Revisiting Enterprise

[Pemmer Harge]

Affliction/Divergence - first part's decent, second part not so much. It rather falls victim to a tendency towards mindless spectacle over actual plot and character. Also, I didn't need a "solution" to the Klingon forehead "problem". They were able to do better makeup in the films and TNG than in TOS, do we really need any other explanation? When I watch a TOS episode with Klingons in, I won't be thinking of this story.
Bound - oh, this is stupid.
In a Mirror, Darkly - I really enjoyed the first part, which is full of lively backstabbing and cool TOS references but the second didn't really do it for me - I don't think this was enough of a story to sustain two episodes.
Demons/Terra Prime - this is easily some of the best Enterprise has ever done. I like how everyone gets to do something and it's also one of the occasions, not actually all that common, where I felt Star Trek was about our future. The end is just perfect, with Archer's speech and Soval and all that. It probably should have been the finale, but it isn't.

Was it a good season? Sure it was. Was it fantastic and up there as one of Trek's best like others claim? Not really. Sure there were a lot of fanwanks and stuff to connect to Star Trek, but where was the depth in some of these stories. Where was the psychological debates and the issues and ideas at hand? Arcs like the Augments, Divergence/Affliction, and the Andorian Arc didn't go as deep as it could have. It was almost like they wanted to go through the action scenes and just scratch the surface. I think this is why I liked the Vulcan Trilogy and Demons/Terra Prime. Yeah there was action, but the ideas and thoughts were there too which made the action make more sense.

Also, this season kind of failed the characters quite a bit. Yeah, we got a lot with Trip and T'Pol and Archer in Home, but that was pretty much it. The other characters were pretty much ignored, and for Hoshi, the most development she got was in the Mirror Universe. It was kind of sad really that this series failed the characters as much as it did and Mayweather still continues to be an ant on the wall. I wonder what would have happened if the series went on, but unfortunately we won't know.

That's essentially how I feel too. It was certainly more consistently enjoyable than Seasons 1 and 2, but overall I found Season 3 more satisfying.

 

[AMQ]

What's so wrong with Bound?
I liked it, it's not the best episode ever, but still it's funny and it has some action. I liked that Orian guy, he played his role so well, and delusional Archer, although I think they exaggerated it a bit ("I can't think" ), I liked Trip and Kelby fight, and how T&T got them at the end and T'Pol making jokes and the kiss... Not the brightest episode ever but still not so bad It's funny and easygoing with few attempts of blowing the ship

 

[Quinton O'Connor]

I've actually always been of the opinion that Season 3 was better than 4, myself. I thought I was a bit of a rarity in that regard, but I suppose not.

 

[tomalak301]

Might as well complete what I started so:

These Are The Voyages (**½)

When I watched this episode when it aired, I thought the venom spilled against it was somewhat out of line. It was almost like the hatred with Berman and Braga (Which in my opinion is very overstated) made this episode dead on arrival and even if it was the best episode of the series, because it was written by what fans considered the spawns of saten, they would never accept it. Well, I didn't think it was bad even though while the heart was there the execution was not.

Now that it's been 5 years and I finally have seen this episode again, I still don't share the hate that most fans do, but I can say I understand it. This episode was not good, and it was a disservice to the Enterprise cast. Also, as a TNG fan, I think it was also a disservice to the TNG cast because all around this episode went from "what the hell" to cringe worthy, to just flat out bad, to well they got the final 30 seconds right. Might as well break it up in those categories as the easiest way to go on:

What the Hell: Why did this episode have to be during the Events of the Pegasus. It just didn't need to be, and as a finale to Enterprise it just came out out of the blue and really not needed. Ok, so Riker is having to make a decision to tell Captain Picard about the Pegasus but really, why. Why bother with any of it. Also, Trip's death and reaction was another one of those moments that made me scratching my head.

Cringeworthy: The references to TNG were just bad. Reeds All Good Things, and Archer's "Here's to the Next Generation" were worse than Cochrane's, you're on some kind of Star Trek line. Also, Troi on the Enterprise NX-01 was almost like a Rape scene metephorically. What I mean is she's making fun and mocking this ship and crew in fun but whose laughing other than her. She's in a sense raping Enterprise, which is how I saw it. Probably a little extreme reaction but there you go.

