Temporal Cold War
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The Temporal Cold War is a fictional conflict waged throughout history, notably during the 22nd century AD in the Star Trek universe. First established in the pilot episode of Star Trek: Enterprise, and recurring until that series' third season finale, it is a struggle between those who would alter history to suit their own ends (the Cabal) and those who would preserve the integrity of the original timeline.
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Participants
Factions in the war include:
- 26th Century Sphere-Builders working through the 22nd century Xindi
- 27th Century Future Guy working through the 22nd century Suliban Cabal
- 29th Century Na'kuhl faction headed by Vosk across millions of years, notably through 1940s Nazi Germany
- 29th and 31st Century United Federation of Planets' Starfleet
The Temporal Accords were an historic agreement to preserve the integrity of the timeline. Its principles were rejected by Vosk, who started an outright rebellion using stealth time travel. Unlike Earth's historical Cold War, the Temporal Cold War involves countless unknown factions, each with their own agenda. Humanity in the 31st Century is attempting to ascertain the identity of their adversaries and to thwart their efforts.
Although the scope of the war was unprecedented, most of its casualties were unaware that they were involved in an organized conflict; hence the term "Cold War". Timelines were changed frequently, with history being rewritten or significant events being erased. Eventually the struggle broke out into full-scale war.
The Temporal Cold War came to a decisive end in 1944 New York City when Captain Jonathan Archer, Silik (the leader of the Suliban Cabal), and the crew of the Enterprise destroyed a "temporal conduit" that Vosk and his radical faction were attempting to use. In the subsequent explosion, Vosk is destroyed, and the present timeline is restored.
Some fanon materials suggest that Gary Seven (who appeared in the original series episode Assignment: Earth) may have been involved with the Temporal Cold War, although this has yet to be confirmed on screen. (Seven is clearly aware of the concept of time travel, but there is little evidence that he made use of this technology himself.)
Major events in the Temporal Cold War
Millions of years ago
- The Na'kuhl prevents the Suliban from attaining sentience, but this incursion is undone by Daniels' colleagues.
Thousands of years ago
- As a prelude to invasion, a number of planetoid-sized spheres are constructed to reconfigure space and make it suitable for transdimensional beings known as the Sphere Builders. The region becomes known as the Delphic Expanse.
Twentieth century
- An unknown temporal agent assassinates Lenin, preventing Russia's Bolshevik Revolution and the rise of communism.
- Vosk aids the Nazis in invading and occupying the United States during World War II.
21st Century
- Jonathan Archer and T'Pol foil Xindi-Reptillian research on Humans in Detroit.
22nd Century
- The Sphere-Builders tell the Xindi Council that Humans will eradicate them in the future.
- The Suliban Cabal begins taking orders from the 28th Century.
- Daniels infiltrates the Enterprise crew to protect them.
- Enterprise is implicated in the destruction of a mining colony by the Cabal.
- Enterprise, the Suliban and the Tholians struggle over a derelict ship from the future.
- The Xindi make a preemptive strike on Earth, killing 7 million.
24th Century
- The Federation develops the Temporal Prime Directive, a precursor to the Temporal Accords.
26th Century
- The Federation defeats the Sphere-Builders at the Battle of Procyon V.
27th Century
- A faction led by the mysterious Future Guy contacts the Cabal in the past to employ them for their own ends.
29th Century
- Vosk rejects the Temporal Accords.
31st Century
- Daniels is sent back in time to protect the Enterprise NX-01.
Controversy
Star Trek executive producers Rick Berman and Brannon Braga have revealed in various interviews that at no time did they ever fully plan out the Temporal Cold War storyline, or even have rough ideas about its story or direction, or even the identity or back story of the 29th century leader of the Cabal (dubbed "Future Guy" and "Temporal Shower Guy" by fans), essentially making it up as they went along. At the end of the second season of Enterprise, poor ratings and reviews led to a new attempt to revamp the show by creating the Xindi race. In any case, by the end of the Temporal Cold War arc, large segments of the fanbase was disgruntled at the entire storyline when its ad hoc story development started to become apparent. Template:Citeneeded
By the time of the end of the third season, the unpopularity among fans of the Temporal Cold War arc led to changes. A new executive producer, Manny Coto, was given the nod to join the series during the fourth season. This would mean that the last story that Berman and Braga could make independent of outside influence was the Season 3 cliffhanger/Season 4 premiere storyline. However, what could have been an ending of their sole control of the show on a high note was widely ridiculed. The third season cliffhanger revealed that time-traveling aliens were on Earth during World War II, allied with the Nazis, and interfering with the timeline. Many Star Trek fans were upset with this because the concept of some form of "evil alien nazi" has actually been done twice before on previous Star Trek series, and thus, had become a cliché (and one of the most prominent criticisms of the pair was that many of the episodes they wrote for Enterprise used recycled plotlines). With fanbase rejection of the Temporal Cold War arc, it became apparent to Manny Coto that it had to conclude at the beginning of the fourth season.
Thus, what was originally meant to be a story arc spanning the entire duration of the series was ended prematurely to put the show on a new, prequel-oriented footing.
Episodes
The following list of episodes are those episodes which have involvement of the Temporal Cold War story arc. A subplot of this arc involves the aftermath of Archer freeing a group of Suliban wrongly detained as a result of the Cold War.
| # | Title |
|---|---|
| 101 102 | "Broken Bow" |
| 111 | "Cold Front" |
| 121 | "Detained" |
| 124 | "Desert Crossing" |
| 125 | "Two Days and Two Nights" |
| 126 | "Shockwave" |
| 201 | "Shockwave, Part II" |
| 216 | "Future Tense" |
| 226 | "The Expanse" |
| 311 | "Carpenter Street" |
| 318 | "Azati Prime" |
| 324 | "Zero Hour" |
| 401 402 | "Storm Front" |
Compare with
- Avengers Forever (Marvel Comics)
- The Big Time (1957) by Fritz Leiber
- Time War (Doctor Who)
- Crisis on Infinite Earths