elements from ENT to bring to XI?

[Temis the Vorta]

Okay maybe yall loathe ENT and I'll be shouted down , but are there ANY elements that were introduced in the 22nd C that you think should be preserved in XI and any future 23rd C Trek?

I like the idea of the Boomers, humans who have gone outside the bounds of Earth's government and started colonizing space, maybe as rogue elements that later on don't feel bound by the Federation. I wanted Mayweather to be more cocky and street-smart and vaguely contemptuous of the Earthers like Archer only just sticking their toes into space. I could see the likes of Harry Mudd and Cyrano Jones being the descendants of Boomer colonies. Who says the aliens are the only interesting species in space? Why can't spacedwelling humans be crazy and colorful, too?

And even though I never felt the need for a canon explanation for non-turtled Klingons, I gotta admit the one ENT posed in S4 was surprisingly good. (I didn't think a good explanation was even possible.) So I could agree to a mix of turtled and non-turtled Klingon foreheads.

 

[Annoyed101]

Nope Except maybe denying its existence completely.

 

[Cary L. Brown]

I wouldn't, personally, mind oblique references to any of the latter-two-season's worth of stuff, though I can't imagine why it would be NECESSARY and, as such, would oppose any pointless "fannish" references that aren't required by the story of this movie and of later shows.

I agree that the concept of "rugged individualistic" frontiersmen in space is a great one. I personally would dump the term "boomer" however... most "rugged individuals" HATE "group-think" terms like that.

This wasn't a specifically ENT-related point, either. This sort of thing was first established on-screen in "Mudd's Women" and was revisited multiple times in TOS... people off on the frontier, wanting to be left alone to their own devices. All ENT really added to the mix was the "nickname." And the nickname is the only part I'd REALLY like to lose.

I also agree with the comments re: the Klingons. Again, this wasn't entirely a new concept (the concept of "Human/Klingon Fusions" was huge in the FASA games, and I believe predated that by several years as well). I loved the way that was handled. If ENT had been given another two or three years, these stories would probably have been interspersed a bit more loosely, with more stand-alone stories in the mix... but as it was, the latter two seasons really took on (1) fixing the storytelling shortcomings, and (2) doing all those "make it all make sense" connections between the TNG-era and TOS-era shows, which was really sort of needed, I think.

What I would like to NEVER see again from ENT:

1) The temporal cold war
2) The Suliban
3) The NX-01 design
4) The season1/season2 portrayal of the Vulcans.
5) The HORRIFIC examples of "bad science"
6) The technobabble
7) The "holistic sickbay" approach
The soft-core-porn "decon chamber"
9) Catsuited Vulcans
10) Andorians who behave waaaay too "southern Californian Human" like.
11) Terms like "Phase cannons" or "photonic torpedos" or "polarized hull plating" or whatever...

Give us a slight retcon to say that the NX-01 didn't look quite so TNG-ish... didn't have photon(ic) torpedos or any of the other renamed-but-still-the-same-thing technogarbage, and give us Vulcans who were consistent with what has been established for 45 years, both on-screen and on-paper. (I also give the S4 explanation for why the Vulcans were just jerks for the first two years many Kudos... if you have to explain it, why not explain it in conjunction with the Romulans, after all???)

Seriously, I do not want to dump "Enterprise." It had a lot of good points, especially once someone who actually gave a damn about the material and was interested in both taking risks and connecting it to TOS came on board! I just personally prefer to ignore the horrific stuff that made up better than half of the first two seasons.

 

[Admiral Buzzkill]

A lot of the interior design elements - with a little bit of color added to remind us of TOS, the NX-01 sets would be much more convincing as a starship than the original 1966 versions.

Some of the common sense "Enterprise" brought to uniforms and other wardrobe would be nice, too. Eliminating pockets and fastenings may have been intended to intrigue viewers in the 60s as well as save time and money, but outfits for the big screen in the here-and-now need the detail. Fletcher's "Gilbert and Sullivan" Navy costumes from ST II won't cut it, either.

Finally, if there's any reason at all to have Andorians in the movie (which I doubt) the "Enterprise" versions are the best, bar none.

 

[The Wormhole]

I actually thought the MACOs were a good idea, even though Enterprise failed horribly at developing them. A specialized combat team assigned to the starship could work in Trek XI.

Of course, now I've opened the door for "Starfleet explores, they are not military" arguments.

 

[Plum]

UWC Defiance said:
Fletcher's "Gilbert and Sullivan" Navy costumes from ST II won't cut it, either.

 

[GreenBlood]

Bring back those hiked up mini skirts from TOS.
Allow males to wear 'em too. (Only the ones willing to shave their legs.)

 

[jonnyskywatcher]

Even though people don't like the decon chamber from Enterprise, I like the idea that after leaving the ship for any reason you just can't come back inside without any sort of scan to make sure you're okay. I'd get rid of the whole gel rubbing, of course, but keep the idea that before coming back to the ship you have to go through a scan.

 

[ancient]

UWC Defiance said:
A lot of the interior design elements - with a little bit of color added to remind us of TOS, the NX-01 sets would be much more convincing as a starship than the original 1966 versions.

Some of the common sense "Enterprise" brought to uniforms and other wardrobe would be nice, too. Eliminating pockets and fastenings may have been intended to intrigue viewers in the 60s as well as save time and money, but outfits for the big screen in the here-and-now need the detail. Fletcher's "Gilbert and Sullivan" Navy costumes from ST II won't cut it, either.

