From Newsgroup: alt.tv.star-trek.tos
From Address:
graemecree@aol.com
Subject: The alt.tv.star-trek.tos FAQ
It's been a while since we've re-posted the FAQ, so...
http://graeme.50webs.com/trek/tosfaq/index.htm
THE ALT.TV.STAR-TREK.TOS FAQ
Reposted for those who are new here.
Sections I-IV originally written by ConnMoore (connmoore @aol.com), used with his permission, and revised by Graeme Cree. Sections V-VI by Graeme Cree.
Does anyone have any suggestions? Something you'd like to add or modify, respond in the newsgroup please!
FAQ
Welcome to alt.tv.star-trek.tos. This document is here to answer some of the most basic questions about this newsgroup.
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I. INTRODUCTION
1. WHAT IS STAR TREK?
For those among us living in a cave the last 40+ years, Star Trek was a television science fiction show that aired on NBC television for three seasons,
from 1966, until 1969, and which chronicled the adventures of the Starship Enterprise, a paramilitary exploration vessel sent out by an organization known
as Starfleet Command to explore strange new worlds on behalf of the United Federation of Planets. It has become, in the interceding years, a global phenomenon, with sequels and prequels made of the original show. There are now Star Trek books, movies, comics, cartoons, games, etc. and they all spawned from the original television series. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2. WHAT DOES THIS NEWSGROUP DISCUSS?
This newsgroup is devoted to discussion of all things regarding the *original*
Star Trek NBC series (known by the abbreviation "TOS"). Because Star Trek has ingrained itself in so many areas of entertainment and culture, those discussions can be far afield, so almost everything is on topic here, since almost everything can be connected to Star Trek. A reference to the relevance to Star Trek is usually appreciated in all subjects discussed here. This group is not a moderated one. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
3. CAN I BE INVOLVED IN THE DISCUSSION?
Of course! Star Trek is nothing if not inclusive. You might want to read a few
posts, and learn the nuances of this group, but you are more than welcome to jump right in. Be aware that many of the people that post here are very broad in their knowledge of all things Trek. If you are going to disagree with someone, be prepared to back it up with facts and references to the show. If you have a specific question, you may be able to see if it has been answered before, by going to
http://www.google.com, and searching for previous posts containing key words of your question.
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II. TREK SLANGUAGE
4. THAT'S ALL WELL AND GOOD, BUT I SEE ALL THESE STAR TREK RELATED WORDS AND ACRONYMS BEING THROWN ABOUT. WHAT DO THEY MEAN?
As with any culture, Star Trek has created a bit of its own language. Here are
some of the phrases that are part of the world of Star Trek.
B&B: B&B: Everywhere else, this stands for "Bed & Breakfast". Here, it refers to the last initials of the two men, Rick Berman and Brannon Braga, that were in charge of the Star Trek franchise from Gene Roddenberry's death, through the
end of Enterprises' run. Sometimes not held in high esteem by fans of TOS, because of perceived lack of respect for that show, but they take heat from fans of all the shows.
CANON: Short dictionary definition of Canon: "A body of works or writings recognized as approved or official." In Star Trek "Canon" is a word thrown about to indicate absolute truths about what happened on the show. Thus, what constitutes canon is the actual content of the episodes of the various Star Trek television shows and theatrical features. For obvious reasons, this excludes fanfic. It also excludes the novels, technical manuals, and other products such as the comic books from Gold Key, Marvel, and DC, despite the fact that these are "officially licensed" products. In addition, the half-hour animated television series featuring the voices of most of the cast of Star Trek (TAS) is generally excluded from canon as well, possibly because it was produced by Filmation, rather than Paramount, though no official reason has been given. Interpretations of Canon create a lot of the discussions in alt.tv.star-trek.tos.
CLASSIC TREK: Another name for The Original Series, which was used in the late 80's, after the premier of The Next Generation, when the "New Coke" fiasco was fresh in everyone's mind, the idea being that The Next Generation was to New Coke what The Original Series was to Coca-Cola Classic. A few wits went so far as to apply the nickname "Diet Trek" to the Animated Series. With the advent of
the internet, the name "Classic Trek" gradually gave way to the easier-to-type "TOS". Nowadays, the term "Classic Trek" can be taken to loosely refer to the entire onscreen adventures of the original crew, namely the original Series, the Animated Series, and the first 6 Star Trek movies.
