12 changes I would make in Enterprise concept

[Mr. Fergy]

Am I the only one who liked the uniforms? I think they really looked like the link between contemporary space suits and the TOS uniforms. Also, they had pockets! Of course a Starfleet uniform would have to have pockets!

I loved the uniforms for that very reason!

I didn't care for the rectangular TNG ranks either.

...but TNG rank pips were circles, and had open circles for ranks like Lt. Cmdr. ENT only had three ranks (four if you count crewman), versus the multiple ones for later series.

Still the same idea - 4 pips for captain, etc, it was based off of the TNG system, and the only reason we didn't see any for Lt JG or Lt Comm was that they simply hadn't made a hollow pip for them for the show for whatever reason, They are still based on the TNG system, which is itself based off of the USN system. The uniform itself is also still an echo of the VOY uniform.

That always annoyed me, too! The Rank system not really being showed on Enterprise

 

[ChristopherPike]

There was a half-way phase happening towards the TOS era. Forest, Gardner and other Admirals had cuff braid, in addition to pips.

It'll be interesting what direction Abrams and co are taking with their early-to-mid 23rd Century Starfleet.

 

[MeanJoePhaser]

I think the ship design was not good. TOS and TNG ships became icons, characters themselves. DS9 and the Defiant less so, but were distinct. Voyager...about the same. The NX...not so much.

None of it matters, the Powers that Be want Trek different but Trek Exactly the Same, hence the phasers, transporter, torpedos and Klingons from the get go.

 

[Trekwatcher]

While I appreciate your original post, and can certainly see where you are coming from, I was left wondering if there was anything about ENT you actually liked. I mean, all of the series have had some missteps and ENT had it's share, but if we had changed all of those things you wanted it would not the the show I and others have come to love.

 

[DarKush]

Great Ideas Tai .

I had a couple I wanted to throw out there:
1. No Klingons. I think the Andorians-being a warrior culture largely unexplored they could've filled in nicely for the Klingons and been an early foil of Vulcan and by extension Earth.
2. No Suliban. I thought it might've been better if the Orions had replaced in the Suliban in "Broken Bow", and they were working for the Romulans to foment dissension among Andoria, Tellarites, Vulcans, and humans.
3. Phlox as a Denebian. Mainly they could keep the look, but just change the name. It would be another nice tie into TOS.
4. Actually, I think ENT probably should've just had a fully human crew, at least for a while. A fully human crew would've been something different. (However if I did include T'Pol, I would've made her the linguistic expert, and switched Hoshi to Science Officer.)
5. Changing the Vulcan-human tension. I think tension between the two is good, but the stories always made the Vulcans the bad guys. I would've tried to show good and bad on both sides. The Vulcans would be paternalistic, but because of a 'good reason'-they had previously failed in their relationship with the emotional Andorians, leading to a Cold War. That leaves them cautious about helping humans too quickly. The Vulcans want to vet them more thoroughly. Humans, understandably chafe under that, but occassionally make mistakes and misteps that reinforce the Vulcans worries. The way the relationship/exchanges were portrayed on ENT it was too anti-Vulcan and one-sided IMO.
6. Use of Talarians and Nausicaans. I think it might've been nice to have a little Barbary War or so with either one of these powers, a hint to the continued strained relations by 24th century. Also a victorious war, similar to the Dilgar War in B5, might've given Earth more impetus and confidence to ignore the Vulcans' warnings and push out into the stars.

 

[CommanderRaytas]

No Klingons sounds great.

I loved the uniforms and didn't even mind T'Pol's catsuit, though at first it struck me funny, I've got to admit.

Well, Phlox should have been a Cardassian! That would have been interesting, imagine the conflicts arising due to the extremely different background. Phlox was, despite his looks, not alien enough. His relationship with the crew was way too harmonic.

 

[Trekwatcher]

I, for one, thought the uniforms were fantastic. They looked functional and workaday enough to be believable, but futuristic enough to be cool. Definitely one of their better decisions.