Season Three: could use some serious fan editing

[Gaith]

Now that I've finally finished it (minus a few eps even I haven't got time for), it occurs to me that ENT's third season could really use a fan edit.

Yes, the whole thing.

Well, most of it.

Now, I'm not generally a fan of the idea of merging episodes or movies - unless two or more episodes are really telling the same limited, coherent story (i.e., the Deathly Hallows movies, or a bona fide two-parter tv ep). So, if I were taking on such a project, I probably wouldn't mix any two eps: heck, some don't need any editing at all ("Twilight", "Stratagem"), and others are beyond help (cough, "Exile", "Rajiin", cough). But many, especially from the second half of the season, could definitely use some sharpening.

Because, all told, the season has a LOT of looooonnng, flabby scenes. Some take place on Enterprise, but most are of the Xindi Council. Seriously, there must be dozens of scenes in which they shout at each other about The Humans and The Weapon, over and over, without wit, substance, or plot advancecment. This continues right up 'til the last episodes, with pointless scenes of the Reptilian baddie getting all rape-y with Hoshi (as if he'd be at all interested in her looks!). And, in addition to tightening things up, seeing far less of the Xindi would of course make them that much more interesting and imposing.

It's not a project I see myself taking on, but it'd be interesting to see done...

 

[horatio83]

I must have missed the sex part. Didn't the Reptilian dude just enjoy to torture Hoshi?

 

[Gaith]

He caressed her cheek multiple times, and even if one doesn't read that as a form of sexual assault, as was clearly the intention, those scenes were still overlong and generally unnecessary.

 

[JiNX-01]

I agree. There are a slew of episodes that could have been dropped all together.

Extinction: A filler episode that has absolutely nothing to do with their search for the Xindi.

Rajiin: Nothing says Bermaga like girl-on-girl action to get biological info on a species.

Carpenter Street: Rajiin provided information so the Reptilians could develop a bio weapon. There was no compelling reason to send Archer, T'Pol and the Reptilians to the 20th century to achieve their goal.

Exile: More filler with a plot that had way too little to do with mission.

North Star: In the episode The Xindi, Archer crabs at Reed that time is of the essence after the security chief recommends caution in trusting aliens in the Expanse. And yet, here Archer decides they have time to play cowboy for a few days on a planet occupied by 19th century humans who aren't going anywhere.

Doctor's Orders: Another filler that did nothing to advance the mission.

Hatchery: The only thing the crew got out of this was an insectoid ship. Handy for when they get to Azati Prime, but surely it could have been acquired without wasting an hour of our lives we'll never get back.

E2: I like the episode, but again, no compelling reason to send the NX-01 into a spatial anomaly where they're surprised to learn they have descendants.

 

[horatio83]

Ehm, the purpose of the third season was not to merely tell stories that are essential to further the overall story. When the season went into 'finish the story arc' mode in the very end it actually became weaker.

 

[Gaith]

E2: I like the episode, but again, no compelling reason to send the NX-01 into a spatial anomaly where they're surprised to learn they have descendants.

At least that one got them across a large amount of distance in order to meet a deadline. But while I loved "North Star", you make an excellent point; it should've been done in another season.

 

[horatio83]

Do you guys really not understand that the purpose of episodes like E2 is not to deal with the stupid search for the weapon but to simply tell a good story?
The background and overall story arc is supposed to serve the individual stories you want to tell and not the other way around.

 

[Gaith]

If what you mean to say is that the overall S3 arc sucks, well, I don't really disagree. But many shows manage to tell great in-episode stories while also making significant progress on equally great season-long or even series-long arcs, so your dichotomy is a false choice.

 

[horatio83]

So you want a smoother mix between individual stories and serialization? Fair enough but Trek ain't The Wire, it is not set up as novel but as short-story collection. The Dominion War or the Xindi crisis might connect a few of these stories but they are not substantial enough to weave them more tightly together.

 

[Temis the Vorta]

S3 needed different writers. It was an obvious attempt to ape DS9's war-centric, serialized format but all it succeeded in doing is to demonstrate that what DS9 did is far easier said than done.

The way the Xindi and their dull exposition fell flat as a flounder, compared with the hilarious Dukat/Damar/Weyoun show, is just one case in point.

