Early S4 – a missed opportunity to visually refresh the series?

No. Just no. The concept of a ship's counsellor didn't even appear until TNG. Why retcon the idea into ENT?

As far as the look of the NX and by extension the look of the entire show, the problem comes from the fact that ENT just looks like it comes from a time more advanced than the TOS time period. Disco does too but I'm not sure how they could have resolved that because the producers of ENT and Disco certainly weren't going to make a TV show that looked like TOS, or in the case of ENT something that took place long before TOS.

 

And it was always awful. None of Troi or Dax best moments involved them being the councillor.
Even worse then having to explain their presence on the bridge

 

Agreed. Troi was a superfluous character. The show wouldn't have skipped a beat had she not been there. And don't get me started about the times she conveniently wasn't on the bridge at the very moment when her empathic ability would have brought the entire episode to a screeching halt. Can you say lazy writing?
I also didn't like how invasive she was in some of the earlier episodes. Like the time they meet Riva and she starts questioning Worf about why he's feeling the way he does and then Riker pipes in with "what is bothering you?" in an accusatory tone as if it's any of his, or Troi's, damn business.

 

I disagree, IMO it's actually more realistic that's there's only one doctor (who's really the Life Sciences Advisor as much as anything), and any assistants are mostly ad hoc cross-trained personnel because frankly them having any doctor at all is a sop to the Star Trek conceit that the medical officer is always a major character. In the RW, no submarine or surface combatant below about 10,000 tons and certainly no ship with a crew of less a hundred, would have one than one dedicated medical officer and mostly this would be an NCO from HM community with cross-trained assistants draw in as a needed (mainly from the Deck Department, mostly YMN and CSs)

As far as other medical professionals... a nurse or two is possible from the Connie onwards, they're occasionally deployed on amphibs and other "baby carriers" RW, but the NX-class is very much based on the corvette-frigate-destroyer level warship, so it doesn't make sense there.

I would like to have seen a replacement for Cutler though. Based on RW practice, both Chef and the Quartermaster are probably qualified as "assistant medics" and I'd expect most of armory and MACO teams to have some first aid training (BLS, blood loss/fracture management) as this is fairly common in RW police and military teams now.

 

In the UK even pubs require a trained first aider to be on shift at all times never mind police. Although it is often ignored by management

 

Its not like the counsellor would be on the bridge, or anywhere else on the ship except his/her office. And I never said that it should have been full time either. No reason the character couldn’t leave the ship by the Vulcan arc, or Klingon Augments arc.

But I think, in the aftermath of the Xindi mission, when Archer is having nightmares about the Xindi throwing him off a cliff when he is supposed to be on shore leave. Maybe a counsellor in the short term is not the worst idea.

Plus, we never see Phlox do anything despite his multiple degrees, including psychiatry. May as well make a new and minor character to fulfill that role, and show that the medical staff is beginning to expand in the process.

 

Not a counselor/therapist, but instead I would want to see occasional appearances from a psychiatrist with a doctorate like Elizabeth Dehner in TOS or Sidney Freedman in M*A*S*H. And probably at a base instead of on the ship full-time for such a small crew.

Kor

 

Having a Psych- iatrist/ologist on board could be a precursor to the psychiatrist in TOS:Wolf in the Fold.

 

To the OP,

NX-01 Redesign
I would've been down for a retrofit of the NX-01. The ship has grown on me over time, but at first I thought it looked too futuristic for the time period. Ever since I saw the Columbia-class retrofitted NX-01, I've wanted to see that starship in live action. I would've liked to have seen that ship in the fourth season.

Ship's Counselor
I'm a no on this, however, I wouldn't have minded if they spent more downtime on Earth after "Storm Front" and they all had to see a psychiatrist or psychologist. The ship's counselor should stay a 24th century thing to me.

New MACO Major
I don't see the need for one, after the Xindi conflict was over. However, I wish that Reed had been a MACO from jump.

Promotions of Main Characters
I definitely think Sato and Mayweather needed to be promoted early in the season, and perhaps more promotions by the series finale.

 

ENT felt more in line with TNG than TOS, the ship designs, the interiors, the atmosphere including storytelling never felt like it was in tone with the series I love.

 

Well, that’s because it was produced by the same people that produced Voyager, not the people who produced TOS.

 

Not a fan of Star Trek Continues?

 

Actually I am a fan of STC. I thought the inclusion of the counselor was a neat way to set up the idea and connect the TOS and TNG eras, but unfortunately STC isn't canon (though in my head it is), and we hadn't seen them on TOS or any of the TOS movies, and some counseling would've definitely come in handy after TWOK or in TUDC. If anything, I take it that Phlox or really Chef served as the NX-01's unofficial counselor, just like Dr. Boyce and later McCoy served that role for their respective captains, if both their crews.

Even on DISCO Admiral Cornwell, with a background in mental health if I recall, had an office and wasn't a ship's counselor.