The Enterprise appreciation thread

[Hopeful Romantic]

Since we always seem to have several threads in the forum discussing what people didn't like about Enterprise, I thought we could use a thread where folks could talk about what they did like.

Here ye go: the Enterprise appreciation thread. Tell us about your favorite episodes, characters, scenes, dialogue, bits of business. Something that made you laugh or smile, something that moved you, or made you think long after the episode was over.

This will not be a place to complain, or argue, or disagree. We have plenty of other threads for that. Everyone's favorites are welcome here.

I have too many favorite things to mention, so I'll just put down a random few to start...

"Observer Effect," my favorite episode of the series. Great ensemble acting, directing, and production values, wonderful music, a compelling story. Made me cry.

Archer/Shran scenes. Shran/Soval scenes. Shran/T'Pol scenes. Shran/Jhamel scenes.

That scene toward the end of "Zero Hour" in sickbay, when Porthos isn't eating because he misses his master (Archer, presumed dead). T'Pol, also grieving, reaches out and hesitantly pets him, saying, "You'll be fine...it's just a matter of time."

"Similitude." I love the whole episode, and how the events serve (in my view, anyway) as a turning point in the way T'Pol regards Trip, but there are things along the way that are touching and wrenching...Archer aging years with every passing day as his decision weighs on him, teenage Sim asking T'Pol on a date, grownup Sim not knowing whether his feelings for T'Pol are his or Trip's. But that shot of Trip petting Porthos near the end...oh my, how poignant.

 

[number6]

Things I loved about ENT:

Each season gave us a sightly diffrent take on the ENT story:

Season 1: Introduces the characters to us and to the universe some of us already know. We begin to see the "familiar" Star Trek universe through the eyes of the first generation of Trek explorers.

Season 2: We see a lot of backstory and character pieces that allow us to see the good and bad of our major characters and what they need to do to move forward and become the noble Starfleet officers we see in later series.

Season 3: The first real mission of the Enterprise: Save the Earth and humanity for the first Enterprise Crew.

Season 4: The founding of the Federation.

I love the way the Vulcans were portrayed and how they evolved into the Vulcans we know in the later series.

Andorians!!! Tellarrites!!! Orian Slave Women!!!

I enjoyed the Right Stuff elements of the characters and how they started off as flawed characters who came to learn what it is to be a Starfleet explorer and the steps they needed to take to get there.

 

[Mach5]

Great thread (and about time )

So, stuff I like about Enterprise, VOL. 1
(here we go...)

Broken Bow was probably the best of all Star Trek pilots, the (in)famous "knocking you on your ass" line made me love Archer, filled me with excitement and huge expectations.
Then came that TnT introduction scene, followed by the (also) infamous 'decon chamber' extravaganza, which I, being 17 at the time (2001 AD) honestly liked (sue me).
Finally, "ponfo mirran" - the line that made me love Hoshi.

Breaking the ice
- Trip and T'pol breaking cultural barriers - awesome
- T'Pol staring at a pecan pie - equally awesome
- Malcolm and Travis making a Vulcan snowman - priceless

Shuttlepod One - My favorite ENT episode.
- A Brit and a Yank arguing about comic books - what can I say, Trip made a point - screw Hamlet, Clark Kent is the sh#t!
- Malcolm giving props to the nicest bum in the quadrant - go Mal!
- Trip babbling about "Serbo-Croatians" - priceless

and the list goes on (it's gonna be a long thread)

 

[SFRabid]

Hey, I was accepted into "THUG" after starting one of these threads not long after I came. My favorite things.

Casting - I worried when I first saw Enterprise because they focused on filling the cast with "beautiful people". When I gave it a chance and watched a few episodes it was the cast that drew me in. I cannot imagine Trip and T'Pol being played by anyone else.

Interesting races - Devious Vulcans, dishonorable Klingons, good and bad Andorians. For once writers understand that races are made up on individuals who are as different from each other as humans.

The first two years - Yes, the seasons people love to hate. The worst of Enterprise. Even though the first two years could have been better, ... should have been better, they were still better than the first two years of TNG, the last year of TOS, and most any year of VOY.

Re-watchable - Enterprise has aged much better than many series.

 

[Bluejay]

Some of mine ...

1. The ship design is neat

2. Interesting cast of chars, most notably the Big 3... along with the beagle

3. Fascinating view of Vulcan social, military infrastructure which were not as we knew them in TOS, etc.

4. Vulcan ship designs. I'd sure would like to know why they looked the way they do. I might be mistaken but science and military classes do not seem that different.

