Speaking of music, I really enjoyed Velton Ray Bunch's scores for "Similitude" (Emmy winner) and "Home."
Complimenting ENTERPRISE...
- Thread starter Farscape One
- Start date
Sooooooo much agreement here!!!
Speaking of Home, that was a very good episode.
Detailed sets and interesting Cinematography.
I just watched Shadows of P'Jem and there are a number off interesting angles and shots and the sets are gorgeous. There's details within details. I'll go into it more when I write it up for my Enterprise mini-marathon but take this screen cap.
*huh* so Netflix won't allow screen caps.
A few Trekcore screen caps then, with all the usual credit to them:
I recall James Conway when being interviewed about Broken Bow said he worked hard to get every shot possible out of the sets, but halfway through the first season they were still finding new ways to show it off. It's a starship interior that I can believe in. Sickbay even has a roll of hand tissue on the wall.
I just watched Shadows of P'Jem and there are a number off interesting angles and shots and the sets are gorgeous. There's details within details. I'll go into it more when I write it up for my Enterprise mini-marathon but take this screen cap.
*huh* so Netflix won't allow screen caps.
A few Trekcore screen caps then, with all the usual credit to them:
I recall James Conway when being interviewed about Broken Bow said he worked hard to get every shot possible out of the sets, but halfway through the first season they were still finding new ways to show it off. It's a starship interior that I can believe in. Sickbay even has a roll of hand tissue on the wall.
All of the actors/characters are likable. They have good chemistry. There is a great sense of naïveté and wonderment about their journey. The characters are allowed to make mistakes and grow. The stories generally have no other agenda than to tell compelling Star Trek stories. And though I generally dislike how Vulcans are portrayed in the show, Jolene Blalock is the best actor since Nimoy and Lenard to put on a pair of ears. She really inhabits the character.
The costumes are great, and the ship and ship interiors give a very good condensed, claustrophobic feel. While the TOS and especially TNG Enterprises felt almost like small cities, the NX-01 really felt much more utilitarian, like a ship designed with a very specific purpose in mind, with no frills whatsoever.
I really think Enterprise was unlucky as to when and where it debuted. It really deserved a much better fate.
The costumes are great, and the ship and ship interiors give a very good condensed, claustrophobic feel. While the TOS and especially TNG Enterprises felt almost like small cities, the NX-01 really felt much more utilitarian, like a ship designed with a very specific purpose in mind, with no frills whatsoever.
I really think Enterprise was unlucky as to when and where it debuted. It really deserved a much better fate.
This is probably the best aspect the show.
Sadly, that is true. I, too, was rather negative on ENT when it first came out, and it had everything to do with being fatigued with Trek then. I've recently started giving it another chance and watched from the beginning to (currently) early season 3. Especially season 2 is much better than I remembered. "The Catwalk" was a particular standout to me that I had absolutely no recollection of. Whenever that show did something that couldn't have been done on the other series - and not copied old plot templates too much at the same time - it was as good as any other Trek.
I have another thing about ENTERPRISE that I always loved.
The angles we see Enterprise as it enters orbit and while orbiting... quite varied and wonderful views of the ship. Much better than the stock footage we usually got with TNG and VOYAGER.
The angles we see Enterprise as it enters orbit and while orbiting... quite varied and wonderful views of the ship. Much better than the stock footage we usually got with TNG and VOYAGER.
I agree that Enterprise is a beautiful ship. I loved watching her orbiting around planets, rendered with such detail. Vulcan looked terrific! Part of why this series is just gorgeous to watch.
I don't get the "it looked too advanced" part..... where? You can see nods to TOS stylings all over the place; It really looks halfway between NASA and TOS. It looks less advanced that modern smart phones and touch screens, thats for sure. They made the Defiant really seem powerful and futuristic, without changing anything! Definitely my second favorite Trek.
It felt too advanced mostly because tech didn't feel different from VOY.
Ok, that's my only thing in this compliment thread. I loved the grappling system too.
Ok, that's my only thing in this compliment thread. I loved the grappling system too.
And it still looks great today!
Enterprise had its ups and downs, but it was really beginning to find its footing near the end. And even earlier on, it had some really good episodes. "Dead Stop" is a particular favorite of mine (Roxann Dawson was awesome as the creepy space station).
I think that if it had just managed that fifth season, it would have gone seven. And Jeffrey Combs would likely have joined Michael Dorn and Jeri Ryan on the short list of inspired mid-series cast additions.
I think that if it had just managed that fifth season, it would have gone seven. And Jeffrey Combs would likely have joined Michael Dorn and Jeri Ryan on the short list of inspired mid-series cast additions.
