Seriously, don't get the hate for ST: ENT
- Thread starter Photon
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Far too much of seasons 1 and 2 was boring. Give me an insane clusterfuck over boring me. So many stories were reheated retreads, seemingly using the prequel premise to say "yes, you saw this in DS9 and Voyager, but Enterprise technically did it first!"
A lot of stuff hasn't aged well, like the cheap bid to get teenage boys watching that was watching T'Pol sweating and squirming in the decon chamber. Archer's casual Vulcan racism could have made for a good character arc, had he been called out on it by anyone, ever. Instead it's treated as how the viewer should feel too.
And speaking of Archer, what did he do prior to Enterprise? Other than fly that test mission, of course. Because there's nothing. No background for the lead character. Did he command another ship? Serve on another ship?? It's so half baked they added on a random Section 31 backstory for Malcolm and since we know so little of these people even after 4 years it was fine.
A lot of stuff hasn't aged well, like the cheap bid to get teenage boys watching that was watching T'Pol sweating and squirming in the decon chamber. Archer's casual Vulcan racism could have made for a good character arc, had he been called out on it by anyone, ever. Instead it's treated as how the viewer should feel too.
And speaking of Archer, what did he do prior to Enterprise? Other than fly that test mission, of course. Because there's nothing. No background for the lead character. Did he command another ship? Serve on another ship?? It's so half baked they added on a random Section 31 backstory for Malcolm and since we know so little of these people even after 4 years it was fine.
Though I've softened on the series over the years, but at the time, the first two seasons of ENT were largely boring to me as well (though I did like the pilot, the Borg episode, and the Duras episode). It just didn't compare to 24 or new Battlestar Galactica, or even the Stargate franchise. I thought the characters were largely bland and Archer didn't impress me as captain. I also didn't care of ENT's take on the Vulcans.
What really hooked me was the Season 2 finale and I was into the series for the most part from that point on. And I really liked the mini arcs in the fourth season, which was quite innovative to me.
I still think the series never figured out their character issues, but the cast was likable. All along, I thought the series had good production values, and when I've re-watched a good deal of the first season a while back, the production values still held up.
What really hooked me was the Season 2 finale and I was into the series for the most part from that point on. And I really liked the mini arcs in the fourth season, which was quite innovative to me.
I still think the series never figured out their character issues, but the cast was likable. All along, I thought the series had good production values, and when I've re-watched a good deal of the first season a while back, the production values still held up.
Season 1 never rose above "okay" and season 2 was bo-o-o-o-ring. Season 3 was an admirable experiment that they didn't quite pull off in my eyes. With the exception of the finale, which was almost insultingly bad, season 4 was when the show first started to show some promise, then it ended.
C
Captain pl1ngpl0ng
Guest
I'm one of those that really enjoyd all seasons, too bad it ended.
great characters, some was fantasic like Shran!
T'pol and Hoshi was also really good along with Trip and Malcolm, and i have only love for the captain and the doc.
The ppl who wrote the show sadly forgot about poor Travis tho....
great characters, some was fantasic like Shran!
T'pol and Hoshi was also really good along with Trip and Malcolm, and i have only love for the captain and the doc.
The ppl who wrote the show sadly forgot about poor Travis tho....
The haters of Enterprise lacked faith of the heart.
I really liked all the main characters and I liked most of the supporting characters. There were small things that bothered me early on in the show but I'm glad that I stuck with it and 20 years on I like ENT a lot more than I did at the time. Clearly YMMV.
It is what it is now. Sometimes the paths not taken are more interesting to read about than the show itself. I just went through Season 1 and it's a struggle at times, but I like the characters.
Post of the day.
Post of the day.
At the time as long time TNG, DS9, VOY fan I just found it boring and gave up at some point in season one.
I think also by that point I was just a bit burnt out on it - which Berman and Braga realised in trying to get a season's breather.
I rewatched it late last year and what's lovely is it's still quite fresh for me only having seen them once or twice at most, and also against the backdrop of the travesty that is Discovery and just a trend now for shows to be very long form.
And going back into that exploratory Star Trek with episodic nature was a delight. Remembering the enthusiasm at the time for Scott Bakula was also a bonus.
And on the whole seasons one and two have some ropey spots but are solid, way more solid than I gave them credit for at the time. And seasons three and four are great, thanks to Manny Coto.. but for the ratings, sadly most people had left by that point.
I think also by that point I was just a bit burnt out on it - which Berman and Braga realised in trying to get a season's breather.
I rewatched it late last year and what's lovely is it's still quite fresh for me only having seen them once or twice at most, and also against the backdrop of the travesty that is Discovery and just a trend now for shows to be very long form.
And going back into that exploratory Star Trek with episodic nature was a delight. Remembering the enthusiasm at the time for Scott Bakula was also a bonus.
And on the whole seasons one and two have some ropey spots but are solid, way more solid than I gave them credit for at the time. And seasons three and four are great, thanks to Manny Coto.. but for the ratings, sadly most people had left by that point.
After several continuous cycles of complete series of TNG then DS9 I came into this series for the first time last month with Cogenitor, and immediately set my DVR to watch every episode. Mostly through season 3 now.
I have no critical analysis. I just find it perfectly entertaining and apparently criminally under appreciated. I saw that someone gave 1 out of 5 stars for “Doctor’s Orders”, I mean please! It’s Sci Fi Fantasy with a little psychological horror mixed in, I happen to love a little escapist television, serious legacy be damned.
I expect Star Trek to fail upward every so often. It’s part of the charm.
The western episode was a diversion. The Detroit 2004 episode felt like stock X Files, the Xindi are stupid looking, none of it matters because I like the main characters a lot, and I’m really rooting for them whenever they run into a bunch of crap.
