TheGodBen Revisits Enterprise

[TheGodBen]

Besides, it might be a good idea to make some characters look like jerks early on, and then have them melt and show their more sympathetic side... Lost did that with several of them (Sawyer, Jin...) I wonder if that's where Trip is headed? I have a feeling it is...

I don't want to ruin it for you but I will say that I went from disliking Trip immensely to liking him quite a lot. Trip has some particularly good material during season 3, although I found the will-they-wont-they thing he had going on in season 4 to be uninteresting. It's a huge pity because it practically took over his character.

Y'know this is very interesting and I really like this take on the episode. I just watched it this week and will be posting a review in my thread, but I absolutely hated it.

A lot of the aspects of this episode were poor, but what you talk about brings about a more intriguing thought about it.

See, I'm insightful! Take that, haters! (Oh, the irony.)

Like I said, I didn't like Fusion myself the first time around, but looking back on it having seen the entire series it makes a lot more sense. It also makes a lot more sense why T'Pol would want to stay on Enterprise, that's another thing I couldn't figure out the first time I saw the show.


Acquisition (½)

This episode introduces us to yet another new species, but once again they haven't been named so I can't check Memory Alpha to see if they were ever referenced in any of the other Trek series. As such they will not be added to the counter. But Trip does walk around in his underwear for 15 minutes.

Nipples Ahoy!: 4
Archer Abuse: 8

These new aliens are dumb. You just won't believe how vastly, hugely, mind-bogglingly dumb they are. I mean, you may think that the Klingons in Sleeping Dogs were dumb, but that's just peanuts to these guys. They fill every dumb cliché in the book, right down to the dumber dumb one who doesn't realise he's being exploited until the one of the "good guys" convinces him. If Trek has taught me anything then it taught me that if I was the leader of a criminal gang I shouldn't let any dumb people in because they're just going to end up siding with the people we're trying to steal from. Of course, that would preclude me from being in the gang in the first place.

You know what makes for a good episode? Archer beating a smart and dangerous antagonist in a battle of wits. You know what makes for a bad episode? Archer beating Ralph Wiggum.

So, what is the moral of this story? When building an impossibly advanced starship, use sealed bulkheads and a smart ventilation system that doesn't let a dangerous contaminant spread around the entire ship in 47 nanoseconds. An important lesson and one which I will be sure to remember until my dying day.

 

[Michael]

To me his review threads are easily the funniest, most entertaining, most insightful and, above all else, most original thing on the Trek BBS.

Permission to use as my new sig?

Oh, be my guest. If you really need to fall back on this sort of self-adulation ...

 

[apenpaap]

I quite liked Acquisition. It was pretty funny, and it had a lot of familiar faces.

 

[SRFX]

I quite liked Acquisition. It was pretty funny, and it had a lot of familiar faces.

I think that was what made it watchable the first time through.

Second time was just boring - highly skippable now.

 

[TheGodBen]

Oh, be my guest. If you really need to fall back on this sort of self-adulation ...

Yeah, you're right, it's beneath me.

 

[thew40]

I found "Acquistion" fun . . . but stupid.

 

[Michael]

Yeah, you're right, it's beneath me.

And I get behind that.

(Boy, punning isn't easy when it's not your native tongue. )

 

[Seven of Five]

Which episode are we on then?

You mean this thread isn't to discuss my qualities as a person?

It's about 60/40 I'd say.

Rogue Planet (*)

I agree. Quite a bad episode really. It just isn't interesting or engaging on any level, and drags a hell of a lot. Back in my reviewing days it caused a two week delay as I kept falling asleep when I tried to watch.

Acquisition (½)

This episode introduces us to yet another new species, but once again they haven't been named so I can't check Memory Alpha to see if they were ever referenced in any of the other Trek series. As such they will not be added to the counter. But Trip does walk around in his underwear for 15 minutes.

LMAO! Though for me Trip walking around in underwear for 15 minutes gets an extra point. Bout time there was some damn male exploitation in Trek after all these years of female 'titilation.'

These new aliens are dumb. You just won't believe how vastly, hugely, mind-bogglingly dumb they are. I mean, you may think that the Klingons in Sleeping Dogs were dumb, but that's just peanuts to these guys. They fill every dumb cliché in the book, right down to the dumber dumb one who doesn't realise he's being exploited until the one of the "good guys" convinces him. If Trek has taught me anything then it taught me that if I was the leader of a criminal gang I shouldn't let any dumb people in because they're just going to end up siding with the people we're trying to steal from. Of course, that would preclude me from being in the gang in the first place.

So, so true. The episode just isn't very clever, and just clings onto the hope that the audience are too bewildered by the appearance of Ferengi to notice.

Despite it's downfalls, the episode is somewhat fun, but total fluff. Including Trip in briefs that's 2/5 for me.

 

[Yug]

They only did it for me if the Ben in my name stands for Benjamin Franklins, but my real fake name is The Godfrey Steven Benn.

I think you're off base here Ben. We're all motivated by a paycheck, but it's not easy to keep a job in the entertainment industry and Enterprise was a risky venture. They could of just been churning out Voyagerish shows with borg and Q stories for years. But thay went a different direction (at first) that didn't have any guarantee of financial success, even in the Trek genre.

 

[TheGodBen]

I think you're off base here Ben. We're all motivated by a paycheck, but it's not easy to keep a job in the entertainment industry and Enterprise was a risky venture. They could of just been churning out Voyagerish shows with borg and Q stories for years. But thay went a different direction (at first) that didn't have any guarantee of financial success, even in the Trek genre.

