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How would you re-imagine and reboot Enterprise?

I would have been okay with ENT as a pseudo universe reboot, a Kirk-like Captain, a Vulcan science officer/XO, a good ole southern boy, on the very first Enterprise, exploring the frontier, rediscovering old Earth outposts, etc. The Time/Warp Barrier has just been broken and its the first foray out there. A reboot in the vein of nuBSG.
 
Phlox as a Tellarite could have been gold. Think of his brash, argumentative bedside manner!
which some (including me) would have seen as a rehash of a certain emh's bedside manners
I would have been okay with ENT as a pseudo universe reboot, a Kirk-like Captain, a Vulcan science officer/XO, a good ole southern boy, on the very first Enterprise, exploring the frontier, rediscovering old Earth outposts, etc. The Time/Warp Barrier has just been broken and its the first foray out there. A reboot in the vein of nuBSG.
not much of a prequel then
 
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which some (including me) would have seen as a rehash of a certain emh's besdide manners

not much of a prequel then

Re-Imagining. Still set in the 22nd century, still dealing with forming the Federation..... but also the TOS reboot, with like I said, the Time/Warp barrier just having been broken, and Kirk/Archer/Whoever out there under the banner of UESPA / United Earth.... kind of merging ENT with the early TOS S1 weirdness. Definitely less of a prequel.
 
I'd probably have just had it be during the Earth-Romulan War, and using some of the older tech it had at the being of the show (plasma weapons, spatial torpedoes) for a little longer. And cut the Temporal Cold War, which was an interesting story idea but poorly executed. Other than that, I quite enjoyed it as it was.
 
which some (including me) would have seen as a rehash of a certain emh's bedside manners

not much of a prequel then

Well the prequel as it is now still fits the description above. As a prequel it was still almost a reboot/reimagining and contain those characteristics. If they called it a reboot instead of a prequel it wouldn't have changed the show much at all and would have still fit the same criteria.
 
Diverse Starfleet not NASA in space crew, less American bridge characters, less males

Would you prefer less American bridge crew if the actors were American but pretending not to be? It certainly seems like Trek had a habit, dating at least until Enterprise, of hiring near home, even for non-American characters.

I completely understand why. It is definitely not unique to Star Trek. I think every country’s motion picture/TV industry tends toward hiring their fellow countrymen. No doubt it makes logistics much simpler. Still, I was very surprised when I discovered Hoshi was supposed to be Japanese not Japanese-American as she certainly seems American to me (the American :)).
 
Would you prefer less American bridge crew if the actors were American but pretending not to be? It certainly seems like Trek had a habit, dating at least until Enterprise, of hiring near home, even for non-American characters.

I completely understand why. It is definitely not unique to Star Trek. I think every country’s motion picture/TV industry tends toward hiring their fellow countrymen. No doubt it makes logistics much simpler. Still, I was very surprised when I discovered Hoshi was supposed to be Japanese not Japanese-American as she certainly seems American to me (the American :)).
i know she's a highly trainend and gifted linquist but can she do a japanese accent?
 
Why a Japanese accent? Why not speak Japanese and say a few Japanese phrases instead?
  1. that's what people do speaking multiple languages - they normally have a decernible accent
  2. are they handing out universal translators for viewers of the show?
  3. while hoshi sato is supossed to be 'japanese' linda park is of south korean ancestry - i doubt she speaks japanese anyway
  4. do you really believe a mostly american audience would accept a crew in which every member speaks with a heavy and different accent (i'm not talking us accents, btw)?
 
  1. that's what people do speaking multiple languages - they normally have a decernible accent
  2. are they handing out universal translators for viewers of the show?
  3. while hoshi sato is supossed to be 'japanese' linda park is of south korean ancestry - i doubt she speaks japanese anyway
  4. do you really believe a mostly american audience would accept a crew in which every member speaks with a heavy and different accent (i'm not talking us accents, btw)?

I really don’t see why Hoshi couldn’t teach Phlox Japanese in exchange for him teaching Denobulan to her.

If Linda Park is more comfortable speaking Korean, that’s okay too. I’d imagine that a linguist would speak dozens of languages - Korean, Japanese, Spanish, Portuguese, etc. Though I would point out that Japanese can be Romanized so that it is easier for the speaker can say the language.

If they can have subtitles Denobulan and Vulcan when those languages are being spoken, why not for Japanese or Korean? And barring that, why not a character that can translate for the other character speaking the language? As in one character only speaks the foreign language and the person besides him/her translates for the other character then and there. Both UFC and wrestling figured this all out a long time ago and his hasn't hurt their respective popularizes at all with American audiences. The idea that Star Trek can’t do the same thing is just nonsense.
 
