Talk:Star Trek: Enterprise

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"Controversy"

For so much controversy, there's only one reference to an interview to backup the assertions here. Much of this content also wanders into sheer irrelevance. It's also laden with synthesis and OR. Restore in part or in while if you can offer a substantiating published, secondary citation for the material here. --EEMeltonIV 15:38, 13 May 2007 (UTC)

Controversy

Enterprise arguably polarized the Trek fan community and two "factions" emerged within fandom, particularly on the many Internet message boards devoted to the Star Trek franchise (Enterprise was the first Trek series to debut following the rise in popularity of online chat rooms and forums). Initially, the term "Gushers" was used to describe fans who enjoyed the series, while "Bashers" was applied to Trekkers who did not like the show. Each group tends to object to these titles. As the series progressed, the terms were modified to refer usually to only the extreme fans on both sides—i.e. "gushers" was used for those who rejected any criticism of Enterprise, and "bashers" for those who hated the show and refused to be swayed—although in the wake of the show's cancellation the original definitions appear to be reestablishing themselves on Internet discussion boards such as TrekWeb and TrekBBS.

Continuity

Many Trekkies were upset by the very concept of Enterprise, a prequel to such a well-known and continuity-tight franchise, because it violated the canon which had been established in previous series and movies. Brannon Braga, executive producer of the series, has gone on record as challenging the fans who make such claims to prove them; however, Braga does admit to having "bent" the rules.

Critics have condemned what they see as Enterprise's attempts to rewrite the history of the various Star Trek series, by returning to things Kirk and Picard had done and claiming that the NX-01 crew did them "first" (such as encountering genetically-engineered supermen, encountering the Romulans face to face, and fighting the Borg). A subtle attempt to answer this was made in 4th season episode Demons, when it was suggested that a minister in the Earth government might attempt to write Enterprise out of history, in order to claim all credit for the formation of the Coalition of Planets (a predecessor to the United Federation of Planets).

Previous series had stated that James T. Kirk's U.S.S. Enterprise (NCC-1701), as seen in the original Star Trek series, was the first starship to bear that name: this was evidenced by displays on Enterprises both in Star Trek: The Motion Picture and Star Trek: The Next Generation, the Deep Space Nine episode "Trials and Tribble-ations" (in which Sisko refers to Kirk's ship as the "first" Enterprise), among others. The producers of Enterprise have evaded this criticism by saying that Archer's ship was not a Federation starship, and thus doesn't count. It is worth noting that Sisko's statement is itself contradicted by a display Star Trek: The Motion Picture which shows vessels named Enterprise that predate Kirk's ship, including a starship that appears to predate the NX-01 (actually a Matt Jefferies spaceship sketch for a TV series that was never produced).

Others were upset that a fan-campaign (endorsed by actor George Takei) arguing that the new Trek series should focus on "Original Series" veteran Captain Hikaru Sulu and the crew of the USS Excelsior (featured in Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country) failed to influence Paramount management, including the Berman / Braga executive production team.

The critically-panned final seasons of Voyager, and the fact that the same production team responsible for those seasons (Berman and Braga) would be responsible for producing and writing Enterprise was a source of some concern among long-time fans of the Trek franchise, who saw later Voyager seasons as being devoid of fresh ideas.

Cosmetic aspects

In order to make the series distinct from the previous Trek series, the producers chose not to include the words "Star Trek" in the title, in an effort to avoid overuse of the brand name and to make Enterprise stand apart from its many forebears. This idea backfired, with many fans rejecting the series—or failing to learn of it—based on this decision alone. Early in the third season, the series title was altered to include the words "Star Trek". Rather than placating fans, this decision instead resulted in accusations of vacillation on the part of the producers and there is little indication that it succeeded in winning viewers.

The production style of the series also led to conflict amongst fans, with some criticizing the series for not replicating the style of the 1960s Original Series, while others praised the show for not going for a 1960s retro look. The production team has stated that their basic aim was to make the Enterprise NX-01 look like a halfway point between a present day nuclear submarine and the starships of later centuries.

Another frequent criticism was that the NX-class hull of the Enterprise looked far too much like the Akira-class 24th century starship introduced in 1996's Star Trek: First Contact. The two designs (NX-01 by Doug Drexler [1], Akira-class by Alex Jaeger [2]) look remarkably similar, to the point that there were widespread accusations that the NX-class hull design was simply a scaled down version of the Akira-design. This led to the fan-buzzword to criticize the "look" of the ship: the "Akira-prise". (It should be noted that the term Akira class has never been mentioned on-screen, though the Akira class nomenclature is used in the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Technical Manual, produced by many of the same production and technical staff from that series, and has its own entry and picture in the Star Trek Encyclopedia). Furthermore, it has been noted in some fandom circles that the NX class resembles two other non-canonical vessels, specifically the FASA Role Playing Game Loknar Class and the Calon Riel & Mastercom Data Center Akyazi Class, which could be argued to more closely resemble the NX Class.

