Finished Watching ENT (Warning: Spoilers)

[Captain Kathryn]

I just finished watching the last episode of ENT (finally!) after watching it for the first time this past month or so.

I know a lot of people tend to dislike TATV, but I am not sure why? It was one of the only episodes in the series that made me tear up/cry. It kind of closed up everything nicely, had very moving scenes, and seemed pretty powerful to me. I also cried at the previous episode, that I think may have been more well-done, "Terra Prime". I am usually very critical of a series' last episode (I have ranted about Endgame on many occasions and about other shows endings that are non-Trek), but I have little criticism of TATV.

That said, I am a sucker for happy endings and prefer things that end the way I would have liked haha...so I disliked the fact that they killed off Trip and Elizabeth (T'Pol and Trip's baby).

I thought the last 4 episodes were extremely powerful and made me very moved. I feel very sad that they cancelled this show when they did because it really got better with time.

I see things all the time about wanting to bring ENT back for another season on Netflix (would be Season 5)...but to be honest, without Trip and also without the crew staying together, it wouldn't be nearly the same show. I am sure once the ENT producers were told it was not renewed for a 5th season, that is why they had to wrap everything up very quickly there at the end and sign the coalition of planets. If the show was going to last the standard 7 seasons, that would have occurred at the end of Season 7.

That said, I really loved Season 4. I thought it was very moving and powerful. But, the mushy side of me just wanted Trip and T'Pol to have a happy ending with their child, even if the child was conceived without their permission. It was obvious that they loved each other and would have taken great care of the baby. Even if the baby had died...the two still could have ended up together. Perhaps showing 6 years later that they had conceived a child of their own (since the doctor did say that by natural means, the child would have a good chance of surviving despite the mixing of DNA). I mean, they mentioned it DELIBERATELY at the end of "Terra Prime" with subtext obviously alluding to the fact that T'Pol and Trip could successfully have a child of their own...and then they didn't. What a let down that was. D:

At the beginning of the series, I wanted nothing more than for T'Pol and Archer to get together...it was obvious they cared for each other and had good chemistry...so it's funny to me that towards the end I wanted nothing more than for T'Pol to end up with Trip.

Some stuff that I believe they messed up with:
-Underdevelopment of Mayweather and Reed.
-Not explaining why Reed tends to be anti-social and doesn't get along well with his parents.
-Never resolving some arcs like the Suliban issue / temporal cold war.
-Why does Daniels "from the future" visit Archer?? I loved those scenes, but I don't think they ever really explained it fully??? It reminded me of Sisko and the prophet visits, but at least that had a concrete reasoning behind it. Maybe they DID explain it and I missed something? I might have to check on that.
-They re-used some plotlines/ideas from Voyager and DS9 that I just noticed while watching certain episodes.
-My personal preference of T'Pol and Trip not being together at the end. BOOOOOO. After all of that agonizing drama, they really should have been together. It made a lot of what they went through kind of meaningless.

Other than my above grievances...I have to say great show and I wish it had lasted longer. Also, I don't think it should be hated on as much as it is. IMO, it was a good watch and tied up loose ends that other series hadn't done.

 

[F. King Daniel]

For what it's worth, Rise of the Federation: A Choice of Futures was released last month, picking up the story of the former Enterprise crew in 2162. It's meant to be a new beginning of sorts after the lackluster Romulan War novels, so you don't need to have read them to enjoy it. I'm halfway through and liking it so far.

Spoiler: someone

Trip is alive, and faked his death so he could go undercover with Section 31 during the Romulan War. He's in a long distance relationship with T'Pol, who is now captain of the USS Endeavour, Admiral Archer's flagship.

 

[Captain Kathryn]

For what it's worth, Rise of the Federation: A Choice of Futures was released last month, picking up the story of the former Enterprise crew in 2162. It's meant to be a new beginning of sorts after the lackluster Romulan War novels, so you don't need to have read them to enjoy it. I'm halfway through and liking it so far.

Spoiler: someone

Trip is alive, and faked his death so he could go undercover with Section 31 during the Romulan War. He's in a long distance relationship with T'Pol, who is now captain of the USS Endeavour, Admiral Archer's flagship.

