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Star Trek Enterprise Tidbits
Carlo di Bonk writes: "I found a good article about the new Star Trek Enterprise television evil forces. These evil villains are from the future and the mirror universe. It seems to be an interesting chance that it is a different mirror universe though, to one seen in Star Trek The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine and other Star Trek television." Lots of little plot bits too, like the fact that they will have transporters, but they won't be trusted because they randomly kill people (like the first movie!) With Farscape running start to finish, my copy of Lexx Season 1 on DVD en route, and the new Star Trek a few weeks away, I think I need to take a week off ... a scifi sabbatical ;)
a different mirror universe though, to one seen in Star Trek The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine and other Star Trek television
When was the TOS/DS9 mirror universe shown on ST:TNG?
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full story:
http://www.ridiculopathy.com/news_detail.php?disp
How many times can people from a parallel universe visit ours before we start considering this parallel universe part of our own? Sheesh, these parallel universe people are starting to outnumber Klingons.
The only way Trek could be any worse would be if it was sung.
I object to that article, and to the next reply.
Will the captains be like those from TNG or VOY, or will they have that attitude, more like Kirk had?
Will work for bandwidth
I'm dying to watch Enterprise. While I've heard a couple of people say it's gonna suck, I really think it's possible it may end up being the best Trek yet.
The future isnt' so far way in Enterprise - it's going to be easier, IMHO, to relate to the universe in the Enterprise series than it was in ST:TNG (and definitely easier to relate to than Voyager. Blah.) I also think they may have a chance to make statements about humanity in general again. Voyager pretty much never did it, and DS9 didn't make much of an effort.
But, of course, that's just my opinion. No matter how good or bad it is, someone is gonna say it sucks compaired to (TOS, TNG, DS9, V, TAS ;-)
The bad guys however - this could be interesting. I do hope they are used sparingly like they did the Borg for a while, instead of every episode centering around trying to duke it out with them.
Everyone cross your fingers, and hope they manage to get this series right!
Davis Ray Sickmon, Jr - looking for something to read? Check out my three free novels at MidnightRyder.org
"Pinky, you've left the lens cap of your mind on again." - P&TB
"I can see my house from here!" - ST:
they will have transporters, but they won't be trusted because they randomly kill people
:>
Cool! Just like the Muni buses in San Francisco.
It seems to me that this plot is too contrived to be taken seriously. "evil mirror-villains from the future"?? Isn't that the plot to "Power Rangers: Time Force!"?
The other shows all had simple, realistic premises-the Enterprise is exploring the universe, Voyager is trying to get back home, the Enterprise is exploring the universe with a much crappier crew.
Anyway, the point of this is that clearly the plot is degenerating as new shows are produced. This obviously means that each successive "Star Trek" show is worse than the last. This means that Kirk is much, much better than Picard. QED.
I fevently hope this article is pure BS! I am so damn tired of every Star Drek show being TimeTraveling Baddies From An Alternate Universe®. I was hoping, from the trailers, that Enterprise was going to be more like the STTOS. If this article is even half correct, then it's time to take the Star Trek universe and put a stake through its heart, fill its mouth with garlic bulbs, cut its head off with a gravedigger's shovel, and bury it at a crossroads in blessed ground.
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That's how I can always tell who a TRUE geek is. We were the only ones who watched Voyager, anyway. Hopefully this one will have at least enough appeal to non-geeks to keep it on the air everywhere.
Even Slashdot wants to hide some things
They were silicon based, turned out to be good guys, and had no manipulative digits. Looked like dog vomit, from a large dog, though.
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the original ST series .... all the chicks in those mini-dresses, yowzaa!
I like the alternate universe from Deep Space 9 where ALL the hot chicks are lesbians! Woot! Set phasers for XXX Action!
by Mike Buddha -- Someday the mountain might get him, but the law never will.
early Klingons have been established to NOT have bumps. This was in TNG.
