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Silverbullet alerted us to the upcoming Galaxy's Greatest Romances issue. Well it's out! You will be glad to know that the galaxy's greatest romances, in cronological order, are:

Kirk and Edith
Khan and Marla
Picard and Crusher
Riker and Troi
Geordi and Leah
Bashir and Garak!!!!
Odo and Kira
Worf and Dax
Janeway and Chakotay
Nelelix and Kes
Paris and B'lanna
T'Pol and Trip
Spock and Uhura

Yes, I had shell out my $10 dollars for this valuable reference work so I could check the accuracy of the article on the Trip and T'Pol romance.



OK, I say it like I'm kidding, but honestly, that is why . . . . Help! I can't stop. I'm a compuslive Trip and T'Pol beta. Here I go to read the article.

Bashir and Garak: I like that one!

Why does everyone like Edith and Kirk? Wasn't that just the one episode? (Forgive me, I am lax in the learnings of the TOS)

With Kirk it was always just one episode. But "City on the Edge of Forever" was a two parter and very tragic. And it was written by an actual science fiction writer by the name of Harlan Ellison, so it was really good. He wuuuuvs her, you see... but he has to let her die to save the space-time continuum. (Hopefully this is not news for anyone on the planet who might see this post.)

Bashir and Garak??!! When the heck did THAT happen?

Distracted is right. City on the Edge of Forever was GOOD. This magazine says arguably the best Star Trek episode.

OK, the main Trip and T'Pol article, by Bernice Watson, really plays it straight. It is an straightforward analysis of the romance as presented without reading anything into it to "fix" it to better fit our wishes. I am surprised by the last sentence of the intro:

. . . they never entirely let down their respective guard. Their lingering mistrust of one another remained a stubborn hindrance to their future romance.

And I am surprised that Trip gets about half the blame for the fact that they never come straight out and admitt to each other how they feel. Most cutting,

T'Pol's decision to end their fledgling romance in order to marry Koss hurt Trip but even then, with nothing to lose and everything to gain, he played it safe and said nothing.

I want to object, but come to think of it, it is pretty silly that over a 3 year period, working closely together and even giving each other massages, they never manage to have a conversation about the great big elephant in the room. The last line of the article says:

Despite indications to the contrary during Season four of Enterprise, the final epsiode of the series . . . suggested that Trip and T'Pol were not not able to make their relationship work. If they could only have brought themselves, just once, to admit their feelings then perhaps the lines of communication would have been opened enough to allow them a real chance as a couple.

Immediately below is boxed text beginning:

The impression narrative contortions of Andy Mangels and Michael A. Martin in the Star Trek: Enterprise re-launch novels [starting with The Good that Men Do] reunited Trip and T'Pol. . . . What the future holds for them as a couple is yet to be seen but as it stands currently their relationship is stronger than ever.

I think that's a nice compromise solution: end with the official but follow immediately with the more popular semi-official story.

justTripn wrote:Distracted is right. City on the Edge of Forever was GOOD. This magazine says arguably the best Star Trek episode.

. . . they never entirely let down their respective guard. Their lingering mistrust of one another remained a stubborn hindrance to their future romance.

And I am surprised that Trip gets about half the blame for the fact that they never come straight out and admitt to each other how they feel. Most cutting.

Okay get out the tar and feathers I'm ready.....Thank you nice ST writer person for shelling out the proper blame to *both people* in the most disfunctional interspieces relationship in ST!

Okay tar and feather me floks!

Have fun? Good! Now that you've had you fun I'm just going to say that I'm happy that someone said what I've been saying for years and got paid for it, because God knows I'll never see a dime!

Bashir Garak is one of the ultimate bromances, but they should've given homage to the O'Brians. Now be nice and tell the broke girl how P/T did. Please, pretty please.

