Did Enterprise Jump Shark?

[RobertScorpio]

So...looking back at Enterprise, is there a common belief that at some point, story wise or something to that effect, Enterprise jumped the shark? Meaning, at a certain point something happened and fans said, yikes, this show just became utterly a waste?

or...did the demise have more to do with Paramount giving up on the show or a mixture of both?

Rob

 

[startrekwatcher]

Normally when I think of a showing jumping the shark it refers to a point when a series that had once been good comes off the rails and descends into mediocrity.

I really can't say ENT jumped the shark. It started off weak for two seasons before rebounding. The closest would have been in season two with that long stretch of middling episodes one right after the other starting around Marauders and not really letting up until the end of the season.

It actually though had a rebound with seasons 3/4. In fact, it had a stronger finish than all the other Trek shows except for DS9.

 

[Ensign_Redshirt]

The opposite happened. The show first sucked, and then it got better. So, when was Enterprise's "reverse jump-the-shark"? Must have been somewhere between "Twilight", "Similitude", and "Proving Ground". At last this was the time when the Xindi arc first started to pay off. From that point onward the show didn't really jump the shark until "These Are the Voyages..."

 

[RobertScorpio]

By the way, I am indifferent..I am asking as someone who has no stake. I liked some of what Manny Coto did for the show, but felt it was too little too late.

Rob

 

[Ensign_Redshirt]

The shake-ups of Season 3 and 4 probably came too late... but that doesn't make them bad seasons.

Actually, the people in charge should have started to shake things up during Voyager's run and not Enterprise's... things like the Xindi, Augment, Vulcan etc. arcs came not only two seasons too late, they came a series too late (speaking in terms of quality of writing, story structure and doing-something-different and not specific content, I know that you can't really do a Vulcan arc in the Delta Quadrant ).

 

[number6]

ENT never jumped the shark. It was cancelled as it was getting good.

 

[SilentP]

It would have 'Grown the Beard' (the opposite of jumping the shark), but it only got a bit of stubble when it was axed.

 

[James Bond]

Enterprise never stood a chance in the first place because of all the idiot canon freaks foaming at the mouth, ready to pick it apart.

 

[Ensign_Redshirt]

Enterprise never stood a chance in the first place because of all the idiot canon freaks foaming at the mouth, ready to pick it apart.

I never cared for the Canon argument that much. Well, except for abominatons like "Stigma", where the Vulcans underwent a total retcon. Fortunately, this was subsequently de-retconned in 4th season's Vulcan trilogy. And letting the Ferengi appear was pretty stupid. However, the Borg episode was actually cool. And I never cared for arguments that he ship looked "too modern" or that a NX-01 was never mentioned prior to Enterprise or that neither the Denobulans nor the Suliban appeared before.

 

[EEE]

It would have 'Grown the Beard' (the opposite of jumping the shark), but it only got a bit of stubble when it was axed.

Hmmm, I don't remember Arthur Herbert Fonzarelli doing that...?

 

[SilentP]

It would have 'Grown the Beard' (the opposite of jumping the shark), but it only got a bit of stubble when it was axed.

Hmmm, I don't remember Arthur Herbert Fonzarelli doing that...?

It's actually a reference to when Riker grew a beard in The Next Generation and the show also getting better (though not in the same season).

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/GrowingTheBeard

 

[Hopeful Romantic]

Enterprise never stood a chance in the first place because of all the idiot canon freaks foaming at the mouth, ready to pick it apart.

There's no need for blanket name-calling to express your opinion, James Bond. Kindly desist.

 

[Reanok]

I never Thought Enterprise jumped the shark. The last 2 seasons Enterprise was reallly hitting it's stride when the powers that be decided to cancel the show.There had been early plans for a season 5 story arc when it was cancled,

 

[ChristopherPike]

It would have 'Grown the Beard' (the opposite of jumping the shark), but it only got a bit of stubble when it was axed.

I always thought in the case of TNG, the expression should be "Drop the Spandex".

The minute they did that, the male actors in particular were comfortable enough to focus on the acting. Patrick Stewart commented in an interview that his S1/2 costume was giving him back trouble.

 

[Trekwatcher]

The opposite happened. The show first sucked, and then it got better. So, when was Enterprise's "reverse jump-the-shark"? Must have been somewhere between "Twilight", "Similitude", and "Proving Ground". At last this was the time when the Xindi arc first started to pay off. From that point onward the show didn't really jump the shark until "These Are the Voyages..."

While I would not agree that ENT "sucked" in the begining, they definitely took some time to get up to speed. Flame away, but I think S1 and S2 are FULL of very good eps. S3 was fantastic, and S4 has many strong eps. I think that the problem was they just kept losing audience share to the point where the show was not sustainable.

ENT aired at a very busy point in my life and I watched it out of one eye (even though I watched it every week). Upon rewatching I was amazed at how the much maligned S1 and S2 had plenty of good eps, good writing, and a lot of character development. Sure, they had some clunkers, but far fewer than TNG S1-S2, for comparison.

 

[EEE]

It would have 'Grown the Beard' (the opposite of jumping the shark), but it only got a bit of stubble when it was axed.

Hmmm, I don't remember Arthur Herbert Fonzarelli doing that...?

It's actually a reference to when Riker grew a beard in The Next Generation and the show also getting better (though not in the same season).

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/GrowingTheBeard

Hmmm, doesn't work. That show didn't improve until about a season and a half later than the beard. So obviously no connection. (sad thing is I tried so hard to like TNG when it was first aired... I gave up by the end of the 2nd season. Had I hung on another 1/2 to 3/4 of a season...)

 

[timelord1010]

The shake-ups of Season 3 and 4 probably came too late... but that doesn't make them bad seasons.

Actually, the people in charge should have started to shake things up during Voyager's run and not Enterprise's... things like the Xindi, Augment, Vulcan etc. arcs came not only two seasons too late, they came a series too late (speaking in terms of quality of writing, story structure and doing-something-different and not specific content, I know that you can't really do a Vulcan arc in the Delta Quadrant ).

Now there is a idea for another thread. Voyager is lost in the Delta quadrant and according to history is supposed to have been destroyed. Braxton (or Daniels) offers the crew a chance to work with the time agents in the temporal cold war similar to the way 7 of 9 did in the Relativity episode. Voyager could encounter other time periods (meeting Sulu for real) and the last episode they meet up with Archer and help him stop the Xindi from destroying Earth. Enterprise starts it's run with stories from Season 4.

 

[SFRabid]

A lot of science fiction shows "jump shark." Andromeda, Earth: Final Conflict, SeaQuest DSV, and what ever that series was a few years ago that had sea monsters drilling to the core and flooding the earth.

But not Enterprise.

 

[KimMH]

I never sat through a single episode and said to myself - "well, ther's an hour of my life I'll never get back." I can't say that about some of the other series; I enjoyed the entire, tiny, way too short run.

 

[Karnbeln]

I think the term "Jump the shark" is used too much. It's become a synonym for "went downhill", when it should, in my opinion, be reserved for when what made the show popular gets lost due to lack of ideas or writers checking out, and in its place comes crazy ideas designed not to continue the show in an effective way, but to keep the show floating for ratings. That was what originated the term; Happy Days degenerated to showing a two parter where the cliffhanger was, "Can the Fonz jump his water skis over this shark? Find out next time!"

Enterprise never reached that point, in my opinion. Now, those who didn't like the 4th season and claim it was all an attempt to grab the nostalgic crowd may have an argument for a shark jump, but since I liked season 4, I'm not in that camp.