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  1. In Memory of LAJ_FETT: Please share your remembrances and condolences HERE

Star Trek: Enterprise, anyone?

Discussion in 'Archive: SF&F: Films and Television' started by SilSolo, Feb 19, 2006.

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  1. The2ndQuest

    The2ndQuest Tri-Mod With a Mouth star 10 Staff Member Manager

    Registered:
    Jan 27, 2000
    The Xindi storyline was supposed to make Enterprise more relevant to today's world by being a 9/11-like tragedy, it just didn't connect like they had hoped, though it was an improvement.
     
  2. Koohii

    Koohii Jedi Master star 5

    Registered:
    May 30, 2003
    There were a number of major problems with this show.
    For all that, they did do a number of things right. After 7 years of TNG with the Federation kicking backside all over the place, it was nice to see "Who are these pink-skinned things, and why should be care?"
    Overall, the show made the Vulcans look a lot less attractive and interesting--more of a paranoid, xenophobic, ultra-conservative, bigotted race in which only a token few managed to escape their prejudices to become "the new, enlightened species we later knew.
    I really didn't care for the season4 prehash of Wrath of Kahn. Don't care if Brent Spiner was brought in to bring life into the show or not.
    While they technically had diversity, they really minimized the impact. Hoshi was really made inept in that she was only there because she was the best linguist, but otherwize totally unqualified, and they turned her into a twinkie.
    Temporal cold war would have been a good premise, but for a completely different series.
    After season 2, the show isn't worth watching except for the mirror-mirror episodes.
    Funny thing to me is that the special features discs show the crative people bragging about and most proud of elements that, to me, were the least satisfying or successful.
     
  3. Chancellor_Ewok

    Chancellor_Ewok Chosen One star 7

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    Nov 8, 2004
    You would think that, wouldn't you? After, no Prime Directive should leave them free to meddle all they want in the early seasons and have the consequences bite Starfleet in the ass in the later seasons, except that they wrote Archer as a captain trying to uphold something that doesn't exist yet.
     
  4. RK_Striker_JK_5

    RK_Striker_JK_5 Force Ghost star 7

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    Jul 2, 2003
    That was... pretty much every Vulcan in Star Trek. Seriously, they were pretty damned arrogant from TOS on.
     
  5. Jedi Vince

    Jedi Vince Jedi Youngling star 3

    Registered:
    Aug 2, 1999
    I absolutely LOVE Enterprise -- especially the Xindi War and Season 4. No surprise, that's when Manny Cota was brought in to revive the series.

    The allegories to Sept. 11 and the War on Terror resonated for me.

    The production values of the show may've been the best I've ever seen in TV.

    Besides the crew of the Enterprise and the Makos, General Shran (I don't know if I'm spelling that correctly) and the Andorans are my favorites ... mostly because they could easliy be Chiss -- right down the the blue skin, elitest attitudes, and frozen homeworld.
     
  6. Chancellor_Ewok

    Chancellor_Ewok Chosen One star 7

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    Nov 8, 2004
    Shran was pretty badass. He was one of the few things that Enterprise did right.
     
  7. Koohii

    Koohii Jedi Master star 5

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    May 30, 2003
    I didn't get that at all from any of the TOS Vulcans except Sarek, and his attitude was mostly parental disappointment. The others were occasionally bemused by the illogic of other races, but weren't xenophobic about it. Savik wasn't like that, and neither was the vulcan from Trek6. What I've seen of Tuvok was slightly more paranoid, but that seems to be more a part of his being Head of Security than racist bigotry. They were willing to explore and give the others a chance.
     
  8. RK_Striker_JK_5

    RK_Striker_JK_5 Force Ghost star 7

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    Jul 2, 2003
    Ah... T'pring manipulated events in 'Amok Time' so she could get out of her arranged marriage with Spock, not giving a damn that Spock had killed Kirk. And yes, I know Kirk wasn't really dead. T'pring didn't. Saavik... "Just like your father, so human." And then her exchange with Spock in WoK. I can't remember her exact words. "But he's so... human!" "Nobody's perfect." Valeris? The traitor who committed treason and conspired to assassinate Gorkon and then the president, citing logic as her reasons?

