Zefram Cochrane - Companion transferred his consciousness into body?

[Cadet49]

I know producers of Star Trek First Contact (or was it the Okudas in one of their reference books) speculated that the reason Cochrane in First Contact looked so much older and physically different that the Cochrane encountered by Kirk in TOS "Metamorphosis" was because of radiation poisoning...

Could another possibility be that the Companion had encountered a younger human explorer who had perished in some way before she met Cochrane, and when she encountered the elderly, dying Cochrane, she transferred his consciousness into the other human body, to save Cochrane's life? It certainly isn't out of the realm of the Trek universe, and we saw that the Companion itself was able to transfer itself into the body of Nancy Hedford (sp?)...

Might also explain why Kirk and his landing party didn't recognize someone as famous as Cochrane, and why they were confused when he identified himself finally as Cochrane ... I just never really bought the radiation reasoning ... and yeah, I know we can just explain it away as (different actors, different writers, etc.)

 

[Timo]

Re: Zefram Cochrane - Companion transferred his consciousness into bod

That's actually a cool idea - although I have no difficulty thinking that our heroes would be unable to recognize the real Cochrane's face, either.

I mean, if I were to meet young Karl Marx on my doorstep today, I'd probably have no idea whom I was staring at - this regardless of whether Karl was dressed in the style of his youth and carried a hairdo and moustache to match, or whether he was wearing his clothing and hair in current style. There'd only be a very narrow time window in Marx' career where I could recognize him by his 19th century fashions and what little was visible of his face behind that beard...

Perhaps Cochrane was famous for his apocalyptic look, as worn in ST:FC, and it was thus near-impossible to associate a smartly clad spaceman with the face?

Also, facelifts may have been really in fashion in the late 21st century - perhaps Cochrane wore half a dozen faces in addition to the two we saw?

Timo Saloniemi

 

[jgalley]

Re: Zefram Cochrane - Companion transferred his consciousness into bod

or we can just accept it for what it actually is...an "alteration" to the character and slight "tweak" to his age/history/etc.

that's all it is. different times..different actors..different writers.

we don't need a "in universe" explanation as to why he looked different when the character was shown by not only two different actors but so many years apart from one another.

 

[Timo]

Re: Zefram Cochrane - Companion transferred his consciousness into bod

He's quite a central piece in the great game of Star Trek timekeeping, though. He's essentially the last "ordinary guy" before the universe is taken over by "future heroes" (which may be why he felt alienated enough that he had to flee to deep space to die a death of his liking). His career sort of marks the ultimate transition from speculative fiction to pure fantasy - before him, we have interplanetary flight and Sanctuary Districts, and after him, we have warp drive and pointy-eared aliens.

It was a bit weird how the writers all but forgot about him between "Metamorphosis" and ST:FC. They kept bringing back Harry Mudd and the Coridan dispute, but not the purportedly most famous human being after (or before) Jesus H. Christ? Of course, movie fame meant that he was then name-dropped or otherwise inserted into every ENT season and will probably keep popping up in other Trek contexts.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[Admiral Buzzkill]

Re: Zefram Cochrane - Companion transferred his consciousness into bod

They were just played by different actors.

 

[Timo]

Re: Zefram Cochrane - Companion transferred his consciousness into bod

Much like NOMAD and V'Ger, yes. Although this time they didn't change the name when they changed the character specs for dramatic impact. Perhaps we're witnessing a learning process here?

Timo Saloniemi

 

[T'Girl]

Re: Zefram Cochrane - Companion transferred his consciousness into bod

we don't need a "in universe" explanation ...

Sacrilege.

 

[BriGuy]

Re: Zefram Cochrane - Companion transferred his consciousness into bod

I'm more inclined to think that when the companion found Cochrane, she rejuvenated him, made him younger. No other body, it's still his own, just younger, healthier, etc.

From Memory Alpha:

Cochrane was old, and knew he wanted to die in space. So he took a spacecraft and left his home on Alpha Centauri for parts unknown. The Companion found him, reversed his aging process, and has maintained him here, ever since.

