The Official: What do Niners Feel About Enterprise

[TeutonicNights]

I wouldn't have done the show at all. I don't like prequels, and Trek is so inconsistent and contradictory over its past that any effort to make a show in that time period would have been (and was) futile.

not necessarily, because it can be used to consolidate things, retcon, explain or fix others. But it's sure a challenging task and those dudes weren't up to the job. Not in season one, and certainly not in season four.

RDM may have regarded Trek canon and continuity as a burden, but he and the guys played that instrument like true masters and used it to add depth.

 

[Anwar]

Trek's past is too well-defined for a good story to be told out of it, and too much of it is contradictory with history as we know it now to make a lot of sense.

Plus Birth of the Federation would be too similar to Babylon 5's storyline.

 

[TeutonicNights]

The only things I see a potential conflict with:

- Eugenics Wars (could just be ignored, FC had already established WW3 as a bigger conflict that completely overshadows the Eugenics Wars)
- Troi's speech in FC (in 40 years...) reduces the potential for conflict on Earth (could be ignored, also people could be well fed and live in peace, but there could still be an "evil" Earth government, Something on the Mars colonies etc.)
- Romulans must remain faceless. (They could have used the Suliban to hide their origin, and even Vulcan and their human vassals might have an interest in keeping it secret)
- Most planets they encounter should have humanoid races.

and of course that neither the Klingon Empire, nor Earth, nor Vulcan may be destroyed.
Not too much to worry about in my opinion.

and who would really have cared about similarities to B5?

 

[Anwar]

Well, seeing how people were ready to boycott the show before they knew anything about it I'd say the B5 similarities would have just been more ammunition for them.

Anyways there'd be no drama because whatever threats the crew would encounter could never be anything really threatening because we KNOW Earth, Vulcan, any of the important worlds would survive. And it can't be some big event otherwise it would've been mentioned in the other shows.

Heck, the crew wouldn't be able to have any real adventures because none of the other shows ever said there were famous human explorers before TOS or that there was ever a guy named Archer.

Don't get me started on the "atomic weapons" thing either.

 

[I am not Spock]

Die hard Trekkie here, but even I struggled with the first two seasons of ENT. Aside from some good eps like Andorian Incident, the show and its characters didn't grab me. I actually stayed with it and watched every ep, but I nearly gave up after A Night In Sickbay. ENT season 2 is still one of the worst seasons in all of Trek history.

I did like season 3 and 4 though. A lot better, with some arcs and character development. But just as it was getting good, they cancelled it! Oh well.

 

[PKTrekGirl]

Well, seeing how people were ready to boycott the show before they knew anything about it I'd say the B5 similarities would have just been more ammunition for them.

I do not see a single similarity between Enterprise and Babylon 5. Outside of the fact that they are both scifi.

 

[Anwar]

If they made the show the serialized "Birth of the Federation" story the detractors wanted, all that would've happened would be comparisons to B5.

 

[Sykonee]

If they made the show the serialized "Birth of the Federation" story the detractors wanted, all that would've happened would be comparisons to B5.

I think you would at least still need a space-station and an 'ancient enemy' for the similarities to start. Otherwise, we may as well also compare it to Andromeda, what with the whole 'rebuild the Commonwealth' thing.

 

[Anwar]

Humans are a recent entry to spacefaring powers, all of whom mistrust one another. The most ancient of these races are the "Space Elf" type whom humans (especially the main human cast) don't get along with 100%. These aliens also have a past connection/history with the mysterious antagonists of the show who specialize in shadowy manipulations before openly attacking everyone. In the aftermath of the war with them a new Interstellar Union is formed.

How is that NOT Babylon 5?

 

[Sykonee]

Humans are a recent entry to spacefaring powers, all of whom mistrust one another. The most ancient of these races are the "Space Elf" type whom humans (especially the main human cast) don't get along with 100%. These aliens also have a past connection/history with the mysterious antagonists of the show who specialize in shadowy manipulations before openly attacking everyone. In the aftermath of the war with them a new Interstellar Union is formed.

How is that NOT Babylon 5?

No telepaths.

 

[Disillusioned]

For all the issues I had with it, I actually like ENT better than TNG. So basically I rank it right between DS9 and TNG.

 

[apenpaap]

I really like Enterprise. Season 3 was great, and Season 1 and 4 good. Only season 2 was meh. After DS9, it's my favouriute trek/.

 

[Kegg]

Humans are a recent entry to spacefaring powers, all of whom mistrust one another. The most ancient of these races are the "Space Elf" type whom humans (especially the main human cast) don't get along with 100%. These aliens also have a past connection/history with the mysterious antagonists of the show who specialize in shadowy manipulations before openly attacking everyone. In the aftermath of the war with them a new Interstellar Union is formed.

How is that NOT Babylon 5?

No space station. Now give me a Star Trek show set on a space station with a lot of politics and war and maybe we'd have a B5 ripoff.

Anyway, yeah, people would compare it to B5, but if it was good they'd like it. Just like DS9, point o'fact.

 

[TheGodBen]

No space station. Now give me a Star Trek show set on a space station with a lot of politics and war and maybe we'd have a B5 ripoff.

I wrote a fanfic like that once, I called it Deep Space Ben. It didn't catch on, possibly because of the romance between the badass captain figure and the Ferengi bartender.

 

[Pemmer Harge]

Humans are a recent entry to spacefaring powers, all of whom mistrust one another. The most ancient of these races are the "Space Elf" type whom humans (especially the main human cast) don't get along with 100%. These aliens also have a past connection/history with the mysterious antagonists of the show who specialize in shadowy manipulations before openly attacking everyone. In the aftermath of the war with them a new Interstellar Union is formed.

How is that NOT Babylon 5?

No telepaths.

And in Enterprise you can only get Swedish meatballs on Earth...

 

[PKTrekGirl]

Space elfs????

 

[Sykonee]

Space elfs????

Vulcans have pointed ears. Minbari have pointed bones. Both have pointed somethings on their head, so clearly they're the same thing!

I wonder which would be Centauri and Narn?

 

[Anwar]

Anyway, yeah, people would compare it to B5, but if it was good they'd like it. Just like DS9, point o'fact.

They'd just give cruel criticisms of how they ripped off B5 and that was the bottom line. DS9 gets a pass due to...(wait for it)....(come on, you know what I'm going to say)...DOUBLE-aw, you know what it is.

As for the Narn stand-ins, we have the Andorians for that except they can fight the Elder race and they aren't recovering from an occupation. But the attitude is there.

 

[Sykonee]

I find it's only ardent fans of a particular show that say another show ripped them off. B5 initially had a bunch of criticism that it was ripping off Trek (every version) because it was a space show with a military command structure and latex humanoid aliens. Then B5 fans began claiming DS9 was ripping that show off, because they started doing interstellar wars and mystical mumbo-jumbo. And so it goes.

The only people who'd claim ENT was ripping off B5 would be ardent B5 fans, (I'm sure they'd find something to nitpick; such folks always do) but chances are they wouldn't even be watching ENT anyway so it's a moot point.

 

[Anwar]

Seeing how most of the Trekdom were out to boycott the series before they even knew anything about it, it wouldn't surprise me that they'd stoop to saying ENT was just ripping off B5 for its' storytelling.

The show was no-win even before it was conceived.