stardate explained star trek

How Do Star Trek Stardates Work?

By chris higgins | sep 20, 2015.

On Star Trek , we hear a lot of "stardates," meant to mark some futuristic date. An example is stardate 47457.1, which is Captain Picard's birthday . The weird thing is that stardate 47457.1 is either the equivalent June 16th, November 4th, January 8th, or January 10th, depending on how you count. Let's go deep-nerd on this.

The Original Series

In the original Trek TV series, stardates were, in a word, bogus. In the series bible, the Star Trek Guide , writers were basically told to wing it. Here's a snippet (emphasis added):

Pick any combination of four numbers plus a percentage point [ed. note: tenths digit], use it as your story's stardate. For example, 1313.5 is twelve o'clock noon of one day and 1314.5 would be noon of the next day. Each percentage point is roughly equivalent to one-tenth of one day. The progression of stardates in your script should remain constant but don't worry about whether or not there is a progression from other scripts. Stardates are a mathematical formula which varies depending on location in the galaxy, velocity of travel, and other factors, can vary widely from episode to episode.

This obviously wasn't thought through very well, as it boils down to "Pick a number and stay near it." Show creator Gene Roddenberry later said:

When we began making episodes, we would use a stardate such as 2317 one week, and then a week later when we made the next episode we would move the star date up to 2942, and so on. Unfortunately, however, the episodes are not aired in the same order in which we filmed them. So we began to get complaints from the viewers, asking, "How come one week the star date is 2891, the next week it's 2337, and then the week after it's 3414?"

He then went on to explain that the whole "location in the galaxy, velocity of travel, and other factors" thing was a hedge to cover up the fact that the dates simply weren't consistent to begin with, even if the episodes had aired in order.

The Next Generation

In Star Trek: The Next Generation , things got a bit more consistent. In the original TNG Writer's/Director's Guide , the show-runners devised a sensible formula with a reasonable level of continuity. Here it is:

A stardate is a five-digit number followed by a decimal point and one more digit. Example: "41254.7." The first two digits of the stardate are always "41." The 4 stands for 24th century, the 1 indicates first season. The additional three leading digits will progress unevenly during the course of the season from 000 to 999. The digit following the decimal point is generally regarded as a day counter.

It's interesting to note, then, that the duration of a TNG season is 1,000 days. Good thing they were on a continuing mission rather than a five-year one.

Both Star Trek: Deep Space 9 and Star Trek: Voyager continued using the TNG style of Stardates, and the movie Star Trek Nemesis followed suit.

As you might expect, early on in TNG , the writers sometimes goofed. A prime example is Tasha Yar's death, which occurred circa Stardate 41601.3, but she was alive in a previous episode with the (later) Stardate 41997.7. Oops. By 1992, the writers had revised their guidelines to be iron-clad:

A Stardate is a five-digit number followed by a decimal point and one more digit. Example: "46254.7". The first two digits of the Stardate are "46." The 4 stands for the 24th Century, the 6 indicates sixth season. The following three digits will progress consecutively during the course of the season from 000 to 999. The digit following the decimal point counts tenths of a day. Stardate 45254.4, therefore, represents the noon hour on the 254th "day" of the fifth season. Because Stardates in the 24th Century are based on a complex mathematical formula, a precise correlation to Earth-based dating systems is not possible.

Despite explicitly stating that correlation to Earth-based dates is not possible, that hasn't stopped people from trying .

Just when things were basically making sense, they changed again. From an exhaustive and brilliant article on Memory Alpha , here's an explanation of the reboot (J.J. Abrams-directed) movies' treatment of stardates (emphasis added):

The stardate format from the latest film series is credited to screenwriters Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman. According to Orci, they "used the system where, for example, 2233.45 or whatever means 23rd century, 33rd year of that century, and the .45 indicates the day of the year out of 365 days." During a Q&A session, Orci restated that a stardate is "the year, as in 2233, with the month and day expressed as a decimal point from .1 to .365 (as in the 365 days of the year)." He posted a similar reply on Twitter: "star date=standard year, with decimal representing day of year from 1-365." The new stardates are similar to the ordinal dates of ISO 8601, which express the first day of 2260 as 2260-001, and the last as 2260-366. Orci hasn't clarified whether leap days increase the count to .366, which would be expected if the years are Gregorian. When asked about 2230.06 and 2233.04 from the Star Trek screenplay, with only one leading zero instead of two or none, he replied that it could have been an error. IDW's Star Trek: Timelines show the latter number as 2233.4.

Long Story Short

There is no one answer to how stardates work, aside from saying that they don't. They're inconsistent series-to-series, and even within a given series, the writers often mixed things up. With Roddenberry trying to retcon the system's continuity even in TOS , perhaps it's appropriate that the system continues to be more than a little mixed up. Time-tracking throughout the galaxy is a hard problem; give 'em some slack.

If you're curious about examples of various Stardates (and even more discussion of this issue), check out Memory Alpha 's stardate page . Trust me, once you've read that, you'll never want to speak of this subject again. If you do, read this page for a deeply unofficial (but supremely logical) system of decimal time. Oh, and don't forget the time the French made a 10-hour day —another attempt to create decimal time that led to total confusion.

• View history

A chronometer in 2266

A stardate was a date in a variety of systems employed by the United Federation of Planets and other societies. It was usually expressed as a number of digits with a decimal separator, e.g. 5928.5 or 2263.02.

• 3.1.1 Gene Roddenberry: The Myth and the Man Behind Star Trek
• 3.1.2 The Star Trek Guide
• 3.1.3 The Making of Star Trek
• 3.1.4 Star Trek 30 Years Special Collector's Edition
• 3.1.5 The Next Generation era
• 3.1.6 Alternate reality
• 3.1.7 Star Trek: Discovery / Star Trek: Strange New Worlds
• 3.1.8 Star Trek: Picard
• 3.1.9 Deviations from production norms
• 3.1.10 Franz Joseph stardates
• 3.2.1 FASA reference stardates
• 3.4 External links

History [ ]

Classified Terran Empire records equated stardate 0141.7 to January 13, 2155

Stardate systems were used in certain cultures as early as the 2150s , when the United Earth government worked with calendar dates. In 2154 , Degra , a Xindi-Primate , sent a coded message to Enterprise NX-01 containing a stardate for when Enterprise should rendezvous with Degra's ship . T'Pol knew that it was three days in the future, indicating that Vulcans also had an understanding of stardates at that time. ( ENT : " Damage ") In the late 2250s, the Terran Empire used them to date events of 2155 . ( DIS : " Vaulting Ambition ")

By 2164 , Starfleet officers would open log entries with a stardate. By 2230 , the first four digits stood for the Gregorian calendar year. In the alternate reality of stardate 2258 , the Jellyfish gave its manufacturing date as "stardate 2387 ". ( Star Trek ) This scheme was used in the alternate reality as late as 2263 . ( Star Trek Beyond ) By 2256 in the prime reality , a more opaque relationship had been established between stardates and the Gregorian calendar. ( DIS : " The Vulcan Hello ") Variations on this scheme were used as late as 3188 . ( DIS : " People of Earth ")

Stardates did not replace clock time or everyday units for expressing larger timespans, such as days, weeks, months, years, centuries, or millennia, and stardate systems tend not to apply retroactively instead of Gregorian or Julian calendars either. ( TOS-R : " The Naked Time ")

Examples [ ]

The following table outlines the progress of stardates over time:

In an alternate timeline that diverged from the prime timeline in 2344 , the term combat date had replaced the term stardate in the dating system used by Starfleet by 2366 . The term was used during the Federation-Klingon War of that timeline . ( TNG : " Yesterday's Enterprise ")

Appendices [ ]

Background information [ ].

Stardates were first portrayed in TOS : " Where No Man Has Gone Before ", the second pilot for the series. Dave Eversole notes that the first draft of the teleplay (dated May 27, 1965) includes "Captain's Log, Report 197." [1] In addition, Star Trek Fact Check shows a scripted narration from the same draft containing "star date 1312.6". This became "star date 1312.4" by the final revised draft (July 8, 1965), which also asks for "C-1277.1 to 1313.7" to appear on Kirk's gravestone. According to Star Trek Fact Check , de Forest Research had this to say about stardates:

(Page 2, Scene 3) But on star date 1312.4 – Astronomers already have adopted a method of dating which makes possible the counting of the number of days elapsed between widely separated observations called 'the Julian Day'. Today July 14, 1965 is 2,438,956 in Julian days. A Julian cycle is 7,980 years, and the Julian day measurement would be scientifically authentic. Suggest "on Julian B 1312.4". This date would be August 5, 3271. (Page 65, Scene 175) C-1277.1 to 1313.7 – We presume dates are in days, Kirk would only be 36 days old. For conventional dating suggest 3235 to 3271. For Kirk's birth date in Julian system figure would be in millions. If desired, can be calculated.

On the other hand, the letter "C" and the rate of increase in the script suggest that 1277.1 was intended to be the date Kirk was promoted to captain and/or assumed command of the Enterprise , not his date of birth. Julian B is meant to be the day count since January 1, 3268, the start of the next 7,980-year Julian Period.

According to Kellam de Forest:

"The original script for the pilot of Star Trek was titled "Menagerie" (sic) and we in the research department, De Forest Research, didn't see it until it was in script form and came to us to review just like any other Desilu script, or any other script from any other client. So we got this script, and the script originally had dates in it, like 2362, and months and days. I felt that that sounded a little awkward for the 23rd, 22nd century, so I thought that there should be another, another dating system. So I checked that, yes, the astronomers had a way of dating called a Julian day system, in which, based on the calculations of a 16th century French mathematician/philosopher that felt that because he devised this calendar with a thousands and thousands of year cycle and each day was numbered, and astronomers have used that since, because it, you don't have to bother with years and leap years and AD and BC. So I suggested to Gene Roddenberry that there was this system out there and the days would be numbered, and he picked up on that and coined the term "stardate" and dated the log and the dating in Star Trek with this stardate system." [2]

Gene Roddenberry: The Myth and the Man Behind Star Trek [ ]

The second pilot was written by Samuel A. Peeples , who was interviewed by journalist Joel Engel for Gene Roddenberry: The Myth and the Man Behind Star Trek . [3] Replying to a newsgroup question on stardates, Engel quoted information from his book:

"For the starship captain's log entry narrations, Roddenberry wanted to devise a futuristic measurement of time reference. He called (Sam) Peeples (whom Roddenberry had contacted early on for help in learning about science fiction, a subject he knew nothing about; it was Peeples who wrote "Where No Man Has Gone Before," the pilot that sold ST). The two men had a few drinks while brainstorming, and soon began chuckling over their imaginative 'stardate' computations. 'We tried to set up a system that would be unidentified unless you knew how we did it,' Peeples says."

"They marked off sections on a pictorial depiction of the known universe and extrapolated how much earth time would elapse when traveling between given points, taking into account that the Enterprise's warp engines would be violating Einstein's theory that nothing could exceed the speed of light. They concluded that the 'time continuum' would therefore vary from place to place, and that earth time may actually be lost in travel. 'So the stardate on Earth would be one thing, but the stardate on Alpha Centauri would be different,' Peeples says. 'We thought this was hilarious, because everyone would say, "How come this date is before that date when this show is after that show?" The answer was because you were in a different sector of the universe.'" [4]

The Star Trek Guide [ ]

The following instructions to writers were copied from the series bible Star Trek Guide; they are quoted at Star Trek Fact Check . [5] The original date of composition and the author are unclear, but the sample stardates are consistent with the range from the second pilot.

"We invented "Stardate" to avoid continually mentioning Star Trek 's century (actually, about two hundred years from now), and getting into arguments about whether this or that would have developed by then. Pick any combination of four numbers plus a percentage point, use it as your story's stardate. For example, 1313.5 is twelve o'clock noon of one day and 1314.5 would be noon of the next day. Each percentage point (sic) is roughly equivalent to one-tenth of one day. The progression of stardates in your script should remain constant but don't worry about whether or not there is a progression from other scripts. Stardates are a mathematical formula which varies depending on location in the galaxy, velocity of travel, and other factors, can vary widely from episode to episode."

What is called a "percentage point" is actually the tenths digit. While the daily rate of increase wasn't always adhered to within episodes, the initial four digits weren't selected quite as randomly as described here. An overall increase with time can be observed in the above table of stardates, from 1312.4 in the second pilot to 5928.5 in the final episode of the series. The Animated Series and the movies continued the general trend, despite a number of variations in the rate of change.

The Making of Star Trek [ ]

Although much of the information from the Star Trek Guide was used in Stephen E. Whitfield 's book The Making of Star Trek (conceived in May 1967 and published in September 1968), the above specifics of selecting stardate numbers weren't included. However, the author did interview Gene Roddenberry on the subject, who provided a more elaborate rationalization for stardate behavior:

"In the beginning, I invented the term "star date" simply to keep from tying ourselves down to 2265 A.D., or should it be 2312 A.D.? I wanted us well into the future but without arguing approximately which century this or that would have been invented or superseded. When we began making episodes, we would use a star date such as 2317 one week, and then a week later when we made the next episode we would move the star date up to 2942, and so on. Unfortunately, however, the episodes are not aired in the same order in which we filmed them. So we began to get complaints from the viewers, asking, 'How come one week the star date is 2891, the next week it's 2337, and then the week after it's 3414?'"

"In answering these questions, I came up with the statement that "this time system adjusts for shifts in relative time which occur due to the vessel's speed and space warp capability. It has little relationship to Earth's time as we know it. One hour aboard the U.S.S. Enterprise at different times may equal as little as three Earth hours. The star dates specified in the log entry must be computed against the speed of the vessel, the space warp, and its position within our galaxy, in order to give a meaningful reading." Therefore star date would be one thing at one point in the galaxy and something else again at another point in the galaxy."

