The STAR TREK Annotated Timeline

by Win Scott Eckert

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MYTHS FOR THE MODERN AGE: PHILIP JOSÉ FARMER'S WOLD NEWTON UNIVERSE is now available from MonkeyBrain Books: In his classic “biographies” of fictional characters (Tarzan Alive and Doc Savage: His Apocalyptic Life), Hugo- and Nebula-award winning author Philip José Farmer introduced the Wold Newton family, a collection of heroes and villains whose family-tree includes Sherlock Holmes, Fu Manchu, Philip Marlowe, and James Bond. In books, stories, and essays he expanded the concept even further, adding more branches to the Wold Newton family-tree. MYTHS FOR THE MODERN AGE: PHILIP JOSÉ FARMER’S WOLD NEWTON UNIVERSE, edited by Win Scott Eckert, collects for the first time those rarely-seen essays. Expanding the family even farther are contributions from Farmer’s successors—scholars, writers, and pop-culture historians—who bring even more fictional characters into the fold. Table of Contents & More Ordering Info See also Recent & Upcoming Wold Newton-related Books

The STAR TREK Annotated Timeline was updated on September 12, 2003. Check back soon for further updates.

Now Available: Rare Star Trek newspaper comic strips from the UK ! Click here for information!

The STAR TREK Annotated Timeline began in the late 1970s as an effort to place the original Star Trek novels published by Bantam Books, and the Star Trek Log books by Alan Dean Foster, into a logical chronology with the televised episodes of the original series. Bjo Trimble's Star Trek Concordance was heavily used as a reference in back in those days, in which this Timeline was a hand-written work. Throughout the years, I have continued to follow all forms of Star Trek literature, in addition to the various television series and films.

When actual calendar dates were finally used in the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode The Neutral Zone, I was surprised to find that the dates in my own Timeline actually worked. That episode takes place in the year 2364. Moving backward somewhat less than a year, the premiere episode Encounter at Farpoint can be placed in late 2363. In that episode, Admiral McCoy is said to be 137 years old. Thus, McCoy was born in about 2226. If McCoy were in his 40s at the time of the original series, then the original series would take place in the mid-to-late 2260s. From this single point, the remainder of the dates in this Timeline are derived, although, since then, many other calendar dates have been provided in the various series and stories.

Since the Star Trek Chronology by Michael and Denise Okuda published by Pocket Books follows this same logic, this Timeline can be viewed as a supplement to theirs. All attempts have been made to follow that work, while at the same time including material that was excluded from that work. However, in a work of this scope, there are bound to be some differences in interpretation. See below for a few ways in which this Timeline may differ from the Okuda Chronology.

This Timeline may be seen as a comprehensive guide to all Star Trek fiction that has been authorized and licensed by Paramount, including, but not limited to, novels, comics and short stories. There are a few exceptions

• The short story ‘‘Visit to a Weird Planet Revisited,’’ published in Star Trek: The New Voyages (volume 1). ‘‘Visit to a Weird Planet Revisited,’’ wherein Kirk, Spock and McCoy trade places with Shatner, Nimoy and Kelley, is more fanciful pastiche than true Star Trek fiction, and thus is not included in this Timeline.

• "The Man Who Sold the Sky," from Strange New Worlds (volume 1) features Star Trek characters in a deathbed tribute to Gene Roddenberry, and is also excluded.

• “JubHa’” (Strange New Worlds, volume 3) is excluded because I don’t read Klingon. 

• The Captain Proton stories (“Captain Proton and the Orb of Bajor,” Strange New Worlds volume 4; “The Adventures of Captain Proton, Chapter 1: The Space Vortex of Doom,” Star Trek: The Amazing Stories; and Captain Proton: Defender of the Earth) are excluded as not in Star Trek continuity.

• Fan fiction that has been published or otherwise disseminated by non-licensees, i.e. fiction published in ‘‘fanzines,’’ is not included in this Timeline.

