trip and t'pol first kiss

Dr. Plastic Picker

The star trek enterprise romance of t’pol and trip: i’m going to give them the ending they deserve.

May 23, 2020 | Dr Plastic Picker | Posted in COVID-19 , Mr. Plastic Picker (My Real Life Romance) , Star Trek/ Philosophical Tangents

May 23, 2020

by drplasticpicker

I’m not sure how you have been dealing with the COVID-19 quarantine, but I have been watching Star Trek. I mean A LOT of Star Trek. I grew up watching reruns of the original Star Trek. Spock, the Vulcan Science Officer, spoke to me. Even then, the action scenes were corny and the alien world settings unrealistic – but the storylines and the pseudophilosophical delvings into space and time and logic, touched something in my teenage heart. Then Star Trek the Next Generation ran 1987-1994, right during my middle school and high school years, I watched that too. I became a big fan of Captain Jean Luc Picard and his Shakepearan take on a Starship Captain. But there was not a great Vulcan on the show, so I have always been more of an Original Star Trek fan and of course Spock.

Right after Star Trek the Next Generation ended, I graduated from High School. I was Valedictorian of my high school class and my Star Trek adoration (which was common among the Academic League and Science Fair kids) was well known. I had many classmates and teachers request that I not talk about Star Trek during my Valedicctory address. The past several Valedictorians had referred to Star Trek extensively during their speaches. The Valedictorian right before me somewhat alienated the audience with the extensive Star Trek references, but he returned to our community and founded a very successful biotech company so I think he did okay. I gave my commencement speach without any Star Trek references and it went over well. I had been a state level speech competitor and always did well in the Impromptu category. But I slipped into the end of the speech “As promised, I did not make any Star Trek references” which got some laughs.

For the next 25 years, I was busy with college and life and was anchored firmly in the real world. In fact, I now realize that I got my happy ending and married the man who combines the very best of Spock and Captain Jean Luc Picard. Mr. Plastic Picker is not a trekkie at all. But he actually looks more like a Vulcan than not and studied Shakepeare in college – so gives him the essence of Captain Jean Luc Picard.

When the COVID-19 quarantine descended upon us about three months ago, Mr. Plastic Picker signed me up for CBS All Access commerical free (totally worth the extra $2 since I’ve been watching so much). I finished Star Trek Picard (2 seasons), Star Trek Discovery (2 seasons), and then I settled into Star Trek Enterprise (4 seasons). Star Trek Enterprise ran from 2001-2005, right during the time I was in medical school and residency. I honestly was so busy with actual life, that I don’t think I watched actual TV for that entire time. So the actors and I are the same age as Mr. Plastic Picker and I.

I finished the last episode last night, and I was disappointed. I had been drawn into the the relationship of T’Pol, the Vulcan science officer, and Trip Tucker, the chief engineer. I fell in love again while they were falling in love. Dr. Plastic Picker is a sucker for romances. But the ending was awful. I even started watching some fanfiction montage videos and was searching for fan fiction on them last night, to salvage the storyline. I can honestly say of all the Star Treks, I have come to love Star Trek Enterprise right after S tar Trek the Original albeit the last episode. The actors that played both T’Pol and Trip really did not end up doing much more work outside of this series, and both went on to have happy marriages thus far with other people and have healthy children. For that I am so grateful.

I honestly needed the distraction these last three months, and had the right mindset to accept new characters into my heart. And so I will always love T’Pol and Trip and Star Trek Enterprise and that they helped me get through the last three months. I remember reading all of Victor Hugo the summer after college while my sister and I were traveling through Europe on one of those pre-packaged budget bus tours. It was the right time and right author. The summer after senior year of high school, I read all of Charles Dickens. I remember being enraged while reading Tale of Two Cities. And now my daughter is twelve, and we’ve begun reading my old time favorites outloud together from Madeleine L’Engle. We are midway through Arm of a Starfish. And the first three months of the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic, I watched all of Star Trek Enterprise.

But I wanted to write this post to give Trip and T’Pol the ending they deserved. I wanted to write this post to wipe away the travesty of the last episode.

This is my ending for them. T’Pol and Trip finished serving on the Starship Enterprise together for the full 10 years. On the show they had two children on the show, Baby Elizabeth who was a baby cloned by the human terrorist faction Terra Prime. Baby Elizabeth was cloned from stolen DNA from the human Trip and Vulcan T’Pol. She died because the terrorist scientist had made a error in the process to clone her, and therefore died of genetic instability. But Doctor Phlox had told Trip that there was no reason to believe a half Vulcan and half Human baby could not exist. Spock who was born Stardate 2230 about 100 years later is proof of that. Trip and T’Pol also had also a son Lorian in an alternate universe that was formed when Star Trek Enterprise entered into the Expanse and was loss in a vortex.

In my ending, those above scenarios happened. But T’pol and Trip finished servings for the full 10 years but remained together after Baby Elizabeth (the cloned one) died. T’Pol continued to have more emotions than other Vulcans due to the neurological damange she sustained from the Trellium, but her relationship with Trip helped her manage her emotions. They married and were given larger quarters from Captain Archer. I think he probably gave them adjoining quarters and they were the first married couple on a Starship. Captain Archer allowed Trip to just put a door between two single rooms so they could have larger quarters. I think they married on the Enterprise maybe 2-3 years after the Cloned Baby Elizabeth episode. Captain Archer presided over the weeding, and Lietenant Reed was the best man and Ensign Soto was the bride attendant. But then Vulcan Ambassador to Earth Soval found out, and they had a special second ceremony on Vulcan.

T’Pol would have been careful, and she asked Doctor Phlox to research more to make sure the Vulcan DNA and Human DNA would combine. T’Pol would have been smart, and would not have wanted to have children on a Starship. Trip lived and survived and was not killed off in the last episode, and he and T’pol would have been married about 5-6 years after Star Trek Enterprise ended it’s last mission.

T’Pol and Trip would have had contact with Trip’s parents who were still alive in Mississippi. Remember Florida was destroyed during the Xindi attack on earth, when 7 million people died including Trip’s sister Elizabeth. T’Pol and Trip maintained two homes, one in Mississippi near Trip’s parents and one on Vulcan that T’pol rented out as an Air B’nb. Perhaps her former husband Koss helped maintained it for them. Remember T’Pol and Koss were bonded as children, married but never really had relations. He loved her too, because how can anyone not love T’Pol.

T’Pol and Trip had two children. The oldest was a girl, who looked very much like Elizabeth. I believe they named her T’Les Elizabeth Tucker. T’Les after T’Pol’s mother, and Elizabeth also after Trip’s sister. And they had a little boy they named Johnathan after Captain Johnathan Archer. Both children were healthy and Vulcan DNA and Human DNA combined just fine and T’Pol had natural childbirth and fully vaccinated her children and raised them vegetarian. T’Pol and Trip became academics and diplomats and concentrated on raising their two children between Mississippi and Vulcan. The children were beautiful with Vulcan ears, and Trip’s hair and eyes. They smiled like Trip but had their mother’s beautiful posture. They both were very intelligent and accepted to Starfleet Academy.

Trip and T’pol, this is the ending you deserved. You had two beautiful children, half Vulcan and half Human. And with that my heart is full.

And below is my happy ending. I’ve been living in this Star Trek Enterprise world and curled most of the time in bed, watching it on my iPhone. I’ve been making random nonsensical comments to Mr. Plastic Picker who has been sitting at his work station mostly reading xrays from home, and does not understand any of the Star Trek references. I look over to him and he’s my real life Vulcan come to life.

I had a decently busy day at work yesterday and was pretty tired. I just wanted to feed the kids a quick pizza and watch some more Star Trek. But I walked in and Mr. Plastic Picker had purchased this outfit and the kids were in on it too, without my knowing. And I laughed and I laughed, and it was one of the best days of my life.