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on
I'm seriously happy about one thing -- Enterprise won't have that god-awful writer's trick, the Holodeck. That damn thing ruined many a TNG and Voyager episode (it wasn't relied upon so heavily in DS9, thank goodness)
Rayguns! Aliens! Rocketships! I love it!
Potato chips are a by-yourself food.
That said, I'm looking forward to the show.
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just in case anyone is interested, the song from all the promos is called "Wherever You Will Go" by 'The Calling'
startrek.com has all the promos/teasers available (in qt though)
"I would say that 99 per cent of what my father has written about his own life is false." - L. Ron Hubbard Jr.
The first thing that jumps out at me from this description is that there's no potential for morality plays, which was the basis of the original series and the Next Generation (while Roddenberry lived).
I'm not here to say that this is better or worse, or to whine about things not being the same since Roddenberry died, but rather to discuss what has changed. Whether or not this is a good thing varies depending on your taste.
Star Trek was set up as a mechanism for telling stories, not a story in itself. The characters represented archetypes (or even the id, ego, and superego -- guess which one is which). The Enterprise itself and its mission were just metaphors, and the fantastic nature was intended to give people the freedom to explore a variety of subjects in metaphorical, exaggerated, or "what if" ways. Just like a lot of great sci-fi.
This doesn't deny the new series' potential to be very entertaining and very good. But the new series is clearly different. In the new series, the situation is clearly defined. Aliens are just aliens, not symbols of ourselves in various guises. The new series presents an interesting point of view: Star Trek represented a utopian vision of our future; this series could be a vehicle to explore how we can achieve that particular utopia.
Although that's pretty limited compared to the scope of the original series, where various utopian ideals could be compared and contrasted from show to show, it still could be very fascinating, because many of us would have different ideas for how such a utopia could be reach, and in this age of irony, most of us probably doubt we could achieve it at all.
Bring back Que! Que was in my opinion the most entertaining character ever to grace ST. Ok, maybe I just like the idea of a morally blank omnipotent person who moves people around like chess peices to see how the other side responds.
Everyone else was so emotionally blank and serious that having someone inject a little fun into their otherwise by-the-book lives was interesting.
Of course, from what I understand, Enterprise is supposed to be before there was a book to go by, which might make things a bit more entertaining.
Maybe they should just bring back the really, really short skirts, move it to Showtime beside SG-1 and do something more... interesting once in a while. Actually, compared to the original ST, TNG was a bit bland in that regard, but compared to TNG, the last generations of ST were seriously devoid of any serious long-term sexual tension.
Of course, that's just my opinion; I could be wrong.
The world is neither black nor white nor good nor evil, only many shades of CowboyNeal.
Yeah, but at least Kirk *pretended* to be peaceful.
"Alien..general we.......meanyounoharm (Sulu ready phasers)....Our culture is.......one of peace and........tranquility (Spock get a lock on).......We can settle......our differences.....peacefully....FIRE!"
I like this part:
:-)
"There's also color in the graphics on the screens, so it's never going to be a dull picture."
Whoa, all the colors of the 'bow, man!
It seems to me that this plot is too contrived to be taken seriously. "evil mirror-villains from the future"??
Gee, isn't a much richer plotline and a sense of deeper continuity a good part of what people said made Bab5 such a great show? Seems like P'mont is "getting it" this time, and trying the same tricks. Sounds like a perfectly good idea to me!
The other shows all had simple, realistic premises-the Enterprise is exploring the universe, Voyager is trying to get back home, the Enterprise is exploring the universe with a much crappier crew.
Well, for ST:TNG if you take the first episode and the last episode they used to try and tie up the entire series with, then the plot becomes a bit larger than just exploring the universe. It's humanity's trial by fire by a much greater power that sees potental within us. Q tells Picard at the begining we are on trial. At the end, Q give Picard both the power to destroy ourselves as a species, and gives him the power to expand his abilities beyond the human norm, to experience the universe ever so slightly like the Q does. Picard managed wrap his mind around the situation finally (but never completely understands it) and humanity (with Picard as it's representative) makes it past it's trial by fire.
