What do Voyager fans think of Enterprise?

[cooledskin]

I'm going to venture to post an opinion here, though I'm not sure mine matters. And i hope it doesn't get me in trouble.

I liked Voyager because (for me) it was essentially the chick flick of the franchise. Sorry, that's probably not kosher, but it's true. I liked the relationships and the romance (I am indeed a disgrace to my gender). I liked Enterprise, and really got into it, during the whole Trip and T'Pol thing. I'm just drawn to romance and all that goes with it. In my heart of hearts I'm not a total shipper, but I do like to see couples form. My worst memory of Voyager is the whole 7 of 9 / Chakotay (sp?) thing - ftw? My worst memory of Enterprise is the Trip thing.

Anyway, if anyone liked Voyager for the same reason as me, seasons 3 and 4 of Enterprise should appeal for the whole Soap Opera-y thing. Though, as I imagine, I'm probably the only one like that.

 

[Mrs Paris]

I'm going to venture to post an opinion here, though I'm not sure mine matters. And i hope it doesn't get me in trouble.

I liked Voyager because (for me) it was essentially the chick flick of the franchise. Sorry, that's probably not kosher, but it's true. I liked the relationships and the romance (I am indeed a disgrace to my gender). I liked Enterprise, and really got into it, during the whole Trip and T'Pol thing. I'm just drawn to romance and all that goes with it. In my heart of hearts I'm not a total shipper, but I do like to see couples form. My worst memory of Voyager is the whole 7 of 9 / Chakotay (sp?) thing - ftw? My worst memory of Enterprise is the Trip thing.

Anyway, if anyone liked Voyager for the same reason as me, seasons 3 and 4 of Enterprise should appeal for the whole Soap Opera-y thing. Though, as I imagine, I'm probably the only one like that.

interesting, that's the first time I've heard Voyager called a soap opera. Usualy it's DS9 that gets called that

 

[exodus]

I did find the characters bland compared to the other Trek shows.

The problem was, the two main characters -- captain and first officer -- were leaden. Below that level, the cast was good. Trip, excellent. Doctor, very good if not quite Holodoc excellent. Malcolm, not bad. Hoshi, underutilized but interesting. And the guest characters for the Xindi, Andorians, etc. were quite compelling.

But it was always going to be a challenge to sustain viewer interest with stolid Bakula and monotone Blaylock dominating the screen.

I disagree, I found the characters bland and unlikable too.

Malcolm, Hoshi, Maywhether & T'Pol were all characters that were loners or lacked social interaction skills. Not one of them where characters you could warm up too. Malcolm was so uptight all the time, diamonds felt out his butt.

Plus there were tons of questionable mistakes in the Trek history that we already knew.

The Duras family was around during Archers time, completely skipped decades during Kirk's but reappears during Picards?

Vulcan's openly showing emotions?

Only a small minority of Vulcans can mind meld?

Not one mention of Dr. Soong's involvement during Picard/Sisko's time of him with the Eugenics War but he also goes on to create Data, best android of our time.

Meeting both the Borg & Ferengi, not knowing their names each time. Both skipping Kirk's time again completely only to both re-emerge during Picards.

No mention ever again of the Xendi attack of Florida, any of the Xindi themselves, the Sulban, Future Shadow guy or any of the events surrounding Archer. Kirk, Picard, Sisko & Janeway make Starfleet history but Archer doesn't?

Kirk & Picard both mention in their shows that the Federation/Klingon Empire both became enemies due to a bad first contact, yet in "Broken Bow" we part company on good terms?

Did anybody who wrote for the show ever actually watch any Trek show before it?

 

[TheMasterOfOrion]

VOY isn't my favorite but I am a fan of it. Personally I loved Enterprise and thought it got better each season.

I think Enterprise got too much criticism, and at least it went out with a bang. Its final season was fantastic

 

[Akiraprise]

The bang being the collective brains of the fans exploding after they watched "These are the Voyages."

 

[exodus]

and at least it went out with a bang.

Like a bullet to the forehead.

 

[BillyBoy]

I've been watching Voyager lately, going through all 7 seasons, and I love it. To me, it's really the best Trek series, though I also enjoyed TOS and TNG (couldn't really get into DS9, too much Ferengi silliness).

I've seen maybe 1.5 episodes of Enterprise and it just didn't seem like Star Trek to me. It was obviously a show that would need to grow on me. So my question is, is it worth the effort? How does it compare to Voyager and are any of you fans of Enterprise?

Enterprise Season 4 has some redeeming qualities, as it actually tried to be a "prequel" series and stick with canon ... the rest of Enterprise is a waste IMO, with only a handful of exceptions. Voyager's own Mike Sussman, as well as the Reese-Steven's and Manny Coto, really breathed some life into the show at the end, but it was too little, too late, IMO.

Like many here, I had a real problem with the characthers on Enterprise. They're simply variations or retreads of past shows. T'Pol's background is simply Spock mixed with Kira, and her personality is just a bad retread of Seven of Nine. "Phlox" is simply Neelix as a Doctor with Cardassian-type facial makeup (why most Trekkers like Phlox and despise Neelix I'll never know... at least when Neelix was created, he was an ORIGINAL characther that was unlike anyone of the previous shows) I couldn't feel sorry for Trip's death because Trip, like the rest of the cast, was a non-entity to me. He's just "generic starfleet engineer" with a southern accent. Voyager had some of the most creative characthers ever seen in a Trek series, Enterprise had some of the most bland. A reoccuring guest star like Shran was more interesting than any of the "regulars", simply by virtue of the fact Enterprise was the first and only Star Trek series to give us in-depth information about the Andorian race.

