What is the age of the Enterprise (NCC-1701)?
- Thread starter PhaserLightShow
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Sounds reasonable. But who commands Enterprise?
Spock?
Yeah, I edited my post. He says it was "nine years ago" from his point of view, and we know the 23rd century part of Generations is 78 years before 2371.
Quite possible.
Then again, doesn't a reporter in 'Generations' say something along the lines B being the First enterprise in 30 years without James Kirk in command? Now we know for a fact that this is not true. Spock was the Captain, at least for briefly. But had there been fifteen year gap in Kirk's command of the Enterprise, wouldn't it be likely that the reporters would have remembered that?
Hmm... Maybe. A bit strained reading, but I'll take it.
It's not strained, it's the only explanation unless the journalist was just a hack who hadn't done her research. Since we know categorically that Decker and Spock were both Enterprise captains within that period, it's the only logical explanation! For what it's worth, I never read the line the way you did, it always seemed plain what she meant.
They say the first Enterprise in 30 years without a Kirk at the helm. The fact they said "at the helm" should be an indicator of their level of accuracy, or interest. Kirk only resumed command with the Enterprise A in the early 2280's, Spock had been in command of the 1701 during her Cadet ferrying days as late as 2284.
I suppose the reporter meant that an Enterprise had never been on a deep space assignment under any other Captain since Decker and Spock presumably did not take her on a 5 year mission.
I suppose the reporter meant that an Enterprise had never been on a deep space assignment under any other Captain since Decker and Spock presumably did not take her on a 5 year mission.
Considering the two lines you mention were penned by the same person, it speaks more to sloppy writing and continuity than anything else. In universe, I suppose the reporters asking the questions weren't even 30 years old, so their knowledge of history is probably a bit lacking.
Unless there actually was 30 years in between the end of TUC and the beginning to GEN, but then you have the 78 years to the part of the movie with the TNG cast.
Which would push the TNG portion of GEN into the 25th century.
The reporter (in universe) simply didn't know what they were talking about, and Kirk wasn't really listening to what was being asked. Kirk was likely far more interested in the ship and what he was seeing.
†
Which would push the TNG portion of GEN into the 25th century.
The reporter (in universe) simply didn't know what they were talking about, and Kirk wasn't really listening to what was being asked. Kirk was likely far more interested in the ship and what he was seeing.
†
Thirty years would place Kirk in command in 2263. Before the start of the Five Year Mission.
Here's an interesting entry from Memory Alpha.
Here's an interesting entry from Memory Alpha.
Orion Press has it listed on its Unseen Elements page. I've never heard of this script before.
Absolutely.
A lot of what we fans think we know about Trek history is actually just "conjecture" from Mike and Denise Okuda's Chronology, which has been accepted in the absence or otherwise of proof. Yes, Spock talks about serving with Pike for 11 years, but he doesn't say all eleven of those were aboard Enterprise. The actual dialogue:
The idea that those eleven years were all aboard the Enterprise, and that therefore Pike must have done two five year missions as skipper, all of that is conjecture by the Okudas. It isn't "fact", even though Mike and Denise jump through several hoops to make things appear consistent with other facts. At the end of the day they're just fans like all of us, and a lot of what's written in the Chronology needs to be taken with a pinch of salt.
Anything about Robert April's time as skipper is even more murky, given that (TAS aside) the man himself is never really seen or heard much of.
So basically, this idea that April commanded a 5 year mission, then Pike did two of them, then Kirk did one (and if you accept post-TMP, that he even did a second), *all* of these things are just conjecture. They've never been officially established in canon, except for Kirk's original 5 year mission (and given that's often described as 'historic', we might assume that it wasn't normal operating procedure prior to that date.)
A great deal of time estimates are likely rounded off ballpark figures by various characters (only Spock and Data, or similar scientific-like characters, would probably give exact numbers--often to the annoyance of their captains).
Disregading all those meanings, and sticking to the Starfleet one, refitting would exclusively mean ripping off a ship's entire superstructure, stretching the hull by fifty feet, substituting Azipods for propellers-on-shafts, and (the most importantly) applying a new hull paint scheme. And that is likely not to work too well in the general case!
Or, if we move TMP to a more fitting timepoint in the late 2270s, who commanded her before that? But possibly Commodore Kirk did. After all, there is zero evidence that Kirk would have gone directly from Captain rank to Rear Admiral and a desk job when the Enterprise pulled in to Spacedock in 2270.
It's just that those years cannot count as "out there, dealing with unknowns like [V'Ger]", or they would forfeit Kirk's CV and his supposed uniqueness. But most of the stuff Starfleet does probably doesn't count as such, and ships commanded by Commodores might well spend five years doing wargames like Wesley's for all we know.
This is one interpretation. The other is that Kirk merely considered leaving Starfleet, but at the end of the cabin weekend decided against it, and broke the news of his Monday return to Antonia, softened with scrambled eggs.
Timo Saloniemi
Kirk's choice that fateful day seemed to be whether to go back to Starfleet or to marry Antonia. The latter is a pretty extreme opposite to the decision to not not return to work after a weekend...
Then again, perhaps Kirk wanted to make sure, not merely tell Antonia "Yes, I was serious about putting you ahead of my work, I will meet you again next weekend rather than take that mission to Sigma Gamma, now be a dear and get my uniform, dear" but instead commit big time. After which point the Nexus took him back to the day where "making sure" would carry the greatest reward, giving Kirk an extra two married years.
Either way, it doesn't really matter much what Kirk was doing "in the meantime", as it clearly didn't satisfy his appetite for adventure and thus wouldn't have made for good cinema or TV.
Timo Saloniemi
Then again, perhaps Kirk wanted to make sure, not merely tell Antonia "Yes, I was serious about putting you ahead of my work, I will meet you again next weekend rather than take that mission to Sigma Gamma, now be a dear and get my uniform, dear" but instead commit big time. After which point the Nexus took him back to the day where "making sure" would carry the greatest reward, giving Kirk an extra two married years.
Either way, it doesn't really matter much what Kirk was doing "in the meantime", as it clearly didn't satisfy his appetite for adventure and thus wouldn't have made for good cinema or TV.
Timo Saloniemi
Sorry, that's not what was said.
The female reporter states, "This is the first Starship Enterprise in 30 years without James T. Kirk in command...how do you feel about that, sir?"
You might be confusing this with Demora, where Kirk says, "It wouldn't be the Enterprise without a Sulu at the helm."
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