Star Trek: Enterprise, season 3

[qstor]

Just picked up season 4 today and will be watching it over the next week.

Season 4 rocks. I didn't know it came out already. I guess I'll wait till Christmas

Mike

 

[Ranger REG]

Oh, I agree. I watched every one. I just think its not Star Trek. It was less of a sequel and more of a top-down redesign of the entire concept. Equally valid (Like old Galactica vs. new Galactica), just completely different things.

I disagree. Whereas TOS portrayed a "Frontier" slash "Wild West" counterpart (hence it was dubbed "The Wagon Train to the Stars"), TNG portrayed a more civilized, "Renaissance" progression.

 

[Blue_Kryptonite]

I don't follow that line of reasoning at all.

I'd think it was the other way around if anything.

The connection is lost on me.

I was talking more of the structure of the long arcs, the more bleak and realistic outlook, and the character focus of the first three seasons. It remonded me of everything I hate about the new Galactica. Season 4 was more upbeat, freewheeling, and mildly "Wahoo!" in tone, like TOS and later TNG.

I disagree. Whereas TOS portrayed a "Frontier" slash "Wild West" counterpart (hence it was dubbed "The Wagon Train to the Stars"), TNG portrayed a more civilized, "Renaissance" progression.

A valid way of looking at it. However, I don't consider Sherlock Holmes, Hercule Poirot, Nero Wolfe, and Jessica Fletcher to all be part of the same continuity, even though they follow similar characters through similar themes in similar plotlines. They're fundamentally different shows.

 

[Ranger REG]

A valid way of looking at it. However, I don't consider Sherlock Holmes, Hercule Poirot, Nero Wolfe, and Jessica Fletcher to all be part of the same continuity,

What do those literary figures have to do with the TOS-TNG progression?

 

[Blue_Kryptonite]

Thematic coherence. TOS, TNG, and DS9 appear to me to have as much in common as Holmes, Poirot, Wolfe, and Fletcher. The Trek series each involve a central government composed of multiple species wherein brave individuals in a specific profession (Starfleet) follow established tropes and storylines.

However, the Federation of TOS does not behave like the Federation of TNG, which, although ostensibly set in the same universe, does not quite behave like the Federation in Ds9. That Federation is "The United States" or "Scottland Yard". Its a name and broad outline, with each new series re-interpreting it for its genre.

Internal series canon is self-contradictory at multiple points. Star Trek, in my opinion, is a specific genre. I think Ds9 and Voyager captured it, TNG and Enterprise not so much.

Then again, I could be wrong. The Green Hornet was a relative of the Lone Ranger after all, despite the vastly different settings.

 

[Ranger REG]

Thematic coherence. TOS, TNG, and DS9 appear to me to have as much in common as Holmes, Poirot, Wolfe, and Fletcher. The Trek series each involve a central government composed of multiple species wherein brave individuals in a specific profession (Starfleet) follow established tropes and storylines.

You forget timeline. When you mentioned the literary figures above, I initially thought they're all from the same time period (Victorian?). Their government did not change from that of 1800s(?) to the present-day British government.

And you're right, the Federation of TNG differs from the Federation of TOS. They changed. If you were to put Kirk and his military record into the 24th-Century Starfleet, his career is washed out.

 

[Blue_Kryptonite]

You forget timeline. When you mentioned the literary figures above, I initially thought they're all from the same time period (Victorian?). Their government did not change from that of 1800s(?) to the present-day British government.

And you're right, the Federation of TNG differs from the Federation of TOS. They changed. If you were to put Kirk and his military record into the 24th-Century Starfleet, his career is washed out.

Quite likely. As I said, this is my opinion. I don't think TNG is "real" Trek. You do. Its all good.