Star trek: Enterprise
- Thread starter Gammayun
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My opinion: Didn't like it. It had a harder edge than pretty much every single other show. It was too dark for my liking. There were never any "fun" episodes, like every other series had. Every single one characters were boring to a fault. There wasn't that sense of wonder or exploration that every other series had. It felt more like Stargate than Star Trek (and I didn't like Stargate, so Q.E.D.). The Xindi were boring and unmemorable, unlike the Borg or the Dominion. Those are all the major complaints that come to mind.
Enterprise, as a stand-alone series was actually pretty good. Enterprise as a Star Trek series, though, wasn't. Unfortunately, Enterprise shot a lot of canon all to hell during it's run. For example, the first episode introduced humans to Klingons, which was supposed to happen long after the Romulan/Earth War. Another example, the Romulan/Earth war was supposed to be fought with nuclear weapons, and was supposed to take place prior to the Federation forming. Things like that. There were a lot of things that were established in other series (especially the Original Series) that was ignored by Enterprise. For that reason it stands out in Trek fiction as a huge canonical mishap.
That said, the last season of Enterprise really did a lot to bring the series back into line with established canon. In fact, I'd be willing to say I liked the last season (save the last couple episodes) more than the rest of the series. Not only did we take a look at the precursor to Journey to Babel (an excellent TOS episode), but we also peeked into the Mirror Universe and explained what happened in the Tholian Web. The explanation of the Klingons was also, in my opinion, top notch. It definitely could've been ignored (Worf's response of "We don't like to talk about it" suited me fine) but to do it, and do it well, that made up for a lot of the early canonical mishaps.
All in all it's a fun series with likeable characters. Unfortunately it lost a lot of Star Trek "cred" when it played fast and loose with the established canon (a lot like why any die-hard Star Trek fan will tell you that the newest movie either: 1. Sucked. Or 2. Was a cool movie, but wasn't Star Trek). Star Trek isn't meant to be completely accessible, in all honesty, and I think Enterprise did away with a lot of the good science fiction of the old series in favor of easily recognizable techs. Warp theory is a real theory, and anti-matter reactions are a real thing. Enterprise, more or less, neutered Warp theory and ignored making the ship's power systems and weapons match the time, and just grabbed technologies from other series. Canonically Enterprise should've been using nuclear weapons and the personnel should've been firing lasers, not firing "Phase Canons" and "Phase Pistols."
Finally, and this irked me most, the premise for the show was flawed. One of the main reasons that Earth is chosen to, more or less, lead the Federation was because Zephram Cochran built the "better warp engine." That was how it was explained in TOS. Instead we have Vulcans, Andorians, Tellarites, ect all with better ships than our measly one.
On a completely different note, I do have to admit that modern Trek has ignored established canon before. First Contact used Zephram Cochran's launch as it's central plot, ignoring the fact that Zephram Cochran was supposed to have been born on Alpha Centuri...but I digress.
I liked Enterprise, and I'm a die hard Trek fan (Trekkie? Trekker? Who cares?), but I would've liked it more had it stuck to canon a little more closely.
That said, the last season of Enterprise really did a lot to bring the series back into line with established canon. In fact, I'd be willing to say I liked the last season (save the last couple episodes) more than the rest of the series. Not only did we take a look at the precursor to Journey to Babel (an excellent TOS episode), but we also peeked into the Mirror Universe and explained what happened in the Tholian Web. The explanation of the Klingons was also, in my opinion, top notch. It definitely could've been ignored (Worf's response of "We don't like to talk about it" suited me fine) but to do it, and do it well, that made up for a lot of the early canonical mishaps.
All in all it's a fun series with likeable characters. Unfortunately it lost a lot of Star Trek "cred" when it played fast and loose with the established canon (a lot like why any die-hard Star Trek fan will tell you that the newest movie either: 1. Sucked. Or 2. Was a cool movie, but wasn't Star Trek). Star Trek isn't meant to be completely accessible, in all honesty, and I think Enterprise did away with a lot of the good science fiction of the old series in favor of easily recognizable techs. Warp theory is a real theory, and anti-matter reactions are a real thing. Enterprise, more or less, neutered Warp theory and ignored making the ship's power systems and weapons match the time, and just grabbed technologies from other series. Canonically Enterprise should've been using nuclear weapons and the personnel should've been firing lasers, not firing "Phase Canons" and "Phase Pistols."
Finally, and this irked me most, the premise for the show was flawed. One of the main reasons that Earth is chosen to, more or less, lead the Federation was because Zephram Cochran built the "better warp engine." That was how it was explained in TOS. Instead we have Vulcans, Andorians, Tellarites, ect all with better ships than our measly one.