DS9: Abbreviation for the fourth Star Trek series, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, which appeared as a syndicated show from 1993 to 1999. This was the first show to not feature the starship Enterprise, as it was set aboard a stationary space
station. Its only connection to The Original Series is an occasional reference to that show. This show takes place at roughly the same time period as TNG, roughly 80 years after TOS.
ENTERPRISE (Ship): Name of the ship (Registry Number NCC-1701) that is used throughout the run of The Original Series. This ship was finally destroyed in the motion picture, Star Trek III: The Search for Spock.
ENTERPRISE A: (Ship) Ship introduced at the very end of Star Trek IV and used during the next two TOS movies.
ENTERPRISE (Show): The sixth and most recent show in the Star Trek franchise. Enterprise was the first 'Star Trek' franchise series to be set prior to the events of TOS (approximiately 100 years earlier). Show debuted on The Paramount
Network in 2001, and ran for four seasons, ending in 2005. The only connection to the Original Series was the use of the name Enterprise and some of the alien
species and planets first mentioned in The Original Series, though such references frequently contradicted previously established facts.
FANFIC: Short for Fan Fiction. Unlicensed writings about TOS characters by fans
of the show.
REDSHIRTS: Security Guards that appear on the show, usually only long enough to
die a grisly death. They are named this because of the color of their shirts. (Duh)
RETCON: "Retroactive Continuity". A process where things that were considered true in an early episode are changed in later episodes, sometimes deliberately,
sometimes accidentally. In many cases, the last word is considered, the authoritative one, though this is sometimes highly debatable. Also, not all changed concepts are necessarily mutually exclusive. For example, if Captain Kirk has one middle initial in the pilot, but a different middle initial is used every other time such is referenced, this could be considered a change, or
it could just be that he's got two middle initials.
SLASH: A term used by writers of fanfic to indicate a pairing of two or more Star Trek characters. The term comes from the "slash" used between the characters in the writing. Such as, Spock/Chapel, which would be fan fiction that would have a Spock and Christine Chapel relation in it. Slash fiction can take many forms, homosexual; heterosexual and multi species pairings are not uncommon. There are four other newsgroups, alt.tv.star-trek.tos.slash, alt.sex.fetish.startrek, alt.startrek.creative.erotica, and alt.startrek.creative.erotica.moderated, specially devoted to discussions of this nature.
K/S: A particular type of slash fan fiction devoted to theorizing a homosexual relation Kirk and Spock. This particular genre of fanfic has been the subject of a long-term trolling attack on this newsgroup that has stretched over several years. The topic is, strictly speaking, off topic here, and belongs rather in one of the four newsgroups mentioned above.
TAS: Abbreviation for The Animated Series, which ran for two seasons in 1973 and 1974. This was the first sequel to TOS. No longer considered Canon by the powers at Paramount, but it did have Gene Roddenberry's approval, and direct participation, and had many of the Original Series actors and writers working on it.
TMP: Abbreviation for Star Trek: The Motion Picture, the first Star Trek movie.
TNG: Abbreviation for Star Trek: The Next Generation, the 3rd Star Trek series,
and the second sequel to the original. This show appeared in syndication for 1987 until 1994. This show takes place approximately 80 years after The Original Series, and had an all-new cast, with only very rare appearances by cast members from TOS
TOS: Acronym for "Star Trek", the original series, that ran from 1966 until 1969 on NBC television. This show (along with TAS) is the primary focus of this
group, and is by far the best of any Star Trek series. :) All other Star Trek shows are pale imitations of this, the original and the most entertaining. TPTB: Abbreviation for "The Powers That Be". Usually used in a derisive tone when you are PO'ed about something that the creators of the show have done. TIIC: Acronym for "The Idiots In Charge". A more derisive term for TPTB. VOYAGER (Show): Name of the ship and series featured in the fifth Star Trek series, Star Trek: Voyager, which appeared on The Paramount Network, from 1995 until 2001. Set in the same time frame as The Next Generation, about 80-90 years after the events of TOS, this show has only passing references to The Original Series.