Too bad they never followed up on it at all in the movies or other series. They really could have had fun with humanity beinging to awaken it's self, instead of relying on technology solely.
(In TNG's final episode, if you want to try and search to find deeper meaning, you can. But ya gotta try really hard - pretty much streaching it and giving the writers more credit than is really due. I'm definitely not going to give that synopsis here on Slashdot to have it picked through ;-)
Anyway, the point of this is that clearly the plot is degenerating as new shows are produced. This obviously means that each successive "Star Trek" show is worse than the last. This means that Kirk is much, much better than Picard. QED.
Troll. Really.
Davis Ray Sickmon, Jr - looking for something to read? Check out my three free novels at MidnightRyder.org
The Tholians were mentioned a couple of times on DS9. I forget the exact words, but it was apparent that there was some kind of relationship with them now and they weren't outright hostile.
Pity.
Never heard anything about the Gorn though. Would be nice to run into them again. Let's see if la-di-dah pooftah Capt. Archer can make an improvised cannon like Kirk did!
It's hard to name sci-fi books. Most of Larry Niven's Known Space books (pre-hyperdrive). 2001 (and the movie). Fountains of Paradise. Mote in Gods Eye (passes the plausibility test, great first contact novel)
I like much of what's marketed as sf, Anne McCaffrey is my "guilty pleasure". Her early work was definitely fantasy, later moves towards sf.
My favorites are Niven, Niven/Pournelle, Piper, Clarke, Asimov, and Heinlein. Stephenson is the only modern author I've been able to read.
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So, I can see by the method of death that you're also looking forward to the new Buffy season? :)
It doesn't mean much now, it's built for the future.
My understanding of the episode where Worf saw the ST:TOS Klingons was that, for some reason, the Klingons back then altered themselves to appear less inhuman than they were.
This space for rent. Call 1-800-STEAK4U
What's pathetic is that there was MORE character development and story development (even unto having a story arc over the whole season) on Buffy than on Voyager.
Just think: if five years ago I'd told you that a show based on the movie Buffy the Vampire Slayer would have better writing than a show based on Star Trek....
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Well, somebody agrees with you- sortof.
I go to my local public library where I find books about dragons, wizards, and sword swinging heros in the "Science Fiction" category.
I find all the books about space ships, phasers, dyson spheres, time travel, etc in the "Fantasy section".
Somehow, somewhere, something went really wrong with these classifications.
These human supremacists don't want the soft liberal peace and love Federation of Kirk and the Next Generation's universe coming into fruition, and are planning to push it down a route which will leave the Earth absolute master of a million worlds.
I'm tired of all this pinko-liberal, bleeding-heart, self-abasing BS! What's wrong with being a human? It's like they're taking this whole myth that white, hetro males are responsible for all the evils in the world and are extending it into a multi-species universe where humans can only "redeem" themselves by engaging in some twisted form of self-abasement! So humans want to be in charge?? So what! Bring it on! I wish this parallel universe really did exist and I could get to it because I'm real sick of the snivelling, bleeding-heart pathetic excuses for humans we have in this one!
Signed, a disgusted, white, hetro, male!
You're using her as bait, Master!
...I'm guessing they're using Microsoft Heisenburg Compensators and the damn things are actually still in beta!
What would be seriously funny though is to see a few corporate logos pop up in the show. Like if they walked into engineering and there were a bunch of boxes stacked up in the corner with cow spots on them. Or maybe an Intel Pentium XXVI logo on the side of all the bridge stations.
Ruger
Ever heard of The Best of Both Worlds?
The Enterprise did have a borg-turned-human on board. His name is Jean-Luc Picard.
(TNG did it first, and TNG did it best. Jeri Ryan was simply added to Voyager for the horny-teen demographic.)
-- Give him Head? Be a Beacon? :P)
(If you can't figure out how to E-Mail me, Don't.
Well thats enough for now, here's to waiting for the premier to see if it's gonna occupy my attention on Wed. nights.
- A non-productive mind is with absolutely zero balance.
