posted
Ok I know this is a very old topic, probably already discussed to death 10 years ago or more, but I just couldn't find it in any relevant thread (maybe I'm search-engine challenged) so I'm submitting it again...
In my endless search for background canonical ships, I stumbled the other day on this article on Memory Alpha about a display in TNG The Measure Of A Man that I hadn't noticed before.
It's a yummy list of 24 ships that are all but impossible to read, of course that didn't stop me from trying. I don't have access to the episode myself so I used the screen captures from the wiki article.
I managed to figure out most of the last column, which lists the ship missions (although the unreadable header is a single word much longer than MISSION). The third column is most probably the ship captain/commander name.
One thing I had in mind was that since this display appeared at roughly the same time as the ship list in TNG Up The Long Ladder (the one with all the DY-class vessels), then maybe the creator (Mike Okuda) may have recycled some of the data from one list to the other, as simply as copy-paste. And indeed I think it did happen, some mission descriptions like DIPLOMATIC MISSION TO ALDERAAN are present on both charts (and then on the starship status chart in the E-D observation lounge as well).
Nothing to write home about, but using other known okudagrams and input from you guys, we might just nail a few of those ships.
For instance, there's a strange ship name, the 6th from the top, that looks like USS XXXXXXX X from a distance... That space towards the end is unusual, and knowing that some copy-paste was involved in the making of the display, it got me thinking... Perhaps we're looking at the USS HOKULE'A, probably not the same SS HOKULE'A mentioned on the DY-class chart. I expect many of the ships on this display have also been seen on earlier/later okudagrams.
So do any of you have better screen captures from the episode, or any hunch as to what those ships may be ? Or some inside info from Mike Okuda ? Don't be shy, there's no shame in rehashing this dusty old stuff... or is there ?
Registered: Feb 2009
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posted
I think you've hit the nail on the head with the four columns representing ship names, registry numbers, commanders, and missions. I would hazard a guess that all the captains (with the exception of Picard and other captains referred to by name), are just names of production people. That's what Okuda generally did when making charts of this nature.
As for the ship names, Okuda stated that most of the TNG era ship names from the Encyclopedia has their origins in one form or another from this chart. Without any hard facts, I think you just need to make a list of early TNG ship names that were spoken or referred to. I'd bet you'd get the right amount of ships eventually. Heck, I can make a list right now:
-------------------- "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
Registered: Jun 2000
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posted
Yup, that would make sense ! If all the ships listed in the Encyclopedia have a canonical origin, then this Ship Deploy display may be the source for the missing ones. The charts from Unification and E-D observation lounge have been already well deciphered, so what's left ? I'll try to fit names from your list to the display, and see what gives.
I would remove ships with a NX registry (Bradbury, Galaxy), as the registry column is very regular, all NCC prefixes as much as I can tell. Oh well, then maybe they *were* listed with NCC registries here. Never mind !
There are still weird gaps in some names that are difficult to explain, such as USS XXXXXXXXX X XXX... It's probably a full name such as John F. Kennedy.
Wish this display had turned up on It's A Wrap !
Registered: Feb 2009
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Oh, and I'd use the LCARS font for your analysis rather than that monospaced one, since that will help you compare your results to the screencaps better.
Registered: Jul 2002
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posted
I'm fairly certain the next to last name is Yorktown...two up from that looks like Apollo...that's all I can make out for now. Has the scene been given the Jorg treatment yet? He's usually the man to speak to about good screen caps.
posted
B.J.: Thanks heaps, that's the sharpest screen capture I've seen so far ! I've converted my file to Swiss911 ultra-condensed, it's the best (free) match I've found for the LCARS font.
Reverend: I have to agree with the Yorktown and the Apollo, they're the best fitting names in there. Not sure if the registry of the Yorktown fits with the one in the Encyclopedia though, but it's so hard to read. And the Apollo, could that be the class ship for the Ajax and co ? It would be nice !
posted
Well, right off the bat it's obvious that if the first three letters of the Yuri Gagarin's commander's name are "BJO", then it has to be Bjo Trimble.
posted
I call foul on this one. You cant make out anything from those screencaps with any certainty, people are going to see what they want to see in those little blurry letters. It's a Trek Rorschach test. I'd stick to making up our own stuff without resorting to scrutinising tiny screencaps to justify it. Until a clear capture appears, there's nothing certain.
-------------------- www.kennyscrap.com - where I download crap I make.
Registered: Jun 2003
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posted
I would prefer solid data myself, and if anybody has got readable screencaps, inside info or anything of help, then by all means let me know ! I don't plan on calling any ship from this list canon until better evidence is produced. But in the meantime, it's fun trying to figure out this stuff.
Registered: Feb 2009
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posted
I agree with Axeman. Some time ago, I posted a screencap of the debris field in VOY's "Caretaker" to see if anyone could identify anything. At least two people saw an Akira-class starship in the wreckage, despite the fact that the Akira-class hadn't even been invented at the time.
I do have Okuda's email address, but I'm loathe to pester him about this. I mean, he made that chart twenty years ago. Unless it shows up in the eBay auction, I'd say this was a lost cause.
-------------------- "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
Registered: Jun 2000
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posted
Mike Okuda posts on Doug Drexler's blog quite often. Might be worth tacking on a quick question about this next time there's an article about LCARS.
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