Rewriting Trek History

difficult to believe that our world in the 22nd, 23rd, and 24th centuries may be very much like that portrayed in Star Trek. Tossing in the idea that maybe the Federation’s account of history is inaccurate only serves to strengthen the reality of Star Trek, though doing so is always a risky endeavor when it comes to this franchise.

Humorous yet serious, “Carbon Creek” is one of the young show’s early gems. Berman and Braga managed to bring a new twist to the Star Trek timeline without actually rewriting it. There were some hilarious moments mixed in with the mostly serious social commentary on the qualities and potential of humanity. Perhaps the funniest moment was when T’Mir pulled a piece of Velcro out of her purse—”the invention that is going to change the world.” The buildup made it so certain that it would be some Vulcan techno gadget that the ripping sound of Velcro had to bring a smile to the face of most any viewer. And maintaining the idea that Vulcans cannot tell a lie, T’Mir explained to a bar patron that they were in Carbon Creek because “we had an accident with our vehicle outside your town.” (Of course, this idea was torn down at the end when she tells the other Vulcans that Mestral died in the crash.)

Supposing that the crash did happen and Vulcans were on Earth interacting with humans in the 1950s, does it rewrite the events of First Contact? I say no. If you want to get right down to it, first contact as established in the Trek canon occurred in 1947 when Quark, Rom, Nog, and Odo crashed in Roswell, New Mexico, in the DS9 episode “Little Green Men.” Mankind’s first encounter with aliens was with Ferengi, not Vulcans. But what really counts is the first initiated, formal contact, which is still what we saw in the film account of Zefram Cochrane’s warp flight.

Enterprise continues to dip into the Trek well and pull out things that we don’t think should have existed or happened in the 22nd century. Ferengi looting the ship, Federation time travel, and a variety of terminology come to mind. This week we will

Go To Page: 1 2 3 4

Articles in this Topic    Discussions in this Topic