How would you re-imagine and reboot Enterprise?

Discussion in 'Star Trek: Enterprise' started by Jedi Marso, May 3, 2022.

  1. Golbolco

    Golbolco Lieutenant Junior Grade Red Shirt

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    I'm actually making references to two discarded ideas from ENT's development--the first is that Archer had made first contact with the Denobulans prior to the NX-01's launch because they rescued his shuttle on a test flight away from Earth, and the second is that Phlox is not a doctor on Denobula but a veterinarian who maintains the animals used in traditional Denobulan medicine.

    There's a lot of good stuff in what was left on ENT's cutting room floor, really. It's a shame that what they went with just wasn't that inspired.
     
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  2. oberth

    oberth Commodore Commodore

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    funny, the first thing to go would be common law which of course means no american viewer would really understand what's happening.
    never heard of it - got a link to that?
     
  3. fireproof78

    fireproof78 Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    I watch science fiction, magic and fantasy based fiction all the time. I may just be a dumb American viewer but I think I can follow along OK for the sake of fun storytelling :)
     
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  4. oberth

    oberth Commodore Commodore

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    where judical procedure in trek is showing it uses the american law system but why would andoria accept a predecence case from 17th century imperial england - if there was a show like that it needed to use codified law (as in most european states) and a few predecences from after the founding of the federation. there most likely would be no juries. this is a hard concept for american viewers - i never said you or any other american would be dumb but that this is an alien judical concept for americans that would most likely drive nielsen ratings through the basement.

    american shows like to waffle on about suspects being read their rights in continental europe - there is no such thing. otoh our cops are not allowed to lie to suspects.

    if you watched american news about the brittney griner case there were a lot of people complaining about her not having been read her rights - russians don't do that to any suspect.

    i just don't think the american viewer (and that still is what trek shows are mostly made for) would buy it. if they did it the traditional way (i.e. bringing in common law no matter what) they'd get flak from the rest of the world. a show like that will never fly.
     
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  5. fireproof78

    fireproof78 Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    Oh, I know. I found your comment about Americans not understanding highly amusing. Warp drive? No problem. New legal system? Can't figure it out. ;)

    As for the ratings, well, thankfully Trek doesn't live by those any more.

    See, I don't think so, largely because I've watched enough science fiction with alien courts and trials and such to know that if you create the law system then it can work. But, you have to be willing to put time and energy in to it, and not just use common law. It requires effort.

    The effort is the problem, not poor American understanding. In a space show I think it absolutely could fly better. Maybe not perfectly but what is?
     
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  6. oberth

    oberth Commodore Commodore

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    you don't use miles or kilometers for the warp drive, right? it's not about stuff that doesn't exist, it's about stuff that does exist and needed to be different for that show.

    ... but then, that's kinda off-topic - we could have a thread in the proper place and fight about it there :beer:
     
  7. fireproof78

    fireproof78 Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    If I can follow Stargate or Farscape I think I'm good.

    But, you're right. Though I think I'm probably more wrong especially since what I would actually like in a show rarely sells ;)

    On to Enterprise, I would personally have a lot more space ships in the Solar System for them to be encountering. Honestly, while I don't like the Expanse, I do like the subcultures of humanity shown within the different colonies and space farers and would like to see that, as well as the difference between their attitude in exploration and the Starfleet regulars. Think like "Space Cadet" by Heinlein, where the main character returns and discovers his family feels a little different to him now.
     
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  8. oberth

    oberth Commodore Commodore

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    it's not just you, even with the ratings now gone they'd bin a show too few people subscribe to
    we're in the same boot here - the show i'd like to see will never be written
    100% d'accord - the federation is way too friede, freude, eierkuchen* (you'd probably call that singing kumbaya)

    ---

    *the link is german and needs to be fished (do we include the hitchhiker's guide into trek?)
     
    Last edited: Aug 8, 2022
  9. fireproof78

    fireproof78 Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    Indeed. Though, I do like pancakes.

