So, Why Are You A TnT 'shipper?

[tennisgirl]

What made you become a fan of these two as a couple? What makes this relationship so interesting? When did you become a TnT 'shipper? Please, do tell...

[Elessar]

I think I love that they are such a case of opposites attract. I like the idea also that in the entire Star Trek Universe they're going to be the very first of a certain kind of couple... I think that kind of legacy is cool. I think that because it's never happened before there's a lot of larger-than-life storytelling that can be done, sort of like Aragorn-and-Arwen stuff. Except in the case of Aragorn/Arwen, it's happened before, but in the 3rd age nobody really has seen it, so it's still rather legendary.

But yeah I like the idea of an overpowering force, cosmically blind to the fact that these two are so different biologically and psychologically, binding them together. I like the idea that T'Pol can be captured by this feeling that draws her to someone that, for all intents and purposes, on any other logical day would just be the last person she'd ever consider being around. And the same for Trip - I think his love for T'Pol transforms the bad parts of him, the hints of stereotyping and maybe even borderline racism (towards Vulcans) and blows away all his preconceptions.

[Kevin Thomas Riley]

Why? That's a good question. I don't normally "ship" when I watch TV shows but TnT just caught me unprepared.

I suppose I like their antagonistic relationship, that they challenge each other and don't back down. But at the same time they grow to respect and care about each other. I definitely like the "opposites attract" aspect. That makes it much more interesting than if they'd been very similar. But they do have things in common as well. They're both "geeks" - he's an engineer and she's a scientist. And despite his out-going personality, Trip tends to bottle up his personal feelings, so that way i think he can relate to a Vulcan who is supposed to suppress her emotions. This makes them work extremely well together despite their differences.

I also like both characters individually, which I think you have to do. Trip is someone as I as a guy can relate to. You can easily imagine becoming good friends with him. And T'Pol is not just smoking hot. She's got an interesting personality too. She's smart and I love smart women that you can discuss a lot of things with.

They have great chemistry together that clicked right from the start. It just oozes from the screen. The writers should've taken more advantage of that, especially in season two, when for some inexplicable reason they had all these scenes with her and Archer, and those two have no chemistry.

I think the TnT relationship is very poignant or at least it could've been had they gone all the way (and if there'd been more seasons). In Star Trek they would be the symbols on a micro level of how humans and Vulcans come together. That would mirror the macro level with the eventual formation of the Federation.

[evcake]

I'm not sure, but I think it has something to do with the effect Spock had on my adolescent brain.

[Rigil Kent]

Because the alternate is too horrible (and frankly, abusive) to contemplate.

Seriously, KTR covered pretty much my entire reasoning, although I rather like Elessar's Aragorn/Arwen comparison as well. I noticed TnT as a potential pairing back in Broken Bow, and my interest in them as a potential romantic couple was strengthened in Strange New World and Breaking the Ice. And then, the Dark Days of season 2 began and I stopped watching the show. until season 3 got things back on track with the rare exception of the overrated Magic Reset Button episode.

I'm also one of the few around these parts who honestly prefers most of season 3 to season 4 for various reasons, not the least of which being the atrocious handling of the TnT relationship in the final season. And once again, just as they get everything back on track, two washed up, has been hacks write an absurd holodeck episode that basically assassinates every single character it touches and establishes some totally fraked up canon. Ugh.

So, that's me...

[Shakabutt]

I really don't know how,but after i saw season 3 for the first time ,Trip and T'Pol became my favourite carachters ,individualy and together on screen ,first i was kinda swept away by T'Pol and Trip became my second favorite carachter after her ("if not me,then he can have her,he seems like a great guy " i said to myself ) ,then for some reason in season 4 i started to watch only to se them ,story and the captain guy came second ,and when the finale came i was like "WTF !!!!" .
So eventually i searched the web to find some people who shared my obsession and i found HoT (and i learned that i was kinda a late shipper,4 years late) ,i started reading Fanfic , and when i finished reading almost all the archive ,i cheked out other sites about TNT and i stoped at this one .....and here i am.....yeah thats about it .

