Is Enterprise worth watching?

[An Gadaí]

I never gave it the time of day when it aired but I've caught a couple of episodes of late and they weren't bad. Is it worth watching? Is it better/worse than ST: Voyager?

[Amateur Barbarian]

We recently watched the series through on Netflix and I found it much more appealing than most of the ST offerings. A very modern take on the basic format, including a good sense of story continuity, and many very amusing back-takes on ST:TOS and ST:TNG events. Scott Bakula is a thoroughly engaging actor as well.

It completely enraged most of the Trek___ community because it rewrote canon in almost every episode. Being an original Trekkie who never much cared for TNG, I could care less about such theology and just enjoy the show for what it was.

Give it a whirl.

Oh, re STV: I tried to like it but it took the 'encapsulated episode' aspect of ST to the max. Some episodes had huge, life-changing, irreversible events... and managed to wrap things in the tag without a single change to the universe. Second or third one of those, and I was done with it.

[Dr_Doom]

Dude.

Jolene Blalock in a skin-tight jumpsuit.

All you need to know.

[carnivorousplant]

I liked it, although Bakula acted as though he had leapt into the body of a starship captain and didn't have a clue what was going on.

[CandidGamera]

Better than Voyager, though that's damn faint praise.

Bakula is deadly dull as Archer, but the rest of the crew is interesting.

[Hbns]

I've tried watching all of the Trek series. I enjoy the original shows for what they were. I enjoyed a lot of the NG episodes. I didn't much care for DS9 or Voyager, but watched some of both.

I started watching Enterprise because the setting for the story intrigued me, and because I had the opportunity to watch all the episode in sequence without dealing with network air dates. I think it was my favorite. At the end I thought the show was going in the right direction after a bit of a shaky start and was disappointed there will be no more episodes.

[AndrewL]

First season was bad. Second was worse. Third and fourth were an improvement, but do yourself a favor and skip the final episode.

[Simplicio]

I'd skip it. It gets a little better towards the end, but I doubt its worth your time to sit through the dreck to get to the slightly less drecky dreck.

[carnivorousplant]

The last season certainly improved, but at times it seemed like fan fic to me.
The Klingon forehead solution fellated with great alacrity.

[Odesio]

I couldn't make it past the pilot episode. As soon as I learned about the temporal time war I decided the series wasn't for me. I saw a few more episodes from season 1 but I never got hooked.

[Skammer]

The last season was the best. It took a while to find it's footing and it's unfortunate that UPN couldn't have stuck with it just a little bit longer. But yeah, the finale was tacked on and it was awful.

On the whole, though, way better than Voyager.

[Typo Knig]

I like Enterprise! My opinion is in this post.

[silenus]

Skip it completely. A better use of your time would be poking forks in your eyeballs. Utter garbage.

[Helena330]

I'd avoided it because of all the negativity from other ST fans, but I started catching a few episodes here and there when they were on whatever cable channel and liked them. Decided to watch the whole series and REALLY enjoyed it. It's much, much better than Voyager.

Opinions are so varied. Looks like you're going to have to commit several hours and decide for yourself. I envy you getting to see it for the first time.

[DWMarch]

Originally Posted by Odesio

I couldn't make it past the pilot episode. As soon as I learned about the temporal time war I decided the series wasn't for me. I saw a few more episodes from season 1 but I never got hooked.

FWIW the temporal cold war plotline spans maybe a dozen episodes over the entire series. However, it also brings us Vampire Space Nazis. I'm not kidding.

The fourth season of Enterprise was great. There is one episode with Trip and Hoshi ("Observer Effect") which I think totally nails everything Star Trek is about. However, as previously mentioned skip the finale- it barely qualifies as an episode of Enterprise.

[Johnny Bravo]

Originally Posted by carnivorousplant

I liked it, although Bakula acted as though he had leapt into the body of a starship captain and didn't have a clue what was going on.

Well... he was literally playing earth's very first starship captain, so that makes a certain kind of sense.

Anyway, I don't think the show was all that great. I do think they did a good job of answering a lot of backstory questions about various Star Trek lore, which was cool.

Overall, worth watching on Netflix since you're already paying for the subscription.

[Peremensoe]

If you like Trek, I'd recommend some episodes (more than I would for Voyager), but certainly not all of them.

