Revisiting Enterprise

[BandChris]

Hi everyone,

After attending the Vegas Convention, I found myself thinking about Star Trek Enterprise again. Talking to the die hard ENT fans, and seeing Scott speak piqued my interest in the series again. I never really bonded with ENT when it was on the air. I watched if I was home. But I wasn't hooked. Don't get me wrong, I also wasn't one of the virulent group that hated Star Trek Enterprise before it ever hit the airwaves. I just didn't get hooked.

Well, after I got home, I started netflixing Enterprise and I'm about 3/4 of the way through the first season. I'm finding that I have a greater appreciation for the series. I can see clearer what the producers and writers were trying to accomplish. I definitely see more finesse and nuance in Jolene Blalock's performance. Much more than I did the first time.

My topic for discussion is this: Has anyone else had a similar realization about this or any of the other Trek series? Or even series outside of Star Trek, where you go back later and realize that you were wrong about it the first time around?

 

[SFRabid]

There is something about Enterprise that causes this to happen more than any other series I know. During the original run I got to see one or two episodes a year while vacationing since it was not aired in my state. During that time I noticed the bad more than the good and never cared much about the show. During the writers' strike I was desperate for something to watch and bought the series on DVD. This time around it quickly became my favorite series.

Once I watched a few shows in succession I developed an attachment to the characters that I never had with any previous ST series. The characters of TNG seem distant compared to those of Enterprise. Hosi seems like the girl next door and Trip could be the friend you call when the car will not start. I think that is one reason I find Enterprise to be more re-watchable than any other series.

 

[miriel68]

I had a similiar experience, to a degree: first time I saw only some episodes of ENT in random order. I liked them but didn't remain hooked. It was only when I began to watch them on DVD, going from the 1st season to the 4th that I developed the attachment to the characters and I appreciated continuity (even in first two season several topics are being picked up again and there are links between episodes f.e. Detained and Desert Crossing, Andorian Incident - many times ecc.). I didn't like ALL characters development (T'Pol - Trip neuropressure sessions: I would have preferred they thought about other way to create their relationship), but I enjoyed them all and was able to link to them far more than in other series (with all respect for historical merits of ltn Uhura there was never a chance I could feel any interest in her as "character" , for example). I agree with SFRabid TNG characters are, too, far more distant and - from my point of view - far too much "perfect" I could really feel a connection with them (even if I'm, of course, very happy that humanity will become such an ideal society in a couple of centuries )

 

[The Sneeze Police]

I only saw one or two episodes of ENT season one in first run, and I don't think I saw any of season two except that I got hooked during the very last episode of season 2 and watched routinely through out the rest of seasons three & four. I had to watch seasons one and two once they came out on DVD, and season one remains my favorite of the four seasons. Actually I think it is the best season one of any of the Trek series excepting TOS.

I will allow that I never had the distatste for ENT exhibited by some fans. So far ENT has held up well with me. I like the characters and I like the look of the show on repeated viewings.

I am still dutifully trying to appreciate DS9, and I just cannot seem to like that particular series. I have been enjoying watching the occasional episode of VOY on cable after thoroughly dismissing it during its first run. I guess my Trek tastes run to the low brow since I prefer ENT & TNG (& now VOY ) to DS9 & TOS.

 

[arch101]

I only saw year 1 and some of year 2 first-run. Then I moved to a non-UPN area and missed year 3 and 4. Years later, I saw the last 2 years and completely changed my views on Ent. I really wasn't very impressed with what I saw of year 1 &2. Year 3 was (IMHO) one of the best seasons of a Trek series ever. Year 4 is pretty good too. I wish the show had stayed on the air.

 

[Trekwatcher]

This has come up several times, but I had the same experience. When ENT initially aired I watched (and taped) all of the eps, but it did not really grab me with the exception of S3 and to a lesser extent S4. The VHS tapes sat on my shelf for a few years and gathered dust. One day, seemingly at random, I pulled out Broken Bow about a year ago and watched it straight through. It was FAR better than I remembered, and I ran through all 4 seasons in short order. While TOS will always have my heart and soul, I think more about ENT than any other show, and have been devouring the ENT novels (which are, in all fairness, a pretty mixed lot) one after the next.

