Exploration Era Calendar Explained

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Exploration Era Calendar Explained

The first question is why invent a new calendar for Star Trek? There are 2 reasons. The first reason is, it is very hard to place the year of any TOS episode Star Trek. The second reason, is it gives you a stable platform to track events of the Star Trek series.

Part I: Basic Calendar (Jump to Part 2) (Jump to Part 3)

Source 1 "The Menagerie Part 1"

The Zero Event is The loss of the SS Columbia. Spock Tells us in "The Cage" part of the episode that the ship was loss 18 years ago. Placing "The Cage" in EE18. "The Menagerie" Part of the episodes Spock tells us that "The Cage" happened 13 years ago, Placing "The Menagerie" in EE31

Calendar:
EE0: The Columbia Loss
EE18: "The Cage" Occurs
EE31: "The Menagerie" Occurs

Source 2 "Where No Man Has Gone Before", and "Shore Leave"

Both Episodes refer to Kirks Academy as occurring 15 years ago. "No Man" refers to meeting Gary Mitchell In the academy and that Kirk has know him for 15 years. "Shore Leave" refers to Kirk being a freshmen 15 years ago. It only works if both are referring to his Freshman year. This tells us that The 2 episodes must take place within a year of each other.

Source 3: "Charlie X", and "Dagger of the Mind"

Both of these episodes refer to the dates they occurred. "Charlie X" states it is Thanksgiving, and "Dagger of the Mind" refers to it being soon after Christmas.

Lets see what this tells us:

EE0: Columbia is lost
EE18: "The Cage" Occurs
EE30,
Last 6 Months:
"Where No Man has gone before" occurs
November "Charlie X" Occurs
EE31,
January: "Dagger of the mind occurs"
April: "Shore Leave" Occurs

"Dagger of the Mind" could be near the end of December EE30 but this way I have an exact meridian for the year EE31.

"Shore Leave" had to occur after the dated given in "Charlie X" and "Dagger of the Mind". April keeps in line with a Spring Graduation for Kirk's academy years. An April date would also make the log Spock read in "Shore Leave" from a recent Quarterly Physical (Explained in the next section).

Part II: 5 year Mission (Jump to Part 1) (Jump to Part 3)

From here on end the dates are not exact. But we can get a general idea of how the series worked.

Source 1: "The Deadly Years"

Sulu states he has served with Captain Kirk for 2 years. We know he was on the ship during "Where No Man Has Gone Before" but without knowing exactly how long he has served aboard the Enterprise before then the best we can say is that this episode must have occurred before Mid to late EE32.

So we get this

EE32,
Mid Year: Last time "The Deadly Years" could have Occurred

Source 2: Quarterly Physical's (Not an episode name)

In "Corbimite Maneuver" Kirk tells us he is having a Quarterly Physical (QP). It is only time it is referred to as Quarterly, but that is never contradicted by any other QP episodes. The List of QP Episodes are "The Corbimite Maneuver", "Amok Time", "Journey to Babel", and "For The World is Hollow and I have Touched the Sky". The last episode states clearly the whole crew has physicals at the same time.

So what can we do with this? Being Quarterly those episodes must have happen on one of 4 months of the year. The rest of our calendar should help us. The "Amok Time" QP would have to be late EE 31 or early EE 32. But we need better information.

Source 3: "Day of the Dove"

The Klingon Tells us the 'Orgainian Peace treaty' was created 3 years ago (Probably not a Klingon Year, current information suggest 3 Klingon Years is roughly 1 Earth Year). "Day of the Dove" Takes place soon after "For the World is hollow and I have touch the Sky" A QP episode. The Treaty would have been signed after the episode "Errand Of Mercy"

Note that Dr. McCoy is missing from "Errand of Mercy", on a mission that he would have been very useful on (The mission was to secure Orgaina at any cost including introducing technology and medical advances). It takes place after "Shore Leave" which I stated was early EE31 Episode. "Amok Time" a QP Episode takes place after "Errand of Mercy"

Since McCoy is missing from "Errand of Mercy" One could speculate if a QP was occurring. If this is the case you could probably say that this was one of the last 2 QP's of EE31 and the Amok Time QP was one of the first 2 of EE32. Since "Day of the Dove" occurred 3 years after "Errand of Mercy" I think we could say this.

