ENT: Similitude

[CrypticMirror]

https://sfdebris.com/videos/startrek/e162.php

You know what would have lifted this episode, and arguably both the character of Tucker and even ENT as a whole?

They don't kill Sim. They give him that treatment, they work out some way to keep Trip in stasis until the end of the mission, that race memory gives Sim all the knowledge needed to complete the mission. They go through the rest of the season trying to reconcile that sense of familiarity and difference that Sim brings. Especially Archer. Then Sim makes a heroic sacrifice at the end of the season to save Earth. They've lost him, this friend-stranger, and now they have to face the real Trip waking up.

And Trip has to deal with the fact that he survived the mission, but it wasn't him who made it work. He never avenged his sister, or brought the ones responsible to justice, but there is his face on every report and people talking glowingly about the guy who looks just like him. Even his closest friends slip up and refer to stuff he wasn't part of as if he was there. And he doesn't just feel useless, but even violated too because they took his genes and just baked a new him when he proved useless. Doesn't that sound like a better reason for his temporary transfer to the Columbia, the search for a connection with anyone even T'Pol because he can no longer connect even with Archer? Now there is real discussion on the ethics of cloning. Real character drama too. What proved necessary, what was the cost?

[MerelyAFan]

https://sfdebris.com/videos/startrek/e162.php

You know what would have lifted this episode, and arguably both the character of Tucker and even ENT as a whole?

They don't kill Sim. They give him that treatment, they work out some way to keep Trip in stasis until the end of the mission, that race memory gives Sim all the knowledge needed to complete the mission. They go through the rest of the season trying to reconcile that sense of familiarity and difference that Sim brings. Especially Archer. Then Sim makes a heroic sacrifice at the end of the season to save Earth. They've lost him, this friend-stranger, and now they have to face the real Trip waking up.

And Trip has to deal with the fact that he survived the mission, but it wasn't him who made it work. He never avenged his sister, or brought the ones responsible to justice, but there is his face on every report and people talking glowingly about the guy who looks just like him. Even his closest friends slip up and refer to stuff he wasn't part of as if he was there. And he doesn't just feel useless, but even violated too because they took his genes and just baked a new him when he proved useless. Doesn't that sound like a better reason for his temporary transfer to the Columbia, the search for a connection with anyone even T'Pol because he can no longer connect even with Archer? Now there is real discussion on the ethics of cloning. Real character drama too. What proved necessary, what was the cost?

That's a great concept, and it could have also tied into the struggles of Archer and T'pol. The former would be further pushed into uncomfortable territory he never thought he'd venture into and wondering if allowing the creation of a clone of his best friend without the latter's consent is the kind of desperate action he'll have to do again.

Meanwhile, the latter is torn between her feelings for Trip and the growing familiarity with Sim that her own logic can't figure out a way to fundamentally solve. Perhaps the experimenting with trellium is less about a desire to feel emotions and more to escape the increasing trauma/stress of seeing the face of the man she's grown to care for that actually belongs to someone else.

[clearspira]

https://sfdebris.com/videos/startrek/e162.php

You know what would have lifted this episode, and arguably both the character of Tucker and even ENT as a whole?

They don't kill Sim. They give him that treatment, they work out some way to keep Trip in stasis until the end of the mission, that race memory gives Sim all the knowledge needed to complete the mission. They go through the rest of the season trying to reconcile that sense of familiarity and difference that Sim brings. Especially Archer. Then Sim makes a heroic sacrifice at the end of the season to save Earth. They've lost him, this friend-stranger, and now they have to face the real Trip waking up.

And Trip has to deal with the fact that he survived the mission, but it wasn't him who made it work. He never avenged his sister, or brought the ones responsible to justice, but there is his face on every report and people talking glowingly about the guy who looks just like him. Even his closest friends slip up and refer to stuff he wasn't part of as if he was there. And he doesn't just feel useless, but even violated too because they took his genes and just baked a new him when he proved useless. Doesn't that sound like a better reason for his temporary transfer to the Columbia, the search for a connection with anyone even T'Pol because he can no longer connect even with Archer? Now there is real discussion on the ethics of cloning. Real character drama too. What proved necessary, what was the cost?

That's a great concept, and it could have also tied into the struggles of Archer and T'pol. The former would be further pushed into uncomfortable territory he never thought he'd venture into and wondering if allowing the creation of a clone of his best friend without the latter's consent is the kind of desperate action he'll have to do again.

Meanwhile, the latter is torn between her feelings for Trip and the growing familiarity with Sim that her own logic can't figure out a way to fundamentally solve. Perhaps the experimenting with trellium is less about a desire to feel emotions and more to escape the increasing trauma/stress of seeing the face of the man she's grown to care for that actually belongs to someone else.

Wasn't Farscape basically doing this plot at the exact same time with the two Crichtons and Aeryn? Given how DS9 has forever been accused of being a rip off of Babylon 5, seems dodgy to follow that up with it being accused of ripping off Farscape.

[Deledrius]

I'm a bit iffy on the end result being the loss of the character dynamics we watch get built up, but that peeve aside it's a really good idea and would have been very fitting for Season 3 of Enterprise.

[Fianna]

Heck, when Archer's going on about how the mission needs Trip, it doesn't occur to him that he's got a replacement Trip right there. If the cure for accelerated aging works, then as far as the mission goes, it really doesn't matter if they've got Sim Trip or Original Recipe Trip onboard.