Would TnT have kept their relationship to themselves?

[Zane Gray]

Maybe like I said I just think the media would be different 154 years from now.

Maybe. But even if they were different, media interest in Enterprise and its crew would still have been intense given the Xindi probe attack, the Xindi conflict as a whole, the Vulcan Embassy bombing, the Terra Prime broadcast and a whole host of other events in which Enterprise was directly involved. No matter how much information Starfleet and the Vulcans tried to censor, there's no way they would have been able to cover it all up. The fact that Terra Prime existed at all speaks to the fact that there was a significant public counter-reaction to all those events. And interest in the romantic relationships of others - especially those of public figures - is always strong. It's just human nature.

RE: Soong - he specifically alludes to the fact that the senior NX-01 offers are getting media coverage. Hernandes alludes to a bit of this with regard to Archer in Home as well. RE: Gannett - again, even if she's only a Starfleet Intelligence officer (and my guess is she really is a reporter who also happens to work with Starfleet Intelligence, but that's just my take), the main point is that her cover ONLY works if she tries to blend in with, and act like, other reporters around her. Therefore, to me, she has to be at least a little representative of the journalism profession of the time.

[Alelou]

While I'll grant you it's possible we could end up very different in 154 years, there aren't many signs of it during the show. More so than in the other Treks, you just get the sense of a slightly more civilized version of what we've got today, with less anxiety about poverty and such.

You don't have a totalitarian state sending this ship out and then have a crew that doesn't even bother to salute. There are no glorious leaders framed on any of the walls. We don't see any indoctrination sessions, or any frantic toadying. Trip doesn't think twice before mouthing off to superiors, which suggests he's not worried about being taken out and shot. Starfleet is so loosey goosey it makes virtually any contemporary military organization look fascist by comparison. To me, this does not suggest an authoritarian government at work.

The only thing creepy about Gannet as a would-be reporter is that there weren't enough of her. There should have been at least a dozen. But of course that would require hiring a lot more extras and they'd probably already shot the budget on aliens...

[WarpGirl]

Very true but I'm not arguing things wouldn't be whispered about and leaked out into society, however I also think that TPTB could and probably would not confirm reports about an interspecies relationship between anyone at that time. No press releases, no interviews, nothing like that. Just like there was never anything stated about sex scandles in 1950 even if every media outlet knew, no respectable one touched in in depth. Because values were different.

And I'm not saying that ST universe humainty is under a regime, but I am saying that maybe who is sleeping with who is not considered "news" anymore.

[Zane Gray]

The only thing creepy about Gannet as a would-be reporter is that there weren't enough of her. There should have been at least a dozen. But of course that would require hiring a lot more extras and they'd probably already shot the budget on aliens...

To the extent that Starfleet may have been trying to "shape" the story, I can see Gannet being deliberately selected as the official "pool" reporter for the Coalition conference. The practice of using pool reporters is something done fairly regularly today.

Very true but I'm not arguing things wouldn't be whispered about and leaked out into society, however I also think that TPTB could and probably would not confirm reports about an interspecies relationship between anyone at that time. No press releases, no interviews, nothing like that.

I don't necessairly disagree with that. Starfleet and the Vulcans maybe wouldn't have official comment about Elizabeth's parentage. I would just argue that by the very act of NOT confirming, not commenting, etc, that would be enough to send the media into overdrive. The media would demand to know. They'd keep digging. So issuing some kind of comment, but a limited, carefully crafted one, might be the easiest way to handle it. Actually, I could see Starfleet and the Vulcan Embassy working with Trip and T'Pol to craft a "personal" statement of some kind, hoping that would be enough - one not actually issued "officially" by either Starfleet or the Vulcans. Then Starfleet and the Vulcans could easily point to that when reporters asked, and say it's official policy not to comment on the personal matters of their officers.

[WarpGirl]

Oh good point and shaping a story isn't supressing it. I can't see TPTB emphasizing any interspecies relationships at that time.

[pdsldl]

Who was sleeping with who wasn't broadcast over the network news channels and there weren't entertainment reporters and paparazzi chasing stories in the 50's but you can bet a large segment of the population of any town knew who was involved with who and talked amongst themselves about it. Now it's just gossip on a larger scale due to technology.

[Zane Gray]

This is certainly a fascinating discussion! It's been a while since I've had the chance to have one of these here. I've been away too long...

