• Space probe Nomad launched from Earth, the first interstellar probe intended to seek out new life-forms. The probe was designed by scientist Jackson Roykirk. Nomad is later believed destroyed in a meteoroid collision.
“The Changeling” (TOS). Exact date is conjecture, but Kirk noted that Nomad had been launched in the early 2000s. (The script for the episode gives the launch date as 2002, but we still consider it conjecture since it was not mentioned in the final air version of “The Changeling.”)
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• Captain Shaun Geoffrey Christopher commands the first successful Earth-Saturn space-probe mission.
Conjecture from “Tomorrow Is Yesterday” (TOS). Assumes 40 years from the episode (1969) during which Shaun is born and raised.
Editors’ Note: Episode writer Dorothy Fontana named Shaun Geoffrey Christopher for fellow Star Trek writer John D. F. Black’s three sons, Shaun, Geoffrey, and Christopher.
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• The London Kings baseball team has a good year, bolstered by the performance of rookie Buck Bokai.
“Past Tense, Part II” (DS9). Sisko noted that 2015 was Bokai’s rookie year.
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• Advances in sublight propulsion technologies make “sleeper ships” obsolete.
“Space Seed” (TOS). Marla McGivers says that sleeper ships were necessary prior to this date. She was apparently not referring to the invention of warp drive, since this is before Cochrane’s birth.
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• The American government, reacting to serious problems of homeless and jobless people, creates special Sanctuary Districts in most cities where such people can be cared for. Unfortunately, while established with benevolent intent, the Sanctuary Districts quickly degenerate into inhumane internment camps where the unemployed, the mentally ill, and other outcasts are imprisoned.
“Past Tense, Part I” (DS9). Sisko said that every major U.S. city had a Sanctuary District by the early 2020s.
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• Henry Garcia, a resident of San Francisco on Earth, is laid off from his job at a brewery, and is imprisoned in the city’s Sanctuary District. As a result, it becomes impossible for Garcia to find another job. Garcia is only one of many thousands of people so victimized.
“Past Tense, Part II” (DS9). Garcia told his story on the Net.
• Student unrest in Europe makes France an undesirable tourist destination for Earth’s elite. Although France’s Neo-Trotskyist government tries to quell the protests, they have no more luck than the earlier Gaullist government.
Rumors of unrest are also filtering out of Sanctuary District A in San Francisco.
Prior to the 2024 scenes in “Past Tense, Part I” (DS9).
• August 30. Benjamin Sisko, Julian Bashir, and Jadzia Dax materialize in the city of San Francisco, the result of a transporter malfunction in the year 2371. Without proper identification or money, Sisko and Bashir are placed in a Sanctuary District by city authorities.
August 31. Sisko and Bashir are involved in an altercation in which 21st-century civil rights leader Gabriel Bell is killed. Bell’s death is a serious disruption of the timeline, since history records that he played a crucial role in abolishing the Sanctuary Districts in American cities.
“Past Tense, Part I” (DS9). Dates from Sisko and from the digital clock in the processing center.
• September 1. Tensions in Sanctuary District A continue to mount, and district residents take over an administrative processing center, holding six center employees hostage. Ben Sisko, aware of the late Gabriel Bell’s role in the peaceful resolution of what history will call the Bell riots, assumes Bell’s identity to help protect the hostages.
September 2. Residents of Sanctuary District A manage to gain access to Earth’s planetary computer network, and many residents are able to tell their stories of imprisonment in to the outside world. As a result, the American public becomes aware of the great injustice that had been hidden from them.
The Bell riots end when the governor of California orders Federal troops to retake the processing center by force. Hundreds of sanctuary residents are killed, although none of the hostages are harmed. History records that Gabriel Bell sacrificed his life to save the hostages. Benjamin Sisko, Julian Bashir, and Jadzia Dax are returned to their proper time. One San Francisco resident retains knowledge that an extraterrestrial been present on Earth.
“Past Tense, Part II” (DS9). Dates from Sisko and from the digital clock in the processing center.
