Revisiting Enterprise

[Hopeful Romantic]

^^ Hey, I liked "Carpenter Street." T'Pol dealing with whiny Loomis and cigarette smoke...great stuff.

I'm an unabashed ENT fan-- there's something I like about every episode. Including "Extinction," "A Night in Sickbay." "Precious Cargo." I like the characters and the setting, the production values were terrific. So I've enjoyed them all.

Even These Are The Voyages?

I thought T'Pol's hair looked very nice in TATV. And there were those cool jackets they wore over the uniforms. And Shran's daughter was a cutie-pie.

As for the plot...I maintain that Barclay got drunk and totally messed with that holoprogram to goof with Riker. Either that, or there were rats nesting in the holodeck machinery.

 

[I am Surak]

I - Surak - find the "Forge" trilogy most agreeable.

 

[tomalak301]

The "Azati Prime", "Damage" and "The Forgotten" Trilogy (*****)

I had a ton of fun watching Enterprise last night because I got to probably the best trilogy Enterprise has ever done (And yes that includes The Vulcan Arc and the Andorian Arc, which the latter could have been done in two episodes. This trilogy is so good that I think if you were going to introduce someone to The Xindi Arc, you could just let them watch these three episodes and see if he/she likes it. Of course with me I would also recommend Anomaly, The Shipment, and Stratagem, but this trilogy really is good enough. It's a culmination of the season in which sets up for the final moments and the actual weapon launch and how the crew stops it.

I just really liked the ideas this trilogy brought to the show. It's not just the action, which was nice too (Actually, the one thing that made me think this wasn't Star Trek was watching the Enterprise just get kicked in the ass and the three crewman who got sucked out into space, which I thought was a little disturbing), but there was so much character work brought here. From the trying the diplomatic approach with Degra and the Arboreals (You know, one thing that annoys me about Enterprise is the lack of names. Who the F&*@ are these people. You have the reptellian bad guy who hasn't been given a name yet, the Sloth guy played by Simon from BSG, and the black human primate who NEVER gets a name. Is it so hard to name these people early so we know who they are?), to actually finding out why all this is happening. I also really liked T'Pol's arc in dealing with trillium addiction, which was something very daring for this show to do given past history, and her relationship with the Doctor through this time. There was also showing Degra the proof, which convieniantly stayed intact through the assault. This was something I noticed this time around, Enterprise get's it's ass kicked, and all the proof is still good as new. How did that happen?

Anyway, another thing I liked, probably more this time around, was Archer in Damage and the choice he is forced to make. This was Archer's In the Pale Moonlight, but I actually think this was better than what Sisko had to go through because Sisko didn't have someone who was neutral between Cardassia and The Federation (Something that always holds Pale Moonlight back for me was the notion that while Sisko had to do the things he did because the War was going badly, it was Garak who was doing all the dirty work, kind of letting Sisko off the hook) or something like that. This was all Archer and he literally turned into the pirates from Anomaly. Watching the two episodes this close together (I saw Anomaly I think last week) really highlighted this fact I think and it made a lot of sense.

Finally, Star Trek has City on the Edge of Forever, TNG has The Inner Light, DS9 has The Visitor, and VOY has Living Witness. There is something all this episodes have in common and that is emotional impact. These episodes move me in a way other episodes can't do, and almost get me to choke up. Some episodes like The Visitor actually bring me to tears, and some episodes like The Inner Light and Living Witness come close. What does this have to do with Enterprise? Enterprise has an episode to add to that parthanon of Great emotional hook line and sinkers, The Forgotten. This was an episode that said "we've had all this action, we have to step back and remember why we're out here doing this mission. We have to remember these people not just as names, but as people." Seeing it through Trip, who lost his sister, really struck a cord with me because he was finally able to let it all out. The scene between him and T'Pol (After T'Pol goes to talk about the difficulty of surpressing emotions earlier) is one of Enterprise's best scenes, and the letter was just really well done. Yeah the episode had more to it with showing Degra and the Sloth dude the proof they wanted to see, but this wasn't an action show Other than a small scene, and I was thankful for that.

Seriously, This trilogy makes this season worthwhile. If you don't love this trilogy, you don't love Enterprise and I will say this was very Star Trek indeed. It was a trilogy with everything, from inner demons to having to make difficult choices and even coming out of the darkness with a sense of hope and optimism. Isn't that what Star Trek is all about?

 

[Hopeful Romantic]

I agree with you about "Azati Prime"/"Damage"/"The Forgotten." Right up there with the best Trek ever.

