If You Could Rewrite ENT?

[Duncan MacLeod]

He hasn't been around for a long time, but I can think of nothing so pleasing as simply giving The Badger the keys and letting him get to work.

https://www.trekbbs.com/threads/starship-enterprise-broken-bow-alternate-version.90084/

 

[Nyotarules]

Delete the atrocity of TATV where no one got promoted for ten years despite fighting a major interstellar war....

 

[Tenacity]

^ Didn't the Enterprise crew spend the entire war vacationing on Risa?

 

[Bry_Sinclair]

I thought they spent it studying gazelles.

 

[Graham]

Okay, my version of Enterprise...

First off, I would remove the one thing that IMO hampered the show greatly - the idea that Enterprise was the first Warp 5 starship and all previous ships were limited to Warp 1 or 2. Instead I would have had a steady progression of faster ships from the Phoenix onwards. Instead the Enterprise is the first long range ship - previous designs limited to 20 light years or so due to limits in antimatter production and storage tech. Enterprise has twenty times this range, allowing deep space exploration hundreds of light years from Earth.

Second, the ship and the tech should be more fitting for the era. I would be tempted to go with a Daedalus class ship, but let's face it, the Daedalus design wasn't great. So I would go with something very like the Pacific 201 version of the Daedalus, only with a new class name - the Icarus class, perhaps.

No transporter. The ship would have shuttles only. No phasers, and that includes "phase" guns. The ship would have laser cannon and nuclear-armed missiles. No shields, and that includes "hull polarisation" that are shields in all but name. Give the ship armour, and treat it like armour. The crew would be equipped with advanced slug-throwers; handheld rail guns firing nanotech programmable ammo, essentially. For a stun setting they would have the ability to fire "taser darts" that zap people.

A somewhat more mixed crew. Lots of Chinese, Indian, etc crewmembers - demographically, these people are going to be the majority of the future. Let's see that.

As with others, the Romulan war would feature heavily. I was baffled by the decision to put Enterprise in 2151, meaning that if it had gotten 7 seasons it would have finished in the middle of the Romulan war. What's with that? I would begin in 2154, and plan out an arc that somewhat paralleled the Dominion - we would start hearing about the Romulans in season 1, then introduce them as antagonists in the season finale. Season 2 would be a 'cold war', with occasional raids, intelligence gathering missions, etc. The season would end with a Pearl Harbor style attack on Earth forces by the Romulans.

Now in theory there would then be five seasons devoted to the war. But I think that's too over the top, so I would do one of two things. One thought is to abandon the idea of "1 season = 1 year"; make a season 2 years. Why not? Just set the episodes a month apart instead of a couple of weeks. Or alternately, jump a year at the end of each season.

Either way, get the war out of the way in two and a half seasons or less. From then on, focus on "winning the peace" = the effort to build the alliance that will lead to the Federation.

 

[F. King Daniel]

^ Didn't the Enterprise crew spend the entire war vacationing on Risa?

In the unmade Star Trek: The Beginning feature film, yes.

I suspect if Trek ever revisits that era, whoever writes it will have different ideas than Erik Jendersen had in 2006.

 

[Tenacity]

I was baffled by the decision to put Enterprise in 2151, meaning that if it had gotten 7 seasons it would have finished in the middle of the Romulan war.

Each season doesn't automatically have to be one year in-universe.

Season one of DIS was about a year and a half years in-universe.

Personally I think the first and second seasons of Voyager work better if viewed as a single year.

 

[STEPhon IT]

If I did Enterprise, I would've never name the ship by that title but make the name Enterprise mean something to define the series as a whole. I would've stayed away from what we knew of Trek, including tech words from TNG. FC already killed the magic of who humans first met. I would've never defined who humans first met in alien contact.

Vulcans would've been heard of but not seen often, when seen I would developed a Vulcanian society who were struggling to suppress emotions while practicing logic. Make their appearances special like a cliffhanger; a gift for fans to continue to watch. The ship would've been special and would've been inspired by Matt Jefferies unused designs, a combination of the best parts but it would be a clue where Starfleet would end up with the Starship Class.

Uniforms and attire would again be based upon designs Bill Theiss drew but the material would be more in line with The Cage. I love skirts and dresses, so they would be in my prequel series... this includes kilts! I didn't mind what was done on TNG but I would've added a little ranking or patches on the dress.