- AC
I agree.
In my opinion (which is a synonym for FACT), Star Trek: The Next Generation is the very best Star Trek series ever produced. The fact that Q was able to bring the series full-circle, entwining the pilot with the finale was genius.
Voyager started out "okay", but got really weak late in the second season. I never really got into Deep Space Nine, but it wasn't horrible. (Past season 3, Voyager pretty much blew. The finale was a total rehash of TNG's finale as well, which (In my opinion) cheapened and insulted the TNG finale.)
I am not optimistic about Enterprise for many reasons. If it's supposed to take place ~100 years before Kirk, why does Archer's ship look so much more advanced than the original 1701? And I can't believe they're "reportedly" starting off the series with a Mirror Universe story.
First of all, this Enterprise ship doesn't fit inside the Canon timelines *anywhere*. Secondly, the original series explored the Mirror Universe once. DS9 did it an assload of times. Now the new show is going to feature it in the PILOT?
Things do not look good. I say it's time to either give Star Trek a 10+ year sabbatical, or let the franchise die an honorable death as soon as possible.
Worf wouldn't have it any other way.
-- Give him Head? Be a Beacon? :P)
(If you can't figure out how to E-Mail me, Don't.
That reminds me of an episode of Gundam Wing. Heero Yui is crawling around an equipment conduit, and the viewer sees a panel marked, in english, "Intel Outside".
Oh, certainly. In the end, "It's The Writing, Stupid!" The vehicle only matters in that it allows the good writers to do good work. Having one alternative humanity is okay, but infinite multiple alternative humanities -- a la "Sliders" (a show that took advantage of its premise less often than "Star Trek") -- has possibilities.
I totally agree. Even if they had the best plot setup in the world, writers could still screw it up and totally miss the possible moral issues that could be explored. Conversely, they could have a crap setup for the show, and the writers could still use it to explore deep moral issues and to hold up the mirror to humanity and force ourselves to take a closer look. And I'd prefer the later to the former.
Think about it. If one alternative future can come back and mess around with the past...what's to keep any number of alternative futures from trying the same? :)
Take that one step further, and you have a very strange (and potentially intersting scenario.) Have a universe where alternate futures keep traveling back into the past to change history - and end up fighting each other. A war torn past where the futures spend more time in the past fighting each other than accomplishing thier goals. Which, of course, would end up really screwing up the future. Now that could be a bizzare premise for a book / series...
Davis Ray Sickmon, Jr - looking for something to read? Check out my three free novels at MidnightRyder.org
Khan. KHAN! KHAN! actually, that's an interesting story thread that they could dust off and examine. And it would be topical to what's happening ITRW
Of course, there's the slight problem of the Eugenics Wars of the late 1990's apparently not making the headlines...
Dyolf Knip
I argue the story of Star Trek: The Original Series is not about Kirk, it's about Spock. And from my perspective, Spock is a superhero. He can read minds. He's stronger than the average human. He has extreme intelligence and knowledge. Spock's abilities quite frequently solve the episode's problem.
Similarly Star Trek: The Next Generation has Data, even stronger than Spock. Deep Space Nine has the shapeshifter Odo. Odo is not quite as impressive as Data, so notice that Paramount has to make emergency repairs midway in the show bringing back the character of Worf, now the unbeatable fighting knight-equivalent. And Bashir has to be souped up to have extreme intelligence.
With Star Trek I The Motion Picture, Wesley in The Next Generation, and Sisko in Deep Space Nine, Paramount establishes quite a string of humans becoming gods/prophets.
And then there's Voyager. The Data character is degraded into the balding holographic Doctor. Kes is the female Wesley who eventually becomes a godlike being, only she's too wimpy to do anything before she leaves. The series is teetering on collapse when Paramount finally makes the sensible decision to return to the roots and bring in a new superhero, 7 of 9. Once again we have a figure who is stronger than the average human, knows more, and is struggling to deal with emotions.
