Numerous sources I've read say that the registry number for the starship Defiant (NCC 1764) was taken from an internal memo by D.C. Fontana or somebody during the third season of TOS.
Has anyone actually seen the memo? Or is this just another one of those "this is the source" rumors that fans like to banter about?
Not that it matters anymore, since ENT has shown the Defiant with this registry.
-- Kenny
Posted by The Mighty Monkey of Mim (Member # 646) on :
Our own Jonah Rapp, aka Peregrinus, was the one who first mentioned this to me and I have been somewhat guilty of spreading it about the Internet without further documentation. I recently e-mailed him asking about his source, and he replied:
quote:Unfortunately, this is one of two data points that comes from the screwy time when I was in transition between living in Japan and living in California. The origin of the Defiant's registry and the notion of an Excelsior-class U.S.S. Kongo came from one or more conversations with either Rick Sternbach or Mike Okuda (or both), either by phone or e-mail, and I have no documentation for any of it. I have no idea what happened to most of the e-mails we were exchanging around that time, and those are fortunately the only two bits of important information. The rest was mostly anecdotal and not directly related to in-universe fluff.
--Jonah
Someone might possibly attempt to contact Sternbach and/or Okuda via e-mail or a post on the TrekBBS (where they are both current posters) in order to glean anything more.
In any case, as you said, the issue is rendered somewhat moot by the recent appearance of the Defiant (bearing said number) in all her glory in the ENT "In a Mirror, Darkly" two-parter.
![[Big Grin]](biggrin.gif)