First time watching Enterprise!

[Shanndee]

Dropping in quickly to join in the the admiration of the shiny new avatar! (well, new to us!)

[Spock/Uhura Fan]

@Melakon You can edit it to get it under 140kb, but if it's got a lot going on with it, that will be a challenge--I can tell you, lol!

I had to do that with both of the gifs I used here. The first one had to be cut down in file size by 2/3, and the one I did with Spock was even worse! You can do it, though.

[Melakon]

@Spock/Uhura Fan - The plan is essentially just 2 photos, with cross-dissolves between. The other trick is not making the image switch so fast that it induces epileptic seizures.

[Spock/Uhura Fan]

Melakon wrote:

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@Spock/Uhura Fan - The plan is essentially just 2 photos, with cross-dissolves between. The other trick is not making the image switch so fast that it induces epileptic seizures.

That won't be a problem at all for you. This was the Spock icon I made and then had to cut down.



I used just about every kb I could. It sits at 139.4kb.

[Melakon]

I'll probably have to go 16-24 frames to keep it from changing too fast. A 12 frame test was too quick, though I didn't try through a webpage.

[BruntFCA]

Merlanthe wrote:

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Well here are my thoughts on Broken Bow.

I quite enjoyed this as pilots go its pretty solid storywise. I think the whole future guy trying to manipulate the past stuff adds an interesting twist to what would have been a fairly straightforward mission of returning an injured dignitary to his homeworld whilst avoiding bad guys.

I really love the ship design. More so the interior and the technology which gives me a retro vibe for some reason. Maybe that’s cause it is pretty retro compared to the technbology in other trek series. I like that the crew have to share quarters which are small and cramped. Makes it seem more like an exploration vessel out there on the edge of known space. The only annoying thing about the ship and retro tech is the idea of hull plating instead of shields. The hull plating is the hull isn’t it? So when someone says that the hull plating is offline what that means is that there is a huge crack or hole in the hull and the air and stuff in that part of the ship is getting sucked out into space right? Casue that’s how I interpreted it

I do really love the phase pistols and the quarantine room is a good idea it makes sense they should have one though I hope it isn’t just there for fan service even though Conner Trineer has a nice physique I think that whole heated conversation would have had more weight to it if they hadn’t been rubbing decontamination gel all over each others half naked bodies. Another bit of retro tech that I like is the transporter or rather the characters attitude towards it. So its finally been given the okay for transporting living organic matter but naturally no one wants to be the first to try it. Reminds me of Galaxy Quest when they test the never before used transporter on an alien pig beast.

‘It turned inside out…..and now it exploded!’

Of course its fairly obvious form the general reluctance to try out the transporter that its gonna get used at some point probably for a last minute dramatic rescue

That said there were a couple things that annoyed me. For a start Archer and to some extent Trip come of as kinda obnoxious and unreasonable in their prejudice against and distrust of Vulcans. Its not like the Vulcans physically restrained humanity form exploring space they just strongly advised against and the earth government chose to defer to the Vulcans judgement. Also why did they kill off the female suliban mere moments after she was introduced? She would have been a cool character to keep around it would have been interesting to have her backstory and motivations for working against her people more fully explored.

Okay this one is gonna sound nitpicky but I have trouble with T’pol’s outfit and hairstyle. I don’t think it fits the era that the series is set in as its clearly based on the clothing and hairstyles favoured by female Vulcans in the later trek series e.g. later TNG, DS9 and VOY where they had short hair and favoured dark sombre colours. In TOS series and movies and early TNG Vulcan women favoured long hair and more brightly coloured clothing. Personally I found it horrifying how skinny she is in that catsuit makes her look like she’ll disappear if she turns sideways. I bet she had to be sewn into it and probably felt she couldn’t eat or drink during filming like poor Jeri Ryan. Given the way the top was designed they could very easily have made it a wrap around dress rather than a catsuit I think it would have looked better and the actress would have been able to breathe without worrying about splitting a seam.

Anyhow those annoyances aside I felt that it was a pretty decent episode considering they had all those characters to introduce and future plotlines to set up

Broken Bow was a great pilot that did a good job introducing the characters. Some random thoughts.

-The idea for a decon room was good but the way it was used was lame

-I liked the different names for all the tech it really gave the show a different feel.

-I liked Trip and Archers dislike for the Vulcans, it was a change from the perfect humans we've seen before.

-ENT is the best looking trek, from direction to set design.

-I think you should rate the episodes as you go. I find that it allows others to compare and contrast someones feelings for the episodes and gives a clearer example of how you feel about each episode.

[teacake]

Merlanthe wrote:

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Its not like the Vulcans physically restrained humanity form exploring space they just strongly advised against and the earth government chose to defer to the Vulcans judgement.

I think one element was the Vulcans refusing to give them any technical help on anything they were developing and refusing to share their database with them, the database being everything they knew about other races, star systems etc.. I think they would have made it clear that if mankind took off before they had Vulcan approval they could forget about any help or backup should they get into a jam. They may have provided some assistance on tech matters with the proviso that the assistance would be withdrawn if earth didn't follow their timetable. Vulcans live a lot longer and have a much more sedate and plodding pace in regards to new developments as well as not being naturally explorers. I'd imagine they saw mankind as over eager 5 year olds and earth saw them as killjoy parents.

