WI: Enterprise had season four quality, in season 1?

[Michel Van]

The Producer Rick Berman and Brannon Bragaon made everything wrong what they make wrong...
after changing in pre production, the main plot several time

One was that, they had actually build the Enterprise true out Season 1 and it maiden flight was cliffhanger for Season 2 !
in last minute they change on this Terrorism plot of the genetically upgraded Suliban and the Temporal Cold War.
and then go to the Comic con of San Diego explaining "We have no ideal how to go with this into Season 2" or something like that...
They ignored every thing on canon of Star Trek so far, like put Klingons and Borgs into it, much to disappointment of Fans.
with poor ratings the Producers make thing even worst, 9/11 stile attack bye bye Suliban here comes the Xindi.

and to end Season 3 with Biggest Stereotype ever in Alternate History: "THE NAZI INVASION OF USA!"

can you believe, who a german Star trek fan feel wen he see this ? They are wretched !
finally they got thing right in season 4, but it was to late...

with another producer like Ronald D. Moore
and story arc like like Vulcan vs. Andoria conflict, the lost colony of earth and begin of Romulans vs. Human war what let to Federation of Planets
this would be more what i wanna to see in Star Trek: Enterprise...

 

[BlackWave]

Yeah, Season 4 of Enterprise was a definite improvement, though not without weak episodes ('Daedalus') and ultimately being a Trekkie was kinda key to its enjoyment, with all the TOS referencing. Though I suppose by then trying to broaden an appeal to the general public was a forgone conclusion.

In any case...I suppose the initial reaction from fans might be better, and we might miss out on stupidity like Trip's pregnancy...but yeah, there was already a combination of public fatigue and network screwing about that wouldn't guarantee a full run either. To grab public attention you'd need a full revamp of the style a la nBSG, or the reboot films, though that would again alienate the fanbase Trek had been forced to rely on up to that point.

In fairness to B&B...there was the idea of a 'Future Right Stuff' that would see the first season revolve around the construction of the Enterprise itself and the politics around it. While not guaranteed to be a ratings killer, it certainly could've been interesting.

Either way...there are some fan reimaginings that take this on--like mine, if you'll forgive the plug...

 

[BlondieBC]

I think one problem was they shoehorned the main cast into copies of TOS. I mean, they had Hoshi be an expy of Uhura with her and the Navigator switching ethnicities, the de facto tactical officer having a funny accent (Chekovs fake Russian with Reed's British), they switch personalities of the Doctor and Engineer, still had a Vulcan First Officer, and an generic American Captain.

In a lot of ways, they were trapped by their own success. They were afraid to try new characters, and forgot that at the time of the TOS, many of the characters were interesting and controversial. You can also see this in Voyager, where the Captain was supposed to be a young woman, promoted too fast due to connections, leading a crew full of resentment. Instead we get a try at a female Picard. And it is no where near as good as the original Picard. In Short, Star Trek stopped growing and risking and tried to just copy prior success, largely for economic reasons.

 

[BlondieBC]

As viewcode mentioned, the new Doctor Who got around all the continuity snarl that had built up over several decades by having an event occur which utterly changed the Whoverse while leaving it functionally the same. [The Time War] Plus it reset the Doctor's personality partially, making him more easy to relate to. Funny thing is that Enterprise had an even that was practically tailor made to do this; the events of First Contact. Having the end of that movie be the opening of Enterprise, with maybe an added scene to explain that Picard's actions created a slightly alternate timeline would work very well. Alternately have the Enterprise encounter a being early that call see the future, and have it explain that the future has altered. It eases the continuity problems but keeps things familiar.


teg

That would work, and is so simple. The founder of the federation had seen advance technology from the future. Borg had been around. Start with a simple scene where the early Vulcans and humans are discussing the Borg. Maybe have a small piece of Borg tech given to the Vulcans as a gift who respond by giving Earth something special. Or show the Borg technology being study in a human lab. Then jump forward to the Enterprise time where some obviously derived, yet weakened Borg technology is on the Enterprise. Small, but always in background to show it is different TL. Maybe some members have implant that helps them connect with computer. Or a medical healing device that is clearly of Borg origin. Or some modification to the ship. Say part of the engineering section is clearly using a Borg interface to control the warp coil. Or some minor, minor self healing of the ship.