Editing S3 is like editing the Star Wars prequels...I guess it's an improvement, simply because there's less of it, but editing can't cause something good to appear that isn't already there.

 

[JiNX-01]

Do you guys really not understand that the purpose of episodes like E2 is not to deal with the stupid search for the weapon but to simply tell a good story?
The background and overall story arc is supposed to serve the individual stories you want to tell and not the other way around.

I guess you missed the part where I said I like E2.

Let me put this another way:

The third episode in season three was Extinction, which IMO sucked.
The next week, Rajiin, which also sucked.
Week six, the incredibly dull Exile.
Week 16, Doctor's Orders, a flagrant ripoff of the Voyager episode "One," featuring Seven of Nine, minus the boobs. Tho' we did get a naked Dr. Phlox.

Did you watch DS9? When the war with the Dominion began, the writers mananged to tell terrific stories without boring the fans to death.

 

[Skywalker]

It'd also be nice if it were possible to edit out the last few moments of "Zero Hour" (with Archer in the 1940s) and replace them with the last few moments of "Storm Front," with Enterprise finally returning to the Earth they knew. What a waste of two episodes, all for a cheap gimmick cliffhanger.

 

[F. King Daniel]

Season three of Enterprise is my favourite season of any Trek, ever. It wasn't perfect by any means, but it was a lot of fun (unlike the ultra-drab DS9). The Xindi are some of my favourite Trek aliens.

Besides, whether you like of hate it, the best way to watch is to enjoy shows as they were intended, and not some bastardized fan edit. I mean, what's the point?

 

[mswood]

If what you mean to say is that the overall S3 arc sucks, well, I don't really disagree. But many shows manage to tell great in-episode stories while also making significant progress on equally great season-long or even series-long arcs, so your dichotomy is a false choice.

Seriously, well I can certainly say the Xindi isn't a story line I wanted to see on Enterprise, I think its the most successful season the show has ever had, and one of the better seasons of Trek overall.

Does that mean I like every episode. God no, there is no season of Trek that I like all episodes. Does that mean that some elements repeat, nope (but again in long arc based story telling that is something exceptionally common.

In fact I have never watched any network show which had a season long arc that I liked every episode, where they managed to successfully keep arc based material into more stand alone episodes.

None. Not a single, season of any show that produces full season (22 episodes or more) have I ever felt successfully succeeded in doing good across all aspects of story telling.

It isn't easy. At all. and in my opinion no show has ever fully succeeded. Let alone doing great in each regard.

Is it my favorite season of Trek (HA, HA no!!!), overall I find it above average (TOS 1 & 2, TNG, 3, 4, 5, DS9 2, 4, & 5 are all better). But for Trek at all to even try this type of more tied together storytelling was nice to see. It never had before. Even DS9 never tried to tie every episode together (not even close).

 

[mswood]

Do you guys really not understand that the purpose of episodes like E2 is not to deal with the stupid search for the weapon but to simply tell a good story?
The background and overall story arc is supposed to serve the individual stories you want to tell and not the other way around.

I guess you missed the part where I said I like E2.

Let me put this another way:

The third episode in season three was Extinction, which IMO sucked.
The next week, Rajiin, which also sucked.
Week six, the incredibly dull Exile.
Week 16, Doctor's Orders, a flagrant ripoff of the Voyager episode "One," featuring Seven of Nine, minus the boobs. Tho' we did get a naked Dr. Phlox.

Did you watch DS9? When the war with the Dominion began, the writers mananged to tell terrific stories without boring the fans to death.

Cough Sons & Daughters, Cough. And thats just 6 episodes.

As much as DS9 is my favorite Trek I have no problem admitting that they didn't do full season long arcs. They didn't try to connect each and every episode of a season unto a greater arc.

And even when they tried more tied together material they still had episodes that either weren't good, or were out and out bad. I mean look at the last ten of DS9. We still got Extreme Measures and Dogs of War.

Neither of which would I praise for their excellence.

 

[mswood]

S3 needed different writers. It was an obvious attempt to ape DS9's war-centric, serialized format but all it succeeded in doing is to demonstrate that what DS9 did is far easier said than done.

The way the Xindi and their dull exposition fell flat as a flounder, compared with the hilarious Dukat/Damar/Weyoun show, is just one case in point.