Technology such as communicators and laser guns would be bulkier ala the cell phone from the 1990's... with the laser gun I would like the ring cylinder in the middle of the weapon be thicker, including a clicker sound to inform us there's a setting for the weapon.

There would be no extraterrestrial liaisons on board the ship; it would be the first human adventure to the course and for God sake there would be fewer white people dominating the cast. British television has progressed with diversity and it's a cardinal sin Star Trek: Discovery continues to miss the boat. GET A CLUE, DSC!

Warp speed would be revolutionary and would be limited to 3; warp 4 would be considered pushing the propulsion units and could be hazardous. Transporters would be looked upon the same way but there would be a limit of how many people could transport... maybe only 3 on the pad and like my weapons idea, the pads would be incredibly larger than what we've seen before.

There would've been a lot more science based adventures than the baddie of the week. Encountering lifeforms where the universal translator was in it's infancy and the crew would have to earn the trust of making contact with aliens. When they first meet aliens they should be a sense of fear, this including the alien themselves. I would want a pioneering feel to the whole show. Of course, there would be pirates who will try to create a form of triangle trade which our heroes know too well from our history and they will try to stop it!

Utopia or the path for utopia would've been my focus and no shady bullshit "Section 31 too much" smearing the world of Trek. Something fun, and new and adventurous... like Captain Aubrey and Dr. Maturin.

 

[Graham]

Each season doesn't automatically have to be one year in-universe.

No, and I suggested that very thing myself for a reimagining. It even makes more sense of earlier, slower ships since it gives them time to get places.

But they did actually decide to make each season a year on Enterprise. Hence the baffling part.

Season one of DIS was about a year and a half years in-universe.

I wouldn't know, I quit it around episode 6.

Personally I think the first and second seasons of Voyager work better if viewed as a single year.

Didn't they have something where some season 1 episodes got moved to season 2 or something?

Okay, memory alpha says that "Projections", "Elogium", "Twisted", and "The 37's" were all filmed for season 1 but then moved into season 2.

 

[DarKush]

I’m late to the party but I do like these threads. It’s cool seeing how everyone would envision a show. From jump I would attach the “Star Trek” name to the show.

For me, I’m torn between doing a show before the Romulan War and then doing one in the early years of the Federation (a la Starfleet: Year One, from Trek Lit., which I liked).

So, I would start with a two-hour pilot movie of the Romulan War, that is like a prequel of sorts. And then the third episode (the real official start of the series) would take place after the war was over. (During the pilot we would see the Declaration class-which I love-and also the Daedalus class, among others.) Before the war, there is no Starfleet. There would be the United Earth Interstellar Navy.

The ship would not be called the Enterprise. It would be the Phoenix. And I would probably go with a new design and design name, perhaps the Cochrane-class. The Phoenix would be an amalgamation of all of the member worlds’ contributions. And like the other proposals, the Phoenix would have a crew drawn from the member worlds and a lot of it. So, a lot of the dramatic tension would involve a clashing of different cultures and species, but also the merging of the different halves of Starfleet, the science and military halves. At this point, it’s all in an embryonic stage.

The Romulans will still be instigating things, using proxies, and this is where groups like the Orions or Suliban could come in. I also would’ve beefed up Terra Prime, a xenophobic group that arises after the war and is an ideological foe to the idea of the Federation.

The Xindi, instead of being manipulated by the Sphere-Builders, are manipulated by the Romulans. There would be no Klingons for most of the run of the show until the series finale which detailed a fateful and disastrous first contact with them. Romulans, Tholians, Orions, Suliban, Augments, “Silent Enemy” aliens, and Xindi are more than enough bad guys to carry a series. If possible, I would add the Kzinti in as well.

For the cast, I would have Dennis Quaid for Archer and the commodore-mentor role would be played by Louis Gossett Jr. (Sue me, I liked Enemy Mine). Archer would be more of a cowboy. Archer would be more of a soldier and is skeptical about the idea that Starfleet, a melding of scientific exploration and the military can work. The commodore (I always liked the rank) would be pushing to have him as the guy in charge because of his military background.

Erika Hernandez would be the ship’s navigator and XO. Though she’s military and has some history with Archer, she’s in support of the science and exploration side of Starfleet and will bump heads with Archer if need be.

