The One Thing You Could Change, ENTERPRISE Edition...

I would have slid everything up one season. Have the Xindi Arc begin at the end of season 1 and go to the end of season 2. Seasons 3 and 4 could have been an expanded version of the universe building we did get in Season 4.

Maybe by doing that it saves the show and we get a 5th or 6th season.

 

Have the Xindi arc be five or six episode, then move on. I did enjoy it, but at the same time thought it too long.

 

Get someone more interesting than Travis

 

Properly pre-plan the Temporal Cold War*. It could have been amazing, 12 Monkeys (the movie version) meets Star Trek, but instead we got Daniels implying Earth no longer exists in the future, before we learn that his headquarters is New York on Earth. We learn Enterprise NX-01 was supposed to be destroyed in season 1... and then it's the most famous and important ship ever and the Federation wouldn't exist without it and Archer. They had no clue and it showed.

*Modern Trek needs to learn this too, there's a Red Angel whose backstory doesn't work when you give it any thought.

 

I got the impression the Danials might not have always been from the same future each time we saw him, the scene in the future library did suggest this.

 

I'd have preferred Enterprise without either the Temporal Cold War or Xindi arc. Enterprise could have tried reclaiming the swashbuckling energy of TOS instead of - like Voyager before it - doing a poor imitation of TNG with a more boring cast of characters.

 

Eh, maybe. Granted, that would help, but I think a lot of it is Bakula himself. Like I said, he seems a nice guy and very talented, but to me he just lacks... that undefinable trait (call it charisma) that a good CO has.

Cheers,
-CM-

 

Whole Xindi Arc.. Having the Xindi attack earth and kill 7 million just dilutes the Romulan war and there attacks..
Instead of Xindi, just do a "Proxy War" ala Korean or vietnam war with some random alien, or maybe the Andorians or Tellerites and make the romulans the pupet masters ( I know had an arc on vulcan with that, but bigger..) So more Romulan subterfuge till they get cought and start a war.

 

I can get behind this.

I’ve long though there should be species that communicates only by singing. Would make for a fun episode.

She should have been wearing the same uniform like everyone else by the fourth season.

The problem with the Temporal Cold War wasn’t that it existed – it would have been fine for a show set in the 29th century, when Starfleet has those time ships. It just didn’t really belong in ENT. Doing so means you have to explain why the TCW didn’t affect The Cage, TOS, TNG, DS9 and VOY. Or why the Excelsior, the Titan or one of the future Enterprises doesn't show up in Archer's time, or vice versa. That’s why I get rid of it.

I don't think there's anything wrong with a couple of episodes related to time travel in ENT. But that should not have been the focus. It strays from the original idea behind ENT - how everything in Star Trek began.

The swashbuckling energy of TOS was the initial idea behind ENT. I think they were just stuck in their ways by that point.

Yes, yes, especially since Vulcans were known to be the puppet masters behind Coridan. So, their cousins the Romulans should have played a similar role and had a much larger reach, in the name from preventing others from entering Romulan space

 

As TOS is to the late age of sail, ENT should be like the early age of discovery. At the same time, instead of a place of power Earth should be like late 19th century Japan, which is kind of what we get in ENT since Earth is presented as technologically unsophisticated.

Maybe this is a second change but going with the age of discovery/Japan idea, I would take Drexler’s idea of the Vulcans in First Contact saying “come see us when you are ready.” As in they don’t get involved with Earth until later and it’s at arms length.

The goal would be to create a planned journey for the ship so it hits all the surrounding capitals and establish the ground work for embassies, or check in on existing embassies. While at the home worlds, or other stops, negotiate for technological, scientific, entertainment and other exchange. That’s one of the weaknesses of ENT, Boomers should have been buying advanced technology to sell on Earth and the warp five engine should have been partially due to reverse engineering and due to engineers who studied on alien worlds. Even with over involved Vulcans it never made sense for Archer not to be establishing embassies and negotiating for technologies. The Vulcan reach ends on Warrh and doesn’t extend to Starfleet. Also, Phlox shouldn’t have been the only alien on Warth doing his job, Archer and other captains should have been actively recruiting aliens to teach on Earth while other humans go off to study on alien worlds.

 

Honestly I love Enterprise, and the things that people tend to criticize about it doesn't bother me all that much (for the most part.) I could go on at length about how well they portrayed the Vulcans, or made the main characters more relatable, or how cool the NX-01 is.

If I had to change one thing, it would have to be to give the show 7 seasons! As long as they erase TATV, there was no reason in my mind why the show couldn't have had 3 more great seasons.

 

Rewatching the show, Archer comes off as a bit off an ass regarding the Vulcans. Understandable in the pilot, and he has a slight change of heart by the end - but he still treats T'Pol horribly. Having the captain come off that off-putting right off the bat may have been a problem.

 

To be fair though, the Vulcans are arrogant jerks thru most of the run of the show.

and given Archers history with them previous to the show I get it. But he does become close with T’Pol. So there is that.

 

This is a wonderful idea.

I thought that Archer should of had a on-going mandate to acquire alien technology as a part of his mission orders. In fact it would have ben interesting to have known generally what Archer's orders were. Too much of the time it seemed like Archer was just wondering where ever he personally felt like.

I would have liked to have seen a more congenial relationship between Humans and Vulcans, maybe not best friends, but not advisarial.

 

Why stop there? Maybe also have T'Pol be require to get cosmetic surgery so she could look just like everyone else?

Seriously, why does T'Pol have to wear a starfleet uniform? She's not in starfleet at the beginning of the series and she should never be Starfleet for the duration of the series run, she's Vulcan not Human.

Why have her conform?

 

That always bugged me, it was obvious they were just doing it Voyager style but with less direction even though its mission should have been highly focused to get around limited resources and capabilities.

She should have worn the normal Vulcan uniform. And when she left the Vulcan command and stayed with the crew she should have worn the crew jump suit she wore in one episode.

 

To be fair, at the start of season 4, she did get a Starfleet commission, which was why she wore Commander pips that year.

I think it's fair to say if you have the rank and commission, you should be wearing the uniform, too.