"I'm not quite sure what I meant by that explanation, but a lot of people have indicated it makes sense. If so, I've been lucky again, and I'd just as soon forget the whole thing before I'm asked any further questions about it."

Star Trek 30 Years Special Collector's Edition [ ]

Star Trek 30 Years Special Collector's Edition , published in 1996 by Paramount Pictures , states on page 81:

"Few Star Trek topics generate as much heated debate as the stardate system, the time calculation used by the United Federation of Planets which was introduced to the classic series by Gene Roddenberry, who borrowed the notion from the Julian date currently used by astronomers. Developed by Joseph Justus Scaliger (who named his dating system after his father, Julius Caesar Saliger), the Julian time calculation measures the number of days elapsed since 1 Jan. 4713 BC, the date derived by Joseph Justus. In the case of the 30th anniversary of the air date for the original series (8 Sept. 1996), that's 2,450,335 days. To make it easier, astronomers only use the last five digits – making 50335 the Julian date for the Star Trek anniversary. For Star Trek , Roddenberry added a single digit after the decimal point (50335.2) to represent one of the 10 time measurements in a 24-hour period… Roddenberry borrowed the five-digit Julian date, shortening it to four digits and renaming it "stardate"."

The Next Generation era [ ]

For the series that would come to be known as Star Trek: The Next Generation, Gene Roddenberry was intent on demystifying stardates, joking in his notes of May 14, 1986 that "In the original series, Stardates were determined by a complex formula based on the distance from Earth multiplied by the Producer’s birthday." The revised scheme would simply be a calendar date formatted YYY.MMDD, with the first season set in the year (2)487, the second in (2)488 and so forth, five hundred years into the future. To preserve order, the recommended day and the month would be the date of script assignment, to be replaced in the end by the date of shooting. (In a likely refinement, a typical summer-to-spring sequence of production dates would’ve required seasons to straddle two calendar years: 2487/88, 2488/89...) Anniversaries such as that of the lunar landing on stardate 487.0720 (pronounced "487 point oh-seven twenty") could then be celebrated by the crew. [6]

Ultimately, however, the teleplay of TNG : " Encounter at Farpoint " dated April 13, 1987 was assigned stardates ranging from 42353.7 to 42372.5. ( Star Trek: The Next Generation Companion CD ) This was changed to 41153.7-41174.2 on the air, consistent with the following description in Star Trek: The Next Generation Writer's/Director's Guide of March 23, 1987 (p. 13):

"A stardate is a five-digit number followed by a decimal point and one more digit. Example: "41254.7." The first two digits of the stardate are always "41." The 4 stands for 24th century, the 1 indicates first season. The additional three leading digits will progress unevenly during the course of the season from 000 to 999. The digit following the decimal point is generally regarded as a day counter."

As in TOS, stardates from the first season of TNG would sometimes decrease with time. In one noticeable example Tasha Yar 's death occurs around 41601.3 ( TNG : " Skin Of Evil "), but she was alive in episodes with greater stardates such as " The Big Goodbye ", set around stardate 41997.7.

The second season revision includes more detailed text regarding the decimal place, reiterating The Original Series rule:

"A Stardate is a five-digit number followed by a decimal point and one more digit. Example: "42254.7". The first two digits of the Stardate are always "42." The 4 stands for 24th Century, the 2 indicates second season. The additional three leading digits will progress unevenly during the course of the season from 000 to 999. The digit preceding the decimal point counts days , and the digit following the decimal point counts one-tenth of a day ." [7]

By the sixth season, "consecutively" had replaced "unevenly" from the above quote, consistent with the lack of decreasing stardates in later seasons of TNG.

"A Stardate is a five-digit number followed by a decimal point and one more digit. Example: "46254.7". The first two digits of the Stardate are "46." The 4 stands for the 24th Century, the 6 indicates sixth season. The following three digits will progress consecutively during the course of the season from 000 to 999. The digit following the decimal point counts tenths of a day . Stardate 45254.4, therefore, represents the noon hour on the 254th "day" of the fifth season. Because Stardates in the 24th Century are based on a complex mathematical formula, a precise correlation to Earth-based dating systems is not possible."

In actual fact, these thousand "days" would elapse in roughly a year, as demonstrated by numerous references in dialogue to events from previous seasons. The "century" digit was clarified as early as TNG : " Future Imperfect ", where the imaginary Jean-Luc Riker asks the computer to display his birthday party of stardate 58416, said to be less than sixteen years in the future of 2367. The initial digit may have been inspired by the 24th century, but in-universe it changes once a decade.

The writers of the Star Trek Chronology further developed the system by having a calendar year start at 000 and end at 999, although this does not fit all references in the show, such as a Diwali celebration around stardate 44390, too early in the year according to the simplified system. ( TNG : " Data's Day ") Stardate 41986.0 was in 2364 according to TNG : " The Neutral Zone ", hence the simplified system assumes that stardates 41xxx.x covered the entire year 2364, stardates 42xxx.x the entire year 2365 and so forth. As stated in Star Trek Chronology (p. 95):

"The year 2323 works out as the zero point for the system of stardates developed for Star Trek: The Next Generation , assuming that the beginning of year 2364 (the first season of Star Trek: The Next Generation ) was stardate 41000, and that stardates progress at 1000 units per year. In other words, under the Next Generation system of stardates, January 1, 2323 would seem to correspond to stardate 0. This probably shouldn't be taken too seriously, because Star Trek 's stardates have never been too internally consistent, but we're mentioning it here because it's kinda fun."

The second digit increased every season in TNG spin-offs as well. Since the contemporary DS9 premiered during the sixth season of TNG, stardates on the show ranged from 46379.1 to 52861.3. Likewise, the first season of Voyager (2371) would have paralleled the eighth season of TNG had it continued, so Voyager stardates ranged from 48315.6 to 54973.4. In at least one draft of the script, Star Trek Nemesis had a stardate of 47844.9, but the initial digits were changed to '56' for the film, consistent with Riker having been Picard's "trusted right arm for fifteen years." However, stardates of events prior to TNG : " Encounter at Farpoint ", but not so far back as the time of TOS, do not always conform to this method of counting. According to the Star Trek Chronology :

"Editors' confession: In "Dark Page" (TNG), an entry in Lwaxana's journal dated stardate 30620.1 is established to be during the year in which she got married, 2328. Unfortunately, under the Star Trek: The Next Generation system of stardates (which allocates 1,000 stardate units per year, and puts the beginning of year 2364 at stardate 41000) the beginning of the year 2328 should be around stardate 5000. Star Trek technical consultant (and Chronology co-author) Mike Okuda decided that a four-digit stardate would be confusing since this sounds like an Original Series number, so he arbitrarily picked 30620, even though it is not consistent with stardates used elsewhere in the show."

Okuda noted that in the Star Trek Chronology that there were "ambiguities" inherent in stardate calculation.

In addition to the overall rate of approximately one thousand units per year, many episodes confirm the 24-hour stardate unit mentioned in the series bibles. It is especially noticeable when the time of day is shown next to a stardate fraction, as demonstrated in the table below:

Although the vast majority of stardates are given with only one digit following the decimal point, the captain's log in TNG : " Code of Honor " is recorded with two digits (41235.25 and 41235.32) and other references have two, three, or even four digits, as in TNG : " The Child ", where a stardate of 42073.1435 is seen on a viewscreen in the Observation Lounge . Commenting on the graphic, Mike Okuda explained: " I always thought that the numbers after the decimal were fractions of a 24 hour day, meaning that .1435 would be about 3:20 in the morning. Which is really early in the day for a doctor's appointment... " [8] In VOY : " Relativity ", Seven of Nine travels back in time from 52861.274 to 49123.5621. Occasionally there are no digits, such as when "today's date" is given as stardate 47988. ( TNG : " All Good Things... ")

Alternate reality [ ]

The stardate format from the latest film series is credited to screenwriters Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman . According to Orci, they "used the system where, for example, 2233.45 or whatever means 23rd century, 33rd year of that century, and the .45 indicates the day of the year out of 365 days." [9] During a Q&A session, Orci restated that a stardate is "the year, as in 2233, with the month and day expressed as a decimal point from .1 to .365 (as in the 365 days of the year)." [10] He posted a similar reply on Twitter: "star date=standard year, with decimal representing day of year from 1-365." [11]

The new stardates are similar to the ordinal date s of ISO 8601, which would express the first day of 2260 as 2260-001, and the last as 2260-366. Orci hasn't clarified whether leap days increase the count to .366, which would be expected if the years are Gregorian. When asked about 2230.06 and 2233.04 from the Star Trek screenplay, with only one leading zero instead of two or none, he replied that it could have been an error. [12] IDW's Star Trek: Timelines show the latter number as 2233.4, while Star Trek Beyond places Kirk's birthday "a couple of days" after 2263.2 from his log entry. Shortly thereafter, Ambassador Spock's date of death is displayed as 2263.02, and his date of birth again as 2230.06. When Uhura calls for help from Krall's base, her screen shows "226X.XX", which isn't labeled a stardate but does suggest an entire two-digit range. Though farther from the films' production, the Star Trek Encyclopedia sees 2233.04 as January 4 of that year.

The alternate reality adaptation of " Where No Man Has Gone Before " begins with a stardate in the new style, but the second part of that comic reverts to 1313.1, consistent with the range of its prime reality counterpart, and the same approach is taken with " The Galileo Seven " reimagining, which begins on stardate 2821.5. After that story was finished, writer Mike Johnson commented at TrekMovie.com: " Speaking of typos... Going forward we are using the new Stardate system. " [13] Even so, not every alternate stardate may have been chosen correctly for the intended chronological order. According to Johnson in the Open Channels section of " The Q Gambit, Part 4 " (p. 25):

"The ongoing series is running in chronological order, except for those stories that are established as a flashback, like the origin of Science Officer 0718. So "The Q Gambit" takes place after "The Khitomer Conflict" and "Parallel Lives", and after the Enterprise has embarked on its new five-year mission after Star Trek Into Darkness ."

" The Q Gambit " begins on stardate 2261.34, and yet " The Khitomer Conflict " already saw the higher stardates 2261.147, .149 and .168. " Parallel Lives " continued with .274 and .234 in that order. " Live Evil, Part 1 " could not have been set after Star Trek Beyond , where the Enterprise is destroyed. Still, the digits after the separator always fall within Orci's range, even if the comics do not provide the matching days of the month. The table below shows only new-style stardates from the films and other sources, along with their calculated equivalents in the Gregorian calendar. Given the above evidence, the conversion provisionally assumes that .0# was always intended to mean Day #, not a fraction of the year.

As seen in the table, when asked by the alternate Spock , the computer aboard the Jellyfish reports a manufacturing stardate of 2387, consistent with the timespan of 129 years stated earlier in the film. The comic miniseries Star Trek: Countdown , which details events in the prime reality that led to the 2009 film , nevertheless gives its latest stardate as 64467.14, resulting in mid-2387 according to the Chronology rules. Moreover, Star Trek Online , set over twenty years after the destruction of Romulus, continues to use the format created for TNG, placing it in the 86000 range; on the other hand, Star Trek: Timelines freely applies alternate reality stardates to events from the prime reality.

Star Trek: Discovery / Star Trek: Strange New Worlds [ ]

A week before the premiere, the Star Trek Twitter page began counting up from 1200.4, continuing daily with 1201.5, 1202.4, 1203.4, 1204.5, 1205.4, 1206.5, and finally 1207.4, consistent with stardate 1207.3 of the first episode. [14] While this rate of increase matches the convention in TOS, the numbers are higher than 1024.7 for Joran Dax's birth in the following decade. Later episodes establish stardates in the actual TOS range, as well as the familiar changing rates and numbers decreasing with time. Having reached a peak in Season 1 of 4851.5, the initial digit reverts to 1 in Season 2, which ends with stardate 1201.7. Season 3 begins in the far future but preserves stardates as revised on TNG: 865xxx.x for the year 3188, though a number with eight integer digits and a decimal appears in an Emerald Chain document.

Star Trek: Picard [ ]

Writer, executive producer, and first season showrunner on Star Trek: Picard , Michael Chabon , eschewed the use of stardates, stating in an Instagram story dated 26 February 2020:

"Stardates, in my view, and I know this is going to make some people mad, are a uniquely perverse form of uninformative information. Using a stardate tells you precisely nothing. Even people who know how to interpret and convert them have to go off and interpret and convert them to have them mean something. Giving an audience the stardate is like I wanted to know if I needed to put on a sweater or not, and you told me the temperature outside in Kelvin. 'It's 287 out.'" [15]

The first stardate given was 78183.10 in the third season episode, “ No Win Scenario .” The second was 78186.03 in the next episode. In the series finale, " The Last Generation ,” William T. Riker says, “Captain’s log, stardate…shall we say, ‘One?’”