Ooooh interesting. Thanks! ;p I'll check it out.

 

[Mutai Sho-Rin]

OT, I love your avatar. That is beyond cute.

 

[Captain Kathryn]

OT, I love your avatar. That is beyond cute.

Thanks! I work at a children's game company where they can make their own avatars and dress up, etc...and one of my co-workers pixeled me a Janeway avatar. Not for use on the site, just for me to wear in our testing server. It only took him about 10 minutes! He's amazing!

 

[T'Girl]

-Underdevelopment of Mayweather and Reed..

I thought Reed was actually well delevoped for a secondary character.

Maywhether was underdeveloped, while not played by the most talented of actors, when given something to do I thought he did pretty good. There was never anything brought out to anchor the character on. TPTB decided not to run with the "experienced spacer" angle (which would have been good), Maywhether quickly turned into a cardboard cutout stationed at the helm.

 

[ialfan]

For what it's worth, Rise of the Federation: A Choice of Futures was released last month, picking up the story of the former Enterprise crew in 2162. It's meant to be a new beginning of sorts after the lackluster Romulan War novels, so you don't need to have read them to enjoy it. I'm halfway through and liking it so far.

Spoiler: someone

Trip is alive, and faked his death so he could go undercover with Section 31 during the Romulan War. He's in a long distance relationship with T'Pol, who is now captain of the USS Endeavour, Admiral Archer's flagship.

Ooooh interesting. Thanks! ;p I'll check it out.

It's nice to hear from someone who enjoyed Enterprise for the first time. It's not the best Star Trek series but it's my favorite.

I would recommend you at least give The Good That Men Do a try before dismissing all the novels before Rise of the Federation. I really enjoyed all of them myself.

 

[M.A.C.O.]

TATV felt like a really mean spirited way to end a series to me. Trip's death seemed forced, and totally impractical. The NX-01 crew survived encounters with the Suliban, Klingons, Xindi, Religious extremists, Augments, Romulans, Orions, Terra Prime and other villain of the week antagonists. However it's a bunch of aliens (who they don't even bother to give a proper name in the show) that is too much to handle for the crew, and causes Trip's sacrifice? It's not like the NX-01 has NEVER been invaded by enemy forces before. Also aren't they're MACO's still on the ship? Why not call for them.

Also the tie in to the TNG episode Pegasus I felt was lazy. Set it post Nemesis if you want to float such an episode.

 

[TEACAKE'S PLEATHER DOME]

For what it's worth, Rise of the Federation: A Choice of Futures was released last month, picking up the story of the former Enterprise crew in 2162. It's meant to be a new beginning of sorts after the lackluster Romulan War novels, so you don't need to have read them to enjoy it. I'm halfway through and liking it so far.

Spoiler: someone

Trip is alive, and faked his death so he could go undercover with Section 31 during the Romulan War. He's in a long distance relationship with T'Pol, who is now captain of the USS Endeavour, Admiral Archer's flagship.

KingDaniel:

Spoiler: someone, and the new ENT book

Is he still faking it as a Romulan? If they drop that I will read it.

 

[F. King Daniel]

For what it's worth, Rise of the Federation: A Choice of Futures was released last month, picking up the story of the former Enterprise crew in 2162. It's meant to be a new beginning of sorts after the lackluster Romulan War novels, so you don't need to have read them to enjoy it. I'm halfway through and liking it so far.

Spoiler: someone

Trip is alive, and faked his death so he could go undercover with Section 31 during the Romulan War. He's in a long distance relationship with T'Pol, who is now captain of the USS Endeavour, Admiral Archer's flagship.

KingDaniel:

Spoiler: someone, and the new ENT book

Is he still faking it as a Romulan? If they drop that I will read it.

Spoiler: reply

No more Romulan disguise. But he's still in Section 31, and doing the shadowy meetings thing.

Same old Trip when he's with T'pol, though!

 

[MacLeod]

TATV was more of a TNG episode than it was an ENT episode. It was basically a holodeck story set onbaord the Ent-D.

And most fans believe the show was cancelled just when it was getting good.

 

[R. Star]

TATV had many flaws, the forced death of Trip one of them, but by far TATV should've been a celebration of Enterprise... not having Frakes and Siritis, steal the spotlight. Ending things with Terra Prime would've been so much more fitting as at least there was an actual resolution of sorts.

