How "different" was Enterprise...really?

[Mach5]

It really is a shame they wouldn't let them take a longer pause between series.

I don't think that the time between shows is a crucial thing, but rather the people behind the show. Let's face it, Berman and Braga were worn out. Had they bothered to hire fresh new minds from the start (like they did with Coto later on), certain season 1&2 episodes wouldn't feel like a rehash of Voyager.

I've stumbled upon an old article (November 2004) on TrekToday, check this out:

(Ira Steven) Behr was invited by Star Trek: Enterprise executive producers Rick Berman and Brannon Braga to a meeting to give professional input on why the show was not achieving as well as previous Star Trek series, but he does not believe his contributions were incorporated into the show, which he has not watched since. "I'm sure that as soon as they left the meeting they stabbed my picture with a knife!" he joked. "From what I understand, Brannon assembled the writing staff the following day and said, 'You know what? We have a pretty damn good show here and it doesn't matter what people say! We're going to stay the course here.' Of course, I'm hearing this second or third hand." However, he said he and Berman remain on cordial terms socially.

 

[Praetor]

I think we're both right - time to come up with new ideas for the old guard, and new blood to help stir up the old guys.

That is particularly interesting regarding Behr, and frankly I'm not surprised.

 

[Mike Farley]

They had phase pistols and photonic torpedoes instead of phasers and photon torpedoes.

Plus there was a dog.

 

[Praetor]

They had phase pistols and photonic torpedoes instead of phasers and photon torpedoes.

Plus there was a dog.

Assuming this was meant sarcastically:

 

[Mirror_Barclay]

Not very different. This belies some of the advertising but since I've always liked Trek, it's not entirely a bad thing.

They were more open about the imperfect Vulcans, but I'm pretty sure we've seen Vulcans do stupid or immoral things since TOS - we just saw fewer Vulcans, so it was easier for people to ignore this stuff and idolize our strange allies. I think Enterprise did a great job, but I don't think it was that different from DS9's take on the arrogant baseball-playing Vulcans, for example.

 

[Jeyl]

Wrong. You're all wrong. There was one element in this show that really stood itself apart from all the other Trek shows before it. This one element was so big and so crucial to setting this series apart from everything else that they practically put it in the writer's bible for every episode.

That difference ladies and gentlemen, was disregarding the word "THE" when referring to the Enterprise... Er! I'm sorry. When referring to Enterprise.

Beautiful, isn't it? Truly sets itself apart from all the rest.

 

[data65]

Enterprise should have had a much "older" look.

 

[Praetor]

Enterprise should have had a much "older" look.

Elaborate, please.

 

[SFRabid]

Enterprise should have had a much "older" look.

Give it time. It's getting there.

 

[data65]

Enterprise should have had a much "older" look.

Elaborate, please.

Well, I think it should have looked more like a retro TOS as far as the ships were concerned. I understand the plasma screens and stuff like that, but I was looking forward to maybe seeing some daedalus class ships being built or finding out how the "arrowhead" symbol came to be the Enterprise's crew patch and maybe where the pointy sideburns came from..but the idiots just gave us "another typical Star Trek". I loved the show, but it wasn't what I expected.

 

[Praetor]

Agreed.

 

[Herkimer Jitty]

Enterprise was different in that it attempted to get back to TOS, but was stuck to TNG/VOY like a siamese twin. It constantly fluctuated between Big 3-style plots and Ensemble Cast-style plots, and suffered for it, IMO. Stuck between numerous styles with a rather samey feel to the plots didn't help the first 2 seasons, but the characters were less stiff than the 24th century types, and somewhat less painful to watch (with the exception of Lieutenant Reed. Couldn't be more stereotypical if he had an absurd underbite, massive lower teeth and constantly drank tea while on duty). And the production design was the best-looking of any Trek series, IMO. It would have helped to go with a purely ensemble route, or go the way of TOS and reduce those who are not the Big 3 to secondary status.