Enterprise is good Star Trek. I’m happy I’m a fan of it.
I have no critical analysis. I just find it perfectly entertaining and apparently criminally under appreciated. I saw that someone gave 1 out of 5 stars for “Doctor’s Orders”, I mean please! It’s Sci Fi Fantasy with a little psychological horror mixed in, I happen to love a little escapist television, serious legacy be damned.
I expect Star Trek to fail upward every so often. It’s part of the charm.
The western episode was a diversion. The Detroit 2004 episode felt like stock X Files, the Xindi are stupid looking, none of it matters because I like the main characters a lot, and I’m really rooting for them whenever they run into a bunch of crap.
Enterprise is good Star Trek. I’m happy I’m a fan of it.
This is what any show or movie is hoping to hear from a viewer. What a fun review of Enterprise.
I also found seasons 1 and 2 to be rather boring. So I found myself missing episodes for weeks at a time and not bothering to catch up on them. I got back into regular viewing with seasons 3 and 4. The only season that I own on disc is season 4. I do find it quite entertaining, despite (or maybe because of) its, uh, overenthusiastic efforts to connect to practically every piece of Star Trek lore.
But as I said elsewhere, it's a waste to expend your mental and emotional energy "hating" something on TV.
From Mad Men:
Betty: I hate him [her ex-husband Don].
Henry (her current husband): Hate's a strong word, Betty. I hate Nazis.
Kor
But as I said elsewhere, it's a waste to expend your mental and emotional energy "hating" something on TV.
From Mad Men:
Betty: I hate him [her ex-husband Don].
Henry (her current husband): Hate's a strong word, Betty. I hate Nazis.
Kor
I didn't care for ENT when it first aired. I didn't dislike it, I just didn't really care about it.
I did a watch/rewatch a couple of summers ago, though...and I found it very enjoyable.
For me Enterprise joins Voyager and TAS as "meh Trek". It doesn't tick me off like Picard and Discovery can, but it's not as fun for me as TOS/TNG/DS9/SNW/Lower Decks/Prodigy/Short Treks are.
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Seasons 1 and 2 were slow and personally, I felt like there were episodes that were too similar to ones from TNG. I think that might be it for some people. The reality is that while TNG was very popular and love by many, when it aired approximately 30 years ago, it's episodes felt fresh and original. But decades later, doing shows in another trek that are too similar to the earlier shows makes them stale. For a first watch it's okay but not all that exiting because it's too familiar. But to rewartch, I find those similar episodes very boring. I'm rewatching it now and I fast forwarded through several episodes because they were to close to ones from other shows that I liked more.
Enterprise was like Voyager, a brilliant concept that was deplorably wasted in favor of "more of the same".
Voyager could have given us deprivation, hardship, conflict, people forced to rely on ingenuity instead of technology. It didn't. They didn't even bother rationing out torpedoes or shuttles. And, one of its characters was so unmemorable, the only thing anyone seems to have to say about him is that he was never promoted.
Enterprise could have given us "missing link" technology, and watched humanity slowly start reaching into space, still a far cry from becoming the linchpin of the Federation. Instead we got the same weapon set as the 24th century (phasers and photon torpedoes), and transporters that were being routinely used. And the temporal cold war that basically pre-established the Federation. And, one of its characters was so unmemorable, no one really noticed him period because no one on the show got promoted.
Be that as it may, there was potential in that formula. If it had gotten a fifth season, I think it would have gone a full seven. And Shran would likely be the new Worf or Seven, the character who revitalized the show. Sadly, seasons 3 and 4 were unable to compensate for the rough beginning.
Voyager could have given us deprivation, hardship, conflict, people forced to rely on ingenuity instead of technology. It didn't. They didn't even bother rationing out torpedoes or shuttles. And, one of its characters was so unmemorable, the only thing anyone seems to have to say about him is that he was never promoted.
Enterprise could have given us "missing link" technology, and watched humanity slowly start reaching into space, still a far cry from becoming the linchpin of the Federation. Instead we got the same weapon set as the 24th century (phasers and photon torpedoes), and transporters that were being routinely used. And the temporal cold war that basically pre-established the Federation. And, one of its characters was so unmemorable, no one really noticed him period because no one on the show got promoted.
Be that as it may, there was potential in that formula. If it had gotten a fifth season, I think it would have gone a full seven. And Shran would likely be the new Worf or Seven, the character who revitalized the show. Sadly, seasons 3 and 4 were unable to compensate for the rough beginning.
When I first heard about Enterprise, I was hoping that we'd get a 'prelude to the Federation' DS9-esque series, with lots of complicated and sometimes strained political relationships, explaining how these founding members ultimately got together in de Federation, against the background of the Romulan war. (Not that I mean we'd necessarily would have needed to see much of that war).
While we got a bit of that in season 4, seasons 1 and 2 mostly showed us a bumbling crew, not yet knowing how to handle many things (in itself perfectly legitimate, seeing this is humanity's first deep space mission), on many one-off adventures which often seemed as 'repeat ideas' of things we'd seen in earlier series, using very similar technological concepts. Season 3 pretty much was its own thing, very different from the other three seasons.
It wasn't a bad series but it wasn't remarkable either. It got better towards the end, but by then it was apparently too late.
While we got a bit of that in season 4, seasons 1 and 2 mostly showed us a bumbling crew, not yet knowing how to handle many things (in itself perfectly legitimate, seeing this is humanity's first deep space mission), on many one-off adventures which often seemed as 'repeat ideas' of things we'd seen in earlier series, using very similar technological concepts. Season 3 pretty much was its own thing, very different from the other three seasons.
It wasn't a bad series but it wasn't remarkable either. It got better towards the end, but by then it was apparently too late.
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