What role do you feel Shran would have played as a series regular?

[Jedi Marso]

Shran was one of my favorite characters from Enterprise and I thought it was intriguing that they were considering bringing him on as a member of the crew had the series continued.

However, there would have been some issues to resolve. Shran was an accomplished commander in his own right, a starship captain himself, and we all know the ship can only have one captain. Enterprise already had a captain, first officer, and tactical officer. So where would Shran have fit into the larger whole?

Obviously he's not going to be the captain. I think the logical choice would have been to make him first officer and relegate T'Pol to being science officer, but we all know Shran was very temperamental and could be explosively violent. I think it is questionable whether Starfleet Command or Archer would have wanted him in command in the captain's absence. So...where does Shran fit in? Opinions?

 

[Long Syntax]

Excellent question! Shran was one of my favorites as well. Any answer I think about has obvious problems:

If he serves on the Enterprise, which he almost assuredly would, he'd have to have a position of some prominence (as you point out). But as what role - 1st officer? I could buy it, but relegating T'Pol to a non command role would most likely be viewed as a negative by the Vulcans.

Serving as the captain of an NX-03 could provide an interesting story vehicle, but would require a different kind of story telling and would require longer story arcs or season long arcs to have ample screen time. I'm not sure if the viewing public would have been ready for a larger format change (even knowing they had season 3 as a season long arc - Manny Coto might not have bought into it). In the same vein of thought, having an Andorian ship being commissioned as part of a joint long term mission could work but the same sort of problems arise regarding format and screen time.

I look forward to the discussion - hopefully there are others with more imagination than I that can provide other possibilities!

 

[Jedi Marso]

A lot of views but not a whole lot of reponses. Would Shran have been better off as a series guest star/regular who kept commanding his own ship in the Andorian Guard and making FREQUENT appearances on the show?

 

[Hopeful Romantic]

I think Shran could have been assigned to Enterprise with great fanfare as a "special observer" or something, perhaps part of an officer exchange - but this was actually a demotion and punishment by the Imperial Guard for losing the Kumari. It could make for great conflict to have Shran chafing in his largely useless role, without a command, and Archer is sympathetic and uses his counsel as much as possible, but still, there's ideological clashes, and only one captain. Plus of course Shran would be needling T'Pol and being uncomfortable with Soval.

If you watched Angel Season 5, when Spike landed in the middle of the group and spent half the season not fitting in and stepping on toes...like that.

Then there might be some kind of turning point where Shran does some kind of Save The Day, gets back in the Imperial Guard's good graces, maybe earns a new command? It would depend on whether TPTB wanted him to be a regular or a frequent guest star like Soval.

 

[Tosk]

What role do you feel Shran would have played as a series regular?

He would have been the Andorian.

 

[eyeresist]

I think they may well have put Shran onto the Enterprise, but I think it would have been a bad idea. First of all, the NX already had several resident aliens, and it was supposed to be an Earth mission
Second, as pointed out, Shran is a commander so fitting him into the crew structure would be awkward.

If they had gone with the rise of the Federation combined with the Romulan war, then I could buy Shran as an on-board liaison/observer for the Andorian fleet.

Even then, the problem is this would continue the issue of Shran, who was interesting because he was adversarial with Archer, becoming Archer's lapdog. (Same problem with the Falcon in Captain America Winter Soldier.)

The better course would be to put Shran in a position where he has to deal with the Enterprise regularly, but their interests conflict. Also, he needs to remain a commander and a man of action, not a bureaucrat or functionary.

 

[Jedi Marso]

In a post-Romulan War / Rise of the Federation season, I could see Shran being placed aboard an early Starfleet ship crewed by humans (as well as humans aboard Andorian ships) in order to work out 'best practices' which would be integrated into the new Federation Starfleet as a whole. Same with Vulcans and Tellarites, of course, but it would have given an excuse for Shran to serve aboard Enterprise at least for a while before getting a new command of his own.

 

[apollo1984]

Considering his wealth of experience he would not fit well in the the structure of Enterprise, I mean he is more experienced than the captain so he would probably have had to have been the new captain of the Columbia (so no Hernandez) that is probably the only fit, plus the Columbia would have to show up more than it actually did on the show.

I could kind of see him as a new CO of the MACO's on the ship, however it presents the same problem in that he would be subbordinate to the 'pink skin' not something that Shran would have put up with for long.

 

[Willow]

I had always assumed that as a regular k Shran would continue to command his own ship, but probably assigned to joint missions with Enterprise. I envisioned it as being the earliest attempts at forming a partnership between the humans and Andorians.

 

[t_smitts]

I think they may well have put Shran onto the Enterprise, but I think it would have been a bad idea. First of all, the NX already had several resident aliens, and it was supposed to be an Earth mission
Second, as pointed out, Shran is a commander so fitting him into the crew structure would be awkward.

