Enterprise - season's final

[StarStuff]

Enterprise - season\'s final

Yes, Enterprise has been unwatchable . . . but I saw an article about the season's final (this coming Wednesday, May 21, USA) and this one might be worth watching. The 'new direction' will be introduced and if nothing else we can hope for special, special effects.

 

[Strifeguard]

Re: Enterprise - season\'s final

Yeah, there'll be special effects. That said, I'd like to post the following "spoiler" about the season finale.

There will be a terrible moral dilemma, the likes of which have never been dealt with before by humanity (though the Enterprise crew will be able to draw upon "ancient earth history" for help).

The Enterprise crew will then be called upon to accomplish something that "no human" has ever done before (and is routine by the time STNG rolls around).

Though hot-heads will force the crew to make some poor choices, in the end they will prevail (they already have a budget for season 3). This will involve some crew members acting contrary to their natural inclinations and over coming "personal demons".

The show will end with Captain Archer giving a short speech on how they've all "grown" during their latest ordeal, for better or worse, and how they'll be a better crew because of it...

As you will (hopefully) see from my episode synopsis, the show doesn't need more special effects, it needs some new ideas. And by "ideas" I don't mean new alien species to put into old scripts, I mean entirely new ideas...

(As you will also see from reading my post, I watch the show regularly, though I've also taken to complaining about it just as regularly... )

 

[admiraldave]

Re: Enterprise - season\'s final

Enterprise should die. It's actually that bad, that I *want* it to die, something I never even wished on Voyager.

 

[Strifeguard]

Re: Enterprise - season\'s final

Oh come on, give Enterprise more of a chance than that. Please believe me when I say that I'm not trying to be rude, but I think that you're suffering from that basic human condition that makes us forget true pain.

Voyager was AWFUL. They're stuck 70 years from home, and yet insist on stopping off at every oddly-colored nebula. Captain Janeway threatened to self-destruct the ship once an episode every episode for the entire first 2 seasons. When 7of9 was introduced in order to give ratings a wonder-bra, we were handed episode after episode of "Look at 7of9 grow up!". Let alone the lunacy of voyager infiltrating the Borg Collective for the nth time...

Granted, Enterprise is just as formulaic (sad because it's season 2) I can't help but think there's some promise here that Voyager just never had...

 

[Recoil]

Re: Enterprise - season\'s final

Some of what you said is true, but I dont think that anyone could argue that if Enterprise wasn't Star Trek on some level, it would never be on the air, and no one would be watching it...

 

[KoshN]

Re: Enterprise - season\'s final

Yes, Enterprise has been unwatchable . . . but I saw an article about the season's final (this coming Wednesday, May 21, USA) and this one might be worth watching. The 'new direction' will be introduced and if nothing else we can hope for special, special effects.

Actually, I found "The Bounty" (liked all the Tellarite scenes, and found Phlox's discomfort quite humorous) and "First Flight" (Carridine had a great role.) quite watchable. Just gave both eps. good ratings in their rast polls.

Hey, nobody was more surprised by this than I was.

 

[KoshN]

Re: Enterprise - season\'s final

Oh come on, give Enterprise more of a chance than that. Please believe me when I say that I'm not trying to be rude, but I think that you're suffering from that basic human condition that makes us forget true pain.

Voyager was AWFUL. They're stuck 70 years from home, and yet insist on stopping off at every oddly-colored nebula. Captain Janeway threatened to self-destruct the ship once an episode every episode for the entire first 2 seasons. When 7of9 was introduced in order to give ratings a wonder-bra, we were handed episode after episode of "Look at 7of9 grow up!". Let alone the lunacy of voyager infiltrating the Borg Collective for the nth time...

Granted, Enterprise is just as formulaic (sad because it's season 2) I can't help but think there's some promise here that Voyager just never had...

Agreed on all points, especially the Voyager was A W F U L part. That was true pain I'll never forget. To this day, when I hear Mulgrew's voice, I shudder at the memory.

 

[GKarsEye]

Re: Enterprise - season\'s final

Sorry, man, but I disagree with you. Voyager, with all it's defects, was still way better- especially if you compare them season by season. The first two seasons of Voyager had the Maqui/Starfleet conflict (though not played up as much as it probably should have been) as well as a cool chick traitor, the sort-of arc of the Kazons, and, at least for a while, some stories that made sense. No, it couldn't hold a candle to DS9 and TNG at their heights, but at least I could watch it.

Enterprise, IMO, truly sucks in every single possible way except the visual presentation, which is the least important part for me.

 

[Strifeguard]

Re: Enterprise - season\'s final

No, it couldn't hold a candle to DS9 and TNG at their heights, but at least I could watch it.

Well, at least we can agree on this bit. We'll have to agree-to-disagree on the rest.

What I really want to know is, what happened to all those writers who worked on DS9 between then and now? I don't have any old DS9s on tape anymore, so I can't really keep track of anyone, but they had genuine ideas with that show.

