You could say anything you agree with is pretty easy to argue. Easy to convince others? That's another story...
Has the Temporal age become Trek's best mystery time period?
- Thread starter Quantum21
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You could say anything you agree with is pretty easy to argue. Easy to convince others? That's another story...
Not really no.
The TOS era is the only one that has any sustainable pop culture presence. It's the one most people recognize. It's the most marketable. And I have no doubt there's data out there that supports it being the most profitable.
Weigh that against the idea that the "era" is, at the end of the day, completely arbitrary and doesn't matter at all on the ephemeral level of any single episode, then I might even say it's objectively true.
Demonstrably false.
The character of Kirk, Spock, and Scotty are what people know, anyway. The only way to capitalize on that is to keep telling stories with Kirk, Spock, and Scotty.
Fans who focus on which era a show takes place in are focusing on the wrong thing.
Every great episode depends upon strong character drama, even those episodes whose premises depend intrinsically upon concepts unique to science fiction. Great episodes depend upon adventure and critical choices by the main characters more than they depend upon speculative ideas.
Not to mention, with time travel as a device, any episode can have an adventure in any era, rendering the supposed era of the series literally irrelevant.
Every great episode depends upon strong character drama, even those episodes whose premises depend intrinsically upon concepts unique to science fiction. Great episodes depend upon adventure and critical choices by the main characters more than they depend upon speculative ideas.
Not to mention, with time travel as a device, any episode can have an adventure in any era, rendering the supposed era of the series literally irrelevant.
Plus the TOS Era is not a "mystery time period", which is what the topic is about.
Nope.
The 60s chic*, whether it's the costuming or the decoration, is as much apart of the zeitgeist as any one character. For example, while TNG uniforms or monster maroons might have their place at Trek-cons, it's very rare to see any at all at a general SFF con. But you well certainly see a smattering of TOS unis, especially with women.
*This includes both Kelvin and SNW updating, as both are smothered in the 60s chic aesthetic.
The Lost Era is a close second for me.
How limiting! The brand is mostly being built around other time periods.
They just want a uniform with skirt options. As far as conventions, I'll defer to you since the last convention I went to was in 2014 and the one before that was 2002. They're just fancy flee-markets with keynote speakers.
Nothing of which still has anything to do with the original topic.
Do I expect them to do a full series about the Lost Era or the Immediately Post-Burn Era? No. Doesn't change that they're the "mystery" periods I'm the most interested in. I'm also interested in the gap between TMP and TWOK, but I don't expect to see anything there either.
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Last scifi convention I went to was filled with costumes but no Star Trek sadly.
In my opinion, the entire time war, the time police, and all of the attached stories, all happened in the blink of an eye, right before / as the E-E returns home during First Contact. The only reason they return to a fixed timeline, even while littering the past with Borg tech and future info, is because of the actions of the Temporal Police / War, and the show ENT exists because of it. The NX was supposed to be lost during S1, but was repurposed to save the Federation and the timeline.
The way I look at it, there was an age of time travel. There was an age of temporal cold war, then an actual war. The war itself might have been a blink, but the time travel era was hundreds of years long.
The more I look at the Enterprise-J, the more I think there's a radical jump in the Federation's technology in the 26th Century. Or at least Starfleet designs. When Discovery arrives in the 32nd Century, Ndoye says, "Your vessel's configuration and metallurgy suggests 23rd to 25th Century construction."
The 26th Century is also the first indication of Time Ships, if we go by "A Matter of Time" (TNG). I think from the 26th to 31st Centuries, Starfleet's emphasis shifts from space travel to time travel. After it's banned, space travel picks up from wherever it left off before. All of which would explain why the 32nd Century doesn't seem as different as it could've been. The centuries in the middle had a different focus.
The age of time travel would have also been the beginning of the Time Police; if you are going to start sight seeing through time, you better have a good mechanism in place to protect the timeline.
This would go back to a previous iteration of the timeline, and would already be active by the future spawned by original TOS.
The timeships would already be active and patrolling when the FC debacle happens, and while Picard and company are in the past fixing the initial problem, the timeships would have instantly become involved in attempting to fix the timeline.
Powers that formed in the absence of the Federation, and liked THEIR world, could be a beginning of the Cold War.
The TCW happens instantly, yet involves long spans of time in various eras, possibly entire lifetimes dedicated to it. Yet half of it is overwritten insantly, like it never happened, in order to ensure a Federation to return to by the end of FC.
in my opinion.
This would go back to a previous iteration of the timeline, and would already be active by the future spawned by original TOS.
The timeships would already be active and patrolling when the FC debacle happens, and while Picard and company are in the past fixing the initial problem, the timeships would have instantly become involved in attempting to fix the timeline.
Powers that formed in the absence of the Federation, and liked THEIR world, could be a beginning of the Cold War.
The TCW happens instantly, yet involves long spans of time in various eras, possibly entire lifetimes dedicated to it. Yet half of it is overwritten insantly, like it never happened, in order to ensure a Federation to return to by the end of FC.
in my opinion.
Back to the Future must be worshipped as The Greatest Film of All Time in the 26th-31st Centuries. Beating out Citizen Kane. Then the film gets banned after the end of the Temporal War. 
NOTE: Back to the Future actually is in my Top 10 Favorite Movies List, if not my Top 5.
NOTE: Back to the Future actually is in my Top 10 Favorite Movies List, if not my Top 5.
I like, but do not love BTtF. It's too campy to be taken seriously so I don't, it's just a fun diversion.Back to the Future must be worshipped as The Greatest Film of All Time in the 26th-31st Centuries. Beating out Citizen Kane. Then the film gets banned after the end of the Temporal War.
NOTE: Back to the Future actually is in my Top 10 Favorite Movies List, if not my Top 5.
I sort of like the idea of 25th-28th century being a "Pax Federation" (or whatever term you want to use) of advancement, with the 28th-mid 31st being a much darker period of Temporal Cold and Hot wars. Personally of the two I would prefer seeing more of the former period, but I guess there could be a series strictly about time exploration and wars.
I'd say both "ends" of the Lost Era have a lot of potential. The early 24th century would have the political fallout with Klingons, as well as the Romulans as villains, building to the Tomed Incident. The 10 years or so before TNG would have the Cardassian War, as well as a bunch of other wars with smaller powers (mostly created so TNG and DS9 could reference them).
I agree that the period in the middle is mostly unknown. I mean there's a ton of things you could do, but not any explicit reason to set it there. Unless you want an Enterprise-C series...
The neat part of the time travel era is that it's sort of... infinite. It's "always" happening.
A problem with a "Lost Era" show is that at this point, it will be Discovery-ized and not look/feel anything like the Lost Era, so to actually do that is absolutely pointless.
Despite my general disdain for Discovery, I think the era of the Burn is quite interesting.
I think it's way, way too difficult to do time travel properly, particularly as part of a long-form, ongoing arc. While some of the lower-level parts of the temporal cold war might be doable, the "hot war" would be an awful mess.
I mean, let's say that you have a small team who takes a timeship back on an action. When they're gone, the opposing side utterly erases their home time period. All of the serialized elements of the show (recurring characters, ongoing plot threads, etc.) have gone poof. Might as well be an episodic show at this point.
I mean, let's say that you have a small team who takes a timeship back on an action. When they're gone, the opposing side utterly erases their home time period. All of the serialized elements of the show (recurring characters, ongoing plot threads, etc.) have gone poof. Might as well be an episodic show at this point.
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