Think hard--list five things that you like about Star Trek: Enterprise

[Orrex]

And don't be smarmy about it! :) No "I like that it was cancelled" or "my favorite two things belong to Jolene Blalock." Let's have five honest, positive things about the show.

Mine:

1. Characters reasonably well-realized from the first episode, to a greater degree than any Trek since TOS

2. Pretty clever explanation for the ridges/no-ridges Klingon thing. No other Trek has even made an attempt, outside of DS9's off-hand dismissal of the question

3. Scott Bakula. I hated every single episode of Quantum Leap and was fully prepared to hate every minute of his Captain Archer, but he won me over.

4. First use of photon torpedos. Not sure if their intro was consistent with canon, but I liked it. The Klingons' surprise at being hit by an "antimatter warhead" seemed genuine and illustrated the "newness" that Enterprise was supposed to capture.

5. Jolene Blalock. Yes, she was picked in part because she's hot, but IMO she gave the most convincing portrayal of a Vulcan since Spock. I mentioned in the Lounge this week that Sarek was my second favorite Vulcan, but I have reconsidered.


Don't leave me hanging--let's hear from someone else!

[salvorhardin]

1. Five things? Maybe one or two but five?

Here's my go...

1. Best realization of the planet Vulcan of any Trek. Really, spectacularly well done. But I feel Enterprise had the worst portrayal of Vulcans of any Trek -- and Jolene Blalock's character was terrible. Not that she acted it badly, but that the writers wrote it so badly.

2. Best portrayal of Andorians of any Trek ever. OK, that's not hard since they weren't really portrayed in other Treks but Enterprise really fleshed out their culture

3. Jeffrey Combs (formerly Weyoun on DS9) was fantastic as Commander Shran

4. Nice Engineering set design

5. No Wesley Crusher!

[Orrex]

2. See--was that so hard?

You're right about the worst overall depiction of Vulcans. Enterprise, more than any other series, portrayed them as spoiled, petulant, human children with bad haircuts. Seldom if ever did they display anything like an underlying philosophy of logic or mastery of emotion. T'Pol's mother, for example, wistfully laid her hands on Tripp's shoulders while reminiscing about T'Pol's deceased father. Other Vulcans, inculding Savahl (sp?) routinely showed irritation/anger. I guess the rule is that it's fine to show emotions, as long as those emotions are "sad" or "annoyed."

The Andorians were great, due in no small part, as you note, to Jeffrey Combs' wonderful performance--he's always a treat to watch, even in Herbert West: Reanimator.

I liked the set design in general. I usually had a good sense that the ship was smaller and more cramped than what we'd grown used to.

And any Trek without Wesley Crusher is already ahead of the game!

[YankeyMCC]

3. I generally like it but still 5 may be difficult

1. I agree the portrayal of the Andorians was very good and that leads me to number 2
2. Portrayal of the state of the galaxy (around Earth neighborhood) pre-Fed, the tension between Vulcans and Andorians was a great idea it shows how humans came to be such a key race in the galaxy. In earlier Trek's I always kinda wondered how Humans gained such prominence over the apparently more developed and sophisticated (galactically speaking) Vulcans. Even with the head start the other races had in warp tech it was the humans that could bring a more peaceful, stable galaxy and thus their central role in the future. And that leads me to number 3.
3. I liked the portrayal of the Vulcans because it showed them as so flawed and diverse. Spock and Sarek were the only good Vulcan characters ever portrayed before Enterprise and it always seemed that no matter how interesting they were as individuals the Vulcan race as a whole seemed awfully 1 dimensional.
4 Jolene Blaock - I'm a red blooded boy I have to list her :) But I agree with Orrex she did more than just look good.
5. hmmm...Perhaps the struggles of the military man Reed trying to fit into a science organization and how he helped shape what Star Fleet was to become.

[Ravenseye]

4. My Five

I'm going to agree with people here...

1) The state of the neighborhood in the fourth season. The interactions between the Vulcans, Andorians, Tellarites, and Humans. The core four. Solid.

2) Jolene Blalock. Gorgeous, but good actress. Expanded the ideas of what it meant to be Vulcan.

3) The Technology. Some people complained about it, but I felt that it was fairly appropriate. The Transporter for instance. Just coming into service. Standard 60 years later with multiple transporter rooms, but at this point not. Event hough they had it, they still used Shuttlepods almost exclusively. The weapons, the speeds, etc. The size of the cabins. All generally good imho.

4) The three story arcs. Again something not found till the fourth season, but I think it was great and we'll see more of it in the future on other shows. No multi season long stories nobody can follow. No season long stories that get too confusing. Three story arcs. Part 1, 2 and 3. Excellent. Little mini-movies.

