Enterprise 1/28/05

[myrdden]

its not bad, but I think it would be better if they didn't show the romulans hjust kept refering to them and let us guess.

I thought about this as well. I think they are working on the presumption that fans know who the romuland are, so there is really no sense in trying to hide it. As long as the romulans are not revealed to anyone "on-screen" I believe this approach works. I have to admit that it would be cool if we never saw the romulans but I'm ok with how they are handling it.

In TOS Scotty says he only detects impulse power only - no warp power. I think TNG somewhat answered this by introducing the idea that Romulans use singularities for power rather than anti-matter. Also, I think a bit of selective memory is required to mesh the stories from TOS and the newer series. I mean TOS was a product of the 60s and written without consideration of future compatibility.

 

[DaveMage]

You also gotta remember that this ship is a proto-type. It is very possible that they still don't have stable warp tech. I think the producers are doing a wonderful job of interpreting Trek historical canon.

I though about that, but you'd think that if this was their first warp ship, they would have at least made some progress in the next 100 years.

 

[John Crichton]

I though about that, but you'd think that if this was their first warp ship, they would have at least made some progress in the next 100 years.

Who's to know, really. They use different tech than other races and have essentially isolated themselves from the rest of the galaxy. They may suffer a setback in these eps that cuts them off more than they want to be. I'm not the most versed in Trek Lore but from what I can tell they aren't blasting any sacred cows at this point.

 

[mojo1701]

I mean TOS was a product of the 60s and written without consideration of future compatibility.

*Cough* Eugenics Wars *cough*

 

[Orius]

If we assume for a moment that there is some continuity in Star Trek history

That in itself is the biggest problem. Early Trek had nothing even remotely resembling continuity. It's only more recently that the producers even bother to pay any attention to it. And a lot of Trek assumptions that are held by fans have often been thrown out the window for the sake of a storyline.

Another question would be why the Romulans fought the Romulan War using primitive nuclear weapons, when it is clear that they have better weapons capability. Hopefully, we will see in future episodes that nuclear weapons are, in fact, what they have stockpiled. This would make Earth technology in some ways superior to Romulan standard fare....but it would also make Archer pretty hot to aquire shields from his allies.

Well, while "Balance of Terror" did introduce the Romulans, it was also one of the earliest episodes of TOS. A lot of things we take for granted in the Trek universe wasn't even around or hadn't been introduced at the time. For example, there was some confusion as to when Star Trek took place, no mentions yet of the Federation, etc. That's why the episode has some strange elements, like the Romulans using nukes in the war, or the Romulan ship not having warp drive.

As far as warp technology goes, though, TOS made it fairly obvious that the Romulans had warp technology, but that their current cloaking device did not work at warp speeds, quite likely because of its energy requirements. Scotty said that the Romulans were relying on impulse power; to my recollection he did not say that the Romulans were limited to impulse power. The simple facts that

(1) The Vulcans had warp drive when they encountered Zephram Cochrane, and
(2) The Romulans were capable of moving from Vulcan to Romulus

implies that the Romulans had warp capability long before humans were players in the galactic scene.

The bottom line is that Romulans need to have warp drive because fighting an interstellar war with a species that can do Warp 5 makes no sense at all.

Far easier to assume that the cloaking technology we are seeing in Enterprise is Mark I technology, which is made obsolete long before TOS (we ought to be seeing Reed making weapons systems modifications that allow "cloaked" Romulan ships to be targetted -- they have the Suliban shuttle; they currently have the ability to examine a Romulan ship from the inside....how much information does it require?). Mark II cloaking technology requires a greater energy output, and prevents using a warp core at the same time. Mark III cloaking technology is seen in the Orginal Series movies. Mark IV allows you to fire while cloaked.

I believe a similar premise is used by the producers to explain why the Romulans still use cloaking devices in TNG and beyond. It's sort of a continuing arms race between the Federation and Romulans where the Romulans develop a better cloaking device, the Federation develops better sensors which penetrate the cloak, and so the Romulans develop a better cloaking device to compensate.

 

[Orius]

I thought about this as well. I think they are working on the presumption that fans know who the romuland are, so there is really no sense in trying to hide it. As long as the romulans are not revealed to anyone "on-screen" I believe this approach works. I have to admit that it would be cool if we never saw the romulans but I'm ok with how they are handling it.

Yes, the production reports on the Star Trek web site for this storyline stated right out that the characters would not meet the Romulans face to face to preserve some continuity. However, everone watching the show probably knows who the Romulans are at this point, so the really isn't much point in hiding them.

In TOS Scotty says he only detects impulse power only - no warp power. I think TNG somewhat answered this by introducing the idea that Romulans use singularities for power rather than anti-matter. Also, I think a bit of selective memory is required to mesh the stories from TOS and the newer series. I mean TOS was a product of the 60s and written without consideration of future compatibility.

That's the usual explaination for it. And really, who would have thought back in 1966 that people would still be watching Star Trek nearly 40 years in the future (not to mention nit-picking every small detail )?

 

[Orius]

*Cough* Eugenics Wars *cough*

Or to elaborate:

http://www.enworld.org/showpost.php?p=1856954&postcount=28
http://www.enworld.org/showpost.php?p=1858808&postcount=35

 

[mojo1701]

Or to elaborate:

http://www.enworld.org/showpost.php?p=1856954&postcount=28
http://www.enworld.org/showpost.php?p=1858808&postcount=35

I prefer to think of it as the way it was presented in "The Eugenics Wars" books.

 

[Raven Crowking]

I prefer to think of it as the way it was presented in "The Eugenics Wars" books.

Of course, when TOS was being created, the world had already gone through at least one major war based (at least in part) upon theories of eugenics: World War II. I tend to think that when the Eugenics Wars are being discussed in Star Trek that several wars, beginning with WW II and continuing through events in parts of the world right now, qualify.

The history of the genetically engineered Khan in the "Eugenics Wars" books is actually fairly consistent both with real-world events and Star Trek history. Of course, tossing in other pop culture references, such as those to the Stepford Wives, robotic Bigfoot creatures (a reference to Doctor Who or The Six Million Dollar Man), and possibly the Beauty and the Beast TV series in the first volume, while fun, make it harder to accept as Trek "history".


RC

 

[David Howery]

hmm... at the end of the Vulcan story arc, when the Romulan appeared, did anyone on the show even say that it was a Romulan? I'd say that's proof they're catering to fans of the previous series.. otherwise, you'd be puzzled as hell as to just why this 'Vulcan' was being presented so ominously...