Okay, I have not seen the magazine and probably won't see it, since magazines are in short supply over here in Afghanistan. I am pleased that Trip and T'Pol are a featured romance. I am also not surprised that the writer toed the party line

justTripn wrote:... a straightforward analysis of the romance as presented without reading anything into it ...

Then I see... Bashir and Garak?

Huh? I thought I'd seen every DS9 episode. As I recall, they had developed a sort of ersatz friendship based on grudging respect. As friendships go, it didn't seem all that close to me. Certainly not as close as Bashir and O'Brian.

So, unless I missed that episode where they walk off holding hands, how is this a romance?

And if I DIDN'T miss that episode, how come it's okay to read stuff between the lines for them, but not for TnT?

One more disrespect for a pairing that COULD have been on par with Kirk / Keeler.

Kudos to WarpGirl. Yes, the author of the Trip and T'Pol article does see things your way.

Transwarp, the quick answer to your question is that the Garak and Bashir article was written by a different person. I have to admit I'm enjoying this whole issue. But the choice of Garak and Bashir does point up a glaring oversight: Star Trek never had any ACTUAL gay couples or even one actual gay person. Boo! Hiss! And the exceptions actually prove the rule: Riker and the woman from the gender neutral race who wanted to choose a sex; Trip and the Cogenitor; and even Jadzia Dax and Dax's old lover in another body: Lenara Kahn. We get clever analogies to a gay couple but no actual gay couple. This point is made by the author of a second list in the same issue - the Top 10 Star Trek Romances - which is written in a hilarious Opposite Day style. (Think of Peter Simons reviews of Season 4 in which the worst episodes get the highest praise.) Trip and T'Pol als0 make it onto this Hall of Shame list of Romances.

Here is the second satirical list (by Chris Howarth and Steve Lyons):

10: Spock and Uhura (the authors are Old School)
9: Neelix and Kes ("Neelix is hardly a looker, even by Star Trek alien standards, so what did the lovely Kes see in him? . . . We could hazard a few theories. . . Unfortunately, there isn't enouph information about Talaxian physiology on Memory Alpha to back us up.")
8: Rom and Leeta ("Another heartwarming tale of an unatractive geek scoring with a hottie. It's as if the Star Trek writers think such stories might especially appeal to their audience")
9) Janeway and Q
6) Trip and T'Pol!!! (The author is objecting to the ridiculous set up - Decon Chamber scenes and neuropressure - rather than romance itself. He even says, "It's likely this could have become the all-time greatest Star Trek romance - if not for Trip's untimely death prompted by Enterprises's timely cancelation" Boo! Hiss! IT WAS NOT TIMELY!!!!
5) Kirk and Spock ("There are those - they usually live on the Internet - who believe that Captain Kirk and Mr. Spock are perfectly suited to each other, and have written about this is quite unnecessary detail. The only problem with this theory is that Kirk is quite evidently the universe's least gay man.")
4) Kirk and Martia (I don't know that one, but it sounds funny)
3)Jadzia Dax and Lenara Kahn ("Basically, this storyline was a great opportunity for the producers to have their cake and eat it too, i.e., to titillate straight viewers with a lesbian kiss, without admitting the existence of lesbians.")
2) Picard and Beverly Chrusher


#1) Paris and Janeway! ("It has to be said that "Threshold: was not Voyager's finest hour, and arguably perhaps even its worst. However, it is a difficult episode to forget.")

Well, at least TnT was listed. Believe the writer missed the Romantic ending "Terra Prime" in it Tnt were an involved couple. Too many references to her not getting Pregnatnt without telling Trip she was. The Abominatin wsa not the ending.



SB

jT why am I getting kudos? Not that I'm objecting, I take what I can get but I'm confused. It's just I have an inplacable belief that while it takes one 1 person to destroy a relationship, it takes 2 people to make it successful and Trip failed just as much in that regard as T'Pol. Even if it was by being passive. And nobody is perfect. But I love them still, I just don't like either of them getting all the blame. I feel oddly vindicated.

