Was there really anything wrong with it?

[The Doctor]

People complain that ENT wasn't 'true Star Trek', but to me, it's a product of its time. I've not seen much to be fair, so I need some opinions. Say things like, was the writing good? Did it follow continuity properly? Things like that.

I did however see a clip of the final episode on YouTube, the "These are the voyages" speech clip, and that was absolutely wonderful. The end of an era.

Star Trek TOS equals Doctor Who as my favourite show.

 

[Scifi fan]

The energy seems to have gone out of the franchise, as in, it's old and tired. I think they should wait a couple of decades before doing anything again. Then again, if they do that, it may die totally.

 

[Contrary Mary]

If the new Trek movie does well, it may expose a whole new generation to Star Trek and revitalize it.

I doubt if Trek will die totally. As long as people keep buying the books and watching the movies, some enterprising souls (couldn't resist!) will be try to provide some Trek for them.

 

[The Doctor]

Personally I want to see them continue the 5 year mission from TOS, with the original ship design too.

The movie is officially an alternative universe which is more than a little disappointing.

 

[kythe]

People complain that ENT wasn't 'true Star Trek', but to me, it's a product of its time. I've not seen much to be fair, so I need some opinions. Say things like, was the writing good? Did it follow continuity properly? Things like that.

I think continuity was a big issue for many fans. Of course, the creators of any Star Trek production are going to find themselves stuck between a rock and a hard place when trying to reconcile a good story geared for a modern audience, and trying to maintain continuity with 40 years of Star Trek episodes and movies.

Enterprise concentrated a lot on the early relationship between Humans and Vulcans, which is a great idea in theory. But you have to realize that Spock is an iconic Star Trek character, and his father Sarek also has been a favorite character for more than a generation. People take this very personally, and wanted to see more Vulcans like them. Instead, Enterprise portrayed Vulcans primarily as arrogant and bigoted, even instigating a war with the Andorians rather than being primarily the logical and peaceful Vulcans we expect. We saw very little of the Spock-like Vulcans fans have come to know and love. It's one thing to try to add culture and depth to a race we want to learn more about, it's quite another thing to change them completely.

There were other continuity issues as well, such as the "forehead alien of the week" syndrome that other Star Trek series are known for. Basically, they explored new worlds and met all kinds of new aliens that we have never seen before. This is interesting because if the show is a prequel, most of the aliens we see should be ones we can reference from other shows. Since they haven't travelled far from Earth yet, where are all these new aliens coming from? Sometimes the show didn't feel like much of a prequel, it felt like an alternate universe.

People have also criticized the character development of the Enterprise crew, but I think this post is getting quite long. I watched most of the first season, and sporadic episodes here and there since then. I really wanted to like it, and kept trying to get back into it, but it just lost the flavor and feel of the Star Trek I have always loved. I'm one who likes to consider it an alternative timeline rather than trying to force Enterprise into the rest of the Star Trek universe.

 

[Dave]

I watched it all and there were continuity problems and retcons too far. I didn't like the hot Vulcan and I didn't like what they did with Mayweather. I didn't like the Temporal Cold War plot, Agent Daniels and the shadowy figure we never saw, and so I found that whole season 3 story arc a waste of time. However, I could see the much longer story arc that was being written leading up to the Romulan War. I did like the pilot episode. I thought that Season 4 was excellent and it should have been given longer. TNG, DS9 and Voyager all got better after the third season, and TOS was never given the chance.

 

[Urien]

It was always dark on the bridge of the Enterprise, apparently bright light technology had been forgotten by the 22nd century. Also, what's with the cretinous jump suits, they looked like Kwik-fit fitters in spaaaace. Perhaps that's why the Vulcan woman looked so perpetually disapproving. And why in the 22nd century did the engine room look like part of a steel works?

Plot wise the continuity errors were legion. Captain Archer's face appeared impervious to violent contact. Pilot guy and translator woman presumably fell into a personality destroyer at some point in their careers. Also interesting that the near death of the human race at the hands of the Xindi is so little referenced in the future.

