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Enterprise Excitement Wanes
started watching Enterprise last night with excitement, which tempered fairly quickly. Either the writing was a bit rough or the editing was, but it seemed choppy—especially the first hour. I liked the crew a lot more than I did the captain. I never have been a huge fan of [Scott] Bakula, but he didn't have the command presence that Kirk and Picard have. When they walked into a room, there was no doubt who was in charge. I liked the Vulcan a lot! The opening credits were wonderful! It has many places to go, and I hope it can recover the lost awe for space that I thought Star Trek: Voyager had lost entirely. I've got my fingers crossed.
Judith Ley Page
judithzu@psnw.com
Berman and Braga Saved Trek
ick Berman and Brannon Braga finally release themselves from Roddenberry's shadow. I have to admit, I went into "Broken Bow" with a bit of fear and trepidation. After all, Berman and Braga stripped away Star Trek's humanity and sense of adventure with each subsequent version of Trek. Voyager's infamous "last-five-minutes-technological-breakthrough-save-the-day" endings left a very bad taste in my mouth. And the series final episode was, to say the least, rehash and a major disappointment.
That all being said, I loved the first episode of Enterprise (no, I don't mind that they dropped the Star Trek). Yes it was flawed; very nearly repeating Voyager's ending problems with the transporter save. However, unlike Voyager, the cast was interesting and seemed to have a part to play. They didn't just fill the obligatory spots. No "Ensign Kims" here (B & B's fault, not the actor's).
From the opening teaser to the satisfying ending, the story progressed at a good pace—setting up the working relationships, the characters and the conflicts to come. The Suliban make an interesting enemy, especially with the temporal intricacies. And, I love the ship. Very cool. (OK, enough fan-boy drooling.)
My one gripe was with the decontamination scene. Yes, she has a great body. But that was a bit much. Does this mean we will see T'Pol lose all her sexual inhibitions? Yikes!
Anyway, kudos to B & B. Keep up the good work. Maybe we'll be sad to see seven years gone this time.
Kevin Fifield
deafened@yahoo.com
Enterprise Isn't Worth Taping
K, so it's come out, and we've seen it. All I can say is this is the first Star Trek series that I don't plan to tape. Let's break it down.
Production: A. You'd expect that ... especially from a production crew that all but abandoned the last episodes of ST: Voyager to work on this. (The last episode of Voyager showed such a lack of caring for how it ended the series, that I may never forgive Berman's people for it.) Even so, for a series that is supposed to be set earlier than the original Trek, some things seemed to
work too smoothly.
Next, Story: C. Overall workable, and at least we didn't get a ton of exposition on every character we met in the first episode. But there was nothing particularly gripping about it. None of the real thrill of being the first to be out there doing it was at all imparted. The show's namesake, the ship itself, hardly received the intro it deserved, nor was it afforded much of an image of grandeur or power befitting the first Terran starship. And particularly vexing was having a great plot point, the transporters that haven't been used on people, and wasting that problem in the very first episode. That could have been built that up for half the season, creating some great tension. Instead, like ST:TNG's Enterprise separation in the pilot episode, it was blown on a wimpy crisis right off. Poor planning, that.
Finally, Marketing: D. Paramount's efforts to aim the series at the youth demographic are too blatant to be believed. Supermodel in a skin-tight outfit as Vulcan ... pathetic (not the actress, the idea), not to mention derivative of Voyager's Seven of Nine. Theme music that sounds like it should be opening Dawson's Creek ... very inappropriate for a series about the final frontier. The Archer-Sarin kiss ... pointless and also obvious. The Tucker-T'Pol "bio-detox" scene ... sexploitive, cheap, tawdry and low-class. (Even the cameras demonstrated where the point of those scenes were, by cutting out the talking heads and only showing close-ups of their bodies.) This is base
marketing at its worst, and it has no appeal to me.
The message I get here is that Berman, et. al., have been working this franchise too long. They've forgotten what makes the Star Trek franchise unique, and they've lost the proper perspective to impart the excitement, the drama, the horror, fun and the optimism that should scream out of every Trek series. The spark just isn't there. They should have taken the time to put the proper finishing touches on Voyager, then taken a Trek hiatus for about five years and worked on
something else.
Final grade: C. Translation: Although I'll watch it if I'm conveniently in front of a TV, I won't lose any sleep over missing any episodes, either.
Steve Jordan
stevejordan@mindspring.com
Enterprise Almost Worthy of Trek
fter two viewings of Paramount's/Star Trek's Enterprise series premiere, I have come to the conclusion that the show does indeed have an air of adventure. It could be good. But it's not perfect, by any means.
