125 replies to this topic

[1701D]

My GF partially ruined Star Trek Enterprise for me when watching it the other week for the first time and saying it looked like soft-core porn... And it kind of does. The way a lot of it is shot and lit, especially the scenes when it's trying too hard to be romantic or deal with relationships, it comes across as cheesy and almost cringeworthy. Seasons 3 and 4 are the better seasons but the unnecessary sexualisation of the cast, especially during decon chamber scenes, and the soft lighting during scenes between T'Pol and Trip in her quarters just makes it look forced and there for the sake of keeping the men interested... I hope the next Trek is more realistic and dramatic, replacing scantly clad women and tits and ass in space with quality, intelligent writing. 

 

That being said, I love the ship and when the crew have their clothes on and are engaged in an important mission or the writing is tight and the story gripping then that show was as good as the best episodes of past Star Trek's. North Star, the Season 4 Vulcan arc, In A Mirror, Darkly, the Season 4 Augment arc...

[DSTZach]

Oh, and there will be a live Ask DST #300 livechat on Monday, Jan. 18 at 8:30 EST/5:30 PST, at artasylum.com -- DSTChuck will be in attendance.

[Destructor!!!]

Oh, and there will be a live Ask DST #300 livechat on Monday, Jan. 18 at 8:30 EST/5:30 PST, at artasylum.com -- DSTChuck will be in attendance.

 
I think that deserves its own thread - I'll do the honours!

[Whirlygig]

the unnecessary sexualisation of the cast, especially during decon chamber scenes, and the soft lighting during scenes between T'Pol and Trip in her quarters just makes it look forced and there for the sake of keeping the men interested... 

 

Yep.  And the uniforms T'Pol wears throughout...for a Vulcan?  Seriously?  It is worth noting that when the show first came out fandom immediately had this among our number 1 complaints since they jumped right into it with the decons in the first 1 or 2 episodes.  Trekkies, fortunately, have always known a misogynistic focus on the male gaze when they see it -- if only the producers cared.  At least they also sometimes made Trip into a sex symbol whenever he managed to be shirtless, but on the whole it was clear they wanted to showcase T'Pol.

 

As another personal gripe, sometimes T'Pol's enunciation of words slips into a lower-class, uneducated domain (soft Ts in the middle of words, dropping Gs) unfitting of a Vulcan -- always takes me out of the moment and makes her look that much more like a soft-core porn star hoping nobody notices she's not a real actress.

[1701D]

Jolene Blalock was an awful choice. She had not the acting prowess nor the natural looks to play a convincing woman of science let alone a Vulcan woman. She always looked to me like a porn star. Whereas Jeri Ryan looked stunning, she also had gravitas and sass, Blalock had boobs and lips full of coligen.

[ensignmelkor]

I'm not a huge fan of Enterprise, but after finally caving and watching all the episodes in order on Netflix last year (when the series originally aired a decade ago I gave up early in the first season when the Vulcans were portrayed as a bunch of smug jerks) I decided it did get a few things right.

 

1. No annoying characters. Not every character on Enterprise was a home run, but none of them were a net negative for the show. There was no Wesley Crusher on this show. Also no Jake Sisko, no Nog, no Neelix, and no Harry Kim. And no Lawaxana Troi or Vic Fontaine now that I'm thinking about it either. Sure, Maywether got nothing to do--I'd still love to know why, did the producers just think he wasn't a good actor?--but he wasn't an annoyance.

 

2. They did have a few legitimately great episodes. I loved "Regeneration" (The Borg), "Carbon Creek" (T'Pol on Earth in the 1950's), the Mirror Universe two-parter,  the episode where Earth is destroyed by the Xindi in an alternate timeline, any episode with Shran, and the fourth season in general. Probably a few more great episodes I'm not thinking of right now. Nowhere near TNG's track record of great episodes, or DS9's, or the Original Series for that matter. But I still think it's a better show than Voyager, which didn't have the courage to even explore its own premise. 

 

3. They fixed Berman and Braga's Vulcan mess in the fourth season by making it the Romulans' fault.

 

4. They tried to limit the technobabble and generally succeeded.

 

5. And you know what? T'Pol was my favorite part of the show. I thought she was a great Vulcan and I looked forward to her episodes, and her scenes, more than anything else. I thought she had great chemistry with both Archer and Trip, and I thought Jolene Blalock's portrayal of T'pol  had a quietness about it, a kind of serenity, that fit a Vulcan very well. Yes, they sexed her up and made her wear a silly skin-tight outfit, but that's Berman and Braga for you. At least they're both done with Trek now.

 

At the end of the day Enterprise is very watchable. Nothing about it actively grates on my nerves, none of the characters elicit an eye-roll from me, and the idea of the Enterprise as not being one of the most powerful ships in the quadrant makes it an interesting diversion from every other show.

