What if the Enterprise B was in Yesterday’s Enterprise?

[Snowdrop82]

What if the Enterprise B was in Yesterday’s Enterprise? What if the whole affair with the Federation defending the Klingon outpost against the Romulans was in the B era, and the Klingons and Federation were allies for far longer, with the B taking the role of the C in Yesterday’s Enterprise?

What would the C have been in this scenario as well?

 

[Nerys Myk]

What if the Enterprise B was in Yesterday’s Enterprise? What if the whole affair with the Federation defending the Klingon outpost against the Romulans was in the B era, and the Klingons and Federation were allies for far longer, with the B taking the role of the C in Yesterday’s Enterprise?

What would the C have been in this scenario as well?

The C would be sitting in a construction dock somewhere or on blueprints

 

[Dukhat]

What if the Enterprise B was in Yesterday’s Enterprise? What if the whole affair with the Federation defending the Klingon outpost against the Romulans was in the B era, and the Klingons and Federation were allies for far longer, with the B taking the role of the C in Yesterday’s Enterprise?

What would the C have been in this scenario as well?

Admittedly, it would have made more sense to have had YE take place in 2311 during the ‘Tomed Incident’ (which was the last time the Federation had heard a peep out of the Romulans, according to “The Neutral Zone.”) The Enterprise-B would have worked better in that context, along with the tech level, monster maroon uniforms, props, etc. It would also have meant that the C Enterprise would have been built sometime after 2311 and lasted until the 2360’s once the D was commissioned, instead of having a 20 year gap where there was no Enterprise between the C and the D. But I don’t think the writers would have wanted a 54 year gap between the two crews.

There was a point early in the production of YE where the producers didn’t want a new model built for the C, and asked for either the Enterprise-A or the Excelsior models to be reused instead. Either they would have had to modify those models to represent another class of ship, or they would have to change the C to either the B or the A for the story. I would guess that they wouldn’t have wanted to modify the A model because they were still planning on using it for future TOS films (and didn’t want its overall fate to be revealed), so they probably would have used the Excelsior as the B or modified for the C. Based on budget and time constraints, I could totally see them just using the model as-is and changing the script to make it the B. But then Greg Jein saved the day and we got our Ambassador model.

 

[somebuddyX]

The story would have been the same. "Two Days Ago's Enterprise."

 

[Picard1994]

The story would have been the same. "Two Days Ago's Enterprise."

No no, "The Day Before Yesterday's Enterprise".

 

[Nerys Myk]

"Last Week's Enterprise"

 

[knightgrace]

The Enterprise-B, makes more sense, especially as a straight up Excelsior.

 

[The Wormhole]

Using the B would mean saving time and money on not having to built a new model for the Ambassador class. That's the only real way the episode would have been different.

 

[Phoenix219]

I still think it should have been the "A", and been in a movie.

i am split, on whether it should have been the same plot, the Enterprise (and Kirk) give their lives to make peace with the Klingons and prevent a war, giving weight to the line "there will be no peace, as long as Kirk lives!"

OR

whether it should have been a straight up sequel to Undiscovered Country, where their absence causes the death of the chancellor and causes a full out war, and the plot would include the TNG crew dressed up in monster maroons running around the events of TUC, back to the future 2 style.

It depends on if you wanted something fun w ith a satisfying ending, or something dark and poignant and unsettling, but would stick with you for awhile. This choice also would come with the later option of Kirk doing something Kirk-y, like finding a way to do it on auto pilot and save his crew, possibly leaving them in the 24th century at some point down the line when the next writer wanted to undo the dark ending.

 

[Nerys Myk]

I still think it should have been the "A", and been in a movie.

And that movie should have been Generations .

 

[DarrenTR1970]

The story would have been the same. "Two Days Ago's Enterprise."

No no, "The Day Before Yesterday's Enterprise".

"Last Week's Enterprise"

Oh come on! You're all missing the obvious, "Tuesday's Enterprise."

 

[Nerys Myk]

Oh come on! You're all missing the obvious, "Tuesday's Enterprise."

"Consult Your Local Listing's Enterprise."

