U.S.S. Magellan in "A Piece of the Action"

[Kenny]

Not sure if this is the right place to post, but....

I've been looking over my list of "unused" or "changed" starship names.

In the list I wrote that the original name for the U.S.S. Horizon in "A Piece of the Action" was the U.S.S. Magellan.

Unfortunately, I didn't write down my source for this information.

Has anyone ever come across this?

-- Kenny

 

[Unicron]

This is probably better suited for General Trek Discussion, so I'll send it over there. Interesting question though.

 

[T'Girl]

In the list I wrote that the original name for the U.S.S. Horizon in "A Piece of the Action" was the U.S.S. Magellan.

You mean in a preliminary version of the script?

 

[The Wormhole]

A quick search on Google (typing in uss horizon uss magellan) has this thread showing up at the topn and the rest of the first page is any web page which contains both the names USS Horizon and USS Magellan.

 

[Sci]

Do we know for sure that it was the U.S.S. Horizon? Was it explicitly referred to as "U.S.S.?" If not, it's possible that the Horizon wasn't a Starfleet ship. (Indeed, the ENT novels have proceeded on the assumption that it was actually the E.C.S. Horizon, Mayweather's family's freighter.)

 

[Kenny]

In the list I wrote that the original name for the U.S.S. Horizon in "A Piece of the Action" was the U.S.S. Magellan.

You mean in a preliminary version of the script?

Yes, that's what I meant. I think it may have been an early version of the script. Or a James Blish adaptation. Or something. I can't remember....

 

[captcalhoun]

dialogue only calls it "Horizon", but why would a cargo ship be out on the unexplored fringes of the galaxy?

 

[nightwind1]

dialogue only calls it "Horizon", but why would a cargo ship be out on the unexplored fringes of the galaxy?

Looking for heretofore unknown valuables and trade goods?

 

[Sci]

dialogue only calls it "Horizon", but why would a cargo ship be out on the unexplored fringes of the galaxy?

Looking for heretofore unknown valuables and trade goods?

^^ This. In point of fact, before the launch of the NX-01, the Earth Cargo Service ships were the ones who went further out into space and made contact with more new worlds than anyone else from Earth previously had.

 

[captcalhoun]

i don't buy it. they were on trade routes to known worlds travelling at warp 1 for years at a time in ENT.

besides, Mayweather's book on the ECS Horizon was called "Chicago Gangs" not "Chicago Mobs of the 1920s". Homage Fail.

 

[Timo]

...OTOH, it does make sense that the book left behind would be one out of an extensive library - otherwise, parting with it, accidentally or intentionally, probably wouldn't happen.

I'm not convinced that any dialogue of ENT establishes the destinations of the independent freighters as "known" planets. Known by name and reputation, perhaps - but Sigma Iotia could have been that, too.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[Sci]

i don't buy it. they were on trade routes to known worlds travelling at warp 1 for years at a time in ENT.

The Boomers were also facing major changes to their lifestyle as the United Earth Starfleet began to establish itself, Earth warp technology advanced, and regular trade with worlds like Andor and Tellar opened up. I can see an industrious Earth Cargo Service vessel whose captain is looking for new markets making a cargo run to a distant colony, noticing an M-Class world on long-range scanners, and choosing to visit to see if it's a potential new trading partner.

 

[yenny]

I'm beginning to believe the Horizon the visit Sigma Iotia II was ECS Horizon, not the USS. Horizon.

 

[The Wormhole]

Do we know for sure that it was the U.S.S. Horizon? Was it explicitly referred to as "U.S.S.?" If not, it's possible that the Horizon wasn't a Starfleet ship. (Indeed, the ENT novels have proceeded on the assumption that it was actually the E.C.S. Horizon, Mayweather's family's freighter.)

The model Daedalus class ship that was on display in Sisko's office was labelled "USS Horizon" implying that there was a USS Horizon in the 22nd century.

I suppose this can be waved away as the model had a fake name, or since the name was never readable on screen it's not canon, but whatever. I consider it stable enough to build a case on.