I am frustrated by what seems to be an endless repeating cycle where Paramount continues to deny the essence of the show as being about superheroes, lets the series tank a couple of years, and then finally rescues the show by increasing the powers of the characters. I think that the claim of many fans that it takes a few years for the writers to get acclimated is a myth. The writers aren't given the raw materials to work with to produce entertaining superhero stories for the first few years, then they are authorized to use good materials, then the episodes improve. They could write a thousand stories about Harry Kim or Tom Paris or whatever vanilla characters they want and never find a groove. It's strictly a decision from above when the series is to improve, and that decision is simply whether to soup up the characters as superheroes.
As UPN was saved by adding the World Wrestling Federation's Smackdown to their lineup, maybe they can learn what makes this show successful. It's called by the wrestling fans BOOKING. Yes, it is the responsibility of the owner/promoter to make decisions to hype one wrestler over another, to promote certain wrestlers above all others for long stretches of time. The World Wrestling Federation the past two decades has been carried first by the character of Hulk Hogan, then Stone Cold Steve Austin, and now The Rock. Perhaps with careful booking in the future it will be Kurt Angle or HHH.
There is already another niche where people who are sort of ordinary interact in a tension-filled extraordinary situation. It's called reality television. It's Survivor, Big Brother, etc. Star Trek can't match that, Star Trek doesn't pretend to be giving ordinary people off the street a shot at fame and fortune. Star Trek has to create its fantasies in a different way. It has to be booked in a different fashion, to emphasize certain characters as superheroes.
I'm looking foward to a Star Trek without Picard/Janeway's preachy Prime Directive nonsense. If you look at TOS, the Prime Directive increased in its application between TOS and STTNG/DS9/Voyager. Janeway's use of the Prime Directive was so severe that I always thought of it as the "substantive interpretation of the Prime Directive" - much worse than TOS.
Anyway, if you want morality plays, I'm sure that they will have several episodes in which the well-meaning crew of the Enterprise totally screws up alien civilizations, causing the Vulcan to say "I told you so" and the Earth to adopt the Prime Directive in it's TOS form.
144l. ph34r my 133t l3g4l 5k1lz!
Theres got to be a pseudological reason for it.
The same pseudological reason that the ability for phasers to fire in a wide-beam is lost between TOS and TNG [besides dramatic effect]
Also the reason why the ships phasers can't be used to stun an entire feild of people [ again, TOS ]
Why can't the doctor be backed up in voyager [ Except, of course, for that one convienent period in "Living Witness" ]
Why haven't the borg absolutely PUMMELED earth? Past, present, or future... Get a few tactical cubes [ why do the borg need tactical cubes ] and just let earth have it once and for all.. GO BORG!
Why the enterprise-D didn't have multiple phaser emitters on the saucer rather than two large ones - it would have made more tactical sense, both/all could fire at the same time, hitting the same target! argh!
And i still stand by my idea that they should have made a few mini-movies centering around the excelsior.
P.S. I am the prototypical Simpson's "Comic Store guy".
Curse those actors for being bilaterally symetrical humanoids! That is the problem y'know; A woefull lack of non-human shaped actors.
Insanity is the last line of defence for the master diplomat. But you have to lay the groundwork early.
(Of course, we never did see the TOS bowling alley. Maybe they'll have one.)
I'd love to play with the artifiial gravity on one of those!
Jeri as Seven is rumored to be making a cameo appearance in the next (and final) TNG movie, Star Trek X:Nemesis
:) There was only ever supposed to be ONE Star Trek movie. After the apparent success of that movie, Paramount, as well as the fans, asked for another one. So Harve Bennett aid, oh, ok, one more. Then when Nick Meyer had Spock die, the fans demanded that they have another one because they wanted to see what happens next... with Star Trek III, I think they knew before they were done that there would be another one, and that Leonard Nimoy would direct it. Then William Shatner decided he wanted to direct one... Star Trek VI brought back Nick Meyer for *one more* to tie it into ST:TNG, since the fans felt that there was no natural transition between TOS, the movies and ST:TNG. Then Paramount started getting crazy ideas about making money with TNG movies.