I got my happy ending, and I live the “happily every after” every day at home. I am happy I was able to give T’Pol and Trip their happily every after. I think they probably had a dog too, that would hang out with Captain Archer’s Porthos.

Live Long and Prosper my blogfriends. Live your authenic self.

LOL. I just submitted this blogpost to several of the Star Trek top fan sites. We’ll see if they pick it up.

For those that also have come to love T’pol and Trip, this is the best FanFiction continuation I have read. Its a really fun read and several chapters. Excellent writing. http://guardian-of-forever.scifi-online.org/fics/ENT/alelou_commander_tucker_proposes_ch1.php

Tags: Dr. Plastic Picker drplasticpicker Star Trek Enterprise

44 thoughts on “The Star Trek Enterprise Romance of T’Pol and Trip: I’m going to give them the ending they deserve”

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Fascinating history you’ve added to this epic. Trip reminds me of George W Bush who took on challenges and gave hope when all seemed lost.. Plenty people remember 9/11 and Enterprise was a ship of inspiration which many of us do remember. T’pol strips and Trip is hypothesised by her beauty which I expounded about in 2007 – Star Trek Fun Facts Part2 not that I was digressing butt the point being stories and characters are well scripted in Star Trek and conversely unscripted.

Thank you spacerguy for stopping by the blog! This was one a blogpost near and dear to my heart, and to have a bonafide trekker/trekkie blogger stop by and comment – is a dream come true! I have bragging rights now to a certain fellow pediatrician who works one hallway over! Thank you thank you. I’m rewatching Enterprise yet again, and enjoying the evolution and Trip and T’pol’s relationship in a more subtle way. So many layers to their relationship. I’m thinking of making a trashart piece ode to vulcans soon with ocean platsic pollution. Love your blog and thank you for compiling all this trekker/trekkie. I’m a trekkie for sure, old school.

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I so agree! I was so very upset with the ending. I do not know why they wanted that ending. I kept thinking I know they get married because of the episode of the future when we saw T Ppl old and her and Trip’s son a grown man! That was NOT the episode of the alternate timeline. Thanks for your ending.

I am truly honored that you read my alternate ending! It’s not the typical fanfiction but it helped me put that storyline to rest. I am also hoping that at some point they revisit it!!!

I am new to the Enterprise. What a miss I had over the years!

I watched all of the episodes in about 3weeks. I feel very upset now… T’pol and Trip didn’t deserve such an end… I searched everywhere to see if they would come together and have a Vulcan-Human family with cute kids. I can’t find much info other than some hinting… I guess your version is the one I could accept…till we get something better, if ever…Sad…

I felt the same way! As a fellow Trip and T’Pol fan, I am honored that you read my alternate ending.

I am so glad you wrote an alternate ending for Trip and T’Pol! I loved it!! And I loved your background history on yourself – thank you for providing that. I’m a MAJOR fellow Trek fan, myself being 69 and in high school when the original Star Trek series came out. Always being a sci-fi lover, I was immediately hooked and have seen every incarnation of the Star Trek franchise (plus movies). I always loved Roddenberry’s vision for humanity – he promoted women before anyone else, valued animals; in general he always saw the best that the human species could be. I hope someday we actually live up to what he thought we were worth. My favorite of all the series was probably TNG, but I came to really love Enterprise for being what seems like a very accurate envisioning of the first foray into space. Of course, I’m in love with Discovery too, for boldly going where no franchise has gone before! At any rate, kudos for providing the ending Trip and T’Pol SHOULD have had. Reminds me of the ending that the creator wrote after the series ended, for Susan Ivanova and Marcus Cole in Babylon 5 (another huge favorite of mine that I highly recommend if you never watched!)

The enterprise should totally continue. I too watched it during quarantine for the first time, cried over baby Elisabeth as intended, but that last episode just did not make any sense on any level. The way they killed off Trip was game of thrones level senseless… Thanks for this ending, I especially liked the airbnb house on Vulcan and the vaccinated half-half kids 🙂

It made absolutely no sense. This was partly due to the internal strife going on at Paramount and CBS in 2004/2005. UPN network was going bankrupt and they axed Enterprise announcing it’s cancellation after the mirror mirror episodes if i remember correctly.

Halfway through season 3 Manny Coto took over writing and production from Berman and Braga both of whom were producer and writer for TNG (really their best work), DS9 (2nd best), Voyager (very distant 3rd) and initially Enterprise.

Unfortunately, Berman and Braga took almost no risks in seasons 1 and 2 of Enterprise despite having all kinds of directions they could have gone with the episodes and stories given where this series took place in the Star Trek universe, long before the Original Star Trek Series.

But no they didn’t take ANY risks and wasted almost 2 full seasons recreating Voyager like episodes that went nowhere and were sooo slow. Don’t get me wrong, some of the material was good but it was very Voyager like and it drove fans away in droves due to shear boredom. The temporal cold war episodes were agonizing.

As a result of their lack of preparedness and refusing to bring in fresh writers the ratings flatlined at the end of season 1 heading into 2 and that’s when Paramount and CBS really started to take notice that things were not going well. They began pushing for changes and everyone started pointing fingers at one another. At one point they wanted to get rid of Bakula (Archer) blaming him for the lackluster ratings when it fact it was poor writing, uninspiring stories, etc. of Berman and Braga who had clearly run out of ideas from writing and producing soooo many Star Trek series. This really was evident in the last 4 years of Voyager but Paramount kept going with it despite the mehhh ratings.

All that said, Paramount eventually forced them to hand over writing and production to Manny Coto midway through the Xindi story arc and he made some major adjustments that really started to turn the series around. Unfortunately, it was too late and Enterprise was going up against reality TV which which became all the rage in the early 2000’s and the show got cancelled despite the pleas of Manny. He even brought in concept scripts for season 5 episodes that outlined episodes about the Earth Romulan War, etc., but Paramount wasn’t interested and had made up their mind. I think a lot of it had to do with UPN going bankrupt. You can see midway through season 4 that despite having great material from Manny that the episodes are rushed and the budget got cut almost in half. Watch the camera action in the Romulan drone episodes where the camera is jumping around like crazy.

Once it became evident that the show was cancelled Terra Prime was partially rewritten to have Trip and T’Pols baby die (that was not the plan had a season 5 happened). The final scene of them holding hands in her quarters in a moment of grief was meant to be the final scene of the series, implying that despite the tragedy there was hope for the two of them and the future of humanity and vulcans together after Phlox’s findings that human and vulcan DNA was in fact compatible.

Unfortunately Berman and Braga were not happy with this being the final episode and intervened despite the vehement protests of Coto. They insisted on an episode reliving Berman’s TNG glory days and wrote that final horrible episode “these are the Voyages Episode” that blew up the whole Trip T’Pol relationship and killed off a major character (something Berman had become obsessed with doing during season 3 of Enterprise but Paramount refused to let him do for whatever reason). Years later both Berman and Braga admitted that they had made a huge mistake in that final episode and openly apologized to Trek fans about it in conventions, etc. They realized just how badly they screwed up that episode and the series early one.

What a shame. Enterprise had a great cast, good chemistry (actually the best out of all five series to that point if you read some of the accounts of DS9, Voyager, and Enterprise actors and actresses) and they messed it all up. Makes me more angry thinking about it. Enterprise was such a squandered opportunity. Sigh

I’ve been a Trekkie my whole life but never really knew the details like that. OMG that helps explain so much. That there was possibly going to be an Earth Romulan War arc and that Trip and T’Pok’s baby wasn’t always intended to die, that is just tragic. Are the scripts for Manny Coto’s other 5 episodes available to read at all? Wow. Thank you thank you. Answers so many questions and leaves so many unanswered.

