Ok I know this is a very old topic, probably already discussed to death 10 years ago or more, but I just couldn't find it in any relevant thread (maybe I'm search-engine challenged) so I'm submitting it again...
In my endless search for background canonical ships, I stumbled the other day on this article on Memory Alpha about a display in TNG The Measure Of A Man that I hadn't noticed before.
It's a yummy list of 24 ships that are all but impossible to read, of course that didn't stop me from trying. I don't have access to the episode myself so I used the screen captures from the wiki article.
I managed to figure out most of the last column, which lists the ship missions (although the unreadable header is a single word much longer than MISSION). The third column is most probably the ship captain/commander name.
One thing I had in mind was that since this display appeared at roughly the same time as the ship list in TNG Up The Long Ladder (the one with all the DY-class vessels), then maybe the creator (Mike Okuda) may have recycled some of the data from one list to the other, as simply as copy-paste. And indeed I think it did happen, some mission descriptions like DIPLOMATIC MISSION TO ALDERAAN are present on both charts (and then on the starship status chart in the E-D observation lounge as well).
Nothing to write home about, but using other known okudagrams and input from you guys, we might just nail a few of those ships.
For instance, there's a strange ship name, the 6th from the top, that looks like USS XXXXXXX X from a distance... That space towards the end is unusual, and knowing that some copy-paste was involved in the making of the display, it got me thinking... Perhaps we're looking at the USS HOKULE'A, probably not the same SS HOKULE'A mentioned on the DY-class chart. I expect many of the ships on this display have also been seen on earlier/later okudagrams.
So do any of you have better screen captures from the episode, or any hunch as to what those ships may be ? Or some inside info from Mike Okuda ? Don't be shy, there's no shame in rehashing this dusty old stuff... or is there ? Posted by Dukhat (Member # 341) on :
I think you've hit the nail on the head with the four columns representing ship names, registry numbers, commanders, and missions. I would hazard a guess that all the captains (with the exception of Picard and other captains referred to by name), are just names of production people. That's what Okuda generally did when making charts of this nature.
As for the ship names, Okuda stated that most of the TNG era ship names from the Encyclopedia has their origins in one form or another from this chart. Without any hard facts, I think you just need to make a list of early TNG ship names that were spoken or referred to. I'd bet you'd get the right amount of ships eventually. Heck, I can make a list right now:
Yup, that would make sense ! If all the ships listed in the Encyclopedia have a canonical origin, then this Ship Deploy display may be the source for the missing ones. The charts from Unification and E-D observation lounge have been already well deciphered, so what's left ? I'll try to fit names from your list to the display, and see what gives.
I would remove ships with a NX registry (Bradbury, Galaxy), as the registry column is very regular, all NCC prefixes as much as I can tell. Oh well, then maybe they *were* listed with NCC registries here. Never mind !
There are still weird gaps in some names that are difficult to explain, such as USS XXXXXXXXX X XXX... It's probably a full name such as John F. Kennedy.
Wish this display had turned up on It's A Wrap !
Posted by B.J. (Member # 858) on :
Oh, and I'd use the LCARS font for your analysis rather than that monospaced one, since that will help you compare your results to the screencaps better.
Posted by Reverend (Member # 335) on :
I'm fairly certain the next to last name is Yorktown...two up from that looks like Apollo...that's all I can make out for now. Has the scene been given the Jorg treatment yet? He's usually the man to speak to about good screen caps.
Posted by Andru (Member # 2145) on :
B.J.: Thanks heaps, that's the sharpest screen capture I've seen so far ! I've converted my file to Swiss911 ultra-condensed, it's the best (free) match I've found for the LCARS font.
Reverend: I have to agree with the Yorktown and the Apollo, they're the best fitting names in there. Not sure if the registry of the Yorktown fits with the one in the Encyclopedia though, but it's so hard to read. And the Apollo, could that be the class ship for the Ajax and co ? It would be nice !
Thanks for your help !
Posted by Lee (Member # 393) on :
I'm rather alarmed to realise that the ship name "USS Timothy S. Nix" fits the fifth line. . .
Posted by Reverend (Member # 335) on :
Well, right off the bat it's obvious that if the first three letters of the Yuri Gagarin's commander's name are "BJO", then it has to be Bjo Trimble.
Posted by Andru (Member # 2145) on :
My thought as well, but the surname doesn't look like it starting with a T. Maybe it's not BJO after all, but I just can't see anything else.
I call foul on this one. You cant make out anything from those screencaps with any certainty, people are going to see what they want to see in those little blurry letters. It's a Trek Rorschach test. I'd stick to making up our own stuff without resorting to scrutinising tiny screencaps to justify it. Until a clear capture appears, there's nothing certain.
Posted by Andru (Member # 2145) on :
I would prefer solid data myself, and if anybody has got readable screencaps, inside info or anything of help, then by all means let me know ! I don't plan on calling any ship from this list canon until better evidence is produced. But in the meantime, it's fun trying to figure out this stuff.
Posted by TSN (Member # 31) on :
"I'm rather alarmed to realise that the ship name 'USS Timothy S. Nix' fits the fifth line. . ."
I'm everywhere.