 

[Dukhat]

Using the B would mean saving time and money on not having to built a new model for the Ambassador class. That's the only real way the episode would have been different.

Yeah, this is the most likely scenario:

Writer: “I just wrote this great script where the Enterprise-C gets thrown forward in time 20 years and meets the Enterprise-D, but history is changed and they’re at war with the Klingons. Denise Crosby is even coming back.”

Producer: “That sounds awesome! Let’s do it!”

Writer: “However, we’ll need a new filming model built for the Enterprise-C.”

Producer: “What?! We can’t afford that!”

Writer: “ Well, we can’t really do the episode without a ship for the Enterprise-C.”

Producer: “We have all those movie models lying around. Use one of those. Add some fins or shit onto it to make it look different.”

Writer: "Uh, ok. Well, we're also going to need some new Klingon ships."

Producer: “What?! We can’t afford that! Just use that bird of prey ship we always use."

Writer: "But we need large battlecruisers that are a match for the Enterprises! The bird of prey is a small ship."

Producer: "Then pretend that that little bird of prey is a big huge ship. Have the vfx guys do some trick camera work or some shit."

Writer: “Okay, well we’ll also need some new uniforms made for the Enterprise-C crew, and some new phasers and commbadges.”

Producer: “What?! We can’t afford that! Use some old movie uniforms. Find a gun out of the stock prop bin. Find a movie pin and use that for a commbadge. But only give it to the captain because we only have one.”

 

[Snowdrop82]

And that movie should have been Generations .

Now that I think about it I absolutely agree.

 

[knightgrace]

@Dukat, not sarcastic enough though three thumbs up.

Difficult I know.

But writable.

 

[somebuddyX]

No no, "The Day Before Yesterday's Enterprise".

You know, I spent so long anguishing where the apostrophe was supposed to go and then you come in with a better title anyway.

 

[Picard1994]

You know, I spent so long anguishing where the apostrophe was supposed to go and then you come in with a better title anyway.

Heh.

 

[Whizkid]

Well.. then yesterday would be tomorrow no?

 

[Riley]

I still think it should have been the "A", and been in a movie.

i am split, on whether it should have been the same plot, the Enterprise (and Kirk) give their lives to make peace with the Klingons and prevent a war, giving weight to the line "there will be no peace, as long as Kirk lives!"

OR

whether it should have been a straight up sequel to Undiscovered Country, where their absence causes the death of the chancellor and causes a full out war, and the plot would include the TNG crew dressed up in monster maroons running around the events of TUC, back to the future 2 style.

It depends on if you wanted something fun w ith a satisfying ending, or something dark and poignant and unsettling, but would stick with you for awhile. This choice also would come with the later option of Kirk doing something Kirk-y, like finding a way to do it on auto pilot and save his crew, possibly leaving them in the 24th century at some point down the line when the next writer wanted to undo the dark ending.

I couldn't agree more. The premise was perfect for a "crossover" movie, which I didn't think was necessary back then or today. However, if the YE premise hadn't been used, it would have been perfect for a crossover and would have likely been the epic story we all expected/hoped for.

And that movie should have been Generations .

Absolutely.

 

[Riley]

One of the many things that bugs me about "Yesterday's Enterprise" (it has not aged well for me) is the use of the Enterprise-C. The sense of loss and drama we're supposed to feel over the Enterprise-C's crew losing twenty two years never rings true. IIRC, Castillo says at one point, "Will our families even recognize us?" Unless they have an optical or neurological disorder that hasn't been cured in the 24th century, I don't see why not. It's only twenty-two years.

If the Enterprise-B is used, we're talking a loss of an entire lifetime. Their families are likely dead, and those who might still be around would not likely recognize them after that time. That's a far bigger loss and one we feel acutely when the crew of the Bozeman face it years later.

As for the Enterprise-C in this scenario, that could have been left mysterious or perhaps she was destroyed in some other conflict, maybe with the Cardassians or Tzenkethi.

ETA: it also makes far more sense that the Monster Maroons are still around if it's the Enterprise-B, and we'd see them in all of their glory instead of the piecemeal weirdness we got.