A little love makin’ never hurt anybody, Human or Vulcan

[AllisonPetra]

I hope this is not a spoiler for anyone; these books have been out for some time. If it is, I am really sorry. Late to the party and spoiling the fun. Forgive me.

I am almost done with The Romulan Wars. Just finished the chapter where Trip and T’Pol meet on Vulcan. They had a little roll in the hay and, well it is annoying me. You see prior to joining this board about two/three weeks ago, I had read The Good That Men Do, Kobayashi Maru and was in the middle of The Romulan Wars. These are the only Star Trek books I’ve read, and may well be the only ones. I picked them up only because I read in some obscure post online that the Trip & T’Pol relationship continued in print.

I was so excited when I read about the little 30 minute romp they had in the Romulan Shuttle – on about page 317 of The Good That Men Do – while Malcolm took a walk. Thirty minutes only and it was a little more Pon Farr than anything else. Still, I was happy that they “got some” since the Harbinger episode (in the book it seemed that was the one and only encounter they had).

I didn’t know any better at the time.

Having read some FanFic, including Cry Havoc by MissAnnThropic and currently the Reconnecting Series by Hopeful Romantic, I don’t understand why Michael Martin’s scenes of intimacy between Trip & T’Pol are so “raw and mechanical”. Don’t get me wrong, I have nothing against “raw and mechanical” – nothing at all!

What disappoints me is that there wasn’t enough expansion on how much of a discovery and exploration this relationship would be for them not just physically – given that they are totally different species – but how much of a love they shared for each other – in being willing to reach out to each other – and how they would express that love. At some point, they would (anybody would) want to enjoy the passion and emotional side of that. A little love makin’ never hurt anybody – any Human or Vulcan.

I think it’s a pity that it wasn’t written that way in the published books that I have read so far. Very sad to me. Of course I have about 4 chapters remaining there could be a big surprise, but I have little hope of that.

So, with my new found FanFic (NC17 and non NC17) experiences – which opened up my eyes, and my imagination, to new “hot and warm” possibilities – I just don’t get any satisfaction out of the Michael Martin version of the Trip & T’Pol intimate relationship! I think the FanFics do them so much more justice!

What do you think?

[Alelou]

Welcome, Allison.

I think you're singing to the choir here. We wouldn't be writing and posting all these fics if we disagreed with you.

Some people do enjoy those novels because they at least acknowledge a relationship between TnT, and it encourages them that it comes with some official permission. (Also, they like the idea that there's an official version of *the_abomination* in which Trip is Not Dead.)

Personally, I just can't get excited about them either.

[Linda]

I think Alelou has summarized what many of us here feel about the non-canon published TnT relationship. You find many gems of satisfying TnT only in fan fic.

[justTripn]

Amen to all of that! Welcome Allison. (BTW, I had exactly the same experience--after the Enterprise finale I eagerly started into the Star Trek novel "Daedelus" to get my Enterprise/Trip fix and got less than halfway through before I realized it was TERRIBLE. I didn't recognize the characters at all and the plot was ridiculous, and the physics *shivers*. Then discovered fanfic--something by Drogna, I think was my first--and tossed my Star Trek novel in the garbage and read fanfic voratiously. Then I did think that "The Good that Men Do" was excellent, better than your average fanfic. I thought that Trip was in character, and I was happy that we had official won the "Not Dead" battle. And so I tried hard to like the sequel I carried it around for about a year and just couldn't get through it. I'd heard about the hook-up in the shuttle pod so a plough through to that at least, and went . . . . ah ???

[Silverbullet]

Welcome Allison. thanks fo ryou r comment on my story.

Fanfic is where you can read what should have been in the series. Many great writers and fine stories.

I guesds we all know what we would have liked to see on screen and were so disappointed.

I supose for me the Moning after in Harbnger was the low point in the series. It was just too unbelievable.

Hope you get your feet wet trying to write Fanfic. There are many on this board who can help you. Try it! you will like it!

SB

[Thot]

Well, you have to consider that these books are meant for the whole of the series; not just Trip and T'Pol. Therefore the author(s) try to stick to the "essentials" of the relationship.

But that doesn't excuse the poor job they are doing with the pages they devote to it!

They are redcuing the whole potential of TnT to "They want to be together but can't."

Her trellium addiction, their very different origins, his disbelieve of having a healthy relationship with her: all of this has evaporated into thin air without a single solution, conclusion whatever between them. It simply stops to matter! That is what makes the writing so weak in this aspect.

But from my point of view there are additional problems with this whole series: For example the plot holes like Trip actually being "killed" 2155 but the record shows 2161, leaving some questions like "They have so accurate details of this time in the 24th century, but they didn't realize that during the bigger part of Enterprise mission there wasn't Trip Tucker on board!?" or like "There are beings in the Federation of the 24th century, who have memories of the 22nd century, therefore experienced the historic events and can retell it in later times, since they have longer life spans than Humans. So why doesn't a single one out of this millions of sentient beings simply state that the recorded version of the final voyage of Enterprise is tremendously wrong?"

