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I see plenty complaints at how Enterprise is disappointing, or just 'not good trek'.
So the question is - what would you like to see in an episode of ENTEPRISE? What kind of things would you like to see happen to the characters, what kind of situations or dilemmas would you like to see the crew go through?
I have some of my own ideas, but would like to hear your input as well.
This has nothing to do with the fact that I'm currently attempting to write a spec script for the show to send out to networks that air shows with a similar demographic.
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I'd like to see some hard science fiction. And some continuity. And the complete elimination of mystical powers, time travel, and psionics.
Posts: 37449 | Registered: May 1999
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Without saying too much, the ep concept I'm currently playing with will have a bit of thematic unity in the "A" and "B" storylines. Most of the time, the "B" storyline is just a fun diversion, or the 'continuity' part of the episode, and really doesn't have much to do with the "A" line.
In my case, I'll discover the main theme of what I want the episode to be about, and while the "B" story may be a more 'every day' situation, it will almost flat out state the problem that will be evident allegorically in the major "A" storyline. I've seen this done to amazing effect in some shows recently, and find it quite poigniant.
And that's something ENTERPRISE has lacked (mostly) - poigniancy. Although there were a few fabulous episodes in the latter part of the Season 3 Xindi arc. Not too many, but there were some that made it all worth while.
Posts: 2689 | Registered: Apr 2000
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The thing is, from the bits that I've noticed, what they 'contradict', they do so knowingly, and seem to leave 'ways out'. Take the Ferengi ep, for instance. The name of the race is never stated, and they jump away, vowing to never make contact with the humans again. Yes, te contact in TNG was supposed to be the First Contact with them, but that doesn't preclude something like this from happening.
The Borg ep? More fun with changed timelines.
I can understand people getting annoyed with Vulcans getting 'pissed on', but I think this makes them more interesting, and doesn't really screw around too much with the Canon. Just...changed perception.
What exactly (apart from suddenly having a 'New Enterprise That We've Never Heard Of Before' show up) has been screwed up continuity wise that you find so alarming?
Posts: 2689 | Registered: Apr 2000
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I'd like to see Picard come back in time with Kirk, Janeway, and Sisco, slap Scott Bacula upside the head, and say, "Get some decent theme music."
No particular reason - I just think it'd be funny.
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Eh, I find the theme lyrics very appropriate for the spirit of the show. Took a short while to get used to, but now I kind of like it. I know, that puts me in the minority, but it works. At least they still use Dennis McCarthy's "Archer's Theme" for the End Credits.
Posts: 2689 | Registered: Apr 2000
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The Vulcans. From the very first episode, they messed with the timeline, the relationship between the two races, the established patterns of thought, behavior, societal structures . . .
Kirk's Enterprise was among the first (or, according to the book The Final Frontier, THE first) starships to be built. Ever. OOPS! We changed our minds on that!
Andorians, and Andorian/Vulcan relations.
There's more, but I'm blocking it out. Or maybe mack is right. Posts: 32919 | Registered: Mar 2003
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What of these would you like to see explored? And for arcs, which characters, and what aspects?
I'm trying to find a use for Mayweather, because as is, he's DREADFULLY underused -- and Hoshi, because I think she's the most fascinating character on the show. We've had T'Pol and Tucker shoved down our throat this season, I think it's time for Hoshi to shine. Mayweather, too.
And Phlox just rocks. DEAR DOCTOR is one of the best episodes to have aired in the three season run - and it was a Phlox based episode.
Posts: 2689 | Registered: Apr 2000
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I tried watching Enterprise the other night, and I almost didn't recognize it as Star Trek. The best part was that there were these scaly green aliens that looked exactly like the bad guys in Galaxy Quest. You knew they were evil because they were scaly and green, and they ate live mice. It was really pathetic.
So anyway, I gave up watching after several minutes. I got the feeling that the creators of the show would be much happier doing a Star Trek series set later in the future, not earlier.
Posts: 9945 | Registered: Sep 2002
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Actually, the theme music is one of my favorite things about Enterprise. Voyager's was pretty forgettable, though.
Posts: 32919 | Registered: Mar 2003
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Truthfully, I'd like to see a lot more Malcolm. I didn't catch any of the second half of this past season (being in Greece sans television will do that to you), but I caught a glimpse of one of the episodes... the one where they took the wormhole with help from their "descendants"? Something like that. But the scene that struck me was when Hoshi and Travis were talking about their offspring and Malcolm sat there depressed - he died a bachelor. I thought he played that extremely well.
The episode with Travis' family on the cargo ship was one of my favourites. It made him a person instead of the token black guy. Now I fear he's slipping back into the latter role. Which sucks. On the positive side, though, that man is built... Posts: 3932 | Registered: Sep 1999
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Rivka: The novels aren't, and never were, canon. Unless it was stated so in an epsisode or in a film, it Isn't Canon.
Posts: 2689 | Registered: Apr 2000
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I like Malcolm a lot as well. He's got a rough exterior, filled with tradition and family honor and responsibility. But his eyes used to light up whenever he got a chance to 'blow something up'.
At least, that was pre-Xindi conflict. That may have somewhat soured the joy of blowing things up.
They also set him and Trip up as a great 'buddy duo' - that was downplayed a lot this season as he was given more 'private time' with T'Pol. I'd like to see their relationship return and grow.
Dr. Sam Beckett steps into the quantum leap accelerator and vanishes......
....he jumps into the body of Captain Archer, a Starship Captain on Earth's first starship. He begins having conversations with Al (a hologram that no one else can see). As the token Vulcan on the ship can sense no other presence, even though the dog keeps going to Al for ear scratching, she is positive that Archer is going crazy.
