A Small Change to Broken Bow Could've Been Huge Controversy

[USS Triumphant]

If "Broken Bow" had been "Riverside" (with the corresponding location change for the Klingon/Suliban chase) and instead of Suliban chasing Klaang, Klaang had been chasing the Suliban for something they had already done, the fandom would have been debating what possible changes the Suliban had already made to the timeline from the premiere onward - the arguments would probably STILL be going on. Thoughts?

 

[Melakon]

Was this an early draft, or your own idea? I've not heard of that premise.

 

[USS Triumphant]

Was this an early draft, or your own idea? I've not heard of that premise.

My own idea. I feel like it would have served two purposes: it would have let people know right away that the new show was off of the rails from previous Trek, and it would have spurred debate on whether or not the changes included anything about Captain Kirk's birth.

 

[Go-Captain]

Was this an early draft, or your own idea? I've not heard of that premise.

My own idea. I feel like it would have served two purposes: it would have let people know right away that the new show was off of the rails from previous Trek, and it would have spurred debate on whether or not the changes included anything about Captain Kirk's birth.

The producers didn't want a new timeline, despite some bad decisions, and skirting things much too closely. Their intention was for everything to fit with what we already saw.

Unless you just mean you want the audience to know things are very weird. In that case, the implication of more history for the Suliban makes sense. We get that history gradually, but if they messed with the Klingons, and possibly had been doing so for a while, then I believe you are right. It would show the Suliban are not only active in many ways, but are either strong or reckless. It also makes the conflict a lot broader than just a beef with humans, which makes the whole setup more interesting.

It could also have been interesting for early Human and Klingon contact to be not all that bad thanks to a mutual enemy, but for it to gradually fall apart due subtle and direct Suliban interference.

 

[Michael]

I'd say a reference to Kirk's birthplace would have been way too subtle to be picked up by the audience. And I'm saying that as a life-long Star Trek fanatic. Maybe I'm just not as good with trivia as I've thought, but to be honest, "Riverside" didn't ring a bell with me when I read it in your post.

Plus, I don't like how that change would make Kirk (once again) the center of the Star Trek universe, when in the original he was just another heroic Starfleet captain amoung probably many. Star Trek is way too Kirk-centric already.

 

[Bry_Sinclair]

An interesting idea.

One small change I would've loved to have seen was omit the Klingons from ENT entirely, replacing Klaang with Shran. But that's just me.

 

[Psion]

I've always operated under the assumption that Enterprise took place in the aftermath of the events depicted in the movie First Contact. That is, it was already an altered timeline brought on by the visit of the Enterprise-E to Cochrane's era. Cochrane had glimpses of a 24th century starship and his assistant crawled around in the guts of that same vessel. This influenced Cochranes theories about warp drive, and also changed the appearance and name of the NX-01.

The "Temporal Cold War" involving the Suliban, Daniels, and others was, in fact, triggered by the failed Borg effort to re-write history by assimilating 21st century Earth.

I also toy with the idea that these changes continued on into the 23rd century and lead directly to Abram's universe prior to the arrival of Nero's ship.

 

[JWPlatt]

...I don't like how that change would make Kirk (once again) the center of the Star Trek universe...

But he is, like it or not. If there is, or should be, an anchor or pivot point in all of Star Trek lore, he's it.

 

[M.A.C.O.]

Not really controversial, but these probably rubbed people the wrong way back in 2001.

[yt]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=unQyNRApr4s[/yt]
[yt]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oQLEoGGMz5Y[/yt]

 

[Dukhat]

I've always operated under the assumption that Enterprise took place in the aftermath of the events depicted in the movie First Contact. That is, it was already an altered timeline brought on by the visit of the Enterprise-E to Cochrane's era. Cochrane had glimpses of a 24th century starship and his assistant crawled around in the guts of that same vessel. This influenced Cochranes theories about warp drive, and also changed the appearance and name of the NX-01.

I've heard this theory before. However, there's a problem with it: based on what we actually saw in FC, it's doubtful that without the Starfleeters' help, Cochrane would even have made his flight at all. He's shown not only to have no real reason to do so, but that he actually hates flying. And he's inebriated almost 100% of the time. And he's a big freaking coward. The only reason why he ended up doing so, and in the specific time it happened (for the passing Vulcan ship to notice it), was because Picard's crew basically forced him to to "preserve" the timeline...the implication being that this was the "real" timeline all along. Which is why the Enterprise-E returned to its own time in the Prime universe, not some other, parallel universe based on their actions in the past, a la Marty McFly and the sports almanac disaster.

I've also heard the theory that the mirror universe was actually the "real" unaltered timeline where the Borg and the Ent-E didn't go back through time, based on the scene with Cochrane (who presumably never met the Ent-E crew) blowing away the Vulcan guy with a shotgun. Don't even get me started on that stupidity. Not only would Cochrane have no reason to murder someone in cold blood who was absolutely unthreatening (or would have the balls to do it anyway), but he would probably have just given the guy a beer instead of a belly full of lead. Plus, the montage of opening credits in "IAMD" shows that the Terran Empire existed long before Cochrane.

 

[DarKush]

An interesting idea.

One small change I would've loved to have seen was omit the Klingons from ENT entirely, replacing Klaang with Shran. But that's just me.

Yes! I've had the same idea. I think they should not even have had the Klingons on the show. A lot of that stuff could have been done with an initially hostile and warlike Andorian Empire that becomes an ally over the course of the show. I think it would've helped Enterprise stand more apart from the other Treks yet allowed them the opportunity to flesh out one of the major Trek races.

 

[Merlanthe]

I've heard this theory before. However, there's a problem with it: based on what we actually saw in FC, it's doubtful that without the Starfleeters' help, Cochrane would even have made his flight at all. He's shown not only to have no real reason to do so, but that he actually hates flying. And he's inebriated almost 100% of the time. And he's a big freaking coward. The only reason why he ended up doing so, and in the specific time it happened (for the passing Vulcan ship to notice it), was because Picard's crew basically forced him to to "preserve" the timeline...the implication being that this was the "real" timeline all along. Which is why the Enterprise-E returned to its own time in the Prime universe, not some other, parallel universe based on their actions in the past, a la Marty McFly and the sports almanac disaster.

.

Your forgetting to take into account that chochrane had help in the form of lily who was a lot more sensible and motivated and would have been there to keep him on track and make sure he wasn't too inebriated

She spends most of first contact on the enterprise helping Picard with his problems but if the Timeline had run how it was supposed to without interference from the Borg or enterprise crew then she would have been by cochrane's side helping him.

Also it was Riker and Geordie etc going on about cochrane's glorious future that made him have a cowardly turn and try to run and hide from it. Without them he would have seen his upcoming flight as just a money making venture that would make him rich and would have had no problem going through with it so long as he had a little Dutch courage and lily by his side.