XPost: rec.arts.startrek.current, rec.arts.tv   
   From: cxa25+usenet@cwru.edu   
      
   Electric Frog wrote:   
      
   > Would we really have wanted to watch a speech that even if it went on a   
   > shortwhile probably would have lasted for at least five minutes and to be   
   > honest couldn't have lived up to the fame of the speech (why would such a   
   > writer be writing for Enterprise when business would pay far more)   
      
   Personally, I've got not problem with the idea of the episode ending   
   before the speech. The story was about the travails of Archer as he gets   
   to the point where the speech is given; not the speech itself, or the   
   occasion for the speech, or the result of the same occasion. We already   
   know that Archer says something pretty, a document is signed, and a   
   Federation (or Alliance, or whatever Troi calls it today) is created.   
   The words themselves SHOULD BE historical trivia.   
      
   Unfortunately, that's where the writers bungled it up. Instead of   
   historical trivia, we get indications that it's one of the greatest   
   piece of oratory shared by the worlds of the Federation. She memorized   
   it in grammar school. This is remarkable to an American audience for two   
   reasons:   
      
   1. We don't memorize any passages of great length. Other than mental   
   exercise, I don't see any reason to memorize speeches. The task might be   
   more useful for Betazoids, though.   
      
   2. None of our great speeches commemorate the founding of our nation,   
   any of its governments, or any supranational bodies of governance. This   
   is somewhat subjective, and probably skewed by the somewhat recent   
   inventions of radio and television, but the closest to a founding speech   
   I can remember for the USA is, "A republic, if you can keep it." The   
   whys and wherefores were all in the founding documents. I've got no idea   
   what anyone might have said when NATO or the UN began operating.   
      
   To address the quoted material more directly, I'd love to watch a five   
   minute speech by Captain Archer on the need for a Federation,   
   particularly if it was accompanied by a montage of events in the Milky   
   Way that had led to the Federation.   
      
   --   
   Chris   
   TROC   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)