The later point gets really painful when in the third book of the series ("The Romulan War") Tobin Dax shows up and even works for an engineering project of Starfleet, is in contact with the engineering departments of every ship of Starfleet and therefore knows/later remembers that he/she isn't/wasn't in contact with Trip Tucker, who's suppossed to be on Enterprise. Jadzia or Ezri can take one look on the historical records and would immediately remember that Tucker (a person "larger than life" like Riker said in the Abonimation - called by some "These Are The Voyages") was dead for six years already.

I don't even want to go into much detail about some other points like Travis Mayweather ridiculous behaviour in the 3rd book or Malcolm Reed's weird attitude of trying everything to get away from Section 31 in the episodes on TV, but in "The Good That Men Do" he all of a sudden without a real cause initiates the contact between Trip and Section 31 to get him dragged into the same mess.

In those books you don't get rid of the feeling that the figures are forced by the writer to simply act in the most spectacular way, but not according to their character, to their believes or to common sense. (Trip's staying behind on Vulcan in the third book for securing the Romulan: Why doesn't he simply shoot him? Why doesn't this V'Shar agent take the Romulan into custody to sensure secrecy about the common origin of the Romulans?)

Therefore, AllisonPetra: Stick to the fan fiction on this site, House of Tucker or Fanfiction.net. For example, if you'd like a better version of the 'Trip is assumed dead after Terra Prime, because he has to do an intelligence job to do in Romulan space' idea, read Heronas by Snorpenbass. Just a suggestion.

[BloodDragon]

I looked around. As far as that may be seem strange, Trip and T'Pol - they - are those who entered into people's hearts. Sure, there are strange people at the world, who simply want to use them and Enterprise's personages just in order to imagine and write the worse (and unnameable) things, but, on the whole, Trip and T'Pol are the core, the essence, the life reason of Enterprise. Denying this would be illogical and foolish.
So you are perfectly understandable, AllisonPetra: a little more of Trip and T'Pol, and a little more of capability in describing them and their love, would have had better books, as result.

[Reanok]

I really do enjoy enjoy reading Trip&T'Pol fanfic stories and how they deal with their romantic relationship.The official books have totally different rules when it comes to writing the Enterpise novels and the different storylines when it comes to the characters in the Novels.Margaret clark the editor for the Enterrpise line of books and other StarTrek book editors got laid off last year and it a caused major upheveal when it comes to the books being published. The authors have rules they have to follow when it comes to what is allowed when they write a story about all the charcters, storylines plots that are planned for the Romulan war novels .In fact Micheal Andy and Margaret had a plan for what they wanted to do with the Romulan war novels and the characters one of those plans was deepening the relationship with Trip&T'Pol.Making it more meaninful. I Liked what they did with their relationship in the last book.I still like fanfiction but I also enjoy reading the books.

[Misplaced]

Welcome to the beautiful world of fanfiction! I loved TNG novels and was looking forward to seeing good stuff in the Relaunch... but it's not doing it for me. Honestly, because I've read better fanfic than this stuff. It's not just about Trip and T'Pol either (I mean, wanting to see a more well-written subplot with them)... I really have read better writing period in fanfic.

You've listed two of my all-time favorite fanfics as well!

Pull up a chair and enjoy!

[AllisonPetra]

Thank you all for your posts. Very enjoyable reading.

I guess I am preaching to the choir (Alelou) and I am so happy to have found a group of people singing in the same key I am.

I agree it’s nice to see that Trip & T'Pol survived the “abomination” and that they are officially acknowledged in the Star Trek world and yes that Trip was not dead (Alelou/Linda). I finished The Romulan Wars today – and it was good. No more Trip & T’Pol scenes, which is probably a blessing, but not too bad overall. Amazing how much detail went into the battle scenes vs. the Trip & T’Pol reunion.

“They are reducing the whole potential of Trip & T’Pol to "They want to be together but can't." (Thot). Exactly! They have achieved space travel, at Warp 5 no less – what is so hard about getting two people together. Always one obstacle after another. I think I looked past the “plot holes” cause I just so wanted Trip to be alive. Anyway they could do it – short of pulling a Bobby Ewing (the shower scene on Dallas) would have been fine with me. Get him back breathing and then we can talk about the feasibility issues. I agree with you about the Tobin Dax connection (I had forgotten about that) and yes Travis was a disappointment (but he did lose his family). One thing that I did wonder while reading the Romulan Wars was how no one found out that the Romulans are cousins of the Vulcans. There was hand to hand fighting and some MACO’s survived, didn’t somebody pull off a helmet? It seems they didn’t find out until The Original Series. That seems kinda unbelievable to me. I’ll be diving deeper into FanFic. Thanks for the recommendations.

