Annotations for 1x08 are up here: https://startrek.website/post/31579269

I do apologise if people are waiting for my annotations. I also apologise for any arrogance in assuming people are waiting for them.

I haven’t found a window where I can sit down and actively listen to do them. I’m working on “Original Sin” right now and it’s taking a bit of time because (as an English nerd in high school), I have a bit to say about the use of poetry and Shakespeare in this episode.

I mean, it’s being very heavily hinted that Lear is Kali.

Annotations for 1x07 are up at: https://startrek.website/post/30720634

It was in the TOS Writer’s Guide as far back as April 17, 1967, where it was stated (page 8):

Hyper-light speeds or space warp speeds (the latter is the terminology we prefer) are measured in WARP FACTORS. Warp factor one is the speed of light — 186,000 miles per second (or somewhat over six hundred million miles per hour.) Note: warp factors two, three and four are so on are based on a geometrical formula of light velocity. Warp factor two is actually eight times the speed of light; warp factor three is twenty-four times the speed of light; warp factor four is sixty-four times the speed of light, and so on.

It was subsequently mentioned in the behind-the-scenes book The Making of Star Trek in 1968 and Franz Joseph’s Star Fleet Technical Manual. The TOS scale was finally made canonical when it appeared on a viewscreen in ENT: “First Flight”.

The TNG scale was established in the series’ Writer’s Guide in 1987 establishing Warp 10 as the absolute limit (and infinite speed), so the scale had to be adjusted accordingly.

That’s correct as far as the TNG-era scale is concerned. In the TOS/SNW era it was a simple speed = warp factor³ equation, meaning Warp 6.25 is about 244c.

While not stated explicitly on screen, it was clear in behind-the-scenes documentation, and it was also clear that Enterprise in TOS exceeded Warp 10 in a handful of episodes, which I cited in my original comment. How fast a particular Warp Factor is may have been inconsistent, but the scale itself definitely changed between the two eras.

The thing I freeze framed on was the close-up of the helm console. Here we see the warp speed control and the impulse and weapons controls.

What’s interesting at the warp speed control is that it indicates the speed at Warp Factor 6.25, but that seems to be less than half speed. If the dots at the bottom of the throttle circle are correct, 6.25 is about two-fifths the top speed of the ship, which means theoretically they have a top speed of about Warp 15.6, which is just a bit higher than the Warp 14.1 we saw Kirk’s Enterprise achieve in TOS: “That Which Survives”, although Scotty said there that the ship wasn’t structured to even take Warp 11 for any length of time. The Kelvans did modify Enterprise to take that speed in TOS: “By Any other Name”, though. That being said, the specifications of the TOS-era Enterprise usually indicate a cruising speed of Warp 6 and a maximum speed of Warp 8.

On the other side, the impulse throttle circle and the dots at the bottom seem to indicate that they are also at two-fifths impulse power (which may be different from speed), and there appears to be a speed limiter next to the circle, although the speed indicator on the inside goes about a third higher than that. That’s actually consistent with the idea that full impulse isn’t the top impulse setting but there’s a limit placed on it (traditionally 0.25c) so as to avoid time dilation issues.

But I could be wrong and for all you know those dots are just to swipe left or right to get other controls visible.

Another interesting bit is the weapons controls. SNW: “What is Starfleet?” stated that Enterprise had six phaser banks and two torpedo tubes. The buttons here indicate two forward phaser controls - one ready to fire and one ready to charge. There are also two photon torpedo buttons, one ready to fire and one ready to load. Does that mean a single button fires three phaser banks?

There’s also a bunch of indicators above the impulse control (where Ortegas dismisses the warning pop-up alert) which seem to be communications or sensor indicators because they talk about band limits and Rx levels (received signal strengths).

Annotations for SNW 3x01 up at https://startrek.website/post/26221790 and 3x02 at https://startrek.website/post/26221896

This is specifically in reference to Deltans.

As per TMP:

ILIA: My oath of celibacy is on record Captain. May I assume my duties?

I once addressed this question about Turkana IV on r/DaystromInstitute:

So do we have a reasonable explanation for why the Federation didn’t intervene in the years leading up to Turkana IV breaking off? The time frame, coincidentally, points us to why the Federation might have been devoting resources elsewhere and therefore didn’t pay attention until it was too late.

The late 2340s saw the start of the Cardassian Wars. Exactly when the Setlik III massacre took place is a matter of debate. Most date it to 2347 because of a line in TNG: “Realm of Fear” (2369) where O’Brien tells Barclay he’s been a transporter operator for 22 years (he was a Tactical Officer during Setlik), but there’s contradictory evidence from other episodes in DS9. We can discuss that another time.

But if Setlik III did take place in 2347, then by that time the Federation was embroiled in a war with Cardassia which lasted, in various iterations, until the early 2360s (POWs were released in 2362, DS9: “Tribunal”).

It might not be a stretch to think that a colony world like Turkana IV slipped under the Federation’s radar until it was too late. I get the impression that most colonies aren’t directly governed by the Federation. They’re given autonomy up to a point, and if they want to break off, then it’s their right to do so.

So criminal gangs or not, there was a war going on and the Federation let it go. Not necessarily its finest hour, but I can see it happening.

Annotations for Star Trek: Section 31 up at: https://startrek.website/post/18738476

But that still doesn’t mean DIS is in an alternate reality.

Not any more than it’s fair to assume that, by showing the Barge of the Dead, or the Miranda-class, or the Oberth-class, or the Galaxy-class, or the proto-Klingons, that VOY: “Barge of the Dead”, ST II, ST III, TNG or TNG: “Genesis” took place in a reality with different class ships or people.

The Mirror Universe question is a separate one, to which there really is no good answer because we’ve only seen crossovers from the Prime Universe to its Mirror Universe counterpart. A bigger question is whether or not the Mirror Universe we saw in PRO: “Broken Mirror” is the same Mirror Universe we see in DS9 because there the Terran Empire seems to exist again.

Annotations for 5x10 up at: https://startrek.website/post/17452674

Thank you for noticing the typo!

Yes, the XCV-330 was an early Matt Jeffries concept for the Enterprise back in 1964. That’s why it turned up in TMP as a painting.

Annotations for 5x09 up at: https://startrek.website/post/17237470

Adding those, thanks.

deleted by creator

Annotations for 5x08 up at: https://startrek.website/post/17025741