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Poll Is continuity important?

How important is continuity in Trek?


  • Total voters
    113
No, why?

After all, saving entire worlds or even the entire quadrant / galaxy / universe is pretty much what every Starfleet Officer does at least a few times in his or her career. Based on what I've seen, at least. If we already start to promote them for that ....

Exactly.
I would imagine doing those things would reflect positively at Kirk's career and help him advance through the ranks faster... but it certainly wouldn't allow him to SKIP ranks all the way to Captain.
 
Exactly.
I would imagine doing those things would reflect positively at Kirk's career and help him advance through the ranks faster... but it certainly wouldn't allow him to SKIP ranks all the way to Captain.

Based on Orci faulty logic, might as well make him an Admiral.
In my head canon picking Kirk was a publicity stunt, yeah I'm reaching....
 
Actually, Kirk's rapid promotion to Captain in Trek XI had nothing to do with the writer's strike and is indeed what Orci intended. While discussing the matter in 2016, Orci commented he never understood the backlash against it, saying "the guy literally saved the planet. Doesn't he deserve to be a Captain after that?"
Hmm...interesting. I thought it was a justification after the fact, but OK, I can see his thinking.

I don't agree with it but it's not that big of a deal to me either. Starfleet has used nepotism in the past.
That’s not how it works.
Hey, whatever helps fans sleep at night. Not that we have much say ;)
It's like they cant resist making a call back to previous Trek. Was there a need to make this character Robert April? Was there a need to make Burnam Spock's sister?
Need is a strong word. They have a preference for call backs because that's what fans keep rewarding them for doing. Look at comments around Lower Decks and the large number of references there. Look at the reaction to Picard Season 2 and the casting there.

It may not be a need, but fans have not demonstrated a large willingness to buy in to new. Fans appear to be demonstrating, or at least the more vocal ones, that the preference is for these characters to be ones connected to a past character, and this goes all the way back to "Encounter at Farpoint" with Admiral McCoy. Tiny little nods here and there, and the fans keep buying it.

I'm more questioning the need for fans to keep buying it when there is expressed desire for something new, then loud comments about how the new thing doesn't look like the old.
Based on Orci faulty logic, might as well make him an Admiral.
In my head canon picking Kirk was a publicity stunt, yeah I'm reaching....
I don't think that's a reach. They had just suffered catastrophic losses from Nero's attack, down basically an entire graduating class at the Academy as all but the Enterprise was lost, presumably with all hands. In addition, Vulcan was lost, including the Science Academy and it's ships, presumably. So, you have a shortage of crew, and a shortage of trained officers. You have Pike, Spock and potentially Sarek, vouching for this cadet who jumped in and saved them, and also was moved up the chain of command legally.

And he's a poster boy who saved Earth from a Romulan attack.

Yeah, I'd say that works.
 
One of the best things about Into Darkness is the fact that admirals start realising "Ooops, we promoted a cadet to captain in a moment of post-near-apocalyptic madness, that was a really stupid thing to do."
 
Better yet, if they want to be creative and explore new ideas, then be creative and explore new ideas! It's like they cant resist making a call back to previous Trek. Was there a need to make this character Robert April?
Does anything in "The Counter-Clock Incident" depend upon April appearing white? Does anything in TWOK depend upon Saavik looking like Kirstie Alley instead of like Robin Curtis? It's the same answer in both cases: no. Star Trek survived Saavik's recasting, so it can survive April's.

P.S. James Doohan voiced April originally, so recasting April was always going to be necessary.

P.P.S. The author of "The Counter-Clock Incident" welcomes the casting of Adrian Holmes [https://trekmovie.com/2022/05/02/st...comes-new-robert-april-on-strange-new-worlds/].
 
One of the best things about Into Darkness is the fact that admirals start realising "Ooops, we promoted a cadet to captain in a moment of post-near-apocalyptic madness, that was a really stupid thing to do."
Agreed. And his inexperience showed with how Marcus was able to manipulate him, successfully, rather than tutoring him like he needed from Pike. And it nearly killed him.
 
Of course a well crafted continuity is nice but ST didn't do that. Maybe next time. I won't be here to see it though so I just try to be happy with what I get.
 
