The fate of Phlox

Disclaimer: All characters and their names property of CBS Paramount, but here I'd like to offer what else I had in mind for Phlox, because someone objected to my ideas of having Phlox killed off. Everything is fictitious and non-canon.

This was in reply to this post in an IMDb thread.

Oh yes, Trip I would have kept for certain, and Mayweather and a couple for Maco-s, too :> — to at first exercise the art of neuropressue ^_^
And I know Archer didn't look all that bad either... compared to an average American his age.

Then an IMDb user's objection to my wishes about killing Phlox off...

Okay, then Phlox should have lost some of his syrupy positiveness, become gradually and irreparably crazy because of the Delphic Expanse (T'Pol was spared) and then placed in a psychiatric institution as a response...

In the absence of such an institution casually floating in space just in Enterprise's merry way, he'd despondently stay stuck in the brig, rarely smile, and crazy-tell interesting medical things in the fashion of Pythia (the Oracle of Delphi) for Silik to desipher (because Silik alone perhaps doesn't know everything about medicine, but has to improvise and maybe work together with T'Pol).

Silik's attempts in interpreting Phlox would at the beginning be like subtly goading Phlox into a worse state, perhaps until Silik realizes that this conduct of his really was not a good thing, but then it's far too late and the exchange would devolve into something resembling an Andorian inquisition (see Shran interrogating Soval). I am sure Silik would otherwise enjoy Phlox's condition, if not for the nasty exercise of trying to extract knowledge impossibly trapped somehere in Phox's degenerate brain. I wouldn't want in Archer's place to risk T'Pol doing a mind-meld.

The smiles of a Phlox like this would be reserved for something really devious in order to thwart Silik (despite his somehow good intentions towards Enterprise crew) and lead Silik astray, much to the chagrin of Silik and eventually the people at ENT, who would then be forced to make the 'hard' decision of completely ignoring Phlox and finally returning him to his three wives on Denobula to work something out of the impossible condition he has so inevitably succumbed to; Well, as much as each of them wives cares enough to please. — After all, each of Phlox's wives has up to three other husbands anyway, and each husband of those vies for their attention, too.

For Phlox to have endless terror instead of a terrible end is something I'd much enjoy watching. Of course, John Billingsley would have a field day with a scenario like that, but then there'd have to be equally great material for John Fleck, too.

Sulnis Silik

This I replublished as a comment (which was intended as such) in a thread on IMDb

I'm going to add myself as a huge fan of Stargate Universe, too ^_^

Well now, in chronological order, the non-Star Trek series I've followed and which still remain my favourite (with marks):

* Earth 2 +++
* "Roswell" +++
* Farscape ++++
* "Battlestar Galactica" reimagined +++
* Stargate Universe ++++

TV show I'm willing to consider:
* "Terminator: Sarah Connor Chronicles" (I've seen a few episodes and the series had lots of potential, but it was axed)

TV series I liked back in the day:
* "Babylon 5"
* "Time Trax" and
* "TimeCop" (both shows very similar in concept) — don't ask me why, but there was a particular night about ten or even more years ago when a Nazi-themed episode of "TimeCop" aired on one channel and later that night another channel featured the "Philadelphia Experiment II" film (the plot of which is very, very reminiscent of ENT's "Storm Front," Parts I & II). I must have seen this one a decade or more ago on German TV.

wrt "Enterprise", I'm going to add that I've gone through a marathon of a number of episodes and now seem to have greater appreciation of it, despite the continuity flaws and all.

With the exception of Jolene Blalock, none of the primary characters are very astounding or particularly deep, so I'd add that the storylines, vfx and guest actors add the most spice, especially Jeffrey Combs as Shran and John Fleck, who most fabulously played Silik.

What I would have done to the cast: Phlox should have been killed off or reassigned to Cold Station 12 in Season 1/Season 2, somehow replaced by Silik to "play doctor". Silik could have been disowned by his very own Suliban Cabal, for example. Unfortunately, he was put to the very top of the Cabal food chain, so there wasn't anyone to replace him, but I'm sure Future Guy could have made necessary arrangements to the past to affect Silik's life in as punishment for some infraction...

So, in any absence of a good doctor in uncharted territories, the deliciously bad-@$$ Silik could have then slowly gained the Enterprise crew's trust, but still stay sneaky and cause surprises and trouble, yet remaining too essential for the crew to be replaceable by any Federation-approved doctor.

Silik's unfamiliarity with the Hippocratic Oath could have added another layer of drama; his expert knowledge in very many things Milky Way Galaxy could have given an addition to suspense and provided a different dimension of knowledge compared to T'Pol's Vulcan-sanitized view.

The only caveat that I see with Silik's appearance is whether there was such colour makeup paint at the time for Silik's apperance that wouldn't adversely affect an actor's internal organs the way it happened to Virginia Hey in Farscape.

Miks Stargate Universe tegemine tühistati

See kõik on kahtlused ja spekulatsioon, kuid faktilised andmed vähemalt annavad teatud pildi sellest, mis võis olla "Stargate Universe" tühistamise taga.