Editing S3 is like editing the Star Wars prequels...I guess it's an improvement, simply because there's less of it, but editing can't cause something good to appear that isn't already there.

First a few things that everyone should actually be very aware of. DS9 developed its cast and adversary's over the full length of its run.

Even the Dominion was given a long time to develop. From earlier concept to fleshed out characters, and races.

ENT was already by the end of season 2 getting serious pressure to come up with something different, something big. DS9 never had both the studio and network pressure of either Voyager and even more so ENT. Nor did it ever have looming over it the threat that the next season might very well be it (which was a concern during ENT's 2nd season).

I mean look at how DS9 tried different elements over the years. Look what got discarded, what was put to the back burner, and then see over the years what they were able to put together.

Clearly they only managed to develop one Xindi to any real degree (Degra) and yes there are elements that seriously didn't work. But for their situation it actually holds up much better then I ever thought it would.

One of my biggest complaints about Enterprise from the get go was I didn't care about the cast (something that Voyager also suffered greatly from). And I don't just mean a couple of the supporting characters (waves high at TNG), but I mean the majority of the cast, including its lead. And they certainly gave material to the cast. Hell its first season is one of Trek's better rounded seasons in regards to giving time to develop each character (not saying it worked, but time was spent).

By the end of the Xindi, I finally gave a damn about Archer and T'Pol (even if I think Trillium was stupid and they should have used Stigma as the basis of her character issues) to add to the three characters that I thought were more reasonably successful Phlox, Trip, and to a lesser degree Reed.

 

[horatio83]

Do you guys really not understand that the purpose of episodes like E2 is not to deal with the stupid search for the weapon but to simply tell a good story?
The background and overall story arc is supposed to serve the individual stories you want to tell and not the other way around.

I guess you missed the part where I said I like E2.

Let me put this another way:

The third episode in season three was Extinction, which IMO sucked.
The next week, Rajiin, which also sucked.
Week six, the incredibly dull Exile.
Week 16, Doctor's Orders, a flagrant ripoff of the Voyager episode "One," featuring Seven of Nine, minus the boobs. Tho' we did get a naked Dr. Phlox.

Did you watch DS9? When the war with the Dominion began, the writers mananged to tell terrific stories without boring the fans to death.

Now you changed your argument from "these episodes sucked because they had nothing to do with the overall story arc" to "they just sucked".
I merely have a problem with the former. Similtude or E2 are great episodes despite or prehaps precisely because not being related to the story arc.

 

[stj]

Exile: More filler with a plot that had way too little to do with mission.

This was not filler. It was absolutely essential to the overall plot, providing secret information that put them on the trail of the Xindi weapon. It was disguised as a character piece on Hoshi as Beauty in Beauty and the Beast to distract from the astronomical coincidence in an alien with Godlike powers lending them a helping hand. (The difficulty is that if the Xindi have a planet, then one ship can't win, but if the Xindi don't have a planet, how do you find them?)

 

[Gaith]

Besides, whether you like of hate it, the best way to watch is to enjoy shows as they were intended, and not some bastardized fan edit. I mean, what's the point?

Really? I've got to spell it out?

Quality = run time of good scenes divided by total run time

Ergo,

Fewer bad scenes = better quality

​

Laurence Olivier trimmed Hamlet down for his movie, you know. But I guess since he "bastardized" the text, no one should ever watch it?

It's fine to not be interested in fan edits, but there's no need to accuse those who do like them (or even the thought of them) of wasting their time.

It'd also be nice if it were possible to edit out the last few moments of "Zero Hour" (with Archer in the 1940s) and replace them with the last few moments of "Storm Front," with Enterprise finally returning to the Earth they knew. What a waste of two episodes, all for a cheap gimmick cliffhanger.

That's absolutely doable, and would indeed be an improvement.

 

[Hopeful Romantic]

mswood, the Multiquote button is your friend.


Personally, I loved Season 3.

I think the "we could get cancelled any second" situation, which no other Trek show ever had to worry about, had a lot to do with the lack of follow-up for several dangling plotlines ("North Star," "Damage," "E2", post-war trauma). It seems to me that when the staff saw the writing on the wall, they jettisoned a lot of Season 3 setup in order to do the Action! Space Battles! Cool Guest Stars! TOS-Tie-in! stuff in Season 4. A shame, there was great potential for another 4 seasons of coolness.