January 26th, 1967, "Tomorrow is Yesterday"
The Fiver (by IJD GAF)
Memory Alpha
Transcript
The episode:
* Ah, the "black star." I haven't seen the remastered version, but I suppose it was too much to ask for the studio to redub this into "black hole."
* They were going in the general direction of Earth and managed to be dropped into Earth's orbit when the warp engines cut out at just the right time to achieve the upper atmosphere. Yikes, is that a pile of contrivance. As Batman would say after crashing into a pile of foam rubber, "I'd say the odds against it would make even the most reckless gambler cringe!"
* I wonder if Christopher's plane could've handled a lower tractor beam setting without breaking up.
* Confirmed: Federation Standard is just English. So why not call it English elsewhere?
* Here we are: twelve Constitution-class ships in the fleet. More on this later.
* UESPA alert!
* I question the idea that Christopher wouldn't fit in the 23rd century when I could mention Gillian Taylor seemed to handle it okay. Okay, he couldn't join Starfleet, but there must be a colony or two that could use the services of a military specialist.
* So they go on a mission to delete the records of the "UFO sighting", then proceed to go back in time to restore Christoper, making the "UFO sighting" just a momentary contact with no need to delete the records. Talk about contrivance.
* Two hundred years would be just about right. Insert typical Nate rant about how the series bible should've had a timeline of major events by now. Just to name one example, it's been 150 years since Cochrane disappeared. An old man Cochrane decades after the discovery of warp drive. In other words, just going by this episode and "Metamorphosis" would lead a viewer to conclude that Cochrane has already been born and warp drive is imminent. What editorial incompetence.
* I never did understand these food cards, or the food slots in general. It's a rant by itself, which I shall mercifully skip.
The fiver:
Spock: You do realize we can't let him go back.
Kirk: And why not? We could even set him up with some good stocks, and help him out a little. We could set him for life! Maybe even give him a third-world nation to rule....
Spock: I suppose invoking the halibut of thwacking would be too cruel....
I'm going to assume that the "halibut of thwacking" is somehow related to the "hammer of smiting", but is that also supposed to be a "Fish Schlapping Dance" reference?
Guard: Name?
Kirk: My name?
Guard: No, my name!
Kirk: I do not know your name!
Guard: ...I only hope you're smart enough not to run off and fall 20 feet to the pavement below.
Ah, The Voyage Home.
Kirk: Aren't you a little short for a Starfleet officer?
Christopher: Huh? Oh, the uniform. I'm John Christopher, I'm here to rescue you.
Interesting place for a Star Wars joke.
Memory Alpha:
* "Black hole" was coined later in 1967. Ships passing in the dark and all that...
* "The Making of Star Trek" apparently lists 14 Constitution-class ships.
* I will now list the Constitution-class ships mentioned at Memory Alpha, along with notes (I'm excluding the ones seen in the movie era):
** In prelude, I wish that all of the ships of a given class started with the same two-number prefix code (in this case, 17) to signify said class. Except for number-suffixed legacy ships, of course.
** 1700, no name=undergoing repair at Starbase 11. Only on a chart, could've possibly been refit and renumbered. I always thought that 1700 was the Constitution, the first of the class built.
** 1017, Constellation
** 1764, Defiant=Put me down as saying that the DS9 ship should've been 1764-A (realistically a higher letter), I don't like the idea that only the Enterprise is worthy of keeping the old registry with added letters and other legacy names need new numbers.
** 1664, Excalibur=see previous comments, I wonder if Peter David even knew about this ship when writing
New Frontier.
** 1672, Exeter
** 1703, Hood
** 1631, Intrepid=this name seems odd for an all-Vulcan crew. I wonder why we didn't see a Vulcan name for this one (the USS Surak?)
** 1709, Lexington
** 1657, Potemkin
** In addendum, the '70s fandom (later semi-canon) article "
The Case for Jonathan Doe Starship" lists the 12 as Yorktown, Potemkin, Lexington, Intrepid, Hood, Exeter, Excalibur, Essex, Enterprise, Endeavor, Eagle, and Constitution