It's brainstormin' Time! Cool stuff the show coulda, shoulda done

[horatio83]

If anything, ENT made them more interesting.

If we ignore Spock, Tuvik and T'Pol, i.e. Vulcans among the main characters, the fellows with the pointed ears appear very sporadically over the years. I recall e.g. only two Vulcan stories in TOS and one in TNG.
ENT on the other hand was constantly about the Vulcans, their relationship with humankind and they way these two cultures mutually influence each other. Archer learns concept like non-interference and thinking about the unanticipated consequences of your actions (Xindi Crisis!) whereas Soval learns to appreciate human qualities.
One could argue that this slightly mirrors Tolkien and his notion that immortal elves are less enthusiastic and driven by the desire to do and change something than short-lived humans.

 

[Temis the Vorta]

The personality of the Vulcans in ENT is not the issue; their logic is. (And that's the last thing where Vulcans should be falling down on the job.)

There was never a good reason for them to inhibit Earthlings from exploring space. Clearly, space is insanely dangerous. Even when you don't go out looking for trouble, trouble finds you (as amply demonstrated by the Xindi attack.)

The Vulcans can't protect Earth from threats, so they have no business interfering with humanity's attempt to provide their own planetary security. The first step in any security plan is to get the lay of the land, and that requires space exploration.

 

[Temis the Vorta]

Enterprise was timid and was too self-important. Continuity had nothing to do with it.

True. And the TV business was changing so that it was becoming unclear exactly what kind of space opera series could appeal to the mainstream audience.

It's possible that the answer is: none. There is no mainstream audience left for something as nichey as space opera. There's no mainstream audience in TV, period. The most popular shows are viewed by about six percent of the population. Everything is a niche now.

Space opera is a particularly small and pricey niche. I still think there's a way to make Star Trek work on TV, but it will be startlingly different from what we're used to. Well need something that appeals to Showtime viewers, or Netflix viewers, or Cartoon Network viewers - but certainly not all three.

 

[horatio83]

The personality of the Vulcans in ENT is not the issue; their logic is. (And that's the last thing where Vulcans should be falling down on the job.)

There was never a good reason for them to inhibit Earthlings from exploring space. Clearly, space is insanely dangerous. Even when you don't go out looking for trouble, trouble finds you (as amply demonstrated by the Xindi attack.)

The Vulcans can't protect Earth from threats, so they have no business interfering with humanity's attempt to provide their own planetary security. The first step in any security plan is to get the lay of the land, and that requires space exploration.

Vulcans are first and above all folks with strong emotions who suppress them. They are rarely as logical as they wish they actually were.
The High Command viewed humankind as not being ready yet and given Archer's numerous blunders and the Xindi crisis which would not have happened if he had stayed at home it is hard to disagree with the Vulcans. But even if one does one has to keep in mind that these are pre-Reformation Vulcans whose head of state is a Romulan agent.