If you were the creator of ENT, what would you have done differently?

[Captain Zog]

This is how I'd have handled things:


1. Minimal use of the Klingons before Season 4.

2. No exposure to holodecks or holographic technology.

3. The crew would be armed with lasers instead of phase-pistols and there would be no photogenic torpedoes. Instead, Enterprise would be armed with more 'primitive' plasma weapons - and possibly also some nuclear weapons, which would be considered standard by this time.

4. I would have made some design changes to the exterior of the NX-01 to make it appear more like a forerunner to Kirk's Enterprise rather than to 24th century starships.

5. The transporter would be a purely experimental device used solely for the purpose of on-loading and off-loading supplies. It would break down frequently, with the dematerialized matter never reappearing.

6. There would be less time travel and no Temporal Cold War.

7. The Xindi would only play a minor role. The attack on Earth at the end of Season 2 would be carried out by a long-range Romulan weapon, laying the seeds for the EArth-Romulan War.

8. The final episode would be completely changed. It would not serve as a pseudo-TNG ep, but would involve an elderly member of the senior staff (I got this idea from a previous poster) reminiscing about the establishment of the Federation in 2161 against the backdrop of the nascent Earth-Romulan War.

 

[HeyLookItsMe]

Re: If you were the creator of ENT, what would you have done different

As much as many of these kinds of continutity issues and nitpicks drove me and so many other people crazy over four years, they aren't really what leaves everyone with such a bad taste in their mouth. What was a perfectly good premise for a Star Trek series was simply poorly written, and had to many poorly or inconsistently written characters. Had the focus been less on blatant attempts to increase viewership (the T & A Chamber ect) and more on producing a show of the caliber of TOS, TNG, DS9, or early VGR then the latter issue would have addressed the former.

No hating! I stuck with the show, beginning to end, and loved it when it was *on*. I just wish they had been a bit more able to knock them out of the park regularly, and less willing to sell out a characters integrity for what ultimately garnered nothing but a cancelation.

 

[Captain X]

Re: If you were the creator of ENT, what would you have done different

I'd do this.

 

[Captain Fine]

Re: If you were the creator of ENT, what would you have done different

3. The crew would be armed with lasers instead of phase-pistols and there would be no photogenic torpedoes.

You really want ugly torpedoes? Photogenic torpedoes hehe

 

[SFRabid]

Re: If you were the creator of ENT, what would you have done different

Put a scientist on duty to review all scripts.

 

[JiNX-01]

Re: If you were the creator of ENT, what would you have done different

No Temporal Cold War.
No catsuits.
No transporter.
No phase cannons.
No Klingons (just because I was sick of them by the end of DS9).
No alien SuperDoctor. I never liked that doctors in "future Trek" had a worse track record than Phlox.

I'd have a smaller, less advanced ship. 50-60 crew. They'd have to return to Earth once in a while for supplies and to make reports (and since my Star Trek -- the one I was hoping we'd get -- would be very dangerous, they also have to bring home their dead and pick up replacements). And they wouldn't be able communicate instanteously with Earth.

T'Pol would be (unwillingly) assigned as an observer, which would tick off the otherwise all-human crew who don't want Vulcans evaluating them. She would never be science officer, first officer or Porthos' pooper scooper.

 

[sbk1234]

Re: If you were the creator of ENT, what would you have done different

I agree with all the poster's ideas. The only specific change I can think of - which I know is totally fan-wank - is the ship would be based on the early Enterprise seen in the rec-deck scene in TMP. That would have been a great bit of continuity which I, for one, would have appreciated.

 

[Hopeful Romantic]

Re: If you were the creator of ENT, what would you have done different

T'Pol would be (unwillingly) assigned as an observer, which would tick off the otherwise all-human crew who don't want Vulcans evaluating them. She would never be science officer, first officer...

I'm curious...what would she do, if she were only an observer? If she had no duties or responsibilities as a crewmember, and she was there exactly for the reason Archer suspected--to report back to the VHC--where's the drama?

 

[jamestyler]

Re: If you were the creator of ENT, what would you have done different

T'Pol would be (unwillingly) assigned as an observer, which would tick off the otherwise all-human crew who don't want Vulcans evaluating them. She would never be science officer, first officer...

