An Alternate Trek

[Lindseyman]

Nirvana the twenty first episode of Star Trek: USS Enterprise

“Captain’s Log Mission Date 4156.3. We have picked up a distress call from a small but habitable moon in a nearby system. The survivors are apparently members of a movement known as “The Children of Nirvana” a group who believe in a return to a simpler lifestyle. However it doesn’t seem to stop them using modern technology…”

Hunter, Spock, and Drake are in the transporter room as this group materialises. A lovely young woman (Katharine Hays) steps forward, stops in front of a suddenly frowning Hunter.

"Hello, Uncle Jim" she says.

Hunter is visibly angry and does not reply. Hunter finally says,

"This is my niece -- Suzanna."

Hunter is furious that they have been in space in their old unrepaired ship. They could easily have been killed in the crash. Their leader Charlie (Erik Estrada) apologizes and states that they are desperate to find the planet Nirvana.

Nirvana, a paradise world with lovely peace-loving inhabitants, is a legend, Hunter says. However Charlie refutes this saying that one hundred years ago an old "space prospector" claimed to have found it in uncharted space. When he was finally able to return to Federation space, he could never recall exactly where it was located, thus most people think he was lying. Charlie assures Hunter that he had pieced together old records and logs of the prospector and thinks it is true.

Hunter declares his intent to take the bunch to the nearest Star Base and drop them off and have them sent back to Earth.

Suzanna attempts to talk to her uncle, but he is quiet and lacking in his usual warmth. He is cold toward her because she has been lying to him. For the past three years, she has told her grandparents that she was studying to be a Doctor, and now he finds out she is running all over the galaxy with a bunch of gypsies. Suzanna tells him being a nurse wasn't what she wanted, and besides, this stranger called "Uncle Jim," whom she has seen exactly three times in her life after her father left her and her mother doesn't have any right to tell her what to do. She has found something to believe in and wanted to pursue that, and now she wants to help her fellow "Children" find Nirvana. She tells him if he can't forgive her for being what she is, she can't forgive him for being what he is -- "A coward!" She walks away, leaving Hunter shaking with anger.

Spock takes what info Charlie (a former computer programmer) has on Nirvana and sets the Library Computer to work on locating it.

Charlie says he and his followers will return to the Star Base as Hunter wishes, but Spock notes that Charlie suddenly begins to read up on the ship (to increase their knowledge "To learn is to grow."), and reports this to Hunter.

Charlie and a couple of his men make their way to the Auxiliary Control Room, overpower the men there, and begin doing things to the equipment, referring to the micro-tapes they borrowed from Drake.

Suzanna accepts an invitation to dine with Hunter in his quarters. When he is not looking, she plants a listening device in the room.

Charlie and men throw their final switches. Subspace radio goes dead, navigation and helm controls are overridden. Charlie informs Hunter that they have rigged the matter/antimatter mass to blow if Hunter tries anything.

Charlie wants to go to Nirvana, and there is nothing Hunter can do to stop him.

Suzanna acts as liaison between Charlie and Hunter. Hunter finds her intelligent and sensitive. He is growing to like her again, despite the circumstances which led to their estrangement. Piper asks Hunter about why he is angry with Suzanna. Hunter replies that her mother (his sister) walked out on her husband, a fellow Navy Officer, ten years before claiming that she was being stifled by the life of a Naval wife. He had kept some sort of contact as, after all, she was his sister but they had increasingly argued because of her lifestyle choices and had stopped communicating except via their parents. Suzanna had been a bright child who had been doing well and the last he had heard had entered Medical School. He cannot believe that she has thrown all that away for a set of “Space Age Hippies”!

Hunter, Spock and Drake try everything, but cannot regain control of the ship. Hunter then decides to separate the saucer from the main drive and jettison the nacelles. But when he attempts to do this, we learn that Charlie already knows, he has heard everything via the bug that Suzanna planted in his quarters.

The ship arrives at Nirvana, then swings away on its own, under control of Charlie's programming. Charlie and his Children steal a shuttlecraft and head down. Hunter goes to the shuttle bay with guards. They will follow in a shuttlecraft, while Spock and Drake attempt to regain control of the ship as it moves away. Piper joins them, insisting on going.

Hunter and Piper follow the stolen shuttlecraft down, land and find that Nirvana is a dead world. The surface of this once lovely planet has been ruined, overgrown, wild... and dead.

Charlie thinks it’s a great opportunity. He and his group will start over, tame this world, and make it a paradise again. Hunter points out that none of them have any practical experience in even staying alive on a wilderness world. Charlie says Hunter will show them. Hunter shows them simple things like starting a fire. Charlie becomes annoyed as his followers begin to look to Hunter as a leader, and not him.

Piper wants to know why Suzanna follows this clown.

"Because," she says, "he doesn't condemn me for being something I'm not."

As the days go by, Charlie gets madder and madder at Hunter's effortless leadership and at the fact that more often than not his Children are listening more to Hunter’s suggestions rather than his. Finally he explodes and tries to kill Hunter, but is beaten and surrenders. .

Meanwhile Spock and Drake have worked to regain control of the Enterprise and have finally succeeded. They bring the ship back to Nirvana.

Hunter and Suzanna talk openly. She says that she was thrown out by her mom for being too much like her father and Uncle. Hunter smiles. They have taken another step towards reconciliation. Suzanna says after they have served their sentences for hijacking the Enterprise, perhaps she will reconsider Medicine as a career.

Hunter finally says that he would prefer that she do what she wants to do, whatever that may be and that he will contact her mother, his sister, and let her know that she is safe. They part with a hug.

 

[Lindseyman]

The Fuzzy that came to Breakfast the twenty second episode of Star Trek: USS Enterprise

“Captain’s Log Mission Date 4357.9. TheEnterprise has been ordered to Wyoming an old Commonwealth colony world which escaped occupation by either the Tellurians or the Klingons. It has come into the sphere of influence of another old Commonwealth Colony, Dowia which has recently started to resettle it. Dowia operates a privately financed colonisation program and has asked for help as a turf war is developing between two rival companies for the colonisation rights on Wyoming…”

Hunter, Spock and a security team beam down to the "Trading Post," a small settlement on the sparsely-populated planet, a jumping off point to the undeveloped Eastern Continent. Hunter gripes a little bit about the assignment, but Spock points out to him that Dowia is set to join the United Systems within the year so has “passed the buck” on solving this problem to them! On visiting the Dowian Consulate Hunter and Spock learn that the Wyoming Neo-Corn Corporation had the monopoly on farm lands on the planet. However a rival company, headed by Damon Jones (Carrol O’Connor), hopes to use their warehouse full of quick-growing mutated wheat grain at the Trading Post as a seed crop to compete with Wyoming Neo-Corn.