Deviations from production norms [ ]

Stardates would occasionally deviate from the prevailing production norm throughout Star Trek incarnations. Examples include:

• In TOS : " Where No Man Has Gone Before ", the stardates within the episode progress by 1.4, from 1312.4 to 1313.8, in what could not be more than a few days, yet the birthdates of Gary Mitchell and Elizabeth Dehner are given as 1087.7 (onscreen dossier age: 23) and 1089.5 (onscreen dossier age: 21), respectively. However, the numbers aren't explicitly labeled as stardates.
• The animated episode " The Magicks of Megas-Tu " set in 2269 has a stardate of 1254.4. This is lower than in any TOS episode, including the first Kirk-era show, TOS : " Where No Man Has Gone Before ", set in 2265 with a stardate of 1312.4.
• In Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan , the opening graphic for Project Genesis is given a stardate of 7130.4, which should predate the USS Enterprise refit, yet Captain Kirk commented that the recording was just over a year old around stardate 8130.
• In TNG : " Datalore ", Riker dropped the fifth digit in his log, stating "stardate 4124.5". His entry is missing from the revised final draft of 10/26/87; it is surrounded by stardates 41242.4 and 41242.45, as recorded in Picard's log.
• In VOY : " Unimatrix Zero, Part II ", set during stardate 54014.4, Tuvok mentions that his date of birth is stardate 38774, but he was born in 2264.
• VOY : " Homestead " gives a stardate of 54868.6, which would suggest a date sometime in late 2377, but in fact the episode is set on the 315th anniversary of the first contact with Vulcans, which works out to April 5, 2378.

Franz Joseph stardates [ ]

Aside from those patterned after TOS, the stardates in the Star Fleet Technical Manual were generated using calendar dates of the 1970s, formatted YYMM.DD. This can be inferred by comparing the dates of first printing (November 1975) and of the 20th anniversary edition (September 1986) with the corresponding stardates, 7511.01 and 8609.01, as well as the decimal digits in technical order stardates, which suggest days of months. In addition to being easy to use, such stardates had the advantage of roughly matching in-universe ranges from the original film era. The 1979 Star Trek (Stardate) Calendar also used this format. [16]

Apocrypha [ ]

Fasa reference stardates [ ].

FASA 's Star Trek: The Role Playing Game released in the early 1980s used "reference stardates" ( β ) similar to those used by Franz Joseph. However, they prefixed a digit and a slash to represent the century, starting with the year 2000, so January 1, 2000, was 0/0001.01 and the Organian Peace Treaty was signed on 2/0801.24, or January 24, 2208 ( β ), according to Star Trek Spaceflight Chronology . Preceding centuries are negative, so the first episode of TOS aired -1/6609.08.

In the novel Where Sea Meets Sky , Captain Christopher Pike has to use conversion formulas to convert stardates to the Gregorian Calendar for his friend Nowan from the bar The Captain's Table.

In the Millennium novel The War of the Prophets , the stardate system is based on hyperdimensional distance averaging.

External links [ ]

• Stardate at Memory Beta , the wiki for licensed Star Trek works
• Universal Stardate Converter
• The Stardate FAQ – primarily develops one particular theory of stardates that has gained some currency
• Determining Calendar Dates from Stardates – has calculations and calculators based upon information from the television series' and movies
• Star Trek logs (X) – database of stardates and logs from the Star Trek films and television series
• Calendar conversion at Funaba.org – includes ordinal dates, which are practically identical to the alternate reality stardates
• 3 ISS Enterprise (NCC-1701)

Star Trek: Here's How Stardates Work

Though its development was surprisingly tough, Star Trek's Stardate has a built-in determination system. Here's how it works.

Star Trek ’s Stardate is an integral part of the franchise. At this point, it has become so elaborate that fans can accurately track the course of events throughout the Trek universe simply by checking the Stardate. Like so much about the first series, it didn’t start out that way. It was created solely to disguise the precise date of the show’s future, and it was only through Trek's  phenomenal success that it grew into something larger. A tangled development process led to confusion about how the system works. In actuality, the basics are quite simple.

The Original Series cemented the concept’s status by repetition. William Shatner’s “Captain’s Log” voice-overs were a strong way to provide plot exposition, and the Stardate sounded like something a space captain would use in the future. It started every episode of the first series, then continued with Patrick Stewart on Star Trek: The Next Generation   and subsequent series. During the build-up to  Star Trek: Discovery 's premiere, Star Trek’s Twitter  began counting off Stardates leading to the in-universe date of the first episode.

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Canonically, Stardates are intended to provide a universal calendar for governments spanning numerous planets and cultures, as well as the normality of spaceships that could surpass the speed of light and thus violate notions of relativity. In The Making of Star Trek book, Roddenberry reveals that he invented it to get around awkward questions of when certain technologies were invented. He planned for the Stardates to advance every episode but didn’t get more specific than that.

That changed when reruns of The Original Series began to air out of order, and sharp-eyed fans noticed the Stardates jumping back and forth every week. Roddenberry struggled to set a measurable timetable to explain the notion, which carried over into the development of The Next Generation , where he was determined to set the record straight. A five-digit code was developed and refined, with a few easy hints to let the writers and fans keep track of it. Star Trek has stuck with it ever since.

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The “rebooted” Stardate and the best spot to explain how it works occurred with The Next Generation series premiere, “Encounter at Farpoint.” The episode began on Stardate 41153.7, which matches the year 2364 on the real-world calendar when the episode supposedly takes place. The digit “4” represents the 24 th century, and the first “1” represents the first season of The Next Generation. The remaining numbers advance throughout the season until season 2 when the “41xxx.x” jumps to “42xxx.x.”

That means 1000 units in Stardate measurement are equivalent to a calendar year on Earth. Subsequent seasons of The Next Generation stuck with that yardstick, as did Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and all series thereafter. It’s not without problems. For example, by following its formula, Stardates were established in the year 2323, well after The Original Series and the first six movies that all used the Stardate system. But it’s been internally consistent, and Michael Burnham’s log entry in Discovery, Season 3, Episode 3, “People of Earth,” mentions the Stardate as 865211.3, which matches the show’s 32nd-century setting.

The inconsistencies may have been part of the reason why Discovery launched forward in time. The Stardates, like a lot of other canon content, were looming uncomfortably close, and the move 900 years into the future let the show find its own rhythm. But it’s a testament to how embedded the Stardate notion has become to Star Trek as a whole  and how it remains useful to the series even with its uneven application.

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Twenty-fourth Century Stardates

Calculating calendar dates in the next generation, deep space nine, and voyager.

While there have been very few references to actual dates in more than 700 episodes of Star Trek , it is possible to derive a fairly accurate correlation between the fictional Stardate system and calendar dates in The Next Generation , Deep Space Nine , and Voyager , based on facts from actual episodes and some calendar math . Facts: Fact: The Next Generation episode "The Neutral Zone," with a Stardate of 41986.0, gave the calendar year as 2364 at the end of the first season . Fact: The Next Generation episode "Data's Day" took place during the Hindu Festival of Lights . The episode aired the week of January 9, 1991 (two and a half years after "The Neutral Zone"), with a Stardate of 44390.1. Fact: Diwali , the five-day Festival of Lights, starts on the New Moon ending the month of Asvina on the Hindu calendar, which typically is the date of the New Moon in India nearest to Halloween. Fact: According to the Calendar Mine 2.0 perpetual calendar, November 3 is the date of the New Moon and the start of Diwali in the year 2366 on Earth. Therefore, the Hindu Festival of Lights would be celebrated in a five-day period starting on November 3, 2366, and ending on November 7, 2366, so Stardate 44390.1 must be within that date span. Fact: The Next Generation episode "Data's Day" also states that Stardate 44390.1 is the 1,550th day since the U.S.S. Enterprise was commissioned. Fact: In The Next Generation episode "All Good Things..." Picard states that he first met Q seven years before Stardate 47988. Their first meeting was depicted on Stardate 41153.7 in "ENCOUNTER AT FARPOINT." Fact: In the Voyager episode "EYE OF THE NEEDLE," Commander Chakotay states that the current year is 2371, with a Stardate of 48579.4. Fact: The Voyager episode "THE 37's" gave the calendar year as 2371 at the beginning of the second season, with a Stardate of 48975.1. Fact: In the Voyager episode "FUTURE'S END," information downloaded from the U.S.S. Voyager 's computer indicates that the Voyager was launched in the year 2371. The first episode of Voyager , "CARETAKER," took place on Stardate 48315.6. Fact: The date for the Voyager episode "11:59" was given as April 22, 2375. (No Stardate was given in the episode, but episodes airing before and after it had Stardates of 52647 and 52861.274.) Fact: The movie STAR TREK: FIRST CONTACT showed that humans made first contact with Vulcans on April 5, 2063. Fact: In the Voyager episode "HOMESTEAD," the crew is celebrating the 315th anniversary of First Contact Day. The following day, a captain's log is recorded on Stardate 54868.6. Fact: An average Earth year comprises about 365.2422 mean solar days. Calculations: Given the above facts, a consistent Stardate system must incorporate the following dates: Stardate 41986.0 must be in the year 2364 ("The Neutral Zone"). Stardate 44390.1 must be between November 3, 2366, and November 7, 2366 ( "Data's Day" ). Stardate 47988 takes place seven years after Stardate 41153.7 ( "ENCOUNTER AT FARPOINT," "All Good Things..." ). Stardate 48315.6 must be in the year 2371 ( "FUTURE'S END," "CARETAKER" ). Stardate 48579.4 must be in the year 2371 ( "EYE OF THE NEEDLE" ). Stardate 48975.1 must be in the year 2371 ( "THE 37's" ). April 22, 2375, takes place between Stardates 52647 and 52861.274 (assuming the episodes before and after "11:59" were in chronological order). Stardate 54868.6 is the day after First Contact Day, the 315th anniversary of April 5, 2063 ( "HOMESTEAD," ). Since The Next Generation episode "Data's Day" and the Voyager episode "HOMESTEAD" both make references to holidays with known dates, these two episodes can be used to establish a Stardate-to-time ratio. However, "Data's Day" (with a Stardate of 44390.1) could take place any time from November 3, 2366, to November 7, 2366, and it is unclear whether "HOMESTEAD" (with a Stardate 54868.6) takes place in the year 2378 or 2377, so that leaves a window of four possible calendar date spans for a definite span of 10478.5 Stardates. (54868.6 - 44390.1 = 10478.5 Stardates) If "Data's Day" took place on November 3, 2366, and "HOMESTEAD" took place on April 6, 2378, then that would give a span of 4,172 days. If "Data's Day" took place on November 7, 2366, and "HOMESTEAD" took place on April 6, 2378, then that would give a span of 4,168 days. If "Data's Day" took place on November 3, 2366, and "HOMESTEAD" took place on April 6, 2377, then that would give a span of 3,807 days. If "Data's Day" took place on November 7, 2366, and "HOMESTEAD" took place on April 6, 2377, then that would give a span of 3,803 days. Given the four possible date spans above, that leaves four possible Stardate-to-time ratios: 4,172 days = 10478.5 Stardates, giving a ratio of 0.39814859 day per Stardate, (4,172 days / 10478.5 Stardates = 0.39814859 day/Stardate) which gives a ratio of 917.351484 Stardates/year . (365.2422 days per year / 0.39814859 day per Stardate = 917.351484 Stardates/year) 4,168 days = 10478.5 Stardates, giving a ratio of 0.397766856 day per Stardate, (4,168 days / 10478.5 Stardates = 0.397766856 day/Stardate) which gives a ratio of 918.23186 Stardates/year . (365.2422 days per year / 0.397766856 day per Stardate = 918.23186 Stardates/year) 3,807 days = 10478.5 Stardates, giving a ratio of 0.36331536 day per Stardate, (3,807 days / 10478.5 Stardates = 0.36331536 day/Stardate) which gives a ratio of 1005.30349 Stardates/year . (365.2422 days per year / 0.36331536 day per Stardate = 1005.30349 Stardates/year) 3,803 days = 10478.5 Stardates, giving a ratio of 0.362933626 day per Stardate, (3,803 days / 10478.5 Stardates = 0.362933626 day/Stardate) which gives a ratio of 1006.36087 Stardates/year . (365.2422 days per year / 0.362933626 day per Stardate = 1006.36087 Stardates/year) If we apply each of the four possible Stardate ratios above to the known fact of the Voyager 's launch date in 2371, then we get the following results: Using the lowest possible Stardate-to-year ratio, 917.351484 Stardates/year , that would mean that the launch of the Voyager on Stardate 48315.6 ( "CARETAKER" ) would be 6553.0 Stardates before April 6, 2378 ( "HOMESTEAD" ), which had a Stardate of 54868.6, (54868.6 - 48315.6 = 6553.0) which would be 2,609.06771 days before April 6, 2378, (0.39814859 day per Stardate x 6553.0 Stardates = 2,609.06771 days) which would mean that "CARETAKER" took place on February 13, 2371. This fits with the fact that the Voyager was launched in 2371 ( "FUTURE'S END" ). Using the second-lowest possible Stardate-to-year ratio, 918.23186 Stardates/year , that would mean that the launch of the Voyager on Stardate 48315.6 ( "CARETAKER" ) would be 6553.0 Stardates before April 6, 2378 ( "HOMESTEAD" ), which had a Stardate of 54868.6, (54868.6 - 48315.6 = 6553.0) which would be 2,606.56621 days before April 6, 2378, (0.397766856 day per Stardate x 6553.0 Stardates = 2,606.56621 days) which would mean that "CARETAKER" took place on February 16, 2371. This fits with the fact that the Voyager was launched in 2371 ( "FUTURE'S END" ). Using the second-highest possible Stardate-to-year ratio, 1005.30349 Stardates/year , that would mean that the launch of the Voyager on Stardate 48315.6 ( "CARETAKER" ) would be 6553.0 Stardates before April 6, 2377 ( "HOMESTEAD" ), which had a Stardate of 54868.6, (54868.6 - 48315.6 = 6553.0) which would be 2,380.80555 days before April 6, 2377, (0.36331536 day per Stardate x 6553.0 Stardates = 2,380.80555 days) which would mean that "CARETAKER" took place on September 30, 2370. This does not fit with the fact that the Voyager was launched in 2371 ( "FUTURE'S END" ). Using the highest possible Stardate-to-year ratio, 1006.36087 Stardates/year , that would mean that the launch of the Voyager on Stardate 48315.6 ( "CARETAKER" ) would be 6553.0 Stardates before April 6, 2377 ( "HOMESTEAD" ), which had a Stardate of 54868.6, (54868.6 - 48315.6 = 6553.0) which would be 2,378.30405 days before April 6, 2377, (0.362933626 day per Stardate x 6553.0 Stardates = 2,378.30405 days) which would mean that "CARETAKER" took place on October 2, 2370. This does not fit with the fact that the Voyager was launched in 2371 ( "FUTURE'S END" ). Given the above results, we can discard possibilities 3 and 4, since they do not fit with a Voyager launch date of 2371. Since these were the only two options in which the episode "HOMESTEAD" took place in 2377, then we can conclude that "HOMESTEAD" must have taken place in April 2378, the 315th anniversary of first contact with Vulcans on April 5, 2063 ( STAR TREK: FIRST CONTACT ). (2063 + 315 = 2378) Having proven that "HOMESTEAD" must have taken place in April 2378, then that means that the only possible Stardate-to-year ratios are between 917.351484 Stardates/year and 918.23186 Stardates/year . If we apply each of these ratios to the fact that Stardate 48975.1 must be in the year 2371 ( "THE 37's" ), we get the following results: Using the lowest possible Stardate-to-year ratio, 917.351484 Stardates/year , that would mean that "THE 37's" (on Stardate 48975.1) would be 5893.5 Stardates before April 6, 2378 ( "HOMESTEAD" ), which had a Stardate of 54868.6, (54868.6 - 48975.1 = 5893.5) which would be 2,346.48872 days before April 6, 2378, (0.39814859 day per Stardate x 5893.5 Stardates = 2,346.48872 days) which would mean that "THE 37's" took place on November 3, 2371. This fits with the stated year of 2371 in "THE 37's" . Using the highest possible Stardate-to-year ratio, 918.23186 Stardates/year , that would mean that "THE 37's" (on Stardate 48975.1) would be 5893.5 Stardates before April 6, 2378 ( "HOMESTEAD" ), which had a Stardate of 54868.6, (54868.6 - 48975.1 = 5893.5) which would be 2,344.23897 days before April 6, 2378, (0.397766856 day per Stardate x 5893.5 Stardates = 2,344.23897 days) which would mean that "THE 37's" took place on November 5, 2371. This fits with the stated year of 2371 in "THE 37's" . If we apply each of the above ratios to the fact that Stardate 41986.0 must be in the year 2364 ("The Neutral Zone"), we get the following results: Using the lowest possible Stardate-to-year ratio, 917.351484 Stardates/year , that would mean that TNG episode "The Neutral Zone" (on Stardate 41986.0) would be 12882.6 Stardates before April 6, 2378 ( "HOMESTEAD" ), which had a Stardate of 54868.6, (54868.6 - 41986.0 = 12882.6) which would be 5,129.18903 days before April 6, 2378, (0.39814859 day per Stardate x 12882.6 Stardates = 5,129.18903 days) which would mean that "The Neutral Zone" took place on March 21, 2364. This fits with the stated year of 2364 in "The Neutral Zone." Using the highest possible Stardate-to-year ratio, 918.23186 Stardates/year ,that would mean that TNG episode "The Neutral Zone" (on Stardate 41986.0) would be 12882.6 Stardates before April 6, 2378 ( "HOMESTEAD" ), which had a Stardate of 54868.6, (54868.6 - 41986.0 = 12882.6) which would be 5,124.2713 days before April 6, 2378, (0.397766856 day per Stardate x 12882.6 Stardates = 5,124.2713 days) which would mean that "The Neutral Zone" took place on March 26, 2364. This fits with the stated year of 2364 in "The Neutral Zone." Conclusions: Given the above facts and calculations , we can conclude that: The Voyager episode "HOMESTEAD" (Stardate 54868.6) must have taken place on April 6, 2378. The highest possible Stardate-to-year ratio is 918.23186 Stardates per year (or 0.397766856 day to 1.0 Stardate , or 1.0 Stardate to 34,367.0564 seconds ). With the two above conclusions, it is possible to calculate a calendar date for any Stardate given in The Next Generation , Deep Space Nine , and Voyager . Given the date of Voyager episode "HOMESTEAD" (Stardate 54868.6) and a ratio of 918.23186 Stardates per year, it is now possible to calculate the starting point of The Next Generation Stardate system, i.e., Stardate 00000.0. Stardate 00000.0 would be 54868.6 Stardates before April 6, 2378 ( "HOMESTEAD" ), which, given the Stardate-to-year ratio established above, would be 21,824.9105 days before April 6, 2378. (0.397766856 day/Stardate x 54868.6 Stardates = 21,824.9105 days) Subtracting 21,824 days, 1,311 minutes, from April 6, 2378, calculates to Friday, July 5, 2318, around noon. So we can conclude that Stardate 00000.0 started on Friday, July 5, 2318 , around noon (Starfleet Command time).

