^This. Personally, I would have loved to see a series that focused on the political intrigue, maneuvering, and circumstances that got 5 worlds with vastly different cultures so 'nuts' to embark upon this crazy Federation project in the first place. It wouldn't have been Enterprise, though, but essentially a DS9-reboot in the 22nd century, then. What I did like about enterprise, was that it showed a very different alpha quadrant compared to the one we know from the 24th century: - Familiar races playing unfamiliar roles (Vulcans, for example) - The enterprise (especially in the beginning of the series) almost always being the underdog instead of the 'top dog' - etc, etc
I would have liked Malcolm, Travis and Hoshi to be fleshed out more and focused on more than they were, same with Phlox. I would have liked more development for those characters, they could have been more interesting, esp. Travis.
Rebooting it in such a way, there's a version in which the Temporal Cold War happened and a new one, in which it didn't - has possibilities. "These are the Voyages..." becomes the end result of that whole timeline influenced by Future Guy, Sphere Builders and others. Taking it out would result in nothing about the concept being permanent, except two Starfleet officers named Archer and Trip, working on the NX program. Klaang doesn't crash land on Earth, chased by the Suliban because there's nobody to provide them with genetic alterations or future tech. There's no Phlox brought aboard to care for the injured Klingon. Possibly no Vulcan overseer. Result Archer picks a whole new crew, at a later date. Or at least, there are maybe reasons why the characters we saw don't get assigned in the way they did. The NX-01 launches when it's ready. Maybe still tested in 2151. Considered a failure. Goes back to spacedock and with changes needing to made based on the results. Launched again, because every serviceable ship is needed, to defend Earth in 2156. But of course, it can be argued that this crew is more than about humankind proving themselves. It's about providing themselves capable of working with other species. So not having two alien crew-people aboard, could damage the galactic union outcome. They are ultimately what helps Archer punch above his weight. Particularly around other Vulcans (not right away but eventually) and Andorians (again after deep suspicion). So I always regard the co-operation in this show as basically the Birth of the Federation. Even if we didn't see that one big event we always fantasied about, that led to everybody banding together for mutual defence. It's a lot easier to imagine after Season 4. Although it must've been one step forward and two steps back, with the Romulans seeding distrust and the Coalition eventually crumbling first. In a way though I've come full circle. Started thinking about an Abramsverse style do-over, using existing elements but throwing out stuff to spice it up. Then figured, it just needs to move forward and cover another five years from where Enterprise really left off. The things I wasn't keen on - the Temporal Cold War, anything connected to the Xindi's reason for attacking Earth, a holodeck finale - ignored unless it's absolutely necessary to bring them up.
I like the look of ENT, most of the actors (I'd recast Travis and Hoshi) and appreciate B/B's intention to make a more character-based show. I also liked that what was "unknown space" to Terrans was in fact populated by a pre-existing interstellar culture they had to acclimatise to. The problem was that they dropped the ball too often. The problem with eps like Vox Sola and Dawn isn't that they've been done on previous shows, it's that they don't really affect the characters or resonate thematically. So the main change I'd make is to put someone like Josh Whedon in charge, not because I want to watch Buffy In Space, but because he made sure that stories were always meaningful for the characters, and he kept a close eye on ongoing continuity development. I thought the TCW had a lot of good elements: I really liked Daniels, the Suliban were a cool protagonist, Future Guy was an interesting concept. They just didn't do anything with it. They'd just occasionally chuck these things in an episode, but not give us a sustained story to follow, or a reason to care. They should have plotted out the war in advance, and then figured out how to insert the ENT crew into that in a meaningful way. I agree about the ship, although I think it looks pretty great anyway. Just making the corridors darker and narrower, and having the light more based on ceiling spots could have given the ship a more intense atmosphere. (And they could have kept the transporter a bit edgy just by enclosing the pad behind a secure door.)
I wish they had introduced the TCW come the mid season point of season 1 and had several episodes over the years leading into the Storm Front 2 part finale. I think being a side note kept well away from the pilot and not the main theme of the show --- that includes not having the whole Expanse storyline despite it being pretty enjoyable. As for the main underlying story/Villian for ENT, it should of been a faction of the Romulans (Tal Shiar for example) working to undermine the Vulcan society, the Vulcan/Earth Alliance, The Alliance of planets and the formation of UFP. Also include the Romulan War at somepoint during the show's run as well. The Suliban should of been a dying race used by the Romulans because of their ability to be easily gentically manipulated.