Jones and his twitchy assistant (Martin Balsam), afraid that their grain may be sabotaged, ask Hunter to guard the warehouse until their freighters can pick it up three weeks hence for transport to the Eastern Continent. Hunter agrees to do so. The planet is lovely and pastoral and his crew needs shore leave. Additionally, a three-week layover will give Drake time to make many small repairs that theEnterpriseneeds.

The Trading Post is a small town, comparable to an American frontier town. Soon Enterprise personnel are browsing at the many shops in town. Hunter and Spock stay near the town transporter centre (the planet does not have a spaceport), keeping an eye on the arrivals and departures.

A small scout ship enters orbit and Arthur Smith (Wil Geer), an old "locator" (one who locates uninhabited planets and sells the rights to them to the large corporations), beams down. He seems a roguish sort, and Hunter issues a warning that he be watched at all times. Smith is offended, but what can he do.

Hunter and Spock watch as Smith enters a shop and attempts to sell a "Fuzzy" to the owner. It is small, furry, greenish-gold, with no legs, no eyes, only a small cute mouth. This one is about the size of a tennis ball though Smith says he has seen them as large as volleyballs. The shopkeeper agrees and buys the fuzzy, tells him he wants more to sell. Smith says he must beam up to his ship to bring more down.

Spock is disturbed at seeing a “fuzzy”. He says that they remind him of a creature mentioned in a history of the Commonwealth. However he cannot remember the details. Hunter and Spock follow Smith and discover that he actually has several more fuzzies in his pouch. He goes to several shops, sells each owner a fuzzy, and soon has a total order of five hundred.

Hunter and Spock, back on theEnterprise, discuss Smith. Hunter says he’s just a harmless con man. Spock is not so sure. He finds the reference he vaguely remembered in the Enterprise computers. Fuzzies are indeed Mhysse. Even Hunter has heard of them and the havoc that they caused!

Hunter checks in with Damon Jones and his twitchy aide. The grain is still fine, nothing has happened to it.

Smith delivers the five hundred fuzzies, and the shop owners sell out almost immediately, demand more, which amazingly Smith is able to instantly supply. Janice Rand even buys a fuzzy and brings it on the Enterprise. Soon the whole crew has bought one. The fuzzies eat everything in sight. Then Rand’s fuzzy has a litter of ten, and Drake complains that he saw one in the machinery.

McCoy dissects one, discovers they are asexual, almost born pregnant. Hunter confronts Arthur Smith. Smith denies all knowledge about the fuzzies propensities and indeed seems shocked by them. He leaves in a hurry.

Hunter returns to the Enterprise and Rand’s fuzzy’s litter has had a litter, and everybody’s fuzzies are giving birth like crazy--they’re everywhere--on tables, under tables, on chairs, under chairs, on beds, under beds, in corners, in the engines, in the galley, in Hunter’s coffee...

The ship’s angry cook takes Hunter and Spock to his flour bins--the fuzzies have completely devoured the flour. Nothing in the bins but fat fuzzies.

Hunter and Spock stare at the empty bins, both think the same thing at the same time... "The warehouse of grain!"

Hunter pries the granary doors open. Fuzzies roll out. The worst has happened. They have devoured the grain. Spock quotes the number of fuzzies exactly, and Hunter issues an order. "First, close that door! Second, capture Arthur Smith!"

The Enterprise pursues Smith’s small vessel, beam him aboard and take his ship in tow. He protests his innocence, but Hunter is sure that it was he who destroyed the grain by putting fuzzies in the warehouse. He tells Smith to take his pleas of innocence to the Dowian Authorities.

When the Enterprise returns to the Trading Post planet, all are in for a shock. Every fuzzy in the warehouse is dead. Piper determines that the grain has been poisoned. Had it been shipped to the Eastern Continent, the crops raised from it would have killed untold thousand.

The grain must have been poisoned before the fuzzies got in. Arthur Smith is off the hook, and he fingers Damon Jones’ twitchy assistant as the real villain behind the poisoned grain. Under questioning the aide admits that he was paid a large sum of money and given the poison by the Wyoming Neo-Corn Corporation to compromise the grain but insists that he did not know that the poison was so lethal. He thought that it would just kill the seed grain.

The Dowian Consul (Lorne Greene) states that so many Dowian laws have been broken that he is not sure where to begin. However the least that will happen is that the Wyoming Neo-Corn Corporation will be prosecuted and will lose its contracts with the Dowian authorities.

The fuzzies are removed from the Enterprise, and Hunter orders that Smith and the aide stay at the Trading Post until they have removed every fuzzy there.

Back on the Enterprise, Hunter is relieved, says that he never again wants to see a fuzzy.

Rand enters the bridge with two small furry balls. What are those things? Hunter yells.

"Earrings," Rand says as she clips them to her ears.

Everyone laughs . . . except Spock.

 

[Lindseyman]

The Slaver Weapon the Twenty third episode of Star Trek: USS Enterprise.

First Officer’s Log Mission Date 4687.3, I, Ensign Crusher and Lieutenant Rand are transporting a Slaver stasis box to Starbase Delta. The Captain was not happy but the Enterprise was needed for a relief mission and Professor Wu got Command to order us to expedite the transfer. Hence the three of us are making the journey in the Enterprise shuttlecraft Copernicus…”

Crusher asked

“What is so special about this that we have to rush it to Starbase Delta? Couldn’t it have waited until after the relief mission?”

“So the Captain believed but obviously Professor Wu did not.” replied Spock.

“These boxes are certainly very rare. Only three have been found in what is now United Systems space although others have been found elsewhere. They are products of the Slavers who used these objects to carry weapons, valuables, scientific instruments and data.”

“Who were the Slavers and when did they live?” asked Rand.

“No one is sure as they apparently lived and became extinct long before history started repeating itself due to the effects of The Probe. Only fragments of legends remain about a powerful race who ruled a vast empire through telepathy. These same fragments have this empire falling because of a rebellion led by a race which they could not control through their telepathy. Other than that it is all conjecture and the contents of previously discovered boxes has not shed much light on the matter..”

