Enterprise: Out of the Gate: Almost loved the show

» BuckyRea - Almost loved the show

I like the new Enterprise show, but I wanted to love it. I think it's a good idea putting the characters closer to us in time and I too was taken aback and pleasantly surprised by the new style of opening themesong. But with the one episode that I've seen so far, the new Trek has the same problem that the last three Trek shows have suffered from. All the characters lack personalities.

In the real Star Trek, there was serious tension and conflict between the people on board the big space rocket. In the Enterprise episode that I saw, Scott Bakula acted like he'd OD'd on prozac. He sat around in his office like Ward waiting for the Beav to come by and talk out his problems (in this episode, the Beav du jour was a crewman almost experiencing emotions over the fact that he was in Starfleet instead of a freight-hauler).

I don't think they put much effort into creating these characters. Or it's a marketing decision to keep them from becoming too individualized. As usual the humans are all American-ish (albeit some with accents) and the aliens are a whole bunch smarter and wiser than us and all have easy to pronounce, monosyllabic names (in this case its Dr Phlox and T'Picannoe the Vulcanette). Gag.

That's the downside--the predictability. The premise is still intriguing, if only for its connection to the real Star Trek, and full of optimistic archetypes. I won't write this show off, but it'd sure be nice if every once in a while this new captain could kick someone's ass or nail an alien princess.

-- posted by BuckyRea