Zefram Cochrane (Star Trek Lore)
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 2 ก.ค. 2021
- We see the pioneer of warp drive three times in Star Trek, once in TOS "Metamorphosis", First Contact's Cochrane in 2063 and again in Enterprise's "Broken Bow".
There are some major differences in the lore concerning his origin, so let's look at his life and career.
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"Don't try to be a great man, just a man, and let history make its own judgements."
That's rhetorical nonsense.....who said that
@@bemasaberwyn55 You did, ten years from now.
"Try the corned beef. It's delicious."
@@robertdougherty349 DO you know canned corned beef, (we call it bully beef here) makes a GREAT bolognaise sauce for pasta? It's DIFFERENT to being made with fresh beef or lamb, but good in its own way!
@@DMSProduktions oh that's interesting I'll try that. But... How did we get to bolognaise...?
One thing I always liked about this version of Cochrane is, he's portrayed as a normal person instead of some idealized version of a historical figure. He drinks, he's a bit of a lecher, he's a smart@$$... : )
and he's portrayed by the awesome James Cromwell, who pulls all of that off magnificently!
He doesn’t want to be some kind of hero because that is just to much responsibility to deal with. He has the innate idea that does he make his future or does knowing the future make it happen. Star Trek and the Golden Path…
Mister clemens, shame on you!
I also assume he WAS 50 in 2063, and born in 2013, like the novelization said, by J.M. Dillard (source of the bipolar disorder claim)
The age discrepancy would be due to time dilation at high sublight, and cryo stasis use, on long trips, say - making him only biologically, 87, in 2119. When he vanishes.
I always thought this depiction of Cochrane was an homage to Gene Roddenberry. Gene certainly wasn't a perfect man or a saint. He liked partying and womanizing and he definitely liked money. But it was his original vision that gave life to this enduring franchise that changed the world.
I really liked the First Contact version. Even though he never seemed like someone who could invent a toaster but simply an emotionally damaged disposable test pilot. It was a great example of “don’t judge a book by its cover” as he is made the first step along the road to Starfleet possible, being the last person you’d expect to do so. How great things like the Federation can start by just trying to make a selfish buck.
Yeah, it makes sense that it would take an individual outside of conventional expectations to do something conventionally thought to be impossible.
I personally know people where you question how they manage to put on their shoes in the morning without help, but in their field they're absolutely genius.
@@anlumo1 Einstein for instance, he usually couldn't dress himself.
I like to think that that much of the success in developing warp theory and the warp drive actually belongs to the mathematicians, physicists, and engineers on his team, but he gets the credit because he was the leader of the group and brought all the different parts together. and that lines like "don't try to be a great man, just be a man and let history make its own judgements" was meant less as an inspirational statement than as a cynical recognition of how his own role in the development of warp drive became interpreted.
This sounds like a Ferengi lesson on something
I am curious as to whether Cochrane’s choice to play “Magic Carpet Ride” during the launch of the Phoenix went on to inspire the Abrams’ films obsession with the Beastie Boys’ “Sabotage”. Regardless, one time I saw James Cromwell get arrested for protesting animal testing happening at the University of Wisconsin, that guy is awesome.
On at least one occasion Cromwell protested (and was arrested) alongside J.G. Hertzler who played Martok (and a few other roles over the years). Not sure if they're real life friends or they just happen to believe in the same causes, but it's a fun connection!
IMO the usage of MCR was something of a sop to us Boomers, to give us a "thrilling"/nostalgic connection to the TOS era.
I'm a Boomer and didn't mind too much. Can you think of a selection that would have appealed to audiences contemporary with the film?
Similar for Jar Jar's musical choice- something the contemporary audience (he was aiming his films at) would hopefully connect with.
In-universe, who knows? Maybe both Cochrane and JTK's uncle liked "Classical music".
@@markfergerson2145 MCR was an acceptable choice, but Born To Be Wild is pure Zefram Cochrane! I'm guessing it wasn't used only because the licensing fee knocked it out of budget range.
Although if you think about this it makes no sense. The year was 2063 and he is going into space listening to music from a century ago. This is like one of us listening to 1920s show tunes (or whatever you might call them) now. Anyway it is a movie but I always found that odd as someone from that era would probably like music of that era. Of course in the movie they cannot guess what music would be like but when the movie was made the song was already old!!!
@@testtoon1452 What, you don't like "Pack up your troubles in your old kit bag and smile, smile, smile"?
