Again, I don't get people implying that I "must" accept a show or movie in ANY capacity. Canon-shmanon: it's entertainment, or lack there of. If it's not entertaining me, I don't have to accept it.
Getting back to the Star Wars example,
The Phantom Menace (IMO) is complete and utter garbage. I saw it all the way through on opening day, have tried to rewatch it, and still have the same opinion of it. Aside from Luke's dad being "
the best starpilot in the galaxy" and being "
seduced by the Dark Side," and General Kenobi serving Bail Organa in the "Clone Wars," I really didn't have too many pre-rebellion concepts/ideas/thoughts about how things were or should be. I was 100% open to the concept of a prequel. The problems began when the story had no primary protagonist, nor did the "tragic" character have a fall from good to evil in the following movies since he always seemed to be a bit of a douche, plus killed women and children, had no love skills and comes off like a total creeper, and is TRICKED into turning sides rather than "seduced" by power.
With
Enterprise, my preconception of what came before Kirk's time was even less than what it was for Star Wars: Pre-23rd century = Daedalus as some point, Romulans and Feds at war, an Enterprise that looked nothing like Starfleet ships of Kirk's or Picard's eras....and that was it.
But they blew it with episode 1 when they fell back on Klingons, and had a race of Spongebob Squarepantses (the Suliban) as a primary and lackluster adversary. Imagine if the ANDORIANS had been the primary adversaries, and the story arc was about how they went from enemies with humans and Vulcans, to allies. I bet we would have gotten a Season 5 had the writers chose to do what was done in season 4 - Explore the races that were introduced, but never fleshed out from the TOS era.
The writers really had no excuses either, as there was a giant history of previous Star Trek shows to fall back on just with going by TOS, TAS and the 1st 6 movies alone. Plenty to go on with regards to exploration, 1st contacts and new and different aliens to discover.
![Vulcan :vulcan: :vulcan:](/styles/flatawesome/xenforo/smilies/vulcan.gif)