On a completely different note, I do have to admit that modern Trek has ignored established canon before. First Contact used Zephram Cochran's launch as it's central plot, ignoring the fact that Zephram Cochran was supposed to have been born on Alpha Centuri...but I digress.
I liked Enterprise, and I'm a die hard Trek fan (Trekkie? Trekker? Who cares?), but I would've liked it more had it stuck to canon a little more closely.
Exactly, that's what I think. About anything really. There's gaping plot holes in games and some book series all the time but as long as you think it's entertaining and fun I don't see why people get their knickers in a twist.Liquidacid23 said:
There are some Star Trek fans who pick up on everything though, even the small inconsistency and hate the series for it.
I really liked it, start to finish.
I was amazed it got axed so soon.
And if you didn't like the last few eps; that's what happens when a series suddenly has to stop... compact all of their remaining mysteries in a far too short timespan
I was amazed it got axed so soon.
And if you didn't like the last few eps; that's what happens when a series suddenly has to stop... compact all of their remaining mysteries in a far too short timespan
Its actually the only one i own all of on dvd, mostly cause it was on sale but meh.
I personally like it but yeah the whole storyline where they spend ages messing around looking for the xindi does drag on a bit, but i also found the time war thing kinda silly at some points.
But the ending did seem kinda sudden, like it just got cut off, also apparently is muddles the continuity a little but ive never looked it up so idk, but im told it kinda compresses or swaps around a lot of already established history.
But Ive always found that to be a bad habit of prequels generally.
I dont see why it gets such a bad rep as the only series i can place higher than it is voyager but thats just cause im a borg fan.
I personally like it but yeah the whole storyline where they spend ages messing around looking for the xindi does drag on a bit, but i also found the time war thing kinda silly at some points.
But the ending did seem kinda sudden, like it just got cut off, also apparently is muddles the continuity a little but ive never looked it up so idk, but im told it kinda compresses or swaps around a lot of already established history.
But Ive always found that to be a bad habit of prequels generally.
I dont see why it gets such a bad rep as the only series i can place higher than it is voyager but thats just cause im a borg fan.
I'm not sure what happened with Enterprise, it started out GREAT, sure there were hiccups now and then, like having an Enterprise before the first Enterprise (They say that Kirk's was the very first Enterprise like a bazillion times), but the first few seasons rocked. Then hit a few problems about half way through the 2nd season (If I'm remembering correctly) and then Xindi came along and it kinda just came apart.
With all the others you could come in pretty much anywhere and generally know what's going on, but during the original run of the Xindi Arc, I missed like 2 episodes, and I could not for the life of me tell you what happened in the next one. During that story arc it had a feeling of "If you want to know what's going on here, you need to watch the previous 30 episodes", and for me, that's not Star Trek, that's a soap opera with lasers.
Combine that with the fact that Earth apperently had this enormous war that nearly wiped Humans off the face of the universe and NONE OF IT IS EVER MENTIONED AGAIN, Enterprise becomes a bit hard to sit through.
With all the others you could come in pretty much anywhere and generally know what's going on, but during the original run of the Xindi Arc, I missed like 2 episodes, and I could not for the life of me tell you what happened in the next one. During that story arc it had a feeling of "If you want to know what's going on here, you need to watch the previous 30 episodes", and for me, that's not Star Trek, that's a soap opera with lasers.
Combine that with the fact that Earth apperently had this enormous war that nearly wiped Humans off the face of the universe and NONE OF IT IS EVER MENTIONED AGAIN, Enterprise becomes a bit hard to sit through.
The Cage may represent the tiniest portion of the IP, but it also represents the only portion of the IP that was never touched by NBC's changes. It featured an ensemble cast (a staple of later series, and even late TOS), and a focus on exploration and peaceful resolutions over fighting. A vast majority of TOS episodes are resolved peacefully, very few are the enemies "killed." Want another example? Devil in the Dark, where the Horta turns out to be a protective mother. A Piece of the Action, where Kirk turns himself into a "Boss" to bring peace to a world of Gangsters. The Trouble with Tribbles, which arguably should've turned into a shoot out between the Klingons and Federation.
So few Star Trek episodes were solved with violence. In most episodes violence tended to complicate matters. The crew of the Enterprise was willing to fight if necessary (Balance of Terror is an excellent "fight" episode), but would attempt any other option first, and that was first shown in "The Cage" (rather than "Where No Man has gone Before" which ultimately was a "fight" episode). The Cage is Trek at it's purest, and when you boil down the Original Series, you see that it ultimately boils down to the Cage as well, just bogged down in some places. TNG was similar in that it's essence was not fighting, but peace.