Maybe a real classic like "Ride of the Valkyries" would have been better but there's that Vietnam War association for some of us...
I've always wanted to see more of the WW3 period as well as the years immediately after first contact with the Vulcans.
Please don’t. Don’t. Don’t give them more ideas to screw up with STD and PICARD. Please.
Strange New Worlds 9 story collection has some neat details... (and two specific stories)
There is so much story to tell
Not me they will make it like discovery , discovery is a punishment for any real Star Trek fan
I wanted to see the Khan period that Spock on the episode said was WW3 but they retcon that later.
He also had a piglet named babe, but not many people know that
🤣. "That'll do, Pig."
Then it died and turned into pixel porkchop
"Federation"
If you haven't read it, you're missing out on one of the finest Star Trek books ever written. It focuses on Cochrane's history and spans a period of several hundred years. Truly epic.
So true. I kept waiting for them to mention it in the video.
Federation is a must read for any fan
you are correct. picked mine up in a local thrift store when i was lucky one day.
Id say tgat tos era, he was idealized for his work.
First contact era, the real person behind all the idealism is seen. You know those little quirks history tends to ignore for the sake of pioneering folk heroes.
Doesnt make them less, just makes them more human.
Agree, usually people who writtes the history books tend to leave oit those small quirks or details to create a more idolize version of the person
One other thing about Zefram Cochrane due to him being born in the early 21st century he has a degree relatability only matched by the likes of Barclay (in the latter's case for different reasons). He represents and transition period between Humanity in the 20th & 21st centuries and Humanity in the main centuries of Star Trek. And him being so contemporary can represent how the Humanity of today can strive and possibly achieve some of the better aspects of ourselves and our potential.
"Live long and EAT LEAD!"-- Mirror Cochrane
There's one detail you left out. I seem to remember Cochrane's camp being attacked by Robot Zombies and a group of strange people who no one saw again showed up and stopped them a long with an older but very attractive blonde wearing what seemed to be cybernetic implants. Funny thing is, nobody seems to have remembered it.
I thought I had just dreamed that up! That was real?!
And how they repeated it in a time loop for weeks to find something called *Bonus Dilithium*
They already had cybernetics. You couldn't know how advanced they were unless you could test them.
@@thezeropike STO is more real than any contemporary modern Star Trek.
@@HotPinkst17 STO is a part time job with a Star Trek IP involved. And you don't get paid for the job you just get in-store credits that are horrifically poor worth, even in-store.
The fact he invented Earth's first warp engine is also proof that Cochraine valued space exploration. No one would invent such a device unless they valued space exploration. Even to get rich. They'd create a device for a field they were passionate in. Without passion one cannot succeed with the huge challenge of creating a new technology.
The novel Star Trek: Federations (which was in many ways a precursor to Star Trek Generations, crossing TOS and TNG), had Cochrane conduct his first Warp flight with a probe from a station near Saturn, during WWIII, and the main antagonist of the novel is the guy who wanted to use the warp drive as a bomb. (It also explained the Starfleet Delta symbol as being based on Cochrane's warp equations, specifically in the energy expenditure compared to relativistic lightspeed.)
I consider this book to be Canon in my personal head-cannon.
Damn good book
Adrik Thorsen, one of Colonel Green's boys. That scene in the book where he's using that outlawed technology and is basically picking bits of his face off...creepy.
As I recall, Cochrane ended up in the 24th century aboard the Enterprise D in that book. I believe the Companion came with him, and one of them I think died? It's been years. I remember liking that book, and thinking it would have been a better crossover than Generations.
If you're looking for my professional opinion as ship's counselor: he's nuts.
What person who understands Subspace quantum physics isn’t crazy
The reason Zefram Cochrane is portrayed as a alcoholic was because as Rick Berman put it "we read and learn about historical figures in school" we then have a image in our heads of these historical figures being great men but the truth is very different. Captain Picard and his crew read and learnt Zefram Cochrane was this great visionary they soon discover the truth is very different
I suspect it is explainable both by history wanting to present a far more organized and collected face on things, and temporal federetion stepping in to iron out any inconsistencies in how the rocket had testing and materials done they were patently unable to be done on a lone missile silo turned launch site by fabricating records pointing at more organized efforts.
Yeah, erasing the existence of an armed nuclear missile silo - especially during a period when international tensions are rising - isn't exactly a trivial thing to do. Cochrane's research program clearly had big backers.
N'ere'are one of the many reasons I enjoy these videos.