I'm curious...what would she do, if she were only an observer? If she had no duties or responsibilities as a crewmember, and she was there exactly for the reason Archer suspected--to report back to the VHC--where's the drama?

I would have kept T'Pol as science officer. For the most part humans wee going into space blind. Whether they liked it or not it made sense to have someone with more knowledge and experience on the staff to help out.

I'd say the same for keeping Phlox too.

I wouldn't change much about the design of the ship. The Enterprise needs to retain a certain style to seem 'Trek' enough and taking away a lot of the detail and TOS'd would have been absolutely pointless. Not only would it look dreadful on screen, but you can't have your first ship be streamlined and perfect.

Weapons, I'd agree, should have been less advanced and the transporter should have had the 'Fly' effect on organic matter and not yet been refined.

The Xindi arc was probably the best idea they had, keeping an ongoing story instead of one offs which would dry up the idea of this being the first ship, really quickly. But maybe a moe familier enemy...

Less TNG elements, no Borg or Ferengi, much more of a struggle and no Scott Bakula.

 

[Penguin]

Re: If you were the creator of ENT, what would you have done different

No Three "B's": Berman, Bragga and Bakkula.

An action "A" thread and a interpersonel "B" thread that would forward inter personal chracterization and relationships. the B thread could be woven into the A Thread on occasion otherwise it would be used on occasion to forward relationships and character growth.

NO Xindi. would rather have the Orion sydicate as the main enemy until a good romulan vs Terra/vulcan/Andoran coalition war was started.

T-Pol as cience Officer and Trip as first Officer and Chief Engineer. T-Pol's rank as Lt commander to avoid this crap about her outranking Trip.

Different captain (if he were younger, about 60, Brian Keith taking the role) More vigerous but one who stays on board, doesn't go on away mission but fights the Enterprise for all it is worth.

The series a true Ensemble series, no one Hero series. That is one thing that killed the series for me was too damned much Archer. I kept hoping he would get killed off at some point but didn't happen.

More backgound on Reeds days in secion 31 and HOshi's days as a Gambler having a black Belt and able to use the odl style phaser guns.

MoRE Travis.

 

[SFRabid]

Re: If you were the creator of ENT, what would you have done different

No dog on the ship.

 

[JiNX-01]

Re: If you were the creator of ENT, what would you have done different

T'Pol would be (unwillingly) assigned as an observer, which would tick off the otherwise all-human crew who don't want Vulcans evaluating them. She would never be science officer, first officer...

I'm curious...what would she do, if she were only an observer? If she had no duties or responsibilities as a crewmember, and she was there exactly for the reason Archer suspected--to report back to the VHC--where's the drama?

Sorry. I should have been clearer. She'd be assigned as an observer for a single mission in the pilot, but the Vulcans would conclude that her experience could mitigate the recklessness of Archer and crew and so they prevail on SF to permit her remain on board in a limited capacity as an adviser. She'd attempt to educate Archer -- sometimes he'd listen, sometimes not so much. Sometimes things would work out anyway, and sometimes not so much.

My main point is that my Archer isn't going to invite a member of a species he despises to join his crew as science officer, much less first officer.

It makes more sense to me to have them forced to work together. Conflict would be a natural outcome of the officers' and crew's resentment of being told they're not ready to go it alone. And this way, when the VHC recommends at the end of their first year in space that the NX-01 should be recalled, T'Pol sticks up for them, stating that the humans experiences and first contacts have not gone any worse than those of the Vulcans in the early years of their own explorations; that they have demonstrated their capacity to learn from their mistakes; and have earned the right to continue their work.

Her support helps to transform her relationship with her fellow shipmates.

 

[Penguin]

Re: If you were the creator of ENT, what would you have done different

Sfrabid. No Dog? What would Archer do for a love life?

 

[Praetor]

Re: If you were the creator of ENT, what would you have done different

No Temporal Cold War.
No catsuits.
No transporter.
No phase cannons.
No Klingons (just because I was sick of them by the end of DS9).
No alien SuperDoctor. I never liked that doctors in "future Trek" had a worse track record than Phlox.

I'd have a smaller, less advanced ship. 50-60 crew. They'd have to return to Earth once in a while for supplies and to make reports (and since my Star Trek -- the one I was hoping we'd get -- would be very dangerous, they also have to bring home their dead and pick up replacements). And they wouldn't be able communicate instanteously with Earth.