So seeing an old Cochrane in FC still makes sense. And it could still "be" his body, just rejuvenated.

As for whether you can think James Cromwell has any resemblance to Glenn Corbett - Cromwell's Cochrane being an older version of Corbett's - I'll leave that up to you.

I don't think there's much of a stretch here.

 

[Timo]

Re: Zefram Cochrane - Companion transferred his consciousness into bod

The only "real" problem with that is that Corbett is plausible for a man in his thirties or forties, while Cromwell is plausible for a man in his fifties or sixties. Yet Cromwell was the one supposed to portray a thirty-something man, as per timing cues given in "Metamorphosis".

Had the roles been reversed, everything would be fine. Had they gotten Tom Hanks for ST:FC, things would be hunky-dory... Had they wiggled their way out of the 2060s timeframe and somehow made ST:FC take place in the 2090s instead (better, perhaps, for those who don't want to see this "future" fail to happen), we here at TrekBBS could relax, too. As matters stand, the complaint is valid that a character who could have been central to Star Trek (but, perhaps fortunately, never was before ST:FC) is treated in a continuity-defying manner.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[BriGuy]

Re: Zefram Cochrane - Companion transferred his consciousness into bod

Why was Cromwell's character supposed to have been in his 30s?

Cromwell's character could have been younger than he looks, because of the hard life and living conditions. Following contact with the Vulcans and other alien species, medical advances could have helped extend his life and improve his health.

Maybe a Cochrane like Cromwell is the man Kirk would have recognized, hence why he would not recognize the younger Cochrane portrayed by Corbett.

....

OK, there's this, so I get it. But I can also buy into the rationalization.

In "Metamorphosis", Cochrane was played by Glenn Corbett, who was 37 at the time of that episode's airing. In Star Trek: First Contact, Cochrane was played by the 56-year-old James Cromwell, at a point when the character, in 2063, would have been approximately 33 years old.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zefram_Cochrane#cite_note-9 The Star Trek Encyclopedia explains this discrepancy by theorizing that Cochrane's aged appearance in 2063 was the result of radiation poisoning, and that when he encountered the Companion, the Companion reversed these effects, and restored his youthful appearance.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zefram_Cochrane#cite_note-Encyc-0

 

[Mr_Homn]

Re: Zefram Cochrane - Companion transferred his consciousness into bod

Why was Cromwell's character supposed to have been in his 30s?

Cromwell's character could have been younger than he looks, because of the hard life and living conditions. Following contact with the Vulcans and other alien species, medical advances could have helped extend his life and improve his health.

Maybe a Cochrane like Cromwell is the man Kirk would have recognized, hence why he would not recognize the younger Cochrane portrayed by Corbett.

....

OK, there's this, so I get it. But I can also buy into the rationalization.

In "Metamorphosis", Cochrane was played by Glenn Corbett, who was 37 at the time of that episode's airing. In Star Trek: First Contact, Cochrane was played by the 56-year-old James Cromwell, at a point when the character, in 2063, would have been approximately 33 years old. The Star Trek Encyclopedia explains this discrepancy by theorizing that Cochrane's aged appearance in 2063 was the result of radiation poisoning, and that when he encountered the Companion, the Companion reversed these effects, and restored his youthful appearance.

Who says he had to be 33 years old in 2063 according to Metamorphosis? As I recall they intentionally never specifically mentioned ANY date that TOS takes place in during the show.

 

[David cgc]

Re: Zefram Cochrane - Companion transferred his consciousness into bod

Who says he had to be 33 years old in 2063 according to Metamorphosis? As I recall they intentionally never specifically mentioned ANY date that TOS takes place in during the show.

He said he was 87 when the Companion found him, and that that was 150 years prior to the episode, which would've still followed the general practice of not saying when Star Trek was relative to the present day. Of course, once they did narrow down a timeframe for the show, then you could start getting actual calendar years from that.

