Enterprise 05/07/2003 - Regeneration (1 Viewer)

[Bryan Tuck]

The whole First Contact alternate timeline thing does bother me a little. Although I can accept it as an explanation of the changes in the timeline, it worries me that B&B could use this as an excuse to do pretty much whatever they want to. (Of course, I never figured out why the Borg Queen showed up again on Voyager after disintegrating in First Contact.)

I just have to agree with what Mike was talking about, in that although changes in timeline can make for unpredictable occurences, it would be much more interesting to just play it straight.

I understand that not every line can be checked, and there are going to be minor inconsistencies. A (relatively) early example is when the Enterprise is said to be 20 years old in Search for Spock, when official continutiy places it more at about 40 years old at that time. But things like the Borg story arc and the first appearance of other major races (not to mention the total lack of any mention of Lore in Nemesis) are pretty big things that even casual fans are going to pick up on. And as far as B&B's concerns about the "continuity Nazis," why wouldn't you want to maintain continuity? If you're going to insist on milking the franchise for all it's worth, you're obviously counting on long-time fans to keep you afloat; why would you not want to do everything you could to please them? And that doesn't mean rehashing old storylines that used to work; it means respecting those old storylines while creating new ones. That's what was so special about DS9; it respected what had come before, but it went forward, doing new things with the Star Trek mythos that hadn't been done before.

And it looks like B&B may finally be taking a cue from DS9, with this "new direction" they're taking. Of course, they are claiming it's never been done before, and that kind of annoys me. But at least they're trying to shake up the show a little. We'll see; it's going to take more than Jolene Blalock in a new catsuit to keep me coming back, but I'll give it a chance.

 

[Norm]

I never figured out why the Borg Queen showed up again on Voyager after disintegrating in First Contact.)

Now that was a blatant disregard for continuity! I never liked the Borg Queen idea anyway.

 

[Mike Broadman]

I always just figured there were many Borg queens, each controling a "piece" of the collective.

 

[Norm]

But they tried to make the new Borg Queen look exactly like Alice Krieg. They should have made her look different, if what you say was their intention. I think they just wanted to pull in FC movie fans. It was very lame in my opinion.

 

[Tony Whalen]

Gents... need I point out that the so-called "Queen" was ALSO present on the Cube that captured Picard? The one that Riker defeated? And that Picard mentioned this in First Contact?

When Picard mentioned it, The Queen responded "how small you've become. How three-dimensional" or something like that.

The Queen, in my guesstimation, is a construct that the Borg create. She's a manifestation of the central consciousness. At least that's how I thought of it until Voyager totally overused her/it.

But, my guesses or not, she was on that ship. Picard HAD seen her before. She doesn't actually seem to be what we would call an "individual" as we define the term. She seems to transend existing in any single location, at least based on the fact that we've seen the "Queen" on many different ships and occasions...

 

[Bryan Tuck]

But they tried to make the new Borg Queen look exactly like Alice Krieg.

Actually, the other actress only played her for one or two episodes, I believe. After that, Alice Krige came back to reprise the role.

I dunno; maybe there was an explanation, but I agree about the whole "Borg crutch" thing. I just hope Enterprise doesn't develop a "T'Pol-in-skivvies crutch."

 

[Mike Broadman]

Tony, the fact that the Queen was there when Picard was assimilated was only revealed in First Contact, the same movie that reaked havoc on the entire story line and Borg so much. The Queen was never brought up during the series.

I personally ignore the movies when I watch the series. I find the continuity and general action is much more enjoyable that way. In my mind, there was no Queen.

 

[derek]

Finally caught this episode and really enjoyed it. Kinda a 'minifeaturefilm' in the vein of 'First Contact.' Loved the whole 'Thing' take. As a casual Trek fan I can forgive possible inconsistencies in the timeline and thought the Borg subspace message setting up events 200 years hence was really cool. One of the best 'Enterprise' episodes yet and honestly I've enjoyed this series more than TNG/DS9/Voyager (though I didn't watch those consistently.) More than those previous incarnations 'Enterprise' needs to reach the 'un-Trekked' has to make some compromises. I've been able to live with them so far and look forward to this 'new direction' the production is taking.

 

[Nelson Au]

I had a thought about this new direction and all the talk of "sexing up" the series to regain or attract a new audience. I'm not sure anyone here has mentioned whether or not it's the directive of the Network.

As some of you know, UPN execs where behind this move. Not to defend B&B, but it may not have been their idea.

Back in 1968, NBC really had no interest in keeping Star Trek around. And Mr. Roddenberry had to fight the network to keep his vision of the show intact to tell his stories. Other then RCA wanting it to be more colorful to sell more color TV's, it really was not desired by the network due to it's low raatings. Before the days of demographics, etc. (if NBC had used demographics, Mr. Roddenberry once said TOS Trek could have had a 10 year run!)

Over the years of course, fandom kept Star Trek alive. With the Next Generation, Paramount left Mr. Roddenberry alone and he did what he wanted to the show with great success. Then they Mr. Berman took over control of the series toward the end, created DS9 with Michael Piller who help guide Next Generation to great heights, then Mr. Berman created Voyager with Ms. Jeri Taylor and Mr. Piller. And each series had less success. DS9 of course was an outstanding series with a great production staff, many of which did not go to Voyager. The Enterprise came along.

So I find it ironic today, Paramount's Golden Goose is being told what to do by the UPN suits to make it more appealing to keep viewership. Perhaps a network suit suggested, Borgs. LIke so much of all kinds of business today, it isn't about creativity, it's about a sure bet formula and making as much money as you can.

Nelson

 

[Norm]

I've enjoyed this series more than TNG/DS9/Voyager

I agree, I just watched TNG again all seven seasons, and came to the same conclusion I did years ago. It just wasn't anywhere as good as TOS. They spent way to much time on that darn Enterprise!

 

[Will_B]

Nelson, no doubt they're under pressure. On my local affiliate there was a commercial for car wax - CAR WAX! - during Enterprise.

Even if that was a local slot, it speaks volumes. If advertisers don't want it, they're in trouble.

Let's hope their new course takes them to brighter skies.