Why introduce the Klingons so soon?

[Norrin Radd]

You'd think they would've saved them for a season ender or something. You know...hype it up. Make it an anticipated event: When will First Contact with the Klingons take place? How will it happen? Please, we can't wait! You know...

 

[JNG]

Well, it was just so super fascinating to have the whole pilot revolve around the life-or-death cat-and-mouse game with the Suliban, and of course at stake for the Klingons was that crucial information that was...

...

...what was that all about again?

 

[Aquehonga]

ENT should've had no “Klingons”! Of any type, whether TOS-style Klingons or TNG Space Cavemen “Klingons”.

And if they had to have them they should've had Klingons of the TOS variety. No more of Trek's “Gungans” please!

I hate ENT's cockamamie Khan-voluted hacksplanation for how the Space Cavemen “Klingons” became the Klingons of TOS.

In “Broken Bow” was the Space Caveman who crashed into that barn named Honor-Honor Klings?

 

[Norrin Radd]

I hate ENT's cockamamie Khan-voluted hacksplanation for how the Space Cavemen “Klingons” became the Klingons of TOS.

Couldn't agree with you more. Seemed like bad fanfic to me. I mean, did they explain the Romulan forehead changes from TOS to TNG? I don't think so.

Star Trek should let suspension of disbelief take its place.

 

[C.E. Evans]

It was necessary because the producers wanted to quickly convey that ENT took place before TOS to casual viewers, IMO. Nothing did that more efficiently than by establishing that "Broken Bow" was the first contact between Humans and Klingons.

I'm not agreeing with the decision to introduce Klingons right from the get-go (or even feature them in ENT at all), but I can sort of understand the reasoning for it...

 

[FalTorPan]

I gave Enterprise a half-season before I gave up on it. I was very optimistic about "Broken Bow," but I hated the use of the Klingons. They'd been done to death in the previous shows.

 

[Norrin Radd]

It was necessary because the producers wanted to quickly convey that ENT took place before TOS to casual viewers, IMO. Nothing did that more efficiently than by establishing that "Broken Bow" was the first contact between Humans and Klingons.

So they severely underestimated our intelligence? Was this the beginning of the "dumbing down" of trek, taking place in conjunction with the "sexing up" of Trek?

 

[JiNX-01]

ENT should've had no “Klingons”! Of any type, whether TOS-style Klingons or TNG Space Cavemen “Klingons”.

I agree! I was sick of them by the end of DS9 and boy a series with other aliens would have been nice -- it's a big galaxy, for crying out loud!

 

[Admiral Buzzkill]

Look, it's very simple unless you're a fan.

You're pitching a Trek prequel to the TV people at Paramount/UPN, and you've got three stories to propose. One of them is "Well, we'll show how humans met the Klingons."

At that point, you're not going to come up with another thing that the suits will like better. It's promotable as a hook for launching the series.

Notably, meeting the Suliban is not. Nor, BTW, is fan service like "we'll show the invention of the transporter."

 

[C.E. Evans]

It was necessary because the producers wanted to quickly convey that ENT took place before TOS to casual viewers, IMO. Nothing did that more efficiently than by establishing that "Broken Bow" was the first contact between Humans and Klingons.

So they severely underestimated our intelligence?

If "our" means longtime Trek fans--everybody knows they don't count.

Was this the beginning of the "dumbing down" of trek, taking place in conjunction with the "sexing up" of Trek?

*cough*Seven of Nine vs. The Rock*cough*

 

[SFRabid]

So they severely underestimated our intelligence?

You mean the intelligence of people who spend more time obsessing over Trek canon than they do world history?

Was this the beginning of the "dumbing down" of trek,

Wouldn't that be season 3 of TOS?

taking place in conjunction with the "sexing up" of Trek?

Wouldn't that be season 1 of TOS? Really, during season one Kirk had his shirt off in every other episode and how many women did he get by the time the season was half way through? Women in tight tops and mini-skirts more revealing that T'Pol's or 7of9's cat suits.

 

[Gov Kodos]

So they severely underestimated our intelligence?

You mean the intelligence of people who spend more time obsessing over Trek canon than they do world history?

Was this the beginning of the "dumbing down" of trek,

Wouldn't that be season 3 of TOS?

taking place in conjunction with the "sexing up" of Trek?

Wouldn't that be season 1 of TOS? Really, during season one Kirk had his shirt off in every other episode and how many women did he get by the time the season was half way through? Women in tight tops and mini-skirts more revealing that T'Pol's or 7of9's cat suits.

Ah yes, Back when men were real men and women were real women and small furry creatures from Alpha Centauri were real small furry creatures from Alpha Centauri.

 

[cooleddie74]

1. To be fair, they were an easy and lazy choice. People love Klingons. End of story. They were a sure ratings booster in the premiere.

2. 2151 is close enough relatively speaking to the misinterpreted (yet widely accepted) "2218 first contact" date bounced around for years prior to ENT's debut that it was considered a safe time frame to introduce the Klingons.

 

[Infern0]

I have to be honest, after hearing about the "disasterous" first contact with klingons in the early 2200s when one showed up in the first ep of ent I was so confused.

 

[Unicron]

I'd have preferred the Klingons not be included as well. I think at that point they'd become a little overexposed on other Trek series, and the DS9 writers tended to be more lazy and stereotypical with them (TNG actually made their politics culture more interesting, while many DS9 Klingons were just warriors who wanted to fight). I would have liked to see more Romulans eventually.

 

[Praetor]

I agree that this was the laziest choice possible, and seeing Klaang at the beginning 'Broken Bow' was the first of several such lazy disappointments I felt at the pilot.

I think it would have been much better had it been a very angry Andorian. They're warriors, and by no means overexposed, plus they're still fairly antagonistic in the 2260s. Others have suggested having the Vulcans and Andorians be in some kind of Cold (or Hot) War as the series opens, and having Klaang be an Andorian would have fit nicely with this.

 

[Unicron]

That might have been a better choice. I think the Andorians are one thing the series really deserves credit on, and I would have loved to see them used as well in other series.

 

[Praetor]

Ditto. And it was such an obvious solution to the Klingon presence problem. Oy.

 

[cooleddie74]

Of course, on the other hand the Broken Bow crash landing and Klaang now make Picard's line in the Malcorian episode "First Contact(TNG)" about Klingon-human first contact having happened "centuries ago" sound more logical, since "centuries" implies at least TWO(200 years) passing since the event and 2151 is 216 years before that TNG episode(2367).

 

[Myasishchev]

I agree that this was the laziest choice possible, and seeing Klaang at the beginning 'Broken Bow' was the first of several such lazy disappointments I felt at the pilot.

I think it would have been much better had it been a very angry Andorian. They're warriors, and by no means overexposed, plus they're still fairly antagonistic in the 2260s. Others have suggested having the Vulcans and Andorians be in some kind of Cold (or Hot) War as the series opens, and having Klaang be an Andorian would have fit nicely with this.

That would've been fun, having both sides attempt to pressure Earth into joining their side. Of course, some people would welcome the chance to fight the Vulcans, who have been the de facto masters of a vassal Earth for nearly a century. On the other hand, people would remember how the Vulcans have defended them from the more aggressive species (specifically the Andorians!) and be loyal to the Vulcans. Most people would be really conflicted between these two motivations--especially Captain Archer.

If they needed it to be Klingons, it should have been a Klingon invasion fleet, and the Vulcans plus Enterprise stopping them at the gates of Earth. That's a pretty disastrous first contact.