T'Pol would be (unwillingly) assigned as an observer, which would tick off the otherwise all-human crew who don't want Vulcans evaluating them. She would never be science officer, first officer or Porthos' pooper scooper.

You must have read my mind.

All of these ideas are quite similar to a prequel concept that I was brainstorming before 'Enterprise' ever came up. (At the time it was called 'New Dawn' but in retrospect I'd have likely called it (and the ship) 'Phoenix'.)

I've revised my concepts a bit since 'Enterprise' came out, but obeys your 'no' rules - no catsuits, no transporter, no phase cannons/photonic torps, no Klingons (well, maybe ONE episode), no Alien SuperDoc. No Ferengi. No Borg. No Temporal Cold War. And no damn dog.

In short, for my show the main crew were all a bit older than their 'Enterprise' counterparts - military/NASA types who've trained their whole lives and are the best of the best. My first officer (and helmsman) would have been a boomer like the Mayweather character - I would have called him Rand and had him be the progenitor of the Rand Starfleet legacy. XO would have clashed a lot with the by-the-book Captain. The Archer 'warp five' plot would have gone to the Trip character. My Vulcan would have been assigned via an exchange program instituted by the VHC to keep an eye on human ships. She would have been similar to the aborted 'Xon' character from Phase II - young, brilliant (even for a Vulcan) and remarkably curious about humans and emotions. I might have adapted the idea that she was part (or completely) Romulan and raised by spy parents on Vulcan. (A scene I had written had the Vulcan character go to witness a hard-wired, two chamber transporter prototype demonstration on the ground... in a small auditorium. This would be the only transporter on the entire series.) The doctor would have been French of African ancestry or possibly from somewhere in the Caribbean. I would also have included a female Middle-Eastern navigator. The ship would be capable of landing, but would primarily rely on larger, more combat-capable versions of the shuttlepods.

There would be a lot of drama from Vulcan-Andorian conflicts, Orion piracy, and other skullduggery ultimately attributed to the Romulans, and I would build towards laying the ground-work for the Romulan War and the forming of the UFP. I would also have laid out a careful plan toward introducing any race from previous Trek lore, not just 'gee, let's see a Rigellian!' I would have liked to have included the Tzenkethi as a xenophobic, declining empire of dry-skinned reptiles with references from the ancient Egyptian, Chinese and Japanese cultures, including ships resembling flying kanji. (I have a drawing of that somewhere.)

My last episode would have probably been a flash-forward two-parter commemorating the tenth anniversary of the end of the Romulan War and the destruction of the ship at the pivotal Battle of Cheron. I might have also done a bookend framing story, forward into the TNG era, having Riker and Troi on the Titan arriving at Romulus post-Nemesis to receive the ship's dedication plaque recovered from Cheron and held for long by the Romulans.

Or not.

Maybe I'll copy-paste some of my notes later, or revise them to what I would do knowing what I know now, if anyone is interested.

 

[casey]

Re: If you were the creator of ENT, what would you have done different

Most of what I think has already be said. However:
No "Faith of the Heart!!!!!" I would use "Archer's Theme."
I would call it Star Trek from the beginning.
I would research Vulcan behavior, thus ensuring that "Stigma" never happened. I finally watched this for the first time yesterday and was actually in shock.
Hire writers with creativity. The problem with ENT is with consistency. Really good episodes with really really bland ones. Some of them are neither good nor bad, just bland, boring, and unwatchable. They need interesting concepts.
Shran playing a bigger role, eventually being second in command.
While they make interesting wall paper, I would like to see Hoshi and Maywether developed. Wait, I take that back. Now that I think of the episodes where they tried to develop them, they are some of the most bland episodes.
Manny Coto from the beginning!
Absolutely no time travel!
No ferengi or borg.


And no I don't hate ENT! It is growing on me, though I have yet to see all of season 1 and 2. I am hoping to get the DVDs for Christmas, then I will have a lot more to say.

 

[Just_Bob]

Re: If you were the creator of ENT, what would you have done different

Put a scientist on duty to review all scripts.

That would have been a blessing.

Btw, greets from a fellow Kentuckian.