Voyager and DS9 were great series, and Voyager is far and away one of my favorites (probably just behind TOS), but both failed to focus on the peace over war concept. Arguably DS9's war was inevitable, and represents the part of the Federation that's willing to fight when forced, but Voyager really became a Voyager vs the Borg, which was cool but wasn't the pure Trek of TOS or even TNG. Voyager had an excuse too, in that they were trapped and weren't really representing the Federation specifically, and even then managed to promote peace in many episodes (I think the one called "Void" is a good example, but I can't really recall the name). Enterprise threw all explanations away and focused on action and fighting in many episodes. They really didn't get back to the whole "Peace over Fighting" concept until the final season.
So few Star Trek episodes were solved with violence. In most episodes violence tended to complicate matters. The crew of the Enterprise was willing to fight if necessary (Balance of Terror is an excellent "fight" episode), but would attempt any other option first, and that was first shown in "The Cage" (rather than "Where No Man has gone Before" which ultimately was a "fight" episode). The Cage is Trek at it's purest, and when you boil down the Original Series, you see that it ultimately boils down to the Cage as well, just bogged down in some places. TNG was similar in that it's essence was not fighting, but peace.
Voyager and DS9 were great series, and Voyager is far and away one of my favorites (probably just behind TOS), but both failed to focus on the peace over war concept. Arguably DS9's war was inevitable, and represents the part of the Federation that's willing to fight when forced, but Voyager really became a Voyager vs the Borg, which was cool but wasn't the pure Trek of TOS or even TNG. Voyager had an excuse too, in that they were trapped and weren't really representing the Federation specifically, and even then managed to promote peace in many episodes (I think the one called "Void" is a good example, but I can't really recall the name). Enterprise threw all explanations away and focused on action and fighting in many episodes. They really didn't get back to the whole "Peace over Fighting" concept until the final season.
You can actually fix a lot of the continuity problems once you take the Temporal Cold War into account. Think about it, you have the original timeline of everything from TOS through Voyager, then history is altered and the NX-01 gets created. It even explains why things in 11 looked so different, it was carrying on from this new timeline even before Nero ever appeared.
I will admit it had some trouble with episode plots, a lot of them just weren't very interesting. But everything else about it, characters, world, tech, everything was so much more real and entertaining then any of the previous series. If they had just had the stories in the first two seasons to back it up it would have been perfect, but it's still my favorite of the bunch
Edit- I'll totally agree the theme song sucked beyond the telling of it. Shame too, cause visually it was the best opening they'd done.
I will admit it had some trouble with episode plots, a lot of them just weren't very interesting. But everything else about it, characters, world, tech, everything was so much more real and entertaining then any of the previous series. If they had just had the stories in the first two seasons to back it up it would have been perfect, but it's still my favorite of the bunch
Edit- I'll totally agree the theme song sucked beyond the telling of it. Shame too, cause visually it was the best opening they'd done.
I'm not sure what that pop-masquerading-as-rock-n-roll tune was over the credits, but it sounded like one of those leave him alone, he heard this song right after 9-11 tunes. Also, Scott Bakula? Scott Bakula. Let's look at who his predecessors were.Gammayun said:
Shatner. Shakespearean actor. Shakespearean actor. The fiery Katheryn Mulgrew. And then the Quantum Leap guy? Really?
"Uh, Sam, Ziggy says that this show sucks and you should jump ship before the network drops it."
From what I've seen, it just seems like the Star Trek idea machine ran out of steam and the suits did a Thelma and Louise and said "let's just keep goin'!"
That was the only reason I watched it, too.usmarine4160 said:
I couldn't help but wanting to fistbump Trip for shacking up with her.
QFT. There was also that atrociously bad theme.Pompey71 said:
And when Scott Bakula and Dean Stockwell met up, and then Dean pulled a communicator out - you could almost hear the squeal from a thousand nerds.
I must admit it's one of the ST series which I have watched very little of. What I saw though, was not great, but still bearable. It looked better than Voyager, which pissed me off to no end quite a lot.
I thought it was a decent show (I did used to watch Voyager and abit of DP9 althought I'm not a Star Trek fan.
The Xindi ark is, in my opinion, definitely the best part of Enterprise.Da Orky Man said:
Seasons 1 and 2 were fun and season 4 was a little disappointing compared to season 3, which was very good. The only thing I really disliked about the whole series was the horrible final episode.
Edit: actually no, the titles music can be added to things I disliked as it was awful. I also was no particularly fond of the 'In a mirror darkly' mini-ark.