History WMG / StarTrekIVTheVoyageHome

The USS Hood is another refitted constitution class ship just like the Enterprise, and is mentioned in the film as having been disabled by the Whale Probe. It stretches credulity for Starfleet to build a new ship of the same type if the line is being mothballed, but makes perfect sense to just re-christen the Hood to serve as Kirk’s ship for his last few months before retirement. It also explains why the ship is in such poor shape in StarTrekVTheFinalFrontier, as the ship is still being fixed after the Probe did a number on it. This theory makes perfect sense considering a brand new Excelsior class Enterprise B gets rolled out just months after the events of the Kitomer conference in StarTrekVITheUndiscoveredCountry as seen in the opening of StarTrekGenerations.

...is because it was under construction during the previous two movies. In StarTrekIIITheSearchForSpock, it's mentioned that the TOS-Era Enterprise is 20 years old and is slated to be decommissioned. However, the Enterprise-A was already under construction as an upgraded model.

However, to avoid the wear and tear, it's like the "axe of my grandfather" line from Discworld. So, the frames and the lenses get replaced as time goes on, but it is the same pair of glasses Kirk sold to the antique shop owner.

[[WMG: Dr. Gillian Taylor's disappearance ended up on an episode of ''UnsolvedMysteries''.]]

Investigators search for all possible leads, and they go through Dr. Taylor's personal life, but come up with nothing. So all of this, combined with the fact that her truck was discovered in a section of Golden Gate Park where people had seen strange goings-on, may have given Gillian's disappearance a mention on the Trek-verse's version of ''UnsolvedMysteries''.

...is because, due to some stroke of luck, it ''survived''. Assume following the events of WW3, most of the libraries with interesting and important books could well have got nuked along with the cities they were in. A load of old paperbacks gathering dust in an attic in some remote rural house, on the other hand...

...in his previous life. The fal-tor-pan probably didn't preserve the knowledge of it, or the Vulcan retraining of his mind simply did not mean he had the ability to do it effectively.

[[WMG: The Whale Probe was built by the [[StarCraft Xel'Naga]].]]

[[WMG: Spock knew how to swear all along, he just enjoyed trolling Kirk.]]

It's doubtful that fact would have done much for Morrow's reputation, conscience or job security, and even assuming the [[HauledBeforeASenateSubCommittee inevitable inquiry]] cleared him of any undue negligence, one presumes he at least felt resignation the honourable course. After what happened with Kirk and co., there is no way this would stay a secret and perhaps the court of public opinion would have weighed against him, too.

It's doubtful that fact would have done much for Morrow's reputation, conscience or job security, and even assuming the [[HauledBeforeASenateSubCommittee inevitable enquiry]] cleared him of any undue negligence, one presumes he at least felt resignation the honourable course. After what happened with Kirk and co., there is no way this would stay a secret and perhaps the court of public opinion would have weighed against him, too.

I haven't read the novelization, but the main page and the Memory Beta entry on him suggests he resigned for a reason similar to this. Think about it: if we assume the orders concerning Genesis (in the stated absence of policy decisions by the Federation Council) came directly from him based on his judgement, he just made one ''massive'' cock-up. Now his decision reflects the fact that he knows precisely how much interested parties are willing to get hold of Genesis for their own dangerous ends, and to kill in order to do so; otherwise, he wouldn't have had it kept under wraps. But given the fact that this has meant the murder of the entire science team, plus the loss of nearly two ships with most hands, and yet he only sends a single science vessel with absolutely ''no'' escort or backup whatsoever. Result: complete destruction of said science vessel and the murder of one of the key surviving scientists working on the project, and the Klingons nearly getting their hands on the secret but for the intervention of the ''Enterprise''. I doubt that fact would have done much for Morrow's reputation, conscience or job security, and one presumes he at least felt resignation the honourable course.

It's just that over the centuries, every piece has been replaced as it broke, thus none of the "original" pieces remain.

Khan wasn't created for another century or two, as per the {{retcon}} in later TV series, and when he was, he looked like Benedict Cumberbatch. Timeline resolved!

[[WMG: The woman McCoy saved in the hospital went on to prevent the Eugenics Wars from happening in the 1990s]]
Khan wasn't created until a century or two later, as per the {{retcon}} in later TV series, and when he was, he looked like Benedict Cumberbatch. Timeline resolved!

She seemed pretty dejected about the sudden loss of the whales and was desperate enough to follow Kirk into an uncertain future, saying there was "nothing for her here". Not the sort of thing you'd say if life has much meaning to you as it is.

In the film, Spock mentions that whales were on earth "ten million years" before humans. And yet, even in 1986 humans had far surpassed humpback whales in technological development. Still, some alien civilization from many light years away knew about the whales and their "language". Did the humpback whales of earth have some sort of transmitter they used to send a signal through the galaxy to the probe's point of origin? Were the aliens monitoring the earth somehow and decided that the whales were the dominant species? Or maybe the whales themselves were extraterrestrial in origin?

While most people remember the mind-altering effects of the spores, a rewatch of the episode also shows that they caused those affected to regrow lost tissue. After having discovered this through personal experience, [=McCoy=] thought that it would be awesome to harness that power. After much experimentation, he created a pill that could regrow organs without the mind-altering effects.

[[WMG: The pills [=McCoy=] gave the woman were created from the spores from "This Side of Paradise.]]

[[WMG: The pills McCoy gave the woman were created from the spores from "This Side of Paradise.]]
While most people remember the mind-altering effects of the spores, a rewatch of the episode also shows that they caused those affected to regrow lost tissue. After having discovered this through personal experience, McCoy thought that it would be awesome to harness that power. After much experimentation, he created a pill that could regrow organs without the mind-altering effects.

Chances are amateur astronomers might have noticed a brief spot of light in the sky (real-life orbiting satellites, spacecraft, space stations etc. can sometimes be seen as points of light in the sky, reflecting the Sun's rays) too.

* Probably this could be connected to several other "UFO sightings" in Golden Gate Park: one wonders how long it was before either of the trash collectors thought, to hell with "I saw nothing and neither did you so shut up!" and sold their story to the press, and there were a couple of joggers hit by the backdraft when the ship took off.

(Mind you, there was if I recall some bit in the third film where Kirk's face was shown on the same video- which seems to undo this somehow. Yet how did ''that'' turn up if so?)

She told Kirk when the whales were removed from the aquarium that she had nothing without those whales. It's altogether possible that, in the absence of Kirk--or even, if word got out that George and Gracie were killed by poachers immediately after release--she would've [[DrivenToSuicide committed suicide]] soon thereafter. So her disappearing from the timeline and reappearing in 2285 would not affect history.

George and Gracie themselves are aliens, and the "Whale Probe" was sent to determine where it was they actually went. When they lost communication in the past, they built the whale probe to figure out what exactly had happened to George and Gracie. For whatever reason, the whale probe took three hundred years to arrive to Earth. Had the Enterprise crew not have gone back in time and gotten them, the probe would never have arrived.

The Xel'Naga discovered a primitive sentient species on Earth millions of years ago, who were the ancestors of today's whales, and sent the probe to check on their progress. After the fall of the Xel'Naga, the probe kept on monitoring Earth until it no longer recieved any transmissions. Due to a faulty FTL drive, it took two hundred years to get to Earth.