Twenty-third Century Stardates

Calculating calendar dates in the original series.

During the run of The Original Series , there were few references to dates, nor even to the century in which the series took place. Furthermore, the Stardates used in The Original Series had a different starting point than The Next Generation Stardates, so it is impossible to directly extrapolate dates backwards from The Next Generation . However, there were sufficient references in The Next Generation to retroactively calculate dates in The Original Series , with a few additional Stardate facts from episodes of The Original Series , The Next Generation , and Voyager . Facts: Fact: In The Next Generation episode "Sarek," Captain Picard states that Ambassador Sarek is 202 years old. The episode takes place on Stardate 43917.4, which, according to the above calculations , would take place on Tuesday, May 3, 2366. Thus, for Picard's statement to be true on that date, Sarek would have been born between May 4, 2163 and May 3, 2164. Fact: In The Original Series episode "JOURNEY TO BABEL," Ambassador Sarek states that he is precisely 102.437 Earth years old on Stardate 3842.4. Based on the above range determined for the date of Sarek's birth, "JOURNEY TO BABEL" must have taken place between October 11, 2265, and October 9, 2266. Fact: The American Thanksgiving holiday typically is celebrated on the fourth Thursday of November. Fact: In The Original Series episode "CHARLIE X," the crew of the U.S.S. Enterprise is celebrating Thanksgiving. The given Stardates for this episode were 1533.6 and 1533.7. This is 2308.7 Stardates before Stardate 3842.4 in the episode "JOURNEY TO BABEL," which was determined above to have taken place between October 11, 2265, and October 9, 2266. (3842.4 - 1533.7 = 2308.7 Stardates) Fact: Captain Kirk's monologue in the opening titles of The Original Series established that the crew was on a five-year mission. The earliest Stardate in The Original Series was 1312.4 in "WHERE NO MAN HAS GONE BEFORE," and the latest Stardate was 5943.7 in "ALL OUR YESTERDAYS," a difference of 4631.3 Stardates. (5943.7 - 1312.4 = 4631.3 Stardates) Fact: If episodes of The Animated Series are also considered part of the original five-year mission, then the earliest Stardate was 1254.4 in the animated episode "THE MAGICKS OF MEGAS-TU," and the latest Stardate was 7403.6 in the animated episode "BEM," a difference of 6149.2 Stardates. (7403.6 - 1254.4 = 6149.2 Stardates) Fact: In the Voyager episode "Q2," Icheb states that Kirk completed his historic five-year mission in 2270. Therefore, all episodes of The Original Series must have taken place after January 1, 2265 (assuming it was exactly five years), and before January 1, 2271. Fact: In the episode "DAGGER OF THE MIND," on Stardate 2715.1, Dr. Helen Noel said she met Captain Kirk at the Science Lab Christmas party. Fact: Christmas is traditionally celebrated on December 25, and office Christmas parties are typically celebrated sometime in December. Given the possible date range for the five-year mission established in "Q2," the Christmas party referred to in "DAGGER OF THE MIND" must have taken place between December 2265 and December 2270. Calculations: Thanksgiving in "CHARLIE X" took place before the episode "JOURNEY TO BABEL" -- which, as determined above, took place between October 11, 2265, and October 9, 2266 -- and Thanksgiving in "CHARLIE X" must have taken place after January 1, 2265, given the end date of the five-year mission in "Q2." Therefore, the only possible date for "CHARLIE X" would be November 23, 2265 (which is the fourth Thursday of the month, according to the perpetual calendar ). If the Christmas party referred to in "DAGGER OF THE MIND" is assumed to be the same year as Thanksgiving in "CHARLIE X," then there would be at least a month between the two episodes, a difference of 1181.4 Stardates (giving a ratio of less than 1,000 Stardates per month). If the Christmas party were the following year, then the difference of 1181.4 Stardates would span at least a year (which would give a ratio of at least 1,000 Stardates per year). The Christmas party referred to could not be from the year before Thanksgiving in "CHARLIE X," since the possible date range for the five-year mission established in "Q2" dictates that the five-year mission did not begin before 2265. Having calculated above that Stardate 1533.7 is on November 23, 2265 ( "CHARLIE X," ), and that Stardate 3842.4 ( "JOURNEY TO BABEL" ) must be between October 11, 2265, and October 9, 2266, the maximum span between Stardates 1533.7 and 3842.4 (a difference of 2308.7 Stardates) can be no more than 320 days (or 0.876130962 year). Therefore, there must be at least 2635.10833 Stardates per year (or at least 7.21468749 Stardates per day). (2308.7 Stardates / 0.876130962 year = 2635.10833 Stardates/year) This means that Stardate 0000.0 -- 1533.7 Stardates before November 23, 2265, in "CHARLIE X" -- must have started 0.582025408 year (212.58024 days) before that episode. (1533.7 Stardates / 2635.10833 Stardates/year = 0.582025408 year) So, assuming the lowest possible Stardate-to-year ratio of 2635.10833 Stardates per year, Stardate 0000.0 began on Tuesday, April 25, 2265, at 00:00 hours. (November 23, 2265 - 212.58024 days = April 25, 2265) Conclusions: Given the above facts and calculations , we can conclude that: Stardate 0000.0 began on Tuesday, April 25, 2265, at 00:00 hours. The lowest possible Stardate-to-year ratio is 2635.10833 Stardates per year (at least 7.21468749 Stardates per day , or less than 0.138606142 day per Stardate ). Therefore, in The Original Series , one Stardate is no more than 11,975,570.7 milliseconds (0.138606142 day = 11,975,570.7 milliseconds) Given the above starting point and the assumed ratio of 2635.10833 Stardates per year, it is possible to calculate the calendar date for any episode in The Original Series . For example, "DAGGER OF THE MIND," on Stardate 2715.1, would have taken place on May 6, 2266, just a few months after the Christmas party referred to in the episode. So the earliest Stardate in The Original Series -- 1312.4 in "WHERE NO MAN HAS GONE BEFORE" -- took place on October 23, 2265, and the latest Stardate -- 5943.7 in "ALL OUR YESTERDAYS" -- was on July 27, 2267. (The earliest Stardate in The Animated Series -- 1254.4 in "THE MAGICKS OF MEGAS-TU" -- would have taken place on October 15, 2265, and the latest Stardate -- 7403.6 in "BEM" -- would have taken place on February 15, 2268.)

Late Twenty-third Century Stardates

Calculating calendar dates in the movie series.