Don't know about the return of the "wonder" element, which has been touted as a major selling point of the show, and which Gene Roddenberry was able to convey so implicitly in the classic, original. So far the Enterprise version of this amounts to obvious and heavy handed bits of "wonder" dialogue, most likely inserted on some quota basis into the script. Dudes, it has to be knitted into the very fabric of the show. It has to be implied by actions, by acting, by directing, not dialogue contrivances.
But if this show is going to earn my respect and continued viewing, three things absolutely have to go. In fact, I can't believe anyone who is getting paid over there at Paramount could be so blind as to not know these things are wrong in advance. I mean, don't people know the difference between good and awful?
Lose the theme song. What dreck. Fire whoever made this decision.
Lose the dog. Remember Daggit? Pets on sci-fi shows are really stupid.
Lose the soft porn. You know the scene I'm talking about. It was simply ludicrous. What are you people thinking?
Presley Acuna
pacuna@sprynet.com
Enjoy Enterprise For What It Is
es, the fifth Star Trek series has begun, hopefully to boldly go where no Star Trek has gone before and ... NO! I'm not going to comment on the ship, the theme music, the actors, the costumes or Enterprise's adherence to the Roddenberry Universe. Because that's not what Star Trek is about and nothing ruins the experience more than a bunch of Trekkers nitpicking over a lot of
trivia.
I remember the "classic" series when it was first-run TV. Had I sat there criticizing every line of dialogue, every new character, concept, costume, etc., how could I possibly gotten anything out of Star Trek which has so much to say?
Let's just sit back and watch and enjoy and thank the powers that be that Star Trek is on TV where it belongs. Those that want to moan and groan and whine and complain—turn your sets off and leave the rest of us in peace.
Kevin Ahearn
KEVTOMA@aol.com
Buffy Will Gain Classic Status
n Science Fiction Weekly's review of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Kathie Huddleston wrote:
There will come a time, years from now, when people elevate Buffy the Vampire Slayer to the status of a classic. It won't just be thought of as one of the best fantasy shows ever, it will be considered one of the best series of all time, regardless of genre.
Thank you very much. I'm relieved that someone else "gets it." (I'm sure many do but not that many are published!) Episodes such as "The Body," "Hush" and (one of my favorites) "Invisible Girl" from the first season have been extraordinarily insightful. I believe you are right to say the series is/will be a classic. I have stated in other postings and e-mails that one day I think the series will be regarded with the kind of respect reserved for exceptional series like the original Twilight Zone, also
"genre-handicapped." (I know Rod Serling is a tough act to follow but I've been around long enough to have seen the original broadcasts and his teleplays so I claim the right to compare!)
Bill Lindley
billlindley@email.msn.com
Why is the Future Monochrome?
s I've read sci-fi literature for the past 45 years I've noticed one thing that has been prevalent in all of the sci-fi entertainment media, whether it's books or movies or TV series. In the future every thing will still be predominantly ran by the white race! I'm just wondering why on a planet, that is predominantly a place of color, from Asians to Hispanics to Africans, in the distant future—whether it be 200 0r 10,000 years—all of or most of the captains, fighter, pilots, presidents, or leaders in general in most media are still white! Is this because our writers can't envision any one else but white people in charge, or what? Someone please give me some serious feedback on this.
Glen Brown
ILUVJAZZ@swbell.net
SF Fall TV Preview Was Fantastic
hat is absolutely the best Fall TV preview [Part I and Part II] I have ever read! It is so thorough, and I really liked the humor. I found myself reading "outlook," before the description of the show because I really liked the honesty and inside info the author gave. It was like having a DVD to the upcoming shows! Thanks for printing it. And thanks also for being so in tune with the times. The author's sensitive comments at the beginning of the review ... I really identified with [them] ... and am grateful for.
Saljouri James
saljouri@yahoo.com
Invisible Man Fans Aren't Invisible
am beginning to think that Invisible Man fans are being overlooked. I know as a fact that many of us have sent in letters in support of a 3rd season, but the only thing that is said is that there will be new episodes early in 2002. There is still no confirmation of a 3rd season.
Invisible Man is loved by many fans and we (I think I can speak for us all here) want to see it return for a 3rd, 4th, etc. seasons. But, let us just concentrate on the 3rd. We are all worried that our favorite show is being pushed to the wayside. We will continue to write letters in support and I hope we are heard. Invisible Man is a diamond in the rough!
Heather Marsh
darienchic@netscape.net
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