TheGodBen Revisits Enterprise

[startrekwatcher]

Which I had a problem with - a more developed myth arc about what the cold war is, who the factions are, what their agendas are, and so on, would have really made ENT's rather haphazard pre-S4 attempts at story arc more worthwhile.

The problem with the TCW was the fact that it really could have been its very own series. I think that was a real problem the writers had. They had two very good premises--a prequel and a time war--both of which deserved their own series yet the writers tried to shoehorn both into ENT.

By really fleshing out the players, their agendas etc the writers would have begun displacing the prequel element to the series and the need for our crew. We saw many times where the writers had to make less than believable logical acrobatics in order to maintain Archer et al as our protagonists instead of Daniels. Also there was a segment of the fanbase that tuned into ENT to see a true prequel and the last thing they would want is to witness corrupted events set in motion by forces from the future.

The TCW and the Xindi arc really in a lot of ways were forebearers of the type of complicated storytelling style that shows like Lost and Heroes use these days--lots of vague motives, dubious players, more questions than answers, answers only spawning more questions, ambiguous actions etc.

re: Future Tense.

I thought it was a solid high concept mystery episodes TNG did quite well.

 

[Disillusioned]

The thing that actually bothered me the most about this episode was that they didn't remove the missile's warhead before they moved it to the Tardis.

 

[Bones2]

Cease Fire is still solid I find, weaknesses aside. Besides, given S2's performance to this point, I will take anything with decent subject matter.

Surely anything is solid, weaknesses aside.

Anyway, I made a point of watching some season 2 over the past few days. The Seventh was alright, I thought. Judgment/Bounty I liked a lot. Cogenitor is ok. Dead Stop, I think, is one of my favourite Enterprise episodes. It's a great concept, I think. I still think Enterprise is quite underated.

 

[flemm]

The problem with the TCW was the fact that it really could have been its very own series. I think that was a real problem the writers had. They had two very good premises--a prequel and a time war--both of which deserved their own series yet the writers tried to shoehorn both into ENT.

I think the question of whether or not a prequel series was a viable idea at that stage of the Trek game is a debatable one, but I agree insofar as the combination of the prequel and TCW concepts struck me as extremely odd.

Was it a way of bringing in some nifty tech that wouldn't have made sense otherwise? Was it a way of linking Enterprise to the future so that they could reference Trek events from other shows and thus tie back into the prequel idea?

I found the mixture bemusing through a season and a half (at which point I stopped watching, but I'm sure I'll pick it up again at some point.) I'd be interested in knowing more about the thought process behind this.

 

[startrekwatcher]

The problem with the TCW was the fact that it really could have been its very own series. I think that was a real problem the writers had. They had two very good premises--a prequel and a time war--both of which deserved their own series yet the writers tried to shoehorn both into ENT.

I think the question of whether or not a prequel series was a viable idea at that stage of the Trek game is a debatable one, but I agree insofar as the combination of the prequel and TCW concepts struck me as extremely odd.

Was it a way of bringing in some nifty tech that wouldn't have made sense otherwise? Was it a way of linking Enterprise to the future so that they could reference Trek events from other shows and thus tie back into the prequel idea?

I heard that during the initial stages of developing the fifth series Brannon had wanted to do a TCW series but it was decided against. UPN really weren't crazy about the idea of a prequel so they wanted a way to bring in later series elements if the prequel didn't catch on. Brannon said he had remembered his TCW idea and he thought it was perfect to do what UPN wanted in tying back the other series to ENT if necessary.

UPN did a similiar thing with VOY where they always wanted the writers to have a way to bring the crew back to the familiar Alpha Quadrant if the isolated premise didn't work out hence the idea of Suspiria out there somewhere and the Borg transwarp conduits.

 

[SRFX]

Cease Fire is still solid I find, weaknesses aside. Besides, given S2's performance to this point, I will take anything with decent subject matter.

Surely anything is solid, weaknesses aside.

Pretty sure I was running on about 2 hours sleep when I wrote that. Sorry.

Re: Future Tense - meh. It was exciting the first time round, and the Tholians are a very welcome inclusion.

