I think Enterprise became the the Star Wars prequel of Star Trek, looked down on when it initially released but by hindsight and recent editions people have gone 'ok, I think we were too harsh with it'
For sure. I watched Picard and Discovery's first seasons, decided Trek was dead and went back and binge-watched the good old stuff. Enterprise really finds its feet and becomes a thoroughly enjoyable show, only to be cut short and given the most heinous ending I've ever seen.
ENT fucked around too much at times and didn't really settle on either doing "planet of the week" style episodes ala TOS and early TNG or long running arcs as later TNG moved towards, ish, and DS9 launched with.
/ugly stepchild noises in the corner coming from VOY
Part of the problems is that ENT tried both as the early seasons are very much "planet of the week" episodes introducing known races and making occasional nods towards core concepts like with Reed's "tactical alert" that was jokingly called "Reed alert" at one point and done in a way that didn't completely undermine the existing lore.
Too often in prequel material now some well known thing suddenly gets explained as being caused by some random new character, like in Star Wars Solo where
Han's entire backstory is spelled out in retard because that's the intended audience these days.
Han's name is explained for some reason.
How he gets the Falcon is explained, badly. ESB already makes it clear he gets it from Lando and there are a lot of books from the original EU that detail just how it happened but Disney had to make their own "canon" version. And it was shit.
The reason for Chewie's lifedebt is explained, again badly. EU material already exists explaining that it's because Han rescues Chewie from slavery. We didn't need it retread by Disney because they wanted to sell more toys.
And for a lot of it the reason came down to Qi'ra being the one that taught Han "how to be" which follows the modern trend of some new OC being the "real reason" for something.
One thing I think they didn't actually explain are his yellow [Second Class] and red [First Class] Corellian Bloodstripes. As of mostly EU material again these are of extreme significance to his Corellian heritage to the point that anyone found to be wearing them without having earned them could be killed on the spot by other Corellians.
Enterprise at least started small since the actual ship was the first Starfleet vessel to reach Warp 5 and travel further than any other human ship had yet, so the only existing human presence and interaction is limited.
They even start off with Enterprise only have basic pulse cannons, conventional torpedoes, a grappler hook on a winch, a barely functioning transporter, and zero backup anywhere nearby. Phasers, photon torpedoes, tractor beams, and all the other Star Trek staples come in slowly throughout the series and at times a piece at a time like with the initial phase cannons Enterprise had which were shit until they almost broke the ship powering them for a single shot.
The Xindi arc is the most DS9 that ENT gets with the entire season dedicated to a single story arc although it still did deal with the Temporal Cold War that had been introduced prior. It also imposed a limit on Enterprise in terms of the resources that were at hand. After the initial launch in season 1 Enterprise gets the go-ahead to keep exploring but can still return to Starfleet if and as needed should something arise, as is the case when the Xindi probes attacks. But during the mission to prevent the actual weapon the ship has no option to restock other than at what trade locations it might find and any crew losses are something that stick until either the mission is complete or the ship explodes. In some episodes both of those things happened.
While ENT isn't anywhere near as good as DS9, and tbh most Trek isn't, it was still better enough than the complete bullshit propaganda reels that came with STD and PIC as well as the flashy, insubstantial movies filled with lens flare and YA style relationship drama running on zero plot, zero novelty, and/or continuity.
Which at this point isn't surprising since JJ is completely devoid of creativity since both his Star Trek and Wars films are remakes.
TFA is ANH, but worse. Into Darkness is basically WoK, but again worse.
I still think Voyager was pretty great. Enterprise had problems, but it kinda seemed more like what Voyager was looking for as a setting.
Enterprise is kinda fucking harrowing. There is a constant sense of "Jesus Christ, we have no idea what we are doing, and we are way over our head. Are fucking die?"
To be honest, I think the biggest difference on why Enterprise would work more now than before is because of shit like The Walking Dead and Game of Thrones. Imagine the Enterprise, but realizing even the senior members of the crew could really, properly, fucking die. And that the mission still has to go on without them to save Earth, all while trying to keep the most rag-tag bunch of surviving misfits alive to the end of the mission.
