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The Temporal Cold War is a fictional conflict waged throughout history in the Star Trek universe, notably during the 22nd century AD. 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. Participants Factions in the war include: 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 its 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.) Millions of years ago Thousands of years ago Twentieth century 21st century 22nd century 24th century 26th century 29th century 31st century Controversy According to Manny Coto, a new executive producer during the fourth season, his fellow producers Rick Berman and Brannon Braga never fully planned out the Temporal Cold War storyline.* According to Braga himself, they did not even firmly decide on the identity or back story of the 29th century leader of the Cabal * (dubbed "Future Guy" and "Temporal Shower Guy" by fans *). 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. By the end of the third season, Coto felt the need for change, one of these being the removal of the TCW arc. According to him, "I felt that everything that had been said about the Temporal Cold War had already been said. I felt a heavy reliance on time travel at the beginning of Enterprise."* Nevertheless, he says "I was secretly hoping for a season five to address the time travel." Episodes The following is a list of episodes which involve 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. Compare with | |||||||
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