But Enterprise is a series I have watched several times through, and I just find that I don't care about the TCW. Like, it's fine that it's there, and if it's on TV I'll sit and watch - but otherwise, I just don't care.

That said, Future Tense is one of the better TCW episodes.

 

[Bones2]

Cease Fire is still solid I find, weaknesses aside. Besides, given S2's performance to this point, I will take anything with decent subject matter.

Surely anything is solid, weaknesses aside.

Pretty sure I was running on about 2 hours sleep when I wrote that. Sorry.

Heh, just joking with ya

Looking at the list of season 2 episodes again, I don't recall seeing some of them. Might give Future Tense another watch; who doesn't love the Tholians? Say what you like about Nemesis, but the Tholians got a mention.

 

[TEACAKE'S PLEATHER DOME]

I loved TCW.. but I always love time travel stories. I am at peace with it never going anywhere because it's actually more realistic that the resolution, if there was one, was not going to be known to Archer et al.

 

[TheGodBen]

Canamar (***)

You can view this episode in one of two ways; a generic episode from the second season of some science fiction show, or a great musical score which happens to have an episode tacked onto it. I enjoyed it more viewing it the second way. Nothing all that memorable happens in this episode, it's not bad, but it's not good either, the only reason I even remembered it is because I loved the musical score. It's no Bear McCreary, but it's a long way from that sonic wallpaper we've been used to ever since Ron Jones was fired for being too good.

In a sense the music adds to the episode because it makes the events feel more important and exciting than they are, but it also hurts the episode because as I watched it I wanted the episode to be better so that it could match the music. As I said, it's not a bad episode, there's some humorous moments and some good special effects, but there's not much more than that. There's an attempt made at establishing Kuroda as a tragic figure, a product of a corrupt justice system, but the episode doesn't focus on this nearly enough to claim that it was about anything.

Bryan Tyler would score one more episode of Enterprise, Regeneration, and I must admit that his music went a long way towards helping me accept Borg in the 22nd century. But I guess I should save that comment for next week.

Disappearing Aliens: 15
Archer Abuse: 15
Captain Redshirt: 18

 

[AdmiralGarak]

Interesting that he also scored "Regeneration", because that episode immediately jumped to mind when you started complimenting the music in this one. It's a shame he hadn't scored more episodes.

 

[Peter the Younger]

Glad I'm not the only one who felt that way about Canamar. I distinctly remember looking up the composer, right after the episode was over. It doesn't lift the episode to greatness, surely, but definitely made it seem bigger than it was. Why they didn't bring Tyler back for more eps after Regeneration I will never know.

 

[flemm]

I heard that during the initial stages of developing the fifth series Brannon had wanted to do a TCW series but it was decided against. UPN really weren't crazy about the idea of a prequel so they wanted a way to bring in later series elements if the prequel didn't catch on. Brannon said he had remembered his TCW idea and he thought it was perfect to do what UPN wanted in tying back the other series to ENT if necessary.

UPN did a similiar thing with VOY where they always wanted the writers to have a way to bring the crew back to the familiar Alpha Quadrant if the isolated premise didn't work out hence the idea of Suspiria out there somewhere and the Borg transwarp conduits.

Interesting. A little odd, though... sowing the seeds for undoing your show's basic premise from early on.

 

[Glacial]

I heard that during the initial stages of developing the fifth series Brannon had wanted to do a TCW series but it was decided against. UPN really weren't crazy about the idea of a prequel so they wanted a way to bring in later series elements if the prequel didn't catch on. Brannon said he had remembered his TCW idea and he thought it was perfect to do what UPN wanted in tying back the other series to ENT if necessary.

UPN did a similiar thing with VOY where they always wanted the writers to have a way to bring the crew back to the familiar Alpha Quadrant if the isolated premise didn't work out hence the idea of Suspiria out there somewhere and the Borg transwarp conduits.

I understand B&B wanted the first season of ENT set on Earth and to cover getting the ship built and putting the crew together, and fleshing out various races and local interstellar politics, but UPN felt it'd be too risky and demanded they go into space with the pilot. Shame.

