posted
Okay, so I'm not exactly enthusiastic about the subject that ENT's taking for this upcoming and much-hyped arc for the third season. It's got the feel of trying too hard to be something it's not.
But at the same time, isn't this exactly what we've been calling for for quite a while? More connected storylines, a more defined purpose for the series.
I think that Scott Bakula makes a good point here, and perfectly sums up the potential benefits of using this type of storyline.
quote:"I'm very excited about it," Bakula told Kathie Huddleston at Science Fiction Weekly during a press conference to promote Enterprise's new season. "I love the sense of purpose, of intensity, of sense of mission. And it's not like I'm not a fan of the prior Star Trek franchises where it was kind of a planet every week. But ... it just feels like the right time to really get into something that has arc, that will survive not just the standalone episodes per se. That will have something for the fans to really hook onto every week and really get involved with. So I'm very excited about it."
Source: TrekToday
I'm not exactly eager, but I'm definitely at least interested in seeing where this story will go. Regardless of the silliness and boredom that prevailed through most of "The Expanse" (for me, anyway), I think there's at least the possibility of some improvement here.
Yeah, for a lot of fans there's been a sense of constant waiting for the show to improve, to come into its own... and after six years of waiting for Voyager to come out of the toilet, this is pretty frustrating. But it *did* take TNG three years to find its stride, after all...
-------------------- “Those people who think they know everything are a great annoyance to those of us who do.” — Isaac Asimov Star Trek Minutiae | Memory Alpha
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A story arc about war and vengeance and weird aliens no-one has ever heard of - not OK
IMO, doing a prequel was a really bad idea. They should've known that there was no way to make it work good enough without - what they call - "confusing the casual viewer".
I'm sorry if I sound a bit too negative, but I'm just annoyed with turning the 22nd century into EXACTLY THE SAME as the 24th century. I mean.. what's the point of a prequel if you don't make any changes to your stories?
posted
With the exeception of a bald Frenchman in command of Enterprise, what would you say was the difference in the stories between TOS (23rd) and TNG (24th)?
quote:Posted by Harry: A story arc about war and vengeance and weird aliens no-one has ever heard of - not OK
Agreed there, completely. That's what I meant before about not being so sure about the subject matter.
However, some of that can be argued to be related more and more to the temporal hijinks that've been going on. For all we know the Xindi could actually be from around 70,000 light-years away and are actually the Kazon working under a pseudonym, trying to erase the Federation before Janeway shows up and shows them how bad their hairdos really were.
quote:Posted by Snay: With the exeception of a bald Frenchman in command of Enterprise, what would you say was the difference in the stories between TOS (23rd) and TNG (24th)?
There was a lot less of the "boldly going" in TNG after the third season. Die-hard TOS fans could probably say that it's not real Star Trek based on that argument.
Hmm, I just remembered something... My mom has a childhood friend that she keeps in touch with occasionally. The friend was a huge fan of Trek during the original run (she had a major crush on Mr. Spock, I'm told) and was the one who got my mom interested in the show. I'm told that she has never watched ANY of the later shows at all (TNG and onwards), and has no interest in them.
To get back to the original topic, though, I'm glad (to a certain extent) that they're at least *TRYING* something different, something to get the series out of first gear.
-------------------- “Those people who think they know everything are a great annoyance to those of us who do.” — Isaac Asimov Star Trek Minutiae | Memory Alpha
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- The Earth-Romulan war. The build-up to it, the actual war and the aftermath.
- The founding of the Federation and all the diplomacy and politics of getting all the members to join.
- They could have episodes between major points to show how big space is to them at the time. Imagine if it took 4 episodes to get to a destination and adventures interwoven in the between episodes.
But its unlikely since, they've manage to be way out of continuity and showing no signs of correcting itself.
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posted
Well... I think they might be building up to a point where Humans are well known enough to be able to spearhead the formation of the Federation. Maybe this excursion into the Expanse will help that. They've got a few years yet before the Federation needs to be founded. The series may end before they get to that, but we'll be left with the impression that things are headed in that direction. That'll leave things wide open for the sixth series... Star Trek: Federation.
As for the Romulan War... it's going to be a tight squeeze. Imagine... after two or three years in the Expanse (assuming they're in there that long), Enterprise returns to Earth only to find themselves in the middle of another war.