It’s almost like the official rules are there to keep the character from growing/blossoming (Reanok). I remember after watching all those years of The Next Generation marveling at how each of the characters had grown from the initial episode. Worf, Captain Picard, Data, Dr. Crusher, Troi – everybody. It was great. I don’t think I noticed that in many other series, perhaps because the actors changed. With the Star Trek series the actors generally stick it out for the entire, what 7 years. See how Trip, in The Aenar episode, was so much more mature than Trip in the first episode. Seems it’s just a natural progression – why stifle it?! Maybe Michael Martin at first really wanted to give them more passion, more emotion, more bonding, hell more than 30 minutes – but he was not allowed to do. I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt, for now. I hope Michael Martin is reading all our posts.

I agree about Trip & T’Pol being the essence of the show (Blood Dragon) they were the storyline that I looked for and cheered for and found both heart breaking and heartwarming. I actually felt the tears when reading in Cry Havoc how Trip explained to Cap’n Archer that he wanted to spend as much of his life with T’Pol – close to her – because she was giving him 50/60 years of her own life, and in the end he would leave her all alone. I was on the train, trying not to cry. Their story had me watching FanVideo’s on YouTube – that were years old – and googling their names hoping for a hit. Luckily I got one, House of Tucker, and House of Tucker led me to Triaxian Silk. I am a shipper! Who would have thunk!

You are welcome Silverbullet! I did love the story and don’t let my “tiny Verdana font” take anything away from my post. Yep, that morning after scene on Harbinger was such a letdown! I mean, didn’t they know at that point that the show was being cancelled? I would think they’d want to let the story grow rather than putting a damper on it right away. I have to admit that I loved the look on T’Pol’s face when she told him it was an experiment. That was funny! Jolene did that really well.

Thank you for the Welcome and the empathy justTripn. Reminds me of that day I found myself standing at Lincoln Center (NYC) and calling bookstores to see if they had, or could order, The Good That Men Do. On another day I walked up to the information desk at Barnes & Noble’s and proudly asked if they had a copy of The Romulan Wars. I then had to spell “Romulan” for the Clerk – who had no idea what a Romulan was. It was like where have you been all these years, Lady! But God bless her, she was able to find the one copy left in the store (surrounded by Star Wars novels). I have to say, after they “got some” in the 30 minute Shuttle Pod scene, I was amazed that they did not find time to write a proper reunion (no Malcolm or V’Shar breathing down the door) during the month or so they spent on Vulcan in The Romulan Wars. It’s kinda like the official story line was just not going to allow it. Happy, so happy, for FanFic.

Thanks for the welcome and the invitation Misplaced! I am pulling up my chair!

[tambo2063]

Hi i have been reading stories and posts on Triasilk and have enjoyed all of them, but there is a question i would like to submit, I like all the star treks. Enterprise being my favorite and Trip & T'Pol are by far by my favorite couple. Every Trekkie always talks about no one ever seeing a Romulan, before Kirk's Enterprise right? But if i remember that episode correct, the guy driving the ship states they have not saw a romulan in over 100 years, not that they have never saw one. I may be wrong it has been some time since i saw that perticular episode.

[Alelou]

Welcome to the forum, tambo2063 ....

I assumed when they said no one had seen a Romulan in 100 years that meant no one had seen a Romulan ship. But given the crew's total shock at how the Romulans look, it's fairly clear that any knowledge Starfleet may have had about the matter had never spread to the general populace or even their own senior officers.

[Enerdhil]

Welcome to the forum, tambo2063 ....

I assumed when they said no one had seen a Romulan in 100 years that meant no one had seen a Romulan ship. But given the crew's total shock at how the Romulans look, it's fairly clear that any knowledge Starfleet may have had about the matter had never spread to the general populace or even their own senior officers.

I am not sure, but I remember something about Spock or Kirk talking to some crewmen about no one seeing a Romulan, all the war and the treaty discussion done over 'radio' (subspace, I believe).

[Misplaced]

Welcome to the forum, tambo2063 ....

I assumed when they said no one had seen a Romulan in 100 years that meant no one had seen a Romulan ship. But given the crew's total shock at how the Romulans look, it's fairly clear that any knowledge Starfleet may have had about the matter had never spread to the general populace or even their own senior officers.

I am not sure, but I remember something about Spock or Kirk talking to some crewmen about no one seeing a Romulan, all the war and the treaty discussion done over 'radio' (subspace, I believe).

From the episode:

Spock: Referring to the map on your screens, you will note beyond the moving position of our vessel, a line of Earth outpost stations. Constructed on asteroids, they monitor the Neutral Zone established by treaty after the Earth-Romulan conflict a century ago. As you may recall from your histories, this conflict was fought, by our standards today, with primitive atomic weapons and in primitive space vessels which allowed no quarter, no captives. Nor was there even ship-to-ship visual communication. Therefore, no human, Romulan, or ally has ever seen the other. Earth believes the Romulans to be warlike, cruel, treacherous, and only the Romulans know what they think of Earth. The treaty, set by sub-space radio, established this Neutral Zone, entry into which by either side, would constitute an act of war. The treaty has been unbroken since that time.

[Alelou]

Darn those primitive NX-01s!