Star Trek: Enterprise

**Agent0042** · 09-12-2009, 11:40 PM

So I checked out the DVD of the first season of this from the library and earlier this evening I watched the pilot episode ("Broken Bow.") I must say, I was pleasantly surprised. One thing, I think, that would immediately strike anyone watching for the first time is just how plain different it looks and feels from anything else you've seen from Star Trek before. I mean, just comparing it with "Encounter at Farpoint" from Next Generation-- it's like everyone on that show was just so green starting out. Here, you can tell that as far as characters they have a certain sense of excitement and newness, but the actors themselves seem very comfortable in their roles, as if they're already old pros. I thought there was a good sense of humor about the show and it certainly looks nice -- first ever Star Trek series originally broadcast in widescreen and they've really done a good job with the alien effects and makeup. I'll definitely be watching more and I look forward to seeing where it goes.

Oh, and now, at last, I finally know what a "Porthos" is.

**butter_building** · 09-13-2009, 03:59 AM

You're aware Enterprise is generally regarded as the worst thing to happen to Star Trek, yes? Additionally, TNG doesn't pick up until, oh, the fourth or fifth season? Until that point it's just TOS v2.0.

Have you at least watched the movies?

**startingtime** · 09-13-2009, 04:48 AM

I like how they tried to take a different approach, but I wasn't a big fan of Enterprise. Scott Bakula wasn't nearly as cool as the other captains. I did like the special effects, though... they should have used more Xindi Aquatics! And I also miss having a Trek series to follow now that Enterprise is gone. My favorite series is still TNG, and I've watch seasons 4-6 on DVD more than once.

**Agent0042** · 09-13-2009, 01:35 PM

I'm aware that Enterprise generally isn't all that well regarded, yes, but it did nevertheless have something of a following. Yes, I've watched the movies, and no, I'm not just picking on Next Gen having only watched the premiere of it-- I've seen every episode of Next Gen, most of them more than once.

**Darth Revan** · 09-14-2009, 07:22 AM

I've watched some episodes of Star Trek Enterprise and found it to be mediocre at best. Scott Bakula didn't seem right as a Starship Captain to me, when compared to James T. Kirk, Jean-Luc Picard, Benjamin Sisko or Kathryn Janeway. The design of the NX-01 seemed a little weird as well, when compared to other starships of that era (iirc, the one of the first Starships built was the U.S.S. Valiant, which was the first to leave the Milky Way system... though it didn't look anything like the NX-01).

Having been bought up watching reruns of TOS, then TNG etc, I don't know why it was felt that a prequel series was needed. Personally, I'm a fan of DS9, above the others.

**sonryu** · 09-14-2009, 09:50 AM

I actually considered Enterprise a failure the second I heard it open with a cover of "Faith of the Heart" instead of a composed piece.

But that aside, I tried to give it a chance, but I just couldn't get into it. At all. Similar to Star Wars Episodes I-III, it bugged me how something that was older looked newer. I don't like Scott Bakula much, and no one else in the cast does it for me either. I grew up a fan of the original Star Trek series through syndication (since my father is a Trekkie), and liked TNG, DS9, and Voyager as they aired (DS9 being my favorite). After Voyager ended though, that to me was the end of Star Trek (not counting movies).

**Agent0042** · 09-14-2009, 01:08 PM

The less said about "Faith of the Heart," the better. Never mind that it's not even a composed piece, it's not even a good song.

Voyager is my favorite Trek. It gets a lot of crap, but I find it amusing that the worst that Television Without Pity can throw at "Threshold," the supposed worst episode of the program, is a grade of "C."

**coolfool** · 09-15-2009, 09:02 AM

Enterprise is definitely the worst of the Star Trek series. For me it was a combination of bad characters, badly casted captain (compare him to Avery Brooks or Patrick Stewart and there is no comparison), and bad plot lines. I will admit I haven't seen every episode and didn't get much past the first season but all the ones I have seen are about relationships between people. Now, don't get me wrong, I think there is definitely a place for this in Star Trek and "relationship" episodes can be good to really flesh out characters. But to have almost every episode about relationships of some kind seems like a total waste of a space series. If I wanted to watch a show about relationships I would watch Six Feet Under or something like that but for Star Trek my favourite type of episodes are the ones about strange phenomenons and entities and other strange space related things. Enterprise had none of that.

