posted
Well, not the ONLY way it makes sense. Maybe McCoy was just messing with Kirk's head. I'd be kinda surprised if I was handed something that shouldn't exist for a few decades, wouldn't you? McCoy, old country doctor that he is, would understand. Kirk might not.
And in your calendar, we still have the problems with the Eugenics wars.
-------------------- "This is why you people think I'm so unknowable. You don't listen!" - God, "God, the Devil and Bob"
posted
I quite like the ida that they tried to "metric-ise" time measuring. Not just years, but possibly other terms. Remember, er, that TOS episode with Lincoln and Surak in it? Lincoln asks Kirk if they are still using minutes, and Kirk (rather smugly) says "We can convert them". Which is a strange line, considering that they'd been using minutes for over two seasons.
Perhaps there was a whole metric/non-metric argument going on in the late 23rd century. It would also explain why they switched between Kilometers and Miles every episode, and often in the same scene.
Perhaps our TV's universal translator was trying to convert their mad new measuring systems to one we were familiar with, and just got confused. This also neatly ties up every length problem ever. Because I said so.
-------------------- Yes, you're despicable, and... and picable... and... and you're definitely, definitely despicable. How a person can get so despicable in one lifetime is beyond me. It isn't as though I haven't met a lot of people. Goodness knows it isn't that. It isn't just that... it isn't... it's... it's despicable.
posted
The dates mentioned in "Space Seed" are very definite, but history in our current Star Trek universe must have been different. Even more than the impression that there was no Eugenics War going on (or just ended) in "Future's End", the discontinuity in the development of starships strikes me.
The Botany Bay, even if we disregard the artificial gravity, is much more advanced than anything such as the Charybdis, the Ares IV or even the Phoenix. Sleeper ships would be required to reach the outer planets of our solar system. Why is almost 40 years later a travel to Mars still such a great endeavor in a small tin can? What kind of progress (the original intention may have been that it was the warp drive) could have taken place in 2018, but starships still can't leave the solar system for another 30 years? Why the heck should a ship from 2123 (Mariposa) look like one from 1996?
I know that it contradicts several facts, but my technically and historically plausible solution is that WW III and the Eugenics Wars are identical and take place about ten years before FC. It was a time when mankind had just attempted to leave the solar system (with old-style propulsion), and Khan may have used one of these ships to escape. The design of sublight ships was further developed, and some of them, like the Mariposa, were designed as warp-capable and used until 70 years later.
posted
Maybe they bought the Mariposa secondhand from Harry Mudd's Used Starships.
Regarding the Eugenics Wars: It's pretty obvious that TPTB just said "Hey, it's 1996 - do you hear any bombs going off or news broadcasts of the new Khan in town? NO." The ST Chronology also admits that this prediction was off by a long shot. So what could they do for "Future's End"? They weren't going to show an event that anyone could refute just by looking out the window; showing the Eugenics Wars would stretch believability, so they ignored it. I personally believe that the Botany Bay model was not intended to be taken seriously, rather it was just an in-joke or a homage to Space Seed.
I highly doubt that the Eugenics Wars will even be mentioned in Enterprise.
-------------------- "A film made in 2008 isn't going to look like a TV series from 1966 if it wants to make any money. As long as the characters act the same way, and the spirit of the story remains the same then it's "real" Star Trek. Everything else is window dressing." -StCoop
posted
So wait now, Dukkie. Now you're saying the EW never even HAPPENED???
Personally I think it's GOT to have something to do with alternate timelines. There's a million different things that have happened in Trek, with time travel and what-not, that could have changed the timeline of historical events. That's my new pet excuse for just about any and everything on Enterprise. It's an alternate history caused by the mishaps of modern Trek's heroes and villains.
-------------------- The flaws we find most objectionable in others are often those we recognize in ourselves.
posted
The thing is, as Tom pointed out, while hard-core fans can accept this ("The Eugenics Wars happened in 1996. Star Trek's history is different from our own"), most people watching the show, if they hear "There was a big war between genetic supermen in 1996" are just going to burst out laughing.
There's no problem with TPTB mentioning the Eugencis wars, but they have to keep the time vague, or most viewers will just be confused.
-------------------- Yes, you're despicable, and... and picable... and... and you're definitely, definitely despicable. How a person can get so despicable in one lifetime is beyond me. It isn't as though I haven't met a lot of people. Goodness knows it isn't that. It isn't just that... it isn't... it's... it's despicable.
posted
Another good example is the show "Dark Skies" where they have NASA "Ranger Missions"
Or, there's the X-Files... can't get through that show without falling out of your chair
Or, there's Earth: Final Conflict, according to it we should be in the middle or at the beginning of the SI War.
Or, there is the hundreds upon hundreds upon hundreds of disaster films which have destroyed New York, LA, London, Paris, Moscow, Beijing, Tokyo, and other cities the world over time and again.
Or, there is the X-Men which claim extreme mutations are currently occuring which give people incredible abilities.
IIRC, Farscape takes place when a modern day astronaut encountures a wormhole on a test flight.
There are thousands of examples of modern day being more advanced in the movies... even those movies which are being filmed now. That's why we call it fiction.
-------------------- Later, J _ _ _ _ _ ___ _ _ _ _ _ The Last Person to post in the late Voyager Forum. Bashing both Voyager, Enterprise, and "The Bun" in one glorious post.
posted
There's only one problem with mixing your examples with Star Trek, J. All of your examples take place at the present time. Star Trek takes place in our future.
Maybe people, whether it's correct or not to, assign Star Trek with being a realistic interpretation of the future. Some, both fans and non-fans, see this as the future of humanity and not as some alternate reality. To many, Star Trek takes place in our reality and not in an alternate reality where our universe and the Star Trek universe diverged in the 1930s or so. So, to show a event happening at the present would damage the credibility of Trek in some people's eyes. The same goes for showing a 1990's era with DY-100 sleeper ships and cryogenic pods in orbit of Earth.
Shik
Starship database: completed; History of Starfleet: done; website: probably never
Member # 343
posted
Another thought: reordering of historical events.
There was a big drive lately to "dispose of" the World War I & World War II terms, since most historians now agree on it being one large conflict from 1914 to 1990 with only the players changing. So we have that war, we have the Eugenics Wars....& both are considered "world wars", so then World War III in the 2050s.
-------------------- "The French have a saying: 'mise en place'—keep everything in its fucking place!"
posted
Shik, I've just sat through an international relations class this summer, and my professor said basically the same thing as you. The only difference is that he broke it down into two groups based the polar political system. At first, we were in a multipolar system on the world stage with many powers but none powerful enough to be in control of the system. That's rounghly World War I and World WarII. My professor defined the later half of this time period as being a bipolar system with two roughly-equal opponent vying for control at times and stability at other times (the US and the USSR). With the collapse of the USSR, we're in a semi-unipolar system that may be breaking down. Time will tell, he says.
[Edit: I really hate it when my mind outruns my friggin' hands.]
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