There is a book that has a crossover with Kirk, Picard & Cochran. Federation. Was one of the (if not the) first Star Trek books I ever read.
An abridged audiobook version is on youtube.
The name of the book is Federation. And personally, I prefer that version of Cochcrane and his life than First Contact's.
@@charlesborden8111 me too. It was really good and in it billionaire Micah Brack funded his work and the extrasolar colonies.
Micah Brack was also Mr. Flint from “Requium for Methuselah “
Parts of it get recycled into a story closer to First Contact, in the short story 'The Immortality Blues', in the Strange New Worlds 9 collection... (it also features Flint)
I wasn’t fanatically into Trek when First Contact came out but I remember thinking that Cochrane was notably different to his appearance in TOS as I’d watched the BBC2 repeats reasonably recently when I saw it. Got to admit it still jars but the FC version is more interesting and less cliched, so I get why they went how they did. With some mental squinting it does just about fit together.
This is literally the best lore channel on Earth...and Alpha Centauri!🖖
7:26 is the best new word of 2021, easily.
A lot of this can be explained by us getting a really abridged version in TOS, so those trips around the globe and to the moon could have easily happened after First Contact and it just comes across like it all happened at once.
Or its just history getting a tad compressed as it does
The book Star Trek Federation deals with the consequences of Kirk trying to cover up Cochrane's existence. It was written pre Generations, and its a good read.
I loved that book. I still have it.
Thank you for referencing the TOS version, it is often skipped in his life story.
I love James Cromwell's Zefram Cochrane and don't care much about canon and continuity.
One For The Algorithm!
Awesome to see this. Wanted to learn more about him. Thanks for doing this.
Lol @ James Cromwell playing a man in his mid-30s in First Contact.
Also, some of the personality discrepancies of Cochrane are explained in First Contact. People believed him to be this larger-than-life and selfless scientist who wanted to further mankind because of how history remembered him due to his accomplishments. History remembered him in a better light than the actual reality of who he was.
Which is pretty consistently happening in history.
Radiation and alcohol abuse ages people more.
Ok 2030 would make him 33 when he launched the Phoenix. That doesn’t look like a 33 year old man who just came out of WW3. Most cannon has him being born in 2013.
If he'd lived through a nuclear war and the fallout, it could have she's him prematurely.
The showrunners commented at one point that he got hit by a dose of radiation during the war and while he survived, it left him damaged. Vulcan's first contact basically brought medical advances when it came to recovering from radiation poisoning. (Odd, it's almost as if the Vulcans once had a nuclear....nah.)
First Contact was 2063 wasn't it?
He also drank a lot. You would be surprised how bad alcohol damages the body. Plus the whole radiation thing.
@@magnusmaul5447 he wasn’t even on Earth during the WW3 he was on the Luna Base. He then went to Boseman 3 years after the war. He started to drink after his implant that managed his bipolar failed. Drink was the only thing that kept his mind even so he could continue his work.
Great content!
Lol how long were you planning this episode out of interest? I just watched the metamorphosis episode for the first time when it was on TV (H&I channel) about a week ago, and I was wondering if that was what spurred you to make this!
I never knew he was Bipolar. Kinda makes the scene of him shooting the vulcans in the Terran time line more believable.
The novelization of First Contact indicates that Cochran was fifty years old at the time of First Contact. That would mean he was born around 2013, not 2030, which would make him a boy of about eight this year if he were real.
You're telling me Zefram Cochrane built that in Montana? With A BOX OF SCRAPS!?
I'm sorry. I'm just not Zefram Cochrane.
He had connections in the government and military that he got supplied from, that wanted him to succeed since humanity was hurting badly.
This is my second favorite movie. First one where Kirk bring back the whale to save Earth.
Part of me says (and thinks) that during the time frame (TOS and TNG) when Cochrane was mentioned and referenced during those shows, the writers likely had more of a "scientific" type of person in mind (basically, someone much different than what we saw in First Contact). I believe that they changed his character for First Contact to make it more interesting, than just some stuck-up scientist, and rather make him a more dynamic character that perhaps fit more with the time period, thus perhaps, cause some irregularities in the timeline and his history. Although one thing I would note is that it appears that Cochrane (according to Memory Alpha) was born in 2030, and First Contact takes place in 2063... he doesn't look like a 33 year old IMO. He looks more like he's 50-60. Now if he was born in 2013 like some suggest, then his age depicted in FC would probably be more appropriate.
I would counter that with the fact that people can age quite differently.
