confront himself on a decision which had now become inescapable—were Enterprise and Earth best served with himself or Decker in the center seat? But even as he asked himself that question, he realized that the decision had already been made—he could feel it in the measured, easy way he was breathing, moving . . . yes, and thinking. He knew this feeling, and he was immeasurably gratified that it was still there. It was some stranger who had lived that other life down there. The James Kirk he wanted to be, the one he was now, had never left this bridge.

This pretty much resolves the Kirk story line. And we're just around half way through the book. Good heavens. It is a two-part episode!

 

[Tosk]

Yeah, but that wasn't his idea.....

It actually kinda was though.

"Therefore, to ensure the Federation never finds itself facing the same danger, all officers remaining with knowledge of these events must be ordered never to speak of Discovery, its spore drive, or her crew again. Under penalty of treason." - Spock.

 

[Airin]

No, because Spock explicitly says onscreen that he's been monitoring the Enterprise's communications with Starfleet Command. It's not a plot hole at all, because the explanation is right there in the movie.

But that still doesn't explain why he was monitoring the Enterprise in particular instead of any other ship, or all ships. If Spock was receiving telepathic messages from Kirk (without Kirk even knowing it) he would have known that the Enterprise was assigned the mission at the same time that Ciana told Kirk.

 

[Christopher]

But that still doesn't explain why he was monitoring the Enterprise in particular instead of any other ship, or all ships.

He was monitoring Starfleet Command transmissions in general. Starfleet decided (or rather, had no choice but) to send the Enterprise. Therefore, from that moment on (which we've established was at least 14 hours before he arrived), he knew it was the Enterprise.

Also, the whole reason an unready ship was sent was because it was, inexplicably, the only starship available to defend the capital planet of the entire Federation. If Spock knew Starfleet's overall deployment, he would've known the Enterprise was the only possible ship it would've been.

If Spock was receiving telepathic messages from Kirk (without Kirk even knowing it) he would have known that the Enterprise was assigned the mission at the same time that Ciana told Kirk.

Which is an overcomplicated and unnecessary conjecture to explain something that's already explained quite simply by Spock's line about monitoring communications.

 

[Tallguy]

If Spock knew Starfleet's overall deployment, he would've known the Enterprise was the only possible ship it would've been.

Why would he know this? Less than 24 hours ago he was a monk who was trying to forget the very existence of Earth. He had been out of contact with Starfleet for over 2 1/2 years. He was not, shall we say, "In the loop".

From a film making perspective: Yes, he was monitoring communications and he's Spock. He's supposed to be there so he's there. It bears no more examination than the Enterprise being the only starship in interception range from Earth to the Klingon border. It gets the movie going. Like you said earlier, Spock arriving when he does is just the next scene. We're not meant to question the timing.

But we're fans and we're reading Roddenberry's novel. So we wonder why was Spock able to get from Vulcan to Earth in less than a day. (And again, that's assuming that all of that time was in transit which obviously it would not have been.)

 

[Christopher]

Why would he know this? Less than 24 hours ago he was a monk who was trying to forget the very existence of Earth. He had been out of contact with Starfleet for over 2 1/2 years. He was not, shall we say, "In the loop".

I've already explained this. He knows Starfleet's codes. He's the best hacker in the Federation. And he's the son of an important diplomat. So it should be easy for him to gain access to the secure Starfleet Command comm channels, with or without permission. All he had to do was listen in.

But we're fans and we're reading Roddenberry's novel. So we wonder why was Spock able to get from Vulcan to Earth in less than a day.

I've explained why the wormhole must have taken them beyond the borders of Sol System, since it wouldn't be necessary to compute a new heading if it hadn't. I've explained that Vulcan is roughly between Sol and Klingon space, so the Enterprise and Spock's shuttle would've been heading more or less toward each other. He didn't have to go to Earth. His plan all along was to meet them en route.

 

[Tallguy]

I've explained why the wormhole must have taken them beyond the borders of Sol System, since it wouldn't be necessary to compute a new heading if it hadn't.

If they moved from Mars to Jupiter it would have been necessary to compute a new heading. Kirk has no idea where they are. Decker asks for a position report and Ilia says she is already recomputing a new course. Kirk's order is actually redundant.

