Don't you mean "season"?
Re-doing Enterprise
- Thread starter Joe Washington
- Start date
Don't you mean "season"?
Series, season whatever I meant was it needed to be extended past when it got cancelled to incorporate the war.
Ok, but you can see how it could get confusing for some people.
I know there are lots of people in the UK that use "series" rather than season, apart from any program that comes from America all my TV boxeset DVD's use Series 1, Series 2 etc.
Yep, I'm a Brit and me too! With Star Trek though I have tended to the more Americanised "season", as with 5 distinct series in the franchise it can get a bit confusing in general conversation.
Sadly, I fear "season" with replace the older British terminology, along with the classic "billion" (one million million) and other such things...
Sadly, I fear "season" with replace the older British terminology, along with the classic "billion" (one million million) and other such things...
Most British shows I'm aware of use "series" instead of "season", maybe because they tend to film all the episodes for a single year before the first one ever airs.
The practice confuses Americans. And the French. Which is probably how they like it.
Most British shows I'm aware of use "series" instead of "season", maybe because they tend to film all the episodes for a single year before the first one ever airs.
The practice confuses Americans. And the French. Which is probably how they like it.
Only the French that speak English, the others are not aware of this.
Another way to go would have been to make the ship a pure civilian ship, non-military/non-governmental. A survey ship chartered out of a major university perhaps, or a exploration/trading ship belonging to a multinational corporation.
While I would have preferred not to of had a Borg episode during ENT, I actually thought the episode was well done.
Or she could be dressed like we first see her, which appear very "Vulcan," it even emphasizes her breasts without being ridiculous about it. If I might ask, why would she be wearing a Vulcan starship uniform, T'Pol was part of the security ministry wasn't she?
^I don't see how a purely civilian ship would work. I mean the only kinds of civilian expeditions I know of are either scientific or humanitarian. So if we go with scientific, what would they do in case of a dispute or worse an attack? I guess they would have to call the Cavalry, but who would play that role?
I wish the writers better plotted out Enterprise. There wasn’t much of a hook to keep the audience wanting more in season 1. The writers could have slowly incorporated the plotlines from season 4 during the first 2 seasons, as 1) having mini-arcs would have heightened anticipation and 2) introduced the most interesting of Star Trek’s characters.
On a similar note, I wished the writers had better finales because trans-placing Enterprise to WWII doesn’t count as an exciting cliffhanger, especially considering it was the culmination of the Xindi Arc. The writers could have used the finales as a way of building up a story or pivoting into something new during the next season. By giving each season a definitive identity, the filler episodes would have been more forgivable.
I wish the writers did less telling and more showing. Hearing Archer and Trip complain about the Vulcans’ interfering wasn’t very effective, considering their actions only validated the Vulcans’ concern. Briefly showing how much conflict and resistance humans faced in ensuring their space program succeeded would have been more effective and made the command team’s actions more understandable and less naïve/blundering.
I wish the writers believed in continuity. Their treatment of characters diverged drastically depending on what episode it was. While Archer’s actions in Cogenitor wasn’t wrong, they contradicted how the writers developed his personality. They contradicted his actions from the previous two episodes. Similarly, their writing of T'Pol escalated wildly. It's not bad to show that she grew more comfortable with her human crew, as the mission progressed. It's kind of awful the writers used assault and drugs to accomplish this development.
I wish the writers were better at execution. Whether it was a combination of bad plotting or inconsistent characterization, the cliffhanger of many episodes felt off. See Dead Stop as an example of good execution. See Cogenitor as an example where the execution could have made a wonderful ending ten times better.
Writers: if you’re going to develop a romance in an ensemble cast, don’t muddle through it. It makes your characters seem stupid and makes me wonder why I even liked them in the first place. Using a romantic bond to get your characters back together is romantic on one level. It's also really, really bad writing. You've basically used a deus ex machina to write your characters out of the pitch you pushed them into.
I wish the writers were more nuanced when developing their characters. The secondary characters were very two-dimensional. Travis’s defining characteristic was that he was born in space. That never went anywhere. Maybe, Travis could have been more conflicted about life on Enterprise as opposed to Horizon. How does Starfleet’s expansion into space make him feeling considering his Boomer upbringing? Hoshi was presented as the universal translator in human form, which, considering the time period was hard to stomach. The writers could work more with the fact that she hated space and yet went up with Enterprise anyways because of the opportunities the mission offered her.