Glad to offer the perspective. I pieced together this information from many sources that would be too difficult to outline here, but essentially that is what happened in a nutshell.

Manny Coto spilled much of the beans about what happened in that final season because he was at odds with Braga and Berman later on in season 4 as they continued to interfere with his vision for the series despite Paramount forcing Berman to turn over the reigns to him and them essentially checking out of everyday writing and producing duties by season 4. I always avoid watching “These are the Voyages” because it has Braga and Berman’s finger prints all over it (surprisingly they did take responsibility for that horrible episode which really soured fans view of the whole series in ST conventions) and acknowledged it was a colossal mistake on their part based on the fan’s reaction. They just ruined the T’Pol Trip relationship. Blalock and Trinneer both commented that they never could decide what exactly to do with Trip and T’Pol after season 3, “are they a romantic couple or not.”

Really “These are the Voyages” was Berman’s last hurrah (he retired in 2005). Braga should never have been involved in writing Enterprise. He later let slip that he actually totally opposed to the Enterprise series saying Paramount should have waited 5 or 6 years before another writing and filming another series after the conclusion of Voyager, but instead the dove right into another Trek series immediately. If it had been up to him Enterprise would never have been filmed so i guess we are lucky we got 4 seasons of Enterprise in hindsight.

I really really wish they would bring this series back for a reboot to conclude the story. ST Discover and ST Picard are doing TERRIBLE and have horrible fan ratings low 40’s uper 30’s which is much much lower than Voyager and even Enterprise back in the day both of which were in the low 70’s for fan approval. Bakula is not involved in any projects now too as NCIS has concluded and he is looking for work. He’s a great actor that just loves acting. They could easily retconn Trip back in (who also loved the series) based on Kate’s post and it would totally make sense given the upcoming Earth Romulan conflict that was hinted at several times in season 4 and the fact that “These are the voyages” was technically just a made up holodeck scenario in the TNG universe based on second hand accounts of what happened 100 years later and Riking’s own limited understanding of what happened.

Earlier this year I DID HEAR that Paramount was talking to Bakula (which is great news) about returning to the Trek franchise in some capacity but i have no idea how far that conversation has gone or what capacity they had in mind. Paramount has done this before to gauge interest in characters and strategize upcoming series and no doubt they’ve noticed that Enterprise has been at the top of Netflix scifi series for months and months during the pandemic and that no doubt has piqued their interest. When can only hope it leads to something else hint hint Paramount. I encourage everyone to write to CBS and Paramount. Yes it takes some time and effort, but fan campaigns have succeeded in the past.

In fact from what i’ve read and heard in videos the ENTIRE cast is willing to come back albeit they would be much older (still doable but they are quickly running out of time), but sadly it appears that Blalock is totally disinterested in a reboot (she is very reclusive from what i’ve read) and has more or less retired from acting and has also said she is only interested in doing movies. Understandable i guess considering she is married, has kids, and is deeply invested in her charity. She also had a very contentious relationship with Berman and Braga throughout the Enterprise series and was constantly at odds with them about how to portray T’Pol which might have soured her viewpoint on doing future Star Trek roles. It’s really a shame because i thought she did a wonderful job in the role.

I miss Enterprise.

I forgot to answer your question regarding the concept scripts. I’m not sure if they were ever made available to the public but i’ve heard they did exist for a time, but it’s also been 16 years since the show was cancelled so your guess is as good as mind as to whether or not they are still around. I also don’t know if they were full episode scripts (probably unlikely) or just outlines. TV Show writers will often do episode outlines with some character lines in them to sell the concept to the producer and the executives so it’s hard to say how far Manny got with them.

I just hope that if by some slim chance this series is EVER revised that they bring back Coto to write and produce it and keep it away from Alex Kurtzman who has totally butchered ST Discovery (just my opinion) and that he is not involved at all in writing and production.

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I also fell in love again when I started watching T’pol and Trip romance on Enterprise, grew up watching The original Star Trek and think that CBS should bring Enterprise back to conclude the story. According to the ENT books Trip did not die. Thanks for your post.

“Bring Back Enterprise” thank you for reading my post and creating your youtube channel. Just watched a few and I am absolutely a fan. I’m there to bring back enterprise and give it the ending it deserves. Thank you for existing out on the virtual universe.

hi, i also saw Enterprise in quarantine, and i loved the trip and t’pol couple !! For me the last chapter does not exist, it was horrible that they canceled the series just when it got so interesting … I loved your ending, I hope that with the new series strange new Worlds they could mention something and save that ending. As a separate note, there are some books that talk about the Romulan wars and why Trip Fake hola dearh and they suggest that in the end the two of them stay together. I have not read all the books yet but I recommend the good that man do.

Agee the ending was entirely unsatisfying and yours is immensely better but in my version there are modifications 😉

1. They start having children fairly quickly because after seeing baby Elizabeth they understand the joy of children and that tommow is not a promise. Though they can’t replace her, their loss begins healing once they recognize the void she leaves and they decide to build a family. They end up with four beautiful children.

2. Though all the children long for plomeek broth when ill, they enjoy a good steak with their salad on occasion.

For those who just cannot get enough of Trip, T’Pol, and other ENT characters, there are ENT relaunch novels. The storyline is that Trip’s death was faked so that he could become a spy. The denouement of their relationship is the realization that years later he is gardening at T’pol’s home on Vulcan (she is now an ambassador,) and he, T’Pol, and their two nearly grown children sit down to share a meal.

Omg really??!!! Do you have the titles? I will need to buy Stat! The best news is that one of my patients has a role in Star Trek Picard! I’m trying to finagle myself on set! I’ve been their pediatrician since she was in kinder!

The book titles are: 1. The Good That Men Do. 2. Kobayashi Maru. Then there is the 2 part “Romulan War” series of books: 3. Beneath the Raptor’s Wing 4. To Brave a Storm.

These 4 books are all connected and are best read in order. Imo, they are fantastic! You can find them all on the Amazon Kindle app.

There are also 5 additional “Rise of the Federation” novels by a different author, also on Kindle, which are worth reading for Enterprise fans, but imo not as good as the first 4 named above.

Please let us know where to find the relaunch novels Phoenixvoice! 🙂

If you find out about where to get those novels, please let US know!!

THANK YOU so much for this awesome ending! I’ve now watched every Star Trek series (except for the 60’s original) am absolutely appalled they ended this series-long love affair the way they did. Makes zero sense for them to build it up the entire time for nothing, very frustrating so it’s really great to read the rightful ending they should’ve been given…well done! 🙂

Katie K! I’m so glad you could share in my alternate ending! I’m rewatching Enterprise right now too. I’m going to look for those novels as well. Hopefully they have it online!

I just absolutely ADORE your version of their ending. You are SO right – T’Pol and Tucker deserved so much more than they got on Enterprise. I also agree with you – Right behind Star Trek: TOS stands Enterprise!! LLAP

Trish, thank you so much for reading this piece. It’s actually one of my biggest joys in life to know that this gave some of us out on the Star Trek fan world some closure!

People need to write CBS and Paramount to do this. It’s really the only way to get their attention. They might be receptive to it assuming the cast is interested in coming back, but the fans have to push for it. It will take a lot of coaxing to bring back Blalock from what i understand though.

I actually read your blog before watching the end of Star Trek Enterprise I was worried something like that would happen thank you so much for your ending I think I will stick with that one

I also only “met” Trip and T’Pol last year, during lockdown. I wasn’t taken by “Enterprise” at first, but I really got into it as it progressed, and bought in to the characters it portrayed. Like you, I was devastated that the story ended where it did – I just watched “Terra Prime” again tonight, and even though I knew the last scene by heart, it still moved me to tears. I have never watched the final episode. But I really appreciate your take on “what really happened” as it were…and it’s much more satisfying! Thank goodness for imagination!