So combine this with the bad characters and you have a show that I really could take to.

**Agent0042** · 09-15-2009, 01:33 PM

Welll, I still reserve the right to bail if it starts sucking hard for me...

**Zoran** · 09-15-2009, 01:51 PM

I have always been a pretty hardcore Trekie and Enterprise at first pissed me of from the geek point of view. What I mean by that is the writers took the established encylopedia of facts and dates and threw them out the window. But after a while I came to love the crew and though the stories were sometimes rehashes from the other episodes in TNG, DS9 & VOY...I really was sad to see it go.

**Durendal** · 09-19-2009, 09:06 PM

Having not seen any of Enterprise when it originally aired I had very low expectations but started watching anyways at the start of summer. The first season was pretty so so for me but later on they seemed to get things under control and I was actually pretty impressed with the ambition of the third season. While Archer didn't have the same kind of commanding presence as past captains I thought the supporting cast did a really good job, especially Trip and Flox.

For me Enterprise is not the best of trek, but far from the worst, and Similitude is one of my favorite trek episodes ever. Overall I came away from Enterprise much more impressed than I thought I would be.

**The Joker** · 09-20-2009, 01:42 AM

It was the worst of the series. Usually I'd give specific reasons why, but it has been forever and all I can recall, is after watching Voyager, Star Trek hit its all time low.

**sentinal** · 09-25-2009, 09:04 PM

Originally Posted by The Joker

It was the worst of the series. Usually I'd give specific reasons why, but it has been forever and all I can recall, is after watching Voyager, Star Trek hit its all time low.

It started a little slow but damn after season 1 ended it started to get really really awesome. Season 3 and 4 were my favourite. And I have been watching sci-fi shows since the mid 90s

. I think it deserves more credit than its got. Star trek enterprise was a little more believable than most of the other star trek.

I enjoyed star trek enterprise. Its a shame that they cancelled such an amazing series. DS9 now that was mediocre and boring. It wasn't that great. My favourite star trek would be voyager though fantastic.

**Tom Toonami Tunes** · 09-25-2009, 11:46 PM

I could never get into that show. They ignored and pretty much destroyed most of the continuity made by all the other trek shows/movies which even before Enterprise was pretty messy anyway, half the cast didn't get hardly any development, and the finale was presented stupidly.

**Darth Revan** · 09-29-2009, 03:23 AM

Originally Posted by sentinal

And I have been watching sci-fi shows since the mid 90s .

I've been watching sci-fi shows since the early 80's. Buck Rogers, Star Trek TNG etc. I found some of the sci-fi shows of the 90's to be flat at times myself.

Originally Posted by sentinal

DS9 now that was mediocre and boring. It wasn't that great.

Personally I found ST DS9 to be quite enjoyable. Not as sterile or clean as the other ST's. Also, the first not to be centered on a Starship, but a space station near the only stable wormhole (There is another Wormhole featured in ST, the Barzan wormhole. One entrance fixed in the Alpha Quadrant, the other end deviates from the Delta Quadrant to the Gamma Quadrant and back again), therefore while in the DS9 story, places it at a strategic location... but also allows for more free way with new characters, customs, cultures etc to be shown.

IMO, ST DS9 while it did have moments which were, as you said 'mediocre and boring', all tv shows have those same moments.

