Enterprise Getting New Aliens, Hairdos, Weapons 619
Steve Krutzler writes "The news about Enterprise's radical "new direction" for its third season is going mainstream on May 10th in TV Guide. Rick Berman reveals that the season finale will bring about major changes in the struggling Star Trek series for next year including new aliens, new weapons, new hairdos and a mission he calls a Star Trek "first."" I've felt like the show has been slipping all season, so here's hoping.
Borg (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Borg (Score:5, Interesting)
Even if this ep bombs, there's still some potential here. (Note: I'll never forgive Voyager for pussifying the Borg.)
What this episode proves (assuming a rumor I read is true...) is that Enterprise takes place after the Enterprise-E visited Earth in First Contact. There are a few ramifications here. This closes up most of the continuity holes that people keep bitching about, which means that Enterprise isn't locked any particular chain of events. Earth could go into a bloody war with the Vulcans.
The potential here is that the future of the Federation could be rewritten. Anybody remember "Yesterday's Enterprise" where the Enterprise-C jumped into the future and altered the timeline?
Even more interesting, what if we're watching the chain of events that caused the Federation to behave more like an Empire in the paralell universe that Kirk found himself in due to a transporter accident?
In any case, it's up to to the B&B team to actually make good use of this. I'm not ready to bet money yet. I can say, though, that last night's episode had a rather startling ending. If that's a sign of things to come, then we might start to see DS9's style of drama percolating up to Enterprise. That'd be a welcome evolution for this series. It is a little on the sterile side.
Re:Borg (Score:5, Informative)
Given the fact that First Contact introduced the first Earth warp ship, bar none, wouldn't you say that's pretty well established already?
Re:Borg (Score:5, Insightful)
No. That ship happened before the Enterprise went back in time. The reason that the Enterprise-E was involved with repairing (not building) that ship was because the Borg Sphere attacked it.
B'sides, most of the people I've heard bitching about the continuity of Enterprise don't seem to recognize the time-line is different, even though you're pretty much beaten over the head with the Temporal Cold War that was introduced in the pilot. Either people just like to bitch or they're just plain non-observant.
"Wait a minute! They can't meet the Feringi, Picard first met the Feringi! WTF?! Damn Brannon and Berman!" -- I've seriously heard that stupid comment. They can remember a passing detail in an old ep of TNG, but they can't remember the Temporal Cold War, First Contact, or the that the NX-01 left space dock several days earlier than planned. Heh.
Okay, that rant was pretty geeky. I just find it startling that people can be beaten over the head with information and still not get it.
Re:Borg (Score:3, Funny)
I understand what you're saying... you mean that from the point of view of Archer and crew, the past has not yet been sullied by the intrustion of the Borg and Picard. I'm not really sure what difference that makes though, since it's been established that Picard and co "fixed" the past so that it was close
Re:Borg (Score:3, Interesting)
There's no indication that this is the case with the Archer timeline, but as Berman has clearly demonstrated (assuming that Earth really does get wasted big-time next season) THIS IS NOT THE SAME
Re:Borg (Score:5, Informative)
No, I'm saying that the timeline that Archer exists in, Picard and the Borg *have* changed the time line. The big startling clue here is that the NX-01 was named Enterprise, yet the NX-01 was never mentioned in any of the other series. This wouldn't be a big deal except the ready room on the Enterprise-D depicts all of the ships named Enterprise starting with the aircraft carrier in service today.
" I'm not really sure what difference that makes though, since it's been established that Picard and co "fixed" the past so that it was close enough to what had originally occured that there were no significant differences."
Not really. We're missing a key bit of information here: Did the Enterprise-E return to the timeline it originally came from, or did it show up in the post-FC timeline? That isn't clear, and the method of travel used makes the answer to that question a bit fuzzy. We (the audience) don't know for sure what happened right after that.
"That being the case, then why does it matter if Archer is in the same timeline or not? It's a given that the future can be changed... we've seen that again and again. So anything that happens to Archer has ramifications for all subsequent events. But if Berman was so bold as to say that events had become so messed up that all of the things in previous shows didn't happen, wouldn't we then have to form a mob and KILL him?"