...From the trying the diplomatic approach with Degra and the Arboreals (You know, one thing that annoys me about Enterprise is the lack of names. Who the F&*@ are these people. You have the reptellian bad guy who hasn't been given a name yet, the Sloth guy played by Simon from BSG, and the black human primate who NEVER gets a name. Is it so hard to name these people early so we know who they are?)...

I agree that they weren't called by name often enough, or at all. Luckily, the actors made them distinctive enough that I could tell them apart.

The main Xindi who had names onscreen:
- Xindi-Reptilian Councillor: Dolim
- Xindi-Sloth (Arboreal) Councillor: Jannar
- Xindi-Aquatic Councillor: Kiaphet Amman'sor (beautiful sounding name, I love this one )

The novelization of "The Expanse"/"The Xindi" provided a couple of names:
- The black Xindi-Primate, who was Degra's colleague and replaced him as Councillor: Mallora.
- Xindi-Insectoid Councillor: Shrest

 

[tomalak301]

^Well, I watched The Council and Countdown last night and they actually were identified. Still kinda bummed Mallora (Going by the novels) wasn't though when he became such a pivitol characters in those last few episodes.

 

[Willieck]

^^ Hey, I liked "Carpenter Street." T'Pol dealing with whiny Loomis and cigarette smoke...great stuff.

I'm an unabashed ENT fan-- there's something I like about every episode. Including "Extinction," "A Night in Sickbay." "Precious Cargo." I like the characters and the setting, the production values were terrific. So I've enjoyed them all.

Even These Are The Voyages?

Great finale; loved it.

 

[tomalak301]

Finished Season 3 last night and started Season 4 with Storm Front. Zero hour was a nice finish to this arc, even though I really still think the final 5 minutes are unnecessary. They go through all of that in Season 3, finally destroy the weapon, and then get transported back in time? Give them a break. Before that, Zero Hour ended pretty well, but those final moments brought the episode down.

Regarding overall thoughts on Season 3, I think I did it very well when I talked about Azati Prime, Damage, and The Forgotten, but one thing I would say is I wonder if they could have done the arc in 10 or less episodes. There were some episodes (Extinction, Rajin, and North Star as examples) that really added nothing to the Arc, and it took the season too long to really get to the good stuff. I mean how good would it have been if we met the Guardians earlier, and they played more of a role than they did. I think from Proving Ground to pretty much the end of the season (minus episodes like Hatchery) was some of the best the series ever got. Kind of wish it didn't take half the season to get there.

I also saw Storm Front last night, and there isn't much to be said about it (Personally, all the talk about timelines and such were kind of convoluted) but I will say I wonder what the original idea of the TCW was. This is something that was just not thought out and it just lost its way after some good stuff we got in episodes like Cold Front and Shockwave I. It just got really convoluted and kind of dumb.

I also have a question (More of an annoyance) regarding these episodes and The Xindi, mainly where do the Xindi fit in all of this. If the weapon had gone off, would it have eliminated alternate earth or our earth? Also, since the Aquatics dropped off the ship, were they sent back in time too? It's annoying because we spent a whole season with the Xindi and we got some interesting development, and then in season 4 other than a few mentions, they are forgotten kind of.

Anyway, the Time Line stuff is gone so that's good. Time to get to the good stuff (Where the show really does take on a prequel notion) of season 4.

 

[Pemmer Harge]

OK, up to this point I didn't care enough to comment, but now we're onto Season 3 it is at least worth talking about!

I'm sorry.

Not your fault! I simply don't much care for the first couple of seasons and I didn't want to show up just to complain about everything!

I agree that Proving Ground is the turning point of the season. Bringing in Shran and the Andorians spiced things up nicely. Then you get Stratagem, which is a clever story and does great things with Degra and now the season's up and running. As for the others:
Harbinger - not great, but I actually found the crew interactions kind of fun.
Doctor's Orders - I thought this was pretty awful.
Hatchery - flawed, but fairly entertaining.
Azati Prime - good, though not as interesting as the next two.
Damage - excellent, very dark and compelling.
The Forgotten - just as good - one of the show's most affecting episodes.
E2 - not bad, but not all it could have been.
The Council - decent, but the Xindi politics scenes don't really work for me.
Countdown - excellent. The stuff with Reed was especially good.
Zero Hour - OK, but there's a definite drop-off in the writing quality after the last episode. Feels like a generic action piece. Silly ending as well.
Storm Front - I guess this is only there to tie up a story arc they probably shouldn't have started in the first place. Not very good and I just wanted to get through it so I could get to Season 4 proper.

