Watching Enterprise First
- Thread starter GulBahana
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My wife started with Enterprise -- mainly because I was just beginning a rewatch when we met. I don't know how to categorize her reaction, though. She didn't think it was anything special at the time, and didn't feel that it was a good lead-in to TOS (which we watched next). It wasn't until after we'd gone through TNG, DS9, and Voyager and later returned to Enterprise on the next rewatch that she understood the nuances and warmed up to the show. I guess that's telling, however; it showed that Enterprise couldn't stand on its own.
And, bless her heart, she hated Star Trek '09.
And, bless her heart, she hated Star Trek '09.
I got started with Enterprise. I was a big fan of Quantum Leap, and Scott Bakula was announced to be the new captain at the time I was religiously watching the Quantum Leap reruns on the Sci-Fi Channel (before it was Syfy). I got into it with "Broken Bow" and watched it first-run all the way to the end of season four. During the four seasons, I had also got into all the other shows, so my "reaction" to the show was influenced also by watching the other four, so I can't answer your question 100% the way you want.
That said, my favorite is DS9, but Enterprise holds a very special place in my heart, and I'm into the third season right now (rewatching). I don't find it anywhere near as bad as people made it out to be back in the day. It just wasn't the show people seemed to want.
That said, my favorite is DS9, but Enterprise holds a very special place in my heart, and I'm into the third season right now (rewatching). I don't find it anywhere near as bad as people made it out to be back in the day. It just wasn't the show people seemed to want.
Enterprise was my first Trek in MANY years. I hadn't watched TOS probably in 20 years, and never really watched TNG since its first run in the 90s. And I didn't watch ENT until I caught it on Netflix 3 years ago. And like Kevinb , I watched for Bakula. But honestly, I stuck around for Trineer and Keating. Though, really, I actually did like the entire cast
Even with all its faults, I found ENT to be a fun show, with characters that has traits of people I actually know. After ENT, I got into VOY, but got bored after a few seasons. I could barely tolerate 7 of 9. I tried a rewatch of TOS, but found it to be way to campy for my tastes, and I dropped that fast. I've rewatched some of TNG, but wasn't as intrigued by it the second go round (I was BIG into it during college).
I tried DS9, but after 3 episodes, it hadn't quite "grabbed me, so I dropped it. But, since I've heard great things about how it improved over time, and there were characters I liked, I need to give it another chance.
JJ Trek just made me yawn.
So, right now, ENT is actually my favorite. (Yea, I'm sure I probably sitting alone at my table in the corner for that one!)
Even with all its faults, I found ENT to be a fun show, with characters that has traits of people I actually know. After ENT, I got into VOY, but got bored after a few seasons. I could barely tolerate 7 of 9. I tried a rewatch of TOS, but found it to be way to campy for my tastes, and I dropped that fast. I've rewatched some of TNG, but wasn't as intrigued by it the second go round (I was BIG into it during college).
I tried DS9, but after 3 episodes, it hadn't quite "grabbed me, so I dropped it. But, since I've heard great things about how it improved over time, and there were characters I liked, I need to give it another chance.
JJ Trek just made me yawn.
So, right now, ENT is actually my favorite. (Yea, I'm sure I probably sitting alone at my table in the corner for that one!)
I can't imagine being able to watch original Trek after seeing Enterprise, as it is visually anachronistic. Of course when I was a little kid and watching TOS for the first time in the 60s, it didn't look cheesy and anachronistic to us back then.
Exact;y. ENT didn't live up to preconceptions. .... and those already tired of B&B trek just pounced.I got started with Enterprise. I was a big fan of Quantum Leap, and Scott Bakula was announced to be the new captain at the time I was religiously watching the Quantum Leap reruns on the Sci-Fi Channel (before it was Syfy). I got into it with "Broken Bow" and watched it first-run all the way to the end of season four. During the four seasons, I had also got into all the other shows, so my "reaction" to the show was influenced also by watching the other four, so I can't answer your question 100% the way you want.
That said, my favorite is DS9, but Enterprise holds a very special place in my heart, and I'm into the third season right now (rewatching). I don't find it anywhere near as bad as people made it out to be back in the day. It just wasn't the show people seemed to want.
