Who is John Harrison (Possible SPOILERS or Insane Babbling)

Discussion in 'Star Trek Movies: Kelvin Universe' started by The Green Mushroom, Dec 11, 2012.

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Who is John Harrison?

  1. A new character named John Harrison

    23.6%
  2. A new character with the psuedonym John Harrison

    14.5%
  3. Khan

    17.3%
  4. Gary Mitchell

    17.3%
  5. Harry Mudd

    2.7%
  6. Nero

    0 vote(s)
    0.0%
  7. Trelane

    0.9%
  8. Other (Please Explain)

    23.6%
  1. cooleddie74

    cooleddie74 Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    Lisbon, Portugal in DS9 was the location of a major Starfleet facility as well as part of Earth's global power grid. London is a much bigger city so perhaps major Starfleet offices and installations are there as well.
     
  2. TorontoTrekker

    TorontoTrekker Vice Admiral Admiral

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    I've been unlucky in trying to locate the individual issues of the comic, so I've been buying the books that contain two episodes each as I've been finding them, and just bought the one with "Archons" and "The Truth About Tribbles" yesterday. I was wondering whether there might be some connection. Orci (if memory serves) did originally say that Cumberbatch's character was canon, from season 1 of TOS. Landru would fit that description, and he might have a reason for using an alias (aha! Alias was another J.J. Abrams show.. ;) ). And originally, Landru was a hologram, which might explain his apparent superstrength and resilience...

    Though "Return of the Archons" was such a mediocre episode that I can't really see Abrams using it as a jumping-off point for a movie. The only thing that makes it stand out, really, is that it was the first episode in which Kirk technobabbled a computer into destroying itself.

    I did find the comic's twist on the original episode to be intriguing, though.

    In the "Archons" comic, there's a flashback to Sulu being offered a position in what is clearly implied to be Section 31, so I'd say yes, it exists. And I'm about 65% certain that the conversation Pike has, which throwback referred to above, is with someone high up in Section 31. (Otherwise, why have the Sulu flashback?)
     
  3. MarsWeeps

    MarsWeeps Fleet Captain Premium Member

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    Well, I think there would have to be a little more than that, he would at least have faked transfer orders. McCoy even mentioned that there was something not right about him before he took over the ship. I don't think he just put a TOS uniform on and popped in without question.

    Edit: Here is an amusing dialogue between Spock and McCoy talking about Norman. It's funny to see that McCoy's instincts and not Spock's logic were correct in this situation.

    (Spock and McCoy are greeted by a crewman in blue as he walks along.)
    NORMAN: Good morning, sir, Doctor.
    SPOCK: Something wrong?
    MCCOY: Yes. There's something odd about that man, and I can't quite pinpoint it.
    SPOCK: Perhaps you're making a rather hasty judgment. Mister Norman has only been aboard seventy two hours.
    MCCOY: I know when something doesn't strike me right, and he doesn't.
    SPOCK: Specifics, Doctor. Labels do not make arguments.
    MCCOY: All right. There's something wrong about a man who never smiles, whose conversation never varies from the routine of the job, and who won't talk about his background.
    SPOCK: I see.
    MCCOY: Spock, I mean that it's odd for a non-Vulcan. The ears make all the difference.
    SPOCK: I find your argument strewn with gaping defects in logic.
    MCCOY: Maybe, but you can't evaluate a man by logic alone. Besides, he has avoided two appointments that I've made for his physical exam without reason.
    SPOCK: That's not at all surprising, Doctor. He's probably terrified of your beads and rattles.
     
  4. DWF

    DWF Admiral Admiral

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    ^^One of the funnier exchanges between Spock and McMcoy. :guffaw::guffaw::guffaw::guffaw:
     
  5. Lonemagpie

    Lonemagpie Writer Admiral

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    I'm thinking actually (given the shot of the room with the stasis canister things) that at some point someone in Starfleet - or Peter Weller in his ship - found the Botany Bay, lost in space since 1996, and decided to create their *own* supermen - either with the assistance of some defrosts, or autopsies and study - and that Harrison is one of those... Weller's character is presumably the guy in charge - and either literally or conceptually Harrison's "father"
     
  6. Robert_T_April

    Robert_T_April Captain Captain

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    It could be Khan's right hand man, after a failed attempt to revive Khan. Possibly the sole survivor of the Botany Bay in a discovery that was botched and then covered over by Starfleet...

    It could also be Garth of Izar who years earlier could have still been locked away due to circumstances I'm sure will be explained in a way that makes sense in this alternate timeline.
     
  7. DalekJim

    DalekJim Fleet Captain Fleet Captain

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    John Harrison is an entirely new character.

    And by that I mean that he appears to have the exact same character traits as the crappy villain in the previous movie. Another vengeance-filled cliche running around with a doomsday machine.
     
  8. Trajet

    Trajet Commander Red Shirt

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    Probably roughly the same things that are important about London in the 21st century. It's been described as the world's cultural capital, is the world's most visited city, and is the joint most important of the world's leading economic hubs alongside NYC. Star Trek depicts a very Western-centric view of the future, so I'd say those attributes would make London a pretty tempting target for terrorism, especially if John Harrison's goal is bringing the Earth, and not just Starfleet, to its knees.
     
    Last edited: Dec 26, 2012
  9. intrinsical

    intrinsical Commodore Commodore

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    is there any possibility that John Harrison is an agent of Section 31?
     
