samdrake

Back in 1978 a father took his nine year old son to the movie theatre and as an incredible musical score thundered in his heart this young child watched as a man caught a terrified woman as she was falling to her death. Then this man with a red "S" on his chest without any effort at all caught the helicopter that the woman fell out of.

In case you haven't guessed that nine year old boy was me, and at that time in that theatre Christopher Reeve made me believe a man could fly. Since that time I've seen him in many different roles and have appreciated him for his abilities as an actor, but in many ways life would imitate art as Cristopher Reeve was indeed a true hero. After his tragic accident many people would have simply given up in despair. Christopher Reeve choose to fight not only for himself, but for everybody who suffered from paralysis. I watched in amazement as he moved his legs during that TV Biography and I fully expected to see him walk one day. Unfortunately that would not be the case.

I never had the chance to meet Mr. Reeve, But I have and always will respect him for his work as an actor and his more important role as a champion for the paralysed. And I would like to have thanked him for making a nine year old boy believe a man could fly.

I think the next step in a Trek show should be some time between the 27th to the 31st centuries. At this point the Federation (as established in both Voyager and Enterprise) now has time travel and can go into the past and potentially the future. The next evolution in faster than light travel in the Trek universe appears to be either slip-stream or trans-warp conduits, which would open up regular travel through the galaxy and alow for much greater exploration. Also with the ability to go into the past you could have various guest stars from any version of Star Trek.

There is a very old saying that you can please some of the people some of the the time, but you can't please all of the people all of the time. Star Trek is a wide universe encompassing 5 series, 10 major motion pictures and about 34 years of history. Some people have loved each and every incarnation while others have hated a particular format. Yet I agree that never have I heard so many Trek fans wishing a Trek show off the air. Personally Voyager was my least favorite of all the shows. They made Captain Janeway too wishy-washy, the first season ran like Gigillian's Island with each episode being devoted to finding a new way to get home only to have it torn out from under them at the last minute. And when the ratings continued to drop they choose to introduce a woman with big boobs and put her in a skin tight outfit to attract more viewers rather than deal with the actual problem of bad writing, character development, and lack of continuity. Yet despite all these problems I never once thought Voyager should be yanked from the air.

I grew up on TOS. When I heard that TNG was coming down the road I like many people I knew thought that the show would never last. No Kirk or Spock. No Scotty nursing the engines back to health. And they were going to put a kid on the bridge. Now I never grew to like Wesley, but I was sure wrong about the show. I love TNG. But let's take a moment to remember that TNG and indeed all of the Trek incarnations are not perfect. "Spock's Brain" flashes into mind, most of TNG up until the end of Season 2 for me was largely crap. Stilted acting, bad uniforms, dust buster phasers, Riker walking around looking like he had a stick up his butt, Pulaski. Yet I continued to watch and as I said grew to love the show. DS9 also had many things I disliked about it, but overall I enjoyed the show. However even if I didn't and stopped watching it like many of my friends choose to do I would never have suggested to anyone that it should have been cancelled or changed because of something I hate.

Now many people are finding fault with Enterprise, which is their right to do, but if you hate it don't watch it. Leave it alone so that those of us who do like it can watch it in peace. I enjoy the temporal cold war. Who among us in the 20th century would expect women to go from a standard military uniform available now to using an impractical mini-skirt with high heeled knee boots in the next 200 years? Furthermore, I don't think that many of us would want to watch a show in which technology was represented as being more primitive looking than it does on TOS. Strictly speaking if this were a true version of established Trek history then the starship would have been a Deadulas class (think of the silly looking medical ship from "All Good Things," but put TOS NX-)1 nacelles on it). There would be no transporters, view screens, phasers, photon torpedoes or anything else that we have come to expect. We have made tremendous advancements in technology since 1966-69. We have things that make TOS look silly in comparison. I mean look at TNG when they showed us computer panels with a touch screen interface that was cool. Now you can have that at the bank, office or even your own home. The temporal cold war is a great way to make changes in the time line which reflect how far we have advanced in real life. Furthermore, the temporal cold war can be used to make changes in the cannon that were stupid (and although I love Star Trek lets be honest there was a lot of stupid things that have happened in the last 34 years). Also the use of time travel or time changes is a fundamental genre in science fiction. For me some of the best episodes in Trek history have been about time i.e. "City on the Edge of Forever," "Yesterday's Enterprise." As far as characters go that is as always a matter of taste. I've always hated Kira. I disliked Janeway. I disliked Riker. My wife hates Kirk. I wonder how Hoshi ever got into Starfleet. However, I find that one bad character usually don't spoil the show. In many that character can even come to enhance it. When Bashir first came on the station much like Milles I couldn't stand him, but also like Milles I came to like and even respect Bashir.

