Fun Star Trek: Enterprise

[Gavin]

I have issues with how mind melding is looked down upon in this series, when it seems that it's such a common place thing in later Trek.

Yeah, given the Vulcan's clear resistance to change demonstrated in this series, it's hard to believe that it was fully accepted as a normal Vulcan attribute just a few decades later in the original series.

I find them interesting. Except for Hoshi and Mayweather. Hoshi is attractive, that's about it.

Reed is just depressing, Archer is arrogant and downright rude at times, T'Pol comes across as a pouty child, and Tucker seems to be not very bright most of the time. The whole "B" story in Stigma was about him being upset about Phlox's wife making advances to him and him not being either smart enough to realise it was a cultural thing or honest enough to just tell her he wasn't interested. They all seem very one dimensional with their defining characteristics set out in the pilot episode and no real development since then.

 

[chainsaw_metal1]

I really like Archer, but again, it might have to do with me being such a fan of Bakula. I think he carries a lot of his resentment of his father's treatment for so long, and he never gets past that. I think with all of the characters, and I think I might have said this before, so if I did, apologies, that they all needed a rewrite. The established characters were fine, but as you state, they get their setup at the beginning, and go nowhere from there. Even in TNG, you see how everyone, even the fucking android, has some personal growth.

It's weird, because I really do like the series, but it has so many flaws. I think the idea of it is sound, and maybe that's why I latched on to it so well. Perhaps if they brought in a few other writers to expand upon what they established, it could have been a fantastic show. Alas, we never saw what could have been.

I will say, I liked what growth they did get. Trip and T'Pol becoming a couple, and exploring the two of them learning to love each other and put aside their differences. The episode where they found out they had a child, and then dealing with the loss of her, it still kicks me in the gut. Maybe that's just part of being a dad, and having that fear of anything ever happening to my kids.

 

[Gavin]

he episode where they found out they had a child, and then dealing with the loss of her, it still kicks me in the gut. Maybe that's just part of being a dad, and having that fear of anything ever happening to my kids.

I know what you mean. Ever since I had kids any storyline where kids get hurt in anyway pretty much gets me blubbing. I loved season 1 of Broadchurch but I really struggled with what happened.

 

[chainsaw_metal1]

Broadchurch was so good. That season kept me enthralled the entire time. The second season had peaks and valleys, but in the end, was also very good. The way the town was devastated by the events was definitely true of small towns.

 

[Gavin]

Broadchurch was so good. That season kept me enthralled the entire time. The second season had peaks and valleys, but in the end, was also very good. The way the town was devastated by the events was definitely true of small towns.

Haven't started on the 2nd season yet but its high on my "must watch" list. At the moment I'm trying to play catch up on Game of Thrones because my niece is going insane from needing to talk to someone about it and all her family and friends are behind (I've been her sole outlet over the last couple of weeks because I don't mind spoilers).

 

[Gavin]

I must say I did enjoy S2E15 Cease Fire. Probably helped by guest starring two of my favourite ST regular guests, the always awesome (and usually alien) Jeffrey Combs and the gorgeous (also alien) Suzie Plakson. The developing relations between Humans, Andorians, and Vulcans really does seem like the seeds are being planted for the beginnings of the Federation.

 

[Gavin]

This show is driving me insane with its inconsistent characterisations. Loved S2E20 Horizons and started liking Mayweather for the first time. Next episode suddenly Mayweather is an expert rockclimber despite growing up on a starship and spending months between planets. Then Cogenitor and suddenly Archer is all about not interfering with other cultures and gives a massive lecture to Trip about doing something that he absolutely would have done himself in any other episode.

 

[Gavin]

Aarrgh!!!!! So now the Borg only came to Earth because the Borg that went to the past got off a message with Earth's coordinates? And Starfleet knew about the Borg (at least vaguely) 200 years before Picard first encountered them? And Phlox figured out how to prevent Borg nanoprobes from taking over a person?

Do these people not leave any historical records to help out in times of future encounters????

Next Generation strongly implied that when Q sent the Enterprise D to their first encounter with the Borg that it was the first encounter for both species and it was what prompted the Borg to start towards Earth.

Have the writers of this show ever even watched a Star Trek episode before?

 

[chainsaw_metal1]

Next Generation strongly implied that when Q sent the Enterprise D to their first encounter with the Borg that it was the first encounter for both species and it was what prompted the Borg to start towards Earth.

Much of what we get with Enterprise is a new(ish) timeline, because of First Contact. With the Borg Sphere going back in time to disrupt Zephram Cochrane's first warp flight, and the Enterprise going back as well, it changed things.