Bad: I've pretty much covered all the bad aspects, like Trip's death, but what about the crew not aging or going anywhere. The only person who changed in the 6 years was Shran. No one on Enterprise changed in 6 years? Going back to my characters poorly developed line from a few posts back, this is a good point of that.

What was Good: Like I said earlier, I don't have the same hatred of this episode like most here, and I still don't hate Berman and Braga like most do. This post may seem like that's the case, but here is where I try to defend the episode a little bit. For one, and this is pretty obvious, the final 30 seconds was nice. The Star Trek mantra was famous and it seemed like the only logical way to go to wrap up Trek being on for 18 consecutive years. I also liked the stuff before "End Program" with Archer and T'Pol just about when he was going to make the speech. I just wish we had gotten the speech. I also appreciated seeing Shran one more time, as Combs does make episodes better and he was good here. Nice to see the relationship between him and Jhamel continued.

Ok, it was hard defending the episode, but I think the utter contempt for it is kind of laughable. Also, I do think Terra Prime kind of makes up for this one not being a true Enterprise Season Finale. With that being said, and I did see Endgame earlier in the year, This episode is the worst of the series finales. Pity Enterprise didn't just end with Terra Prime, because that was the great Charter speech there.

 

[Noname Given]

the final 30 seconds was nice. The Star Trek mantra was famous and it seemed like the only logical way to go to wrap up Trek being on for 18 consecutive years.

Just FYI (and this has been confirmed); the final 30 second montage was added to the script at the last minute by Mike Sussman. The original script (as written) ended with the 1701-D shot and Picard; but on viewing the rough edit, Mike came up with that whole 'montage idea' off the cuff, and they (thankfully) went with it.

 

[tomalak301]

the final 30 seconds was nice. The Star Trek mantra was famous and it seemed like the only logical way to go to wrap up Trek being on for 18 consecutive years.

Just FYI (and this has been confirmed); the final 30 second montage was added to the script at the last minute by Mike Sussman. The original script (as written) ended with the 1701-D shot and Picard; but on viewing the rough edit, Mike came up with that whole 'montage idea' off the cuff, and they (thankfully) went with it.

Here I am trying to defend Berman and Braga and the only good part of the episode they wrote was a part that was written by someone else? Dang it.

 

[Lady Conqueror]

I'm kind of glad we didn't hear the speech - the way they talked it up there was no way it was going to live up to expectations

 

[LS650]

I never saw Seasons 3 & 4 when they first aired, and over the last couple of weeks have been watching these eps for the first time.

I found that TATV isn't quite as awful as some fans make it out to be, but I definitely think that if Enterprise had to end in season 4, then they should have ended the series with Terra Prime. Several things bugged me about TATV - far too many to bother listing them out when others have already done so...

 

[Pemmer Harge]

Heh, Sussman's good, isn't he?

I don't hate TATV, but maybe that's because I've never truly loved Enterprise. There are worse episodes of the series, but I'll acknowledge it's a pretty lousy finale.

One notable problem for me was the connection to The Pegasus. Now, I think I've seen that episode, many years ago, but do I remember it clearly? Hell no! The context isn't adequately explained in the episode and I suspect many viewers will have been a little unclear on the nature of Riker's problem, as I was.

In addition to that, it's not a very good story. Trip's death was poorly executed and the framing device has the effect of sapping the momentum.

The lack of any obvious change in the characters over the six year gap may be the most annoying aspect, though. It makes the characters feel less like real people and, to be honest, I wonder what the point of setting it years after Terra Prime was.

If I think of other Trek finales, it certainly suffers by comparison. TNG was pretty much perfect, DS9 did a good job of wrapping up its stories and giving closure for the characters, Voyager was flawed, but it at least tried to tell an epic story. It pales in comparison to other sci-fi endings as well, like the Babylon 5 finale - an example of the 'distant finale' concept done right.

That said, it's not embarrassing or offensive or anything. Compared to DS9 Let He Who is Without Sin... or VOY Spirit Folk this is practically good!

 

[Quinton O'Connor]

I would give These Are the Voyages... roughly the same score you did, and I'd bring up the same things you did. Though I haven't seen it since it aired, myself, so... yeah.

I do recall thinking that setting it during the events of The Pegasus was a terrible idea. I also remember thinking after it had ended, and mind, in America at least, they aired TP and TATV back-to-back as a 'two-hour finale' (lolol), that I would have rather seen more follow-up on Terra Prime than what we got instead.

