Romulan Star Empire?

[johnnybear]

I'm watching the fifth episode and find that the Klingons and Romulans specifically are mentioned but in Balance of Terror it is clearly illustrated to us that there has been no contact of any kind between the Romulans and the Federation in over a century and yet this seems to tell us that Starfleet is very well aware of them and their position in intergalactic affairs!
The Klingons and although we have already seen the sham war with them in Discovery (which never occurred in the TOS timeline) it was clear in Errand of Mercy that they were taking an aggressive stand due to the failure of peace talks rather than a clear militaristic invasion plan!
What are the writers doing? Have they never seen the original series?
JB

 

[fireproof78]

No contact doesn't mean no observation is done. They literally have outposts along the neutral zone.

 

[Noname Given]

I'm watching the fifth episode and find that the Klingons and Romulans specifically are mentioned but in Balance of Terror it is clearly illustrated to us that there has been no contact of any kind between the Romulans and the Federation in over a century and yet this seems to tell us that Starfleet is very well aware of them and their position in intergalactic affairs!
The Klingons and although we have already seen the sham war with them in Discovery (which never occurred in the TOS timeline) it was clear in Errand of Mercy that they were taking an aggressive stand due to the failure of peace talks rather than a clear militaristic invasion plan!
What are the writers doing? Have they never seen the original series?
JB

TOS S1- "Balance of Terror", doesn't explicitly state there's been no contact, it just sets up the fact that there was an Earth/Romulan War 100 years or so previously, that the treaty ending the war was negotiated via Subspace radio, and there were outposts set up on both sides of the Neutral Zone to make sure no ships from either side entered the zone and crossed it to enter each other's space. The only thing actually said about the Romulans was that no Federation member had (to that point in time), seen what a Romulan actually looked like in person.

There's nothing to indicate there were never any other Subspace Communications or other contact between the Romulans and Federation through third-party negotiations, Etc.

There may have been other Romulan ships picked up by Outpost sensors over the years (although the ships may not have been seen visually).

And in the episode, because no Romulan has ever been seen; Lieutenant Styles postulates to Captain Kirk that given the nature of the attack on the outposts, he believes there might be Romulan spies aboard the Enterprise; and Sulu agrees.

But there was no dialogue in the episode sitting there had never been any type of contact whatsoever with the Romulan Empire since the end of the war.

 

[DEWLine]

A lot of stuff likely was happening behind the scenes, unbeknownst to Kirk, Spock and company...and to us.

 

[DaveyNY]

The Klingons and although we have already seen the sham war with them in Discovery (which never occurred in the TOS timeline)

You're making an assumption here based on the LACK of Facts.
Nothing in TOS said that the year long skirmish between the Federation & Klingons DID NOT occur.

Just because it wasn't mentioned, doesn't mean it didn't happen.

"Errand of Mercy" was only referring to recent event's between the two Powers.
DISCOVERY's "war" happened almost 12 years previous.

 

[johnnybear]

The thing is a new writer comes in to the franchise and puts down exactly what he likes despite how it affects the things already laid down and everyone here is perfectly okay with it no matter so I'm out I think!
JB

 

[Jedi Marso]

Although there may have been no 'official' contact between the Romulans and the UFP, there are always back channels. There are also your Harry Mudds, Cyrano Joneses, Orion Traders, the Orion Syndicate, and their Romulan and Klingon counterparts flooding the spacelanes in and around the areas where the Klingon Empire, Romulan Star Empire, and UFP come together. Each of the three will have countless spies on countless worlds, signals intelligence stations in deep space, and monitoring stations like Epsilon 9, which demonstrated an impressive ability to tap communications between Klingon warships in TMP.

So, despite what is said aboard the Enterprise, you can bet that all three know quite a bit about the other and what the others are up to. We already know that there are folks who smuggle Romulan Ale into Federation space, so you can assume information is brokered as well.

 

[fireproof78]

The thing is a new writer comes in to the franchise and puts down exactly what he likes despite how it affects the things already laid down and everyone here is perfectly okay with it no matter so I'm out I think!
JB

The purpose of a prequel is to shed new light on events. The only thing that is being violated here is fan assumption and lore due to the time gap. What is being laid out as "facts" is fan assumption around how things work within the context of the show, rather than what was actually stated in dialog.

 

[johnnybear]

Why can't they just write a story set after Kirk's time? Why keep on contradicting events, characters and the look and feel of the show? It's because the current producers find the original series an embarrassment I believe!
JB

 

[fireproof78]

Why can't they just write a story set after Kirk's time? Why keep on contradicting events, characters and the look and feel of the show? It's because the current producers find the original series an embarrassment I believe!
JB

Based upon what, exactly? And Gene was embarrassed by TOS too. Should we be mad at him as well?