I have a fellow classmate in college tat looks like older than some of the instructors who are actually teaching, so I know how it can be experienced.
Cochrane sort of reminds me of how Richard Feynman.
i mean, there is the Overview Effect, for when Astronauts sees the Earth from Space for the first time, the thin fragile Atmosphere against the vast black endlessnes of Space and only colourfull Object out there. So maybe that would explain a for pre Warpflight Cocrane and that one you met Kirk.
And we see that moment when the Overview Effect kicks in, right after the Warpflight when he notes how small earth is.
And for the Effect doesn't work the time he was on the Moon and Orbital Stations, with one that got flung into the small Magellanic Clounds, either with all Extended Universe Stuff that contradicts something that we pretend it never happend or it was during a depressional episode
Zefram Cochrane built this! In a silo! WITH A BOX OF SCAPS!!!
It's an older meme, but it still checks out. :)
I know the reference XD "Iron Man"
As long as we're mixing our memes "I shouldn't have said that, I should not have said that."
I like the First Contact version of him best
I would have loved to have seen a man with a noted history of being "frequently intoxicated" as T'Pol put it, try to explain his First Contact meeting to the various governments of Earth in 2063 :P
The Vulcans themselves handled that, I believe.
Great Episode
2026 sound about right for a start of the war
Star Trek TNG novel called Hearts and Minds published in 2017 looks at the lead up to First Contact. It shows the Western Alliance (lead by USA which has a Female US President; she actually launches the nuclear weapons causing WW3) against Eastern Coalition (lead by China). It also has the Aegis and the Vulcan left behind in Enterprise episode Carbon Creek.
Hmm, any more details, @plug socket ? I had assumed it didn't go past the 2030s, that novel, so wouldn't mind more info. Also had assumed no 'hot' war until around 2051, too.
Great video
The book Federation. Look it up.
HA, Kirk... "YOLO", yeah that about sums up Kirk.
Oh damn! That was rad! Are you going to do a Cochrane TOS inconsistency video also?
I like the TOS version of Cochrane. I imagine that version when I listen to the Star Trek audiobook FEDERATION.
Rick Berman: imagine going back in time and meeting Shakespeare and discovering the history books have got it all wrong
If you was a member of the Enterprise-E you'll say to Will Riker... Seriously! that's the guy who invented warp,?
Zefram Cochrane, inventor of the drinko drive
About time :P
"I've got a 4-alarm hangover. It's either from all that whiskey, or your laser beam. (groan) Or both. But I'm ready to make history." - Now there's a man who knows how to party.. :D
They both can fit together including the test flights in Earth's orbit which could have been after or just testing a similar ICBM to see if they are worthy for orbital flight and inter-planetary flight.
Which a man can change, a damaged man doubly so.
I named my son Zephram after this dude
The discoverer of the space warp.
Seems like an example of the magical disabled trope.
I feel like this man needs way more fleshing out
You should do a video on the first ever human too ever possibly step on vulcan soil.
great video. it just so happens that i've also released a video on Cochrane which delves into more of the Beta Cannon of his life.
I think the best way to deal with Star Trek inconsistencies is to think of ever series (the movies as well) as being in different universes. As we've seen in Star Trek, so many times, there are an almost infinite number of universes. Some are so close, you wouldn't be able to tell the difference. This would explain why, in one universe, Cochrane worked with the government, and in another, he worked on his own.
There's a whole book I think.
Fascinating Sci-Fi history from the mid 20th century to the early 21st century.
You know, this may just be me, but kinda want an alternate sort of story that explores the original First Contact. Basically the event if there wasn’t any time travel involved to see how things were like then compared to what happened in the film. It wouldn’t really fuck up the timeline either as the events of First Contact could easily be explained as an alternate parallel universe where hardly anything changes, the only discrepancy being with the Borg episode in Enterprise but that’s to be expected with time fuckery like that.
In a story I'm writing, I have it that he got his idea for warp drive from Alcubierre's theories. ;)
But in general, the headcanon I have is that the fame got to be too much, and he took an offer to move to Alpha Centauri, possibly with some of the many survivors in Montana who also wanted a fresh start.
But he came back to Earth because colony worlds don't have all that many resources if he got this cool idea for further development of warp drive systems.
Once he reached a point, he went back, found that he didn't want to die on a planet and..met the love of his life...Cloud 99...or something like that.
The version in First Contact looks like someone living in the woods in the 19th century.
