In defense of Enterprise
A while back, I railed on the new Star Trek series Enterprise for new heights of mediocrity. It's true though - the first two seasons of Enterprise were equal parts interesting (Vulcans! Andorians! Old-school! The characterizations of the doctor, Trip and T'Pol) and painful (temporal cold wars? faith of the heart? a love of water polo?). Starting with season 3, however, I believe they took the show to new heights with the Xindi season-spanning plotline.
By the end of last season, I felt Enterprise had risen right to the top, even surpassing TNG in my mind. Perhaps the only flat note in all of season 3 was the clunky time-travel cliffhanger at the end, but I realize now that this was an attempt to end the temporal cold war plotline that had been left hanging as quickly as possible. A lot of hardcore geeks (at least those on Slashdot) have enjoyed ragging on Enterprise, but I suspect most of that criticism comes with an ignorance of seasons 3 and 4.
As such, I've enjoyed this season very much. They've continued to play up to the old-school strengths of Trek - Vulcans, Andorians and strong character development. With the 2 Stargates and Battlestar Galactica on Friday right after Enterprise, it's a 4-hour sci-fi orgasmic block that can't be beat.
But all that is apparently coming to an end - today it was announced that Enterprise has been axed. This seems like a crime - crap like Voyager can go for 7 seasons, but something a little darker and grittier like Enterprise gets the heave-ho. Oh well - it was good while it lasted.
Comments
I blame this squarely on Wil Wheaton.
Posted by: flargh | February 2, 2005 04:21 PM
New Battlestar takes the mantle left behind by Space: Above & Beyond.
Posted by: John Hood | February 3, 2005 03:02 AM
I'm at a lost for words. I've always enjoyed Stargate SG1 but Season 8 hasn't been very strong IMO, yet Season 9 has been confirmed, I'd have placed money that is was a definite to be axed. Enterprise on the otherhand has had an amazing Season with 4, I'm shocked and dissapointed it's not at least going into a 5th. I hope Battlestar Galactica continues to be as strong, I shall need something to curb my enterprise withdrawal.
Posted by: cremegg | February 3, 2005 10:56 AM
Sorry to hear about Enterprise... but I must say that I've been very impressed with Battlestar Galactica thus far. The writing, talent level and special effects seem a bit higher than most SciFi channel standard fare. I hope it continues of for season to come.
Posted by: Patrick | February 3, 2005 01:04 PM
The new Galactica is indeed excellent. I was very pleasantly surprised by it.
I can't say I'm surprised by Enterprise getting the axe. I was completely non-plussed with it when it debuted, and seldom tuned it in. I had a passing interest in it last year during the Xindi thing, but in the end, it just didn't have enough good episodes to convince me it was worth an hour of my time each week. I can't say anything of this year, since I didn't watch any of it after the opener. The characters just never appealed to me. Maybe they've changed. Too late now.
The previous three "new" Trek series all seemed to take about three-four years before they found their footing, and began to get interesting. The reason the original Trek worked from the get-go was that the characters were developed first. The other Treks seemed to have been created as concepts first, with little initial thought to the personalities or relationships of the characters. They just hope they'll evolve as the series goes along. Galactica has done an excellent job creating interesting characters. From characters come stories. Doing it the other way is backwards. The Trek creators could stand to learn from it.
I just hope Paramount takes a few years off from Trek before foisting another series on us. There's enough good sci-fi on TV without it.
Posted by: Nathan Strum | February 4, 2005 08:05 PM
I know what would have saved Enterprise: More decontamination scenes.
Posted by: flargh | February 5, 2005 08:13 AM
I'm in agreement with most folks about Galactica: it's now the one hour of television I look forward to most each week, followed by Atlantis, then SG-1, then Enterprise.
In fact, at this very moment, I'm waiting for Beth to get up so I can see the conclusion to that 2-parter from last week. I just heard her alarm go off, so I think it's time to take matters into my own hands. :-)
Posted by: Brad Oliver | February 5, 2005 08:37 AM
That's a shame about Enterpise; I hadn't heard. Most of this season has been quite good.
I had heard that the creators were saying that they hoped they would get word on their fate soon so that they could wrap the series up neatly if needed... This announcement may come too late, but if not, maybe there will be a good send-off.
Posted by: Matt Diamond | February 7, 2005 01:45 PM