 

[rhodeschroma]

Re: If you were the creator of ENT, what would you have done different

I think that I would have done one of two things right off the bat:
Either #1: Set the series 6 months to a year earlier so that we can see more development of the starfleet organization, the completion of the NX-01 and some of the decisions that went into her final design, some of the training that went into becoming eligible to serve on the ship, and details on how each of our characters came to Enterprise. I enjoyed seeing the "earlier" relationship with Trip and Archer and would've liked to have seen more of Archer's decision making process with regard to the crew.

or

#2 Set Enterprise right before the Romulan war. This would make a great deal of logical sense, provide a virtually limitless supply of storylines, and be in keeping canon.

---

 

[rhodeschroma]

Re: If you were the creator of ENT, what would you have done different

I think that I would have done one of two things right off the bat:

Either #1: Set the series 6 months to a year earlier so that we can see more development of the starfleet organization, the completion of the NX-01 and some of the decisions that went into her final design, some of the training that went into becoming eligible to serve on the ship, and details on how each of our characters came to Enterprise. I enjoyed seeing the "earlier" relationship with Trip and Archer and would've liked to have seen more of Archer's decision making process with regard to the crew.

or

#2 Set Enterprise right before the Romulan war. This would make a great deal of logical sense, provide a virtually limitless supply of storylines, and be in keeping canon. Possibly we would've been rewarded with this if we'd gotten 5-6-7, but you never know.

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No "Faith of the Heart!!!!!" I would use "Archer's Theme."
I would call it Star Trek from the beginning.

Agreed - and I would also be more globally minded with the images in the beginning credits. With that said, if they chose Archer's theme, they may have decided not to go with the historical montage at all, and use a NX-01 heavy intro (like on startrek.com at one point)

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No alien SuperDoctor. I never liked that doctors in "future Trek" had a worse track record than Phlox.

This has always been a major problem for me when watching scenes with Phlox. The personal life of Phlox is interesting to me, but as a doctor, he was way too advanced for any of our trek incarnations up to this point. He was able to do things Bashir/Crusher/and EMH were unable to - and this - on a 22nd century ship - made for an unrealistic situation. I'm not a big fan of a lot of death, esp on Star Trek, but having Doctor Phlox around made it feel like, unless someone was genetically royally screwed, just blown out into space (Damage), or incinerated in engineering (again, in Damage) that they were gonna be just fine. I would have cast a doctor that was much closer to the tech level the show was focused on. Just couching your remedies in droppings and eels doesn't mean that that info wouldn't also be available in the future, and then improved upon. What else would be the point of the interspecies medical exchange if not to disseminate medical information and build on it? One of the biggest continuity errors of the series, in my opinion. (I wouldn't say get rid of Phlox, just revise his character around what's stated above)

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Even though I loved the sets designed for Enterprise and respect what went into making and designing that ship, I still think it was too advanced for where it was set in the ST timeline. We've established warp technology, so I can't complain too much there, but transporters... I just don't see it. 150 years from now (I know we can't truly compare our timeline to ST's, but, still) That tech just needs more time to breath and develop - and by season 4 - it was a primary means of travel, not just emergencies only like in earlier seasons.

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Before I go further I will say I wouldn't make any casting changes.

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Stupid prop related things (the really small stuff) - little numbered buttons for everything? That I suppose was easier than purposeful props, but those shots when you get a good look at a panel make little sense.

Placement of panels - why was there a full keyboard on the back wall of archers ready room behind where a guest would sit. Things like that - non-functional gratuitous goofiness really dinged the potential realism of those sets.

Travis's console looked like it was from the Toys are Us catalog with those abysmal graphics, oversized 4 sliders, and never changing vector graphs.

I would also probably give Reed and Tpol something either more ambiguous or more detailed than a 360 degree sensor sweep when Malcolm is supposed to be answering questions about operations, crew or intruder location, deck de-pressurizations, etc. They had so much talent behind the scenes working to keep all those screens going, and on many occasions, they got it right with custom designs to support the stories, but when they didn't, it looked like it was right out of a D-movie.

Plus - as much as a I like the screens - again - much of the time there were just 3 or 4 patterns and the rest were duplicates. I doubt that's the way it would be on a real craft. (A positive point on the graphic designer's parts - as the seasons moved on, the displays were starting to morph into something more like the TOS bridge monitors with more primary color blocks indicating status. M. Okuda mentioned this in his audio commentary for TATV (I think) and I though this was a nice, albeit small, nod to the original series)
---

No Ferengi

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No De-con. No gratuitous mood lighting to go along with de-con. How do they get into de-con from the shuttle bay without walking the corridors? Just leave the lights on, for starters...

