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» Flare Sci-Fi Forums » Star Trek » Starships & Technology » USS Discovery, "The Squire of Gothos" (Page 1)

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Author Topic: USS Discovery, "The Squire of Gothos"
colin
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I recently obtain the DVD version of this episode.

The actual line that mentions Discovery is:
"Uhura, notify the d(D)iscovery on subspace."
I will say based on this line that the discovery in question is a ship-the USS Discovery. My reasoning. The is often used to identify a specific unit in a sentence. This discovery is a specific unit.
Further point, the closed captioning has the Discovery in italics. Italics is used for ships.

As for the Copernicus in "The Galileo Seven", I could find no ship of that name. And where did Mr. Okuda get the registry for the Columbus? The footage of the Columbus is of that of her sister ship, the Galileo.

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Aethelwer
Frank G
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We've already gone through the Discovery thing...if the line were talking about a ship, it would have been clarified.

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TSN
I'm... from Earth.
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Why? Are you saying that any other time a ship is mentioned w/o its "USS" (or whatever) prefix, it isn't a ship? In this case, the wording of the sentence makes it quite clear that the "discovery" is something that is capable of being notified of their findings. A ship is pretty much the only thing that makes sense.

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Aethelwer
Frank G
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And so the writers introduced a ship we know nothing about, and only that ship would care about the planet? BTW, didn't we discover that the novelisation says, "Notify the discovery of the planet..." or whatever?

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Laz1701
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Frank is absolutely right. That little bit of dialogue is just an example of grammatical sloppiness. Kirk is really ordering that someone (presumably Starfleet, or at that point in time in the series, EUSPA or Space Central) be notified of the discovery of the planet in what was thought to be a star desert devoid of any planetary objects.

The line in the novelization, based on an early draft of the script, is "Notify the discovery of the planet on subspace radio." The line should have been something like, "Broadcast the discovery of the planet..." or "Transmit the discovery of the planet...", but even as written, it's obvious that Kirk means someone should be notified of the discovery, not that the Discovery should be notified. Otherwise, we have to believe that Kirk wants the USS Discovery of the planet to be notified. What planet does the USS Discovery belong to, then? See my point?

Apparently, when the script reached final draft, the words "of the planet" were dropped in order to tighten up the script, and what was left was "Notify the discovery on subspace radio." Or maybe Shatner himself dropped the words. But the meaning is clear.

Of course, this is an issue that will not die, because there are always those who stick to their guns despite evidence and common sense and believe what they wish to believe.

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Timo
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Perhaps we could list the times when Kirk has chosen to contact another Federation starship that wasn't in visual range.

Are there any examples at all? I doubt Kirk ever spoke to distant ships even during emergencies. And this certainly wasn't an emergency, or even a very staggering scientific discovery, just an intriguing curiosity.

Of course, it is possible that a USS Discovery was in some sort of a special organizational or spatial position as regarded the Enterprise at that time - perhaps she was a dedicated tender that was supposed to act as a comm relay. But we never ever heard of the Enterprise relying on the assistance of other vessels to perform her mission in any other episode or movie.

Timo Saloniemi

[This message has been edited by Timo (edited April 07, 2000).]


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Bernd
Guy from Old Europe
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Isn't it *to notify someone of something*?

Given the grammatical structure, "the Discovery" would be the "someone", so it's obviously a person, institution or most likely a ship. However, as Frank already noted, this cannot have been the intention. Why should a USS Discovery be mentioned only once without any reference to anything?

Two solutions:

1) Another line involving the USS Discovery was cut. Something like this would have been plausible:

"Are there other Starfleet ships in this sector?" - "Only the USS Discovery."

...a few minutes later...
"Notify the Discovery on subspace".

2) The original line was "Report the discovery on subspace." and Shatner messed it up.

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Aethelwer
Frank G
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"Frank is absolutely right."

I thought that people weren't allowed to say things like this on the forums?

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Laz1701
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The original line, at least in early drafts of the script, was "Notify the discovery of the planet on subspace radio." But then, I already explained all that above. If Shatner messed up, it was by dropping the "of the planet", because the word "notify" was always part of the dialogue. I suspect, though, that "of the planet" was deleted from the final draft of the script to trim the dialogue. The line was grammatically incorrect to begin with, but at least the "of the planet" made it clear the discovery of said planet was being transmitted, not that a USS Discovery was being notified.

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TSN
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Well, technically, that line would mean the same thing. It would simply mean that the Discovery was being notified of the planet, rather than of something unspecified.

Basically, what this whole thing boils down to is: both interpretations make sense. You can believe whatever you want to believe.

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-Capt. Jean-Luc Picard, TNG: "Hollow Pursuits"


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Laz1701
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Sorry, but only one interpretation makes sense taking all of the available evidence into account. To justify the existence of the USS Discovery, you have to twist the available evidence to come out that way, when the truth is very simple to see.

As for those who insist on believing in the existence of the USS Discovery, they're the ones who can go on believing whatever they want to believe. There's no use debating with people who disregard common sense and who insist on stretching and bending things to conform to what they wish to believe despite the evidence at hand. Everyone's entitled to an opinion - even if they're wrong.

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TSN
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Well, that's going pretty (illogically) far...

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Laz1701
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Look at the line as it appeared in the early draft of the script that Blish used for the novelization:

"Lieutenant Uhura, report the discovery of the planet on subspace radio."

Yes, that's right. The original word wasn't even notify. It was "report".

Is the word discovery capitalized, or not? It isn't, is it? I imagine Blish knew what he was doing when he adapted the script, so what we have here is the word "discovery", not the name "Discovery". Are you willing to suggest that somewhere between this draft of the script and the final script which was used to shoot the episode, TPTB decided to invent a ship named Discovery which hadn't been in the earlier draft?

C'mon, man, some of you people will go to any lengths to discover (no pun intended) some new ship never before identified or even imagined and add it to the database. Admit it. And then you get annoyed when someone insists upon the truth. I rely on logic, common sense, and wisdom to make determinations about anything, not fanciful or wishful thinking. To insist upon a USS Discovery in "The Squire of Gothos" is to delude oneself. There is no USS Discovery. All available evidence points to the contrary.

Of course, I'll be accused by someone of arrogance for saying all this, but I couldn't care less. It certainly isn't arrogant to recognize the truth about something and insist upon it. It is the height of folly to believe something that isn't true, or to go along with those who believe something that isn't true and allow oneself to be convinced by their arguments without substance.

I just love how everything in this world has become the subject of opinion and interpretation. People believe what they want to believe, not what is. If I look at a car and say it's a car, someone else will come along and say, "That's just your opinion. I think it's a refrigerator. And I'm entitled to that opinion, and that opinion is just as valid as yours." Doesn't work that way. A car is a car. If someone wants to believe otherwise, they're entitled to their opinion - but they're dead wrong if they think that opinion is valid. Having an opinion doesn't make it valid, not if it flies in the face of reality.

I wish Roddenberry were still around so we could ask him and settle this once and for all. Of course, those who insist on believing in a USS Discovery (no different than believing in the tooth fairy) would probably refuse to accept his answer and come up with a plethora of reasons as to why he's not the final authority on all things Trek.

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Elim Garak
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Well, the fact that he had little involvement in the films should, in and of itself, show that he's not the final authority, IMO.

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Sol System
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Ok now, everyone behave or Uncle Charles will turn this Forum around right now!

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