Glad to see there are some other Enterprise fans here. It seems that most Trek fans I know hate it. I originally started typing this post as a reply in another thread, but I realized it was just all over the place so I should just post it in its own thread here. I'm new here so consider this my self-intoduction to the ENT forum.
I thought the Trek franchise just went overboard with the 24th century Trek. It was totally refreshing to go back to the 22nd century and have stories without so many technological advancements.
And I'm the type of nerd that for some reason finds the challenge of prequels fitting into previously laid down continuity exciting. I know one of ENT's criticisms is that it didn't adhere to continuity, but I have easy solutions for that (see below).
For the most part, I really liked the basic, accessible characters. Archer was a more Kirk-like captain. And T'Pol was the hottest Vulcan in the universe, hands down. And I also really enjoyed Trip, Hoshi, and even Phlox.
I can honestly say that I thought ENT overall got better each season (even most diehard TOS fans don't say that about the TOS 3rd season!). I really liked the idea of the Temporal Cold War, but thought that the execution was inconsistent. I loved the idea of the Search for the Xindi Superweapon (but as part of the Temporal Cold War it was also inconsistent in execution). The last few episodes and climax of the Superweapon story were really epic and exciting.
What I liked most was the 4th season, which was almost completely a TOS-prequel extraveganza. (After the somewhat dissappointing resolution to the Temporal War) I absolutely loved all the rest of the the two and three-episode story arcs. I watched them as 90 and 135 minute movies.
After having established the origin of the Vulcan-Andorian conflict earlier in the series, we see how the Vulcans go from the superior race trying to hold humanity back to the Surak-honoring mystics we know from the rest of the franchise. We see the early beginings of the alliance that leads to the UFP, and we see why Earth comes to the forefront of that alliance after being latecomers to the local galactic community. We see the beginings of Earth's conflict with the Romulan Empire. We see a story that geniously ties in the creator of Data to his ancestor's involvement in Khan-like genetic augments, and the aftermath which, for the first time since 1979, finally explained the fall and rise of the Klingon head-ridges! And these were good stories.
I didn't care for the ENT series finale, so in my mind, the Terra Prime and In a Mirror, Darkly duologies are my ENT finale. Despite the fact that it took place completely in the Mirror Universe, I loved the Enterprise-era MU story and how it was not only a prequel to the TOS MU episode, but also a sequel to another TOS episode which allowed for the nostalgia-inducing TOS-era ship, uniforms and aliens. Darkly overtly ties ENT with the TOS, and there is a little history of Archer-prime present that takes him beyond the chronology of the series into the 23rd century.
As far as the continuity resolutuion, I first want to say that I enjoyed the ENT entry of the Borg story arc ("Regeneration"). I've read that the reason this doesn't contradict TNG continuity is because the incident was covered-up and classified by Earth so it was not known in the 24th century. Sure, but in my mind I allow it to contradict and override the lame first appearance of the Borg in a TNG Q episode, stating that the First Contact time travel and the ENT episode changed only that Q episode to something I also don't really care about. Then pick up with the "Best of Both Worlds" and start the Borg story arc there. They briefly reference a previous encounter with the Borg there, and the timeline is back on track. So that's two possible solutions right there. Either way, ENT doesn't contradict canon with respect to the Borg in my book.
Franchise canon critics still despise ENT from seeing the first couple seasons? See my brief descritpion of the 4th season story arcs and see some resolutions. In season 4 they were intentionally trying to resolve a lot and tie things into the rest of the franchise. Sadly, it was too little too late to save the show (oh how I would have loved a Season 5). But I give them an A for effort.
Still more percieved contradictions from Seasons 1-3? Well, this is the catch-all solution. Time travel has never been consitently handled in the franchise as whole (a fact that I'm pretty ok with).
The logic of The Temporal Cold War really pushed even Trek's flimsy boundaries, especially at the end. And by stopping the alien Nazi villain from entering a time portal or something at a point long after the history of WW2 had changed, somehow that resolved the earlier divergence. Even though Daniels, the time traveller from the future died in his past, he is suddenly ok at the end. It is like somehow in a very convoluted way, time travel was used to prevent some previous time travels from ever occuring but not others. Maybe it makes sense in the 29th century looking back, but I thought the resolution was wacky.
So my solution is, any aspect of any ENT episode from Seasons 1-3 that somehow contradicts future franchise continuity was changed by the resolution of the Temporal Cold War to not have contradicted it! Of course to preserve the Ent series self-continuity, Archer and the crew of the Enterprise remember the events as we saw them, but the ship logs and eveyone else records the "final" version of events eliminated the discontinuities. Perhaps the Temporal Cold Wars were resolved to the point of them never occuring in the first place, which of course would drasticly change even the pilot episode.
This Temporal War continuty solution is not so much for me but for all the crtics of ENT. If anyone asks me what about such-and-such in the 24th century contradiction I just reply "The resolution of the Temporal Cold War corrected that ENT-era discontinuity" to shut them up. For three seasons, the later future timeline could have been drasticly different but it was all put on the right track to TOS and everyting else in Season 4.
Oh, and one final comment about ENT. I've found that many critics of new Trek film re also critics of ENT as well. I try to put the crtics of 23d and 24th century continuity alteration at ease by reminding them the film shows a divergent reality so the prime timeline also still exists. But that being said, I have to admit that I still derive a tad bit of pleasure from the fact that ENT still exists unaltered in both timelines. Add to that Archer and his dog are both mentioned in the new film. It's the icing on my Trek cake.
