Star Trek: Enterprise

[Aerilon]

The show ran for four seasons, this was mostly because it didn't get enough views throughout the planet. Now whether this was because those who are interested in Trek aren't as many as were, or whether it was because the storyline was based in the past I don't know, but I continue to get frustrated by the amount of people that say Enterprise was a crap show.

It wasn't.

We got a lovely perspective of not just the Vulcan's, but the Andorians too. Something that we would not have had without Enterprise, thus, we'd know even less about them. Yes we knew a fair bit about the Vulcan's, as there have been one on two of the four shows (prior to Enterprise), but Andorians we knew very little about. The way Andorians were portrayed in Enterprise gives them a much better background that we had for them before. Same goes for the Vulcan's.

I'd also like to point out inconsistencies.. No show is without them, and Enterprise is no exception to that. However, people complain quite a bit about the amount of races that we saw in Enterprise, that we've never actually seen again. I have complained myself before, but now I look on it differently. Is this fact all that different from other shows?

We saw the Tholians in TOS. We did not see them again until ENT. We have only ever seen Andorians in TOS / TMP, and again, have never seen them again. People complain a fair bit about us not having ever seen or heard of the Xindi, Suliban or Denobulan. However, how many other species have been seen throughout the Trek series, that we've never seen again.

Countless species in all the shows, we have come across once, and never again. Multiple alien species from various prison colonies (such as the Klingon one in the Undiscovered Country) have never seen the light of day since their single appearance, yet Enterprise gets criticised for this, where others do not.

I have also heard the argument that a pre-TOS ship shouldn't have Photon Torpedoes.. Why not? Where was it mentioned that Torpedoes were new on TOS? To my knowledge, they were already being used on the Constitution Class, they just appeared different due to the FX used at that time.

Is it simply because Enterprise was a step backwards opposed to a step forward that people decided not to like it? If so, then whilst I can understand that reason (everyone wants to see what happened after Nemesis), seeing a little of 'The Before' was enlightening and well written if I may say so personally.

I'll admit that I wasn't too keen on a past storyline, but we got to see everything in a new light, and we got to see Starfleet and Humanity before the Federation. Enterprise, whilst different, worked for me.

Please share your thoughts...

 

[Dan1025]

I agree with this, and I think it's a shame that Enterprise never continued for more series. And yeah while there were a few inconsistensies, as you said Tycoon what show doesn't?

The storyline could have been improved in some places, and I'm sure it would have been had they ever gotten to the Romulan war, but there were many good points to Enterprise that imo far outweigh the bad ones. One example I keep thinking of is how they finally explained why the Klingons in TOS had no cranial ridges, something they never explained in TOS.

Another good point (though one which may be less important to some people) is that the effects were far better. As I grew up watching TNG, I got used to the effects we saw on there, so when I watched TOS, I always thought "you can see the strings", or something along those lines. And while the storyline is obviously more important than the effects to the overall integrity of the show, good special effects make the story more believeable (imo anyway).

 

[Jeddy]

In places Enterprise had its plus sides, but it also had its down sides.

The idea behind it was great, see where it all started etc, but as mentioned there were inconsistancies, which spoilt it in places, i know that is rich coming from an Andromeda fan, but oh well. while these inconsistancies were terrible they were a little irritating.

The major problem for me was the characters. Most of the actors were ok, i liked them. and their characters respectively. However this is something that gets me about all american shows - The english guy is always prim and proper. I didnt personally like t'pol's Character i felt it slightly flawed in places, in early episodes there were "emotional" moments even before she started eating tereliumD. the Entire Xindi arc annoyed me as well, "oh we've found the weapon," after 30 minutes "no, we havent" Move on. Happened in voager as well when they almost got home then the other shoe dropped. I know if they went stright to it and everythign went according to plan it wouldnt make good TV but did it have to be so text-book? And the whole Tempral coldwar storyline got on my nerves, im not a huge fan of Time travel, alternate reality story lines, and i really lost it when they brought Nazi germany into it, they are really the 3 ways to turn me off of a TV series.