EE0: Columbia is lost
EE18: "The Cage" Occurs

EE30,
Last 6 Months:
"Where No Man has gone before" occurs
November "Charlie X" Occurs

EE31,
January: "Dagger of the mind occurs"
April: "Shore Leave" Occurs
October: "Errand of Mercy" occurs

EE32,
January: Amok Time Occurs
Mid Year: Last time "The Deadly Years" could have occurred

EE34,
October: "For the World is Hollow and I have Touched the Sky" Occurs

Truthfully "For the World" could be 3 months off in either direction. also it is most Likely the series ends late EE35 since "The Corbomite Maneuver" (First episode that says Five Year Mission) was late EE30

Part III: The Movies (Jump to Part 1) (Jump to Part 2)

1: "The Motion Picture"

Kirk tells us he was Chief of Starfleet operations for 2 and a half years. Kirk Lands at Starfleet at 5PM, since it is still very light out it must be mid year.

We do not know how long after the 5 Year mission till Kirk was transferred off the Enterprise. But Kirk did state he was Chief of Starfleet Operations for 2 and a half years, this information suggest that "TMP" must have occurred somewhere after mid EE38

2: The Star Trek Trilogy

"The Wrath of Khan", "The Search for Spock", and "The Voyage Home" have a connected plot. But these episodes and "The Final Frontier" took place during a short space of time.

The Year of the Film Star Trek II along the EE Calendar is EE46, which will be explained below. Best data would suggest an Old Earth Date of 2279. The best way to track this is in reverse from Star Trek 5. Because although we can not get the exact year from Star Trek V, we can get the exact day.

Star Trek V

* Not conclusive

STV: First we must look at the Yosemite. According to Yosemite's records the scenes there were recorded in September 1988. I think it is safe to assume that it took place in the same month. The Second aspect is the Full Moon. It is a view of the Moon from Earth so this is an indicates the day. According to "The Electronic Sky" http://www.glyphweb.com/esky/default.htm Web Master, the Full moon in that month is on the 21st. (that is for the Month of September of 2279) September 21st 1979.

Between 4 & 5: At one Point Kirk mentions, "You said you could fix the ship in 2 weeks I gave you 3 what happened?" thus meaning they docked 3 weeks ago to fix the ship which Calculating backwards give us a date of August 31st For Docking at Space Dock

Star Trek IV

Between 4 & 5: In the beginning of 'Star Trek V' Scotty refers to Kirks Last line in 'Star Trek IV', "Lets see what she's got". Suggesting it has not been that long of a time since the end of the Movie. There is no indication how long they were gone before returning to space dock. Scotty tell us engine's are fine. Lets just say 1 week*, since we have no better information. Giving 'Star Trek IV' an end date of August 24th

STIV: From the start of the movie up to the Time Travel was exactly 5 days. 1 day for Repairs, and 4 days to get to earth (TMP Scotty said he could have Spock on Vulcan in 4 days) It is hard to say how many days there were between the landing the Klingon ship, and the Trial*, although it would not be much time. And we can not know how long till they got the new Enterprise*. Minus better information lets say each was a day away. calculating back 7 days it would take place in August 17th.

Star Trek III

Between 3 & 4: In Star Trek IV Kirk logs , "We're in the third month of our Vulcan Exile". To Calculate backwards 3 Months gives the end of Star Trek III a date of May 17th.

STIII: Time in this movie is hard to Calculate, From arrival at Space Dock to leaving for Genesis is 2 days. We know this to be a fact because Scotty was to Report as Excelsior Chief Engineer the next day. STII suggest it would take about 3 and a half days to get to Genesis. According to WebMD, the wound Kirk receives from the Klingon would take 2 to 3 weeks to get as healed as it was when they arrived at Vulcan. lets say 2* weeks to keep a minimum. So lets say 19 days for this movie. Which gives us a beginning date of April 28th

Star Trek II

Between 2 and 3: Chekov told us earlier that it takes 3 days for a Ceti Alpha-Regula trip, Kirk tells us he is leaving Regula to pick up the Crew of the Reliant So 3 days. The safe figure for a Ceti Alpha 5-Earth trip is to add the Earth/Regula, and Regula/Ceti Alpha time's which is 6 days*. Although the figure of getting back to earth is unreliable it is the best we can do. So lets say it took 9 days* the Movie ended at April 19th.

