jT's E2 Series

[justTripn]

A short discussion about my E2 series started up in the New Fanfic thread and was shut down because of our new rule. The stories are done, so there is not much to discuss -- It's too late to suggest how the story could be improved. Still, if you have anything you want to say about the story, do so. I have thick skin. The stories are

Forwards or Backwards
Heresy
Reunion
Brainstorm

I wrote the first one for fun, the second was supposed to be "Deep" lol, the third was supposed to be fun, the fourth "Deep" lol . . . sorry. Now that I've had a chance to monitor chapter by chapter stats over a fanfiction.net, I realize I should have given the readers more sex and fewer funerals, lol . . .

As for, What the heck was I thinking when I wrote this series? here is the relevant section from my profile over at fanfiction.net:

I loved the Rosanne show. It was funny and realistic and it tackled some uncomfortable, yet important, topics. Along with the various Star Trek series, that show is my model. I am concerned (OK, obsessed) with Trip, T'Pol, and their teenage son Lorian, and how they negotiate the impossible situations I throw them into. I was inspired by Lorian's comment in a deleted scene of E-squared that his parents had a "loving, if somewhat contentious" relationship. That's what I'm going for: I want to portray a realistic family, with conflicts but strong connections.

My space soap opera explores several themes: finding hope after a loss; the value of marriage; the "joy" of parenting a teenager; sexual temptation and responsibility; and identity issues, including sexual identity (or some Star Trek analogue thereof). But for the characters, the personal issues come second to the mission: saving their planet(s) from the Xindi threat.

I've been a Trekkie since The Next Generation. I aspire to be funny, hopeful, and respectful of the canon. I LOVE the writers who gave us these compelling characters.

My E-squared series is done! It has a wild plot.

[WarpGirl]

I really just stand by what I said about the trailer. I just hate Lorien he's the reason I can't do the E2 universe, well that and Trip dies, and Malcolm doesn't get a girl. So yeah all Lorien and Malcolm's fault. Can't do it.

[justTripn]

Yes, I understand. I admit, that by Brainstorm, I was more inspried to write the parent-child relationship than the Trip/T'Pol relationship. And I became very interested in teenage Lorian as his own character. So I had to follow my muse. Also I tried to make him consistent with the Lorian we saw on screen, so if you don't like him, you don't like him.

[WarpGirl]

Actually the TnT relationship in the E2verse does interest me to a degree, but like I said since Trip dies and I hate Lorian a cannot do the E2. You can't do the E2 without Lorian showing up or Trip living to a ripe old age, therefore I can't get passed it. I'm human I'm flawed. But really Anakin Skywalker as Little Lorian, that's an insult to Darth Vader. OK if Hayden Christiansen played Lorien I would have jumped for joy and ate him up with a spoon. I admit it.

[Silverbullet]

JT, in Heresy didn't you have T-Pol and Malcom having Sex? A few times I thhink. I believe you caught a little heat over that. Something to do with her Pon Farr.

[justTripn]

JT, in Heresy didn't you have T-Pol and Malcom having Sex? A few times I thhink. I believe you caught a little heat over that. Something to do with her Pon Farr.

Guilty as charged (you might want to put something like that in spoiler code), but it was for a good cause. I had read a dozen stories where T'Pol shrivels up and dies after Trip dies, and not one story where she found a reason to live and maybe even "love" again. She obviously lived on in the canon story, I always thought her son would give her a reason to want to live, and I personally knew of several couples where after the death of a spouse, the survivor remarried. So I thought it was an important story to tell.

[WarpGirl]

Now I really can't read it. Go T'Pol! But Poor Malcolm! Man can't the guy get one break just one! Why torture Malcolm like that?

[justTripn]

LOL, it was all a very prudish PG-13, I assure you. Also, it was definately not a T'Pol/Reed-shipper-friendly story. I doubt if anyone who wasn't already totally in love Trip (or if you are a guy who is a crazed Trip n' T'Pol shipper) would have understood all the mixed feelings T'Pol had as she tried to do the right thing for herself and for those around her.

[WarpGirl]

That's what I mean I think poor Malcolm deserves more than that. Ouch my poor Malcolm.

[honeybee]

I have to say that the Malcolm/T'Pol stuff was my favorite part of your E2 series - I mean - widows and widowers do often find new loves after the death of a spouse - and there was something very poignant about Malcolm knowing he'll never be first in her heart but still loving her. It was good stuff, and completely respectful to the TnT ship. It shows that daring creative choices can work.

[WarpGirl]

Yes definitely but I want to see Malcolm utterly adored! He deserves it almost more than TnT!

[Alelou]

I really enjoyed those E2 stories. I'm not a fan of adult Lorian, who strikes me as a bit petulant, but teenage Lorian was great. And I think jT is one of the few writers to do a realistic longterm TnT marriage in fanfic. Not syrupy sweet, but full of heart.

[WarpGirl]

Lorien struck me as Captain Ahab and Captain Nemo's love child with pointed ears. And he disrespected his mama, on TV ... not in jT's brilliant (I'm sure) work.

[honeybee]

Well, getting back to the topic at hand, which is JT's version of the story - I like the layers you put in the story - how the crew handled the children becoming teenagers - with the added complication of Lorian being half human/half Vulcan, losing his Dad and faced with a not entirely welcome possible stepfather. You could see how the nice kid could grow into the stiff guy we saw in the episode. You hinted at how difficult it would be for the crew to deal with the kids, with only a few of them with any parenting experience and all being trapped together forever. I did like the idea that it was finally Archer who had to sort of come down from on high and make the teenagers behave by dressing them down/giving them some stuff to do.

In my E2 story, I just started messing with canon and the timeline (a little like you did JT) and briefly imagined what a grown up Lorian would be like if he hadn't had the weight of the mission passed to his shoulders and hadn't lost his father. I saw him as somewhat the same - but willing to allow more humanness of himself.

Panyasan mentioned in fanfic thread that sometimes the best fics come from explaining things we didn't like in the episodes.

[Transwarp]

Lorien struck me as Captain Ahab and Captain Nemo's love child

A slash crossover fic? (A THREE-way cross-over, even.) And of course you realize that Ahab and Nemo are as likely to have an unexpected pregnancy as Trip and T'Pol, so Phlox must have been involved, too, with that liquid-filled cylinder he keeps handy.

Truly a disturbing image...