Travelling to the galaxy's edge?

[All Seeing Eye]

...Although it should be remembered that the "We don't know how long Kirk had been working his way towards the Edge" argument doesn't work for the other two cases in TOS where the energy barrier was reached. In "By Any Other Name", the ship was in the middle of regular adventures, only weeks or months away from the previous adventure which had taken place within "civilized space", not all that far away from Earth. And while the ship's propulsion system there admittedly got a boost from aliens in order to reach the barrier, the ship repeated the feat in "Is There In Truth No Beauty?" without alien modifications.

Apparently, Kirk was able to reach the barrier at the edge of the galaxy as part of his regular adventures, without dedicating years upon years to the trip. We must look for explanations that involve fast ships or short distances, not ones involving long travel times, if we want to make TOS compatible with the rest in this respect.

Timo Saloniemi

But the question is how far does Federation space spread towards the edge of the Galaxy. You talk about "civilised space" so they could be located in Federation space (which is the civilised space to which you were referring) towards the barrier if Fed territory spreads very close to it.

As I mentioned before, there are safe warp cruising speeds, Voyager was cruising back to Earth at warp 6.4 (or 6 point something) so that would seem to indicate a 70 year trip home via 75,000 lightyears at a warp speed of warp 6.4.

So should a vessel on the outskirts of federation space on the way to the Galactic edge decide to warp at FULL warp speed they could get there in little to no time at all.

 

[Cr031k]

I have the answer to your question but its a secret.... Ready......set....

It was a Science Fiction based TV show in the 1960's.....

 

[EJA]

I should think Voyager would have been able to travel at maximum warp without suffering any ill effects; other starships can. Was it ever explicitly stated that Voyager had always been at warp 6.4 on its journey?

One idea I've had is that maybe at some point before TOS, Starfleet discovered a stable wormhole leading to the Outer Arm of the galaxy, similar to the Bajoran wormhole to the Gamma Quadrant in DS9, enabling starships to leap the vast distances in practically no time at all. Enterprise would have gone through this wormhole immediately prior to Where No Man Has Gone Before, and probably just before By Any Other Name too.

 

[Pauln6]

I'm more irritated by the shoddy mathematics in the most recent film where it seems to take about 30 minutes to travel to Vulcan and where it is possible to transport onto a ship that has been travelling away at warp 4 for about an hour.

 

[NIUPonyBoy]

Hey man Scotty can do anything. No matter what timeline he's in. lol

 

[Orcus]

My head hurts just trying to read some of these posts - nevermind understanding them...

 

[Yeoman Randi]

...the Milky Way is "flat," with the bugle in the middle around the center of the galaxy...

I know that it's a typo, but something about the idea of a bugle at the center of the galaxy made me -- I guess it's just early.

Hahahaha yeah me too. Man I was just typing too quickly.

Actually, i think it was a french horn.

But, seriously, i also try not to think too hard on some of the stuff we saw in TOS and everything that came afterwards....it tends to frustrate me and then i have to remind myself it.was.just.a.show.
But when i let my guard down...yeah. It annoys the hell out of me.

 

[NIUPonyBoy]

^ But ya know what's worse?

It's easier to understand things that don't make much sense in a fictional sci-fi universe than what those idiots in Washington are doing.

 

[Yeoman Randi]

^ But ya know what's worse?

It's easier to understand things that don't make much sense in a fictional sci-fi universe than what those idiots in Washington are doing.

I don't even TRY to figure out what they are doing....

 

[CoveTom]

I know that it's a typo, but something about the idea of a bugle at the center of the galaxy made me -- I guess it's just early.

"Our destination is the planet Sha Ka Rhee, which lies beyond the Great Bugle at the center of the galaxy!"

 

[Cuhl]

^
I guess "sailing around the horn" isn't just for clipper ships anymore.

 

[M'Sharak]

I know that it's a typo, but something about the idea of a bugle at the center of the galaxy made me -- I guess it's just early.

Hahahaha yeah me too. Man I was just typing too quickly.

Actually, i think it was a french horn.

(fanfare)
"What was that?"
"French horns."
"No -- at the center of the galaxy, there."
​

 

[Timo]

I should think Voyager would have been able to travel at maximum warp without suffering any ill effects; other starships can.

What other starship has traveled at maximum warp for more than a day or four? Even the mighty E-D, supposedly capable of Voyageresque top speeds at her best, would have taken years to cover the 7,000 ly distance in "Q Who?". Data considered a two-and-half-year journey at maximum speed theoretical; Janeway in turn considered a 70-year journey at maximum speed theoretical for 70,000 lightyears in "Caretaker". Both are in the same ballpark, but neither gives a good indication of how a practical journey would be conducted. Both wordings suggest that years-long trips at maximum warp are impossible in practice.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[RobertScorpio]

Well, I've heard TOS Season 1 generally has really bad continuity with the rest of Trek.

Other way around.

I agree...TOS season 1 came first. The other shows mucked it all up with space speed-limits and the like.

Oh well..its no wonder TOS is still the more famous of all TREKS combined. It dared to make us dream; where as TNG and beyond gave us technobabble....Some of the explanations in this thread are, again, further reasons why I am glad XI came out and pretty much said to TNG/DS9/Voy/Enterprise...so long suckers...eat my dust!

Rob

 

[apenpaap]

^Actually it said that to TOS, TNG, DS9 and VOY. ENT is the only Trek that's part of this timeline as well as the prime timeline. IMO that's rather funny considering the fact that haters will often tell you that ENT is not canon.

 

[Anwar]

Oh well..its no wonder TOS is still the more famous of all TREKS combined.

Rob

Cause it came first, that's the only reason. Plus back then having a sci-fi show that an anthology was pretty far-out. Put VOY back then and we'd be praising that.

 

[MNM]

Oh well..its no wonder TOS is still the more famous of all TREKS combined.

Aspects of TOS are more famous than the other shows sure, but certainly not the show as a whole. I would suggest that aspects of TNG are more famous than parts of TOS.

There are many aspects of TOS that no one beyond the hardcore Trek fans could recognise, and plenty of TNG aspects that people would think of first before anything to do with TOS.

You say Star Trek to people in the street, you will get them knowing Kirk, Spock, a scottish guy who fixed the engines, and maybe a cranky doctor. I think more people would think of the TNG design for Enterprise than the TOS one. People would recognise Klingons, but they would recognise them in the TNG design above the TOS design.

And people would think of Picard before anyone beyond the couple of leads from TOS.

As for the Galactic Barrier, I always assumed it encompased the whole galaxy like an egg shell, which would make more sense, to me anyway, than one that was of an arbitary size around one plane of the galaxy.

 

[Misfit Toy]

^
I guess "sailing around the horn" isn't just for clipper ships anymore.

Nicely put.

 

[barnaclelapse]

^ But ya know what's worse?

It's easier to understand things that don't make much sense in a fictional sci-fi universe than what those idiots in Washington are doing.

It's also not nearly as depressing.

 

[Misfit Toy]

^ But ya know what's worse?

It's easier to understand things that don't make much sense in a fictional sci-fi universe than what those idiots in Washington are doing.

It's also not nearly as depressing.

Let's leave the politics to Misc or TNZ, please.