The first five year mission?

[Tallguy]

I thought there had been 13, including USS Constitution (which was the lead ship, but actually launched second due to Enterprise being launched while incomplete on an emergency mission)?

Are you referring to Final Frontier by DIane Carey? If memory serves the Enterprise WAS the Constitution. George Kirk, Sr. argues that since the construction contract has been moved from 1700 to 1701 it is a new ship and requires a new name.

 

[Tallguy]

I just took a quick read through of The Next Generation Companion opening chapters leading up to airing of Encounter at Farpoint, and I can't find any references to TNG being set 78 years after TOS.

There's mention of 100 years, 200 years, the 24th and the 25th centuries, but no 78.

The promo material release says, 'The 24th Century Adventure is about to begin'.

That's the advertising I remember seeing in my local newspaper and TV Guide. I think even the commercials only mention the 24th Century.

If I still had my FASA TNG Officer's Manual, I think that might be the first mention of it being 78 years after TOS.

I know it was someplace well before FASA. (IIRC FASA's Next Generation supplement to the RPG spelled the end of their association with Star Trek. Also it wasn't released until late in the first season, I believe.)

For some reason I remember Announcer Guy saying "It's been 78 years since..."

I know that when you see the card "78 years later" in Generations it's meant as a callback.

 

[Tallguy]

That could be.
Sorry, it's been over a decade since I lost my copy of that book.

I haven't read it since the eighties, I don't think.

 

[Yunikuron]

I haven't read it since the eighties, I don't think.

From what I remember, it provided a lot of backstory for many things in TOS, such as why the Romulans developed the cloaking device for their ships ( Thanks a lot, George Kirk! )

 

[CaptChris42]

I just took a quick read through of The Next Generation Companion opening chapters leading up to airing of Encounter at Farpoint, and I can't find any references to TNG being set 78 years after TOS.

There's mention of 100 years, 200 years, the 24th and the 25th centuries, but no 78.

The promo material release says, 'The 24th Century Adventure is about to begin'.

That's the advertising I remember seeing in my local newspaper and TV Guide. I think even the commercials only mention the 24th Century.

If I still had my FASA TNG Officer's Manual, I think that might be the first mention of it being 78 years after TOS.

I believe the idea was 78 years after The Voyage Home? Or that's how I seem to remember it.

I recall Christopher L. Bennett kept track of some of those early promos, and had worked out his own timeline (prior to the episode 'The Neutral Zone' nailing a date of 2364...)

 

[Tallguy]

I believe the idea was 78 years after The Voyage Home? Or that's how I seem to remember it.

I recall Christopher L. Bennett kept track of some of those early promos, and had worked out his own timeline (prior to the episode 'The Neutral Zone' nailing a date of 2364...)

If someone can find that that would be awesome. Then I can stop questioning my reality.

 

[Nerys Myk]

If someone can find that that would be awesome. Then I can stop questioning my reality.

Ask @Christopher , he is Christopher L. Bennett

 

[Commander Troi]

Then I can stop questioning my reality.

Nah, never stop doing that.

 

[JonnyQuest037]

According to Gene Roddenberry "Kirk commanded the U.S.S. Enterprise on its historic five-year voyage and became the first starship captain in history to bring back both his vessel and his crew relatively intact after such a mission."

I could buy that if Starfleet was maybe 20 years old. Since we now know that Starfleet had been around 100 years before Kirk, that idea just becomes absurd.

I just took a quick read through of The Next Generation Companion opening chapters leading up to airing of Encounter at Farpoint, and I can't find any references to TNG being set 78 years after TOS.

There's mention of 100 years, 200 years, the 24th and the 25th centuries, but no 78.

The promo material release says, 'The 24th Century Adventure is about to begin'.

I remember a Meanwhile... column by DC Comics executive editor Dick Giordano promoting the initial six-issue TNG miniseries they put out during the first season. There he said it had been 87 years since Kirk & company. Presumably he got that figure from someone at Paramount.

It was because of this that I considered TNG to be 87 years after TVH for the longest time.

 

[Tallguy]

I could buy that if Starfleet was maybe 20 years old. Since we now know that Starfleet had been around 100 years before Kirk, that idea just becomes absurd.

Not if nobody had attempted "such a mission". There's lots of things Starfleet can do that isn't going on a five year long exploratory mission.

78 years: Here you go. 0:40.

To view this content we will need your consent to set third party cookies.
For more detailed information, see our cookies page.

Accept third party cookies

 

[Shawnster]

According to Gene Roddenberry "Kirk commanded the U.S.S. Enterprise on its historic five-year voyage and became the first starship captain in history to bring back both his vessel and his crew relatively intact after such a mission."

Wonder whose definition of "relatively intact"?

Perhaps Pike's Enterprise only did 2 year missions before coming in for (nearly) full crew rotations. It's believable to me that the 5 year missions might have been a new format that coincided with Kirk's promotion to captain and assignment to Enterprise.

 

[STEPhon IT]

In my mind, one of many. Maybe not every ship was on a five year mission, but lots of other ships were besides the Enterprise.

And the TOS Enterprise wasn't the flagship, either!

I had the interpretation the Starship Class vessels were prone for deep space explorations and the 5 year mission were like a tour of duty so crewmembers finish their tour and move on to other Starfleet missions.

 

[CaptChris42]

Wonder whose definition of "relatively intact"?

Perhaps Pike's Enterprise only did 2 year missions before coming in for (nearly) full crew rotations. It's believable to me that the 5 year missions might have been a new format that coincided with Kirk's promotion to captain and assignment to Enterprise.

Also, we got given the impression several times that no ship prior the Constitution was a 'true Starship' early on, too.
Which may have been what Gene was aiming it. Then there's all the semi official backstory of Robert April, I guess (as of TAS debuting)

 

[Tuskin38]

Which ship?

The Federation-Class. Several models of it show up in Guinan's bar.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

^ It was even mentioned way back in TMP (the dreadnought USS Entente).

 

[Mres_was_framed!]

was a 'true Starship' early on, too.
Which may have been what Gene was aiming it.

That comes close, but not quite completely, to fixing the Bonaventure being the "first ship with warp drive" and Sarah April being "first doctor on a ship with warp drive" comments from TAS.

My interpretation of the former is that perhaps the Federation and it's Starfleet's first newly constructed vessel was the Bonaventure. As in:
1) Other ships with warp drive already existed, and may (or may not) have been recommissioned as a part of the Federation Starfleet.
2) Starfleet may have (but most likely actually did not have) smaller slower-than-light vessels that were built for it, prior to any warp ships being built for it.

Unless Starfleet used only medics or civilian doctors and not full-degree Starfleet doctors for 100 years, I'm not sure how to fix the Sarah April comment.

This is another opportunity to suggest that the registry is actually 1028I-NCC, and that this would have been the originally appearance of the Constellation, which was NCC-1017. Not sure why the "I" would be dropped and NCC moved to the front, but it works fairly well for me

 

[Farscape One]

There is a technical diagram in one episode that says Constitution Class on it, but it's not legible in the episode.

Picard calls the original TOS version a Constitution Class in 'Relics', and Scotty doesn't correct him.

Not only does Scotty not correct Picard, he confirms it. From "Relics"...

"Constitution class." Picard
"Aye. You're familiar with them?" Scotty
"There's one in the fleet museum." Picard

 

[Laura Cynthia Chambers]

That comes close, but not quite completely, to fixing the Bonaventure being the "first ship with warp drive" and Sarah April being "first doctor on a ship with warp drive" comments from TAS.

Non-experimental warp drive? Constitution class warp drive model?