Spock’s answer to Rand is interrupted by their box flashing. Spock is intrigued as the boxes can detect each other. The flashing of the box and a scan show that another device is located near Beta Lyrae.

Crusher pilots the shuttle, following the signal. They shuttle land on an ice planet, but as they disembark intending to follow the signal to the new box, they are captured by the hostile catlike Caitians.

The Caitians had an empty stasis box of their own, and were using it to lure in passing ships. They were trying to steal the boxes in the hopes of finding a super weapon that will return their empire to its former greatness. They had been heavily defeated several times by the Tellurian-Klingon Alliance since first contact had been made with them just after the fall of the Commonwealth.

Ship Captain, the commander of the Caitians (who do not have names until they perform a deed of great service to their empire) orders that the Copernicus should be searched. After a few minutes they find the box which was being transported and it is given to Slaver Historian who mews in pleasure when he manages to open it. He finds some fresh meat (which is immediately eaten despite its age), a picture of a Slaver, and a powerful (but unfamiliar) alien device, which the Caitians immediately suspect is a weapon.

Spock, Crusher and Rand look at each other in horror. If the Caitians manage to discover how to make this weapon work then they would immediately invade. Certainly their past history would suggest that this would happen, they continually attacked the Alliance, often before they were ready.

Ship Captain boasts to Crusher that they will all be given names if they bring this back and present it to their Autarch. (He only speaks to Crusher as females have no standing in their culture and Spock is despised as a herbivore (Vulcanians are vegetarian).)


Over the next few hours Spock and the others escape and recapture the “weapon”. It passes hands several times between them and Caitians, until the finally the Caitians manage to recapture Crusher and Rand (although Spock remains at large) and retain control of it for a time.

As Spock observes them from behind a concealing ridge, they explore the device's many settings. After a while it starts talking to the Caitians. They ask it several questions and are finally given instructions for a final setting. Crusher realises what this setting is likely to be and provokes the Caitians into enclosing both himself and Rand in a force field inside the Caitian ship. Spock notes this with approval as he also strongly suspects what this last setting will actually be.

Ship Captain grasps what appears to be a stock and trigger and asks the weapon a final question. Whatever the answer is, it obviously gives him satisfaction, and he raises the weapon and aims it at a pinnacle of ice a long way from the ship.

Spock enhances the force field around his space suit and crouches low behind the ridge of rock. There is a flash of light which shears off the top of the ridge and a massive explosion which bounces Spock around like a ball. After he has recovered sufficiently Spock peers over the remains of the ridge. There is no sign of any of the Caitians nor of the weapon. However there is now a massive crater where the Caitians were standing when Ship Captain fired the weapon. The Caitian ship has been almost completely wrecked.

Worried about Crusher and Rand Spock makes his way gingerly to the wrecked ship and enters it. Inside he finds the remains of some Caitian crew members but also finds Crusher and Rand enclosed in the force field. Spock finds the controls for the force field and releases both Crusher and Rand.

They make their way out and Crusher whistles on seeing the crater.

“I thought that it would be a self-destruct” he says “but I didn’t think that it would be that powerful!”

“What caused you to think that it would be a self-destruct” asks Rand.

“Well think about it. You are an AI controlled weapon. You are being asked questions by a strange race to which the answers should be obvious if they serve the people that created you. The fact that they are asking these questions means that they must be enemies and therefore must not be allowed to study and possibly reverse engineer you. It made sense that they would be shown the self-destruct.”

“I commend your logic, Mr. Crusher. I hope that the Copernicus has survived.”

Unfortunately it hasn’t but there is enough power left to send out a distress signal. After a couple of hours the Enterprise arrives in orbit and beams them on board.


NOTES:

1. This episode is indeed the ITTL version of the animated Star Trek episode “The Slaver Weapon” which was written by Larry Niven based on his short story “The Soft Weapon”. ITTL he wrote the adaptation for Star Trek: USS Enterprise. However so many changes were made to his original draft, plus the fact that he did not like the makeup produced for the Kzinti, that he asked that his name not be attached as the author. So it there were some final changes made (e.g. Calling the Kzinti, Caitians) by Gene Coon and it became based upon an idea by Larry Niven.

Later Niven admitted that it would have been too expensive to have produced the script as it was originally written and that no one was going to get the Kzinti right!

2. The Caitians still wear pink armour. I’ve never understood why this was seen as funny. Certainly the Victorians thought of pink as a male colour so why shouldn’t an alien race with different ocular systems think of what we see as pink as being a martial colour?

 

[HonestAbe1809]

The whole idea of this timeline was to see how Star Trek would be different if it was a British production. Why then are all of the posts dedicated to an alternate version of TOS? I would've thought that the main attraction of a British Star Trek series would be British Star Trek.

 

[Lindseyman]

The last few posts have been showing what NBC have been doing to produce a version of the ITC Star Trek which they feel is more suitable for American audiences. I will be returning to British developments quite soon.

 

[HonestAbe1809]

The last few posts have been showing what NBC have been doing to produce a version of the ITC Star Trek which they feel is more suitable for American audiences. I will be returning to British developments quite soon.

I'm actually interested in seeing how "Enterprise" develops after it's shed the Star Trek name. It'd be interesting to see it develop into a franchise completely independent of ITV's Star Trek. The lore that'd result from that alone would be enough to keep me reading.

 

[Lindseyman]

Absolute Power the Twenty Fourth episode of Star Trek: USS Enterprise

“Captain’s Log Mission Date 5102.6 We are investigating a series of supernovae whose catastrophic radiation has destroyed several cultures on nearby worlds. Investigating further we have penetrated to the heart of the sphere of destruction and founds a planet orbiting a dying star. Sensors reveal the cities on the planet are intact -- they have not been destroyed, just deserted…”

Suddenly Kalol (Michael Ansara), a humanoid with an oversized bald cranium, appears on the bridge. Security guards who move toward him are frozen, immobile.

"Why have you come?" Kalol asks.

Hunter explains they have come only to investigate the cataclysmic destruction left behind in the wake of the supernovae. Kalol does admit that their preliminary experiments were not entirely successful. When Hunter realizes that Kalol is taking responsibility for the supernovae, he asks what their ultimate plan is.