All of that leads to resentment if that's the climate of your planets development of warp capable ships from the point of First Contact onwards.

Also why did they kill off the female suliban mere moments after she was introduced? She would have been a cool character to keep around it would have been interesting to have her backstory and motivations for working against her people more fully explored.

Not only that but she was the beautiful Melinda Clarke!!

[Skywalker]

Welcome to the madhouse, Merlanthe! ENT is a great show once it finds its footing. I hope you like it!

BruntFCA wrote:

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Broken Bow was a great pilot that did a good job introducing the characters. Some random thoughts.

-The idea for a decon room was good but the way it was used was lame

-I liked the different names for all the tech it really gave the show a different feel.

-I liked Trip and Archers dislike for the Vulcans, it was a change from the perfect humans we've seen before.

-ENT is the best looking trek, from direction to set design.

-I think you should rate the episodes as you go. I find that it allows others to compare and contrast someones feelings for the episodes and gives a clearer example of how you feel about each episode.

I agree with all of these. My only real nitpicks about the pilot (and they are nitpicks) are:

I think they should have kept the EM-33 instead of introducing phase pistols. A pulse weapon without a stun setting would have been a marked change from the Trek norm, and would have fit the grittier, more contemporary style TPTB were trying to go for.

The execution of the decon chamber also bugged me. I loved the idea, but having the occupants rub gel over each other's bodies was just an obvious attempt at titillation that fell flat.

I also agree with everyone else about the hull plating. Again, I liked the idea, but they never explained it. Just a quick description (fancy currents 'harden' the plating to repel destructive energy from enemy weaponry) would have done a lot. And the "hull plating at (whatever) percent!" should have never happened, either.

Overall, "Broken Bow" is probably in my top two when it comes to Trek pilots. I also liked "Emissary" from DS9 quite a bit, I'm just not sure which I'd put at #1 and which at #2.

[teacake]

I think Broken Bow is the best pilot.

Emissary, while fabulous to me is too whacky and disjointed by the white prophet scenes.

Caretaker is a nice adventure but banjo guy sends it into hokey land.

TNG's pilot is just embarrassing.

Broken Bow looks fantastic (especially in comparison to the other Treks), is a very tightly told story and has a great pace.

[jespah]

I loved Broken Bow (no great shocker here). We re-watched it maybe a year ago and it still felt fresh.

And I liked the human-Vulcan conflict, too! I think it actually dovetailed into the lyrics to the theme song, e. g. "It's been a long time, getting from there to here." Well, where's 'there'? And where's 'here'? The start should feel foreign, alien (there's a concept), an itchingly uncomfortable at times. The idea of the Vulcans seeing us as over-eager 5 year olds and we seeing them as killjoy parents works spectacularly well.

Us - Let's go look at stuff! We'll plant a flag! We'll have fun! Everyone'll be our pals!
Vulcans - Argh, you can't do that. There are native peoples! Not everyone is interested in becoming pals!

Plus, perhaps, the Vulcans were exercising almost a proto version of the Prime Directive. E. g. they didn't want to just hand us space travel and maps, etc. on a silver platter. Being on the receiving end of that is not so much fun, as the

Valakians

learn later.

[lurok]

I wonder if the fact the Vulcans were so snarky (compared to previous Trek) pissed off a lot of old-skool fans? And yes, it's probably the best of pilots - though I have a strange retro/kitsch fondness for The Cage

[R. Star]

It's hard to take it seriously when the main male protagonist's first line to the female protagonist involves knocking her on her ass.

I guess my main beef with it is right out of the gate they not only involve the over beaten dead horse cliche of time travel, but they make it a major plot arc. I swear, it's apparently easier to time travel in Trek than it is to travel from point a to point b.

[teacake]

I love time travel so that horse is still fresh to me.

As I've said a few times though there are only two things I actively dislike about ENT and Archer's ass line is one of them.

[Skywalker]

It didn't bother me because since Vulcans are so much stronger than humans, it came off more like a child trying to threaten an adult than anything else.

Granted, making your captain look childish probably isn't the best way to go about introducing him.

[teacake]

It makes him look like a complete idiot. In front of his superior officers he threatens to knock someone from the Vulcan delegation on their ass, in the middle of a very serious discussion about a captured, comatose hostile.

Then again maybe there were Klingon pheromones in the air and that was subtext for "T'Pol your boobies are making me hard."

MY GOD that's a good explanation!! He got a whiff of comatose Klingon pheromones which were leaking out of the Klingon's shotgon wounds and he had a primitive Klingon mating reaction to the sight of T'Pol who stood out rather a bit in a crowd of old men.

I HAVE FIXED ARCHER!! Rehabilitated him! He is now, as is everyone in Star Trek when they do something dumb, a victim of invisible juju.