[djc242]

I'm not a huge fan of Enterprise, but after finally caving and watching all the episodes in order on Netflix last year (when the series originally aired a decade ago I gave up early in the first season when the Vulcans were portrayed as a bunch of smug jerks) I decided it did get a few things right.

 

1. No annoying characters. Not every character on Enterprise was a home run, but none of them were a net negative for the show. There was no Wesley Crusher on this show. Also no Jake Sisko, no Nog, no Neelix, and no Harry Kim. And no Lawaxana Troi or Vic Fontaine now that I'm thinking about it either. Sure, Maywether got nothing to do--I'd still love to know why, did the producers just think he wasn't a good actor?--but he wasn't an annoyance.

 

2. They did have a few legitimately great episodes. I loved "Regeneration" (The Borg), "Carbon Creek" (T'Pol on Earth in the 1950's), the Mirror Universe two-parter,  the episode where Earth is destroyed by the Xindi in an alternate timeline, any episode with Shran, and the fourth season in general. Probably a few more great episodes I'm not thinking of right now. Nowhere near TNG's track record of great episodes, or DS9's, or the Original Series for that matter. But I still think it's a better show than Voyager, which didn't have the courage to even explore its own premise. 

 

3. They fixed Berman and Braga's Vulcan mess in the fourth season by making it the Romulans' fault.

 

4. They tried to limit the technobabble and generally succeeded.

 

5. And you know what? T'Pol was my favorite part of the show. I thought she was a great Vulcan and I looked forward to her episodes, and her scenes, more than anything else. I thought she had great chemistry with both Archer and Trip, and I thought Jolene Blalock's portrayal of T'pol  had a quietness about it, a kind of serenity, that fit a Vulcan very well. Yes, they sexed her up and made her wear a silly skin-tight outfit, but that's Berman and Braga for you. At least they're both done with Trek now.

 

At the end of the day Enterprise is very watchable. Nothing about it actively grates on my nerves, none of the characters elicit an eye-roll from me, and the idea of the Enterprise as not being one of the most powerful ships in the quadrant makes it an interesting diversion from every other show.

 

I'm pretty much with you on all that!  I do understand why others don't like the show.  I stopped watching it when it was first on the air after 3 or 4 episodes.  Eventually got to it when Netflix delivered these things called DVDs to what used to known as a mailbox.    Season 3 was hell when I had to wait for the next disc to get mailed to me.

 

My biggest issues were with the Archer character.  I like Scott Bakula as an actor but felt that Archer was always angry/frustrated or smug.  I wish there had been more there.

[Whirlygig]

I'm not a huge fan of Enterprise, but after finally caving and watching all the episodes in order on Netflix last year (when the series originally aired a decade ago I gave up early in the first season when the Vulcans were portrayed as a bunch of smug jerks) I decided it did get a few things right.

 

1. No annoying characters.

 

I'm not one to hate on the whole show, but I do wish the elements I mentioned had been avoided.  As for NO annoying characters, well, that's subjective...  Mayweather was underdeveloped, a weak character, and yes, IMO, played by a poor actor as well...but I would probably agree that he wasn't annoying.

 

Reed, however, often annoyed me.  Part of why ties back into T'Pol...they made him look much of the time like a leering sicko obsessed with T'Pol's body.  And apparently that's OK for a senior officer in charge of weapons.  Plus he was written as pretty whiny from time to time.

[Qcjoe]

I don't care what any one says. I loved Enterprise. The last season was really top shelf. It's a shame they killed it.

[DSTZach]

NX-01 arrives February 10

[1701D]

Globally or just the US?

[DSTZach]

US for sure, check with your UK retailer to see if they have their date yet.

[Alteran195]

Any shots of her in packaging?

[Javabean]

Haven't seen BBTS lists up for PO yet if supposed to release 10th Feb in US.

[Alteran195]

Packaging shots. 

 

http://imgur.com/a/H7Idk

[1701D]

That looks gorgeous in its box. Shame they didn't choose to cast the stand in black plastic

[Alteran195]

That looks gorgeous in its box. Shame they didn't choose to cast the stand in black plastic

I'm very disappointed that it's still blue. I don't know why they couldn't change it, when it was first revealed it had a black stand.

Either way it'll be a purchase. Depending on when I buy it, I'll probably will do a review and comparison like I did with the A.

[Destructor!!!]

Wow, that paint job is outstanding - the subtle variations in the aztec pattern are amazing. Anybody know if that's a production model?

[DSTZach]

Yes, I believe both the in-and-out-of package pics are of a production model. I've been meaning to shoot the back of the saucer, by the impulse engines, to show the registry there, as someone was asking about it. It's pretty spot-on.

[tuvok47]

That looks gorgeous in its box. Shame they didn't choose to cast the stand in black plastic

I too would love to know why they didn't. All the attention to the new paint scheme and sounds...but the stand is still freakin blue while all the others are black? Crazy talk.