10-12-2022, 01:58 PM
(This post was last modified: 10-12-2022, 05:44 PM by FaceInTheCrowd.)
The Star Trek timeline doesn't correspond to the actual years of the series and movies. In ST II, Kirk says that Khan is a man he hasn't seen in 15 years. So although the movie was 18 years after the last season of the series, it's actually set 15 years after the first season. ST TMP compresses the gap between the series and films, ST II, III, IV and V all take place within a two-year period, and the gap between ST V and VI is longer than the two years between those films. And in ST Generations, 3 years after ST VI, a reporter says that the Enterprise B is the first Enterprise in over 30 years without Kirk in command!
Starfleet Academy appears to have been structured after real life military academies, where cadet ranks don't carry over after graduation. For example, at the US Naval Academy, cadets start out as midshipmen, and as they progress in their studies can rise as high as captain, but upon graduation all enter active duty service in the actual navy as ensigns or second lieutenants. Mitchell refers to Kirk at the academy as "Lt. Kirk," but in "Courtmartial," we learned that Kirk's first active duty assignment was as an ensign on the USS Republic.
In the second season episode "The Deadly Years," Kirk states that he's 34. If the series seasons correspond to years, that would make him 33 in season one. There aren't any episodes in season one that span weeks or months, so it's reasonable.
Starfleet Academy appears to have been structured after real life military academies, where cadet ranks don't carry over after graduation. For example, at the US Naval Academy, cadets start out as midshipmen, and as they progress in their studies can rise as high as captain, but upon graduation all enter active duty service in the actual navy as ensigns or second lieutenants. Mitchell refers to Kirk at the academy as "Lt. Kirk," but in "Courtmartial," we learned that Kirk's first active duty assignment was as an ensign on the USS Republic.
In the second season episode "The Deadly Years," Kirk states that he's 34. If the series seasons correspond to years, that would make him 33 in season one. There aren't any episodes in season one that span weeks or months, so it's reasonable.