"The absorption of the universe," Kalol says, and then vanishes.

Hunter, Spock and four security guards beam down to the planet’s surface. They materialize inside a metal chamber, devoid of mechanical equipment. Through a window they can see the scarred surface of the incredibly old world. Suddenly Spock gets two life readings on his tricorder. Kalol appears, amused by Hunter’s persistence. He tells Hunter that his people were once like him –- young, eager to explore. Kalol reads Hunter’s mind to determine the location of Earth. Kalol says that when his people visited Earth it was but a boiling cloud of gas in a protouniverse.

"You’re five billion years old?" Hunter asks.

“Far older! I am the last."

Hunter asks what Kalol meant when he said he planned to absorb the universe, asks if only the two of them will absorb it. Kalol explains that the entirety of his race is functioning within his mind.

Spock is fascinated -- "A melding of minds within one brain?"

Kalol explains that his race ultimately decided that the universe was simply too large to physically explore.

"Only the mind operates in real time. In a purely mental state, we could reach the farthest corner of the universe, perform any function, within the same instant of time."

When Hunter protests that such mental feats are impossible, Kalol causes to appear a lovely young woman Hunter dated as a cadet, and then the long dead Captain of the first vessel Hunter served aboard. Kalol causes them to vanish as Spock confirms that he too saw the two people. There is no difference between thought and reality, Kalol says. He explains that the supernovae are part of a very important experiment, the next to final experiment, in fact. But Kalol cannot yet fully absorb these suns.

“But what of the peoples on these worlds” Hunter asks.

Kalol says he regrets the loss of consciousness, but his race must be rid of their final biological body forever. Spock attempts to mentally contact Kalol, but the mild contact is so powerful that Spock collapses. Two of the guards fire at Kalol; he reflects the phaser beams back at them, and they flare into nothingness. Kalol tells Hunter that their minds will be absorbed since there is nothing that Hunter’s mind, or any human’s, can offer him. But Kalol says he will allow the Enterprise to witness the next to final experiment.


Suddenly, Hunter and Spock are back on the bridge of the Enterprise. Scott reports that the view screens are trained on the Telof star system, set to full magnification. All watch as that system glows into a vast fireball, then vanishes. Kalol appears on the bridge, but before Hunter can question him, he concentrates and on the screen the huge diffuse area that was the Telof system begins to glow. As all watch, amazed, glowing particles coalesce toward a centre, which spins faster and faster, contracts into a dense brilliant dot which explodes. The whirling concentric circles of debris coalesce into planets with a sun at the centre. Soon the Telof star system is exactly as it was. Millions of years of star formation have just taken place in seconds.

"We destroy and we create," Kalol says.

Spock checks his sensors, no life readings from the Telof system. He turns on Kalol and says,

"There were seven billion people in that system."

Kalol vanishes. Hunter and crew stare in horror at the image of the dead star system.

Hunter holds a conference with his senior staff. All agree that Starfleet must be warned. Spock attempts to "flash feed" a message through the computer, compressing it to less than a single microsecond. Perhaps at such a speed it will escape Kalol’s notice. No luck. Kalol stops it, tells them that such a message would only cause alarm and confusion. Hunter is sure that Kalol can be brought down by his ego. He posits that the destruction and resurrection of the Telof system was just Kalol’s way of showing off.

At his station, Spock announces that a deep scan of the planet below shows thousands of very faint life sign readings. Could this mean Kalol is lying? Are there more of them deep within the planet? Perhaps they could help defeat Kalol. Spock is able to zero in on a chamber deep within the planet. He and Hunter beam down. They materialize inside a small room filled with bodies in glass cases. This room is but a single cell in a giant honeycomb. In the chamber beyond, and the next, as far as the eye can see, are thousands of cases filled with bodies. These are the bodies of all those minds that are within the brain of Kalol. Living dead, kept here, in case their bodies are once again needed, in case Kalol’s final great step fails.

Back on the ship all confer again. Several plans are put forth, including a theory from Piper that perhaps he can revive the bodies if a way is found to transfer the minds back into them. But, in the end, nothing seems capable of stopping Kalol from absorbing every single mind in the universe.

Hunter dismisses all except Spock. "I have a plan that will stop Kalol," Hunter says. Until he cuts the last biological link, Kalol is still mortal, still vulnerable. Hunter plans to explode the matter-antimatter reactor of the ship. All matter within half a parsec would be annihilated.

"We’d create our own supernova, and die in it," Spock says.

"But the loss of one ship is a small price to pay for the survival of the galaxy," Hunter says.

Spock uses his telepathic ability to erase knowledge of the plan to explode the matter-antimatter reactor from Hunter’s mind. Kalol would surely be able to read the plan in Hunter’s thoughts, but perhaps not in Spock’s. A few minutes later, Spock finds an excuse to send Scott away from Engineering, then goes there to rig the matter-antimatter reactor to explode.

However Kalol arrives on the bridge and chastises them for daring to think they could defeat him. He has read their minds and has already mentally caused the matter-antimatter reactor connections that Spock rigged up to disassemble.

"I am now ready for the final step," Kalol says.

Hunter pleads with Kalol not to absorb every mind within the universe. Kalol will not listen.

"We no longer need the universe," he says. "We are the universe!"

He then starts the final steps.

An electro-magnetic storm appears on the surface of the planet. It wreaks havoc on all the Enterprise’s systems. Piper signals them, Kalol does not seem to notice as he is concentrating on the storm and what it presages. Piper thinks that he has discovered a way to reactivate the lifeless bodies on the planet below. If they can feed a certain type of energy into the bodies, they will revive and their minds will leave Kalol’s brain and return to their own bodies.

At last, the computers are ready to send the signal. But before Hunter can press the button to send, Kalol waves an absent minded hand. Suddenly Hunter struggles to reach the button,

“You surely didn’t think that I wouldn’t sense what you were plotting? However it gave you something to do and stop worrying about the inevitable!”

However all the bridge crew struggle to reach the button. Kalol finds it difficult to control them all. Finally Kutuzov’s fingertips find it. He presses it.

The signal is sent from the Enterprise to the bodies below. As each body is brought back to life, its mind flees Kalol’s brain and returns. As more bodies receive their minds back, Kalol is weakened, and the storm dies down, the incredible auroreal display flickers. Kalol draws inward upon himself, collapses, and disappears.