From later in the book:

The incredible speed of their combined closure rate was complicated by the unusual mechanics of hyperspace, and an eyeblink of a navigational error could see them flashing past the Intruder-cloud and a million stars past it.

This is why they have to compute a new heading.

There is certainly not any indication from Kirk that the wormhole has given them a tremendous leg up on their journey. (Getting from Jupiter to considerably closer Vulcan would have to be considered an improvement.) All indications are that they are dead in the water.

Could they have jumped half way to Vulcan through the wormhole? They could. But nothing in the movie or the book says that this is what happened. And if it did then Spock was incredibly lucky that the Enterprise landed plop right in front of him,

I've already explained this. He knows Starfleet's codes. He's the best hacker in the Federation. And he's the son of an important diplomat. So it should be easy for him to gain access to the secure Starfleet Command comm channels, with or without permission. All he had to do was listen in.

We've spent the last dozen chapters exploring how James T. Kirk may have lost a critical edge, is behind the times, and doesn't know the current technology. And Kirk has been actively involved with Starfleet for all of that time.

Spock has been doing nothing but Kolinahr for that time and has been intentionally trying to forget that entire world that he never intended to return to.

At the same time you bring up that this is easier for Spock to do because of his father (not a historically close relationship) you also don't think that he would have gotten any cooperation from actual Starfleet channels. (Arguably easier for him to do and probably with less personal cost.)

"Hi Dad. Yeah it's me. No I didn't pass. Yeah, I'm bummed out. Yes, I know that's an emotion. Anyway, I'm hearing voices from space. Yes, I know, everyone is hearing voices from space. No, I think it's important. I just DO. Anyway, I need to find out where the Enterprise is. Oh come on, you would TOTALLY have done this for Michael."

 

[Christopher]

If they moved from Mars to Jupiter it would have been necessary to compute a new heading.

I already addressed that. Any distance within the Solar System would be infinitesimal on the scale of an interstellar journey. Mars to Jupiter would be on the order of 1/10000 or less of the distance to intercept with V'Ger. It's the equivalent of, say, starting a 20-mile drive from a different parking space.

(Also, why choose Mars to Jupiter? They were already past Jupiter when they went to warp.)

There is certainly not any indication from Kirk that the wormhole has given them a tremendous leg up on their journey. (Getting from Jupiter to considerably closer Vulcan would have to be considered an improvement.)

First off, you're assuming the only possible directions are closer or farther, as if it were one-dimensional. But that would still be along the same heading, and Kirk specifically ordered a new heading, which means they moved laterally relative to their original course.

Second, I never said they got "a tremendous leg up." I said that even a tiny change on an interstellar scale would still be large enough to take them out of the Solar System, because the entire Solar System is a parking lot on the scale of interstellar travel.

And if it did then Spock was incredibly lucky that the Enterprise landed plop right in front of him,

I'm not defending that part. The other criticisms fall apart when you look at the actual science and geometry of the situation, but this one is still valid. It's definitely a coincidence. I'm just saying it's not impossible. The wormhole threw them off course, but if we assume that it didn't throw them very far off course, then given that Spock was approaching them from ahead already, it's at least within the realm of possibility that it brought them somewhat closer to him. Which is not a perfect explanation for the contrived timing of his arrival, but it works as a fudge that makes suspension of disbelief a little easier.

At the same time you bring up that this is easier for Spock to do because of his father (not a historically close relationship) you also don't think that he would have gotten any cooperation from actual Starfleet channels. (Arguably easier for him to do and probably with less personal cost.)

I was listing alternative possibilities, not asserting that they were all simultaneously true. My point is that he had several conceivable options for getting the information, either with permission or without it, so there's no reason to be surprised that he was able to get it some way.

But it occurs to me that we're all overlooking something. V'Ger's approach may have been kept from the general public, but surely it would've been broadcast on government and Starfleet channels, so that first responders and people in authority would've been up to date on the situation and ready to take what measures they could. Even if no ships were in range to intercept the intruder, they would've needed to be ready to clean up the aftermath of its passage, so they would've needed to be in the loop about the emergency.