Enterprise felt a little apathetic in its first 2 years, like a high-schooler trudging through his junior and senior years. In its 3rd year, it suddenly stood up, punched Voyager and TNG in the face and yelled to the world "I AM ENTERPRISE! AND I HAVE MY OWN VOICE!"

Then in Season 4, it punched Doctor Who's lights out, took the episode serial thing, ran with it, and totally rocked it.

Enterprise brought us a significant lesson, one which is being demonstrated by every new TV series out there: No longer can a show start out with any sign of weakness. The pilot and first season of a show must be incredibly without imperfections, or the show will die. A shame, for many shows nowadays don't get to live out to their full potential. Improvement can no longer come later. Noone will give an imperfect show a chance.

If there is to be another Star Trek series, it'll have to be not just good, not just great, but fantastic. I could continue this train of thought, but that train belongs in the Future of Trek forum, methinks.

 

[Praetor]

Well said, Jitty. I'm so glad you're my friend.

 

[I am not Spock]

Not very different. This belies some of the advertising but since I've always liked Trek, it's not entirely a bad thing.

They were more open about the imperfect Vulcans, but I'm pretty sure we've seen Vulcans do stupid or immoral things since TOS - we just saw fewer Vulcans, so it was easier for people to ignore this stuff and idolize our strange allies. I think Enterprise did a great job, but I don't think it was that different from DS9's take on the arrogant baseball-playing Vulcans, for example.

Yeah, people rag on ENT for a lot of reasons, but the more arrogant Vulcans shouldn't be one of them. You're quite right. That wasn't restricted to ENT. DS9 had arrogant Vulcans, too, like in 'Take Me Out To The Holosuite'. They even had a Vulcan serial killer in 'Field of Fire' (which I remember not liking at the time). Arguably DS9 did just as much harm to the Vulkies as ENT did.

And TNG had that dissident Vulcan isolationist movement in 'Gambit' which didn't seem far off something from Enterprise.

 

[CaptainHawk1]

When Enterprise was first being hyped, I recall all this hoopla over how the series would be taking a different approach to Star Trek than the previous four.

But, in the final analysis, how different was it?

It wasn't. That's why it failed so massively. Other than whole lot of tits and ass, there was nothing that distinguished it from TNG, DS9 or VOY.

The 20 year-old format simply didn't appeal to the new generation of TV viewers and no amount of nipples could fix that.

Mind you, I liked ENT especially during seaons 3 and 4 but I understand why it didn't appeal to a general audience.

 

[SFRabid]

I'll also agree with everything Jitty said, plus, emphasize the fact that you better have full network support going in. If Heroes had been on that channel it would have died during that second horrible season. But, it is on a network that wants it to succeed. I don't think Enterprise ever had that support. They thought they had a cash cow, and when it did not turn out that way, they lost interest.

 

[Chip]

Vulcans are not perfect. (One of my favorites.)

Second. I don't get people who bitch about imperfect Vulcans. They were interesting!

The captain does not always get the girl. (The add should say the engineer always gets the girl.)

Captain never gets the girl, if the girl is a crewmate (Picard's fling being an exception to a rule).
And then there's that La Forge loser (and since BLT is a girl, Tucker is also an exception).

The bridge looks a little more like a bridge instead a big budget set with way too much space.

Agreed, though the main viewer was unnecessarily too small. They make TV's bigger than that these days..

I agree with all of your points; especially the one about the Vulcans. Heck, in other Star Trek series they weren't perfect; remember Lieutenant Valeris, and Spock's fiance T'Pring. Not to metion how Spock was treated by other Vulcans!

 

[Mike Farley]

Enterprise felt a little apathetic in its first 2 years, like a high-schooler trudging through his junior and senior years. In its 3rd year, it suddenly stood up, punched Voyager and TNG in the face and yelled to the world "I AM ENTERPRISE! AND I HAVE MY OWN VOICE!"

Then TNG pushed ENTERPRISE to the ground and stole its lunch money. And its finale.