From: brucegb@austin.rr.com   
      
   AC  wrote:   
   : Bruce Burden wrote:   
   :   
   : Yeah, normal ST then. Nothing against it, liked it, but I dont see how   
   : that was different to TOS or TNG.   
   :   
   	Probably due to the practical limitations of the day, TOS   
       didn't actually show the Enterprise being destroyed. Granted,   
       Scotty usually pulled some babble from his backside, but that,   
       to me, is greatly different from actually destroying the ship,   
       then invoking parallel universes, time travel, dreams, etc. to   
       explain why everybody is fine and everything is okay.   
      
   	I'll grant you, the difference between TOS and Voyage to   
       the Bottom of the Sea isn't very much. Unfortunately, things   
       haven't greatly improved in 4 decades, either.   
   :   
   : "Bad writing" is so over used. What does it mean? People go on about   
   : lazy, but this phrase seems the laziest of all.   
   :   
   	Okay, I'll go with that. When you recycle previously used   
       scripts, it isn't really "writing", is it? :-) Just changes   
       the babble used to explain away this episodes disaster/miracle,   
       and call it good. Writing. Okay, no.   
   :   
   : Never had a problem with time travel plots. I dont see how they are   
   : intrinsically bad.   
   :   
   	Time travel, in part, may depend on whether you view the   
       universe as a singular event, or as a infinite number, where   
       each decision results in a branch on a decision tree.   
      
   	So, does "time travel" allow you to alter a past event and   
       change the singular universe, or does "time travel" simply allow   
       you to shift which decision branch you are on?   
      
   	My "problem" with time travel is that is too often used, and   
       too often it is used to explain away an untenable story line. So,   
       "bad writing" may well be better explained as "bad production",   
       where the producer(s)/director didn't think through the ramification's   
       of the script (or a series of scripts) before producing it/them.   
      
   	I think this often happens when you have a stable of writers,   
       and nobody has a "big picture", so the characters and story line   
       tend to "wobble" depending on which script is produced. I think   
       the latest BG suffered from this, as the second tier characters   
       were too erratic for me - Lee Adama being my primary evidence.   
       This character seemingly changed his core values twice a season.   
   :   
   : I thought Enterprise was over ambitious and they got it a bit wrong, but   
   : nothing offensive.   
   :   
   	The orange men group was hard to take, but then, I missed   
        a lot of season 1, so perhaps their motivations were explained   
        before I started watching. All I know is they were supposed to   
        stop the Federation from being formed, and there were "time cops"   
        aboard NX-01 to ensure the purity of the time line. Predictably,   
        the time cops failed, and Capitan Leaper had to save the day.   
        Yeah team.   
      
   	Anyway, some of the best "Enterprise" episodes, I thought,   
        did involve time travel and parallel universes. The tribble tie-   
        in, with Bacula tossing the tribble that hits Kirk in the end   
        was well done, as was the ISS tie in.   
      
   	The difference? Probably that time travel and parallel uni's   
        weren't the mechanism to rescue an episode that found itself   
        painted into a corner.   
      
   							Bruce   
   --   
   ------------------------------------------------------------------------   
     "I like bad!"                         Bruce Burden    Austin, TX.   
           - Thuganlitha   
           The Power and the Prophet   
           Robert Don Hughes   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)