[Corcaigh]

I liked the show, agree with those who said don't watch the final episode, not even out of curiosity to see what we're moaning about

SPOILER:

it implies that everything was just a holodeck program someone was watching - very Bobby Ewing in the shower stuff

I may not have needed to spoiler that, but it's done now.

[Peremensoe]

Originally Posted by Simplicio

I'd skip it. It gets a little better towards the end, but I doubt its worth your time to sit through the dreck to get to the slightly less drecky dreck.

More than that, you'll actually like it more with the bad parts subtracted (I think this is true of Trek overall, the ratios just vary).

Originally Posted by carnivorousplant

The last season certainly improved, but at times it seemed like fan fic to me.
The Klingon forehead solution fellated with great alacrity.

That was a serious tactical mistake IMO, to explain in-universe a facet of the TV production. Worf's line in "Tribble-ations" was meant to be a joke at the time, and should have been left as such. The in-universe reality should have been that Klingons had always had ridged foreheads.

[Dr. Rieux]

It's all Trek, it's all good.

[Jonathan Chance]

I'm another than watched the whole run this year (with my 12-year-old girl) and enjoyed it thoroughly. And I take a back seat to no one as a fanboy.

[DrDeth]

Originally Posted by Dr_Doom

Dude.

Jolene Blalock in a skin-tight jumpsuit.

All you need to know.

Dude.

Jolene Blalock in wet and tight underwear in a ‘decontamination room” sequence..

All you need to know.


But other than that? Meh.

[That Don Guy]

Originally Posted by NitroPress

It completely enraged most of the Trek___ community because it rewrote canon in almost every episode.

Ironically, after the events in the latest movie, Enterprise is the only TV series that is part of the new canon. (Everything else takes place in the universe where Vulcan is still a planet.)

[Ephemera]

The Abrams movie doesn't invalidate the original series or any of its sequels. It's an alternate universe, not a reboot.

Enterprise is okay at points, but not really that good overall. In my opinion, the only Trek that has really stood up well in retrospect is DS9 and some of TNG.

[grude]

I'm a big trekkie fan, even watched all of Voyager. So with that in mind........

Yes it is worth watching, it is overall better than Voyager. The first part of the first season is very good but then there is a long lull where most episodes are very MEH, until the third and fourth season where things really get amazing with tons of call backs to TOS like seeing the augments and Orion "slave" girls. The series finale is one of the worst things I've ever seen however, and might invalidate the whole show.

I also loved the prominence of the Andorians .

I'd watch the first season or the fourth, check out the rest if you like it.

[Bryan Ekers]

It had just started to reach its potential in the fourth season, then blammo - cancelled.

[Peremensoe]

The last episode of the series should be skipped, but saying it "might invalidate the whole show" is completely overboard. There was a slightly-similar concept floated for ending DS9 that I thought would have been pretty great (and, in fact, would have made a respectable ending for the Trek chronology as a whole)--

SPOILER:

The view of the galaxy at the end of "What You Leave Behind" fades to black... then lights up with the face of Benny Russell at his typewriter. He taps the final period, smiles, and yanks out the last page of the manuscript.

[Der Trihs]

Originally Posted by That Don Guy

Ironically, after the events in the latest movie, Enterprise is the only TV series that is part of the new canon. (Everything else takes place in the universe where Vulcan is still a planet.)

With alternate universes both are still canon. For that matter, with time travel changing the past contradictory episodes set in the same universe can still be canon. Sort of.

[Peremensoe]

Here's a list of episodes to watch from the first two seasons--basically the list I wish I'd had. These are the ones that (IMO) work best with the placement of the series as a prequel to the rest of Trek, especially the human-Vulcan relationship, or are highest-quality in themselves, and avoid the worst blunders of the series.

"Broken Bow"
"Fight or Flight"
"The Andorian Incident"
"Breaking the Ice"
"Fortunate Son"
"Silent Enemy"
"Shuttlepod One"
"Fusion"
"Vox Sola"
"Fallen Hero"
"Carbon Creek"
"Minefield"
"Dead Stop"
"The Seventh"
"The Communicator"
"Vanishing Point"
"Dawn"
"Stigma"
"Cease Fire"
"Judgment"
"Horizon"
"The Breach"
"Cogenitor"
"Regeneration"
"First Flight" - the main story of this one is a prequel to the prequel-series, so you could actually watch it first, or at any point

No doubt somebody will quibble about including or excluding this or that episode, but for the most part I think you're better off being selective.