[WarpGirl]

Like I said I didn't say there wouldn't be gossip. But the "town" TnT live in is the ship not Earth the ship. The entire white house press core every major news network knew the affairs of presidents for decades how many were on CBS or CNN before the 90's? Not many.I liked Zane Gray's idea about Starfleet and Vulcan and Earth wanting TnT to make a personal statement but I believe Trip especially would say screw them!

Zane Gray will you be finishing your series soon? I especially loved it.

[Silverbullet]

I think the writers of the show may have missed the point of a smal town knowing and caring abouut the morals of the townspeople. In Carbon Creek they had T-Pol say that she was not married to Mestral but just a business associate. Later she, Mestral and Ston all lived in an apartment. That would not have gone down well in small town America in the 50's. Not at all. T-Mir would have been treated like a Tramp because she was living with two unmarried males. Public morality would have been outraged. The writers looked at it from the viewpoint of 2000. Different moral code than the small town American of the 50's. that is not to say nothing was going on but it was never out in the open.

Im the series the writers may have been usiing what they knew and used that. News coverage may have been entirely dfferent in the Enterprise era if written but others.

[WarpGirl]

I'm not sure how Carbon Creek (although you are perfectly right on it) and the Media of 2154 are related.

[Aikiweezie]

Well like I said human society seems very very different in the ST universe when it comes to the culture. And how could it not be? It's a very different society. People are no longer driven by money in the sense we are today, there is no more poverty, war, even most sicknesses are treatable. Naturally society's outlook would change, they really wouldn't need a lot of scandal to make them "feel better." Now I agree Paxton's agenda would have made Baby Elzabeth a focal point of propaganda. But he did not say who she was created from and I see Starfleet and the government keeping it secret. And I think what gets reported by the media would be controled differently in the 22nd century.

I disagree for the following reasons: 1) Paxton's "people" knew Elizabeth's paretage. That one guy even says something to Trip about it. I doubt they would have kept it to themselves, and even if they did I think it would come out in the trial. 2)We didn't hear every word of Paxton's speech and we have no idea what type of propaganda he may have sent to the media. They obviouisly meant to use the poor baby in some way, I don't see how hiding her parentage would fit their plan. Hiding the mechanics of her conception, maybe, but not her connection to Trip & T'Pol.

One of the things I love about Star Trek is its optimism and hope for the future of humanity.. HOWEVER, no matter how many times they say they've licked disease, done away with greed and poverty and all that nasty stuff, in every series somebody gets greedy, somebody gets power hungry, people still die of diseases, terrorist attaks happen, there's spying and sabaoge and all kinds of nastiness. Even in the 23rd & 24th Century the basest human instincts still cause bad things to happen.

There are so many fics out there for the time period after Terra Prime and many of them go down the same path; Trip visits home, T'Pol usually comes along, he tells his parents everything, the press is curious about them to at least some extent. I guess that just seems reasonable to most folks who are familiar with Trip's character specifically. Nothing is said about him having a falling out with his parents so I really thing he would go to them and that T'Pol would have gone with. I like the novels, but I don't like how they handled the relationship after Elizabeth's death, althoug they DO use that to facilitate Trip's "death." I would like to have seen that handled a little differently, although they ultimately do end up together.

There is a fic (I will try to find it) where Trip & T'Pol issue a joint statement about Elizabeth and her death and their relationship. I could see Starfleet Command "asking" them to do something like that.

[WarpGirl]

Well to each his own. But great points I'll think them over and re-asess. However I don't think the trials of Terra Prime members would automatically be made public. Some trials for really horrible offenses are not given national or even local press. Records can be sealed.

[Zane Gray]

Zane Gray will you be finishing your series soon? I especially loved it.

How I wish I had the time! I've had tons of ideas for continuing the Differential series and several post Terra Prime stories too, but I've never had the time to write them. I'm just way too busy with other work, including original creative writing. In the meantime, though, I've really been enjoying everyone else's work here.

Boy, it seems like forever since I wrote Differential. Hard to believe it was finished way back during the show's second season. You know, I just realized that of all my stories, only the first chapter of Whether You Fall is archived here at T-Silk. And I haven't even finished that story. The rest are all over at Trip/T'Polers. Lots of members who have joined T-Silk since I disappeared probably have no idea who I am!

[panyasan]

Zane, if there are any other chapter of Whether you fall I would love to found out where I can find them. I loved that first chapter, as I do of your work.

[Zane Gray]

No, there's only the one chapter so far. I have an old outline for the rest, and an outline for a big Differential sequel (set post The Early Hours), but have never finished them. Maybe one day. If you've read Differential and all the little pre- and post- stories connected to it over at Trip/T'Polers, that's everything I've managed to finish.