There's a lot to like about Enterprise, and I was faithful from "Broken Bow" all the way to the end. There's a lot of frustrating elements in the show as well, which I think we've all recognized or at least have heard/read about by now.
One of the fascinating ideas from TOS was that species from other planets--aliens, including Terrans--not only came together to fight a common enemy in the Romulans but decided to stick together after that conflict ended. Enterprise touched on the notion that each race had individual star fleets that eventually gave way to the Federation Starfleet. That had to have taken time and no small amount of compromise between such disparate beings. I can't see the Vulcans or Andorians, for example, easily surrendering or abandoning designs and methods they felt were superior that of other species to create something new.
Since ENT went off the air, I've thought about what that very first Federation starship and crew must have been like. ENT was billed as "the beginning of Star Trek," but when we boil down the concept, the Federation IS Star Trek. Putting aside differences and working together, stronger united than apart. Imagine, then, if ENT didn't happen and Series 5 was about this very first Federation starship and her multi-species crew. Terran and other species' ships were likely re-christened as Federation starships until, finally, a team of designers, engineers, and other experts in various fields from all the founding worlds created the first ship that reflected them all.
The saucer, for example, could be a design element developed by input from all the species. The transporter, too advanced for Earth's tech in the late 22nd century, is Vulcan ingenuity. The Andorians offer their weapons and tactical expertise and the Tellarites contribute their engineering prowess.
Let's say it's about 5-10 years after the founding of the UFP and this new class of ship, the first Federation starship class, is ready to launch. To honor the man indirectly responsible for the founding of the Federation, the class is named Phoenix. The U.S.S. Phoenix is a feat of design and engineering, an unprecedented technological achievement made possible only through the cooperation of the founders. Her crew features Terrans, Andorians, Tellarites, and Alpha Centaurians. As for Vulcans, if there's no ENT, perhaps an advisor is assigned to the ship, T'Pol (or even better, T'Pau), who's not the arrogant and superior character she was in ENT.
It seems to me this would have allowed Berman and crew to really do the proto versions of Federation tech: primitive phasers (lasers, perhaps), primitive communicators, maybe the first photon torpedoes and phasers, new tech created during the war by the founder worlds but now implemented on this new ship.
I imagine deference to humans would lead to a human captain, though that could cause some conflict among crewmembers of other races. They're not just going to all get along after years of doing things their own way on their own ships. Maybe an Andorian security chief (like Shran might have become) and a Tellarite chief engineer. An Alpha-Centaurian CMO?
How these wildly different beings work through their differences to achieve greatness and together push the boundaries of the final frontier would have been a much-needed inspirational metaphor, certainly after 9-11. We would see the very core of Trek develop before our eyes, truly offering "the beginning of Star Trek," not "the beginning of the beginning" like ENT.
One of the fascinating ideas from TOS was that species from other planets--aliens, including Terrans--not only came together to fight a common enemy in the Romulans but decided to stick together after that conflict ended. Enterprise touched on the notion that each race had individual star fleets that eventually gave way to the Federation Starfleet. That had to have taken time and no small amount of compromise between such disparate beings. I can't see the Vulcans or Andorians, for example, easily surrendering or abandoning designs and methods they felt were superior that of other species to create something new.
Since ENT went off the air, I've thought about what that very first Federation starship and crew must have been like. ENT was billed as "the beginning of Star Trek," but when we boil down the concept, the Federation IS Star Trek. Putting aside differences and working together, stronger united than apart. Imagine, then, if ENT didn't happen and Series 5 was about this very first Federation starship and her multi-species crew. Terran and other species' ships were likely re-christened as Federation starships until, finally, a team of designers, engineers, and other experts in various fields from all the founding worlds created the first ship that reflected them all.
The saucer, for example, could be a design element developed by input from all the species. The transporter, too advanced for Earth's tech in the late 22nd century, is Vulcan ingenuity. The Andorians offer their weapons and tactical expertise and the Tellarites contribute their engineering prowess.
Let's say it's about 5-10 years after the founding of the UFP and this new class of ship, the first Federation starship class, is ready to launch. To honor the man indirectly responsible for the founding of the Federation, the class is named Phoenix. The U.S.S. Phoenix is a feat of design and engineering, an unprecedented technological achievement made possible only through the cooperation of the founders. Her crew features Terrans, Andorians, Tellarites, and Alpha Centaurians. As for Vulcans, if there's no ENT, perhaps an advisor is assigned to the ship, T'Pol (or even better, T'Pau), who's not the arrogant and superior character she was in ENT.
It seems to me this would have allowed Berman and crew to really do the proto versions of Federation tech: primitive phasers (lasers, perhaps), primitive communicators, maybe the first photon torpedoes and phasers, new tech created during the war by the founder worlds but now implemented on this new ship.
I imagine deference to humans would lead to a human captain, though that could cause some conflict among crewmembers of other races. They're not just going to all get along after years of doing things their own way on their own ships. Maybe an Andorian security chief (like Shran might have become) and a Tellarite chief engineer. An Alpha-Centaurian CMO?
How these wildly different beings work through their differences to achieve greatness and together push the boundaries of the final frontier would have been a much-needed inspirational metaphor, certainly after 9-11. We would see the very core of Trek develop before our eyes, truly offering "the beginning of Star Trek," not "the beginning of the beginning" like ENT.
I think the setting we got was fine and I would have had no complaints if the writing had been stronger.
