OT: Enterprise...What did you think?

[geoschmo]

Ok, this is coming from a confirmed Star Trek nut. I even read a bunch of the books. So I will try to be as objective as possible. If you haven't seen it yet, and plan to, stop reading now.

On balance Enterprise is very good. Trek shows are notorious for the weak characters early on. They usually take a couple seasons to hit their stride. This one shows more promise than TNG and Voyager IMHO. Not quite as good as DS9, but close.

Things I liked:

1. Effects. Very good. The Enterprise looks very cool. The space scenes and combat on Rigel were very well done. I hope this wasn't just a matter of all the stops being pulled out for the pilot episode. Keep it up.

2. The Vulcans. Finally! We get to see the less appealing side of them. Up till now they have been much too prissy. This has the potential to make them a much more believable race. I always thought that there was no way such a pacifistic race could survive in a galaxy with Klingons, Romulans, Cardasians, and the like. Nice to see them in a little more coniving and manipulative light.


Things I hated:

1. The theme song. What is up with THAT?!?! Please tell me that was only a one time thing and they aren't going to play that every time. Is this Star Trek or a car commercial? That sounded like that hideous UPN Yoyager/Seven Days promo thet've been playing the Last couple years. That has GOT to go!

2. The decontamination scene. "Star Trek with a side dish of soft porn." All I can say is from looking at the Vulcan science officer, that gel must have been really cold.

3. And can anybody please name for me the #1 most overused plot device in Star Trek? Anyone, anyone, Buehler? If you said Time Travel, go to the head of the class! So now who's the new bad guy? Someone from the future! Please tell me we've seen the Last of him. Somehow I think not.


Geoschmo

[Kadste]

Saw all of it.

Agree with the theme. Not sure if it really fits.

I think you will see that for any show to be sucessful today, it must be a bit sappy and have a little soft porn in it. Bring on the cold gel.

Great effects! My son always commented that the original series was flawed by the technology. It really looked like it came from the 60's.

I will watch it in the future to see if it develops like the others.



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Never Give up, Never Surrender!

[Dracus]

overall, it was good. They did explain the doctor. And the klingon's did not speak english yet. But with Regal, since the translator is a hand-held device the alien's on Regal should not have been able to understand English yet and the fact that they could just land on the planet and walk around without anyone paying any real attention to them did seem a little weak.

I too will watch it to see how it develops.

[Baron Munchausen]

quote:

---

Originally posted by geoschmo:
Ok, this is coming from a confirmed Star Trek nut. I even read a bunch of the books. So I will try to be as objective as possible. If you haven't seen it yet, and plan to, stop reading now.

On balance Enterprise is very good. Trek shows are notorious for the weak characters early on. They usually take a couple seasons to hit their stride. This one shows more promise than TNG and Voyager IMHO. Not quite as good as DS9, but close.

Things I liked:

1. Effects. Very good. The Enterprise looks very cool. The space scenes and combat on Rigel were very well done. I hope this wasn't just a matter of all the stops being pulled out for the pilot episode. Keep it up.

2. The Vulcans. Finally! We get to see the less appealing side of them. Up till now they have been much too prissy. This has the potential to make them a much more believable race. I always thought that there was no way such a pacifistic race could survive in a galaxy with Klingons, Romulans, Cardasians, and the like. Nice to see them in a little more coniving and manipulative light.


Things I hated:

1. The theme song. What is up with THAT?!?! Please tell me that was only a one time thing and they aren't going to play that every time. Is this Star Trek or a car commercial? That sounded like that hideous UPN Yoyager/Seven Days promo thet've been playing the Last couple years. That has GOT to go!

2. The decontamination scene. "Star Trek with a side dish of soft porn." All I can say is from looking at the Vulcan science officer, that gel must have been really cold.

3. And can anybody please name for me the #1 most overused plot device in Star Trek? Anyone, anyone, Buehler? If you said Time Travel, go to the head of the class! So now who's the new bad guy? Someone from the future! Please tell me we've seen the Last of him. Somehow I think not.

Geoschmo

---

I agree with your assessment in the broad sense. In fact, I would have said exactly what you said in comparison to the other Trek series if you hadn't beaten me to it. Yes, it's not quite as good as the DS9 pilot, but otherwise pretty good.

The "decontamination" scene was a classic example of Treknology being twisted to serve marketting ploys. If they were exposed to some sort of alien pathogen, they would need air-tight quarantine, internal treatment (like 'anti-biotics' or whatever the equivalent would be at that time) and a full external scrub down, including their HAIR. Deh! But, they needed an excuse to show off Blalock's body, so they invented the gel scene. Blech... this is the usual pandering to the gonad crowd. T'Pol will be in the cat suit all the time, I'm sure. Just like 'Counselor' Troi and her spray-on suit rather than a real uniform, or Seven of Ninety-nine bustline.

The badguy is not 'from' the future, unless you are referring to the indistinct figure he was talking to. He's merely an "agent" for whoever is intervening from the future. He's been genetically engineered by them, and is 'paying' for his sooper-tuneup by doing their dirty work.