 

[Sci]

Do we know for sure that it was the U.S.S. Horizon? Was it explicitly referred to as "U.S.S.?" If not, it's possible that the Horizon wasn't a Starfleet ship. (Indeed, the ENT novels have proceeded on the assumption that it was actually the E.C.S. Horizon, Mayweather's family's freighter.)

The model Daedalus class ship that was on display in Sisko's office was labelled "USS Horizon" implying that there was a USS Horizon in the 22nd century.

I suppose this can be waved away as the model had a fake name, or since the name was never readable on screen it's not canon, but whatever. I consider it stable enough to build a case on.

Yeah, but the Daedalus class was in service until 2196, so there's no obligation to think that the U.S.S. Horizon model had to be the one who reached Sigma Iotia II. Plus -- technically, it has never been established in the canon that the class of the starship model in Sisko's office was the Daedalus class; it's the behind-the-scenes intent, but nothing canonical ever linked them.

Which is not to say that we have to presume that it wasn't the U.S.S. Horizon. I just want to point out that an alternate interpretation -- that it was a civilian vessel, possibly even a pre-Federation civilian vessel like the E.C.S. Horizon as the ENT novels postulate -- is also consistent with the very sparse canonical evidence we have.

 

[Timo]

...Also, there could be a great many ships named Horizon in operation simultaneously, one of them from Starfleet, others from the various civilian operators, and possibly also a few from various government organizations. For all we know, "Horizon" is how the name of this ship was translated from some non-English, perhaps off-Earth language. Or how the original Tellarite name "Haw'Eyzan" is pronounced. Etc.

Since Kirk is deliberately being vague about the details when talking to the representatives of this supposedly primitive world, and perhaps even lying to them every now and then after figuring out what a bunch of hoodlums they are (or pretend to be), we are rather free to draw whichever conclusions most please us here.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[Sci]

^^ There is one interesting clue. We know from "A Piece of the Action" that the Horizon was not equipped with subspace radio -- yet we know from numerous ENT episodes that the United Earth Starfleet had subspace radio as early as the 2150s. So, to me, that strongly implies a civilian vessel of some sort, if she didn't have an advanced piece of technology used by the U.E. government's space exploration agency. And in particular, I think it implies an older ship, perhaps one whose owners just haven't gotten around to outfitting her with the new subspace radio tech. So, just on that basis, I'm inclined to think her the E.C.S. Horizon.

 

[Timo]

We know from "A Piece of the Action" that the Horizon was not equipped with subspace radio

...Or that she was outside the range of subspace radio, a concept also supported by ENT and its attention to the use of relay buoys.

After all, the exact quote is ambiguous.

Kirk: "Your system is on the outer reaches of the galaxy. They didn't have subspace communication in those days."

So, the outer reaches didn't have subspace communication in those days - not even for starships that packed a subspace radio!

Although I wonder whether Starfleet or civilians would be quicker to introduce subspace radio sets when those became available. Both would have a "mission requirement" for the technology. Civilians would be very interested in knowing the latest prices of mudium ore and foolaberry wine at various ports, and might organize their entire lives around realtime communications of that sort. In contrast, one might posit that Starfleet would omit the radio set from ships that were being sent beyond the radio network, just to cram in a few extra tons of fuel or another epsilon-ray spectrometer.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[captcalhoun]

that doesn't track. Kirk specifically says it was a radio message not a subspace radio message which is why it took 100 years to hear of the ship's demise.

 

[Timo]

Exactly - because the ship was outside subspace range.

The TNG Tech Manual insists that subspace messages are only worth the trouble if there's a chain of boosters to keep the message in subspace. Otherwise it will decay, perhaps to lightspeed signal, perhaps to meaningless noise; the Manual says a message from a Galaxy will decay after 22 lightyears. Sending across 150 lightyears will then take 128 years; it won't be worth the hassle to send that way, as opposed to a radio message taking 150 years, especially if the decay process harms the signal.

None of that is mentioned onscreen, of course. But ENT insists on the existence of booster relays, and quite a few other stories mention the ease by which a starship can move "out of communications range".

Uhura in TMP seems to think radio transmissions are a thing of the past. But that past might have been as recently as the late 22nd century, before the UFP achieved a working subspace communications network.

Timo Saloniemi