Did B&B Avoid the Romulan War Altogether?

[VulcanMindBlown]

It seems like they did, considering the photonics torpedoes on ships, and These Are the Voyages episode seem to be without the impact of any war in 2161.

By "B&B," I meant Brandon Braga and Rick Berman. No, I am not trying to start any flame wars, but it seemed to be a key event that went over their heads.

 

[Shikarnov]

I think it was probably a deliberate choice, rather than something they overlooked, and for multiple reasons.

Firstly, DS9 brought us five seasons of war (a bit more if you count the end of Season Two), and B&B probably felt that was more than enough for the franchise. Frankly speaking, I do agree with that.

Secondly, the way Romulans were introduced in TOS, as being a largely unknown race that nobody had ever seen until Spock hacked the bird-of-prey's bridge monitor, would be a fairly dull adversary -- a bit like the Borg. It just doesn't make for good storytelling beyond a few episodes. I think this is probably why they decided to introduce the Xindi instead.

Off topic, given how critical the Vulcans were of Enterprises mission -- to the point of nearly getting it canceled after its first year out in space (Shockwave I and II) -- it might have been interesting to see how they'd behave when Earth found itself in a full fledged war with the Romulans.

 

[F. King Daniel]

I think the idea was to save it for a movie - the unmade Star Trek: The Beginning. Film synopsis here http://www.aintitcool.com/node/34635

 

[Willow]

I think it was probably a deliberate choice, rather than something they overlooked, and for multiple reasons.

Firstly, DS9 brought us five seasons of war (a bit more if you count the end of Season Two), and B&B probably felt that was more than enough for the franchise. Frankly speaking, I do agree with that.

Secondly, the way Romulans were introduced in TOS, as being a largely unknown race that nobody had ever seen until Spock hacked the bird-of-prey's bridge monitor, would be a fairly dull adversary -- a bit like the Borg. It just doesn't make for good storytelling beyond a few episodes. I think this is probably why they decided to introduce the Xindi instead.

Off topic, given how critical the Vulcans were of Enterprises mission -- to the point of nearly getting it canceled after its first year out in space (Shockwave I and II) -- it might have been interesting to see how they'd behave when Earth found itself in a full fledged war with the Romulans.

Have you read the relaunch books that deal with the Romulan War? Very interesting how the Vulcans reacted.

 

[Shikarnov]

I started a couple of them, but just couldn't get into the stories. It's a problem I have with a lot of Trek novelizations after the 90s

 

[T'Arwen]

When it comes to TATV, pretty much everything from season 4 went over their heads. With Trip's death, they didn't take into account the key event where he McGyvered his way out of Terra Prime's prison in the PREVIOUS EPISODE. I don't think they made a bad story on purpose but they were extremely negligent. Would it be that hard to ask Manny Coto what happened last season? And spoilers are easy to Google.

 

[VulcanMindBlown]

Have you read the relaunch books that deal with the Romulan War? Very interesting how the Vulcans reacted.

They were pretty interesting, Shikarnov. Manny Coto made the 4th Season interesting and it respected canon.

When it comes to TATV, pretty much everything from season 4 went over their heads. With Trip's death, they didn't take into account the key event where he McGyvered his way out of Terra Prime's prison in the PREVIOUS EPISODE. I don't think they made a bad story on purpose but they were extremely negligent. Would it be that hard to ask Manny Coto what happened last season? And spoilers are easy to Google.

You mean him escaping from the Terra Prime complex? Why would they be extremely neglect? Do you mean ask Manny Coto what happened to Trip? What spoilers?

 

[T'Arwen]

You mean him escaping from the Terra Prime complex? Why would they be extremely neglect? Do you mean ask Manny Coto what happened to Trip? What spoilers?

Yes, I mean Trip's escape. By spoilers, I mean events from season 4. If you come bank to a show to do a friggin FINALE, don't you think maybe what happened in the MOST recent season might be important? But as you already know, TATV ignores what happened in the previous episode, not to mention a whole season. If Trip makes a clever escape 1 episode and dies so stupidly the next, it means they ruined the character to serve the plot. How do you not see anything negligent in that? Some people thought B&B wrote TATV to deliberately piss off fans. I don't think so but I doubt they wrote it with any knowledge of season 4. And that's just ENT. TATV is also wildly inconsistent with the Pegasus. How much thought do you think they put into their "valentine" for the fans?