Ruth, thank you for reading! I’m so glad to be able to share it with others.

Well it was interesting and quite funny with the whole vaccinated part though I’m not sure how that set in with star trek in anyway lol which is what made it interesting and funny

i liked the way it rewritten trip lives and married t’pol had kids better then the sucky end they did killing trip was because director didn’t like trip that why he was killed off, The ending sucked all why till the end

Sitting here this evening, I have Star Trek on while I’m working. It’s the episode that includes T’Pol and Trip’s cloned baby girl. This reminded me of how things ended for them when the series ended. That prompted me to do a quick search for alternate endings and I found your blog post here. First of all, I absolutely love your alternate ending for T’Pol and Trip! Secondly, I laughed out loud when I read, “…. and one on Vulcan that T’pol rented out as an Air B’nb. Perhaps her former husband Koss helped maintained it for them.”

Thank you Tiffany for reading! I’m so happy this blogpost has brought smiles to many people’s faces.

Even though I’m an old guy (81) I am a sucker for a good love story. I just finished Lucifer and then fell in love with the Trip/T’Pol love story on Enterprise. As an old Trekkie from the 60s I think Enterprise was the best of all the Star Trek shows except for the lousy ending. For all you folks who have written such excellent stories to follow up the ending of Enterprise Thank you. Thank you..

Anyone who wants a better story for Trip, T’Pol, Lorian, and Karyn, should read all the Enterprise stories by HopefulR on FanFiction .net; they essentially add up to a 2 part novel. Soval & Archer get their own storylines too. HopefulR went on to write a few official Enterprise novels but I don’t know what they are called; the first one is mentioned on her old website in the notes to a few of her stories.

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Screen Rant

Enterprise's connor trinneer looks back on star trek "odd couple" trip & t'pol.

T'Pol and Trip Tucker became intimate in Star Trek: Enterprise season 3, and Connor Trinneer recalls what he liked about their relationship.

• T'Pol and Trip's romance in Star Trek: Enterprise was unexpected and became a defining element of the show.
• Their relationship was complicated and required finding common ground between a Vulcan and a human.
• Despite odd turns and a tragic ending, T'Pol and Trip's relationship was the central romance of the series.

Star Trek: Enterprise season 3 created an "odd couple " when Subcommander T'Pol (Jolene Blalock) and Commander Trip Tucker (Connor Trinneer) sparked an unlikely romance. The T'Pol got together with Trip by offering to help him heal from the death of his sister by use of Vulcan neuro therapy. This intimacy soon turned the Vulcan Science Officer and the good ol' Southern Chief Engineer into a couple that became one of the defining elements of Star Trek: Enterprise two decades after the series ended.

In "The Fifty-Year Mission: The Next 25 Years: From The Next Generation to J. J. Abrams: The Complete, Uncensored, and Unauthorized Oral History of Star Trek" by Mark A. Altman and Edward Gross, Connor Trinner offers his perspective on Trip Tucker and T'Pol's"complicated relationship" on Star Trek: Enterprise . Read his quote below:

For the first couple of years, no one seemed to know if it was going to be Trip and T’Pol or the captain and T’Pol. During the Xindi arc when she was doing all that neuro-pressure or whatever it was called to help him get through the death of his sister, she and Trip began to develop a deepened relationship. I don’t think it was ever on the page initially. What I liked about it was that it was a complicated relationship and it was one where he was trying to find common ground where they could relate to one another. That’s definitely kind of real life-ish. The fact she was a Vulcan and he was a human was a nice facet of the relationship. It was an odd couple.

Star Trek: Enterprise Cast & Character Guide

T'pol & trip are still defined by their enterprise romance.

Besides Trip Tucker's death in Star Trek: Enterprise 's series finale, Trip's relationship with T'Pol is one of the best-remembered aspects of the prequel series. As Connor Trinner noted, T'Pol and Captain Jonathan Archer (Scott Bakula) had moments that seemed like their characters could become romantic in Enterprise' s first 2 seasons. Meanwhile, T'Pol often asserted her Vulcan superiority over Trip. Trip and T'Pol starting a relationship in Enterprise season 3 seemed to come out of left field, while the obviously attractive Trip and T'Pol getting together gave Enterprise a license to ramp up the sexual component of the show.

Jolene Blalock didn't like T'Pol and Trip becoming a couple on Enterprise.

Trip and T'Pol's relationship took odd turns. T'Pol went through with an arranged marriage to another Vulcan soon after she confessed her feelings for Trip. Their DNA was then stolen to create their child, a binary clone named Elizabeth Tucker (Erin Price), who didn't survive. Trip's death in Enterprise 's series finale then came years after they had stopped their relationship, but audiences never got to see how it came to that. A far cry from the wildly popular love story between Captain Will Riker (Jonathan Frakes) and Counselor Deanna Troi on Star Trek: The Next Generation and Star Trek: Picard , Trip and T'Pol were a curious match, but they were also the central romance of Star Trek: Enterprise .

Star Trek: Enterprise is available to stream on Paramount+.

Source: "The Fifty-Year Mission: The Next 25 Years: From The Next Generation to J. J. Abrams: The Complete, Uncensored, and Unauthorized Oral History of Star Trek" by Mark A. Altman and Edward Gross

Star Trek: Enterprise

Star Trek: Enterprise's Most Contentious Scene Involved T'Pol, Trip, And A Lot Of Goo

Oh no, not the decontamination chamber. 

When "Star Trek: Enterprise" debuted in 2001, there was a conscious effort by the showrunners to work in as much brazen sex appeal as they could. Noticeably, the casting directors hired Jolene Blalock, who had worked as a professional model, to play the Vulcan First Officer T'Pol, and the costume designers were careful to outfit her in skin-tight body suits. She was clearly meant to replicate Seven of Nine (Jeri Ryan) from "Star Trek: Voyager."

"Enterprise" was set about a century prior to the original "Star Trek," and some of the more popular "Trek" tech hadn't been invented yet. As such, when a team of officers returned from an away mission, they had to spend a long span in a decontamination chamber. In later other "Trek" shows, the transporters took care of contaminants and idle spores an away mission might have accumulated. On "Enterprise," officers had to enter a blue-lit chamber, strip down to their skivvies(!), and spend a long time massaging some kind of antibacterial gel on each other. Several scenes throughout "Enterprise" luxuriated in the cast members' bodies as they got nearly naked and rubbed each other down. It was thuddingly prurient. 

Later in the series, the decontamination scenes would evolve into something even more lascivious. T'Pol and chief engineer "Trip" Tucker (Connor Trinneer) would be ordered to meet in her quarters for Starfleet-mandated naked massages. Both the massages and the decontaminations sound like they were conceived for porno movies. 

In the oral history book "The Fifty-Year Mission: The Next 25 Years: From The Next Generation to J. J. Abrams," edited by Mark A. Altman and Edward Gross, the "Enterprise" showrunners talked about the embarrassing sweatiness of the above scenes, and how they weren't very proud of them.

Chris Black admits things got 'a little lurid'

Writer and producer Chris Black noted the above-mentioned parallel to Seven of Nine from "Voyager." Seven of Nine, Trekkies can tell you, was brought into "Voyager" at the end of its third season when ratings were flagging. Jeri Ryan wore a skintight costume, which included built-in high heels and a corset . It was a transparent need to add sex appeal to "Voyager." Black seems to recall that a similar effort was made right from the jump for "Enterprise," notably through the casting of Jolene Blalock and those gooey decontamination scenes. Black said: 

"There was an effort to make the show sexier. Obviously, every show has that character. 'Voyager' had Seven of Nine and Jolene was Jolene. This striking actress in a tight outfit. There was a component of that show that was supposed to be sexy. And that goes back to the original series. Look at the costumes originally designed for those women. It's like the joke, something you threw on and almost missed. The decontamination stuff got a little out of hand. I admired what they were trying to do with the T'Pol/Trip relationship. I thought that was interesting." 