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posted
Plus the weird fact that no human "or ally" has ever seen a Romulan makes it a bit strange for television. Never having face-to-face contact with the villians will be hard to keep up in a continuous Romulan War arc.
posted
Faceless enemies, when handled right, can be quite effective. After all, we never got any real hint of who the Shadows were and what they wanted until B5's third season finale...
-------------------- “Those people who think they know everything are a great annoyance to those of us who do.” — Isaac Asimov Star Trek Minutiae | Memory Alpha
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quote:Originally posted by Aban Rune: Imagine... after two or three years in the Expanse (assuming they're in there that long), Enterprise returns to Earth only to find themselves in the middle of another war.
You assume that the Enterprise, a ship with relatively little internal volume for consumables, using an engine that can't be that efficient considering its technological immaturity, and with no onboard anti-matter conversion ability can run in deep space for two, much less three continuous years. I dunno, maybe they knocked over a couple Xindi gas stations while trying to stop them, or even more likely, they're going to develop the technology to make anti-matter right onboard their own bloody ship.
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- The Earth-Romulan war. The build-up to it, the actual war and the aftermath.
- The founding of the Federation and all the diplomacy and politics of getting all the members to join.
- They could have episodes between major points to show how big space is to them at the time. Imagine if it took 4 episodes to get to a destination and adventures interwoven in the between episodes.
Maybe, no, and dear god no.
Or, more seriously:
Romulan War: There are several potential problems with this. The fact that everyone knows what is going to happen is perhaps a minor one. Not showing a Romulan throughout the entire war is going to be much harder. And the Shadows aren't really a far comparison. One the one hand, a bunch of humanoid aliens with pointy ears, and the other...an ancient race from when the galaxy was formed.
It could be good. And there's still plenty of time for them to do it, but it's not a sure thing, by any means.
Founding of the Federation: Enterprise turns up somewhere. They say "join us!" Aliens say "no!" Enterprise says "please!" Aliens say "okay!" Repeat 150 times. Fun!
Or, if you want to increase the fun, we could have 3 seasons of the Vulcans arguing with the Andorians about the wording of the 5th paragraph of the Federation consitution. Even more fun!
Long distances: Er, isn't this pretty much what happens anyway, and what has happened with every Star Trek show? Some adventures happen on planets, some in space. The ones in space we assume happen while they are on their way to a planet (or nebula, or blue glowy thing).
Or do you mean you want 4 episodes of "We'll be there in 4 weeks!", "We'll be there in 3 weeks!", "We'll be there in 2 weeks!", "We'll be there in a week!", "We're there. Oh, there's nothing here. Oh well, on to the next planet. We'll be there in 4 weeks!"
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quote: Not showing a Romulan throughout the entire war is going to be much harder.
Well, they don't necessarily have to not show any Romulans, just make sure Archer & co don't see any.
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posted
And I think the show has already made some small steps towards outlining the political issues facing any attempt to form a Federation, and has done so quite well, so far.
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posted
Agreed on that account. Though Soval (and most Vulcans) have been portrayed as complete assholes for all the wrong reasons, the politics of the Vulcan/Andorian conflict still seem to have the potential to become quite compelling.
The Shadows, not a fair comparison? I dunno... based on TOS, Archer & Co. should have absolutely NO IDEA what the Romulans look like, thus offering at least SOME possibility for mystery. Yeah, the Shadows were hyped up a lot more in terms of relative power to the Earth and Minbari forces, but still... a faceless enemy is a faceless enemy.
-------------------- “Those people who think they know everything are a great annoyance to those of us who do.” — Isaac Asimov Star Trek Minutiae | Memory Alpha
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posted
Except the Shadow thing is totally different then the Romulans. The Shadows were a mystery that was revealed eventually. The Romulans, it seems, can't be.
Though, really, it isn't the best analogy anyway, since the mechanics of the story would be completely different. With the Shadows, the characters know more about the situation than the audience, whereas with the Romulans it is just the opposite.
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"Or do you mean you want 4 episodes of 'We'll be there in 4 weeks!', 'We'll be there in 3 weeks!', 'We'll be there in 2 weeks!', 'We'll be there in a week!', 'We're there. Oh, there's nothing here. Oh well, on to the next planet. We'll be there in 4 weeks!'"
I think (or hope) hat he ment something more like: in one episode, they say they're heading for n. During the next episode or two, they have regular adventures. Then, in the episode after that, they arrive at n, thus making it clear that it took them a while. Rather than the usual "We'll be there in fifteen days, okay, we've arrived.".
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