Other arguments regarding the NX Class design focus on the Daedalus-class. While an actual Daedalus-class starship has never appeared on screen in any incarnation of Star Trek, the design (which is based on an early Matt Jeffries concept sketch for the TOS Enterprise) has appeared as a desktop model decorating Benjamin Sisko's office on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, and was mentioned by name in the NextGen episode "Power Play". Notably, the Olympic-class ship USS Pasteur [3], seen in the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode All Good Things..., also possesses a spherical section similar to the Daedalus-class design.

Controversial episodes

Several episodes of Enterprise attracted criticism, for varying reasons.

The season 2 episode "A Night in Sickbay" was a comedy episode widely derided by critics and Trekkies, although it nonetheless received a Hugo Award nomination and is often cited by the cast as one of their favorite episodes. This episode has often been cited on message boards as the "jumping the shark" episode for fans who chose to abandon Enterprise at this point.

Another season 2 episode, "Regeneration", introduced the Borg and attracted wide criticism over its alleged breaking of continuity (although the previous series Voyager had already established that Starfleet was possibly aware of the Borg before the apparent first contact seen in the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode "Q Who?"). Some fans liked the idea of this episode as it explained why the Borg were in the Alpha Quadrant (The Neutral Zone, The Best of Both Worlds). One criticism was that when the ratings were declining on Voyager, the writers brought in the Borg as a near-weekly villain because they had been very popular in the past. Subsequently, some fans felt that making a Borg episode on Enterprise was an obvious grab for ratings.

The season 2 episode "Stigma" followed the Star Trek tradition of inserting cultural topical discussion under the banner of science fiction. In the episode, Phlox chooses to intervene in order to cure T'Pol from a disease she contracted during a mind meld in a first season episode. It becomes apparent that the Vulcan authorities are willing to cure those 'innocently' infected due to coercion, but not those who chose to engage in 'immoral' practices, a clear allegory to the historically different treatment of homosexual victims of HIV and those who were 'innocently' infected through blood transfusion. The episode was controversial both with fans who were unhappy that a 'family' show was airing issues alluding allegorically to homosexuality, and with those who felt that the producers did not go far enough with the allegory (the episode does not explicitly mention HIV or AIDS although there is a message at the end of the episode). Some also found the episode inconsistent, in that it featured a light-hearted subplot involving casual polygamy. One of the major criticisms, however, was that Star Trek had not done an episode addressing HIV for years, and only made "Stigma" when UPN pressured all of its programs to do an episode discussing the topic that year. Many felt it was too little, too late, and even Rick Berman stated that he felt the episode didn't live up to its potential.

The season 1 episode "Dear Doctor" also raised controversy. In the episode, Phlox chooses not to intervene in order to save a species that is dying from a condition he can reverse. The moral questions raised by the episode divided fans: supporters said that this episode reflected the values of the Prime Directive, a viewpoint supported by dialogue within the episode itself, particularly when Archer muses about a "directive" being created to address such dilemmas. However, other fans felt that this was an inappropriate application of the principles of the Prime Directive, as it effectively doomed an entire species to extinction.

Romance between T'Pol and Trip Tucker

The decision to introduce a romance between T'Pol and Trip Tucker in the third season fanned the flames of criticism, with some critics regarding it as poorly executed or simply unnecessary. Those viewers who enjoyed the relationship countered that the Trip/T'Pol relationship is generally handled better than similar relationships in past Star Trek series. Those who disagree are in two camps: those who feel Star Trek and romance should not mix in any long-term fashion, and those who were dissatisfied with how Enterprise dealt with the subject.

The pairing was also criticized by some fans who felt that such a relationship should instead have been established between T'Pol and Captain Archer, as had been hinted at several times during the first two seasons. T'Pol as a character was a magnet for criticism throughout the series, with complaints being heard regarding her mode of dress, her emotional nature (which the series explicitly established as a major facet of the character), and in particular a third-season story arc in which it was revealed that T'Pol had become addicted to a substance analogous to a drug.

Xindi arc

Perhaps the largest point of contention, however, came with the season 2 finale, "The Expanse", which introduced a new species known as the Xindi, who launched a catastrophic attack on Earth that killed millions. This and subsequent events are never mentioned in any other Trek series, something many fans see as questionable, considering the huge impact of the event. Many fans counter this argument, noting that not every event in later series are mentioned in preceding series (e.g. Voyager doesn't often mention events that took place in TOS, TNG and DS9).

It is made clear, however, that the Xindi attack was caused by intervention from the future.