While i felt it had a good start, and was all in all a promising series, I feel the end summed it up perfectly, Riker never told Troy about the pegasus in the original Ep of TNG, yet he speaks to her freely whilst walking down the corridor, nor did he really have the time (as we saw) to spend hours in the hollodeck. And we spent all episode waiting to hear this speech, that we never heard. Like we were waiting for the series to really get started, but it didnt.

Like i said, thats just my opinion.

 

[Atlantis]

This debate has been brought up so many times over all the forums, I'm really starting to tire of it now.

Enterprise was a total failing in my eyes. Not from a money viewpoint (which, let's face it, was why it was made. money > story), but in how it messed up the established canon history of before. The designs, styling, and special effects might show a more accurate idea of "futuristic" now (in that special effects have improved since 1965), but you can't just make a prequel and try to invalidate a previous series.

Starship design... I mean come on, it's already been established what ships looked like (the Jefferies class, with the ring nacelles), so why have we been shown a design more futuristic than everything else until the Akira?

Why do Romulans and Suliban have cloaking devices? The crew of the Enterprise and the Outpost were surprised by the bird of prey "appearing from nowhere". Starfleet's first cloaking device was stolen from a Romulan battlecruiser in TOS, 100 years after Enterprise used the Suliban one on it's shuttles a few times.

Phase Cannons: At the beginning of TOS they were still using Lasers. End of.

The temporal cold war. Never heard about again. The whole time travel thing was just them trying to squeeze another few drops out of something that's been done a million times before.

The Borg. Need i say more?

The thing about photon torpedoes, is that the Romulan War was mentioned before as being fought with nuclear warheads... not antimatter.

The entire Enterprise show has split Star Trek fans into those who prefer Enterprise over TOS, and those who prefer TOS over Enterprise. It should have never been made. All thanks to Rick Berman's "Anything for a Dollar" attitude.

Besides, four series' (TOS, TNG, DS9, VOY) is more than enough, Paramount has done it to death now, move on. Leave the rest of the Star Trek universe for the fans to imagine about, to make their own stories, and mods etc.

But no, they have to make every possible dollar they can out of the franchise.

 

[CrazyFrog1903]

First off. Lets make sure no flame wars star over this topic.

Everyone who looks at Enterprise as the begining is looking at it in the wrong format. Here is why. The order of the series go TOS,TNG, DS9, VOY, and then ENT....In every series they changed history in some way. The temporal cold war in Enterprise was a direct result of VOyager stopping the end of time in the 26th century. So, after that there was a 29th century and a temporal cold war. The advanced look of the ships can be contributed to The Enterprise-E and Borg influence of First contact.

Enterprise, for better or worse, was an altered timeline. Different from what was known at the begining of TOS. Any show the size of Star Trek will have flaws. The only true question left is this: Will the new movie be in the altered timeline or the original timeline we have know as TOS.

Just remember. To explain any one series. You must look at all the others and how they fit together. Enterprise made Star Trek both better and worse. I believe it made it better for the most part.

Also remember, this is my opinion. Everyone here is entitled to have thier own view on it. Even if you disagree with me. I will enjoy reading what you think. Lets just remember to keep it friendly and not start any flame war over the subject.

 

[Majestic]

Diddo to CFrog, some like and some hate the show.

I was one that liked. The Temporal cold war I didn't and the advanced tech the Ent had I didn't either (photon torpedoes, cloaks, transporters and the works). It was clearly stated they didn't have them in TOS and even some TNG episodes.

That being said it was a good series to watch, loved the Andorian episodes and season 4 really turned around and from what I heard a season 5 would've been even better with Kzinti's coming in and even Shran becoming a Enterprise crew member and regular.

Like CFrog I think of it as a alternative timeline and the way CFrog put it with Voyager saving the 29th century just makes it possible. Well done Janeway you've done it again, you're getting as bad a Kirk.

All in all it's trek, every fan would've found something of interest in the series even though it had many flaws and to be really honest they should've never done a prequel it's just too much of a headache and the die hard fans get really aggravated when something is out of place.

 

[Syf]

That brings up a valid point I've always considered.