Garak was one of the best characters the ST universe, IMHO, and the buddy-relationship between O'Brien and Bashir was better than any of the "buddy" relationships they've tried to have since. (Harry and Tom, Malcom and Trip) And when it came down to villains, Gul'Dukat was outstanding. I'd put him up there with Kahn in terms of character development in a single-person villain (i.e. not "the borg" or "the Dominion"). Finally, something during the last couple of DS9 seasons just made them more entertaining. The antics were closer to STNG's Data-comedy, the kind that actually made you laugh. (Quark and Rom stealing a cloaked cloaking device, Warf's wedding, Vic Fontain, to give some examples)

In terms of SciFi, maybe it wasn't STNG, but it was entertaining to watch, even if you weren't a big StarTrek fan. What happened between then and now? Did Paramount fire all its writers? Did the writers have a collective stroke? Did Paramount get sued?

I wish I knew...I wish I knew...

 

[AntonyF]

Re: Enterprise - season\'s final

GKE, so right. I didn't realize how much I missed Voyager until Enterprise came along. My favorite seasons, in order are: 1, 2, 3, 4, 7, 5, 6. So apart from seven ruining the pattern, I found it got progressively worse.

Strifeguard, Ira Steven Behr (the head honcho) worked on Dark Angel for season two then The Twilight Zone for its one season. Michael Piller (previous head honcho) works on The Dead Zone. Ron Moore worked on Roswell seasons two and three, and is creating Carnivale right now. Rene Echevarria worked on Dark Angel season two. Naren Shankar worked on Farscape season two.

That's all I can think of really.

 

[GKarsEye]

Re: Enterprise - season\'s final

Those writers moved on to other things, and good for them. I don't think keeping them around for so long would be better- they would get bored and repetitive hanging around the Star Trek universe for so long, ie, Braga.

 

[PsionTen]

Re: Enterprise - season\'s final

Oh come on, give Enterprise more of a chance than that. Please believe me when I say that I'm not trying to be rude, but I think that you're suffering from that basic human condition that makes us forget true pain.

Voyager was AWFUL. They're stuck 70 years from home, and yet insist on stopping off at every oddly-colored nebula. Captain Janeway threatened to self-destruct the ship once an episode every episode for the entire first 2 seasons. When 7of9 was introduced in order to give ratings a wonder-bra, we were handed episode after episode of "Look at 7of9 grow up!". Let alone the lunacy of voyager infiltrating the Borg Collective for the nth time...

Granted, Enterprise is just as formulaic (sad because it's season 2) I can't help but think there's some promise here that Voyager just never had...

I agree with practically everything you said, but Voyager did one thing that Enterprise has yet to do... it, at least, took chances. Voyager, for better or worse, was willing to gamble on story ideas (granted the majoity of them flopped), I don't think Enterprise has even attempted anything original -- of course that might change as soon as this Wed.

 

[Strifeguard]

Re: Enterprise - season\'s final

I don't think Enterprise has even attempted anything original -- of course that might change as soon as this Wed.

Wait, I think it did have one "original" show. It became the first StarTrek series, not to rip-off plots from episodes in other series, but instead to rip-off one of the movies! That's certainly never been done before!

 

[admiraldave]

Re: Enterprise - season\'s final

Granted, Enterprise is just as formulaic (sad because it's season 2) I can't help but think there's some promise here that Voyager just never had...

See, what brought me back to Voyager (which, I agree, was awful) was I thought there was promise (all the writers had to do was take the premise seriously) and I liked most of the characters. With Enterprise, I don't see any promise and I barely tolerate most of the characters. Hell, Archer has given me new appreciation for psycho Janeway!

 

[A_M_Swallow]

Re: Enterprise - season\'s final

They could have a bit of a change by taking a few scripts from DS9.

 

[hypatia]

Re: Enterprise - season\'s final

I have a trivial question to ask (sorry in advance).

I tended this semester to get home from my late afternoon class, turn on the tv to Enterprise on Wednesday, and then go into the computer room and internet while it was on. I wasn't really great about actually watching it.

Is the dog still on board? I have not noticed it lately. But, as I said, I've missed a lot of the episodes.

Oh, and as far as Voyager goes, I certainly thought they should have considered their premise a bit more, too. That series started with such promise, and just never quite got there.

And Chacotay (sp?). Man, what a character with promise that was never followed up on.

 

[Strifeguard]

Re: Enterprise - season\'s final

Is the dog still on board? I have not noticed it lately. But, as I said, I've missed a lot of the episodes.

Yes, Porthos is still on board. Infact, they had an almost Porthos-centric episode earlier in the season with "A Night in Sickbay" where Porthos contracts a disease and Dr. Phlox has to take extreme measures to save his life. Captain Archer, of course cannot sleep while Porthos is in trouble, so he stays up all night and interacts with the various characters, developing his relationships with both T'Pol and Phlox.

About half-way through writing that very short synopsis I began to wish that it simply wasn't true. Why can't they write better episodes why!?!

 

[hypatia]

Re: Enterprise - season\'s final

Oh, I know, it's really terrible. They really do need new writers.

 

[GKarsEye]

Re: Enterprise - season\'s final

I think the fact that, after not paying attention to the show all year, the one question you have is about the freakin' dog tells you something about the interest this series is generating.

 

[hypatia]

Re: Enterprise - season\'s final

Yes, indeed.

I did see the episode with Andreas Katsulas (sp?). I was amazed at how little they gave him to do. I also saw last Wednesday's episode when it was rerun (Bounty I think it was called). It wasn't horrible, I'll say that much for it. But they really do keep leaning on sex to generate interest, don't they? To an extent I would have though impossible for Star Trek.