Spock's Dad, the Romulan (wasRe: [NEWS] - Trek Bosses Defend Franchise)

[EMAIL PROTECTED] (William December Starr) wrote:

>In article <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>,
>Travers Naran <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> said:

>> And an obvious episode of T'Pol meeting a Romulan and being the
>> first Vulcan to realise their common heritage, but keeping it a
>> secret from her human crewmates.

>And from her own people?  I can't remember what Spock's reaction was
>to the sight of the Romulan commander in "Balance of Terror"... did
>he seem to already know who the Romulans were, or did he just know
>that there was a Vulcan-offshoot species out there somewhere but not
>that they and the Roms were one and the same?

>(I suspect that the answer is that he did know who they were, but
>I haven't seen that episode in a _long_ time.)

>-- William December Starr <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>

I noted that in my first message to this ng. Spock is surprized. And
in the conference that follows indicates that he's putting it all
together just then - that IF these are an offshoot of Vulcans, etc.
The Spock character didn't know, prior to the video feed. And surely,
he was surprized to see his Dad, Sarek, as well. Of course, it wasn't
really . . Sarek, but just the actor who later played him.

But I guess they could change it, as they like. It is just fiction -
and I don't mean to upset anyone, here, by saying that. But, they
already went from Klingon 'mongols' to Klingon 'bone-heads'. That was
a huge change. They had a Borg first contact, in Enterprise, which was
pretty much implied hadn't happened, before that, in the Next Gen
episode that introduced the '1984/socialist nightmare'. So, if that's
true, they also changed that part of the background story around. And
they could do it with other things. 

I think what's missing from Enterprise, and some of the 'bad episodes'
in the original series, is originality. They go back to tired sci-fi
formulas, or even those specific to Star Trek. There must be hundreds
of sci-fi stories yet to be told, sufficiently different than what
we've seen, before. It would be nice to see Enterprise grow a little
originality, such as was seen in the first series, with Kirk and
Spock.

But I think there's a problem, too. I mentioned it, already. But look
at it, another way. There's respect, even admiration, for crew
members, even those not officers (without 'official' certifications,
and 'degrees', and whatever). Everyone in the original series was
confident. They knew their job. Nobody questioned them. They didn't
doubt or second-guess themselves.

But there was something else. Threat, danger. The doctor was important
because basically only the chief ship's officers, in the original
series, left the ship, with a few red-shirts, in tow, and the
episode's leading lady, perhaps. And the doctor could get killed, and
seemed to be, sometimes. Spock, too. Kirk. Even Scott. I haven't seen
any of the Enterprise crew - die, and then magically some back. Of
course, I haven't watched a lot of episodes, either. There's not the
'extreme bonding'. They just haven't been through the wars. I think
about half-way through the first season of the original series, there
already was the clear bond between Kirk and Spock, and something of
that with McCoy, but maybe not yet Sulu or Scott, or Uruhu.

In Enterprise, it seems the Vulcan first officer, here, isn't sure if
she should be on the ship, is going to leave the ship, should leave
the ship. And that seems to occupy a lot of her time. You didn't see
Spock constantly wondering if he should even be there. Anyway.