Seasons: 4
Episodes: 98
Stardate: 2151 - 2155
Stardate: 2151 - 2155
Ship: Enterprise NX-01
Captain: Johnathan Archer
Well my one episode a day idea didn’t quit work out, I fell a month short and that includes nearly killing myself by watching up to six episodes per day over the past week. I wanted to begin watching TOS today and I will … sort of. You’ll see.
Anyway, here’s my synopsis. Enterprise was more flawed than not. It was so up and down in quality. It drove me crazy with the constant inconsistency. When you hear of a Star Trek prequel to TOS you immediately think that it is going to be a show full of origins. I’m sure that’s what everyone else was thinking. Somehow the writers of Enterprise failed to understand this notion. They used plot lines that add nothing to the Star Trek realm. Trek fans want links and continuity. These plots were also confusing and way to in-depth; the Xindi and the Temporal Cold War plots being just downright irritating.
I believe the biggest downfall to Enterprise was it’s constant use of story arcs. Star Trek has rarely used plots that continue of three episodes, never mind over an entire season. And even on a smaller scale, how many times in a series did Star Trek use “to be continued” episodes … Maybe a handful if that? Enterprise used it maybe 90% of the time. This series completely changed what Star Trek fans had been used to for many years. For the most part I liked the casting. I’m still not sold on Bakula as 
Archer, I like him as an actor but I just never got into his character. Conner Trinneer as Trip, John Billingsley as Dr. Phlox and Jolene Blalock as T’pol were all fantastic actors and great characters. The rest, I could care less about. Enterprise did produce one of the greatest roles of Star Trek history and that was Jeffrey Combs as Shran. He was truly the highlight of the show. The episodes with Brent Spiner as Arik were equally as great.
Archer, I like him as an actor but I just never got into his character. Conner Trinneer as Trip, John Billingsley as Dr. Phlox and Jolene Blalock as T’pol were all fantastic actors and great characters. The rest, I could care less about. Enterprise did produce one of the greatest roles of Star Trek history and that was Jeffrey Combs as Shran. He was truly the highlight of the show. The episodes with Brent Spiner as Arik were equally as great.
The production was good. It’s going to be odd switching from Enterprise to TOS. But, at least TOS had color! Enterprise is very bland. The ships interior is so grey and boring, as is the uniforms.
Even though the plots were particularly dreadful at times, the show was still watchable. The writing was good, the characters engaging, the guest stars were a bright spot and the acting was very solid. So anyway, I guess I will give it some kind of grading system.
Writing: BPlots: C
Acting: B+
Characters: B-
Entertainment: B-
TOTAL: B-
5 comments:
You did it!!!!!
Great work, great reviews, and a spot on recap of the series. Trip, especially, was my favorite from the series, and I'd put him around #10 on my top ten favorite Trek characters. He was just fun to watch.
And I remember being really excited about the casting of Scott Backula as the captain, but then... blah. He was just boring. I'm not sure if it was his fault or the fault of the writers, but he just never stood out at all.
But I'm glad this is over and we can get on to some real Star Trek already.
Yeah, I'm in the same boat as you two with Bakula. I like him a lot as an actor--and as Donald knows, Quantum Leap is probably one of my favorite shows of all time--but that role just didn't fit him. I think the writing is partially to blame, but generally, I'm not sure he's the starship captain type, if you know what I mean. He's a much softer touch, which is why he was so good in Quantum Leap, because he could just slide into whatever role the current episode needed him to play. These shows need a firmer, more charismatic actor in the lead.
In total agreement on Bakula. He's absolutely to soft for a Captain and yes that's why he was so good on Quantum Leap.
I would say that the overall sense of the show was blah. Also, indeed Trip was a great character and Conner Trinneer showed surprising range.
Jimmy Stewart is my all time favorite actor, but he'd be all wrong as a Star Trek captain. Even though he has leading man good looks, Scott Backula is more of an every man type actor like Jimmy Stewart. And I think that's a good thing.
Archer was the kind of captain who'd be fun to work with, but I don't think he could inspire me to follow him into battle. He couldn't give a "We few, we happy few, we band of brothers" type speech like Picard, Kirk, or Sisko could.
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