On the Enterprise, the lights steady, systems flicker back on. The Enterprise is signalled from the surface of the planet. A woman (Majel Barrett) addresses Hunter

“Thank You. Kalol had become enamoured of power for its own sake. We will find another way. Leave in peace but do not return.”

As the Enterprise leaves orbit a force field springs into place around the planet.

NOTES:
1. This is based on an unused plot developed by John Meredyth Lucas for the OTL Star Trek.
2. Three years!!! and it's still not finished! As mentioned before I'm finding the American Star Trek hard going at times but I'm a stubborn old git!

 

[Lindseyman]

The Tears of Laconia the Twenty fifth episode of Star Trek: USS Enterprise

“Captain’s Log Mission Date 5372.5, we have been assigned a diplomatic milk run in the Hellun System, albeit an important one! We have picked up the Illian Ambassador Podarc, an old man but who still has a military bearing. We are to take him to Laconia, the innermost planet, to pick up the Autarkia, Elian. The rulers of Laconia and Illios (the Council of Nobles and the Illios Tribunal respectively) have mutually agreed to marry Elian to a royal of Illios to secure peace before the two planets destroy each other. The Hellun system lies in a border area between the United Systems and the Tellurian Empire. The United Systems apparently hopes this interplanetary royal marriage will bring peace and sway the Illians and the Laconians toward the United Systems rather than the Empire…”

The Enterprise arrives at Laconia and Elian (Meg Foster), and her Guard of Honour, are beamed on board. Elian, a very striking woman, is a most reluctant bride, cursing the arrangement that is, as she sees it, sending her off to be married to an enemy. Ambassador Podarc's (Victor Mature) mission is to make the spoiled and arrogant Elian acquainted with the manners and customs of the Illians whose Queen she will be. Hunter, who has taken a liking to the old soldier, whispers to him that he does not envy him his task. Elian hears Hunter and gives him a look of utter disdain.

Not long after Elian's arrival and the Enterprise beginning her passage to Illios at the lowest possible speed, a Tellurian warship is detected in the Hellun system. It ignores all hails from the Enterprise. Captain Hunter is summoned to Elian's quarters. There he finds Ambassador Podarc stabbed by Elian, who has not been pleased with his attempts to teach her what she needs to learn. The ambassador is rushed to sickbay, where he is found to be critically but not fatally wounded. The job of teaching her what she needs to know falls to the Captain and Podarc wishes him good luck as he feels that the task is all but impossible!.

In sickbay, Piper asks the ambassador why Laconian women are so prized in spite of their savagery. Podarc explains the attraction is biochemical. If the tears of a Laconian female touch a man's skin, he will be enraptured and enslaved to her forever. The men of Laconia have searched for a counter to the tears for centuries, without success.

Elian does not take kindly to being "civilized" and attempts to stab Hunter. He overpowers her, disarms her, and chews her out, telling her she will learn what she has been ordered to learn. She begins to cry, saying she is worried by the fact nobody likes her and she does not know how to get people to like her. Hunter tries to comfort her, but makes the mistake of wiping a tear from her cheek and is overcome by its biochemical love potion. Elian and Hunter begin a passionate love affair.

Meanwhile, one of the ship's engineers is killed by Memnon (Sam Elliott), chief of Elian's bodyguards, who is secretly working for the Tellurians. Memnon sabotages the crystals that control the Enterprise's warp engines and tries to contact the Tellurian battle cruiser. He is captured, but commits suicide before he can be interrogated. Elian explains Memnon was from a cadet branch of the Royal Family and had loved her. The arranged marriage had infuriated him and he sold out to the Tellurians, probably hoping to disrupt the planetary alliance so he could marry her.

Elian tries to use her power over Hunter to get him do her bidding. She suggests he destroy Illios and then become the ruler of Laconia, but his ethics and willpower are stronger than her biochemical influence. He orders Piper to work on an antidote to the power of her tears. Elian is impressed by Hunter's resolve and makes it clear to him she has deliberately chosen him as her mate. She treats him as a beloved equal, obeying him when he asks her to go to sickbay (the safest part of the ship) when the Tellurian battle cruiser attacks the Enterprise.


Meanwhile, Chief Engineer Drake discovers Memnon's sabotage. He reports Memnon damaged the crystals in the antimatter reactor control system, making it impossible to go to warp or fire the phasers. Without the antimatter reactor, the Enterprise is a sitting duck. Hunter, still under the influence of Elian's tears, manages to pull himself together and bluff the Tellurians into thinking the Enterprise is fully operational.

In sickbay, Podarc again approaches Elian with the royal gifts — a wedding dress and a necklace of large, roughly cut gemstones — saying they symbolize the hope for peace between their two worlds. Elian accepts the gifts and subsequently appears on the bridge wearing them, saying if they are all going to die, she wants to die at Hunter's side. Spock detects strange energy readings from her necklace. Elian is puzzled because to her the jewels are common stones — the necklace has little monetary value on her world. Spock discovers the "common stones" are crude versions of the crystals which form an integral part of the power systems, which explains the Tellurians' keen interest in this star system.

The stones are quickly delivered to Drake in Engineering; there, he uses them to restore the ship's antimatter reactor control circuits. Drake and Spock work feverishly to replace the damaged crystals with the crude crystals from Elian's necklace as the battle cruiser moves in for the kill. Power is restored to the Enterprise just before the Tellurians’ final attack and the enemy ship is successfully driven off, severely damaged.

Elian is puzzled by Hunter's decision to cripple the enemy ship rather than destroy it. She asks, "Aren't you going to finish them off?" To that, he replies, "No." He knows destroying the Tellurian battle cruiser would cause a diplomatic crisis that could result in the United Systems losing the Hellun system.

A much changed Elian is delivered safely to Illios. Before she departs, Elian gives Hunter her dagger as a memento, explaining she has learned "... on Illios, they do not wear such things." She and Hunter say their farewells in the transporter room, Elian's heart obviously breaking. Later, Piper appears on the bridge to report he has found an antidote to Laconian tears, but it seems not to be needed after all. As Spock informs him, "The antidote to a woman of Laconia, Doctor, is a starship. The Enterprise infected the Captain long before the Autarkia did."

NOTE: This is the ITTL version of the OTL “Elaan of Troyius”. As in OTL the episode was both written and directed by John Meredyth Lucas and is effectively the same in both. However Podarc is a much stronger character than Petri.