Malcolm’s backstory as a spy could have been presented from the beginning, as it would have made his character more interesting and offered a nice parallel to T’Pol. He could be Harris’s plant. Maybe Archer wasn’t everyone’s choice. Malcolm could try to find material to frame Archer but realize that he is an excellent captain and a man worthy of respect. Maybe the government was concerned about Starfleet’s actions. The minister in Terra Prime had a xenophobic past. Not everyone in government seemed pro-exploration. Maybe Section 31 has a more cynical view of space exploration and wanted Malcolm to influence alien relations so to advance humanity’s position vis-à-vis Vulcan. I'm imagining the moment where Archer realizes Malcolm's the spy but the alien isn't. Archer could actually go on a quest for self-discovery and grow as a person.
I wished Enterprise was more experimental. The show could spend some time at developing how xenophobia developed after the Xindi attacked Earth. Perhaps, the attitude perforated Starfleet. I wished the show spent more time on the idea that alien morality isn't human morality. I felt they touched upon it in Cogenitor. However, would Archer have been so angry about Trip's interference had the Vissians not been a friendly and useful First Contact? Star Trek is all about optimism and happiness. I adore that aspect of it but I would also love to see how the crew would have faced confronting their worst fears and overcoming their baser selves. In Shuttlepod One, the show played with what being stranded. However, that episode was comedic (Malcolm's list of ex-girlfriends) and lacked true desperation.
On a similar note, I wished the writers had better finales because trans-placing Enterprise to WWII doesn’t count as an exciting cliffhanger, especially considering it was the culmination of the Xindi Arc. The writers could have used the finales as a way of building up a story or pivoting into something new during the next season. By giving each season a definitive identity, the filler episodes would have been more forgivable.
I wish the writers did less telling and more showing. Hearing Archer and Trip complain about the Vulcans’ interfering wasn’t very effective, considering their actions only validated the Vulcans’ concern. Briefly showing how much conflict and resistance humans faced in ensuring their space program succeeded would have been more effective and made the command team’s actions more understandable and less naïve/blundering.
I wish the writers believed in continuity. Their treatment of characters diverged drastically depending on what episode it was. While Archer’s actions in Cogenitor wasn’t wrong, they contradicted how the writers developed his personality. They contradicted his actions from the previous two episodes. Similarly, their writing of T'Pol escalated wildly. It's not bad to show that she grew more comfortable with her human crew, as the mission progressed. It's kind of awful the writers used assault and drugs to accomplish this development.
I wish the writers were better at execution. Whether it was a combination of bad plotting or inconsistent characterization, the cliffhanger of many episodes felt off. See Dead Stop as an example of good execution. See Cogenitor as an example where the execution could have made a wonderful ending ten times better.
Writers: if you’re going to develop a romance in an ensemble cast, don’t muddle through it. It makes your characters seem stupid and makes me wonder why I even liked them in the first place. Using a romantic bond to get your characters back together is romantic on one level. It's also really, really bad writing. You've basically used a deus ex machina to write your characters out of the pitch you pushed them into.
I wish the writers were more nuanced when developing their characters. The secondary characters were very two-dimensional. Travis’s defining characteristic was that he was born in space. That never went anywhere. Maybe, Travis could have been more conflicted about life on Enterprise as opposed to Horizon. How does Starfleet’s expansion into space make him feeling considering his Boomer upbringing? Hoshi was presented as the universal translator in human form, which, considering the time period was hard to stomach. The writers could work more with the fact that she hated space and yet went up with Enterprise anyways because of the opportunities the mission offered her.
Malcolm’s backstory as a spy could have been presented from the beginning, as it would have made his character more interesting and offered a nice parallel to T’Pol. He could be Harris’s plant. Maybe Archer wasn’t everyone’s choice. Malcolm could try to find material to frame Archer but realize that he is an excellent captain and a man worthy of respect. Maybe the government was concerned about Starfleet’s actions. The minister in Terra Prime had a xenophobic past. Not everyone in government seemed pro-exploration. Maybe Section 31 has a more cynical view of space exploration and wanted Malcolm to influence alien relations so to advance humanity’s position vis-à-vis Vulcan. I'm imagining the moment where Archer realizes Malcolm's the spy but the alien isn't. Archer could actually go on a quest for self-discovery and grow as a person.
