Back-to-Back New Eps of Enterprise 5/8/02: Discussion (1 Viewer)

[Dave Scarpa]

2 New eps 8-10pm.

 

[Jeff Keene]

Thanks a lot for the reminder. I hadn't setup my PVR to get the second hour yet, so this really helped.

 

[Glenn Overholt]

And it looks like these will be the last episodes for the 1st season, too.

Glenn

 

[Jack Briggs]

Tomorrow, the discussion. Afterward, the post-mortem of Season One of Enterprise. I'm game, guys.

 

[Paul E. Fox II]

Sorry guys, the season ender isn't for two weeks.
As for tonight's episodes, I loved them but then again, I guess you've already figured out that I REALLY like the show!
Let the bashing begin!

 

[BobV]

There's still another two episodes to go.

Two Days And Two Nights - May 15th

Shockwave - May 22nd

 

[Mike Broadman]

I thought tonight's episodes weren't bad.

The first one was about Vulcans, which is always good. The actress who played the ambassador looked very familiar. Where have I seen her? Anyway, she was really good as the human-excepting diplomat and as a backdrop for T'Pol. I had my problems with the treknobabble warp stuff at the end, but that's to be expected.

The second one was another pre-Prime Directive theme, this time seeing Archer firmly refusing to butt in.

Is it me or was that desert game basically just lacrosse with more hitting?

Next week's ep is a double, and then the season finale is the week after.

 

[Frank Anderson]

I enjoyed them both as well. But then I seem to be enjoying this series a whole lot more than most people.

 

[Glenn Overholt]

Yeah, sorry about the misinfo, but they played the 23rd & 24th episodes of the season today, and I figured that was enough for one year. I do like them though, but as for tonight, the second episode reminded me too much of the news.

Glenn

Glenn

 

[Rex Bachmann]

Mike Broadman wrote:

Of course, no one can speak to where you've seen the actress, but Fionnula Flanagan played "Data's mom" in the NG episode "Inheritance" and "Enina Tandro" (a lover of Curzon Dax) in the DS9 episode "Dax".

 

[Jack Briggs]

First episode: Forgettable.

Second episode: "Let's do TOS!"

Only recommendation: Better than the previous two weeks.

Prescription: Just consult with a published SF author and fix up all those messy plausibility problems.

"Oh, but I long for the days of Deep Space Nine" he said, too late on Wednesday night.

(Have many suggestions for a between-seasons overhaul.)

 

[Mike Broadman]

Ah, yes, that's it, Data's mom.

Thanks, Rex.

 

[ikiru]

Did they do away with the "Faith of the heart theme?" I finished watching the episodes and I couldnt remember if they had it or not. Could someone fill me in...

The second episode was more of the prime directive crap. I am a big fan of TOS and I really like the moral lessons that were taught. In this episode of Enterprise, I felt like I wasted 30 minutes of my life. Nothing significant happened and there was no lesson to be learned. There was not much substance to this story other than the obvious attempt to play devil's advocate on the issue of terrorism. but unfortunately, we didnt care because there wasnt enough character development to make us feel any symphathy towards the terrorists. Were we supposed to like them or hate them? Did the crew want to help them or just get away? Why do I feel that Archer's closing comments were not genuine?

I dont like the policy that the new star trek has developed. In TOS, I remember an episode where Kirk and crew came across a civilization at war that hated fighting so much that the warring parties built a machine that would calculate how many people would die as a result of war and it would kill that many people. The people were in this war for so long that they didnt know any other form of living and ending the war was unheard of (because there was no pain of war to remind them of humanity). Kirk and crew ended up destroying the machine and thus forcing the two warring peoples to make peace. Moral: War is bad, peace is good...

If this episode was written today, we would see the same warring peoples, but Enterprise would detect the death machine from space, come down to investigate, end up breaking it, finding some way to fix it, and leave patting themselves on the back for not breaking the prime directive. Moral: Please do not touch the exhibits...

-ikiru

 

[Jack Briggs]

In TOS, I remember an episode where Kirk and crew came across a civilization at war that hated fighting so much that the warring parties built a machine that would calculate how many people would die as a result of war and it would kill that many people.

"Let That Be Your Last Battlefield."

I agree with you Ikiru.

And what Desilu could get away with during the TOS run on NBC cannot be repeated today. I am sick and tired of humans who are "alien" in name only.

Look, I am the first to be critical of TOS--even of the "sacred cow" episodes. Why, for example, do we introduce a "duplicate Earth" concept in "Miri," only never to revisit this staggering and scientifically impossible concept after the teaser opening? We merely segue into the action with the kids on the planet (who, of course, all speak perfect English). The fact that Kirk and crew are on a "duplicate" of planet Earth (every continent possesses the same contours as our world) is never mentioned again.

