Coto Speaks! (Spoilers Abound!)

Manny Coto, new showrunner for Enterprise, gave an interview about the new season here:

http://www.startrek.com/startrek/vie...icle/6193.html

Some Highlights:

- Coto envisions a story arc in which a revolutionary Vulcan—Coto calls him a "Lawrence of Arabia" of Vulcan—proclaims that Vulcans have strayed from the teachings of Surak, the legendary Vulcan who ushered in the Time of Awakening and founded the movement based on logic and peace. "And this character will lead a revolution on Vulcan, which will bring Vulcan and Vulcan ideals to where we know them in the later series," Coto said. "And Enterprise will get involved in this." As a result of this resurgence, the political situation with the Andorians changes, and mysterious dissidents on the planet Vulcan attempt to stir up a civil war (and may later be revealed to have been Romulans in disguise)

- One of the first arcs after the two-part premiere will revolve around an ancestor of Dr. Noonien Soong, played by Brent Spiner (Data). But fans shouldn't expect the new character, Arik Soong, to be anything like his Next Generation counterpart. "This character is more of a Dr. Frankenstein," Coto told StarTrek.com at UPN's fall preview party during the Television Critics Association press tour. "He is not a benign individual. He has brought to life 20 embryos from the Eugenics era. So you have Soong who's leading a band of Khan Noonien Singhs, so to speak. He believes that genetic engineering was on the right track!" When these 20 genetically-engineered relics from the Eugenics era threaten to incite war with the Klingon Empire, Enterprise recruits Arik Soong to help Starfleet track down the renegades. Their pursuit leads them all the way to a never-before-seen part of space called the Borderland between the Klingon Empire and the Orion Syndicate.

Damn... I might actually start having to LIKE this show... Vulcans, Romulans, Klingons, and Green Skinned Orion Slave Chicks! Woo-hoo!

:D :cool:

Seems like good news. I may just have to start watching again next season. One thing I definitely want to see is more Andorians. And Orions. Gimme more blue and green skins!

LQ

Sounds promising. Enterprise really needs to return to Star Trek's roots if it is going to survive another season.

Coto is da man :cool:

Wow...That stuff all sounds really good. From the very first sentence, I was like, "coolness..."

Hell, if it turns out well, they may get another season out of it...

Well, hopefully. I like being optimistic for a change instead of saying, "That sounds dumb..."



Strictly Speaking

All good stuff from my perspective. We'll see, of course, whether he can pull it off and whether he can sustain the kind of ratings that will bring the show back for a fifth season (right now, I'm fairly sure the plan is to make the show one more year, to get the count up for syndication, then cease -- high ratings might change that).

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Originally posted by Fesarius
All good stuff from my perspective. We'll see, of course, whether he can pull it off and whether he can sustain the kind of ratings that will bring the show back for a fifth season (right now, I'm fairly sure the plan is to make the show one more year, to get the count up for syndication, then cease -- high ratings might change that).

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I agree. But like I said, making an optimistic non-jaded post is new for me, and it feels good....:D


Strictly Speaking

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Originally posted by Space_Cadet
Coto is da man :cool:

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Gotta go with that. His description of his Vulcan plans was way-cool.

I have to say I also like the sound of the plot of this one too! It's the first one which begins to put everything back on the right track. They more or less completelly ditched the Vulcans as a concept for the beginning of the show, so it's good to see them put them back on track again. Seeing the Orions should prove interesting, and it will be cool to see what direction they take with them. There's so much material about them and.. it's all contradictory ! :) ... and mostly contradictory. So if nothing else it'll give us something to pin down! (even if we don't like it :D) and we of course should see a... new look for them ! :)

While not implicitly dealing with the 'birth of the federation' the general direction is allot more consistent with it. With the resurgence of 'good vulcans' and the ugly face of Orions and Klingons it's a good key into a common defence pact between Vulcans Humans and Andorians... all we have left is the Tellarites (and maybe the Centaurans?!) and we have one recipie for the Federation ! :D

Well...I need to see what happens to Coto's ideas in execution, but these do sound like much more deserving storylines to me than the season 3 arc. I thought I might be done with Enterprise for good after a few episodes of the Xindi business, but this may warrant one more look.

Certainly, execution rather than intentions is the key. But then I enjoyed the Xindi arc. It wasn't perfect, but overall it was cool with it.

I like Coto's work (particularly Odessey 5) this looks very promising indeed. Look's like I might have to start saying good things about Ent once again. As long as B&B keep their uneducated noses out his business.

Many good signs in the article.

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"What I really wanted to do this season is make the episodes that I as a Star Trek fan would have to see. You know, as a fan of the original series, if I heard that they were doing the Orion slavers and the Eugenics Wars, I would have to be in front of that TV."

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Yeah baby!

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But we had to ask about the place of the Eugenics Wars in the Trek universe. In "Space Seed" it was clearly established that the Khan-led conflict occurred in the 1990s. However, in "Hatchery," Archer mentions that his great-grandfather fought in the Eugenics Wars (which would probably put them in the mid-21st century). How is Coto dealing with the chronology issue?

"I'm not dealing with it. There's no point. They were in the 1990s because the old series ran in 1966 and that was the future then. Clearly, we're in 2004, and there haven't been any Eugenics Wars that I know about! So, simply, the Eugenics Wars 'happened' — they happened in the past [relative to the current show]. I don't know how else to do it."

