Braga was catering to Trek’s core audience: horny teen-aged boys. The suits know better than the fans what SELLS and what doesn’t.
I admire the executives of movies and television studios that risk their own money and careers to provide us with entertainment. Bean-counters are the ultimate arbiters of taste and culture.
considering ENT wasn't a ratings success and was cancelled, I'm not so sure that's true.
It worked fine for what it was. Don't mind it being there though I wouldn't miss it if it was gone.
If we absolutely can't get a 5th-7th season, which would allow the pairing to organically fix itself...
1. Have Trip stay on Columbia for awhile, allowing things between him and T'Pol to sort themselves out a bit more.
2. Elizabeth lives. In "The Gingerbread Girl" by Stephen King, a character theorizes that live babies are like glue in a relationship. Dead ones are like acid.
3. TATV doesn't happen. Whatever the finale is, it takes place in 2155.
1. Have Trip stay on Columbia for awhile, allowing things between him and T'Pol to sort themselves out a bit more.
2. Elizabeth lives. In "The Gingerbread Girl" by Stephen King, a character theorizes that live babies are like glue in a relationship. Dead ones are like acid.
3. TATV doesn't happen. Whatever the finale is, it takes place in 2155.
My memories might not be the best when it comes to the Trip-T'Pol relationship, and I wasn't looking as much at the first two seasons. It seems that the writers really started investing in the relationship in the third season anyway when I was more into the series.
I think one of the stumbling blocks to the relationship was the speculation/teasing of a T'Pol-Archer romance. I think that held off building up the Trip-T'Pol relationship. Also, I think the writers wanted to keep Trip romance free for a little bit to play up potential romantic storylines.
To get around that the writers could've:
-Given Archer a wife or had him in a serious relationship right off (two candidates that come to mind are Captain Hernandez and also Erickson's daughter).
-Or more quickly ended the T'Pol-Archer teasing, like by the end of the first season.
-Wrote more stories that put T'Pol and Trip together. She could've gone to his home, and he could've visited Vulcan much sooner. They could've done a trapped in a shuttle pod episode or something where they get to know each other.
As much as I don't like a lot of the relationships on SNW, I give it to them that they don't have much patience for teasing. Pike and Batel were established right off, and they also quickly established Chapel's infatuation with Spock, and later on Spock's feelings towards her. Maybe because they had less episodes to work with, or just a clearer idea of what they wanted to do, the SNW writers got right to it. It seems the ENT writers were still trying to figure a lot of things out, find the right balance for their characters.
I think one of the stumbling blocks to the relationship was the speculation/teasing of a T'Pol-Archer romance. I think that held off building up the Trip-T'Pol relationship. Also, I think the writers wanted to keep Trip romance free for a little bit to play up potential romantic storylines.
To get around that the writers could've:
-Given Archer a wife or had him in a serious relationship right off (two candidates that come to mind are Captain Hernandez and also Erickson's daughter).
-Or more quickly ended the T'Pol-Archer teasing, like by the end of the first season.
-Wrote more stories that put T'Pol and Trip together. She could've gone to his home, and he could've visited Vulcan much sooner. They could've done a trapped in a shuttle pod episode or something where they get to know each other.
As much as I don't like a lot of the relationships on SNW, I give it to them that they don't have much patience for teasing. Pike and Batel were established right off, and they also quickly established Chapel's infatuation with Spock, and later on Spock's feelings towards her. Maybe because they had less episodes to work with, or just a clearer idea of what they wanted to do, the SNW writers got right to it. It seems the ENT writers were still trying to figure a lot of things out, find the right balance for their characters.
I thought more or less it worked, except the whole Baby thing from Demons/Terra Prime kind of came out of nowhere. I wish it was hinted at in a prior episode.