The point I was making is that STTNG, TOS, DS9, even VOY took place happened before the time-line was polluted. Archer exists in the polluted time-line. That means that no matter what happens in Enterprise, the original series would be completely in tact. Confusing? Watch Back to the Future 2. That movie explains what I'm talking about better than I can here on Slashdot. There'd be no reason to get mad at Berman over it, they found a unique way to tell a new story. It'd be boring if we saw a documentary of passing references over 24 seasons of Star Trek.
Re:Borg (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Borg (Score:3, Informative)
I know you're trying to be funny. (And it is funny to the uninitiated.) But I might as well show off my Trek knowledge that's kept me GF-less until about a year ago. The 'x' stands for eXperimental. The NX-01 is the first warp five ship bla bla bla. Remember the Excelsior from T
Re:Borg (Score:3, Informative)
However, if the Ferrengi didn't get too involved in the early years, they would have been mostly ignored for a couple centuries. The Federation had bigger fish to fry back in Kirk's day. The Ferrengi probably never established thems
Re:Borg (Score:5, Funny)
Actully I think most would agree putting some pussy in the borg was a nice move.
Re:Borg (Score:3, Interesting)
Take "Yesterday's Enterprise". If the Enterprise-D had never helped the Enterprise-C in the "original" timeline, wouldn't the C have been destroyed? They were on the verge of destruction before they went forward in time. My understanding was
Pussifying the Borg (Score:5, Interesting)
Dude, Voyager didn't pussify the Borg -- Next Gen did it.
Remember when we first saw them, and they were all bad ass? They were adjusting their shields for different phaser frequencies and stuff?
Then there was that whole Locutus thing . . . man, that sucked for us.
But through it all, the Borg were kicking ass, and not even bothering to take names . . . until some last-season Next Gen episode (forgive me or not knowing the title) where all it took to kill a Borg was popping the little tube out of its face.
What?!
From certain death for all humans, to falling down in a spray of liquid nitrogen just like that?
Worst. Screwing up of a cool bad guy. EVER.
Actually, that kind of makes sense... (Score:4, Funny)
Re:Pussifying the Borg (Score:3, Informative)
While I definitely have to agree with you on that, I have to add that the Klingons are a very close second in this regard. Remember in ST3, featuring Klingon Commander Jim Ignatowski? He kicked ass!! If I may cite the following examples of his badass-itude.
1) Blowing up his girlfriend's ship because she happened to see the Genesis information
2) Wrestling with and killing that giant worm-constrictor thing that was wrapping itself around his neck, and then thro
Re:Borg (Score:3, Insightful)
A Star Trek "First"? (Score:5, Funny)
Re:A Star Trek "First"? (Score:5, Funny)
Sure that could happen... in an episode where they travel to an alternate dimension.
Re:A Star Trek "First"? (Score:2, Funny)
Re:A Star Trek "First"? (Score:5, Funny)
Re:A Star Trek "First"? (Score:4, Funny)
No, the Enterprise encounters a large unchartered cloud of hydrogen, helium and various heavy elements. Further scanning concludes, without any incidents happening, that the large cloud of hydrogen, helium and various heavy elements is indeed a large cloud of hydrogen, helium and various heavy elements. Or:
The Enterprise and her crew encounter a new species, who after careful consideration and non-rash diplomatic talks agrees to sign a peace treaty with the federation. Technology and businees booms as trade starts between the federation and the new species, who aren't afflicted with some sort of plague, who aren't warlike and who don't have any custms that piss of any runaway Federation captains with ships too small for their ego. Or either:
The Enterprise and her crew suddenly realize that time has shifted ahead one hour! After several days of frantic, though conservative research and violating NO protocols regarding temporal stuff, they simply realize the Federation has instituted daylight savings and the relevant subspace message got thrown away along with the usual spam messages by the captain.
Re:A Star Trek "First"? (Score:2, Insightful)
I wasn't particularly thrilled with last night's episode. And if they're bringing the Borg into the mix, then that just might cross my threshold of tolerance for how Star Trek history is being rewritten.
Ugh!
Re:A Star Trek "First"? (Score:3, Funny)
Re:A Star Trek "First"? (Score:5, Informative)
I totally agree with you that including the borg into the preqel series would ruin it.
Re:A Star Trek "First"? (Score:5, Funny)
[ excerpt from script ]
Evil Pre-Borg carrying a bicycle pump and a light bulb approaches a crewman.
Crewman: Dude! what the hell are you doing?