[Quimby]

First two seasons are hit or miss. The third season was a pretty good sci fi show but not Star Trek. The Fourth season is when they finally embraced the Original series whole heartedly (although every season used references is some ways, sometimes subtle, sometimes not).

[carnivorousplant]

Originally Posted by Quimby

The Fourth season is when they finally embraced the Original series whole heartedly (although every season used references is some ways, sometimes subtle, sometimes not).

That's when they approached Fan Fic. It was the very best, and the very worst.

And, dammit.

Serious spoiler follows.

SPOILER:

They killed Trip! The bastards!

[Peremensoe]

Originally Posted by Quimby

The third season was a pretty good sci fi show but not Star Trek. The Fourth season is when they finally embraced the Original series whole heartedly (although every season used references is some ways, sometimes subtle, sometimes not).

Originally Posted by carnivorousplant

That's when they approached Fan Fic. It was the very best, and the very worst.

Yep. If I continued the list above, I'd skip almost all of the third season (except the alternate-reality "Twilight"), and its 'conclusion' in the first three of the fourth.

[grude]

Originally Posted by Peremensoe

The last episode of the series should be skipped, but saying it "might invalidate the whole show" is completely overboard.

Well for me it made me question whether what we saw was real or just a flawed and of questionable accuracy creation of the far future. I wondered if they did that to stop canon complaints, hey guys if you notice a canon incongruity a wiz..er holodeck did it!

It just seemed disrespectful to pull that crap in the last episode, I remember some of the cast even disowning it.


EDIT:Forgot to mention Enterprise had one of the best mirror universe(evil Spock with a goatee) episodes of all the series, it also explained something from TOS which was cool. But man I hated the redesigned Gorn.

[foolsguinea]

Originally Posted by Quimby

First two seasons are hit or miss. The third season was a pretty good sci fi show but not Star Trek. The Fourth season is when they finally embraced the Original series whole heartedly (although every season used references is some ways, sometimes subtle, sometimes not).

Which is a very Trekkie way of looking at it.

Just watch some of it. If you can't stand cynical Vulcans and Andorians, and Terrans trying to figure out their way in a pre-Federation setting, or if any little contradiction of your headcanon drives you up the wall, then Enterprise may not be for you.

But if you're that guy, a lot of fiction is going to annoy you.

I really like the Andorians in this. And the Vulcans are pretty much what Vulcans are, which is to say, not the idealized image that a Romulan might have of Vulcans.

[Max the Immortal]

I watched maybe two seasons, and couldn't get into it. There were way too many poorly-written time travel episodes.

[SecretaryofEvil]

The episodes set in the evil alternate universe are pretty fun. Scott Bakula foaming at the mouth as a rage filled mutinous space Nazi is just plain good TV. Other than that, it's not so great. And some of it is down right awful. But then again, only about half of TNG is worth watching, and I hated Voyager, so you might want to check out a couple of the better episodes if you really liked other forms of Star Trek.

[BigT]

None of it approaches the best of trek, but it's usually better than the worst episodes of any of the other series. It's a been a while, so I don't remember which ones are worse.

I do know that, if you want to watch the finale, watch it now to get it out of the way, as it is so disappointing later. It's easier to discard if it's not the last thing you see.

[amanset]

Originally Posted by carnivorousplant

I liked it, although Bakula acted as though he had leapt into the body of a starship captain and didn't have a clue what was going on.

And every word he spoke sounded like he was quoting from the bible.

[Half Man Half Wit]

I liked it well enough, and for what it's worth, here's a site with episode reviews that was recommended to me when I did a re-watch some time back, and found generally a very useful guide.

[Half Man Half Wit]

I also think it's a shame it was cancelled right when it seemed to find its stride... Also, I would've loved to see this refit design in action (provided they'd actually gone with it). I nicely interpolates the evolution toward Kirk's enterprise...