  10. Will Riker

    Will Riker Ensign Newbie

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    I think this could be heading in the right direction. I'm wondering though if the "pods" or "coffins" we saw in the teaser are Khan's enhanced "family" that are essentially being held hostage. If John Harrison doesn't work for Starfleet, then they will disconnect power from the pods and kill his family. Weller finds the BB adrift in space and realizes their potential.
     
  11. dcbpe

    dcbpe Lieutenant Commander Red Shirt

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    After reading 13 pages of this thread, I'm not too surprised to see that no one watched Season 4 of Enterprise. It was cancelled after all...but it is still canon, and it is pre-Nero timeline changes.

    Peter Weller is playing John Fredrick Paxton, a disciple of Colonel Green and former leader of Terra Prime. Go ahead, check Memory Alpha. John Harrison...who was an actual TOS crew member as someone else already pointed out...is somehow related to Paxton. I'm not sure how.

    JJ Abrams is too good to rehash TWOK or WNMHGB. He is too good to not know that Weller has already played a Trek villain, tied to another unexplored Trek villain. Frankly, Paxton got 2 canon episodes (Demons and Terra Prime) versus Khan's 1 (Space Seed) so there is more material to work with. JJ is also too good to notice that these were the last 2 ST:ENT episodes before that disgusting debacle in the Holodeck which ended what had become a promising show so horribly wrong.

    JJ is also very good at providing allusions to every other famous villain for us to salivate about. Releasing scenes like the WNMHGB-esque brig shot or the TWOK "the needs of the many" are just Abrams' own way of running a Corbomite Maneuver on us.

    IMHO, of course.

    EDIT: BTW, I love the Garth of Izar theory. After all, with the Nero timeline changes the Enterprise wouldn't be near Elba II to stop the jailbreak. Perhaps JJ should follow that one in his third installment.
     
  12. cooleddie74

    cooleddie74 Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    I watched Season 4 of Enterprise and religiously, so thanks for lumping everybody together into one convenient category. It's not John Frederick Paxton. The man was middle aged in the 2150s and would be about 140 or 150 years old in the time of the new movie. The occasional Admiral Archer or Leonard McCoy here and there across almost half a century of Trek does not a regular occurrence make nor should it. Having so many human beings live to extraordinary ages stops being poignant and entertaining after a while and becomes a boring, lazy cliche.

    Sure, I suppose Paxton did prison time back on Earth for the Terra Prime attacks seen in ENT and could have always been put in cryogenic suspension at some unspecified later date, but we've seen no evidence that a villain from the prequel series is going to be in the film. Peter Weller is simply playing another role the way James Cromwell did when he came back to the franchise to portray Zefram Cochrane (a lot of people seem to forget that Cromwell actually made three or four other guest appearances in Trek before he was signed to be in FIRST CONTACT in 1996).

    It's not Paxton. It's not the same guy.
     
  13. SalvorHardin

    SalvorHardin Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    We've watched s4 of Enterprise.
    It's just that nobody believes Weller will play the same character.
     
  14. M'Sharak

    M'Sharak Definitely Herbert. Maybe. Moderator

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    Or you could do a forum search right here for "Paxton" and find that he was brought up and discussed not a little in the thread about the announcement of Weller's casting, as well as in several other threads between that time and now. Further, you'd find that Paxton also got mentions in threads from well before Weller's involvement was known, including one dated prior to the 2009 movie's release.
     
  15. Lonemagpie

    Lonemagpie Writer Admiral

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    Exactly. Unless you also believe that, for example, St John Talbot, Chancellor Gorkon, and Gul Madred were in fact all the same person after some genetic surgery.
     
  16. dcbpe

    dcbpe Lieutenant Commander Red Shirt

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    I appreciate the snarky retorts, and enjoy reading the discussion. :techman:

    I should have done a forum search, 'tis true. I've been off-BBS for quite a long time and this is the only thread I read before my post.

    JJ is gonna get my $$$ no matter who is right on this one...but I will eat my ticket stub if I'm wrong. AND I'll be really disappointed in him if he picks an obvious villain like Khan or Mitchell. About as much as I was when he obliterated Vulcan, but not so much that I'll wait for the BlueRay.

    I also hated Cromwell as Cochrane, because he looked nothing like Glenn Corbett. I wasn't a huge fan of TNG, so I was unaware he played Minister Nayak until I just looked it up. I don't much care if the actor plays multiple parts with lots of makeup, but it really wrecks things for me if the same actor is used in a recognizable manner for multiple parts. But that is beside the point of the thread...

    Weller had to be convinced to play Paxton; I'd be hard pressed to think he would be willing to play someone else in the Trek universe. No offense to myself, I think he would be a slave to canon. He's a history professor, after all.

    And admittedly I wouldn't mind to see some sort of homage to ENT. That show sucked for 3 years and then they cancelled it when it was finally getting good. It deserved better, but that is also beside the point of this thread...
     
    Last edited: Dec 26, 2012
  17. SalvorHardin

    SalvorHardin Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    I don't remember what it took to get Weller on Enterprise, but that was a failing tv show.
    This is a big budget blockbuster with big names in the business behind it. I'm guessing it would be easier to convince Weller to sign on for that.
     
  18. dcbpe

    dcbpe Lieutenant Commander Red Shirt

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    True enough.

    (He signed a deal to direct 2 Season 5 episodes of ENT, that was his price. He signed it the day before ENT was cancelled. Per Memory Alpha...)
     
  19. Admiral Buzzkill

    Admiral Buzzkill Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    Post video, please.

    It's not Paxton.
     
  20. Cyrus

    Cyrus Vice Admiral Admiral

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    It's either Khan or Daimon Bok.

    My money is on Khan.