Would "Yesterday's Enterprise" Have Worked as a TOS Episode?

[Captain Clark Terrell]

Obviously, the idea for Enterprise hadn't been conceived when TOS was written--and the full backstory of the Constitution-class ship was still being hashed out. But suppose "Yesterday's Enterprise" had aired during Kirk's time rather than Picard's. Would the idea have worked as well? How would the episode have been different from what we saw on TNG?

--Sran

 

[CorporalCaptain]

Doesn't work as well, because Rand hadn't been killed.

 

[Captain Clark Terrell]

Doesn't work as well, because Rand hadn't been killed.

But Gary Mitchell had been.

--Sran

 

[CorporalCaptain]

Pass.

 

[Captain Clark Terrell]

Pass.

There's always Elizabeth Dehner. She was cute.

--Sran

 

[Harvey]

Too much continuity, I think, for classic Star Trek.

 

[Wingsley]

TOS was conflicted, and this kind of story concept brings it out.

Both James T. Kirk and Spock were historians, much like Picard.

"City on the Edge of Forever" seems to put forth the idea that if you change one person's life (saving Edith Keeler from a street accident at a crucial moment in history), the whole tapestry of future-history can be undone. This seems to be the closest that TOS ever came to the "Yesterday's Enterprise" notion.

It would be interesting to see if the then-Starship Enterprise, brand-new, under the command of Robert April were to suddenly be forced forward from the Battle of Donatu V, finds the future Federation in chaos because Starfleet's failings stemming from the loss of the Enterprise cause at leadership crisis resulting in the near-breakup of the Federation. (Even more fascinating would be if April's Enterprise were to meet a somewhat more modern Enterprise-A, commanded by Spock, with James T. Kirk as the first officer.) Add some Romulans and/or Klingons to start a war, and April would have to figure out if he can save the Federation by going back, guns a-blazing.

 

[Wingsley]

By conflicted, I mean that, on the one hand, some stories stressed the importance of history and used continuity as a means to flesh out the characters and the universe they lived in. (Much as STARGATE SG-1 did, many years later). On the other hand, most TOS stories were individual episodes, often divorced from continuity.

For history/continuity, look at "The Menagerie", which showed us the Enterprise 13 years earlier. Also look at "By Any Other Name", with references to "Where No Man Has Gone Before" and "A Taste of Armageddon".

 

[CorporalCaptain]

I'll take "Mirror, Mirror" over "Yesterday's Enterprise".

 

[Captain Clark Terrell]

It would be interesting to see if the then-Starship Enterprise, brand-new, under the command of Robert April were to suddenly be forced forward from the Battle of Donatu V, finds the future Federation in chaos because Starfleet's failings stemming from the loss of the Enterprise cause at leadership crisis resulting in the near-breakup of the Federation. (Even more fascinating would be if April's Enterprise were to meet a somewhat more modern Enterprise-A, commanded by Spock, with James T. Kirk as the first officer.) Add some Romulans and/or Klingons to start a war, and April would have to figure out if he can save the Federation by going back, guns a-blazing.

This is a neat idea! I'd thought of something similar before I posted this thread. My idea actually features Jonathan Archer's Enterprise and depicts a universe in which the Vulcans never joined the Federation but instead allied themselves with the Romulans, precipitating a conflict between the newly-formed Federation and the Romulan Emprie that lasted several decades, eventually reaching Kirk's time.

In this alternate reality, Kirk is still captain of the Enterprise, but his first officer is Clark Terrell (I like the idea of the two men meeting in this timeline) rather than Spock. McCoy rounds out the "Big 3" of this universe. The rest of the cast is the same as the prime universe (Scotty, Sulu, Chekov, and Uhura).

There would be no Guinan in this setting, so there would have to be another way for the characters to realize that the appearance of Archer's ship may have altered history (perhaps the Guardian of Forever could somehow be used as a referee of sorts, pointing out alterations in the timeline as Guinan did for Picard).

--Sran

 

[Gary Mitchell]

Doesn't work as well, because Rand hadn't been killed.

But Gary Mitchell had been.

--Sran

Good idea.