 

[BlondieBC]

The problem with Voyager was that it tried too hard to be TNG. They could've had continuity. The ship could've been, by the last episode, a slap-dashed hunk of metal held together by the blood, sweat, tears of the crew. They could've had serious threats. The replicators don't work? We have to go down and find some food, and so forth.

Except it ended up being trite storytelling, mostly horrible writing, little continuity, and Voyager was the HMS Reset Button.

Enterprise had potential too. It could've been the true 'boldly going where no man had gone before' and every episode was exploring a new planet. The two biggest problems of Enterprise was the writing, and the fact that Star Trek had been running continuously. People were tired of it.

It was a greatly waste opportunity. And it is the one show you could easily kill off crewmembers and replace with refugees from the travel. If each season you axe on of the original crew and grow people found in the Delta quadrant, you could come home with a ship that is not only battered, but as much non-federation as federation.

 

[chessfiend]

Unless you get the show off of UPN, it is doomed to failure no matter what you do. A lot of the country got UPN, however for most of them the channel never came in clearly...ever...for the whole history of the network...We had UPN where I live and it was constantly fuzzy, snow stormed out, or just flat out didn't work for the entirety of its existence.

 

[viewcode]

...Funny thing is that Enterprise had an even that was practically tailor made to do this; the events of First Contact. Having the end of that movie be the opening of Enterprise, with maybe an added scene to explain that Picard's actions created a slightly alternate timeline would work very well. Alternately have the Enterprise encounter a being early that call see the future, and have it explain that the future has altered. It eases the continuity problems but keeps things familiar.

I think another thing that needs to happen is that there needs to be more connection to the time period its set in. Its only been a century since a nuclear war, there should be some tension between different nationalities on the Enterprise. Show some ruins on Earth. The Eugenic Wars thread has Australia only join the United Earth in 2150, have something like that crop up during the show. In short show this isn't just a Next Generation wannabe but a different show set in a different time.

teg

Yup, sounds about right

 

[Generaloberst]

It was a greatly waste opportunity. And it is the one show you could easily kill off crewmembers and replace with refugees from the travel. If each season you axe on of the original crew and grow people found in the Delta quadrant, you could come home with a ship that is not only battered, but as much non-federation as federation.

I remember reading an idea on a forum, where there's a series set in, following two or three central characters from their days in the Academy to where they end up as Captains and whatnot. Every season would cover a specific part of their growth, and you would only have to pay for so-many permanent actors/actresses.

 

[dsp19]

ENT should have been a Romulan War series

from the get go. That was already part of established canon and would force the crew to get along with each other and their future allies (Vulcans, Andorians, Tellarites). Stories like the Xindi arc were completely useless, and we shouldn't have even seen the Klingons, Borg, and other species because they weren't discovered yet

The series would have ended with the signing of the Federation Charter, the establishment of the Neutral Zone and victory over the Romulans, forcing them to enter isolation

 

[Coalition]

Enterprise had a ready-made crutch - The Original Series. If an Enterprise writer doesn't have an idea for a story, they can go into TOS archives, find a story, and have Archer solve a pre-existing problem that causes a later problem.

I.e. the planet Vendikar is at war with its neighbor. Archer provides them with computers and enhanced bandwidth so they can better communicate with their neighbor to stop the war. When T'Pol comments that Archer did't do anything about the underlying problems, Archer mentions that he gave them the ability to communicate, and it is up to the people involved to work out their problems. He also says the USS Valiant will arrive in a few months to deal with any problems that remain. The people on the planet are tired of the bombs and what-not, so they will pressure their leaders to end the war.

