That was Sonak. We met him earlier, when he caught up with Kirk at the spaceport.
What is THE Worst continuity error in Trek history..?!
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That was Sonak. We met him earlier, when he caught up with Kirk at the spaceport.
I do that a lot... now I have something to call it...
Clearly the Valiant has been identified as a specific ship by its call letters. So Kirk knows that it was what he defines as an "Earth Ship". so it doesn't matter if it was a government or private ship registered by the United Earth or by the USA or the USSR or Monaco or Liberia or the Holy Roman Empire or whatever, it is a ship from Earth. And in Enterprise they probably don't care if an Earth ship is private or government, registered by the United Earth government or by Panama or the Martian Colonies or or whatever, so long as it is a ship built and crewed by Earth Humans.
Maybe the Valiant disappeared or lost contact with Earth when it was much closer than 90 light years. So nobody knew how far it traveled. But if the Valiant could travel many hundreds or thousands of light years about 90 years before Enterprise we would expect other Earth ships would have gone more than 100 light years from Earth in the interval.
No, out of universe TMP and TNG cannot be held responsible for a TV show that came out decades after the fact. On the other hand, naming the NX-01 something other than Enterprise solves the continuity error. It's not hard. In fact, naming it Valiant might have actually been a nice continuity tie-in.
We're Star Trek fans, though. We don't care about real-world practicality. In universe the NX-01 should have been included for it's historical importance. The Enterprises that were depicted in TMP were significant historic ships named Enterprise. As depicted in ENT, the NX-01 was just as historically significant as these other ships named Enterprise.
This highlights one of the real problems (I have) with retcons and prequels. They get painted into corners and are either "stifled by the creative restraints" or they ignore continuity.
From the Cage I got the impression that Number One was both First Officer and Helm Control.
From Where No Man I got the impression (and I think I was wrong) that Gary Mitchell was First Officer and Navigator.
It was clear from TOS that Spock was First Officer and Science Officer
My conclusion was that First Officer was not a distinct and separate position from any other bridge position. The First Officer would be one other position as well.
It wasn't until TMP that the First Officer became distinct and separate. With the death of Xon in the transporter accident, Decker had to double as First Officer and Science Officer.
Riker in TNG was the first character to exclusively be First Officer.
1) Number one may have been both First Officer and Helm Control. "The cage"
2) Mitchell was certainly Navigator, Spock was Certainly Science Officer, and to drive us crazy both sometimes acted like First Officer. "Where No Man Has Gone Before"
3) Spock was First Officer and Science Officer in TOS and e don't know how common or rare that was.
4) STMP:
Thus STMP indicates that it is an imposition to burden someone with both the first officer and science officer jobs.
Chekov could have been the science officer on Reliant but there is little data.
I knew Xon was wrong when I typed it... but didn't remember why.
With all the wormholes and other spacial anomalies littering the galaxy in Star Trek, it's also quite possible something swept the Valiant out to the galactic rim far beyond it's operational range. I've not seen anyone suggest that in any discussion about the Valiant.
That's a whole other can of worms right there. Seriously, whether or not Gary Mitchell was the XO has been a point of contention for years. Even the novels can never agree about it.
No, although you can say that it wasn't a "United Earth ship."
That was the original version of the Enterprise C prior to it's "refit."
And it would be reasonable that no one on Earth knew happen to it after it was lost.
This where the contradiction comes in.
Nearly a century prior to the launch of the NX-01, Humanity was capable of building starships that could travel hundreds of light years, and in one case reach the galactic barrier. And Humanity could also build a probe that could after centuries reach the other side of the galaxy tens of thousands of light years away.
ST Enterprise says that going faster than warp two for the very first time was achieved less than a decade in the past, and that several decades before traveling 20 light years took 9 years.
With enough luck, I could jump in a row boat and go around the world. It doesn't mean that is what the thing was designed to do.
The Valiant was lost, Spock said that it was swept towards the galaxy edge by a storm. That wasn't the expectation.
I don't see the contradiction that unforeseen circumstances led a few craft to go outside their design limitations. Especially when the people who launched it considered it lost.
Well, to be fair, the Valiant only made it as far as it did because it was swept off course by a wormhole. If not for that, none of WNMHGB would have happened.