Which means there's no need for a special explanation of how Spock knew. The information would have been available to all Starfleet officers, at least the high-ranking ones, and Spock was still a Starfleet commander, if an "inactive" one.

-

Meanwhile, I've been thinking about the whole "only starship in interception range" issue, and I've been wondering if, instead of the Enterprise being the only vessel of any kind in range, maybe Kirk meant it was the only vessel in range equipped for exploration and first contact rather than pure defense -- since simply shooting at the intruder had already been proven futile by the Klingons. There might still have been a full defensive fleet surrounding Earth (presumably part of the defenses that V'Ger shut down using the codes it hacked from the Enterprise computer), but it wouldn't have been adequate to do the investigative, scientific, or diplomatic work necessary to find a solution to the problem, given that brute force was clearly a non-starter.

Looked at in those terms, it's a lot more reasonable if the Enterprise is the only ship of that type in range of Earth, since the rest are all out on the frontier boldly going. You don't need an explorer ship in the heartworlds, unless it's in drydock being rebuilt.

Indeed, TOS tended to use "starship" specifically to mean a deep-space capital ship of the Enterprise's class, rather than a spaceship in general. So maybe Kirk saying "the only starship in interception range" was meant to be a continuation of that usage, saying that whatever other ships were in range were not of the specific type of the Enterprise, the type that was needed for an unpredictable situation that might entail first contact, combat, or both.

 

[Tallguy]

Indeed, TOS tended to use "starship" specifically to mean a deep-space capital ship of the Enterprise's class, rather than a spaceship in general. So maybe Kirk saying "the only starship in interception range" was meant to be a continuation of that usage, saying that whatever other ships were in range were not of the specific type of the Enterprise, the type that was needed for an unpredictable situation that might entail first contact, combat, or both.

I'm certain this is the case. Not ship. Starship.

 

[TheUsualSuspect]

Okay, posting again after a few days break (although I have been reading the posts and the novel). . .

First, some comments related to things discussed earlier:
Regarding the footnote in chapter 4 concerning Admiral Nogura's "using" Kirk and Lori Ciana in order to enhance Starfleet's image and reputation being equivalent to Kirk sometimes having to order members of his crew into dangerous situations which sometimes led to death or injury, this is a false equivalency that Kirk should be aware of. There's a huge difference between Kirk giving legitimate orders to crewmembers who showed their willingness to risk their lives by signing up for Starfleet and Nogura manipulating two of his officers into a romantic relationship in order to encourage one of them to accept a promotion and stay at Starfleet headquarters as a sort of "face of Starfleet's finest." And I don't think it's clear exactly what Nogura did. If he simply gave them some assignments together in the hopes that romantic sparks would fly, his motives are deplorable, although his actions might be appropriate. However, if he actually ordered Ciana to initiate a romance with Kirk in order to get him to take the promotion and status change, then his motives and actions are appalling and condemnable. What's in the novel seems ambiguous and could imply either of these possibilities.
In regards to the question of how Spock got from Vulcan to the Enterprise so quickly: Perhaps we should consider this scene to be presented nonsequentially in both the film and the novel. Of course, in 1979, it's almost certain that the intent of both the film and the novel were to see the events as sequential - first, Vejur wipes out the Klingon ships, then, Spock is contacted by Vejur and fails to acheive Kolinahr, then . . . However, storytelling, particularly in films and television, has evolved quite a bit since then and presenting events out-of-sequence is no longer unusual or even surprising. It might be easiest to simply view the movie and read the novel with a mental "two days earlier on Vulcan. . ." tag at the beginning of the scene. I don't think there's any reason in the film why Spock's contact with Vejur has to come after the Klingons are destroyed, although in the novel Spock senses Kirk's thoughts from when he "saw" the event, so I guess it won't work there. Oh, well.

Uhura thinks Kirk looks ready to TAKE the Enterprise, in the biblical sense. Ahhh, Gene. (Also she's "not unacquainted with that look". Not from Kirk, just men in general.)

Of course the book also doesn't have the look of total scorn that Grace Lee Whitney gave Shatner when he said it.

Uhura's thoughts there really haven't aged well.
I've never noticed Rand's scornful look before. I'll have to watch for it next time.