Enterprise does seem to get more favorable retrospective reviews these days. Some fans who initially didn't get into the show, maybe due to franchise fatigue at the time, or maybe people that just soured on Berman over the years, have since gone back and find things they did like about the show later (of course, not everybody, it's just of all the Berman era shows, this is the one that seems to get more favorable retrospective reviews these days compared to its initial release).
In general I always liked Enterprise. I had some concerns when it was first announced. How were they ever going to make it more advanced than today, yet less advanced than the original series? An impossible task it would seem.
Yet, I have to give a lot of kudos to production designer Herman Zimmerman and the various illustrators like Doug Drexler. Somehow they pulled it off. The ship is more futuristic than anything we have today. Yet, there were things that made it clear this was a less advanced relative of the 1701. The designs were more claustrophobic, like the tubular corridors. Sickbay looked more like, well, a navy style sickbay. The transporter was clearly less advanced as was the engine room. Even just the designs of the instrument panels, with a radar-like sweep on the screens, the simple button design, the furniture, the crew quarters. Also the uniforms were more utilitarian.
The episodes for the first 2 seasons I thought ranged from fair to good. But I figured TNG and DS9 in particular took about 2 years to find their sea legs so I stuck with it. There were some memorable episodes, though at times I thought Berman and Braga were still thinking 24th century with some of the episodes, like the episode with the Ferengi. Not an awful episode, but it just seemed too TNG-ish, and it would be 200 years before they would encounter the Ferengi 'officially' so it just seemed too early in the timeline to encounter them. On the other hand, I really enjoyed "Regeneration." Granted that's another 24th century foe, but I thought in that case it actually added to the continuity. They were never named, yet it might provide an in-universe explanation as to how a few people in the Federation had known about them before "Q, Who?".
Season 3 was even better. Star Trek's first run at a season long arc. And there were some really great episodes there, and the crew grew up a lot that year. Season 4 was probably what Enterprise should have been all along. You could really sense the prequel aspects of it there, and I liked the variety of various arcs. Some were 2 episodes, some 3, and some standalones, and occasionally a tie between arcs. It gave them a lot more flexibility to make the stories as long as they needed to be, without having to throw in fluff to fill out an entire season, or having to rush a resolution to fit in a single episode. And one of my favorite Archer episodes was in season 4 with their encounter with the Organians (I forget the name offhand)--though the Organians themselves seemed a bit out of character compared to the original series, Archer's emotional speech to them at the end was gold. If that's what it meant to be advanced he wanted no part in it, or something to that effect. Bakula really shined there. Archer could be uneven during the first 2 seasons, but there was much more improvement in season 3, a lot of growth, and by season 4 he had won me over.
A shame the show was cut when it was. We are left with the relaunch novels that continued the series beyond "Terra Prime," ane while I liked those novels, I would have loved to have seen more on screen.
In general I always liked Enterprise. I had some concerns when it was first announced. How were they ever going to make it more advanced than today, yet less advanced than the original series? An impossible task it would seem.
Yet, I have to give a lot of kudos to production designer Herman Zimmerman and the various illustrators like Doug Drexler. Somehow they pulled it off. The ship is more futuristic than anything we have today. Yet, there were things that made it clear this was a less advanced relative of the 1701. The designs were more claustrophobic, like the tubular corridors. Sickbay looked more like, well, a navy style sickbay. The transporter was clearly less advanced as was the engine room. Even just the designs of the instrument panels, with a radar-like sweep on the screens, the simple button design, the furniture, the crew quarters. Also the uniforms were more utilitarian.
The episodes for the first 2 seasons I thought ranged from fair to good. But I figured TNG and DS9 in particular took about 2 years to find their sea legs so I stuck with it. There were some memorable episodes, though at times I thought Berman and Braga were still thinking 24th century with some of the episodes, like the episode with the Ferengi. Not an awful episode, but it just seemed too TNG-ish, and it would be 200 years before they would encounter the Ferengi 'officially' so it just seemed too early in the timeline to encounter them. On the other hand, I really enjoyed "Regeneration." Granted that's another 24th century foe, but I thought in that case it actually added to the continuity. They were never named, yet it might provide an in-universe explanation as to how a few people in the Federation had known about them before "Q, Who?".
Season 3 was even better. Star Trek's first run at a season long arc. And there were some really great episodes there, and the crew grew up a lot that year. Season 4 was probably what Enterprise should have been all along. You could really sense the prequel aspects of it there, and I liked the variety of various arcs. Some were 2 episodes, some 3, and some standalones, and occasionally a tie between arcs. It gave them a lot more flexibility to make the stories as long as they needed to be, without having to throw in fluff to fill out an entire season, or having to rush a resolution to fit in a single episode. And one of my favorite Archer episodes was in season 4 with their encounter with the Organians (I forget the name offhand)--though the Organians themselves seemed a bit out of character compared to the original series, Archer's emotional speech to them at the end was gold. If that's what it meant to be advanced he wanted no part in it, or something to that effect. Bakula really shined there. Archer could be uneven during the first 2 seasons, but there was much more improvement in season 3, a lot of growth, and by season 4 he had won me over.
