Theory About Why Most Don't Care for Enterprise as Much...

[JirinPanthosa]

I no longer consider myself a hater because I liked season 3-4 when I finally watched it.

But the reason most people don't care for Enterprise is that the first two seasons just have really, really terrible writing. Simple as that.

 

[Melakon]

. . .But, it made money for the network so I guess that's all anyone ever cared about really. . .

And in a final irony, or a case of biting the hand that feeds it, said network collapsed one year after cancellation.

 

[Frontier]

. . .But, it made money for the network so I guess that's all anyone ever cared about really. . .

And in a final irony, or a case of biting the hand that feeds it, said network collapsed one year after cancellation.

Yeah but UPN was on the verge of that going back to Voyager's 6th and 7th seasons. They just didn't have the right strategy, programming, consistency, or access. Enterprise was sort of the life-point, hope against hope it would boost them, and when it didn't... they sunk with it.

 

[Frontier]

Frontier, that's brilliant, and quite in line with where I thought they should have gone with it too.

Yeah. I've often thought of writing out a fan-fic "pilot" about how it would have been/should have been, but, I'm apathetic and lazy.

I certainly wouldn't have done the ship as Enterprise, though. The name I settled on was U.S.S. Pioneer, with a registry something like NCC-170. And so then, their main shuttle craft could be Shuttle 1, and so like in TOS, it would read NCC-170/1.

 

[Gojira]

Too many shite, recycled and bland epsodes in seasons one and two. That's why Enterprise failed. Had they begun with the energy and direction of season 3, I think things would have been very different.

Take a look at the Abrams' movies to see that Trek can be HUGE while merrily tweaking continuity left and right. There will always be the OCD crowd who will scream and rant - that the Klingons were wrong, the insignia was wrong, the terminology was wrong, how dare it contradict the novels and technical manuals, how dare they change date X to suit their story etc etc - but the vast majority will be along for the ride if they enjoy it.

Once again, King Daniel speaks the truth.

I just didn't find the episodes in the first couple of seasons exciting. I didn't like making the Vulcans so adversarial and confrontational. They all seemed angry.

 

[marksound]

I think Enterprise is the one series that should have never made it to air.

 

[Gojira]

I think Enterpriseis the one series that should have never made it to air.

Agreed. I know I would have liked a series set after Voyager.

 

[Melakon]

I really wanted the show to succeed, but I didn't care for any of the initial episodes until "Civilization", as it felt closest in spirit to TOS. Unfortunately, that episode is not a fan favorite. There often seemed to be a tendency to concentrate on building the characters through scenes that sometimes had nothing to do with an episode's story. The uniforms looked like they were bought off the rack at a custodial supply company.

 

[Kirk the Jerk]

Didn't like the whole Suliban/Temporal Cold War/Delphic Expanse arc, there were a few good episodes but as a whole just never really went anywhere. Introduction of species again like the Suliban, Ferengi, Borg etc. was just rehashed none sense.

It should have fitted with what we DO know about the alpha quadrant not just create a whole new idea. Could have used more Tholian/Gorn/Breen story lines. Should have been about gaining allies to help with the Romulan war. Introduction of Klingons later in the series, the odd skirmish with a bird of prey that almost cost them their lives (Kobyashi Maru style)

Never really improved for me, until the last episode where it just seemed like the whole thing was just Riker's fantasy holo deck program

One thing I did like was the use of Zefram Cochrane (James Cromwell). That's about it... Unfortunately.

 

[bullethead]

There were a few problems with Enterprise:
-The UPN executives made a bunch of bad moves that alienated the fans and compromised the show: the Akiraprise, mandating the Temporal Cold War so the show was both a prequel and sequel, keeping the tech mostly the same, etc...
-A tapped out writing staff who weren't writing the stories they wanted to write and were forced to keep the TNG formula.
-Berman staying and refusing to shake up the directing and soundtracks, which made the shows seem even blander than their scripts did.
-Fans being burnt out after a decade of Trek shows and what was perceived to be declining quality.