I think Enterprise became the the Star Wars prequel of Star Trek, looked down on when it initially released but by hindsight and recent editions people have gone 'ok, I think we were too harsh with it'
For sure. I watched Picard and Discovery's first seasons, decided Trek was dead and went back and binge-watched the good old stuff. Enterprise really finds its feet and becomes a thoroughly enjoyable show, only to be cut short and given the most heinous ending I've ever seen.
ENT fucked around too much at times and didn't really settle on either doing "planet of the week" style episodes ala TOS and early TNG or long running arcs as later TNG moved towards, ish, and DS9 launched with.
/ugly stepchild noises in the corner coming from VOY
Part of the problems is that ENT tried both as the early seasons are very much "planet of the week" episodes introducing known races and making occasional nods towards core concepts like with Reed's "tactical alert" that was jokingly called "Reed alert" at one point and done in a way that didn't completely undermine the existing lore. Too often in prequel material now some well known thing suddenly gets explained as being caused by some random new character, like in Star Wars Solo where
Han's entire backstory is spelled out in retard because that's the intended audience these days.
Han's name is explained for some reason.
How he gets the Falcon is explained, badly. ESB already makes it clear he gets it from Lando and there are a lot of books from the original EU that detail just how it happened but Disney had to make their own "canon" version. And it was shit.
The reason for Chewie's lifedebt is explained, again badly. EU material already exists explaining that it's because Han rescues Chewie from slavery. We didn't need it retread by Disney because they wanted to sell more toys.
And for a lot of it the reason came down to Qi'ra being the one that taught Han "how to be" which follows the modern trend of some new OC being the "real reason" for something.
One thing I think they didn't actually explain are his yellow [Second Class] and red [First Class] Corellian Bloodstripes. As of mostly EU material again these are of extreme significance to his Corellian heritage to the point that anyone found to be wearing them without having earned them could be killed on the spot by other Corellians.
Enterprise at least started small since the actual ship was the first Starfleet vessel to reach Warp 5 and travel further than any other human ship had yet, so the only existing human presence and interaction is limited. They even start off with Enterprise only have basic pulse cannons, conventional torpedoes, a grappler hook on a winch, a barely functioning transporter, and zero backup anywhere nearby. Phasers, photon torpedoes, tractor beams, and all the other Star Trek staples come in slowly throughout the series and at times a piece at a time like with the initial phase cannons Enterprise had which were shit until they almost broke the ship powering them for a single shot.
The Xindi arc is the most DS9 that ENT gets with the entire season dedicated to a single story arc although it still did deal with the Temporal Cold War that had been introduced prior. It also imposed a limit on Enterprise in terms of the resources that were at hand. After the initial launch in season 1 Enterprise gets the go-ahead to keep exploring but can still return to Starfleet if and as needed should something arise, as is the case when the Xindi probes attacks. But during the mission to prevent the actual weapon the ship has no option to restock other than at what trade locations it might find and any crew losses are something that stick until either the mission is complete or the ship explodes. In some episodes both of those things happened.
While ENT isn't anywhere near as good as DS9, and tbh most Trek isn't, it was still better enough than the complete bullshit propaganda reels that came with STD and PIC as well as the flashy, insubstantial movies filled with lens flare and YA style relationship drama running on zero plot, zero novelty, and/or continuity.
Which at this point isn't surprising since JJ is completely devoid of creativity since both his Star Trek and Wars films are remakes.
TFA is ANH, but worse. Into Darkness is basically WoK, but again worse.
I still think Voyager was pretty great. Enterprise had problems, but it kinda seemed more like what Voyager was looking for as a setting.
Enterprise is kinda fucking harrowing. There is a constant sense of "Jesus Christ, we have no idea what we are doing, and we are way over our head. Are fucking die?"
To be honest, I think the biggest difference on why Enterprise would work more now than before is because of shit like The Walking Dead and Game of Thrones. Imagine the Enterprise, but realizing even the senior members of the crew could really, properly, fucking die. And that the mission still has to go on without them to save Earth, all while trying to keep the most rag-tag bunch of surviving misfits alive to the end of the mission.
It's effectively Mass Effect 2.