 

[bluedana]

As someone who's never seen the TNG episode that deals with Riker's Pegasus dilemma, TATV left me shaking my head -- I couldn't figure out how what Riker had just seen in the hologram spoke in any way to his situation or provided an answer. Just flip a coin, Will.

Most of my other issues with TATV are that the script seemed to have been written without the benefit of having seen S2-S4. Where were the MACOs? Where was the "bag full of cats" Reed Alert? Why wouldn't Trip be able to signal Archer and come up with a plan on the fly, as they had at least as far back as The Andorian Incident. And so forth. Too many plot holes sink that episode.

 

[AMQ]

Most of my other issues with TATV are that the script seemed to have been written without the benefit of having seen S2-S4. Where were the MACOs? Where was the "bag full of cats" Reed Alert? Why wouldn't Trip be able to signal Archer and come up with a plan on the fly, as they had at least as far back as The Andorian Incident. And so forth. Too many plot holes sink that episode.

My point excatly. Has the writer of that episode ever seen Enterprise? I just watched united, aenar, affliction and divergence yesterday; malcolm&trip destroyed romulan robot ship, klingon sabotage, just remember before that, all they've all been through in the expanse... And now they decide to kill someone in such a stupid manner... And really where were the MACOs?
After all those holes I am not sorry just for Ent, I am more dissapointed on how poorly written and unimaginative the ending of ST series (at least for now) has been.

 

[DevilEyes]

What's so wrong with Bound?

This review sums it all up - though the author is a bit harsher than I'd be, and I wasn't that bothered by most of those things to consider it the worst Trek episode ever... IMO there are worse episodes of ENT, let alone all Trek, but still, "Bound" is a shitty episode in an otherwise excellent season (TATV doesn't even count as an integral part of the season).

As someone who's never seen the TNG episode that deals with Riker's Pegasus dilemma, TATV left me shaking my head -- I couldn't figure out how what Riker had just seen in the hologram spoke in any way to his situation or provided an answer.

If you saw "The Pegasus", you'd realize that it didn't really speak to the situation at all and that Riker didn't even need the holograms to make the decision.

 

[bluedana]

If you saw "The Pegasus", you'd realize that it didn't really speak to the situation at all and that Riker didn't even need the holograms to make the decision.

Oh, well that's good to know. I thought I was just being stupider than usual.

 

[Pemmer Harge]

(TATV doesn't even count as an integral part of the season).

That's not fair . Otherwise you could just strip any season down to its best episodes, say the bad ones don't count and proclaim it the best season ever!

 

[DevilEyes]

Nah, if I wanted to do that, I'd proclaim that "Bound" is not a part of the season, either! Or that "Extinction" and "Chosen Realm" are not parts of season 3...

TATV doesn't feel like a part of season 4. Heck, it barely feels like a part of ENT! It pretty much ignores everything that happened in season 4, is written by people who hadn't been involved in S4, doesn't feature ENT characters... It's like some weird appendage added at the end of it.

 

[LS650]

I prefer to think the holodeck was just plain malfunctioning that day, and got it all wrong.

 

[AMQ]

Heck, it barely feels like a part of ENT!

 

[Captain59]

I prefer to think the holodeck was just plain malfunctioning that day, and got it all wrong.

Sounds good to me. Remember, the events we saw on Enterprise in this episode were all on the holodeck--not real--from 200 years in the past. Try to see how accurate our accounts are from events in the early 1800s. There is major room for error here. Of course, I just like to pretend the books are canon and corrects this whole mess, but only in my mind because I know what saying the word "canon" can do here.

Another thing that bothered the hell out of me is how this rinky dinky warp 2 vessel caught up to Enterprise, dropped it out of warp, docked, and the crew boarded. The fact MACOs were nowhere to be found as mentioned is beyond ridiculus (especially since we know for a fact they're on board. Did the writers even pay attention to the scene they wrote preceeding this folly?) The whole execution of that scene was just terrible. I mean, Trip saying, "would you please shut him up?" and these aliens would know exactly what they meant? I didn't. And if they really did, wouldn't have these trigger-happy punks just have shot him?

I try to like this episode, but I have a very hard time doing so sans the last 30 seconds. I can't hate B&B because after all, they created my favorite series. But come on...were they drunk when they wrote his? Even Jonathan Frakes recently said, "where's the valentine?" in this episode promised by Berman.

Son of a bitch...