It's the biggest problem with it. There's nothing on that waste of a series where I thought STAR TREK could transition to. I think JJTrek could, quite easily and bringing a model of the NX-01 was appropriate in Into Darkness. A prequel to JJTrek is something I can accept, but never for STAR TREK.
I've done that. Started with First Contact (the first of two times I'd watch that in a complete run), gone to Enterprise and then to the original. I tend to hold "In A Mirror, Darkly" back, watching that out of sequence right after "Terra Prime". Going from a story involving recreated TOS sets, Hoshi finding files in the Defiant computer and talk of Archer's impact on future history, to "The Cage", followed by that series in production order helps.
While not being the biggest fan of it in the world, I have no problem with slotting JJ Trek in before TOS... although barring some colossal time-bending plot twist past Beyond, I expect it'll never converge back into in the one universe the way I'd like it to.
While not being the biggest fan of it in the world, I have no problem with slotting JJ Trek in before TOS... although barring some colossal time-bending plot twist past Beyond, I expect it'll never converge back into in the one universe the way I'd like it to.
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Zero connection to anything else in Trek? Well, I'll let this podcast do the talking for me. http://trek.fm/warp-five/89
I had watched TOS, TNG and DS9 first as a little girl but I was too young to remember much. So I think I'm close enough to watching ENT first. I watched some of the more Spock-centric episodes on Netflix years later. I thought ENT was well-connected to the prejudice we saw from T'Pau. And I liked seeing the parallels between the Spock/Sarek relationship and the one between T'Pol and T'Les.
It's funny you should post this because I just talked a friend into NOT watching ENT first.
They saw the new movies (which I don't like very much) and asked me why because they knew I liked Star Trek. Anyway, they got interested and were going to start with ENT on Netflix because I kinda gave the overall outline of chronology.
Anyway, I actually really like a lot of ENT, but I think there are two reasons not to start that way:
1. A lot of the fun of TOS is the mystery of what you don't know. Andorians and such seem really exotic because the characters are comfortable with them but they are new to us. I think knowing the backstory first would dispel some of that magic.
2. Some of the fun of ENT is that you know where it will turn out but you want to see how. Its a more revealing show than TOS which uses unexplained mystery to create some of the magic.
Those are just my two cents.
They saw the new movies (which I don't like very much) and asked me why because they knew I liked Star Trek. Anyway, they got interested and were going to start with ENT on Netflix because I kinda gave the overall outline of chronology.
Anyway, I actually really like a lot of ENT, but I think there are two reasons not to start that way:
1. A lot of the fun of TOS is the mystery of what you don't know. Andorians and such seem really exotic because the characters are comfortable with them but they are new to us. I think knowing the backstory first would dispel some of that magic.
2. Some of the fun of ENT is that you know where it will turn out but you want to see how. Its a more revealing show than TOS which uses unexplained mystery to create some of the magic.
Those are just my two cents.
No, I'm sitting at that table too. I'd watched a fair bit of Trek previously, but (apart from the TOS movies) ENT was the first Trek show that felt special, that felt like my show.
DS9 has some great elements and some blah elements. I always enjoyed Odo and Quark (the two best actors on the show), and the friendship that eventually develops between Miles and Julian. I like Kira and Sisko - but only when they're being kickass, not when they're moping about their personal lives, which is too much of the time. The stuff about Bajoran politics and religion was mostly pretty dull, and Jadzia was always a drag.
The Mirror universe episodes were fun, and I also (controversially) liked the Ferenghi episodes. But still, overall I have mixed feelings. If I was going to rewatch it, I think I'd check an episode guide to make sure I avoid the duds.
I would like to watch campy old TOS again, as I've enjoyed rewatching Errand of Mercy and The Trouble with Tribbles, but getting the non-CGI version on DVD is prohibitively expensive.
That's a good idea!
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Enterprise was the first Trek I willingly sat down to watch. I'd seen episodes of TNG as a kid at my aunt's house because it was the only show she'd allow us to watch, but I can't say I got much enjoyment of it as a ten year old that would've rather been watching Ninja Turtles instead. 