Clearly the Valiant wasn't designed to make it to the galactic edge (indeed, it couldn't be, given that it was constructed and launched only a short time after World War III)..it only got there because it was "abducted". Essentially the same as how the Voyager got to the Delta Quadrant.
For all we know, the Valiant's maximum speed WAS Warp 1...
Clearly the Valiant wasn't designed to make it to the galactic edge (indeed, it couldn't be, given that it was constructed and launched only a short time after World War III)..it only got there because it was "abducted". Essentially the same as how the Voyager got to the Delta Quadrant.
For all we know, the Valiant's maximum speed WAS Warp 1...
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Voyager VI was a sublight craft and it made it to the far side of the galaxy. That was about eighty years prior to mankind having FTL propulsion.
Shit happens. Especially in Star Trek.
And when you consider that it's a plot point that that particular "shit" happened to that particular unmanned sublight probe, arguing that it's a continuity error is like arguing that blue is wrong because it isn't green.
That the Valiant had journeyed to near the barrier on it's own power and then was sweep through the barrier "magnetic space storm," okay.
That it was in the immediate vicinity of Earth doing a little over warp one and a "magnetic space storm" moved it 500 light years, nope.
Try this, in Up a Long Ladder, a starship carrying two colonies left Earth in November of 2123, reaching the Ficus Sector. The Enterprise D was near the Ficus Sector and respond to one of the colonies distress signal. The previous episode the Enterprise was doing a survey of a pulsar cluster. The closest single pulsar to Earth is 280 light years.
In the ST Enterprise universe, in 2123 a starship would incapable of reaching warp 2.
Nope? Why "nope"?
If you're wondering how come no other ships fell prey to this anomaly? It doesn't have to be permanent. Haven't most wormholes we've seen in Trek been temporary phenomena that dissipated after a short time? I'm sure this was just another example of that.
The wormhole lasted long enough to snare the Valiant and dissipated soon after. Not at all hard to believe.
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What's the furthest away it can be using "old impulse engines"?
Where's the Ficus Sector? How far away is it from Earth? Where is the Epsilon IX* sector? How far away is it from Earth? How many light years did the Enterprise travel between Stardate 42779.1 and Stardate 42823.2? The pulsar in the Samaritan Snare the pulsar is new so it can't be one known today.
*In Star Trek: The Motion Picture The Epsilon IX station was destroyed by V'Ger when it was 53.4 hours away from Earth. The Encylopedia speculates the station was in the Epsilon IX sector.
I agree with everyone when it's the Borg continuity in "Star Trek Voyager". Hate it how the Hansens clearly knew the Borg existed even before Picard and the Enterprise.
I also hate the Spock-Uhura relationship in the JJ Abrams' "Star Trek", plus Chekov's age in the new films.
I also hate the Spock-Uhura relationship in the JJ Abrams' "Star Trek", plus Chekov's age in the new films.
So does the Enterprise. Nothing contradicts Valiant did not have warp drive as well.
Enterprise crew were acted as if Valiant had FTL.
Nope? Why "nope"?
If you're wondering how come no other ships fell prey to this anomaly? It doesn't have to be permanent. Haven't most wormholes we've seen in Trek been temporary phenomena that dissipated after a short time? I'm sure this was just another example of that.
The wormhole lasted long enough to snare the Valiant and dissipated soon after. Not at all hard to believe.
If Valiant is only capable of warp 1 then it would have to be a sleeper ship. Warp 1 = speed of light and nearest star from Earth is 5 light years away. It would take 500 years at warp 1 to reach 500 light years from Earth. Going by the old (non-canon) warp factor cubed = multiple of light speed then a warp 2 ship goes 8 time the speed of light and can make a 500 light year journey in 63 years.
If Valiant was an impulse or warp 1 ship then it's mission would have been close to Earth. You don't send a ship on a 500 year mission in the 21st or early 22nd centuries. That's a waste of resources. A warp 2 ship is going to go further from home, but still stay relatively close for the same reason. The faster the ship goes, the greater range from Earth it will have due to practical necessities.
It wasn't mentioned, there for it doesn't exist. (Canon 101) And if they had it, they would have used it. Writers include such details for a reasons. Reasons that inform the plot. They mention impulse engines to show the ship was more
primitive than the Enterprise.
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