posted
Important historical dates from this episode marked by an asterisk * or speculation gleaned from evidence in the episode marked by a #. (I am using the date 2265 from the chronology. The canonical date for this episode is 2196-200 years after 1996.)
2065 SS Valiant is lost. Tarbolde writes "Nightingale Women".* 2242 Gary Mitchell is born.* 2243 Elizabeth Dehner is born.* 2250 James Kirk meets Gary Mitchell as a child. There was no suggestion from the episode that both man made first contact in the Academy. #* 2260 This can be the earliest year that Gary Mitchell join the Academy. (Most people go into college or an academy at eighteen years of age.) Between this year and 2262, Lt. James Kirk is an instructor at the Academy and teaches a class that Gary Mitchell is enrolled in. # 2264 Gary Mitchell graduates. (Assuming a four year academy for officers.) Capt. Kirk requests that Lt. Gary Mitchell be assigned to his ship. During this year, there are visits to Dimorus and Deneb IV. #* Elizabeth Dehner graduates from the College of Medical Sciences at the Tri-Plantary Academy and is assigned to the Aldearan Colony. Her thesis is on esp.* 2265 Capt Kirk is made commander of the USS Enterprise. Lt. Cmdr. Gary Mitchell tranfers to the USS Enterprise. (There is an interesting note to be made here-the tombstone dates for James Kirk read "C 1277.1 to 1313.7". Based on the use of stardates used in TOS and later series, I speculate that Gary Mitchell didn't know the birthdate of the captain, so he used the date when Capt Kirk became captain of the USS Enteprise. This would suggest that Capt Kirk hadn't been in command of the USS Enterprise for more than two months.) #* 1312.4 "Where No Man Has Gone Before"*
In a later episode of TOS, Capt Kirk is recognized as a captain who has fought in wars. His ability to rise from Lt. to Capt. in two years may be attributed to this unstable condition in the Federation.
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takeoffs are optional; landings are mandatory
[This message has been edited by targetemployee (edited February 04, 2000).]
Tahna Here. Just edited your post cuz I couldn't see your dates properly. Hope you don't mind
[This message has been edited by Tahna Los (edited February 04, 2000).]
posted
Have you looked at the Star Trek Chronology? It probably gives alot of the info you have here.
It brings out that Kirk's back story probably has the most holes and inconsistancies in it. It specualtes that Kirk was actually still a cadet when he taught at the Academy (like as a teacher's aide).
Another interesting note is that the tombstone you mentioned also reads "James R. Kirk" as his middle name of Tiberious had not yet been established.
------------------ "A gathering of Angels appeared above my head. They sang to me this song of hope, and this is what they said..." -Styx
posted
Ok, I am confused on this whole tombstone bit. Kirk died in Generations.
------------------ What started in Jerusalem as a relationship, went on to become a philosophy in Athens, an institution in Rome, a culture in nothern Europe, and was turned into an enterprise in America. -paraphrased, author unknown-
posted
Well, who says Gary Mitchell had any idea what Kirk's middle name was? Or maybe Kirk used to be embarassed of his name, so he told people it was "Richard", or something...
------------------ Col. Maybourne: "Teal'c... It's good to see you well." Teal'c: "In my culture, I would be well within my rights to dismember you." -Stargate SG-1: "Touchstone"
posted
Yeah Kirk died in Generations, but Gary Mitchell tried to kill him in the TOS ep we're talking about and created a tombstone and grave for Kirk. It was very mean of him.
------------------ "A gathering of Angels appeared above my head. They sang to me this song of hope, and this is what they said..." -Styx
According to the Encyclopedia, the 5 year mission started in the year 2264 (not '65) and ended in '69.
Kirk was born in 2233. In around 2250, Kirk served on the USS Republic as an Ensign; His services aboard the Rebublic was apparently while he was still attending the academy. He was Llieutenant on the Farragut which was described as his first posting after the academy - encyclopedia side note
In 2254, he served on the Farragut right after Graduation. (at this point, Kirk is 24 year old)
Then in 2264 he gets command of the Enterprise.
In 2270, Kirk becomes Admiral and becomes Chief of Starfleet Ops.
2271 - V'Ger. (Star Trek: TMP)
In 2284, Kirk becomes staff instructor w/ rank of Admiral - was dissatisfied with it.
