TV And Films

Yesterday I pointed to this article about Star Trek XI. According to the article, this will be a prequel movie not directly associated with any of the existing shows, story lines — or casts.

What we know so far you could pretty much write on the back of a comm badge but it breaks down to this: Picard and the gang will not be involved, it’s going to be a prequel film set before Kirk, the Enterprise TV crew will (thankfully) not be involved.

[…]

“We’re going 160-odd years before Kirk is born. It’s an earlier time, and I think it would be really refreshing to feel something in the course of telling this tale, instead of being wowed by special effects, or presenting another crew in jeopardy where, in the end, the captain does something brilliant, and all’s right with the world. By the end of this story, everyone isn’t fine. I can safely say as a storyteller with certain standards… my intention is literally as a writer, as a storyteller, as a filmmaker, to go boldly where no one has gone before.”

This got me thinking about the timeline of the Trek universe. I remembered that Enterprise was set roughly 80 or so years before classic Trek — so this new movie will be going another 80 years before that? Considering that Enterprise is set in the era immediately preceding the formation of the Federation of Planets, what was going on in the Trek universe during the time period of this new movie?

According to Memory Alpha’s timeline, Classic Trek is set in the 23rd century, between 2264 and 2269.

Enterprise takes place in the 22nd Century, between 2151 and roughly 2155 (I’m assuming that last date, given the four-year run of Enterprise).

This actually puts Enterprise roughly 110 years before Classic Trek, not 80 — so the new film should take place roughly fifty years prior to that, right around the early 2100s.

So what do we have in the established Trek universe in the 2100s that might factor in to the new movie?

• 2102
  • The ECS Horizon, an Earth J-class cargo vessel, is commissioned. (ENT: “Horizon“)
  • The Earth spaceship SS Hokule’a is launched. (TNG: “Up the Long Ladder“)
• 2103
  • The first human colony on the planet Mars is established, which marks the birth of the Martian colonies. (VOY: “Lifesigns“)
• 2105
  • The Earth space ship VK Yuri Gagarin is launched. (TNG: “Up the Long Ladder“)

I haven’t snagged character births or contact between races that Earth wouldn’t have come into contact with yet in what I’ve listed above. Of those listed events, the only one that seems even remotely important enough that it might make an appearance in the new film is the establishment of the Martian colonies, but I don’t really expect that to show up.

First Contact with the Vulcans was in 2063, so having the Vulcans involved is a possibility — unfortunately, if they keep continuity with Enterprise, they’ll be the uppity, meddling Vulcans of Enterprise rather than the stoic, respectable members of the Federation that we’re more familiar with.

Neither the Klingons nor the Romulans had been encountered yet, so unless there’s some even more serious meddling with the established universe coming up, we shouldn’t be seeing either of them in the film.

Essentially, it appears that we have a fairly open slate for this one. I just hope that writer Erik Jendresen isn’t just mouthing empty platitudes when he says this…

“I can certainly say that the story concept, the basic idea of this thing, is pretty damn big,” says Jendresen. “It’s a noble enterprise, pun intended. When I heard the notion, I realized that the people I was talking to were serious, and genuinely dedicated. I started to really think about it, and, ultimately to develop a story. And it’s a pretty good one.

Rumor mills — warp seven — engage!

Update: On a second reading — because sometimes I’m dumb, and one reading isn’t enough — I realized that I may have goofed up the dates by about three decades. I’d thought that the article said that they were going “160 years before Kirk’s time”, so I counted backwards from the beginning of the original series. However, I just realized that the article actually says “160-odd years before Kirk is born“.

Kirk was born in 2233, so that puts the approximate time period of the new film at around 2073 or so — not even 70 years from the present day. This still puts it post-First Contact with the Vulcans, but now we’re a good thirty years away from colonizing Mars.

Again looking at the timeline, events in the 2070’s that might (but might not) factor into the film:

• 2070
  • A group of North American Indians leave Earth in order to preserve their cultural identity and to find a new home. They will finally settle on Dorvan V near the Cardassian border in 180 years. (TNG “Journey’s End“)
• 2073
  • Zefram Cochrane makes the statement: “Don’t try to be a great man, just be a man and let history make its own judgements”. (Star Trek: First Contact)
• 2076
  • The SS Conestoga founds the Terra Nova colony. (ENT: “Terra Nova“)
  • Notes: The TNG version of 21st century history states that World War III took place in the 2050s, and the post-atomic effects were recorded in the 2060s and 2070s in Star Trek: First Contact and “Encounter at Farpoint.” It seems odd that a high profile, well-outfitted colonization effort using the infant warp drive technology could come from this turmoil, but that is the version of events presented in Enterprise, however, it relates well with the launch of SS Valiant only two years after First Contact.
• 2079
  • By this year, the post-atomic horror is underway. (TNG: “Encounter at Farpoint“.)
  • In this year, the number of stars on the United States flag changes from the 52 displayed since 2033. (TNG: “The Royale“)
    • The episode states that the flag had 52 stars from 2033 until 2079. It is unclear whether the number of stars increases or decreases however, although the state of world turmoil adds the possibility that the United States was altogether dissolved.
  • Notes: The idea of a post-atomic horror clashes with Star Trek: Enterprise‘s view of a humanity embracing exploration and scientific development. It is possible that the horror only affected part of the planet – the presence of a Mandarin in Q‘s court suggests that the Eastern Coalition may have been the superpower affected by the event.

Again, just because these events have been established as part of the Trek universe, there’s no guarantee that they will be seen or referenced in the upcoming film — and, as noted above in regards to the Post-atomic horror seeming to be inconsistent with the TNG and ENT versions of Trek history, it’s entirely possible that some events may be flat-out contradicted once the film comes out.

Still, it’s fun to look at what’s “known” at this point, and to try to put some context to the time period the next film is likely to be in.

Update: Neuvo pointed out that there’s been an update to the original article about the film, and the writer has stated that he goofed when he gave the ~160 year date.

Erik Jendresen contacted SyFy Portal after the story published to say that he misspoke when giving the 160-year figure in the above story. He said that was not an accurate number.

Now the article gives a rough date of ~80 years before Kirk — which puts it right around the early 2150’s, or right about the same time as the first season of Enterprise. This opens up possibilities for Klingons, Andorians, and (though I hope not) Suliban and other species encountered during Enterprise’s first year(s).

That’s far too many potential options for me to do another little timeline-rundown, so I’ll just go back to keeping my fingers crossed that a new writer not previously affiliated with the Trek franchise can breathe some new life into the series.