 

[Lindseyman]

A Series of Unfortunate Events the twenty sixth episode of Star Trek: USS Enterprise

“Captain’s Log Mission Date 5604.2, we have arrived in orbit around the dying planet Linnaeus IV. Our mission is to observe and document the planet's breakup, however we have also been tasked to locate a research team on the planet that had not been in communication with Command for months…”

A landing party led by Spock beams down, finding the life support system of the researchers' observation post shut down and the team frozen to death in bizarre situations, such as fully clothed in a shower, seated at a control console as if nothing was wrong, as well as one woman who was strangled. Crusher, removes his environmental suit glove to scratch his nose and comes in contact with a strange red liquid. The landing party is beamed back to the ship and quarantined by Chief Medical Officer Dr. Piper. Piper finds no medical issues with them and allows them to return to duty.

After returning to the Enterprise, going through decontamination and being cleared by Piper, Crusher begins to exhibit mental health issues, prompting Mr. Spock to observe Crusher has a higher than normal quotient of self-doubt. He acts irrationally, expressing hostility towards other crew members in a crew lounge. He threatens Lieutenants Kutuzov and Rand with a knife before turning it on himself. His wound is minor and not life-threatening, but in Sick Bay he dies after a successful surgery, to Piper's bewilderment.

Meanwhile, both Kutuzov and Rand also begin to behave irrationally. Kutuzov acts like an 18th-century Cossack and has to be restrained by Spock using a Vulcanian nerve grip, while Rand revels in her Irish ancestry, locks herself in the Engineering section, and proclaims herself Queen of the Enterprise. Those whose skin they have touched soon follow suit, and the infection quickly spreads through the crew. As they abandon their posts, the ship's orbit destabilizes and she begins to fall into the planet's erratic gravity well. As the Enterprise enters the upper atmosphere, the hull begins to heat.

Chief Engineer Drake eventually regains control of Engineering from Rand, but Rand had already shut down the engines. It would take more time than the ship has in her decaying orbit to restart them before the Enterprise crashes into the planet.

Spock became infected when he used the nerve grip on Kutuzov but it took longer for him to be affected. Spock struggles to contain his emotions, and infects Hunter when Hunter tries to help. Piper, having taken precautions to avoid infection, studies blood samples from the planet and finds that the water from the planet possesses a previously undetected complex chain of molecules that affects humanoids like alcohol, depressing the centres of judgment and self-control. It is transmitted by touch. He develops a serum to reverse the effects, administering the initial doses to the senior crew to allow them to bring the ship back under control.

Hunter orders Drake to make a full-power restart of the warp engines, a dangerous process that mixes matter and antimatter in a cold state to create a controlled implosion and drive the ship away from the planet. This is suggested by a theory postulating a relationship between time and antimatter, but it has never before been attempted. The restart is successful, propelling the Enterprise at impossible speed away from the planet. However the speeds attained override the Enterprise’s inertial dampers and the crew is thrown around and many faint from the stresses caused by the journey. Hunter desperately takes over the helm and fights to bring the Enterprise back under control. He eventually manages to do so but does not recognise any of the stars when he brings the Enterprise back under control.

To be continued

 

[Lindseyman]

Reaction to Star Trek: USS Enterprise

The reaction to the show was mixed. Although it received reasonable to good viewing figures it was not the massive hit that NBC and Paramount had hoped that it would be. To make matters worse nobody could agree why it had not done as well as expected. To some it was too cerebral and did not have enough bangs and explosions. To others it confirmed why US adaptations of British Television shows usually were not as well received as the original. Indeed much of the feedback commented that it fell between two stools not being the original Star Trek but not yet really being an American program.

What really hurt was the revelation that in those areas that had seen the ITC Star Trek, the ITC version was regarded as being the better of the two programs. In areas where the ITC version had not been shown or had been seen by fewer viewers (because of its time slot) USS Enterprise was much better regarded.

Indeed the hoped for sales to foreign broadcasters did not materialise in the numbers hoped for. The major ignominy was it starting being shown in primetime on CTV but rapidly being shunted into Sunday evenings after 10pm! Something was going to have to be done!

Bruce Lansbury was replaced by Fred Freiburger as main producer. There was a cull of the cast. Only Hunter, Spock, Piper and Kutuzov were retained as characters past the first episode which provided the connection between the two seasons. Also Star Trek was dropped from the titles the show being rebranded as just Enterprise. The setting of the show was also changed. There had been two main alternatives discussed. The first was the accident at the end of season 1 sending the Enterprise to a far distant part of the galaxy and the story being their attempts to get back home. The second was to send the Enterprise into the future, after the collapse of the United Systems and the story being Hunter trying to reform the United Systems as a means of combatting a new enemy.

Both had their supporters but in the end it was decided to go with the second idea especially since it had been the one suggested by Gene Roddenberry. It would enable there to be a main villain and a set of enemies which had not been realised in season 1. Despite everything tried the Tellurians and Klingons had not been “Bad” enough to act in this role. Also being set in the future meant that most of the Star Trek continuity could be disregarded as who knew what could have happened in the intervening period to change things!

NOTES:

1. When ITV showed Star Trek: USS Enterprise in 1975, the regions were allowed to show it as and when they wanted. It was critically panned at the time as not being Star Trek and the usual American failure to adapt a British success. It rapidly was relegated to Sunday afternoons either before or after the regional football highlights. It should be noted that repeats of the ITC Star Trek got higher viewing figures than it did!

2. However when Channel 4 showed it in the late 90’s it was much better received. They put it on Thursday at 6pm and it gained a loyal viewing public (many of whom admitted to be missing a certain programme on the BBC!). It was seen as one of the better American attempts at something other than explosions and the US is always right and paving the way for Babylon 5.

 

[Antonio]

So basically Star Trek: Enterprise has morphed into Andromeda?

 

[Lindseyman]

So basically Star Trek: Enterprise has morphed into Andromeda?

Almost. There will be one or two differences.

 

[HonestAbe1809]

So in this universe, there's Doctor Who, Star Trek, Enterprise and Babylon 5. There seems to be no shortage of good television sci-fi to base fandoms on. Is "Star Trek: USS Enterprise" successful enough to keep the original Battlestar Galactica on the air? It'd make sense that ABC would want to create something to respond to Enterprise.

