The term “starship” has been a thorn in the side of treknologists. Primarily this comes down to two causes: the Enterprise’s dedication plaque and the chart on Commodore Stone’s wall in “Court Martial.”
What I noticed a while back was the difference in spelling. The dedicated plaque reads “Starship Class”, one word. The wall chart reads “Star Ship Status”, two words.
This might point to something, but it also might mean nothing. I tend to think that there is a meaning there, although it’s still largely as murky as it was before. My experience working with the military is that nothing like the spelling of a word is done willy nilly, nor is it left to chance. I think it’s likely that “starship” and “star ship” are two different things.
So I started poking around to see if any kind of meaning might fall out of a hole. This hasn’t been an extensive search; I don’t have the time. But I did find a couple of interesting data points.
In another thread I mysteriously asked for people to look in a couple of scripts for me for the spelling of the term(s) in dialog. I don’t view this as conclusive evidence. The teleplay writers are clearly extra-diegetic, and probably ill-inclined to spend time concerned about the term’s spelling. That said, in both Commodore Stone’s speech:
and in the description of the fleet in “The Ultimate Computer”:
the one word spelling is used. There’s not a lot to be gleaned from this, except that, if the terms do represent different things, they are related to the sense of the word as it is used on the dedication plaque.
(Thanks to @alchemist and @Maurice for the references.)
The other data point came to me very much by accident. I was researching something else and noticed that the Franklin’s dedication plaque is also one word, like the Enterprise.
II think we can glean a little bit more from this data point, although much of it is still conjecture.
1) “Starship” may represent different things at different times. The Franklin is still Prime Universe, so the terminology is canonical (at least until the next iteration of Trek comes along), but it could represent subtly or grossly different things based on the different time frame, or on the fact that the Franklin was pre-Federation.
2) If the Starbase 11 chart is any indication, the term is being used in an entirely different way by Stone. I started a thread a while back about that chart, and there were several folks who claimed that they could read all of the numbers clearly; what I found funny is that some of them still disagreed on the numbers represented. All that said, one of the numbers seems to be either 1864 or 1664. If it’s the former, that would answer one huge question, i.e., “Do all of the numbers on the chart represent what we in shorthand call the Constitution Class?” The fact that the term is two words on the chart and one word on the plaque also lends credence to this idea.
3) In at least one way having two terms, which each have no provable definition, muddies the waters even farther. We now have two mysterious things called “Starship/Star Ship.”
Very interested in hearing people’s reactions, especially @Timo and @MAGolding, whose analyses are always on point.
What I noticed a while back was the difference in spelling. The dedicated plaque reads “Starship Class”, one word. The wall chart reads “Star Ship Status”, two words.
This might point to something, but it also might mean nothing. I tend to think that there is a meaning there, although it’s still largely as murky as it was before. My experience working with the military is that nothing like the spelling of a word is done willy nilly, nor is it left to chance. I think it’s likely that “starship” and “star ship” are two different things.
So I started poking around to see if any kind of meaning might fall out of a hole. This hasn’t been an extensive search; I don’t have the time. But I did find a couple of interesting data points.
In another thread I mysteriously asked for people to look in a couple of scripts for me for the spelling of the term(s) in dialog. I don’t view this as conclusive evidence. The teleplay writers are clearly extra-diegetic, and probably ill-inclined to spend time concerned about the term’s spelling. That said, in both Commodore Stone’s speech:
“Look, Jim. Not one man in a million can do what you and I did... command a starship.
A hundred decisions a day, hundreds of lives staked on your making every one of them right...”
A hundred decisions a day, hundreds of lives staked on your making every one of them right...”
and in the description of the fleet in “The Ultimate Computer”:
“EXT. SPACE – FOUR STARSHIPS (MOVING R. TO L.)”
the one word spelling is used. There’s not a lot to be gleaned from this, except that, if the terms do represent different things, they are related to the sense of the word as it is used on the dedication plaque.
(Thanks to @alchemist and @Maurice for the references.)
The other data point came to me very much by accident. I was researching something else and noticed that the Franklin’s dedication plaque is also one word, like the Enterprise.
II think we can glean a little bit more from this data point, although much of it is still conjecture.
1) “Starship” may represent different things at different times. The Franklin is still Prime Universe, so the terminology is canonical (at least until the next iteration of Trek comes along), but it could represent subtly or grossly different things based on the different time frame, or on the fact that the Franklin was pre-Federation.
2) If the Starbase 11 chart is any indication, the term is being used in an entirely different way by Stone. I started a thread a while back about that chart, and there were several folks who claimed that they could read all of the numbers clearly; what I found funny is that some of them still disagreed on the numbers represented. All that said, one of the numbers seems to be either 1864 or 1664. If it’s the former, that would answer one huge question, i.e., “Do all of the numbers on the chart represent what we in shorthand call the Constitution Class?” The fact that the term is two words on the chart and one word on the plaque also lends credence to this idea.
3) In at least one way having two terms, which each have no provable definition, muddies the waters even farther. We now have two mysterious things called “Starship/Star Ship.”
Very interested in hearing people’s reactions, especially @Timo and @MAGolding, whose analyses are always on point.
, show me a (natural) berry that is blue that isn't a blueberry...
