Where did the Enterprise go after Ceti Alpha V?

[Xerxes1979]

And why would it go there? Would the crew of the Reliant need to return to a non-Earth starbase following the destruction of their ship?

Given that the Enterprise appeared to be operating with a skeleton crew for the training voyage could not everybody have easily been accomidated onboard without double bunking?

Were the events of Star Trek II meant to portray many weeks of field operations? If not I don't understand the urgency reassigning the cadets.

 

[Therin of Andor]

Most of the cadets were still studying at the Academy; the training cruise wasn't their permanent assignment. Saavik was graduating from Command School, hence she was doing her Kobayashi Maru.

Although Kirk mentions that his ship was heading to Ceti Alpha V to pick up the marooned crew of the Reliant, the novelization also mentions the ship Firenze, which was to rendezvous. Since the novelization of ST II also includes Rand and Chapel as Enterprise crew - and, in the movie ST III, we see Rand already in the Spacedock cafeteria, watching the Enterprise return - perhaps Rand and Chapel were part of an Enterprise delegation that returned to Earth on Firenze with the injured cadets and the rescued Reliant crew?

Of course, the DC Comics gave the Enterprise several Spockless adventures between ST II and III, which coincidentally explains the additional damage to the bridge and outer hull when it arrives at Earth's Spacedock in ST III.

 

[Timo]

I doubt Starfleet would leave many of those cadets or enlisted-trainees aboard the hulk after the crisis was over; the ship probably would no longer be considered spaceworthy enough to guarantee the safety of the new generation. There'd probably be extensive in situ repairs before the ship attempted a homeward journey, even if James "often wrong" Kirk didn't opt for any between the Genesis system and Ceti Alpha V.

Incidentally, the L.A.Graf Captain's Table story War Dragons gives this time gap a sinister turn by suggesting that the entire Reliant crew died during their time on Ceti Alpha V. No explanation is given to why or how this happened; it's even possible they were all executed to begin with (an act worthy of the New And Deranged Khan, even if perhaps uncharacteristic of the Khan of "Space Seed"), and Chekov and Terrell were told a falsehood about their fate, one they readily accepted as truth thanks to the things bugging them.

and, in the movie ST III, we see Rand already in the Spacedock cafeteria, watching the Enterprise return

...That is, Commander Jocelyn Rand, the red-haired, successful but estranged elder sister to Lieutenant (jg) Janice Rand.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[Xerxes1979]

Incidentally, the L.A.Graf Captain's Table story War Dragons gives this time gap a sinister turn by suggesting that the entire Reliant crew died during their time on Ceti Alpha V. No explanation is given to why or how this happened;

It could be simple dehydration. Regula was 3 days warp travel from Ceti. So unless they were going very slowly to steal Genesis that would be going on week what even prior to the planetary disaster was described as a somewhat arid environment.

Most of the miracle stories in Haiti after the Earthquake were of people trapped in bathrooms or places were rain had collected.

Were they beamed to the same cargo containers the Botany crew were living living in? If so I give them slightly better odds.

 

[Admiral Buzzkill]

...That is, Commander Jocelyn Rand, the red-haired, successful but estranged elder sister to Lieutenant (jg) Janice Rand.

It was Janice Rand, there being no other point to her scene at all.

 

[Timo]

There'd be the least sense of all to her first being aboard the ship, then somehow speeding ahead of her back to Earth, then being shocked by something she had already seen before...

Overall, the story works better if the woman there is not Janice Rand. That familiar character would later appear in ST6 at Lt(jg) rank, which makes sense for a mustang who in ST:TMP still held enlisted rate. Even if she somehow managed to make full Commander in record time, demotion from full Commander to junior Lieutenant would be nonsensical.

Also, surely that scene must be nonsensical already because we don't know the moustached gentleman from a previous episode or movie? After all, the spectators being familiar to the audience was the only justification for the scene, right?

...Of course, there's a variety of Trek storytelling where Lwaxana Troi masqueraded as a Starfleet nurse in the 2260s, and also moonlighted as a starship computer. Happily, that's not the filmed variety...

Timo Saloniemi

 

[Hartzilla2007]

Incidentally, the L.A.Graf Captain's Table story War Dragons gives this time gap a sinister turn by suggesting that the entire Reliant crew died during their time on Ceti Alpha V. No explanation is given to why or how this happened;

It could be simple dehydration. Regula was 3 days warp travel from Ceti. So unless they were going very slowly to steal Genesis that would be going on week what even prior to the planetary disaster was described as a somewhat arid environment.