The first six Star Trek motion pictures continued the pattern of four-digit Stardates from The Original Series . However, it is clear that it is not a simple linear continuation of the same Stardate system. Therefore, either the time ratio of The Original Series Stardates changed mid-way through the original five-year mission and continued through the movies, or else the motion pictures use another Stardate system with a completely new starting point and different time ratio from The Original Series Stardates. Facts: Fact: In STAR TREK: THE MOTION PICTURE , on Stardate 7410.2, Admiral James Kirk has been Chief of Starfleet Operations for the past two and a half years, and hasn't logged a single star hour in that time, since completing his five-year mission. So, based on the end date of the five-year mission established in "Q2," Stardate 7410.2 must be at least two and a half years after January 1, 2270. Fact: Since STAR TREK: THE MOTION PICTURE , on Stardate 7410.2, takes place two and a half years after Captain Kirk's original five-year mission ended, then it must be at least two and a half years after the latest Stardate in The Original Series -- 5943.7 in "ALL OUR YESTERDAYS" -- a difference of 1466.5 Stardates. (7410.2 - 5943.7 = 1466.5 Stardates) Fact: If episodes of The Animated Series are also considered part of the original five-year mission, then STAR TREK: THE MOTION PICTURE , on Stardate 7410.2, must take place at least two and a half years after the latest Stardate -- 7403.6 in the animated episode "BEM" -- a difference of 0006.6 Stardates. (7410.2 - 7403.6 = 0006.6 Stardates) Fact: In STAR TREK: THE MOTION PICTURE , on Stardate 7410.2, V'ger is less than three days away from Earth. On Stardate 7414.1, V'ger reaches Earth, so a span of 0003.9 Stardates must be less than three days. (7414.1 - 7410.2 = 0003.9 Stardates) Fact: In STAR TREK II: THE WRATH OF KHAN , the Project Genesis video proposal was recorded by Dr. Carol Marcus on Stardate 7130.4. After Stardate 8130.4, Admiral Kirk states that the tape was made "about a year ago." Fact: In STAR TREK II: THE WRATH OF KHAN , on Stardate 8130.4, Khan has been stranded on Ceti Alpha Five for 15 years, since Stardate 3143.3 in the episode "SPACE SEED" -- which, according to The Original Series Stardate calculations above, would have taken place on July 4, 2266. Therefore, Stardate 8130.4 must take place after July 4, 2281 (assuming Khan is talking about Earth years and not Ceti Alpha Five years). Fact: In STAR TREK II: THE WRATH OF KHAN , on Stardate 8130.3, Dr. McCoy gives Admiral Kirk a bottle of Romulan Ale (vintage 2283) for his birthday. Therefore, Stardate 8130.3 must take place after 2283 (assuming 2283 is an Earth year, and not a Romulan year or a Stardate). Fact: In STAR TREK III: THE SEARCH FOR SPOCK , around Stardate 8210.3, Starfleet Commander Morrow states that the U.S.S. Enterprise is twenty years old. An officer later refers to Uhura as a twenty-year space veteran. Fact: In STAR TREK III: THE SEARCH FOR SPOCK , the U.S.S. Enterprise flight recorder shows that Spock was dying from radiation poisoning after escaping the Genesis Device detonation on Stardate 8128.78. On Stardate 8128.77, Spock had just been exposed to radiation. Stardates 8128.76.00 to 8128.76.32 spanned a few seconds in which Spock performed a mind-meld with Dr. McCoy before entering the irradiated Engineering chamber. Fact: In STAR TREK IV: THE VOYAGE HOME , on Stardate 8390, the U.S.S. Enterprise crew has been on Vulcan for three months (since just after Stardate 8210.3 in STAR TREK III: THE SEARCH FOR SPOCK ). Therefore, a span of 179.7 Stardates represents at least three months (8390 - 8210.3 = 179.7 Stardates) , so 718.8 Stardates would span at least 12 months (179.7 Stardates/3 months x 4/4 = 718.8 Stardates/12 months) . Fact: In STAR TREK V: THE FINAL FRONTIER , on Stardate 8454.1, the U.S.S. Enterprise NCC-1701-A has been under repairs for at least three weeks. The starship was first seen sometime after Stardate 8390 in STAR TREK IV: THE VOYAGE HOME , so there must be at least a month in the span of 64.1 Stardates (8454.1 - 8390 = 64.1 Stardates) ; therefore, there must be at least a year in a span of 769.2 Stardates (64.1 Stardates x 12 = 769.2 Stardates) . Fact: In STAR TREK VI: The Undiscovered Country , on Stardate 9521.6, the U.S.S. Excelsior detected the destruction of the Klingon moon Praxis, three years after Captain Sulu took command. Two months later, Starfleet Command sends the U.S.S. Enterprise on a diplomatic mission, and Captain Kirk records a log entry on Stardate 9522.6. A few days later, Captain Kirk records his final log entry on Stardate 9529.1. Therefore, a span of 1.0 Stardate is at least two months. (9522.6 - 9521.6 = 1.0 Stardate) . Fact: In STAR TREK VI: The Undiscovered Country , after Stardate 9522.6, McCoy states that he has been ship's surgeon aboard the U.S.S. Enterprise for 27 years. Fact: In the Voyager episode "FLASHBACK," after Stardate 50126.4, Tuvok states that his first deep space assignment aboard the U.S.S. Excelsior , on Stardate 9521, was approximately 80 years ago, when he was 29 years old. Given the assumed date of Tuvok's birth on October 14, 2266, then Stardate 9521 must be at least 29 years after October 14, 2266. However, this conflicts with McCoy's statement that he has been aboard the U.S.S. Enterprise for only 27 years, since his earliest appearance, on Stardate 1512.2 in "THE CORBOMITE MANEUVER," was almost a year before Tuvok's birth .

Star Trek XI-XII Stardates

Calculating calendar dates in the latest movie.

Fact: In STAR TREK , on Stardate 2258.42, Ambassador Spock states that Stardate 2387 is about 129 years in the future, and Stardate 2233.04 is about 25 years in the past. (2387 - 2258.42 = 128.58 Stardates) , (2258.42 - 2233.04 = 25.38 Stardates) . Fact: An average Earth year comprises about 365.2422 mean solar days. Therefore, each 100th of a year would be 3.652422 days. (1 year / 100 = 365.2422 days / 100 = 3.652422 days) . Fact: In STAR TREK INTO DARKNESS , Stardate 2259.55 is approximately one year later than the events in the previous movie (whose Stardate was 2258.42). . Conclusion: The new STAR TREK film appears to use a ratio of one Stardate per year; more specifically, the Stardates in the film are consistent with the actual Earth calendar years expressed with two decimal places (presumably representing hundredths of the calendar year). These new Stardates are used to express calendar dates both before The Original Series Stardates and after The Next Generation Stardates . Using this information, and the above TNG Stardate Calculator and TOS Stardate Calculator , these new Stardates can be compared with calendar dates from both The Original Series and The Next Generation . For example, Ambassador Spock's given Stardate of 2387 in STAR TREK would take place about eight years after the latest known TNG Stardate in STAR TREK: NEMESIS , whose given Stardate of 56844.9 would be around March 29, 2379, according to the above TNG Stardate Calculator . Also, the given Stardate of 2258.42 in STAR TREK , when James Kirk is around 25 years old, would take place about seven years before the earliest Stardate in The Original Series , 1312.4 in "WHERE NO MAN HAS GONE BEFORE," which would be around October 24, 2265, according to the above TOS Stardate Calculator . Kirk's birth on Stardate 2233.04 depicted in STAR TREK would be around January 15, 2233 , assuming Stardate 2233.00 corresponds with 00:00 hours on January 1, 2233. (00:00 January 1, 2233 + 0.04 x 365.2422 days = 00:00 January 1, 2233 + 14.609688 days) . Given Kirk's birth date of January 15, 2233 (assuming his birth date in the alternate universe depicted in STAR TREK was the same as, or close to, his birth date in The Original Series ), his exact age can now be calculated for any Stardate given in an episode of The Original Series . In addition, in STAR TREK II: THE WRATH OF KHAN , Admiral Kirk is celebrating his birthday on Stardate 8130.3 when Dr. McCoy gives him a bottle of Romulan Ale (vintage 2283). Therefore, Stardate 8130.3 (in The Movie Series Stardate system ) must take place around January 15 in some year after 2283 (or a few weeks after January 15, if it is assumed that the alternate events depicted in STAR TREK caused Kirk to be born prematurely).

Date inconsistencies in episodes

While the episodes and assumptions cited above present a fairly accurate and consistent theory for calculating Stardates, there are many other date references -- mostly vague references to years -- that conflict with that theory, though these exceptions do not clearly establish a more-consistent alternative theory, so they may be regarded as errors. Stardate-to-year ratios: In The Original Series episode "THE CORBOMITE MANEUVER" , the span between Stardate 1512.2 and Stardate 1513.8 is described as "18 hours." That is a difference of 1.6 Stardate units (1513.8 - 1512.2 = 1.6 Stardates) . If 1.6 Stardates are 18 hours, then 1 Stardate would equal 11.25 hours (18 hours / 1.6 Stardates = 11.25 hours/Stardate) , and 2.13333333333 Stardates would be one day (24 hours/day / 11.25 hours/Stardate = 2.13333333333 Stardates/day) , so 779.18336 Stardates would be about a year (2.13333333333 Stardates/day x 365.2422 days/year = 779.18336 Stardates/year) . Given the above calculations that there must be at least 2635.10833 Stardates per year (or at least 7.21468749 Stardates per day), the Stardates and hours stated in "THE CORBOMITE MANEUVER" are inconsistent with the overall progression of Stardates in The Original Series . In The Original Series episode "THE GAMESTERS OF TRISKELION" , the span between Stardate 3211.8 and Stardate 3259.2 is described as "nearly two hours." That is a difference of 47.4 Stardate units (3259.2 - 3211.8 = 47.4 Stardates) . If 47.4 Stardates are nearly two hours, then 568.8 Stardates would be nearly a day (47.4 Stardates/2 hours x 24 hours/day = 568.8 Stardates/day ) , and 207,749.76 Stardates would be nearly a year (568.8 Stardates/day x 365.2422 days/year = 207749.76 Stardates/year) . This is inconsistent with the slow progression of four-digit Stardates throughout The Original Series , demonstrating that Stardate spans shown within single episodes cannot be extrapolated to measure Stardates across multiple episodes. In The Next Generation episode " Pen Pals ," the Enterprise enters the Selcundi Drema Sector on Stardate 42695.3. On Stardate 42696.3, Lieutenant Commander Data picks up an alien radio signal. On Stardate 42737.3, Captain Picard states that it has been six weeks since the Enterprise entered the Selcundi Drema Sector. Shortly before Stardate 42741.3, Data says he picked up the alien transmission eight weeks ago. So there is a span of 42.0 Stardates in six weeks (42737.3 - 42695.3 = 42.0 Stardates) , for a ratio of about 7.0 Stardates per week, and a span of 45.0 Stardates in at least eight weeks (42741.3 - 42696.3 = 45.0 Stardates) , for a ratio of 5.625 Stardates per week. These ratios would extrapolate to about 1 Stardate per day, or between 292 and 365 Stardates per year . In The Next Generation episode "The Best of Both Worlds" Part II ," the battle between Starfleet and the Borg at Wolf 359 starts after Stardate 44001.4. and shortly before Stardate 44002.3. In the Deep Space Nine episode "EMISSARY," it was stated that Captain Picard was kidnapped by the Borg on Stardate 43997 for six days, during which he led an assault on Starfleet at Wolf 359, resulting in the death of Jennifer Sisko. Three years later, on Stardate 46379.1, Commander Sisko is reassigned to station Deep Space Nine in orbit of Bajor. So there is a span of about 2376.8 Stardates in three years (46379.1 - 44002.3 = 2376.8 Stardates) , for a ratio of about 792.266666667 Stardates per year (2376.8 Stardates / 3 years = 792.266666667 Stardates/year) . In the Deep Space Nine episode "SECOND SIGHT," on Stardate 47329.4, Commander Sisko records a personal log stating that the previous day was the fourth anniversary of the massacre at Wolf 359 and the death of Jennifer Sisko. So there is a span of about 3327.1 Stardates in four years (47329.4 - 44002.3 = 3327.1 Stardates) , for a ratio of about 831.775 Stardates per year (3327.1 Stardates / 4 years = 831.775 Stardates/year) . (It is unclear whether Sisko is describing Earth years or Bajoran years, since he is on a Bajoran station with 26 hours per day.) In the Voyager episode "RELATIVITY" , Seven of Nine states on Stardate 49123.5621 that the Voyager will be destroyed in three years, six months and two days, on Stardate 52861.274 -- a difference of 3737.7119 Stardates. This is a span of 1,280 to 1,282 days (3.504522888 to 3.509998705 years), depending on leap years and lengths of different months, giving a ratio of around 1,065 Stardates per year . In the Voyager episode "TIMELESS," Captain Janeway states that the Voyager has been in the Delta Quadrant for four years, two months, and 11 days. The following morning, around 08:00 hours, she records a log entry on Stardate 52143.6. In the Voyager episode "CARETAKER," the Voyager was brought to the Delta Quadrant three days before Stardate 48315.6 -- a difference of 3828.0 Stardates before "TIMELESS." Therefore, there is a span of 1,531 days (4.191737923 years) in a span of 3828.0 Stardates, giving a ratio of 913.225 Stardates per year . Between Day 65 and Day 70 of the Voyager episode "YEAR OF HELL," a captain's log was recorded on Stardate 51268.4 (May 5, 2374, according to the above calculations ), and Chakotay later mentions that it is May 20 (Captain Janeway's birthday). In "YEAR OF HELL, PART II," on Day 133 a captain's log is recorded on Stardate 51425.4 (July 6, 2374, according to the above calculations ). Between Day 207 and Day 257, Janeway mentions her birthday was "five months ago;" she later records a captain's log on Stardate 51682.2 (October 16, 2374, according to the above calculations ). On Day 1 after the timeline is restored, a captain's log is recorded on Stardate 51252.3 (April 28, 2374, according to the above calculations ). Therefore, there is a span of 16.1 Stardates in the first 64 days of the "YEAR OF HELL" (51268.4 - 51252.3 = 16.1 Stardates) , giving a ratio of 0.2515625 Stardate per day (16.1 Stardates / 64 days = 0.2515625 Stardate/day) , or 91.88 Stardates per year . The captain's log recorded between Day 207 and Day 257 would be 429.9 Stardates after Day 1 (51682.2 - 51252.3 = 429.9 Stardates) and at least "five months" or 413.8 Stardates after Day 65 (51682.2 - 51268.4 = 413.8 Stardates) . These date spans give a possible ratio of around 700 to 1,000 Stardates per year . The captain's log recorded on Stardate 51425.4 on Day 133 would be 173.1 Stardates after Stardate 51252.3 on Day 1 (51425.4 - 51252.3 = 173.1 Stardates) , giving a span of 173.1 Stardates in 132 days, or a ratio of 1.3113636364 Stardates per day (173.1 Stardates / 132 days = 1.3113636364 Stardates/day) , or 478.96533956 Stardates per year . In The Next Generation episode "The Naked Now," Data first uses his sexual techniques just after Stardate 41209.3 (May 22, 2363, according to the above calculations ). In STAR TREK: FIRST CONTACT , a couple days after Stardate 50893.5 (December 7, 2373, according to the above calculations ), Data states that he last used his programming in sexual techniques eight years, seven months, sixteen days, four minutes, twenty-two seconds ago (which, according to the date calculator , would be a couple days after April 21, 2365, or after Stardate 42973, according to the above calculations ; this would place Data's last use of his programming in sexual techniques between the last two episodes in The Next Generation 's second season ). However, if Data used his programming in sexual techniques only twice -- in "The Naked Now" and STAR TREK: FIRST CONTACT -- then the span of "eight years, seven months, sixteen days, four minutes, twenty-two seconds" (or 272,333,062 seconds) would be a little more than the span between Stardates 41209.3 and 50893.5 (9684.2 Stardates), giving a ratio of less than 9684.2 Stardates per 272,333,062 seconds (or 8.62989831 years), or less than 1122.16849517 Stardates per year . ( 9684.2 Stardates / 8.62989831 years = 1122.16849517 Stardates/year) (50893.5 - 41209.3 = 9684.2 Stardates) . That gives a ratio of more than 1122.5 Stardates per year (9684.2 Stardates / 8.6274 years = 1122.5 Stardates/year) . From and including: Wednesday, April 21, 2365 at 4:52:02 AM To, but not including : Friday, December 7, 2373 at 4:56:24 AM The duration is 3152 days, 0 hours, 4 minutes and 22 seconds Or 8 years, 7 months, 16 days, 4 minutes, 22 seconds Alternative time units 3152 days, 0 hours, 4 minutes and 22 seconds can be converted to one of these units: 272,333,062 seconds 4,538,884 minutes (rounded down) 75,648 hours (rounded down) 450 weeks (rounded down) From date: Friday, December 7, 2373 at 4:56:24 AM Subtracted 8 years, 7 months, 16 days, 4 minutes, 22 seconds Resulting date: Wednesday, April 21, 2365 at 4:52:02 AM (last used) May 22 2363 (first used) --> Given the wild inconsistencies of Stardate ratios in different episodes, some varying by a factor of ten, there can be no conclusive determination of an actual Stardate-to-year ratio for all episodes. Therefore, the ratio of 918.23186 Stardates per year , as calculated above , will remain the basic assumption upon which the above TNG Stardate Calculator is based. Tuvok's Birthday In the Voyager episode "EX POST FACTO," it is stated that Tuvok has been married for 67 years. In the Voyager episode "FLASHBACK," after Stardate 50126.4, Tuvok states that his first deep space assignment aboard the U.S.S. Excelsior , on Stardate 9521, was approximately 80 years ago, when he was 29 years old. In the episode "UNIMATRIX ZERO" PART II , it is stated that Tuvok was born on Vulcanis Lunar Colony on Stardate 38774. This last reference is clearly an error, since Stardate 38774 in The Next Generation system would be just three years before "The Neutral Zone" (41986.0), which gave the year as 2364 -- meaning Tuvok would be just 10 years old in Voyager 's first episode on Stardate 48315.6. It is likely that the decimal was left out of Tuvok's given birth date, and he was really born on Stardate 3877.4 (October 14, 2266, based on the above calculations ) in The Original Series Stardate system. This would place his birth just after The Original Series episode "JOURNEY TO BABEL" , which had a Stardate of 3842.3. Given a birth date of October 14, 2266, Tuvok would be about 106 years old on Stardate 50126.4 in "FLASHBACK," which would be on February 5, 2373, according to the above Stardate Calculator . As stated in "FLASHBACK," Tuvok was 29 years old on Stardate 9521, meaning that STAR TREK VI: The Undiscovered Country must have taken place within the year following October 14, 2295. However, in the episode "FURY," Captain Janeway celebrates Tuvok's birthday, stating it is not long before he reaches "the big three digits." The episode had no Stardate, but the episode before it took place on Stardate 53918, which would place it in the middle of 2377 (based on the above calculations ). If the statement "the big three digits" is taken to mean "100 Earth years," then this would mean that Tuvok would be born after 2277, making him 11 years younger than assumed above. But if "the big three digits" is taken to mean "111 Earth years" (three identical digits), that would be consistent with the above assumptions, since Tuvok would be born on October 14, 2266 (TOS Stardate 3877.4), making him 111 years old on October 14, 2377. This could mean that "FURY," (which had no Stardate) might be shown out of order, and actually took place on Tuvok's 110th birthday, October 14, 2376. (Of course, it is unclear whether Janeway's statement even refers to Earth years rather than Vulcan years, so the statement may not be inconsistent after all, since the duration of a Vulcan year has not been established.) In the Enterprise episode "AWAKENING," Minister Kuvak of the Vulcan High Command states that Earth and Vulcan have been allies for 100 years. The episode takes place in the middle of the year 2154, and apparently refers to first contact between Earth and Vulcans on April 5, 2063, a span of more than 91 Earth years. Since Vulcans are known to quote numbers with great precision, and the statement about 100 years was made between two Vulcans on the planet Vulcan with no humans present, it would be reasonable to assume they were describing the time span in Vulcan years. If so, then 100 Vulcan years is about 91 Earth years, so one Vulcan year would be about 0.91 Earth year. Therefore, Tuvok's age of 111 Earth years would be equivalent to about 121 Vulcan years, making Janeway's statement in "FURY" about him soon reaching "the big three digits" inaccurate in both Earth and Vulcan years.

