The Enterprise That Wasn't
- Thread starter Arpy
- Start date
This is why in my head canon—INTERSTELLAR and FOR ALL MANKIND are all pre TOS. Remember the subspace ellipse which ate the early Mars ship? I’m going to say an early secret space program warp probe hit the interstellar wormhole at speed and caused it to destabilize.
The result was a real Great Galactic Ghoul that jumps around as a hazard—perhaps budding off the Delta Triangle as well.
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Except none of that was ever mentioned before. One would think that if there were some ancient alien-made wormhole system that once existed that did all of the above, that at least someone would have talked about it, especially once the stable Bajoran wormhole was discovered.
Well, that Earth was being pestered by abductors and abduction-causing phenomena is no secret. Having Cochrane discover his famous space warp by observing one or another of these very diverse phenomena could work pretty well. We'd then just have to
1) live with the fact that no specific phenomenon is singled out for the benefit of the audience by the heroes, and
2) assume that meeting with the Vulcans was a big deal in its own right, rather than because it was the first true confirmation of space aliens - in the scenario where the space warp was blatantly the doing of aliens, that is.
Timo Saloniemi
1) live with the fact that no specific phenomenon is singled out for the benefit of the audience by the heroes, and
2) assume that meeting with the Vulcans was a big deal in its own right, rather than because it was the first true confirmation of space aliens - in the scenario where the space warp was blatantly the doing of aliens, that is.
Timo Saloniemi
One doesn't necessarily have anything to do with the other. And anyway, even if he knew about them, or heck, even saw one, I'm not sure how that would have made any difference to his warp engine design.
FC Cochrane is...odd. A bit too odd, not too bright looking, scruffy.
I would had gone full stereotype. He's a kooky scientist in a coat type, a relic of a richer time. He's surrounded by goons, mercs, ex-soliders who only hang around because he's paying them, maybe he set up a cheap hydroponics/aeroponics assembly years ago ala bioship and that's how he can keep feeding people. Most people see his warp drive as the last, last thing to deal with. But he still wants to do it, maybe pre-nuked America was also really into it, having entire shows of quirky crews exploring the stars, and by gum he's gonna do it. He's nabbed a functioning power plant and keeps on trying. When the Borg attack he's all jumping around with papers and hiding behind the crew while making observations. He could still be greedy and out for it for profit, sure, but that would be something he says in a dark moment when he's under threat of death or looking over a ruined lab and not as a opening greeting.
The Phoenix...I would also change that. Make it a SSTO VTVL ala the Phoenix C or DC-X type, the warp drives would be a sort of expanding ring. Wouldn't that had been timely now?
Cochrane seems to be a polite, sober scientist in Metamorphosis. If he was the boozer in FC, I'm sure he'd build himself a moonshine still sometime over the last 150 years 
and pat Nancy Hedford on the butt at his first chance. 
I prefer the Metamorphosis Cochrane as the hero and despise the FC deconstruction Cochrane.
and pat Nancy Hedford on the butt at his first chance. I prefer the Metamorphosis Cochrane as the hero and despise the FC deconstruction Cochrane.
I like both versions, people change over time, especially if they survive a nuclear winter and meet aliens for the first time. Heroes are never perfect people.
Wormholes are space travel 101.
For the upthread poster to mention them, I’m guessing the physics of the one might inform the physics of the other.
I was not impressed by Cochrane in FC, but, frankly, I wasn’t by the golden boy in TOS either. Still, I wouldn’t hold his eccentricities against his intellect and vision. He may have been in it for the money and glory, for the ticket out of that post-apocalyptic horror, but he was a smart guy. He must have studied and had interests before the war. That the times messed with him, well, look at how a couple of months of loafing is messing with us. It’s like a “Twilight Zone“ episode.
Then I guess you know more about completely fictitious circa-2063 space travel classes than I do.
Cochrane seems to be a polite, sober scientist in Metamorphosis. If he was the boozer in FC, I'm sure he'd build himself a moonshine still sometime over the last 150 years
Actually, both Cochrane and Kirk & Spock’s treatment of Hedford in that episode was absolutely reprehensible. But I suppose that was how women were treated in the ‘60’s.
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Wormholes are space travel 101 of any decade. You might as well not talk about tornadoes in a class about weather.
What was the political situation like during this time period? And do you think we could make it to Alpha Centauri at sublight speeds? That is, is it a colony when we really start to head out, or is episode 1 (or the midseason finale) about arrival there, then the second half of season one about exploring the system? Ships used to go out for a long time; would Weyland-Yutani set up a multi-year (or generation) expedition there before FTL was discovered? Would there be a multi-episode arc about the ringship’s arrival at Earth’s Alpha Centauri Colony?
In our solar system, would there be factions? In The Expanse, there’s Earth, Mars, and the Asteroid Belt. (I miss that show. Can’t wait for next season.) I could see that. (Maybe before Cochrane, deep space exploration meant getting to Neptune?) Or would it be mega corporations running the show? (I still like the idea of a baddie being a rival private industry ship.) Or international alliances stretching into space like old European colonization of the New World? (Do we have fun with it being the Soviets vs the West? Or the E-Con vs the W-Side (
) vs the Australian States of the Moon?)
In our solar system, would there be factions? In The Expanse, there’s Earth, Mars, and the Asteroid Belt. (I miss that show. Can’t wait for next season.) I could see that. (Maybe before Cochrane, deep space exploration meant getting to Neptune?) Or would it be mega corporations running the show? (I still like the idea of a baddie being a rival private industry ship.) Or international alliances stretching into space like old European colonization of the New World? (Do we have fun with it being the Soviets vs the West? Or the E-Con vs the W-Side (
) vs the Australian States of the Moon?)
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You do know that in real life, wormholes are just theoretical, right? As in, they’ve never been proven to exist. Very much unlike tornadoes.
But in Trek, they are ultimately utterly real - so them being theoretical in the Trek/real 1960s would translate to them being increasingly relevant in the subsequent Trek decades, and quite possibly something Cochrane couldn't ignore, whether he be taken for a theoretical physicist or a daredevil test pilot.
As said, Sol is a good place to start looking for alien tech or exotic phenomena in Trek: it has 'em all. Might it have "space warp", too? Do passing alien starships perhaps leave a measurable wake? Certainly the heroes later on easily spot "warp trails" with their sensors.
Timo Saloniemi
As said, Sol is a good place to start looking for alien tech or exotic phenomena in Trek: it has 'em all. Might it have "space warp", too? Do passing alien starships perhaps leave a measurable wake? Certainly the heroes later on easily spot "warp trails" with their sensors.
Timo Saloniemi
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