Most of the miracle stories in Haiti after the Earthquake were of people trapped in bathrooms or places were rain had collected.

Were they beamed to the same cargo containers the Botany crew were living living in? If so I give them slightly better odds.

Actually To Reign in Hell had the Reliant crew surviving with a few of them only being injured and they were in the cargo bay

There'd be the least sense of all to her first being aboard the ship, then somehow speeding ahead of her back to Earth, then being shocked by something she had already seen before...

That assumes she was on the ship, remember that was only in the novelization plus the Enterprise being fixed sent out on a few new missions after TWOK and then getting damaged again in time for TSFS theory could have also explain this.

 

[Therin of Andor]

There'd be the least sense of all to her first being aboard the ship, then somehow speeding ahead of her back to Earth, then being shocked by something she had already seen before...

Only if you believe the non canonical ST II novelization, which kept her and Chapel on the crew. But Nimoy didn't know, or thought it mattered, when he asked Grace Lee Whitney to do her ST III cameo.

And it wasn't shock on her face, it was sadness and disbelief, seeing the ship that used to be her home, from an angle she wasn't used to seeing, returning so badly damaged... and without Spock.

 

[Nerys Myk]

Overall, the story works better if the woman there is not Janice Rand. That familiar character would later appear in ST6 at Lt(jg) rank, which makes sense for a mustang who in ST:TMP still held enlisted rate. Even if she somehow managed to make full Commander in record time, demotion from full Commander to junior Lieutenant would be nonsensical.

...

Timo Saloniemi

They let her operate the transporter again.

 

[Red Ranger]

I doubt Starfleet would leave many of those cadets or enlisted-trainees aboard the hulk after the crisis was over; the ship probably would no longer be considered spaceworthy enough to guarantee the safety of the new generation. There'd probably be extensive in situ repairs before the ship attempted a homeward journey, even if James "often wrong" Kirk didn't opt for any between the Genesis system and Ceti Alpha V.

Incidentally, the L.A.Graf Captain's Table story War Dragons gives this time gap a sinister turn by suggesting that the entire Reliant crew died during their time on Ceti Alpha V. No explanation is given to why or how this happened; it's even possible they were all executed to begin with (an act worthy of the New And Deranged Khan, even if perhaps uncharacteristic of the Khan of "Space Seed"), and Chekov and Terrell were told a falsehood about their fate, one they readily accepted as truth thanks to the things bugging them.

and, in the movie ST III, we see Rand already in the Spacedock cafeteria, watching the Enterprise return

...That is, Commander Jocelyn Rand, the red-haired, successful but estranged elder sister to Lieutenant (jg) Janice Rand.

Timo Saloniemi

I prefer that explanation to any other, considering the rank inconsistencies. BTW, I'm trying to remember if "Rand" was also wearing command white in that scene?

 

[Timo]

She was.

Shock...
http://movies.trekcore.com/gallery/albums/tsfshd/tsfshd0171.jpg

..and awe.
http://movies.trekcore.com/gallery/albums/tsfshd/tsfshd0174.jpg

Or whatever.

(Those HD caps are fun... Is that a "real" magazine on the side table, or a prop created for the scene?)

Timo Saloniemi

 

[Nerys Myk]

Still recycling those TMP uniforms

 

[Anticitizen]

She was.

Shock...
http://movies.trekcore.com/gallery/albums/tsfshd/tsfshd0171.jpg

..and awe.
http://movies.trekcore.com/gallery/albums/tsfshd/tsfshd0174.jpg

Or whatever.

(Those HD caps are fun... Is that a "real" magazine on the side table, or a prop created for the scene?)

Timo Saloniemi

More importantly, is that a damn ashtray on the right?

 

[Kronos]

Look at that woman on the rights earrings, things look like they could rip her ears right off.

 

[Basill]

..and awe.
http://movies.trekcore.com/gallery/albums/tsfshd/tsfshd0174.jpg

Or whatever.

Timo Saloniemi

Funny. I always read that as, "Kirk, you putz."

More importantly, is that a damn ashtray on the right?

Peanuts. Aldebaran peanuts. (Granted, they have a hard shell and you have to light them on fire to suck the peanut flavor out of them )