posted
HArry: Why do you say that with TAS being considered, TMP is in 2273. Have you forgotten that the second season of TAS was only HALF a year? So two-and-a-half years between midway through 2270 (the year that Kirk's five year mission ends according to a line in Voyager) puts TMP at 2272.
To whoever: The reason for having an extended period of time between TMP and TWOK is all due to Harve Bennett. (The producer who stepped in after Roddenberry was "promeoted.") He decided that while GR was content to ignore the aging of the actors and place TMP a short while after the series, he wanted the characters ages to match those of the actors. So, since the actors looked a decade older than they did in TOS, he decided to place TWOK in that timeframe.
The other thing (which isn't exactly strictly canon, but is conjectured by Okuda and I accept) is that Kirk probably commanded another 5-year mission after TMP. This only makes sense, as TMP was originally to be the pilot for the follow-up TV series Star Trek: Phase II. A full list of episodes and partial scripts/treatments is available in the book ST II, and I am content to regard those stories as the events of the second 5-year mission, after TMP. So then adding after that time for Spock's promotion to captain, Kirk's appointment to instructor at Starfleet Academy, and the Enterprise's assignment to training duty, etc, AND the possible short-term retirement of Kirk as per Generations, you canosee there is a need for quite some years between TMP and TWOK.
-------------------- The flaws we find most objectionable in others are often those we recognize in ourselves.
posted
Hey! I just got it! In Generations, Kirk says that his first nexus experience was "9 years ago" from 2293. SO that means he returned to starfleet in 2284. THAT'S why the Chronology pegs TWOK at 2285. Duh!
-------------------- The flaws we find most objectionable in others are often those we recognize in ourselves.
Registered: Jun 2001
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posted
Hey, folks, TMP can't be in 2271, 2272, or 2273!
Back when I was in college, after TWOK came out, I tried my hand at dating the movies and TOS. One thing I figured was that TMP had to be set in the late 2270's or early 2280's.
Remember, when they first figure out that V'Ger is really Voyager 6, Decker has the line, "Jim, this was launched more than 300 years ago." The first two Voyagers were launched in August and September of 1977. Therefore, TMP cannot take place any earlier than 2278, and that's assuming NASA could afford to punch out multimillion dollar space probes like issues of TV Guide!
From this I made a rough deduction that TOS' five year mission ran from 2271-76, based on a ballpark estimate for TMP at late 2279. Since that would put "Space Seed" in 2273 (roughly), it means we have to cram ST II-VI in the space between 2288 and 2293. Kinda uncomfortable, aint it.
-------------------- The difference between genius and idiocy? Genius has its limits.
posted
Then again, Phase II as such couldn't happen after TMP anyway: Decker is dead, and so is Ilia, and Xon has been transformed into a human and then stored in V'Ger's memory patterns. What we would have would simply be the continued adventures of Kirk, Spock and McCoy.
And how much sense do these adventures make? Kirk is a flag officer, the Chief of SF Operations, who should rightfully be sitting behind a desk at SF HQ. The one-off galactic emergency is gone now, so what excuse does Kirk have in staying in space (hearing that it took a fight for him to get permission to do the V'Ger mission already - clearly the people in the Admiralty oppose of his space-hopping)? McCoy apparently hated being dragged off his civilian life, so why would he stay aboard (although we see that apparently he does)?
I could see the Enterprise undergoing plenty of post-TMP five-year missions, but not Kirk. And probably not Spock, who would have no ambitions of such command, and would probably settle for training cruises and the like if given captaincy straight after TMP.
A pre-TMP mission for the crew would be quite plausible psychologically etc., but then again, Kirk spoke of five years "out there". So while I'm all for moving TMP to the late 2270s, I'd have Kirk spend the meantime in some other assignment, close to Earth, sucking up to the boss to get those two promotion steps.
II, and I am content to regard those stories as the events of the second 5-year mission, after TMP. So then adding after that time for Spock's promotion to captain, Kirk's appointment to instructor at Starfleet Academy, and the Enterprise's assignment to training duty, etc, AND the possible short-term retirement of Kirk as per Generations, you canosee there is a need for quite some years between TMP and TWOK.
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