posted
So, who could FutureGuy be? What we know about him is that he is from the future (from a century before Daniels, so that would be the 30th), has advanced knowledge of genetic engineering, and has advanced time-travel technologies. He is humanoid, played by James Horan (but he has done no really important characters, IIRC). He has genetically enhanced around 3000 members of the Suliban species, which form his Cabal, lead by Silik.
In "Broken Bow", he wanted to plunge the Klingon Empire into civil war. This was thwarted by the Suliban female Sarin, the Klingon courier Klaang and the crew of the NX-01.
In "Cold Front", FutureGuy's operative Silik prevents the NX-01 from being destroyed, presumably so he can get his hands on Daniels Temporal Observatory. Either FutureGuy hasn't got that kind of technology, or the TO carries sensitive information.
In "Shockwave", FutureGuy wants Archer for unknown reasons. It is rumoured that in Part II something lead to the Federation disappearing from the timeline. Perhaps what FutureGuy wants.
So, the only real motive is the destruction of the 22nd century Klingon Empire, and perhaps the vanishing of the Federation. IF the producers ultimately decide to make FutureGuy a member of a known species (which would be logical.. an unknown species is hardly the shocking surprise they're no doubt hoping on), which would it be?
posted
I'll say this: He doesn't appear to be very good at what he does. I mean: He has 3000 of these Suliban and apparently vast time travel capability...and he can't screw up one diplomatic mission?
I can't comment much further than that, seeing as how I've only seen one or two episodes of Enterprise... However, this sounds a lot like the plot from "The Change War", a novella by Fritz Lieber. (Pretty sure it's Fritz Lieber...my books are all in storage right now.)
Not that that would be a bad thing. The idea of a temporal war was one of those mind bending skull orgies back when I was a wee tot. I'll be glad to add the whole series to my collection if that materializes later on.
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posted
$ (spoiler if you believe in Braga's statements) $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ I'd say he is a Romulan - if not Braga had recently said that the Romulans would be involved in a different fashion and probably a different story arc.
-------------------- Bernd Schneider
Registered: Mar 1999
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posted
Strange that you mention that, since I had exactly the same thought when I first watched "Broken Bow". There was something about the guy's demeanour and tone of voice that just screamed Romulan to me, aside from that his costume looked like it had those funky, squared off Romulan shoulder pads.
I'm a bit dubious about the viability of the Temporal Cold War arc. I mean, season 1 cliffhanger and already the whole future-as-we-know-it has been put in jeopardy. And no doubt in "Shockwave Part II" everything will be put back to normal (unless they're truly courageous and actually leave it open to doubt and up to the actions of the crew of the Enterprise, over the next few years, to bring things back on track). Now, season 1 and they're already having to resort to this? That's going to seriously impact on the, well, impact of any other times when the timeline is knocked off kilter.
Please note I tried to write the above paragraph from the POV of someone who does like the show, and I didn't mention anyone whose name begins with B. 8)
posted
James Horan is perhaps best known in genre circles for his role as Grayson, an Immortal from Highlander the Series in 1992. Badass of the Immortals, he was.
Anyway, are you cerain that FutureGuy is from the 30th century? I thought his specific time frame was never established.. It was just some time between Archer's time and Daniels'. Personally, I think it's from some time around the 25th century or a hundred years or so before or afterwards. Given FutureGuy's time travelling abilities - not being able to time travel himself, but having the ability to project a shadowy figure to a specially-built chamber - seems almost primitive compared to other time travel methods we've seen.
For example, by the 29th century Earth had shuttle-sized ships could travel through time without much problems, they had temporal shielding that would supposedly shield the ship from any big temporal changes, and could easily transport through time though only within certain physical limits. In the 24th, a fluke allowed the DS9 crew to have a very limited temporal transportation ability, and in the early 25th Alexander managed to secure a time travel device essentially ont he black market - something other people from the 26th century ("Captain's Holiday") can do. Otherwise, most time travel involved huge anomalies or various slingshot maneuvers.
Point being, that FutureGuy's temporal options seem almost odd. I'd think that any party in a temporal cold war would be a fairly powerful, well-equiped organization or governmental agency to be able to afford to fight stuff in your future. So, we can be reasonably sure that FutureGuy isn't just some mad scientist having fun by himself in a dark laboratory. However, even with a lot of resources supposedly at their command, these guys don't have the latest time travel abilities that Alexander could obtain for personal use.
Unless of course they don't WANT to travel back through time for mere communication. If FutureGuy and co. simply wanted to talk to the Suliban, then the temporal holocommunicator we've seen would be sufficient enough. But still, someone had to build it, and I find it hard to believe that a temporal holocomunicator would have such odd VFX side effects if they merely wanted to talk to someone. So, the big temporal chamber probably serves more use than just a really cool-looking phone. It may be able to transport materials back and forth through time between chambers, and perhaps even people. However, this may have been supplemented at least at first by more "conventional" time travelling ships and stuff to get materials and people back in time to set up the front in this cold war.
