Did Enterprise fandom dissipate exceptionally thoroughly?

[somebuddyX]

There are tons of fans on Deviantart, at least of the ship itself and it's refit version and the Romulan War. I see people on sketchup and sketchfab have built models of the ships or sets etc. It's had some appearances in Star Trek Online through it's ships or Crewman Daniels and Enterprise-J and the Temporal Cold War. I find it fascinating a bit that it's the only show that informs the backstories for both Prime and Kelvin universes.

 

[at Quark's]

Enterprise may simply have occupied the wrong time, both in-and out of universe.

Out of universe: during the last part of the downward arc of the Berman Era (I don't mean 'downward arc' in terms of quality, but more in terms of popularity, and audience saturation with Trek). People were becoming tired of the old trek format and here was yet another show in approximately the same format.
In universe: pre-federation era. Little or no links to the other shows, except for the species. So the gap from watching VOY to ENT may have been larger than, for example, from VOY to DS9 or TNG, or even TOS. All other shows were 23rd century or later, in a Federation era, no show is all alone set in its own century (Well, TOS originally was, of course, and now DIS is, but that one also started out in the 23rd century). And instead of capitalizing on telling typical pre-fedederation stories and digging into how the Federation came to be, it mostly wasted the first 2 years on 'alien of the week' stories.

In order for a fandom to keep existing, this show therefore mostly must stand on its own legs. More so than, say, VOY, which is more embedded into general Trek fandom.

Which is a pity, because the show wasn't bad. Even though the first two years were fairly standard fare and more of the old stuff, the last 2 seasons were significantly different and it got a harder deal than it deserved.

 

[FederationHistorian]

Enterprise may simply have occupied the wrong time, both in-and out of universe.

In hindsight, an Excelsior show or Ent-B show should have been the way to go if TPTB really did not want to continue VOY after S7 and they wanted another show. Everyone from ENT could have still been cast, probably in the same roles. Even Bakula, if they were willing to do a time travel story on the first captain and cover the Romulan War. 24th century was what Berman was experienced with, and the show after VOY should have played to his strengths.

Plus the fanbase would have been already built in, for anyone who were big fans of the TOS movies.

 

[Sumire]

There are tons of fans on Deviantart, at least of the ship itself and it's refit version and the Romulan War. I see people on sketchup and sketchfab have built models of the ships or sets etc. It's had some appearances in Star Trek Online through it's ships or Crewman Daniels and Enterprise-J and the Temporal Cold War. I find it fascinating a bit that it's the only show that informs the backstories for both Prime and Kelvin universes.

That is fascinating to me too. Thanks for chiming in after I got thoroughly distracted! It makes sense that it would shape both timelines as it predates the split between the two, but I didn’t really appreciate that until you pointed it out. I wonder if anyone has written fanfic…

So there is a fandom I didn’t find because it is precisely for the stuff I am apathetic about. That makes every type of sense. No shade (as the kids say) towards all the ship enthusiasts! Just because it isn’t my jam doesn’t mean I can’t appreciate aspects of it.

The adorable way the crew gets so excited about going warp 4.5 and Trip’s “Warp 5, on paper!” outburst and the like is one of the things I find charming about the first season. I genuinely do like the way they made the ship and the uniforms (except poor T’Pol in her uncomfortable Spandex) look like a probable outgrowth of our current space program. No luxurious, roomy suites for the senior staff, sets look like space and weight is still at a premium and I like how believable that feels. The feeling that more than one repair has possibly involved duct tape adds real ambiance and I too, @at Quark's, wish they had delved more into all the nuts and bolts (both literally and figuratively) of how the Federation came to be.

 

[Farscape One]

Count me in the camp of being an ENT fan. Some of the reasons...

1. I thought Bakula was perfectly cast.

2. The look of the Enterprise interior was very much what you'd expect from this era... sort of an expanded submarine.

3. The Starfleet uniforms. By far, the most utility minded in the franchise.

4. While parts of season 1 meandered, there was a true sense of awe and amazement from the crew when they find something. We haven't truly felt that in a long time in the feanchise.

5. We get a much more in depth look at Andorians. Considering they were a founding world of the Federation, this was long overdue.

6. We get to see a sort of lawless frontier. It was refreshing to everyone relatively close to Earth but still not have the kind of backup you'd find in the 24th century. (Real trouble arises, a fleet of Starfleet ships is only half a day away, for example.)

7. It was nice to see the early days of Starfleet. As an organization, it was clearly pretty new by the time the series premiered.


While seasons 1 and 2 had a fair amount of misfires, I still enjoyed them. Season 3 was overall well done, and season 4 was just plain gold... only 2 episodes I didn't care for out of 22. ("DAEDALUS", while a sad tale and well cast was fairly boring, and "THESE ARE THE VOYAGES..." for many reasons I have already said too often.)