 

[Lindseyman]

Meanwhile in the UK

ITC was not very happy with the way that Star Trek was developing in the US. However there wasn’t anything that they could do as NBC and Paramount had the right to develop Star Trek as they saw fit for the American market.

So instead they started to discuss plans for redeveloping Star Trek in the UK. Two avenues were discussed.

Firstly as a new live action television series was considered impracticable (It would cost too much for one thing), consideration was given to an animated series. However Gerry Anderson suggested a supermarionation version as an alternative. This received considerable backing especially as the other races in the Commonwealth could be as easily produced in puppet form as humans! The drawback was that it would take some time to develop and produce especially as it was felt that the puppets would have to be more lifelike than in previous Anderson productions. This actually was not going to be a problem as Anderson had been developing his system for a proposed series called Captain Scarlet which had not been produced due to is involvement with Star Trek. So the supermarionation version of Star Trek was given the green light.

Secondly, in order to keep the public aware of the original Star Trek, whilst the new Anderson version was being produced, it was felt that a radio production would be able to bridge the gap. The major problem was that there was no nationwide commercial network at the time. Nobody wanted to ask the BBC, nor to be fair would they have wanted it at the time. (Later it would be completely different story!)

However Radio Luxemburg had produced a Dan Dare radio series in the early 1950s. Radio Luxemburg could also be picked up over most of the UK and so they were approached. They proved very amenable to the project and so it was also put into production. There was then the small matter of the casting. None of the American actors from the television series (but especially Bill Cosby and Stuart Damon) were available but the British actors were. In the end it was decided to set the radio serial on another Commonwealth ship the CSS Discovery with some of the original cast making guest appearances.

For the stories it was decided to use some of the better received storylines from the comic strip in TV 21 which had been overtaken by subsequent events in the television series.

Star Trek: The New Adventures, as the radio series was known, hit the airwaves on Friday December 15th 1972 at 7:30pm GMT.

 

[Lindseyman]

Star Trek: The New Adventures

A radio serial broadcast on Radio Luxemburg from 1972 to 1974 and rebroadcast on BBC Radio 7 in 2008 and 2009. It was based upon the ITC television programme Star Trek and several of the actors from that programme had guest appearances.

History

The radio serial had its origins in ITC’s disquiet at the direction that NBC was taking with its version of Star Trek. It was intended as a stop gap to keep the ITC version in people’s minds until the advent of the Supermarionation version produced by Gerry Anderson. It was very successful at this despite being broadcast on Radio Luxemburg. The production ceased in 1974 when Star Trek as produced by Gerry Anderson appeared on the television.

It was a fondly remembered show especially, as it did not have to worry about producing visual special effects, because it had characters from non-human species within the Commonwealth and in many ways was a tighter and tauter production which paid homage to the original production whilst managing to forge its own identity.

It was kept in the public mind by first being released in cassette form, then CD and was made available as a download in 2009. This last was done after BBC Radio 7 broadcast the original programmes, the BBC having acquired the right to broadcast them in 2007, in 2008 and 2009. The programme proved so popular that new programmes were commissioned, in collaboration with Big Finish which are now broadcast on BBC Radio 4 Extra.

Setting

As per the television programme the setting was the Commonwealth of Planets although mainly set in the time period of the last series and after it. The ship was the CSS Discovery an exploration vessel.

Cast

There was a small regular cast although many later famous actors made appearances on the show (for example Richard Griffiths, Alun Armstrong, Michael Williams). There were also guest appearances by Michael Sheard as Scotty, William Gaunt as Fynely, Peter Cushing as Campbell-Foreman and once by Bill Cosby as Russell.

The regular cast was

Captain Brian Metcalfe (Francis Matthews)

First Officer Tarryck (Ian Holm)

Science Officer David Bruce (Ian Cuthbertson)

Chief Engineer Valentina Romanova (Carolyn Seymour)

Helmsman Suvik (Peter Blake)

Communications Officer Rand (Jacqueline Pearce- the only character to appear regularly in both television and radio productions)

Stories

Most of the scripts were originally based upon the comic strips which had appeared in TV 21 and been overtaken by the actual programme. However especially in the second series original stories were produced some of which followed up on loose ends from the television programme. The most controversial story was about what happened to the Discovery during the takeover of the Commonwealth by the Emperor. It showed the crew becoming Imperial fanatics and hunting down resistance against the Emperor. (When time was reset by the Erebus they didn’t remember this episode).

 

[Lindseyman]

Star Trek Merchandise/Tie ins

As might be expected there was a great deal of merchandise produced to tie in with Star Trek. The following by no means covers everything but does give an idea of what was produced.

Palitoy produced several sets of uniforms for their Action Man toy. In the US these were released as G.I. Joes (it was an unusual bit of reverse licensing, Action Man was a licensed version of Hasbro’s G.I.Joe). Sets were released for Command, Science, Engineering and Security. These proved very popular both when sold as uniform sets for already owned Action Men and as boxed sets. They have remained available from their original release in 1968 through to the present day (although they have been marketed by Hasbro since Palitoy closed in 1984).

Hasbro released uniform sets and boxed sets of G.I.Joe for Star Trek: USS Enterprise in 1972. These were popular in the US but never really caught on in the UK.

Airfix produced a plastic construction kit of the CSS Endeavour in 1967 and this has remained in production on and off since then. It was last released in 2006 for the 40th anniversary and again in 2016 for the 50th anniversary. A modified version was produced to represent the CSS Erebus in 1970. It has not been re-released since 1994.

In the US Monogram produced a kit of the USS Enterprise which is still available as a Revell model (both US and German companies) in the present day.

Several companies produced jigsaws over the years. Usually these were based on stills of the programmes but Waddingtons commissioned some paintings by Gerry Embleton in 1996 and these are still readily available.

Die Cast models of the Endeavour and Erebus were produced by Dinky in the late 1960s and they also produced several models based upon the Supermarionation Star Trek in the mid to late 70s before they went out of business. These are very collectable. Similarly Mattel produced die cast models based upon Star Trek: USS Enterprise and Enterprise.

In the UK several companies produced Star Trek colouring books over the years and similarly there were several painting by numbers sets produced.