By 2285, returned to active duty when Khan hijacks the Reliant (WOK).
In 2293, Kirk saved the peace during the Gorkon Initiative (ST:UC). (Side note, personally, I think Spock saved the accord, not Kirk)
Kirk went into retirment after that and was an honoured guest on the Excelsior-class Enterprise-B in 2293. (ST:Gen)
He remained in the NExus until 2371.
2371, Kirk was buried by Captain Jean-Luc Picard on Veridian III
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Now.. there is some confusion here as well... I'll quote directly from the book:
The significant time gap between ST:TMP and ST:II:WOK, suggests the possibility that Kirk commanded another 5 yr mission of the Enterprise following the events in the first Movie, although this is pure conjecture. If Kirk and the Enterprise did embark on another five year mission in 2271, they probably returned in 2276. Star Trek Generations could be interpreted to suggest that Kirk's first retirement was some time between 2276 and 2282, when he met Antonia (whom he fell in love after his first retirement). On the other hand, the 2271 date for ST:TMP is itself somewhat conjectural in that it is based purely on the 18-month refit time for the Enterprise. It is not impossible that Kirk and the Enterprise had other assignments after the tv series, but before the major refit of the ship?? Such assgnments would push back the date for the first ST film, but would not significantly invalidate the timeline.
I guess what that's suggesting is that after the V'ger incident, they took the Enterprise on another 5 yr mission .. *shrug*
It could fit .. Cuz he becomes Admiral in 2282, and in 2285, Khan strikes..
Those are the facts as I know them.
------------------ -There can be only Nine !! ..mmm.. maybe 10 !!
- Alshrim Dax The Other Dax:
[This message has been edited by Alshrim Dax (edited February 05, 2000).]
[This message has been edited by Alshrim Dax (edited February 05, 2000).]
(Note: I only saw TMP once, and it was at least 5 years ago: my memory of the movie is fuzzy)
------------------ Ross: "Inter arma, enim silent leges." Bashir: "'In the time of war the law falls silent.' Cicero. Have we become a 24th-century Rome, driven by the fact that Caesar can do no wrong?!" -Inter Arma Enim Silent Leges
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The whole logic of placing TMP just a year or two after the end of TOS has always escaped me. The writers had obviously intended it to take place quite a while after the series (like the ten years in real time), and the return of Spock and McCoy after such a short time looses its impact (hell they didn't even have to resign, the could've just used their accumulated leave). It wouldn't be that big of deal if there was some good reason to place it right after the series, but I am mystified as to what that reason would be.
Registered: Mar 1999
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posted
I'm not sure I really believe it, either. I mean, all the characters look significantly older (as the actors themselves are). I'm not sure if it would really be ten years, since the characters didn't quite act like they hadn't seen each other in a decade, but I'd definitely make it a few years (four or five, maybe?).
------------------ Lisa: "A rose by any other name would smell as sweet." Bart: "Not if you called them 'stench blossoms'..." -The Simpsons
posted
The minimum time difference between TOS and TMP would be 2.5 years, since that's the time Kirk had spent in a desk job. The maximum time would be something like fifteen years, since the cast is older still in STII which takes place roughly 13-17 years after TOS "Space Seed" (a probably much-rounded time interval of 15 years is mentioned).
Kirk could have had his second five-year mission *before* TMP if need be. Or then he could have been a desk pilot all that time between TOS and TMP, from 2.5 years to as much as 15 years.
As for Kirk's birth stardate in "Where No Man...": it could have been his real birthdate, since "Conscience of a King" establishes that either stardates back then were really long or they were cyclic - an event more than twenty years in the past is given a stardate less than a dozen units lower than the "current" stardate.
And as for the ages of Mitchell and Dehner, I wouldn't believe either of them. Mitchell simply *couldn't* be a Lt.Cmdr at the tender age of 23 - and he sure didn't look like 23 to me! Those probably weren't Earth years.
posted
What the Chronology suggests (though not cannon) is that the second pilot for TOS took place two years into the five year mission and that the animated series took place after the original series but before the refit. It also speculates that there was indeed another five year mission between the first two movies which contained the events from Star Trek: Phase 2, the series that was never aired.
This all makes perfect sense to me.
------------------ "A gathering of Angels appeared above my head. They sang to me this song of hope, and this is what they said..." -Styx
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