Let's use "Where No Man Has Gone Before". The show is set in 2196, two hundred years after 1996. Two events from this year are mentioned-the writings of Tarbolde and the loss of the SS Valiant. Later, in the movies, the date is fixed as being in the 2280's and the series were set in 2260's. This means that the events mentioned above for the year 1996 have to be moved forward at least a century to account for the subtraction of two hundred years from the year or decade established for "Where No Man Has Gone Before". This has to be across the board, not a select few events. Mr. Okuda in his timeline places the writings of Tarbolde in 1996 and the loss of the SS Valiant in 2065. This is ignoring the difference of two hundred years mentioned in the show. Why chose the writings of Tarbolde to occur in 1996, and not the loss of the SS Valiant? According to the original series, the SS Valiant is in the same period as the DY-100 Class ships. It could be argued that the SS Valiant had gone through a wormhole and arrived at the galactic edge. In the episode, one of the questions posed is, "How did the SS Valiant get out here?". However, Mr. Okuda assumed that the ship had warp drive and traveled to the edge of the galactic barrier. There is no evidence that the SS Valiant had warp drive; in fact, the evidence denies the existence of warp drive aboard the SS Valiant. This ship had impulse drive. One of the key phrases from the events of the SS Valiant for me is "...swept this direction...". This says that the ship had no influence over its course. What could sweep a ship to the galactic barrier? A wormhole could. The only "known" picture of the SS Valiant shows a ship with warp engines heading to the galactic barrier. This ship has control of its course.
posted
Are you sure about the non-existent evidence that the valiant had no warp-drive? It was awhile since I saw the episode, but I seem to recall a mention about the valiant�s old warp-drive not having enough power to withstand the storms.
------------------ "The Starships of the Federation are the physical, tangible manifestations of Humanity�s stubborn insistence that life does indeed mean something." Spock to Leonard McCoy in "Final Frontier"
posted
Would the date of 2196 be part of the backstory of "WNMHGB" at all? Or does it simply stem from the fact that some TOS episodes referred to the late 20th century as being "200 years ago" (most notably "Space Seed" and "Tomorrow is Yesterday")? I don't think there ever was a consensus about the timeline during the filming of TOS, much less during "WNMHGB".
I agree about the Tarbolde mistake, though - I think Mitchell says explicitly that the poem was written 200 years prior.
Michael Jay Friedman is supposedly writing a book about the SS Valiant story. He hinted at it already in his "Brother's Keeper" books, but a dedicated novel is coming out later this year. I'm not sure Friedman is the man best qualified for the job, but at least he's the guy with most "Stargazer era" books so far. The timeframe ande heroes will come from Stargazer in that book.
posted
Captain Kirk's line from this episode is: "The old impulse engines weren't strong enough." The SS Valiant had encountered a magnatic space storm which swept the ship past the galactic barrier by a half light-year and the ship turned about and headed back into the galaxy. I will amend my earlier statement as saying the SS Valiant had no warp drive. She apparently had warp drive. This suggests in the same time period as the Eugenics War (Third World War) ships had warp drive. However, the issues with the official timeline stand in reference to the dating of events. "Where No Man Has Gone Before" is set in 2196. Two hundred years after 1996 is 2196. This is supported by later episodes. Only one episode ever deviated from this timeline significantly and this is the episode "The Squire of Gothos". By the way, the SS Valiant is said to been lost almost two hundred years before. ------------------
takeoffs are optional; landings are mandatory
[This message has been edited by targetemployee (edited March 20, 2000).]
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