Star Trek: How Stardates Work | CBR

by Rick | Jun 3, 2021 | Nerdy | 0 comments

Star Trek ’s Stardate is an integral part of the franchise. At this point, it has become so elaborate that fans can accurately track the course of events throughout the Trek universe simply by checking the Stardate. Like so much about the first series, it didn’t start out that way. It was created solely to disguise the precise date of the show’s future, and it was only through Trek’s  phenomenal success that it grew into something larger. A tangled development process led to confusion about how the system works. In actuality, the basics are quite simple.

The Original Series cemented the concept’s status by repetition. William Shatner’s “Captain’s Log” voice-overs were a strong way to provide plot exposition, and the Stardate sounded like something a space captain would use in the future. It started every episode of the first series, then continued with Patrick Stewart on Star Trek: The Next Generation   and subsequent series. During the build-up to  Star Trek: Discovery ‘s premiere, Star Trek’s Twitter  began counting off Stardates leading to the in-universe date of the first episode.

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Canonically, Stardates are intended to provide a universal calendar for governments spanning numerous planets and cultures, as well as the normality of spaceships that could surpass the speed of light and thus violate notions of relativity. In The Making of Star Trek book, Roddenberry reveals that he invented it to get around awkward questions of when certain technologies were invented. He planned for the Stardates to advance every episode but didn’t get more specific than that.

That changed when reruns of The Original Series began to air out of order, and sharp-eyed fans noticed the Stardates jumping back and forth every week. Roddenberry struggled to set a measurable timetable to explain the notion, which carried over into the development of The Next Generation , where he was determined to set the record straight. A five-digit code was developed and refined, with a few easy hints to let the writers and fans keep track of it. Star Trek has stuck with it ever since.

RELATED: Star Trek’s Failed Pilot Was Almost Its First Theatrical Movie

The “rebooted” Stardate and the best spot to explain how it works occurred with The Next Generation series premiere, “Encounter at Farpoint.” The episode began on Stardate 41153.7, which matches the year 2364 on the real-world calendar when the episode supposedly takes place. The digit “4” represents the 24 th century, and the first “1” represents the first season of The Next Generation. The remaining numbers advance throughout the season until season 2 when the “41xxx.x” jumps to “42xxx.x.”

That means 1000 units in Stardate measurement are equivalent to a calendar year on Earth. Subsequent seasons of The Next Generation stuck with that yardstick, as did Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and all series thereafter. It’s not without problems. For example, by following its formula, Stardates were established in the year 2323, well after The Original Series and the first six movies that all used the Stardate system. But it’s been internally consistent, and Michael Burnham’s log entry in Discovery, Season 3, Episode 3, “People of Earth,” mentions the Stardate as 865211.3, which matches the show’s 32nd-century setting.

The inconsistencies may have been part of the reason why Discovery launched forward in time. The Stardates, like a lot of other canon content, were looming uncomfortably close, and the move 900 years into the future let the show find its own rhythm. But it’s a testament to how embedded the Stardate notion has become to Star Trek as a whole  and how it remains useful to the series even with its uneven application.

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How to Calculate Stardates

Last Updated: September 23, 2023

wikiHow is a “wiki,” similar to Wikipedia, which means that many of our articles are co-written by multiple authors. To create this article, volunteer authors worked to edit and improve it over time. This article has been viewed 62,462 times. Learn more...

Stardate is the dating system used in Star Trek. In the original series, they just made it up; so long as the next stardate was after the current stardate, it worked. Later on, it got a bit more serious.

Converting from Common Date to Stardate

Converting from Stardate to Common Date

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Star Trek : Stardate Calculator

Tool will convert standard dates to stardates and vice versa.

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A Trekkie’s Guide To Navigating the Star Trek Timeline

With a narrative that spans seven decades and more than three times as many shows and movies, determining how to watch Star Trek might seem like a daunting prospect. Whether you’re new to the franchise or want to know how to watch the series following the in-universe chronology, this guide should help.

What is a stardate?

To avoid placing Star Trek in a specific century, the franchise has its own system of time: the stardate system. Originally inspired by the Modified Julian date system used by astronomers, writers, and producers have selected numbers using different methods over the years (some more arbitrary than others), which makes it impossible to convert all of the stardates to equivalent calendar dates.

What to know about the Star Trek timeline?

How time works in Star Trek, and how it’s impacted by Starfleet’s time travel shenanigans, is debated amongst the most devoted followers of the Church of Trek. But for casual fans, the first thing it’s necessary to know is that the Star Trek Universe consists of two timelines: the prime timeline and the Kelvin timeline. Although two timelines exist, most of the franchise’s films, shows, and tie-ins take place on the prime timeline.

The second thing to know is that Star Trek’s timelines are always subject to change. Due to the nature of time travel in the franchise, entries appearing earlier on the prime timeline can be impacted and changed (very important to remember) by events that happen later on. For example, the Star Trek: Enterprise season 2 episode “Regeneration” follows up on the events of Star Trek: First Contact .

How to watch the Star Trek prime timeline in chronological order

Here’s how to watch Star Trek ‘s prime timeline in chronological order:

Star Trek: Enterprise (stardates: 2151 – 2155)

Star Trek: The Original Series pilot “The Cage” (stardate: 2254)

Star Trek: Discovery seasons 1 and 2 (stardates: 2256 – 2258)

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds (stardates: 2259 – 2260)

Star Trek: The Original Series (stardates: 2265 – 2269)

Star Trek: The Animated Series (stardates: 2269 – 2270)

Star Trek: The Motion Picture (stardate: 2272)

Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (stardate: 2285)

Star Trek III: The Search for Spock (stardate: 2285)

Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (stardate: 2286)

Star Trek V: The Final Frontier (stardate: 2287)

Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country (stardate: 2293)

Star Trek: The Next Generation (stardates: 2364 – 2370)

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (stardates: 2369 –2375)

Star Trek Generations (stardate: 2371 and some in 2293)

Star Trek: First Contact (stardate: 2373)

Star Trek: Insurrection (stardate: 2375)

Star Trek: Voyager (stardates: 2371 –2378)

Star Trek: Nemesis (stardate: 2379)

Star Trek: Lower Decks (stardates: 2380 – 2381)

Star Trek: Prodigy (stardates: 2383 – 2384)

Star Trek: Picard (stardates: 2399 – 2402)

Star Trek: Discovery seasons 3 and 4 (stardates: 3188 – 3190)

What about the J.J. Abrams’ Star Trek movie trilogy? 

As touched on above, there are two timelines in Star Trek . The J.J. Abrams movies take place on the Kelvin timeline, a parallel timeline created when a 24th-century Romulan, Nero, travels back in time to 2233 (between Ent and Disco season 1, for those keeping track) and splits the timelines in two. 

Most of the Kelvin timeline takes place around the TOS ‘s timeframe but on an alternate timeline. Well, at least so far. 

Here’s how to watch all three movies in the Kelvin timeline in chronological order:

Star Trek (2233)

Star Trek Into Darkness (2259 – 2260)

Star Trek Beyond (2263)

(featured image: Paramount Pictures)

Star Trek: What Is A Star-date?

It’s about ‘time’ this Star Trek concept was properly explained.

Over the years, Star Trek has cemented itself as one of the cornerstones for the sci-fi genre, setting a tread in the late 60s that carries through strongly even today. While the show may have had its ups and downs, the recent surge of new Trek content hitting Paramount+ shows that the franchise is alive and well, appealing to fans new and old. At its heart, the wild and wonderful universe found within these shows and movies is one that is overflowing with details and dedication. It features everything from fantastic, real-world-altering technologies , to the inclusion of vastly unique alien races and cultures. Despite the show's creators desire to make everything as grounded and realistic as possible, a few things fall through the gaps, lacking in the usual Star Trek logic normally so rife throughout the franchise. One such concept is the often quoted ‘Star-date’.

While the specifics of what exactly a Star-date is may elude the majority of casual viewers, it has become as intrinsic to the show as the famous transporters or warp drive, normally featuring at least once per episode since the show's creation. While its use within narrated captain's (and crew members') logs have waned in recent years, it used to be a real staple. Picard is potentially the most famous user, and implementer, of the concept, starting the majority of episode with the phrase.

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The idea behind the concept is fairly simple: they are a means of stating the date. It’s a way for the Federation to establish a more universal, standard method of timekeeping rather than relying on the plethora of different time zones of its members. On Earth alone, there are 24 different time zones, each of these using human/Earth-specific methods of measuring time. When adding more and more cultures into the mix, each from different planets with likely vastly different concepts of time, it’s clear how impossible it would be for the Federation to juggle them all. And so, Star-dates were born. This method of tracking time relied on the tracking of regular external elements, such as solar pulsars and natural events, rather than internal, culture-specific time tracking.