Again, the point of a prequel is to shed light on events, to counter previous assumptions about characters, and give you moments of "OH, I never realized this..." A prequel is meant to give more insight in to characters and motivations rather than leave us with our assumptions, which may or may not be correct.

Why can't they set a show after Kirk's time? Because people responded positive to Pike, and Spock and Number One. We literally have zero information about Pike, aside from the Cage. He is a character that's worth exploring.

 

[HotRod]

so I'm out I think!

Bye.

 

[johnnybear]

Adios!
JB

 

[Okmyx]

A lot of stuff likely was happening behind the scenes, unbeknownst to Kirk, Spock and company...and to us.

Agreed. The Enterprise Incident - How did The Federation know enough about their cloaking device to send Kirk and Spock undercover to steal it? They had to have obtained information from somewhere.

 

[Imaus]

All of the following is conjuncture but just fits what we know: The Romulans probably have constant subspace radio contact to the Federation at least for the delineation of borders of the DMZ. I wouldn't be surprised if there had been prior hot flashes of both sides amassing near a disputed system just for it to be hashed out. The Universal Translator knows Romulan, at least.

And as we know, the Romulans spy on the Federation by masquerading as Vulcans, there are free merchants whose ships might disappear, the Romulans would keep up that way. The Orions as well most likely sold their info on the Feds to the Romulans.

Agreed. The Enterprise Incident - How did The Federation know enough about their cloaking device to send Kirk and Spock undercover to steal it? They had to have obtained information from somewhere.

Starfleet Intelligence doing its job, for once!

 

[Nerys Myk]

I'm watching the fifth episode and find that the Klingons and Romulans specifically are mentioned but in Balance of Terror it is clearly illustrated to us that there has been no contact of any kind between the Romulans and the Federation in over a century and yet this seems to tell us that Starfleet is very well aware of them and their position in intergalactic affairs!

Why would Starfleet be unaware of the Romulans and their activities? No formal contact doesn't mean they aren't keeping tabs. They have an entire set of outposts along the Neutral Zone. What do you think those outposts do?

The Klingons and although we have already seen the sham war with them in Discovery (which never occurred in the TOS timeline) it was clear in Errand of Mercy that they were taking an aggressive stand due to the failure of peace talks rather than a clear militaristic invasion plan!

Not sure what the conflict is here. Errand of Mercy takes place a decade after Discovery.

What are the writers doing? Have they never seen the original series?

Have you? Obviously you've watched. But did you pay attention?

 

[DaveyNY]

The thing is a new writer comes in to the franchise and puts down exactly what he likes despite how it affects the things already laid down and everyone here is perfectly okay with it no matter so I'm out I think!
JB

For someone who insists "I'm out" ... you sure do cling a lot.

 

[Kor]

Yes, it would be daft to just set up those outposts along the Neutral Zone after that horrendous war but then not make any kind of efforts to keep tabs on the other party or make any overtures, even if the other party is rather secretive to the degree that a hundred years later Earthicans still don't know what Romulans look like, and Kirk doesn't know what a Romulan ship would look like after all that time. Look at any neutral/demilitarized/disputed region in real life. Both sides are in regular contact even if they are hostile toward one another, and even if it's through third parties in cases where one side or the other isn't recognized as a legitimate power, if only to make sure nothing goes awry in that area.

This SNW episode includes the line "The Romulans are out there biding their time." So obviously they aren't taking on a huge role in galactic affairs like they would later on.

Kor

 

[Richard S. Ta]

The thing is a new writer comes in to the franchise and puts down exactly what he likes despite how it affects the things already laid down and everyone here is perfectly okay with it no matter so I'm out I think!
JB

That's what Gene Roddenberry did when he got to work on TNG.

If he was okay with it, I'm okay with it.

 

[TRON JA307020]

Why can't they just write a story set after Kirk's time? Why keep on contradicting events, characters and the look and feel of the show? It's because the current producers find the original series an embarrassment I believe!
JB

I think they don't like TOS for the most part. I think the long range plan is to rewrite or remake TOS to fit into their world and TOS will become the anomaly. Still SNW is entertaining on its own.

 

[fireproof78]

I think they don't like TOS for the most part. I think the long range plan is to rewrite or remake TOS to fit into their world and TOS will become the anomaly. Still SNW is entertaining on its own.

Hmmm...

That's what Gene Roddenberry did when he got to work on TNG.

If he was okay with it, I'm okay with it.

Yup, that about sums it up. Why isn't Roddenberry decried for hating TOS?