If everyone looks at the different things that happened in TNG, Voyager, DS9, and the TNG era movies (namely, First Contact), it makes sense to view Enterprise as an Alternate reality version of Star Trek. The entire show can be excluded from regular trek canon, but is still "Alternate universe" canon material.

I mean, with voyager altering the time-line so many times, and the Borg attempting to assimilate earth before it progressed into a full space faring race and all. The Borg and the USS Enterprise 1701-E did alter the time-line and that we can say is trek canon.

So, in the end, whether anyone agrees with me or not, Enterprise is legitimate, but as an "Altered time-line", as another mirror universe. Look at TNG, I believe there was at least 2 episodes that shown us in fact there was multiple versions of the universe (also known as the multi-verse... like in the TV show Sliders). I am most fond of the episode where there was hundreds of enterprise 1701-d's all next to each other with that one Riker that refused to go back to his universe.

 

[Jeddy]

so,

You could say that Enterprise is how the timeline played out as a result of First contact? (them finding the borg etc)

 

[CrazyFrog1903]

so,

You could say that Enterprise is how the timeline played out as a result of First contact? (them finding the borg etc)

Yes. Enterprise is a timeline played out because of the result of all the events in all of the series/movies. I think the one that did the most changes to history would have been Voyager.

 

[Dan1025]

Yeah Enterprise shows how the events of the series and movies affected the timeline, the events of First Contact changed a few things; Zefram Cochrane mentioned the Borg in a speech at some point in the 22nd century.

 

[Majestic]

Look at TNG, I believe there was at least 2 episodes that shown us in fact there was multiple versions of the universe (also known as the multi-verse... like in the TV show Sliders). I am most fond of the episode where there was hundreds of enterprise 1701-d's all next to each other with that one Riker that refused to go back to his universe.

Good example and the episode you're thinking of is Parallels.

Yes. Enterprise is a timeline played out because of the result of all the events in all of the series/movies. I think the one that did the most changes to history would have been Voyager.

I agree with what you said about the 29th century being saved. I think that is a major reason the Temporal cold war existed as in Ent I think it was the 31st century that was fighting an earlier faction from the 29th century or something.

 

[Syf]

The fact that Cochran's assistant went on board the Sovereign class could be the direct result/connection as to why the NX-01 is referred to as the "Akira-prise" (hence meaning why the NX class looks a lot more like the post TNG ships instead of the pre-TOS ships).

So see, there is no logical reason to argue the point. It, like most other shows are all about money. They "messed up" the trek-lore with Enterprise... but not actually when one accounts all trek-lore canon facts.

It's there, it's done, and on it's own accord, Enterprise was a good show. The ship "Did" look cool, even if it didn't fit into the traditional view. The show did have a lot of cool things about it. Yes, the show had flaws.... look at Star Wars with it's prequels.... I see the same issues with them as I hear about with Enterprise. To not like a show because it didn't look as old as TOS makes no sense. I mean really, is that the only reason some "trekkies" didn't like Enterprise?

Oh wait... there was the theme song too... I myself like that style of music, so I have no problems there either. But I tend to be very acceptable of many different flavors of music. I like Classical, Symphonies, Jazz, Pop, R&B, Rap, Punk, Hip Hop, New Age, Christian, Country.... and the list goes on and on. I even listen to music that is in languages I can't even begin to speak... So, I don't have a problem with it. I myself liked the first version of the Enterprise theme song more, but they were all good to me too. But I can see how someone less tolerant of "any thing outside the box" might have an issue with that too.

In my view, As far as what trek teaches us... well, people that didn't like the show because of some lame excuse have totally missed the point of what trek is about... imagination and hope for the future... I have been in this debate before, and as always I just like to put my point of view out there...

And on a final note... I don't expect anyone to take my point of view to heart. If you don't like the show... oh well! If this were to become a shooting match (aka: Flame war), rest assured, all insulting parties would be met swiftly by any of the staff here.

 

[CrazyFrog1903]

I agree with you Syf.

 

[Dan1025]

As do I, not liking a show because "it doesn't look old" is ridiculus, if anything its a reason to like the show more.

