The mistake was to posit the series as a prequel in the first place. Everything that occurred in this latest episode fits much more squarely in place with the Trek of TNG's era. Come on. Get real. This is a TNG episode. The mood, the ambiance, the characters, the lack of sense of wonder--look at how casually the NX-01 crew just melds into a nightclub situation that could just as easily be taking place here, right now, on planet Earth (sans the faux aliens, of course). It would have been better to position the series as the adventures of a loan, slightly roguish Starfleet captain and his crew on a mission of exploration and diplomacy in a smaller Federation vessel. That would also take some of the sting away from the fact that the NX-01 looks a helluva lot sleeker than the original NCC-1701. The ship could sail alongside a Galaxy-, Sovereign-, or Intrepid-class ship and fit right in. The story was by-the-book, play-it-safe formula Trek. Patrick Sun said it best last week when he compared Enterprise with Smallville: On one show, the writers demonstrate an affection for the material and its legacy, whereas in the other it's just a business. And last night's episode was business as usual.
Smallville? You mean Clark The Supervillain Slayer? It's a terrible show, blasphemous to the core. At least Enterprise maintains some semblance of entertainment and respect for the source material, rather than the total alteration of the legend. Once I ran out of Dukes of Hazzard jokes, that was the end for me. I agree last night's episode was lame, but geez, Smallville is total pap They need to get Ira Behr back in there ,and now that he's not dealing with Dark Angel anymore, he can come in and fix Enterprise into what it should be. They need a huge sweeping story arc, no more of this puttering around.
Last nights episode can be summed up with... OH MY god!!!! How lame can you get here folks? The cloths looked like rejects from the 1970s disco clubs. Hello, isn't this the same story we all saw on TNG when the Captain goes on vacation meeting some dangerous artifact girl? Talk about re-using a script, do they think we forgot? There were more than several TNG scripts, especially later, that was the same overall story as classic Trek. Their thinking was this was new because a lot of the viewers weren't even born when classic Trek was shown (I was though. But come on guys, this was an "I'm out of ideas so here you go" type of shows. Just give me Blalock, Ryan and Dawson on a star trek show and I'll give you some kick butt scripts that will blow the ratings off the chart. But then again, it's just TV-PG so never mind. Jeffrey
I enjoy Enterprise. But, I too felt that everything was too Earth looking and that alien languages only get used when it is part of the story line.
I have to agree that last night's episode was essentially useless. Once again, we had "aliens" that behaved essentially exactly like humans, and were distinguished only by minor variations in facial/skin features. Except for the occasional spaceship shot and the "disguised" aliens, NOTHING about the show had much to do with science fiction. Take away the spaceships and makeup, and it could have easily taken place in one of many beach resorts on contemporary Earth. Dull, dull, dull.
Well, another weak episode. Surprise, surprise. So, we have a dog that looks just like an earth dog. How quaint. We have people who look human and the crew doesn't bat an eye over it. Geez. We have the lady respond to him being an explorer with "you must have your name on a school". Wow, you mean aliens have the same traditions? It sounds like this show is going down the same path Voyager went down, which is "dispose of the main concept when it gets inconvienent." This is looking way too much like Next Gen light. It keeps looking like a lost human colony in Next Gen time rather than the early days of the Federation. Honestly, guys, if you don't have any good ideas, just don't do the show. Jason
I managed to catch last night's episode...last night (instead the Sunday reruns, like normal). One thing confused me: what was Archer talking about, referring to the imprisonment of innocent Suliban, and General Bragg (?). I missed the past couple of weeks, so maybe it had to do with those. The episode was too unfocused. There were four unrelated stories being told. I'd rather they focus on just one and give me some character depth. Personally, I wish they'd given the hour to Hoshi's storyline. But I loved the Phlox section -- great comic relief! My interest in Enterprise is flagging. I'm finding Andromeda to be a more interesting show, with better characters.
I find myself on the fence with this episode again. What I am starting to get sick of is feeling like I'm forced on the fence. The closer look at Archer was nice, and I think one of the good things about this episode was that Archer is indeed rounding out as a more interesting character. I thought the situation with Trip and Malcom was genuinely funny, as was Phlox's predicament. But that was about it, and note that none of the above had anything to do with a real plot line. It was like 5 completely irrelevant and useless mini-plots. And yes - although they seemed all excited and worked up about the trip, it didn't come off as fascination with this alien resort mecca - it's like they were all just psyched for a vacation, and when they got to their destination(s), it was "vacation as usual."
Man, I thought for sure that the story would have been that the alien dog was actually in charge, and the humanoid woman was just a sort of vessel for the dob. Archer falls in love with a pet, and realizes that aliens are strange. Did anyone else expect this as well? Altogether a good episode, but how did they get to Reisa already?
How many want to bet that they introduce Q in the next episode? They dont seem to have any imagination these days. Have they ever done an episode of star trek where the plot is a musical? I saw Les Miserable this weekend and afterwards I thought that it would be neat to see a star trek episode done in a musical, just as kinda like a joke episode. I could see the faces of the faithful trekkies now/ It would be priceless to see their expressions! ok, perhaps Ive had too much coffee today! -ikiru
Ikiru: The way things are going now, that's as good an idea as any--and a hell of a lot better than what B&B are spewing at us. Make it both a musical and a vehicle for John DeLancie. JB
I'd rename this episode 'Two Dull Days and Two Dull Nights'. If this is the best Risa has to offer, they might as well go to a Holiday Inn. I'm quickly losing patience with this show. Could they play things any safer?
ikiru wrote: I've been saying that for some time now. "Prequelitis" is a sure sign that the producers really have nothing new or inventive to say about a subject. Anybody expecting this show to recapture the "frontier" atmosphere of the first season of TOS is dreaming, and bound to be frustrated, week after week after week. The producers don't know how to do it and much of the audience, "spoiled" by the faux miracle science of TNG and DS9, probably wouldn't know how to deal with it even if the producers had a handle on it (or cared to). How can they possibly, in this day and age, make the show look less technically advanced than TOS, yet satisfy what we already "know" about the future world of ST as compared to our own? I've said it before, and I'll say it again: it can't be done. Wait till those canon-violating, Romulan-featuring, "the-hell-with-you-continuity-Nazis"-predicated episodes get started next season and you'll see a whole lot more reasons that this whole prequel idea stinks at its core.