For me, I saw a lot more depth, a lot more character, and a lot more TREK the second time than the first. I had a similar experience when rewatching all of DS9, but it was not as intense as my rewatching ENT.

 

[JiNX-01]

I didn't like ALL characters development (T'Pol - Trip neuropressure sessions: I would have preferred they thought about other way to create their relationship)...

I agree. VNP struck me as just silly and exploitive (the indignity magnified by putting Jolene in pajamas a size too small ).

IMO, the more logical approach would have been to have T'Pol teach Trip Vulcan meditation and emotional suppression techniques (nothing radical, gang! Perhaps the kind of techniques very young Vulcan children would learn) so he could manage his pain.

 

[Skywalker]

But there's no T&A in meditating!!!

 

[commodore64]

^ Yup. T&A + Vulcans = illogical.

Glad to hear fans and Scott revitalized your interest in ENT.

 

[Pensive]

I didn't have a major problem with the neuropressure after reading what Star Trek magazine said this summer... Vulcans would likely be touch-therapy experts, considering their advanced science and nerve-pinch techniques. Why not flip the pinch around and use the pressure for good?

As a plot device, meh. Independently of that, cool.

 

[miriel68]

I didn't have a major problem with the neuropressure

I didn't have a problem with the neuropressure as such, either. However, the scenes between Trip and T'Pol, instead of being exciting, for me were just boring. their relationship became far more interesting IMO in the second part of the season, but then, in the 4th season - save for "Home" - it wasn't handled well, as I see it.

 

[SFRabid]

I didn't have a major problem with the neuropressure ...

I don't have a problem with neuropresure, but I do have a problem with the way it was implemented. When Trip has to take off his shirt to have neuropressure on his feet you know the producers are not looking to enhance the plot.

 

[Pensive]

Maybe feet rubs make him sweaty?

 

[JiNX-01]

Maybe feet rubs make him sweaty?

Sweaty. Yeah. That's it.

I maintain meditation would have made more sense. Having TIIC yank neuropressure out of their collective colons was just silly and exploitive, especially the first "session."
I might have been able to accept it if the meditation was having limited effect and T'Pol -- not Phlox -- were to suggest the NP as touch therapy.

 

[Temis the Vorta]

I went the other way with TNG - well, it was back and forth - bailed on it because it was terrible in the first couple years, revisited it a bit later and liked it, checked it out still later and realized it was aging very badly. The other series I either like as well as ever (TOS and DS9) or retain my original negative impression (VOY and first three seasons of ENT, too soon to judge S4 on its own).

Can't think of any series that I've gone back to and liked better than originally.

However, a crying lack of any decent space opera series would make more far more tolerant of a new Trek series at this point. I'm so sick of Stargate's sub-mediocrity and overrated BSG's self-indulgence.

 

[Pensive]

I maintain meditation would have made more sense.

Not that I wrote a fic about her teaching him meditation, no sir

 

[SFRabid]

...
However, a crying lack of any decent space opera series would make more far more tolerant of a new Trek series at this point. I'm so sick of Stargate's sub-mediocrity and overrated BSG's self-indulgence.

I had high hopes for BSG but week after week of depression left me wondering why anyone would watch it. The last episode of SGA left me wondering if they had already given up on the show. At the very least they were tossing out something on a very low budget.

 

[commodore64]

BSG -- it's really the only show I watch religiously without really enjoying it. After nearly every episode, I feel disappointed. I like very few of the characters, but for some reason feel compelled to watch it.

Enterprise was a show I enjoyed -- well, most of it -- but kept holding out more hope for. I think the actors were good, the characters for the most part were solid in season 4, but felt let down or elated (rarely any middle ground) by the writing and plots.

It is fun to look back. Even some of the episodes I really disliked, like Marauders, seem kinda charming in retrospect.

 

[Trekwatcher]

BSG -- it's really the only show I watch religiously without really enjoying it.

I had a similar experience. It was gripping and well written and well acted and the effects were great...and it was no fun to watch. I gave up after S2 of NuBSG. Perhaps I will give it another try someday on DVD.

I did, of note, think the initial 2hr movie was phenomenal from start to finish.