**Agent0042** · 09-29-2009, 03:38 AM

I liked a lot of Deep Space Nine also. The problem I felt, though, with the show, and the reason I think it hasn't succeeded as well in syndication as the other Star Trek series (it's currently the only Star Trek series not being broadcast in repeats in the U.S.) is that it was almost always so damn serious. Sure, every once in a while it would give you a lighter episode like "Our Man Bashir" or "Trials and Tribbleations," but most of the time it was either Bajoran religion, or war stories, etc. etc. And there's a place for that and oftentimes it can make for very good storytelling, but if you keep feeding people a steady diet of that, eventually most of them are going to tune out. They want escapism.

**Draaknar** · 10-05-2009, 10:47 AM

I love Star Trek first of all. Didn't care much for the Original Series as it was really to old for me to get into and let's face it, a lot of the episodes was just plain goofy. Next up was TNG absolutely loved it. Every episode. It one of those series I just can pop in the DVD and start anywhere and relax. But that wasn't the series that I first started watching. Voyager was the first series that I had been watching on a regular basis and some episodes was just out there. But yet it was Star Trek and I loved it. Deep Space Nine was my favorite by far. I own all the box sets. It was better written, better plot and it built on the previous episode. Don't get me wrong I still loved the TNG episodes that where a different problem seeded in each one.

And at first I didn't care much Enterprise when it came on air. And stopped watching them for some reason or other. But later down the road when I was just getting into a heavy Netflix binge, I started to miss Star Trek, because I had watched all the other series and they were no longer on the air. I put the first season on my queue and re-watched the first ones and it just grew on me from there. I think Scott does a great job as captain. I would definitely buy the box sets sooner or later.

I really do hope they make another Star Trek series for TV, but I'm afraid it well be alot different from the ones we know and love. Makes me almost sad that they might not ever make another.

**Tom Toonami Tunes** · 10-05-2009, 11:05 AM

Originally Posted by Draaknar

I love Star Trek first of all. Didn't care much for the Original Series as it was really to old for me to get into and let's face it, a lot of the episodes was just plain goofy. Next up was TNG absolutely loved it. Every episode. It one of those series I just can pop in the DVD and start anywhere and relax. But that wasn't the series that I first started watching. Voyager was the first series that I had been watching on a regular basis and some episodes was just out there. But yet it was Star Trek and I loved it. Deep Space Nine was my favorite by far. I own all the box sets. It was better written, better plot and it built on the previous episode. Don't get me wrong I still loved the TNG episodes that where a different problem seeded in each one.

And at first I didn't care much Enterprise when it came on air. And stopped watching them for some reason or other. But later down the road when I was just getting into a heavy Netflix binge, I started to miss Star Trek, because I had watched all the other series and they were no longer on the air. I put the first season on my queue and re-watched the first ones and it just grew on me from there. I think Scott does a great job as captain. I would definitely buy the box sets sooner or later.

I really do hope they make another Star Trek series for TV, but I'm afraid it well be alot different from the ones we know and love. Makes me almost sad that they might not ever make another.

Did you see the animated trek series yet? Ya know now that I thinka about it, no matter what your opinion is about Voyager & Enterprize, whether you liked them or not you gotta admit that the doctors EMH & Flox were very good characters.

**Tanis** · 10-05-2009, 11:17 AM

It's not the best of the Star Trek mythology, but it is decent.

The series took itself too seriously at some points and the plot got convoluted.

But, the cast was pretty decent and I'm a huge fan of that blue (or was it green?) race that pops up.
Especially the main actor from it.

**Draaknar** · 10-05-2009, 02:10 PM

Haven't seen the animated series yet. Glad you mention it... must add it to my Netflix queue. And yes both docs from Enterprise and Voyager are great characters. Very colorful if I might add.

**Agent0042** · 10-05-2009, 04:40 PM

I've never seen The Animated Series. Good on ya' for mentioning it, though, because I do enjoy watching animation in general. I should probably give it a look sometime.

So far I've watched about seven-eight episodes of Enterprise. Woulda watched more, but then I got the complete first season of The Mentalist and went through it so that I could be caught up for the second season. I'll be getting back to it soon, though.

From what little I've seen of Enterprise so far, yes, their doctor is a fairly fascinating character. And yeah, some of my favorite episodes of Voyager involved the Doctor / EMH. Particularly, "Author, Author."