But there was so much potential there, it is sad how it was all thrown away. You had the founding of the Federation, the Romulan War (and show why the Romulans went into isolation), maybe a first contact with Klingons, and so much that could have been done.

You can also see this in Voyager, where the Captain was supposed to be a young woman, promoted too fast due to connections, leading a crew full of resentment. Instead we get a try at a female Picard. And it is no where near as good as the original Picard.

Voyager should have started out with introducing the Captain, XO, senior department heads, etc, and having the true cast in the background. At best you get the Chief Science Officer telling Lieutenant Janeway to make sure the equipment is calibrated. Then you get Voyager taken across the galaxy, the CO/XO/senior staff are all killed, and before it cuts to commercial, you have lieutenant Janeway trying to reach the bridge, asking if anyone is there.

This sets up a better start. Janeway is a science officer, not a full Captain. Chakotay is the one with the proper skills for the Delta Quadrant (due to being Maquis). He has more experience in operating alone, he taught tactics at the Academy so he is a better tactical officer, etc. Janeway has to prove that she is the better Captain not because she knows everything, but because she has the personality and mindset to take charge.

This would have been a better Voyager, where Janeway earns the Captain's seat, rather than being handed it at the very beginning.

 

[ColeMercury]

You can also see this in Voyager, where the Captain was supposed to be a young woman, promoted too fast due to connections, leading a crew full of resentment.

Well I'm glad they didn't do that, that would've been awful. The first female captain is a young incompetent promoted because of nepotism. Reeeeal progressive, that would've been.

 

[phx1138]

The problem was "ST:E" copied the form of "TOS" but ignored the substance. And the idea isn't retcon or reboot, it's setup.

So the *Xindi are essential: not as new villain, but as Macguffin, to establish the need for deep space high-warp ships. That needed to happen in Episode One or Two.

Yes, you want Vulcans in the show, but putting T'Pol in as XO was stupid. (Even making her Science Officer was pretty dumb.) So what about a Vulcan at helm? Or as *JAG/Protocol Officer: effectively, consiglieri, what Troi was originally meant to be, before she was transformed into senior psychologist

Getting rid of Archer's dad would've been good. Make him a bigot, & make him deal with his issues, just as "NYPD Blue" made Andy deal with his. (Would've been good if Linda Park or somebody had been *Archer, given the number of Asians on Earth...) Doing what "ST:E" did with the Vulcans & Andorians would be a good way to do this IMO. (Making the *Xindi a threat to either or both of them would be good, too, IMO.)

First encounters with Klingons, Romulans, Gorn, & such should have been saved for a concluding season, as OTL: only once we've seen all the species not shown prominently in "TOS" (& there have to be more than 5-6, as seen in "Journey to Babel") should the "big bads" show up.

Keeping the "TOS" ship design was a bad idea, too, IMO. Why didn't they adapt one of the "old" ships seen in "TOS"? (Not Botany Bay, but Armstrong or Newton, maybe.)

The Season 3 story arc, all season, was IMO the best idea the show had.

 

[The Professor]

Essentially you want it to be this

 

[BlondieBC]

Well I'm glad they didn't do that, that would've been awful. The first female captain is a young incompetent promoted because of nepotism. Reeeeal progressive, that would've been.

Very realistic. Happens all the time. And if you are worried about the female issue, it was family connections that got the job. Not sex.

It is basically what we get with the Kirk in the reboot. A guy who gets a job he is not trained for, and makes many basic mistakes, but has flashes of brilliance. Very workable plot.

 

[phx1138]

you also need to make Archer, WAY more willing to kick ass.

This makes sense, & (unfortunately) turns it into "BSG Lite".

More (visible) tension between humans & Vulcans would have been good, as well as between humans: it's, what, 50yr before "TOS"? So we haven't, yet, quite achieved the utopian dream...