🖖🏿💫Happy first contact day
Have you ever considered doing videos on The Expanse or Altered Carbon? Or some of the newer Sci Fi out there?
I enjoyed this however I think you missed the friendship 1 probe that voyager found in the delta quadrant that had a devastating effect on that planet
I think that I read a book following suit to the episode of Cochrane on the original series. The companion had left the planet looking for Kirk for help to relocate Cochrane but her planet was destroyed because she had left it for too long. Cochrane then aged rapidly and, because his body couldn't keep up with the aging, passed away on the Enterprise with the companion following suit.
I can't remember the title of the book but I do believe it was an actual book based on the original series.
Have a feeling you just watched one of Venom's videos.
2030 is not a probable birth date. In 2063, he was obviously in his 50s. I'd say 2010 to 2015 would be a more probable birth date.
Interesting,
I surmise after the TOS episode (metamorphoss) that Cochrane again would have eventually gotten bored with life and his situation and endivered to contact and petition the Federation to allow other human settlers to come to his planetoid for the purpose of joining him and his Companion/Nancy Hedford. Then perhaps, a civilization would have grown on that itty bitty world.
Huh. I'd forgotten about Cochrane meeting the Taelons...
I can't remember the name of it, but there was a Trek novel that actually showed at least one adventure he had after the events of that episode.
*always a bit of a bugger when you misplace your ambassador while transporting them to a planet where they are responsible for negotiating the ending of hostilities and the cessation of a popular testosterone drenched war*
*no doubt the paperwork was really complicated and asked a LOT of very awkward questions and had to be filled out in triplicate*
The book “Federation,” says that Kirk reported in his official log that she died from Sakuro’s Disease aboard the shuttle, & McCoy filed an official death certificate for her.
3:28 But Phoenix was launched on April the 5th
Interesting that the Phoenix looks like it uses a Starship Raptor vacuum engine!
"N'ere'are": Now there are.
I mean after living through a world war, particularly one as bad as World War III It makes sense that Cochran would want to live off world…
So THATS what you meant, ty for the explanation
Zefram's Cochrane on his Honeymoon with his babymama.
Certifiably Ingame what happened to Lilly after first contact? I would assume she had a prominent hand in helping designing some of the early ships pre-federation and possibly inspired Cpt Archer's father's work.
iirc, she married Zephram.
Young version was made young by his alien girl friend, he was old when he left Earth.
If Cochrane was born in 2030 he'd only be 33 years old by the events of the first contact. I'd put his birth more around the start of the millennium, by the looks of him
Nova trek also has show line along this theme.
Aww yiss new Rick video
I don't have an issue reconciling First Contact and Metamorphosis. I can even fit in the novel Federation with a tad of fiddling.
What was the one time he let slip about the Borg involvement?
7:25 N’ERE’ARE 😂🤣😂🤣😂🤣
S2-E2 of Enterprise, had a Vulcan named Na'Stral stay on earth in October 1957. his charge at that time was a young Carbon county PA man names Jack. (His last name was never mentioned.) what if it was Cochrane? and Na'stral helped one generation after another of his family till the war. at which time Zefferin compleated his lifes work. make a good fan fiction eah? you could even have Zeferin hand over Na'stral's diaries to the first Vulcan embacy.
just give me credit, No cash, although that would be cool.
I’ve often wondered about how he powered the Phoenix, and whether it used dilithium.
Dilithium probably came a lot later in time.
I always assumed it nuclear since it's built on a third world war rocket which carries nuclear warheads right? Bit far fetched I guessed
Antimatter warhead, maybe?
@@johnbockelie3899 *that would be my guess...really doubt that Dilithium even in minuscule quantities existed on earth at the time (or ever to be honest) that could be experimented with...The Vulcans probably introduced it as a more reliable and less radioactive (and less explodey) and more reliable/predictable alternative*
I'm
You forgot the first warp 4 from Star Trek beyond
1:01 Look at the center of Q's head piece.. I see the ALL SEEING EYE.. triangle, eye... what do you see?
In the original series is he not credited with bwing the original and first inventor of warp drive.
Temporal cold war messed up Cochrane, change my mind
I've got a hangover...either from the booze or your lazer beam.😆
Larga vida a Miguel Alcubierre, el real inventor del warp.
could you do a video on the third world war
Live long and prosper 🖖
At warp 1.6 the trip to centauri would be less than a year.
Funny I was just watching first contact last night
There’s no way Zeph in First Contact is only 33 years old!
Radiation and alcohol abuse.