TNG: "The First Duty"

Post by **Vympel** » 2002-12-14 05:53am

Questions

1: What is 'Nova Squadron?'

2: What do they fly?

3: Are these craft combat capable, or are they advanced trainers for Federation fighters?

4: Why doesn't anyone notice that Lucarno and Paris are the same person?

Post by **Gandalf** » 2002-12-14 06:36am

Questions

1: What is 'Nova Squadron?'
Basically good pilots, the best in their class at the academy.

2: What do they fly?
Just small one man craft designed for training in maneuvers i would think

3: Are these craft combat capable, or are they advanced trainers for Federation fighters?
I doubt they have any weapons, probably just used for maneuver training, formations etc.

4: Why doesn't anyone notice that Lucarno and Paris are the same person?
I don't know that one, Paris' fucking backstory is Locarno's (Caretaker)

Post by **Vympel** » 2002-12-14 06:57am

Gandalf wrote: 4: Why doesn't anyone notice that Lucarno and Paris are the same person?
I don't know that one, Paris' fucking backstory is Locarno's (Caretaker)

Clarify: they have the same backstory ....

Maybe Locarno changed his name?

Post by **Vympel** » 2002-12-14 07:01am

Scratch that idea. The backgrounds are similar but different. For a second I thought B&B had a brain in their heads and actually put (gasp!) continuity into this- it appears the character of Tom Paris is only based on that of Locarno. Oh well.

BenRG · Post by **BenRG** » 2002-12-14 03:52pm

Vympel wrote:Scratch that idea. The backgrounds are similar but different. For a second I thought B&B had a brain in their heads and actually put (gasp!) continuity into this- it appears the character of Tom Paris is only based on that of Locarno. Oh well.

A suggestion of what might happen. When B & B were plotting out Voyager, they decided that the ship's primary helmsman should be a maverick who was drummed out of the fleet for an accident that led to the death of his colleagues. "Hey!" one of them said. "Why don't we use the character of Cadet Lorcano! You know from that TNG episode set at the academy?"

It seemed good, but as they thought about it, they realised that, Trek fans being what they are, there would be an immense outcry if this character suddenly reappeared with a new face. Undaunted, they just scratched out 'Lorcano' and replaced it with 'Paris' in every case in their draft Character Bible. They hoped that no one would notice that 'Paris' was in fact Lorcano. It would have worked... if that stupid casting director hadn't cast the actor who played Lorcano as Paris!

Post-pilot episode, Paris has changed enough to no longer be a Lorcano-clone... (Hey! That's an idea I didnt' think about! After all, the Roms cloned Picard. Why not clone a human with tactically useful skills?

) However, the two characters are still similar enough that watching 'The First Duty' is a vaguely surreal experience.

Shadow · Post by **Shadow** » 2002-12-15 03:31pm

Paris was intended to be the character from "The First Duty." However, they decided to make a new similar character with the same actor. I believe they did this because they didn't want to have to pay the witer of "The First Duty" royalty for every episode of Voyager.

Kamakazie Sith · Post by **Kamakazie Sith** » 2002-12-15 05:19pm

Vympel wrote:Scratch that idea. The backgrounds are similar but different. For a second I thought B&B had a brain in their heads and actually put (gasp!) continuity into this- it appears the character of Tom Paris is only based on that of Locarno. Oh well.

That would require them to exercise some continuity.

Post by **Gandalf** » 2002-12-16 01:08am

To be specific, Paris caused an accident that lost the life of a cadet, he held it in for a while, then it was revealed that he did something wrong. Locarno was the same story.

Post by **Vympel** » 2002-12-18 09:00am

I thought Paris was the son of an Admiral and was serving on a ship when his accident happened?

BenRG · Post by **BenRG** » 2002-12-18 05:05pm

Vympel wrote:I thought Paris was the son of an Admiral and was serving on a ship when his accident happened?

Yep, that's right. However, I'm pretty sure that at the initial scriptwriting meetings, the story would have sounded a lot more like Lorcano's.

It did anyway in the pilot episode, especially the bit about seeing the light: "The spirits of my dead shipmates appeared to teach me the true meaning of Christmas."

Ah! I loved that character. The first nearly-human Starfleet officer since... Well, Chekhov, I think.

Grand Admiral Thrawn · Post by **Grand Admiral Thrawn** » 2002-12-18 05:30pm

Vympel wrote:Questions

1: What is 'Nova Squadron?'

StarFleet Acedemy's finest.

2: What do they fly?

Small one man ships.

3: Are these craft combat capable, or are they advanced trainers for Federation fighters?

They aren't armed.

4: Why doesn't anyone notice that Lucarno and Paris are the same person?

Anyone does.

Typhonis 1 · Post by **Typhonis 1** » 2002-12-19 02:14am

Who thinks that the episode was pure BS .I mean cmon what are they teaching those students anyway? to be proper little paper pushers??

neoolong · Post by **neoolong** » 2002-12-19 02:29am

Typhonis 1 wrote:Who thinks that the episode was pure BS .I mean cmon what are they teaching those students anyway? to be proper little paper pushers??

No, to be Starfleet officers. Wait, that's about the same thing.

Vertigo1 · Post by **Vertigo1** » 2002-12-20 02:54am

Actually, Paris isn't related to that other cadet in the least. This was explained quite clearly in the novel "Pathways" by Jeri Taylor (one of the only two canon novels). It was an accident in a straffing run in the asteroid belt. Paris eventually joined up with the Maquis, and got nabbed by the feds. Thats where he confessed to his role in the accident IIRC.

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TNG: "The First Duty"

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