Pre-Borg: I'm assimilating you. Please do not resist (attempts to jam lightbulb into crewmans neck)
Crewman: OW! goddammit! enough with that lightbulb already!
Pre-Borg: It's not a lightbulb, It's a vacuum tube.
Crewman: Whatever Poindexter. (Punches pre-borg. The sound of glass shattering is heard)
Pre-Borg: Fuck! (slumps to the ground)
Re:A Star Trek "First"? (Score:4, Funny)
You didn't see the trailer after last night's episode?
No... I'm in the UK.
Apparently they ARE going to involve the Borg.
Oh dear. They really do need new writers, don't they.
Please god, (Score:5, Insightful)
No Q
Re:Please god, (Score:3, Funny)
Q has potential, and the early Q episodes were pretty good, I thought. The Voyager Q episodes kinda sucked tho.
More importantly, they will be stocking new weapons so they can destroy stuff, including people. This is worth waiting for. The better episodes so far (relatively speaking) have been where they focused on the weapons anyway. First use of photon torpedos (hinted to this on last night's epi
Re:Please god, (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:Please god, (Score:5, Funny)
Thank goodness!!! (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Thank goodness!!! (Score:3, Insightful)
Forget about new aliens and hairdos... (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Forget about new aliens and hairdos... (Score:5, Insightful)
Dude, if I had the power to get J. Michael Straczynski on board, I'd do it in a second.
Only thing is, he's used to working with coherent, well-planned, non-contradictory storylines. I doubt even he could save Enterprise or Trek as a whole at this point.
Re:Forget about new aliens and hairdos... (Score:5, Insightful)
Jason
ProfQuotes [profquotes.com]
But, no! (Score:4, Insightful)
I've been loving the show this season. Great characters, a focus on the kind of culture clash stories that TOS specialized in..
It sounds like they're not getting the ratings that they want, but I hope they don't change the show too much. An alien probe coming to earth which wreaks havoc? Haven't we seen [imdb.com] that [imdb.com] before?
Re:But, no! (Score:5, Insightful)
So, I may not be loving, but I'm watching. Hopefully whatever this "new direction" is, it isn't back in the direction of more decontamination gel rubdowns.
Re:But, no! (Score:2, Insightful)
All Trip did was teach a person how to read--she killed herself. He is NOT responsible for her suicide, and Archer chewing trip out is just, well, so out of character I can't stand it.
TOS would have written it off as "a tradgedy", and Kirk certainy wouldn't have blamed Checkov for trying to teach someone how to read.
Hell, they should have let her go back, but perhaps foever cloistered but able to read... or had her die from "informa
It's dead, Jim. (Score:5, Funny)
Re:It's dead, Jim. (Score:3, Funny)
"It's dead Jim, let's kick it around some more."
"It's dead Jim. But this is StarTrek, so we can solve the problem by 'modulating the frequency'."
Re:It's dead, Jim. (Score:5, Funny)
"It's dead Jim, let's kick it around some more."
"It's dead Jim. But this is StarTrek, so we can solve the problem by 'modulating the frequency'."
More like, why don't YOU modulate the frequency, NERD?
(only funny if you are a regular reader of the Strongbad Emails [homestarrunner.com], particularly this one [homestarrunner.com].)
For everyone else:
Speaking from experience, I can tell you that the best way to fix any problem is to modify the sensor array to emit an inverse tachyon pulse into the heart of the anomaly.
Or go ask Data, but ask him while he's in the Holodeck playing Sherlock Holmes.
Fire Berman! (Score:5, Insightful)
New aliens and a few hairdo's wont change the story or character dynamics which reack.
Re:Fire Berman! (Score:5, Interesting)
God, yeah....Berman's idea of a different culture is one with an opressed third gender? Woah! That's innovation! And there's a male and female of the species and they're married? Unbelievable....
I've thought (and still do) that Enterprise had the most potential since TNG, which I rather enjoyed most times. The biggest mistakes have been a) trying to hard to shoehorn foreshadowing of every bloody event in the future into the show, b) slavishly obeying the "resolve in one episode" law (I'm very surprised that Berman's talking about going with a longer story arc - he's said in more than one interview that that was a bad and stupid idea), c) worrying way too much about consistency with the rest of the ST universe.
Theoretically, they were trying to branch out a bit, bring in some new audience to the show. And frankly, the whole ST universe needs a good shaking up. It really wouldn't have hurt them a lot to pay lip service to continuity, but ignore it when it made the story better.