The layout is fairly simple. The large number at the start indicates how many days have passed, where the following number indicates the specific time within the day. For example, take ship's counselor Deanna Troi ’s mouth: "Counselor Deanna Troi, Personal Log, Star-date 44805.3. My mother is on board." It has been 44805 days since the creation of Star-dates, and the time is 3.

This all becomes a lot more complicated, however, as it is never fully specified the specifics in how Star-date time works. Is this 3 in the morning, or is this just the third hour of the day — if hours are the same as hours in the real world? The lack of a sunrise and sunset makes this all possible, the ship running in watch rotations, making the notion of ‘3’ being early or late in the day entirely subjective to that person's shift pattern. Audiences are also never given a clear inclination as to how long a star-day is, but again, this is entirely irrelevant to life aboard a spaceship that can theoretically choose a day time.

The non-universe reason as to why Roddenberry chose to use Star-dates in the franchise comes from his initial desire to avoid precisely establishing when the show is set. It’s supposed to be the distant future, but as audiences have seen, sometimes media set in these then-distant futures, riddled with high-tech gadgetry, have come and gone. Back to the Future 2 ’s future being set in 2015 being a prime example. The franchise would later give more specifics as to how far into the future they were, but at the start, Roddenberry was specifically against it. He wanted to allow for it to be the distant future no matter when the show was watched.

The other necessity behind creating the Star-dates was to avoid having to accurately give clarification as to how long things took. The lack of a precise and trackable watch meant that the show never had to divulge how long it took for them to travel at warp from, say, Earth to Romulus. This allowed for far more creative liberties and avoided a lot of continuity headaches, especially in the early days of the franchise.

It’s worth mentioning that the Kelvin universe films (in another example of complete disregard for a core element of the original franchise ) chose to use a different Star-date system. This one put the actual earth year at the start, and then gave a percentage that accounted for how far into the year they were. For example, July 2nd, 2360 would be 2360.50, as this is 50% though the year.

At the end of the day, the use of Star-dates through the franchise helps give logical credibility to the ever expanding world of Star Trek . There are a lot of gaps in the official creation and use of the specifics, but it’s the type of futuristic necessity that makes the universe feel so alive.

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‘Star Trek: Prodigy’ Producers And Cast Explain Stardates And More From “Time Amok”

| January 24, 2022 | By: TrekMovie.com Staff 10 comments so far

[SPOILERS FOR PRODIGY 108]

The eighth episode of Star Trek: Prodigy, “Time Amok,” ventured into Star Trek’s time anomaly sub-genre. Since then, Paramount+ and the team behind the show have revealed more insights into the episode and explained a Stardate mystery.

Prodigy Stardate mystery

Prodigy ‘s time setting has been said to be 2383, or five years after the USS Voyager returned from the Delta Quadrant. However, “Time Amok” was the first time on the show that a stardate was given, and it was a bit curious. The episode started with Holo Janeway saying the stardate was 607125.6 which, according to how stardates work , would put it well beyond 2383. Co-executive producer Aaron J. Waltke explained this wasn’t an error, but a clue. He also promised an accurate stardate will be revealed.

For those curious what the ACTUAL Stardate is… you'll get one in the finale, don't worry! #StarTrekProdigy pic.twitter.com/FJjXonSkSs — Aaron J. Waltke (@GoodAaron) January 20, 2022

“Time Amok” writer broke new ground

Executive producers Dan and Kevin Hageman revealed that episode writer Nikhil Jayaram actually included the oscillating time graph in his script, which they explained is something not done in the business. Waltke followed up to say it was a first for the studio, but they welcomed it.

Screenwriting gurus frown upon putting graphs in your script, but @nsjayaram did. Here's a peek behind the curtain for #StarTrekProdigy 's Ep8 "Time Amok". pic.twitter.com/lRMhUBs8Un — Dan & Kevin Hageman (@brothershageman) January 22, 2022

They also gave a shout-out to show consultants David Mack and Dr. Erin Macdonald for their help on getting both the real and the Star Trek science correct.

Shout out to our Trek consultants who make it look like we know what we’re doing. We are always in your debt @DavidAlanMack and @drerinmac . Science is rad. #StarTrekProdigy — Dan & Kevin Hageman (@brothershageman) January 21, 2022

Mulgrew on Rok-Tahk’s lesson

The weekly lesson from Kate Mulgrew for “Time Amok” focused on the message to believe in yourself, as seen in Rok Tahk’s story.

Rylee’s time to shine

“Time Amok” focused a lot on the character of Rok-Tahk, and the Hagemans took to Twitter to praise the work of voice actress Rylee Alazraqui.

Tonight's #startrekprodigy Ep7 "Time Amok" is very close to our hearts. While we adore all of our voice actors, one in particular just flat out slays it. Also, massive shoutouts to our brilliant writer @nsjayaram and our superstar directors @SungShin3 and Olga Ulanova. 🖖⏲️⌛️🎆 — Dan & Kevin Hageman (@brothershageman) January 19, 2022

Later, Alazraqui revealed the “Time Amok” script was used for her audition.

I love being on Star Trek Prodigy so much! I actually read some lines from the episode “Time Amok” for my initial voice audition for the show. Fun fact! I am so incredibly grateful to play Rok! -Rylee ❤️❤️🤍 — Rylee Alazraqui (@rylee_alazraqui) January 22, 2022

Would hugging Rok-Tahk hurt?

“Time Amok” got Star Trek biology science consultant Dr. Mohamed Noor wondering about Rok-Tahk and what it would be like to hug a Brikarian. Aaron Waltke chimed in to say Brikarians would be analogous to one of his former pets. (And Dr. Noor replied that he had the same pet.)

I think we establish that Brikars are hard/denser than most species. But speaking as someone who owned a pet hedgehog as a child, that doesn’t preclude her from getting affection; just be gentle! — Aaron J. Waltke (@GoodAaron) January 21, 2022

Angus explains warp

“Time Amok” featured a lot of scenes in the engine room, so this week’s Star Trek tech video (delivered by the voice of Zero, Angus Imrie) was all about warp drive.

New episodes of  Prodigy  premiere on Thursdays on  Paramount+  in the U.S. and on  CTV Sci-Fi Channel  in Canada, where it’s also available to stream on  Crave . It is available on Paramount+ in Latin American, the Nordic Countries, and Australia on Fridays. It will debut later in 2022 in parts of Europe with the launch of the Paramouint+ Sky partnership .

Keep up with the  Star Trek Universe at TrekMovie.com .

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It would be cool if Prodigy could do a science lesson for the kids at the end of each episode, or maybe a separate show on its own. I would love to write them!

YES! I was hoping for something like that to be part of the show. There are many intriguing phenomena: twin stars, black holes, birthing nebulas, pulsars, post-nova voids etc… They could also tangle the microverse or quantum realm at some point.

The two science consultants for the franchise (physicist Erin McDonald and biologist Mohamed Noor) do have a YouTube channel that covers science in the various series.

However, targeted 5 minute science bites associated with each Prodigy episode would be a nice complement to each of the Prodigy episodes. It would be nice to have those posted on P+ along with Mulgrew’s featurettes on the social lessons from each episode.

That would have been fantastic, and the perfect vehicle for it.

I am starting to think maybe this show is taking place farther in the future than they are letting on. Why would you wait until the finale to show a stardate?

And it could explain why we are now seeing so many species in the Delta quadrant now like the Ferengi, Klingons, etc along with the alpha quadrant characters on the ship. Maybe after Voyager came home they found other means to get to the Delta Quadrant faster after a decade or two of research.

This show may actually be taking place in early 25th century and that time travel being involved is a red herring.

Or maybe it’s something else. Either way, I have to admit this ‘kids show’ has become a really intriguing show for me with both the basic story outlook and the ongoing mystery. It’s all done so well so far!

Didn’t they already feature a stardate in the “17 years ago” segment that worked out with the year the show is supposed to take place in?

But if they already showed us that stardate in the episode, then why are they now saying the ‘Actual’ stardate will be revealed later? Wouldn’t it just be the stardate 17 years later as implied? See what I’m getting at?

Clearly it’s not that straight forward.

Well, they haven’t shown a stardate for Prodigy’s present-day, at least I don’t remember one. Of course, they could do more time travel shenanigans. If not, the year should work out to what they said before the show started.

That’s what I mean though. Wouldn’t the statdate just be whatever it’s supposed to be 17 years later? Why keep that a secret at all? Why are they being so coy over it? What am I missing?

To be honest I didn’t realize they weren’t referencing the statdates in each episode until now. That shows you how much I don’t care about statdates lol.

Nice, I guess, that they are putting in that kind of effort for something as innocuous as the star dates. But honestly I never paid them any real attention as they were never important.

Star Trek Has Finally Revealed the Evil Enterprise's Weird Fate

Watch out for any goatees.

Today, everyone knows what a multiverse is. But back in 1967, parallel universe stories weren’t nearly as common as they are now, even within the sci-fi genre. A classic Star Trek episode, Jerome Bixby’s “Mirror, Mirror,” helped popularize the alternate universe trope, complete with meaner versions of yourself who may rock an evil little goatee like Mirror Spock.

Star Trek’s Mirror Universe also gave us an alternate version of the USS Enterprise in the ISS Enterprise , a ship that served the Imperial Terran Empire, not the United Federation of Planets. Now, in the Discovery Season 5 episode “Mirrors,” the evil ISS Enterprise is back... as a force for good. Here’s what it all means. Spoilers ahead.

The ISS Enterprise returns

Captain Burnham watches the ISS Enterprise warp to Federation HQ.

While pursuing the thieves Moll and L’ak, Book and Burnham take a shuttlecraft into an unstable wormhole and discover the floating, pseudo-derelict ISS Enterprise . One of the clues to the Progenitor’s tech has been hidden on it, but for Burnham, it’s kind of like a bizzaro universe homecoming. Burnham spent a decent amount of time in the Mirror Universe in Discovery Season 1 , and in Season 2 she found herself on the Enterprise with her brother Spock just before jumping from the 23rd century to the 32nd century.

In “Mirrors,” Burnham notes that “crossing between universes has been impossible for centuries,” which means the ISS Enterprise must have crossed over into the Prime Universe well before the 32nd century. Burnham is referencing the events of Discovery Season 3, when we learned that Philippa Georgiou, a resident of the Mirror Universe, couldn’t go back to her home universe because those dimensions had drifted apart. But the ISS Enterprise , which was previously captained by an evil Kirk, crossed over into the Prime Universe well before that moment, and Discovery has now added details connecting The Original Series, Deep Space Nine , and Discovery Season 3.

How evil Spock became good

Spock talking with Kirk in “Mirror, Mirror.”

In the Deep Space Nine episode “Crossover” we learn that after Kirk talked to Mirror Spock and encouraged him to try making the Terran Empire a peaceful power, Mirror Spock did just that. But as Mirror Kira explained, Mirror Spock’s idealism didn’t work out the way he’d hoped:

“Spock rose to Commander in Chief of the Empire by preaching reforms, disarmament, peace. It was quite a remarkable turnabout for his people. Unfortunately for them, when Spock had completed all these reforms, his empire was no longer in any position to defend itself against us [the Klingon-Cardassian Alliance].”

Discovery appears to be referencing this exact event, even if Spock isn’t named outright. When Book learns the ISS Enterprise became a refugee ship for people who’d turned against the Empire, he says, “The Terran High Chancellor was killed for trying to make reforms.”

This likely references Spock, but adds the twist that he was perhaps betrayed by other people within the Terran Empire, even if Earth adopted his reforms. Now, by the end of “Mirrors,” the 23rd-century ISS Enterprise has been moved to the Prime Universe and the 32nd century. It’s an antique by modern standards, but it’s a contemporary of the USS Discovery, so it’s still serviceable. This means that by the end of Discovery Season 5 there will still be a version of the classic Enterprise floating around Federation headquarters, so when the Starfleet Academy series debuts, 32nd-century Starfleet cadets will have access to the classic version of the most famous Enterprise. It may technically be an evil twin, but its historic adventures aren’t over just yet.

Star Trek: Discovery and The Original Series stream on Paramount+.

• Science Fiction

'Star Trek: Picard's Michelle Hurd Says Raffi "Will Love Seven [Until] the End of Time"

Hurd also told the story of how Seven and Raffi's relationship became part of the series during a panel at Calgary Expo.

The Big Picture

• At Calgary Expo, Michelle Hurd spoke in depth about the relationship between Seven and Raffi.
• Hurd confirms Raffi's enduring love for Seven, hinting at a potential future in Star Trek: Legacy if Paramount+ greenlights the series.
• The unexpected Seven and Raffi romance in Picard was sparked by the chemistry between the Hurd and Jeri Ryan at Comic-Con.

While many Star Trek: The Next Generation fans watched their dreams come true in the third and final season of Star Trek: Picard , Saffi fans were left wanting more. Having gotten together in the Season 1 finale and sharing a rocky, but ultimately happy relationship in Season 2, Saffi — or Seven and Raffi to those who may not know their 'ship moniker — went through an off-screen break-up ahead of the final season. While the split was never really directly addressed in the jam-packed season, it set both characters up to serve as the captain and first officer of the newly commissioned Enterprise-G in the series finale.

