posted
One of the sticking points with me about the optimistic theme of "Enterprise" is how it's supposed to be all of Humanity that's reaching for the stars, but the vast majority of the exploration feats depicted are American or British-related, and other things like Sputnik were omitted.
But for some reason, this evening I was looking at some of the patterns that were on the screen while the credits were rolling. And I *think* that some of the patterns were actually writing -- Arabic.
Can anyone else confirm this?
-------------------- “Those people who think they know everything are a great annoyance to those of us who do.” — Isaac Asimov Star Trek Minutiae | Memory Alpha
Registered: Nov 2000
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posted
Sputnik isn't included, presumably, because all of the images shown (save one) are manned missions. (I'm guessing that Pathfinder was included because it is a relatively fresh event, and lots of people watched it roll around, whereas Sputnik is, like, totally over. Satellites? Please. I'm watching the darn show via satellite. Satellites are about as high tech as zippers.)
Of course, Gagarin should probably be there. But, if its inclusivity you're looking for, 10% or so of the people pictured are Nazis. Inclusive enough for you?
Registered: Mar 1999
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posted
Manned missions is a possibility... but I'd think that Sputnik would be a whole lot more important than the Pathfinder probe -- because it was Humanity's FIRST venture into space, even if it wasn't manned.
-------------------- “Those people who think they know everything are a great annoyance to those of us who do.” — Isaac Asimov Star Trek Minutiae | Memory Alpha
Registered: Nov 2000
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posted
Actually, while still not, you know, wanting to buy or indeed listen to the song anywhere else, I really like the opening, visually. Except! The bit where the ship is on the horizon and stretching out before it is the outline of a highway? Tacky.
Registered: Mar 1999
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My grip about the opening sequence is the suggestion that Anglo-Americans have done more to advance the exploration of humans in the last two hundred years than any other people in the earth's history. This is crap.
Our earliest ancestors, when they left Africa for the Middle East and Europe, did more. They started our civilization. They were the ones with the "faith of the heart". Why aren't they shown?
Registered: Sep 2002
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Cartman
just made by the Presbyterian Church
Member # 256
posted
1) Because nobody's interested in watching 30 minutes of opening credits over and over and over again
2) Because early human history is about as exciting as watching paint dry*
3) Because we haven't exactly got any archived footage of Columbus et all lying around
* This, for the record, is *not* the opinion of me, myself, and I.
The submarine, by the way, is called Deep Flight.
Registered: Nov 1999
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posted
You've got to remember that they had to do keep a couple things in mind while making this opening:
1) They've got, like, 30 seconds to show this stuff.
2) It's basically an Anglo-American audience they're targeting. I'm more distressed by the fact that noone on the ship has anything other than an American or British accent.
3) People are stupid. They had to pick stuff that stood a fair chance of being recognizable to most people. Space Shuttle... duh... Astronauts... duh... oooh... space ship... cool!
![[Smile]](smile.gif)
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