See, I disagree. Firefly was a risky venture, Babylon 5 was a risky venture, but the fourth spin-off from one of the biggest entertainment franchises of all time was not a risky venture. Lets take a look at the amalgamated ratings graph:

DS9 was a risky venture, they took a franchise about exploring space and made it stationary, and Ira Behr also took big risks with the direction of the show. Voyager was a risky venture, they took a franchise about exploring space and made it into a show about a mixed crew trying to get home... until UPN started demanding more TNG-style material. But the ratings for DS9 and Voyager were steadily in decline each season and Trek was becoming unprofitable to produce. B&B had to try something different from the 24th century, so they decided to go back to the basics of Trek; a ship called Enterprise exploring unknown space with a command triumvirate. They took some risks, certainly, but Enterprise was closer to the original than any of the other shows, and it wasn't until season 3 that they really started to break the mould.

 

[Yug]

Yes, these shows need to be profitable, no one denies that, but it's really not their only motivation, and you did make that point too. But honestly, charts and graphs aside, I just diseagree with the notion that these talented people are ONLY doing it for the "Benjamins". Really, that's it... I'm just saying.

 

[SFRabid]

I also liked Aquisition for what it was and the Ferengi in it were not as dumb as the Ferengi in their first appearance on TNG. I really liked some of the T'Pol moments.

 

[SFRabid]

This graph has the same overall curve as shown on a graph of distribution. TNG had the best distribution follwed by DS9. Voyager got tied to a failing network but not totally. It could be picked up by other stations as long as they did not compete. ENT was exclusive to the network. Half of the people never had access to the show and the network never seemed what to do with its own product.

The graph is also a reflection of public interest in Star Trek. When TNG was released people were sooooo excited to have anything ST they even accepted the first two horrible years. By the time Voyager ended we had 21 seasons of new Trek shoved into a short time period. People were tired and the franchise was tired.

 

[Jimmy Bob]

Acquisition made me cry. It was just that bad. I wept for mankind, for the actors, for the director and for myself for forcing myself to watch it to the end. When I watched it, I longed for the days when they had "good" episodes like Threshold.

 

[Pemmer Harge]

Acquisition wasn't great, but it did have some redeeming features:

1) Ethan Phillips - OK, Neelix could be annoying, but this guy ain't bad.

2) Energy whips!

3) Trip's scene where he yells that all archer cares about is his precious vault. Trip can be annoying, but this Trinneer boy's got something.

 

[flemm]

Acquisition made me cry. It was just that bad. I wept for mankind, for the actors, for the director and for myself for forcing myself to watch it to the end. When I watched it, I longed for the days when they had "good" episodes like Threshold.

This was the only episode of season one I didn't finish. By about two thirds of the way through, I felt could not continue to immolate entire minutes of my precious existence in its name. I think I ended up using the time for dental hygiene, which was thrilling by comparison.

 

[TheGodBen]

Acquisition made me cry. It was just that bad. I wept for mankind, for the actors, for the director and for myself for forcing myself to watch it to the end. When I watched it, I longed for the days when they had "good" episodes like Threshold.

Don't feel sorry for the actors or director, they got paid to work on that episode, and they probably never sat through it once it was done. We're the poor fools who watched it willingly.


Oasis (*½)

I've never considered Shadowplay to be one of the best episodes DS9 had to offer, but compared to Oasis it had one thing going for it; a conviction that it was telling a good story. It didn't feel the need to have the suspense of a hostage situation or a tired gunfight, it relied upon its story to keep the audience interested in what was going on. In the end they just turned the holographic generator off and then they turned it back on again, it was more emotional that way.

If this episode wasn't Shadowplay revisited, would it have faired much better? Not really, this feels like an episode going through the motions. And the mystery aspect doesn't hold up well, when I first saw this episode I called that they were holograms long before it was revealed onscreen. Maybe if I was watching Trek in chronological order this episode could have had a surprising twist, but after the TNG series holograms seem commonplace, especially since Dr Shmully was a holographic main character.

And don't get me started on the kiss between Trip and Liana at the end, I turned to look out the window and started banging the remote control on my forehead because that was less painful than watching the scene. (Unlike the other things in this thread which I've claimed are true, this one actually is.)

Disappearing Aliens: 6
Captain Redshirt: 9
Archer Abuse: 9

KUULAN: Go back to your ship.
ARCHER: Not without my officers.
KUULAN: This isn't a negotiation.

Ha! You're going to get it now, Kuulan, no Starfleet captain would ever leave his people behind!

(Archer and Reed leave)

Ooooooh boy...

 

[Michael]

Brilliant!

You know, I loved Oasis ... when it was still called Shadowplay. I mean, what were they thinking? Did they expect no-one would notice that they just lifted a twist from an old Deep Space Nine episode? When rewatching it the other day I thought it might have worked better if they had placed the revelation ealier in the episode. That way it wouldn't feel as if the episode was all about that twist. Instead it could have focused more on Ezral's dilemma. But still, they should have come up with something more original.

Structurally the episodes aren't very similar, though. But that should come as no surprise, considering they stretched out one of the three (!) plotlines from Shadowplay for Oasis.

Personally, I had no problem with the Trip/Liana kiss. As Trek romances go they had a rather good chemistry and it didn't feel all that forced to me. Although I found it rather elusive how she didn't want him to stay a little longer if she really liked him so much.

It must also be noted that this was an absolute waste of René Auberjonois' acting talent. I wish they would have used him in an episode where he actually got something to do. Oh, and although I really love Trip, he's certainly no Commander J. J. Adams.

 

[SFRabid]

Actually, both Oasis and Shadowplay reminded me of the TNG episode. I'm sure someone on TNG lifted it from something else. I've heard scholars try to link most every story told back to Shakesphere, but then, some scholars think much of what is accrediated to Shakespere was lifted from others.

Anyway, I thought Oasys was a "no real damage done" episode. I'd rather watch Aquisition.

 

[Michael]

^ Which TNG episode do you mean?