Oh, yeah, and fire Berman. Get someone in there who can write a story without resorting to travel to other timelines.
Re:Fire Berman! (Score:3, Insightful)
Actually, the episode from yesterday to which you refer did something virtually unheard of in modern "Trek." The humans interfered with good intentions in the oh-very-PC way that they often do and it ended in tragedy. Not even an "in darkness there is hope" final scene. They followed it to the logical, unpleasant conclusion in
I hope they don't use Borgs! (Score:5, Informative)
Synopsis:
An arctic research team on Earth discovers debris from an alien vessel, nearly a century old, buried in a glacier along with the bodies of two cybernetically enhanced humanoids. Once those beings are thawed for investigation, they come to life and abduct the scientists and their transport vessel. Enterprise is called to intercept, but Captain Archer and his crew find these cyborgs to be an intractable, insidious enemy.
Re:I hope they don't use Borgs! (Score:2)
But we all know that Berman doesn't give a crap about continuity with other series in the genre.
Re:I hope they don't use Borgs! (Score:3, Insightful)
Wow (Score:2)
I've felt like the show has been slipping all season...
Woah! It's still on air?
:\
For some reason I thought they'd canceled it
Oh well, it's not the first time a slashdotter has been mis-informed...
Sex it up! (Score:5, Funny)
"Captain, it is 1300 hours. Time for our afternoon copulation."
Then again, since ratings are down, try a proven formula: Have Archer shave his head, grow a beard, and bring in Worf!
Re:Sex it up! (Score:5, Funny)
The disturbing juxtaposition of the subject line and your last suggestion made me think of this [google.com].
Dude! (Score:2)
What are you talking about? Both Seven of Nine and T'Pol had that whole pseudo-dominatrix thing going for them. Stern, firm, ready to learn you with a swift kick... ohh yeah.
It's already oversexed... (Score:3, Insightful)
Wrong. Treat me like I'm not a walking lump of hormones. I have an intelligent brain and I like to watch intelligent shows that don't use sex as a replacement for a storyline.
The sex factor in Enterprise was already overused from episode one. "Hey, I have a great idea, let's have T'Pol strip down to her underwear, and rub lotion all over the studly guy. And we'll make it the longest scene in the show, to show off the 'smart storyline'
Here come the Borg! (Score:3, Insightful)
I certainly hope they are doing more than that to improve the show! Just bringing in the Borg kind of breaks the idea that Earth didn't have any major confrontation until STTNG. If an earlier Enterprise happened to encounter the Borg, I would think that some records would have existed for Pickard to to be more prepared.
-Alex
Re:Here come the Borg! (Score:2)
You expect continutity? Ha. That's what the Teporal Cold War is for, so they can justify wiping out the entire Trek history. Every episode of every Trek series you ever saw never happened. It was a figment of your imagination.
I also find the Temporal Cold War to be a stupid plot device because it makes the characters and events on the show insignifigant and mea
*sigh* (Score:5, Interesting)
I couldn't stand their portrayal in First Contact (the idea of self-aware Borg queens will never sit with me) but at least they retained the menace they kept from Next Generation. Voyager was where they were finally ruined for me; they appeared in a disproportionate number of episodes, becoming less and less menacing, almost comical. This isn't something that has to happen as one grows more familiar with an enemy.
Now in Enterprise, the Borg are showing up yet again, and the audience is already way ahead of the game. I'd like to think that the writers are cleverly establishing the Borg as a hidden, secret determinant of much of humankind's history, with connections and impacts deeper than most realize. I'd like to think that, because it's either that or they've simply run out of ideas.
Re:*sigh* (Score:3, Insightful)
I mean, these are the same borg that fought their way to Earth in the 24th century, against 24th century weapons and defenses, then traveled back in time to the 22nd century. They kicked righteous Federation ass. Now they're being unleashed on 22nd century Enterprise? What the hell are the writers thinking?
This is the same Enterprise
Creation of the Borg (Score:5, Informative)
It was Michael Piller who created the Borg, and it was he who made them the terrifying badasses that they were in Best of Both Worlds I&II.
On the DVD for Season 3 or 4, Michael says that he was planning to leave TNG after he wrote Best of Both Worlds Part I, so he went ahead and made them so bad ass, and so undefeatable, because "someone else would have to figure out what to do with them."
