Star Trek Enterprise

Brian G Turner

Brian G Turner

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I'm curious - has anybody been keeping up with this series?

If so, what are your perceptions of it?

Is it old storylines desperately rehashed, or is there a sense of originality about it?

How are the characters coming across - worth watching, or simply living the shadow of better ones?

Simply curious.
 
I've watched it now and then and it's ok but nothing special. As for rehashes, methinks they've been at it since The Next Generation. Similar cross section of characters, same scientific gobbledygook to shore up a weak storyline.

Personally, I believe Star Trek has been ruined by overexposure. It's like a fine Sirloin steak - perfect as a meal on that special occasion but lost in Mundania if served on a daily basis.

Merely my opinion - I do not wish to upset any serious Trekkies (or is that Trekkers?)
 
Never seen it. I loved the original series - cheesy as it was - when it was on originally (I was in elementary school at the time and never missed an episode). You have to realize that before that, all we really had on television in the way of science fiction was "Lost is Space", which was more camp that science fiction.

I didn't get into "Next Generation" until it was in its last season. Rarely ever watched either "Deep Space Nine" or "Voyager". When this one came around I just couldn't work up any interst in it. I've seen most of the films and retain a great deal of fondness for the franchise, but I think it's run its course and they should just let it rest now.
 
littelissattitude said:
I think it's run its course and they should just let it rest now.
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I have to quite agree. Next Generation certainly had great moments, and I'm told that DS9 did, too.

But altogether there's something distinctly lacking in the Star Treks - for the majority of the time. It's as if they are each a soap-opera in space, where space and science-fiction itself is merely a distraction to the core storylines - which are inevitably recycled from the start.

For example, in the original series of Star Trek, a major sub-plot was the humanising of Spock - in NExt Gen, a major sub-plot was the humanising of Data - in DS9 the same for Odo, in Voyager the same for 7of9. And in Enterprise it's gone full circle with a Vulcan to humanise again.

The films have been alright - but, frankly, I personally only really rate the first two - motion picture and Wrath of Khan. Both are superb epic movies. The rest...well, it's the kitch side of sci-fi. Nemesis was alright (if nothing more than prior films - especially Khan, rehashed) but it was a tired ending to a tired string of films.

But I guess that merchandising will prevail, and that the Star Trek people will continue flogging the same old ideas on until they move too close the profitability cut-off.

I'd love to see Star Trek get some new - imaginative and creative - producers behind it. Unfortunately, I doubt we'll see that any time soon.
 
More or less unrelated trivia:

I recently read Isaac Asimov's books of memoirs, I.Asimov in which he metions that his second wife was a big Star Trek fan, a taste he did not entirely share. He describes times when his wfe would be watching Star Trek while he was watching Kate & Alie on another tv!
 
But altogether there's something distinctly lacking in the Star Treks - for the majority of the time. It's as if they are each a soap-opera in space, where space and science-fiction itself is merely a distraction to the core storylines - which are inevitably recycled from the start.
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Well, you know, when Roddenberry was first trying to sell the original series he described it at "Wagon Train to the Stars". This is because at that time westerns were a big thing on American TV, "Wagon Train" being one of the biggest.

The films have been alright - but, frankly, I personally only really rate the first two - motion picture and Wrath of Khan. Both are superb epic movies. The rest...well, it's the kitch side of sci-fi. Nemesis was alright (if nothing more than prior films - especially Khan, rehashed) but it was a tired ending to a tired string of films.
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Actually, my favorite of the films was the fourth one, the "save the whales" episode, mainly because of the trip to the past (our present - you know how I like time travel stories:)) and the reactions of the crew to the less-developed technology. I think the scene that has Scotty trying to talk to the computer - "Computer. Computer!", is classic. Maybe not as serious a film, but fun anyway.
 
I liked most of the films apart from number five with the search for god.

They did have a few scenes in it about humanity needing it's past pain because it made them into what they are ...:D That was worth the film, the rest better be forgotten.

They do need a few new writers to come up with grittier episodes. I did wonder what would happen if J. Michael Stracynski came into the picture. ...should be interesting...;)

A few hard sci fi writers like Peter F. Hamilton could also make it interesting.
 
