Star Trek, Paramount+, and a Defense of the Greatest Star Trek Captain

[Snarf Zagyg]

No paradox. Someone dropped a hint while looking for whales and nuklear wessels.

So, I have a Star Theory .... well, I have a LOT of Star Trek Theories, but this one is germane to the topic, and it tends to apply to science fiction shows on the whole. IMO.

You can have a time-y wime-y show, like Doctor Who or Quantum Leap, which just kind of has time travel as an accepted and normal part of the show.

Or you can have a science fiction show, like Star Trek or any other show that isn't time-y wime-y, in which case time travel should NOT BE an accepted and normal part of the show.

Now, you can have the occasional bit of time travel- you can have the ever-popular temporal loop for a bottle episode, or you can have some version of the "killing Hitler" problem for an episode (in other words, what do you do in order to ensure the past remains the same), or other minor variations. But the one thing you can't do is have time travel itself become a regular and accepted part of the show- it just doesn't work. It creates way too many problems.

And this brings us to why Enterprise failed so comprehensively out of the gate. It wasn't just the casting. It wasn't just the poor writing for the cast. It wasn't just that terrible, yet somehow ear-wormy, themesong. No- it was, quite literally, the entire plot of the first two seasons was the temporal war. It was such a monumentally stupid idea, even now I have trouble recalling anything about it other than it was really, really stupid.

...this was something, by the way, that DISCO has narrowly avoided as well. NEVER GO FULL TIME TRAVEL.

 

[Ryujin]

So, I have a Star Theory .... well, I have a LOT of Star Trek Theories, but this one is germane to the topic, and it tends to apply to science fiction shows on the whole. IMO.

You can have a time-y wime-y show, like Doctor Who or Quantum Leap, which just kind of has time travel as an accepted and normal part of the show.

Or you can have a science fiction show, like Star Trek or any other show that isn't time-y wime-y, in which case time travel should NOT BE an accepted and normal part of the show.

Now, you can have the occasional bit of time travel- you can have the ever-popular temporal loop for a bottle episode, or you can have some version of the "killing Hitler" problem for an episode (in other words, what do you do in order to ensure the past remains the same), or other minor variations. But the one thing you can't do is have time travel itself become a regular and accepted part of the show- it just doesn't work. It creates way too many problems.

And this brings us to why Enterprise failed so comprehensively out of the gate. It wasn't just the casting. It wasn't just the poor writing for the cast. It wasn't just that terrible, yet somehow ear-wormy, themesong. No- it was, quite literally, the entire plot of the first two seasons was the temporal war. It was such a monumentally stupid idea, even now I have trouble recalling anything about it other than it was really, really stupid.

...this was something, by the way, that DISCO has narrowly avoided as well. NEVER GO FULL TIME TRAVEL.

I think that setting up "Enterprise" in any way other than as the birth of the Federation was a non starter. That they went with something as monumentally stupid as the Temporal Cold War was just icing on the cake. There was a wealth of pre-existing lore on the subject that they completely ignored, in order to create a complete and utter failure. I liked the cast. They started out, right out of the gate, as better thought out than the original cast of ST:TNG. (That they went for the sexy Vulcan trope, however, I see as a mistake.) I wish that someone would just license the FASA Start Trek RPG content and make something with it.

 

[ART!]

Gotta go all the way with extended version...

You really don't. Please?

Each week when we sat down to watch the new ENT ep (yes, I watched them all, in real time, with an entire week between episodes to come to my senses), I would have a different song queued up on the stereo to play during the credit sequence instead of that abominable theme song. I generally kept it ST-related, but of course that very broadly-interpreted prerequisite allowed for things like Nimoy's Bilbo Baggins song...

 

[Blackrat]

You really don't. Please?

Each week when we sat down to watch the new ENT ep (yes, I watched them all, in real time, with an entire week between episodes to come to my senses), I would have a different song queued up on the stereo to play during the credit sequence instead of that abominable theme song. I generally kept it ST-related, but of course that very broadly-interpreted prerequisite allowed for things like Nimoy's Bilbo Baggins song...

It sounds to me you lack The Faith of the Heart

 

[Snarf Zagyg]

It sounds to me you lack The Faith of the Heart

BLACKRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT!

 

[ART!]

It sounds to me you lack The Faith of the Heart

I lack it so, so much...

 

[payn]

You really don't. Please?

Each week when we sat down to watch the new ENT ep (yes, I watched them all, in real time, with an entire week between episodes to come to my senses), I would have a different song queued up on the stereo to play during the credit sequence instead of that abominable theme song. I generally kept it ST-related, but of course that very broadly-interpreted prerequisite allowed for things like Nimoy's Bilbo Baggins song...

During the run I had a girlfriend from Shreveport LA. She loved ENT because of the southern bumpkin engineer. Every week I'd just wait for the cracker barrel ad to come out of that guys mouth. "I brought my grandmammy's cornbread muffin recipe along for the trip!" So, along with her southern engineer she also loved the theme song...

 

[ART!]

During the run I had a girlfriend from Shreveport LA. She loved ENT because of the southern bumpkin engineer. Every week I'd just wait for the cracker barrel ad to come out of that guys mouth. "I brought my grandmammy's cornbread muffin recipe along for the trip!" So, along with her southern engineer she also loved the theme song...

I think Tripp was my favorite character, too. He was the only one who talked and behaved vaguely like a normal person. Him and Phlox.

 

[payn]

I think Tripp was my favorite character, too. He was the only one who talked and behaved vaguely like a normal person. Him and Phlox.

Honestly, I wanted to like characters on ENT, but can barely remember them.

 

[Snarf Zagyg]

During the run I had a girlfriend from Shreveport LA. She loved ENT because of the southern bumpkin engineer. Every week I'd just wait for the cracker barrel ad to come out of that guys mouth. "I brought my grandmammy's cornbread muffin recipe along for the trip!" So, along with her southern engineer she also loved the theme song...

...it didn't last, did it.

Really, that should be the tell-tale sign. It's great for weeding out people on the first date. Just start playing the Enterprise theme music and look at their reaction ... anything but revulsion and disgust? Check please!