Nobody's gonna tell me how P/T did? And I'm so happy C/7 didn't make the cut.

jT I saw this a couple of days ago and forgot to post....http://popwatch.ew.com/2011/01/25/star- ... diversity/

I'm glad Trip& T'Pol were mentioned in their Valtine issue of their magazine.

Going over that list. Chakoty and Janeway? When? That episode where they were stranded for a while on the planet. To my mind that was not a romance.

Paris and Janeway? The incidddent where they wre Amphibians on the planet, had offspring which were left on the Planet. That might have been Romantic but probably more instinct than anything.

Why is Trip and t'Pol always downgraded. She did Seduce him out of jealousy and fright that Cole would take him away and she considered him hers. Bound she kissed him ih public. Something a Vulcan does not do. She was showing her desire for him there. As I say in Demons She says she has never been Pregnant. Later Phlox says he is puzzled because T'Pol ha snever been Pregnant. Trip says "She might have gotten Pregnant and not told me about it. Later T'Pol says "You think I might have gotten pregnant without your knowledge. all points to an imtimate relationship which probably started after the Episode Bound. An intimate, Romantic relationship.

SB

Okay A. Chakotay and Janeway were not a one episode thing. There were many episodes that highlighted that they were very close emotionally although not in a romantic relationship. To put it bluntly they loved each other, but were not in a romantic relationship. Sometimes you can love someone deeply but the relationship never quite happens. The same thing happened to Picard/Crusher. It doesn't mean they didn't love each other.

B. I don't think TnT was degraded at all. Heck they got more than J/C and P/C combined. But let's face it on TV they did not make it work. Sad, but true. The author was right they both let their trust issues undo anything they had together. Again sad, but true. At least they get the books. Which is more than J/C and P/C will ever get and that truly irritates me as a fan.

Hi,

SB, that second list is satirical, so being #1 on that list is to be the worst. Paris and Janeway's salamander romance was so awful I can still remember standing in front of the TV and screaming at it: NO! NO! NO!! No way. NO! They did not just do that. ARRRGHHH!!!! etc . . . . So good choice for #1 best (that is worst) Star Trek romance.

Now, in that second list, in which Trip and T'Pol are the 5th "best" Star Trek couple (on a scale where a pair of salamaders win for first place), we get a backhanded compliment: That Trip and T'Pol "could have become the all-time greatest Star Trek romance . . . It seems the authors are acknowleging the great chemistry of this couple, and are only objecting to the silly way the romance was handled or, rather, mishandled by the writers. That's how I read that one.

Thanks WarpGirl for that link! It seems that Brannon Bragga is getting pretty good at apologizing: first for "Threshold," then for the Abomination, and now for the lack of an openly gay character in Star Trek. I'll accept it! Thank you writers. Now we eagerly await an openly gay character in the next incarnation of Star Trek.

Hey I thought the Satire list was funny! Especially Paris/Janeway because there is a whole sect of VOY people who truly believe in it! Meanwhile poor RDM and KM state over and over that it's more of a Big Sister/Little Brother relationship. With RDM making lovely comments on his Klingon "wife." I tell you no two Trek actors loved their romance more than RDM and RD.

But I have to say I honestly agree with the people who wrote both articles. If only I could afford it.

So, do I have this right: Trip and T'Pol are listed in both the real best romances list and in the satirical "best" (meaning worst) list?

If so, that sounds right to me. They're one of the best couples because of the potential they had to show us a mature human/Vulcan relationship forming in a time period when everything was against them; the undeniable chemistry between the actors; and because of some really, really great scenes together starting with T'Pol's refusal to shake Trip's hand in "Broken Bow" and ending with her grasping his hand in "Terra Prime."

At the exact same time, you have the constant failures in communication and the supposed ending of the relationship given in *the_abomination*. I wouldn't literally consider it one of the "worst" relationships, but I might consider putting it on a list of them to make a point that this couple wasn't treated right!