T'Pol and Trip began to form something of a romance during their intimate massage sessions, and that element of the series, at the very least, interested writers more than stripping the actors down and slathering them up. Black said that the T'Pol/Trip romance would reflect the romance witnessed between Spock's father Sarek (Mark Lenard) and his human mother Amanda (Jane Wyatt). "A marriage with one person who can't be demonstratively passionate or emotional," Black pondered. "What is that like?"

But Black admitted, "[I]t became what it was. A little lurid," adding that "the actors weren't hugely enthusiastic."

The inherent illogic of future salve

Executive producer Manny Coto, who also served as the series showrunner in its third and fourth seasons, recalled the decontamination scenes as not just being lurid, but also technolgically unlikely. Even if "Enterprise" was set at a time before humans were regularly using transporters, surely there was a more efficient way to decontaminate someone than by literally rubbing goo on each other. Of the decontamination scenes, Coto said: 

"I thought they were silly; it was less about the obvious attempt to get hot bodies on there, but are you really going to be decontaminated by spreading this gel all over your body? It doesn't seem like a very efficient way to decontaminate. I would rather have them strip and get hit by a beam. Not, 'We're going to spread gel all over each other.' What if you missed a spot?" 

So far, no one has accepted blame for the obvious need to cram erotic gel massages into "Star Trek." 

Of course, the regular injection of sex-fantasy material into "Star Trek" might be considered an artifact of the 1960s when Gene Roddenberry was in charge. Roddenberry was an infamously horny dude. Starfleet officers wore miniskirts. One needn't look too far into "Star Trek" to find a woman dressed in an impossibly revealing outfit (compliments of costume designer William Ware Theiss). One can see, hiding inside "Star Trek," a definite streak of free love advocacy that Roddenberry was clearly very excited about. As such, there was a thought that "Star Trek" characters might be comfortable with their bodies in the future, and that being naked in front of peers, rubbing goo on their bodies, was not necessarily going to be sexual. Think of the group shower scenes in Paul Verhoeven's "Starship Troopers." 

This was the view affected by writer/producer David A. Goodman.

In Star Trek, all clothes should be off

David Goodman's issue with the decontamination scenes was that they should have read as nude, but nonsexual. The problem is any kind of nudity on TV is usually presented as sexual, especially when it's being filmed the way it was on "Enterprise." Also, Connor Trinneer and Jolene Blalock were model-attractive people, adding that prurient element to their gel scenes. To Goodman, it was the clothing that made the scenes lurid and not the nudity. He said: 

"I didn't like the decontamination chamber scenes mostly because what those scenes show you is what you can't do. If everybody is good with the stuff and Trip isn't going to get an erection being with T'Pol, then they take their clothes off and they rub it all over themselves, but instead, because it's network TV, they have to stay half-dressed. What about the parts of their bodies that are covered by their clothes?" 

He continued, linking to Gene Roddenberry, saying:

"All of the things you can't do because it's TV and we're suggesting something really sexy, but if we want to show the future, we're going to take their clothes off. If Roddenberry's idea of the future is accurate or possible, that's what would happen." 

However one might want to justify it, the fact remains that "Enterprise" regularly featured scenes of attractive actors rubbing each other with a petroleum jelly-like substance while wearing Starfleet-issue underwear. Because it was so obviously lascivious, the scenes rarely came across as sexy. There's an irony to that. 

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Star Trek: Enterprise — T'Pol Shares Her Future Marriage Plans with Trip

"Home," Season 4, Episode 3.

T'Pol shares her future marriage plans with Trip.

Star Trek | Archer and T’Pol Were Enterprise’s Real Love Story

While Star Trek: Enterprise tried to force a T’Pol and Tucker romance, the real power couple and One True Pairing was Archer and T’Pol.

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In most entertainment - television shows, books, and movies - there's something satisfying about seeing the primary characters get together romantically. It's the essence of great storytelling.

Joseph Campbell, a Jungian psychologist, understands the art of storytelling; he’s been cataloging story similarities between cultures and mythos. Among good storytelling, Campbell also addresses romance. He describes three types of love. One is a love for humanity, an impersonal, general love. Base desire – such as pornography – is eros . Amor is more idealistic – it’s romantic love. Amor , he urges, is the most personal type of love because it includes the mind and heart.

In television, movies, and books the most exciting love is when those loves align – there is eros , but more importantly, there’s amor – true love.

That’s why one of the most compelling pairings in Star Trek is that of Star Trek: Enterprise ’s Captain Jonathan Archer (Scott Bakula) and his first officer, Sub-Commander T’Pol (Jolene Blalock).

Looking for Amor in Kirk/Spock

I’ve always loved Star Trek: The Original Series. I started watching in syndication back when I was about four years old. I had the entire Star Trek bridge toy set, Star Trek Color forms, View Masters from episodes, etc. At an early age, I was a nerd. When I was around ten, I picked up a fanzine at a bookstore that discussed the possibility of a Star Trek movie, before Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979) became reality.

As I leafed through the zine, I saw a story about Kirk (William Shatner) and Spock (Leonard Nimoy) being a couple … a romantic couple.

Despite being heterosexual, I understand why those stories exist. Kirk and Spock risked their lives and reputations for each other regularly, defying orders. That kind of devotion is certainly love ( amor ), and it’s not a leap to call it romantic love.

Before there were Kirk and Spock, there was Captain Christopher Pike (Jeffrey Hunter) and his first officer, Number One (Majel Barrett). Pike relied on her but didn’t notice her romantically until the Talosians offered her as a potential mate for him in the unbroadcast Star Trek: The Original Series pilot episode ‘The Cage’ (S1, Ep?) . Maybe they had insight into her and Pike’s desires? When offered, though, Pike thought the idea was tempting.

To take a more recent (relatively) example, in Star Trek: Voyager there’s chemistry between Chakotay (Robert Beltran) and Janeway (Kate Mulgrew). He’s her sounding board and confidant, willing to risk his life and reputation for her. She’s willing to do just about anything for him. Again, it’s not a stretch there’s amor .

Star-Crossed Lovers Outside of Star Trekl

Forget Star Trek for a second. Science fiction is filled with examples of potential couples. In just about every incarnation of Doctor Who , the Doctor has a companion he/she relies on. Nine (Christopher Eccleston) and Ten (David Tennant) had Rose Tyler (Billie Piper). Eleven (Matt Smith) had Amelia Pond (Karen Gillan), Twelve (Peter Capaldi) had Clara (Jenna Coleman), and Thirteen (Jodie Whittaker) had Yaz (Mandip Gill).

The chemistry – often romantic, sometimes quasi-romantic – between leads is why people tune in.

There’s Farscape – where John (Ben Browder) and Aeryn (Claudia Black) – start as enemies and learn to trust each other, becoming a couple. And John Crichton’s only competition is … well John Crichton. In The X-Files , Scully (Gillian Anderson) and Mulder (David Duchovny) are equals with opposing viewpoints. He wants to believe in UFOs and the paranormal, but she’s a physician devoted to science. Along the way, they’re both changed to meet in the middle. It’s the same with Flash Gordon , Babylon 5 , Buck Rogers , Space 1999 , Blake’s 7 – they all have male and female leads that cause viewers to keep coming back.

More than Cheers or Moonlight ’s “will they, won’t they” – there’s caring and support in life and death situations.

