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Made it to the episode "Cogenitor" for my Enterprise marathon. Damn, did that one hit hard...

Enterprise got the short end of the stick.
It had a good cast and had some excellent stories but it was the tail end of three decades of non-stop Trek.
Lack of branding didn't help either. Paramount really screwed the pooch on it trying to maintain so much control.
I've said it before but listening to the Shuttlepod Show with Connor Trineer (Trip) and Dominic Keating (Malcolm) has given some great insight and they're really good together.

I always feel like the big mistake with Enterprise was that whole temporal war thing. In a series where people wanted to see how it all started, they went veering off into a war that kind of went other places .

 Just Tony wrote:
Made it to the episode "Cogenitor" for my Enterprise marathon. Damn, did that one hit hard...

One of my favorite Trek episodes, I like that the debate about the ethical dilemma comes after the damage has already been done. A lot of early Enterprise is them making mistakes and having to deal with the fallout.

Enterprise did have a truely fabulous Mirror Universe two parter.

 Overread wrote:
I always feel like the big mistake with Enterprise was that whole temporal war thing. In a series where people wanted to see how it all started, they went veering off into a war that kind of went other places .

The issue with Enterprise was ultimately the quality of the writing imo.

Like, every Star Trek show has ups and downs. Good episodes and bad episodes. Bad seasons and good seasons. Enterprise, unfortunately, had a high ratio of badder episodes, especially in its first 2 seasons. The stories either spun their wheels too much. Focused on manufactured drama for drama's sake. Some of them were just plan stupid ('The Communicator' could be a lesson in why the Prime Directive should exist, or it could be a lesson in just because you can't tell the truth doesn't mean you should start WWIII).

By the time Enterprise found its footing and started upping the quality of its stories and really getting the characters to work, I think too many people had made their mind so the 'bad seasons defined most of how Enterprise was remembered even though season 3 and 4 did improve the quality of the show.

I wasn't around for the first time but re-runs were a big part of being home sick from school for me for Enterprise, and honestly might have been my first foray into Trek until 2009 rolled around.

Looking back on it now, TNG started rough but was new so it took. DS9 was rough but had (IMO) the best Trek cast it developed really well. Voyager was rough and stayed rough. Enterprise didn't really stand a chance after Voyager and the studio was really heavy-handed with it.
It was the first Trek series to not allow the actors to ever direct an episode which by that point was a staple for the cast. Dominic Keating even got the last hurdle before the execs decided they didn't want it to happen anymore.
Throw in the ditching of "Star Trek" as the brand until S3(?) definitely didn't help.
But honestly? I think people were also just tired, both show staff who had been running with Trek since TNG or DS9 and fans.

The writers on Enterprise didn’t really have a chance until the 3rd season or so. You can see the fudgy fingerprints of the producers all over the series, from the temporal Cold War to the Akira-shaped Enterprise, from the stale Voyager formula scripts to the catsuit.

 BobtheInquisitor wrote:
The writers on Enterprise didn’t really have a chance until the 3rd season or so. You can see the fudgy fingerprints of the producers all over the series, from the temporal Cold War to the Akira-shaped Enterprise, from the stale Voyager formula scripts to the catsuit.

You can definitely see them trying to copy that Seven of Nine energy in T'pol's character early on.

 LordofHats wrote:

 BobtheInquisitor wrote:
The writers on Enterprise didn’t really have a chance until the 3rd season or so. You can see the fudgy fingerprints of the producers all over the series, from the temporal Cold War to the Akira-shaped Enterprise, from the stale Voyager formula scripts to the catsuit.

You can definitely see them trying to copy that Seven of Nine energy in T'pol's character early on.

Well they did have the decontamation chamber for some cheap thrills

A lot of early Enterprise episodes had some fun in-Universe worldbuilding that felt very grounded. For example there's a pretty extended scene where the bridge crew record a video message for elementary school kids about how the ship works that was fun. Much of it felt like a cheap Ken Burns documentary recreation of how the Federation was founded. That said I think they really found their stride in Season 3 and 4.

Probably the weakest LD episode this season but it still ends on an extremely wholesome moment which I loved.

A little disappointed it didn’t continue with the discovery of the missing ships being stolen, not destroyed, but I can dig a series of short stories.

That was my favourite episode in the last couple weeks. I actually kinda liked it had nothing to do with the mystery ship, that's been dragged on for too long. I'm really hoping T'Lyn comes back for the last 2 episodes.

I liked the premise of a goof 'cave stories' episode. It was nothing fantastic but it was enjoyable and I liked the ending.

Agree about the mystery ship. I feel like they could have alluded to it just as much but cut all the scenes to the season's benefit.

Holy hell those were some really damn deep cuts for LD this week.
That was a really good episode.

