Succinctly explain why the gazelle speech was infamously bad

[V]

beating a dead horse:

In your own words, and at most a paragraph or two, succinctly explain why the "Gazelle speech" from the season 2 premiere was "infamously bad", in the manner you would to someone who hasn't seen the series.

I'm not really good at this, but the basic points I make are:

Every show has a "rough first season where we learn how to do things". But the Gazelle speech was so corny, so "tie things up neatly with a bow", that this is when I realized..."you're just cranking this out like a sausage factory". Sort of like "Insert Inspirational Speech Here [TM]"

Of course, the real "breaking point" for me was A Night in Sickbay, which was when I realized: "you aren't listening to any of the fan complaints, and you're actually doing the stuff we hate at higher levels.....which is evidence that this is simply what "Enterprise" IS, there was no learning curve, and it's always going to be like this and you'll never listen to us"

 

[Nerys Myk]

I dunno. The gazelle speech was okay.

"When I was in my early twenties on a trip to East Africa, I saw a gazelle giving birth. It was truly amazing. Within minutes, the baby was standing up—standing up on its own. A few more minutes, and it was walking. And before I knew it it was running alongside its mother, moving away with the herd. Humans aren't like that, Ambassador. We may come from the same planet, but we're pretty much helpless when we're born. It takes us months before we're able to crawl—almost a full year before we can walk. Our deep space mission isn't much different. We're going to stumble, make mistakes — I'm sure more than a few before we find our footing. But we're going to learn from those mistakes. That's what being human is all about. I'm sorry you can't see that."

Of course as I've said before what most people hear is

"When I was in my early twenties on a trip to East Africa, I saw a gazelle"

I'm not sure it was the right speech to make at that moment, but does illustrate how humans develop and learn through trial and error or mistakes.

I sometimes thing that Archer should have talked about lions, who also develop at a rate slower than gazelles. But when the lions are ready, the gazelles are lunch. Then he should have given the gaze...er Vulcans a knowing wink.

 

[FredH]

Had James T. Kirk given the exact same speech in a TOS episode, I'm quite certain that many viewers would be perfectly okay with it--although, admittedly, the diction would be different.

As with many elements of ENT, a sizable chunk of fandom came in deciding it would be bad in advance; and so, to them, it was.

(Now, "Marauders"? That was bad. The gazelle speech, not so much.)

 

[JNG]

Using Earth animals to make a point to aliens is a problem, but doing so at that particular moment and with the buildup it was given, on top of the painfully earnest delivery and the way everyone listens as if they are being bowled over by something brilliant...it was just the perfect storm.

I covered my face with my hands as part of my struggle to keep my finger off the mute button.

 

[Captain X]

The first problem was his audience - Vucans who hated his guts. His speech basically underlined all the reasons they had against humanity being out in space on their own, so it completely failed as a way to refute what they were saying, namely that humanity needed more time before it could "walk" on its own. T'Pol's bit was much more effective in that way.

The secondary problem was the complexity of it, because the most effective speeches are the ones that are simple and require the least amount of set-up to get to the point.

The other problem was that it was just kind of a stretch and had little to do with the actual situation. In this case, humanity had just been vindicated in the accident that Vulcans and their human lapdogs were using as a reason to recall Enterprise and to end Starfleet's mission, but despite that they were set to cancel everything anyway. So basically his speech failed to address the stubborn hypocrisy in that attitude, which is where the real problem was.

 

[number6]

I think the gazelle speech was OK and certainly illustrated the point Archer was making to the Vulcans. I never understood the hate for it, really.

 

[JiNX-01]

Archer used a lame anecdote to explain to Vulcans that humans have a learning curve.

 

[number6]

Archer used a lame anecdote to explain to Vulcans that humans have a learning curve.

It's not really lame. He's relating a personal experience that illustrates the message. How is that lame? It worked for me when it was first shown. Still does.

 

[Admiral Buzzkill]

It struck me as pretty much standard "Trek Captain Speech #3." People were just realizing how boring Trek repeating itself endlessly had become by the time "Enterprise" rolled around.

 

[Captain X]

You were apparently their target audience then.

 

[Dick Whitman]

Arbitrary Message Board Fixation

 

[commodore64]

Strange analogy, one we can't relate to. (Very few have seen a gazelle being born in Africa.)

 

[Mach5]

Actually, the only part of the speech that bothered me was:

We're going to stumble, make mistakes — I'm sure more than a few before we find our footing. But we're going to learn from those mistakes. That's what being human is all about.

Someone once said:
"A fool learns from his own mistakes, A wise man learns from the mistakes of others".
IMO, what Archer should have said was: "We're going to make mistakes, but we'll do everything we can to avoid them."

"We are Human, we're gonna screw up, and we can't help it" is not exactly the best way to go, if you ask me.

 

[V]

It struck me as pretty much standard "Trek Captain Speech #3." People were just realizing how boring Trek repeating itself endlessly had become by the time "Enterprise" rolled around.

more or less my reaction

 

[number6]

It struck me as pretty much standard "Trek Captain Speech #3." People were just realizing how boring Trek repeating itself endlessly had become by the time "Enterprise" rolled around.

more or less my reaction

It will never be as cringeworthy as the Eed Pleb Neesta speech.

 

[JiNX-01]

It struck me as pretty much standard "Trek Captain Speech #3." People were just realizing how boring Trek repeating itself endlessly had become by the time "Enterprise" rolled around.

more or less my reaction

It will never be as cringeworthy as the Eed Pleb Neesta speech.

You win.

 

[number6]

more or less my reaction

It will never be as cringeworthy as the Eed Pleb Neesta speech.

You win.

You can take consolation that Kirk's Eed Pleb Neesta speech may have been inspired by Archer's Gazelle speech, given that Archer's his childhood hero and all.

 

[Nimthim]

It struck me as pretty much standard "Trek Captain Speech #3." People were just realizing how boring Trek repeating itself endlessly had become by the time "Enterprise" rolled around.

I was watching the TOS episode 'The Empath' a few days ago and was struck by how much Archer's speech to the Organians in 'Observer Effect' is pretty much a quote of Kirk's speech to the Vions (is that the right sp.?) - 'you've forgotten what compassion is, etc'. I like 'Observer Effect', but it does seem a retread of 'The Empath' in many aspects.

I can certainly see how some would view that negatively.

 

[JiNX-01]

It struck me as pretty much standard "Trek Captain Speech #3." People were just realizing how boring Trek repeating itself endlessly had become by the time "Enterprise" rolled around.

I was watching the TOS episode 'The Empath' a few days ago and was struck by how much Archer's speech to the Organians in 'Observer Effect' is pretty much a quote of Kirk's speech to the Vions (is that the right sp.?) - 'you've forgotten what compassion is, etc'. I like 'Observer Effect', but it does seem a retread of 'The Empath' in many aspects.

I can certainly see how some would view that negatively.

Actually, I consider Archer's speech to the Organians as a nod to TOS.

 

[Nimthim]

I truly like 'Observer Effect' and don't mind in the least that many aspects of the story are very similar to 'The Empath': the omnipotent aliens observing their grand experiment and refusing to intervene, the crewmembers' lives in peril, the impassioned speech by the captain about compassion. Certainly in many ways a salute to TOS.

I was merely commenting that it is an example of captains' speeches seeming to be formulaic and repetitive, if one watches a lot of Star Trek and is inclined to view them as such - I don't personally, and it is over 35 years between these episodes. I think 'Observer Effect' is one the strongest episodes for Archer - very genuine and natural emotional expression, as opposed to the forced quality of the gazelle speech.