Thanks to anyone who made it through this post!
I thought the Trek franchise just went overboard with the 24th century Trek. It was totally refreshing to go back to the 22nd century and have stories without so many technological advancements.
And I'm the type of nerd that for some reason finds the challenge of prequels fitting into previously laid down continuity exciting. I know one of ENT's criticisms is that it didn't adhere to continuity, but I have easy solutions for that (see below).
For the most part, I really liked the basic, accessible characters. Archer was a more Kirk-like captain. And T'Pol was the hottest Vulcan in the universe, hands down. And I also really enjoyed Trip, Hoshi, and even Phlox.
I can honestly say that I thought ENT overall got better each season (even most diehard TOS fans don't say that about the TOS 3rd season!). I really liked the idea of the Temporal Cold War, but thought that the execution was inconsistent. I loved the idea of the Search for the Xindi Superweapon (but as part of the Temporal Cold War it was also inconsistent in execution). The last few episodes and climax of the Superweapon story were really epic and exciting.
What I liked most was the 4th season, which was almost completely a TOS-prequel extraveganza. (After the somewhat dissappointing resolution to the Temporal War) I absolutely loved all the rest of the the two and three-episode story arcs. I watched them as 90 and 135 minute movies.
After having established the origin of the Vulcan-Andorian conflict earlier in the series, we see how the Vulcans go from the superior race trying to hold humanity back to the Surak-honoring mystics we know from the rest of the franchise. We see the early beginings of the alliance that leads to the UFP, and we see why Earth comes to the forefront of that alliance after being latecomers to the local galactic community. We see the beginings of Earth's conflict with the Romulan Empire. We see a story that geniously ties in the creator of Data to his ancestor's involvement in Khan-like genetic augments, and the aftermath which, for the first time since 1979, finally explained the fall and rise of the Klingon head-ridges! And these were good stories.
I didn't care for the ENT series finale, so in my mind, the Terra Prime and In a Mirror, Darkly duologies are my ENT finale. Despite the fact that it took place completely in the Mirror Universe, I loved the Enterprise-era MU story and how it was not only a prequel to the TOS MU episode, but also a sequel to another TOS episode which allowed for the nostalgia-inducing TOS-era ship, uniforms and aliens. Darkly overtly ties ENT with the TOS, and there is a little history of Archer-prime present that takes him beyond the chronology of the series into the 23rd century.
As far as the continuity resolutuion, I first want to say that I enjoyed the ENT entry of the Borg story arc ("Regeneration"). I've read that the reason this doesn't contradict TNG continuity is because the incident was covered-up and classified by Earth so it was not known in the 24th century. Sure, but in my mind I allow it to contradict and override the lame first appearance of the Borg in a TNG Q episode, stating that the First Contact time travel and the ENT episode changed only that Q episode to something I also don't really care about. Then pick up with the "Best of Both Worlds" and start the Borg story arc there. They briefly reference a previous encounter with the Borg there, and the timeline is back on track. So that's two possible solutions right there. Either way, ENT doesn't contradict canon with respect to the Borg in my book.
Franchise canon critics still despise ENT from seeing the first couple seasons? See my brief descritpion of the 4th season story arcs and see some resolutions. In season 4 they were intentionally trying to resolve a lot and tie things into the rest of the franchise. Sadly, it was too little too late to save the show (oh how I would have loved a Season 5). But I give them an A for effort.
Still more percieved contradictions from Seasons 1-3? Well, this is the catch-all solution. Time travel has never been consitently handled in the franchise as whole (a fact that I'm pretty ok with).
The logic of The Temporal Cold War really pushed even Trek's flimsy boundaries, especially at the end. And by stopping the alien Nazi villain from entering a time portal or something at a point long after the history of WW2 had changed, somehow that resolved the earlier divergence. Even though Daniels, the time traveller from the future died in his past, he is suddenly ok at the end. It is like somehow in a very convoluted way, time travel was used to prevent some previous time travels from ever occuring but not others. Maybe it makes sense in the 29th century looking back, but I thought the resolution was wacky.
So my solution is, any aspect of any ENT episode from Seasons 1-3 that somehow contradicts future franchise continuity was changed by the resolution of the Temporal Cold War to not have contradicted it! Of course to preserve the Ent series self-continuity, Archer and the crew of the Enterprise remember the events as we saw them, but the ship logs and eveyone else records the "final" version of events eliminated the discontinuities. Perhaps the Temporal Cold Wars were resolved to the point of them never occuring in the first place, which of course would drasticly change even the pilot episode.
This Temporal War continuty solution is not so much for me but for all the crtics of ENT. If anyone asks me what about such-and-such in the 24th century contradiction I just reply "The resolution of the Temporal Cold War corrected that ENT-era discontinuity" to shut them up. For three seasons, the later future timeline could have been drasticly different but it was all put on the right track to TOS and everyting else in Season 4.
Oh, and one final comment about ENT. I've found that many critics of new Trek film re also critics of ENT as well. I try to put the crtics of 23d and 24th century continuity alteration at ease by reminding them the film shows a divergent reality so the prime timeline also still exists. But that being said, I have to admit that I still derive a tad bit of pleasure from the fact that ENT still exists unaltered in both timelines. Add to that Archer and his dog are both mentioned in the new film. It's the icing on my Trek cake.
Thanks to anyone who made it through this post!
This is my favorite StarTrek tv series besides Tos and Ds9.
