Hi Jim,
I'm with you 100%. I think Enterprise was one of the best casted
series with some of the worst writers. It just too damn long to decide
which direction they wanted to point in. Then when there was a
decently-interesting story-arc, there had to be a totally irrelevant
show to "stretch things out" a bit (like the BS old west episode during
the Zindi story arc).
OK, step back. I'ma seriously get my geek on now.
IMHO the most creative aspect of this alternate time line is that
it's a crossover with "The Tholian Web" episode from The Original
Series. The Enterprise story fits in seamlessly after the Defiant faded
away from Kirk's universe because of weaknesses in the fabric of space.
That TOS episode was one of the best and this crossover Enterprise
episode was a nice salute to that. That was "old school" TOS Defiant,
before it's eventual home on DS9.
I also have to give the production crew mad props on the set
design. Many of the Defiant sets seemed to be exact copies of TOS
Enterprise sets. Many, many subtleties were reproduced flawlessly,
right down to the sounds of phasers, photon torpedoes... the cheesy
communicators and uniforms... the Comm Officer's really
uncomfortable-looking earpiece... the blinky bridge consoles that made
no apparent sense... the "SHHH" of the turbolift doors... the cheesy
looking Defiant schematic deplayed on the main viewscreen... wine
bottles that were awkwardly shaped just so they could look
"futuristic"... the Hunk-O-Colored-Plastic (hey, you wanna put a label
on that?) floppy disk... the Majel Barrett Roddenberry "WORKING"
computer voice...
Sure it looked ridiculous (mainly IMHO the NX-01 got too powerful
too fast), but they get +100 cool points for the set design.
And though probably unintentional, the fact that the Gorn was
really,really cheesy looking was IMHO a salute to TOS as well. Remember
the Gorn from TOS "Arena" (the poor actor probably has back problems to
present say).
Also, I was pleased to finally see a Tholian. Along with the Gorn,
it looks like the CG budget is getting a little thin. I'm glad they
brought back some old-school bad guys, though. :-)
Eric
>Just watched them both in a row - very nice. I don't think there are
>spoilers below (at least nothing you've not seen on the commercials) but no
>promises.
>
>First, the bad - all due to the channel:
>
>+) Why does UPN fuck around with the damn volume! I thought it was a
>mistake on the first show but the last two commercials in each block WERE
>THIS LOUD - AT LEAST TWICE AS LOUD AS THE SHOW. The same exact thing
>happened on the second show.
>
>Since I'm 30-second-skipping on my DVR I'd think I was close to end and stop
>AND EVERYTHING IN THE HOUSE WOULD SHAKE! So I'd crank the volume down to
>moderate levels only to be unable the show when it came back on.
>
>Really screwed around with my enjoyment of the show.
>
>+) Again, I miss them with 30-second-skip - but I still think it's freakin'
>moronic that UPN is putting "coming up" spots for the next section of the
>shows. Some marketing dweeb thought that was great idea I'll bet: it isn't.
>It's annoying and insulting.
>
>Anyway: the good:
>
>+) I was really worried that this would be yet another "good crew meets the
>bad crew show". I simply think they're done with (I greatly enjoyed the DS9
>mirror universe shows, but even they were getting irksome near the end). I
>honestly wasn't looking forward to these shows at all.
>
>But they didn't do that - they actually made a wholly interesting story
>without involving the "real" characters at all (except, if you want to pick
>nits, an idealized version of one as a semi-hullacination). The writing in
>these episodes stands with any of the best episodes from DS9 - and that's
>saying a lot for me.
>
>+) I thought the "gag" of the new opening sequence was so very cool. It's
>little touches like that, little nods to the fans that didn't need to be
>done but were done anyway that really put things over the top for me. It
>was just the perfect way to set the tone.
>
>+) Although it was utterly predictable using the footage from "First
>Contact" made me so unexplainably happy. ;^) It was also very well done (I
>watched the shows in HD - thank you Comcast - and couldn't tell the
>difference between the original and new footage).
>
>+) The inclusion of the "future" ship was great and pulled off well (it's
>just such a shame that the "future" ship looked so damn bad since they used
>the original console and tech designs). I was glad it wasn't a "direct" tie
>in (using a "known" ship) but rather a very oblique tie-in (giving a subtle,
>but important, nod to DS9).
>
>+) I also liked that the ending of the episode perfectly set up the events
>that happened in DS9. If you've not seen the mirror-universe episodes of
>DS9 and you liked these definitely track them down. The situation presented
>in those episodes seems a perfect result of the ending from these
>"Enterprise" episodes.
>
>+) I really enjoyed the fact that there was no annoying lip service played
>to non-fans. We didn't have long, explanations detract from the story for
>"those that don't know". The episode was written and directed purely,
>completely for existing fans with lots of in-jokes for long-time fans. It
>was refreshing.
>
>All told it's a sorry shame the series is ending. It did have a rough
>start, but it has clearly found its stride. These last episodes are turning
>out to be the absolute best of the series.
>
>Jim Davis
>
>
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