These are REALLY the Voyages...

[Morpheus 02]

The following is an excerpt from a blog post I am writing, and posted so I could post here (and include photo files).

This was inspired by a TrekBBS discussion about Manny Coto almost saving Trek.

So here’s my outline for a “better valentine” to Trek fans, that closes the door on the “silver age” of Trek. The story for the Enterprise crew is not really specified. I don’t think it’s as important as finding a credible way to tie the different series together. Feel free to suggest your own.

I used the Mindmapper program to help me sort out which series characters would be most likely available & interested in participating. (So I left off McCoy & Scotty for obvious reasons, and Kirk & Spock & Picard (and a couple others) because their actors are “too big” and/or too busy to be available.

“The Better Valentine” or “These REALLY Are the Voyages…”

Teaser
 TOS Crew talking to Cadets/young officers (or just luck Trek fans dressed in as Starfleet officers/cadets, hearing a story)
 Switch to TNG talking to a similar group, in their era (in a 10 Forward lounge?)
 Switch to DS9 & VOY crew at Quark's talking to cadets


Act 1
 Bashir, O'Brien, B'Elanna & Harry relay to cadets some of their heroes and Explain how each made an impact
 Phlox Trip & T'Pol do something to help injured people
 What causes the injury (Romulans?) sets stage for the ENT story


Act 2
 TOS sets up this scene
 saying how Supporting crew made a vital contribution to that era
 Sato Mayweather & Shran do something to help the Enterprise crew deal with this threat
 Mayweather & Sato are AT LEAST a Lt. by this point, if not Lt. Commander


Act 3
 Riker & Worf set up stage for Archer uniting the UFP founders
 Archer''s actions, along with Reed's expertise, help solve an issue


Closer
 TNG, TNG, VOY & DS9 crews talking about Archer helping found the Federation
 ENT Last scene w/ Archer (like we saw in Enterprise..except Mayweather gets promoted)
 Narrative “These are the voyages…”
said by all Captains

 

[gblews]

Forget a "valentine" and all of the superfluous characters in your diagram. The Ent series finale should have been an Ent episode starring it's crew and preferrably had been part 3 of Demons/Terra Prime, the way it was originally imagined by Manny.

Let the Beebs or Paramount take out an ad in USA Today or some other publication and post their thanks and some pix of all the crews. There's your "valentine".

 

[T'Girl]

^ Have the episode and series end like TOS and TNG did, the ship heading for it next mission/adventure. Don't do a "final episode" like DS9, VGR and ENT did.

 

[Bad Thoughts]

ENT just needed a great finale, not a valentine. And if Berman and Braga really wanted a valentine, they should have sprung for Shatner or Stewart--DeLancie, at the very least.

 

[ChristopherPike]

Too many cast members to cater for. I'd bring it down to a young Picard (played by Tom Hardy, still available in 2005) being the star pupil in his Academy class. Other cadets played by unknowns. One is Jack Crusher probably.

Captain Sulu (George Takei) is their teacher. The timeline of Star Trek would allow that, at a push. Sulu would be older than the actor, but under 100. Picard 40 years younger than Patrick Stewart.

Two hour telemovie. 25% spent on the early 24th Century academy framework scenes. 75% racing through remaining 22nd Century missions with Archer and his crew, leading up to the Federation founding.

You have a key TNG character, being taught how to be a Starfleet officer by a legendary TOS one. The lessons being learnt are about the Enterprise NX-01 crew and events scattered between 2156 and 2161.

End it with Sulu taking them to visit the fleet museum and right there is the Constitution class, a Daedalus class and lingering finally on this series' hero ship... the NX.

Tie the franchise altogether like that... and not just turn ENT into an episode of TNG. But however they could've done it, don't make the 22nd Century scenes trivial. As happened basically. They have to be important enough to appear in a history book. Saving Shran's daughter, with the greatest of respect, isn't one for the records is it? Why would that be remembered in 200 years? Have a holo-program version of it for Riker to bring up and study? [shrugs]

Anyway... same set-up as involving Frakes and Sirtis. You have two big guest-stars. But you keep their scenes away from the Enterprise regulars. If there's any holodeck involved, and Sulu & Picard have to walk into a recreation of the NX-01, limit it to a scene near the end... because the teacher has to prove their point to his pupils, that can't be seen on a monitor screen.

Away from that, it's essentially scenes from an episode and a half's worth of Enterprise. Done as they would've been. The whole valentine aspect, edited in to complete the narrative afterwards.

 

[Dukhat]

You've just described the most expensive episode of Star Trek ever.