5) Linda Park - The often overlooked other hottie on the show. Underutilized, but I liked her also. ;)

[Reader Rabbit]

5. I don't have to think that hard

Unlike most Trek fans, I really enjoyed Enterprise. It tied with DS9 as my favorite Trek series, and probably would have become my favorite outright had it been allowed to continue—particularly under the direction of Manny Coto, who was responsible for the majority of Season 4.

If I had to pick five things I liked about the show, they would probably all be characters. IMHO, the Enterprise cast was one of the most talented. Bermaga were just looking to rake in some dough, doing the same thing they'd been doing for years—plugging in standard ciphers to their Trek formula, but, unlike the show's creators, the actors really put heart, soul, imagination, and effort into their work. The result was that the characters seemed multidimensional, interesting, flawed, and not vanilla at all, which has been one of my biggest gripes with Trekdom.

So five, huh?

1. Commander Charles Tucker III: Trip is my all-time favorite Trek character, and I suspect that this is due entirely to the actor who played him. Connor Trinneer took what could have been a mere caricature and turned Trip into a wonderfully human character. I was hooked by the episode where he got pregnant, and I don't think I will ever get over the betrayal I felt when those stupid bastards killed him off in the final episode.
   
2. Phlox: Another potential caricature turned into an amusing, wise, and quirky non-Bones. John Billingsley was outstanding his portrayal of the ever-optimistic Denobulan. He certainly didn't need the creepy CG smile to reach viewers.
   
3. T'Pol: At first I was disgusted with the obvious attempt to court the stereotypical horny teenage sci-fi fan by putting the Vulcan chick in the catsuit, but Jolene Blalock won me over. Unlike most others, I enjoyed seeing a Vulcan curious about emotions despite cultural taboos. I always suspected that Spock was overdoing to compensate for his human half, the same way that Worf, having been raised by humans, felt the need to out-Klingon others of his species. I do think the Trellium-D plot during Season 3 was cheap and tawdry, and I'm glad they dumped it.
   
4. Soval: God, I love the "bitter old Vulcan!" And for many of the same reasons that I enjoyed T'Pol, but primarily because Gary Graham pulled off the crankily logical/logically cranky character with such understated panache. Soval's interaction with Trip during the Vulcan Arc of Season 4 was, for me, one of the highlights of the series.
   
5. Shran: For all the reasons already mentioned. Jeffrey Combs is just awesome.
   

I can't begin to describe how disappointed I was when Enterprise was cancelled. I was really looking forward to future episodes with more TOS connections (cloud city!), not to mention what had to have been one of the first interspecies relationships involving human and Vulcan. Normally, romance makes me gag, but I mostly enjoyed the whole Trip & T'Pol thing.

Whew! I think that's it. Nice novel, huh? :P

I know I'm in the minority for liking Enterprise, so flame away if you must.

[salvorhardin]

6. "It tied with DS9 as my favorite Trek series"

Well, now you see, there's your first mistake...

Just kidding. Really. ;-)

Yeah, the Phlox character impressed the hell out of me. Seriously, he could have a whole show. Phlox and Shran were really tied for placement in my Top 5 but there was just something about the way Jeffrey Combs played Shran that makes me smile yet and gives me a warm feeling all over. But yeah, Phlox, what a guy. Loved the menagerie he kept too.

[Reader Rabbit]

7. Phlox's menagerie

It was such a great plot device! I loved when he fed a tribble to one of his critters, while Hoshi was helping out. I nearly choked to death laughing at the horrified look on her face! Not to mention the fact that the doc was very adept at manipulating his patients with the casual threat of critter-oriented healthcare. :7

[Orrex]

8. My favorite Phlox moment

I can't remember the title, but it was the one with the Organian researchers inhabiting, IIRC, Travis and Malcolm. When Phlox realized that something funny was going on, and that two crewmembers were going to die because of the Organian's refusal to aid them, he made no secret of his digust. Even though they could clearly have destroyed him (or manipulated his memory, as they did) he didn't hesitate to condemn their behavior as "appalling." It was a nice, courageous moment on par, I think, with Bones advising Khan of the most efficient way to kill him (with an archaic scalpel, no less!)

Good stuff!

Enterprise is actually my favorite Trek after TNG. I'll always love TOS, of course, but some of it is so dated, chauvinistic, and (un)intentionally that I can't overlook it.

Thanks for playing!

[cynatnite]

22. Yep, loved Phlox.

The tribble bit was classic! I cracked up when I saw the leeches on Archer.

[YankeyMCC]

9. Good point

it really was the characters that made this show. I'm a fan of Enterprise but it's because of the characters because "Bermaga" really dropped the ball IMHO on much of (not all as I did have other things I listed) the non-character aspects of the show, which is why it was a little hard for me to come up with 5 without going for a list of characters.