In closing I like Enterprise. If you don't that's your choice, but try and remember that although you haters of the show may sometimes be more vocal there are others who want to watch it. Leave Enterprise alone to tell it's story and leave it on the air.

Tuvok didn't have a beard, but we did see him shaving in The Year of Hell episode when he was blind. He cut himself with his razor.

As Kirk put it. "You left space dock without a tractor beam?" A Captain is responsible for his or her ship. If the ship isn't going to be ready till tuesday you don't leave spacedock. Unless it is an emergency like some space probe coming to destroy the earth. No such emergency existed till after the Enterprise left for it's little jaunt across the solar system. However, once the emergency existed Harriman was right to find out if another ship could assist because of the lack of crew on board and the lack of equipment. I would even say he was right to try all the technobable stuff to try and pull the ships out of the Nexus. He failed when he couldn't think of the right thing to do which was to take the Enterprise in and get those people out. Kirk had to step up and assume command because Harriman dropped the ball. "Risk is our business." A Starfleet officer puts the wellbeing of others before his or her own life. If that means you face danger or even death or are willing to order those under your command to sacrifice themselves to save another's life or serve the greater good then so be it. If you aren't willing to make that call you've got no business sitting in the centre chair. Harriman in that one moment showed he wasn't ready for the captain's chair. Kirk, Picard, Sisko, Archer, Pike, even Janeway I'd follow but not Harriman.

At the beginning I liked Janeway. I liked the idea of having a woman captain and I liked Kate Mulgrew. However I ended up hating what the writers did to her. They ended up making her weak and wishy-washy. There was an episode I forget the name, but the ship had to travel through a dark matter nebula and couldn't see the stars and it was going to take several months. At the time when the crew needed her most to keep up moral support she sulked in her cabin like Achillies in his tent. She refused to execute her duties. She passed off her watch to Ensign Kim and Chakotay. Her policies would change based on her mood at the time. She came down on Paris and put him in the brig and demoted him because he violated the prime directive in attempting to save the people on the water world by destroying technology that was harming the planet. Yet Janeway had no problem violating the Prime Directive in disobeying the wishes of a sentient species who ordered them to stay out of their region of space. She nearly caused an interstellar war just to shave 6 months off a 76 year long trip.

As for Janeway dealing the most crippling blow. Picard could have destroyed all of the Borg through Hugh, but his compassion lead him to save the young Borg and ended up dividing the collective and create Borg with freewill. Janeway also had to commit crimes and violate temporal laws to save her crew and decimate the borg. Also Picard did it all in real time. Also Picard has saved the entire universe "All Good Things." Also Janeway was never truly assimilated into the collective. She had the benefit of having the Doctor prevent her from having her mind assimilated by using some kind of anti-nano treatment.

In my opinion Picard is the better Captain.

My grandmother could beat Geordi so using that as a reason for having Spot win in a fight isn't valid. However, the most important reason why Porthos would win a fight against Spot. Alright the second most important reason (the first being that he is a dog). The second is that Porthos is a beagle. And despite Snoopy's fat tummy and over sized head and Porthos nice behaviour the dog was breed for hunting. Porthos would wipe the floor with Spot. It's in his genes. And the third reason is that Porthos is a much cooler name than Spot. Anything named Porthos is bound to win a fight.

There is a very old saying that you can please some of the people some of the the time, but you can't please all of the people all of the time. Star Trek is a wide universe encompassing 5 series, 10 major motion pictures and about 34 years of history. Some people have loved each and every incarnation while others have hated a particular format. Yet I agree that never have I heard so many Trek fans wishing a Trek show off the air. Personally Voyager was my least favorite of all the shows. They made Captain Janeway too wishy-washy, the first season ran like Gigillian's Island with each episode being devoted to finding a new way to get home only to have it torn out from under them at the last minute. And when the ratings continued to drop they choose to introduce a woman with big boobs and put her in a skin tight outfit to attract more viewers rather than deal with the actual problem of bad writing, character development, and lack of continuity. Yet despite all these problems I never once thought Voyager should be yanked from the air.

I grew up on TOS. When I heard that TNG was coming down the road I like many people I knew thought that the show would never last. No Kirk or Spock. No Scotty nursing the engines back to health. And they were going to put a kid on the bridge. Now I never grew to like Wesley, but I was sure wrong about the show. I love TNG. But let's take a moment to remember that TNG and indeed all of the Trek incarnations are not perfect. "Spock's Brain" flashes into mind, most of TNG up until the end of Season 2 for me was largely crap. Stilted acting, bad uniforms, dust buster phasers, Riker walking around looking like he had a stick up his butt, Pulaski. Yet I continued to watch and as I said grew to love the show. DS9 also had many things I disliked about it, but overall I enjoyed the show. However even if I didn't and stopped watching it like many of my friends choose to do I would never have suggested to anyone that it should have been cancelled or changed because of something I hate.

