Here I am with one last batch of responses for the year 2014! (Yes, I'm aware it's already 2015 in most of the world, but
not in the timezone that matters most, good old EST

)
But the Klingons were a change made by Roddenberry and to me it makes sense.
This is where the difference between the Puritans of my timeline and the purists of our own history comes to the fore. The "classic" continuity is the original series, TAS, and the six movies, and let's face it - a lot of good came out of those six movies. But the rubber foreheads, in my opinion, are a classic case of the
Franchise Original Sin. Consider how much more imaginative alien designs were back in the 1960s - granted, the makeup and practical effects were limited by the technology of the day, but subsequent series have shown that even the Andorians and the Tellarites (let alone the Gorn, the Horta, the Tholians, etc.) look far more
alien than someone with an obvious rubber appliance on their forehead (and
maybe a little tinted base makeup, if they're lucky) and nothing else.
Mark2000 said:
Really, the reason why I don't just say "New Trek is right out" is because I don't want to offend my possible readership. Every walk of fan should be able to enjoy the comic. I also know I have some readers from the production staff of later shows and I don't want to openly attack their work. If I have a quibble I want to have a reasoned argument for it with a footnote that this is just my opinion and I am just some dope with an inmotion hosting account.
I often wonder if anyone from the production staff (of any series in the franchise, not just the one I've been writing about) has been reading this timeline. I can't say I've been as diplomatic as you about certain things, that's for sure. But hey, I'm in the same boat as you. Alternate history, when you get right down to it, is basically just AU fan fiction of real life.
There is, even in TOS, sufficient evidence to point to "impulse power" or "impulse engines" being capable in some way of limited superluminal speeds.
The analogy the two of us developed as we were talking this out was to the sound barrier - unlike the light barrier,
not a hard physical law,
but something that is tangible to a writing staff comprised largely of aviators and WWII veterans. In the 1960s, turboprop-driven airplanes capable of breaking the sound barrier were theoretically possible (which they remain today - the design top speed of the fastest turboprop plane ever built, the "
Thunderscreech", was Mach 0.9, though it only reached Mach 0.83 in actual tests). If the key innovation of the jet engine had never been discovered, it's not difficult to imagine propeller-driven planes surpassing the speed of sound. I think
that is the key analogy to take away from warp vs. impulse.
Warp : Jet :: Impulse : Propeller/Turboprop
By that logic, "simple impulse" could be a turboprop-like propulsion system. From the series bible, Warp 2 is 8c; Warp 3 is 27c. It's easy to imagine top impulse engines going about that fast.
The S.S. Valiant was clearly swept up by a tachyon particle conduit in space/went through a wormhole/additional BS excuse for a show never intended to last a half century. (I can make up an excuse for anything in Star Trek, which derives from my attempts to keep Santa Claus real till I was 12 with the excusatory logic therein)
I'm not sure how, in this thread about pop culture, you think I would tolerate you attempting to imply that Santa Claus is
not real, and shame on you for doing so
Also, that's (sadly) literally impossible; the word "tachyon" was not coined until 1967, after the episode was written, filmed, and broadcast.
"It's magic, we don't have to explain it".
Welcome aboard, Imperator! Your quotation of Joe Quesada is frighteningly appropriate in this circumstance.
I'm an Aussie, so I could be way out; but isn't that a Bostonian accent? Or maybe Nimoy was attempting to convey a book-learned English.
No. That is
not a Bostonian accent. Not even close.
If only we had a linguistics enthusiast from New England to answer your question much better than I ever could!
Nimoy has apparently said that he was attempting to speak in the accent of someone who learned English by listening to BBC Radio. He does sound more "British" (in a clipped, old-time radio announcer fashion) in the pilots than in the series proper, consistent with that explanation. (I'm not sure if that explains the yelling - I think that was more him trying to be the martinet.)
Actually, the episode provides the answer. They were hit by a magnetic storm, whatever that is. They were thrown a half a light year out of the galaxy. Who knows how far they were towed before they hit the barrier?
An excellent point. I've just re-read the transcript for the episode, and in fact, for all we know, the
Valiant could have been exploring the Oort Cloud before she was swept away to the galactic barrier.