Giving Enterprise another chance

[RAMA]

This article may have been posted here before, but it's opinion is much the same as mine has been for years..that Enterprise--while imperfect--is being genuinely discovered or re-discovered by many people and appreciated for reasons it wasn't or didn't exist when it first aired.

http://www.treknews.net/2015/03/26/why-you-should-give-enterprise-another-chance/

 

[Trekfan12]

I guess you could say that I am one of those who didn't give Enterprise a real chance. I did watch it when it first aired, but something about it didn't grab me like the other incarnations of Trek.

And as far as the new movies, I liked "Into the Darkness" the first movie, and maybe I am in the minority, I just couldn't get past Vulcan being destroyed. I always felt like it was Earth's sister planet (especially if you've ever read "Strangers from the Sky" by Margaret Wander Bonanno) It was rather hard on me, maybe more so than Spock.

 

[MacLeod]

The same could be said about others shows which have had sister series. But don't we as viewers compare sister shows to the ones that came before, have more critical success etc..

 

[BillJ]

I bought the Blu-ray's. Only watched a few episodes, now they sit on the shelf with the rest of my discs.

I'll get around to rewatching eventually.

 

[Willow]

I'm a late-comer to the Enterprise party , having watched it through the first time only three years ago. I was a big TNG fan during its first run, but I found it overall I like the characters on Enterprise better - Even with all their faults . I tried watching Voyager A couple of years ago but lost interest after season four, and I fast forwarded the rest, I think I had the unpopular opinion of liking Tom Paris and disliking seven of nine .

 

[RAMA]

I watched the episodes but was kind of busy with other things at the time, so I didn't give the episodes the attention I gave previous series (although my viewing started to wane late in Voyager as well). I now watch it on Netflix occasionally and have 2 of the bluray seasons.

 

[Mur]

I just finished watching Enterprise and I have to admit I actually love the series more then Voyager and The next Generation . I wish they would give it another chance . I hated the finale . the next generation Riker was not needed .to end the show .I felt it cheated the cast of Enterprise. Hopefully they give it another chance . It deserves it

 

[Chief Medical Officer]

I can understand some fans liking one series or another better than the others, but I cannot fathom how a true Trek fan can say they do not like one or more of the shows AT ALL. What is it about Star Trek that one really likes, which makes them watch it again and again? It cannot be the characters alone, because there are different ones in each show. It cannot just be the aliens, because while there are commonalities, there are some aliens that only appear in one series. It has to be the universe, the common themes, the space exploration, the whole concept that we are destined to travel to space and explore the unknown. And all of the series have that - which is why, for one, love them all.
Now, as to the question at hand, what about Enterprise? Like Commander Willow above, I was a latecomer, not having watched it during its original run. But then I watched it on DVD and am now watching some of the episodes on Netflix and I have to say that it is really quite a good show. The stories are interesting, the aliens captivating, and the integration into the Star Trek mythology works very well. One thing I am thankful for when I watch Enterprise is how we learn in depth about aliens that we never did in the other series, such as the Andorians and Tellarites. I also enjoyed the Xindi story arc and thought the extended stories in season 4 were great as well.
All in all, Enterprise was a great addition to the Star Trek universe and I, for one, think that it will stand the test of time.

 

[Admiral Shran]

I'm a late comer to ENT as well. I never watched a single episode when it was on the air. Not because I didn't want to - I would have loved to watch it - but because I couldn't. I was still living at home with my parents at the time and their cable provider didn't offer it. So, I had to wait until the DVDs came out to see it at all. After hearing almost universal scorn and condemnation of the series, I have to say that I was more than pleasantly surprised. Seasons One and Two, while certainly not great, certainly aren't bad either. They were fairly average - along the same lines as most of VOY. Season Three, however, was amazing and Season Four is possibly the best single season of Trek ever produced!

