Enterpriserules said:
I am sorry but I think that that is preposterous. Pike is a human and therefore would know human history.
I never said he didn't
know human history. I just said there was no reason to assume that the subject of any given historical figure necessarily had to
come up in the course of the story. I'm sure you know about a lot of historical figures that you don't generally spend a lot of time talking or reminiscing about as you go through your life.
Archer was one of the most important humans in that history. He is up there with Cochrane, MacAruthor, Washington, Julius Caesar, and so many others.
True, but I don't hear you complaining that Pike didn't think about Cochrane, MacArthur, Washington or Caesar.
Everyone in TNG knew about Kirk and the way his crew had saved the universe, I do not think that it is a stretch to say that Pike would have looked up to Archer and his crew.
"Saved the universe?" Okay, that's getting into hyperbole. I don't recall anyone saying that about Kirk in TNG. And there were only a very few instances where Kirk came up -- "The Naked Now," "Unification," "Relics,"
Generations. Most of the time, the TNG crew went through their lives and adventures without talking or thinking about James T. Kirk. That doesn't mean they weren't aware of him or didn't appreciate his importance; it just meant that their knowledge of history was just one factor in their lives and didn't play a role in every single experience they had.
So yeah, sure, of course it makes sense that Pike knew about Archer and respected him. That doesn't mean the fact somehow
had to be mentioned in the novel. I'm sure he respected Albert Einstein and Surak too, but I don't hear you complaining about their exclusion.
I understand what you guys are saying, I just think that Archer and his crew are important enough for a mention. In TNG, Kirk and his crew are referenced and they are about 80 years in the past.
Of course they're important, and they have indeed been mentioned in a number of 23rd- and 24th-century books -- just not in this particular one. As I mentioned above, Kirk was only mentioned in four or five TNG episodes/films out of over 180 -- that's less than three percent. I'm sure Archer has been mentioned in more than three percent of the 23rd- and 24th-century Trek novels that have come out in the past five years -- probably much more. I suspect it would be hard to find a recent non-ENT Trek novel that doesn't include at least some passing reference to Archer or Tucker or Hoshi Sato or Shran or the Xindi or some element from ENT. So there are already plenty of references throughout the literature -- what's the big deal if this one book doesn't have one?