 

[Lindseyman]

Changes for the New Series

There were several changes between Star Trek: USS Enterprise and Enterprise. Firstly as already mentioned Fred Freiburger had a cull of the cast with only Bill Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, De Forest Kelley and Harrison Ford surviving of the lead actors. Of the others only George Kennedy’s character was even mentioned during the first episode. Freiburger when asked said that he didn’t know or care what had happened to the others, perhaps they had been transferred to other shifts or duties.

So far only James Doohan and George Takei had been named as new regular cast members but no character names had been announced. One thing that was known was the new signature tune. (Viewers from OTL present day would recognise it as a 70s synthesiser version of the theme used during the two Mirror Universe episodes of Star Trek: Enterprise).

Other than that everything else was being a closely guarded secret. However rumours were beginning to surface about friction between Freiburger and the other members of the production team and also with the cast members.

NOTE: Apologies for the brevity of this post. Real Life intervened with a vengeance.

 

[HonestAbe1809]

I'm really looking forward to see the divergent evolution between Enterprise and Star Trek. I'm hoping that Enterprise will be as successful of a franchise as Star Trek is in OTL.

 

[Lindseyman]

Episode 1 of Enterprise

“Captain’s Log Mission Date 5621.3. We do not know where we are. After the incident with the restart of the engines we have lost main and auxiliary power and are currently running on batteries. As a result the sensors are also down. We seem to have suffered roughly 40% casualties including Chief Engineer Drake. The Assistant Engineer Angus Montgomery is trying desperately with the help of Mr. Spock to restore even auxiliary power….”

Whilst Hunter is dictating his log the lights come back on albeit at a much lower level than usual. Mr Spock returns to the bridge and makes a report.

“Auxiliary power is restored and Mr. Montgomery is now certain that he will be able to restore main power in another two or three hours. We have no sensors but communication systems are back on line.”

Hunter nods and signals engineering

“Well done Mr. Montgomery. Restoring sensors has full priority, then main power.”

“Aye, Captain” is Montgomery’s (James Doohan) rather terse reply.

Spock goes to the Communication station which is currently unoccupied and tries to contact Command. After a few minutes he looks up.

“There is no communication at all on any of the normal channels. I shall scan other frequencies.”

After a few more minutes, Spock looks up again.

“Interesting”

“Yes, Mr. Spock?” prompts Hunter.

“There is no communication at all on any frequency used by the United Systems. However there is constant communication on another bandwidth.”

“Put it on speakers Mr. Spock.”

Mr Spock complies. There follows a continual stream of messages in an unknown language. However one or two words seem vaguely familiar.”

“Tie in the translator Mr Spock.”

“Already done, Captain. We should get some sort of translation soon. However without some frame of reference it will be patchy.”

Hunter nods. After a minute or two he turns back to Spock.

“Concentrate on that last channel, Mr. Spock. If that is not a military channel of some sort then I’m a Klingon!”

Spock nods

“I agree Captain.”

After a while the translator starts to kick in and slowly but surely more and more of the transmissions become intelligible. It is indeed obviously a military channel but the names and coordinates are not even vaguely relatable to what they are used to using. Just them Montgomery signals the bridge.

“Captain, I’ve got sensors back on line. Shields will be another few minutes. Main power should be back in under an hour.”

“Again, well done Mr. Montgomery.”

Hunter turned to Spock.

“Mr. Spock, I want a full sensor scan of the area. Let’s find out where we are.”

“Yes, Captain”

Spock runs a full sensor scan of the immediate area. He frowns and turns back to his instruments.”

“What is the matter, Mr. Spock?” asks Hunter.

Spock turns to him

“Captain, the nearest star system is that of the Guardian!”

“But that is nearly the other side of inhabited space from where we were!”

“Yes, Captain. However that is not all.”

Hunter frowns

“Out with it Mr. Spock!”

“If that is indeed the Guardian’s star system, and the number and nature of the planets tends to confirm that it is, then the positions of the stars would seem to indicate that we are roughly 300 years into the future!”

 

[Lindseyman]

Episode 2 of Enterprise

“Captain’s Log Mission Date 5629.8. Given Mr. Spock’s discovery as to where and apparently when we are I’m not sure that Mission Dates are relevant any more. However they do allow us to keep track of time so we’ll keep using them. Mr Montgomery has achieved miracles and main power has been restored. The engines are another matter! They have been damaged and although he is certain that he can restore them to operate at roughly 80% efficiency any more would require the services of a space dock or repair yard. In the meantime we are heading towards the Guardian’s planet in order to gain our bearings in this situation…”

Spock looks up from his station.

“Captain, our translations of the communications channels has not improved. We can understand what they are saying but we still have no references to correlate coordinates or planets. However I think that Falkanniz might be Vulcanis and Arthe might be Earth. I am attempting to use these as a first approximation.”

Hunter nods and notices Kutuzov looking intently at his instruments.

“What is it?”

“We are being rapidly approached by three ships, Captain.”

Spock scans them

“Unknown configuration Captain but the power readings seem to indicate ships similar to light cruisers.”

Hunter sighs

“They will be more than a match for us in our current condition. Hail them.”

The Yeoman at the communications station attempts to do so.

“Captain, they are not responding. I am using the frequencies that we picked up.”

“Keep trying Yeoman.”

Then both Spock and Kutuzov start.

“What is it?” asks Hunter

Spock answers

“A fourth ship has appeared. It is much more powerful than the others. It is opening fire on them.”

“On screen”

They see the bigger ship swoop down on the three smaller ships and destroy two of them almost instaneously. The third ship is surviving by stint of some rather impressive manoeuvring but it too is hit and badly damaged. The bigger ship fires a final volley and the other ship loses all power and is left drifting in space. The big ship doesn’t pause but changes course and leaves.”

Hunter is puzzled

“Why have we been ignored? They must have seen us!”

As if in answer to his question the Enterprise is hailed, voice only.

“Unknown ship. Be thankful that you are broadcasting the correct IFF signals and that we have more pressing matters with which to deal. You have seen what happens to those who oppose “The Imperium”. Choose wisely.”

“Imperium?” asks Kutuzov.

“More to the point correct IFF signals.” notes Hunter.

“We are broadcasting United Systems IFF signals. We must have struck lucky! Anyway that damaged ship.”

“Scanning Captain” replies Spock.

“Main power is out, life support is failing but there are some life signs. They appear to be human.”

“Take us in, Mr. Kutuzov. We’ll rescue any survivors and try to access their computers. We need information and that ship can provide it.”