Finally I thought it did get better towards the end. The early series was an inferior copy of TOS, longer story arcs as in DS9 were working better.

 

[PJH]

Well it wasn't mentioned because people were messing with time. Like the latest movie, think alternate reality. In 'established' Trek timeline, no Klingon crash landed in Broken Bow and the NX-01 Enterprise didn't then go on a journey to the Klingon homeworld. So while it is a sort of bridging gap between today and time of TOS, it's a kind of alternate universe where some things were very similar to the 'real' Trek universe, but some things were different to make an entertaining show.

Unlike the latest movie, with Enterprise they didn't let on that it's an alternate Trek universe just like all the time travel stories in all the other shows somehow didn't alter time in any adverse way. Sisko being Gabriel Bell was clearly how it always was, or that after the riot Bell didn't do anything of note so to have him die in the riot and his replacement disappear just didn't matter.

The Season 3 story arc was a bold move. To make a whole season about one single story. But I think that ultimatley killed the show. Non-fans couldn't suddenly tune into that season and pick it up as a show to like and watch as they'd be lost off as to whats happening, unlike with the usual single episdoe story. Season 4 was great. I think the idea of trying to explain how things became like they did in the 'future' was good. Such as the whole Klingon appearence thing, as pointed out in DS9.

Overall I like it. Some good stories and showing the development of space travel. I guess that's why engineering looks like a steel works. It's an experimental engine. Heck there's managers officers that look a lot better than the technology filled space shuttles used by NASA.

 

[andy1988]

I know a couple of years ago there were rumours that it might be re-commissioned. Has that possibility gone out of the window? I for one enjoyed Enterprise.

 

[Nightspore]

All in all I don't think that it was that bad. It did last four seasons, which was one longer than TOS.

I think that whereas TOS broke a lot of new ground for its time, it had some excellent writers in the first couple of seasons, everything that has come after it has been a little derivative.

 

[logan_run]

All in all I don't think that it was that bad. It did last four seasons, which was one longer than TOS.

I think that whereas TOS broke a lot of new ground for its time, it had some excellent writers in the first couple of seasons, everything that has come after it has been a little derivative.

Enterprise came after several movies and spin offs it was the runt of the litter all I seen of it was the mirror mirror episodes and I liked it. scot bacula was a good choice as the captain, it could not be anything but what it was.

 

[El Capitain]

At first I was very disappointed, I was anticipating something that would follow on from TNG,DS9 and VOY, I think we all did. I gave it a try and I've gotta say I liked it from the get go. I liked the fact that it wasn't a perfect world but they tried to make it. In TOS,TNG,DS9 and VOY Humans are heading the Federation and are like seasoned travellers though they are still exploring. In Enterprise we are just in our infancy excited, naive and inquisitive trying to spread our message into the cosmos "Why can't we all get along". Loved it. Scott Bacula was brilliant.

 

[Vladd67]

Urien asked what was with the cretinous jumpsuits, they were actually based on the gear worn by NASA.

 

[Vince W]

While enjoyed Enterprise for what it was, there were a couple of points that irked me somewhat. First was the overall look of Enterprise. It was far too polished looking when compared with TOS. I think they should have extrapolated backwards from TOS to come up with a look that would have fit the period better. As it is it looks more like TNG-light.

Second it should have been a bit rougher than it was. In that I mean TOS was wagon train to the stars so Enterprise should have been that, but even more so. Archer always seemed to be looking for a way to talk through difficulties. Kirk did this too, but he was also ready with phasers and photon torpedoes at the drop of a hat.

Oh, and Tucker was a prize knob.

 

[Frost Giant]

It was true Trek in my opinion. I thought what hurt the show was going backwards. They didn't use the reboot approach like JJ, they just went backwards in time and technology. One of the things that helped TNG stay on the air for 7 years was that they leapt forward into the 24th century. That theme song was dreadful, too. A long road indeed....
That being said they still pulled off some good episodes. For example Dead Stop was good. In a Mirror, Darkly was the best of the series.