• In the wake of the Bell riots and the senseless death of so many people, American public opinion turns against the Sanctuary Districts. The sanctuaries are abolished as the United States finally begins to face serious social problems it has struggled with for over a century.
After the 2024 events of “Past Tense, Part II” (DS9).
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• The reunification of Ireland is brought about by the use of violence as a tool for political reform.
“The High Ground” (TNG). Data mentioned the date to Picard.
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• Joe DiMaggio’s hitting record is broken by Harmon “Buck” Bokai, a shortstop from the London Kings who becomes known as one of baseball’s greatest players. It’s a squeaker that just goes under Eddie Newsom’s glove.
“The Big Goodbye” (TNG). Data mentioned date to news vendor in the holodeck program. Buck Bokai established in “The Storyteller” (DS9) and “If Wishes Were Horses” (DS9).
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• Zefram Cochrane, inventor of warp drive, is born. His work makes such an enormous contribution to space exploration that great universities and even entire planets are one day named after him.
“Metamorphosis” (TOS). Cochrane disappeared 150 years before the episode (2267), and was 87 years old at that time.
Editors’ Note: Cochrane is described in “Metamorphosis” as “Zefram Cochrane of Alpha Centauri.” Because interstellar travel would have taken many, many years prior to the invention of warp drive, we are assuming that Cochrane was born on Earth, and that he later moved to Alpha Centauri, presumably after the invention of warp drive.
• A famous novelist writes a classic on the theme “Let me help.” He recommends these words even over “I love you.”
“The City on the Edge of Forever” (TOS). Kirk, back in 1930, told Edith Keeler that this will be written a hundred years in her future by an author living on a planet orbiting the far left star in Orion’s belt.
• Fifty-second state is admitted to the United States of America.
“The Royale” (TNG). Riker notes that a United States’ flag with 52 stars would indicate a date between 2033 and 2079. This would suggest that the United States survives as a political entity until at least the latter date.
Editors’ Note: Star Trek: The Next Generation executive producer Rick Berman insisted that the U.S. flag seen on the Charybdis’s wreckage be painted to have 52 stars, for the benefit of those watching the episode with VCRs. (On the other hand, by amazing coincidence, the mission patch on Richey’s spacesuit looks a whole lot like the Apollo 17 emblem.)
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• New United Nations rules that Earth citizens may not be held responsible for crimes committed by ancestors.
“Encounter at Farpoint” (TNG). Picard cites date to Q during trial.
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• NASA launches spacecraft Charybdis on July 23, commanded by Colonel Steven Richey. It is the third attempt to explore beyond Earth’s solar system. The ship is declared missing after telemetry is lost.
“The Royale” (TNG). Data described the mission.
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• Television no longer survives as a significant form of entertainment. Star Trek is no doubt an exception.
“The Neutral Zone” (TNG). Data mentioned date to L. Q. Sonny Clemonds.
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• The sport of baseball meets its demise after the last World Series is held. Baseball great Harmon “Buck” Bokai, a former shortstop for the London Kings, now playing third base, hits the winning home run. Interest in the former “national pastime” of the Americas has fallen to the point where only 300 spectators are in attendance at the final game. The disappointed Bokai feels he could have played for at least five more years.
“If Wishes Were Horses” (DS9). Year 2042 established in the episode. Note that in “Family Business” (DS9), Sisko said that baseball hadn’t been played in 200 years, suggesting that baseball may have survived in some form until 2171.
• Space vehicle Charybdis, launched from Earth in 2037, arrives at the eighth planet in the Theta 116 system. An unknown alien intelligence on the planet discovers a book (Hotel Royale) in the possession of mission commander Richey and creates an environment based on the book in an effort to sustain Richey’s life.
“The Royale” (TNG). Data described mission.
Editors’ Note: It is probably reasonable to assume that this unknown alien intelligence was also responsible for transporting the Charybdis across interstellar distances, since Earth science had not yet developed the warp drive at the time the ship was launched. (Warp drive inventor Zefram Cochrane would have been only about six years old at the time the Charybdis was launched in 2037. Cochrane was undoubtedly smart, but not that smart.)