Finally, an issue here we've been missing is why Daniels and his guys are bothering to deal with this war, and why they're a front themselves. If the 31st century can fight allegedly for the good side in this war, why not the doubtlessly more advanced folks in the 41st century? Or the 51st, or onwards? It's most likely that if Daniels' people are on the good side, they are probably unwitting combattants with a particular stake in the war. temporal changes can affect EVERYONE, so it's odd that only a particular group of people in a particular time frame are worring about it.
However, from what we've seen in Trek prior to the onset of this war, when someone does something nasty with the timeline, it's usually up to a group of heroes in that timeframe to fix it. Such is that case in at least the 24th Century ("First Contact" the movie, DS9's "Trials and Tribble-ations", evidence from "Captain's Holiday", and so forth), the 29th Century (Braxton's escapades are to fix problems that orginated in his century), and most time travel stories in between. Otherwise, whenever someone travels back in time to screw things up then someone would just pop in from the future to fix it, no questions asked.
But then, the whole paradox thing happens - if someone were interfering from the future, why would anyone centuries ahead care? And thusly, why would Daniels be there in the first place?
posted
One possibly interesting point is that the future that's been changed in "Shockwave" was not, apparently, the future as we know it, but some distant point in time that nobody has ever seen before.
Now, I suspect I may very well be giving the show more credit than it deserves, but considering the vagueness they've tried to keep in the motives and origins of all concerned, I'm not at all sure that "bad for Daniels' time" necessarily means "bad for the Federation."
Registered: Mar 1999
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quote:Now, I suspect I may very well be giving the show more credit than it deserves, but considering the vagueness they've tried to keep in the motives and origins of all concerned, I'm not at all sure that "bad for Daniels' time" necessarily means "bad for the Federation
Well if you want to look at it cynically then the reason for the vagueness is that it doesn't limit the writers if, some time down the track they change their minds concering the motives of Future Guy or Daniels. Hopefully the vagueness is more to do with setting up some twist in the expected story lines.
Registered: May 2001
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posted
It seemed to me as if Daniels wouldn't really know who is his opponent. That would rather support someone from the far future who would be able to conceal his identity. But I somehow have the impression that we are familiar with Future Guy's story. He would be an ideal tie-in from the 24th century (and definitely a better one than the Ferengi).
-------------------- Bernd Schneider
Registered: Mar 1999
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posted
I almost HAS to be a tie-in to familiar Trek. All the mystery surrounding FutureGuy has to be resolved sometime. And they'll probably going for the shock-effect.
I agree that the Romulan identity is the most wide-spread among fan(boy)s. A human or Vulcan identity could also be a possibility (especially given the overall behaviour of the ENT Vulcans).
posted
The Romulan-trying-to-change-the-outcome-of-the-Romulan-War explanation strikes me as a bit too simplistic, to be honest. I hope they go with something a bit more unpredictable and convoluted.
-------------------- "I was surprised by the matter-of-factness of Kafka's narration, and the subtle humor present as a result." (Sizer 2005)
Registered: Mar 1999
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posted
Some SF depictions of time-travel I've read have suggested that history has an inertia that is hard to change - that, in effect, the course of history will follow a certain vague path, that specific things will happen anyway. The minor details may vary, but the overall outline remains the same. Perhaps FutureGuy only wants to make sure those minor details favour himself and his kind, maybe up to their very existence at in the overall timeline. And maybe said existence threatens Daniels and his ilk. Unlikely, I know, but worth consideration?
quote:Originally posted by The_Tom: The Romulan-trying-to-change-the-outcome-of-the-Romulan-War explanation strikes me as a bit too simplistic, to be honest. I hope they go with something a bit more unpredictable and convoluted.
Food for thought: When they first promoted the series, they described it as a departure from DS9 and Voyager, and a move "back to the basics."
Therefore, it is very unlikely that the villain would come from either of these two series. (i.e. they don't want new viewers to be "let down" by the revelation that FutureGuy is a character that they've never heard about from those two series) Therefore, he's not Dominion, Cardassian, and probably not Section 31. Probably not Borg either.
Due to this self-contained tendency of ST, it is almost certain that whether or not FutureGuy is good or bad, he will be Romulan, human, or Vulcan, and "he" will definitely be someone we know, or about to know from Enterprise.
At this point in time, out of those three, we don't know any major human characters, the Vulcans would be rather "meh, so what", so by elimination its most likely Romulan.
Inherent assumption: The writers actually do know.
Someone might recall specifics, but IIRC there was an interview with the creators, and they said while they were working on several possibilities, even they didn't know who he was yet.
Registered: Mar 1999
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posted
I don't think we'll be introduced to a character who will later be revealed to be FutureGuy. As soon as a character shows up being played by James Horan, people will know what's going on.
Registered: Mar 1999
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posted
In this initial spate of media interviews, there were several possibilities for FutureGuy. But the latest from Braga has indicated that they have now nailed down who is now and he could be revealed anytime it fits the needs of an upcoming TCW story.
-------------------- "I was surprised by the matter-of-factness of Kafka's narration, and the subtle humor present as a result." (Sizer 2005)
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