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If there must be a temporal cold war because the studio execs producing the show insist on it - forego the alien nazis. What a feeble plotline. Make Daniels less of a dip stick. Have a plan before you're in the middle of executing it. Who was future guy? The shifting "allegiances" they alluded to did nothing without resolving all aspects. Silik (who figured into, what, 7 episodes semi-prominently - died at the hands of a Nazi with a pistol and was done in 10 seconds?) should've gone out with more of a bang.

---

I agree with casey about the writing staff, in general. There was some great ST:E and some really lousy ST:E. The creative staff, after producing so many endless hours of trek was really showing it's age. I'd have brought in some fresh blood sooner than Manny Coto. Fact is, I'd have started with a good amount of fresh blood, with the old hands there to help with the logistics. The first two seasons were tenuous at best, and had a more creative and ballsy team been in place to give us the real sense of wonder and exploratory feeling we so desperately needed in this prequal, perhaps we'd be in a different place than we are right now.

---

If I'd decided that, in fact, two of my leads were going to get together romantically (Trip, T'Pol) - I certainly would've handled it differently than the haphazard way in which it was. Trinneer played this the best he could, and emoted as much as possible given the dialogue he was saddled with, but there was so much potential to take this in an interesting direction, and we got middle school in space.

---

Last, Why did T'Pol get off so damn easily with her drug addiction. First, I know the ship was falling apart after the attack in Azati Prime, but her emotions were already showing close to the surface before that. She just sits and stares during the attack??? Come on... When it's finally revealed what's happening in Damage, we see her almost dying getting to the trellium and her not-so-subtle crack pipe. This is a BIG deal. She's effectively in command much of the time. So -- -Next Phlox and her chat, he gives her some of his magic medical help and cures her of the addition portion of the problem in 2 episodes flat, but not the emotions. What a missed opportunity to explore so many topics. Same missed opportunity of exploring (really exploring) the damage to Archer from stealing that warp core.

Well, I can think of some more, but I've already bored everyone enough, I'm sure. I've tried to give credits whereever others in this thread have previously expressed an idea. If I missed someone, I apologize. Please also know - Enterprise is my favorite post TOS Trek. It is only because of my enjoyment and devotion to the show that I point out what I would've chosen to change if the tools were given to me. I am not intending to bash Enterprise, simply point out so thoughts that (maybe) could've helped it along especially in the beginning. I watch it regularly on DVD and am many times saddened by the loss of so much potential.

rhodeschroma

 

[Skywalker]

Re: If you were the creator of ENT, what would you have done different

Warning: long read ahead. This sort of got away from me. I bolded the beginning of each section to make things a bit easier to read.

