When I was watching the First Season TOS Marathon last week, I noticed something. The sets for the Starbase offices, seen a few times, like in The Menagarie 1 and 2 and Court Martial... we see a wierd 'window' in the background. I hadn't taken much notice, until I thought, I've seen that elsewhere... then it clicked - it was the 'arrowhead' design that we see on the side of the Enterprise's secondary hull... Like the possible Klingon embolym SP? from Errand of Mercy... this could indeed be the actual early Starfleet/Federation symbol... seeing as it was smackbang in the middle of the wall in several Starbase offices. Its probably not a windows, as we see normal square windows along the other wall... I think it just had that 'hologram paper' sort of stuff that was used in abundance throughout Trek 'inside it' making it look like a window.

Screen cap anyone?

(If anyone has played "The Sims" there is a sort of 'boomerang' window available to use that looks like this design... it looks very retro - maybe they took it from Trek, or it was a popular sixties window style!?!... Masao?? ;o) )

Andrew

Anyway, I've always assumed that that was supposed to be some sort of early generic-SF symbol, along w/ the tall-upper-point star.

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"Although, from what I understand, having travelled around the Mid-west quite a bit, apparently Jesus is coming, so I guess the choice now is we should decide whether we should spit or swallow."
-Maynard James Keenan

It's not even directly tied to the Enterprise arrowhead at that - people aboard those other Constitutions that sported this boomerang wore non-arrowhead chest insignia.

Perhaps it could be argued to be a special logo for "starship operations" (even though TAS later slaps the thing on various freighters as well). Most probably, though, it's a generic Starfleet decorative motif, popular in the mid-23rd century but falling in disuse in later years (replaced by the Enterprise-style arrowhead).

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"The sons of the Prophet were valiant and bold,
And quite unacustomed to fear.
But, of all, the most reckless, or so I am told,
Was Abdulah Boul Boul Ameer."
Aban's Illustration www.alanfore.com

But there is too much of a coincidence in the design between the thing on the wall and the thing on the pennant on the ship... no?

Maybe like the Klingon 'design' from Errand of Mercy this was their first go at a "insignia"? (By the show - not the actual governments )

P.S. TSN, thats a nice screen cap... You don't happen to have Errand of Mercy on DVD do you?

Andrew
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Homer: I'm gonna miss Springfield. This town's been awfully good to us.
Bart: No, it hasn't, Dad. That's why we're leaving.
Homer: Oh, yeah. [pokes his head out the window] So long, Stinktown!

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"It strikes me that there are enough episodes of the Simpsons that people could speak entirely in Simpsonese, using references from the show to explain or describe an endless series of situations. Nelson and Apu . . . at Tinagra.

But now I�ve brought Star Trek into it again, haven�t I. Sorry."

Then (so the non-canon people continue), Starfleet decided to change it's official logo and the individual logos of all vessels to honor the illustrious history of the Starship Enterprise, and the arrowhead was thus adopted throughout the fleet for generic use, replaced ship symbols on uniforms, and replaced the gold and red banner on the sides of starships.

After TOS, somebody in Starfleet realized that the stylized version was in fact much cooler than the original version, so that was painted on the ship hulls from there on. And gradually, the other "Fleets" or "Commands" or "Divisions" stopped using their logos and adopted the revised common logo.

This abandoning of individual logos need not have been immediate or even pre-TMP, mind you. It is quite possible that we simply happened to see ships and forces belonging solely to this "1st Fleet" or "Central Command" during the first movie. After all, we only visited one location, namely Earth, in that movie, whereas in TOS we hopped all across Federation space and could thus plausibly encounter numerous local sub-organizations. Perhaps the 3rd Fleet was out there in exercises, with an "Exeter" patch worn by everybody? Perhaps Rigel Command was patrolling the Rigel colonies, with a "Constellation" patch on every chest?

Also, who says the Enterprise is in the "1st Fleet" or whatever? Why would they keep a newly refitted ship, presumably one of the strongest in the fleet at that period, solely in the genral vicinity of Earth? If she is THE flagship of Starfleet, even for only a few years, she would probably have been moved around Federation territory as much as she was in her original configuration once she had a mission. Which usually happens after a shakedown cruise.

I'm still not convinced the TOS Enterprise-nil ever was a flagship or even a very important ship for Starfleet, though. She had a low-ranking CO compared with two other known Constitutions. She was never seen leading any fleets. And while she did carry some dignitaries, there was never anybody of, say, UFP Council Member caliber aboard. So on second thought, she might not have been "1st Fleet" - rather, she'd simply be whatever fleet Starbase 11 belonged to, to explain the shared uniform logos in "Court Martial".

What prompted Starfleet to replace the boomerang with this SB 11/Enterprise logo, then? I guess the usual explanation, about this being done in honor of the Enterprise, COULD be true after all. But it's also possible that some other element of this SB 11/Enterprise organization was responsible for the change. Perhaps it was done because Fleet Admiral Stone or UFP Vice President Mendez wanted to honor his old unit?

So was the post-refit E-nil a flagship? We never saw her perform such a role. Then again, we saw very little of her before she was relegated to a training ship role. So it's difficult to tell. If Kirk commanded her after TMP and before Spock took over, then a flagship role *would* fit nicely - she'd be the first starship we've seen commanded by an Admiral.