Now many people are finding fault with Enterprise, which is their right to do, but if you hate it don't watch it. Leave it alone so that those of us who do like it can watch it in peace. I enjoy the temporal cold war. Who among us in the 20th century would expect women to go from a standard military uniform available now to using an impractical mini-skirt with high heeled knee boots in the next 200 years? Furthermore, I don't think that many of us would want to watch a show in which technology was represented as being more primitive looking than it does on TOS. Strictly speaking if this were a true version of established Trek history then the starship would have been a Deadulas class (think of the silly looking medical ship from "All Good Things," but put TOS NX-)1 nacelles on it). There would be no transporters, view screens, phasers, photon torpedoes or anything else that we have come to expect. We have made tremendous advancements in technology since 1966-69. We have things that make TOS look silly in comparison. I mean look at TNG when they showed us computer panels with a touch screen interface that was cool. Now you can have that at the bank, office or even your own home. The temporal cold war is a great way to make changes in the time line which reflect how far we have advanced in real life. Furthermore, the temporal cold war can be used to make changes in the cannon that were stupid (and although I love Star Trek lets be honest there was a lot of stupid things that have happened in the last 34 years). Also the use of time travel or time changes is a fundamental genre in science fiction. For me some of the best episodes in Trek history have been about time i.e. "City on the Edge of Forever," "Yesterday's Enterprise." As far as characters go that is as always a matter of taste. I've always hated Kira. I disliked Janeway. I disliked Riker. My wife hates Kirk. I wonder how Hoshi ever got into Starfleet. However, I find that one bad character usually don't spoil the show. In many that character can even come to enhance it. When Bashir first came on the station much like Milles I couldn't stand him, but also like Milles I came to like and even respect Bashir.

In closing I like Enterprise. If you don't that's your choice, but try and remember that although you haters of the show may sometimes be more vocal there are others who want to watch it. Leave Enterprise alone to tell it's story and leave it on the air.

If I remember right the ship was listed as being a re-named vessel in the novelization of Star Trek IV and therefore cannot be considered cannon. Although 1701-A could have been a new ship it seems unlikely that it would be decommissioned after only 6 years of service. Granted the class of ship was at least 28 years old it still seems wasteful for Starfleet to decommission a brand new ship. Still perhaps Starfleet wanted to the flagship of the Federation to be the most modern and up to date vessel possible which is why they transferred the name and serial number to the Excelsior class ship. However, I think the most likely explanation was that the 1701-A was an older ship that was either in for repairs or upgrades and had it's registry changed.

I don't think that the film got bad promotion in terms of to little or to much air time. However, I thought that the trailers felt a little wanting in information. When doing a promotion you want to present the best scenes (without giving away too much of the plot). Whoever put together the trailers seemed to pick the slowest and most boring scenes available.

However, the real reason for the lack luster response to Nemesis is not due to the promotion of the film it has to do with the presentation of the film. Now don't get me wrong over all I enjoyed the movie, but I believe that it could have been much better. What follows is what I believe was wrong with the film and what could have been done to fix those problems.

First, of all the alternate ending should have been kept in. The one in which we see the new first officer coming aboard. It showed Riker passing the baton and that the Enterprise will continue even with several of the crew gone.

Second, There was a lack of family feel in comparison to the other films. The wedding scene should have allowed brief moments for character's we haven't seen in a while to shine as they offer their congratulations. They went to the trouble to get Goldberg to reprise her role as Guinan and she's only on for maybe 10 seconds. That is a waste. There should have been moment for goodbyes between Picard and Crusher. Something that spoke of lost chances or gave hope for a possible future between them. And they should have done a parting shot of the Enterprise and the Titan leaving orbit like they did for the Enterprise and the excelsior in Star Trek 6.

Third, the plot was hard to digest. First of all were supposed to believe that a slave race and a human clone can not only build in absolute secrecy the bigest baddest warship in the history of Star Trek, but these slaves would also gather enough of that ultra deadly radiation to create weapons of mass destruction. And would also just happen to find an early prototype of Data to be used in Shinzon's plan of revenge. And then the Romulan military would actually ally themselves with these slaves in an attempt to over through the government especially since this slave race was telepathic and could due among other things mentally rape Deanna Troi. If the Romulans knew of their telepathic threat most likely they would have killed them all to prevent them from using their telepathy on them. After all if they can do things like mind rape then it is not that far of a jump to conclude that they could use it for mental control over the Romulans.

Now in the grand scheme of things all of these things are minor in detail, but when you add up all of the small things it ends up creating one big problem for the story. Movies rely on word of mouth as much as promotion. And there were very few people talking up Nemesis. And I think that some of the things I mentioned above were at the very least contributing factors to the general disappointment over the movie.