I was thinking T’Pol would be the communications officer, instead of science officer. I liked the idea of T’Pol being half-Romulan and would’ve worked that in eventually. Sato would be science officer. Though I like Reed, I might put Talas as armory officer and have Reed be the leader of the MACOs assigned to the ship. Phlox and Tucker would stay the same. Might have Mayweather be the grandson of Louis Gossett Jr.’s character, and he has entrusted him to Archer’s protection and guidance. I would keep Mayweather’s Boomer background, though I would have him contribute more experiential knowledge which bumps against and competes with Hoshi’s scientific reports. I would keep the T’Pol/Tucker romance but also have a Mayweather/Sato romance. Reed would still be in Section 31, but far more involved and it would be revealed to the audience much earlier. I would also have a member of Terra Prime on the ship as well.

Like others, I would have the show be more diverse, peopled with various peoples, but also make sure to have diverse guest captains or higher ranked officers when the situation called for it.

 

[tomswift2002]

If I were to rewrite Enterprise, I would probably have a build up to the events of the novel “Starfleet Year One” and even depict those events and even go beyond.

Season 1 would take place mostly on Earth and in & around the Earth’s solar system. Kind of an updated “Rocky Jones” or 1950’s Flash Gordon concept. We would see the beginnings of the Daedalus class, mostly as we find out that Starfleet wants to venture further outside the system, but needs something that can do better than Warp 3, plus as a few cargo ships headed for ports like Vulcan and Alpha Centauri have come under attack from a mysterious alien and have not been able to run due to the attackers flying ships capable of Warp 5. We would see Captain Aaron Stiles commanding a “Christopher-class” who thinks that Earth Command should be more militaristic, but he’s in contrast to Earth President Lydia Littlejohn who sees Earth’s spacefleet as both a scientific and military fleet.

Season 2 would build up to the Romulan War in Season 3, which would span about 4 years and the events of the novel “StarfleetYrar One” would be in Season 4.

 

[uniderth]

Kind of an updated “Rocky Jones”

Anything that resembles Rocky Jones is automatically good, because Rocky Jones is the best!

 

[JirinPanthosa]

If I could rewrite ENT I'd just use the approach of season 4 the entire series.

 

[tomswift2002]

Anything that resembles Rocky Jones is automatically good, because Rocky Jones is the best!

You know, considering how primitive the SFX are on that show, I still find it more interesting than a lot of the newer sci-fi.

 

[uniderth]

You know, considering how primitive the SFX are on that show, I still find it more interesting than a lot of the newer sci-fi.

I was also pleasantly surprise at the internal consistency of the show. It was a very well made production.

 

[Valenti]

I would have liked to see the very beginning too - the first ship to leave the confines of our galaxy or solar system (what have you) like TOS promised it was going to be before it edited that part out and got all sophisticated and stuff. And for a better reason than escorting a Klingon home (had to be with ridges, huh? Couldn't fight for no ridges, could you, BB?). The powers that be were much too strong for him. RB was in charge of both the vision and the details which is why there wasn't any. There was barely music in the first ep., and the production values were same old, same old.

 

[thribs]

I would have done more with the temporal Cold stuff. Perhaps have done a time travel story to the 24th century. Make it connect better with the continuity.
I also would have shown the Enterprise J more.

 

[Uhura's Song]

1 Kill the Vulcan catsuit & gel rubbing crap. T'Pol can wear something Vulcan & distinctive, but that was ridiculous.

2. Have them have SOME idea of what they were doing at first instead of being totally stupid & all "I am not listening to Vulcans!" all the time.

3. T'Pol's decision to sleep with Trip (scientific exploration) was lame. That leg of the relationship should be redone or scrapped.

4. The last episode has to be axed. No TNG sendoff.

 

[thribs]

How can anyone hate the gel rubbing stuff? If STD has any of that it might have been worth watching.

 

[Shamrock Holmes]

I'm kinda in two minds about the decon thing.

In-universe it kinda made sense, and frankly given the number of 'disease of the week' plots, particularly in TOS and TNG I was glad that someone appeared to be engaging the issue,

However, the staging of such scenes (due to similar out-of-universe reasons as T'Pol's catsuit*) was annoying in retrospect.

* The explanation of which as 'traditional Vulcan uniform' is completely inconsistent with all previous depictions of regular Vulcan clothing. Something along the lines of a Nehru-style suit, or failing that robes of some sort - especially or formal occassions - would have made more sense.