What if the starship Enterprise, just after the TOS episode, "Catspaw", was destroyed by an unidentified vessel, with all hands onboard her? What would the Federation react to this?
What if the Enterprise was destroyed by an unidentified vessel?
- Thread starter CaptainJordan
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Starfleet would order another ship to warp 10 around the sun to inform Enterprise and have it warp ahead into the post-Catspaw era, for further adventures and derring-do.
But you do bring up an interesting point and that is, when we see Bones, for example, struck with a terminal illness, or Spock going completely blind, it is kind of hard to feel overly 'concerned' about it, when we 'know' the cast isn't going anywhere and that these characters all live to ripe, old ages.
The Life or Death drama doesn't really cut it. They almost shouldn't even bother going there. Even at the time, I mean ... unless it was common knowledge, that Nimoy or Shatner wanted to quit the series, how could their characters facing death be taken seriously? The season's not even up, yet ...
But you do bring up an interesting point and that is, when we see Bones, for example, struck with a terminal illness, or Spock going completely blind, it is kind of hard to feel overly 'concerned' about it, when we 'know' the cast isn't going anywhere and that these characters all live to ripe, old ages.
The Life or Death drama doesn't really cut it. They almost shouldn't even bother going there. Even at the time, I mean ... unless it was common knowledge, that Nimoy or Shatner wanted to quit the series, how could their characters facing death be taken seriously? The season's not even up, yet ...
But back then we didn't know they were going to live to ripe old ages did we, 2takes?
JB
JB
Likely no differently than they did with other ships they lost. Send someone to investigate and try to learn from what went wrong.
Then there'd only be another eleven like it in the fleet as well!
JB
JB
Well ... not "know," exactly
... not as such.
Followed by the next edpisode started with: "Space the final frontier. These are the voyages of the starship Discovery."....
Then I guess Fred Freiberger wouldn't have been hired to produce the 3rd season since every one of TOS stars would have been dead. 
We get to see exactly what Starfleet would do every time the Enterprise is ordered to investigate what happened to another Federation ship.
Sulu: Captain, we've been destroyed by an unidentified vessel."
Kirk: "Do you know what this means?
McCoy: "We're dead Jim."
But would that eleven include the new hero ship?
Or would it be eleven plus the new hero ship?
Ten because the first one sent to find The Enterprise went missing as well! 
JB
JB
Note: since "Catspaw" was the first episode shot for season two, we'll have to use production order to come up with the way it would have been:
Well, actually, it would have probably have been "... these are the voyages of the Starship Constellation..." (voiced by William Windom). A few episodes after that began, it would have been "these are the voyages of the Starship Exeter...." (voiced by Morgan Woodward).
Then, some time after that, "Star Trek has been canceled. Please stop writing those darn* letters, they're all dead now!" (voiced by the guy on NBC who voiced the 'the following show is brought to you in living color on NBC").
*This was the sixties, after all. Think NBC Broadcast Standards would have let him say 'damn' on the air?
You could say that about most shows though, but it's still fun to see how exactly they'll get out of the situation. I can't think of many surprise deaths on a TV show that I've watched. Usually when a known character gets killed off the network will try to milk it for ratings by promoting it as an event and heavily publicize that "somebody is going to die", but keeping it secret just who that somebody is. Unless something like that is happening, or it's a season/series finale, I usually assume the character will survive. That doesn't stop it from being entertaining though, and you get some character development by seeing how they face death, the way it affects those around them, etc.
That whole bit about "how we face death" being some test of character, or another, I'm not too sure about. Bones noted in "Bread & Circuses" Spock's willingness to die for almost any cause. When Spock finally does give up the ghost in TWoK, are we really surprised that it is he who makes the Ultimate Sacrifice, like Marvin the Manically Depressed Robot did in his particular series? No, of course not. Kirk, of course, often used the ship's Self Destruct as a bluff to get his way in many an episode ... more than his share, in fact. So, he was rather wreckless with both his existence and that of his crew's, in that sense.
... I don't really buy that whole Test of Character argument. When The Grim Reaper comes to call in STAR TREK, it's for dramatic effect, only. It's very much "of the moment," though there have been rare exceptions: Yar's death was a touchstone in TNG and had some notable effects, particularly in being given an opportunity to die for a more noble purpose in a Time Space Warp thingy.
Spock's death was significant in its comedic offerings starting with TVH and just went on from there. Curiously enough, Kirk's own death was rather contained, as there were no repercussions of any kind, except for The Shat, himself, of course. He miscalculated his importance to the franchise. That all he ever had to do was be available to star and they would beg to have him involved in the project. Outside of those kinds of examples, as I say, death doesn't really have much meaning in STAR TREK, especially.
... I don't really buy that whole Test of Character argument. When The Grim Reaper comes to call in STAR TREK, it's for dramatic effect, only. It's very much "of the moment," though there have been rare exceptions: Yar's death was a touchstone in TNG and had some notable effects, particularly in being given an opportunity to die for a more noble purpose in a Time Space Warp thingy.
Spock's death was significant in its comedic offerings starting with TVH and just went on from there. Curiously enough, Kirk's own death was rather contained, as there were no repercussions of any kind, except for The Shat, himself, of course. He miscalculated his importance to the franchise. That all he ever had to do was be available to star and they would beg to have him involved in the project. Outside of those kinds of examples, as I say, death doesn't really have much meaning in STAR TREK, especially.
As I said, I was talking about shows/characters in general because you can say the same thing about many shows. Though I'd say it still provides us some character development in Trek, especially in the "way it affects those around them" department. Even though Spock's death in TWoK is pretty pointless, since they bring him back, we see how it affects the other characters and the lengths they'd go to to bring him back. I didn't say it was some profound test of character, just character development for an imaginary character. Sometimes it's well done and sometimes not. In some instances death carries more weight than others, the writing can be uneven at times. And I don't see what the noble cause was in Yar's death, she was just murdered by a pool of tar and they made it an issue to point out how senseless it was.
Yar's death in Skin of Evil was pointless, yes, but she was oft referenced, for one thing. As with Data, since he had known her ... in the Biblical sense. This fact even came to light during the judgement made on Data's Right to Choose. Even in death, Yar proved herself useful in helpfully illustrating Data's Humanity. Then, of course, she's given a 2nd chance for a noble death in Yesterday's Enterprise. And then, there was Sela ... as the latest expression of Yar's narrative, who informs us that - once again - Yar meets a tragic end, in the form of a Romulan execution.
Interestingly enough, Bones and Scotty both died in TOS, but their deaths never received another mention. Wait ... that's not true. TAS brings it up, as I recall. I believe the cartoon revisited the "Shore Leave" planet to exploit that TOS episode's imaginative approach towards episodic television. Then, in TVH, Bones neglects to remind Spock that he also died and could, in fact, discuss the subject of having died and returned to life, with him.
Interestingly enough, Bones and Scotty both died in TOS, but their deaths never received another mention. Wait ... that's not true. TAS brings it up, as I recall. I believe the cartoon revisited the "Shore Leave" planet to exploit that TOS episode's imaginative approach towards episodic television. Then, in TVH, Bones neglects to remind Spock that he also died and could, in fact, discuss the subject of having died and returned to life, with him.
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