Multiple-star systems were actually thought to be more common than single-star ones until recently. But that's the sort of knowledge that isn't based on anything much, and we already have hints that we are currently incapable of seeing most of the stars in the Milky Way, and that the invisible ones might well be singles.
In Trek, planets of interest might be mainly found around single stars, perhaps because ancient civilizations favored those over multi-star systems. But Vulcan is supposedly in a trinary system, say (it just never crops up in dialogue), or at least the system it is in is named the same as a trinary system in the real Milky Way. And by the above token, it may well turn out that Earth is in a multiple system as well, there being room for a dim companion or two to Sol out there currently.
Direct evidence of non-solo TOS stars is scarce, though, yes...
For the length of events in "GoT", we have McCoy's reference to a lot of time having passed and Kirk's inability to remember the stardate - something we might expect if the other heroes conducted an almost hopeless search for Kirk's team in three dimensions, but less likely when they have a clear line of search. Yet we know a starship may choose to spend considerable time chasing feral waterfowl at the skipper's discretion before Starfleet begins to pay attention - months at the very least!
What does transpire at Triskelion, though? Everything until McCoy's "This is ridiculous!" scene is introduction where Kirk's team learns the ropes but is yet to face its first training session. The McCoy scene is then followed by the first training session - and this in turn by Kirk's "Our strange captivity continues" log where he no longer knows the stardate.
Is this the juncture at which we jump ahead several days or perhaps weeks? Kirk's log is generic, but it's not as if he could make any other sort: it's a testament-type thing, listing the few known facts but including nothing that would be "current" or add anything to putative preceding entries. Quite possibly, it's the only log Kirk ever makes during their captivity on Triskelion, and the audience never misses any.
After Kirk makes his log, we again meet him playing the part of the practice target, just like immediately before. This may be something inflicted upon him for days at an end, concluding in the trio getting declared "full-fledged thralls". Or then we only witnessed an hour of action or so. The next scene has Kirk ask Shahna some questions for the apparent first time - but arguably it might have taken him days or weeks to get that opportunity.
These two (during Kirk's bout of handstiedbehindbackitis, and then between that and the jogging scene) are the slots that might accommodate an extended stay on Triskelion; the rest of the action is more or less seamless and indeed can't cover more than a day. And while the first slot is the less likely one, it's also the one we'd need to use to excuse Kirk's loss of track of time.
I guess we could also argue that there's a seam between the final time Galt uses the collar on our escaping heroes, and the time the Enterprise arrives, from the Triskelion point of view. This time, it's the Enterprise point of view that suggests seamless action and at most a few hours involved in the "we're now approaching" activities.
So, two dialogue references that might suggest significant time elapsed; scant few opportunities to insert that time in the action; but no explicit objection to inserting it.
Timo Saloniemi
In Trek, planets of interest might be mainly found around single stars, perhaps because ancient civilizations favored those over multi-star systems. But Vulcan is supposedly in a trinary system, say (it just never crops up in dialogue), or at least the system it is in is named the same as a trinary system in the real Milky Way. And by the above token, it may well turn out that Earth is in a multiple system as well, there being room for a dim companion or two to Sol out there currently.
Direct evidence of non-solo TOS stars is scarce, though, yes...
For the length of events in "GoT", we have McCoy's reference to a lot of time having passed and Kirk's inability to remember the stardate - something we might expect if the other heroes conducted an almost hopeless search for Kirk's team in three dimensions, but less likely when they have a clear line of search. Yet we know a starship may choose to spend considerable time chasing feral waterfowl at the skipper's discretion before Starfleet begins to pay attention - months at the very least!
What does transpire at Triskelion, though? Everything until McCoy's "This is ridiculous!" scene is introduction where Kirk's team learns the ropes but is yet to face its first training session. The McCoy scene is then followed by the first training session - and this in turn by Kirk's "Our strange captivity continues" log where he no longer knows the stardate.
Is this the juncture at which we jump ahead several days or perhaps weeks? Kirk's log is generic, but it's not as if he could make any other sort: it's a testament-type thing, listing the few known facts but including nothing that would be "current" or add anything to putative preceding entries. Quite possibly, it's the only log Kirk ever makes during their captivity on Triskelion, and the audience never misses any.
After Kirk makes his log, we again meet him playing the part of the practice target, just like immediately before. This may be something inflicted upon him for days at an end, concluding in the trio getting declared "full-fledged thralls". Or then we only witnessed an hour of action or so. The next scene has Kirk ask Shahna some questions for the apparent first time - but arguably it might have taken him days or weeks to get that opportunity.
These two (during Kirk's bout of handstiedbehindbackitis, and then between that and the jogging scene) are the slots that might accommodate an extended stay on Triskelion; the rest of the action is more or less seamless and indeed can't cover more than a day. And while the first slot is the less likely one, it's also the one we'd need to use to excuse Kirk's loss of track of time.
I guess we could also argue that there's a seam between the final time Galt uses the collar on our escaping heroes, and the time the Enterprise arrives, from the Triskelion point of view. This time, it's the Enterprise point of view that suggests seamless action and at most a few hours involved in the "we're now approaching" activities.
So, two dialogue references that might suggest significant time elapsed; scant few opportunities to insert that time in the action; but no explicit objection to inserting it.
Timo Saloniemi
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