The season also featured controversial morality on the part of Captain Archer, who admits in the episode "Home" to having used torture, and "marooning a ship full of innocent people". This is in contrast to the morality and ethics shown in earlier Trek series.

Like TOS before it (for example Let That Be Your Last Battlefield which dealt with the absurdities of racism), Enterprise attempts to address real world social and political events in a science fiction theme. It was before and during this story arc that the United States began the War on Terrorism because of the September 11, 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center. This story line attempts to capture some of the outrage, frustration, and moral conflicts that many people around the world were experiencing.

T'Pol's love scene

The producers of Enterprise were faced with a controversy of another kind with the 2004 episode "Harbinger", which included a love scene in which the top of T'Pol's buttocks were briefly shown. Aside from complaints from some fans that such nudity was inappropriate for Star Trek, the episode was also scheduled to air not long after the Super Bowl XXXVIII controversy in which Janet Jackson exposed a breast on live TV — an event she and network officials claimed was an unplanned "wardrobe malfunction" — leading to an upswing in network self-censorship. As a result, when the episode was finally aired on UPN, the scene was censored. Viewers in Canada, however, saw the uncensored version. Also, the uncensored version appears on the DVD.

Final episode

Controversy dogged Enterprise to its very conclusion when "These Are the Voyages..." sparked heated debate and arguments over its appropriateness as a finale. Fandom was split among those who felt the episode was a poor conclusion, and others praising it as a fitting conclusion to the 18-year "modern Trek" franchise. Several Enterprise actors were vocal in either their opposition to or their support of the episode.

An ongoing debate among Trekkies is whether the cancellation of this series should mark the end of televised Star Trek. In an ironic twist to the years-long fight to bring Star Trek back to television in the 1970s and 1980s, there are a number of Trekkies who feel that the concept has worn itself out and should either be retired or laid to rest for a number of years.

Although Manny Coto, in April 2005, announced that he was already prepared to pitch a new series idea to Paramount, Enterprise's producers, as well as Paramount itself, have stated that Enterprise will probably be the last Star Trek television series for some years to come, although an 11^th Star Trek film is now in the works, to be produced and directed by J. J. Abrams and set for release on Christmas Day 2008. Although work on that project is still in its early stages, the new production has already garnered criticism from some fans similar to that attracted by Enterprise, as widespread rumors emerged in the media that the film might be another prequel. (An early promotional poster for the film prominently featuring the Kirk-era USS Enterprise's emblem. have provided additional fuel for the reboot rumors.) However, Abrams and his writing staff, as of November 2006, have yet to definitively confirm these rumors, although rumors of the movie being a reboot of Star Trek, being set in Starfleet Academy and of Matt Damon being cast as Kirk have all been denied. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by EEMeltonIV (talk • contribs) 15:38, 13 May 2007 (UTC).

Total rewrite

As may be mentioned in the archives (and what's with all the archiving, BTW?), this article is nothing but fannish complaints about the injustice involved in cancelling the show and all the obstacles this otherwise uncancellable show had to face. In other words, it's an off-topic fannish apologia. At least split that into another article. The only thing relevant to an encyclopedia-type article is 'Show Foo aired from I to J, with a cast of Tom, Dick, and Harry, and produced by Dopey and Sneezy - the season synopses are X, Y, and Z. Done.' I'd tag this with some big whomping tag, but I'm not a wikipedian and don't know what big whomping tag to give it. 74.227.120.238 01:42, 28 May 2007 (UTC)

Flagged the offending sections with template:rewrite - [4]. They are far too verbose, and contain a number of details that are potentially innaccurate, but the rest of the article is largely sound. MrZaius^talk 01:49, 28 May 2007 (UTC)

Deleting the cast photo

Should the cast photo be deleted from Wikipedia? Discussion underway at: Wikipedia:Images_and_media_for_deletion/2007_May_31#Image:StarTrekEnterprise_Cast.jpg Jenolen ^{speak it!} 09:43, 2 June 2007 (UTC)

In fact, the cast photo has now been deleted by an admin who believes free content could adequately replace that copyrighted image. The deletion review is at Wikipedia:Deletion_review/Log/2007_June_15#Image:StarTrekEnterprise_Cast.jpg. Jenolen ^{speak it!} 00:17, 19 June 2007 (UTC)

Balance of Terror

Someone should mention Balance of Terror in the Contraversy section, particularly Spock's line about the Romulan-Earth War:

"As you may recall, this conflict was fought, by standards today, with primitive atomic weapons and in primitive space vessels, which allowed no quarter, no captives, nor was there even ship-to-ship visual communication."

Now a war seems like something that people would remember, and considering the Archer didn't know about the Romulans at first, that would imply that the war had not yet happened. But if they had view-screens and phasors before the war, then Spock's line makes no sense. 24.222.183.118 17:33, 8 June 2007 (UTC)