One day a few years ago when I had nothing better to do, I posted a long screed attempting to boldly reconcile the "histories" of Star Trek and Lost in Space, with bits of Forbidden Planet and Total Recall thrown in for good measure.  The original posting is lost, but most of it is preserved in Timo Saloniemi's reply below.

Timo noted a few possible cracks in the historical edifice thusly produced, to which I respond with further bluster^H^H^H^H^H^H^H background information below.

Mr Saloniemi, I am in your debt :)

NB  To clear up any possible misconceptions, this site has nothing whatever to do with the "other" kind of Forbidden Trek.  The title is based strictly on the Forbidden Planet connection!

Borg fans click here for special bonus section

>Malcolm L. Carlock
><malc@voicenet.com>

Timo Saloniemi

In article <5ugec2$oeh@nntp.hut.fi>,
Timo S Saloniemi <tsalonie@oboe.hut.fi> wrote:
<>
<>Hence, sleeper technology was used, [due to slower warp drives]
<>similar to that used in earlier interplanetary ships (such as the
<>infamous S.S.  Botany Bay), both for provision of long-term suspended
<>animation during the voyage, and to prevent the neural trauma during
<>transition in and out of warp which was prevalent in those days of weak
<>field compensators.
<
<But, but... Marla McGivers in "Space Seed" claimed that sleeper
<technology was not used after the early 21st century. Perhaps
<she was referring to DY type ships only (since one of those
<inspired that discussion), but why would the Jupiters have
<equipment inferior to the DYs? Or perhaps she meant that cryosleep
<was abandoned in interplanetary travel, but still used in interstellar
<flights?

Yes, the latter is what she meant.  Trust me on this :)

<>Part of the confusion surrounding the brief era of the Jupiter-class
<>ships may be UESPA's changover to Multiverse Ephemeris Time (MET) in
<>the mid 22nd century, involving a backward shift in numbering of
<>approximately 70 Earth years.  As with the change to the Gregorian
<>Calendar centuries before, much confusion as to proper historical dates
<>ensued, in this case, regarding dates in the 21st century.  The
<>potential for such confusion is, of course, greatly exacerbated by the
<>21st century's extensive wars and general chaos.
<
<So when did we revert back to OC, which seems to be used by current
<Trek characters when speaking of those centuries?

Famous historical dates prior to ~2000 OC continued to be referred to by their OC dates, due to their longstanding associations in popular culture (1945 = end of WWII, 1969 = first moon landing etc.)  Confusion tends to reign a bit when talking about dates occurring during the Eugenics wars etc., due partly to the chaos of those times (hence chaotically remembered historical dates), and partly due to general knowledge among future folk about the "real" dates of certain events, thus making explicit reference to OC or MET for famous events unnecessary most of the time.

I also forgot to mention that MET, in seeming contrast to its eminent sensibility, was initially pushed through by a fanatical, temporarily ascendant religous group known as Pascal's Wagerers, who had a habit of putting into disintegration chambers anyone who questioned their actions or beliefs.  Those feeling tempted to doubt the possibility of MET-caused confusion of dates, as described in my earlier brief, would do well to contemplate their example :)

<>The first lauch of a Jupiter-class ship has been reported in some
<>surprisingly recent accounts to have occurred in the late 1990's,
<>according to the old calendar (OC.)  This is, of course, absurd, since
<>in that year (OC), the warp drive and even early fast sublight drives
<>were decades in the future.  Earth at that time had not yet even
<>mounted a single manned mission to the nearest Solar planets.
<
<Oh, but Earth was supposed to have the DY ships in the 1990s (not
<MET but OC). We see one (in tabletop model form) in Rain Robinson's
<room in Voyager "Future's End pt. I", complete with launch boosters.
<This makes the MET/OC attempt a bit futile, although I don't mean to
<claim it *couldn't* work.

As I recall, that episode used MET exclusively.  Any late 20th-century (OC) artifacts observed were clearly antiques.

<Also, Geoffrey Shaun Cristopher is supposed to have flown to
<Saturn in the early decades of the 21st century, OC, if we
<choose to believe Kirk in "Tomorrow is Yesterday". Earth apparently
<developed impressive sublight technology in the 1990s or perhaps even
<1980s, and mounted several interplanetary missions.

>For some reason,
<the colonization of Mars did not succeed before the 22nd century,
<though...

<>The first Jupiter-class mission was launched in 1998 MET, 2068 OC,
<
<At that time, the Charybdis had already departed for parts unknown,
<apparently by impulse drive. [..]  That's one further data point to
>be inserted to this timeline.

<A tiny correction from ST:FC - warp was developed in 2063 and not in
<2061 as speculated earlier.
<
<Also, Khan was a pretty smart guy. He could probably have developed
<interstellar sublight flight, cryogenics and artificial gravity
<already in 1995 OC, not having to wait until 1995 MET. He would
<then have kept those technologies secret...

<>Having no conceivable direct applicability to the warfare currently
<>being conducted on Earth's surface and in its near orbit, and the
<>already well-understood extreme danger of using the warp within a
<>solar system, helped keep the warp a secret for a number of years.
<
<I rather prefer the idea put forth in the Reeves-Stevens novel
<"Federation", in which Cochrane puts the blueprints of warp
<drive to worldwide scot-free distribution out of sheer altruism.

<This would help explain the very fast emergence of SS Valiant,
<which had a warp drive a year or so after Cochrane's first flight.

<advanced the drive of the Valiant, it should *not* have been able to reach
<an area of space that was being explored for the first time in the
<TOS era. It is more profitable to speculate that the Valiant simply
<got a boost from a wormhole, an alien (those were toying with
<Earthships in "The Royale", so why not here, too?) or a black hole
<(a la ST:TMP and STV:TFF where Earth sublight probes are shown crossing
<hige interstellar distances).

<the Valiant mission was a foolhardy attempt to try find the limitations
<of humanity's reach with the new FTL drive.

<Would those engines be significantly faster? "The Cage" has references to
<the breaking of the time barrier, referring to an event that took place
<in the early 23rd century. This suggest that advances before that had been
<rather gradual.

>And we do know that nobody met the Romulans or the
<Klingons in the 21st century, even though they supposedly reside (and
<resided back then) close to us. Or perhaps nobody survived to tell of
<an encounter?

<I'd think the Robinson family would have no shortage of class M
<worlds if they really stumbled onto the Trek universe...

They went through a wormhole or two as well.  Otherwise they would certainly have been able to find Earth again sooner than that.  That damned astrogator was never any good...

<I really, REALLY wonder what the UFP officials told the public
<when Kirk brought forward those whales. "Uh, ah, well, the ongoing
<cloning efforts of UFP scientists have succeeded in creating two
<adult humpback whales for, um, natural history research purposes.
<And, er, in a COMPLETELY unrelated event, Admiral Kirk has been
<credited with rescuing the planet through, hmm, eh, yes, through
<talking nicely to the big probe in orbit...";

<Of course, here we run into the twin problems of "subspace radio
<too early" and "cryosleep too late" again...

<The UESPA stuff does have its problems as well. After all, Earth
<was NOT united before the early 22nd century. Perhaps "UE" meant
<"United Europe" or "Universal Euphenism" or something like that
<at the time?

<Anyway, I greatly enjoyed reading (and bashing!) this post!
<Thanks! (and sorry :-) )

Thank you for your time in reviewing it.  Without peer review, there's no telling what sort of crackpot material might start making the rounds.

Regards,