Posted by Dukhat (Member # 341) on :
I agree with Axeman. Some time ago, I posted a screencap of the debris field in VOY's "Caretaker" to see if anyone could identify anything. At least two people saw an Akira-class starship in the wreckage, despite the fact that the Akira-class hadn't even been invented at the time.
I do have Okuda's email address, but I'm loathe to pester him about this. I mean, he made that chart twenty years ago. Unless it shows up in the eBay auction, I'd say this was a lost cause.
Posted by Andru (Member # 2145) on :
No way, that was not an Akira, I tell you it's an NX class ! Posted by Johnny (Member # 878) on :
Mike Okuda posts on Doug Drexler's blog quite often. Might be worth tacking on a quick question about this next time there's an article about LCARS.
Posted by Dukhat (Member # 341) on :
THREAD REVIVE!
So thanks to the BluRays for TNG season 2, someone was able to finally make out most of the names from the Starship Deploy Status chart. Keep in mind that, like the "Conspiracy" displays, the names and registry numbers might not be exactly correct, since while the HD scenes are clearer, the text is still quite hard to make out with 100% accuracy.
USS Enterprise NCC-1701-D Jean-Luc Picard Docked at Starbase 173
USS Yamato NCC-24383 Richard McKenzie On Patrol, Sector 134, Neutral Zone
USS Constantinople NCC-43622 Richard James Special Assignment, Terraform Command
USS Wellington NCC-33821 Thomas Pucer On Patrol, Sector 130, Neutral Zone
USS Farouk El-Baz NCC-31823 Cari L. Thomas On Patrol, Sector 130, Neutral Zone
USS Hokule'a NCC-31087 Robert Metoyer Planetary Exploration, Sector 130
USS Atlantis NCC-32710 Dick Brownfield Diplomatic Mission to Alderaan
Illegible NCC-31054 Elaina Vescio Deep Space Exploration, Sector 010
USS Neil Armstrong NCC-31806 Gere LaDue Planetary Exploration, Sector 142
USS Saratoga NCC-31640 Martin Jedlicka Deep Space Exploration, Sector 002
USS Da-Teplan NCC-30087 Richard Cronn Planetary Exploration, Sector 054
USS Endeavour NCC-25330 Cosmo Genovese Deep Space Exploration, Sector 007
USS Yorktown NCC-20045 Gregory Benson Deep Space Exploration, Sector 032
USS Excelsior NCC-21445 Muriel Epstein Deep Space Exploration, Sector 034
USS Amber NCC-21335 Marian Fife Diplomatic Mission to Alderaan
USS Lexington NCC-30405 Wil Thoms Planetary Exploration, Sector 028
USS Excalibur NCC-21534 Al Smutko On Patrol, Sector 130, Neutral Zone
USS Yuri Gagarin NCC-25306 Alan Bernard On Patrol, Sector 142, Neutral Zone
Illegible NCC-30532 Peter Lauritson Under Repair, Starbase 74
USS Apollo NCC-30000 Dennis McCarthy Deep Space Exploration, Sector 002
USS Endeavour NCC-25330 Cosmo Genovese Deep Space Exploration, Sector 007
USS Yorktown NCC-20045 Gregory Benson Deep Space Exploration, Sector 032
USS Excelsior NCC-21445 Muriel Epstein Deep Space Exploration, Sector 034
Besides the Enterprise-D, there are twenty other ships on the list. The Endeavour, Yorktown, and Excelsior are repeated at the end of the list.
Posted by Spike (Member # 322) on :
I'd put the Da-Teplan down as illegible as well. Every other ship name makes sense except this one.
Posted by Dukhat (Member # 341) on :
quote:Originally posted by Spike: I'd put the Da-Teplan down as illegible as well. Every other ship name makes sense except this one.
Unless Okuda wanted an alien-sounding name for a ship and just made it up. But yeah, you're probably right.
Also, there was some debate whether the "Amber" was actually the "Aries." I'd prefer it was Amber, if only because there wouldn't be a registry discrepancy with the Aries's known registry.
Posted by Fabrux (Member # 71) on :
Oh yay, another registry for the Yamato.
Posted by Dukhat (Member # 341) on :
quote:Originally posted by Fabrux: Oh yay, another registry for the Yamato.
That's the funny thing...right before "Measure of a Man" we see the Yamato and Riker says its registry is 1305-E. Then comes MOAM. Then comes "Contagion," where the ship's registry is both 71807 on a display, and 71806 on the saucer (seen when the ship explodes)
Personally, I think the Yamato on this chart is an older ship (probably an Ambassador based on its number) that was on its last mission, and the newer Yamato had been launched before the older ship was decommissioned. The fact that the ships have different captains kinda bears this out.
Posted by MinutiaeMan (Member # 444) on :
quote:Originally posted by Dukhat: Then comes "Contagion," where the ship's registry is both 71807 on a display, and 71806 on the saucer (seen when the ship explodes)
That one's easy to explain. Obviously the Iconian virus was not only messing with the computer files, but it was also causing the replicators to malfunction and repainting the hull in the process. Posted by Andru (Member # 2145) on :
It's great to have this information at last! It's disappointing though -- but perhaps not unexpected -- that it contradicts most of the data we already had on those ships. And lots of it is difficult to reconcile/rationalise. Ah well, at least we know now!
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