2150's English (or 2370's English if we look to series such as TNG) probably would be noticeably different from contemporary English , so in reality nobody on board would speak like we do today.

Since everyone in fact does, I suppose everyone has been translated already for our convenience, including the supposedly 'American' characters. Those UT's apparently have extradimensional capabilities, detecting our universe as well.
 
I would be delighted to hear a wider variety of accents on Enterprise but given Hoshi’s extraordinary language abilities, I can buy that she is able to perfectly replicate any accent she hears. In the second episode, she learned the Axanar language in less than a day, well enough to verbally plead their case (was there even an audio recording for her to learn from?) on the spur of the moment and under extreme duress. That’s insane. She’s godlike.

I was speaking more of socially conditioned behavior. I lived and worked in Japan for a small part of my life but even now, more than 15 years later, I still instinctively bow my head to indicate apology or thanks. 100 years from now, even after World War III, I still think bowing would be a part of Japanese culture. I feel like the respect for hierarchy probably would have made it through WWIII too, as well as the etiquette that reflects living on a densely populated island. I realize war and ecoterrorism thinned out the population but I don’t know if that would be enough to, in the span of about two generations, completely change societal mores. That is to say, Hoshi snapping “Ponfo mirann” at T’Pol does not seem to reflect the culture in which she was ostensibly raised.
 
I was speaking more of socially conditioned behavior. I lived and worked in Japan for a small part of my life but even now, more than 15 years later, I still instinctively bow my head to indicate apology or thanks.
Interesting. I've never been to Japan yet do the same thing...curious.
 
I've always wondered how one would do the "Set S1 with getting the crew/constructing the NX, and finale is the launch" idea that was floated around.
 
Ok, so my own general pitch.

Generally agreed upon: Ditch the Temporal Cold War, Ditch immediate Legacy races etc except the Vulcans.

The first "Warp 5 capable ship" would be a huge political football and so be obligated to go to every last colony run by Earth, a goodwill tour and a grand circus.

The crew of the Enterprise is a strange mix of people who will train and crew these ships exclusively and those who helped design and build it. It's primary designer is also its Chief Engineer and its Captain is a military brat along with the Chief Defense Officer plucked from what remains of the Earth's military, despite this, the Captain is well served by a communications officer from the Diplomatic Corps specialising in Xeno-Species Relations. The one thorn in the Captain's side is a Vulcan Observer who is assigned to the ship at the insistance of the Vulcan Science Ministry. The Captain is the sort to wear his heart on his sleeve rather proudly and dislikes the "dishonest" nature of Vulcans, always supressing seemingly any joy and enjoyment that life could bring.

So the Ship does flybyes of Luna and Mars after it launches from Spacedock, taking slow passes of the colonies before heading out to the steadily being build Starbase 1 out at Jupiter, full blown version we see in SNW, obviously it'd be the "mark 1" not the beautiful megastructure we see but a construction site.

A good episode here would be the Enterprise leading efforts to save one of the seedpods which breaks free during construction and threatens to plummet into Jupiter itself, which considering some rare trees are still on there that are vital to restoring earth (or have muted in space for decades and so useful for other planets, perhaps some special property useful for something) and its discovery had been kept under wraps.

So this is the beat of the first rough season, only Enterprise keeps seemingly arriving just as some weird disaster or incident strikes, of the known list of Earth Colonies they pretty much tick off every one. There's just always something weird seemingly being triggered by their presence. There even becomes stories about how its the Warp 5 engine itself causing things to go haywire by its presence, that the ship has become cursed in good old naval tradition.

The Captain begins to suspect a spy, someone who wants to disrupt the planned deep space exploration of the NX-03 (I like this idea, so I am stealing it, the first two test platforms found hull cracking issues etc).

His own biases and perceptions mean he first suspects the Vulcans as diplomats and obvservers are on every planet to keep an eye on the "Grand Tour". Even going so far as to round on the observer placed with him, causing tension and annoyance between the two for a good long while, he even goes so far as to restrict her to her quarters and changes the itinery to there's no way they are the ones to tip off the imminent arrival of the new ship.

They swap to Deneva Colony and despite his own irritations, nothing seems to be going wrong for the time being, and after a multiple series of requests that he keeps putting off he eventually agrees to meet with a Vulcan Scientist.