Voyager worked best when Brannon Braga stuck to writing and Rick Berman stuck to Producing. When Braga moved up to Producing duties and Berman decided to try writing scripts (which didn't happen that often on VOY, but occured on a weekly basis on Enterprise), they were out of their league and made sub-par material.


I also couldn't get into DS9, albeit for different reasons (as someone else noted, too much forced Ferangi "comedy" and the whole "Dominion War" thing dragged out forever and killed the show).

I'm actually glad Ron Moore didn't work on Enterprise and only did two episodes of Voyager, because Star Trek desperately needed ORIGINAL ideas at that point, and the last thing I wanted was another "Klingon honor" episode. One of the things that really hurt "Enterprise" is the Klingons and Romulans look and act just like their 24th century counterparts, though it's supposed to be 200 years in the past and we know the Klingons and the Romulans in the 23rd century were nothing like that. It was simply lazy writing and not believeable.

In short, Enterprise was not a worthy followup to Voyager and that's why it killed UPN. Even during it's hopefully poor 7th season, Voyager was still more watchable than Enterprise. Voyager takes a lot of heat for having a great premise but failing to live up to it. Plotwise, they might be correct, but Voyager still had great, memorible characthers. Enterprise, more than any other series, failed to live up to its premise.

 

[JRobertson]

Voyager had some of the most creative characthers ever seen in a Trek series, Enterprise had some of the most bland.

Well now.

Voyager -

Kinda interesting captain, if not to my taste
Spock II
Cool doctor
Cool chief engineer
Generic pretty fly-boy pilot
Generic green ensign
Neelix
Cool Borgette, for half the series


Enterprise -

Dull captain
Spock III
Pretty cool doctor
Cool chief engineer
Kinda interesting tactical ops, if not to your taste (I like him)
Pretty cool linguist/translator
Noncharacter in Mayweather

Hmmm, yeah OK Voyager is a bit better but not all that different.

I will give you Shran, he was a great character, no question about that. He shredded the other Enterprise characters in his episodes, what a screen chewer that actor was.

 

[KayArr]

Enterprise was a fine sc-fi show, but a lousy Star Trek show. I was always insulted that they didn't even include the words "Star Trek" in the title of the show. And comments from it's producer about how he would rather have ratings than follow established canon certainly didn't help the show.

Enterprise was marketed to a group of "new" fans at the expense of losing Star Trek's "old" fans. The result was "new" fans still think Star Trek is geeky and don't want to watch it, but the "old" fans have been insulted and alienated and the show was canceled

That's an incorrect blanket generalization (never generalize! lol) like so many are. I'm an old fan--I've watched since the 1970s. I loved Enterprise and thought it was great Trek.

 

[Mr. Fergy]

Nice Series at times, I think S4 of Enterprise was the best by far, IMHO.

 

[Orac Zen]

I don't really see the need for all this competitive comparisons between the shows that's prevalant on these boards though. All the shows have their strengths and weaknesses and different folks sometimes prefer different things just because they do.

I couldn't agree more. We like / dislike what we like / dislike. Sometimes it really is that simple, and explaining any further is impossible. Thankfully much of the ridiculous inter-series competitiveness has gone the way of the dodo, and I for one am glad of it.

(Nice to see you drop by, Lady C. )

 

[exodus]

Dull captain


Hmmm, yeah OK Voyager is a bit better but not all that different.

That is the big difference as I see it.

You've got the shows main star and main character and he can't carry the show. Mulgrew gave Janeway character, guts & charisma with or without Seven. Bacula never seemed like he felt comfortable in the lines he said, they all felt forced and fake, like he only read the script the night before filming.

 

[Mrs Paris]

Dull captain


Hmmm, yeah OK Voyager is a bit better but not all that different.

That is the big difference as I see it.

You've got the shows main star and main character and he can't carry the show. Mulgrew gave Janeway character, guts & charisma with or without Seven. Bacula never seemed like he felt comfortable in the lines he said, they all felt forced and fake, like he only read the script the night before filming.

and Bakula also does seem to act embarassed that he was ever in Star Trek

 

[exodus]

Dull captain


Hmmm, yeah OK Voyager is a bit better but not all that different.

That is the big difference as I see it.

You've got the shows main star and main character and he can't carry the show. Mulgrew gave Janeway character, guts & charisma with or without Seven. Bacula never seemed like he felt comfortable in the lines he said, they all felt forced and fake, like he only read the script the night before filming.

and Bakula also does seem to act embarassed that he was ever in Star Trek

Word!

 

[Akiraprise]

His acting was so forced, it was weird. He shouldn't be embarrassed because he was on Star Trek, but because of that. It's like he wasn't comfortable in the role.

 

[Mrs Paris]

Word!

 

[Lady Conqueror]

I couldn't agree more. We like / dislike what we like / dislike. Sometimes it really is that simple, and explaining any further is impossible. Thankfully much of the ridiculous inter-series competitiveness has gone the way of the dodo, and I for one am glad of it.

Yes it has quietened down a lot thank goodness, but it still irks me when it does crop up.

(Nice to see you drop by, Lady C. )

Thanks - I always mean to post in the VOY forum more but never seem to make it happen. One of these days I'll find the time and have something interesting to say at the same time. And Yay! I finally managed to purchase Seasons 5, 6 & 7 on DVD (5 arrived today in the mail and hopefully 6 & 7 are on the way soon) to complete my Voyager collection.