UFP Banner

[Doran]

I was looking at some art work recently and noticed the configuration of the UFP banner. It has fourteen stars on it. Five across the top and four more trailing down each side. Does anyone know if the stars represent member5 planets or the like... kind of like our flag... has anything been written about this?

 

[JB2005]

^ Erm, that's 13, not 14...

Sorry to nitpick...

And it could be that the 5 are core members, and the other 8 just decorative...

 

[Doran]

apparently the cover art on David Mack's "Vanguard: Precipice" got it wrong, check out the art work here:

http://drexfiles.wordpress.com/

 

[JB2005]

Looks the same to me...

 

[Doran]

Okay, let's talk about the core members, obviously Vulcan and Earth, any ideas for the other three?

 

[JB2005]

^ Tellar, Andoria and Alpha Centuri as per canon

All with permanent seats on the UFP Security Council (As Per Apocrypha)

 

[Doran]

Many thanks... I know more now than I did an hour ago. Bouncing back and forth between this and "Follow the Leader." It's pretty fun.

 

[JB2005]

^ No problem, any other questions? I Appear to be on something of a roll tonight

 

[Doran]

No, not now, but keep up the good work.

 

[JB2005]

Thanks, I do what I can!

 

[Sci]

I for one see no particular reason to assume that there is any symbolism to the number of stars on the UFP banner from "And the Children Shall Lead" -- especially since that banner is apparently not the Federation Flag.

 

[JB2005]

How come?

 

[Starbreaker]

According to the Star Trek Sticker Book (Pg. 9), by Michael Okuda, "At one time, it was thought that the three bright stars in the starfield might represent Earth, Vulcan, and the Klingon Homeworld, since during early episodes of Star Trek: The Next Generation it was thought that the Klingons might have actually joined the Federation. When later episodes made it clear they had not, the three bright stars were left undefined."

.

 

[Timo]

Dunno... For example our local national coat of arms has plenty of symbolism in its heraldic details despite not being part of the usual national flag. (It's featured in combat flags, tho - the sort flown by all-hail-the-Chief, or on warship masts, etc.)

Perhaps the thirteen stars refer to something pertinent to the founding of the UFP, or perhaps they are just aesthetically pleasing like the 22 stars of Paramount. But if the latter, we should note that they aren't quite evenly spaced; it almost looks as if the designer wanted to shoehorn in 13 stars, instead of using as many stars as would optimally frame the banner. (Or then the designer was in a hurry and did a sloppy job - but that's a bit likelier in the Paramount universe than in the Trek one. )

Timo Saloniemi

 

[JB2005]

Maybe it's the 5 core worlds, and the 8 original colonies...

 

[BolianAuthor]

Okay, let's talk about the core members, obviously Vulcan and Earth, any ideas for the other three?

Earth, Vulcan, Andor, Tellar, Coridan.

 

[Sci]

Okay, let's talk about the core members, obviously Vulcan and Earth, any ideas for the other three?

Earth, Vulcan, Andor, Tellar, Coridan.

Depends on how you define "core members."

The novel Articles of the Federation establishes that Earth, Vulcan, Andor, Tellar, and Alpha Centauri were the five founding worlds of the Federation, and the Destiny trilogy seems to include the Rigel colonies and Coridan in the list of worlds that are considered part of the "core" worlds -- i.e., the worlds closest to the five founding worlds. I would infer that Denobula Triaxa is also amongst the core, since it is presumably relatively close to Earth (what with Denobulans already being involved in trade with Earth when Nathan Samuels was a teenager).

 

[Timo]

Yet proximity might not prove core status, as e.g. Canada and Florida weren't among the thirteen stars of the original US flag(s)... And Canada still isn't a "member".

Given all their interstellar saber-rattling, one would expect Vulcan, Andor and Tellar together to hold far more colonies than just eight or even thirteen as of 2161. Then again, it wouldn't surprise me if there were thirteen founding members for the UFP; we got at least that many separate cultures in ENT that might have been sympathetic to the idea.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[Doran]

In one of the early episodes of TOS don't we see a tellarite murdered by an andorian. If this kind of stuff is going on, I would hardly think that both planets would be founding members in a federation based on peace.
As far as symbolism goes... all flags, banners, emblems have a symbolic meaning, in every culture since time began. All ST and federation symbols have to have some sort of meaning... we just haven't stumbled on all the right answers yet... (notice I said "yet").

 

[Doran]

I bet GR (or whomever was assisting him) was thinking of our original 13 colonies... There are a lot of traditional american references in TOS