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(Note: the below features a number of underlying assumptions/conclusions, including (1) roughly chronological registries, (2) a pre-2009 view of Trek canon, and so on. As such, there is no inclusion of the Kelvin nor any of the Discoverse "Prime". I note this, not for argument, but merely for clarity.)
I recently realized that a chronological assortment of 3-D models I had made and added to over the last couple of years* had a big problem. For the purposes of my website, I've long held both Star Trek and Star Wars to only what was seen on-screen . . . backstage information is traditionally a no-no, at least insofar as basing anything off of it. The only exception I made was a 2245 date for the Enterprise 1701.
However, I'd been slipping from that in recent years, culminating in some really deep dives where I was even including the registry off of the Excelsior study model Alka-Selsior. I was trying to make it work, and was forced to assume that and the Oberth's similar nacelles represented an Andorian strain of early UFP starship design, until that and the human strain were merged in the TMP style . . . with the Oberth being a fusion of Vulcan and Andorian and a little Terran that also maybe constituted the "warp seven beauties". Suffice it to say: "It got weird, didn't it?"
*
As such, I've been exploring what would result if one flipped back the other way completely, even abandoning the backstage info, unreadable commissioning plaques, and so on. For most, this is a horrifying prospect, suggestive of some sort of latent masochism, but in reality it's an interesting little experiment . . . but not without its sadness. Much of what we think we know and have accepted disappears as it hasn't been seen on screen.
As a result, the Lantree 1837 becomes the oldest known Miranda and Sitak 32591 the highest, which is fine, but doing this means we lose Ambassador 10521. Excalibur 26517 now the lowest Ambassador Class registry observed. The Nebula Class Honshu, NCC-60205, is the lowest-registry Nebula . . . ironically making the updated Galaxy-esque CGI model the oldest type and the slightly funky Sutherland 72015 the newest. (shrug) The First Contact fleet becomes a giant unknown other than the visible registry on an Akira.
Obviously, those barely-readable fleet charts become a major source of visible registries as a result of this approach (leading to me creating a spreadsheet just to have them all in one place), and the DS9 penchant for backlit ships (e.g. the Venture) becomes even more really, really annoying. I'm still working on the list, but thought it would be interesting to hear reactions and observations regarding this approach.
-------------------- . . . ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam.
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Actually, I sort-of get it. Is there some simple truth to be gleaned from what really is the “true” canon information? From what a small core group (Okudas, Jein, Sternbach, Probert, Drexler etc… Eaves?! *gulp*) did, theoretically with some notion of being consistent, progressively through the TNG/DS9/VOY (& TNG films) era? Rather than information filled in months/years/decades after the fact, often arbitrarily (or that certainly FELT arbitrary sometimes)?
Probably not! We may learn something. Probably, not to do it again…
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