Here's what I have always found interesting. How many times did the Enterprise go back in time during the original series? And how many times did it disrupt the timeline? How about in The Voyage Home? Hell, even in Time's Arrow, the crew going back and essentially telling Mark Twain everything about themselves didn't disrupt the timeline. And yet, after First Contact, every time someone goes back in time, it changes the future. It's rather frustrating.

Do these people not leave any historical records to help out in times of future encounters????

Eh, not so much. Maybe writers just like to forget about those things, like how they recently revealed how they would "forget" about replicators.

 

[Doctor Omega]

At the time - to be honest - I quietly rejected this manifestation of the STAR TREK franchise. Never really watched much of it at all.

But now, after seeing the wayward horrors being perpetrated in the name of TREK, I intend to go back and watch this one all the way through. Ditto all the DS9's and VOYAGERS that I missed too.

Cos I think i may have been unfair. And I increasingly feel that Berman, for all that the fans moaned about him at the time, had more of a sensibility that respected Trek, in comparison to recent efforts.

Or is it just rose tinted glasses on my part - and this series really wasn't that good?

 

[chainsaw_metal1]

Or is it just rose tinted glasses on my part - and this series really wasn't that good?

The more we talk through this thread, the more I question why I liked this. Yes, it certainly wasn't a strong series, but it really did have such potential, and it felt like, although the writers couldn't develop characters or keep to a set continuity, they had one aspect right. They built a world where you could believe it was a pre-Kirk universe. Humans are wary of trusting other species, and working their way to the building the Federation. Also, some episodes resonate even stronger today, like the episode where Phlox is accosted by xenophobic humans in a bar. There are so many great elements to the series that I have a hard time negating the show as a whole.

 

[Doctor Omega]

I think that Paramount at the time were simply not allowing the franchise to breathe. It was "let's get another seven season show started". I think the franchise just ran out of steam, cos familiarity bred contempt and people got sick of it all.

If they had paced things better, this series might have had a smoother and longer run.

 

[Gavin]

Just finished season 2 with an episode that felt like nothing more than a set up for season 3. A fairly "meh" episode to be honest, despite what should have been massively shocking with Trip's sister being killed. It just never felt like anything more than setup. Still, I'm looking forward to season 3 with the Xindi storyline which seems like it has potential.

 

[Gavin]

Just watched the first episode of season 3. Not a bad start to the story but oh my god what did they do to the theme song? Did someone decide that the cure to the theme song not being popular with fans was to make it more pop?

 

[McQualude]

I haven't read this thread and will probably step on some toes but IMO Enterprise would be in the worst 5 sci-fi/fantasy series I've watched. Back then was a blog dedicated to pointing out it's mistakes, continuity errors and bad writing, it was a lot for every episode. The show had terrible continuity, the time travel stuff was awful, Bakula was awful, major plot events and character events frequently happened off screen, Mayweather was treated like a token black man; it was a mess. Honestly it might just be the worst (popular) tv show I've ever seen, like S3 of Zoo bad but all the way through.

The Mirror universe episodes were great, they should have kept it simple and been more TOS/TNG like. Ironically, Jolene Blalock was fantastic since she didn't have to act at all. Trip was good, he should have been the Captain. Phlox was good. Hoshi was annoying. Malcolm was meh. Bakula was terrible, like an angsty 13 year old in a 40 year old's body.

 

[chainsaw_metal1]

Interesting thoughts on the series. Personally, I really likes Bakula in it, but I love him as an actor, so it may be bias on my part. I would have liked to have seen Trip as the captain, thought, now that you bring that up. He's a great actor, and the character is really well done. One of the few that were really written well.

I get what they were going with when the created Hoshi, but yes, she's annoying as hell. I don't get why they introduce her as an intelligent, capable woman, just to turn her into a sniveling whiner throughout the rest of the series. I get the feeling on repeat viewings that the show had the right set up, it just needed much better writers.

Also, Phlox needs his own show.

 

[Gavin]

Bakula was awful

I don't disagree. I think he's actually a pretty good actor overall though, and it says something that even he wasn't able to demonstrate that with the way the character was written.

 

[johnnybear]

This was Bakula's second go with a sixties sci-fi classic and like the first one I don't think he pulled it off! The advertising at the time said that he was Kirk's hero and somehow I couldn't quite believe that!
JB

 

[Doctor Omega]

Sadly I have to agree. I like him as an actor and as Archer, but Kirk's hero? No, can't see it.

 

[McQualude]

Pop fiction gets Kirk all wrong. He was a bookworm and genious at chess and tactics. Captain Kirk was the smartest guy in the room. Pop fiction and the new treks play him as a daredevil but that's garbage Star Wars thinking.