Overall, as someone who was very underwhelmed by Seasons 1 and 2, I'd say Season 3 was a definite improvement. It wasn't consistent and I'll never really love Enterprise or its characters, but there were definitely more good episodes than before and some were genuinely excellent. I agree that Azati Prime-Damage-The Forgotten is the best trilogy they ever did. Overall, this is my favourite season of Enterprise. It brought the characters to life better than the other years, I thought.

 

[tomalak301]

Home is a good episode, but once again, I'm having an issue with names of people. We meet Captain Hernandez, but her name wasn't even in the episode and don't remember seeing her or hearing Archer mention her. I know it's not a big thing but if she is the captain of the NX-02, her name should be mentioned.

As for the rest of the episode, I liked the stuff on Vulcan and Archer's story. I'm starting to find that the bar brawls in Star Trek are becoming just as cliche as time travel or the losing of shuttles. Can they come up with something else, like "take it outside" or something? Also, I know it's more addressed in Demons and Terra Prime about the Xenophobia (And done really really well because that and In the Mirror Darkly were the first episodes of Season 4 I actually watched) and it was done much better there.

Now the arcs begin, and one thing I want to see is if the idea of miniarcs is a good idea in terms of storytelling. One of my original thoughts was while it was nice plotting, it didn't feel like things flowed from one thing to another in terms of character. I still love the way a show like Farscape does it. It's a arc based show, sure, but the arc is in the background while the episode's plot is in the foreground and it leaves for a lot of good character work. It's like you get arc based and episodic based tv at the same time, and Farscape did it and DS9 did it. I wonder why those two are some of my favorite series ever.

 

[Pemmer Harge]

I think Home's one of the most successful episodes of Season 4. I especially like the follow-up on Archer's actions during the Xindi arc.

 

[tomalak301]

The Augments Arc (***½)

The first of the three trilogies in Season 4 featured the Eugenics Wars, Brent Spiner, some angry genetic engineered humans, and quite a bit of one dimensionality that could have added so much more depth, especially when compared to some of the genetic engineering episodes/movies that have come before.

First off, there was quite a bit of good in this arc. For one, and I'm going to try and go in order from Borderland to The Augments, Brent Spiner was great. He really was the only guest actor who was particularly memorable and I really liked his character of Arik Soong. I also liked how Borderland kind of expanded the universe with the slave traders and the Orion Syndicate. While it really didn't have anything to do with the augment story, it still grew this Enterprise universe and in a minor way, that's a good thing. I also really liked everything about Cold Station 12 especially the scenes on the station itself. There was an emotional punch there in the torture scenes that made it really memorable and affecting. Also the end of The Augments with the hinting of Soong going into cybernetics was a nice touch and as a TNG fan, I appreciated the Data reference.

However, with all that good, came quite a bit of bad. Mainly, this was all the one demensionality and lack of depth to a subject in Star Trek that has been treated with good care over the course of the franchise. I didn't really like Malick at all, mainly because there wasn't anything interesting about him. He seemed hell bent on killing everyone in his path, for what, to have humanity leave him alone? He's willing to create a war between Humans and Klingons just to be left alone? That's a terrible motivator, and kind of stupid decision making. Also, it seemed like the Augments followed whoever just for the hell of it. If the leader fell off the bridge, they all fall off? Why couldn't we have more characters like Smite who did question what was going on and showed some individual thought. If the Augments were so superior, why do they easily follow whoever says they are the leader? Anyway, Another thing I had against this arc was the mindless action. Again, a lot of it just rung hollow to me, especially in the final part of the arc.

Overall, Borderland and Cold Station 12 were good episodes. The Augments, though, very disappointing finish.

 

[bluedana]

The Augments were all id, without any superego, much like your average adolescent. They were (and, more importantly, believed themselves to be) better, stronger, and more intelligent than normal humans, and Soong had left them alone long enough to baste in their own superiority. Then he let them loose on the galaxy, with a healthy dash of persecution complex. They wanted what they wanted, when they wanted it, and saw themselves as "victims" whenever anyone said no. They were the very definition of Why Kids Need Boundaries.

Malik is the Alpha bully who will set fire to cats' tails and beat you up if you don't laugh loud enough when he does it. He's immature and insecure and out of control, so whenever adults crosses him, he resorts to trying to annihilate them -- just because he can.

 

[Pemmer Harge]

Borderland, for me, is too slow. It doesn't seem like a lot actually happens.
Cold Station 12 is excellent. The scenes on the research station alone make it one of the best episodes of Enterprise.
The Augments - is pretty undistinguished. I guess it ended how it had to, but that ending wasn't very interesting.

Overall, I thought this trilogy wasn't bad, but the second episode far outshone the other two. Also, I think the guest stars dominate too much at the expense of the regulars. This is an issue I have with much of Season 4.

