In A Mirror, Darkly *Spoilers

[ChristopherPike]

And what's wrong with the Abramsverse? It's no less canonical than any other alternate reality we've seen in Trek.

For one thing, those alternative universes have never replaced the primary one before... The writers never even threatened to do that. Also the whole point of such places existing was to provide massive contrast... A running commentary if you will, on what characters would become on a path not taken, and in places where histories are screwed up. There's some of that in JJ Abrams' Star Trek, but it's clearly a means to an end, discard anything inconvienent about that crew's past lives apart (Kirk receiving the worst revision thanks to Nero), and then explain away the not-so radical alterations as "time healing itself". What's the betting a sequel tells a stand-alone story capable of being told in either universe?

There's also an element of bitterness here for sure. If you didn't like Mirror Universe stories, or parallel timelines... fans had the comfort blanket of knowing the Star Trek they knew and loved would be back next week, or next season or the next film, with ongoing developments onscreen. In my case, that would be ENT on the road to the Romulan War & Birth of the Federation and beyond to TOS. Say "In Mirror, Darkly" became the norm in the weeks that followed those episodes, the series just switched universes and that after becoming invested in the direction of Season 4 beforehand? Now expand that view, to someone who appreciated the lengths to which producers/writers went in order to keep the Prime Universe largely consistant throughout modern Trek? JJ Abrams' film throws a massive spanner in the works, insisting that you have no such right to value continuity.

I guess the film committed an unforgivable crime in my eyes, not living up to my expectations for a traditional prequel (while marketing itself as such for beginners... here's how Kirk, Spock and McCoy met etc? If you think about it, thanks to Nero... we still haven't seen that film!) I admit to liking the updated look of the 23rd Century and the care taken to recast the actors for younger versions. Those last two aspects being the only decisions I thought were handled very well indeed.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

And what's wrong with the Abramsverse? It's no less canonical than any other alternate reality we've seen in Trek.

For one thing, those alternative universes have never replaced the primary one before...

Neither has the Abramsverse. The old one is still there. True, we can now only see it in the novels, but it hasn't been wiped out.

 

[Unicron]

I love how, instead of "everything is opposite," they went for "taking natural traits to extreme." T'Pol was logical and ruthless; Trip was brilliant engineer trapped belowdecks; Phlox was unbridled, cruel curiosity; Travis was silent support - of whomever was in power; Malcolm was police state personified; and Archer was both ambitious and crushed by external expectations.

I found that much more interesting than the good/bad MU episodes.

Besides that, it was so lovingly crafted, down to the tiniest details.

I agree, and I think that's where DS9 went wrong with the MU. The Empire as it was portrayed in "Mirror, Mirror" seemed to represent an Earth that had accepted a different set of natural traits - ruthlessness and superiority of the state - over those the Federation endorsed (exploration and learning, along with cooperation). Not merely "everyone is evil or nice in this universe" and I'm pleased that ENT was able to replicate that. I wish they'd been able to do so with more episodes.

 

[USS Triumphant]

Isn't this universe interesting enough?

Obviously not, or we wouldn't have Star Trek at all.

 

[Michael]

I didn't like Enterprise's take on the Mirror Universe. I love Mirror, Mirror, enjoyed all but one of the DS9 trips to the Mirror Universe and really wanted to like these Enterprise episodes. But I just couldn't. I mean, I sure enjoyed the production values; seeing the bridge of the Defiant lighting up was a wonderful moment!

But I really missed the interaction with the regular versions of the characters. The other Mirror Universe episodes were always told from the perspective of our heroes. The interesting thing (at least to me) was to see their reaction to the over-the-top behaviour of the counterparts. But here everything was just over-the-top and I think it became apparent just how silly this whole concept really is.

 

[Unicron]

I'm actually glad they chose not to go that route, because the story shouldn't always be a contrast between our universe and theirs. The fact that we're looking from the other side of the mirror to view the story is enough, for me personally anyway.