Wow.

Of all the callback reveals this was the one I least expected.

I'm floored they brought back such a deep cut character. You have to really nerd out on trek to recognize a character like Locarno. Really enjoyed the episode and I'm so glad they brought back both the Klingon and T'Lyn for this one.

I do think s3 was better, but 4 hasn't been bad at the very least.

I was also excited to see Ma'ah return to the show and get some moments to be badass. My favorite Klingon since Martok by far.

And yeah.

I feel like trek fans probably know who Locarno is by the sheer virtue that they recognize Robert Duncan and that whole thing highlights the character more than most 1-offs. Even so, that is absolutely some low key brilliance on the part of the writing team linking all these things from the past shows together in a way that actually makes a bit of sense.

Also probably should have expected they'd tie all this back in the end to the actual episode Lower Decks that inspired the series.

Though this also means Mariner is like, in at least 30s and way older than the rest of the cast as a character which is a bit jarring. It was one thing when it seemed like her career stalled out for a few years but a whole decade damn girl. It is nice to see her character arc continuing to payoff though.

Alright. I concede that while the season long mystery was kind of meh, they at least did one hell of a payoff for it at the end. Bravo.

Also:

"He looks like Tom Paris."

"I don't see it."

Perfect XD

Yeah LD continues to do excellent meta humour.

I'd also argue that unlike a lot of shows, it's naturally progressing with some good plot points.

I would be fully on board to do another season of LD because the characters are so well rounded.
Boimler got to be a captain, Mariner isn't self destructive all the time, Rutherford is going to have to deal with the loss of his best friend, and T'lyn has accepted that the Cerittos is the place for her.
Also Tendi doing Orion things should be fun.

I think the other thing is that it feels like a ST show made by ST fans and people embracing ST for what it is. It's doing some new stuff along the way, but its not trying to re-invent ST as something else entirely (indeed they've poked fun at that a few times). A lot of the storylines play within what was created before, rather than trying to re-invent the wheel every other episode.

It just feels very Trek whilst so many of the newer shows keep trying to rebuild things. Either pushing super far into the future to get away from everything; or going into the past but changing loads of details to tell their own story. Or just straight up doing the whole "lets make an alternate timeline for everything" angle.
The result is a good few of the big new shows feel like they want the ST fanbase but don't really want the baggage of its past. They want to make their own sci-fi show doing its own thing or just take the ST core and go way off the deep end of crazy ideas with it.

Decided to go all the way back to Encounter at Far Point.

Sadly I’ve only access to the remastered stuff, where the effects have been tarted up, so I’m not getting that full strength nostalgia trip.

Overall, it’s a good start. Picard instantly stands out as a strong Captain, and Riker seems like a good foil to him.

I think having some pre-existing relationships was a good choice. Picard and Crusher, Riker and Troi.

Worf, Data and La Forge aren’t massively developed straight off, other than “Klingon, Android and Blind”.

Heck, even the Enterprise is shown off. Not just the detachable saucer and Holodeck, but being New Fangled amongst the fleet.

Just finished Lower Decks myself. It is one of my favorite Trek shows but with the crossover with Strange New Worlds you can't ignore this is canon now. So like, the captain of the Cerritos really did invite an alien captain to dress up as Mark Twain on the holodeck and talk in a southern accent? They may have to turn down the zany just one notch...

Also, I guess in my headcanon, Tom Paris is Locarno he just changed his name. His backstory makes sense for Paris. IIRC he was actually supposed to be Locarno but they had to change the name otherwise they'd have to pay some writer royalties on every episode of Voyager. That makes no sense to me but I guess it does to lawyers...

 KamikazeCanuck wrote:
They may have to turn down the zany just one notch...

Even with cannon elements I think it is still pretty malleable as to what actually happened or not within the great ST universe.

What’s out next? Is STD still going?

last season of STD should be the next release

I still don’t understand Nellix. Or Janeway.

Through not fault of her own, Janeway finds her and her crew stranded, albeit with the means to get home.

That’s depressing enough. They then encounter a really annoying being as Morale Officer. A being that can’t possibly relate to the crew’s predicament in any meaningful way. Because reasons.


I mean it’s established early on that the equally crap Kazon can’t possibly compete with Voyager. Yet…let’s keep this pointless, irritating, incompetent tosspot aboard.

I guess Janeway felt the crew hadn’t suffered enough.

 Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote:
I still don’t understand Nellix. Or Janeway.

That is because Voyager wasn't a very good show, overall. Sure it had a few moments here and there but for the most part it was the worst.

Over the holidays binged the last season of LD and both seasons of SNW. Loved both. The remastered 1701 "dash nothing" might be my favourite rendition of the E.