I don't know if I would change anything really but just add stuff to support it more. I like that it was really messy and unconventional for Trek. I like that she hooked up with him first out of jealousy and then it developed into something more. Even if, say in Season 5, it didn't continue developing into a romantic relationship and they just became supportive of one another I would have enjoyed that. I think Trek does friendships really well but sucks at relationships.
Agreed. She and Neelix both rocked Starfleet uniforms. And the latter might have been able to gain a foothold as a more serious character if he wasn't dressed like a sofa.VOY's Relativity.
No relationship shown at all between Trip and T'Pol except platonic, mutual respect and friendship.
If ENT went to season 7 including the Romulan war, in the final episode T'Pol asks Trip for a date or in Vulcan speak 'a social engagement based on mutual attraction' and Trip after recovering from the shock, he says yes.
And the rest is left to our imagination and Trek novels.
The novels pair Archer with Danica Erickson
If ENT went to season 7 including the Romulan war, in the final episode T'Pol asks Trip for a date or in Vulcan speak 'a social engagement based on mutual attraction' and Trip after recovering from the shock, he says yes.
And the rest is left to our imagination and Trek novels.
The novels pair Archer with Danica Erickson
C
CetiAlphanEel
Guest
I liked their relationship so I would have had them stay together
Ya, you can't make Trip a woman because ENT would never have handled lesbians well.
Other than the Trill, lesbians only exist in the Mirror Universe. /sarcasm
Who said anything about making Trip a woman?
Well, it is a reasonable alternative to consider when thinking of how a het relationship could be recast as queer. Especially since ENT was pretty slim on female characters and T'Pol is the one with the most screen time.
Except for all the ways in which ENT would screw things up.
That was not where I was going with that. I was trying to make the relationship between the McCoy analogue (Trip) and the Spock analogue (male T’Pol, or whatever name they would come up with for the character) more like that of two men who initially intensely disliked each other because of societal prejudice and bigotry into a brotherly bond, rather than some sloppy romantic angle between a stereotypical US southern boy and a smoking hot woman with no emotions.
Enterprise is perhaps the greatest example of wasted potential in Star Trek, with the treatment of the TOS characters in the 24th century a close second.
The biggest missed opportunity was attempting to keep these characters in amber like the TNG cast. Given the dangers of their mission and the era, characters should have died/been promoted and replaced. I'm sure contracts were a reason that didn't happen, but that could have been fixed with annual contracts.
At any rate, I don't think Trip and T'Pol getting together made much sense. I felt Trip and a few other characters should have been promoted once Columbia was launched. T'Pol would remain, Trip would stay on Columbia, and I'd have been fine with either Mayweather, Phlox, or Reed being killed off. Nothing was being done with their characters because Archer, T'Pol, and Trip were the focus. I could see Hoshi transfer from ship services to command at some point and become helmsman. Get a new comms officer and, as many have wished for over the years, have Shran join the crew as tactical/security officer.
At the end of the day, Trip/T'Pol was an attempt at doing something made by people who wouldn't have known different if it had kicked them in the teeth. The greatest missed opportunity was not getting new blood in to develop the series.
The biggest missed opportunity was attempting to keep these characters in amber like the TNG cast. Given the dangers of their mission and the era, characters should have died/been promoted and replaced. I'm sure contracts were a reason that didn't happen, but that could have been fixed with annual contracts.
At any rate, I don't think Trip and T'Pol getting together made much sense. I felt Trip and a few other characters should have been promoted once Columbia was launched. T'Pol would remain, Trip would stay on Columbia, and I'd have been fine with either Mayweather, Phlox, or Reed being killed off. Nothing was being done with their characters because Archer, T'Pol, and Trip were the focus. I could see Hoshi transfer from ship services to command at some point and become helmsman. Get a new comms officer and, as many have wished for over the years, have Shran join the crew as tactical/security officer.
At the end of the day, Trip/T'Pol was an attempt at doing something made by people who wouldn't have known different if it had kicked them in the teeth. The greatest missed opportunity was not getting new blood in to develop the series.
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