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Guess I'm going where my heart will take me.
This will probably be a slow rewatch. Less a binge and more an order for when I feel like just putting on some Star Trek in the background. Which, in fairness, is pretty often.
The Enterprise theme song is terrible, but years of joking about it have made me kind of like it. But also the visual theme of the evolution of ships named Enterprise is very good.
Hoshi and Mayweather are such fantastic characters, and it’s criminal how little they’ll get to do for the next four years.
I am also more convinced than ever that Archer was written as a pre-9/11 caricature of George W. Bush.
I am also more convinced than ever that Archer was written as a pre-9/11 caricature of George W. Bush.
It’s early, but I feel like Enterprise is indeed clicking for me in a way it did not last time. From a real-world perspective, it’s a big step back from DS9 and Voyager, but in-universe it’s also fully believable as a story about humanity’s first real steps into the galaxy.
This makes me extra curious how Discovery is going to play in between Enterprise and TOS.
Hoshi Sato is the best character who gets the worst treatment from the writers.
Archer using the phrase “man made” is super jarring. It does help Enterprise feel older, though I’m fairly certain that wasn’t intentional. But, I love a detailed discussion of the protocols inherent in exploring an uncharted M-class planet.
Something I absolutely, uncritically love about Enterprise is how new all of the technology is. The transporters are not suited for humanoid use, the gravity flickers on and off, translation is spotty and takes work. It’s great to see these in their early stages.
Is the planet from Terra Nova (S1E6) the planet from Star Trek: Beyond?! It would make sense with the other Enterprise nods, and this was well before the timeline split.
This episode ends with a character talking about how much more impressive solving this mystery is than solving Amelia Earhart’s disappearance would be. Which feels like a weird dig at Voyager from the future past.
Archer is easily my least favorite Star Trek captain, and this Enterprise rewatch isn’t changing that. EXCEPT, I do love it when he drops the ship out of warp to look at something because he’s in dorky roadtrip dad mode.
I am also assuming that any episode of Enterprise where Chef is mentioned is one that Riker is watching.
Archer telling a group of school kids that there are lots of private areas on the ship for couples to make out confirms my theory that Riker is involved here.
(I really love this scene of the crew answering questions sent from students Earth.)
(I really love this scene of the crew answering questions sent from students Earth.)
The biggest surprise for me so far has been not hating Trip, and actually buying the growing chemistry between him and T’Pol.
The use of Gregorian calendar dates instead of Stardates in Enterprise is jarring, but makes sense. Also it’s kinda nice to have the grounding. I can roughly tell you what decade other Star Treks take place in, but not from any context within the shows themselves.
“Chef’s the best in Starfleet. Heard the captain had to pull a lot of favors just to get him on board.”
Oh my god. This whole series really is Riker’s fanfic.
Oh my god. This whole series really is Riker’s fanfic.
“I’m surprised Earth will still be around in 900 years.”
“Depends on how you define Earth.”
Holy crap! I think Voyager really did fail to stop Ed Begley Jr. from destroying the solar system in the future. This fits together so well, and matches what we know from the Disco trailer
“Depends on how you define Earth.”
Holy crap! I think Voyager really did fail to stop Ed Begley Jr. from destroying the solar system in the future. This fits together so well, and matches what we know from the Disco trailer
The day before a new season/series is my favorite time for Star Trek speculation, by the way. My Discovery theories have never panned out, but it’s so much fun to connect dots and try to carve puzzle pieces that COULD fit into what might be coming.
Bad news everyone. I’ve gone from hating the Enterprise theme, to being amused by it, to *sigh* I think I might really like it?
"We haven't written much about our communication officer, who is responsible for inventing the technology that will make interacting with alien species so easy in the other Star Trek series. We should give here a subplot in this episode."
"Great idea! She'll bake a cake."
"Great idea! She'll bake a cake."
Until the end, when it makes the worst possible argument for the Prime Directive, “Dear Doctor” feels like the first really great episode of Enterprise. It really hits on the idea of humans still adjusting to the idea of being the aliens with advanced technology.
It’s also one of the few times we encounter a pre-warp society that is roughly near 21st century technology.
Jumping from Discovery at breakfast to Enterprise at lunch is a little disorienting, but also highlights little things that show them as part of the same universe.
The one thing I think Enterprise might do better than any other Star Trek series is the design. The sets and props are fantastic, and perfectly walk the line between military utilitarian and the more “office park in space” aesthetic Starfleet would later use.
So much of Enterprise is Archer asking “why won’t these aliens trust ME, a white man?”
Which could be interesting if these stories didn’t all end with the aliens learning that they should indeed trust Archer.
Except the ones he casually genocided because of the Prime Directive.
Which could be interesting if these stories didn’t all end with the aliens learning that they should indeed trust Archer.
Except the ones he casually genocided because of the Prime Directive.
“There are a lot of women on your ship.”
“They’re nearly a third of the crew.”
I’m not sure who comes out worse in that exchange. The surprised Vulcan or proud human.
(The real answer is the writers of Enterprise who thought that would be impressive 150 years in the future)
“They’re nearly a third of the crew.”
I’m not sure who comes out worse in that exchange. The surprised Vulcan or proud human.
(The real answer is the writers of Enterprise who thought that would be impressive 150 years in the future)
I think that one of the big problems with Enterprise is that the writers take the original series as a very literal text. So they have to make Enterprise regressive for 2001, so that the 1960s representations in TOS still looks progressive in comparison.
The approach Discovery takes, focusing on the spirit of TOS rather than the literal specifics, works so much better. Even from a continuity standpoint. The future of Enterprise feels like the past in a way none of the other Star Treks (including TOS) do.
There is stuff that is equally dated (even worse) in TOS or TNG (hell, in all of them), but they are trying to be progressive and present a better future in a way Enterprise is actively not doing.
I can’t get over how weird it is to see just a normal circa-2001 digital camera in Enterprise, while the tablets from TNG look so much like iPads that they are almost invisible.
And this isn’t even a complaint about Enterprise. I think the way phones and cameras and tablets would soon merge was not on most people’s radar in 2001. I was an adult, living on my own, and didn’t even have a cellphone. In fact, @conleycvw was the only person I knew who had one
I wonder how taxonomy works in the Star Trek universe. So many planets have grass and trees and mammals and birds and often humans. Even if you buy the silly seeded DNA thing, that still comes down to very specific convergent evolution. How do you scientifically group that?
