kvrdave

I have been having trouble sleeping and it has let me watch a lot of episodes that I have tivo'd. I really enjoy the show, but hear so many say they hate it. I was never a big fan of Voyager, but would probably watch it before I would watch most crap that is on at 2 am.

But Enterprise is okay. Sure I dislike a lot of the things that appear to be running into continuity problems, but I have faith that they will be explained away in later episodes.

I enjoy the crew very much, and also enjoy the angst between the Vulcans and the humans this early on.

So, why to other Trek faithful not like it?

muggins

What don't I like about Enterprise?


Good question...perhaps I should start from the beginning.

The beginning theme song really sucks.



Actually, I don't have many real gripes about the Enterprise series. I think one of the only things that really bothered me was the continuous retelling of almost the same stories/themes, as in "stranded on a planet", "caught a disease", or "held hostage".

I actually watched Enterprise quite a bit, but then I lost interest around the time that they did the season break. It seems as if I could never find any new episodes airing.


Slightly offtopic: While watching the 11pm-1am ST: Voyager and ST: DS9 block on the local Fox station, I found it rather funny that halfway through they almost always had a planned parenthood ad. The whole ad was a rap song.

I just don't think they were targeting the right demographic.

Chew

"You proceed from a false assumption."

I don't believe it will be explained away. They haven't shown the ability.

As to why I don't like Enterprise: bad acting, bad writing, rehashed storylines from previous Treks, and it tries to appeal to the lowest common denominator with so-called "sexual tension".

But, I watch every week and have never missed a single episode of Trek since TNG started.

muggins

I've always really liked your sig with Wizdar's quote about Enterprise. I thought about mentioning it, but thought you might eventually post.

Patman

It's just a boring show. I have the last 3 weeks still in my ReplayTV "to be watched" queue, and I don't have a strong urge to clear any of the episode out of the queue for now.

Red Dog

Very boring show.

kvrdave

I will agree that the action is not as high as it could be. They definately seem to do more on ship than on planets. I had hoped Archer would be more Kirk than Janeway, but they seem to have melded the two unsuccessfully.

I do wish Archer were more Kirk-like.

Red Dog

Kirk would have already nailed T'Pol and Hoshi....probably in a 3-way.

lisadoris

I second that one though I think the subpar acting stems from bad scripts, not a lack of talent from the cast. I still have my fingers crossed that the show will improve so I'll keep watching at least until the end of the season.

Red Dog

My problem with this prequel is that I want to see interaction with the future allies of Earth in the Federation (Vulcans, Andorians, Tellarittes, etc) and the future enemies - Klingons and Romulans. The episodes with the Andorians have been the best of the lot.

bboisvert

Yes, if I were to give one *ultimate* complaint... it's that the show is boring. There are a lot of things I can forgive, but that isn't one of them.

As mentioned, the acting is bad, the writing is poor, and everything has a very been-there-done-that feel to it.

When the show was originally described to me, I was thinking "Das Boot in Space". Here we have Earthlings starting to explore the universe for the first time, using questionable, new tech, and they're being thrown into intense situations, requiring them to grow up faster than they may have anticipated.

Instead, what I got were a bunch of rewrites of old ST episodes, except they've relocated all of them in caves to save $$$ on production costs. There's no reason for any of these stories to exist, other than to make sure that there's some Star Trek 'product' on the air.

The fact that they feel they can draw us back with explosions and boobies just makes it even more annoying.

DRG

I started off enjoying it, but thought it jumped the shark when they did the time travel ep. The appeal to me was the idea that we were dealing with less advanced technology, and there would be a freshness and a sense of surprise in discovering things that were commonplace on other Trek shows.

Unfortunately, none of this was realized on the show. They tried to distant themselves from Trek, but they basically did things so wrong... they changed the things that shouldn't have been changed (traditional title music, making things 'sexy') and didn't change the things that were stagnant (the recycled stories). It now just seems like a pale imitation of all the other shows, with a 'hip' twist, because B&B couldn't resist (or didn't have the creativity) revisiting all the played-out Trek gimmicks (time travel, etc.) even if they have no place in a show that's supposed to be many years before the original series.

crankyman

i, for one, would be drawn back by the boobies.