But seriously, gblews is right. TNG's finale didn't have the cast of TOS in it. DS9's finale didn't have the cast of TNG in it. VOY's finale didn't have the cast of DS9 in it (although it did have Barclay, but nobody cares about him). ENT's finale should have been about the ENT characters.

 

[Takeru]

So here’s my outline for a “better valentine” to Trek fans, ...

That's not better, that's worse, a ton af random guest stars mean even less focus for the actual main characters of the series. So many guest stars aren't even needed, you're throwing people from every series in just to have people from every series.

The story for the Enterprise crew is not really specified.

But that's the most important part!

I don’t think it’s as important as finding a credible way to tie the different series together.

But you didn't find a credible way, it's a bunch of characters in different places and timeframes talking about unspecified stuff involving Enterprise and its characters. Why? You don't know because you haven't thought about the Enterprise crew and their story at all.

 

[jespah]

This just looks like a buncha people getting together. It's not an episode, it's a convention.

TATV could've been done with an old T'Pol, remembering her early days, lecturing young Vulcan pupils, perhaps, including some picked-on kid named Spock.

 

[Bad Thoughts]

Here' s my idea:

1. Fire the producers who disdain the fans' desire to connect the show to the franchise as a whole.

2. Plan an entire season in which episodes revisit interesting questions and fun moments from the past, like human and Klingon genetic manipulation, the disappearance of a sister ship, god-like beings, alternative and parallel realities, the creation of organizations, both federal and covert.

3. Bring back actors to play their ancestors, suggesting that events that took place in the 22nd century continued to affect character development far in the future.

4. For kicks, revisit silly alien concepts, like the Orions.

5. Get a legendary sci-fi actor to play a hero ... or a villain.

6. End with a touching moment that suggests that the future will be bright for our favorite outsider characters, perhaps Worf or Spock.

If only the producers knew about this, Enterprise could have produced a great Valentine for fans.

 

[SPCTRE]

It's not an episode, it's a convention.

This.

 

[T'Girl]

I'd bring it down to a young Picard (played by Tom Hardy, still available in 2005)

Or better still, get a actor who could believable be perceived of as a young Picard.

Which leaves out Tom Hardy.

 

[ChristopherPike]

Or better still, get a actor who could believable be perceived of as a young Picard.

Which leaves out Tom Hardy.

Thanks for letting me off lightly! Does that mean we can go back in time and make sure my idea happens instead?

I don't know. Feel free to throw stuff but I never had a problem with Hardy playing a younger Picard. Certain scenes where both actors discuss and debate their past sold that to me. It's the evil clone plot, required to twist Picard into this Shinzon character which is the problem. Although Stewart holding up that photo of him in his Academy days, bald back then too for some reason, somehow pointed to some insecurity somewhere. Enough to think of bald as a shortcut. Like he'd have been so since his twenties.

 

[MacLeod]

I'm sure we could all come up with ideas of what could have made a better finalé, off the top of my head set it in 2245 at the launch ceremony for the NCC-1701. T'Pol is the guest of honour and as part of her speech she tells the story of the final voyage of the the NX-01.

 

[Dukhat]

TATV could've been done with an old T'Pol, remembering her early days, lecturing young Vulcan pupils, perhaps, including some picked-on kid named Spock.

While that is a much better idea, it sounds too similar to old Janeway in "Endgame."

 

[Avro Arrow]

No offense to the OP, but that doesn't really sound "better". As others have already mentioned, the ENT finale should have been about the ENT characters.

If you really, really needed characters from some other show (and you really didn't), then I would probably have done it through actual time-travel, rather than reducing the ENT crew to holonovel characters. And the ENT crew would be the main focus of the plot.

And if you really, really needed the actual set up with Riker and Troi and the holodeck idea, then make it with the two of them serving on the Titan, rather than try to shoehorn the events of the episode into The Pegasus, where it didn't fit at all.

And if you really, really needed to kill off a character ('cause the show's ending, so why not? ), maybe review the script a little closer, and if the death comes off as really stupid, change it.

The finale of ENT should have showed the founding of the Federation, rather than some interim organization that "lead to" the Federation.

If we needed a "valentine" for all of Star Trek, then CBS could have produced a cross-over syndicated telemovie or something. But we all know they would have never put up the $$$, and so it would never have happened.

Yeah, not really a fan of TATV...

 

[jespah]

TATV could've been done with an old T'Pol, remembering her early days, lecturing young Vulcan pupils, perhaps, including some picked-on kid named Spock.

While that is a much better idea, it sounds too similar to old Janeway in "Endgame."

Ah, I haven't seen a lot of VOY; I have a ton of catch-up viewing to do.