Speaking during a panel at Calgary Expo hosted by Collider's Maggie Lovitt , a fan asked Michelle Hurd about the break-up and the relationship's potential future in Star Trek: Legacy . Laughing, Hurd said, "[You say] break up and I've got my U-Haul." She went on to say that she and her co-star Jeri Ryan have discussed the relationship at length. "Jeri and I have also talked about this and I’ve said it to her many times. And I’m like, ‘You do understand that Raffi loves Seven, period. End of discussion.’ She will love Seven [until] the end of time. "

While that answer is about as straightforward as they come, Hurd went on to say, "The one thing that we also have to acknowledge is that Raffi loves Seven, that Fenris Ranger, that incredible creature, that amazing individual that stands in front of her. Raffi would never want to limit her or extinguish any of her beautiful flames . So, Raffi will always be happy with Seven in her vision." Even if the pair technically shouldn't be in a relationship while in command, "She wants Seven to be happy with Raffi in her eyesight, but she's perfectly happy to be in her space."

'Star Trek': Why the Captain/First Officer Ship Is So Irresistible

Hurd went on to say, "One of the things that we really wanted to tell [was] that story of two women of a certain age, who are stubborn, who are set in their patterns, who are living their lives as authentically as they can, who can't help but find each other. So with that, it's a beautiful thing, but it's a complicated thing. And so, I think that there's always going to be love there. " While we don't know if Legacy will get the green light yet at Paramount+ , if the spin-off does happen Hurd said:

"It would be an amazing thing to see that kind of dynamic, to see the respect that each other has to have for each other's space as well as, [some] jealousy[...] I think it would be a phenomenal story. So I can't say for sure whether there's going to be, you know, a white picket fence. But if you're asking Raffi, there’s a white picket fence"

How Saffi Became Part of the 'Star Trek: Picard' Season 1 Finale

During the panel, another fan spoke about being surprised by the handhold between Seven and Raffi in the Picard Season 1 finale and asked Hurd if the relationship was planned from the beginning or if it was added in later. While their romance wasn't always planned, Hurd explained that when she looked back at the first season there was an "appreciation" between Seven and Raffi from their first scenes together. She said: "I think that in that season, that episode where they're getting ready to go down to the planet, and I'm helping Seven and Raffi’s giving her [the handcuffs], you could tell that she respects her. So there was already some kind of appreciation between the two of them that moment ."

Hurd went on to tell the story of how at SDCC ahead of the first season, co-star Jonathan Del Arco happened to snap a picture of Hurd and Ryan dressed to the nines and immediately showed it to their producers. She told the Calgary Expo crowd:

"I believe it was at the San Diego Comic-Con, that same event, which was huge and fantastic. And they had a green room, a space where all the actors and everybody goes to get ready for whatever. And Jeri was in this fantastic red dress. She was absolutely gorgeous, and I was wearing a white Helston jumpsuit, so I didn't look too bad myself. And we’re friends, I adore her, and we were standing together and I kind of put my arm around her waist and I kind of gave her a squeeze. And Jonathan Del Arco, Hugh, [and] Jeri's manager is Jonathan's husband. So we're all friends, with Kyle [Fritz]. So Jonathan was standing over there, and he was like, ‘Oh my God, look at me.’ And so we both just looked at him and he took a picture. And then I swear to God, he took that camera, walked right over to our producers, Akiva Goldsman , Alex Kurtzman , [and] Michael Chabon . We’re all sitting right there, and he said, ‘You guys look at how big these two look together.’"

The rest was history as the producers immediately turned around and told Hurd and Ryan, "'Ladies, we have an idea,' and that’s how it started." While we wait to see if Hurd and Ryan will return on Star Trek: Legacy you can stream all three seasons of Picard on Paramount+.

Star Trek: Picard

Follow-up series to Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987) and Star Trek: Nemesis (2002) that centers on Jean-Luc Picard in the next chapter of his life.

Watch on Paramount+

Screen Rant

Star trek: discovery’s 4 number ones explained.

Star Trek: Discovery has had four different Number Ones over the course of its five seasons, including Captain Michael Burnham.

• Star Trek: Discovery features a rotating cast of Captains and Number Ones, showcasing dynamic leadership changes throughout the series.
• Characters like Saru, Burnham, Tilly, and new addition Rayner bring diverse personalities and skills to the USS Discovery crew.
• The evolution of these key roles, from First Officer to Captain, demonstrates the growth and adaptability of each character over the seasons.

Just as Star Trek: Discovery has featured several different Captains of the USS Discovery throughout its five-season run, the show has also introduced four different Number Ones. Since its beginning, Discovery has been less of an ensemble show than previous Star Trek series, and the crew of the USS Discovery has been constantly shifting. Discovery tells the story of Michael Burnham (Sonequa Martin-Green), who has gone from being an accomplished First Officer to a notorious criminal to the Captain of Discovery. Burnham has filled the position of Number One more than once, and two of her best friends have also taken on that role.

Ambassador Saru (Doug Jones) and Lt. Sylvia Tilly (Mary Wiseman) have both served as First Officers of the USS Discovery, although their careers have since taken them in different directions. In Star Trek: Discovery season 4, the show found a dynamic that worked well, with Burnham as Captain and Saru as her First Officer. But Discovery can never go too long without shaking things up, and Callum Keith Rennie's Commander Rayner did just that when he joined the cast of Star Trek: Discovery season 5 . As Captain Burnham's newest Number One, Rayner has proven to be a great addition to Discovery's crew, despite (and also because of) his gruff, no-nonsense command style.

Every Star Trek Discovery Captain In All 5 Seasons

4 commander/captain saru, under the command of captain gabriel lorca & captain michael burnham.

During the two-part premiere of Star Trek: Discovery, Saru was serving as the Chief Science Officer on the USS Shenzhou, under the command of Captain Philippa Georgiou (Michelle Yeoh). After Commander Burnham committed mutiny and Captain Georgiou was killed, Saru was promoted Commander and became First Officer on the USS Discovery, under the command of Captain Gabriel Lorca (Jason Isaacs) . Although Saru had not yet gained the confidence he would in later seasons of Star Trek: Discovery , he proved to be a capable and compassionate First Officer.

Saru took over command of the USS Discovery after Lorca was revealed to be from the Mirror Universe, and he shared "joint custody" of the ship with Captain Christopher Pike (Anson Mount) for most of Star Trek: Discovery season 2.

Saru commanded the USS Discovery for its journey to the 32nd century, and he was promoted to Captain. Saru later took time away from Starfleet to become a member of the village council on his homeworld of Kaminar. After the Dark Matter Anomaly destroyed Kwejian, Saru returned to Discovery as Captain Burnham's First Officer, retaining the rank of Captain but choosing to go by the designation Mr. Saru. As the first Kelpien in Starfleet, Saru had already made history , but in Star Trek: Discovery season 5, Saru accepted a position as a Federation Ambassador, adding another achievement to his impressive resume.

3 Commander Michael Burnham

Under the command of captain philippa georgiou & captain saru.

When Star Trek: Discovery began, Commander Burnham was serving as the First Officer on the USS Shenzhou, under the command of Captain Georgiou. After her subsequent mutiny, Burnham served six months in prison before transferring to the USS Discovery, where Captain Lorca assigned her as a Specialist in the science division. After Michael helped end the Federation/Klingon War, she was fully reinstated as a Commander and became Chief Science Officer on Discovery. At the end of Star Trek: Discovery season 2, Burnham wore the Red Angel suit to lead the USS Discovery into the 32nd century.

Michael Burnham was a fine First Officer (aside from the whole mutiny thing), but she truly excels at being a Starfleet Captain.

Captain Burnham arrived in the future a year before Discovery, but she later reconnected with her former crew and reluctantly accepted the role of Captain Saru's Number One. Michael served as First Officer throughout Star Trek: Discovery season 3, until she helped take the ship back from Osyraa (Janet Kidder), the leader of the Emerald Chain. Saru then suggested that Burnham take over as Captain , and Admiral Charles Vance (Oded Fehr) assigned Michael as Captain of the USS Discovery. Michael Burnham was a fine First Officer (aside from the whole mutiny thing), but she truly excels at being a Starfleet Captain.

With its time travel plot that saw Captain Burnham run into her past self, Star Trek: Discovery season 5, episode 4, "Face the Strange," illustrates just how far Michael has come since Discovery season 1.

2 Lt. Sylvia Tilly

Under the command of captain saru & captain michael burnham.

Sylvia Tilly began her Star Trek: Discovery career as a cadet aboard the USS Discovery under the command of Captain Lorca. After the end of the Klingons' War with the Federation , Tilly was promoted to Ensign and was placed on the command track. She continued on this trajectory until Discovery traveled into the future. When Captain Saru demoted Burnham for insubordination, he asked Tilly to be his First Officer. Although she was initially reluctant to take the job, fearing others on the ship were better qualified, Tilly's fellow crew members assured her she was the right choice as Number One.

After Commander Burnham helped take the USS Discovery back from Osyraa and became Captain, Tilly remained First Officer and was promoted to Lt. junior grade. Tilly then began to question whether she wanted to remain on the command track, and spoke with Dr. Hugh Culber (Wilson Cruz) about ways she could step out of her comfort zone. Culber recommended Tilly for a mission that involved leading a group of young Starfleet cadets. Although the mission quickly turned dangerous, Tilly successfully coached the cadets through it, and she later accepted a teaching position at the recently reopened Starfleet Academy.

Star Trek: Discovery Proves Starfleet Academy Show Doesn’t Make Sense Without Tilly

1 commander rayner, under the command of captain michael burnham.

Callum Keith Rennie's Commander Rayner joined the cast of Star Trek: Discovery for its fifth and final season, and the gruff former Captain has proven to be a breath of fresh air. In Discovery's season 5 premiere, Rayner held the rank of Captain and commanded the USS Antares, but was asked to accept early retirement after making a questionable call during a Red Directive mission. Captain Burnham, however, asked Rayner to be her new First Officer after Saru accepted a position as a Federation Ambassador.

Commander Rayner has proven invaluable to Discovery's mission and remains a highlight of Star Trek: Discovery season 5.

As a Kellerun, Commander Rayner's personality contrasts sharply with the more optimistic crew of the USS Discovery, and his command style is very different from Burnham's. Rayner has struggled to relate to Discovery's crew members and adapt to Michael's command style , but his advice and knowledge have helped save the day on multiple occasions. As Discovery races against couriers Moll (Eve Harlow) and L'ak (Elias Toufexis) to find the Progenitors' treasure, Commander Rayner has proven invaluable to the mission and remains a highlight of Star Trek: Discovery season 5.

New episodes of Star Trek: Discovery stream Thursdays on Paramount+.

Star Trek: Discovery

Star Trek: Discovery season 5 episode 5 ending explained - Mirror Universe starship unveiled?

T he Discovery crew found the missing ISS Enterprise from the Mirror Universe in Star Trek: Discovery season 5 episode 5, which aired on April 27, 2024.

For the unversed, Mirror Universe is an alternate reality where the good United Federation of Planets is swapped out for the brutal Terran Empire. It has been a big deal in Star Trek since it first appeared in the original series.

The appearance of the old ISS Enterprise in this particular episode is noteworthy because it binds the present-day Discovery story to the long-running fan-favorite Mirror Universe.

Star Trek: Discovery season 5 episode 5 reveals a derelict Mirror Universe Enterprise

The Discovery gang stumbled upon the Mirror Universe starship stuck in another dimension on Star Trek: Discovery season 5. It was the first time the ship showed up in the universe. Captain Burnham and Booker found an important clue about the Progenitors' treasure, which was hidden in the old Enterprise by a former Terran scientist named Admiral Cho.

The finding of the ISS Enterprise gave fans a peek into what was happening in the Mirror Universe post-original Star Trek series . It also made the audience wonder how the ship wound up in that alternate dimension, considering travel between the Prime and Mirror Universes has been off-limits for ages.

Fans were excited when they saw the famous Mirror Universe starship pop up on the Star Trek: Strange New Worlds sets. It gave the Discovery crew a chance to check out these old-school Star Trek stories in a whole new way. Plus, the clue they found on the abandoned Enterprise opened up a whole can of worms about the Progenitors' tech and what it all means.

Moll and L'ak's desperate mission on Star Trek: Discovery season 5 episode 5

Moll and L'ak are a couple of space criminals who have been causing some trouble for the Discovery crew while searching for the Progenitors' treasure. In the latest episode titled Mirrors , fans learned more about their friendship and motivation. Turns out L'ak is on a mission to find treasure to help out his injured buddy Moll.

Moll is smart and good at planning, and L'ak is secretive and always looking out for her partner. They're like the Bonnie and Clyde of partners, ready to do whatever it takes to get what they want, including in season 5 .

In this episode, Moll and L'ak managed to snag a key clue to finding the Progenitors' treasure before the Discovery crew, which was a game-changer in the hunt for this advanced tech. But things got messy when L'ak got hurt, causing some drama with the Breen that will come back to bite them later.

Culber's spiritual crisis and the Breen's deadly pursuit Star Trek: Discovery season 5 episode 5

In season 5, episode 5 of Star Trek: Discovery , Dr. Hugh Culber goes through a major spiritual crisis when he gets possessed by the Trill scientist Jinaal Bix. This leaves him questioning his existence, and he's counting on the Progenitors' technology to give him some answers.

Culber is feeling conflicted because he thinks he can't talk to his husband, Commander Paul Stamets, about his feelings since they have different viewpoints - Paul is all about science, while Culber is dealing with some deep, unanswerable questions.

Culber goes to Lt. Sylvia Tilly for comfort and talks about the tough choices he might have to make later in the season. At the same time, the episode sets up a future fight between the Discovery crew and the Breen. The Erigah device on L'ak's head warns that trouble is coming and that the two groups might clash.

Star Trek: Discovery season 5 is available exclusively on Paramount+ .