 

[somebuddyX]

I remember being disappointed by the lack of the Romulan War but for a different reason. Originally I'd expected the show to be set in 2161 with a fledgling UFP and Starfleet and the Romulan War was already over. Aside from one scene showing the Battle of Cheron in the pilot, where a fleet of Human and Vulcan ships repelled the Romulan force, I thought it should be a background detail like the Earth-Minbari War was to Babylon 5. Looking back at the series as a whole I am not disappointed that they didn't delve into it but I think if the show went on we might have seen the beginning of the war at some point.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

Aside from one scene showing the Battle of Cheron in the pilot

Eh?

 

[DonIago]

I believe sumbuddyx was suggesting that such a scene should have been included in the opening credits to indicate that the war had occurred prior to the series.

 

[somebuddyX]

I believe sumbuddyx was suggesting that such a scene should have been included in the opening credits to indicate that the war had occurred prior to the series.

Yeah something like that. what i was meaning was that in a hypothetical series that had a similar premise to Enterprise, I would have had set it post-romulan wars, except for one scene in a pilot episode where we saw the last battle that ended the war (at the time I was probably thinking of how DS9 had the Battle of Wolf 359 in it's pilot episode). I should have been more clear and probably stayed more on topic with my comment.

 

[Commander Richard]

I think the idea was to save it for a movie - the unmade Star Trek: The Beginning. Film synopsis here http://www.aintitcool.com/node/34635

Right. Have the show set 10 years before the founding of the Federation. That way you have 7 seasons of show followed by some movies about the war.

 

[wayoung]

I always imagined that the higher up Vulcans always knew the Romulans were an offshoot race and that the two species were in a cold war. The Romulan War was Romulus striking at a new, weak Vulcan ally to prevent increased Vulcan influence. Then the Vulcan would be supplying the Humans with technology (such as shields beyond human capacity to counteract superior Romulans weaponry) and supplies but avoiding direct conflict. Think Vietnam or Afghanistan.

Wholly unsupported by canon, but still my preferred take on it

 

[Saul]

I thought the romulans were their ace card like the borg in Voyager and they would eventually get around to doing them in the series. Season 2 seemed to hint at the Romulans coming but with the failure of Star Trek Nemesis and the less than stellar ratings of Enterprise they decided to retool the show for season 3 and add a new kewl alien race. Thus the Romulan idea was saved for a movie trilogy that also never got off the ground.

I think the best chance they had of doing the romulan war was at the end of season 2. The romulans should have attacked earth.

 

[USS Triumphant]

Maybe the Romulan War never happened on/after Enterprise? In the original history, they went to war with Earth, but maybe on Enterprise, they saw Earth get attacked by the Xindi and said, yeah, okay, we were ready to take on Earth, but we're not sure we're ready to take on these other guys who'll be po'ed if we step in the middle of their intentions on Earth. Plus, the Terran Starfleet has focused on the area of space toward the Delphic Expanse rather than "invading" Romulan space, so the Praetor doesn't have that to stir his people up. So instead they're using their resources sneaking around messing with psychic Andorians and such and trying to arrange things so that when an opportunity presents itself to with the Andorians or the Tellarites or whomever, they'll be well set up to do it, politically. No war with Earth.

 

[eyeresist]

I always imagined that the higher up Vulcans always knew the Romulans were an offshoot race and that the two species were in a cold war. The Romulan War was Romulus striking at a new, weak Vulcan ally to prevent increased Vulcan influence. Then the Vulcan would be supplying the Humans with technology (such as shields beyond human capacity to counteract superior Romulans weaponry) and supplies but avoiding direct conflict. Think Vietnam or Afghanistan.

Interesting. It would certainly expand the "Vulcans are bastards" aspect of Star Trek.

 

[ChristopherPike]

The impression Season 4's Andorian/Romulan trilogy leaves behind, is that they would be attacking Starfleet with many more of those drone-ships. Which while a very relevant and contemporary means of fighting a war, isn't the approach fans would necessarily want to see. Even without face-to-face communication, they'd want that game of chess between two enemies who are present on the same battlefield as it were. Rather than one on a submarine in space, and another sat comfortably in a chair tugging at a joystick in no danger whatsoever. It was a shame if they never showed those 22nd Century Birds of Prey again, even if continuity had already been bent by Suliban stealth camouflage, quickly coined cloaks.

 

[VulcanMindBlown]

Thus the Romulan idea was saved for a movie trilogy that also never got off the ground.

What are you referring to?

 

[eyeresist]

The impression Season 4's Andorian/Romulan trilogy leaves behind, is that they would be attacking Starfleet with many more of those drone-ships.

I don't know about that. The fact that they need psychic Andorians to operate them would seem to limit their practical possibilities. Although I guess Romulans (and Remans) have some psychic abilities as a result of their relationship to Vulcans.