I really appreciate the direction Enterprise took with this. The whole crew was just terrified to use the damn thing. To be fair, it was new and relatively unproven technology, but the same central “just let the computer atomize you what could go wrong” flaw holds.
$0.02: It was great foreshadowing from episode 1 that they’re gonna need it to get out of jam, and it’s not guaranteed to even work. But the writers undid all that by letting the crew overcome technological and scientific inferiority way too fast. They could have made something far more compelling by having a crew that could make a go of it with zero conveniences. The show run could have ended with giving way to the next generation of explorers, who now have far more advanced tech than the NX-01 ever had; a much more compelling arc, IMO. It also robs T’pol of some of the gravity behind choosing to do something so reckless as to cruise the quadrant under such dangerous circumstances.
The problem with Enterprise is that it was kind sold as Star Trek before the transporters, before the shields, before the replicators, etc., but what we got instead was:
Transporters Transporters, but only if we really need to.
Raise the shields Polarise the hull plating.
Replicator Protein resequencer.
Tractor beam Grappling hook.
They didn’t actually write a story about what it was like without these things, just what it was like with slightly shittier versions of these things.
Agree, that was well thought out. Also I loved how Toshi got a jarring feeling when the ship went into warp and it gave her the heebie jeebies. It totally made sense that some people would be aware of that, especially somebody whose “different” brain workings enabled her to parse meaning out of unfamiliar languages.
I thought they should have also made the Vulcan mind meld mysterious and weird at first - it’s been so long I don’t remember how they handled that, but in my own ideas for a retro series before Enterprise came out I thought the Vulcans would sort of keep the mind meld private and personal. The first time it would be used in an episode - reluctantly, in an emergency - it would really spook the crew. They would wonder, “Can they read our minds? Are they controlling us?” It would create a lot of tension and the Vulcans would have to rebuild trust.
I really appreciate the direction Enterprise took with this. The whole crew was just terrified to use the damn thing. To be fair, it was new and relatively unproven technology, but the same central “just let the computer atomize you what could go wrong” flaw holds.
$0.02: It was great foreshadowing from episode 1 that they’re gonna need it to get out of jam, and it’s not guaranteed to even work. But the writers undid all that by letting the crew overcome technological and scientific inferiority way too fast. They could have made something far more compelling by having a crew that could make a go of it with zero conveniences. The show run could have ended with giving way to the next generation of explorers, who now have far more advanced tech than the NX-01 ever had; a much more compelling arc, IMO. It also robs T’pol of some of the gravity behind choosing to do something so reckless as to cruise the quadrant under such dangerous circumstances.
The problem with Enterprise is that it was kind sold as Star Trek before the transporters, before the shields, before the replicators, etc., but what we got instead was:
TransportersTransporters, but only if we really need to.Raise the shieldsPolarise the hull plating.ReplicatorProtein resequencer.Tractor beamGrappling hook.They didn’t actually write a story about what it was like without these things, just what it was like with slightly shittier versions of these things.
Agree, that was well thought out. Also I loved how Toshi got a jarring feeling when the ship went into warp and it gave her the heebie jeebies. It totally made sense that some people would be aware of that, especially somebody whose “different” brain workings enabled her to parse meaning out of unfamiliar languages.
I thought they should have also made the Vulcan mind meld mysterious and weird at first - it’s been so long I don’t remember how they handled that, but in my own ideas for a retro series before Enterprise came out I thought the Vulcans would sort of keep the mind meld private and personal. The first time it would be used in an episode - reluctantly, in an emergency - it would really spook the crew. They would wonder, “Can they read our minds? Are they controlling us?” It would create a lot of tension and the Vulcans would have to rebuild trust.
Enterprise doesn’t get a lot of love, but I really enjoyed it and was sad when it got cut short.