Jadzia

I also hate the whole "prequel" element to the show. It gives it a very "been there, done that" quality. Star Trek is supposed to be about boldly going where no man has before, and this whole series is a retread. Are we ever supposed to truly be fearful that mankind is going to bite it, since we have seen the future on Star Trek? Not to mention, the writers show a complete lack of regard for the Star tRek canon. If you are going to be writing about Star Trek's past, please at least be respectful of what has already been established.

I think I have just realized my biggest complaint with the show. It is too dark and depressing. They never have a light episode, and the crew doesn't seem to really bond together. The writer's idea of showing crew interaction is a completely worthless subplot involving misnight rubdowns between Trip and T'Pal. It's all about titillation, but no genuine friendship or comaraderie is developed.

The show is dark, the plots are always taking themself too serious. They never have "fun" episodes. Even DS9 who many saw as "dark" in the beginning had many funny or light-hearted moments or episodes to break up the serious tone. The worst is that it is a dumb show, but thinks it is so serious.

I do not look forward to watching Enterprise, because it is joyless. I seem to always have unwatched episodes stored in my Tivo. I seem to watch it out of duty.

Patman

At this point, Enterprise is the very last on my list to watch (recorded shows). Since I still have a couple of MI-5 episodes in the queue, it'll be at least another days before I get to the Enterprise backlog.

kvrdave

Good points Jadzia. It would be nice to see a "shore leave" type episodes (without the rabbit, of course), or a Harvey Mudd.

I do agree that it is much darker without the idea that "We have wiped out the need for money, there is no starvation, etc."

I will readily admit that I follow fairly blindly. I just eat up trek in any form.

I think they went prequel because they had really run their course with the TNG timeline, and they didn't want to go further in the future yet because of movies, etc.

Personally, I would have enjoyed a "Frasier" spinoff type show with just a few of the originals.

I also remember how INCREDIBLE DS9 got in the last 2-3 seasons, so I hold out a lot of hope for Enterprise as well.

Red Dog

Re: fun episodes, I'm sure that there will be a Tribble episode at some point. A poorly done Tribble episode that is.

Jadzia

I think it would have been cool if they had dumped the 24th century TNG/VOY/DS9 timeline and fast-forwarded a few hundred years in the future, kind of like how TNG jumped ahead from TOS.

We could have gotten all sorts of cool new technology and aliens, etc.

My idea for a cool ST show would be to focus on those 29th century "temporal police" that were mentioned in the DS9 Tribble episode and also appeared in Voyager.

That would have been a cool setting for a show, that far ahead in the future and it would have opened up lots of possibilities for travels into other Star Trek futures.

Rogue588

Fixed.

kvrdave

That would be cool. At least until you find out that Wesly Crusher is still around, he controls the termporal police, and every episode revolves around him

Wizdar

It’s not Wednesday yet. There are always answers to this question on Wednesday.

milo bloom

The theme song wouldn't be so bad if it were an original composition. It sorta fits the idea of the show, but to use a cover song is just pathetic.
And it's too much of a retread. I wanted to see the beginnings of the Federation as seen in books such as Federation and alluded to in TOS "no viewscreens, atomic weapons"
More of the old aliens! And the Klingons should not have been bumpy heads. They should have gone back to the swarthy types of TOS.

It's just more of the same is all.

Wizdar

There should be a reason, clearly stated, for why they don’t use the transporters. Hell, it could be a running joke, if B&B&Co had a sense of humor.

It’s not like it’s new technology. Hell, everybody and his sister-in-law has beamed on and/or off Enterprise.

The only good thing about the theme song is that it tests the mute button on my remote to make sure it's working.

Chew

I saw this elsewhere and thought it sums up things nicely:

Jason

They should concentrate more on the formation of the Federation, rather than the "temporal cold war" (which doesn't even make sense) and this 9/11 inspired Xindi storyline.

They should have more Klingons. I had high hopes for a Klingon/human war. Guess they forgot that the Klingons used to really be bad guys, instead of just grumpy warriors who sit around and worry about 'honor' all the time.

More andorians! The new andorians they've had in a handful of episodes kick ass! When you have a good thing, run with it already.

Bring in some different writers. Some new perspectives would be interesting.