5. Intriguing char : T'Pol. Well, she's a notable contrast from Spock as chalk is from cheese. It's a different insight where Vulcans are concerned.

6. Following the evolution of Starfleet.

7. A lot more revelations on Andorians, Romulans and other species.

8. 1st and 2nd seasons were laudable efforts in building up the chars and ST universe. S3 and 4 picked up the pace and got into stride.

 

[JiNX-01]

My favorite episodes:
Unexpected: Funny. Trip was adorable.
The Andorian Incident: Shran!
Breaking the Ice: A friendship is born.
Silent Enemy: Good story, fun subplot
Shadows of P'Jem: Shran is back
Shuttlepod One: Best "bottle show" ever.
Acquisition: Royal!Blue!Undies!
Fallen Hero: V'Lar was really cool.
Desert Crossing: Shirtless!hunks!
Two Days and Two Nights: More!Blue!Undies!

Shockwave I & II: Good disaster, excellent acting; nice job giving everybody stuff to do in part II.
Minefield: Good development for Reed.
Dead Stop: Creepy.
Singularity: Hilarious.
The Catwalk: Neat seeing the entire crew together.
Dawn: More Shirtless!Trip!
Stigma: Feezal and Trip... funny.
Cease Fire: Shran AND Soval!
Cogenitor: First contract gone wrong...
Regeneration: Cool take off "First Contact."

The Expanse: Jaw-dropping opening teaser.
Anomaly: Interesting set up for the expanse.
Impulse: T'Zombies.
Twilight: Good "what if" story.
Similitude***** Great acting all around, story was superb.
Proving Ground: Shran the good "bad guy."
Strategem: Clever idea.
Azati Prime: The beginning of an excellent ending.
Damage: Archer crosses a very bad line.
The Forgotten: Trip begins to heal.
E2: It's all in the families.
The Council: Hoshi gets some interesting translating to do. Then she gets kidnapped.
Countdown: Hoshi tortured.
Zero Hour: Good stuff until the last 90 seconds.

The Forge/Awakening/Kir'Shara: Interesting arc that sets Vulcan on the road to TOS.
Babel One/United: Shran/Romulans.
IaMD I & II: Evil reigns.
Demons/Terra Prime: Great finale!

 

[bluedana]

I love the no easy answers aspect. ENT, unlike most other Trek I've watched, tended not to go for the we're human, we're right answer, or even the technobabble solution. I liked that I disagreed with the captain a number of times, even though I could see why he made a particular decision. I liked the inventive use of technology - my favorite being, Hey, outgunned by a Klingon battle cruiser? Use the grappler to rip out the engine! I love that when the ship broke, it stayed broken for a while.

As to character, I love Archer, flaws and all. Even his little physical quirks remain consistent from the first episode to the last. I love his growth arc just a little more than I love T'Pol's. Other Trek captains may have been better, more experienced, or even smarter, but I'd serve on Archer's Enterprise in a heartbeat, knowing that he exemplifies the command version of "greater love."

 

[miriel68]

I agree with many opinions expressed here already, especially with Bluedana On my part, I could add that I appreciated very much the feeling of Enterprise being kind of "real": a future I can relate to, something that I can almost imagine as being within our reach. It gave me impression of s-f film (mostly ), while other ST make me rather think of fantasy.

 

[Captain X]

Hmmm.... Things I liked...

I did like a lot of the concepts, like Earth taking its first steps out of the kiddie pool, so to speak, and the pilot did capture some of the feeling, even if I felt it was lacking in other ways.

I think the thing I liked the most about the show was actually the characters. At times they were written, to be frank stupidly, but there were definite high points during the different seasons. I sort of liked how after a short period of time, Trip opened up more towards T'Pol, going from being more antogonistic to friendly teasing. I also liked how they at least started to forge some friendship between Hoshi and T'Pol and Phlox and T'Pol, and I was disappointed when that was dropped later on. Shuttlepod One was a great episode as far as forging a friendship between Trip and Reed as well.

The main thing is that the characters were so much more interesting than most of the other series. Ds9 is the only series I rank better than ENT, and that is due in large part to how the characters were treated and how they were developed. In TNG the characters were so arrogant and so boring, TOS was corny for my tastes, and on VOY the characters were too one-dimensional for me to really get into them much. So that's why ENT ranks second on my list, above all but DS9.