All good points, but the footnote specifically states that "the past nine Vulcan seasons" is "
In Earth time, 2.8 years".

Yeah, I totally forgot that the "2.8 years" was from a footnote and not Spock's own thoughts. I've got to remember to double-check my memory on these things!

A few things from later in the book:
I do like the way Roddenberry presents the confrontation between Kirk and McCoy in chapter 12. As for Ilia's presence after Decker leaves Kirk's quarters - she is the senior ship's navigator I believe. Maybe she has the authority to call for a replacement for a few minutes without it being a big deal?
From chapter 14: "Spock's ears caught the sounds of humans at love, which told him that privacy was still respected in this area of the ship." Respect for privacy or no, I would think that when you're building a ship for a multi-species crew, you might want the sound-proofing to extend beyond just the range of human hearing! And, given that everyone has been rushing to get the ship ready on a tight deadline, and then dealing with the warp emergency, how is it that any of them have time to be getting frisky at this moment anyway?
I also like the way Roddenberry describes the Vulcan sense of All. It seems very similar to descriptions I've seen of religious mystical experiences.

That's all for now. I look forward to reading more of the novel and more of these posts.

 

[Christopher]

In regards to the question of how Spock got from Vulcan to the Enterprise so quickly: Perhaps we should consider this scene to be presented nonsequentially in both the film and the novel. Of course, in 1979, it's almost certain that the intent of both the film and the novel were to see the events as sequential - first, Vejur wipes out the Klingon ships, then, Spock is contacted by Vejur and fails to acheive Kolinahr, then . . . However, storytelling, particularly in films and television, has evolved quite a bit since then and presenting events out-of-sequence is no longer unusual or even surprising. It might be easiest to simply view the movie and read the novel with a mental "two days earlier on Vulcan. . ." tag at the beginning of the scene. I don't think there's any reason in the film why Spock's contact with Vejur has to come after the Klingons are destroyed, although in the novel Spock senses Kirk's thoughts from when he "saw" the event, so I guess it won't work there. Oh, well.

That's always possible. But really, Spock getting there in 14 hours or whatever is sadly minor next to many of the other speed-of-plot absurdities in Trek, like a relatively slow runabout in DS9: "Armageddon Game" covering an interstellar distance in less than half an hour (the deadline Bashir gives for getting O'Brien back to the station to save his life), or the Enterprise in TFF getting to the center of the galaxy in 20 minutes, or almost every Lower Decks episode claiming to take place within a single day even when ships travel to multiple destinations in the course of the episode.

I just thought of another possibility, though. When Chekov calls Kirk and says a courier has requested to come alongside, he never says what its ETA is. The film cuts right from Kirk's quarters to the courier's arrival, but that could just be narrative shorthand. It could very well be that the courier called to arrange a rendezvous hours in advance, allowing it to catch up with the ship after the wormhole jump, and the movie just skipped over that interval.

The timing is hard to figure out. It's unclear where the crew briefing (53 hours before intruder arrival) takes place within the 12-hour preparation window. But 1.8 hours after launch, they said it would take 20.1 hours to reach the intruder. If we assume that the briefing was, say, 9 hours before launch (early enough to prepare the crew but late enough to deal with the aftermath of the transporter accident), then that means they would've arrived with only 22 hours to spare -- more if the briefing was later. But after the wormhole, Kirk said it was less than 2 days from reaching Earth, while after Spock's 3-hour repair, Kirk said they'd make it to the intruder with more than a day to spare. That doesn't seem to leave any room for a delay in the courier's arrival, but, if the wormhole let them get to V'Ger with more time to spare than they expected (over 24 instead of c. 22), that certainly does suggest that it brought them closer to V'Ger than they would've gotten with regular warp drive. And that may give at least a couple of hours' wiggle room for the courier's arrival.

A few things from later in the book:
I do like the way Roddenberry presents the confrontation between Kirk and McCoy in chapter 12. As for Ilia's presence after Decker leaves Kirk's quarters - she is the senior ship's navigator I believe. Maybe she has the authority to call for a replacement for a few minutes without it being a big deal?

I figured she was maybe going off-shift, although she's back on the bridge for Spock's arrival. (This is what first gave me the idea of a time jump between the courier's hail and its arrival.)