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• Miles O’Brien and Kira Nerys materialize in the city of San Francisco for less than a minute. They are continung their search for Benjamin Sisko, Julian Bashir, and Jadzia Dax, who were lost somewhere in time because of a transporter malfunction in the year 2371. O’Brien and Kira find no evidence of their friends in this time period.
“Past Tense, Part II” (DS9). O’Brien mentioned he and Kira had gone to 2048.
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• First successful demonstration of light-speed propulsion by Zefram Cochrane. This became the basis for early warp drive technology.
Date is conjecture from Cochrane’s career as described in “Metamorphosis” (TOS), further assuming that early warp drive had to be invented before the S.S. Valiant embarked on its expedition, circa 2065, since that ship clearly crossed significant interstellar distances. In “Force of Nature” (TNG), Geordi notes that warp drive had been invented around 300 years prior to the episode, which was set in 2370.
• S.S. Valiant embarks on deep space exploration mission. Expedition is lost and is eventually swept out of the galaxy. The ship is nearly destroyed while trying to return across the energy barrier at the edge of the galaxy. Six crew members are killed, but a seventh experiences a mutation that dramatically enhances latent ESP powers, making that person a threat to the ship and its crew. The Valiant’s captain later orders the ship destroyed to prevent the mutated crew member from escaping.
“Where No Man Has Gone Before” (TOS). Valiant expedition embarked 200 years prior to the episode (2265).
• British astronomer John Burke of the Royal Academy maps the area of space including Sherman’s Planet. This region is later the subject of a territorial dispute between the Federation and the Klingon empire.
“The Trouble with Tribbles” (TOS). Spock and Chekov’s discussion established the date as 200 years prior to episode (2267).
• Planet Lavinius V is infested by the same parasite creatures that later attacked planet Deneva.
“Operation: Annihilate!” (TOS). Two hundred years prior to episode (2267).
• An unknown planet launches a sublight freighter vessel carrying large quantities of unstable nuclear waste products. The ship drifts through space, unattended, for about 300 years before settling into orbit around planet Gamelan V, where radiation leakage threatens life on the planet.
“Final Mission” (TNG). Data noted the freighter’s reactor core elements appeared to have been inactive for about 300 years prior to the episode (2367).
• The people of planet Argelius II undergo a “great awakening,” a significant cultural milestone in their hedonistic society devoted to love and pleasure.
“Wolf in the Fold” (TOS). Prefect Jarvis noted the “great awakening” had taken place 200 years prior to the episode (2267).
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• The Klingon emperor dies. No replacement ascends the throne because the Klingon High Council has grown in political power and is now in effective control of the empire.
“Rightful Heir” (TNG). Date is conjecture, but Gowron noted the empire had not been ruled by an emperor in three centuries prior to the episode (2369).
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• Earth recovers from a nuclear war. In this postatomic horror, the legal system is based on the principle of “guilty until proven innocent.” Lawyers have fallen into disfavor as Shakespeare’s suggestion to “Kill all the lawyers” has been taken quite seriously.
“Encounter at Farpoint” (TNG). Q says that this is the year that his re-created courtroom is based on. It is unclear exactly when the nuclear conflict occurred, although Picard referred to a terrible “nuclear winter” having occurred during the middle of this century in “A Matter of Time” (TNG). This conflict is presumably the “third world war” Dr. McCoy referred to in “Bread and Circuses” (TOS), in which 37 million people were killed.
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• Colonel Steven Richey, commander of the space vehicle Charybdis, dies in captivity on the eighth planet in the Theta 118 system.
“The Royale” (TNG). Richey died 283 years prior to the episode (2365).
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• The Lornack clan of the planet Acamar III begins a bitter blood feud with their rival clan, the Tralestas. The feud lasts until the year 2286, when the Lornacks massacre all but five of the Tralestas.
“The Vengeance Factor” (TNG). The massacre was described as having taken place 80 years prior to the episode (2366), and the feud had run for 200 years prior to that.
