USS Franklin issue

[BillJ]

from what I've heard, there's some discussion about whether or not the animated series is canon.

And? It is still contradictory information from an official production.

 

[Franklin]

I find myself wondering who Franklin is (either who the ship was named for, in-universe, or why the writers chose it).

Given Benjamin Franklin was an inventor and scientist of some note, I'd guess the ship is named after him. Seems reasonable to me, at least. Or, things got really informal for a while on Earth, and it was named for Franklin D. Roosevelt. Of course, it could also be named for Aretha Franklin, just as a counterbalance to the Beastie Boys.

 

[Dukhat]

Yet it's perfectly clear that Australia did hold out: she only joined in 2150, a date by which the organization known as United Earth had already made an impact on Earth history. That is, if we assume United Earth was behind the United Earth Science Probe Agency of 21st century fame.

From Memory Alpha:

It was a common belief that Australia was the last state to join the United Earth Government in 2150, but Australia holding out was only used by Beverly Crusher as a hypothetical example when discussing the eligibility of the fractured planet Kesprytt with Jean-Luc Picard in "Attached".

 

[WarpFactorZ]

The problem is the movie refers to it as "Starfleet's first warp 4 starship." Kind of odd the first warp 4 ship was made a decade after the first warp 5 ship.

Maybe Enterprise was actually a warp 3 starship, but this was the guy heading the program:

https://www.getyarn.io/yarn-clip/52de9cc8-0628-47f4-b2a9-041ee8acead6

 

[The Mighty Monkey of Mim]

From Memory Alpha:

From "Attached" (TNG):

Crusher: Well, think about Earth. What if one of the old nation-states, say Australia, had decided not to join the World Government [sic] in 2150? Would that have disqualified us as a Federation member?

@Timo's point was that any of these nations which did join such a government in 2150—including Australia—could be seen as a holdout in light of UESPA already existing nearly a century earlier in 2067 as per "Friendship One" (VGR). Of course, as he implicitly allows for in his comment and I explore further upthread, that's not necessarily all there is to the story there.

 

[Dukhat]

It's possible that UESPA and the World Government are not the same thing, since Crusher's wording heavily implies if not downright states that there was a world government that formed in 2150, and that every nation on Earth joined it at that time.

 

[The Mighty Monkey of Mim]

It's possible that UESPA and the World Government are not the same thing.

Yep. Not only possible, but seemingly likely based on the canonical references. That was a point I made myself, and which Timo too may have been obliquely hinting at, or at least had taken into consideration.

 

[Lakenheath 72]

Franklin was, as well, an accomplished diplomat and writter.

Plus, there was an Essex-class carrier named Franklin.

 

[saddestmoon]

The biggest issue I have with the USS Franklin is that there doesn't appear to be any diecast versions being released of this beautiful starship!

 

[Timo]

Crusher's wording heavily implies if not downright states that there was a world government that formed in 2150, and that every nation on Earth joined it at that time.

I guess this is the closest we can come to a "disagreement" over the vague issue. The wording does not mention a forming, after all, only a joining - as in becoming part of something that already existed.

Plus, there was an Essex-class carrier named Franklin.

...Named for Benjamin, but not named USS Benjamin Franklin, FWIW.

Whether long or short forms of names get used might be more or less random. There are USN ships where the given name of a person is deliberately missing because there are multiple naval heroes in the family, all contributing to the name. There are ships in the Nimitz class carrying the whole names of people for whom there could never be confusion (Carl Vinson would be uniquely identifiable by his surname already), but the class ship does not have "Chester W." painted on - and no, the ship does not honor the identically named son of the Admiral on the side.

One wonders whether Starfleet would simultaneously operate one USS Franklin and one USS Benjamin Franklin, and if so, whether the former would be honoring some other celebrity, say, Rosalind. Memory Beta has plenty of examples of either name format.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[drt]

The biggest issue I have with the USS Franklin is that there doesn't appear to be any diecast versions being released of this beautiful starship!

Eaglemoss is supposed to be making one, it just won't be released (most likely) until next year.

 

[BillJ]

Eaglemoss is supposed to be making one, it just won't be released (most likely) until next year.

Way to strike while the iron is hot!

 

[The Wormhole]

Way to strike while the iron is hot!

Makes sense when you think about it. This time next year Trek fandom will be bitching and moaning about the new series raping their childhoods and committing other unspeakable crimes against Roddenberry. Releasing the Franklin toy amidst that and you make sales based on "oh hey, that ship from the Abrams series sort of based on the NX-01. Pure Star Trek, take my money!"