    Also, 100% coincidence but in the US we call pancakes "hot cakes" sometimes, depending on the locale, and the book Space Cadet has hot cakes as part of the story. So, if I chuckle it's only because of odd connections in my brain. ;)
     
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  10. oberth

    oberth Commodore Commodore

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    i must have forgotten that but then i didn't know what hotcakes are anyway and probably didn't think it important enough to look it up. but i'd surely would have liked to know that and do it on purpose.
     
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  11. fireproof78

    fireproof78 Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    Well, you made me chuckle and I learned a German phrase. I call that a win.:beer:
     
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  12. FederationHistorian

    FederationHistorian Commodore Commodore

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    Admiral Forrest never made an appearance that season. But the only reference to contact with Earth was in “Twilight”, when Archer was relieved of command.

    So, its possible that they could communicate with Earth. But the idea in the Xindi arc seemed to be that Enterprise was out of range of Earth and were on their own.

    Especially if those roads are long ;)
     
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  13. Golbolco

    Golbolco Lieutenant Junior Grade Red Shirt

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    Before I watched TATV, I had figured that the series finale would have Archer on a podium in front of the founding members of the Federation and he would open his speech with "It's been a long road, getting from there to here..." It may have been cheesy, but it would be a pretty fun payoff!
     
  14. Summer Solstice

    Summer Solstice Captain Captain

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    That would have been brilliant. I love that they finished with "Space, the final frontier...".
     
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  15. Oddish

    Oddish Admiral Admiral

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    The episode's one undeniably really good part.
     
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  16. Golbolco

    Golbolco Lieutenant Junior Grade Red Shirt

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    I wonder: how do you end a reimagine ENT, without These Are The Voyages? If one delves into the Romulan War, does the series finale end with the armistice and following declaration of Federation?

    Personally, I see a reimagined Kelvin trilogy being reworked into ENT-era films (more on that later), so I don't know if the show can end showing the Battle of Cheron without taking away from the film potential. Actually, I think that the best way to conclude the show might be a more significant time jump to 2245 when the NCC-1701 is being commissioned. You could have a young Robert April and Christopher Pike attending the ceremony with Archer in elderly makeup, and then center the episode on "the last voyage of the NX-01" before it gets mothballed. Do you still kill Trip? Do you montage what happened to all of the senior officers?
     
  17. HopefulRomantic

    HopefulRomantic Mom's little girl Moderator

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    If they were dead set on killing Trip, the Romulan War is a way to at least give him a good death. A hero's death. He dies saving Enterprise in a big battle during the Romulan War, or something. The crew is grieved and broken for a long time, he's left a hole that no one can fill, they resolve to win this damn war in his name, his loss matters to them. Don't let him die because his brain broke and he offed himself to stop some cheesy foreheads of the week. Thank you for coming to my TED talk.
     
    Last edited: Aug 16, 2022
  18. Golbolco

    Golbolco Lieutenant Junior Grade Red Shirt

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    I strongly agree. I'm not strictly against killing Trip, I just think he deserved a much better death.

    I'm also not against a fakeout death for Trip as the books apparently do, but I don't see the point in Section 31 picking him up.
     
  19. Jedi Marso

    Jedi Marso Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    I'd lead up to the ending in the pre-war phase of the Romulan war, where you know it's coming, there are regular engagements, but it's not a full-blown declared war yet. UESPA is rapidly expanding Earth's fleet, and suddenly everyone aboard Archer's ship is a terribly valuable commodity (heavily experienced officers) in line for promotion in an organization starving for senior leadership.

    So, in the end, the crew goes on one final big two-parter, maybe a diplomatic effort to rally allied support for the coming war, or a mission to defuse a maskirovka by the Roms to set Earth against one of its allies. At the end, the team is broken up and sent to new assignments, where they are all captains / execs of their new ships, and the show ends.

    That leaves space for a spin-off series about the war, or a couple of movies, all of which culminate (for that era) in the founding of the Federation.

    Killing Trip is entirely optional- I thought it was done in TATV for cheap dramatic effect, failed to achieve it, and only made a horrible finale even worse. Trip was a great character and there was no reason to off him like that. Since we were seeing a historically fictionalized version of history on the holodeck, I choose to believe that it didn't happen that way anyhow, and whether it was to go undercover or not, Trip was alive and well.
     
