Enterprise

[Redlass]

So, did anyone else watch the season premiere of the latest Star Trek morph on Wednesday? We actually went over to a friend's house so we could watch it.

Interesting premise--moving backward. Some off-the-wall observations:

• The "sex" scene was hilarious in its gratuitousness.
• The ending bit with the transporter was so predictable you knew it would happen a half hour before the end.
• Boy, I never knew Vulcans had so much attitude.
• How many seasons will it be before there is a time travel episode that brings this crew into contact with one of the other crews from the other shows?

It wasn't a "Farpoint" episode, but it wasn't bad. The worst part about it was having to watch two Buffy the Vampire Slayer previews during every single commercial break.

Hah! We were smart! We taped 'Enterprise' and watched it later. (We had open house at my daughter's school, but we didn't want to miss the show either.)

My thoughts

• We kept waiting for Al to make an appearance
• Boy oh boy! I never realised that Bakula had such muscular legs!! :o
• I like the beagle.
• Yes, it was predictable
• Yes, the sexual inuendo had me laughing
• I have to remind myself that all of the Star Trek shows got off to a slow start

[theeye]

Originally posted by Redlass
So, did anyone else watch the season premiere of the latest Star Trek morph on Wednesday?

Nope: we don't watch TV on Yom Kippur.

But right after most of our 40-50 guests left on Thursday night from the "break the fast" bagel and lox fest we hosted, we did a quick clean-up, rewound the VCR and settled down to watch it (along with one friend who stuck around for that very purpose).

[*]The "sex" scene was hilarious in its gratuitousness.

And in its absurdity. If they're going to go that far, then surely it makes no sense at all for them not to have gone all the way. (note to those who didn't see the scene: that comment does NOT mean what you think it does )

[*]The ending bit with the transporter was so predictable you knew it would happen a half hour before the end.

Yup. And what annoys me about the scene is the failure to write the characters' reactions properly. I'm perfectly willing to do my part in suspension of disbelief when it comes to accepting a universe in which outrageous violations of the laws of physics can apply: but once I accept the premise, I expect the writers to treat me with sufficient respect as to actually think about how a human being would respond when placed in such a situation.

(I know: someone with such expectations ought not to be watching Star Trek. )

[*]How many seasons will it be before there is a time travel episode that brings this crew into contact with one of the other crews from the other shows?

Yup, I was asking this question as soon as the word "temporal" entered the script. My guess: somewhere between 1/3 and 1/2 of one season.

And I guess they're just going to completely sidestep the "smooth-foreheaded Klingon" problem. ("We don't talk about that.")

I was also surprised by the stylistic differences: a musical theme with lyrics and the letterbox film style.

I can't say that I found the episode that compelling, but we'll see.

I actually went out and bought a nice big antenna so that I could get the station that it is on.

I was a bit disappointed.

I thought the 'sex' scene was awful... Yeah I think they should have (and would have) 'gone all the way' but thought it was way too gratuitous.

The Vulcans having attitude? Well... Geeze, they kinda have had attitude all along. Yeah it hasn't been nearly as overt but Spock's dad being married to Amanda was a pretty big scandal... I thought the attitude thing and the shift was a bit too overt and quick though.

I thought the (non) reactions to the transporter thing were all off too and they totally handled it wrong besides. Ummm... I assume we are being vague about it Hmmm... Basically the set-up for it was just fuzzy and questionable whether they actually could do it. Basically it should have been done in such a way that the audience would be tense about it and actually relieved that it worked. It could have been a really fun way to get people emotionally involved.

Basically that was the problem I had with the whole episode. The modern music seems to be meant to evoke emotion but the episode wasn't geared towards that. The writing was ok but not really that solid. Some of the scenes were just goofy (one with Zephram Cochran) and some... Well... Way too leading. The temporal thing, their new foes (previously not in the universe)...

I am kinda curious as to whether this show will ever be connected with the other series though. It seems a bit isolated in some ways (Cochran wasn't the same guy, stuff like that). Yeah the temporal thing was there but...??? Ummm... I thought that they introduced the temporal thing waaaaaay too early in the series to feel ok about it. It seems as if they are kinda banking on the series not going all that well and are pulling out the stops right off the bat to get people involved.

Ander

"Set nipples on stun"

More effective than a Nerve Pinch, I figure.

[quasar]

Originally posted by theeye
And I guess they're just going to completely sidestep the "smooth-foreheaded Klingon" problem. ("We don't talk about that.")

I cannot begin to tell you how much that bothered me. I was screaming at my TV for a good 30 minutes last night (same reason you watched it last night).

It was just wrong. Someone better come up with a good explanation for why Klingons changed then changed back, and I warn you it better be damn good because I am seriously not happy about it.

That aside, once I calmed down a bit and watched the rest of the show, I was surprised it didn't totally suck. It was better than I expected, which is not to say it was brilliant but it was good enough that I'll keep watching it.

Janice

OK, I am not sure what y'all are talking about with the forehead thing I guess I missed that (those?) episode...