 

[Mutai Sho-Rin]

The Lady Sho-Rin and I were hooked when we first heard the Faith of the Heart theme in Broken Bow. To us, it completely captured the spirit of the show. Archer, T'Pol. Tucker and Phlox were always intriguing characters and the chemistry amont all of the principals and most of the guests was excellent. There isn't a single episode I won't watch again and with the first three seasons' DVDs in hand, that isn't too hard to do. I had the privilege of meeting both John Billingsly and Mike Sussman at two different opportunities which added further bonding to the show.

As one of the innaugural Enterprise forum moderators, I had a hell of a time putting up with the league of Trolls. Refusal to rescind three warnings from the worst of the lot (who shall remain nameless) led to my demise as a mod. I felt that much of the criticism was contrived only to infuriate fans who wanted to give the show a chance. Much like Trolls on any BBS. Sometimes I miss those old days and the Briefing Room shenanigans I must say, HopefulRomantic, I like your style here. This is the first time I have seen your nick and I'm glad that I did. Keep on doing good.

Mutai

 

[KimMH]

Reading your posts I remember all the episodes with fondness like remembering a fun day with friends. The characters were friends who invited us to adventure and love and lessons every week and I miss them. "Similtude" is one of my favorites not in the least because there were TWO (2!!!) Trips! but because of the moral dilemma of it all and Archer made a very UNKIRK choice (Kirk would have most heroically donated the unused 3/4 of his brain for the transplant . . . don't hate me - I'd still follow him to the gates of Stovo 'Kor). Seeing him agonize over the hard choices made him a much more relatable character than Kirk and Picard (calm down - also loving them that's why I'm here!) And who couldn't love Phlox and Porthos?!?!?!?

 

[gblews]

The flight suits.
The "grappler".
Fear of the transporter.
Vulcans' fear of humans.
Manny Coto's pre-credits teasors which included Hitler in New York and a demented Zephrane Cochrane gangbanging on the Vulcans' ship in 2063.
Mike Sussman's Twilight, E2, and Home. When it came to character interaction, Mike was the guy.
Dr. Soong and the Orions.
Romulan conspiracies.
Admiral Forrest and Soval.
Ericka Hernandez.

 

[Lashmore]

First show to have practical uniforms for the duties starfleet officers perform

Season two episode = Horizon

....

that is all I found worthwhile

 

[trekkerguy]

You know it's odd, sometimes I find myself finding Enterprise to be the
best Trek series. I wish it would have gotten more seasons.

My favorite themes always involved the Andorians, they were an awesome
race to finaly see some focus on screen.

But my favorite individual episode has to be "Similitude".

 

[dillon3001]

One of the things I enjoyed about ENT was the Vulcans and Andorians. I think we got a decent look into their cultures. It would've been awesome to see the Xindi in season 4 (outside of the flashback Archer had). I mean, Enterprise destroyed the Spheres and the Xindi Weapon, then we dont hear from them again. It would have been extremely interesting to see some diplomatic contacts with them. My only rational behind why we didnt see them (maybe someone can enlighten me further) was they wanted to set their own affairs in order before resuming relations with Earth, some time to find out what being Xindi meant (I mean the Sphere Builders were highly revered in Xindi culture and all of a sudden some Earthlings bust in and show them what they really are. Im sure thats a harsh culture shock)

There is too many things about Enterprise that i enjoyed to list here. I thought they really captured the spirit of Star Trek in the aspect of exploration and 'boldly going where no one has gone before'. The final scene of TATV was the greatest ending-series scene I have seen yet.

They should go the Stargate route and put out some direct to dvd movies. Probably wont happen but it would be awesome.

 

[frenchman]

ok, things i liked :

the cast : i think tptb has found a great cast, very talented. scott bakula is awsome. connor trinneer, the revelation of the show, jolene blalock has managed to make forget she's a babe but also an actor, john billingsley like scott awsome, linda park i love her, and anthony montgomery, who else to piloting the ship?

the theme : good idea, that change from other trek series, although i think tptb could have change for the third season which were darker and far from exploration and discoveries

the evolution of some characters : trip who became deeper. not only the goofy guy and the chemistry with T'pol was great. archer with his dark side. strangely, that makes archer a captain more human. T'pol who learn and accept human emotion.

similitude : oh my god, what episode!!! the scene between sim and archer in trip's room, the scene between sim and t'pol, the scene where sim is lied on his bed with porthos, the final scene in the sickbay.

demons/terra prime : connor and jolene gave me a wonderful final scene and a wonderful show ending. thanks to them.

 

[Captain X]

Yeah, I liked that we got to see more of the Andorians, especially since they'd basically been ignored ever since TOS, and even then they were only really seen once and from then on they were only seen briefly and/or in the background.