Ameerika telekanal SyFy otsustas SGU tegemist eelmise aasta lõpus mitte uuendada peale seda kui MGM läks planeeritud pankrotikaitsesse (Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection). SGU finantseerimine oli SyFy ja MGM vahel pooleks. SyFy on USA kaabelkanal, mis kuulub NBC Universal alla ja viimase omanikud on 51% Comcast, 49% General Electric. Enne MGM pankrotikaitsesse astumist oli Comcast 20% MGM omanik (teistest meediaettevõtetest oli ka Sony 20% omanik). Kui MGM pankrotikaitsest väljus, sai MGM endale täiesti uue omanikeringi.

Võib väita, et SGU oli rohkem korporatiivpoliitika kui reitingute ohver. Minu kahtluste järgi võis MGM-ist voolata selle omanike taskusse suurel hulgal raha, niigi nõrgenenud MGM oli lõpuks suurtes võlgades ja ei suutnud enam võlgu üleval pidada. MGM on peale selle veel konkurent NBC Universal (Comcast) ja Sony stuudiotele.

Minu väitel võib olla kaalu, kuna ammugi võlgades MGM potentsiaalsed ostjad ütlesid 2008. ja 2009. aastatel, et nad enne MGM-i endale ei osta kui viimane läheb pankrotikaitse protsessist läbi, misjärel endised omanikud ettevõtet rohkem enam ei oma. — Sest võimalikud ostjad ei teadnud mitte ainult, et MGM-i rahaseis on vilets, vaid ka seda, et sealt voolab raha välja. Seetõttu nad nõudsidki ostu peatingimusena MGM-ile pankrotikaitsest läbiminekut, et raha äravoolule lõpp teha.

SyFy tõenäoliselt omab veel SGU-le ekslusiivset lepingut SGU uute osade esimesteks näitamisteks ja ma arvan, et leping veel kehtib. SGU-d loodeti teha 5 hooaega ja võib oletada, et leping kehtib viis aastat. Isegi kui MGM tahaks sarja kogu Stargate frantsiisi omanikuna teistel kanalitel näidata, ei ole see eksklusiivlepingu pärast võimalik — oletatavasti ootab MGM-i rikkumise eest suur leppetrahv, kui MGM SGU-d enne teatud aega mujal näitab. Ning nii ootab MGM, kuni leping otsa lõpeb ja MGM-l on siis vabadus SGU-d teistele Ameerika kanalitele pakkuda.

SGU madalate reitingute üheks põhjuseks võis olla osade "Stargate SG-1" ja "Stargate Atlantis" fännide äärmiselt valulik reaktsioon SGU võetud uue ja realistlikuma kvaliteedi suhtes, mispeale hakkasid need fännid SGU sarja infantiilselt vihkama ja seda muidugi ka mitte vaatama.
* Teine põhjus on see, et USA-s valitsev Nielseni reitingusüsteem on oma aja ära elanud, sest paljud inimesed enam telekat ei vaata ja vaatavad telesaateid alternatiivsete allikate kaudu.
* Kolmas põhjus on see, et SyFy kandis SGU reedeõhtuselt ajalt teisipäevaõhtusele ajale ja SyFy (endise nimega SciFi) tõi samale ajale ameerika wrestlingu. Teisipäevasele õhtule ülekandmisega "uskus" SyFy, et siis on ehk paremad reitingud, aga viga tehti selles, et ei arvestatud suviste ja sügiseste hooaegade erinevustega, kus antud käik oleks suvise hooaja puhul töötanud, aga sügisel olid samal ajal suurteks konkurentideks "Navy NCIS" protseduurisari ja "Tantsud tähtedega" Ameerika variant.
* Väidetakse, et SyFy kandis SGU üle meelega halvale ajale, et reitingud viletsad oleksid ja et siis oleks võimalik kuulutada SGU näitamine kahjumlikuks ja saada mingi suurem maksusoodustus, millele üks SGU produtsente Joseph Mallozzi viitas, küll mitte otsesõnu.

Vot nii.

Kas päike võib tulevikus ikkagi pilve tagant paista?

Lootust muidugi veel on, sest produtsendid ja näitlejad on öelnud, et ettenähtavas tulevikus SGU-d ei tehta. Kolm aastat ootamist, nagu vähemalt SGU-st endas lõpuks teada saab, on nähtavasti varjatud vihje eksklusiivlepingule SyFy-ga ja et selle lõpp tuleb ära oodata. Samal ajal on MGM-il soojas uus Bondi-film ja kaks "Kääbiku"-filmi ning selle kolme aasta jooksul on MGM-il siis ka aega koguda raha päris oma asjade tegemiseks. MGM-i asju ajab praegu Spyglass Entertainment, kust tuleb $500 miljonit laenu või investeeringuid, millega teha praeguseid ja tuleviku-projekte, mille pealt oleks võimalik teenida ja saadud tulu investeerida näiteks SGU tegemisse. Et siis kolme aastaga on lootust saada ka piisavalt raha, et SGU-d edasi teha ja siis mitte tingimata SyFy-s näidata.