We had a discussion on TrekBBS about Manny Coto, who came in the 4th Season of Enterprise and almost saved the franchise. The discussion of course included talking about the final episode of the series.
As you may know, the final episode of Enterprise (the fifth Star Trek TV series) was called "These Are The Voyages" and was supposed to be a "valentine" to the fans , according to Brannon Braga and Rick Berman, creators of Enterprise. It was an awful episode for most Star Trek fans. They shoehorned a Next Generation episode as a framing device (and a bad fit), and also killed off a popular Enterprise character. The episode was meant to close out not just the Enterprise series, but an era of new episodes of Star Trek.
So here’s my outline for a “better valentine” to Trek fans,
that closes the door on the “silver age” of Trek. The story for the Enterprise
crew is not really specified. I don’t think it’s as important as finding a
credible way to tie the different series together. Feel free to suggest your
own.
I used the Mindmapper program to help me sort out which series characters would be most likely available and interested in participating. (So I left off McCoy & Scotty for obvious reasons, and Kirk & Spock & Picard (and a couple others) because their actors are “too big” and/or too busy to be available. I mmatched up a TV series character with an Enterprise character I thought they could relate to. Other series actors could also be part of the discussion as well; i just wanted to make sure someone from a previous series had a connection to the Enterprise crew member. Each Enterprise character would have one last chance to shine in each of the acts, but could of course be in the background for other scenes.
I used the Mindmapper program to help me sort out which series characters would be most likely available and interested in participating. (So I left off McCoy & Scotty for obvious reasons, and Kirk & Spock & Picard (and a couple others) because their actors are “too big” and/or too busy to be available. I mmatched up a TV series character with an Enterprise character I thought they could relate to. Other series actors could also be part of the discussion as well; i just wanted to make sure someone from a previous series had a connection to the Enterprise crew member. Each Enterprise character would have one last chance to shine in each of the acts, but could of course be in the background for other scenes.
Teaser
n TOS
Crew talking to Cadets/young officers (or just lucky Trek fans dressed in as
Starfleet officers/cadets, hearing a story)
n Switch
to TNG talking to a similar group, in their era (in a 10 Forward lounge?)
n Switch
to DS9 and VOY crew at Quark's talking to cadets
Act 1
n Bashir,
O'Brien, B'Elanna and Harry relay to cadets some of their heroes
Explain how each made an impact
n Phlox
Trip and T'Pol do something to help injured people
n What
causes the injury (Romulans?) sets stage for the ENT story
Act 2
n TOS
sets up this scene
n saying
how Supporting crew made a vital contribution to that era
n Sato
Mayweather & Shran do something to help the Enterprise crew deal with this
threat
n Mayweather
and Sato are AT LEAST a Lt. by this point, if not Lt. Commander
Act 3
n Riker
and Worf set up stage for Archer uniting the UFP founders
n Archer's
actions, along with Reed's expertise, help solve an issue
Closer
n TNG,
TNG, VOY and DS9 crews talking about Archer helping found the Federation (the camera rotates around "the table" and each incarnation has a say)
n ENT
Last scene w/ Archer (like we saw in Enterprise..except Mayweather gets
promoted)
n Narrative
“These are the voyages…”said by all Captains, one line at a time