But T'Pol is the logical (heh) character for a true reminiscence. It could even almost tie into the E2 story line, if the writers liked.

And yes, if Riker and Troi were absolutely necessary (still think they weren't) then the tie to the films and the Titan would have made a lot more sense. TATV ends up gutting the Pegasus plot and changing it in a way that doesn't work.

I don't mind killing off a character. But meaningless character deaths (think Tasha Yar) seem to work better midstream, so that the surviving characters can experience guilt, loss, and their own wtf moments.

We were sold a bill of goods from Day One that Archer was essentially the George Washington of space, and that the NX-01 was on a historic mission, etc. I don't mind Archer having feet of clay and I prefer that; it's more realistic. For this flyboy to turn into a statesman, showing the speech or at least its beginning would have worked. I suppose TPTB didn't want to show any of it, in order to give the viewers free rein with their imaginations (and with fan fic), but we did get the gazelle speech, etc. Even if the speech is just the first line or so, and it starts out with something like -

"Thank you for coming. We couldn't have gotten here without the sacrifices of a lot of people, of several species. Please join me in a moment of silence to remember them."

Then flash images - Tucker, Hayes, Forrest, Cutler, Hawkins, Taylor, any others who were shown lost. Add in Talas and any other alien faces, and not necessarily from the four founding species.

Cut to three ships ending.

 

[Bad Thoughts]

I suppose TPTB didn't want to show any of it, in order to give the viewers free rein with their imaginations (and with fan fic)

Berman's and Braga's cynicism with regard to the fans explains a lot about the successes and failures of Enterprise, this episode being no exception. Berman and Braga tiptoes around the fans so much that many of their better ideas were greatly diminished. The show never seemed to make sighnificant progress in its ultimate goal--showing the prehistory of the Federation--and in their make-or-break moment, they chose a crisis and enemy for which there were no references in Trek lore. Finally, the fourth season, under Coto, did what the fans expected. It dealt with lingering questions of canon and brought back issues that would shape the personalities of TOS and TNG. TATV was a complete reversal of the fourth season. The events "described" on NX-01 showed the formalization of the Federation, but it didn't develop the story leading to it. Indeed, TATV was Flashback pt. 2.

The Fourth Season was the Valentine to fans. TATV was a reversal to what the fourth season accomplished. Indeed, it would have been better if the 24th century characters interacted meaningfully with the 22nd century counterparts, but Berman and Braga would not allow it. Nonetheless, the more that future elements were added to the show, the less it was going to be about NX-01 and its crew. On the other hand, creating biological and ideological ancestors (like Arik Soong) helped to establish the importance of the 22nd century for the 24th.

 

[Anna Yolei]

The fourth season was just rearranging the deck chairs on the Titantic. As a whole, the season had many one possible misstep episode in Bound, but as the season went on, I really wanted stories about this crew we'd known for four years and after a second viewing I liked season 4 a whole helluva lot less. A whole season they spent saving the Earth and not ONE reference to that after "Home"?

Like I said, nothing horrible, but a better mix of Enterprise/TOS h9mage was in order, imo.

 

[2takesfrakes]

Season 3 I thought had some decent episodes. I don't remember the titles on these, but the one where there's some anomaly that allows the present crew of NX-01 to visit a future version of NX-01 where everybody's old and set adrift on it, or something like that. As I recall, though, there was very little time spent with T'Pol and her son with Trip and all that, which I found very disappointing. And they kept doing that kind of thing.

Like another episode where there was a planet of Cowboys, or some junk, which Trip & T'Pol have to save someone, I believe. Anyway, here they are dressed up and riding horseback (trying to) and the whole bit AND ... it's like, hardly in the episode, this country stuff with them two. What gives? It's like they just used that stuff to throw in a teaser, to get people to watch, but didn't want to make the whole show about it.

I hated that, how they would do that all the time, in Season 3, especially. But the ideas were there. I liked it when Archer and T'Pol went back in time to stop somebody and AGAIN ... this was like a flash in the pan and it's hardly in it. Whatever ... Season 4 was better story telling, I guess, in the actually telling part. But what they were telling wasn't really exciting. I don't know ... I think I'm the only one who liked TATV, though. Certainly seems like it. Season 3 actually seemed to be on the right track, the ideas were there, they just needed to settle in some of the settings more, in alot of these episodes.

 

[Mach5]

TATV could've been done with an old T'Pol, remembering her early days, lecturing young Vulcan pupils, perhaps, including some picked-on kid named Spock.

While that is a much better idea, it sounds too similar to old Janeway in "Endgame."

[yt]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bxU2eqZtYmc[/yt]



Jokes aside, I really like jespah's idea.