| Author |
Message |
babel
Member
|
# Posted: 18 Feb 2006 04:04
Reply
Last week and the week before I watched the Enterprise mirror universe episodes, and what a guilty pleasure they were! Having seen a few episodes in the fourth season, Manny Coto certainly improved things a lot. Enterprise is still a turkey, but he's made the best of a bad situation. It makes me wonder what kind of series we'd have seen if Coto had been charged with creating the fifth Trek series and not Berman and Braga. I'm betting it would have been a hell of a lot better!
Anyway, on to the episodes. They were fairly pointless in terms of the series, they didn't serve in advancing the plot along, had no relevance. BUT they wre tremendous fun! From the opening titles, shifting the emphasis from exploration to war, we knew we were in for something different. We even saw a decent performance from Scott Bakula as Archer - his angry, paranoid character was easy to dislike and when he got his come-uppance, you couldn't help but grin nastily. I particularly liked the touch of having his 'real' self talking to him, after the mirror Archer had read about his doppelganger in the Defiant's memory banks. His bluff and rabid rants weren't fooling us - we knew that this was a mad driven by self-doubt and fear. The mask he showed to the world, and himself, was just an attempt to cover that up.
IT was wonderful to see the old Defiant again, didn't she look beautiful? Wasn't it bloody brilliant to see a Constitutio-class starship in action? Doesn't it make you want to scream to Paramount to do a TOS special edition, with cleaned up prints (the state of the prints on my DVD boxed set is an utter disgrace) and new CGI effects? Imagine classics like The Doomsday Machine, Balance of Terror or Tomorrow is Yesterday, with its time warp, rendered by modern effects. It'd sell, it'd make money . . . why don't they do it?
Anyway. The Defiant looked great, it was terrific to see Enterprise characters in TOS uniform, down to the Captain's green tunic, which was always my favourite. And then, of course, we had Linda Park looking lovely and scrummy and acting like a murderous, devious shrew. It was entirely believable that she would murder Archer to gain control of the Empire, but I don't think her rule would have been of benefit for the Empire.
Archer would have ruthlessly put down the rebellion - he was obviously ruthless enough and had the combat know-how to use the Defiant effectively. The rebellion would have been crushed. Sato was certainly ruthless and devious, but not a soldier - and her ruling ties in with TOS. In Enterprise's mirror universe, the Vulcans weren't respected, they were conquered slaves. By TOS's time, Spock wasn't just respected, he was feared, along with his Vulcan henchmen. Here's how it ties in: Sato did not succeed entirely in putting down the rebellion. Obviously, some sort of accomodation had to be arrived at with the Vulcans, increasing their standing in the Empire. Clever guy, that Coto.
There were other treats, like a CGI Gorn (even if it did move too quickly, Arena made it obvious that the creature was slow, not just because of the limitations of that costume! and seeing a Tholian properly. I did enjoy the episodes, and that's what counts.
EDIT: YEs, I know I got the title of the episodes wrong! D'oh!
|
babel
Member
|
# Posted: 18 Feb 2006 04:09
Reply
P.s. , the final episode is coming up in a couple of weeks here, it beggars belief that it features Riker and Troi, and brings in plot involving the Pegasus. It's an insult to the Enterprise actors, it defiees logic - who, wayching Enterprise, really cares about seeing two characters from TNG and hearing about a ship featured in one episde years and years ago? In the mirror episodes I've just described, the whole purpose was to feature the Defiant and TOS technology, in Enterprise's finale the purpose was to show the birth of the Federation. So you have Riker and Troi involved though a holodeck? What utter, utter nonsense. No wonder Jolene Blalock and others were angry.
|
demonvamp
Member
|
# Posted: 18 Feb 2006 08:25
Reply
I think you said how I felt in the quote about them being pointless 
To be honest I'm only still watching Enterprise because I'm a stubborn git and want to be able to say I gave it every chance. I really don't like the mirror episodes because everyone's done them and it seemed just (desperate) an excuse to get the girls to bare more body and the guys to just be comedy villains. Still, at least we were mostly spared the 'twiddle-for-real-evil' moustaches.
The only thing that cheered me was the change of title song for the two shows, which meant the QD patented 'Enterprise frantic grab for the remote mute button' could be overlooked.
Three eps left I think? The longest mile is always the final.
Now, roll on Stargate, fun times.
QD
|
starbase12
Member
|
# Posted: 21 Feb 2006 02:24
Reply
i take it that you live in the UK babel?
|
crazytexan
Member
|
# Posted: 23 Feb 2006 09:16
Reply
What's this....Babel is actually enjoying "Enterprise"? *gasp*
True that the Mirror Universe episodes were fun to watch, and just as the show was climbing out of the hole it dug itself into from the previous seasons (especially season 3, which was a total waste) it got the axe.
The CGI Gorn made me cringe and shout "blasphemy!" at the television. To which I muttered, "If Babel saw this, a blood vessel in his forehead would pop in anger."