Then Gene convinced him to stick around another year, so he ended up being "someone else!"
I think this is awesome, and it's a good lesson for writers: get your characters into trouble. Put them in a place where REAL death is certain, and then let them figure out how to get out of it. Michael wrote those stories without any hesitation or fear, and that's why they are two of the best TNG episodes ever.
For the record: In my opinion, Michael Piller is responsible for some of the best stories -- well, some of the best everything -- on The Next Generation.
Re:Here come the Borg! (Score:3, Insightful)
I can almost guarantee that that is what they are going to pull. They've been hinting at it since the first episode, what with the whole "temporal cold war" that was never refered to in any other show and all.
Slipping all season? (Score:5, Insightful)
Same show, rehatched ideas, visionless direction; lather rinse repeat. Bah...it's turned into a "PC our morality is always right" and your is always wrong show. Last nights episode was a good example.
What happened to entertainment, if I wanted to be taught morality, I would goto my local public school.
Re:Slipping all season? (Score:3)
Re:Slipping all season? (Score:5, Insightful)
Err did you watch to the end of that episode? "Morality" caused somebody to commit suicide. Not only did this episode illustrate why the Prime Directive is more important than human morality, but it also showed (again) that the Enterprise really fucked up. It's startlingly different from STNG or Voyager where everything ends better for the good guys.
What I particularly liked about the end of this episode was the chewing Trip got over the whole situation he caused. It was evident that some serious damage was caused between Archer and his First Officer. If this carries over into future episodes, we could have a heck of a story arc.
I agree that Enterprise has been a little stale in recent episodes, but last night was a surprisingly good one. The catch is that you have to really pay attention to what's said in the end to enjoy it. Turn it off early and the whole ep is wasted.
Re:Slipping all season? (Score:3, Informative)
Tripp is Chief Engineer. That's why T'Pol always gets left in command when Archer is off flying through stars and stuff (and then usually placed in a situation where it would be "logical" but not very nice to betray Archer "for his own good".)
Star Trek Franchise (Score:2)
Maybe partly off-topic, but (Score:5, Interesting)
On a side note, I'm willing to give the "new" show a try. The last couple episodes have been pretty good, and it looks like they are making some sort of an effort to address falling ratings and concerns. Of course, if the "new direction" turns out to be a trip straight South, I would bet that Enterprise won't see a 4th season.
I just wish that in terms of production values: 1) They ditch the catsuit for T'Pol. No real Vulcan would dress like that...it's degrading. 2) They would spend a bit more time designing makeup. Bumpy foreheads don't cut it anymore and make the show look quite cheap. 3) The music needs to be a lot more thematic and bombastic. It's been slightly better lately but like the makeup, "sonic wallpaper" doesn't cut it. Give us dramatic, emotional music!
Re:Maybe partly off-topic, but (Score:2)
Re:Maybe partly off-topic, but (Score:5, Funny)
I agree 100%. I wanna see T'Pol without the catsuit on!
(Sorry, that was just too easy to pass up
Fucking Trek Leadership (Score:5, Insightful)
On the other hand, last night's episode "Cogenitor" was the first episode of Enterprise I've ever seen which actually had a reasonably original story (trigendered species and a crewmember's fuck-up with cultural interference, clearly meant to establish the principles behind the future prime directive) and which didn't do a hollyood-liberal hippocritical pussy/cop/whore-out, and have the end be all preachy, with a thousand years of injustices and hatred completely reversed with a single visit and impassioned speach by the captain (are you listening, Voyager?). Kudos on that, but the episode was still dull as an old dog's balls.
Re:Fucking Trek Leadership (Score:2, Insightful)
Usually they will let the character, Trip in this case, just plod along repeating the same dumb behavior season after season.
I kept on waiting for Archer to add "Yeah, you were wrong. And I would have made the same mistake" at the end of his speech. But no, he left him hanging high and dry.
Of course, they had to alienate themselves from that race, othe
The crew must die (Score:3, Interesting)
If they want the show to have some dignity, the whole crew should die. I really mean die. It's not like that sort of thing doesn't happen in experimental spaceship programs, especially when those ships are getting shot at. Maybe Mayweather could live, because I like him. But the rest should die. The ship should be rebuilt and taken over by a more interesting crew, and they should
Bold New Direction? (Score:2)
Andromeda went through the same thing about halfway through the second season, with the departure of Robert Hewitt Wolfe. The remainder of the second season was still able to use the rest of his scripts, but the third season has unequivocally sucked.
