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In Star Trek: First Contact, we find out that the first aliens that humans encountered were Vulcans.

Was this fact invented for First Contact, or had it been part of the Star Trek mythos previously?

I know that it is very reasonable to think that Vulcans had always been the first, but I am looking for a definite statement of some kind.

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    It was established somewhere before the movie. I knew it would be Vulcans before the film came out, but I don't remember where I learned that.
    – Buzz
    Sep 9, 2015 at 14:51
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    To establish an outer limit, I don't believe it dated back to the beginning of the original series. As I recall, Kirk and Spock had a brief conversation in an early episode about Vulcan, and it wasn't consistent with the current backstory.
    – Harry Johnston
    Sep 9, 2015 at 23:56

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There is no mention of First Contact in TOS. However, in 1980 a book titled Star Trek Spaceflight Chronology listed first contact with the Vulcans as 2065. This was the official timeline until TNG. TNG apparently started playing with the timeline and later when Star Trek: First Contact came out, the date was changed to 2063.

As far as first contact being with the Vulcans (and not another species), that was established by the aforementioned book.

However, First Contact wasn't technically first contact for humans with other species. This youtube video goes through all the various pre-warp first contacts that humans had.

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  • 2063! That means I could easily live to see Vulcans. Of course I have to live through a world war first but still... cool!
    – zipquincy
    Sep 9, 2015 at 16:19
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    You've already lived through The Eugenics War. I bet you didn't notice. How hard could it be?
    – Politank-Z
    Sep 9, 2015 at 16:24
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    You... you guys don't remember the Eugenics War...? Have I been hallucinating again?!
    – Nerrolken
    Sep 9, 2015 at 16:39
  • That's a great video. Except where is @N_Soong calling anti-androidism? If Troi counts as an alien, then Data obviously does. Unless you think he isn't a person.
    – ThePopMachine
    Sep 9, 2015 at 16:41
  • @ThePopMachine Robots aren't people, silly.
    – Jack B Nimble
    Sep 9, 2015 at 17:01

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