• Earth wouldn't be so helpless. The hero ship being Earth's newest and most advanced ship is fine. There would be human colonies in Alpha Centauri, Vega, and Sirius, and these four systems would have a "Home Fleet," a non-exploratory fleet used primarily for defense and policing.
• The hero ship would not be called Enterprise. My personal choice is Endeavour, a classic ship name that hasn't really been used in Trek. Plus there's an historical quote by James Cook that would be perfect for its dedication plaque: "Ambition leads me not only farther than any other man has been before me, but as far as I think it possible for man to go."
• Give the Endeavour a real mission from the start. I had no problem with them having to return Klaang, so that could remain the basis for the pilot. But the trip to Qo'noS would take much longer. After that, the Endeavour would venture out to A) seek out new worlds for Earth's booming population to colonize, B) secure diplomatic ties with other spacefaring races aside from the Vulcans, such as the Andorians and Tellarites, and C) watch out for any potential threats to Earth's safety.
• No Temporal Cold War, and no Suliban. The Orion Syndicate would be the early villains.
• The Romulans would be influencing events from the very beginning. Their attempts to weaken the Humans, Vulcans, Andorians, and Tellarites, so that they would have an easier time of conquering them, would be gradually revealed over the course of the first few seasons, leading up to the Romulan War in the later seasons.
• The pulse cannons and non-photonic torpedoes we saw in the pilot and early episodes would remain the Endeavour's primary weapons throughout the majority of the series. Eventually they'd receive some upgrades during the war, mainly thanks to the Vulcans, Andorians, and Tellarites sharing some of their weapons technology. There would be no phase pistols, either. The EM-33 would be Starfleet's standard sidearm, and it wouldn't have a stun setting.
• There would be talk of scientists developing transporters, but they wouldn't be ready for use by anyone for some time. That means no transporters on the Endeavour.
• Archer would still be played by Bakula. However, he wouldn't come across as an inconsistent, irritable jerk with zero charisma. This is supposed to be James T. Kirk's childhood hero, for God's sake. My Archer would earn that honor.
• Trip would be slightly older (but not outside of Trinneer's age range) to make his close friendship with the decade-plus older Archer a bit more believable. He would also be Archer's first officer.
• T'Pol would remain as science officer, but would be outside of the Starfleet chain of command. Her presence was specifically requested by Starfleet, but only because there isn't a single human being alive as qualified as her. Unbeknownst to her, she has a Romulan father (one of those unused ideas that I really liked), and has always had problems suppressing her emotions. Eventually her relationship with Trip, and the fondness she develops for her fellow crewmates, would lead to her resigning from the Vulcan High Command and join Starfleet.
• Travis would be older, and more jaded and cynical. Gone would be the wide-eyed "wow, neato!" naivete. Born and raised on an interstellar cargo ship, constantly in fear of pirate attacks, he knows how the universe operates. He's been with Starfleet for the better part of a decade, but is only a Lieutenant JG because of his attitude and a desire to remain a simple helmsman. His hands-on knowledge of the space lanes and various species out there would be one of Archer's most useful tools.
• Major Malcolm Reed of the United Earth Marine Corps (no more MACOs) would be the weapons/security officer, commander of the Marine detachment assigned to the Endeavour (as both the security team and as extra muscle in case the ship gets into any trouble), and Archer's third-in-command. He would also still be a member of the proto-Section 31 (yeah, yeah, hindsight's 20/20--it was a good idea). He grew up in a rich and aristocratic English family and can trace his lineage all the way back to the Crusades. Bored with his life in England, he joins the Marines in search of excitement and is recruited into the Section at some point in his career. The Section already knows of the Romulans, and Reed's primary mission is to gather intel on them at every opportunity. He covertly sends back sensitive information, and even sabotages events on occasion if he finds them potentially harmful to Earth's security. Eventually Reed's growing respect for Archer, his friendship with Trip, and his budding relationship with Hoshi Sato (I know, I'm terrible) would lead to his leaving the Section (well, his trying to do so, anyway).
• Phlox would not be a Denobulan, but a human by the name of Philip Knox (ain't I clever? ). An older, spirited man, he's a former enlistee who served as a corpsman in the UEMC before leaving to go to medical school. After spending some time in the Interspecies Medical Exchange, Knox has learned quite a lot about both human and alien physiology, and is excited to meet new lifeforms and expand his medical knowledge.
• Hoshi Sato would be descended from an Augment (an idea that, I think, JiNX also mentioned at some point). Her intelligence and physicality are above human norms--she's not superhuman, thanks to 150 years of her Augment DNA being mixed with regular DNA, but she's not quite normal, either. She particularly excels in linguistics, and mastered every major human language before graduating high school. She can pick up the sounds and structure of a language far more quickly than most people, which makes her the perfect communications officer. A byproduct of her Augment heritage was a somewhat aggressive streak during her youth--this got her into trouble during her early days in Starfleet, after she broke her CO's arm, and since then she's done her best to suppress such behavior, hiding it under a nervous, quiet facade. Still, this repressed aggression draws her naturally to the Marines, particularly Reed, with whom she eventually starts a relationship.

Okay, that turned out to be a lot longer than I'd originally planned. And it was more about the characters than the plot, but I've always had a characters-first mentality.

 

[SPCTRE]

Re: If you were the creator of ENT, what would you have done different

4. I would have made some design changes to the exterior of the NX-01 to make it appear more like a forerunner to Kirk's Enterprise rather than to 24th century starships.

http://www.ex-astris-scientia.org/articles/enterprise_design_comment.htm

Akiraprise indeed. Talk about unimaginative, lazy design.