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III. GENERAL USENET ABBREVIATIONS
5. WHAT DO SOME OF THESE OTHER NON-TREK RELATED ABBREVIATIONS AND ACRONYMS MEAN?
Here are some basic Newsgroup words and acronyms you might see bandied about...
AFAIK: As Far As I Know
alt (or) alt.: Usually seen with a dot after it, as "alt." (pronounced: alt-dot) this refers to a large variety of newsgroups that discuss "alternative" topics.
CROSSPOST: To post a message to several newsgroups simultaneously - an action usually frowned on in Internet culture.
FAQ: Frequently Asked Questions: (pronounced: fak (or) F-A-Q)A list of recurring questions and answers related to a newsgroup, software, Web site, or whatever. FAQ lists prevent newsgroup discussions from being overrun by common user questions.
FLAME: To send nasty or insulting messages, usually in response to someone's having broken the rules of netiquette.
FLAME WAR: When an online discussion degenerates into a series of personal attacks against the debaters, rather than discussion of their positions. A heated exchange.
FWIW: For What It's Worth
FYI: For Your Information
GOOGLE: A search engine for searching internet sites, including Usenet. It can be found at
http://www.google.com
HTH: Hope This (or That) Helps.
IMHO: In My Humble Opinion.
IIRC: If I Remember Correctly
IMNSHO: In My Not So Humble Opinion
IMO: In My Opinion
J/K: Just Kidding!
KILLFILE: Another word for message filtering. There are settings in your usenet
software that let you filter out USENET postings to some extent, by excluding messages on certain topics or from certain people.
LOL: Laughing Out Loud -or- Lots of Luck (or Love)
LURK: To read messages in a newsgroup or chat area without ever posting. LURKER: A visitor to a newsgroup or online service who only reads other people posts but never posts his or her own messages, thus remaining anonymous. NETIQUETTE: The informal rules of etiquette that govern online interaction on the Internet.
NEWBIE: Somebody new to the Internet or to computers in general.
NEWSGROUPS: A part of the Internet which allows users to "post" and "reply to" messages from other users.
OT: Off Topic. When starting a thread that is off the topic of TOS, it is generally considered good Netiquette to begin the thread's title with "OT: ", to identify it as such.
PLONK: A shorthand way of saying "I am placing you in my killfile, so don't bother talking to me any more because I won't hear it." Legend has it that the word Plonk is an acronym for "Please Leave Our Newsgroup: Killfiled". Yeah, whatever. As a word of warning, don't tell someone you're plonking them unless you really intend to follow through. It frequently happens that someone says they're plonking someone, but can't resist continuing to read their messages to
see their reaction. If this person gets caught responding to the plonked person's messages a week later, they may never hear the end of it.
POV: Point of View.
ROTFL: Rolling On The Floor Laughing.
ROTFLMAO: Rolling on the Floor laughing my a$$ off.
SHOUTING: Chatters and Usenet posters will often tell others to "stop shouting." It's another way of saying, "TURN OFF YOUR CAPS LOCK!" Generally speaking, chatting, posting, and sending e-mail in all uppercase is considered rude.
TROLL: The act of posting a message in a newsgroup that is obviously exaggerating something on a particular topic, hoping to trick a newbie into posting a follow-up article that points out the mistake. A "Troll" is a person that spends all their time trying to disrupt the normal discussion of a particular newsgroup to bring attention onto themselves. As with all newsgroups, alt.tv.star-trek.tos has its share of Trolls, and you will quickly learn who they are. Watch and see who seems to be causing most of the problems in the newsgroup, and be prepared to use your killfile. Do not let Trolls disrupt your enjoyment of the Star Trek newsgroup experience.
USENET: Often referred to as just the "newsgroups", USENET is a distributed bulletin board system.
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IV. THE MAIN PEOPLE BEHIND STAR TREK
6. WHO ARE SOME OF THE MAIN CHARACTERS IN THE SHOW?
CAPTAIN KIRK, (James T. R. Kirk): Captain of The Enterprise during the entire run of The Original Series. Played by William Shatner.