 

[TEACAKE'S PLEATHER DOME]

TATV has a special place in my heart as one of the very few things in all of Star Trek that I actually hate.

Hate hate hate hate hate hate hate.

 

[BruntFCA]

I was really pissed that they broke up Trip & T'Pol. I'm not a shipper at all and would have been totally fine with them never doing the Trip/T'Pol romance plot to begin with but since they spent TWO FRAKING YEARS getting them together for them to just drop it makes it all pointless now.

 

[TEACAKE'S PLEATHER DOME]

For what it's worth, Rise of the Federation: A Choice of Futures was released last month, picking up the story of the former Enterprise crew in 2162. It's meant to be a new beginning of sorts after the lackluster Romulan War novels, so you don't need to have read them to enjoy it. I'm halfway through and liking it so far.

Spoiler: someone

Trip is alive, and faked his death so he could go undercover with Section 31 during the Romulan War. He's in a long distance relationship with T'Pol, who is now captain of the USS Endeavour, Admiral Archer's flagship.

KingDaniel:

Spoiler: someone, and the new ENT book

Is he still faking it as a Romulan? If they drop that I will read it.

Spoiler: reply

No more Romulan disguise. But he's still in Section 31, and doing the shadowy meetings thing.

Same old Trip when he's with T'pol, though!

Spoiler: reply, relaunch and TATV

Sigh.. I just don't buy it. Reed, sure, GREAT fantastic character development. Would have been even greater if they made him a true believer. But Trip's whole schtick was always he is a straight forward down home kinda guy. He's no skulker. He bumbles into stuff (Cogenitor) because he can't hide what he thinks. IT DOESN'T WORK having him be a spy. At least it doesn't work for me. Maybe they've crafted this one so I can actually swallow it. As Phlox would say, "Optimism!"

 

[RPOW0614]

Captain Kathryn ENT is my favorite version of Trek. You are right about the secondary characters fell into the shadows as the show progressed. But the last two seasons are some of the best Trek ever made. The Xindi arc only had a few stinkers (Hatchery) and season 4 was just great, Augments arc, Vulcan arc, mirror episodes. Except for TATV, which really sucked, it was a great season.

 

[TEACAKE'S PLEATHER DOME]

But the last two seasons are some of the best Trek ever made.

That's exactly what I've said many times, particularly for me the fourth season.

 

[bbjeg]

...I feel very sad that they cancelled this show when they did because it really got better with time.

I agree. I was one of those skeptics, droping out around the beginning of season 3, but after watching the rest, I felt they could/should have done more.

I also agree with Captain Kathryn's listed grievances. I felt like Mayweather and Reed had much more to tell about themselves, the Suliban weren't resolved (at least not as much as I wanted), and the T'Pol and Trip drama was unneeded if they were just going to ended it like that. At least they could have named T'Pol's child (with her current husband) Sarek or something like that.

 

[R. Star]

KingDaniel:

Spoiler: someone, and the new ENT book

Is he still faking it as a Romulan? If they drop that I will read it.

Spoiler: reply

No more Romulan disguise. But he's still in Section 31, and doing the shadowy meetings thing.

Same old Trip when he's with T'pol, though!

Spoiler: reply, relaunch and TATV

Sigh.. I just don't buy it. Reed, sure, GREAT fantastic character development. Would have been even greater if they made him a true believer. But Trip's whole schtick was always he is a straight forward down home kinda guy. He's no skulker. He bumbles into stuff (Cogenitor) because he can't hide what he thinks. IT DOESN'T WORK having him be a spy. At least it doesn't work for me. Maybe they've crafted this one so I can actually swallow it. As Phlox would say, "Optimism!"

Spoiler: More Spoiler Talk

Gotta agree, Trip is about as convincing as Disney's Goofy being a Spy. Reed I definitely could buy. All his resurrection really is, is catering to fan demands to get him back alive, however unconvincingly, so he and Trip can romance it up.

 

[R. Star]

But the last two seasons are some of the best Trek ever made.

That's exactly what I've said many times, particularly for me the fourth season.

Except Alien Nazi's...