Federation Captain?

[STIntergalactic]

Holytomato said:Having Robert April in the movie would be sweet.

That would totally be the sweetness. Even if he is not in the film...I just hope that there's nothing said that might exclude him from existance. Like saying that Pike was the first captain, or something

 

[Timo]

Frankly, I see zero motivation for the makers of the film to actively contradict anything from previous Trek in any way.

Why on/off Earth would they wish to change some detail of Trek pseudohistory when 99.99% of the audience doesn't care about that either way? The change would not benefit the 0.01% that cares, and the 99.99% would never notice.

The visual look may need to be modified to cater to modern tastes (although I think that would be a gross mistake, because "modern" looks ill fit science fiction and become dated in a matter of months anyway, while "dated" looks generally are cool and exotic). But there is no dramatic need to alter any of Kirk's backstory, because that backstory as told in TOS is extremely sketchy to begin with. Nor is there a need to alter the backstory of NCC-1701, because that's even sketchier.

If the choice comes to

a) mention April
b) leave open the possibility of April
c) insist that there was no April

, who is going to defend c? Surely the movie won't have to rotate around the first captain of NCC-1701, so why deliberately make the choice c when b is so much easier?

Timo Saloniemi

 

[cooleddie74]

^
Well, Roddenberry always demanded and said that April was canon even if he never appeared on-screen save for the very last animated/TAS episode in 1973(which most consider non-canon or iffy at best). The Paramount-approved texts and websites list April as the first captain of the NCC-1701 and so do most fans, so it's as official and canon as anything that's never been on a live-action screen can get.

 

[Jon1701]

I cant see the need to mention April.

Too confusing.

Leave it open.

 

[cooleddie74]

Well, maybe it wouldn't HELP matters by naming someone most casual fans will never have heard of. But the creators and writers always throw some bones to the hardcore fans and continuity freaks so a random mention wouldn't hurt matters much either.

 

[Admiral Buzzkill]

The only circumstance under which the question of Pike being the first captain of the Enterprise could come up would be if we see its commissioning. That is possible - Spock may have been part of the original crew, and the storyline could touch on events at that moment - but unless it is, option "B" above seems most likely.

 

[cooleddie74]

Well by all reasonable timeline accounts and mathematics Spock hadn't even joined the Academy yet when the NCC-1701 was first commissioned and launched. That was still about four years off. Most fans now accept that Spock came aboard the Enterprise either right before or right after he graduated the Academy and wasn't part of the crew until after Pike took command.

 

[Admiral Buzzkill]

There's no uncontradicted commissioning date for the Enterprise that's part of official continuity.

 

[cooleddie74]

Perhaps not, but Paramount, Mike Okuda and others have all but proclaimed 2245 as the launch year for the NCC-1701...going so far as to include the year in Jonathan Archer's 23rd century historical biofile aboard the TOS Defiant. But it was never shown on screen so it technically remains non-canon. It was the "second page" of Archer's biography and Mirror Hoshi never looked at it.

 

[Admiral Buzzkill]

cooleddie74 said:
But it was never shown on screen so it technically remains non-canon.

Exactly.

Even if something is "canon" it can be contradicted by something else - then both things are canon.

 

[cooleddie74]

Well if they don't want a lot fof caterwauling and whining from the hardcore fanbase and needless grief, they can at least acknowledge that Pike---to most fans and most importantly to Gene Roddenberry himself---was only the second captain of the NCC-1701.

 

[Admiral Buzzkill]

cooleddie74 said:
Well if they don't want a lot fof caterwauling and whining from the hardcore fanbase and needless grief...

There's no reason to think they're concerned that such minutiae will upset the apple cart. I'm sure that those among them who are familiar with fandom at all went in to this understanding that there will be caterwauling and that they'll get senseless grief from some part of the hardcore fanbase no matter what they do, so they're not likely to be intimidated in their creative choices by what folks might complain about.

 

[Jackson_Roykirk]

Maybe Pike is the second Captain of the Enterprise in this film, but why should they even bring up the point unless it matters to the story? In 42 years of live action TV shows and 10 feature films the fact that Pike was the Enterprise's second Capatin was never important enough to bring up. So unless it's part of the story, why bring it up now for this film?

Not mentioning that Pike was the Enterprise's second captain in this film doesn't change the fact that he actually was the second captain (if you choose to believe Robert April is canon.)

 

[Admiral Buzzkill]

OTOH, if they mention that he's first - the "we see the commissioning and it's Pike" scenario - then the canonicity of April disappears up the bunghole of the "Trek Universe."

 

[cooleddie74]

The one time April is seen on-screen anywhere is in a non-canon TAS episode from 1975("The Counter-Clock Incident"), and we all know how many if not most fans don't consider the animated show anything close to official, nor did Roddenberry himself for varying reasons. So while April TECHNICALLY has appeared on-screen, it was in the least legitimate and recognized offshoot of the filmed and broadcast TREK franchise to date.

 

[Franklin]

Apparently the teaser shows a glimpse of the Enterprise under construction. So, if the very early days of the ship are shown, it may be that we see her first captain, too.
If it's April, then how does he fit into the story? Pike has a connection to Spock. Spock has a connection to Kirk. April has a connection to whom? Pike? Was Pike his first officer? Is that important to the story? How? Do we need to know that? Why? What's to be gained from seeing April? To that end, if the story works better with Pike as the first captain of the Enterprise, fine.

Further, why admit Pike is in it, and cryptically cast April as "Federation Captain"? The "Federation Captain" could even be the commander a vessel seen for a while in old Spock's time, for all we know.

 

[Jackson_Roykirk]

^
^^Or maybe the teaser is just a teaser and does not show any footage from the actual film. The "Construction of the Enterprise" certainly makes for a cool teaser trailer, but it may have nothing whatsoever to do with the plot of the film. The 'construction' film footage could have been created exclusively for the teaser trailer.

And yes...I agree that the "Federation Cpatain" could simply be an all-new character who is the Captain of some other Ferderation ship.

 

[Sharr Khan]

Jackson_Roykirk said:
^
^^Or maybe the teaser is just a teaser and does not show any footage from the actual film. The "Construction of the Enterprise" certainly makes for a cool teaser trailer, but it may have nothing whatsoever to do with the plot of the film. The 'construction' film footage could have been created exclusively for the teaser trailer.

And yes...I agree that the "Federation Cpatain" could simply be an all-new character who is the Captain of some other Ferderation ship.

Its probably not to different then how the Beagle Two footage was used for the teaser for Transformers - but does work into the plotline of the film if only in a little way.

The Federation Capt. likely is a new person.

Sharr

 

[xortex]

I hope it's Garrovik. I mean why not. He's already an established character. There's some tall tales to tell there.

 

[mada101]

I think someone pointed this out above, but technically, it should be "Starfleet Captain". A Federation Captain could easily be the master of a civilian vessel with a Federation registry, like the Aurora or the Vico.

Not that it makes any difference to the film, but I liketo nerd-out once in a while