Tone of ENT

[Bry_Sinclair]

This is something I've been musing on for a few days now, so thought I'd throw it out and see what others thought of it.

How might ENT have fared if, when the series started, the Earth Starfleet was more militaristic? I'm not saying that they'd be going out to conquer planets and fight wars, but for a series about the early days of Earth's warp flight, the humans seem far too 'advanced' in their mentality (Archer's cringe-inducing attempts at racism towards Vulcans not-withstanding).

They seem more in line with the humans of the TNG era, rather than a people who were only a century ago trying to kill each other with nuclear weapons. I know they say that the realisation that they are not alone in the universe unites humanity like never before, but they just seem too lovey-dovey.

What if instead, they had started out with a more rigorous, formal military structure, with their primary mission being to ensure the safety of Earth and her colonies by assessing potential alien threats. However, over time the Captain and crew discover the need to be more open and accepting of other races due to their contact with them, which leads on to working together on operations, that blossoms into opening diplomatic channels, friendly relationships and ultimately the building block of the UFP. So it is down to the crew of the Enterprise that the Federation Starfleet became the more quasi-military entity that it is, with greater emphasis on peaceful exploration and interstellar relations.

 

[BillJ]

How might ENT have fared if, when the series started, the Earth Starfleet was more militaristic?

It didn't need to be more militaristic. The thing that always bothered me the most was Archer acting like a Boy Scout trying to earn his exploration merit badge.

 

[Bry_Sinclair]

It didn't need to be more militaristic. The thing that always bothered me the most was Archer acting like a Boy Scout trying to earn his exploration merit badge.

A Boy Scout would've been a better choice for Captain

 

[MacLeod]

Agreed it didn't need to be more militarlistic, the ship just need a few more sane officers like Reed onbaord. I would also have relegated T'Pol to an Advisor role instead of first officer. In some respects Reed might have been a better candidate for first officer then you can have the more optimistic Archer with Reed acting as a more circumspect foil.

 

[Melakon]

I would also have relegated T'Pol to an Advisor role instead of first officer. In some respects Reed might have been a better candidate for first officer then you can have the more optimistic Archer with Reed acting as a more circumspect foil.

Yeah, this seems a better approach to me. Reed was the most interesting character for me starting out, and I didn't like making him later affiliated with Section 31 at all. It was a sucker punch, like Siddig finding out Bashir had a secret past when he read that week's script.

T'Pol as first officer seemed to be too closely trying to imitate Spock's role, or perhaps even the Pike/Number One relationship.

 

[Daveros]

Since the release of the Blu-rays, I am watching Enterprise for the first time and have just started Series Four.

You know, Enterprise has a lot wrong with it, and the first half of Series One can be especially singled out for that (Trip's wrist nipple, et al) but I don't blame the tone. Infact, I prefer what I am seeing now with the glossy-eyed Archer being torn down with the realisation that the galaxy doesn't want to be his friend. That speaks to me, somewhat, in a way that militaristic expansion never would.

It's not specifically tone that was the problem with Enterprise, it was the quality overall. Even in Series Three they were making episodes in which the crew were transformed into weird alien-monster things that could only grunt for half the episode? I mean, what the hell?

Starfleet being more militaristic wouldn't have been a bad thing, though, and the introduction of the Macos was a great idea. People that can actually shoot straight? Yes please. Maybe something in the middle, a militaristic campaign (you know, maybe just stop random officers talking out of turn during every.damned.first.contact) to be everyone's friend and bring love to the galaxy? I dunno. There was a lot right with Enterprise, but it certainly needed work.

 

[Mage]

It didn't need to be more militaristic. The thing that always bothered me the most was Archer acting like a Boy Scout trying to earn his exploration merit badge.

A Boy Scout would've been a better choice for Captain

Why this again? Why do people always feel there should have been a more experienced captain? There is no one with the experience. There is literally NO human alive at this time who has any kind of experience do captain humanity's first Warp ship. Literally, no one.

And he was never simply given the ship because it was his daddy's project. He trained and studied as hard as the any of them. He was given the ship, because it was felt that he deserved it, and could do a good job.
Do you seriously believe any orginisation, like Starfleet, would simply entrust something like humanity's first frickin starship to someone, simply because his dad build it? No. Archer fought for that command, because he wanted to make sure his father's legacy would survive, instead of being buried by Vulcans. I can respect that.