They share an interesting conversation in which said Scientist doesn't really act like most Vulcans, he gives Archer some suggestions, some nice things that are mapped but still enjoyable to explore, and even some planets to go visit for rest and relaxation. The Captain notes that he's not like many other Vulcans he's met....

And the Vulcan laughs and smiles. He explains his own exploration, a favourite word he enjoyed picking up instead of "Long Range Scientist" was with a very small crew and lasted decades, he himself found seeking out new cultures and new civilisations utterly fascinating to the point he'd eventually become somewhat corrupted by them.

"I still keep my emotions in check, why the excitement of meeting you will mean I will follow quite a strenous ritual and meditation after this."

This strange Vulcan fascinates our Captain to the point he talks about it excitedly over dinner, with the Vulcan observer dryly noting said "Long Range Scientists" eccentricities are well known, but his documentation and rearch is always exemplary, which is why the Vulcan Science Institute leaves him be. The Captain informs those at the table that they had been invited down to witness the medatative ritual and to even join in for a little while themselves.

"Perhaps you will learn a little about how much we go through to focus ourselves." The Observer dryly notes.

They go to the Ritual, being instructed to sit at the far end of the room from our Explorer so that they will be able to leave quietly at their own discretion. The larger incense burner is lit and even our Captain finds himself relaxing and all noise and distraction slowly fading out, he seems truly on the cusp of a revelation and we realise this is the first time in the whole season we've seen this man fully relax.

Only for his Chief Engineer screaming into his ear and shaking him to snap everything back to reality. The room is suddenly filled with a toxic looking green cloud, Our Captain doesn't even think before plunging headfirst into it, finding our explorer and dragging him out by his robes, they slam the door shut, but it seeps through, they have to get out and get away. They grab the Vulcan Explorer between them and run out only to see a human woman fleeing the scene.

Despite coughing, spluttering and weakening. Our Captain gives chase yelling for help and to stop the fleeing figure. Sh is intercepted by two Police officers and held. The Captain staggering as he catches up. Demanding to know why, why did she do it?

The woman gives him a cruel smile "I am a man of few words." Before she begins convulsing and dies.

Despite rushing the Vulcan to their ship (I have no qualms about risky, last resort and emergency teleporting, they existed for a reason, saving budgets on shuttle shots) he dies, and our Captain finds himself in the medical bay, staring at two bodies inside a sealed, decontamination chamber looking room.

"You, Captain, are incredibly lucky. Death was by a combination of Theta radiation and other toxins, had you stayed near the burner much longer it likely would've killed you too. It's antimatter waste, presumably in some sort of time release capsule hidden among the incense."

Our Captain slams his fist at the wall of the bay. "I knew it, when she said that phrase I knew it. Am I cleared from here? I need all senior staff in the briefing room."

On a viewscreen of the briefing room a video is playing of a man in his early 40s, he's stood by a podium by a window, and outside the sky is turning slowly, sickly green. He clears his throat.

"You all know me. I am a man of few words. Today I stand here, with two competing feelings. Sorrow, and anger. Earth has stated that there's nothing they can do for our colony, that we should evacuate and undo all the work we have striven for here these past 40 years. That we should stop trying to find a way to fix the problems we are facing...."

The speech continues to play in the background as we're given a brief history of Earth's first colony. Begun to be settled in 2069 and becoming highly successful with waves of colonists and cities built that began to rival earth's, only for an asteroid near miss to result in a poisoning of the atmosphere in 2108, despite the best efforts of Earth and the colony no solution is found and Earth reccomends the evacuation of the planet in 2110.

"How can we even associate ourselves with Earth? With Humanity with such a callous attitude? We healed the Earth! We can do it here too! They are abandoning us, so I will abandon their labels too. I no longer consider myself a human!

I am a Novan."

And if anyone likes it I have a kind of second season sketched out too...
 
As others have already said no time travel, no Klingons, make things more primitive with no shields, artificial gravity, transporters, phasers etc. The hero ship should be fully human or at most only have one Vulcan and it shouldn't be called "Enterprise".

Make Starfleet/UESPA less enlightened than what we got in Enterprise where it was essentially the same Starfleet from TNG with the same moral code and ethics. They should go through a learning curve and evolve into what we eventually see in later series. They are more cavalier in how they interfere with less advanced cultures they encounter to bring them under Earth influence, essentially having a more colonial, imperialist and paternal attitude than later Starfleet. This has disastrous consequences which eventually leads to the creation of the Prime Directive. How they acquire dilithium and dispose of anti matter waste will also play into it.

Have DS9 type world building eventually leading to the Earth-Romulan war.
 
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