Shakespeare pairs couples together based on meeting some specific criteria – they’re attracted to each other and they have similarities. For example, in Much Ado About Nothing (1598/9) , Beatrice and Benedict may spar and spark at each other, but they are both quick-witted, funny, and underneath it all kind. In the Taming of the Shrew (1590/2) , Petruchio and Katherina may initially lash out at each other, but they are well-matched. They’re both head-strong and both smart.

In Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice (1813) , Elizabeth Bennet and Mr. Darcy are equals who immediately have a strong negative reaction to each other. The book demonstrates how once Elizabeth gets to know Darcy that he’s really her equal.

Again, these examples outside of science fiction show amor and eros working together.

Shipping Archer and T’Pol

Shippers aren’t people who like Constitution-class vessels. In fandoms, shippers are known as someone who cares about relationships (usually romantic).

Although I liked Spock’s attachment to the Romulan Commander (Joanne Linville) in the Star Trek: The Original Series episode ‘The Enterprise Incident’ (S3, EP2) , I don’t really care about romance. I never knew what a shipper was until Star Trek: Enterprise . I was in it for the Trek .

I cringed when I saw Commander Trip Tucker (Connor Trinneer) and Sub-Commander T’Pol in the decontamination chamber together, rubbing gel on each other under faint blue light. It seemed silly. It seemed cliché. In fact, I was ready to stop watching. Eros .

But when the episode was over, I noticed a friendship blooming between two different characters: Captain Jonathan Archer and his first officer, T’Pol. Nearly every week, Star Trek: Enterprise had an episode where two characters cared a lot about each other. He sacrificed his life. She gave up her career. It was true in episode after episode. Amor . Archer and T’Pol grew on me.

What I loved most about it is what I missed from Star Trek: The Original Series – character-driven plots that explored Vulcans, Andorians, Tellarites, and character relationships.

I also loved that Archer and T’Pol had the classic elements of romance building – not getting along, becoming equals, admitting attraction, standing up for each other, and saving each other’s lives.

Archer and T’Pol’s Initial Conflict

There’s conflict between the two leads immediately. Jonathan Archer’s father was personally held back by the Vulcans, never getting to see his engine completed. T’Pol believed humans were inferior to Vulcans. When T’Pol was assigned to Enterprise, sparks flew. Neither she nor Captain Archer trusted each other until he risked his life defending her in the Star Trek: Enterprise pilot ‘Broken Bow’ (S1, Ep1-2). From there, a friendship slowly emerged.

Although the issue of him not trusting Vulcans comes up after the first season – such as in the Star Trek: Enterprise episode ‘Impulse’ (S3, Ep5) – viewers know they do indeed trust each other. In fact, they’ve given their lives for each other.

After Surak (Bruce Gray)’s katra inhabits Archer in ‘Awakening’ (S4, Ep8) , the captain understands even more about what being Vulcan is about. In one episode, he’s even able to help T’Pol conduct a Mind Meld. By understanding more about her race, he’s bridged the divide completely between them.

Archer and T’Pol Discover Mutual Respect

It’s important in every type of romance that the two leads are equal not necessarily in rank (although there are arguably issues of consent), but in other aspects, such as intelligence, wisdom, and emotional stability. Because T’Pol is a more emotional Vulcan, she needs a less emotional human – which is the exact opposite of what Sarek (Spock’s father) needs. It’s why his relationship with Amanda (Spock’s mother – a human) sort of works.

T’Pol leans on Archer’s emotional stability several times, such as in the Star Trek: Enterprise episode ‘The Seventh’ (S2, Ep7) when she’s capturing Menos (Bruce Davison). She doesn’t need just someone she trusts; she needs someone who’s grounded. It’s that support that also helped her in ‘Impulse’ (S3, Ep5).

There are a variety of episodes that show Archer and T’Pol are equals, including the Star Trek: Enterprise episode ‘Shockwave, Part II’ (S2, Ep1) , where T’Pol stands up for Archer and the humans. Her telling Ambassador Soval (Gary Graham) the humans are ready to explore space puts Vulcans and humans on equal footing. She even joins Archer at the viewscreen.

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Brad Wright's Conversations in Sci-Fi: The Wright Cut

Brad wright's conversations in sci-fi (abridged), cgi fridays, star trek | a history of starfleet uniforms from fashion disasters to gender equality, upcoming events, brad wright: how to recharge your creativity, teryl rothery: embracing mental health as a fandom - part 5, basingstoke comic con collaboration.

• Film Knowledge

The Unlikely Love Story of T’Pol and Trip: Enterprise’s Tragic Romance

In the vast and ever-expanding universe of Star Trek, the bond between T’Pol and Trip in the series Star Trek: Enterprise has remained an enduring and poignant narrative. Their unexpected romance was a defining element of the show, captivating audiences with its complexities and nuances. From the initial friction to the gradual development of mutual understanding, their relationship epitomized the challenges of bridging the gap between two vastly different species: the logical, unemotional Vulcan culture and the passionate, impulsive nature of humans. Connor Trinneer, who portrayed Trip, looks back on the dynamics that shaped this “odd couple” trip and the tragic trajectory of T’Pol and Trip’s intertwining fate.

I. Unexpected Beginnings: A Vulcan-Human Interplay

In the early stages of Star Trek: Enterprise, the introduction of the Vulcan character T’Pol, portrayed by Jolene Blalock, alongside Commander Charles “Trip” Tucker III, played by Connor Trinneer, marked the commencement of a compelling relationship. T’Pol’s initial reservations about working with humans, especially Trip, were palpable, reflecting the inherent distrust between the Vulcan High Command and Starfleet. This mistrust served as a backdrop for the gradual evolution of their dynamic, as they embarked on deep space exploration aboard the Enterprise NX-01. The dichotomy between T’Pol’s logic-driven mindset and Trip’s emotive nature set the stage for a gradual, unpredictable, and enthralling narrative that left an indelible mark on the series.

II. Navigating the Complexities: Finding Common Ground

As the narrative unfolded, the intricacies of T’Pol and Trip’s relationship became increasingly apparent, showcasing the challenges of navigating an interspecies romance in the unforgiving expanse of space. Their interactions highlighted the need to find common ground, allowing for a gradual understanding and mutual respect to develop. Through shared experiences and the trials they faced together, T’Pol and Trip discovered a shared humanity despite their contrasting cultural backgrounds. This delicate balance between emotional vulnerability and Vulcan reserve added a layer of depth to their characters, resonating with viewers who were drawn to the complexities of their evolving bond.

III. The Central Romance: Love Amidst Adversity

Despite the odds stacked against them, T’Pol and Trip’s relationship emerged as the central romance of Star Trek: Enterprise, weaving its way through the fabric of the series and leaving an indelible imprint on the hearts of fans. Their emotional journey, fraught with challenges and sacrifices, encapsulated the universal struggle for love amidst adversity. The raw emotions conveyed by Trinneer and Blalock infused their characters with an authentic depth, allowing viewers to connect with the profound vulnerability and strength inherent in their love story. As the narrative progressed, their relationship transcended mere interspecies attraction, becoming a testament to the resilience of love in the face of insurmountable obstacles.

IV. Tragic Twists and Bittersweet Endings: T’Pol and Trip’s Fate

Despite the fervent hope of viewers for a happily-ever-after conclusion, the trajectory of T’Pol and Trip’s relationship took a tragic turn, leaving an indelible mark on the narrative landscape of Star Trek: Enterprise. The heart-wrenching turn of events surrounding Trip’s ultimate sacrifice underscored the fragility of life in the vastness of space and the poignant realities of the Star Trek universe. The poignant farewell between T’Pol and Trip served as a poignant reminder of the profound impact of their bond, solidifying their place in the hearts of fans as one of the most compelling and tragic romances in the Star Trek franchise.