    And Vorik and Tuvok from VOY did strike me as rather condescending and sarcastic in cases, particularly Tuvok to Neelix.
     
  9. Blur

    Blur Jedi Grand Master star 4

    Registered:
    Aug 11, 1999
    First of all, I wanted to say that I consider myself a moderate Trek fan. I've seen most of TOS, the first several seasons of ST:TNG, and all of the theatrical films, but I've never seen an episode of "Voyager" or "Deep Space nine".

    That being said, I saw all four seasons of "ST: Enterprise" on DVD several years back and was truly blown away by the show - I felt that it was extremely well-done and interesting. The characters were likeable, the acting was solid, the scripts were exceptional, and the effects were excellent, even by today's standards.
    My favorite "Trek" film was "First Contact", so I really liked how this show tied into that film.
    I actually prefer "ST: Enterprise" to TNG and TOS, though I know I'm not in the majority here. It's possible that since I'm not a hardcore Trek fan I was more open to enjoying the show, since it was so different from the previous ST series.

    One of the many things I liked about the show was the setting - it was set before the "Prime Directive", which stated that you couldn't interfere in a planet's doings, so the crew could have interaction with a planet's inhabitants. I also liked the show's homage to TOS, since it featured some of the older aliens like the blue-skinned ones with the antennae (can't remember their names), as well as the Romulans.
    I also thought it interesting that the characters were just getting to know and understand the technology that was considered standard in the later series, i.e. the transporter, phaser, etc.

    The time-travel subplot (with aliens from far in the future) was very well-handled, as well as the storyline where they went back in time to WWII Earth.
    There were also many, many stand-alone episodes that were great, including the pilot ("Broken Bow"), the time-travel one where they went back to 1950's America, the episode where Archer met a ghost-like woman on an isolated planet, etc.

    I'm also probably one of the few that liked the intro song and images - it was cool how they showed the first airplane and space flights, etc., all leading up to the flight of the "Enterprise"

    I would have to say that the only episode I really didn't like was the final one - like a lot of fans, I thought it was ridiculous that the events in the show were being viewed through the holodeck by TNG's characters (especially since I was never a real fan of TNG). It would've been much better to just have it run as a regular episode.
     
  10. Jedi Vince

    Jedi Vince Jedi Youngling star 3

    Registered:
    Aug 2, 1999
    I'm with you, Blur: I also prefer Enterprise to The Original Series and The Next Generation -- and I love those shows.

    I read that one of the problems Enterprise had was that its production value was too high, and couldn't be sustained for long.

    You're also right about that finale -- it had to be a giant middle finger to the network and maybe even the show's detractors. The real finale was the Tera Prime episodes. Peter Weller was awesome.
     
  11. The2ndQuest

    The2ndQuest Tri-Mod With a Mouth star 10 Staff Member Manager

    Registered:
    Jan 27, 2000
    So, you wanna run by me how that jump-kick-from-the-future bit works? ;)
     
  12. Koohii

    Koohii Jedi Master star 5

    Registered:
    May 30, 2003
    Well, T'pring was just a spoiled rich girl.
    Saavik was a little scornful of the emotions and the willingness to cheat, but not agressively so.
    Valeris was young and following the orders of her superiors. Granted, the logic was twisted, but it did work. She was willing to kill to maintain the status quo. Plus it involved mostly killing klingons, something neither starfleet nor vulcans had been particularly adverse to.
    Compare that to the high-priestess who put spock back into his body, or any of the other TOS vulcans who were at least tollerant of other races.
     
  13. RK_Striker_JK_5

    RK_Striker_JK_5 Force Ghost star 7

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    Jul 2, 2003
    What other TOS Vulcans? No, seriously... were there any other TOS Vulcans beyond those ones?

