About that most recent episode of _Enterprise_... (1 Viewer)

[Jack Briggs]

Trek die-hards will no doubt have noticed who wrote this thing. Interesting.
The episode's first half-hour soared angelically, portraying scenarios never before seen in the world of Star Trek--reasonably alien aliens (albeit, as usual, humanoids) that have evolved on a planet with a different atmosphere. This, of course, required that "Trip" Tucker undergo an adjustment period before he could live and work in the alien vessel. A genuine attempt was made to portray a ship and culture that was truly different.
But if the first half soared, the second crashed. "Crashed"--it was more like an astroidal impact. Trip is portrayed as a good ol' boy, yet he tossed his particularly macho brand of masculinity to the winds of political correctness and summarily accepted the fact of his pregnancy with unconvincing magnanimity. It was straight out of the 1990s cultural playbook.
Of course, the episode's denouement was hollow.
Yet that first half hour was terrific and causes me to remain hopeful. (Not all episodes of any series can be winners--my beloved TNG, after all, proffered "Rascals," which gives "Spock's Brain" a run for its money.)
Though this latest Enterprise was a creative strike-out, it was a hell of an interesting one.
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[Rain]

Unfortunately, I missed it. Well, ok...I admit I wasn't trying very hard to get home in time. From what I've seen so far, I haven't been too impressed.
Anyway, my question: Who wrote it?
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[Jason Seaver]

Rick Berman and Brannon Braga, who are now officially their own worst enemies.
It's tragic, really. They have a pretty clear vision of what they want to do, and the idea behind the series - a more primitive, hands-on exploration show - is a good one. They've got a great cast. The production values are insanely good. But, just like with "Voyager", when they sit down to write the scripts, they can't help themselves - they turn out The Same Old Thing.
What can be done about this, short of getting on their hands and knees and begging Ira Behr to write for them once "Bob Patterson" meets its inevitable doom? (Ronald D. Moore is just out of the question) I'm not sure. Bakula has mentioned in interviews that a couple of people he worked with on "Quantum Leap" were on the staff, and maybe this problem will improve once the initial glut of Berman/Braga-scripted episodes is finished.
Right now, though, B&B are keeping "Enterprise" in a solid third place as far as ship-based SF shows go, behind Robert Wolfe's ambitious "Andrommeda" (even if the production values can't always keep up) and the operatic "Farscape". And it's too bad, because it could be the best if the writers weren't so timid.

 

[Andrew Beacom]

Jason,
I agree on Andromeda. Enterprise has so much going for it and the writing is lacking. This episode was better than the last one but after starting well it turned into Voyager again.
As Jack said in the other thread the use of holodeck's, transporters et al for plot development happens far too frequently with these writers. Were they also involved in Next Gen?
The show has promise so I hold out hope but someone please sack those 2 writers and the person responsible for the opening theme music.

 

[Jack Briggs]

Weird thing is, I'm looking forward to Sunday's rerun of this episode.
Another thing that has bothered me ever since the demise of TNG is the uncomfortable feeling I get that each episode of Trek is the result of umpteen focus-group sessions. Whatever happened to boldly going ...
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[Jason Seaver]

Yep, they were involved with TNG, then moved over to "Voyager" - Berman was also an executive producer on DS9, but between "Voyager" and TNG, he more or less let Ira Behr run the show in an instance of what my junior-high history teacher called "salutory neglect". And, understand, I'm not a knee-jerk B&B-hater - Rick Berman saved TNG from Gene Roddenberry's ego and co-created DS9 with Mike Piller, and Braga did some good work on TNG. They've done good work on "Star Trek"; if there were justice in the world, Paramount would give them a gold watch, let them go do a cop show, and put Ron Moore in charge.
But they won't freaking let go of the goose that lays the golden eggs, even if they are slowly killing it. The same thing happened with "Voyager"; after a promising pilot, they wound up cranking out episode after episode of generic treknobabble-filled crap.
It's schizophrenic, almost like they know that they have to break the formula, but are afraid of doing so.

 

[Jason Seaver]

Another thing that has bothered me ever since the demise of TNG is the uncomfortable feeling I get that each episode of Trek is the result of umpteen focus-group sessions. Whatever happened to boldly going ...

Even DS9?

I think it really speaks to the type of people involved. DS9, bless its heart, was written by enthusiasts who couldn't believe their good luck to be writing Star Trek. I don't think they had any concern other than "make a good TV show". And if you ever saw Robert Wolfe's postings on Usenet, you've got some idea of their attitude - they somehow managed to be both fearless and reverent at the same time.
The guys writing the last year or two of TNG, "Voyager", and now "Enterprise"... Well, they see Trek as a brand and not a playground. It's a job, they punch their card, but what they create doesn't really mean anything to them other than how sucking too much could lead to getting fired. They're neither fearless nor reverent; they just know what formula has worked in the past.
I've said it before, but I would love to see Ronald Moore, Ira Behr, Hans Beimler, etc., set loose upon "Enterprise". They would get such a kick out of the chance to build Federation history and do some "harder" sci-fi.
(It also doesn't help that all the guys who do good Trek are otherwise employed - Wolfe on "Andromeda", Moore on "Roswell", Behr on "Patterson", Rene Echevarria on "Dark Angel", Michael Piller on "The Dead Zone". Funny that Berman and Braga cling to this job so tenaciously...)

 

[Jack Briggs]

"...they see Trek as a brand and not a playground. It's a job..."

Exactly--though, of course, I would never consider DS9's proud legacy in this light. (You probably think I'm slighting DS9 on a frequent basis, but such is far from the case.

)
And it's fascinating--and tantalizing--to wonder what Ron Moore could do with a platform such as Enterprise. One thing's for sure: He would strive to make this prequel series consistent with the best of the Trek formula.
Man, I miss the guy.
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