COMMANDER SPOCK: Half Vulcan, Half Human First officer and Science officer of the Enterprise throughout the run of The Original Series, played by Leonard Nimoy. Has a father, Sarek (Played by Mark Lenard), and a mother, Amanda (Played by Jane Wyatt). Referred to as "Lt. Commander Spock" in a couple of First Season episodes, though his braid never reflected this.
LT. COMMANDER MCCOY, (Leonard H. McCoy): Chief Medical Officer of the Enterprise throughout most of The Original Series. Played by Deforest Kelly. Nicknamed "Bones" by Captain Kirk.
LT. COMMANDER SCOTT, (Montgomery Scott, aka Scotty): Chief Engineer of the Enterprise throughout the Original Series run. Played by James Doohan.
LT. UHURA: Chief communication officer aboard the Enterprise throughout most of
the Original Series run. Played by Nichelle Nichols.
LT. SULU, (Hikaru Sulu): Helmsman aboard the Enterprise during most of the Original Series run. Played by George Takei.
ENSIGN CHEKOV, (Pavel Andreivich Chekov): Helmsman and weapons officer during the second and third seasons of The Original Series run. Played by Walter Koenig.
YEOMAN RAND, (Janice Rand): Blonde yeoman that appeared in 8 episodes, all in the first half of the First Season, and in four of the six TOS movies. Played by Grace Lee Whitney.
NURSE CHAPEL, (Christine Chapel): Nurse on the Enterprise, played by Majel Barrett, who married Gene Roddenberry after the series.
LT. RILEY, (Kevin Riley): Crewman who played an important part in two first season TOS episodes. Played by Bruce Hyde.
CAPTAIN PIKE, (Christopher Pike): Captain on the Enterprise before Kirk, in the
original series pilot episode. This pilot was never broadcast during the series
run, but most of it was integrated into a 2-part series episode, and slightly modified versions of the original pilot were later released on VHS and DVD. Pike was played by Jeffery Hunter.
LT. AREX: Tripedal (3 arms, 3 legs) navigator who appeared in the Animated Series as a replacement for Mr. Chekov. Lt. Arex was played by James Doohan. LT. M'RESS: Felinoid communications officer, used in a few Animated episodes as
a backup to Lt. Uhura. Lt. M'Ress was played by Majel Barrett.
LT. LESLIE: The best all-around utility man in Starfleet, Mr. Leslie (named after one of William Shatner's daughters) can be seen in more than half the episodes of the series, performing virtually every ship function imaginable (including command!). His top specialties seemed to be engineering, security, and showing concern at the action going on in the foreground of the screen. Though he rarely spoke, he has a small but devoted cadre of admirers, and his own dedicated webpage at
http://hometown.aol.com/led4acs/LeslieArchives.html (NOTE: This page currently offline, and not yet re-located).. Mr. Leslie was played by Eddie Paskey, who has a personal webpage at
http://www.eddiepaskey.com.
LT. GALLOWAY: Another utility redshirt, played by David L. Ross, who served mostly as security guard and transporter officer. Less well known than Leslie, he appeared in only a half dozen or so episodes, and does not have his own dedicated webpage, but he did manage to pull off the trick of coming back from the dead; the least important character on the show to ever do so.
ENTERPRISE COMPUTER (Majel Barrett and others): Several actors and actresses have played the voice of the Enterprise computer, but the most frequently heard
voice was that of Majel Barrett, who played the "role" at least once in all six
Star Trek series. She was the most frequently heard voice of the computer in TOS. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
7. WHO ARE SOME OF THE MAIN ACTORS AND CREATIVE PEOPLE BEHIND THE SHOW?
GENE RODDENBERRY: Creator, Producer and Executive Producer of Star Trek, and the guiding force behind it for the first two seasons. Nicknamed "The Great Bird of the Galaxy", after a line from the show's premier episode.
GENE L. COON: Writer and Line Producer on TOS, and one of the most important creative voices in the show's run. Creator of the Klingons.
DOROTHY "D.C." FONTANA: Influential writer, and script consultant on TOS. Many of the best and most creative episodes come from her.
