uncomfortable w/ ENT
- Thread starter TheDoctor
- Start date
I agree with you.
Hmm...to answer your question: because Trek was losing viewers and something to shake things up a bit was needed. A prequel was seen as more accessible.
But what do you mean by "nor did ENT wanted to be watched"? Do you mean everyone who worked on it wanted to lose his job?
What does the fictional timeframe has to do with anything?
I don't.
Hmm, there would have been less constraints because of what we already know will happen in the future. In a post Voyager timeframe, preferably a good chunk later, the writers would have had a chance to be more creative and shake up the "Trek formula" a bit more IMHO.
But having said that, while it isn't my favorite ST series I think Enterprise was a fine series for the most part and I don't really get the hate directed at it from some people.
Many people who either did not watch the show all the way through or only saw it once feel similar things. I, for one, thought ENT was a great show that I really liked better after my second run through of it. To each his own, but by writing the show off you are missing out on TONS of great stuff. Your loss.
I grew up on TOS, and then Next Gen. I found DS9 to be ok, and Voyager a disgrace, but Enterprise was actually a much better show. It really took off in the last two seasons, especially season 4. Season 4 contained some of the best Trek Episodes of any Trek series. Trek just needed to keep Brannon and Rick away from it. They had grown so tired and narrow minded that anything they wrote seemed to lack any sense of necessity.
I think the prequel was a good idea (admittedly in some instances not well executed). It gave us a new perspective close to our own time so as to be more accessible to people who don't live in a perfect future. Aliens are still strange, and sometimes scary. And it was interesting having a pre-Federation Trek where Earth doesn't come off as the center of the universe.
I disagree. What did we need with yet another Trek series set 300 years from now? What was left?
We had TNG with its flawed aliens and alien cultures, asinine admirals, mad scientists, and other yahoos providing sharp contrast with the magnificient, tolerant, perfectly perfect crew.
We had DS9, a darker and far more interesting series dealing with the post-holocaustic occupation and exploitation of the Bajorans and their struggle to cope with their sudden ascension as a vital port to the Gamma Quadrant, later to become the front line in a galactic war.
We had Voyager (another great idea not always well executed) in which a crew is stranded in the Delta quadrant with no Federation, no Starfleet, nobody (except the Borg) who has ever even heard of either.
Actually, having constraints yields better storytelling.
Enterprise was a great opportunity to lay the groundwork for the Romulan wars, the establishment of the Federation, the expansion of Starfleet and the rise of Earth in the the interstellar community, but Bermaga had no roots in the true "next generation" of Trek, TOS. ENT didn't have to be "season 4" year after year; there was plenty of room for episodes completely unrelated to future Trek; but the opportunities to touch on events to come in TOS (and even later Trek shows) would have created a sense of "history" unfolding before us.
And in many instances, there was so little detail in TOS episodes, that it could have been handled just about any way you wanted. Take the Andorians. All we knew about them from "Journey to Babel" is that they are a violent race. ENT did a great job of fleshing out a species who were only seen once.
It is my favorite and I don't understand the hate, either.
I enjoy Enterprise; I didn't watch at first and something a friend said to me got me watching it and buying the dvds. The only thing I can't get by is Bakula as Captain; whenever he gives an order its like ok that didn't really sound real to me at all. I guess use to captains like Kirk and Picard and Sisko and maybe Janeway but just ARcher was not believeable at times; ok sometimes he was but I felt at times Trip made a more believable Captain when he took over especially in S4 when he was in charge of the ship while ARcher was away with Tpol. Other then that I enjoy watching eps of Enterprise and this week is Shuttlepod One where the two characters which I thought would have been a friendship worth showing more Trip and Malcolm is fun to watch. Guessing they would have thought have next Bashir and Obrien but even those two for me were fun to watch. TMO.
Great points, JiNX. 
I thought the prequel premise was quite compelling as well. And for me, Archer, and Bakula, were great. I do wish the writing staff had nurtured the character a bit more to avoid the inconsistencies that resulted in the "love him or hate him" reaction among viewers.
I thought the prequel premise was quite compelling as well. And for me, Archer, and Bakula, were great. I do wish the writing staff had nurtured the character a bit more to avoid the inconsistencies that resulted in the "love him or hate him" reaction among viewers.
Thanks.Great points, JiNX.
I agree about the writing staff. It's one thing to make a character flawed. It's another to paint him as a jerk.
I thought ENT had an interesting premise but there was too much outside interference--mostly from being on a struggling broadcast TV network--that got in the way, IMO. I think certain creative decisions were made that might not have been had the show been in syndication or on cable.
See? See? What'd I tell ya? You see to-may-to, I see to-mah-to... let's call the whole thing off.Thanks.Great points, JiNX.
I agree about the writing staff. It's one thing to make a character flawed. It's another to paint him as a jerk.
Good thoughts here. Hard to be creative, much less daring, when the suits (not generally known for their storytelling acumen) are telling you what to do, and you're wondering if you'll even be on the air next season. A far cry from all the other non-TOS Trek shows, which all coasted along, knowing they'd have seven seasons to do long storylines, complex character arcs, experimental episodes. No worries about not enough markets, or preemption, or too little advertising. *sigh*
BTW, C.E., your avatar has me totally LOL.
Sounds like you're a Voy fan who wanted more Voy instead of ENT. I'm just the opposite, I thought Voy was okay, But I'm much more of an ENT fan. I wish ENT had been presented in Voy's place.
But on the other hand, if ENT had come along when Voy did, the network suits might have done to it what they did to Voy, that is, neuter the show. We would never have gotten ENT seasons 3 and 4 if the suits had been as involved as they were with Voy (and ENT too in seasons 1 and 2).
What we saw in ENT seasons 3 and 4, IMO, was what Voy might have been if given the opportunity.
ENT is my favorite series. I loved both TOS and TNG. I never got into DS9, and I found VOY boring. I wish I liked the latter two, but just didn't...although both had their share of very good episodes.
ENT was fresh and exciting and just what Star Trek needed...with the proper people behind it. If B&B put their egos on a shelf and let someone else--like Manny Coto--take the helm, there would have been seven seasons of ENT.
ENT was fresh and exciting and just what Star Trek needed...with the proper people behind it. If B&B put their egos on a shelf and let someone else--like Manny Coto--take the helm, there would have been seven seasons of ENT.
They needed to do a post-DS9 series. But starting about six months before ENT began, we knew it was going to be a prequel set in the time around the Federation's founding. A lot of people were opposed, but a lot of us were happy with the idea. I was certainly happy. The execution is what left a lot to be desired.
I liked "Enterprise" fine.
I don't give a shit what happens "after Voyager," "after DS9" and whatnot. Abrams is going back to the 23rd century, and if we never see anything post-TNG again - which seems very possible - I'll be real happy.
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