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Spoiler $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ According to TrekToday, the Vulcan subcommander will NOT be named T'Pau but T'Pal, for fear that there would be a consistency problem with the TOS T'Pau. This is a relatively small point, but a positive one nonetheless. However, there's still the minor problem of subcommander being a Romulan rank...
------------------ Lisa: "OK, now we're gonna pick jobs out of the chore hat. Dad, you go first." Homer: "Come on, bikini inspector...scrub toilet! Ohhhwww...OK, that was a practice..."
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Gaseous, are you replying in the right thread? Are you talking about the gun Lily used in FC? I agree, it wasn't a Steyr, but the bullpup configuration sure makes it look like one.
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Since the Romulans and the Vulcans were essentially one race a few thousand years ago, their continued use of similar ranks isn't a problem for me.
------------------ When you're in the Sol system, come visit the Starfleet Museum
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Dukhat: And "centurion" is an ancient Roman rank. What do you expect? Do you realize how many non-Starfleet, and even non-Federation "captains" there are? Klingons have "generals", and that's another human rank. "Subcommander" is just English for "below a commander". For all we know, the Vulcan rank is called "pleh" and the Romulan rank is called "foo", but they both translate as "subcommander" in English.
crobato: Sometimes, part of the reason that TV writers avoid fans is that, if they hear a story idea from a fan, they can never use it, because, if they do, that fan might sue them for stealing the idea. That's what I understand, anyway...
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TSN: We're not talking about writers getting ideas from fans. We're talking about writers taking note of criticims and praises from the fans. Most SF ideas are recycled from one to the other in the first place.
As for the ranks, it is merely assumed for the readers or the watchers that the use of terms like commander and general is to give an equivalent perspective. These can be regarded as English translations of such. Terms like General and Emperor never truly existed with ancient cultures either, such as Persian, Babylonian, Aztec and Chinese.
Diane Duane has invented Romulan rankings in her Rihannsu novels. It's non canonical, but it is very respected, such as that many TOS fanficcers follow her Rihannsu model as guidelines in depicting the Romulan empire. For example, the rank of commander is called Riov, and fleet commander is Gael Riov.
[This message has been edited by crobato (edited May 14, 2001).]
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I probably won't have a big problem with Vulcan ranks, ships that were not on the recreation deck, or Klingon foreheads. It's the writer's "creativity" that's giving me a headache.
In Voyager they had all the possibilities to make almost any story they could think of. The show had many great moments, but very often they came up with similar ideas. If they brought in anything new (anything that could expand our knowledge of the Trek Universe) it was often bad technobabble and continuity errors. Well, it wasn't all that bad because it was in the Delta Quadrant in the 24th century, and we could reason that everything exciting and new was exciting and new indeed.
If we let the same people do "Enterprise", they will run out of original ideas even faster. It will either get darn boring to see how the Enterprise spends months to travel from planet to planet - or they will begin to present some exciting "anomaly-of-the-week" or other plots that should be set at a later time. Wrong place, wrong time for such stories.
My new motto: Enterprise: "To boldly go where no man will go again."
------------------ "Species 5618, human. Warp-capable, origin grid 325, physiology inefficient, below average cranium capacity, minimum redundant systems, limited regenerative abilities." Ex Astris Scientia
quote: I probably won't have a big problem with Vulcan ranks, ships that were not on the recreation deck, or Klingon foreheads. It's the writer's "creativity" that's giving me a headache.
Agreed. If there is to be criticism about Enterprise, it should first and foremost be concerned with this stuff, and not ridiculous little details that have a minimal impact on the overall quality of the series.
quote:If we let the same people do "Enterprise", they will run out of original ideas even faster. It will either get darn boring to see how the Enterprise spends months to travel from planet to planet - or they will begin to present some exciting "anomaly-of-the-week" or other plots that should be set at a later time. Wrong place, wrong time for such stories.
The thing is, the only "same people" we know of on the production/writing/creating arm are Berman and Braga. And while I'll be the first to say they've made mistakes in the past and couldn't stabilize Voyager and make it popular and consistently good, that shouldn't nullify some of the excellent work they've done in the past. Every single episode of Deep Space Nine, which tends to be held (rightfully, IMHO) in higher regard than Voyager around here had Rick Berman executive producing it, as did the vast majority of TNG. Braga's had hits and misses, no question, but the vast majority of the criticism levelled at him is quite unfounded.
As for the rest of the creative staff, who knows who they'll bring in. Might one or two Voyager writers be back? Possibly. Needless to say, writers are incredibly inconsistent things. Ira Stephen Behr did little by way of producing blockbusters when he did TNG, did a lot of good work on DS9, but also gave us a clatter of Ferengi comedies that ranged from good to "Profit and Lace". Michael Piller ranged from "The Best of Both Worlds" to "Insurrection" to "Tattoo." So if a grand total of two old faces are on the Enterpise writing staff, let's not condemn the series and believe it only will repeat old plotlines.
All signs seem to point to there being a concerted effort to rid the series of "anomoly of the week." Bakula apparently hates that sort of stuff, and I think that B & B are using the fresh canvas of a prequel to push the focus away from weird tech and back towards the TOS/TNG style of thoughful television. Will the trend hold? I can't make any promises, and yeah, I honestly wouldn't be at all surprised if we do meet quantum fissures and temporal rifts once in a while. But I'm not going blast the show for sins it has yet to commit.
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------------------ At that point, McDonald fired his gun three times in the air to emphasize his point. The crowd, estimated at 350,000, loudly cheered the new candidate.
"Let me make this clear: I am the law! I am your ruler! And you will have fries with that, motherf*cker!"
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Well, it may not be the same staff, and I really trust in the abilities of people like Zimmerman, Westmore, Okuda, Eaves (in this order). But it's the "creative" minds who have conceived the premise and who will continue to set the standards for the series. If Braga wants Romulans, he will get them. If a story demands yet another unknown alien race, Westmore will create them. If they come up with impossible technology, the Art Department will make it possible. The single errors and implausibilities will sum up in a fashion that we won't recognize our universe any longer.
------------------ "Species 5618, human. Warp-capable, origin grid 325, physiology inefficient, below average cranium capacity, minimum redundant systems, limited regenerative abilities." Ex Astris Scientia
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If Braga wants Romulans, and has a cool and original story about them, then good. Admittedly I'd far, far rather they'd come up with some effective continuity cover to keep "Balance of Terror" as intact as possible, but Trekkies have reasoned their way around equally blatant continuity gaffes in the past. If he just wants Romulans so he can have a derivative story with familiar faces, then I will be the first to howl in protest with you.
I mean, Roddenberry decided he wanted "alien-looking" Klingons for TMP and therein caused the biggest continuity error ever, but that hasn't stopped fans from worshipping the ground he walked on. Braga's continuity record isn't nearly as abysmal as the majority of the net claims it is. Aside from some fiddly history on the early origins of Borg/Federation contact (which drew "legally" on seeds sown in Generations, which had net-appointed demi-God R.D.M. involved) he hasn't made any major violations of the Chronology.
------------------ "And as it is, it is cheaper than drinking." -DT on arguing with Omega, April 30
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