V. Legacy of Love: T’Pol and Trip’s Enduring Impact

As Star Trek: Enterprise concluded its run, the legacy of T’Pol and Trip’s love endured, leaving an unmistakable imprint on the fabric of the Star Trek universe. Their story served as a testament to the enduring power of love, transcending cultural differences and the vastness of space itself. The complexities and challenges they faced resonated with viewers, reflecting the intricacies of human relationships and the resilience of the human spirit. Connor Trinneer’s portrayal of Trip and the emotional depth he brought to the character contributed significantly to the enduring legacy of T’Pol and Trip’s unforgettable love story, solidifying their place as one of the most memorable and poignant romances in the pantheon of Star Trek narratives.

Conclusion: A Love Beyond the Stars

In retrospect, the complex, unconventional love story of T’Pol and Trip remains a shining example of the intricacies and triumphs of love amidst adversity. Their relationship, rooted in the exploration of cultural differences and the resilience of the human spirit, resonated with audiences, leaving an indelible mark on the Star Trek universe. Connor Trinneer’s portrayal of Trip, alongside Jolene Blalock’s depiction of T’Pol, breathed life into a narrative that transcended the boundaries of space and time, leaving an enduring legacy that continues to capture the hearts of Star Trek enthusiasts worldwide. As the journey of T’Pol and Trip lives on in the annals of Star Trek history, their love story serves as a timeless reminder of the enduring power of love to transcend all boundaries, even those that span the vastness of the cosmos.

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The Mind Reels

Where culture goes POP!

Star Trek: Enterprise (2003) – North Star, and Similitude

Captain’s log: date unknown

Enterprise goes western in this episode, North Star, written by David A. Goodman. Having an original airdate of 12 November, 2003, this story sees Archer (Scott Bakula) and the crew arriving at a planet of  a previously unknown colony of humans that are living in a 19th century setting.

But the humans aren’t the good guys this time around. It seems the settlement has been oppressing a race of beings known as the Skagarans.

Unlike the minimalist Spectre of the Gun from The Original Series, or the farcical Fistful of Datas, this episode plays like a dark and gritty western. And lets Archer, Trip (Connor Trinneer) and T’Pol (Jolene Blalock) get their cowboy on.

There’s a sheriff (acclaimed character actor, and one I always delight in seeing, Glenn Morshower) who has problems with the shared past of the humans and Skagarans. Apparently humans were first used as slave labour, but when they rebelled and defeated the Skagarans, they denied them any rights at all, fearing they would come to power again.

There’s an optimistic school teacher, Bethany (Emily Bergl) who remains hopeful, and is teaching Skagaran children, but is afraid of the reality of the world they live in.

And, of course, there’s a baddie for Archer and his crew to have a shoot out with at the end of the episode, Bennings (James Parks).

So while a lot of the episode is fun, this is very much a message episode commenting on how we treat those, how we were treated, and how we can grown beyond that, while still remembering who we were, are and want to be.

LeVar Burton directs this episode that was written by Manny Coto, and first debuted on 19 November, 2003.

After Trip is critically injured, during the ship’s journey through a realm of space that contains a dangerous field of nucleonic particles, Phlox (John Billingsley) suggests that the only way to truly save the engineer’s life would be to clone him.

Of course, this will cause some problems, even with its accelerated growth, as the crew become attached to the young Trip (Adam Taylor Gordon/Shane Sweet). Trip begins to wonder who he is, if he has a right to live as much as his other self, if the relationships he forms here are influenced by Trip’s memories and emotions or his own.

It ends up being a pretty emotional tale, while also giving Trip and T’Pol their first kiss, though it is his clone self, referred to as Sim.

It’s a really well done episode, thoughtful, emotional, worthy of discussion, and undeniably Star Trek.

The Human Adventure continues next week as I continue my exploration of Star Trek: Enterprise – The Complete Series on blu-ray, available now from Paramount Canada.

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Den of Geek

Star Trek Is Finally Getting Romance Right

From Captain Kirk and Carol Marcus, to Picard and Dr. Crusher, and beyond, Star Trek has never quite nailed its romantic relationships. But Discovery, Strange New Worlds, and even Prodigy are giving us some hope that this is changing.

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Spoiler warning for all of Star Trek !

All through the second season of Star Trek: Picard , one burning question was left unasked and unanswered – what happened (or didn’t happen) between Jean-Luc Picard and Beverley Crusher?

One of the major themes of the season was Picard’s romantic history and his difficulty building and maintaining a romantic relationship with anyone. But despite their history as a possible couple , explored in an episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation (“Attached”) in which they confronted their unspoken feelings for each other, not to mention the alternate future in which they were divorced (“All Good Things”), their flirtation while under the influence of an alien illness (“The Naked Now”), and all those cosy breakfasts in Picard’s quarters, not once in all these conversations about Picard’s romantic past was Crusher’s name so much as mentioned.

We know that Crusher is going to appear in Picard season 3, so we’re hopeful that whatever may or may not have happened between them in the past will finally get some closure in this season, even if Picard is still with Orla Brady’s Laris. We also have reason to hope this relationship will get the attention it deserves because over the past two or three years, the Star Trek franchise has got a lot better at depicting romantic relationships than it used to be.

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There are a few romances from Star Trek ’ s earlier years that were well received and are still popular. In the original series, Nurse Chapel’s unrequited love for Spock, who claimed to be incapable of retuning her affection (the canon on Vulcans and emotions has shifted a bit over the years) was sweet and sad. Captain Kirk’s relationship with Carol Marcus, only ever alluded to in the past tense in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan , was compelling even so.

Moving forward in time, The Next Generation ’s Riker and Troi continue to be a popular couple; their romance was one of the better-written ones, despite some really odd moments like the scene in “Ménage à Troi” in which they have clearly been away for a dirty weekend together despite claiming not to be in a relationship at the time (if they want to just be “special friends” we’re not judging, we’re just confused by the lack of consistency!). Over on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine , Worf and Jadzia Dax were a very popular pairing before Jadzia’s untimely death and probably have one of the better-written love stories, though even there, anything involving physical harm coming to Jadzia, whether through rough sex or Klingon pain sticks, is a bit hard to watch sometimes.

There are also a few couplings that were fine, if not especially compelling. Deep Space Nine ’s Rom and Leeta were fun. The pairings of Tom Paris and B’Elanna Torres ( Star Trek: Voyage r ) and Trip Tucker and T’Pol ( Star Trek: Enterprise ) have plenty of fans. There’s also Miles O’Brien and Keiko, who are kind of fine. Mostly they’re just… there, from The Next Generation on into Deep Space Nine . The space station’s Captain Sisko and Kassidy Yates were sweet together and Penny Johnson Jerald gave Kassidy a lively likeability, but that time he got her put in prison must have put a damper on the relationship, and of course, it notoriously ended with Sisko disappearing off to become a Prophet and abandoning a pregnant Kassidy, something only slightly mollified by Avery Brooks’ personal insistence on adding a scene where he promised to come back.

But overall, romantic storylines were not one of Star Trek’s strong points. There was Kes and Neelix on Voyager for starters, a relationship which gets a lot of flak online because of the age difference. We’ll give that a pass on the grounds of alien biology (she only lives nine years, what is she supposed to do?) but the relationship was pretty toxic anyway, thanks to Neelix’s overwhelming jealousy issues. Its ending was also horrendously badly written. In “Warlord,” Kes is taken over by an alien who breaks up with Neelix while possessing her and that’s it – they are no longer a couple. We don’t get so much as a scene of her explaining that she felt that way herself, that the alien had accessed some of her own thoughts and feelings, nothing. They are just done.