Ander

[eplovejoy]

This is confusing.

If Janice wrinkled her brow when she was agitated, does that make her a Klingon?

Does her agitation mean that she could be a Vulcan, just not an evolved one?

[quasar]

Go watch "The Trouble with Tribbles" in the original series, then watch the DS9 episode "Trials and Tribble-ations" and you'll get why we're upset.

Janice

PS That DS9 episode is right up there in my list of best Star Trek episodes ever made...go see it even if you haven't even if you don't care about Klingons

PPS There is an awesome website about the technical aspects of the episode here

[erik_kosberg]

How many seasons will it be before there is a time travel episode that brings this crew into contact with one of the other crews from the other shows?

I’d be willing to wait a few seasons for an episode with Barkley or Data, but if they wanted to have an episode with Wesley roasting over the coals in a Cardassian prison, let’s hope that it’s soon. With any luck, the rescue mission will fail.

[quasar]

Originally posted by erik_kosberg
if they wanted to have an episode with Wesley roasting over the coals in a Cardassian prison, let’s hope that it’s soon. With any luck, the rescue mission will fail.

*grumble* Am I the only person on the planet who liked Wesley? Why is he so hated? And why have my social interactions changed so much that I didn't even know Wesley is hated by many until last year? Or did some five year moratorium on talking about ST characters we hate expire?

Janice

[erik_kosberg]

Wesley seemed to me way too eager to please. But there wasn’t really any one I-can-put-my-finger-on-it reason for me to dislike Wesley so intensely. He just annoyed me in a fingernails on the blackboard kind of way.

[Neilworms]

I saw the pilot last week and other than a few sequences (the 'gel rubbing scene' and the fact that the Klingons shouldn't have had bumps all over their heat) it was actually not bad.

For one thing I liked most of the cast, it was certainly a step above the dribble actors in Voyager. Secondly I actually thought this was going to be much worse than Voyager (which I stopped watching at about the 2nd season, it really was awful), this was kind of refreshing from Voyager, it at least had kind of a nice premise to it even if the writting was a little flat here and there.

I think that it was actually not that bad, if it is nurtured properly it might be almost as good as The Next Generation was, but still nowhere near the original series.

Well... I saw the second episode and liked it a bit better than the first (though they are still using footage from the initial preview/commercial). Feeling like many of the characters are still a bit generic though and my impression of the Vulcan character is that they are trying to make her into another Seven of Nine.

Ander

[emeleel]

I saw the first one only because the station here re-aired it on Saturday - it comes on during Wed. evening church services and my VCR is broken, so I'll probably never see it again!

I'm pretty much in agreement, it wasn't horrible, but it wasn't great either. Like Grace said, they ALL got off to rocky starts, so there is hope!

The gel scene was utterly ridiculous.

I liked Bakula's reaction to the transporter, but I agree the other members should have had more reaction to its first use.

I could care less about the Klingon look - just remember how much Worf changed physically over the 7 years of TNG, and then decide if you want to quibble about differences over centuries!

I also immensly disliked the temporal war thing starting off the series. IMNSHO, series (with the exception of dramas and soaps) are best when they are simply a set of individual stories. Bringing in these dramatic, drawn-out storylines are the death of almost every good series. It killed Quantum Leap (Hello, Scott, ring a bell?!), Dr. Quinn, DS9, Pretender, to name a few off the top of my head. For "Enterprise" I would much rather see just stories of their adventures, not this temporal war crud.

As for Wesley, I liked the character, but I hated how much the writers tended to put him in the "hero" role. It was just waaaaaay too much for him to be the ship's savior so many, many times.

[erik_kosberg]

The second show was pretty good, but the preview of the third makes me wonder if they’re going to do a series of bad ripoffs of Alien.

Heh Well, it kinda reminded me of a few past episodes of the old ST and a few of Voyager...

Ander

Well, saw the Trials and Tribulations episode (friend I visited has most of the episodes on tape) and enjoyed it. I see what y'all are talking about now and am kinda curious as to whether they went into it more later???

Personally I am digging the new series in part because they are vulnerable, while in many of the newer series' episodes (STtNG anyhow), the spacecraft was pretty much the big daddy on the block and the conflict was against the Prime Directive.

Is the Prime Directive still in operation? My friend equates Starfleet with the PD but I am not so sure that it is actually around yet. It might be kinda interesting to see that being created if it isn't...

Ander

[quasar]

Originally posted by anderclayton
Is the Prime Directive still in operation? My friend equates Starfleet with the PD but I am not so sure that it is actually around yet. It might be kinda interesting to see that being created if it isn't

Nope, it isn't. I agree, seeing some of the mishaps that might lead to the prime directive could be really interesting.

Janice

[nicholmere]

Originally posted by gracef
...[*]Boy oh boy! I never realised that Bakula had such muscular legs!! :o ...

Ummm... Kinda dreading this next episode. Wasn't exactly impressed with the last one but thought it was solid enough... This next one sounds like they are delving a bit too far into the campy, goofy stuff for this early in the series...

Ander