Scrap the ship (though keep the look/feel of the sets) and replace it with the U.S.S. Daedalus. Have the series start in 2161, just after the Romulan Wars and the formation of the Federation, with the hero ship being the first to have a mixed-species crew--so you have a number of races having to find a way to work and live together in a confined space (each with their own methodologies, cultures, and prejudices). The war itself would be revisited with the occassional flashback, looking at what the crew had been up to during the war, but the focus would be on the hardships of rebuilding after the war with the main characters having to put themselves back together after four years of intense and hard fighting. After all we saw Trek war in DS9, but not what happens afterwards, which has its own difficulties--which would also give greater focus on character arcs and developments, not just aliens-of-the-week, explosions, and catsuits. As for the characters, I'd love to see an alien Captain (preferably Andorian) though if not CO then definitely XO. Humans should be in the minority, to allow for more 'alien' perspectives. I'd love to see the main four founders being represented (Andorian, human, Tellarite, Vulcan) thought with another couple new (or previously unseen) ones included. Also, no Borg, Ferengi or Klingons anywhere. There are other races out there to use, or develop new ones as hostiles, though no temporal cold war--in fact, no time travel of any kind.
I would have simply emphasized the altered timeline if I were Berman and Braga. Almost every objection would be appeased IMHO if they had emphasized the incursion of Borg and Enterprise E into history at the time of first warp and first contact. Cochrane DID get a glimpse at Enterprise E twice which could account for the general appearance of NX 01... And the JJ Abrams model ships and timeline would have fit in well between NX and NCC 1701 eras.
They couldn't decide if ENT was supposed to be an alternate timeline or not. I recall Berman or Braga suggesting as much early on, then when S3 came along they seemingly made it explicit - but then season 4 tied directly into so many TOS/TNG episodes that the intent has to be that they're in the same continuity. The way I reconcile it is to say that history was changed during ENT, but that those changes led to the TOS/TNG future and not away from it.
The Transporter is one thing that definitely has to go. It was introduced in TOS as a way to avoid expensive miniature landing shots but by the time of ENT this was no longer a problem (as evidenced by the use of shuttlepods week after week). If the Transporter appeared at all, it should have been as a villain-of-the-week style experimental device, installed but then abandoned when it backfired tragically. It would also have been an opportunity to delve into the metaphysical problems of such a machine.
I'd start with a fundamental thing: the show would be less TNG the early years and more The Right Stuff, where the characters would be making the rules, trying to prove themselves, making mistakes, and pushing the envelope in terms of technology and learning how to deal with the alien cultures they encounter. The characters would disagree about what their goals are and how to accomplish them, and everyone would have an agenda. The stories would be more "man vs. himself". The best fan service they could have done was give us a compelling narrative of how these people get out into space, persevere, and ultimately shape the future, despite their human failings. No fucking Klingons or Ferengi or their ilk.
First of all, a lot of people here had some great ideas... I agree temporal cold war was a failure, and I could not stand daniels at all. he was awful. Unfortunately they did not capture the vastness of space which should have existed there...plus ships at the time were much slower and often they seemed to travel way to quickly. loosing some of the technology such as artificial gravity would also have been great. 0 G for a lot of the show and constructing sets that took that into consideration could have been absolutely stunning, although it would have been a nightmare to film, and post -production would have been crazy. Plus wasn't there a ST:TAS episode where it was established that artificial gravity came from some super advanced box? I feel like humans hadn't been far enough at this point to have discovered two of these and opened them...
also this... plus wasn't the original meeting with the klingons supposed to have been disastrous (I know, I know, this has been brought up a million times, so we really don't need another debate about it )
From the TAS episode The Slaver Weapon: No more details are given, but since we see AG on both Khan's 1996 vessel as well as the sleeper ship from TNG's The Neutral Zone (not to mention the NX-01 Enterprise) I'd say that the Slaver Box must have been discovered fairly locally to planet Earth.
Maybe Spock was speaking of his people or of the quadrant in general before first contact... After all the same invention can be discovered several times by different peoples, that's certainly true of warp propulsion.
I had that same thought, but then we'd need to contrive other explanations for AG aboard those other 2 vessels I mentioned. Possible, but still...