 

[Monty_66]

I loved 'Home', mainly as it was a refreshing change after the bollocks of 'Storm Front' (the only decent thing in that being Silik). Trek seems to be a bit obsessed with Alien Nazis methinks...

'Home' could have been better. They could have focused more on Archer and given him something different to do than go rock climbing with his old flame. Some dodgy dialogue there as well. I thoguht it would have been interesting to follow another character, apart from 'the big 3', such as Reed. See him return to see his parents and sister and get some decent character development. However, it would need to be a two-parter but I think perhaps a better way to open Season 4.

As for the Augments trilogy, well, Spiner is great and I do agree that 'Cold Station 12' is better. Malik's character was too one-dimensional with (again) some dodgy dialogue. But always good to slip in a reference to Nietzsche. A shame also they killed off the character of Persis - I thought she was going to ultimately overpower Malik and bring some reason to the madness.

 

[Monty_66]

Oh yes, and we do get JG Hertzler very briefly at the beginning of 'Borderland'...though why they had him play the Klingon captain for about half a minutes worth of screentime is beyond me.

 

[Shatnertage]

I really like the Augments arc. Compared to what came before, it really stands out. It would have been great to get 2 or 3 more seasons of this kind of story-telling.

 

[tomalak301]

Oh yes, and we do get JG Hertzler very briefly at the beginning of 'Borderland'...though why they had him play the Klingon captain for about half a minutes worth of screentime is beyond me.

That was such a waste of his talent. He deserved much better, and also, why have him play another Klingon. Wasn't his first Klingon on the show at Rural Penthe.

 

[tomalak301]

The Vulcan Trilogy (****½)

One of my favorite arcs in DS9 was the Circle Trilogy that Started Season 2. Instead of being just episodic in nature like most of the first season, it delved deeper into the race that was featured the most on the show and in a sense expanded the universe as a whole. Enterprise now has it's own Circle Trilogy, in the form of "The Forge," "Awakening," and "Kir'Shara."

I loved these episodes and in contrast to what I saw with the Augment's Arc, this is the kind of Star Trek I really really like. The first episode starts out with a ton of references to the original series, like the sandstorms, the Sehlots, the IDIC Pin, and various others, but they really all make sense in the scope of the story. Some people have leveled a criticism of Season 4 being nothing but a fanwank and in some cases (The Klingon ridge story and Bound being examples) they are right, but not here. Everything fit into place perfectly and added to the overall scope of this story.

Along with the Star Trek references, one thing I noticed about these three episodes was how much stuff they answered as a way to close the books on some of the stuff in this series. For one, I loved the explanation as to the Vulcan's behavior as being the High Command has lost their way. That end scene when V'Las was talking to the Romulan was very cleaver and quite intriguing. I guess that sets up the Babel One arc, but I was thinking how interesting it was Spock that supported Reunification 200 years later. I also loved the idea of the P'Nar Syndrome being brought back, but I have to wonder why the Trillium wasn't brought up. Could that be cured? Of course it seemed like a lot of the Vulcans in this episode were quite emotional, so maybe that doesn't matter but I digress. Also, I had forgotten that Kir'Shara expanded the whole Andorian/Vulcan conflict and I found that quite awesome too. The scenes with Soval and Shran were actually the best part of the final episode.

Another thing I liked about these three episodes was the look and overall feel of it. The scenes on Vulcan were fantastic and the Forge and the Sandstorms were great. I also loved the music, especially during the battle sequence.

Last thing, many people consider this arc the best three episodes in Enterprise, and I kind of put up a challenge as to which arc was better, this one or the Azati Prime, Damage, and The Forgotten arc. Well, I think I liked that trilogy better because it felt more personal and emotionally affecting. Not to say the Vulcan arc was less so, because it was awesome, in a political, expanding the universe kind of way, but both trilogies are quite close together in terms of 1 and 2.

 

[Pemmer Harge]

Last thing, many people consider this arc the best three episodes in Enterprise, and I kind of put up a challenge as to which arc was better, this one or the Azati Prime, Damage, and The Forgotten. Well, I think I liked that trilogy better because it felt more personal and emotional impacting. Not to say the Vulcan arc was less so, because it was awesome, in a political, expanding the universe kind of way, but both trilogies are quite close together in terms of 1 and 2.

Yes, I agree with that.

Anyway, the Vulcan trilogy is definitely the best three part story in Season 4 in my opinion. It's the only one that doesn't really drop the ball at any point and it did the best stuff with the characters too.

 

[Saquist]

I watch ENT on Sy Fy... (that's sad there the only ones that want it) Goes along with their Imagine God Awful Theme....

But I have no intention on revisiting it. Incidental contact aside.