 

[Generaloberst]

Well I'm glad they didn't do that, that would've been awful. The first female captain is a young incompetent promoted because of nepotism. Reeeeal progressive, that would've been.

So?

You show her going from a spoiled bitch who should've not been anywhere near the Captain's Chair to a commanding woman who has led her crew through an unexplored Quadrant. That's progressive, because she'd be an actual character, instead of some flimsy archetype.

 

[Andrew T]

For me, the starting point is asking the question: what element or elements are required for a show to actually be 'Star Trek'? I would argue that those are, at least:

(1) an optimistic view of humanity and the future -- that things are getting better and better (despite obstacles), and our future is in the stars;

(2) a sincerely multicultural view of larger society -- racially among humans, and between humans and aliens; we're stronger and better people because of the influence of non-human cultures;

(3) recurring ethical dilemmas in which the main characters are forced to choose between doing what's expedient and doing what's right; and

(4) the resolution of which is played out, on-screen, in dialogues between the main characters.

To me, those elements are what makes a show minimally 'Star Trek.' Note that these are not a high bar or a guarantee that a show is actually enjoyable; by these criteria, TNG was obviously 'Star Trek'; so was most of DS9. Probably 60% of Voyager qualifies. Pretty much all of the movies -- even the unwatchably terrible ones like Star Trek V -- are still unmistakably 'Star Trek.' The J.J. Abrams reboot films too, are, at their core, 'Star Trek' by this reckoning.

And by this list, it's clear to me that Enterprise was simply not 'Star Trek.' We saw a bleak future. Virtually every human character was out-and-out xenophobic -- which is to say, racist -- and those were supposed to be the good guys! (The best racial attitudes I can remember from Enterprise were a sort of accomodationist, human-first-but-it's-okay-to-have-subservient-lesser-species -- which is to say, a different kind of racist.) And then, perhaps worst of all, on the few occasions where the crew of the Enterprise actually faced moral dilemmas, the characters who we were told were the 'good guys' successfully and repeatedly chose expediency over doing what was right.

To me, that's why Enterprise always felt like I was watching some other (bad) science fiction show that just happened to borrow heavily from Star Trek nomenclature, and not like I was watching any kind of actual Star Trek show.

 

[Mike Stearns]

This makes sense, & (unfortunately) turns it into "BSG Lite".

Not necessarily, they just needed to make him more reactive. Think about Babylon 5 and the misunderstanding that led to the Mimbari War and spin off a series based somewhat along those lines.

 

[hopper2cool]

Season 4 while better still had problems. Bound was sexist and stupid. Daedelus was boring. Also character growth would have been nice.

 

[eliphas8]

Sorry to pour cold water on this, but Enterprise probably still gets cancelled at the same time as OTL.

You can't just look at Enterprise in isolation. It premiered in the fifteenth year of continuous production of Star Trek television -- a franchise in which public interest had been declining for a long time already and had basically become a niche thing with a guaranteed viewer base of a particular size and little more than that. Something that many people don't realise is that Enterprise was actually the highest-rated show on UPN (or I think it interchanged with WWE Smackdown) -- the problem was that the numbers themselves weren't going to get any bigger. Hell, just look at OTL for proof: Enterprise got a whole lot better from season 3 onwards (I actually prefer season 3 to 4), and yet the ratings consistently went down. If I remember correctly, UPN saw a lot more potential in growth of viewership by taking their whole network in a new direction, by targeting their What's you been up to?programming towards African-Americans. (I dunno, I guess Les Moonves believed that black people don't watch Star Trek or something.)

I think it being the highest rates show on UPN says more bad things about UPN than anything else. The real issue here is that the show had been hemoraging viewers from the first episode of the show, if it started off with the kind of decent quality season four had (the only season where it didt loose viewers) and built from there I'd expect it to be better received by the audience who would probably follow it more than it was otl.