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'TOS' interstellar-travel and Earth's civilian population?...

posted 8 years ago by RIP_IMDb
16 replies | jump to latest

It's never made clear in 'TOS' or its sequels ('TNG' and the others) how much space-travelling the general (civilian) population does. Is interstellar-travel open to the general public at large, or just those in Starfleet and those who work with them (such as scientists and possibly their families)? Does the majority of Earth's populace travel to the Moon, Mars or the other moons of the other planets, or travel interstellar? Or do most just spend their lives (the majority of it anyway) like we do today never leaving Earth (unless you happen to be an astronaut or a cosmonaut)?

Yes, some do travel interstellar distances and establish colonies...but those seem pretty small when compared to Earth's total population. I bet they have to get special permission to do so. To me clearly it would seem that most humans even in 'TOS's' 23rd century (and 'TNG's 24th century) don't much if it all travel beyond the solar-system.

I'll let you know when I come-up with a new signature, .

[–] jxh13 8 years ago

I don't know. We sure see a variety of Earthers floating about in space, from a variety of professions - miners, a bunch of different scientific types, explorers like Cyrano Jones, swindlers like Harry Mudd, itinerant actors, grumpy old farts like Cochrane and Flint, merchants, and others not affiliated with Star Fleet. While Star Fleet may have moderated such movement, there were lots of possibilities. A variety of professions seem viable, so many people would have the option of working off of Earth, if they so choose.

While Star Fleet probably did have approval over colonies, there were plenty of them, and plenty of established worlds. I imagine in the 23rd century citizens of the Federation could move between Federation worlds in a fashion similar to 21st century travel between countries - there was an expense, there were limitations, and there were regulations, but it was pretty common. I would think tourism would continue to be popular, and be a viable business for many worlds as well as non-Star Fleet business enterprises.

[–] costumrs 8 years ago

The strong implication is that space travel has become pretty much like air travel. There are, after all, tourist planets, resorts and similar destinations. You wouldn't see that if only a handful of people could travel in space.

[–] kerryedavis 8 years ago

But the tourists probably don't go on Constitution/Excelsior/Galaxy-glass etc starships. It takes longer for them to get wherever.

[–] costumrs 8 years ago

I would say, so what? Tourists and cruise ships don't travel as fast as military ships? Neither do they now. The tourist destinations would not exist if tourist traffic didn't travel at a reasonable speed to get to them.

For example, and pulled completely out of the air, the Enterprise might travel from Earth to Tourist planet A in two days. A tourist vessel maybe 3 or 4 days. No issue.

[–] kerryedavis 8 years ago

For example, and pulled completely out of the air, the Enterprise might travel from Earth to Tourist planet A in two days. A tourist vessel maybe 3 or 4 days. No issue.

It likely isn't that simple. For example, assuming that warp speed is ^3 the speed of light, and in a couple places they've said a freighter (and perhaps presumably a passenger ship too?) might go warp 2, that's 8 times the speed of light. Which means from Earth to Alpha Centauri takes about 6 months. If the Enterprise only went warp 4, that's about 3 weeks.

[–] timmytony80 8 years ago

Costumrs; I'd say more like The Enterprise's 1 day to their 4 days, maybe 5 days.

[–] kerryedavis 8 years ago

For the Enterprise to get to Alpha Centauri in just one day - and Alpha Centauri is the closest to Earth, so no "cruise ship" could possibly have a closer destination because there aren't any - would require warp speeds far higher than any show or movie or novelization has claimed to date.

[–] Blueghost 8 years ago

There's a lot of direct examples regarding commercial traffic. How much happens is anyone's guess, but there appears to be a very thriving free market economy.

[–] ae36 8 years ago

Its an interesting topic and you have to wonder how a cashless society would actually operate.

It's mentioned several times in the various series that money has been eliminated-- war, poverty, hunger, disease-- all pretty much conquered by the time of Star Trek Enterprise, or 2150 or so.

So does earth still use money in some fashion? what's the medium of exchange? assuming everyone's basic needs are met, how does one say, travel to Rigel if he or she wants to go? or have a new house built?

We see in "Deep Space Nine" that the Sisko family has a thriving restaurant-- do customers pay? and with what? if everything is free, what incnetive other than satisfaction keeps Sisko Sr. coming in every day? what keeps anyone coming in?

Likewise, Picard's family has extensive vineyards-- they make wine. Does anyone pay for that?

[–] timmytony80 8 years ago

AE36; Yes, I wonder this from time 2 time, too. How are the miners in The Devil In The Dark "embarrassingly wealthy", as Kirk says? And Kirk also states, in another ep, that platinam, iridium, gold, diamonds, rubys, emeralds are "easily manufactured on our ships"!

And why w/d Merrick have 2 approach Claudius 4 iridium?

[–] TheOldGuyFromHalloween3 8 years ago

They pay you in the future with free time on the Holodeck

[–] timmytony80 8 years ago

Maybe Kirk didn't exactly say iridium or platinum. But he did indicate pretty much most precious/semi-precious metals & stones.

[–] jozzcooper 8 years ago

In the Apple, Kirk asks Spock if he knew how much it cost Starfleet to train him and Spock starts rattling off a numerical amount. Money was definitely used.

[–] ben-thayer 8 years ago

Well, the series was originally envisioned as "Wagon Train to the stars", which implies that non-Star Fleet folks would appear regularly. Although the continuity was somewhat inconsistent about some things in the early years, such as currency as others have indicated.

Time as well...in The Savage Curtain, "Lincoln" asks Kirk if they still measure time in seconds, minutes and hours, and Kirk says famously "we can...convert to it". And this was said despite the repeated use of the traditional time scale throughout the series. I know there were stardates...but stardates were never used when Sulu was counting down the seconds to some imminent disaster.

Scotty: "You have an annoying fascination for timepieces, Mister Sulu."

[–] Dark_Sithlord 8 years ago

I always had the impression Kirk was being respectfully sarcastic when Lincoln asked whether they still measured time in minutes and seconds. I don't think he wanted to spoil any illusion Lincoln might have had about the future, so rather than risking embarrassing Lincoln, a person Kirk greatly admired, he just played along and said, "We can convert to it".

[–] kerryedavis 8 years ago

Or it might have been a case similar to US vs Imperial (British) gallons, which have the same name but are not exactly the same. Maybe they don't use 24 hour days/60 minute hours/60 second minutes quite the same any more.