 

[Syf]

As one can tell, I really did like the show for what it was, not for what I expected it to be. I am one to defend it, since it seems to have a bad rap among the normal trek fans. Lol, I'm not "normal" I guess!

Honestly, for me, If it's Star Trek, then it's worth watching. It sure beats most other TV shows hands down... especially the shows that the "self-reinvented" Paramount is airing now in the days since they stopped production.

Sure, I can pick it apart too. I can point out the 1 million and 1 things wrong with it... but that spoils the fun of watching it. Why watch a show if you not looking to watch a show, but rather to see what you can argue with. As I find the best philosophy, if you don't like it, don't do it. That is so well applied to everything.

Now the next Trek thing we have coming is the next movie.... which is a prequel mind you... The same applies here, If your not going to watch it for the fun, then don't watch it.

Now, I'd really like to hear what people did like about Enterprise...

For me, it was Just about everything. From the opening theme, to the end credits, and most of what fell in between those. The Ship looked awesome, the crew was great... I liked Charles "Trip" Tucker III the best... The only engineer I liked better than him was Scotty in the TMP movies. (Doohan made a better performance during the movies than in TOS in my opinion). I about died laughing when he got pregnant. I'll stick to the Orion slave girls rather than a new species like that...

 

[Dan1025]

Yeah Trip getting pregnant was good. One of my favourite aspects to Enterprise was how it was about Starfleet learning how to do things properly when it came to exploring space, it's nice to see what they did before they knew everything about everything lol.

I also thought that the interaction between the crew was a lot better than it was in other series.

 

[Majestic]

If only a season 5 came around. While the following is not in english one can appreicate the effort gone into making this:

YouTube - Star Trek Enterprise. Season 5 (Alliances)

 

[CrazyFrog1903]

If only......that was so cool..

 

[Majestic]

I agree. Here is another one though not a fan of the music personally.

YouTube - What If: Star Trek Enterprise Season 5 Intro

 

[CrazyFrog1903]

Not ure if I like the music but I do likethe fight scenes.

 

[Dan1025]

Cool vids, it would have been great to have the Romulan war in the series.

 

[Majestic]

I agree, it's a shame realy but maybe one day someone will make a game or mod for a game revolving around it.

 

[Aerilon]

I am still hoping that Paramount will continue the Enterprise sega, and make Season 5, 6, 7 and maybe 8. the only problem they'd now have though, is that they'd need a new ship, and a new engineer.

I can't see the engineer being a problem. Anyone can be cast for that. As for the ship, the only way they could continue, is to have Enterprise re-launched as how it appears on BCFiles under the NX-05 if anyone has seen that?

 

[Majestic]

The one with the engineering hull? Yes i've seen it. But there is nothing saying they can't continue it before the last episode as it was set in 2161, while season four was in 2155. That way the Romulan war could be covered in the series.

 

[Aerilon]

True, but this would suck, knowing that everything that happens would lead to Trip's death. Plus, I think I've read somewhere, that the bloke who plays Phlox doesn't want to do Enterprise again, if it were renewed.

As for the Earth-Romulan War.. Does anyone know whether it was Starfleet vs Romulans, or the Federation vs Romulans? I'm pretty sure it was the Federation, in which case, this would have to take place after 'These Are The Voyages'. I could be wrong on that though.

On the other hand, if it is Starfleet vs the Romulans, then I see why Starfleet wins. Having the Vulcans, Andorians and probably Tellarites aiding them would give them a significant advantage. That is, if they helped out at all. That video was fan made, so it is questionable as to whether Earth would get help from their 'Allies' during the War.

This is all assuming that it is Starfleet, and not the Federation.

 

[Majestic]

I recall reading the war (2156) lead to the formation of the Federation (2161) and it's a reason it is called the Earth-Romulan wars. But with so many temporal changes who knows if that is still correct.

 

[Aerilon]

I've never quite understood that... It is called the Earth-Romulan War, but shouldn't it be called either the Earth-Romulus War, or the Human-Romulan War?

Regardless of the above, as you've stated, it is 'Earth' and not 'Federation' so it probably was prior to the Federation.