Re:Bold New Direction? (Score:2)
It's been getting a BIT better, but the interaction between the characters that made the first season or two awesome still isn't there.
Re:Bold New Direction? (Score:2)
Re:Bold New Direction? Ask the fans!!!!! (Score:2, Insightful)
I'm with the "GET NEW WRITERS" crowd. I love star trek, having grown up on the original, and enjoyed young adulthood on TNG. I never bothered watching the latest after catching an piece of an episode while channel surfing. What a waste of 10 minutes.
Ummm new hairstyles? (Score:4, Funny)
But new hair styles???
WTF?
If someone at Paramount thinks that putting new hairstyles on the actors heads is going to solve ANYTHING then Star Trek is in far worst shape then I thought it was.
Next thing you know they will go all politicly correct and make a female a star ship captain.
Oh wait....
Seriously though I think that Scott Bakula is the best thing to happen to Star Trek since Patrick Stewart.
But what is with the Borg in the next episode?
I am gonna put on my uber-geek cap for a minute here and say that I thought that the Borg were discovered during the Next Generation. I thought that it wasn't possible to run into the Borg during the Enterprise series.
the "problem" with Enterprise... (Score:3, Interesting)
Some thoughts:
-is it because the story predates what people are familiar with?
-is it not faithful to the Trek universe?
I am genuinely curious why do you all hate it so much? Does CleverNickName have any insight?
Re:the "problem" with Enterprise... (Score:5, Insightful)
Now, given that I find watching all but a handful of episodes of TOS a painful experience, that should give you some indication of how badly I think of Enterprise.
Granted, I've only watched about 8-10 episodes of this latest show, but it doesn't take more than that to see that this latest offering is dire, dire, dire.
It's not that the show predates all other Treks per se, it's just that putting it before all the others shows in the Trek universe timeline seriously limits the writers as to what they can and can't do with the characters, races and technology available to them. Putting your writers in a creative straightjacket, limiting their creative scope and presenting the viewers with a wider story that leads them somewhere that they've already been doesn't work very well - just look at the Star Wars prequels for evidence. (So that's yes to your first question; but not for the reasons that you were probably expecting.)
And it's not just that it rewrites Star Trek history on the fly (Klingons that look like TNG/DS9/Voyager versions, rather than TOS oneS, etc), rather that it does so so badly. (So that's a yes to your second question; it's not entirely faithful to the previously established Trek universe.)
But if I had to give just one reason why Enterprise sucks it would be that it's dull as dishwater. None of the characters seem to have any depth to them, and there isn't a single one that I can empathise or admire in the way that I do Data, Worf, Picard, Sisko, Odo, O'Brien, Chakotay or Spock.
Frankly, Enterprise seems like a one-dimensional show with a bunch of one-dimensional characters.
These people are so predictable ... (Score:2)
I.e., its probably a combination of more that one of the most hated and/or over used Trekkie elements: time travel, holodeck, Q, the Borg.
Don't give Berman/Pillar and credit, they don't deserve it.
oh boy.. (Score:2)
They should be telling the stories of how star fleet got off the ground, how traditions/laws like
The idea was blown from the beginning... (Score:5, Insightful)
Only one problem, everything here feels the same as every other show. They still have transporters, they just don't use them on people much. They don't have tractor beams, but that's an excuse so they can have a cool lookin toilet plunger launcher instead. Their phasers aren't as powerful as later shows, but big whoop, they're still phasers. Same shit, different smell, music by a Ron Stweart wannabe.
A show I WOULD have watched eagerly would have been one BEFORE all this technology (save the ability to travel at warp). NO transporters, NO phasers, NO tractor beams, heck no artificial gravity even (though that could be a problem cost wise and quailty wise, unless you have rotating sections like B5, though that doesn't mesh with its own "history"). And if you think that no longer makes it Star Trek, then you really are brainwashed about that show.
Give us something different instead of the same and simply changing it a little to seem different while giving writers the exact same conventions to fall back on under different guises.
This would help.
Well, that and having decent writers that don't simply add the "alien with the cigarette burn on the forhead of the week" each episode.
Oh yeah, and water polo? Who the hell watches water polo?