FRED FREIBERGER: Line Producer of TOS during its third and final season. Many fans of the show blame the decline in the show's quality on him, though there were other factors at work also.
BOB JUSTMAN: Associate Producer and later Co-Producer of TOS, who knew more about the nuts and bolts of putting an episode together than anyone.
HERB SOLOW: Desilu Executive who sold Star Trek to NBC. Along with Justman, wrote a book called Inside Star Trek in the mid 1990's, that detailed the making of the series. The name "Sulu" was derived from Solow's name.
ALEXANDER COURAGE: Musician who composed the series title theme, and did the music for a couple of first season episodes. Probably gets a bundle of money every time a Trek sequel plays those Dah-da-daaaaa, da-da-da-da-dahhh, Da-Daaaaaah opening notes.
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V. FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
8. ARE THERE ANY OTHER STAR TREK NEWSGROUPS?
Quite a few. Just to name some of the ones in the .alt and .rec hierarchies:
NEWSGROUPS DEVOTED TO THE SHOWS
alt.tv.star-trek
alt.tv.star-trek.tos
alt.startrek.the-old-gen
alt.startrek.animated
alt.tv.star-trek.next-gen
alt.tv.star-trek.tng
alt.startrek.the-next-gen
alt.tv.star-trek.ds9
alt.startrek.deep-space-9
alt.startrek.enterprise
alt.tv.star-trek.enterprise
alt.tv.star-trek.voyager
alt.startrek.voyager
NEWSGROUPS DEVOTED TO BOOKS AND FAN FICTION
alt.startrek.book
alt.startrek.books
alt.startrek.creative
alt.startrek.creative.all-ages
alt.startrek.writing-staff
NEWSGROUPS DEVOTED TO EROTICA
alt.sex.fetish.startrek
alt.startrek.creative.erotica
alt.startrek.creative.erotica.moderated
alt.tv.star-trek.tos.slash
NEWSGROUPS DEVOTED TO GAMES
alt.games.mtrek
alt.games.netrek.paradise
alt.games.rpg.startrek.quadrant
alt.games.xtrek
alt.holoworld.rpg.startrek
alt.startrek.role-playing
rec.games.netrek
rec.games.trading-cards.startrek
alt.startrek.rpg.gsc
alt.startrek.sould.rpg
STAR TREK VS. SOMETHING NEWSGROUPS
alt.startrek.vs.babylon5
alt.startrek.vs.battlestar-galactica
alt.startrek.vs.dr-who
alt.startrek.vs.starwars
NEWSGROUPS DEVOTED TO STAR TREK PEOPLE
alt.startrek.people.deforest.kelley
alt.startrek.people.gene.roddenberry
alt.tv.star-trek.jeffery-hunt
NEWSGROUPS DEVOTED TO SPECIAL TOPICS
alt.flame.star-trek.voyager
alt.startrek.imperial
alt.shared-reality.startrek.cardassian
alt.shared-reality.startrek.klingon
alt.startrek.lcars
alt.startrek.tos.trekmuse
alt.startrek.sus-amagosa
rec.arts.startrek.current
rec.arts.startrek.fandom
rec.arts.startrek.info
rec.arts.startrek.misc
rec.arts.startrek.reviews
rec.arts.startrek.tech
alt.startrek.steg
alt.startrek.teroknor
NEWSGROUPS DEVOTED TO BINARY FILES
alt.binaries.startrek
alt.binaries.startrek.adult
NEWSGROUPS RELATED TO ALIEN RACES SEEN ON THE SHOWS
alt.startrek.bajoran
alt.startrek.borg
alt.startrek.cardassian
alt.startrek.klingon
alt.startrek.romulan
alt.startrek.vulcan
alt.startrek.trill
No guarantees about how active any of these groups are. With this many of them,
it's a good guess that some of them are dead, Jim. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
