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

[Maurice]

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 the story calls for history to be altered 22 YEARS in the past, so anything that happened in the normal timeline didn't necessarily happen in the altered one, e.g. Pike's promotion or anything else you want to change for the sake of the story.

 

[CorporalCaptain]

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

OK. That works!

 

[Ithekro]

I was thinking they already sort of did that episode, just it was done using Spock dying at age 7, thus changing the timeline.

A "Yesterday's Enterprise" situation would probably follow a similar line. The Sacrifice of a member of the crew back in time might not be a needed plot element, but the need for the ship to go back would be. However, it is almost impossible to do this with the USS Enterprise as commanded by Captain April, Pike or Kirk, as they are the same ship. Remove an earlier version of it from the timeline in a "Yesterday's Enterprise" fashion, and the future ship is no longer that same ship. It is either a replacement ship (A newer Contitution-class ship named Enterprise (to keep the sets the same), or a totally different ship that happens to have the same crew (Phase II did this when Captain Pike's ship was destroyed in the past by a Doomsday Machine, leaving Kirk and his crew (minus Spock) on USS Farragut.)

So either the setup requires the crew to have a different ship and somehow sending the older Enterprise back means it survived whatever happened and the ending is on the modern show version of the same ship, or somehow a previous starship named Enterprise has to come out of time to be lost to fix the timeline. This would probably have been too much for 1966 if they didn't pin down Federation and Starfleet history a lot more than they usually would.

However there is another way. Have Kirk's USS Enterprise be the Enterprise from yesterday. They get caught in some battle on the way to Organia, all looks lost and then Kirk and crew get taken to a future. In that future there is another Enterprise, but there is a constant state of war with the Klingons. Kirk never went to Organia, and thus the Organians did not get involved with the lesser beings. The war continued outside their interests for decades. Starfleet could use another starship, even if it is a little beat up. But somehow the crew wants to go back even knowing they might die due to the massive Klingon task force their future counterparts know is at Organia. Kirk wants to make a difference. He thinks he can get there first at least.

The future Enterprise does a last stand to hold off the Klingons while Kirk sets course for his own time. It could even be a two parter, with the second part being "Errand of Mercy".

 

[Galileo7]

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

Yes.

 

[Shawnster]

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.

Somewhat similar to the plot of the Killing Time novel.

Spoiler: Killing Time plot.

The USS Enterprise is on patrol near the Romulan neutral zone and the crew is experiencing unusual dreams. Captain James T. Kirk and Science Officer Spock both confess that they are having dreams that Spock is Captain of the ship and Kirk is an Ensign. Kirk informs Spock that Starfleet intelligence has discovered that the Romulans are attempting to use time travel and are sending more ships to investigate. Captain Kirk goes to sleep, and awakes as Ensign Kirk on the VSS ShiKahr, which appears to otherwise be the Enterprise. The Ensign is a drug addled ex-convict who has been on board for only a day.

The Romulans had attempted to travel back in time and destroy the Federation, but they instead created a Federation dominated by Vulcans. They shielded a ship from the changes and compare the differences, realising that it needs to be reversed. Meanwhile, Captain Spock begins to act protectively of Ensign Kirk, but the Captain is injured on an away mission. After Doctor McCoy conducts a series of mental scans, the crew of the ShiKahr realise that history has been altered. The Romulans plot to use Kirk to force Spock to impersonate their leader. Spock mindmelds with Kirk, each realising their personas from the main timeline.

Romulan agents board the ShiKahr and capture Kirk. Spock agrees to their demands and travels with them. Whilst en route, Spock enters pon farr and finds that he is linked to Kirk, but mates with the Romulan Thea to allow it to pass. They retrieve Kirk, and discover that taking Kirk and Spock was a ploy to have them both travel back in time to stop the Romulan agents from preventing the formation of the Federation. They travel back in time and disable the agents, but Spock is seriously injured and dying. Kirk and Spock mindmeld as reality shifts once more and restores the original timeline.

 

[RandyS]

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

You just showed preference for my favorite TOS episode over my favorite TNG episode. Good job.

And bad job.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

Of course it would have worked. I admit I like the idea of using the Vulcans, but as there was never any history of war between them and humanity (and the YE plot depended on such a history with the Klingons), they'd have to do a lot of explaining. Which may be awkward. And also, would they have been able to convincingly depict a warlike, militaristic alternate Enterprise like YE did?

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!

Speaking of which, I always wondered if they ever considered having Worf do that in YE. Meaning, have that Klingon voice that goes "Federation ship Enterprise...surrender and prepare to be boarded" be Worf's.

 

[Captain Clark Terrell]

^IIRC, it was stated that the idea was considered; however, the producers were concerned that it make the ST universe seem too small.

As far as changing the bridge of the Enterprise, perhaps an arrangement similar to what was seen in "Mirror, Mirror..." would have worked (a different captain's chair and guards near the turbolifts).

--Sran

 

[ZapBrannigan]

It would have been the absolute coolest Season 4 episode, and they could afford it because it's a bottle show.

I like bringing back Elizabeth Dehner for this one-shot, and in the "war" timeline, put her in a romance with Kirk so they can have a wrenching separation at the end.

 

[Ithekro]

I know the idea was from later on, but what about using the ring ship Enterprise they used on the wall in TMP (instead of Archer's NX-01 as that was a long time down the road). The ring ship or something of its sort would at least be possible in the minds of those in production for an earlier Enterprise. It could result no Federation, or a semi-Federation with a division with the Andorians, or Vulcans, or a prolonged war with the Romulans the last 100 years (that's a long stalemate).

If someone retroactively made one with the NX-01, than it probably it could have a similar result. A fractured Federation. An Alliance of World with Earth as one member only interested in mutual defense, as oppose to a full government. Or Earth as a seperated isolationist world (well, maybe not totally, just lots of Earth colonies, but part of a Federation). Earth and Vulcan are not as friendly as they are with Kirk and Spock.

The other option would be to do a similar story, but not have the old ship be an Enterprise. It could have even been Garth of Izar's ship from whatever happened at Axanar. Kirk did say something about that event making it possible for Earth and Vulcan to get along better (or something like that). That would bring back an established character in a new light (a non-crazed Garth).

 

[Markonian]

In one of the Star Trek: Early Voyages comics, Mia Colt accidentally travels from the 2250s to the 2280s. Her absence results in Kirk being an Academy dropout, and Pike in command of the Enterprise, with most of his old senior staff intact.

 

[suarezguy]

It could be an interesting story but I don't think it would work as well going back just 13/14 (same ship, different captain) rather than 22 years (a whole different generation) and also because the original series had more conflict plots to begin with the contrast wouldn't have been as sharp as with the more utopian TNG.

 

[Shawnster]

^IIRC, it was stated that the idea was considered; however, the producers were concerned that it make the ST universe seem too small.

Really? They weren't afraid to make the universe small on any other occasion. The DS9 Mirror Universe stories come to mind.

 

[Captain Clark Terrell]

^DS9 utilized a much smaller universe out of necessity, because the series was set primarily on a space station rather than a ship that traveled from end of the Federation to the other. I agree that the universe seemed too small at times, but I think the circumstances driving many of the stories set during DS9's run were different than those faced by the TNG production team.

--Sran