Phlox was a Great Doctor
- Thread starter tomalak301
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Well, sort of.
Between you me and the lamppost, I don't see what's so admirable about using the same healing methods, our ancestors used before they discovered modern medicine.
I thought he was a great character and the acting was great too. I would put him second behind Dr. McCoy in my own personal ranking.
I don't know if Dr. Phlox is hated by Fandom, but I, personally, cannot stand him. His "take 2 rat turds and call me in the morning" brand of medicine was just the icing on the cake. I dislike the makeup design, the way he speaks, his goofy-ass waddle and his ridiculous tongue. It should've been Phlox who gave up The Ghost in These Are the Voyages.
I don't like it either. We gave up leeches, batshit and whatever. a long time ago when we switched to real medicine. It's as if they replaced the computer with a charlatan reading a crystal ball. Some fans may like that, I don't.
-ENTERPRISE- wanted to be different and it was ... in all the wrong areas. In all the wrong ways. The ship's doctor was just a symptom of that. I could've told them better, but nobody axed me ...
Ent started being what it should have been all along only in Season 4 with "The Augments", but by then it was too late, the damage was done, the last nail in the coffin was that stupid alien Nazis double episode. Talk about inept.
Well ... the Nazi's were incredibly stupid to use, because World War II is so much more horrifying in reality than STAR TREK can ever touch on. To compensate for this, these blood-shot eyed, rubberheaded aliens are thrown in with time travel prowess beyond all reason. All of this, coupled with the fact that both these baddies were played so broadly just undermined its entertainment possibilities, at every turn. Weapons shipments that are of such import are only talked about ... never shown. Terrible, terrible television ... and to make this kind of a show a cliff-hanger, was all pretty inexecuseable.
The augments were pretty good, for the most part, and Phlox was used to good effect. I didn't care for the way it all wrapped up, but that's for another thread. I prefer Season 3 to Season 4, myself. ENT's final season felt like it was pandering to the most vocal Trekkies and going in the wrong direction, generally. But Pholox had four years to get his sickbay out of the weird and he wouldn't do it. He's not what brought ENT down, but he wasn't any particular enticement to tune in. His characterisation smacked of effort and never felt organic. ENT is not unwatchable, by any means, but considering its ratings, it took too damn long to get good. Season 3 came just a little too late for us all, unfortunately ...
The augments were pretty good, for the most part, and Phlox was used to good effect. I didn't care for the way it all wrapped up, but that's for another thread. I prefer Season 3 to Season 4, myself. ENT's final season felt like it was pandering to the most vocal Trekkies and going in the wrong direction, generally. But Pholox had four years to get his sickbay out of the weird and he wouldn't do it. He's not what brought ENT down, but he wasn't any particular enticement to tune in. His characterisation smacked of effort and never felt organic. ENT is not unwatchable, by any means, but considering its ratings, it took too damn long to get good. Season 3 came just a little too late for us all, unfortunately ...
I couldn't disagree more. In my opinion he breathed life into the character of the doctor every bit as much as DeForest Kelley did in TOS.
Phlox has his fans and I'm not trying to "convert" any of them. I simply can't get on the same page as the rest of them, that's all. Of course, he's going to be an amazing physician, because ... it's in the script. He's the CMO on the flagship of a STAR TREK show, I mean come ON!!! But, you know ... he was just too much, or not enough something, I don't know ... he failed to connect with me, that's all I can tell you. And if he'd been killed off, or transferred to the Columbia, or however he left the show ... I would've felt the move made ENT much better.
Yes, genocide by inaction is not the best way to endear yourself to people.
I think Dear Doctor was an interesting concept that is generally misinterpreted, in large part because the writers themselves bungled it's presentation and failed to clearly and concisely present the problem. Everyone always focuses on the Valakians maybe possibly dying out as a species (over a period of centuries) but just as key to the episode is the fact that the Menk are being actively held back as a species by the Valakians (not just in the future but right now). The whole point is that no matter what choice is made, you are aiding one species at the direct expense of another. That's why Phlox and Archer have no real right to make that call and can only let nature take its course.
The way I see it, you can either watch Enterprise, take Dear Doctor into account, and like it, or in your own mind just toss it in the wastebasket of Episodes That Did Not Happen along with TATV, Code of Honor and a few other ships from various eras of trek. It could have been a good episode, but the decision made is appalling, and ultimately makes no sense at all. If they had at least had Phlox argue against and refuse to comply it would have at least rescued his character, though nothing can take that from Archer. Archer is also left as the worst captain in starfleet history.
My thought is that nature took it's course when it brought the Enteprise into contact with them. There's a part where they said what if someone had helped the Neanderthals. My answer is "Yeah if they were asking for help, you just do it and hope for the best" And hopefully along with the cure/technology they could drop off some wisdom that would encourage both to coexist as well
But I'd take it further because I think withholding technology is wrong and they should be uplifting species left and right
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