[Asso]

In Italy, where I live, Enterprise is known alone from the Fans, but the Fans are really Fans and the Fans practically see only Trip and T'Pol.
Why?
The answer it is difficult, but clearly, if the things are so, behind all that, something exists of great.
The love and its power, the humour, the sweetness, the search of the one for the other and very other things...
However it is, hurray Trip and T'Pol!

[Reanok]

Why I do like Trip & T'Pol it started with broken Bow these two had chemestry. As Kevin said theur relationship turned sron atgagonistic to trust and friendship. Both are sceientists and experts in their own fields.They're fascinating to watch and see the their realtionship unfold is one of many reasons . Kevin pretty much summed up what I feel about these two.

[tennisgirl]

I must say I'm not sure of why I'm a TnT 'shipper (and that's sort of what led me to create this thread). I had never 'shipped for any other couple before and even now that I know what 'shipping is all about, I just don't feel like doing so for any other TV or movie or whatever couple.

I actually started watching ENT because a friend of mine spoiled me and said I should check out the chemistry between the Vulcan and the Chief Engineer. From what little I knew about Trek in general back then, I asked how that could be possible since Vulcans were supposed to have no emotions. She just answered I had to watch the show. So, I watched what little I could back then, but they were showing S2 where I was at the moment and I didn't like it. But then I went on line and found S3 spoilers (since S3 or S4 was already running in the US), and I loved what I found about TnT. I bought the DVDs and started watching in S3... and I was hooked.

Still don't know what hooked me about these two. Individually, they are my favorite characters in the show, T'Pol coming in first for a slight margin. They both have conflicts, but they emerge from that. They're different but complement each other very well. And as KTR first mentioned, CT and JB have awesome chemistry on screen. Coming to think about it, I think that what led me to root so hard for these two is that we were never given certainty that they'd end up together. I knew they were great together, and I wanted them to end up together and live mostly happily ever after, t'rugrats and all. Yet, the show wasn't predictable in that sense. And then some stupid writers had to come up with *the_abomination* and ruin it for the fans. I have my own way of dealing with that, of course: I still haven't watched *the_abomination* and Terra Prime is the last episode in my mind. And from then on, I can choose whatever piece of fanfic as a proper future for the couple. Bottomline, 'shipping for TnT is fun, and I want to keep it that way, no messy bad episode writing getting in my way.

[CoffeeCat]

It began when I noticed the natural chemestry they had. I noticed as early as "Broken Bow". So I was actually quite an original T/T 'shipper. I was only partially one until the sickbay scene in Unexpected. I loved the way it T'Pol seemed to be jealous of Ah'len, but expressed it through their usual banter. It was like the chemestry was there, but also a romantic challenge to see how fate would bring this couple together.

[CX]

It's hard for me to say why. The fire and ice aspects of their characters appealed to me, as well as it just making sense to me I guess. As different as they are, they're also a lot alike in their stubbornness and in how they keep things about themselves secret. Then there was the fact that I identified with Trip, and to a certain extent with that relationship because of my own experiances. Plus, T'Pol is the kind of woman that appeals to me, at least when she isn't being evasive and treating Trip like crap.

[TPoptarts]

Whoa. That's a hard question. I have like totally no idea why I'm a TnT shipper the first ENT episode I ever watched was E2. And the next thing I know I was putting "Trip and T'Pol" in google and writing a fic.

[evcake]

That's sort of what happened to me, except I didn't write a fic.

[JadziaKathryn]

I don't really know, but I think fanfic has more influence than anyone else mentioned. It exposed me more to some subtle aspects of their relationship and it just... stuck. Really, really stuck.

[CoffeeCat]

^ No matter what series I watch, I always find the fan fiction to me more entertaining than the actual show.