UESPA Changed to Starfleet When and Why?

[Christopher]

I'm with Babaganoosh -- there was no "behind-the-scenes reason" for the change from UESPA to Star Fleet (sic), because it wasn't that well thought-out. They were just making stuff up as they went and seeing what stuck. The two episodes that mentioned UESPA were both by D. C. Fontana, so it must've just been a term she liked. But it didn't ultimately catch on.

ENT established that Starfleet existed before the Federation did, but in the late fourth season we saw a Starfleet insignia reading "STARFLEET COMMAND -- UNITED EARTH SPACE PROBE AGENCY":

http://memory-alpha.org/en/wiki/Image:Starfleet_UESPA.jpg

According to Memory Alpha, the Friendship One probe (from VGR) launched in 2067 had the UESPA logo on it, although that'd be odd because there was no United Earth yet. Also, set decorations from NX-01 in ENT and the Enterprise-B in GEN both mention UESPA personnel involved in the construction of the ships. This suggests that UESPA existed as an organization for a very long time and was either affiliated with or the same organization as Starfleet.

How about this: Maybe "Starfleet" is shorthand for "the United Earth Space Probe Agency's Starfleet."

 

[Kemaiku]

The UESPA *did not* become Starfleet. In TMP there are insignias of both visible on Earth.

In Generations, as of 2293 both exist as the Enterprise-B dedication plaque visible in the background mentions both Starfleet and UESPA divisions being responsible for her development and construction.

The UESPA was created in the 2060's, and was still a major administrative division as of the 2260's since the 1701 Enterprise was under UESPA authority during her 5 year mission (Return to Tomorrow TOS) and according to Dedication plaques around 2260-2290 the UESPA was still a division of the Starfleet.

 

[MeanJoePhaser]

Basically, the future is ripe with seemingly contradictory bureaucracies. Somethings never change.

 

[KeepOnTrekking]

Lots of interesting answers for the "in universe" change. In real life UESPA was mentioned only once in "Charlie X" during the first half of season 1 of the Roddenberry produced shows. As Gene Coon came aboard, I think the Starfleet designation came into use with a little confusion during the overlap epriod with episodes like "Tomorrow Is yesterday" and "Court Martial."

 

[Basil]

Hmm. Well, I work for the state, a specific branch of that, a specific organization in it, a specific department within that, and in a specific field within that. At any given time, I might report to one of a dozen different supervisors or authorities who have their vested interest. I don't see why it's tough to believe or even understand that given certain mission-specific situations that Kirk might file a report with one or another. Perhaps because Charlie Evans and Captain Christopher are earthlings, UESPA is the reporting agency; perhaps if the situation is more "universal," such as the encounter with the Doomsday Machine, it's Starfleet Command. I do think there's a distinction between "space service," which sounds like a generic term, the same way my father called his branch of the military "the service" from time to time, and "Starfleet Command," which sounds like a specific term.

I'm curious, too, what the other terms that were used that were part of the "dozen" "Star Trek" apparently coined.

 

[cooleddie74]

UESPA existed as early as 2067 because the Friendship One warp probe had UESPA insignia on its small, stubby warp nacelles. So it might have been the first international space effort organized after Cochrane broke the light barrier and made First Contact with the Vulcans.

 

[Orac]

The term Starfleet came into use at the same time the term Starbase did, I think it was in the episode Court Martial, whoever came up with it must have thought it would be cool to stick the word star in front of as many other words as possible, and it quickly became Star Trek's gimmick.

 

[Christopher]

Basil said:
Hmm. Well, I work for the state, a specific branch of that, a specific organization in it, a specific department within that, and in a specific field within that. At any given time, I might report to one of a dozen different supervisors or authorities who have their vested interest. I don't see why it's tough to believe or even understand that given certain mission-specific situations that Kirk might file a report with one or another. Perhaps because Charlie Evans and Captain Christopher are earthlings, UESPA is the reporting agency; perhaps if the situation is more "universal," such as the encounter with the Doomsday Machine, it's Starfleet Command.

To be specific, though, I believe the reference in "Charlie X" was to UESPA being notified of the Antares's destruction, which at the time had not yet been linked to Charlie. Given that the Antares was described in dialogue as a "science probe vessel," it seems consistent that the United Earth Space Probe Agency would oversee its operations.

You know, this would be so much simpler if the developers of ENT had just had NX-01 report to UESPA instead of calling it Starfleet and then retconning in UESPA references in set decorations.

Meanwhile, we have the anomaly of the 2067 Friendship One probe bearing an insignia that combines the UESPA emblem with the Enterprise arrowhead. Are we to believe that the E, and eventually all of Starfleet, adopted an insignia based on the Friendship One insignia, or perhaps the early UESPA insignia?