I wished Enterprise was more experimental. The show could spend some time at developing how xenophobia developed after the Xindi attacked Earth. Perhaps, the attitude perforated Starfleet. I wished the show spent more time on the idea that alien morality isn't human morality. I felt they touched upon it in Cogenitor. However, would Archer have been so angry about Trip's interference had the Vissians not been a friendly and useful First Contact? Star Trek is all about optimism and happiness. I adore that aspect of it but I would also love to see how the crew would have faced confronting their worst fears and overcoming their baser selves. In Shuttlepod One, the show played with what being stranded. However, that episode was comedic (Malcolm's list of ex-girlfriends) and lacked true desperation.
I agree with everything you've said. Alas, I think there are 3 major "behind the scenes" contributing factors in understanding why Enterprise wasn't as good as it could have been and was canceled just as it was getting good.
1. Interference by UPN.
2. Braga/Berman's lack of respect for the material and general laziness.
3. The fact that the ratings tanked immediately, which understandably, caused a lot of panic, scrambling around, quick-fix attempts and other confusion which led to inconsistencies in character and storytelling.
1. Interference by UPN.
2. Braga/Berman's lack of respect for the material and general laziness.
3. The fact that the ratings tanked immediately, which understandably, caused a lot of panic, scrambling around, quick-fix attempts and other confusion which led to inconsistencies in character and storytelling.
2. Braga/Berman's lack of respect for the material and general laziness.
I thought they spent most of their careers on Star Trek?
3. The fact that the ratings tanked immediately, which understandably, caused a lot of panic, scrambling around, quick-fix attempts and other confusion which led to inconsistencies in character and storytelling.
How immediately are you talking about? The first episode wasn't bad, but the later ones--way to kill goodwill, guys. Considering the built-in fanbase and UPN's status as a niche network, Enterprise would have been give more, instead of less, time to develop. I think of NBC's dark years and how they were willing to give experimental shows (Heroes, Hannibal) a chance despite awful ratings.
I think you have a very strong point with the laziness argument. So much of Enterprise's problems would have been resolved had the team worked on the characters and storyline during pre-production. They didn't need to plan out four seasons. Knowing where the story was going during the first season would have been good enough. For example, Lost was episodic in format and awful in long term thinking, but it had good acting, high production values, and engrossing individual episodes to compensate for its many failings. Enterprise, on the other hand, had to work very hard in justifying its bad points.
I thought they spent most of their careers on Star Trek?
3. The fact that the ratings tanked immediately, which understandably, caused a lot of panic, scrambling around, quick-fix attempts and other confusion which led to inconsistencies in character and storytelling.
How immediately are you talking about? The first episode wasn't bad, but the later ones--way to kill goodwill, guys. Considering the built-in fanbase and UPN's status as a niche network, Enterprise would have been give more, instead of less, time to develop. I think of NBC's dark years and how they were willing to give experimental shows (Heroes, Hannibal) a chance despite awful ratings.
I think you have a very strong point with the laziness argument. So much of Enterprise's problems would have been resolved had the team worked on the characters and storyline during pre-production. They didn't need to plan out four seasons. Knowing where the story was going during the first season would have been good enough. For example, Lost was episodic in format and awful in long term thinking, but it had good acting, high production values, and engrossing individual episodes to compensate for its many failings. Enterprise, on the other hand, had to work very hard in justifying its bad points.
Brannon/Braga were always heavily involved behind the scenes, up to the very end.
The three series after TNG premiered with lower ratings and suffered steady ratings atrophy throughout their run. Enterprise's best rating were only marginally better than Voyager's worst. Bye the time Season 4 ended, Enterprise was being watched by almost nobody.
http://www.madmind.de/2009/05/02/all-star-trek-movies-and-episodes-in-two-charts/
There are so many lost opportunities here.
I'm afraid I think Precious Cargo is a horrible episode.
Regarding people's desire for less TCW and more Romulans, it might have been cool if future guy turned out to be a Romulan, who inadvertently starts the big war.
if if if....
Next time they should use the women's outfit of the mirror universe for the regular one...
