Stardates Explained - 20011121.0830

You don't understand the startdates?

Take, for example, 20011121.0830

Let me stick some spaces in some helpful places:

2001 11 21 . 08 30

That better?

20011121 means 21st November 2001, and 0830 is in 24-hour clock format, IE 8:30AM

Stardates in the Star Trek universe work in an entirely different way. Wikipedia has a good explanation on how Stardates work.