If they had gone with the rise of the Federation combined with the Romulan war, then I could buy Shran as an on-board liaison/observer for the Andorian fleet.

Even then, the problem is this would continue the issue of Shran, who was interesting because he was adversarial with Archer, becoming Archer's lapdog. (Same problem with the Falcon in Captain America Winter Soldier.)

The better course would be to put Shran in a position where he has to deal with the Enterprise regularly, but their interests conflict. Also, he needs to remain a commander and a man of action, not a bureaucrat or functionary.

I don't know if two aliens really qualifies as "several", but I think it would've been a nice step towards various species working together as part of a crew in later centuries.

Shran himself did say "when you lose a ship, you're not normally rewarded with another". Now this doesn't necessarily need to be interpreted as a demotion, but it's quite possible that he could lose interest, fall out of favor with his superiors (perhaps believing he's become too partial to aliens), and yes, possibly a demotion (in position, if not actual rank).

Shran and Archer's interests didn't always conflict. They were on the same side as often as not. And even if they were, the remaining tension could make for some conflict.

Also there's certainly nothing keeping him from remaining a "man of action".

 

[T'Arwen]

I don't know if two aliens really qualifies as "several", but I think it would've been a nice step towards various species working together as part of a crew in later centuries.

Shran himself did say "when you lose a ship, you're not normally rewarded with another". Now this doesn't necessarily need to be interpreted as a demotion, but it's quite possible that he could lose interest, fall out of favor with his superiors (perhaps believing he's become too partial to aliens), and yes, possibly a demotion (in position, if not actual rank).

I like the idea of Shran going to Enterprise because he fell out of favor with the Imperial Guard. It would even be cooler if he was inspired by T'Pol's choice to leave the VHC. Starfleet ends up being an accidental refuge for misfit aliens.

But the problem is what would he do? The show had enough problems with giving screen time to everyone. The only way I could see this work was if someone left.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

I could kind of see him as a new CO of the MACO's on the ship

Agreed. Shran would be a perfect choice for MACO commander.

however it presents the same problem in that he would be subbordinate to the 'pink skin' not something that Shran would have put up with for long.

I think Shran would tolerate serving under Archer's command, because they are close friends and have fought side by side before. Shran trusts Archer, that's why he'd be willing to serve as a subordinate to him.

Plus it would give Shran a chance to put down some Andorian-style military discipline. If he gets a chance to whip some of those pink-skin soldiers into place, Shran would welcome it.

 

[Jedi Marso]

I like the idea of Shran heading up the MACO's. Even better, if they promoted Malcolm off the ship (made him XO of the NX-03 or something) then Shran could step in at tactical. We could have the occasional Malcolm guest appearance the same way Shran had them in the seasons we got.

Yes, I like that idea- a lot.

 

[eyeresist]

But the problem is what would he do? The show had enough problems with giving screen time to everyone. The only way I could see this work was if someone left.

The pilot's seat is free.

I agree that Shran would have liked being weapons officer. When he's annoyed by the pinkskins, he can always blow stuff up.
But I wouldn't want Malcolm to leave the ship. Maybe make him head of the MACOs?

 

[Anna Yolei]

A lot of views but not a whole lot of reponses. Would Shran have been better off as a series guest star/regular who kept commanding his own ship in the Andorian Guard and making FREQUENT appearances on the show?

As cool as that would've been for Jeffrey Combs to finally be a main cast member, I think he'd been better off where he was. Although he maybe could've been the first ambassador to Vulcan or Earth or something as the series progressed.

 

[Nerys Myk]

I like the idea of Shran heading up the MACOS or MACOS like team. Leave Malcolm at weapons, though, The Enterprise could be a test bed for an integrated Coalition force.

 

[eyeresist]

I like the idea of Shran heading up the MACOS or MACOS like team. Leave Malcolm at weapons, though, The Enterprise could be a test bed for an integrated Coalition force.

I can imagine that as a decent episode: Archer has to prepare a case for integrated Starfleet ships, but at the same time things escalate between Shran and T'Pol and/or Malcolm, resulting in a brawl in the mess hall.

 

[Willow]

I can imagine that as a decent episode: Archer has to prepare a case for integrated Starfleet ships, but at the same time things escalate between Shran and T'Pol and/or Malcolm, resulting in a brawl in the mess hall.

A brawl with Shran, T''Pol and Malcolm? I'd watch that! And then the rest of the crew would have to choose sides. And during the fight, Travis loses his shirt! (He WAS good for something- if only "eye candy"!)

 

[Nerys Myk]

2000 Quatloos on the Vulcan!

 

[Jedi Marso]

I think with Shran as a regular we'd have seen a lot of bloody (blue blood) knuckles. Archer's learning to fight would have been superfluous in the aftermath. Shran definitely wore it on his sleeve and he was never more than three words from fist city.