Oh, and BTW, the most over-used Trek plot device is the TRANSPORTER. It saved the hero's bacon again in this pilot, you'll notice. I don't doubt they'll use it to 'restore' damaged/mutated characters several times just like a save in an adventure game. Another of the classic faults of Trek.

[This message has been edited by Baron Munchausen (edited 27 September 2001).]

[Coal]

I love the new atitude of the whole show. It takes place 100 years before the original, there is no Federation (least I didnt see one), so they should be a little more 'primative'. TNG, DS9, Voyager, they just all seemed a little to proper in their attitudes and language.

The intro and music. I liked that also. I've gotten a little tired of the big orcastra music they've been useing. That, along with the decon, alien dancers, and sitting on the ceiling scenes all clearly say, this aint the usual Trek.

Finnaly, no Prime Directive (that I saw), none of those old rules and Starfleet Academy leasons that teach every single Starfleet member the little bitty parts of subspace and warp. Everyone on the other shows seemed like they would need a genius IQ to know all the stuff they were taught in school. The new characters seem like they were taught just the stuff they would need to do their jobs.

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'Evacuate? In our moment of triumph?'
Grand Moff Tarkin, just before the Death Star blew.

We are Dyslexia of Borg, futility is resistant, your *** will be laminated.

[dogscoff]

QUOTE:
That, along with the decon, alien dancers, and sitting on the ceiling scenes all clearly say, this aint the usual Trek.
/QUOTE

LoL! I haven't seen the programme (not available in UK) but from the above the intro sounds like the intro to the muppet show!

Piiiiiiiiiiiigs iiiiiiiiiin Spaaaaaaaaaaaaaace!!


ROFLMAO!

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SE4 Code:
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/SE4 Code
Go to my meagre SEIV pages to generate your own code.

[Daeromont]

I loved this show. The marriage between the setting of the past and yet the current technology of the real world was brilliant and quite elegant. The ship and sets looked great, and yet it had all the sign Posts of a very immature Starfleet. There is no Federation, Prime Directive, nor many technological advances taken for granted in the other three series.
The adversarial role of the Vulcans was quite well done and very believable as well. Personally, I even like the theme song, as it puts the audience in a different mindset. The point is well taken...this is not 'Starfleet as usual.'
Only time will tell if the character and story development will be satisfying as the series continues. Because the fans know the history well, the challenge will be to keep the stories fresh without compromising the integrity of the past series' and forgetting the main ideology behind the Star Trek universe.

[dmm]

Liked:
1) Vulcans consider humans to be primitive (besides being emotional), and don't entirely trust them. The "partnership" is unequal, and humans resent the Vulcans' paternalistic attitude and policy of withholding technology and information.
2) Ditto the point about the crew members not being competent in every area. I hope they keep that up. Even the captain shouldn't be able to fix the warp engines, command the vessel, do diplomacy, fight like a ninja, and also get the babes. (Just the Last four. )
Disliked:
Why does "adult" have to include constant foul language and gratuitous semi-nudity? How ironic that Hollywood portrays advanced Earthlings as being uniformly agnostic, yet still has them use "damn" and "hell" any time they get excited. Can't they come up with anything more clever to say when confronted with the unknown than "What the hell is that?" Not to mention that it's anachronistic. When's the Last time you heard someone born in the late 20th century use a curse word like "Zounds" or "Egad"? And when's the Last time you rubbed oil all over a coworker?

[tesco samoa]

Liked :

Pushing buttons to open doors.
Ship.
Gun fight with hardly anyone getting hit

Disliked
cold emotionless Vulcans vs. thoughtless, reckless humans
and what was up with the plates going off line. Hope they fix the science up in that one. Or does armour go off line???????
Archers humour. Man can that guy ruin one liners.
stun seems to work?????????????


Personally I always liked the time arc stories.
Doctor sucks.
And the bones rip off guy has got to go.



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Inter arma silent leges

[ZeroAdunn]

Once again a trek series falls victim to the three greatest trek failings:

1. Poor direction (the actors aren't necessarily bad but some seens should have been done in another take, poor camera placement, poor direction as a whole)

2. Poor editing (some things were underdramatized, some parts seemed to be missing, and some parts just didn't belong there)

3. Ratings grabbing. (hey we need lots of cursing, half naked females, and some really pointless special effects :P )

All in all though I would say this has the best pottential of all the series. I like the opening credits, I generall don't like when they choose a theme song instead of instrumental, but this one really fits, and adds to the gritty, low tech feel. (the opening credits I think really is an excellent way to show how far we've come and what were up against, unlike other shows, which pretty much just show off the ship)

Excellent crew diversity, though some aren't entirely believable. Excellent captain, finally someone who isn't perfect

Like was said earlier, to much time travel!!

I must say I don't like the ship. Too high tech. Like the outside, looks cool, but again too high tech. The inside: Wide corridors (don't like it, just an opinion, these are better than the standard trek) and everything else looked excellent. Didn't like the use of transporter, this is a big deal, not something to be taken lightly, especially for spirituall beings, brings up a whole can of worms. Would have been great to give its own entire episode.

I'm still gonna watch though. Sorry for the long rant.