Yes, I knew that, but Fried's post was just unclear enough for somebody who doesn't to be as confused as I intially was.
I agree that he was a bit stiff and not very watchable early on but once he grew the beard, he loosened up and became more fun. My reasons for resenting Jonathan and Marina having significant roles in the episode: -- Riker's story (The Pegasus) had already been told. -- Jonathan and Marina got their seven years. -- The Enterprise cast got four years and were treated like they didn't even rate their own sendoff. -- Jonathan and Marina took too much screen time from the crew ENT FANS were saying goodbye to. -- I think Demons/Terra Prime worked very well as both the series finale and a franchise finale because it takes us full circle with a lovely nod to The Series That Started It All in the final scene with Trip and T'Pol. Whereas, This Ain't The Valentine is nothing but a self-congratulatory valentine to Bermaga for the "golden years" of TNG.
My door swings both ways. Mmm...Riker chest. Ah, ok, that makes sense. I can see how his confidence could be seen more as arrogance. I've always liked Riker, but I can agree he loosened up when he got the beard. I agree with you there about most of your list. I didn't hate the last episode like so many, but thats because I was able to ignore the whole Riker hologram crap and focus on the story being told(again, even if the story wasn't great itself it wasn't too bad in my mind).
Another reason Terra Prime makes a great finale is that Archer uses the words "the final frontier" in his speech about the alliance between the alien worlds. We don't even get to hear his speech in TATV. (As opposed to TATV which makes at least 3 verbal references to TNG!)
^It was probably the Gazelle speech again. What I don't get is that Daniels told him how he had to be at the signing of the Federation when, from what I can tell, his being there or not wouldn't have made one bit of difference. Had the Enterprise blown up en route, the Federation still would have happened. Riker and Troi in Enterprise would have been far more believable if they were on the Titan, and the holodeck and Federation angles were dropped. An episode in two time zones, with Riker and Troi on Titan following up something Archer and co did on Enterprise 200 years prior might have worked, swapping back and forth in time as the stories progressed. It could have been epic.
Maybe that was a bit of a ruse on Daniel's part. Maybe there was some very important reason for Archer to be there that is never seen or known, a chance conversation or the like that changes the course of history in a way that will never be visible to any but those with temporal vision. Daniels knows Archer won't buy that so he pushes the Federation story.
As much as I hate TATV, it has three nice scenes in it that are the only ones I've committed to memory. - Trip & Riker's scene, this was touching and it gave Trip a sort of sage quality that I felt showed that the Next Gen era was paying tribute to Enterprise (something this episode sorely needed more of). - Archer walking up the steps to give his speech (a part of me is glad we didn't hear it because the speech he gave in Terra Prime was excellent and we didn't need two in a row) - The final ship montage, I got goosebumps and maybe even shed a tear when I saw the D, followed by Kirk's E glide by and finally the NX-01. It solidified how I felt about TOS + TNG + ENT - that these were the shows about seeking out new life and civilisations. DS9 and Voyager were more introspective, and had a different focus. Whereas these three series all felt connected in their spirit of exploration. Not trying to defend the TATV train wreck here, but just trying to extract something positive from it.
Some people are just so much more positive than me. When I first saw it I thought, "how dare you append the magnificent NCC-1701 to this SHIT."
So... how many hours of the show did you force yourself to endure before you came to this conclusion?
Re: How come no one is working on the Star Trek sequel? And yet Enterprise is the only part of the Star Trek universe to survive Nero's tampering . You must be thrilled.
Re: How come no one is working on the Star Trek sequel? I know I about died laughing when I realized this. It was sweeeeet..
Depends. Most people seem to interpret the Trek XI timeline as a separate continuity, an alternate universe caused by the timeline being diverged.
Yeah, but this divergence happened decades after NX-01's mission ended, which means ENT is a part of both time lines.
I just watched my first ep of ENT tonight. I think it was called "Twilight". I liked it a lot. It was classic Trek, the basic story's been done over and over but the twist on short-term memories, and the parasites removal changing the timeline was pretty cool. I still can't for the life of me understand why they used big peices of cheese for their theme songs, in this case, 80's cheese, but the show itself is very enjoyable. Good acting, good story, kick-ass FX, great set work. I'm looking forward to watching the show when I can. Based on this episode I have no idea where the haters are coming from.
^I wish they were all as good as "Twilight". After you've seen "Fusion" (in space, for one hour, NOTHING HAPPENS) or "A Night in Sickbay" (hostile aliens are attacking but the captain couldn't care less - his dog needs a transplant!) you'll know where the haters are coming from. I still love the show