 

[MacLeod]

But it wasn't Earth's first starship, it was Earth's first Warp 5 capable vessel but what about Warp 2/3 vessels?

 

[Melakon]

That's part of the problem with the show I think. It should have been closer to earlier days of warp travel, with the first warp ships reaching Alpha Centauri. Maybe we wouldn't have seen as many familiar aliens, but you don't always need belligerent aliens in science fiction.

 

[T'Girl]

He was given the ship, because it was felt that he deserved it, and could do a good job.

It is profoundly difficult to imagine that Archer was the best Starfleet could do, in terms of being best for the job. That's why so many of us think that nepotism or something else was involved in Archer's selection.

Archer (iirc) had never been in command of anything bigger than a single seat test ship, had never had a crew under his control. Starfleet had other ships, and so had men and women with experience that exceeded Archer's.

There is no one with the experience.

That statement doesn't agree with what was shown on the show.

I would also have relegated T'Pol to an Advisor role instead of first officer.

It's never been clear to me why T'Pol was the first officer. She pointedly wasn't a officer in Starfleet, so in spite of her high command rank she shouldn't have been in Starfleet's chain of command.

Reed (or Tucker) should have been the first officer.

:0

 

[Skywalker]

I actually do like the general tone of ENT in its first season. They really did feel like pioneers encountering all of this strange stuff for the first time. The execution could have been a bit better, but if I were to change the tone at all I'd make it slightly less happy-go-lucky. Sure, this is a bunch of weird and wonderful stuff they're seeing, but space is a dangerous place. Things just seemed a bit too comfortable. So I don't think the crew needed to be more militaristic, but I would have liked it better if they'd at least seemed like they were aware of the gravity of their situation and seemed like they were taking it seriously.

 

[Drone]

I would also have relegated T'Pol to an Advisor role instead of first officer.

It's never been clear to me why T'Pol was the first officer. She pointedly wasn't a officer in Starfleet, so in spite of her high command rank she shouldn't have been in Starfleet's chain of command.

Reed (or Tucker) should have been the first officer

Wouldn't it make sense to Command, either the Vulcans who held such great sway over decision making or Terrans feeling the need to appease them, to have such a seasoned individual, especially one who shared Soval's cast of mind about Earth's readiness for the mission, to be in the position of being a practical buffer against rash or imprudent choices being made initially, regardless of how it might compromise the integrity of the existing Starfleet command structure?

 

[BillJ]

Why this again? Why do people always feel there should have been a more experienced captain? There is no one with the experience. There is literally NO human alive at this time who has any kind of experience do captain humanity's first Warp ship. Literally, no one.

The captain should've been more pragmatic. Archer did things just to be doing them with no real logic behind it. I point to the episode "Strange New World" (which I personally like). He sends his people down without checking the environment first because the Vulcans would've spent time checking it out before exposing their people.

His first duty should've been to the safety of his people not his ego.

They could have shown him making mistakes without making him a moron.

 

[Nerys Myk]

Being a "moron" makes for better television.

 

[trimotor]

I agree with the tone needing to be a bit different. I do think that they should have already have had some procedures and protocol established by earlier explorations by Starfleet as well as advice taken from the Vulcans. So, really they should have behaved a bit more like they did on TOS.

The big problems for me were that Archer, as a test pilot, really wasn't the person who would have actually been chosen as the first Captain of the Enterprise. It would have been one of their existing Captains being promoted to the Enterprise. I don't really have a problem with the role T'Pol played. My biggest gripe is with the contrived nonsense having to do with the temporal cold war and the Xindi. It was completely unnecessary. They could have just as easily shown the disastrous first contact with the Klingons that led to decades of war. That, I think would have been far more interesting and is what led to the establishment of the Prime Directive according to earlier series. I also think that they should have at least known about the Romulans as, presumably, the war with them had already happened by then.

 

[Skywalker]

Personally, I consider the entire four year period ENT covered to be part of the "disastrous first contact" that Picard mentioned. First contact between Earth and the Klingons directly led to the Klingons becoming disfigured, after all.

 

[F. King Daniel]

I just wish they had direction for the first two seasons. Earth spends 30 years and a fortune developing and building the Enterprise, and then they put the designer's son in the captain's chair and let him do whatever and go wherever he wants.

Surely a mission of such import would be given to someone with experience, such a mission would be carefully mapped out years in advance and with all those "directives someone will one day come up with" all ready in place?