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

I'm glad they didn't use UESPA in Enterprise. It's clunky, pulpish and awkward. So are all those other names they tried to use in TOS. 'Starfleet' is simple, direct, a minimum of syllables. And it just sounds cooler.

 

[ToddPence]

I'm not sure when exactly (in what episode) the term "Federation" was used to describe the Enterprise's employer. Of course, in the early epsiode "The Corbomite Manuever" the alien Balok's galactic empire was referred to as "The First Federation." This causes some confusion to the veteran Trek viewer, but remember that at the time of this episode the term "Federation" had apparently not been coined for the Earth-based organization.

 

[Timo]

According to Memory Alpha, the Friendship One probe (from VGR) launched in 2067 had the UESPA logo on it, although that'd be odd because there was no United Earth yet.

Why not?

I mean, United Earth was probably created piecemeal, with just X% of Earth uniting at first. We know Australia was among the last to join in 2150, but this may imply that others had joined prior to that date - and the process could well have begun in the mid-2060s already.

Are we to believe that the E, and eventually all of Starfleet, adopted an insignia based on the Friendship One insignia, or perhaps the early UESPA insignia?

I'd rather argue that the arrowhead is a universal motif for any forward-moving organization. And that it's not the UESPA use that inspired Starfleet, but the original NASA use!

For a more complicated backstory, we could say that the arrowhead was something associated only with the exploration branch of the early Starfleet (and said branch could well be closely connected to UESPA), and the symbol ultimately rose from that humble position to prominence when it became politically advantageous to consider the entire Starfleet an "exploratory" organization.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[Borg451]

dint it just change back and forth in TOS?

 

[Nerys Myk]

ToddPence said:
I'm not sure when exactly (in what episode) the term "Federation" was used to describe the Enterprise's employer. Of course, in the early epsiode "The Corbomite Manuever" the alien Balok's galactic empire was referred to as "The First Federation." This causes some confusion to the veteran Trek viewer, but remember that at the time of this episode the term "Federation" had apparently not been coined for the Earth-based organization.

From my own not so thorough research, "Arena" contains the first mention of the Federation.

 

[Colin]

Was there not also reference to a Space Control or Space Central in an early episode of TOS as well? I seem to remember Kirk asking Uhura to contact Space Control and apprise them of Enterprise's status.....

 

[Nerys Myk]

Yeah, the early episodes had quite a variety of names for "the Boss".

 

[KeepOnTrekking]

Yeah, I think space control or central was used at the end of "Miri." Between the change of line producer from Roddenberry to Coon and the story editors from Black to carabatsos to Fontana, I think a lot of stuff when it comes to continuity got glossed over in all the changes that first year.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

Nerys Myk said:
Yeah, the early episodes had quite a variety of names for "the Boss".

And as I said, most of them sucked big time. "Space Command"? "Space Central"? "UESPA"? The "Star Service"?

Don't even try to tell me any of those sound better than 'Starfleet'...

 

[Warped9]

Professor Moriarty said:
On the show in at least two episodes:

(1) In "Charlie X", Captain Kirk makes a log entry immediately after Charlie makes the Antares go boom. In his voiceover, he tersely reports that "You-spah headquarters has been notified of the mysterious destruction of the Antares."

(2) In "Tomorrow is Yesterday", Captain Kirk explains to Captain Christopher that the Enterprise's operational authority is the United Earth Space Probe Agency. Christopher replies "United Earth?" in puzzlement.

So yes, there are "canonical" on-screen references to UESPA in classic Star Trek.

One could rationalize that Krk reported the Antares' loss directly to that ship's operating authority. You could also rationalze that Kirk used UESPA as a reference to Captan Christopher since it would sound somewhat more plausible to a 20th century denizenn than Starfleet. And at the end of Tomorrow Is Yesterday" they do refer to Stafleet.

 

[Ronald Held]

Somewhat plausible an explanation.

 

[Intelligence]

Timo said:

According to Memory Alpha, the Friendship One probe (from VGR) launched in 2067 had the UESPA logo on it, although that'd be odd because there was no United Earth yet.

Why not?

I mean, United Earth was probably created piecemeal, with just X% of Earth uniting at first. We know Australia was among the last to join in 2150, but this may imply that others had joined prior to that date - and the process could well have begun in the mid-2060s already.

No, No, No! We do know that United Earth was founded in 2150, but nowhere it is stated that Australia was the last nation to join! Crusher picks Australia as a random "old nation state" to formulate a speculative situation which might have prevented the "Member planets must be unified" rule for Federation admission. Australia most likely being picked, because it makes up 5% of Earth's land mass.