    And no, there was a marked streak of at least superiority in the Vulcans, oftentimes boiling over. And you cannot just dismiss T'Pring as a spoiled little rich girl. That was blatant disregard, using cold logic like Shockwave. Same with Valeris.
     
  14. Jedi Gunny

    Jedi Gunny Chosen One star 9

    Registered:
    May 20, 2008
    I think I watched just about every episode of ST: Enterprise when it was on in prime-time. [face_thinking] Thought it was a pretty good show to follow, and I liked it a lot.
     
  15. Espaldapalabras

    Espaldapalabras Jedi Master star 5

    Registered:
    Aug 25, 2005
    I was just thinking about this, and the reason why the Xendi storyline didn't connect with 9/11 was because they tried to play the attack as coming from totally out of nowhere, and something we had absolutely way of knowing about.

    If they had been smart and actually tried to challenge the audience, they should have worked into it by breaking the nonexistent prime directive to help a backward planet defend itself from Kingons, only for the society to react so badly to the discovery of alien life that they attack Earth. If you needed Enterprise to go off into the wild blue yonder, you could have had the Xendi supply the bomb. The war in Afganistan was described by the CIA people as going back 1000 years because they were doing calvary charges, and if we could cut them off from the rest of the modern world, both sides would probably be happier for it.

    Frankly I think the Prime Directive is paternalistic nonsense, driven by the same motivation for us to ignore African genocide. It is stupid to think that just because you have technology you are superior to others, and the danger isn't that they will be so taken by your civilization they will recreate Nazi Germany, it is that they need to develop democracy and liberalism on their own because you can't force your political structure.
     
  16. The2ndQuest

    The2ndQuest Tri-Mod With a Mouth star 10 Staff Member Manager

    Registered:
    Jan 27, 2000
    Though I pretty much agree with you about the Prime Directive, it could be argued that, in the African analogy, that some of the genocides and war we're seeing there is either started by, a result of, or fueled by the influx of modern weapons and technology over there, or foreign forces looking to exploit resources, etc. Which might argue in favor for the PD, though it's a hypothetical.
     
  17. Koohii

    Koohii Jedi Master star 5

    Registered:
    May 30, 2003
    You mean we can't force Iraq to become a democracy like ours, full of honesty, decency, and justice for all, regardless of race, creed, or color, just because we want them to be?
    Why, if they see how wholesome and honest our politicians, political system, justice departments, and such are, how could they not want to be like us?

    Oh, wait, never mind...

    I still find it kind of odd to hear how proud someone is about what I found to be the least satisfying elements. Like the Gorn fight, which I thought looked silly, has about 20 minutes of special features talking about how complicated it was, what a great effect, and all the work involved. Sure, there was probablly a lot of work, but the result seemed pretty lame to me. Likewize the tholian torture scene.
    Overall, the show was pretty hit and miss for the first 2 seasons, and for season 4 as well. One episode would be good, the next mediocre, the next outstanding, the next lame. Spent all of season 3 waiting for the story to actually move somewhere and end. Only sat through it all for the sake of conpletionism. The change in the title song to more up-tempo country-rock was awful.

    Struggling through Voyager at the momment. So far the only thing I can say for it is the opening theme by Jerry Goldsmith and the fact that it's the last sciFi show I know of to actually use models for most of the starship shots.
     
  18. Espaldapalabras

    Espaldapalabras Jedi Master star 5

    Registered:
    Aug 25, 2005
    To be fair, Enterprise was better than Voyager. What was so gosh darned important about finding Earth anyways? Its not like once you found it you would all just buy a house in Topeka and settle down.
     
  19. LORDeron_MAULer

    LORDeron_MAULer Jedi Padawan star 4

    Registered:
    Apr 6, 2003
    I hated that show more than almost anything else ever. [face_plain]
     
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