I wasn't a Trip fan initially. I ended up liking him because I was a T'Pol fan and she liked him. (Not that this worked for Chakotay but oh well..)
Ha, I started liking Trip because Malcolm liked him. Or maybe it was the running around in his underwear thing that opened my eyes to his finer qualities. I was quite annoyed by Trip the first few episodes. The way he and Archer picked on T'Pol and all. But he grew up along the way.
When you first watch the series it is easy to not like Archer or Trip. Where's Picard's diplomacy and restraint, where's Kirk wit and ability to think ahead? But at least after "First Flight" you understand that these guys are the way they are because they always had to push things, literally expanding the final frontier all the time.
It's funny because from the first time I saw ENT, I always liked Trip. Maybe it was his humor or his manner but I liked him.
That MU episode was great. Archer's impression of Kirk was just noticable with being a hammy mockery of Shatner's performance.
And I liked the guy in your avatar and whose name you borrowed. Much, much more likeable than Trip ever was. Trip was consistently an ass from start to finish.
I just finished ENT yesterday. I Netflixed TNG through ENT in about a year. I was a TOS girl from the time I was a kid, but didn't move beyond it until now. Everything good has already been said, so I will just reiterate my top 3: 1. How hard it all is at the start. For example, when Trip had to spend, 6 hours I think it was, in decompression just to board the ship on which he got pregnant. I thought to myself, this is how it should be. Inter-species contact should be HARD. A subset here would be how morally ambiguous some situations became as the show got darker. Archer was flying by the seat of his pants, it was all new. 2. A ship that is not the Marriott Enterprise. 3. Connections to other Trek series. I'm not a continuity freak, but I did like the explanation for the Klingon change in appearance. I also liked the Vulcan backstory, and how we saw a sort of second "awakening" as their high council is broken down and a new set of teachings introduced. This, in part, helps explain the gap between T'Pol and Spock. These teachings were absent from her upbringing, and her Vulcan disciplines were different. I would like to thank the Enterprise haters for giving me extremely low expectations for this show. I thought it was going to be a chore to watch, but instead it has earned its own special place in my trekkie heart.
Well glad you liked it. When it was originally airing, I gave up halfway through season 2. A number of years later I finally finished it and it grew on me. I have any number of posts that are critical on Enterprise on this forum so I won't relive that. Just that I went into this show -wanting- to like it and it was so disapointing on so many levels. Maybe that ties back into your comment on expectations. Sure, I will rate it at the bottom compared to the other four Trek series without a doubt, but hey it is Trek. It's watchable and there were a few gems along the road.
I know I will have some repeats, but here are my reasons: This was the only Trek I watched while it was airing (I was 12 when it started). I had already liked Trek by watching syndicated TNG with my dad. I think this show will always have a special place in my heart for that reason. I don't know if I would say it's the best but I like it better than the two 90's Trek. Other than that I loved Malcolm and Hoshi. I liked his calm British reserve and humor, not to mention he was good looking lol. It was also nice to see a Japanese character as part of the 'main cast' (being Japanese myself). The characters felt more like real people, unlike the highly philosophical/'superiority' of other Treks. Andorian's moving antennae. Season 4 Trip getting pregnant. I still vividly remember the promo; "that is a nipple, you're pregnant." I liked watching the two aliens on the ship looking at human behavior from different perspectives.