Sometimes I feel like I’m part of the minority who actually enjoyed Enterprise. Sure, there were some stinkers but the world was incredibly interesting and in Series 3 / 4 I really felt like it scratched that Trek lore itch for me.
If Enterprise was to be rebooted for a series 5, perhaps on Paramount+ or another streaming service, what would it look like? I don’t think Jolene Blalock would come back but I’m sure Scott Bakula could be convinced as well as most of the other actors.
I would really hope they keep the early 2000s aesthetic of the NX-01 and all of the retro low-tech gear, perhaps show a gradual transition into the aesthetic of Strange New Worlds. You could mix in some time shenanigans to explain why things look different than they did in TOS and make some fun callbacks, like In A Mirror Darkly.
There’s a lot of room to move before the series finale happens - or you could just retcon it and present it as a deep cover-up. So many opportunities! I want to hear this community’s opinions!
the thing about Enterprise is even at its worst, it’s not an entirely bad show - the supporting cast is good, they are set in an interesting time period, and the premise is ostensibly interesting.
The main problem for me is that, setting aside the fact that the main theme comes straight from the Patch Adams soundtrack, the show is straight up boring. They came so close to something really interesting with Archer being flawed because he was the first, and perhaps even not really the right guy to be captain. But then the writers had to make him a mary sue, he fails is way to success every episode, and becomes like the ship’s alcoholic dad, constantly getting into the dumbest yelling arguments with his
wifefirst officer — who he is also canonically racist against by the way. You would think/hope they were setting him up for some growth on that, but, instead they chose to try to make a lot of the show indirectly relevant to 9/11By the time the show finally set the stage to become interesting the majority of its audience had already been alienated
What Paramount ought to realize about it is that Enterprise failed because of the writers and producers and not because of the cast or setting and it should not be very difficult to do significantly better than the original
Well said. Archer could have been such an interesting character who grows throughout the series, and I think that was much of the original plan, but I think the writers were straight up exhausted from TNG - DS9 - VOY for like 30 years and gave up trying.
9/11 allegory with the Xindi - I mean, it was a pretty big event and it’s only natural for America’s biggest sci fi show to try and tackle it. The Xindi arc was interesting and I think really good in some parts - but it didn’t feel like Trek to me. This wasn’t the show to try it on.
I feel so bad for Scott Bakula. This was going to be an absolutely defining role for him but he was given nothing to work with, and was cut loose right when the interesting stuff started showing up. I really want him to get another chance to shine, with some decent writing up to the calibre of Strange New Worlds at least.
First season set in 2164. Episodes include depicting the events I linked. Second season in 2165, same deal, depict all these events plus whatever new stuff the writers dream up. By filling in existing canon, half the seasons stories become really easy to break, saving time and money, and people who respect canon will have nothing to complain about. Ten year time jump explains why the actors look older. The only problem is no Trip, but he can easily cameo in a dream story or an alternate timeline, heck they could even Harry Kim him back to life.
edit: added bonus, there’s an opportunity to retcon and apologize for Code Of Honor.
I’m going to ignore trying to keep the existing Enterprise and instead go for a reboot using the same actors, as the problems with the original wasn’t the acting talent.
There is no Temporal Cold War. Anything sneaky happening in the background is the Romulans, but this doesn’t become known until later in the show. Hell, you can keep the creepy communications with the Suliban if you want as it still allows for a Big Bad. You just don’t get any good guys helping out Archer.
If we are going to give Archer the Pike treatment, it is going to be that Archer’s idea is that his success in life is going to be delivering the Warp 5 program, and maybe even the Warp 7 program in the future. Being Captain of the Enterprise is considered by Archer to be a way to help understand what a ship is going to need in future iterations. His rejecting of the call is going to be that Robinson is going to get the future Archer wanted, but Archer is going to have the future that humanity needs.
Keep shows like P’Jem, as they really help show how humanity is becoming more involved in local affairs. Maybe the Enterprise accidentally ruins some small Romulan plots to destabilize the area.
Include a show here about an earlier Vulcan intervention into a post-warp civilization that went badly, with news of the problems getting to Earth
Make the Vulcan revolution a much longer series, including possibly including the Andorians attempting a post-revolution invasion of Vulcan space when Vulcan is weak to secure an advantage over their weakened foe. Archer can step into this as well, as there may be a second Romulus plot to try to replace the liberated government with something else that will be aligned to merge with Romulus in the future.
Back on Earth, the coup attempt is a way to get Earth to seal itself off and focus on improving the lives of humans. Make the rebuilding of humanity uneven and a work in progress. Some of humanity may not want to spend money galavanting across the stars and instead use the resources to focus on rebuilding Earth. Have Archer see that a post-coup attempt Earth is starting to the way of the Vulcan High Command. He intervenes with the Enterprise, creating the first opportunity to lead Earth politics, even if it is just to get through a crisis.
Have some other crises happen, eventually leading to an Earth-Romulus War, with Archer now having to be on the front lines.
This could probably be done with the current leadership of Star Trek, given how they are writing Discovery and Strange New Worlds.
Nothing else to say other than this is an interesting plan! I would really love to see the original cast return.
Agree, but only if they don’t do them dirty a second time by having them appear in a holodeck recreation.
