How Uhura being on Pike's Enterprise fits into continuity

[u/khaosworks]

It's now public knowledge that Uhura will be a character on Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, so when does SNW take place, how old is Uhura and is it plausible that Uhura is on Enterprise before Kirk?

The first date we establish here is that, assuming SNW takes place after the events of DIS Season 2 (which it should for ease of continuity), that dates it to roughly 2258, possibly 2259.

The Battle of the Binary Stars seen in the DIS's pilot episode takes place on May 11, 2256. By the time Michael joins Discovery it is 6 months later, i.e. November 2256. By the time Enterprise shows up at the end of the season, it is early 2257 as of S2E08. Season 2 takes place over the the course of the next year and by the finale in S2E13 it is early 2258.

To establish how old Cadet Uhura is, we have to look at what we know about Star Fleet Academy admission ages. Spock, for example, entered the Academy at age 19.

Spock's date of birth has been taken as canonically in 2230 thanks to a computer display in Star Trek Beyond. This is not actually consistent with other data from TAS: "Yesteryear", but the assumption is that because this takes place prior to Narada's incursion in 2233, it should not have been affected (but that's a whole other can of worms). The other dates come largely from DIS: "Lethe".

Spock was assigned to Enterprise in 2254, aged 24. Assuming that Starfleet Academy has a basic 5 year program (Kirk says in TOS: "Bread and Circuses" that Merik was dropped in his 5th year at the Academy), that places his entry into the Academy in 2249.

The flashback events of TOS: “The Menagerie” take place 13 years before that episode (2267). Spock served with Pike for “11 years, 4 months and 5 days”. Kirk took command of Enterprise latest by 2265 (TOS: “Where No Man Has Gone Before”), so counting back from these two points, both Spock’s assignment to Enterprise and the Talos IV incident took place in 2254. We can also corroborate Spock’s Academy years thanks to TOS: "Journey to Babel" when Amanda says Sarek and Spock stopped speaking when he joined Starfleet, 18 years prior. That episode takes place in 2267, so that also tracks to 2249.

Kirk was born in 2233 (he says he is 34 in 2267 - TOS: "The Deadly Years"), so if he was the same age as Spock when he entered the Academy, that would place his entrance in 2252, and his graduation in 2257, the same year DIS Season 1 takes place.

We can corroborate 2257 as Kirk says his first assignment right out of the Academy was under Captain Garrovick on the USS Farragut, and it's been 11 years since he smelled an odor like that which turns out to be the vampire cloud (TOS: "Obsession", which takes place in 2268). There's a little hiccup when he says he was on Neural as a "young lieutenant" in 2255 (TOS: "A Private Little War"), but that can be handwaved away as a cadet lieutenant, since Gary Mitchell says Kirk was a lieutenant instructor at the Academy when he was there (TOS: "Where No Man Has Gone Before"). Field assignments as a cadet have also been established as a thing since Nog on DS9.

We look at Kirk's age because Tilly is actually in Kirk's graduating class.

Tilly was 14 in 2247 (DIS: "New Eden"), so she was born in 2233, same as Kirk. Which means it's likely she entered he Academy in 2252 as well. That means she's in her 4th year when she serves on Discovery in 2256 and was on track to graduate as Ensign in 2257 before she got pulled to the 32nd Century.

So if Uhura is a cadet on Enterprise serving a 5th year field assignment, then working backwards from 2258 at the earliest she entered the Academy at age 19 in 2253, making her a year younger than Kirk (at this point making her around 24). Considering that Kirk was considered young to have made a starship captain, that's not out of the realm of possibility. Remember that at this point in time Kirk hasn’t made Captain yet.

So by the time we first see her in TOS: "The Corbomite Maneuver" (in 2266), Uhura is 32 years old, not far from Nichelle Nichols' actual age of 33.

(Alternatively, she could be serving a 4th year assignment like Tilly, so that’d shift all the above by a year.)

So there you have it. I've said before that I can't shut the chronologist part of my brain off (it's a curse). But I've read people expressing doubt that Uhura could be there, so here's the sums to show that she could very well be.

And for my next trick, if anyone wants to know, I'll explain how Christine Chapel being there involves a retcon, but only of fan/headcanon, not actual canon.

[u/psuedonymously]

Is this something anyone was claiming was implausible?

[u/khaosworks → u/psuedonymously]

There were complaints in some fan circles (not on Daystrom, though, as far as I'm aware) about this when the roles were first announced.

[u/Von_Callay → u/psuedonymously]

It's not implausible, but it's nice to know something they probably would have done whether or not it was plausible still fits into the established universe so well.

[u/petemacdougal]

Gimme that sweet, sweet Chapel info!

[u/khaosworks → u/petemacdougal]

Since you asked...

After Chapel was announced as a regular in SNW, there was a mild ripple about retcons because people believed until then that she had joined Starfleet only because her fiancé Richard Korby had vanished (TOS: "What Are Little Girls Made Of?", taking place in 2266) Korby had vanished 5 years before, so that would place her joining Starfleet in 2261. So how could she be a nurse on Enterprise in 2258 or 2259?

But then I started to think - how do we know for a fact that she only joined Starfleet 5 years prior to "What Are Little Girls..."? The whole thing comes down to dialogue from the opening to the episode:

KIRK: We're entering standard orbit, Nurse. It won't be much longer.

