General Character Inconsistencies - What do you do?

[Kevin Thomas Riley]

But I don't recall what Phlox said and when!?

In The Xindi, when Phlox attempts to recruit Polly for the VNP sessions:

PHLOX: Do you have any siblings?
T'POL: No.
PHLOX: Commander Tucker had one sister. She was killed in the attack.

The implication is clear: he had one sibling who was his sister ... which violates Trip's previous comment to Kov back in The Rapist That Walks Away Instead Of Getting Blown Out The Fraking Airlock Like He Deserves episode where Trip references his brother.

Ah, I always interpreted that as just Phlox mentioning that Trips' sister Elizabeth had died, not that he didn't have any more siblings.

At any rate, no matter how it's interpreted I would ignore that comment and favour the "Four Tucker Children approach".

[Rigil Kent]

Look at the way the lines are structured. "Do you have ANY siblings?" "CDR Tucker had ONE sister." And then, based on Archer's previous comment in the s2 finale ("Younger or older"), there's a disconnect...

[Kevin Thomas Riley]

Look at the way the lines are structured. "Do you have ANY siblings?" "CDR Tucker had ONE sister." And then, based on Archer's previous comment in the s2 finale ("Younger or older"), there's a disconnect...

I repeat: At any rate, no matter how it's interpreted I would ignore that comment and favour the "Four Tucker Children approach".

Phlox just didn't know what he was talking about! Maybe his Pyritihian Bat was sick?

[justTripn]

We should be more charitable to the mix of authors who wrote these stories under a stressful deadline, one a week. The most eye-opening Star Trek reference book I own is the Star Trek Deep Space Nine Companion. It gives a summary of each episode followed by a long discussion by the writers of that epside of their what their intentions were, whether it worked, and how they came up with the ideas. I devoured this book and was amazed. You know how they wrote Deep Space Nine? They MADE IT UP AS THEY WENT ALONG. All these really perfect plot twists that I seemed like part of the backstory were invented on the spur of the moment to solve and immediate problem: that Bashir was genetically engineered; that Kira's mother had had an affair with Dukat. The affair between Ky Wyn and Dukat in disguise happened because one writer said, "wouldn't it be hilarious if we could get these two in bed together" and another one said "why not?" and they all said "YEAH, LET's do it." Of course Kira ended up carrying the O'Brian's baby because the actress got pregnant. One of the writers was moaning to his wife about how this screwed everything up and the WIFE suggested the brilliant solution. And then there are those haunting lines. Garak's statement that "Its all true, especially the lies" and Sisko's line "I am of Bajor." The writers explaining themselves said, "I had no idea what it meant at the time, but it sounded great!" But that's how they commited themselves for future stories.

So what I'm saying is the writers are human so we could go in circles all day working out the inconsistencies. Instead lets just pick whatever works best for the stories.

[Rigil Kent]

I'm sorry, but I cannot be as forgiving when it comes to established backstory. It strikes me as absolute sloppiness and being too lazy to make the effort to check what has previously occurred. Further, it defies understanding that they wouldn't have put this sort of thing down in a bible of some sort as a reminder. "Hey, we referenced Trip's brother in this episode so he's clearly got a brother."

Why is it so hard to maintain internal consistency? Especially given that this is a Trek series and they know how we are about this sort of thing.

[Bether6074]

Sometimes I honestly think they just make it up as they go along. They don't seem to realize that people CARE about these type of inconsistencies.

[blacknblue]

Sometimes I honestly think they just make it up as they go along. They don't seem to realize that people CARE about these type of inconsistencies.

Simple. Look who was producing it. Quality was NOT their watchword. Given the crap scripts they had to work with, it is incredible that the actors did as well as they managed to do.

[justTripn]

In the commentary on "Similitude" Manny Coto reports that when he was hired he watched every single Enterprise episode up till that time, not just the good ones. And says that some of the writer just feel they need to watch the good ones. I think that could explain it. I think he also says that he had to tie up the season 3 cliffhanger with an ending, and their was no ending in mind when they wrote that cliffhanger. (This seems to be pretty standard writing practice across the different series--to write a season finale, go on vacation, and worry about the ending later.)

[Kevin Thomas Riley]

I think he also says that he had to tie up the season 3 cliffhanger with an ending, and their was no ending in mind when they wrote that cliffhanger. (This seems to be pretty standard writing practice across the different series--to write a season finale, go on vacation, and worry about the ending later.)

Well, that "Evil Space Nazi" cliffhanger was the working of B&B. Then they left it to Manny to sort out the mess after they stepped back in season 4.

[FireStar]

Unless of course the older brother is a half sibling. If this child was from his mother's first marriage. relaionship it follows to reason that Trip could still be named for his father. Even if the kid was adopted and became a Tucker it be rare to change the name. My husband was almost George Nelson last name III. Only his mother put her foot down and he became Leonard Nelson. Last name. So it could happen that way as the first born also.

Lisa

[Rigil Kent]

Yeah ... there's always some exceptions. For example, I've heard about people naming their firstborn son in honor of a dying friend or relative, and then naming their secondborn Junior or III or whatever. But those are, for the most part, exceptions. And based on how Trip interacted with the younger members of the crew (like Hoshi & Travis), he seemed like a guy with practice being the oldest. Hence, he saw Jon Archer (for whatever reason) as the older brother he never had.

And further based on how Trip treated marriage (i.e. T'Pol post-Home), he doesn't seem like the kind of guy who came from a family where his parents had been married previously before marrying each other.

JMHO

[WarpGirl]

Here's how I see Trip's siblings. Trip's mama and daddy had a boy and a girl early in their marriage. Dad didn't want a "Trip" at first so they named him something else. After their daughter was born they weren't planning on more so mom could have a career. But six years later a accident occures and a little Charles is born. Now they're definitely done, but oops that second Honeymoon on their tenth anniversery had other plans, and Lizzy arrives. After that Mama Tucker gets better birth control. So there you go Trip as both a big and little brother.

Archer I don't even try. And T'Pol well why not say she's just human with pointy ears. It would make more sense. Dang B-B!