There is a lot of rehashing in Star Trek, and on the whole I think Stargate has more good episodes to its credit. That being said, I still really like Star Trek.

For a while I gave up on Enterprise and watched Smallville instead. Smallville was extremely soapy but I enjoyed it, while I thought Enterprise fell short. Then the plot about the war with the Zindi (is this correct?) came up and I love it.

The Zindi story seems to stretch the Star Trek conventions a bit. I don't remember similar plots in any of the other series (although the Zindi weapon may be ripping off Star Wars and the Death Star).

There are 5 remaining Zindi species and a sixth one that is extinct. Behind them (and deceiving them) are the sphere builders who plan to transform our entire universe so they can move here. I'd use the word terraform but it doesn't seem appropriate on this scale! This plot stands out from the other series in my mind--although I might forgetting much. Of course, there's plenty of that old Star Trek culture clash going on, but that's one of the things I like about it.
 
I think I've only seen season 1 and 2. The others aren't on TV yet in Germany. I even went so far to get taped episodes to watch while I was in France. I have to admit that I quite enjoyed the series. Of course, I don't know what they did to it in the other seasons.

I haven't seen too much of the other Star Trek series. None of the original, very few Next Generation, none DS 9 and quite a lot of Voyager. But I never saw the end of that one... don't know why though.

As to the films, I loved the fourth with the whales but didn't care too much about the others. Nemesis was quite okay.

As to Smallville, it sometimes makes me scream in rage... I'm too much a fan of the series Lois and Clark to support anything Lana-Clark...
 
*Lois and Clark* wasn't bad. I liked watching it, but nothing beats Lex Luthor in *Smallville*. Lex in *Lois and Clark* was pretty lame, I think. Lois Lane and Clark Kent, on the other hand, worked well enough.

As for *Enterprise*--the season finale was incredible! If they don't continue this series I will be very disappointed.
 
Well, as a long standing (sitting and laying down) Star Trek (and more importantly, Sci-Fi) fan, I have to say that I like Enterprise... The first season for a series can be a little fraught with problems - the series is new, the actors have to get used to easch other and comfortable in their roles and be convincing... Season 2 was better, still a little wishy washy at times, but some good stories... Season 3 is far superior... It is more gritty and shows the darker side to life... Not all spit and polish and "we are better than them"... It was nice to see the Enterprise get beaten up... And the crew being dirty... And a nice twist with T'Pol and her "problems"...

I look forward to Season 4 (as it has been confirmed that it is to continue)... I hope they have another season long story arc...

I also like Smallville... I dunno why, I've read Superman comics, seen the films and series'... I was expecting to hate it, but find I really enjoy it...

The Next Generation was the most successful Star Trek series, because people were ready to see what could be done in the 1990's, and the number of Star Trek conventions at the time was unbelievable... I should know, I helped organise a number of them... Then when DS9 started, there was less interest, due to Babylon 5 starting at the same time... With Voyager, again there was a resurgence of interest... But Enterprise seems to be seeing a tailing off of interest in not only Star Trek, but Sci-Fi series in general... What with the cancellation of Odessey 5, Earth: Final Conflict, Firefly, Farscape, Jake 2.0, Babylon 5: Crusade, etc... BTW Anybody ever heard of a series called Starhunter??? Only lasted 2 seasons... No, I ain't heard of it either...

Maybe it is time to put Sci-Fi away in a box for a while, until the world is ready to take that step into the future again...
 
Michael said:
Lex in *Lois and Clark* was pretty lame, I think. Lois Lane and Clark Kent, on the other hand, worked well enough.
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I don't know. Michael Rosenbaum isn't bad, don't get me wrong. But John Shea acted that well, that I can't watch him in Mutant X without thinking that he's the villain... Although I have to admit that the writers of *Lois and Clark* did some horrible things in the last seasons...

Enterprise go! Get bought by German TV so I can watch ye!!!!!
 