Events are placed in this chronology using the following information: production order and season of televised episodes; references to past events and the number of years since said past events occurred; time periods described; style of uniform and equipment in use; age, rank and position of characters; and specific calendar dates given. Stardates are generally a secondary source and need not be determinative.

Information taken from televised episodes and movies takes precedence over contradictory information in novels, short stories, comics, etc., although every effort is made to reconcile the two through hypotheses and suppositions. This rule is broken in two places:

(1) In the “Log’’ written adaptations of the animated Star Trek episodes: the stardates given in the episodes would intersperse the episodes throughout the episodes of the original three-year series; however, the “Log” books are written in such a way that each episode immediately follows the last. The “Log” books are highly regarded and I have chosen to follow their interpretation. Therefore I have placed all the animated episodes after the episodes comprising the three seasons of the original Star Trek series.

(2) Many times in the early Star Trek novels, there are references to past events of the television series which have the effect of rearranging the order of the original series episodes as given in the Okuda Chronology. I have chosen to follow the novels in these instances, as I feel that the effect of rearranging the order of some of the original series episodes is relatively harmless.

 

Stardates for Classic Star Trek episodes are generally ignored, as they do not assist in determining the order of events during this period, and more often than not lead to contradictions with documented sequences of occurrences.

Example 1: The animated episode THE MAGICKS OF MEGAS-TU has a stardate of 1254.4, while the second pilot, WHERE NO MAN HAS GONE BEFORE, is stardated 1312.4. However, WHERE NO MAN HAS GONE BEFORE (older uniforms and equipment) obviously takes place before THE MAGICKS OF MEGAS-TU (updated uniforms and equipment).

Example 2: The stardate for PATTERNS OF FORCE (2534.0) would place it at the beginning of the first season. However, Ensign Chekov is in this episode, and he did not join the bridge crew until approximately the end of the first season or the beginning of the second season. Therefore, the stardate given is not useful in placing the episode.

 

Stardates for Star Trek: The Next Generation, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and Star Trek: Voyager are more consistent (except for the first season of Star Trek: The Next Generation, where the stardates are very inconsistent and must be ignored); they are supplied in instances where they are useful in placing novels and comics, and where they help to provide a chronology of alternating episodes of two or more concurrent series. In instances where stardates are inconsistent, they are ignored for purposes of placing events in this chronology.

Example 1: Lt. Tasha Yar is killed in SKIN OF EVIL (stardate 41601.3). However, she is alive in THE ARSENAL OF FREEDOM (stardate 41798.2) and THE BIG GOODBYE (stardate 41997.7). Since THE ARSENAL OF FREEDOM and THE BIG GOODBYE must take place before SKIN OF EVIL, the stardates must be ignored.

Example 2: In the novel Exiles (stardate 44429.1), Wesley is still on board the ship. However, Wesley leaves the ship in FINAL MISSION (stardate 44307.3). Since televised episodes take precedence over novels, the stardate in Exiles is incorrect and must be ignored; Exiles gets placed before FINAL MISSION.

 

This author makes no assertions as to whether or not certain episodes included in this Timeline are part of the “real” Star Trek canon. For example, most Star Trek fans do not recognize the Gold Key comics as valid Star Trek adventures. However, they are included here for the sake of a complete Timeline. Each individual Star Trek fan has his or her own ideas about which novels, comics, etc., are “true” Star Trek; if a fan does want to include the Gold Key comics in his or her own personal canon, then this Timeline tells that fan when those adventures occurred. If a particular story does not meet your own personal standards for inclusion in the Star Trek canon, then feel free to ignore it in this Timeline.

While solutions are offered to many contradictions in the various Star Trek stories, some are beyond the scope of even this Timeline. For instance, the astute reader will notice that the original U.S.S. Enterprise and Enterprise-A, under the command of Captain Kirk, have traveled to the Galactic Core several times. The original Enterprise is also capable of traveling 1,000 light years in a period of a few days (THAT WHICH SURVIVES). I'm sure that, 100 years later, Captain Janeway would have been quite interested in the secrets behind these miraculous feats of warp engineering.

