I imagine that I am in the minority here, but I think that
Enterprise is the best Star Trek since TOS. Castwise, Phlox makes it onto the list of "Best Trek Characters Ever" so quickly that even he can't smile widely enough. The long-term storylines (like the Xindi, the Klingons, the Andorians, etc.) are woven together much sooner (and, IMO, much better) than they were on DS9 -- and that was almost all DS9 had going for it. When the
Enterprise is damaged, it
stays damaged until repaired. The same goes for crew. Oh, if only that had been true on
Voyager!
Now, I know that TNG is going to be hailed as a landmark, but the way I remember it, I didn't get hooked on TNG until the 4th Season. Looking back, I can enjoy the episodes from Seasons 1-3, but it took TNG a lot longer to find its niche.
And TNG had Wesley Crusher.
Riker wanted to be Kirk, but wasn't even close. Every time they left him in charge of the ship, he messed up. Troi was written almost exclusively as a whiner or the Trek version of Big Brother ("If you won't tell me what's bothering you, Reginald, you're off duty until you do." -- why not simply "until you've solved the problem and your emotional state is better."?). Worf, Data, and Picard were great. They had some good backup characters, too.
On
Enterprise, when the MACOs die, we have to deal with the consequences. It comes up again. TNG did that with Tasha Yar...but who else? Who did
Voyager do that with?
Sure,
Enterprise has a few dog episodes. But, overall, the episodes are better than anything on DS9 or
Voyager, and are comparable to the better episodes on TNG.
Enterprise is also trying to create a path between where we are now, from a social and ethical perspective, and the better future we've been imagining since Kirk, Spock, and McCoy beamed down to deal with a salt vampire. This is a harder task to accomplish than simply providing a "Wagon Train to the stars" and is, frankly, worth attempting.
Why is it so much easier to tear down each episode than to recognize the genuinely good work that is being done here?
But, then again, fans are their own worst enemies. It was true for
Doctor Who, where the fans kept complaining no matter what the BBC did, until they just chucked the whole thing, and it's true here too. Paramount tried to remove the "Star Trek" from
Enterprise, in part, I think, because of this:
Enterprise must succeed not because of, but despite, those who think of themselves as Star Trek fans.
Of course, this is all just my opinion. But I will remind you of this: Fox and the BBC were going to produce a new
Doctor Who series in the late 90's. Despite being pitted against the final episode of
Rosanne (which was a mega-hit at that time), the TV-movie/pilot did pretty well in the ratings. The fans, though, complained vocally. A lot. And the project died. Only now is the BBC revisiting the programme.
RC