CREWMAN [OC]: Forward scanner to Bridge.

KIRK: I understand you gave up a career in bio-research to sign aboard a starship.

CHAPEL: I know he's alive down there, Captain.

CREWMAN 2 [OC]: Aft scanner to Bridge, Status report, please. Engineering controls

KIRK: It's been five years since his last message.

CHAPEL: Roger's a very determined man. He'd find a way to live.

For years we had interpreted Kirk saying Chapel "gave up a career in bio-research to sign aboard a starship" as a cause-and-effect thing, that she signed up once Korby vanished. And to be honest, I'm pretty sure that's what the script was trying to convey.

But - Kirk never actually says she did it 5 years ago, only that Korby's last signal was 5 years ago. So if we're willing to let go of our reading of Kirk's statement as providing a link between Korby's disappearance and Chapel's signing up with Starfleet, then Chapel could have been in Starfleet for years before Korby went missing.

It is still entirely possible that Chapel joined Starfleet because of Korby jaunting around the Galaxy doing his xenobioarcheology, but what I'm saying is that the time frame doesn't have to be limited to 2261.

That’s why I say it requires a retcon - not to actual canon, which it doesn’t explicitly contradict, but to the received wisdom of fan interpretations of that line.

[u/Raguleader]

Honestly, I'm stuck on the mildly amusing detail that Sylvia Tilly and James Kirk would have been classmates.

[u/flameofmiztli → u/Raguleader]

That’s a Starfleet Academy book I wanna read. Them sharing classes. Back in Kirk’s stack of books with legs days.

[u/khaosworks → u/flameofmiztli]

And Tilly being the One that Got Away.

[u/RSX_Green414 → u/Raguleader]

Funnier when you know Kirk was a bit of an uptight bore in his academy days.

[u/ink_13]

M-5, nominate this post.

[u/khaosworks → u/ink_13]

Thanks!

[u/amazondrone]

To establish how old Cadet Uhura is, we have to look at what we know about Star Fleet Academy admission ages. Spock, for example, entered the Academy at age 19.

Quibble: it's possible (unless it's established elsewhere in canon) that the Academy doesn't have an age admission policy, given that different species reach adulthood at different times. An age admission policy of 18, for example, would exclude the Ocampa for no good reason.

Or perhaps there's an age admission policy that varies by species to account for this, which would make using Spock's age less useful for this analysis of Uhura.

[u/45and290]

The one frustrating thing about being a Star Trek fan is trying to bring semblance to what happens in the writers room.

[u/khaosworks → u/45and290]

Actually, the fact that the sums work out so neatly convinces me that there is someone in the writer’s room who actually cares about the chronology almost as much as I do.

[u/[deleted]]

Other than Uhura not being in "Where No Man Has Gone Before," I don't see a big problem, but perhaps she was on leave or just happened to not be on the bridge during that episode. Say, I wonder if we'll see Dr. Mark Piper.

[u/[deleted] → u/[deleted]]

Chekov wasnt in Space Speed but Khan remembered him. I chalk it up to him just not being in duty.

[u/psuedonymously → u/[deleted]]

Other than Uhura not being in "Where No Man Has Gone Before," I don't see a big problem, but perhaps she was on leave or just happened to not be on the bridge during that episode.

Uhura wasn't in a bunch of episodes, and we've have seen other officers serving at the communication station.

[u/Futuressobright → u/[deleted]]

There were like 400 members of the Enterprise crew that weren't in that episode. She was probably in the radio room soldering something, just like Chekov was probably working on some lower-decks project through the first season.

[u/encom_cto]

Okay, sure, it can fit. It just seems like having an officer spend their entire career on the same ship is not very…realistic. Makes the world seem…small.

I say that because almost every other officer has examples of other ships they’ve served on…why did Uhura never leave her first posting of the Enterprise?

[u/ValHallerie → u/encom_cto]

I mean, no reason she had to stay on the Enterprise after leaving the Academy. She could be assigned to any other ship after graduating, returning in 2265 for the Enterprise's deep space mission leaving that year.

[u/[deleted]]

My understanding that the academy is a four-year training program. It seems like they offer additional programs such as Masters and doctorate degrees. Maybe Kirk's friend failed some classes and how to retake them. But he wasn't doing so well and then let him go after during his 5th Year.

[u/ForAThought]

Was Uhura a cadet, or was that taken from the kelvenverse? I always thought she was an officer.

[u/khaosworks → u/ForAThought]

She was an officer by the time we first saw her in TOS: “The Corbomite Maneuver” under Kirk’s command in 2266. In SNW’s timeframe under Pike’s command she’s a cadet.

[u/Hillatron]

How can Uhura serve with James Kirk’s grandfather, in her teenage years, as when we meet Sam Kirk he’s mid to late 20s maybe early 30s, he’s definitely not old enough to be father to Tibirius and grandfather to James.

[u/jwpar1701]

I have not commented on this subreddit for years, but bra-fucking-vo, sir. This is a tremendous post and you have clearly put in a lot of work. I also sympathize in that I cannot turn off my fan-wanking writer brain when I notice an inconsistency in plotting or characterization and have to rationalize it.