rjnoe (12/23/82)
For those of you who do not know, there is a raging debate elsewhere on
the net about a supposed discrepancy in time in Star Trek II. The scene
in question is that one where McCoy brinKirk's apartment. McCoy hands Kirk a bottle of Romulan Ale (which,
Kirk notes, is illegal). Kirk squints at the label on the bottle and
says, "Twenty-two . . . eighty-three?" McCoy's reply was something like,
"It takes the stuff a while to ferment." Now, the superimposed title at
the beginning of the film says "In the 23rd century". There is no
discrepancy between these two items! McCoy's reply was SARCASTIC. Kirk
was noting that the bottle was remarkably young, not old. If a friend gave
you a bottle of brandy labeled 1981, your saying "1981?" as you opened it
would be tantamount to saying "Nice of you to bring me such fine old
brandy, friend" (heavy sarcasm) because both of you know it is only a year
old.
What is remarkable about this exchange is that it allows us to determine
"dates" in the Star Trek universe by extrapolation, to within ten years!
The most precise description of the time Star Trek was set in (referring to
TV series, now) was 200 to 300 years from now. Apparently the creative
forces behind the property have now decided to pin Star Trek to 310 years
hence, give or take about 10 years (with Star Trek I and the TV episodes
being a bit earlier--this can be inferred from other clues).
It should be obvious that 2283 is a year of the Earth calendar (A.D.),
not a stardate. We still don't know for sre
OOPS! sure how long a stardate is, but we can say that it is an
invention to synchronize events throughout the galaxy. Two starships starting
from the same point in space (say Earth) indicate the same stardate at the
same time for as long as they are both motionless to each other and the
predetermined point in space (it may be Earth, United Federation of Planets
Headquarters, or some other point). Now, at ONE specific point in space
(probably United Federation of Planets headquarters), the rate of passage
of stardates is fixed relative to some time base (an atomic clock or
something). Some have said that this is one stardate per solar day, but
this leads to contradictions with the TV series. Each starship computes
stardates such that no matter which direction it goes or how fast or how far,
when it returns to that point with the other starship (which may also have
moved) both ships will again measure the SAME stardate. I believe this is
always possible--but I'm no expert and I haven't tried to analyze it at all.
This has gone on too long.
Roger Noe ihuxx!rjnoe