Anyway, a guy I was crushing on was a big fan of Trek and as it happened I turned on the TV right as the series primere was about to start. Seeing as I had no cable, I was like "Sure, why not?" It took till The Andorian Incident to truly start getting into the show.
Overall, as someone that only knew Trek by cultural osmosis (I still associate William Shatner more as the host of Rescue 911 than Kirk
), the show was decent, apart from Archer's unprofessionalism at spots. It wasn't till season three that I decided to give the other Treks a go and instantly loved TNG and I started to understand why fandom at large was so frustrated with this show. But for what it's worth, it's gotten me a lotta friends, both online and off, so ENT will always hold some nostalgia for me.
Anyway, a guy I was crushing on was a big fan of Trek and as it happened I turned on the TV right as the series primere was about to start. Seeing as I had no cable, I was like "Sure, why not?" It took till The Andorian Incident to truly start getting into the show.
Overall, as someone that only knew Trek by cultural osmosis (I still associate William Shatner more as the host of Rescue 911 than Kirk
), the show was decent, apart from Archer's unprofessionalism at spots. It wasn't till season three that I decided to give the other Treks a go and instantly loved TNG and I started to understand why fandom at large was so frustrated with this show. But for what it's worth, it's gotten me a lotta friends, both online and off, so ENT will always hold some nostalgia for me.I actually met a person in college who was watching Enterprise without seeing any other Trek series. This was also before the JJ movies came out. He said that he didn't really want to watch the rest of Trek after watching Enterprise, since it was "too much to get into." I also remember thinking it was funny how much he hated "In a Mirror, Darkly." To him, it was just some bizarre episode where all of the characters are suddenly evil with no explanation and no effect on the show's main story. He hated some of the other crossover episodes for the same reason (the finale, the Borg one, etc.).
Out of curiosity, how did he like season four overall? Because apart from the first three episodes and Daedalus, every episode was a direct callback to some other point in Trek's history.
I too hated the Borg episode. Not that the final product was bad, just not necessary in a prequel series that followed the series that many fans held responsible for ruining said Borg.
I too hated the Borg episode. Not that the final product was bad, just not necessary in a prequel series that followed the series that many fans held responsible for ruining said Borg.
Well, there was an explanation (in part 2, I think), but you had to be paying attention.
Surprised he didn't like the Borg ep. I thought that stood alone pretty well.
That's the way I tend to rate, trying to bear all factors in mind, so even most of the poorer episodes will get 4 or 5, because I'm allowing for the good performances, character moments, and production design that can exist even alongside dull or clumsy plots, unimpressive sequences, and dud performances. Conversely, I find I can rarely watch even a good episode uncritically. The ones that really carry me away get that rare 8/10.
I'm not a fan of the Terra Prime arc. Everything feels very cramped and small in scale. Peter Weller needs more room to move to really be effective. The insta-baby felt gratuitously heart-wrenching, and made little sense plot-wise. Shran should have been in the conference scene towards the end, but they were "saving" him for TATV. Those are the gripes I can recall at the moment.
Seems fair. if the purpose was to scare the xenophobia about the dangers of interspecies offspring, little Elizabeth with her mostly humanoid appearance wasn't the way to go. Now, Lizzie with a Cthulu lower half and the ability to walk on ceilings with the suction cups on her ittsy bitsy tentacles? Hell yeah that'd freak people out. Moms especially, because toddlers are unruly enough with just two legs 
Yeah, a little baby with pointy ears would only be even cuter.
BTW, when trying to remember the name of this arc, I always think "Blue Earth" first, because that was the name of a similar movement in the anime Gundam Seed.
BTW, when trying to remember the name of this arc, I always think "Blue Earth" first, because that was the name of a similar movement in the anime Gundam Seed.
I think for most people, the emotional impact of the baby worked despite the glaring plot holes. I'm sorry it didn't for you. However, I do agree the saving Shran for TATV (only to ruin him) was a bad idea. And you are the first non-fan of Terra Prime who seems reasonable. I once argued with a guy who considered Elizabeth a middle finger to canon because Spock was supposedly the first half Vulcan. Many of those haters latch on to this argument. Just curious, do you think Terra Prime is the most overrated ENT arc?
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