Kira and Odo ( Deep Space Nine ) were nothing like as toxic as Kes and Neelix, and they have a fair few fans, but they were always a somewhat awkward pairing, their personalities not really meshing all that well. That particular romance worked better when it was a tragic unrequited love on Odo’s part. Enterprise flirted briefly with the idea of a romance between Captain Archer and T’Pol, primarily in the generally reviled “A Night in Sickbay,” and in “Twilight,” an episode originally pitched for Voyager ’s Janeway and Chakotay (and nothing to do with sparkly vampires). In the end the series went for Trip/T’Pol instead – both pairings seem to be based primarily on rubbing gel on each other on a regular basis, but Trip and T’Pol had better chemistry.

Star Trek also had a very strange habit of writing series finales in which the writers deliberately ignored extremely popular canon romantic relationships and put together characters with no chemistry, limited build-up to the relationship, and not much in common. Troi and Worf were shoved together across season seven of The Next Generation despite the only real thing they had in common being their affection for Worf’s son Alexander. Thankfully, later writers saw sense – the movies put Troi together with Riker, as she should have been in the first place, and Deep Space Nine created the very popular Worf/Jadzia relationship.

In Deep Space Nine ’s own final season, the last few episodes offered the pairing of Bashir and Ezri Dax. This was rather unpopular move based largely on Bashir’s long-ago unrequited love for Jadzia; it probably seemed like a good idea on paper but lacked chemistry and depth on screen, especially compared to his deep platonic friendship with O’Brien.

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Most notorious of all, though, was the pairing of Seven of Nine and Chakotay in the last few episodes of Voyager . Seven of Nine had more complex and developed relationships with almost every other member of the Voyager cast, including at least two characters with a history of being attracted to her (Harry Kim and the Doctor). Chakotay had more or less outright stated that he was in love with Captain Janeway way back in the show’s second season, and while she let him down at the time, their chemistry continued to be strong and a younger Janeway (in time travel story “Shattered”) asked Chakotay whether they were ever more than friends as late as mid-Season seven. But no – a few episodes from the end we learn that Seven kind of fancies Chakotay, and in the finale, they’re just suddenly together and their future selves are married. Thankfully, that future is no longer part of the main timeline…

Even when the franchise returned to TV with Star Trek: Discovery in 2017, the signs were not good that the franchise’s writing of romance was improving. Micheal Burnham’s romance with Ash Tyler was awkward and messy from start to finish. Tyler was actually a Klingon sleeper agent called Voq, who had the memories and appearance of a Starfleet officer called Tyler. Under the influence of Voq’s personality, Tyler tried to kill Burnham and actually did kill Culber, and although Voq’s personality was later purged from him, the relationship really wasn’t ever going to work out after that.

Speaking of Culber, Stamets and Culber stood out from the beginning of Discovery as a likeable and convincing couple. This made it particularly disappointing when Culber was killed off two thirds of the way through the first season, in “Despite Yourself.” Since Culber was black and gay this hit at least two different unfortunate writing tropes at once.

Thankfully, the franchise seemed to reached a turning-point when it brought Culber back from the dead in the Discovery season two episode “Saints of Imperfection.” This immediately resurrected the most promising new romance in years, as the JJ Abrams films had not proved any better at writing romance than their predecessors (Spock and Uhura was a strange pairing that flew in the face of Spock’s usual difficulty in pursuing romance thanks to his Vulcan training, and Kirk and Carol Marcus’ Kelvinverse relationship is just slightly awkward interactions and an unnecessary underwear scene). Stamets and Culber went through a tough time after Culber’s unexpected resurrection, but they recovered to become one of the franchise’s most solid couples.

Since then, the latest Trek shows seem to have been doing better. Star Trek: Lower Decks perhaps hasn’t given quite as much screen time to Mariner and Jennifer as it could have done, but their relationship is good fun when we see it. Lower Decks has also been building a very slow-burn will-they-won’t-they vibe between Tendi and Rutherford that may or may not go anywhere over the course of the show.

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds is revisiting the idea of Spock and romance again, but more cautiously. The series is building on how the franchise has developed the issue of Vulcans and emotions over the decades, as Voyager had established clearly in fifth season episode “Gravity” that Vulcans do feel emotions, but that they are trained not to respond to them (in contrast to Amanda’s statement in Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home that Spock had emotions because he was her son, i.e. half human, implying that full Vulcans did not have any).

Spock in Strange New Worlds clearly follows this model of having emotions but choosing to suppress them. However, the series has also cleverly developed his relationship with his fiancée T’Pring, a relationship we only ever saw at its dramatic end in the original series. Chapel’s growing feelings for Spock are therefore complicated by the possibility that Spock could return her affection, but he is committed to T’Pring. Their love triangle is a complex one with all three well written and well rounded, and good chemistry between Spock and both women.

Picard season two spent a lot of time developing several romantic relationships, including a romance for Picard himself that was convincing enough to clear the fairly low bar of “better than Picard and Vash” and Rios getting written out with a fairly well-developed time travelling love story.

Seven of Nine and Raffi’s romance had an odd start, consisting of a single shot of them holding hands at the very end of Picard seasons one and two saw them given proper interactions as an on-again-off-again couple, finishing as a convincing pairing, with Raffi becoming the only character original to Picard to be kept on for season three. Their romance also, of course, finally put the nail in the coffin of the idea of Seven and Chakotay, who had been immediately broken up in the novels that followed Voyager ’s end on screen and whom no one has much interest in knowing any more about.

Chakotay may also finally get a romantic happy ending in Star Trek: Prodigy , depending on where season two of that animated series takes us. Its first season revealed that he had set off back to the Delta Quadrant accompanied by a hologram of Younger Captain Janeway, apparently for training and advice purposes (as Prodigy is an all-ages show that airs on Nickelodeon, we will keep our adult speculations about the purpose of this hologram to ourselves). He then got lost again, this time in the future, and Admiral Janeway has been hell bent on rescuing him.

The hopes of all Janeway/Chakotay shippers have been raised by this series , and not without reason. In “Mindwalk,” Admiral Janeway swaps bodies with Prodigy ’s protagonist Dal, and for most of the episode we see Dal and hear Janeway’s voice coming out of him. But for one scene, when Janeway talks to her own hologram, we see Admiral Janeway as herself. This allows the show to provide an image of Janeway reaching out, full of emotion, to touch a screen showing an image of Chakotay sending out a Mayday, and there is really no other reason for the change in the visual, other than the minor satisfaction of seeing two Janeways on screen. If that isn’t a sign that Prodigy ’s writers are intending to finally bring the two of them together as more than friends, we’ll eat our holographic hats.

The writing of romance in the franchise is still far from perfect. There was the total lack of acknowledgement of Crusher’s existence in Picard season two, which we already mentioned, and although Stamets and Culber are great, Discovery still hasn’t quite cracked romance writing in general. Burnham and Book are a more compelling couple than Burnham and Tyler ever were, but the collapse of their relationship in season four felt a bit forced. Adira and Gray’s relationship is complicated and made a bit weird by all the plot shenanigans around Gray appearing as a “ghost” of sorts for a whole season, and the fact that they are both hosts of the same Trill symbiote, and Gray was packed off to Trill halfway through that fourth season.

But on the whole, there seems to be a major upward trend in the writing of convincing, complex romantic storylines featuring actors with good chemistry in this new phase of 2020s Star Trek. And so we’re keeping everything crossed that Picard season three will finally give us some proper closure on Picard/Crusher, that Prodigy season two will finally let Janeway and Chakotay be happy together, and that going forward, all the various branches of Trek will offer up some new, compelling romantic storylines built on strong chemistry and actual character compatibility.

Juliette Harrisson | @ClassicalJG

Juliette Harrisson is a writer and historian, and a lifelong Trekkie whose childhood heroes were JRR Tolkien and CS Lewis. She runs a YouTube channel called…

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