    Last edited: Aug 15, 2022
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  20. Golbolco

    Golbolco Lieutenant Junior Grade Red Shirt

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    I love the idea that the ending is simply the senior officers being split up, rather than anything more dramatic or final. I think I would have the war already declared, because if ENT runs for seven seasons it would run from 2151-2158 in-universe, and that means the war has begun during the latter two and a half seasons. Maybe we get a chance for the Enterprise to not be conspicuously present for every monumental event in history, and the war starts while the Enterprise is still running diplomatic missions and they have little input on the opening battles.

    Looking at films: when I watched the Kelvin films, I thought that they were made with a mindset similar to ENT but also as a reaction to ENT. Like ENT, the Kelvin films are a return to the "classic Trek era" (of course ENT goes much further back than young Kirk and Spock.) There's a decent number of references in the Kelvin films to ENT, so much so that Idris Elba's character is implied to have been present offscreen during the Xindi crisis. I think you can retool the existing Kelvin trilogy into a bridging trilogy between ENT and TOS.

    First would be a film set in 2160 during the end of the Romulan War. Basically this is the extended finale for ENT after we split the crew up at the end of the series. We see all of the senior officers in their new roles: Archer has become an admiral, Shran is leading MACOs on the front lines, T'Pol and Hoshi are researching the Romulans, Trip is using his engineering prowess in RnD, etc. Eric Bana as Nero can be retooled as a prolific Romulan commander, no time travel shenanigans here. I'd also like to see Brian Thompson as Admiral Valdore reappear.

    The goal of the Romulans has always been "reunification," which I think is code for conquest and subjugation of the Vulcan people. We're also told that they have a fascination with Humanity, and the war is primarily the Earth-Romulan War, yet Spock tells us in Balance of Terror that neither side took prisoners of war. We need to maintain continuity with Balance of Terror, but I think the fascination with Humanity needs to be expounded upon: perhaps Nero is breaking rank and attempting to capture Humans, or else masquerade as a Vulcan and sew discord.

    The war should also tie back to a plot point in ENT: Trellium-D is highly toxic to Vulcanoid physiology, and if we place Romulus beyond the Delphic Expanse as we have discussed earlier, then this could come up as both a reason why the Romulans don't take prisoners off of trellium-coated starships and as a weapon against Vulcan-manned vessels. Instead of blowing up a planet like in the 2009 film, what if Nero is going to trellium-bomb Vulcan in an attempt to rid the population of logic and "liberate" them to the Romulan mindset of highly-charged emotions?

    According to my FASA booklet, Operation Golden Pheasant is one of the last moves by Starfleet during the Earth-Romulan War. Memory Alpha tells me that the final battle takes place in orbit of Cheron, where the black-and-white-faced people from TOS come from. Cheron could be a world rich in trellium, where races enslaved by the Romulans (maybe Aenar again) are manufacturing the weapons for Nero's final solution. T'Pol is called to the front lines because of her experience with trellium; Archer is present at the battle, perhaps having reappropriated the NX-01 from its current captain as his flagship. Everyone reunites at the final battle, in 2000s blockbuster style.

    I think Trip should be the one who is sent (or defies commands) to stop deployment of the trellium weapons. Maybe he recognizes that Archer and T'Pol will be instrumental in founding the coming Federation, and neither can be allowed to die at this battle. I'm perfectly comfortable with Trip learning here that Romulans and Vulcans are one and the same and engaging with them in close quarters, because he's not coming back from this mission. This is his Spock moment in Wrath of Khan. When the Romulan fleet is neutralized and the trellium is rendered inert or used against the Romulans themselves, Valdore and Archer negotiate the peace treaty via subspace radio and the film's epilogue skips ahead to six months later when Archer gives his speech at the founding of the Federation.

    If you want, you can even have Riker and Troi cameo as they did in TATV, attending the conference via holodeck instead of making them the focus of the episode.

    In my mind, this would resolve several of the problems presented by ENT's ending and avoids the Kelvin trilogy by tying its concepts directly into the prime timeline. It gives Trip a worthy death, ties together plot points from early seasons, and wraps a bow on the era.
     
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