 

[Yanks]

I'm a late comer to ENT as well. I never watched a single episode when it was on the air. Not because I didn't want to - I would have loved to watch it - but because I couldn't. I was still living at home with my parents at the time and their cable provider didn't offer it. So, I had to wait until the DVDs came out to see it at all. After hearing almost universal scorn and condemnation of the series, I have to say that I was more than pleasantly surprised. Seasons One and Two, while certainly not great, certainly aren't bad either. They were fairly average - along the same lines as most of VOY. Season Three, however, was amazing and Season Four is possibly the best single season of Trek ever produced!

I am with

But my opinion of season 2 is probably higher.

 

[Terok Nor]

I can understand some fans liking one series or another better than the others, but I cannot fathom how a true Trek fan can say they do not like one or more of the shows AT ALL. What is it about Star Trek that one really likes, which makes them watch it again and again? It cannot be the characters alone, because there are different ones in each show. It cannot just be the aliens, because while there are commonalities, there are some aliens that only appear in one series. It has to be the universe, the common themes, the space exploration, the whole concept that we are destined to travel to space and explore the unknown. And all of the series have that - which is why, for one, love them all.
Now, as to the question at hand, what about Enterprise? Like Commander Willow above, I was a latecomer, not having watched it during its original run. But then I watched it on DVD and am now watching some of the episodes on Netflix and I have to say that it is really quite a good show. The stories are interesting, the aliens captivating, and the integration into the Star Trek mythology works very well. One thing I am thankful for when I watch Enterprise is how we learn in depth about aliens that we never did in the other series, such as the Andorians and Tellarites. I also enjoyed the Xindi story arc and thought the extended stories in season 4 were great as well.
All in all, Enterprise was a great addition to the Star Trek universe and I, for one, think that it will stand the test of time.

I didn't like it because it was boring. Being a Star Trek show isn't reason enough to like something if it's badly written and dull. I admit it had a few decent episodes but not enough to justify its existence. I agree about the Andorians. Their culture is probably the main contribution Enterprise made to the franchise that can be utilized in future incarnations but we didn't need Enterprise to do that. We could have found out all about the Andorians on one of the other spin offs.

I tried to rewatch Enterprise a while ago but I just couldn't get into it. I ended up rewatching TOS instead.

 

[Paradise City]

I think Enterprise was a very courageous project once it got going. I don't quite understand the degree of hostility some have towards it.

I'm not won over to the mania in popular culture for prequels and I'm still not. I think some actors were miscast and vanilla. I don't like the look of the ship nor the aesthetics and I don't like the overuse of time travel which serves only to confuse . But, nothwithstanding all that, alot of those episodes were quite good stories nevertheless and it's a very worthy part of Trek. Many of the episodes bear rewatching. They exceeded my expectations because I did expect it take a plunge in quality compared to Voyager which had become very sterile.

 

[Crow T. Robot]

I gave it an honest chance when it first aired, sticking with it for the full first two seasons and a few of the third in the hopes that it would start getting good. I remembered how The Next Generation was, so I hoped really hard that the same would follow suit with ENT.

Sadly, it didn't. At least not for me.

Once I heard the fourth season started turning things around, I did end up going back a few years later and watching it and found that I enjoyed it a great deal. Thinking that maybe I was letting my expectations get the better of me, I then went back and tried watching the whole series over.

Nope, I still did not care for it at all. Particularly the whole Temporal Cold War and Suliban storylines. It was downright painful.

 

[Mutai Sho-Rin]

I was the moderator of this forum during the first three years of the show. (How I left is a story best left unspoken.) I was a fan from the first ten minutes - and - I loved the Faith of the Heart theme. Since that first run, I've watched the DVDs through twice and will probably launch round 3 later this year. No plans to buy the Blu-rays since I'm far more attracted to the characters and stories than the visual quality. The Lady Sho-Rin and I both really enjoyed Bakula's Archer character and Trineer's Trip as well. Close seconds were T'Pol and Phlox and, of course, Porthos. The rest of the cast had their moments to shine but the big 4 carried the show for me. Enterprise ended up being my second favorite series, close behind TNG and could have edged into the #1 spot had it continued in the style of season 4. Still sad about its premature demise.