[ThoughtCriminal]

10. I liked one of the "Most Flamed" aspects

I liked the opening theme song. We survive Bush and everything else to get there.

[YankeyMCC]

15. I'm with you on that

I liked the theme song as well...at least the original version they mucked with it a bit in the last season if I remember and it didn't sound as good to me.

[ContraBass Black]

11. I completely disagree with four of your five.

Numbers 1, 3, 4, and 5.

[Orrex]

12. Care to elaborate, or is this just a drive-by?

YMMV, of course, but I'd be interested to hear your thoughts on 1, 3, 4, and 5.

:hi:

[ContraBass Black]

13. I'm busy with the work I ought to be devoting my whole attention to

Instead of posting on DU. I'll be back with it later.

[Orrex]

14. Pfft! Where are your priorities?!?

No hurry--only if you have the time.

[ContraBass Black]

16. My dissent

1. The beginning of the series was clumsy one-off episodes setting up each character's back story. For the entire first season, Travis Mayweather looked like a wide-eyed child in an amusement park pretending to be Geordi LaForge.

3. Some actors can turn lead into gold, transforming unforgivably corny lines into fine theater. When the writers issued him a stumbling block, Bakula dutifully hooked his toe under it and fell flat on his face, delivering the eye-rollers unimproved. My favorite example "Someday, well have a policy of when to interfere or not interfere. But until we have that (melodramatic pause) DIRECTIVE (with a nod toward the camera and excessive emphasis) we'll have to take each situation as it comes."

4. It's amazing how this Enterprise had photon torpedoes and then they were completely uninvented until midway through Kirk's mission. Shouldn't a prequel have earlier technology?

5. T'Pol was smug and petulant. She made Tuvok at his most tortured look reserved.

[semillama]

17. I missed that episode about the klingon ridges

Could you remind me what the explanation was?

[cynatnite]

18. Here's mine:

1)I liked the opening with the song.
2)I liked how the characters were more like today, but still in the Trek universe. Not sure if that makes sense. They're different than characters of the original series or next generation.
3)I liked Porthos.
4)Archer was a good captain. A little more informal than I would have liked, but he did good.
5)Blalock was probably one of the most convincing Vulcans I had seen in a while. She takes a close third with Spock first and Sarak at second place.

I liked the series, but really wish they had not done a fourth season. It was awful and I'm ashamed that's it's hooked to the Star Trek universe like a ball and chain. The series finale was a complete disgrace. :puke:

[Orrex]

19. The finale was close to the worst thing ever done in the name of Trek

But I liked season four pretty well. Of course, the season premiere was pretty lame, but at least it shut down that stupid Temporal Cold War crap.

[Reader Rabbit]

20. Word.

That POS was so bad it was almost as if they were trying to piss off the fans and set a record for suckitude. Honestly, to end the series like that was to pretty much say to fans, "You stuck it out and watched loyally for four years? Fuck you very much!"

Honestly, that miserable, vomitous mass made "Spock's Brain" look like a friggin' Emmy winner.

[cynatnite]

21. Second that...

I really couldn't believe what I was watching. It was as if they were flipping off the fans. I was really shocked they ended the series with such stupidity.

It has got to be the world's worst episode in the entire Star Trek universe. It must have taken a lot of work to get it that bad.

[RiDuvessa]

24. Third here.

It ranks right up there with Dallas season where Bobby Ewing's wife wakes up and the previous season was a dream.

Absolute idiocy.

I also agree that it was one of the worst episodes in the Star Trek universe. Good call!

[RiDuvessa]

23. It never quite caught on with me.

But there were still aspects that I liked.

1. Trip - I loved his character. I totally disagree that he was a bad rip-off of Geordie. I think he played an engineer dealing with new and barely understood technology quite well.

2. Phlox - He was great.

3. Porthos - I'm sorry, I know most people hated this, but it made sense to me. Having a pet on a voyage that was that long would help someone cope. Also, he was just dang cute.

4. The Klingon explanation. - Well Done!

5. The theme song the first season. - I thought it was a nice change from the instrumentals.

On the down side, I hated almost every other Klingon episode, it completely screwed with the timeline, T'pol was extremely annoying and not very Vulcan, and in general, I just didn't like it. The whole Temporal war Sulibon thing just annoyed the piss out of me.

[lumberjack_jeff]

25. Only watched the first two seasons

Likes:
1) The ship was perfect. It was exactly what the first generation Enterprise should be. The captain's ward room was a claustrophic little closet. The opulence and space-wastefulness of every subsequent enterprise bugged me.
2) It was a good opportunity to set up the back story of klingon conflict
3) It did a good job of describing the conflict between the Vulcan mentors and the human students, chafing under their guidance.
4) I liked the idea of phlox and the interstellar exchange school that brought him there.
5) Jolene Blalock. For all the wrong reasons. Sorry.