I have just been converted I think. I had watched all of season one, and about two thirds of season two and I got very bored with Enterprise and stopped watching, then last week I found I'd run out of stuff to watch so started to download all of season three. I started watching it 3 days ago and finished about a half hour ago. I agree with Michael and The Master, season three is where it really comes into its own. I was the first to critisise the first two seasons for being bland, boring and unoriginal, I even voted on that poll for the show to "continue, but with a new direction" despite having seen the third season. I now retract that and say that if the show continues as it has been then I am a total convert. Where Enterprise fell down was in its structure. The first two seasons, whilst having some continual story, really didn't fell like they had any direction, season three is very different. It is much more like Deep Space Nine in the respect that it is almost a "Soap in Space". It has a well thought out and continual story running through the whole season, and without spoiling anything for potential viewers, the ending is magnificent. I really dont know where the show is headed for the fourth season, but I am eagerly awaiting it, and expecting more of the same. Anyone who like me dismissed it before the start of season three, should definately go back and re-evaluate it, I am so glad that I did.
 
I've been watching the show right up until the crew met the Ferengi for the first time. However, according to Captain Picard, no Starfleet vessel has ever encountered the Ferengi before. Clearly, he was the very first captain to establish first contact with them, and yet Captain Archer supposedly was the first captain to meet them. After that episode, I stopped watching because I strongly believed that the writers of Enterprise were essentially rewriting Star Trek history by attempting to disregard what has been established in the Original Series, as well as the Next Generation era. Thus, they came up with the Temporal Cold War as a cheap plot device. And let's not forget about the Klingons in Enterprise: they look like the ones in the Next Generation era, as opposed to the Original Series. Sure, it's just a tv show and the producers have a much bigger budget now, but they should have at least kept things historically consistant. Had they done that, it would undoubtedly show that they really care about Star Trek.


Personally, I like the idea of Klingons appearing as humans because it makes them easier to blend in with our society, hence, it adds a bit of paranoia and intrigue. Sort of like what is happening in the new Battlestar Galatica series. Apparently, Rick Berman dislikes the Original Series and decided upon himself to remake it in his own vision when he co-created Enterprise with Brannon Braga. But right before I stopped watching, I initially gave Mr. Berman the benefit of the doubt, thinking that the Temporal Cold War would be resolved when the Original Series and Next Generation timeline has been restored. Unfortunately, I didn't stick around to find out what happened. Could somebody please fill me in?



Whitestar
 
Sorry, I stopped watching halfway through series one! I occasionaly catch snippits (my husband watches) but when they met and defeated the borg (that in itself is a travesty as the borg they encountered were supposed to be the ones from First contact and were highly evolved) when the borg only were encountered in TNG when Q introduced them. I don't care what explanations were tarted out. That was just rubbish!
Season four is starting on 8 March on Sky One. My husband will be watching. I'll be upstairs doing the ironing!
 
Yeah. I hear ya. Even though it kind of makes me melancholy at the thought of there being no Trek on television, I understand why this got canceled. I don't know what they were thinking. If they wanted the premise to be the first starship to leave the solar system, then they should have stuck to that. It wasn't long before they fixed those 'phase cannons' and suddenly the ship was looking more like the Enterprise D. Also, the writers didn't really come up with anything original; we encountered Ferengi, The Endorians, and then The Borg? Imean, come on. I thought maybe they were going somewhere with quantum cold war the Space Nazi thing, but that ended up just all bad.
 
the real question is, with the show being cancelled due to poor ratings, will any of the petitions to have it re-instated work?
Lord I hope not.
 
Well, there's a campaing to get Enterprise re-instated. I started a thread on the campaign site to get it reinstated asking why Enterprise was worth bringing back. They basically grumbled "Because it's Trek - we like Trek - and some of us like Enterprise" then they locked the topic. Seems sad that they can't even justify the campaign to outsiders.

Anyway, more on that story:
http://www.chronicles-network.com/news/archives/2005/03/enterprise_camp.html
 
meh, its because i like trek that i don't want it re-instated. in fact i want it stricken from the anals of trek altoghether! It messes up the continuity in such a huge way and panders to the great majority, rather than staying true to the original ideas and ideals of gene roddenberry.
And then there is Scott BAcula - sam becket. he always was and always will be. I kept waiting for al to appear from his holo chamber to offer advice! humph! Very few actors can move from one franchise to another (kevin Sorbo the obvious exception)
The rest of the characters are weak and insignificant. I kept wanting them to be devoured by some alien mennace (except the aliens weren't all that menacing)
There are so many petions going? as a matter of interest, which one did you tackle?
 
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