I was surprised at the change in April and I resent the statement that must mean I'm racist. Hogwash. I'm just a continuity freak. If they want to set this in the sane continuity, then set it in the sane continuity.
A sane continuity allows for change. Trek should be more than just a series of data points and boxes to tic. Changing April's race has no real impact on the stories being told or the stories that have been told.
 
One of the best things about Into Darkness is the fact that admirals start realising "Ooops, we promoted a cadet to captain in a moment of post-near-apocalyptic madness, that was a really stupid thing to do."
I blame Marcus....he wanted someone he could manipulate and it almost worked
 
According to on-screen canonical evidence, NuKirk already had the commissioned rank of Lieutenant before he was promoted to Captain. That's not unlike Saavik being a Lieutenant at the Academy. I've speculated before that at that stage, the regular Academy coursework is finished and such individuals are in advanced Command training. So Kirk 'only' skipped three ranks instead of five.

Kor
 
I blame Marcus....he wanted someone he could manipulate and it almost worked
And that would be accurate. He nourished Kirk's lust for revenge because Kirk was entirely disposable at that point.

According to on-screen canonical evidence, NuKirk already had the commissioned rank of Lieutenant before he was promoted to Captain. That's not unlike Saavik being a Lieutenant at the Academy. I've speculated before that at that stage, the regular Academy coursework is finished and such individuals are in advanced Command training. So Kirk 'only' skipped three ranks instead of five.

Kor
Yup, that's been my biggest thing with no having a problem of the "Cadet to Captain" discussion. Saavik was a lieutenant as a cadet, and a lieutenant as a command officer. Kirk was a lieutenant when he went aboard the Enterprise, he was field commissioned by Captain Pike in to the role of first officer, making him eligible to move up the chain of command legally. As a lieutenant he served with distinction by pursuing a hostile force and preventing the destruction of Earth, while saving his commanding officer.

Unusual? Yes. Strains believability? Somewhat. Ties in to the next story nicely though so I'll let it pass.
 
A sane continuity allows for change. Trek should be more than just a series of data points and boxes to tic. Changing April's race has no real impact on the stories being told or the stories that have been told.

If nothing is really important, whether it be April's race or changing the dates of the Eugenics Wars (like what a lot of fans want done), what exactly is the point of continuity to begin with? If anything goes, then what does it really matter if it is a single timeline, multiple timelines or just The Simpsons concept of continuity?
 
Continuity issue: Age of the actors. Adrian Holmes is actually ~one year younger than Anson Mount. I feel that Captain April needs to be about 10 years older, or give Adrian more grey in his beard or less in Anson's. ;)
 
A lack of continuity would make it kinda hard to care or be concerned for characters in any time travel stories or alternate universe stories. "How do we know we're back in the right timeline or universe or fixed it?" "Meh." :)
 
Continuity issue: Age of the actors. Adrian Holmes is actually ~one year younger than Anson Mount. I feel that Captain April needs to be about 10 years older, or give Adrian more grey in his beard or less in Anson's. ;)
Anson is supposed to be stressed though, right?

What's with the wave though?
A lack of continuity would make it kinda hard to care or be concerned for characters in any time travel stories or alternate universe stories. "How do we know we're back in the right timeline or universe or fixed it?" "Meh." :)

I would say not really, no. Look at "City on the Edge of Forever." Edith is guaranteed to die yet people still care. Or, for me, Tomlinson's death in "Balance of Terror" still gives me a lump in my throat by the end.

Investment in characters is not dependent on the length of continuity.
 
A lack of continuity would make it kinda hard to care or be concerned for characters in any time travel stories or alternate universe stories. "How do we know we're back in the right timeline or universe or fixed it?" "Meh." :)

Marvel's getting ready to make a heaping amount of money off of the multiverse. If they can figure out how to make people care, the folks at CBS should be able to as well.
 
I would say not really, no. Look at "City on the Edge of Forever." Edith is guaranteed to die yet people still care. Or, for me, Tomlinson's death in "Balance of Terror" still gives me a lump in my throat by the end.

Investment in characters is not dependent on the length of continuity.

At the time there was only one TV series so it did seem that they were trying to get back to the timeline that was TOS. It can't be said today with all the extra variant timelines/universes floating around. Tomlinson's going to die? Nah, Pine-Kirk's universe doesn't unfold the same way. SNW-Kirk's events happen differently too. Tomlinson's going to be fine. He might not marry his sweetheart though. Something something alternate timelines. ;)
 
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