Finally, if there's any reason at all to have Andorians in the movie (which I doubt) the "Enterprise" versions are the best, bar none.

Agreed. The sets Should be a bit more functional than the 'hotel-in-space' look that developed. But that's just natural.

The uniform updates will be a product of the times, just like ENT, so they'll have similar design values unless they go for retro charm.

This is something that you'd see regaurdless of ENT's existance, though.

 

[Plum]

GreenBlood said:
Bring back those hiked up mini skirts from TOS.
Allow males to wear 'em too. (Only the ones willing to shave their legs.)

TNG did that once... once. And men don't wear skirts, men wear kilts!

 

[Temis the Vorta]

I personally would dump the term "boomer" however... most "rugged individuals" HATE "group-think" terms like that.

Seems like a term that outsiders would apply to them rather than something they came up with on their own.

Another thing I'd keep is the way the Andorian antennae was done, so that the antennae matched their emotional state.

 

[T'Cal]

How about having retired Admiral/Ambassador Archer at the launch of the NCC-1701? It's canon! Age Bakula, put him in an anti-grav chair (or some future example of a wheel chair) and 'wheel' him in when the ship is christened. Let Archer and Pike send Kirk off on his first command.

 

[Venardhi]

The Andorians were probably my favorite part of Enterprise. Considering how little love they've gotten from the franchise, they were handled very well and fleshed out with the best of the Trek races. I'd easily put them up with Klingons, Cardassians, Vulcans and Romulans now, whereas 5 years ago I would have shrugged. A rogue Andorian whose family or planet never gave up the fight with Vulcan could make for a very compelling villain and would be something new for the masses who probably haven't ever seen one.

 

[DarKush]

1. Andorians
2. Tellarites
3. Terra Prime
4. MACOs
5. Events in Babel & Vulcan trilogies
6. Klingon forehead explanation
7. Section 31
8. Orions

 

[Admiral Buzzkill]

I can live without ever hearing of "Section 31" again - and it looks as if that may well be likely, at least as far as Trek's future onscreen is concerned.

The Orions as they appeared in "Enterprise" - now that would, in fact, be very nice.

And slavery as it exists in the early Trek continuity would be a nice premise for some potential drama - there are strong suggestions of it in the script for "The Cage" (and some onscreen) and it does come up, IIRC, during "Enterprise" as well.

 

[Mordock]

UWC Defiance said:
I can live without ever hearing of "Section 31" again - and it looks as if that may well be likely, at least as far as Trek's future onscreen is concerned.

Hmm. I assumed the exact opposite; it seems to me that if the people who made Lost, Alias, and Mission: Impossible III are going to latch onto any element of post-TOS Trek, they'd go with the evil Starfleet conspiracy.

 

[Plum]

^^^
Yea, but Section31 kinda suggests Star Fleet might be infiltrated by an extremist faction. They did try to kill all the shape-shifters in DS9, if I recall. That's genocide.

I was dismayed to see ENT pick up the section31 thing, though it makes sense given the DS9 dialog.

Beyond that, such stories are more in the thriller/spy genre than Star Trek's usual strengths. Though, I thought the idea of Section31 intigueing.

 

[DaveyNY]

Mordock said:

UWC Defiance said:
I can live without ever hearing of "Section 31" again - and it looks as if that may well be likely, at least as far as Trek's future onscreen is concerned.

Hmm. I assumed the exact opposite; it seems to me that if the people who made Lost, Alias, and Mission: Impossible III are going to latch onto any element of post-TOS Trek, they'd go with the evil Starfleet conspiracy.

I never saw Section-31 as an EVIL CONSPIRACY, I just saw them as overtly, morally-rightous which lead them into making misguided decisions that most mainstream society's usually frown upon.

They were powerful people who used their power because they felt that things were not going the way they should and could possibly do extreme harm to the Federation.

These powerful people just tended to use the 'lowest-common-denominator' of moral judgements when making their decisions.

Just like Absolute Power, even limited power used unchecked, in the name of Justice, DOES tend to corrupt the most dutiful of people with the best of intentions.

It may get the job done, but for most people (like Malcom & Bashir) it leaves a very bad taste in ones mouth afterward.

 

[ancient]

Venardhi said:
The Andorians were probably my favorite part of Enterprise. Considering how little love they've gotten from the franchise, they were handled very well and fleshed out with the best of the Trek races. I'd easily put them up with Klingons, Cardassians, Vulcans and Romulans now, whereas 5 years ago I would have shrugged. A rogue Andorian whose family or planet never gave up the fight with Vulcan could make for a very compelling villain and would be something new for the masses who probably haven't ever seen one.

Agreed all around. ENT did the best Andorians. But then again, they were only alien extras in TOS and background aliens once or twice afterwards. This gave them a lot of room when they featured them.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

T'Cal said:
How about having retired Admiral/Ambassador Archer at the launch of the NCC-1701? It's canon! Age Bakula, put him in an anti-grav chair (or some future example of a wheel chair) and 'wheel' him in when the ship is christened. Let Archer and Pike send Kirk off on his first command.

Actually, Archer dies the day after the NCC-1701 is first commissioned. So he wouldn't be around when it actually goes on duty.

As for Pike...

Spoiler: ST XI

Word is that JJ Abrams wants Tom Cruise to do a cameo. Maybe this is the one.