Babel - Sadly, yes. I was disappointed that using TNG interlinked with "Enterprise" was a cheap way to end the series. Jonathan Frakes today looks nothing like the Riker in the episode featuring the Pegasus on TNG many years ago. He's put on a few pounds and added a few wrinkles over the years. 
It's good to see that you gave "Enterprise" a chance though. 
Starbase12 - Yes. Babel lives in the UK.
|
babel
Member
|
# Posted: 24 Feb 2006 12:28
Reply
<!--QuoteBegin--starbase12+Feb. 21 2006,02:24--></span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td><b>Quote</b> (starbase12 @ Feb. 21 2006,02:24)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE"><!--QuoteEBegin-->i take it that you live in the UK babel?<!--QuoteEnd--></td></tr></table><span id='postcolor'><!--QuoteEEnd--><br>That I do. London, currently, though I'm a Mancunian.
|
babel
Member
|
# Posted: 24 Feb 2006 12:31
Reply
<!--QuoteBegin--crazytexan+Feb. 23 2006,09:16--></span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td><b>Quote</b> (crazytexan @ Feb. 23 2006,09:16)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE"><!--QuoteEBegin-->What's this....Babel is actually <i>enjoying</i> "Enterprise"? *gasp*<br><br>True that the Mirror Universe episodes were fun to watch, and just as the show was climbing out of the hole it dug itself into from the previous seasons (especially season 3, which was a total waste) it got the axe.<br><br>The CGI Gorn made me cringe and shout "blasphemy!" at the television. To which I muttered, "If Babel saw this, a blood vessel in his forehead would pop in anger."<br><br>Babel - Sadly, yes. I was disappointed that using TNG interlinked with "Enterprise" was a cheap way to end the series. Jonathan Frakes today looks nothing like the Riker in the episode featuring the Pegasus on TNG many years ago. He's put on a few pounds and added a few wrinkles over the years. <!--emo&:D--><img src="http://www.outpost10f.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/haw.gif" border="0" valign="absmiddle" alt=':D'><!--endemo--><br><br>It's good to see that you gave "Enterprise" a chance though. <!--emo&:)--><img src="http://www.outpost10f.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/smi.gif" border="0" valign="absmiddle" alt=':)'><!--endemo--><br><br>Starbase12 - Yes. Babel lives in the UK.<!--QuoteEnd--></td></tr></table><span id='postcolor'><!--QuoteEEnd--><br>I'll give anything a second chance! As for the Gorn, if it had been simply an update based on the costume being clunky back then, ok. But the script established the Gorn was slow and cumbersome. Ah, well! Linda Park more than made up for it. <!--emo&;)--><img src="http://www.outpost10f.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/win.gif" border="0" valign="absmiddle" alt=';)'><!--endemo--><br><br>You know, Battlestar Galactica is so good, and it was Ron Moore who did it - surely Paramount should have sacked B & B and got Moore to create the fifth Trek series. Ah well, missed opportunity!
|
anth
Member
|
# Posted: 25 Feb 2006 00:56
Reply
I'm just glad Enterprise had its chance to shine. Just as i said it would.
I can think of two Trek series, DS9 and Voyager, which struggled running up to their fourth seasons. Even my favourite show TNG was not the greatest during its first two seasons either. The difference was they were cut some slack and indeed went on to be very entertaining. I think we saw definate proof that Enterprise would have been no different.
All the calls for it to be cancelled did was rob us of some great entertainment in future seasons. The calls for it to end did us a great favour i must say! We not only now feel we missed out on something, we also have no Trek at all in the pipeline!
I now believe that the franchise is going to be in a real low as a result. A popular Enterprise as it surely would have been, would have made a choice for a feature film easy. Instead we have some terrible ideas floating around for the next film.
Also i believe the so called failure of Enterprise will probably ensure the next series of Trek, if there is one, will be just a re hash of everything which has gone before that was popular. Nobody will want to set the series outside the comfort zone of what has worked before. Enterprise was a little different to everything else, and it failed. So, go back to making a TNG clone is i think what we can expect.
As for BSG. Yes it is great, and i'm a big fan. I was also a fan of the original series. Recently though i was reading a forum post from an avid old school BSG fan. He hates the new remake and despises Ron Moore for it. I never really thought of it before, but he had a point. I would not like to see Trek made in that way. I "like" BSG, but i am passsionate about Star Trek and Star Wars especialy. If Ron Moore "re made" Star Wars and included stuff like rapes and other gritty issues then made Han Solo's character a female one, i would be exactly the same, i would hate it.
I say it again though. I am a fan of the new BSG, i'm just glad i am merely a fan, and not an avid one of the old series. I like it alot, just not into it enough to be insulted at Moores version like many are.
( It was bad enough when Lucas did his best to wreck Star Wars with the prequels! A BSG style remake would really put the icing on the cake.  )
|