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While technically avoidance, this to me seems a straightforward approach to the continuity issue. One that will not get people upset but at the same time will not further muck-up the existing continuity. In a way, this is how the other series have all dealt with the continuity issues as well at one time or another.

I am looking forward to seeing what will happen here.:cool:

I don't really see a problem. First, Khan was only one of many Supermen who lead forces in the Eugenics Wars, he wasn't the over all leader. Second, just because Khan fled in 1996 doesn't mean that others did as well, the conflict could easily have over flowed into the 21stC...We're talking only 4 years here. There were probably residual conflicts going on for years.

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Originally posted by Phantom
I don't really see a problem. First, Khan was only one of many Supermen who lead forces in the Eugenics Wars, he wasn't the over all leader. Second, just because Khan fled in 1996 doesn't mean that others did as well, the conflict could easily have over flowed into the 21stC...We're talking only 4 years here. There were probably residual conflicts going on for years.

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It's also quite possible that 22nd Century historians have a different view of what constituted the "Eugenics Wars" than the 23rd Century and later historians.

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Originally posted by Sea Tyger
It's also quite possible that 22nd Century historians have a different view of what constituted the "Eugenics Wars" than the 23rd Century and later historians.

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True. It's not like historians today are always right. Especially given the fragmentary history of the time (The Eugenics Wars). It's like historians today trying to piece together exact deatils of the Early Dark Ages, there are always some holes that don't get filled.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's great and all. But first thing's first: Conclude Braga-tainted TCW arc.

The sooner you can do that, the sooner we can talk shop, Coto.

If it will get rid of all the B&B trash, I'm all for hitting the "cosmic re set button" in that case.

Then we can move on to some real talent.

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Originally posted by Phantom
I don't really see a problem. First, Khan was only one of many Supermen who lead forces in the Eugenics Wars, he wasn't the over all leader. Second, just because Khan fled in 1996 doesn't mean that others did as well, the conflict could easily have over flowed into the 21stC...We're talking only 4 years here. There were probably residual conflicts going on for years.

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True enough. But, Khan did rule nearly a quarter of the earth. He may have only been one of many supermen, but ruling a quarter of the earth makes him rather a significant character. And while there probably were other warlords after Khan fled, he was described as the last of the tyrants. This assumes those who came after him, whose stories may be unknown to us, the audience, were not significant in power or impact.

But I agree with you; in the power vacuum created by Khan's absence, there could easily be decades of minor wars and related conflicts raging sporadically throughout the time period, many of which historians would probably disagree on as far as impact and consistency. Perhaps vassals under Khan, or generals and rivals, without Khan's charisma and intellect, but with all of his ambition and ego; incapable of creating the same (albeit shortlived) empire, but trying their ham-fisted best none-the-less. Such conflicts could easily spread across the decades, but would not necessarily be related, by historians, to the greater war. I could easily see that.

Hell, history may call it a police action, but those involved are probably quite comfortable calling it a war....


Strictly Speaking

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Originally posted by REG
Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's great and all. But first thing's first: Conclude Braga-tainted TCW arc.

The sooner you can do that, the sooner we can talk shop, Coto.

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I read part of a Coto interview on the UK site DigtalSpy that the TCW will be wrapping up very quickly at the beginning of the season.

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Viewers not so pleased with the underlying temporal cold war storyline in the first three seasons may be interested to know that the current plan is for all that to be wrapped up by the second episode of season four.

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Originally posted by strict31
True enough. But, Khan did rule nearly a quarter of the earth. He may have only been one of many supermen, but ruling a quarter of the earth makes him rather a significant character. And while there probably were other warlords after Khan fled, he was described as the last of the tyrants. This assumes those who came after him, whose stories may be unknown to us, the audience, were not significant in power or impact.

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He ruled over a 1/4 of the planet? Was that offically said? I know he ruled a vast chunk of real estate, but I hadn't thought he was that powerful.

Yes, it was explicitly stated. During his briefing on Khan, Spock stated "..absolute ruler of a quarter of the Earth.."
My take on the Eugenics Wars is to simply move them to the mid 21st century and assume that the 1996 statement from "Space Seed" was in error. I always loved that ep as a kid, but the way the Wars were described in that ep "..whole populations bombed out of existance.." could not have happened secretly (much as I enjoyed Greg Cox's Eugenics Wars books).
For my campaign I simply change the date and go with it. I borrow a bit from "Federation", such as the Optimum movement and figure the Eugenics Wars created the chaos which enabled such a movement to thrive.
Besides, the Botany Bay is way beyond the tech available. The mid 21st century makes more sense.
Much as I love the original series, some of it doesn't hold up well to the passing of time. And, since it is a work of fiction, I have no qualms about adjusting the facts if they don't fit.
Yeah, it would have been nice if they had picked a date further in the future. But I don't think they figured anyone would be worried about their story in thirty years... surprise!;)

Given the timeframe, I fail to see why the Eugenics Wars cannot be considered part of World War III. The former could have been the spark which ignited the latter in full, making Khan's exodus all the more logical.

Could they be talking about Col. Green's little war mentioned in "The Savage Curtain".It was never specified when it actually happened.

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Originally posted by Sea Tyger

I read part of a Coto interview on the UK site DigtalSpy that the TCW will be wrapping up very quickly at the beginning of the season.

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Cool. Now all we need is a symbolic end. Have a "redshirt" character whose name is Braga getting killed during the conclusion of TCW arc.