Enterprise 11-19-03 *SPOILERS!*

[Mark]

Enterprise - "Similitude"

Dr. Phlox clones Trip after he is severely injured in an accident that disables the ship inside a hazardous space cloud.

Cast: Scott Bakula, Connor Trinneer, Jolene Blalock, Dominic Keating, Anthony Montgomery, Linda Park, John Billingsley.

Guests: Adam Taylor Gordon, Shane Sweet, and Maximillian Orion Kesmodel

Director(s): LeVar Burton.

I must admit that even I have been having some feeling of ill-boding after having seen the promo for this show last week. When I later noticed it was one directed by LeVar Burton, I was put to ease. He, Robert Duncan McNeill, and Roxann Dawson have a pretty good track record, IMO.

 

[Datt]

Wouldn't it be the 19th? Or does Chi town get it a day earlier?

 

[Mark]

Wouldn't it be the 19th? Or does Chi town get it a day earlier?

Oops! Thanks! Fixed!

 

[Datt]

Sure thing.

Now about the episode. I am not sure. It reminds me of that Voyager episode where Kim dies, but there is an alternate universe Kim who takes his place.

Why do they even need to "kill" off a cast member? You would think they could come up with other scripts than that.

 

[myrdden]

Sure thing.

Now about the episode. I am not sure. It reminds me of that Voyager episode where Kim dies, but there is an alternate universe Kim who takes his place.

Why do they even need to "kill" off a cast member? You would think they could come up with other scripts than that.

Or have deaths that mean something on the show and provide a sense of drama?

I have a bad feeling about this episode...

Myrdden

 

[myrdden]

Hey...I have a Yoda Avatar?

How'd I get that?

Cool! I think I'll keep it.

Myrdden

 

[Brown Jenkin]

I am trying to withhold judgement until I see it. Unfortunately my first impression is how stupid is this, but then I felt the same way about last weeks westen episode and was pleasantly surprised. To me this might be a deciding point on my continued (although limited) support for the show. Pull this off and I will have new respect for the show, live up to my first impression and I write the series off. Not all Enterprise episodes are bad but I feel more have been bad than good. When this season started we were promised that things would change and get better. Now if this episode is as stupid and pointless as its premise indicated then I will conclude that until B&B are removed there is no hope for the series. This is not just a conclusiuon based on one episode but drawn from watching everything aired so far. I think I have enough bad episode straws on my back already.

 

[Mark]

This year they seem to be purposefully pushing the panic buttons of the fan base in their promos to lower the expectations of each episode, while at the same time paying attention to those concerns in the actual scripts. It's been fairly regular in threads here that people don't like what they think they will see based on the promos but come around to not being disappointed after having seen the episodes. If they have been doing this purposefully, it's rather clever...

 

[LightPhoenix]

This year they seem to be purposefully pushing the panic buttons of the fan base in their promos to lower the expectations of each episode, while at the same time paying attention to those concerns in the actual scripts. <snip> If they have been doing this purposefully, it's rather clever...

"Alright people, here's our plan! We're gonna make it seem like our show sucks!"

I'd take the opposite stance if this were being done purposefully, which I doubt. It's an incredibly dumb stance to make the first impression of your show a bad one. That translates to less people watching your show overall per episode, and very few people actually starting to watch the show. Meanwhile you're still losing viewers (as most shows normally do over the course of a season), but you have less of a chance of getting them back. No, I think clever is exactly the wrong word to use for a strategy like that.

And before someone mentions it, word of mouth isn't usually strong enough to get people watching a show at all. Otherwise there'd be a lot of better shows still on the air.

 

[Mark]

"Alright people, here's our plan! We're gonna make it seem like our show sucks!"

More like "Some people are going to say that they think the show sucks no matter what we do, so we're going to make them say it before they see the show and have to rescind what they have said after viewing it. This will change the minds of some of the loudest, long-term negative fans and make the rest of the loudest, long-term naysayers look like they don't really know what they're talking about..."

"I'd take the opposite stance if this were being done purposefully, which I doubt. It's an incredibly dumb stance to make the first impression of your show a bad one. That translates to less people watching your show overall per episode, and very few people actually starting to watch the show. Meanwhile you're still losing viewers (as most shows normally do over the course of a season), but you have less of a chance of getting them back. No, I think clever is exactly the wrong word to use for a strategy like that.

I disagree. It's only a bad impression to some of the old guard, really. I don't think the promos are bothering completely new viewers at all. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if they gain viewers using a ploy like that. Besides, claiming someone is going to die always translate to higher ratings...regardless of the show and regardless of whether they actually do die (by trick or in truth). It's a ploy to get people to tune in and once they have, then you have to impress them or distract them from how you got them there.

There's a segment of the old guard that loves nothing more than to have something about which to complain (not round here, of course ). When folks have made up their minds in advance about a show (and many had before the pilot episode) the only way to change their minds is to constantly challenge their position no matter if it is based on fact or assumption. The more they can get people to say they thought they were going to hate it but didn't, the less often those same people are saying they hoped they were going to like it but didn't. The promo ploy (purposeful or not) is turning a negative spin into a positive spin which translates to better buzz and higher ratings.

The biggest obstacle to gaining completely new viewers is the ST long time fan base (myself included, mind you). There's a general perception about what a "Trekkie" and/or "Trekker" is. One facet of that perception is that the fanbase is inflexible and opinionated, and that perception is affirmed in some minds each and every week. If the current leadership of the franchise can get the ST fanbase to mellow out, no matter how, it can mean more new fans will come to the show...and with an open, untainted mind.

And before someone mentions it, word of mouth isn't usually strong enough to get people watching a show at all. Otherwise there'd be a lot of better shows still on the air.

True. It isn't the vocal segment of the fanbase keeping ST on the air, it's the long term investment and unwillingness to believe the franchise could not be succesful. If word of mouth had anything to do with the possibility of Enterprise, ST would have died sometime during the run of Voyager.