Hello all, Ric here with a video that’s probably going to date itself! So, with the Section 31
show on the way, I think… We know that it will be set in the Lost Era of Star Trek,
which is to say, the time between the original series films and the launch of the Enterprise D
in Next Generation. In universe this covers a time from 2293 to 2364, a 71 year period
where the Excelsior class reigned and the uniform never changed. Good luck with sticking to that,
Star Trek. That’s a lot of time to cover but we know some things about it, either drawn from canon
or expanded upon by apocryphal tales so I thought I’d compile a list of 8 (ish) things that we
know of. With many more facts thrown in for fun. Two Enterprises were active in this time period,
in canon we don’t know the launch date for the Enterprise C, nor the loss date
of the B. Honestly we don’t even know the Enterprise B’s fate. As unlikely as it is,
technically the Enterprise C could have launched in 2343 and then been destroyed a year later,
just saying. But the commonly established dates are that the B vanished in 2329 and that
the Ambassador class enterprise C was launched three years later in 2332. During its lifetime,
the Enterprise B was regarded as an ill-fated vessel. Beginning with the young captain,
John Harriman being the son of admiralty, many already whispered he secured the flagship
through nepotism. His first mission would see him remembered as the captain who got James T Kirk
killed instead of the man who saved 47 El Aurien lives. I've always had a soft spot for Harriman.
His backstory was indeed that he had achieved the position thanks to some political pull his family
had, and that the launch of the Enterprise B was as much a PR stunt as an actual shakedown. However
he got the chair, he was already determined to prove himself, but was as green as they come.
Add to this the weight of being the guy who lost Kirk, and suddenly you have such an interesting
motivation for a character with great growth potential. Every day, he had to prove to everyone
else that he actually deserved the Enterprise and he was not just in the shadows of giants and the
machinations of an ambitious family. The novels go on to paint the picture of a man who was studious,
tactical if overwhelmed and he grows into his role eventually, leading me to my next point.
The Tomed Incident. In canon, what we know is that in 2311, thousands of lives were lost in a series
of attacks from the Romulan Star Empire that resulted in the creation of the Treaty of Algeron.
This is that document which outlawed Federation cloaking technology and De-escalated Romulan
aggression until 2364. The details are expanded upon in apocrypha and reveal that Harriman was
a key figure in creating this incident and the whole thing was a false event created
by Starfleet Intelligence in order to prevent another Romulan War. The IRW Tomed crashed into a
Federation base in the Foxtrot sector, publicly resulting in massive fatalities. In reality,
it was a long planned staged event. Foxtrot was empty, the lifesigns were false, and the
Tomed was hijacked by Starfleet Intelligence. The ploy was enough however and never revealed, the
Romulans assumed that the believable vindictive Romulan captain Vokar was to blame and the Klingon
Empire pledged its support to Starfleet in the face of a new Romulan threat. Thus the Romulan
empire backed down and the treaty was signed. The Enterprise B would go on to have many other
captains over its time, including Demora Sulu and in books is credited with 142 surveys and
17 first contacts in its first decade of service. As befitting an Enterprise,
the vessel was taken in for several refits and overhauls in its lifetime, benefitting from the
Excelsior’s sturdiness and adaptability. Alongside the many clandestine missions it took on behalf of
Starfleet Intelligence, it also continued the duties of any Excelsior class at the time from
archaeological surveys, defensive patrols, cargo transports and diplomatic meetings. It embarked
on exploration missions near Tzenkethi space, but was to avoid antagonising the hostile species and
eventually assigned to the Cardassian Border where it could help Bajoran refugees escape as
Cardassia invaded. Its ultimate fate saw a deadly illness break out with no cure,
so the ship seems to have deliberately lost itself in space somewhere to prevent its spread.
The vessel was declared missing in 2329, but as I mentioned earlier this is not from primary canon.
