Technobabble = minimum
Action = maximum
Character development = not too much
Tech = reasonable
First impressions = good
Mark
Were you pro- or anti- Enterprise before seeing it?
The key thing for me is that the adage of "fresh coat of paint" seems to be holding true. Visually, the show is fantastic. The writing is par for Trek, but with lots of signs that it will be different. Time will tell for that, but while we're waiting to see if the show's writing really *is* different, we can look at some really pretty pictures.
Mark
I like your review, but the action part has always scared me.. the first review i read of someone who read the script stated that 'This is really what Star Trek is about .. a lot less talking and a lot more shoot-em-up action'
I wonder if the person in question has ever seen 'The Cage'?
And yes, everything *does* look more advanced and high-tech than TOS. But as it's been hashed out here, there's not much to be done about it. The fandom has been able to rationalize just about every discrepency between Trek series, and this will just be the latest challenge. There *will* be huge continuity errors to come, but for the most part we'll just take 'em in stride and do our best explaining them.
Mark
"I don't get to see it at ALL since NONE of the cable systems here carry a UPN affiliate. This place is fucked UP, man..."
Haven't you moved multiple states, twice in the last few months, to follow some girls around? Just move again to someplace that shows it...
quote:
...turn into a cheap (and brainless) action show. But somehow I doubt B&B would care about it - Roddenberry's dead, right?
DS9 was done after his death, but that show has awesome writing. Hmmm. Geee.
My new game plan re: women is to entice underage girls in a Svengali-like fashion.
Mark
quote:
DS9 was done after his death, but that show has awesome writing. Hmmm. Geee.
Hmmm. Geee. So was Voyager (with which B&B were a lot more involved). Your point?
Anyway, my Broken Bow download is almost complete... I'm off to judge the show by its merits.
Oh. My. God.
My excitement level just TRIPLED.
More later. My pizza is burning in the oven.
Spoiler Warning ...
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I'm watching the Archer / T'Pol / Tucker relationship at work ...
VERY Kirk / Bones / Spock like.
I like.
Keep going ...
Not really. Kirk liked Spock. McCoy liked Spock. Spock liked McCoy. Spock and McCoy "sniped" at each other often, but always (to my mind) with an underlying friendship.
No one seems to like T'Pol.
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Well I never said that it was exactly like the Kirk / Bones / Spock deal , the sniping was very Bones / Spock like , which was good , and considering Humans and Vulcans had a hundred years to warm up to each other between T'Pol and Spock , I'm not surprised at all Spock was accepted.
And on a side note .. TOS Comm Devices!
[ September 26, 2001: Message edited by: Obese Penguin ]
I guess they have to take away so people would pay a bit more attention to the other characters.
But, boy oh boy, that was actually pretty good. It leaves a pleasant after taste, unlike after watching Voyager. My only compliants was the unnecessarily fanservice (T'Pol's tank top looked like a personal forcefield trying to contain a GCS warp core breach) and technical stuff which I'm not gonna go into. But all in all... Good lord, it was actually GOOD.
What do I mean by that? Let's start with the opening sequence. It's the first thing that struck me as absolutely great. It gives the whole Star Trek idea a kick in the behind by saying, "Yes, we're derived from Trek, but let's have a look at real history, where we are now, and project that into the future". The music and everything seemed exactly right, and very refreshing. I give this part a plus.
I won't even try to say what I think of a farmer with a futuristic Winchester...
Moving on, the more real-world style uniforms on the admirals reinforced this present-day connection, though it seemed weird to have people dressed in uniforms like that talk about Starfleet with Vulcans around. That whole scene reminds me of the DS9 episode where Quark comes to Roswell; I'm not sure if I like this incongruity or not. No real judgement.
Now, once we get to the Enterprise, we're more or less back in the familiar surroundings and the Voyager kind of routine. Yes, there are things to look for tech-wise, but character-wise, it's all pretty much the same. Everybody has the same opinion on Vulcans; even when talking in private, like Tucker and T'Pol in the decon chamber, they share Archer's opinion and can't stop bickering about the impeded technological progress. Where's the individual touch? The humans of this period must really hate Vulcans collectively. Nobody stands out aside from Archer, and perhaps T'Pol and Tucker to an extent. Bakula can definitely act; he's relaxed and hits the lines properly, whatever they are. Bialock follows him as a close second. Perhaps we'll see more of the others in later eps, though.
Now, there are *some* differences from the Voyager routine. Archer was pretty rough on T'Pol when he told her to "get the hell out there, make yourself useful." I can expect some of this in the real world military, but not in Starfleet. Maybe this is a comment on what Starfleet is like in 2151, but the swearwords didn't really help Bakula in his characterisation, unless it means that Archer contains his real feelings inside most of the time and only plays nice. I didn't like this part.
And now to the technical bits:
1) I give the producers a plus for showing the pilot in widescreen, as originally filmed, though the trailer for the next episode is in the usual 4:3 format, suggesting that the show will be cropped for regular broadcast. It'll probably be one more reason for fans to buy the videotapes/DVDs, though. Money, money.
2) They decided to use Earth calendar dates anyway! Archer gives the date as April 16, 2151, in his log. The final (May 11) draft of the script had "Date: 1362.2" instead. Now they will have to work to keep these in order. But, it's a good decision in regard to overall consistency with Star Trek.
3) This has been brought up already, but even if they now can travel a hundred times faster than 32 years ago, the surrounding star systems are far too close to have remained unknown this long. And what's with this Rigel 10 deal? Are we to suppose that this is in fact the Rigel of Star Trek, as opposed to the real Rigel system (about a thousand light years away)?.
4) The sets look far more realistic than those in ANY starship seen so far, with all the viewscreens and detailed readouts. It follows what I said before; the show is as much, or more an extension of the real world into the future than the Star Trek world into the past.
[ September 26, 2001: Message edited by: Phelps ]
Ok. Anyway, neither Archer nor the other humans in the scene recognized any of the systems on the list Sato translated, including Rigel. This might suggest that this Rigel is not related to the star of the same name.
Now we need a reference to a "Deneb" 39 lightyears from Earth, and we've solved just about all the inconsistencies...
Timo Saloniemi