[sachertorte]

Originally Posted by Peremensoe

Here's a list of episodes to watch from the first two seasons--basically the list I wish I'd had. These are the ones that (IMO) work best with the placement of the series as a prequel to the rest of Trek, especially the human-Vulcan relationship, or are highest-quality in themselves, and avoid the worst blunders of the series.

"Broken Bow"
"Fight or Flight"
"The Andorian Incident"
"Breaking the Ice"
"Fortunate Son"
"Silent Enemy"
"Shuttlepod One"
"Fusion"
"Vox Sola"
"Fallen Hero"
"Carbon Creek"
"Minefield"
"Dead Stop"
"The Seventh"
"The Communicator"
"Vanishing Point"
"Dawn"
"Stigma"
"Cease Fire"
"Judgment"
"Horizon"
"The Breach"
"Cogenitor"
"Regeneration"
"First Flight" - the main story of this one is a prequel to the prequel-series, so you could actually watch it first, or at any point

No doubt somebody will quibble about including or excluding this or that episode, but for the most part I think you're better off being selective.

Excellent. Now I need the same thing for all the other series.

[Aquadementia]

There are lots of people on the internet whining about this series, and the majority of the criticism is valid.
But I say they lack faith of the heart.

Sorry, but I kind of like that song.
And I like techy space adventures.

Some things about the show I didn’t like.
Making Vulcans bad guys was kind of stupid. They should be nerds that make you roll your eyes because they act like they know everything. Stop whining about them keeping secrets and just go “That’s special of you know better. Let me get back to work on my warp 5 engine if you're not going to help.”
I guess some think that’s what made the Vulcans more interesting. I think it was the wrong kind of tension
The part that did work is showing how the warm, friendly humans made a federation where the cold Vulcans often created enemies.

[Santos L Halper]

Overall I liked Enterprise. They definitely had some sucky episodes (the series finale is at least in the running for the worst trek ever), and some mediocre (pretty much all of the temporal cold war), but they had some really good ones too.

It was cool to see a period between our time and that of the original series. It also explored the question of since the humans were latecomers to warp technology, how did they end up such a major force behind the foundation of the Federation? I would've liked to have seen more of that. Presumably we would have if the show had gotten its full seven year run.

They also finally did something with the Andorians, a race that was introduced in TOS then scarcely seen again (although mentioned from time to time) until Enterprise.

[Peremensoe]

Originally Posted by BigT

None of it approaches the best of trek...

"Cogenitor" is pretty excellent as a sociology/ethical-questions Trek. And it has Andreas Katsulas!

[carnivorousplant]

Originally Posted by Peremensoe

"Cogenitor" is pretty excellent as a sociology/ethical-questions Trek. And it has Andreas Katsulas!

That was excellent for the reasons you mentioned.
I presume that Katsulas was the husband.

[magnusblitz]

Haven't seen it in awhile, but I remember it starting out slow/bad and getting good in the fourth season. Except the last episode, which we shall never speak of again.

I always kinda wished they just left Archer on the planet separate from the crew for a whole season or so, instead of rushing him back right away, but... meh.

[cochrane]

Originally Posted by carnivorousplant

And, dammit.

Serious spoiler follows.

SPOILER:

They killed Trip! The bastards!

For what it's worth, I've been reading the Enterprise relaunch novels,

SPOILER:

and they didn't treat the final episode as the last word on Trip's death.

SPOILER:

Trip's death was faked. He joined section 31 to infiltrate the Romulan Empire and spy on their efforts to create a Warp 7 engine. He also learned the true nature of the Romulans as Vulcan dissidents who disagreed with Surak's teachings, leaving Vulcan in the dim past to colonize Romulus.

[carnivorousplant]

Of course!



Everyone knows that

SPOILER:

Admiral Tucker

died in 2220 in a bar fight in a brothel in New Orleans.

[joew]

There were some pretty bad moments for sure. But one thing about the show that I truly enjoyed besides Tripp and the decontamination scenes...was that it seemed as though the actors were having fun. As opposed to a lot of tv today, that made the show a lot more enjoyable than it should otherwise have been.

[NoClueBoy]

Decontamination was fun to watch.

Certain eps were good, some were barely watchable. Manny Coto's rework was good.

Check out our old Trek Doper threads about the ind eps as they aired. (In all the hijacks, there was a lot of talk about the show.)