Nah, I don't think so. V'Las wasn't smart enough to operate that way. And FG lived in, what, the 29th century? (Personally, I think FG was Braxton. Think about it... )
Well, what Daniels asserted was that Future Guy was from a culture/era that didn't have actual time travel, just time communication. Archer surmised that was why Silik was sent to get Vosk's time corridor technology in "Storm Front." Then again, Silik never confirmed Archer's assumption. And Daniels made some rather extravagant claims to Archer about the future (building time machines in grade school? Seriously?), so I wouldn't put too much faith in his integrity...
Sadly a lot of what Daniels said didn't make much sense, and he contradicted himself a few times (like implying Earth wasn't there any more by the 31st century, and then freaking out when Earth, his base of operations, was destroyed in "Shockwave"). Some of that can be explained by saying that we actually saw a few different Daniels', from various alternate possible futures, but that doesn't hold up too well since the Daniels' all knew Archer and the past dealings the two had had. If only the Enterprise people had come up with a "Temporal Cold War Bible" and worked from that rather than throwing out random contradictory titbits about the future(s) that sound cool at the time. They didn't even come up an identity for Future Guy beyond "he was probably Romulan", and often the time travel paradoxes in the show made zero sense whatsoever. It'll be interesting to see what Christopher comes up with in DTI.
I mean no offense with my next comments, as you're certainly entitled to your opinion. But I completely, totally and utterly disagree with you in every respect, and I think your opinion would be in the minority around here among Enterprise fans, especially those who really enjoyed the last two seasons of the show. I can't wait for the next Romulan War book to be announced! Hopefully, we'll learn more at the San Diego con next month. Besides, 'fanwank' in Trekdom (not sure if you used the term or someone else) is one of those definite 'eye of the beholder' sorts of things. As for myself, I hope one of the next Enterprise novels uses Doug Drexler's awesome 'refit' NX design on the cover and in the storyline. It's something Drexler was working on for a Season 5 of the show, if it had happened. Does anyone else think it would make a smart Rom War-time upgrade of the embattled NX series ships? http://drexfiles.wordpress.com/2010/04/25/nx-01-refit-diagram/
I don't think it was something he was actually formally working on for season 5. My impression is that his use of "Season Five refit" is more hypothetical than anything else, and that it's his own personal wish for what he would've liked to do in a season 5, rather than something the producers were actually planning on doing. Or maybe it was something he pitched to them but was left unresolved.
Good point, Christopher. That may be the case. In any case, I think it's a pretty great upgrade -- a nice in-between step to bridge the two eras. I'd love to see it on the cover of an Enterprise relaunch book eventually.
I like the NX class just as it is. Why can't people just accept that Earth Starfleet was but one predecessor of our beloved Federation Starfleet? Maybe Earth had it's own design plans but entering the Federation changed all that. Earth tech doesn't have to be the last word on everything. Surely the Vulcans, Andorians and Tellarites contributed something other than signatures on the Federation Charter? Seriously, you can use the administrative chaos of forming the Federation Starfleet as a serious reset lever.
Feel free to disagree - and no need to apologize. I get the differing opinions thing. I personally think what it comes down to for me is that I have a hard time with M&M's writing. As I mentioned in another thread recently, it seems really juvenile and shallow to me and I really would want much more depth from a war series. I'm looking for "Rocks and Shoals" or "In the Pale Moonlight" quality stories (both from DS9) and getting mediocre stories with fanwank (it may or may not have been me using that term previously - I do use it on occasion) like Trip Tucker getting "resurrected". I loved the 4th season of Enterprise and thought it was really headed in the right direction, finally (not so much with the third season), and while TATV was a garbage episode, I'm of the very strong opinion that when you kill a character, they should stay dead or it completely negates the threat of death in these stories.
Sure, haven't you read "Calvin & Hobbes"? Just write "Time Machine" in felt pen on the side of a large, cardboard refrigerator box.
As I've said before, I don't think that idea is the least bit inconsistent with this hypothetical "fifth-season" refit, because it's a refit that occurs after the formation of the Coalition of Planets. So there's no reason to assume it's exclusively an Earth design.
When does the end of Romulan War happen in the relation to the birth of the Federation? Is there enough time for more stories, or do the two events pretty much happen back-to-back? I was under the impression that it was the latter.
According to a newspaper clipping (one of those "you need to pause, have HD and zoom in" things that really shouldn't be treated as gospel) in Generations the war ended October 2160 (at least I think it was October). The Federation is formed some time in 2161. Although as far as I can tell (outside the novel-verse) the 2155 Coalition is the Federation and all they did was change the name.
Yeah, that's actually something else I've been curious about, if they're just going to change the name or if there will actually be some noticeable differences between the Coalition and the Federation.
Well, for one thing, the memberships are different, aren't they? The Coalition as established in ENT had more members than Earth, Vulcan, Alpha Centauri, Tellar, and Andoria. As seen in "Demons"/"Terra Prime," it also included Denobula, Coridan, Rigel, and possibly a few others. Of course, those become member worlds later, but aren't among the canonical founders of the UFP.