Why was Archer such a terrible fighter?

[Dream]

Was it intention how the writers wrote Archer to be such a wuss? He kept getting his ass kicked!

Picard was a 60 year old man when TNG started and was a better fighter than him!

Also Archer was captured 28 times, that's probably a record.
http://www.ex-astris-scientia.org/ent.htm

 

[ALF]

I think he enjoyed getting the piss pounded out of him. Didn't a Xindi say that to him once?

 

[Skywalker]

He was the first captain out there; they hadn't learned to fight yet.

 

[R. Star]

Was it intention how the writers wrote Archer to be such a wuss? He kept getting his ass kicked!

Picard was a 60 year old man when TNG started and was a better fighter than him!

Also Archer was captured 28 times, that's probably a record.
http://www.ex-astris-scientia.org/ent.htm

If I had to guess it was to show how serious/threatening the antagonist of the week is and because killing redshirts by the dozens was already cliche.

 

[T'Girl]

In addition to Star trek, one of my favorite shows is NCIS, the shows lead character Jethro Gibbs is a absolute badass, except he just can't fight hand to hand,. When he gets into it with a suspect or whoever he often barely holds his own. or gets trashed. That isn't the way the America Hero is usually depicted, but it doesn't diminish him overall, he's still a badass.

John Archer personally sees himself as a intellectual, this is his self image. He want to be urban, achieving his goal through words. He just never learned to fight, not effectively.

 

[grabthars hammer]

On the contrary, his lack of fighting skill makes him all the more courageous heading into a fight, knowing he's probably gonna take a beating. Plus, many of his fights were against physically superior persons; wacko Vulcans, giant reptile Xindi and augmented dudes.

 

[TEACAKE'S PLEATHER DOME]

When you are living in the harmonious Federation I guess you have little practice with physical aggression. I assume in the future starfleet upped it's training in this.

 

[F. King Daniel]

Didn't Archer mop the floor with a couple of Vulcans in season 4? I assume the RL reason is that the director forgot the whole "three times human strength" thing from TOS, but still...

 

[horatio83]

ENT showed that humankind was a bit naive when they went out there, desiring to peacefully explore the galaxy yet meeting quite some unfriendly fellows. Archer's lack of physical fighting training (First Flight; besides being a pilot the guy didn't have any training) merely reflects this general human naivety.

 

[grabthars hammer]

It was still decades before Kirk introduced the two-handed punch to the back.

 

[Robert D. Robot]

^ Yes. Exactly!

Amazing how that two-handed chop was so effective at completely incapacitating the bad guys!....

Most WWF tapes had been lost during WWIII, and the world had lost all knowledge of classic pro wrestling tactics. Fortunately for Kirk, tapes were rediscovered in the early 2200s and he was able to learn and use these moves. Poor old Archer was on his own.

 

[Use of Time]

Archer was a glorified astronaut. It's like saying Neil Armstrong wasn't badass (he was by the way) Enterprise was about protraying humanity as more of a fragile race stepping into the unknown. The other shows featured an already prominent and mighty Federation which the rest of the galaxy took seriously.

 

[JiNX-01]

I think it was a metaphor for Archer being in over his head.

 

[Skywalker]

It was actually done in preparation for TheGodBen's eventual Archer Abuse counter during his review of ENT.

 

[Delsaber]

He was the first captain out there; they hadn't learned to fight yet.

This makes the most sense to me. I like to think that Archer getting his ass so thoroughly trounced is part of what led to Starfleet expanding its physical training programmes to include stuff like Sisko's wrestling team.

That and the integration of MACO, I suppose.

 

[Skywalker]

He was the first captain out there; they hadn't learned to fight yet.

This makes the most sense to me. I like to think that Archer getting his ass so thoroughly trounced is part of what led to Starfleet expanding its physical training programmes to include stuff like Sisko's wrestling team.

That and the integration of MACO, I suppose.

I was actually poking fun at the "he was the first captain!" excuse everyone else uses for Archer's other faults.

 

[TEACAKE'S PLEATHER DOME]

Archer was a glorified astronaut. It's like saying Neil Armstrong wasn't badass (he was by the way) Enterprise was about protraying humanity as more of a fragile race stepping into the unknown. The other shows featured an already prominent and mighty Federation which the rest of the galaxy took seriously.

This is really the way to redeem Archer.

 

[T'Cal]

It was still decades before Kirk introduced the two-handed punch to the back.

...or the flying drop kick!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BPuOMDpiNtM

 

[Bry_Sinclair]

He's just terrible all round, so its no surprise really that he can't fight.

 

[TEACAKE'S PLEATHER DOME]

He's just terrible all round, so its no surprise really that he can't fight.

OH now, pshaw.. he has, like, a dog. Dog people are good people. Aren't they?