Did a quick search and couldn't find any other threads that dealt with this topic. Excuse me if I missed a discussion regarding this already. I'm a long time fan of Enterprise and I recently finished all of the early 2000's Battlestar Galactica reboot series. Wow, there's some really startling similarities between these shows, mostly when comparing Enterprise's Xindi arc in Season 3 and the end of Season 4 with all of BSG. Here's just a quick list of things I noticed to maybe get a conversation going: •*The Xindi attack isn't very similar to the BSG attack by the Cylons in the details, but it does push Enterprise into the morally ambiguous territory of BSG. Archer's torturing of a prisoner and theft of the warp coil from the alien ship comes to mind as it forces the Trek crew into darker and more complex territory, which is something BSG was very good at during its entire run. It's obvious and it's been mentioned by others, but it's worth noting again that the 911 atmosphere in the US at the time is echoed in both of these shows. •*The main ship, be it Enterprise or Galactica is a shadow of itself by the end of the war. Broken and beaten, barely holding itself together. That's worked into the plot in both shows. •*The relationship with the Cylons and the humans evolves over time as the rebels break free from the core Cylon society and side with humanity to reach a common, mutually beneficial goal. None of this comes easy though as betrayals and mistrust threaten alliances. Sounds a lot like the uneasy truce that Archer forges with Degra, which is threatened by the reptilians. The attack on the core Cylon ship is not entirely unlike the attack on the Xindi super-weapon. •*The core emotional thread of Entperprise becomes the relationship between Trip and T'pol and the importance of their child who is half human and half Vulcan. The entire finale of Enterprise (not including the holodeck adventure finale here) is about the theft of their child and how important she is to the future of galactic peace. This is where the similarities are most startling to me when you think about BSG's finale. Helo and Athena's child Hera is deemed to be vital to the future and god's plan. She's half human and half Cylon. The finale focuses on her theft due to her importance to both sides. The parents rush into battle to save her. •*Even though T'pol was never a villain on the show, her arc isn't too dissimilar to Athena's as they are both from another culture while tenuously serving on the human vessel. Both have a child with one of the crew members and build a strong bond with the captain despite their differences and mistrust of one another's cultures. Any other thoughts or similarities I missed?
For it to be Battlestar Enterprise, it'd have to look like this through deck http://i577.photobucket.com/albums/ss217/Kelvin0514/devonshire%20model/devonshire78_zps8ee05e97.jpg But in terms of pushing boundaries, Trek does set a standard for ethics. At the last of the NuBSG, there was a bit of hope that the secret of rebirth could be given to the cylons--but that was too trek-like for Ron. Some things don't work out.
Or maybe this. http://s49.photobucket.com/user/CanisD/media/Shipyard/Drawings/BSG/New/BSP S3/BS_Enterprise.png.html
The far better comparison is between ds9 and BSG, which is quite obiously caused by being done by the same writer.
The closest Enterprise gets to BSG is the episode were most of it is set in an alternate future were Earth and other human worlds were destroyed by the Xindi and Enterprise, and a few Starfleet ship are escorting multiple civilian ships to Ceti Alpha V.
I think it's sort of odd to say Enterprise Season 3 resembles Battlestar Galactica Season 4, especially when Galactica Season 4 was made 5 years later.
The similarities are not random. Berman and Braga, trying to save Enterprise, sold season 3 as a DS9 type experience. They even tried to get Ira Steven Behrr to takeover as showrunner. Galactica was very much a reflection of his experiences with DS9 and his disappointment with Voyager.
I had a Battlestar Enterprise as a kid. I had the Original Series kit that I put the name Enterprise on. I got the decals from a space shuttle kit. I pretended that the US Navy had secretly built a battlestar and it was full of F-18s that had been modified for space travel. The F-18 was in prototype back then and was the hottest thing coming.
Lol its so ironic how clueless these folks were. So they took the worst parts of DS9, which was the space opera war arc. And dumbed down the more important details, like extensive development of canonical races, a depth of actors with complex goals and motivation etc. The notion that EnT was a parody of star trek gets ever deeper.
Berman and Braga were burned out, it was obvious from the beginning. That, and anything that listed Berman with a writing credit of any kind was often disappointing. I'm sure he was anxious to show his creative side, but-- sheesh.
Meh i dont think they had that much vision, from what I understand they were good at holding things together, and keeping a descent production standard, but werent really good at coming up with ideas.
Brannon Braga had been a powerhouse at coming up with some real mind-bending plots in earlier years, especially when teamed with Joe Menosky. But I don't think his teaming with Berman inspired him that much, because it seemed he was beginning to slip too, and had been there for fewer years. It might be that both men were good at coming up with ideas, but perhaps neither was great shakes at developing narrative.
That's very possible. Years ago, one of my mother's friends testified before congress regarding 'industrial standards' - I'll leave it at that because I never identify people - but the bottom line is that while she was "right on all counts", she had an off-putting personality and was a stern speaker, which diminished her presentation considerably.