Sam's mission is to try to save Enterprise from cancellation. He accomplishes this by convincing his commanders to follow this idea that he remembers from his swiss cheese brain. Earth command now wants him to "explore strange new worlds, seek out new life, and new civilizations, ...."
Along the way, of course, he convinces them that he should get his shirt half ripped off in every other episode and have a new girlfriend in each episode.
Before leaping out after another successful mission, he also buys a toupee.
Posts: 279 | Registered: May 2004
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What I'd like to see is actual meetings with, and exploring of human society's relations with, the alien societies we see in TOS, and to a lesser degree TNG and later. Yes, we've seen some of that, with the Klingons, Vulcans, Romulans, and Andorians, but there are all kinds of others that are being ignored, and a lot more development that could go on with those who aren't.
And, whatever people may think about the psionics etc., it's long since part of the canon. Just like warp travel. It'd be a massive time paradox eliminating it now.
Posts: 1114 | Registered: Mar 2004
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I want a Starfleet Academy series (focusing on the teachers, not the cadets; Boston Public in space! Well, San Francisco, but close enough).
Posts: 15770 | Registered: Dec 2001
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We're not talking about new series, we're talking about ideas for Enterprise.
Although, knowing UPN's demographics, I woldn't be surprised at all to see a Starfleet Academy be a future, if not the next, Trek Incarnation.
Posts: 2689 | Registered: Apr 2000
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As for specific elements, I suggest stealing the basic outline of a plot from a great play. Shakespearean themes have been done to death, how about reading some Ben Jonson and stealing from him?
Posts: 15770 | Registered: Dec 2001
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I've only seen the first season, but stuff I liked from the first season =
Humans being less cocky and sure of themselves -- seeing them blunder into situations they didn't understand -- a nice contrast to the later series' "We're the biggest players in the Federation and we're destined to be the best species ever so there" attitude.
Strained relations with the Vulcans.
Some commentary about how space affects human culture, like with the Boomers.
Characters being unsure of themselves, like the early episode where Hoshi's scared of exploring the alien ship.
Technology that's not so advanced and doesn't always work.
Posts: 2911 | Registered: Aug 2001
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On a tangent -- we've got episodes of seasons 2 and 3 on tape -- anyone have recommendations of particular episodes to watch? (Or know of a link to any fan sites that rate the individual episodes?)
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I think they should turn it into a sitcom at this point. They should bring the beagle to the forefront of the action and intrigue. Lots of "piddle" jokes from week to week.
"Captain, we have a problem on the engineering deck!"
quote:And the complete elimination of mystical powers, time travel, and psionics.
That might be difficult. If you count mind melds, psionics have been in the Trek universe since the original series.
quote:And Phlox just rocks.
Agreed. John Billingsley is far and away the best actor on the series.
quote:Dr. Sam Beckett steps into the quantum leap accelerator and vanishes......
....he jumps into the body of Captain Archer, a Starship Captain on Earth's first starship.
Here's the problem with that: the quantum leap accelerator only allows you to travel within the span of your own lifetime. Captain Archer is a hundred and fifty odd years in our future, and Sam Beckett was likely born in the forties or fifties.
Posts: 4534 | Registered: Jan 2003
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Actually, I'm pretty sure Star Trek is the only time you can see Jolene Blalock with her clothes on.
Posts: 7600 | Registered: Jan 2001
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I've only watched one episode of Enterprise, and it was both painfully stupid and utterly forgettable. What your episode should be like is DEEP SPACE 9! Wooooooo!
We're up to Season 6 on Netflix, and it just keeps getting better. The character development, the resurfacing plot elements, the whole Dominion story arc.... man, this show is incredible. The second episode from season 6, "Rocks and Shoals", just blew my mind. It was, by far, the most well-crafted Star Trek story I've ever seen.
I've only seen 9 episodes of Enterprise and my feeling towards them ranged from hatred to indifference.
There are too many great things about DS9 for me to list, but one thing that jumps out at me is the great villans on that show.
Dukat and Garrick are the best trek villans of all time. Before Dukat degenerated into a madman in season seven, he was a complex and charming character. Yes he was a butcher during the Occupation, but he was also a good father, a stout patriot, and a loyal friend. Dukat is even charming at times. His likability in the early parts of the series only makes his horrible acts even more disturbing.
Bashir once asked Garrick whether he ever told a true story in his life.
Garrick replied: "They were all true."
"Eeven the lies?" Bashir asked.
"Especially the lies!" answered Garrick. I think that sums up Garrick's awesomeness pretty well.
Posts: 1592 | Registered: May 2000
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Ack! No Q! They played with him on "Voyager" and it was horrible (except the episode in season 7 with his son. That was fun. But all the other ones were bad!). I enjoyed him on TNG, I love watching "Encounter at Farpoint" whenever humanly possible, but still.
Was I the only one who didn't like the Borg appearing on "Enterprise"?
Posts: 3932 | Registered: Sep 1999
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I've purchased the official scripbook featuring the teleplays of every single Trek epsidoe (from TNG, through DS9 and Voyager) in which Q makes an appearance. It's quite thick.
I also started watching the first season of TNG again - you can tell that the first couple eps were written by those who worked on the original series. FARPOINT is Very Rodenberry, and The Naked Now is blatantly (and they even reference it in the episode!) a take off of an episode of TOS (The Naked Time). It's interesting seeing the change in tone from the Rodenberry Era (bright and optimistic) to the Berman/Piller - Berman/Braga era (dark darkety dark dark dark).
Posts: 2689 | Registered: Apr 2000
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Good point. But at least old trek didn't have every other episode be a time travel one. I mean, jeez, just turn the enterprise into a Tardis already.
Posts: 7085 | Registered: Apr 2001
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