The Trek Sex Virus (Score:5, Funny)
Seriously, if I wanted to see a bunch of oddly proportioned women who wear too much makeup getting it on with average looking guys, I'll watch a porn.
Rick Berman needs to just go. (Score:5, Insightful)
The Simpsons In Space (Score:3, Funny)
The only way (Score:5, Funny)
The Eugenics Wars (Score:4, Interesting)
I agree with those saying there's been no imagination in coming up with new Star Trek series. They are all carbon copies of each other, with the possible exception of DS9.
In the vein of different Star Trek stories, has anyone read the novel(s) "The Eugenics Wars: The Rise and Fall of Khan Noonien Singh?" It's in two parts, and I'm impatiently waiting for the second to appear in paperback.
I know this is just slightly off-topic, but I must talk about it!
The story (obviously) follows the life of Khan. However, in an absolute stroke of genius, the writer also included the character of Gary Seven, the mysterious alien-bred human introduced in the original series. The episode was clearly being set up to be spun off, but never did.
As I said before, I think that putting Gary Seven and Khan on the same stage (or rather, realizing that they would have been contemporaries) was a stroke of genius. They're both genetically enhanced, but with completely opposite political and personal ideologies.You could not ask for two men more perfectly crafted to oppose each other in a dramatic conflict.
Gary Seven was sent to Earth to quietly pull strings and guide world events for the betterment of the human race. Khan actually has similar motives, but intends to fix the world by forcibly taking control of everything. He's not the obsessed villain of ST:TWOK (not yet, anyway), and he's a thoroughly believable character.
It's amazing that the stage, the plot, and the characters for this story could all emerge by accident! When you realize they were on the same planet at the same time, you realize they must have butted heads.
Make a miniseries of this, I say. I'd be all over it.
BTW, if you haven't read the book, I highly recommend it. There's a little bit of gratuitous reference-dropping, but I have nothing else bad to say about it. Read it!
Enterprise is nothing but left-wing propaganda (Score:3, Interesting)
The only way this show can be "fixed" is to get rid of whoever is writing that kind of crap and replace them with real writers.
Lee
Ripping off JMS *again*? (Score:5, Insightful)
Babylon 5 had a heavy story arc. Later, Deep Space 9 developed a story arc. Babylon 5 used CGI heavily when Trek was using models. Of course Trek now uses CGI; perhaps that one was inevitable, but they probably adopted it sooner because of the example of Babylon 5.
After Babylon 5, JMS had a short-lived series called Crusade. The ship in Crusade had a limited amount of time to find a cure that would save the lives of all humans on Earth. Now we find out that Enterprise is turning into Crusade -- they will have to go and stop the Xindi super-weapon.
And new hair styles? Given that Babylon 5 was famous for its wild hair styles, I was amazed they were hyping this.
All that said -- I'll try to hope. Stopping a superweapon is closer to "Trek with phasers" than preachy episodes like "Cogenitor". I'd like to see it be fun and exciting, with far less lecturing.
But I'm afraid that next week (the Borg prequel) is going to be the "jump the shark" episode.
steveha
Re:Ripping off JMS *again*? (Score:3, Insightful)
I'm a huge DS9 fan, but I find this really tough to swallow.
So did TNG. Remember the Klingons? That was spread out over several years.
Technology increases at the speed that it is researched.
Re:Ripping off JMS *again*? (Score:3, Insightful)
I seriously doubt it. The cost of CGI had been dropping (and continues to do so) relative to using models. CGI was cheaper at that point then using models - for Babylon 5. For Trek CGI was still more expensive, because they already had the models.
If you were starting from scratch CGI was cheaper. If you had already bu
Re:Ripping off JMS *again*? (Score:3, Insightful)
This just isn't true. Babylon 5 didn't air until 1994, at which point TNG was was in it's 7th season. TNG was using CGI nearly a decade before Babylon 5's inception. In fact the series pilot, "Encounter at Farpoint [imdb.com]", was acclaimed at a milestone in the field of television special effects, and is widely considered to be the show responsible for the CGI breakthrough in televisi
What "Enterprise" should have been. (Score:3, Insightful)
Forehead mods and smoothness (Score:3, Interesting)
My first main beef is that nigh every alien species is just a human with a funny forehead or nose...no creativity.
