Can someone explain how they calculate a stardate or are they just random numbers?
Stardate???
- Thread starter GalaxyClass1701
- Start date
In ST XI, the stardate is the calendar year followed by some decimal value. For instance, in the opening scenes, Captain Robau gives the stardate as something like "2233.47", meaning it's the year 2233 - and ".47", assuming it's that fraction of 365 days, probably sometime in May or June.
In all other versions of Trek, the stardates really are random numbers. They just made them up as they went along.
In all other versions of Trek, the stardates really are random numbers. They just made them up as they went along.
Not completely random. From the second season of TNG on, it was decided that they should advance by a thousand units per year, more or less. That remained true of the other spinoff shows, DS9 and VOY, as well, more or less. And it's pretty simple to retroactively apply that idea to TOS as well, even though the numbers given in TOS were not originally intended to work that way.
The first season of TNG featured episodes that were extensively rewritten and their shooting schedule reshuffled, so the stardates there don't proceed in a very logical fashion even though they do cover a thousand units per season. ENT doesn't use stardates. TAS, the cartoon, uses random numbers. The TOS movies don't exactly advance by a thousand stardates per year, either. But the rest works fine that way, more or less. And was intended to, more or less.
...Except that in the new movie, stardates were apparently completely reworked, and now they spell out the year in plain lingo: SD 2233.6 means it's sometime during the year 2233. More or less.
Edit: Beat me to it. Darn.
Timo Saloniemi
The first season of TNG featured episodes that were extensively rewritten and their shooting schedule reshuffled, so the stardates there don't proceed in a very logical fashion even though they do cover a thousand units per season. ENT doesn't use stardates. TAS, the cartoon, uses random numbers. The TOS movies don't exactly advance by a thousand stardates per year, either. But the rest works fine that way, more or less. And was intended to, more or less.
...Except that in the new movie, stardates were apparently completely reworked, and now they spell out the year in plain lingo: SD 2233.6 means it's sometime during the year 2233. More or less.
Edit: Beat me to it. Darn.
Timo Saloniemi
awesome question, i always wondered that as well! that, and what the difference was between standard and fixed orbit.
Nifty words to make the orbit sound special. I suppose one of them could mean a geosynchronous orbit.
Gene Roddenberry (according to my father) was asked about this at one of the early Star Trek conventions. Gene's explaination was that the star dates are not just a function of time, but also takes into acount the ship's position in the galaxy.
Two ships seperated by many light years, at the same time would have very different star dates. And if a ship traveled in a certain direction the onboard star date would actual decrease.
Two ships seperated by many light years, at the same time would have very different star dates. And if a ship traveled in a certain direction the onboard star date would actual decrease.
That was a bit of quick retconning on G.R.'s part. Originally, he made up the "stardate" thing so as not to tie Star Trek to a specific time frame -- it didn't matter if the show was set 50 years or 500 years in the future.
I've had it explained, but never could wrap my brain around it. I like how Enterprise uses normal dates, since there was not yet quite the need for anything else.
When it was explained, it of course had something to do with how our earth date would have no meaning to others throughout the galaxy. So the stardate standardized it for everyone. They still use the terms "year", "day", minutes" etc. when talking to other species though. So to me the stardate will always be something that's just there to confuse me.
When it was explained, it of course had something to do with how our earth date would have no meaning to others throughout the galaxy. So the stardate standardized it for everyone. They still use the terms "year", "day", minutes" etc. when talking to other species though. So to me the stardate will always be something that's just there to confuse me.
They still use the terms "year", "day", minutes" etc. when talking to other species though. So to me the stardate will always be something that's just there to confuse me.
i like when the ferengi on tng talked about our "HUUU-MAHN MINUTES". it cracked me up. YOU HAVE TEN HU-MAHN MINUTES". as opposed to what? do you think we're working on cardassian time over here?