9. HOW MANY STAR TREK SERIES HAVE THERE BEEN?
A question frequently gotten wrong, even in the press. There have, in fact been a total of six Star Trek television series:
1. Star Trek (1966-1969)
2. Star Trek: The Animated Series (1973-1974)
3. Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987-1994)
4. Star Trek: Deep Space 9 (1993-1999)
5. Star Trek: Voyager (1995-2001)
6. Star Trek: Enterprise (2001-2005)
In addition, there was one other unproduced series, entitled Star Trek: Phase II, that would have premiered in the mid-to-late 1970's, featuring most of the original cast, but which was cancelled, when the new network that it was intended to flagship failed to materialize. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
10. WHAT IS THE OFFICIAL NAME OF THE 2nd STAR TREK SERIES?
This series was broadcast under the title "Star Trek" (same as the original). This has never been officially changed, but the series is usually referred to as "Star Trek: The Animated Series" (or TAS, for short), to differentiate it from the original. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
11. WHAT IS THE OFFICIAL NAME OF THE 6th STAR TREK SERIES?
This series has had two official titles. At its premiere, it was called simply
Enterprise. After two seasons, of increasingly bad ratings, the name was changed to Star Trek: Enterprise, apparently hoping that people would watch any
show, so long as it had Star Trek in the title. Rumors about Paramount releasing new series' entitled Star Trek: The 6 o'clock News, Star Trek's Wide,
Wide World of Sports, and Star Trek: Babylon Five, are, so far, unfounded. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
12. WASN'T THERE ANOTHER TELEVISION SERIES CALLED "ENTERPRISE"?
Yes, in fact there was. Running from 1952-1958, the series Enterprise consisted of a series of documentary films about American industry. In the opinion of many, Trek's Enterprise was about as interesting as that other one sounds. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
13. ARE THERE ANY OTHER TITLE CHANGES I SHOULD KNOW ABOUT?
Well, it's barely worth mentioning, but the second Trek movie, Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, was originally released in theaters under the title Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan (with no Roman numeral). The Roman numeral was added before the movie was released on videotape. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
14. HOW MANY TOS EPISODES ARE THERE?
Anywhere from 78-80, depending on how you count. If you count the show's lone 2-parter as 2 episodes, and also count the unaired 90-minute pilot as an episode, then there are 80 episodes. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
15. HOW MANY STAR TREK MOVIES ARE THERE AND HOW MANY ARE BASED ON THE ORIGINAL
STAR TREK?
At this date, there are a total of 11 movies. The first six are based on the original Star Trek:
1. Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979)
2. Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (1982)
3. Star Trek III: The Search for Spock (1984)
4. Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (1986)
5. Star Trek V: The Final Frontier (1989)
6. Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country (1991)
In addition, there have been four movies based on the 3rd Trek series, Star Trek: The Next Generation:
7. Star Trek: Generations (1994)
8. Star Trek: First Contact (1996)
9. Star Trek: Insurrection (1998)
10. Star Trek: Nemesis (2002)
And also a "reboot" of the original series, directed by J.J. Abrams, and featuring all new actors in the roles of the original characters (although the movie does feature two Spocks, one of which is played by Leonard Nimoy).
11. Star Trek (2009)
Only the second through the sixth movies have roman numerals in their titles, although fans are wont to unofficially refer to them all as if they had them. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
16. WHEN DID STAR TREK TAKE PLACE?
No precise year was ever given for the series. Indications given in the episodes Tomorrow is Yesterday, Space Seed, and The Savage Curtain point to the
late 22nd or early 23rd century. The (non-canon) book The Making of Star Trek, and the (canon) film Star Trek II (which takes place 10 years after the 5 year mission ended) say 23rd century. The episode Where No Man Has Gone Before implies a later date than that, but says nothing specific. Later incarnations of Star Trek have retconned the date to the 2260's, for reasons unknown. The episode The Squire of Gothos points to a date in the 28th century (!!), which is usually totally ignored by all concerned. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
17. HOW MANY POST-TOS TREK EPISODES OR MOVIES FEATURE TOS CHARACTERS?
Precious few.