My second beef is just about every alien world (cheap sets) is a semi-desert planet with what look like mud huts with technology dried into the walls, or some leftover hippie commune looking place. Can't they find a city like NYC or something on some Class M?
That aside, since this is star trek afterall, my main problem with Enterprise is how smoothly the ship seems to run. Basically our first big ship and it has less problems than the Red Dwarf.
The Reset Button (Score:3, Insightful)
I'm starting to wonder if the whole "Temporal Cold War" thing is just going to be a really convenient Trek Reset Button when they wind the series down/do anything substantial. Aliens from the future, Warship Enterprise, lotsa death, destruction, and mayhem--and then whoops! It was all an alternate timeline that was never supposed to happen, so the 29th century time guys put it all straight by the end of the season, if not the episode.
Enterprise is fine for dumb fun, but it could be sooo much better. I wish it was.
Stand-Alone? Oh dear. (Score:4, Insightful)
Ahh, right, so the DS9 Delta Quadrant stuff never happened. Mm.
This sounds *well* sucky, and goes on to fulfil a pet hate of mine which is that episodes will no longer be 'stand-alone'. Which is a pity.
mmm...where have I seen this before, I wonder ? (Score:3, Interesting)
a mysterious probe from space will blast a swath of destruction across North and Central America, causing epic explosions and annihilating everything between Florida and Venezuela," according to the article. "As viewers will learn, this is a preemptive strike by an alien race known as the Xindi (that's Zin-dee)
Well, at last Star Trek catches up with Space Battleship Yamato/Star Blazers. There was no other way to go for the show to keep it going. As a reminder, the 1st season of SBY has the following story:
In the year 2199, Earth is under attack by the mysterious planet Gamilon. Planet bombs destroy all of Earth's surface, forcing people to live underground. Radiation from the bombs is everywhere, and life on Earth has one more year left. All Earth space fleets are destroyed. A mysterious message arrives from Iscandar, probing Earth people to travel 248,000 light years across space to get the Cosmo DNA machine which will remove the radioactivity and restore the planet in its former state. Since Earth has no other spaceships, they retrofit the Yamato for space travel, fitting the wave motion engine (blueprints of it were sent along with the message) so they can warp through space, and also converting it to the wave motion gun which blasts a huge planet-destroying beam but leaves the ship helpless for a few minutes.
I keep mentioning Space Battleship Yamato here in Slashdot for younger people to learn that the wonderous things they see today or tomorrow have been established 30 years ago. Many anime cliches (for example, the hero, his best friend and rival, his girlfriend, the wise but sick captain, the cyborg mechanic, the megalomaniac alien emperor bent on destroying Earth) have been introduced en mass in SBY. There is a rumour that George Lucas was heavily inspired by it during his early trip in Japan before he wrote Star Wars.
As you can see from the above text, the few lines of the SBY scenario already sound more interesting than the new Enterprise. There is no other way to go for Star Trek in my opinion, cause they have played almost every card, except the "alien invasion" plot. Now it's time for the real Star Trek: huge battles and an epic race to save Earth from destruction.
By the way, if SBY sounds similar to the plot in Babylon 5's Crusade, it's because it is. They have stolen heavily from Yamato.
Finally, they could throw some bits of Robotech in the Enterprise, huge robots transforming, you know the stuff. Whatever they do, I bet there's gonna be more interesting than ever.
Re:Haha (Score:2, Informative)
Re:Haha (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Alien aliens (Score:3, Insightful)
The problem with doing that is that Star Trek tries to maintain a style that doesn't degrade much over the years. For example, there's very little in STNG (post season 3) that makes people wince today like Dr. Who does. That's one of the reasons that they stick with the 'bumpy head' approach. Okay, it's not so 'alienesque' but it does stand the test of time longer t
Re:Alien aliens (Score:3, Funny)
Re:In case the original article is slashdotted... (Score:2)
Re:In case the original article is slashdotted... (Score:3, Funny)
What the article did not reveal, and what few of us really know, is who the leader of the Xindi is. Most of the third season will be spent with them slowly unraveling that cold, horrible truth. And, no, Bergman did not name the show after his girlfriend Cindy.
Cindy Lauper [cyndilauper.com]will star as the evil leader of the Xindi--who in reality are just a bunch of girls who want to have fun. At least this time, the ST crew will encounter a race with a cool new name, instead of some rip off of something from Earth's cultur