^^^ That happened on a pretty regular basis if I recall. Picture bumpy-headed alien-of-the-week, threatening to blow up the hero ship, giving them "XX number of your Earth minutes" to make good with their Maker before annihilation. A pretty common string of dialog, actually.
In STXI Robau gave 2233.04 as the stardate. In TNG it was based off of the season.
From Memory Alpha:
From Memory Alpha:
http://memory-alpha.org/en/wiki/Stardate
Would have been better to have a Stardate system that went up 1000 units per year since the start of the Federation.
So the Kelvin would be at Stardate 72xxx.01, and The Cage would be 93xxx.01, TOS at the start would be 103xxx.01, and TNG 203xxx.01 and so forth.
So the Kelvin would be at Stardate 72xxx.01, and The Cage would be 93xxx.01, TOS at the start would be 103xxx.01, and TNG 203xxx.01 and so forth.
During TOS, stardates already spanned about a thousand units (if not more) per year, as explicated in the plots. Yet stardates were also supposed to refer to events in the distant past, such as Kirk's birthday or matters relating to Kodos the Executioner.
This sort of necessitates that the four-digit stardates "roll over" somehow, or that they are in fact longer than just four digits. Today, we readily drop the first two digits when we identify the year; perhaps it's customary to drop the first two digits from TOS stardates, too? Or the first three, so TNG stardates drop two?
I don't mind the "zero year" being something else than the year the UFP was founded. That's the sort of "realistic illogic" that the fancy folks call verisimilitude...
Timo Saloniemi
This sort of necessitates that the four-digit stardates "roll over" somehow, or that they are in fact longer than just four digits. Today, we readily drop the first two digits when we identify the year; perhaps it's customary to drop the first two digits from TOS stardates, too? Or the first three, so TNG stardates drop two?
I don't mind the "zero year" being something else than the year the UFP was founded. That's the sort of "realistic illogic" that the fancy folks call verisimilitude...
Timo Saloniemi
Something I thought, if the Kelvin was still in the prime universe, and Enterprise didn't use stardates at all, perhaps all the different versions are simply the UFP trying to find and settle upon a good system for telling time, hence why TOS and TNG numbers don't match up.
I remember an old (pre-internet) idea than in TOS, each starship had its own stardate system and that it represented an individual mission clock (in Kirk's 5-year mission, stardate 1313.4 represented an early time in the first year and stardate 5793.2 represented a late point in the fifth year). Presumably, they used something else to coordinate timetables with Starfleet.
But it seemed though that stardates were first recalibrated around the time of TMP though, since the first six Trek movies ranged between stardate 7412.6 and stardate 9521.6 (or thereabouts) and spanned well over a decade...
But it seemed though that stardates were first recalibrated around the time of TMP though, since the first six Trek movies ranged between stardate 7412.6 and stardate 9521.6 (or thereabouts) and spanned well over a decade...
Nardpuncher
Rear Admiral
Neat thing was in TNG the stardate also told you which season it was.
For example, if it was stardate 42355.8 then the second number, 2, told you it was second season.
Another thing, did anyone write the real dates as stardates ever?
I used to do it back in the late 80 and the 90s. Example: May 17th , 1993 would be 9305.17
I stopped after 2000 because it felt weird to have a couple of zeros at the front.
For example, if it was stardate 42355.8 then the second number, 2, told you it was second season.
Another thing, did anyone write the real dates as stardates ever?
I used to do it back in the late 80 and the 90s. Example: May 17th , 1993 would be 9305.17
I stopped after 2000 because it felt weird to have a couple of zeros at the front.
Yeah, I did that when I was in high school, but only in my notebooks and occasional messages between friends.
I think I kept going for a year or two afterward. I remember putting down 0003.13 for March 13, 2000...
There were a total of 3 known Trek fans in our high school. We used Stardates to confuse teachers/fellow students when passing notes. This was in the olden days, pre-technology when folks actually wrote markings on paper.
Similar threads