 

[Wingsley]

This is a neat idea! I'd thought of something similar before I posted this thread. My idea actually features Jonathan Archer's Enterprise and depicts a universe in which the Vulcans never joined the Federation but instead allied themselves with the Romulans, precipitating a conflict between the newly-formed Federation and the Romulan Emprie that lasted several decades, eventually reaching Kirk's time.

In this alternate reality, Kirk is still captain of the Enterprise, but his first officer is Clark Terrell (I like the idea of the two men meeting in this timeline) rather than Spock. McCoy rounds out the "Big 3" of this universe. The rest of the cast is the same as the prime universe (Scotty, Sulu, Chekov, and Uhura).

There would be no Guinan in this setting, so there would have to be another way for the characters to realize that the appearance of Archer's ship may have altered history (perhaps the Guardian of Forever could somehow be used as a referee of sorts, pointing out alterations in the timeline as Guinan did for Picard).

--Sran

Is this a TOS-era story, or a TMP-era story?

 

[Maurice]

Sure. You just change it so that Pike is the Captain in the alternate reality and he has to change things back knowing it means he'll be horribly crippled in that other timeline. You mirror the Guinan plot by having Spock telepathically sense his other self in the alternate timeline at the point the ship from the past materialized and ergo know that "this is wrong". You don't need an equivalent Tasha plot, and you give Shatner most of the episode off.

 

[CorporalCaptain]

Sure. You just change it so that Pike is the Captain in the alternate reality and he has to change things back knowing it means he'll be horribly crippled in that other timeline. You mirror the Guinan plot by having Spock telepathically sense his other self in the alternate timeline at the point the ship from the past materialized and ergo know that "this is wrong". You don't need an equivalent Tasha plot, and you give Shatner most of the episode off.

Or, rather, you've transferred the dynamics of the Tasha plot involving the self-sacrifice of a familiar and beloved character to Pike. That would work. The OP seemed to want the story set on Kirk's Enterprise, though.

 

[Avro Arrow]

I think it could work, but in order to have the same sort of "at war with someone who is supposed to be our ally" plot, you'd have to have Earth or the Federation at war with the Vulcans. Then you can have Spock absent from the Enterprise bridge, then have Mitchell taking his place as First Officer, as mentioned above. Make the turning point whatever they were talking about in "Whom Gods Destroy" that allowed Kirk and Spock to be brothers, so that when the ship came forward, that event didn't happen, and things took a turn for the worse.

Although you would have to have at least one scene showing Spock as captain of one of the Vulcan ships, because Nimoy *has* to appear in every TOS episode!

 

[Maurice]

You misunderstand, my answer IS set in the Kirk time period, but the idea is that history is different ergo Pike's still the captain.

 

[Captain Clark Terrell]

Is this a TOS-era story, or a TMP-era story?

I'm thinking either late-TOS or early-TMP; Terrell's backstory establishes that he and Kirk are the same age (or close in age), and he appears in several TOS-era novels as both a first officer and a captain, so he could easily have occupied either position in this alternate timeline.

Edit: As far as Pike being aboard, that could work, too. I'm not set on Kirk being in command.

--Sran

 

[CorporalCaptain]

I've always believed that Pike's accident with the cadets that crippled him came after he had already been promoted from the Enterprise. I'm having a hard time seeing how he could still be captain of the ship in Kirk's time. If it wasn't Kirk in command in that period, it should have been someone else besides Pike, too.

 

[Anwar]

Easy, have Pike be a Commodore or something who was needed on the frontlines in a Ship Of the Line instead of with Trainees.

 

[Captain Clark Terrell]

I've always believed that Pike's accident with the cadets that crippled him came after he had already been promoted from the Enterprise. I'm having a hard time seeing how he could still be captain of the ship in Kirk's time. If it wasn't Kirk in command in that period, it should have been someone else besides Pike, too.

Because in the timeline I'm proposing, prolonged war with the Romulans/Vulcans could have necessitated his remaining aboard rather than being promoted off the ship. As Pike would still have been aboard Enterprise, his accident would never have occurred. The same logic applies to someone like Tasha Yar still being alive, as her alternate universe self would not have had the same experiences and would therefore not have died as she was meant to.

--Sran