Any of you familiar with a classic sci-fi movie from 1956, Earth vs. the Flying Saucers ? You may be so if for no other reason than the amazing flying saucers created by the master of stop-motion animation, Ray Harryhausen. But that’s not the subject of my inquiry. Rather, it’s a nasty bit of techno...

Graham Kennedy wrote:Cool!

Glad you enjoyed it!

Here's something else fun: Star Trek™ Forever Stamps to be Dedicated Sept. 2

Patent Diagram for "USS Enterprise" In an e-mail newsletter I got yesterday from the U.S. Department of Commerce, I saw this very intriguing headline: “Photo of the Week - USPTO marks the 50th anniversary of Star Trek with a patented toy design from their archive.” How could I resist?! Cli...

Should any of you happen to be in Los Angeles on July 8th or 9th, you might want to take in this show. It should be quite the spectacle! :) "Director J.J. Abrams re-exhilarated the iconic Star Trek franchise (now 50!) with one of the most exciting and irresistible blockbusters in recent movie-g...

Thanks, Griffin!

This is primarily a freighter, right? I suspect it could be used for passenger transport, too, as are some real-world freighters. Do your sources indicate that these vessels carried passengers?

There are lots of examples of civvie transport, both private individuals with shuttlecraft type vessels and larger commercial transports. They just didn't tend to get much emphasis in the series. Though they feature frequently in DS9, at least to the extent that people are arriving by them, even if...

There are occasional instances of commercial and civilian transports in the Star Trek universe. It's rather hard to imagine, given how pervasive air transport is to us, that some kind of analogous space transport service doesn't exist. I don't know, though, that this subject has ever been fleshed ou...

RK_Striker_JK_5 wrote:We all laugh now... then in a month or so the thing takes off into space.

I know, or at least believe, that Roddenberry was somewhat disheartened but what he observed about his contemporary military while he was a member of same. I of course have no way of knowing what his intentions were, but the idea that Starfleet was far greater than merely a military organization ce...

That may be it, Mikey, especially in light of Graham's observations about the writers' lack of information about the internal political and administrative mechanisms of the United Federation. I wonder if this was indeed part of Gene Roddenberry's vision of the United Federation: Starfleet as an enti...

The writers have always been very wary of giving us details of just how the Federation works. For example, is the Federation a democracy? You'd think it obviously is... but IIRC, it wasn't until late in DS9 that there was anything to prove it. We know next to nothing about politics or government st...

There were episodes of TOS where we met various Federation functionaries. For example in A Taste Of Armageddon there was Ambassador Robert Fox. In The Galileo Seven there was Galactic High Commissioner Ferris. Starfleet is often ordered to lend these people any assistance they ask for. So there mus...

You're right, it seems mind-boggling that there isn't a more obvious overseeing agency - considering the number of envoys/ambassadors we see and the staggering number of species/races involved in the life of a "nation" in 'Trek. Sarek, at least, seemed to have been accorded a huge degree ...

In all honestly, I cannot recall ever hearing such a department named specifically in canon. In TUC as in DS9, the UFP president seemed to deal with affairs of state directly. Thanks, Mikey. :) That's a useful reference. Memory Alpha talks about an "executive agency" called the Bureau of ...

I've seen all kinds of speculation on the UFP foreign affairs organization (what might be called a "Ministry of Foreign Affairs"), but canon sources are, to me at least, unclear. Any help on this would be most appreciated. :) Please do cite your source(s), if you would be so kind. Thanks!