1. Encounter at Farpoint (Next Generation)
2. Sarek (Next Generation)
3. Unification (Next Generation)
4. Relics (Next Generation)
5. Blood Oath (Deep Space 9)
6. Star Trek: Generations (Movie)
7. The Sword of Kahless (Deep Space 9)
8. Flashback (Voyager)
9. Trials and Tribble-ations (Deep Space 9)
10. Once More Unto the Breach (Deep Space 9)
11. Star Trek (Movie) --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
18. ARE STAR TREK FANS CALLED TREKKIES OR TREKKERS?
Both terms are correct, though Trekkers is safer, as some people actually take
great offense at the word Trekkies. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
19. WHY "U.S.S." ENTERPRISE? IS THE ENTERPRISE AN AMERICAN SHIP?
No. Though intended to resemble the modern American navy in the minds of the viewers, the U.S.S. Enterprise (called the U.S.S. Yorktown in the first draft of the original series proposal) is not an American ship. Though the show is pretty darn vague about Earth's political and economic future, the Earth appears to have, if not a single world government, then at least a unified coalition, similar to the European Common Market, and to be but one planet (though apparently the most important one), in a galactic federation. U.S.S., though intended to vaguely suggest America, actually stands for "United StarShip." Since "Starship" is only one word, it doesn't quite work, but what the heck? --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
20. WHAT DOES "NCC" MEAN?
The registration number on the hull of the Enterprise is NCC-1701. As for what
it means, this question is an excellent illustration of the way the term "canon" works in the Star Trek universe. As you'll recall, "canon" means "official Star Trek facts", those which Paramount and the show's producers theoretically feel obligated to remain true to in future productions (they frequently don't, but that's another point entirely). With a few exceptions, "canon" is defined as that which actually appears or is stated onscreen. Other facts, even if deriving from officially licensed products, or from the mouth of
a producer or writer himself, are not canon.
How does this relate to NCC? Well, according to Roddenberry himself, the term NCC stands for "Naval Construction Contract", and was derived from the "NC" and
"NX" designations found on private planes. *However*, this definition has never
been stated onscreen, nor any other definition either. So, officially (i.e. "canonically"), the term NCC has no fixed meaning. Though unofficially, it does, and we all know it. Cute, huh? --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
21. WHAT DO THE UNIFORM COLORS DENOTE?
*Generally*, Gold shirts indicate command and ship operations, such as helm and navigation. Blue indicates science and medical. Red indicates engineering, security, communications, general ship's services, and early deaths. There are apparent exceptions, however, so if you see a blue bloused technician working in Engineering in The Alternative Factor, or something like that, don't expect anybody to be able to explain it. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
22. HOW DO STARDATES WORK?
They don't. The Stardate was a non-specific system of time measurement, designed to allow the show to be vague about specific dates. It usually consisted of 4 digits, a decimal point, and a 5th digit. At least one person working on the show described the process of assigning a stardate to an episode
as involving shouting out the window for a passerby to rattle off 5 random digits.
It probably wasn't quite that haphazard though, as the stardates more or less gradually increased as the show progressed, starting at around 1312, and ending
up at around 5925 in the final episode. Some tru-fans, unable to leave well enough alone, have attempted to come up with precise methods for determining stardates, some of them quite ingenious, but none of them having anything to do
with what the people making the show were thinking. Some fans have even attempted to convert Gregorian dates to Stardates by taking the last two digits
of the year, then two digits for the month, and putting the day of the month after the decimal point. Hence, October 16, 1997 would be Stardate 9710.16. Isn't that precious? --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
23. WHY DO THE KLINGONS LOOK DIFFERENT IN THE MOVIES THAN IN THE TV SHOW?
At the time Star Trek: The Motion Picture was released, Roddenberry said that this is the way the Klingons were always supposed to look, they just never had the budget to show them that way before. Though there are no sketches extant from the 1960's showing the Klingons looking this way, it's probably true that larger budgets are the real reason for the change. Several fans came up with several elaborate explanations for the change in Klingon appearance (the most entertaining being the idea that they now had their spines up over their heads from being kicked in the butt so often by the Federation), but the prevailing view seemed to be that we were supposed to shut up and pretend that the Klingons had always looked that way. This continued until the Deep Space Nine episode Trials and Tribble-ations, in which a member of the New Look Klingons encountered several of
--- D'Bridge 3.99
* Origin: FIDONet - The Positronium Repository (1:393/68)