I truly feel if they did get a 5th year, ENTERPRISE would have gone the distance to a 7 year run.

 

[drt]

And instead of capitalizing on telling typical pre-fedederation stories and digging into how the Federation came to be, it mostly wasted the first 2 years on 'alien of the week' stories.

Yeah, if you're going to set a show during the founding of the Federation and then choose to do random aliens we never hear from again stories, it shouldn't be a surprise when a majority of fans are disappointed.

 

[Greg Cox]

It occupies an odd place in the timeline, has no real follow-up (maybe books, I don't know), and was the first Star Trek to be cancelled since TOS..

There were indeed ENTERPRISE novels taking place after the series. And which wasted no time revealing that Trip wasn't actually dead.

 

[Nerys Myk]

Yeah, if you're going to set a show during the founding of the Federation and then choose to do random aliens we never hear from again stories, it shouldn't be a surprise when a majority of fans are disappointed.

Disagree. The idea that a show set in that era should just answer a bunch of fannish questions is well. fannish.

 

[Richard S. Ta]

I think that must be an enjoyable way to be. It’s like a two-for-one, entertainment from the media itself plus delight in the crafting of it.

I am one of those people who can become teary over a lamp left by a dumpster in the rain if you set it to the right soundtrack. If I find out someone was uncomfortable or upset filming something? It takes a massive amount of concentration to filter that knowledge out and enjoy the finished product so I just try to avoid the insight if I can.

Just want to say that I’m enjoying everything you post generally.

 

[Dukhat]

Count me in the camp of being an ENT fan. Some of the reasons...

1. I thought Bakula was perfectly cast.

2. The look of the Enterprise interior was very much what you'd expect from this era... sort of an expanded submarine.

3. The Starfleet uniforms. By far, the most utility minded in the franchise.

4. While parts of season 1 meandered, there was a true sense of awe and amazement from the crew when they find something. We haven't truly felt that in a long time in the feanchise.

5. We get a much more in depth look at Andorians. Considering they were a founding world of the Federation, this was long overdue.

6. We get to see a sort of lawless frontier. It was refreshing to everyone relatively close to Earth but still not have the kind of backup you'd find in the 24th century. (Real trouble arises, a fleet of Starfleet ships is only half a day away, for example.)

7. It was nice to see the early days of Starfleet. As an organization, it was clearly pretty new by the time the series premiered.


While seasons 1 and 2 had a fair amount of misfires, I still enjoyed them. Season 3 was overall well done, and season 4 was just plain gold... only 2 episodes I didn't care for out of 22. ("DAEDALUS", while a sad tale and well cast was fairly boring, and "THESE ARE THE VOYAGES..." for many reasons I have already said too often.)

I truly feel if they did get a 5th year, ENTERPRISE would have gone the distance to a 7 year run.

I hope you don't take this the wrong way (since I'm not trying to downplay your opinions), but I actually felt the polar opposite of all your points.

1. While I loved him in Quantum Leap, I thought Bakula completely failed as a believable captain.
2. The look of the Enterprise interior was not much different than any other Starfleet ship we'd seen before. I definitely didn't get the impression that it was cramped like a submarine. And actual submarine interiors look nothing like the NX-01.
3. While the jumpsuits were fine, I did not like the 23rd century color divisions or the 24th century ranking pin system. Too anachronistic to me.
4. I think I only felt amazement when the crew found something in exactly one episode. All the others felt like they could have been scripts for Voyager episodes.
5. While the Andorians were fine, I'm probably the only person who was sick of seeing Jeffrey Coombs in yet another role. To me, if an actor plays several roles too many times, it becomes a detriment to the character that actor is playing, because I'm just seeing the actor in makeup, not the character anymore.
6. In contrast to the 'lawless frontier' you saw, I saw too much of the same thing. Klingons, Romulans, Ferengi, Borg, etc.
7. I felt like early Starfleet wasn't all that much different from later Starfleet, other than that we didn't see many other ships other than the NX-01.

 

[Farscape One]

I hope you don't take this the wrong way (since I'm not trying to downplay your opinions), but I actually felt the polar opposite of all your points.

1. While I loved him in Quantum Leap, I thought Bakula completely failed as a believable captain.
2. The look of the Enterprise interior was not much different than any other Starfleet ship we'd seen before. I definitely didn't get the impression that it was cramped like a submarine. And actual submarine interiors look nothing like the NX-01.
3. While the jumpsuits were fine, I did not like the 23rd century color divisions or the 24th century ranking pin system. Too anachronistic to me.
4. I think I only felt amazement when the crew found something in exactly one episode. All the others felt like they could have been scripts for Voyager episodes.
5. While the Andorians were fine, I'm probably the only person who was sick of seeing Jeffrey Coombs in yet another role. To me, if an actor plays several roles too many times, it becomes a detriment to the character that actor is playing, because I'm just seeing the actor in makeup, not the character anymore.
6. In contrast to the 'lawless frontier' you saw, I saw too much of the same thing. Klingons, Romulans, Ferengi, Borg, etc.
7. I felt like early Starfleet wasn't all that much different from later Starfleet, other than that we didn't see many other ships other than the NX-01.