A shame the show was cut when it was. We are left with the relaunch novels that continued the series beyond "Terra Prime," ane while I liked those novels, I would have loved to have seen more on screen.
Come on now, there were a few episodes were the end credits where a bit of a downer.
I don't know firsthand how TOS was regarded when it was new (I didn't exist yet), and the latest Treks have not had the opportunity to face the test to time. But of the four other Treks that have faced the test of time, it's interesting to see how opinion has evolved...
TNG: Not much change. It was highly regarded then, it's still regarded as one of the finest Trek shows. The finest, to some.
DS9: Vastly improved. Sisko is regarded as Trek's most well rounded protagonist. The huge ensemble cast had lots to do, not only did very few main characters get pushed into the background, but many characters (like Nog) went the other way. Even the villains were interesting. DS9, former middle child of the franchise, is now regarded as a pinnacle of Trek.
VOY: Deteriorated. It was showing cracks even during its run, and they have not faded. From Janeway's multiple personalities to technical inconsistencies that could have been addressed with snippets of dialogue to the simply mean-spirited handling of Harry Kim... it doesn't stand up to its older siblings. However, it gave us some fine characters in the form of the EMH and Seven, and Janeway (for her flaws) has inspired many girls and women to STEM pursuits.
Enterprise: Somewhat improved. This one was supposedly the franchise killer, the show that took Trek itself out of the picture. And some aspects of it are still maligned: "A Night in Sickbay", "These are the Voyages", Mayweather... even its good good episodes aren't immune to criticism, most notably Archer's decision in "Dear Doctor". But, as seen here, it had a lot to recommend it, too. Had it gotten one more season, it probably would have followed in its predecessors' footsteps and ended on its own terms.
TNG: Not much change. It was highly regarded then, it's still regarded as one of the finest Trek shows. The finest, to some.
DS9: Vastly improved. Sisko is regarded as Trek's most well rounded protagonist. The huge ensemble cast had lots to do, not only did very few main characters get pushed into the background, but many characters (like Nog) went the other way. Even the villains were interesting. DS9, former middle child of the franchise, is now regarded as a pinnacle of Trek.
VOY: Deteriorated. It was showing cracks even during its run, and they have not faded. From Janeway's multiple personalities to technical inconsistencies that could have been addressed with snippets of dialogue to the simply mean-spirited handling of Harry Kim... it doesn't stand up to its older siblings. However, it gave us some fine characters in the form of the EMH and Seven, and Janeway (for her flaws) has inspired many girls and women to STEM pursuits.
Enterprise: Somewhat improved. This one was supposedly the franchise killer, the show that took Trek itself out of the picture. And some aspects of it are still maligned: "A Night in Sickbay", "These are the Voyages", Mayweather... even its good good episodes aren't immune to criticism, most notably Archer's decision in "Dear Doctor". But, as seen here, it had a lot to recommend it, too. Had it gotten one more season, it probably would have followed in its predecessors' footsteps and ended on its own terms.
I just wish Enterprise had chosen a direction and stayed with it. It started out with the implications of a changed timeline, Borg drones, temporal cold war, quarters full of advanced future technology, all sorts of tech showing up early, but all of that being okay because through dialogue it had been made clear that the tech level was more advanced than it should have been and this is a new direction. Prequel sequel and soft reboot all in one.
Then they make their most amazing season, but contradict everything that came before with all the direct TOS connections instead of embracing the new timeline they had been implied to be on. Before that, I didn't feel like there was anything contradictory to complain about, but with season 4 leading directly into TOS it makes all the earlier contradictions stand out in a bigger way.
Then they make their most amazing season, but contradict everything that came before with all the direct TOS connections instead of embracing the new timeline they had been implied to be on. Before that, I didn't feel like there was anything contradictory to complain about, but with season 4 leading directly into TOS it makes all the earlier contradictions stand out in a bigger way.
Last edited:
To keep a sense of optimism and hope for the bright future of humanity in Star Trek following the events of 9/11/01 was the biggest challenge this series would face. It remained true to that vision. It explored the how.
While i didn´t like Enterprise at first, mainly because of boring episodes (there is a frozen ice ball), I really like season 4 of many coto. Wished it would have gotten 7 seasons. I liked the episode "unexpected".
Similar threads
