Enterprise Rewatch

[Trekker4747]

Over the last few months I've been rewatching the Trek series I don't "normally" "rewatch" in a "regular" basis (which would be TNG and TOS. I started DS9 like a year and half ago, had to move and start a new job while finishing it up, and didn't get around to going back to it until, I think, January. Since then I've watched through Voyager and, sigh, now I'm starting into Season 3 of Enterprise and...

Jeeze I forgot what a mess this series is.

I think there's good elements to it and had a lot of potential with the setting, the cast, the characters, but there are times when it feels like it just never knew what this era should be about hence we get things like the Temporal Cold War and the Xindi Arc in there and, really, the Xindi stuff for me is the hardest to really swallow, everyone's characters seem to change dramatically between the seasons, most notably in Archer.

Titillation scenes in the Decon chamber are replaced by titillation scenes with T'Pol and Trip having the massage therapy sessions and there's more darkness in this season which never sits well for me and my Trek. (Which is why I'm not real big on DS9.)

But, here I am. Watching a Star Trek episode where members of the crew are changed into Neanderthals while traveling through a very dangerous area of space we're told no one can survive in but this crew seems to do pretty decently.

 

[FederationHistorian]

I’m honestly of the opinion that S2 ruined the series. I felt that a majority of the episodes during that season, and even the musical score, were flat out boring and uneventful. And this vibe lasted all the way until the middle of S3. And it wasn’t until the episode “Azati Prime” in S3 that the series seriously started picking up and became a watchable show.

Although I learned many years after the series went off the air that the creators didn’t get their year off after VOY ended to properly plan out ENT like they wanted, so I’m not as hard on the series as I used to be. Better planning would have helped this series a lot in hindsight, especially in the aftermath of 9/11.

I didn’t get upset at the crew turning into Neanderthals though during S3, largely because of what Kirk said about it being “a primitive time” in “Balance of Terror.” Although he was referring to the Earth-Romulan Wars, the events of ENT are only a few years away from that event. And I think there was merit in seeing what was to come. And its not like Archer himself was comfortable with what he had become during that season.

Of course, I do like DS9. But I also don’t like DSC S1. There a limit to how much darkness I can tolerate in a Star Trek series.

 

[Trekker4747]

Well, I was speaking of the episode where Archer, Hoshi and Reed literally turned into Neanderthals.

 

[FederationHistorian]

Ahh. Ok. My mistake.

Yeah, that wasn’t a good episode, I thought.

 

[Yanks]

Well, I was speaking of the episode where Archer, Hoshi and Reed literally turned into Neanderthals.

That was 'Extinction'.

 

[Danny99]

Season 2 did kill Enterprise. Season 1 wasn't that much better, but at least it felt like they were heading into space, stumbling to find their footing.

This season had a run of A Night In Sickbay, Marauders, The Seventh, Singularity, Vanishing Point and Precious Cargo (only taking The Communicator out of there because it was above average) for the first half of the season. That stretch of episodes is just painful to sit through. The second half of the season has a lot of meh episodes, where they weren't as bad, but weren't anything to get excited about.

The Xindi were another attempt to squeeze life out of their Temporal Cold War storyline.

 

[Delta Vega]

There's fuck all wrong with Enterprise, it's better than a lot of Trek, and not as bad as some others.
Every version of Trek has good and bad, people seem to have a real thing about slagging off Enterprise and not all of it is valid.

 

[FederationHistorian]

Or maybe ENT gets criticism because people love the show and like thinking of how it could have been better so that is stayed on the air for the full seven seasons.

 

[Delta Vega]

Or maybe ENT gets criticism because people love the show and like thinking of how it could have been better so that is stayed on the air for the full seven seasons.

That's fair comment
But a lot of the stuff that gets launched at Enterprise is just vitriolic nonsense.
As for seven seasons, just because TNG and Voyager eg got seven seasons doesn't mean that every incarnation of Trek should.
Star Trek, or TOS got three, and it's the benchmark
It remains to be seen if Discovery will be afforded seven seasons
As for the episode "Extinction", no it wasn't the best, but was it any worse than "A Piece Of The Action" for instance, or "Plato's Stepchildren" ?

 

[Trekker4747]

Slogging through Season 3. Jesus this season sucks. I think it has like 3 good episoes.

Just watched "Carpenter Street" which is a really good episode and avoids many of the "tropes" that usually come with a Star Trek time-travel episode to our "present."

I remember the "live commentary" threads for these episodes when they were first run and just the fun we had with them, I remember the jokes and memes (though we didn't call them that then, they were just images ) of Archer's boring "ketchup only" hamburger. The Mc Archer.



And T'Pol's disgust at the drive-thru when she's asked if she wants bacon added to her salad after requesting a meal without animal products in it. You'd think the server on the other end of the drive-thru speaker would see through such a question and not make that kind of offer, but...