So who else was around at this time? Well Jean-Luc Picard was born in 2305 and failing
his Starfleet entrance exam in 2323, graduating the academy in 2327. One ship he trained on was
the USS Leondegrance which during his birth year was under the command of Captain Uhura on a 5
year mission to the Lesser Magellanic Cloud. In 2294, the USS Jenolan, carrying Scotty,
was listed as Missing when it crashed on Dyson sphere, remaining undiscovered for decades. Tuvok
was very prevalent in the lost era, resigning from Starfleet in 2298 and in 2309, Sisko’s
dad is bor…. Holy shit Joseph Sisko was younger than Picard? In 2319, T’lyn is born making her
one year older than Lewis Zimmerman… and I’m going to stop here because this is blowing my mind. If
you were wondering though, the Dax at this time would have been the infamous Curzon. Speaking
of Ambassadors, this is my best ever segway. The Ambassador class Enterprise C was said
to launch in 2332 from Utopia Planitia and is most notable for its destruction at the
hands of Romulans at the battle of Narendra 3. Yesterday’s Enterprise in TNG goes on to show
us how pivotal that event was, with the Enterprise C’s sacrifice coming at a time of mounting tension
with the Klingon Empire. Their act of bravery and sacrifice while defending the Klingons preserved
the Khitomer Accords and renewed the Klingon’s faith in them, essentially preventing another
full scale war. However, this battle saw the capture of Tasha Yar and the creation of Sela,
her daughter who goes on to play a major role in the Romulan Tal Shiar and possibly more. However
Rachel Garret was the captain of the Enterprise C for this battle, and had a career in Starfleet
leading up to this. I won’t go into detail on her here, as she is slated to appear in Section 31,
but according to books, she was born in 2294 and enrolled in Starfleet by 2311. She is said to have
eventually had a son, and by the turn of the 25th century, she had received numerous memorials and
recognitions including the “Red Lady '' statue on M’talas Prime. Prior to the announcement
in Section 31, she did have little to do with Starfleet Intelligence or Section 31, unlike her
prior counterpart, Harriman. The Enterprise C’s career was much in the same vein as the previous
ships of the name, in that it did a bit of everything, as is befitting the Ambassador Class.
On a technological level it was around this time (I say, casually referring to 7 decades),
that Starfleet was developing a lot of new innovations that were standard by the time
of TNG. We, again, don’t have canonical dates for these, but with most tech, it was likely a
gradual process before becoming standard. This included the introduction of phaser strips,
for the most part replacing the point turrets and cannons, the intensive switch over from
duotronic to isolinear computer systems, the widespread introduction of LCARS user interfaces
and the potential revamp of the warp scale. The Isolinear switch up is probably the biggest
deal here, as it represented a substantial shift in computing speeds and power leading to
more efficient Federation things all round. Holographic technology came into its own,
allowing for the rudimentary systems such as the Rec Deck to be replaced by more advanced
and creative systems like a Holodeck. One thing that I hope remains for the
Section 31 film is the look. I loved the style of ships in this era and the uniform? Oh,
it’s my favourite design, the fold over tab, the rank pins, the white, black and red colour scheme.
All great and I hope it remains unchanged. We did see an alternate Captain Pike appearing wearing a
slightly modified version of this outfit in Strange New Worlds, which like Section 31,
spun out of Discovery which continues the visual overhaul started there. However that,
like All Good Things, sprung from a timeline which never came to be so maybe we won't see
it. Likewise with the Excelsior. The funny thing is, I’m alright with the redesign of the original
Constitution class, so long as it remains either a visual, not lore change, or if it is a lore one,
it is refitted into the TOS style. However I would not be okay with the Excelsior being
heavily altered. Why? Because it’s my favourite ship. Is that biassed? Yes.
Hypocritical? Possibly. I just don’t think the Excelsior needs an overhaul to make it look up
to date and honestly, neither does the Refit Mark 2 Constitution. That whole era looks great still.
That all being said, it is a bit of a stretch, even in the original canon to
see that a single uniform lasted about 70 years with very little alteration. So if they want to
introduce a variation I’d be willing to entertain it, so long as the “ monster
maroon” makes an appearance to establish it was still around, even during other changes.
Other vessels that were common at this time included those from the 23rd century like the
Miranda Class and her subclasses, the ever present Excelsior, its refit, and the Mark 2
Connie. The Oberth was the new science ship on the block and apparently we get the emergence of
the Centaur, as well as some strange Excelsior kitbashes in this timeframe. However it was
the Constellation Class and Ambassador that really came into their own during this era
with the Stargazer being commanded by Picard in 2333, and the aforementioned Enterprise C.
So there is a lot of room for new ship designs, basically anything with these nacelles or tinged
in blue likely stems from the lost era. It is a time marked by a lot of Federation
expansion, but with the occasional tensions from the Romulans and klingons alike. Spycraft was rife
from all parties it seems, with a major focus on the Romulan Star Empire. Much new technology
was being developed leading to the formation of the next generation style and we can see a clear
through line over these missing 70-odd years. Towards the end of this era, there are lots of
familiar names beginning to creep in as characters we know and love are born and I still cannot
believe that Picard is older than Sisko’s dad… So, thanks for watching this look into the Lost
Era of Star Trek. The time when the wild frontier of space was becoming more tame and Starfleet
entering an extended period of prosperity thanks to the machinations of a few. Mostly it’s been
covered in various book series but most of this is not canonical to Star Trek so it’s a bit more
of an unwritten time than I’m making out here. Nevertheless, I hope to see some development of
this era and what of you? Any tales or events from this time you’d like to see fleshed out?
The Cardassian Border Wars, the first encounters with the Tzenkethi? Until the next video, I’ve
been Ric and I’ll see you next time for another lore video, until then, thanks again and goodbye!