Following are some reading tips:

• [ ] = alternate title used by James Blish in his short story episode adaptations

• ( ) = parenthetical comment or reference source

• < > = time travel date

• information in italics is solely this author's creative speculation made in order to resolve conflicting information and to fill in gaps

• commas in code citations indicate the same story being told in multiple media forms (for example, a movie and its novelization and its comic adaptation)

• a slash (“/”) in a code citation indicates the story takes place in two versions of Star Trek (for example, the novel Federation is a combination Classic Star Trek and Star Trek: The Next Generation novel and is cited “N/N(NG)”)

• roman numerals in parentheses distinguish different, unrelated episodes, novels or stories with identical titles

• all story titles are underlined

• all titles of T.V. episodes and movies are UNDERLINED, BOLDED AND IN ALL-CAPS

Finally, a caveat: reader beware. The Timeline contains a large amount of reference information; if the reader has not seen an episode or read a novel, the reader may want to skip the parenthetical information following the placement of that particular adventure, so as to avoid the spoilers.

Update information:

The Timeline was updated on September 12, 2003.

Due to the high volume of Star Trek episodes, novels, and comics which are produced on an annual basis, updates to this Timeline may take a while.

The Timeline is current through:

• Season 2 of the Enterprise television series

• Strange New Worlds IV anthology

• Starfleet Corps of Engineers number 16

• Ongoing series of novels: Star Trek: Deep Space Nine - The Left Hand of Destiny, Books 1 and 2, Star Trek: Voyager - Homecoming and Star Trek: Voyager - The Farther Shore (does not include Do Comets Dream?, Stargazer: Three, and  The Lost Era: The Sundered, and later novels)

I also fully understand that the Enterprise series is bound to contradict some of the pre-23rd Century information provided in this Timeline. Information which conflicts with novels will be addressed in future revisions, as needed. 

Rich Handley has kindly pointed out that the Timeline does not include the Star Trek newspaper comic strips, from both the U.S. and the U.K.  I am pleased to announce that the UK material is now available! Rich has spent 10 painstaking years compiling the ENTIRE run of British Star Trek strips, and the samples look extraordinary. Click here for information on how to order the strips from Rich!

The Timeline is available in PDF format. To download the Timeline, right-click on the hyperlink and select "Save Target As..." Due to its length, it may take a while to download (perhaps 6 or more minutes on a dial-up connection); please be patient.

•   Download the STAR TREK Timeline

Links to other Star Trek chronologies which go beyond the televised episodes and films to cover some of the licensed Star Trek fiction:

Chronology of Written Star Trek Fiction by Geoff Trowbridge  

Voyager Timeline  A timeline for episodes and books in seasons 1,2 and 3 by The Lynx Empire; future updates to this Timeline will incorporate this research as appropriate

Star Trek Chronology by Edgar Governo

Early Star Trek Novels by Curt Danhauser

Star Trek: New Frontier by Curt Danhauser

Other Star Trek Links:

The Wold Newton Universe and Star Trek: This page, one of many at the Expansion of Philip José Farmer's Wold Newton Universe site, details what Star Trek has in common with many other fictional universes and characters.

STARTREK.com: The Official Star Trek Website

The Kes Photo Gallery presented by The Lynx Empire

Trek Today, The Trek BBS, Trek Nation

Star Trek Book Database at Psi Phi

Star Trek: The Books at simonsays.com

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This site was created for the sole purposes of entertainment and information. All rights reserved. The text and design of The STAR TREK Annotated Timeline is © 2001-2004 by the author, Win Eckert, except as otherwise specified. No copying or reproduction of this work or any portions thereof in any form whatsoever is permitted without prior written permission and consent of the author. Star Trek(TM)® is a registered trademark of Paramount Pictures.