Of course, this quagmire could have been avoided if the writers simply skipped the stupid dupe-Earth "idea," and instead had posited that the action is taking place on a former Earth colony gone awry. Simple as that.

Time, however, has endeared "Miri" to us; we are more accepting and forgiving of TOS's faults (that is, except for much of the third season).

Yet we should be able to do better now, to improve on the plausibility issues. And, damn it, the writers must stop with all the intelligence-insulting deus ex machina endings.

To return to my usual song-and-dance routine: B&B only wish to orbit very close to Planet Status-Quo, spewing out this cookie-cutter dreck that could just as easily work in the other spinoff series. Enterprise is a "prequel" in name only. The look and feel are already third-rate business-as-usual, standard-issue Star Trek baby formula.

It's hard to remain optimistic.

But I can tell you this: During TNG's first season, I grew warmer and warmer to the new series as that debut year progressed (I believe there are true gems from the 1987-88 chapter of the saga). Same with DS9.

Here, however, I grow more fearful I am witnessing Voyager Redux.

The cynicism being demonstrated by B&B is patently insulting. We are doing nothing more than boldly going where third-rate, throwaway Trek episodes have gone before many a year ago.

 

[Nelson Au]

Sorry Jack. Your expertise in Star Trek is quite extensive, but the episode mentioned above was called A Taste of Armageddon. Where they have the suicide machines that Kirk destroys to make them face real war.

Regarding last night's Enterprise, I really enjoyed Fallen Hero. The second episode was okay.

The last quarter was good with the untried attempts at Warp 5. I knew they'd get help from the Vulcan ship, the fun part was to see how far they'd get before the help came. And I found that while the Ambassedor acted too human, even though she said it make others feel more comfortable. The back story with her and T'Pol worked for me.

Nelson

 

[Joel Fontenot]

I missed the first half of the first episode, and caught only the last 15 minutes of the second episode (busy evening ).
Anyway, the second episode had another TOS tying quality - the uniforms Archer and Tripp wore on the planet. Anyone else notice how the shoulder seams looked mighty similar to TOS regular uniforms and not the usual psudo-pre TNG look?
Joel

 

[Jack Briggs]

Nelson: D'oh! Thanks. I knew that, of course, but my hands were typing faster than my brain was processing the "output." A lesson to me.

 

[Nelson Au]

Jack,

We're only human.

Nelson

 

[Jeff Pryor]

Personally, I've liked 'Enterprise' since it's debut. Much, much better than DS9 or Voyager ever were, and I've been a diehard Trekker since TOS reruns in the early 70's. 'Enterprise' just a TV series, turn the channel if it isn't appealing.

 

[Dan Paolozza]

Like Jack, I've felt this season is pretty wishy-washy, with only a few instances of hope.

Unlike Jack, I have a little more hope for the series. Although I thought the second episode was pretty lacklustre (the plot was nothing more than a minor rescue operation, with nothing else to enhance the episode). But as the season goes on, I find I'm liking Bakula/Archer more and more. Trip's always been a cool character and done well enough that he was/is easy to warm up to. The writing of Archer has taken its sweet time, and it looks like he's starting to round out and feel like a centre-stage character. I find that whenever they give Bakula a scene in which he needs to convey something of importance (to the episode, not necesarily the plot), he does a great job. Unfortunately, the writing has been half-ass and as a result I feel like there's 2 Archers: One, who is bland and is just going through the motions to get from the first second of a scene to the last second. Two, an Archer that feels like a starship Captain, facing various degrees of new situations, while constantly wrestling with what the "right thing to do" is. Sometimes he has to suck it up and do things cautiously, sometimes he has to give in to his gut and do what it takes to alleviate the indecision, and sometimes he's caught off-guard, going with the flow, and ends up in trouble. I find this all-over-the-map stuff quite realistic and refreshing for a captain.

I feel like the writers are trying desparately to emulate two ST series to date. We get episodes that harken back to TOS and TNG (Voayager never had much of an identity to me), trying to convince both audiences that this show is good. Sometimes both elements are forced together in one episode. I also think that this is an "audience grab" and in the next season we'll see Enterprise develop its own identity, with more original stories that pertain to these characters and their circumstances.

But one thing jack is right about, that I don't think will change: ST used to be about pushing boundaries and walking the edge, and it's not doing that anymore. It's too risky, because Paramount wants to get back that gigantic NG audience it built up; making Enterprise more cutting-edge would result in a DS9-sized audience, and B&B would probably just call that "regression." This doesn't mean thatEnterprise is bound to suck; it just means the edginess of DS9 or the boundry-blasting of TOS is something that is unique to those series.

As I said before, my hope (which is not yet dead) is that Enterprise will develop its own identity, which is really what will make it a good show.