Overall judgement: "Broken Bow" was kinda unwatchable (maybe because I'd read the script, however), though the show has artistic potential if it steers clear of Star Trek and focuses on what makes it unique, namely the unusually high connection with the present-day.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 ]
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