Enterprise 11-13-2002 (1 Viewer)

[Ron McBadger]

Yuck...another bad episode...3 mins. in and my wife and I turned to each other and said..."use the transporter you FN dummies"

I think it might be time for the Trek franchaise to see if they can hire the writers from Farscape.

 

[Jason Seaver]

As banal as it gets... From now on, I'm going to trektoday.com and checking the writing credits before the show comes on. If the bumble-Bs are listed, I'm elsewhere.

 

[Jack Briggs]

I worked on HTF last night, not caring what was on. Plan on tuning in Sunday evening.

Another barometer of the show's sagging appeal can be seen right here on HTF. Normally, the thread discussing the week's episode would be nearing two pages by now.

So Beavis and.... so B&B wrote this one as well?

What, pray tell, happened in this exciting episode?

 

[Jason Seaver]

They had story credit, though Andre Bourmais wrote the actual teleplay.

Reed lost his communicator while he, Archer, and Hoshi were running around the surface of a pre-warp planet with prosthetic foreheads for no apparent reason. So, Reed and Archer go back down, get themselves captured, and probably (when all is said and done), start a war. Afterward, Archer is very sorry, but leaves the planet in the rear-view mirror.

Meanwhile, hilarity ensues as Trip and Travis try and figure out the cloaking device on the Suliban ship they captured, but wind up making Trip's arm invisible (despite "cloaks" never being self-sustaining after the device is turned off before)!

So, just why did they hire John Shiban, anyway? He's had one writing credit in the 13 episodes where that information is available for this season.

(Although, I may have to make an exception to the no-B&B rule in a couple weeks. The idea of someone having an existential crisis after the first time they used the transporter is a good one, and Hoshi is my favorite character)

 

[BobV]

Wow you guys are rough. I thought it was pretty good. MILES better than the last two episodes. Thought the pacing was good, the acting was fine, a bit of character development, good seasonal continuity, some chuckles, so good old fashioned Kirk-beat-'em-up-and-ask-questions-later action. Some shadows of the prethinking that slowly leads to the Prime Directive, without hitting you over the head with it. No nice and sweet wrap up at the end. Actions had consequence yet again. Archer screwed up in going back, he knows it.

I like that everything doesn't work out perfectly on this show. I like that this show is 'realistic' in the fact that they don't always make the right decisions, just like the rest of us. Unlike TNG (which I love) where every episode seems to end with the universe being right again and us learning the, of course, again, the crew of the Enterprise did nothing wrong, and were yet again perfect in motive and action. There are a couple of episodic exceptions over the 7 years, but they were not the norm.

 

[Jason Seaver]

Actually, the episode does deserve some praise for using the entire cast in a relatively well-balanced manner (the guy who plays Mayweather must wonder why he bothers showing up sometimes). It's not as offensively stupid as "Marauders", but it does make big time use of The Idiot Plot.

And we've just seen this so many times before. TOS's "A Piece Of The Action". TNG's "First Contact". That's just two. It's just more evidence of the pathetic lack of imagination possessed by the guys in charge of television's biggest science fiction franchise.

 

[Frank Anderson]

Although I enjoyed the episode I will admit, as stated above, it's been done before. But that alone should not bring it down. It's not the first time an episode was borrowed from another script (or even another series all together).

 

[MikeAlletto]

I enjoyed the episode also. I think between Enterprise and the Simpsons some of you are expecting WAY to much out of your evening TV entertainment.

 

[Jason Seaver]

some of you are expecting WAY to much out of your evening TV entertainment.

Well, why shouldn't we? A TV series takes up much more of a person's time than a CD, movie, book, etc. does. And, hey, I consider my time a valuable resource.

And when it's been demonstrated that something can be done much better, there's little reason to tolerate mediocrity.

 

[Ron McBadger]

some of you are expecting WAY to much out of your evening TV entertainment

Like I have said before the reason why we expect more from Enterprise is that TNG and DS9 where great and shows like Bab5 and Farscape blow Enterprise away. With a built in fan base and with a ton of money Enterprise should and could have been so much better.

 

[Will_B]

How few episodes ago was the one where they were prisoners in a jail run by Dean Stockwell? Less than a dozen? And they already retreaded it? Yikes.

I wonder what alien jail they will end up in next week? Isn't it Hoshi's turn to be prisoner next week?

 

[Will_B]

On the plus side, I like how they've replaced the matte paintings of alien worlds' cities with CGI models - and move the perspective just to prove it. It looks nice. Still fake, but nice.