 

[Nyotarules]

I watched the first time round when it was called Enterprise, I wish the creators had promoted it as a Trek show. I surprised at the hostility it recieved at the time but I think Trek in general was losing its touch then. ST Nemesis did badly and for me that movie is alright, not great but not terrible IMO. Same with Enterprise. I enjoy watching the reruns on tv, it led me to reading the post TATV (that travesty) novel which are great.

 

[BillJ]

No plans to buy the Blu-rays since I'm far more attracted to the characters and stories than the visual quality.

Seasons three and four are the ones where the upgrade is noticeable. The first two seasons are disappointing overall in HD.

 

[hux]

Loved the premise but watching episodes from the first two seasons just left me with a dull, relentless ache in my balls. They just didn't make any effort to be original whatsoever and churned out the standard, dour TNG episodic crap that just bored me into a clammy hole of yawns.

I know people praise season 3 for its Xindi arc (which I also did at the time) but in hindsight (and on re-warch) I actually find that whole thing pretty tedious. I now realise that I was only impressed at the time because I was comparing it to the blandness of season 1 and 2.

I saw season 4 for what it was. A dying animal throwing its crusty jizz at the screen in the hope of creating a legacy.

I've tried re-watching but just sigh in resignation as soon as the plodding, dead-behind-the-eyes stories of season one begin. One day I'll probably give it another bash and even get through it. Not anytime soon though.

 

[OtherGene]

On it's original airing in the UK, round about 2002 I think, I watched probably about ten consecutive episodes before giving up. I didn't much care for it. I didn't like the cramped interiors of the ship, the plain looking crew, the party-pooping Vulcans or any of the unconvincing new aliens. The only positives were the Andorians and the sheer loveliness of Linda Park.

A couple of years ago Pick TV ran the whole thing from the beginning again so I thought I'd try watching it and I loved it. Pretty much all of it, too. Luckily for Linda Park I was by then a happily married man so she had no more reason to fear me stalking her! Why the change? I think the jump from the shiny, spacious and comfortable Trek I'd been watching for years was too severe and it also nagged me that the stories set before Kirk were more technologically advanced (a problem that pretty much unsolveable, I think).

Also, perhaps because by then I'd had no new Trek for such a long time I could view them as a seperate entity and enjoy them that way.

That last episode was still weird, though.

 

[RAMA]

Seasons three and four are the ones where the upgrade is noticeable. The first two seasons are disappointing overall in HD.

Even so the color and clarity is better, even if there are some artifacts.

 

[Shikarnov]

I watched Enterprise during its original run, and several times since it went off the air -- most recently three years ago after my first son was born and I spent many a night soothing him back to sleep but being unable to return to bed myself...

When it was in the first run, I enjoyed it because it was Trek. By default, that made it a lot better than most of the other garbage on television. But on subsequent rewatches, my opinion hardened, especially as I was more easily able to compare it to other series.

And my current opinion is that Enterprise just tries too hard. From manufactured conflict with the Vulcans, to a galactic inter-dimensional war that spans a thousand years -- and later, a seasons-long mortal threat to Earth itself -- the show just seems to be a lot of self-service on the part of folks like Brannon Braga (who often expressed feelings of creative confinement in his work on previous series). Its as if they said "We have to do everything we ever wanted and more, except even bigger and even better and even more unbelievable!!!"

There are a lot of great moments in Enterprise too. Broken Bow is among my favorite episodes of Star Trek (excepting the whole Phase Pistol nonsense; who did they think they were fooling?), and who doesn't just love Shran and the the wonderful relationship he formed with Archer?

These days, I wish the writers would have been more comfortable with the setting and era they chose. You don't set a cowboy western in Shanghai, and then work so hard to turn the locals into pioneers, settlers, Indians, and the like. By the same token, I would have liked it if Enterprise was more focused on the goings on in our stellar neighborhood.