Rock bands and boy bands on ENT – a terrible idea, or just a flawed one?

[FederationHistorian]

It’s known that one of the ideas pitched by a studio executive for Enterprise when it was being first developed was for boy bands to appear on the show, and a new band to perform every week on the ship. I’m not sure how this was supposed to work, if they were supposed to be aliens of the week, a bunch of holograms or if they were already a part of the crew. I don’t think the producers knew either, which contributed to the idea being scrapped.

Even for the intro of Enterprise, a couple of different songs from contemporary rock bands were considered as alternatives to Faith of The Heart, but were later dropped.

The Calling – Wherever You Will Go (later reused in an ad for the show)
U2 – Beautiful Day (reportedly too expensive to use)

Clearly, someone had a strong desire to make Enterprise synonymous with pop music.

While I don’t know if they would have been the best fits for the intro, I can’t say it would have been a bad thing if we saw members of the Enterprise crew listening to some of these songs from these bands in their downtime. Which would have been considered classic bands in Enterprise’s time.

Where do you stand on this random idea?

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

I honestly don't see how a band could just pop out of nowhere for no reason. This isn't The Young Ones...

 

[Tenacity]

I honestly don't see how a band could just pop out of nowhere for no reason.

Holograms?

 

[David cgc]

^People were upset enough about an alien-of-the-week having a holodeck in the third episode. If the ship was having holographic concerts beamed in from Earth, half the TrekBBS would've dropped dead from rage. And it wouldn't even have been funny, like when Archer saved Earth only to wake up in World War II with aliens.

 

[Herbert]

Boy bands on ENT? Good lord, who could possibly come up with such trash?

Now, Rush on the other hand. That would have been an awesome idea. I could see Trip rockin' out to 2112 or Hemispheres.

 

[1001001]

Now, Rush on the other hand. That would have been an awesome idea. I could see Trip rockin' out to 2112 or Hemispheres.

Now that’s a brilliant idea.

 

[Oddish]

For some reason, this makes me think of Enterprise opening to the dulcet strains of Hanson's "Mmmm-Bop".

 

[Guy Gardener]

Yeah, Hanson stops by, and either an green alien lady deflowers them, or takes all their salt... And they are nothing but sugar.

Sugar, sugar, you're my candy girl...

Could you imagine the 98 Degrees fighting to the death, against each other, in some post modern Alien gladiatorial arena?

 

[Oddish]

And Justin Bieber goes Warp 10 and becomes a salamander? Pleeeease?

 

[Guy Gardener]

Janeway tried to exchange a pan galactic transporter network for the Federation cultural database...

Every boyband ever.

 

[David cgc]

Now, Rush on the other hand. That would have been an awesome idea. I could see Trip rockin' out to 2112 or Hemispheres.

Rush is pretty ubiquitous in the Trek novels, but not the ENT ones.

 

[F. King Daniel]

I honestly don't see how a band could just pop out of nowhere for no reason. This isn't The Young Ones...

Holograms?

This. I think the concept is sound, they can't do it on Strange New Worlds since removing holos was made into a plot point, and Enterprise was too soon, but anything TMP era onwards could 100% have a stage at the front of Ten Forward or equivalent playing any holo the crew want. An ancient TMP-era novel even had the crew watching Doctor Who in the big TMP Rec Room.

 

[Takeru]

They should have just done it, to hell with canon. A 22nd century ship should have holo equipment, that the 60s writers didn't include that kind of technology shouldn't have stopped the 2000s writers.
The occasional performance on the show and the crew having fun really could have made the show more enjoyable and it would have been an opportunity to show off other sides of the characters, maybe Hoshi and Trip could have bonded over their love of classic Blink 182.

 

[Richard S. Ta]

I think it's a flawed idea, rather than terrible. It didn't do Voyager any harm to have the Rock guest star and it wouldn't have hurt to give any prominent pop-stars a role here and there I suppose, or as in something like GOT, have a group in make-up being some band in the background of a scene. I can't hep thinking it would be a but cringe-worthy a few decades down the line though, but eh...

Would it have saved Enterprise? Who knows, but it couldn't have made things any worse.

 

[StarMan]

First I've heard of this.

But it doesn't surprise me they considered something so vile. I mean, look at what they considered as a valentine.

 

[Gary Mitchell]

An ancient TMP-era novel even had the crew watching Doctor Who in the big TMP Rec Room.

They should have just watched Star Trek.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

Holograms?

But what's the REASON for boy bands to appear on a show like this? What could they possibly be doing on the Enterprise? There's literally no reason for them to be there.

It'd be like watching Law & Order or Blue Bloods and expecting a mariachi band to show up out of nowhere. Completely random and nonsensical.

 

[Reanok]

There's a Youtube video interview I watched last year with Rick Berman and Brannon Braga that mentions the fights they had with Paramount and UPN about how ridiculous having Rock bands appearing on Enterprise every week was a bad idea. I'm glad they finally convinced someone it wouldn't work in a Sci-fi tv show,

 

[Herbert]

I honestly don't see how a band could just pop out of nowhere for no reason. This isn't The Young Ones...

But what's the REASON for boy bands to appear on a show like this? What could they possibly be doing on the Enterprise? There's literally no reason for them to be there.

It'd be like watching Law & Order or Blue Bloods and expecting a mariachi band to show up out of nowhere. Completely random and nonsensical.

Yes, it's oddly specific. I do like that ENT, being closer to the 20th century, incorporates some elements of 20th century culture but specifically boy bands? Just a weird idea.

 

[Owain Taggart]

Honestly, I think it's a terrible idea. The great thing about sci-fi, is that you can tell stories not tied to anything going on in current culture . Adding bands to the show would have immediately dated it. Not only that, but it'd feel anachronistic, like why would these bands still be around? No reason why they would be, and still be remembered. Not when you have the likes of the Beatles which are far more popular which experts are now starting to see and feel their star power fading.