 

[Andrew Beacom]

Ordainary episode. I'm also wondering how many prisons that makes in 1.? seasons. There was that prison ep with the suliban people last year.

A show that continually relies on stupid plot devices is insulting the audiences intelligence. Unfortunately most of the audience don't notice. I have a couple of ST people at work that I don't even discuss Enterprise with. They love it. No matter how bad it get's. And they don't even see when the *really* bad episodes happen because to them ST is never bad.

That's B&Bs greatest crime. That ST has and will be taken from the position of goodness, even greatness, to permanent and perpetual mediocrety.

 

[Jack Briggs]

Which makes Mr. Berman all the more a tragicomic figure, when one considers TNG's third season.

Amazing.

Once a standard has been established, is it too much to ask that it be maintained once in a while? If people are just going through the motions in the name of this franchise, new people should be hired. Wouldn't UPN/Paramount like to see better ratings?

 

[Dave Scarpa]

I kinda liked the idea of this ep, but the execution was a bit off. I mean I'm glad that they are ignoring the transporters now. But how can the producers expect us to ignore the fact that they did use them alot when the series began. This whole ep would have been over if they just beamed the 2 of them onboard. They knew where they were. Also I was saying to my wife that this series is alot more Voyager than TOS, it seems everytime Archer and Malcolm get in a tuff spot they get real teary eyed and accept their fate. Kirk would've been fashioning a device to trick the guards would've pummeled the two guys with guns and flying drop kicked the rest of them, or he would've tricked an alien babe into letting them out by seducing her. Ah.. the glory days Kirk was da man, he never sat and whined.

 

[Andrew Beacom]

Dave,

Good point. Archer is a pussy. Dylan Hunt and Malcolm Reynolds, now those are captains of space ships.

It's hard to decide if this is more like Voyager than TNG. Archer is certainly in the Picard/Janeway mould. I think the series needed someone less refined. Since the federation isn't refined yet. He didn't need to be a Kirk but more Kirk like than the moral high ground of the others.

Voyager would have had a hope if Janeway had have been killed off and replaced with Chakotay.

 

[BobV]

if Janeway had have been killed off and replaced with Chakotay.

 

[doug zdanivsky]

Not bad at all, I thought. Reminded me of the TNG episode, where Riker gets caught and has to escape..

Way better than the last two! I'm really cheering for this show as it has alot of potential. It'd be a shame if it got the rug pulled from under before it hit it's stride. There's bound to be a few bugs, even into the second season, but once those are ironed out..

 

[Paul E. Fox II]

It'd be a shame if it got the rug pulled from under before it hit it's stride.

I honestly don't think that is possible. UPN will keep this show on the air come hell or high-water as it is one, if not their ONLY, ratings winner (and by that I mean it gets better ratings than most anything else UPN has on the air).

 

[Francois Caron]

I honestly don't think that is possible. UPN will keep this show on the air come hell or high-water as it is one, if not their ONLY, ratings winner (and by that I mean it gets better ratings than most anything else UPN has on the air).

What annoys me about this statement is how true it is. As long as the ratings stay above water, there will be no incentive whatsoever to improve the series in any way. It's simply how television works. It's all about achieving instant ratings. It has nothing to do with creating a really great show.
I'll add to this that even if the Enterprise's ratings somehow go down the toilet, UPN and Paramount will ignore the real reason the show has failed (i.e. the now pathetic B&B team) and instead find a scapegoat on which to dump the blame for this fiasco (i.e. the unsupportive television audience).
I've yet to see a TV executive tell it like it is. It would be so wonderful for one of them to call Berman and Braga to their office and say:
"In the past, your contribution to the Star Trek universe has been well received by the executive staff, the network affiliates and the fans of the series. However, your current treatment of the series 'Enterprise' has been less than satisfactory. We've been receiving many complaints from our target audience insisting we change the writing staff otherwise they'd stop watching the series altogether. After viewing a few of the episodes written by the two of you, I tend to agree with them.
"As of now, creative control is no longer your responsibility. We're beginning the process of searching for new writers, starting with the scripts submitted by the fans of the series over the last few years. They seem to have a far better grasp of what they want out of the Star Trek franchise than either of you.
"All episodes currently in the can and scheduled to be broadcast before the Christmas break will be presented as scheduled. Following this, the remaining season's episodes will be penned by a new team of writers. I'm sure we can still find a place for the two of you in the franchise. However, if this new orientation isn't to your satisfaction, have your representatives contact us so we can discuss the terms of your resignations.
"That is all."
BTW, I still haven't seen this week's episode. I still have until tomorrow night to see it, but I'm not sure it's worth the bother.