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Enterprise Getting New Aliens, Hairdos, Weapons
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.
No holodeck.
No Q
"If, therefore, any be unhappy, let him remember that he is unhappy by reason of himself alone."
~Epictetus
FINALLY!!! That show was actually pretty lame compared to the Next Generation, and the sadest thing about it is they have the coolest looking Enterprize yet. Those Sovergn class Ships make the Galaxy class crusiers look so old and obsolete. Seriously though, they better do something awesome to avoid going down in history as the least watched star trek ever. First step: COME BACK TO MAINSTREAM CABLE PLEEEEEEASE!!!!!
"Victory means exit strategy, and it's important for the President to explain to us what the exit strategy is." G.W.Bush
what they need is new writers.
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 that before?
- jon
Ganymede, a GPL'ed metadirectory for UNIX
New aliens and a few hairdo's wont change the story or character dynamics which reack.
http://saveie6.com/
Yeah... the default backup plan when ratings go south... Bring on the Borg! Oh wait! That's what the preview for next week indicated!
:)
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
It's been slipping the last two seasons.
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.
Om, nomnomnom...
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.
You didn't see the trailer after last night's episode? Apparently they ARE going to involve the Borg. Next week.
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!
Fun with Anagarams! LADS HOST, SHALT DOS. HAS DOLTS. AD SLOTHS, HATS SOLD. ASS HO, LTD.
"It would be nice if they'd use cgi to create some real alien aliens rather than just creating a different shaped latex mask for a human. "
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 than other approaches, plus the actors can act with them.
I'm not saying it can't be done, but I'd be on the side of surprise if they did do that. Still though, I'd prefer it to muppets.
"Derp de derp."
You want a REALLY fresh idea for Star Trek, something new and different? Well, they shouldn't have blown it from the get go. Come on, we're talking about the BEGINING of decent exploration from Earth for crying out loud! What is more interesting than the idea of being true pioneers?
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?
Fuzzy Knights: New RPG Strips Tuesday and Friday!:
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Where to begin. This is a guy who has never had the first clue about what made Star Trek successful and will never ever know it. He killed Kirk stupidly and that was inexcusable. He's had a deathgrip on the Star Trek franchise and has been intent on squeezing the last dollar out of it. It's no fun, it's Politically Correct and boring. There isn't anyone 'Boldly going where no man has gone before' - it's all the same aliens with a different rubber thing on their heads. It's all about United Nations like problems and the proper UN type solutions. It's just completely unwatchable and just plain sad. Berman- don't go away mad, just go away.
Enjoy your Karma, after all you earned it. Feel your Karma Joe, feel it burn.
Most "bold, new directions" are about marketing: which hairstyle do you like better, ma'am? or which charcter would increase your demographics in this or that ratings area? Real changes have to be more fundamental: what kind of stories do we want to tell?
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. If you can't make me care about a character in 10 minutes, something is very wrong.
Ask the fans what they'd like to see. The new show is just trying to pander to the FOX crowd, not real SF fans.
I simply didn't find the plot believable. An adult member of that species became literate in under a day. How the hell could someone THAT INTELLIGENT utterly fail to become at least someone educated simply by being around written words and people who talk? I'm supposed to believe that 3% of that species' population never learned anything or had any motivation whatsoever, despite the fact that their sole purpose involved them moving from couple to couple doing their cogentior thing? That's just hard to swallow. Unless you are keeping them locked up in boxes and only taking them out to breed, they'd have to learn something merely by being awake.
Fun with Anagarams! LADS HOST, SHALT DOS. HAS DOLTS. AD SLOTHS, HATS SOLD. ASS HO, LTD.
Come on! You know Bergman uses "Star Trek" plot dice. These are two eight-sided dice that establish what plot and which races are involved in a given episode. He then reaches for the shelf and finds an old script for 'research.'
What those who want activist courts fear is rule by the people.
"What we are about to do is a first for STAR TREK," Berman tells TVG. "In the past, our captains have had the general mission to explore outer space and, in the case of Voyager, a mission to find a way back home. But there has never been a Trek series built around a specific mission and specific stakes-in this case, the very future of mankind."
Funny, I thought the last few seasons of DS9 did deal with a specific threat to the very future of mankind. Does Berman want to pretend that DS9 doesn't exist?
"Given the fact that First Contact introduced the first Earth warp ship, bar none, wouldn't you say that's pretty well established already? "
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.
"Derp de derp."
Its like a cowboy drama in space, thats why we hate it.
Bad science fiction is the old stories but fought with ray guns instead of colts.
