Enterprise Episode 6 (Spoilers)

Quote:

Originally posted by rgilbert

I've been hearing references to this theory. I guess the set up for this occurred in the pilot with the "communication from the future." Is the theory that the Romulans have gone back in time and have somehow contaminated the Vulcan culture?

I hope we're not going to see Captain Archer wake up in the series finale and see Bobby Ewing in the shower... Or Archer hit on the head with a golf ball, waking up next to his wife Emily in Chicago...

While I like some of these intriguing time travel conundrums, I was really hoping for a "real" depiction of the early years of the Federation in the timeline that has been assumed for the other shows. This theory casts anything and everything presented into doubt. I guess it's an easy out for the writers--they wouldn't have to be so concerned over violating canon, would they?

I have written a few short stories for Star Trek newsletters in the past and I always enjoyed the challenging of writing something that would fit into the framework without breaking established canon. I guess the TV writers just want to do their own thing...

I see no reason to attribute the Vulcan behavior we've seen so far on Enterprise to the "temporal cold war." Nor, for that matter, does there have to be any sinister intent to it...however the outcomes may seem. Rather, everything so far can be explained in terms of the Vulcans seeking an orderly universe and (in this time frame) allowing the ends to justify the means to a degree they will later abandon.

Holding Earth back from deep-space exploration: looking at it from the perspective of a species with a 200-year-plus lifespan and a past history of volatile, self-destructive behavior, humans are trouble waiting to happen. Only a hundred years ago--much less than one Vulcan lifespan, perhaps no more than two Vulcan generations--humanity blew itself to the brink of extinction in a nuclear exchange. Only ten years after that, suddenly, Earth independently invents warp drive. Not a good sign; a species with a very, very recent history of extremely violent behavior has just made the galaxy its proverbial oyster. From the Vulcan perspective, I can see the urge to keep this species as contained as possible, by any means available (particularly with equally volatile species like the Klingons already out there!).

Breaking the treaty with the Andorians: again, a highly emotional and volatile species with access to interstellar travel--perhaps obtained before the Vulcans could do anything about it, or with the Vulcans choosing to do nothing about it and ending up with a long-term conflict afterwards. From the same perspective--let's keep the universe as orderly as possible--monitoring the Andorians closely even in violation of a treaty begins to make some sense...cultural sense, if not ethical sense in our minds.

I wouldn't be surprised if the Vulcans encountered the Klingons already warp-capable, so that they could take no measures to contain them. If the Klingons knew that, it would help to explain a certain hostility to humans after they co-found the Federation with the mistrusted Vulcans.

In the longer term, perhaps we'll find that the process leading up to the founding of the Federation has Earth, Andoria, and others ganging up on the Vulcans and pushing them to adopt a more open interstellar diplomatic policy including a politically equal alliance. They already have the ammunition, since IDIC apparently exists as a Vulcan philosophical concept in 2151, even though the Vulcans' actions seem less than IDIC-driven.