wiseheart | Blue guys are cool

Meaning the Andorians in Star Trek, of course. With other words, I was watching Enterprise again.

I must admit right at the beginning that I don't particularly like the newest Star Trek incarnation. To put it very, very mildly. It seems to me like it would happen in the evil mirror universe altogether. I'm not pleased with the official canon rape they continue committing, shooting previous Trek canon to Hell and turning Vulcans - the most dignified alien species - into idiotic egomaniacs whose only goal seems to be to keep humanity in the Stone Age. And I don't buy the Temporal Cold War for a moment - it's just too stupid, and only a thin veil for screenwriter laziness, so that they won't have to work themselves through Trek lore.

Oh, and I can't stand Captain Sockface (nickname from a rabid Original Trekkie friend of mine) at all. Especially since he started gaining Speshul Powers(TM) like any good little Mary Sue. Erm, Marty Stu, since he's supposed to be male. In my not so humble opinion, his dog has more personality. Actually, Porthos is cool. Even though he is addicted to cheese. *g*

The only thing I really, really like in the series is what they did with the Andorians. Even though they rechristened their home planet (which, in DS9, was still called Andor) to Andoria. But that's not the only example for blatant canon disregard - nor would it be the last one, I'm afraid.

Anyway, I was watching Proving Ground today, and once again, I was excited about the Andorians. Of course, having the absolutely fantastic character actor Jeffrey Combs in a leading role once again, is always a treat. He was a great Vorta, a hilarious Ferengi, and he is a smashing Andorian as well. I wish he'd actually got the role of Gimli in the LOTR trilogy, as was rumoured - he'd have pulled out a fabulous Dwarf, too. But I digress...

I don't doubt that what little canon was there concerning Andorians (like them being ambidextrous and living in marriage groups of four individuals) has been stomped into the ground, or will be in the near future. But at least they got a chance to shine.

(This entry is cross-posted to the Otherworlds board and to Memory Alpha.)

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

I had to laugh, Soledad, because when I first saw your title line I thought immediately about US politics, where states that went for Bush are referred to as "red" while those that went for Kerry are called "blue." I voted blue but live in a red state and was happy to think that I might be cool despite what my neighbors think!

Of course you are cool! What a question!

But it's interesting, nevertheless, that I'm sitting here, on the other side of the planet and make a political announcement in the innocence of my heart. *g*

For the record, now that I know what I've accidentally said, I stand to it even more.

I can't figure out why the creative team for Enterprise is so intent on messing up canon when they've got so much opportunity to expand upon it in creative ways. We never saw much of the Andorians (or the Tellerites, or a number of other Federation races) in the original series; why not take this opportunity to flesh those races out, and tell the story of how the Federation was founded in the first place, instead of telling yet more stupid time-travel stories using a race we've never heard of as the primary villians?

Damnit, I want to know why the Romulan War broke out, and why the Klingons became the Federation's enemies instead of joining it, and just what do the Andorians and the Tellerites not like about each other - and instead we're getting this stupid Temporal Cold War nonsense. I think the current team of Brannon and Braga WANT to kill the franchise - and judging from the show's ratings, they're doing a very good job of it. Certainly I've given up on Enterprise completely (just as I did earlier with Voyager after season 3 or so). Why, oh why couldn't they hire people who LIKE the original series and are interested in the Federation canon to write the scripts for this show?!

Whoa! You are an Original Trekkie, too! Welcome to the Club of Disappointed Trekkers! *offers Romulan Ale*

I so agree with you about Voyager! For me, just like Andromeda, that show is the series of missed opportunities. There would have been so much interesting stuff to do, the whole Fleet/Maquis enmity, those characters with promisingly disturbed backgrounds, and what did we get? One big, happy, shiny Starfleet family, with Saint Kathryn as the (not always) benevolent dictator, a couple of sappy and rather impossible romances (I never bought into Kes/Neelix, Paris/Torres, Janeway/Chakotay or Seven/anyone), some gorgeous, wasted enemies (Borg and Hirogen, anyone?), some wasted characters (like Commnader Cavit and Stadi, killed off right in the pilot, or Kes, replaced by the Baywatch Babe of Doom)...

This is why I started to write all those AUs and crossovers. At least in them, I can put things straight. *g*

Yes, I've been a Trekkie since the 1970s. I suspect that's why I am so disappointed with how Paramount is currently treating the series - I remember how thrilled we all were when the first movies and ST:TNG came out. How the mighty have fallen!

