Should Enterprise fans be more vocal?

[SFRabid]

I see a lot of post from people who like Enterprise that start out with "I know I am in the minority" or "I know most people don't like" but the numbers seem to say otherwise. Enterprise does well in polls like "Rate Enterprise" or "Which series would you like to see get another year." When you look at the posts in those threads the people that like Enterprise are content to say a few positive words. People that hate Enterprise write a 1000 word essay about how Enterprise harms kittens and causes cancer.

There are people on these forums that don't like each series, but some of the Enterprise anti-fans are passionate to the point (just some of them) that they cannot stand the thought of someone liking the show. Is this causing a perception that Enterprise is less liked that polls show? Or is it that Enterprise, more than any other series I have ever seen, captures more fans the second time around?

 

[Ro Boat]

Or is it that Enterprise, more than any other series I have ever seen, captures more fans the second time around?

An issue with this is that many people didn't see ENT the first time. Many of us who grew up watching TNG in its first run had entered into adulthood and were busy adapting to life on our own. I never saw most of VOY nor any of ENT until years later. I think this distance removes the sentimental connections with a show that allow people to overlook some of the more obvious problems with the other series. However, they can nail ENT for the same issues because there isn't that memory of adolescent fascination like with other Treks.

Sentimentality is a large part of Trek series preference. I still love TNG more than any other series even though, objectively, I feel that DS9 was a better written, acted, directed TV show. I don't know if ENT gets many of these kinds of votes except from those for whom it was their first Trek experience.

I love ENT just as I love all Trek though. I don't understand the backlash against the show, but I wasn't in the United States to pay attention to what was happening with the fan base. I still think ENT has more great episodes in fours seasons than VOY had in seven. Had ENT been given the chance, I could see it rivaling DS9 and TNG in quality. We will never know though.

 

[Count Zero]

I think that, generally, people who are passionate against something are much more vocal about it than in real life, hence the long essays. You wouldn't say something like that to someone else who liked the show in real life.

It is my experience (I know a few Trek fans in real life) both in real life and online that Voyager and Enterprise are indeed the least popular Trek series overall. And, after all, ENT was really cancelled, so apparently it wasn't all that popular.

I'm an ENT fan but I can see the flaws the series had, and if I compare it to other Trek and Sci-Fi shows, it doesn't hold up that well, objectively. So, I might qualify my statements depending on the context. I know I did when someone new to Trek asked us what he should watch in what order. I wouldn't recommend ENT to someone new to Trek because it might turn him off, a lot of people don't like the show.

I don't think we should be more vocal. You can't persuade people to like something that they don't. I just ignore the haters for the most part, it's something I learned when ENT was still on the air and people kept hating on it here in the ENT forum.

 

[Penguin]

I came to Ent late. I cut my Trek teeth on TOS, a little of TNG and some of DS9 and Voy.

Of all of them Ent is my favorite simply because it had characters I could relate to. Unfortunately most of the characters were never developed.

I guess I am vocal about Ent.

 

[Middleman]

I think the build up to the movie as well as it's release has stired up some new interest in Enterprise. You can see it by the amount of "newbie" activity on this board and others. I also think that the movie has caused some critics (read: bashers) of Enterprise to soften their attitudes a bit. I guess flushing 40 years of canon down the toilet could do that to a person.

Anyway, I'm a very vocal Enterprise fan. Even wore my Enterprise tee shirt to the movie on opening day.

 

[ChristopherPike]

I tend to use the same name across different boards, 9 of 10 times I'm being vocal about Enterprise... even away from a forum, plenty would prefer to see discussion about it confined. Basically with a show that was "okay" to begin with, then came into its own so late in the day, there's a wealth of potential here that just went to waste. Not that it ever seems to have any effect on those with the power to make Star Trek happen. I'll probably be banging on about Enterprise until I've drawn my last breath...