Good science fiction is where the plot is intimately entwined in a scientific concept. A genuinely new story based on a hypothetical concept.
Also Enterprise is shit because its totally illogical check out http://www.firsttvdrama.com/enterprise/e1.php3 for a small sample..
Bush and Blair ate my sig!
"Just somehow bring the Borg into an episode. That'll sell it. Oh wait, they're already doing that.... "
Even if this ep bombs, there's still some potential here. (Note: I'll never forgive Voyager for pussifying the Borg.)
Excuse me? I believe ST:TNG did it first, in "I, Borg" from Season V, the Borg were well on their way to being domesticated.
Voyager had more lame episodes than good ones, but don't blame them for screwing up the Borg.
First they burn books, then they burn people.
First of all, just so everyone can flame me for being a philistine, I'll list the various flavours of Star Trek in the order in which I rate them: DS9, TNG, Voyager, TOS, Enterprise.
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.
"Accept that some days you are the pigeon, and some days you are the statue." - David Brent, Wernham Hogg
how about a hot babe with all the nice bits PLUS an actual PERSONALITY?
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'. That's gotta be original, and it will appeal to the intelligent women in the audience."
What the hell were they thinking? How the hell can I take this show seriously when they stoop so low?
I'd rather them focus on the storyline. There are dozens of TV shows with cute girls, even some with personality, but few of the shows are worth watching.
How about some good plots with believable struggles science. Time travel? Please...
I miss Babylon 5. Granted, the characters weren't very sexy, some of the acting was cheesy, and yes the Vorlon-Shadow war had a really stupid ending, but in general it had a good, consistant storyline which kept me coming back episode after episode. I have most of Season 3 & 4 on tape, and I still watch them.
Deep Space Nine got really damn good, and it had better actors then B5.
"Can of worms? The can is open... the worms are everywhere."
I already covered this over a month ago. Any and all discontnuities with the established TOS/TNG/DS9/Voyager timeline are explained away by First Contact.
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SVM, ERGO MONSTRO.
J. Michael Straczynski, creator of Babylon 5, deserves credit for a bunch of creative new ideas... that were lifted for Star Trek.
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
lf(1): it's like ls(1) but sorts filenames by extension, tersely
Beware, Nugget is watching... See?
Indeed. My problem with bringing the borg to Enterprise (which I rarely watch anyway) is that they are simply too powerful an enemy to be dealt with in a reasonable manner.
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 that has 'polarized hull plating', pulse cannons and a top speed of what? Warp 5? It's been established that they're not even a match for the Vulcans! And they're pairing them up against the Borg who can rip through 24th century shields in a couple of minutes, are nearly immune to phasers and photon torpedoes and can propel their ships at speeds well above warp 10 using transwarp?
If you want an idea of how badly this will go for the good guys, go watch the first ST:TNG borg episode again, and multiply the ass whooping that Picard and crew took by 100. It's like putting Pee Wee Herman in the ring against Mike Tyson on PCP. It's pretty much guaranteed to be short, brutal and very messy.
The only way they'll be able to hit the proverbial 'reset' button in an hour is by introducing some horrible plot device, because there is no plausible way for the crew to handle something like this on their own. Basically, the entire episode is going to go like this: (given an episode length of 47 minutes without commercials)
1) Enterprise is called to investigate (20 minutes)
2) The Borg kick Enterprise's ass. (20 minutes)
3) A miracle happens. (5 minutes)
4) Everyone lives happily ever after. (2 minutes)
Ugh. I think I'll just save my brain the agony, thank you very much. This is just another example of one of the three classic horrible sci-fi plots. There is no faster way to ruin a good story than by introducing time travel, clones or alternate dimensions. (and heaven help you if you manage to mire your audience in all three!) Yes, it is possible to do them right, but it's dreadfully easy to do them wrong...so very wrong.
I just want to take over the world...Why does that automatically make me EVIL?
So I see this whole thing violating continuity even more (big war before the big Romulan War that should be coming up soon? come on...) but it's not going to matter.
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.
Superduper alien weapon threatening the Earth and the existance of mankind? All new hairdos and plastic noses? Ooh.
Maybe this is new to Trek, but haven't we all seen and heard this before? About dozen times?
At least B5 and JMS did with style, somehow I have a feeling that B&B will turn this into mainstreamed, preprocessed junk that Voyager was (and the current Enterprise episodes have been).
How about a real first frontier sci-fi series? Wagons, cattle, gunsliging captains and a interesting story? Oh that's right, you took the sky from me... damn Fox.
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.
Smegma.