 

[Mr_Homn]

Re: Zefram Cochrane - Companion transferred his consciousness into bod

Who says he had to be 33 years old in 2063 according to Metamorphosis? As I recall they intentionally never specifically mentioned ANY date that TOS takes place in during the show.

He said he was 87 when the Companion found him, and that that was 150 years prior to the episode, which would've still followed the general practice of not saying when Star Trek was relative to the present day. Of course, once they did narrow down a timeframe for the show, then you could start getting actual calendar years from that.

In Squire of Gothos Kirk says that the 18th century is something like 900 years in the past. I rarely hear any complaining about that, yet I hear this minor Cochrane age descrepancy come up over and over again. It's so incredibly nitpicky, especially when his age or a specific year is never even stated in either episode. There are numerous time frames given in TOS that don't jive with the rest of canon.

 

[Timo]

Re: Zefram Cochrane - Companion transferred his consciousness into bod

To be sure, there are only three times where TOS diverges from the idea that it takes place 300 years in the future, and two of them say 200+ years; statistically, there always was a reason to worry about Cochrane being in our immediate near future. And the net began to tighten immediately after TOS, when everybody writing Trek (be it TAS, novels, or the next series or movie or TV movie or whatever) jumped to the conclusion that it must always be 300 years after airdate sharp.

(The sole reference to the 28th century is derived from the the distance-delayed observations of a fallible superbeing-child who lives on a mobile planet, so it's rather easy to dismiss. )

Timo Saloniemi

 

[F. King Daniel]

Re: Zefram Cochrane - Companion transferred his consciousness into bod

Kirk recognized Cochrane in "Metamorphosis". Thus, in-universe, they look the same. Just like James Doohan and Simon Pegg look the same, because Spock recognized the latter as the former on-sight too.

First Contact was a total retcon, done by people who probably never even bothered to watch the TOS episode.

 

[Timo]

Re: Zefram Cochrane - Companion transferred his consciousness into bod

Kirk recognized Cochrane in "Metamorphosis"

Kirk gets introduced to a guy who calls himself "Cochrane". His reaction? "There's something vaguely familiar about that man"!

His very words:

McCoy: "Talks a lot, but he doesn't say much."
Kirk: "I've noticed something else."
McCoy: "What's that?"
Kirk: "He looks familiar."
McCoy: "Familiar? ...Now that you mention it, he does."
Kirk: "I can't quite place him, but..."

Spock didn't recognize Cochrane better than that, either.

...So, for all we know, Cochrane there wore the face of a 2050s pop star he had once admired!

Timo Saloniemi

 

[ChristopherPike]

Re: Zefram Cochrane - Companion transferred his consciousness into bod

Massive ret-con alert... and yes, novels aren't canon.

"Cochrane" was actually Charles Tucker III, years after he'd had his Romulan alterations (while working for Section 31) reversed and adopted a new identity.

He knew he couldn't tell Kirk his real name and so thought up a fake name on the spot. Not realising he'd soon be pressed for a first name and have to keep up a pretence, he'd had a split second to settle on.

Anyway it doesn't matter who he was, since he made Kirk promise "Don't tell them about me".

 

[Nerys Myk]

Re: Zefram Cochrane - Companion transferred his consciousness into bod

Hmmm. Corbett does look a bit like Trinneer....

 

[Mr_Homn]

Re: Zefram Cochrane - Companion transferred his consciousness into bod

robin curtis didn't look anything like kirstie alley

james cromwell didn't look anything like glenn corbett

all of william campbell's characters seemed to look alike for some strange reason. Hmm... maybe they're all clones!

It's called acting. Suspend disbelief.

 

[Timo]

Re: Zefram Cochrane - Companion transferred his consciousness into bod

...It does make suspension acts a bit difficult if Othello is white or Lolita is sixty. I've seen both things pulled off well enough, but in settings where it was also necessary to believe that a chair is a ship or a curtain is a mountain. Star Trek is not that sort of a setting; in there, a white Othello or a wrinkled Lolita is properly called "bad casting".

Timo Saloniemi