If Enterprise had been something special or at least gave the audience the impression that they were trying to make a great program, people might've given the show the benefit of the doubt in those first two seasons. Sadly, things didn't work out that way and the franchise wound up languishing for a while.

 

[Melakon]

I never understood Berman's musical taste. Everything sounds layered and bland, he didn't like scores with punch and bombastic horns blaring everywhere. Sometimes the background scores all sound the same. It's surprising how many shows actually credit a composer rather than a music supervisor. Apparently he thought audiences shouldn't be aware of the music.

 

[Triskelion]

The smarter they made the show - the shorter it would be on the air.

 

[Bry_Sinclair]

The human-heavy crew I also found dull. Though not a favourite of mine, Phlox was an interesting addition, with some very alien abilities and a different approach to things, whilst T'Pol was a source of 'conflict'.

If the series had been set at the beginning of the Federation on a ship with Andorians, Tellarite, Rigellians, etc on board I would have found it more interesting--in the early days the very different ways each species looked at things would have made for some very interesting and dynamic stories.

I really wanted to like ENT, but it had no sense of adventure to it and did just feel like very poor VOY.

 

[vulcan redshirt]

IMO, more use should have been made of established 'favourite' races from the beginning, with less emphasis on new species (which made parts of ENT seem like TNG / VOY alien-of-the-week). I would not be surprised if the Suliban / TCW put off a lot of viewers, and less said about vampire space nazis the better.

 

[Melakon]

We're lucky ENT and VOY were on UPN rather than one of the majors like NBC. Both shows probably would have done much worse and gotten cancelled early. They probably should have kept Trek as a first run syndication offer.

 

[MacLeod]

I never understood Berman's musical taste. Everything sounds layered and bland, he didn't like scores with punch and bombastic horns blaring everywhere. Sometimes the background scores all sound the same. It's surprising how many shows actually credit a composer rather than a music supervisor. Apparently he thought audiences shouldn't be aware of the music.

In some respects the audiance shouldn't be aware of the music. If the music is done well it pulls you into the scene, the emotions, the tone of the it etc.. Bad music throws you out of thescene because you notice the music.

 

[TEACAKE'S PLEATHER DOME]

But great music enhances a show. I'm thinking of Game of Thrones, some True Blood themes and of course NuBSG. Not everything can be NuBSG but I do think the VOY and DS9 music was forgettable and occasionally awful. That's why we notice the music in Counterpoint, because it's real music and not just bombastic or waffley filler.

ENT had a much better score, noticeably atmospheric and creative. Not amazing, but amazing compared to the three series that proceeded it.

 

[Melakon]

VOY did a bit of it. I liked David Bell's Borg theme for VOY: Dark Frontier, and he did similar work in ENT. TOS had some great action music, and I missed that starting with TNG, but it admittedly had a lot less physical action stuff.

 

[Captain Kathryn]

I really had a good time watching Enterprise. I knew going into it that it was considered to be the most "disliked" Trek, so I had low expectations. However, I thoroughly enjoyed it.

At first, the "new wording" (er, rather "old wording"?) did throw me off only at the very beginning, but it did convey to me that they were going for authenticity. That, and having Archer constantly "make mistakes" then mentioning that maybe one day there would be "rules" dictating ones behavior in a similar instance (aka the Prime Directive), also showed they were trying to go for a more authentic look at what it may have really been like in their century for space travel. I thought it took some thought of the writers and producers to put those in and it made sense.

The show got better and better as it went on. Sorry it went off while it did.

 

[Captain Kathryn]

The human-heavy crew I also found dull. Though not a favourite of mine, Phlox was an interesting addition, with some very alien abilities and a different approach to things, whilst T'Pol was a source of 'conflict'.

I also enjoy it more when there is a more "diverse" crew, however keep in mind it WAS the first command in space of that kind and the Federation had not been formed yet, therefore consisting of mostly humans, a Vulcan (which makes sense for the time period)...and Phlox (for some reason? I don't recall them explaining).

I really like when they have a more diverse crew, but can understand why they did not have one in THIS particular case.

I liked the integration of some recurring non-human characters towards the end such as Shran and the Xindi.