The traditional monologue, as used in TOS, TAS, TNG, Strange New Worlds, as well as the endings of Enterprise and several movies, can be taken as a sort of overall mission statement for the Enterprise, possibly even one that takes place in-universe.

If the other series-- Deep Space Nine, Voyager, Discovery, Picard, Lower Decks, and Prodigy-- had similar mission statements, how might you phrase them?

  • Wooster
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    1 year ago

    I think this tribute video which paraphrases Janeway’s eulogy for the NASA astronaut, does an excellent job feeling like a Star Trek intro without plagiarizing the Enterprise creed.

    I’m not sure how a Lower Decks intro would work. Despite being a comedy, Lower Decks plays Star Treks tropes straight and with dignity, even if they have some fun with them. The monologue would have to go to Mariner, or maybe Boimler. But Mariner, as she has yet been portrayed on screen so far, would be incapable of giving the intro the gravitas the monologue would demand. Freeman certainly could, but that would steal the focus from the Lower Deckers.

    I think a monologue could work really well with Prodigy… more like a recap of how the kids stole the Protostar and that they intend to reach the federation… That said… the mission changes episode to episode… so maybe a dynamic Monologue would work?

    • williams_482MA
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      1 year ago

      this tribute video

      You may want to adjust the link here; currently it skips to the 66 second mark, after Janeway’s speech. Otherwise though, this is a good callout.

      I’m not sure how a Lower Decks intro would work. Despite being a comedy, Lower Decks plays Star Treks tropes straight and with dignity, even if they have some fun with them. The monologue would have to go to Mariner, or maybe Boimler. But Mariner, as she has yet been portrayed on screen so far, would be incapable of giving the intro the gravitas the monologue would demand. Freeman certainly could, but that would steal the focus from the Lower Deckers.

      I think it has to be Boimler. And I expect they would go for something clearly riffing off the classic structure, but inserting some comedy by referencing the relatively unglamorous work the Cerritos does. Something like:

      Space, the final frontier. These are the voyages of the starship Cerritos. Our continuing mission: to support known life, and known civilizations. To boldly go where others have gone before.

      They could tack on a closing quip, such as “…and clean up whatever mess they left behind.” Carefully timed to line up with an embarrassing part of the opening credits sequence, of course.