Yes well another of the contentious episodes I like in ST is STNG's "Masks". I think its a near-masterpiece but a lot of people don't seem to like it. I just simply choose to believe they're all nuts and move on..
While I wouldn't call the people who dislike "Masks" nuts, I definitely appreciated it. Granted, most of TNG I saw as a child and have not re-watched since, but it made a strong impression on me from a visual standpoint.
I hate the song too, but I understand the context and the significance enough to appreciate it and couldn't see them doing anything differently.
I just wish they hadn't done that horseshit remix for seasons 3 and 4.
The song itself was horseshit enough..
I didn't mind the song, and I particularly liked what was done with the opening montage. You could actually feel like ENT was connected in some way to the world we knew.
Which brings me to my thoughts on the series. I am not one of those who would like to wipe ENT from canon, by any means. It's actually TOS that sticks out to me at times, as not "fitting" right, compared to the other four, for a number of reasons--visual, aesthetic, and social. From a
visual standpoint, I would say that aside from DS9, the set and costume designers demonstrated the most thought we've seen from them, hands down. You could actually visualize the technology aboard the Enterprise as being in some way related to what we know. There were elements that reminded me very strongly of the interior of the space shuttle or the Apollo capsules, as well as nods to TOS. But the best thing visually, believe it or not, were actually the uniforms. They were actual flight suits. They were practical, looked like they could've been inspired by NASA, and NOT there for titillation.
Which brings me to a problem I had with the show: the obvious attempts to pander to the shallow end of the male demographic. The whole decon and neuropressure massage thing was gratuitous. Now, I think decon as a concept makes good sense...and
especially in light of some of the possible discoveries we are now finding about real life. But there is NO way that is at all what it would be like. They should have based it on the very un-sexy procedures that go on when you leave a Level 4 biolab. Yeah, you'd give up the sex appeal, but it would work with the other visual elements of the series that are a clear bridge between our world and TOS.
I just don't have any patience, though, with substituting sex for plot. Sex
can work as part of a plot, but if it's just a blatant insertion of eye candy, it doesn't work at all.
As a concept, ENT had
tremendous promise. Unfortunately, it was not executed as well as it could have been. Some of the writing I fault...but I also fault the casting.
I am going to say it: I think that Scott Bakula was miscast. I say that as a
fan of his, too, not a detractor. He is far better in roles that do not require him to demonstrate a command presence (even the
flawed command presence we would expect in this context). Given this, I think that he and the writers never met up, and the material for this character fell short. And that, unfortunately, set a tone for the series.
Now, unlike some, I DO think very well of the exploration of the Vulcans. Contrary to their propaganda, they were very RARELY ever paragons of tolerance. Far from it. The development of their race on ENT was very much in line with what I thought they would have been like.
I admit I wish that I'd stuck with the series to watch Seasons 3 and 4, which I heard were very good.
As a fanfic writer, I do choose to acknowledge ENT as canon...though I am
not sure I fully acknowledge VOY. So, ENT is not the worst, for me, but I think it had more promise that was never fulfilled.