:)
Are you *trying* to be humourous? Final? Heh. They said the same thing about Star Trek: TMP, STII:TWOK, STIV:TVH, STV:TFF and STVI: TUC.
Now, I don't think either DS9 or Star Trek: Gilligan's Island (Voyager) are strong enough to base a movie series off of. I think Enterprise is Paramount's insurance that they will be able to make more Star Trek movies, because undoubtedly this is where a LOT of revenue comes from for them. Movies spawn books, collectibles, videotapes, DVD, soundtracks etc. in a way that the series don't....there is a certain amount of luster associated with the movies that the series lack, and I'm sure Paramount realizes that.
OF course, I'm sure your just a Paramount plant spreading disinformation...
My journal has hot
Unluckly, due to lack of time I've quit reading the books for about the last 6 months or so. I also REALLY enjoyed the New Frontier series with the Excalibur and it's crew members. Think Worf was a badass security officer? The Excalibur's security officer makes him look like a pansy - the guy is made of stone (I believe the name of his race was Brikar or something like that - they are living stone creatures.) All the characters on that ship are just... strange, but cool to learn about. Plus, they also have some characters from the TNG series - Morgan Lefler (her mom is also interesting), the gal that wanted Riker's job for awhile is the first officer, and the CMO is from the TNG series.
Granted, with the ST book series there have been some real dogs. There's a couple of the TNG books that I consider to be worse than the worse TNG episodes. But all in all, you are right - the ST books in general are of higher quality, and offer the opportunity for the characters to be explored much more deeply.
For those thinking about reading any of the books, here's a 'must read' list: Vendetta, Imzadi II, the entire New Frontier series, Prime Directive, Dark Mirror, and anything Peter David writes in the different series. :-)
As for the Voyager books... well, they really don't seem to improve on the series any with some exceptions. Still not a Voyager fan (which is horrible when ya consider I think I've seen all of them. Sheesh.)
Davis Ray Sickmon, Jr - looking for something to read? Check out my three free novels at MidnightRyder.org
These evil villains are from the future and the mirror universe.
Let us all hope and pray that this visitor from a parrallel universe isn't Jar Jar.
Oh, wait, that was a long time ago. And in a galaxy far, far away.
Disconnect your television. Do your own research. Draw your own conclusions. They're probably lying. Don't be a sheep.
anyway, I'd like to see them gone, gone, gone.
The enterprise had transporters for a very simple reason: the special effects budget couldn't handle a weekly landing.
They were aware of the danger that these would be a worse plot than Commander Cleavage, and thus the comment or two about the danger of intra-ship use, etc. They seemed to have forgotten this by the time that spinoff occurred, and techno-babble became a substitute for a plot . . .
hawk
hawk
hawk
Just curious, but what did "tribbles" symbolize?
Because Captain Proton will come and kick your silly little butt! Captain Proton was the most original thing in any of the ST series, and, amazingly, it came from ST:Voyager!
Hmm - ok, well, it apparently was a very good idea after all! (Quickly jots down boot name to add to the 'to read' list ;-)
Davis Ray Sickmon, Jr - looking for something to read? Check out my three free novels at MidnightRyder.org
"modern" ST or the original series?
;-)
In the original series there was quite an attempt made at keeping rigorous science. Guys were called in from NASA etc. Experts were hired for ideas. Scripts were put through many rewrites. (and yes, I know about the "no sounds in space" thing. There was no other way.)
ST today is particle of the week space opera, of course. Originally, it was much more. Of course, Gene always used science fiction the same way he used any other medium, as a device with which to tell the story he wanted to tell, which always involved people and their stories. The weakness of modern star trek is the storytelling is all based on so-called "science fiction" as the be-all and end-all, rather than on the interactions of the characters involved in the drama.
The original series was good drama. Modern star trek is good eye candy. Now, which did you mean?
-Kasreyn
Kasreyn: Cheerfully playing the part of Devil's Advocate to hairtrigger