I also remember calling the "Loomis" guy "Poor Man's Brannon Braga" since he looked like, well, Brannon Braga.

It's a nice little episode I thought even though I'm not a fan of the Xindi storyline.

 

[Beckerjr]

S1-2 were pretty problematic. Three got better although the serialized story didn't always work. S4 was the best IMO but Enterprises fate was basically sealed by that point.

First seasons of most Trek series isn't good frankly as has been gone over a thousand times before.

 

[Dale Sams]

S1-2 were pretty problematic. Three got better although the serialized story didn't always work. S4 was the best IMO but Enterprises fate was basically sealed by that point.

First seasons of most Trek series isn't good frankly as has been gone over a thousand times before.

I think I'd enjoy a rewatch as i didnt watch a lot of the series. But I've also been considering rewatching DS9 and mannnn....I tried watching that Circle trilogy awhile back and it was impossible. I'm afraid i'd just run into a road block again.

 

[TimeIsAPredator]

Enterprise had its problems as a show but its biggest ones were not really it own fault.
Alot of people had Trek fatigue even hardcore fans and TV had moved on budget, style and production wise and made ENT look very dated very fast compared to some other shows of that era

 

[Lt.Smokey]

I dunno if I am going to try another rewatch. Gosh, I want to like it because the cast is really good and Bakula is just tailor made for a Captain, but I just can't get there with this show.

That said, the music is great. Don't @ me.

 

[marlboro]

Doing a partial rewatch right now. I started with season 3. Even though I like season 4 the best, 3 has a number of very good episodes.

I'm embarrassed to admit that I never noticed before that all 6 Xindi species all sport the same ridges on their cheekbones. This show had the best make-up effects, imo.

 

[Admiral Jean-Luc Picard]

I haven't watched this show in 8 years. I like the idea of a rewatch. I know most of y'all favor Season 4, because of the prequel stuff, but... I like Season 3 better. Better writing, acting, direction, and actually trying to be serious.

 

[somebuddyX]

Season 2 has a lot of my favourite episodes: Minefield, Dead Stop, Future Tense, Regeneration and The Xindi. I think Season 3 was fun to have one storyline over the whole series and some standalones but I think it went on too long or not focused enough. I don't like all the detour episodes like North Star or Carpenter Street but maybe they're someone's favourites. Damage was the episode that made me actually like Enterprise after I'd stopped watching back in Season 1.

 

[marlboro]

Still working on a partial rewatch.

Some thoughts on the first two seasons:

- The cast is quite good. Bakula is perfectly cast for how the character is written in the first two seasons.

- I don't think "fan fatigue" was the problem. I think the issue is "writer fatigue." There are probably six to ten episodes throughout the series that instantly make me think of other episodes or movies.

- I think that if the original plan to keep the series based on Earth for the first season would have been a disaster. Season 1 had several "getting to know the crew" episodes, and while I liked many of them, it felt like they killed the momentum from the exciting pilot episode.

- Comedy. I never noticed it before, but I think the actors are actually very good at doing comedy, but I rarely find the funny moments as funny as they should be. Maybe the directors aren't good at shooting comedy scenes? Or maybe the Trek "style" only lends itself to certain types of humor.


And now your moment of zen:

Watching or rewatching a show years later takes away the weight of expectation you have first time.

You enjoy it for what it is, rather than resent it for not being what you wish it was.

This bit of wisdom has made me take a second look at some of these early episodes. "Civilization", "North Star", "Fortunate Son" and "Carbon Creek" still aren't great episodes, but they aren't bad either. Even though these episodes aren't ground-breaking, I still enjoy spending time with the cast and characters.

 

[valkyrie013]

I love enterprise, its better than Voyager and Ds9 in my opinion, does that mean its perfect? Nope, Does it mean that I don't think they could have done better? Nope. I like Season 2, season 3 was the weak point for me, and the creation of the Xindi was.. well crap.. Season 4 was excellent, but kind of wished they did there own story's instead of a kind of Back Filler for Tos stuff.

 

[marlboro]

I love enterprise, its better than Voyager and Ds9 in my opinion, does that mean its perfect? Nope, Does it mean that I don't think they could have done better? Nope. I like Season 2, season 3 was the weak point for me, and the creation of the Xindi was.. well crap.. Season 4 was excellent, but kind of wished they did there own story's instead of a kind of Back Filler for Tos stuff.

I liked season 3 fairly well, but there are some problems with it. I think it could have been improved in a few ways:

- Explain what the Xindi hoped to accomplish in their initial attack on Earth

- Do some in-depth world-building with the Xindi.

- Fully commit to the war storyline. There are a half-dozen episodes that feel like unrelated standalones that have been shoehorned into the arc. The episodes are hurt by feeling out of place and the war arc is weakened by the interruption.

- Tie it more closely to the TCW. End both plots in the season 3 finale.