STII: Chekov says to Carol that they will arrive at Regula in 3 days. She calls Kirk and they head to Regula. But Khan seems to have got there before Kirk so we must assume it is about a 3 day trip. Calculating back ward suggest the movie begun at April 16th

Year: Star Trek II is where everything comes together. Both Kirk and Khan refer to the episode Space Seed as happening 15 years ago. An episode we can safely say took place in EE 31. Giving us a Complete date of April 16th EE46. Since there are to many gray variables at this point, I will not say it was this date but only generally before this date.

So this is what we have:

EE0: Columbia is lost
EE18: "The Cage" Occurs

EE30,
Last 6 Months:
"Where No Man has gone before" occurs
November "Charlie X" Occurs

EE31,
January: "Dagger of the mind occurs"
April: "Shore Leave" Occurs
October; "Errand of Mercy" occurs

EE32,
January: Amok Time Occurs
Mid Year: Last time "The Deadly Years Occur"

EE34,
October: "For the World is Hollow and I have Touched the Sky" Occurs

EE38,
First moment "The Motion Picture" Could have occurred.

EE45: Last time "TMP" Could have occurred.

EE46:
Date begun	Movie or event	Date ending
April 16th	Star Trek 2	April 19th
April 28th	Star Trek 3	May 17th
August 17th	Star Trek 4	August 24th
August 31st	Enterprise docks to fix Problems
September 21st	Star Trek 5

3. "The Undiscovered Country"
During his Trial McCoy states he has been Chief Surgeon of the USS Enterprise for 27 years. He first appears on the show on EE30 in "The Corbomite Maneuver". So it would appear that the Movie was in EE57. But there is a problem. In "Star Trek: The Motion Picture" Kirk alludes to the fact that after the series McCoy left Starfleet saying he would NEVER return. The best we can guess is, it would maybe be the 2 and half years Kirk was at Starfleet Command. IF he was not counting this time, the Year would be EE60.

As for the day this movie happens, our only clue is when the President says "As I imagine this work will occupy us throughout most of the week it would be my hope that the delegations could return to their capitals to implement the previsions of Phase 1 no later then the first of next month." In the least, we can say, this Movie must have happened 7 days before the next month. Take away 7 from 30 and you have 23rd. So it must be in the late part of the month, but before the 23rd

Side Note: Spock states that the Conflict with the Klingons has been occurring for almost 70 years. Using the word Almost Pretty much Pins down it to 68, or 69 years ago. This would mean the conflict and First Contact, would occur somewhere in EE -10. Not exactly, but in that area. You may wonder why I connect Klingon Conflict, and First Contact with Klingons. Because in "Trouble With Tribbles" Spock Tells us that the Conflict with the Klingons began on Initial Contact, over the possession of Sherman's Planet.

So Finally We have a Definitive Calendar:

EE0: Columbia is lost
EE18: "The Cage" Occurs

EE30,
Last 6 Months:
"Where No Man has gone before" occurs
November "Charlie X" Occurs

EE31,
January: "Dagger of the mind occurs"
April: "Shore Leave" Occurs
October: "Errand of Mercy" occurs

EE32,
January: Amok Time Occurs
Mid Year: Last time "The Deadly Years Occur"

EE34,
October: "For the World is Hollow and I have Touched the Sky" Occurs

EE38,
First moment "The Motion Picture" Could have occurred.

EE45: Last time "TMP" Could have occurred.

EE46:
Date begun	Movie or event	Date ending
April 16th	Star Trek 2	April 19th
April 28th	Star Trek 3	May 17th
August 17th	Star Trek 4	August 24th
August 31st	Enterprise docks to fix Problems
September 21st	Star Trek 5

EE57:
before the 23rd"The Undiscovered Country" Occurs