Holographic Paris: Welcome. You've made an excellent choice. You're obviously a person with impeccable taste.
The Doctor: Computer, freeze program.
Computer: Unable to comply.
Holographic Paris: You are about to embark on a remarkable journey. You will take on the role of a medical assistant aboard the Starship Voyeur.
The Doctor: Voyeur?
Holographic Paris: Your job will be to assist the Chief Medical Officer, and learn to tolerate his overbearing behavior and obnoxious bedside manner. Remember, patience is a virtue.
Holographic Paris: (off-screen) Chapter one. "It's The Doctor's World, You're Just Living In It."

**Tom2Toes** · 10-06-2009, 10:23 AM

I have to say I love Enterprise, I've seen quite a lot of episodes from several series but I don't know exactly which ones they were (I've been watching them on tv) and I'll admit there have been a few dull episodes, and quite a few that followed the plot of episodes from previous series but I still don't see why everyone hates it so much.

What does everyone have against Scot Bakula? I thought he made a pretty good captain. Plus he has an unbelievably cute dog.

I liked the episode where one of Flox's wives comes on board and he tries to set her up with Trip.

P.S. Gratuitous decon scenes.

**Agent0042** · 08-31-2010, 02:11 PM

So after nearly a year of watching the DVDs (and online or TV in some cases), I'm finally coming up to the end. Just finished watching "In a Mirror Darkly, Part I." You know, you read about certain things online, but still, they can't convey how fully awesome this was.

Spoiler!

From the moment it opens, with the scene from Star Trek: First Contact and the music. And then the Vulcans step off the ship, the guy salutes, and Zefram Cochrane pulls out a gun and shoots him-- then the group races forward and raids the Vulcan ship. End scene and then the epic opening begins-- the dark [i]Star Trek: Enterprise[/b] and the epic, evil music. Followed by approximately forty minutes of pure awesomeness. From what I know of the other mirror universe episodes in the other Star Trek series, they were about people from our universe, crossing over into the mirror, but it looks like this one is all about the mirror universe.

Really looking forward to watching part II. And you just get the sense that this is what so much more of the series should have been-- the kind of television that people who watched were surely talking about that evening online or with their friends the next day, and hooked to their televisions for the next installment. Given what I've heard about the three episodes following these, it's going to be a real letdown by comparison.

For those that are interested, CBS.com, StarTrek.com and TV.com are offering most of Star Trek: Enterprise online currently, in several different quality options, including 1080p. Unfortunately, these don't have any closed-captioning, and several episodes aren't available, including the "Mirror, Darkly" episodes.

Originally Posted by tanis_lionheart

But, the cast was pretty decent and I'm a huge fan of that blue (or was it green?) race that pops up.
Especially the main actor from it.

The Andorians! Yes, that was very good and I think a lot of people liked that, including me. The character you're thinking of is General Shran, portrayed by Jeffrey Combs, who also did Weyoun in Deep Space Nine and several other characters. A class act.

**sorei** · 08-31-2010, 02:27 PM

I know I am quite late in replying to this thread, I just now took notice...

Originally Posted by Tomatoes

I have to say I love Enterprise, I've seen quite a lot of episodes from several series but I don't know exactly which ones they were (I've been watching them on tv) and I'll admit there have been a few dull episodes, and quite a few that followed the plot of episodes from previous series but I still don't see why everyone hates it so much.

What does everyone have against Scot Bakula? I thought he made a pretty good captain. Plus he has an unbelievably cute dog.

I liked the episode where one of Flox's wives comes on board and he tries to set her up with Trip.

P.S. Gratuitous decon scenes.

not everyone. I am actually a Fan. In the sense of IDIC I love them all. Including ST Enterprise and certainly Bakula

Although my first love always belongs to TNG (although I grew up with TOS).

every series has dull episodes, even B5 had dull episodes.

btw, I like the pocket books too. for each series.