That's fine. It just illustrates that different people can watch the same thing and get something completely different out of it.

Just curious, what would you call out as highlights of ENT?

 

[Dukhat]

That's fine. It just illustrates that different people can watch the same thing and get something completely different out of it.

Just curious, what would you call out as highlights of ENT?

For me, Phlox was the highlight of that show. John Billingsley took the 'generic weird alien doctor' trope that wasn't very well thought out (actually, none of the characters' backstories were well thought out, but that's an argument for another day) and make the part his own. His acting saved what could have been another Neelix situation. Heck, he was even polyamorous, which was one actual progressive aspect of the show (which sadly didn't gain any traction because the producers were more interested in showing the crew in their underwear than showing any real progression in alternate forms of relationships.)

 

[Richard S. Ta]

The look of the Enterprise interior was not much different than any other Starfleet ship we'd seen before. I definitely didn't get the impression that it was cramped like a submarine.

Submarine does get thrown around a lot as a descriptor of the NX-01 interior but when I think about it, you're absolutely correct. Engineering should feel cramped and hot, yet it's on two levels and is able to comfortably fit a ton of personnel. Then there's the bridge which I suppose is a bit smaller, but still, hardly akin to a submarine.

 

[Farscape One]

A valid point, in terms of space. I guess I was being too broad in my description.

Probably the best way to describe my impressions is that the NX-01 was more metallic, more functional than any of the other ships. Even the TOS Enterprise, which had mostly buttons and knobs, still had a more... pretty appearance, for lack of a better term. And until ENT, I always saw the TOS Enterprise as the most functional in appearance. I think that's more in line with what I mean by a submarine feel, because I never envision anything about the interior of a sub to be anything but functional.

 

[plynch]

As far as Mr. B not remembering a big theme of S3: I watched them all once in order, not being called in on a Tues and Thurs to shoot seven scenes out of order. And I didn’t remember the feds and X working together as a big theme. I do remember the repetitive Xindi council meetings. Again and again. Is the weapon ready? No, we need more time. Clk clk clk, says the insect one. Larooo, says the aquatic one. Over and over and over. So Star Trek, haha.

 

[valkyrie013]

As a person who watched all seasons when they first aired, its still one of my favorite, and usually the one I go back to when i watch trek reruns.
As for fandom, We have an Enterprise section in this forum, if you have a question, just ask, or want to comment on other threads, please do.
I'd gather that most trek fans have seen it, but alot still rate it as there bottom pick of series, well atleast before the current era, to me Disco and Picard are WAY below Enterprise. Even Voyager is below enterprise for me.
Characters were likeable, though like Hoshi and Mayweather, criminally underused. ( though not as much as the Disco bridge crew.. )

But as said, it was a bit of a waste of a good concept, Early pioneering days, less technobabble, a Gunsmoke in space as it were. But was laid out like a continuation of the Tng/Voyager template for atleast the first 2 seasons. So people bailed, and it got canned. Shame really, it was leading up to the Romulan war, a time setting that I think is just Begging to be explored.

There have been the ocassional "Continuation" thread, and as I am supportive, I doubt it'll happen, the ones in charge seem to not care for the era, except for the occasional reference. But I'm hopefull.

 

[Tuskin38]

Then there's the bridge which I suppose is a bit smaller, but still, hardly akin to a submarine.

I think It's bigger than the TOS bridge.

 

[FederationHistorian]

Heck, he was even polyamorous, which was one actual progressive aspect of the show (which sadly didn't gain any traction because the producers were more interested in showing the crew in their underwear than showing any real progression in alternate forms of relationships.)

Nothing was stopping them from doing both. Aside from a need to appeal to the fetishes of the producers.

Nothing is stopping current Trek either. Denobulans aren't the only polyamorous species in the universe.

 

[Dukhat]

Nothing was stopping them from doing both. Aside from a need to appeal to the fetishes of the producers.

What was stopping them was Braga's frat-boy mentality where women were concerned. The only real relationship the producers focused on was between Trip and T'Pol, and even that was half-assed.

Nothing is stopping current Trek either. Denobulans aren't the only polyamorous species in the universe.

Is there another one? Besides the retch-inducing implication of incest between Narek and his sister in PIC?

 

[fireproof78]

Is there another one?

Ligosians, I believe.