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Re: Why retcons don't bother me anymore
Posted By: Stephen L. (SoundEffect) <soundeffect@hotmail.com>	Date: 5/19/11 6:56 a.m.
: The model is only a prop shot in the film to represent the idea of the : Enterprise. It's not the Enterprise itself, even though it appears on : screen-- not in the same way that the General Lee is a "real" : 1969 Dodge. : What if a 24 deck model and a 26 deck model were both made, for the same film : or series, and both were used in different episodes? What if they were : used within the same episodes? Which one would be the "correct" : one? That's only a slightly more slovenly level of attention to detail : than you describe, with numbers varying between script pages, and then : varying between films. : I think you, for whatever reason, have a strong need or desire for there to : be a correct answer-- probably the same way that I feel about elements of : plot or theme. : However, at the end I have to admit that these are issues of interpretation : and that there isn't a single right answer. Not even Bungie's intent : describes a single "correct" answer-- it's possible that for : certain things there isn't even a single monolithic interpretation of what : Halo means within Bungie! : There are all sorts of reason to stop paying attention to Star Trek at : Nemesis (or before) that have a lot to do with poor writing, poor acting, : and poor presentation that consistent attention to detail with regard to : the number of decks on the ship would never be able to address. I'll take : a Star Trek film with those elements fixed and the wrong number of decks : any day of the week. : In before you ask NO I will not take the JJ Abrams film. : I'd argue that in a fictional universe, creative precedence is not enough to : establish correctness. : Audiences don't observe fictional universes directly, but the experience is : mediated by those creating the work. In essence, it's like hearsay. It's : possible for a work to get something "wrong" the first time, and : then correct it. That'd be a retcon, though, right-- not an error? : 1+1 : One plus one always equals to because this is repeatable, demonstrable, part : of the definition of what "one" and "two" mean, and : backed by actual, physical reality. The number of fictional decks on a : fictional spaceship in two or more films in which there is no consistent : reality does not and cannot have the same level of truth value. : It seems to me that you're calling it "right" to justify the effort : (which I and many others appreciate) but you can't actually justify : calling it "right" because there is no"right" which : can objectively be established. At best you can try and guess "this : is what Bungie intended, and these other things are mistakes" but I : can easily imagine situations where, with many people involved, you'll : never get such an answer, and other situations-- ones of artistic : license-- where the creators will be absolutely opposed to giving you one : (like the changes to the Autumn in Reach). I hear the argument time and again about how the Enterprise isn't 'real'. The physical model is built to scale and the scale is determined as a fraction of the actual size. This can be taken as though real...if the reality of movie making allowed it, they could certainly build a full size Enterprise to film with, but there's no justification for doing so. The scale model is designed so, say, the windows on the exterior don't appear between decks, they appear right where they should be. A deck count possible on a scale model can directly translate upwards to the deck count on an actual vehicle if one had been built. I will not subscribe to the General Lee (a fictional vehicle as Hazzard County isn't a real place either) being more 'real' than the starship Enterprise in this fictional context. Even though the '69 Charger is an actual vehicle. Nowadays, the General Lee could be a fully CGI creation and would be no more real than a CGI starship in my mind. Often the designers who draft the spacecraft for Star Trek have drafting or architecture credentials...sure they don't design to the proper framework, plumbing, etc, but proper structure including deck count is a design consideration.

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