 

[TheGodBen]

The Crossing (*)

ARCHER: You're going to have to get two fingers...

Hello, what's this?

ARCHER: ...through the upper holes...

Giggity goo!

ARCHER: ...in the support plate.

I've never heard that euphemism before.

ARCHER: Normally, that wouldn't be a problem, but wearing those gloves could make it difficult.

This is some kinky shit right here.

No, I'm not just going for a cheap laugh, I'm going for a cheap laugh and trying to make a point. You see, while I was watching the episode I began to get bored by it and stopped giving it my full attention. Rather than trying to remember a route I took a few days ago or playing with an ice-cream stick, I booted up the computer and split my attention between the two activities. Eventually I heard that line and without the full context I had a very strange picture of what was going on. I was very disappointed when I turned back towards the TV, I can tell you.

So my point is that this episode was dull. It's Invasion of the Body Snatchers done on a spaceship, a tired retelling of a story already told in various forms within the Trek franchise. It's like Power Play but without all the fun things which made Power Play interesting. It has a chance to be something unique and genuinely sci-fi at the beginning, but it ends up as yet another episode whose conclusion is a ship being blowed up real good.

ARCHER: I'd prefer to keep you in Sickbay for a few days, but I can't afford to. I need you to get those engines back online.
TUCKER: I'll see what I can do.

If you needed the engines online then why did you bring your chief engineer on a pointless away-mission into the alien ship? What was an engineer going to do? Why didn't you send your science officer, dumbass?

ARCHER: I want those weapons back online, too.
REED: I'll see what I can do.

If you needed the weapons online then why did you bring your armoury officer on a pointless away-mission into the alien ship? I can understand why you'd want security with you, but surely Crewman Reds Hirt could have gone along instead while Reed fixed the weapons. And does anyone else think it is lazy that Tucker and Reed have the exact same line of dialogue?

Captain Redshirt: 19

 

[SRFX]

It would've been amusing if Malcolm replied with "Keep yer shirt on Cap'n!" and have Tucker say something typically Malcolm like "Right away, sir!"

 

[Alidar Jarok]

Random trivia, Canamar was originally a suggested idea for how to get Archer out of Rura Penthe in Judgment, but Berman and Braga liked it so much they decided to make it into a full episode.

 

[SRFX]

Random trivia, Canamar was originally a suggested idea for how to get Archer out of Rura Penthe in Judgment, but Berman and Braga liked it so much they decided to make it into a full episode.

They could have made it a full episode. Just make it the next episode after Judgment and just had a scene to show him and Malcolm escaping. Would've made the episode more significant.

As it was, Judgment ended a little unfinished (in terms of the escape).

 

[Disillusioned]

Canamar (***)

I always think of this episode as "Con Air" in space because that's about what it is. The things that actually bothered my the most about this episode were how Trip ended up being the comedy relief again, and that weird Neelix alien he was sitting next to.

The Crossing (*)

The sad part about this episode is that I actually have to think for a while about what it's about. I tend to keep mixing it up with another boring episode where Captain Archer and his sidekick wander aimlessly across the desert after playing a game with some space terrorists.

Random trivia, Canamar was originally a suggested idea for how to get Archer out of Rura Penthe in Judgment, but Berman and Braga liked it so much they decided to make it into a full episode.

The sad part is that probably would have made "Judgment" slightly better and not such an obvious rip-off of Star Trek 6.

 

[Skywalker]

I wish they had taken the idea for Canamar and turned it into a sequel to Judgment. That could have made for an excellent two-episode arc.

 

[Alidar Jarok]

Random trivia, Canamar was originally a suggested idea for how to get Archer out of Rura Penthe in Judgment, but Berman and Braga liked it so much they decided to make it into a full episode.

They could have made it a full episode. Just make it the next episode after Judgment and just had a scene to show him and Malcolm escaping. Would've made the episode more significant.

As it was, Judgment ended a little unfinished (in terms of the escape).

Problem was that Goodman kept getting delayed in writing his episode, so this episode came out well before.