My take on how TATV should have been

[Bry_Sinclair]

These Are The Voyages...

[Based on the Star Trek: Enterprise episode “These Are The Voyages...” written by Rick Berman and Brannon Braga]


BRIDGE, ENTERPRISE NX-01 (2161)
The Bridge is bustling with activity. It is clear from the start that things, though similar, are also quite different. Seated at their customary posts are Lieutenant Commander MALCOLM REED and Lieutenant TRAVIS MAYWEATHER, whilst Lieutenant (Junior Grade) HOSHI SATO leans on the helm console, and a uniformed Commander T’POL sits in the command chair. Several background characters man the other stations (among them is Ensign MICHAEL ROSTOV at engineering).


MAYWEATHER: (to SATO) When are they expecting you in Brazil?

SATO: (in a non-committal tone) I told them a couple of weeks after the ceremony. With all the receptions we need to attend, plus I’ll need at least a week to ensure the transferral of the linguistic database.

MAYWEATHER: After ten years on a ship, I'll bet it'll take a while getting used to the humidity again.

SATO: (shuddering) And the bugs.

[MAYWEATHER and SATO chuckle, before she returns to her console]

REED: (in a somewhat annoyed tone) Does the Captain have to give a speech?

T’POL: (looks over at him) He’s working on it now.

MAYWEATHER: (turning back to the others) But he hates giving speeches.

REED: And he’ll undoubtedly make every effort to take no credit.

T’POL: (raises her eyebrow) Undoubtedly.

SATO: That’d be like Zefram Cochrane not taking credit for warp drive.

[The Ready Room door opens. Captain JONATHAN ARCHER emerges, scrutinising a datapad and not looking where he’s going]

ARCHER: (distracted) How do you pronounce the name of the second Tellarite liberator? Chalash?

SATO: Shallash. Emphasis on the second ‘l’.

ARCHER: (tries the new pronunciation) Shalash. Shallash.

SATO: (smiling widely) That’s it.

ARCHER: Shallash. Thanks, Hoshi.

[ARCHER turns back towards the Ready Room but stays where he is looking at the pad]

REED: How’s it going, sir?

ARCHER: (looks exasperated) Whatever I write, it sounds like I'm trying to take credit for this.

SATO: ‘Don’t try to be a great man, just be a man—’

ARCHER: (now with a faint smile) ‘—and let history make its own judgments.’

T’POL: (standing and facing ARCHER) Captain, Admiral Jefferies is asking you to approve the decommission protocols.

ARCHER: (the look of exasperation returns) One thing at a time, Commander. After the charter is signed, I'll give him whatever he needs to put Enterprise in mothballs.

T’POL: I shall relay that to him, sir.

[A sad look crosses ARCHER’s face as he looks around the Bridge for a moment]

ARCHER: (his tone heavy and poignant) This ship’s been through a lot in this last decade, so I think she deserves a few more moments of life.

[He takes one last look around the Bridge, his eyes resting on a spot before the command chair for a moment longer than most, before he turns back to his Ready Room and leaves the Bridge. There is a beat of respectful silence, before they all resume their duties, though with less chatter than earlier]

* * * * *

OPENING CREDITS
Redesigned to include clips from the Romulan War. Jeffery Combs as THY’LEK TH’SHRAN would also be included.

* * * * *

 

[admiralelm11]

I like it! I always thought that episode needed to be better.

 

[Bry_Sinclair]

My idea for TATV focuses on the ENT crew, so the whole "Pegasus" tie-in element has been dropped. The wounds of the Romulan War are still fresh (it ended less than a year earlier), some of which will be very personal for Captain Archer. The story would focus on 2161, but there would be 'flashbacks' to plot elements from after the Terra Prime Incident onwards.

A few pointers for what I thought might happen:
- Shran will of course be present
- The MACO get a new CO, Major Keats
- All the crew would get their own little epilogue, after the Enterprise is decommissioned

 

[Yoda]

My first change would've involved Jonathan Frakes and Marina Sirtis getting on treadmills a few months before filming.

Then I would've canceled filming.

Then everyone wins.

 

[Jedi Marso]

at Yoda.

A small point I'd bring up:

Ten years later, and especially after the Romulan War, the bridge crew makeup would be different. They might all be re-united at the end for the big speech, but realistically, after ten years, you'd have the following:

T'Pol would be a Captain

Trip would be a Captain

Mayweather would be at least a commander, and after war attrition, probably C.O. (of a smaller warship) himself.

Reed would be either a commander or captain, and given his stoic, heroic nature, probably dead in the war.

Hoshi would be a lieutenant commander at the very least, probably full commander based on merit.

You get the idea.

Otherwise, I really like the notion of dropping the whole TNG thing. That was just a raw insult to everyone, I think.

 

[Bry_Sinclair]

I do agree that after ten years and a major war, that the characters would have moved on, but I think a little artistic license is permitted in order to give the crew one last jaunt. They are all promoted in my version and by the end of the episode (when they all get their own little epilogues) the promotions would have gone further.

The TNG stuff has to go, it just felt wrong in the episode.

 

[admiralelm11]

I agree with you there, Bry. I just wonder what the writers were thinking when they added the TNG sections. Or whatever they were overdosing on at the time. Anyways, I like the idea of promotions and moving on, especially after they all have to experience the horrors of a war.

I just hope that the Romulan War wasn't too horrible to scar any of them so horribly.

 

[Jedi Marso]

I agree with you there, Bry. I just wonder what the writers were thinking when they added the TNG sections. Or whatever they were overdosing on at the time. Anyways, I like the idea of promotions and moving on, especially after they all have to experience the horrors of a war.

I just hope that the Romulan War wasn't too horrible to scar any of them so horribly.

Well obviously we never got to see it on screen, but I think that the Romulan War would have been one of the darkest chapters of human history- its first interstellar war.

We saw Archer get in the doldrums a couple of times over things going bad. If there was anything that could have broken his spirit, it would have been this war. Then again, we also saw him 'toughen up' after the Xindi arc, so who knows.

I thought it was funny in S4 how much less 'the sucker' he and the Enterprise crew were in their dealings with others.

 

[Bry_Sinclair]

I just hope that the Romulan War wasn't too horrible to scar any of them so horribly.

Where's the fun in that?

Well obviously we never got to see it on screen, but I think that the Romulan War would have been one of the darkest chapters of human history- its first interstellar war.

I'm sure there is a line in one episode that says the Romulans made it all the way to the Sol System during the war. I can envision a daring 'Battle of the Line' style epic (only way more awesome, seeing as how it is Trek) for that one.

It did last for four years, so obviously it must've left a hell of a lot of damage behind--and not just in ships and hardware.