There would have been so much interesting stuff to do, the whole Fleet/Maquis enmity, those characters with promisingly disturbed backgrounds, and what did we get? One big, happy, shiny Starfleet family...

Exactly. Here was this small ship filled with two groups of people who were on opposite sides of a conflict and who didn't like each other much, stranded on the other side of the galaxy so far away from their home that it seemed impossible they'd ever return to it - but very quickly all the tensions that scenario should have produced were completely forgotten, and everyone seemed to be behaving as if the Voyager was just out on a run-of-the-mill Starfleet exploration mission. Shouldn't at least some of the crew have wanted to settle down on the first M-class planet they came across? Life as a colonist would seem a better choice than remaining on a small ship until you died of old age! And why did the Maquis accept Janeway's authority so readily? Yes, she was a Starfleet captain - but what does that mean, when you're stranded thousands of light-years away from the Federation with seemingly no prospects of ever returning there? I could easily see a large shipboard faction pushing for Chakotay to take over, resulting in real tensions between Chakotay and Janeway (and between Chakotay and the other Maquis, who might feel he was betraying their cause if he didn't attempt to push Janeway out of command). But all those interesting subplots were totally ignored.

(I won't even go into how Brannon and Braga ruined the Borg by their constant overuse of them. Remember how in ST:TNG the Borg Collective was genuinely frightening, because it seemed clear that in an all-out fight, the Federation would actually lose? Then we have Voyager encountering them seemingly every other week and easily escaping via some cheap trick - and there goes that feeling of menace right down the drain.)

And I am so tired of the seemingly-obligatory "female-crewman-in-tight-spandex". WHY, just once, can't all the women on the show be dressed in uniforms that DON'T look like they've been spray-painted on? The male crewmembers aren't treated as audience eye-candy, and that sexism is really annoying.

Shouldn't at least some of the crew have wanted to settle down on the first M-class planet they came across? Life as a colonist would seem a better choice than remaining on a small ship until you died of old age!

Yep, remember that episode titled The 37ers? Aside from the harebrained idea of a truck floating in space for 400 years and then starting again, no problem at all, just how likely it is that nobody wanted to settle on the planet, with three beautiful cities and hundreds of thousands human inhabitants? Oh, please!

In my Alternate Voyager series a certain number of crew members will choose to settle down there, and in exchange some of the colonists will join the crew for the chance to see Earth.

And why did the Maquis accept Janeway's authority so readily?

Well, they needed to start transforming Chakotay into a spineless lapdog somewhen, didn't they? And the earlier the better.

I could easily see a large shipboard faction pushing for Chakotay to take over, resulting in real tensions between Chakotay and Janeway

Exactly! That's how it works in my story. Of course, I got a lot of grief about it from the Janeway-worshippers, but I don't reallly care.

I won't even go into how Brannon and Braga ruined the Borg by their constant overuse of them.

For me, the ultimate low point was Unimatrix Zero. Borg experiencing their individualism on a dreamscepe? Oh, please! And the Queen doing everything just to get Seven of Nine back? Yeah, well, that's very likely, isn't it? There were billions of drones, and she'd risk everything to retrieve one. Ridiculous.

And I am so tired of the seemingly-obligatory "female-crewman-in-tight-spandex". WHY, just once, can't all the women on the show be dressed in uniforms that DON'T look like they've been spray-painted on? The male crewmembers aren't treated as audience eye-candy, and that sexism is really annoying.

Well, in TNG'S first two seasons the uniforms were revealing enough - have you noticed Geordi and Data's tits? *g* But I agree with you whole-heartedly. It's especially annoying when it comes to T'Pol - she's a Vulcan, for Surak's sake! Of course, after the travesty Bernmaga are doing with Vulcans in general on the new series, you'd barely recognize the race as a whole.

And what about Kira in DS9? Drat, that woman used to be a freedom fighter/terrorist, depending on the POV, why should she have a uniform in which she couldn't even breathe without rupturing it?
I know in the original series women were clad in those miniskirts, too, but at least it was nice. Not voyeuristic, just nice. A lot more aesthetic than those utterly silly trousers and shrunk shirts the men wore. *g*

Oh, I agree, the Borg seem idiotic in Voyager. And I hate to hell that Enterprise is called that, in TOS it is stated Kirk had the first starship Enterprise!

And all the Romulan/Klingon stuff, yeah I wanted to know all that too. Maybe we ought to complain but heck I know we'd be ignored.

Well, you can always voice your wishes as I go on with my AUs. Whenever I can squeeze them in, I'll be happy to do so.

Blue guys are cool

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