A Look at Archer

[CharlesPhipps]

I admit, I liked the fact that Archer had to rob a ship and leave them to die.

[Link8909]

There is an episode after he gets back from the expanse and confesses his guilt in some of the things he had to do save the humanity.

I admit, I liked the fact that Archer had to rob a ship and leave them to die.

While I'm not a fan of Season 3 of Star Trek Enterprise, it is more about me than the quality of that season, and I will give credit when credit is due, and having a Starfleet Captain put in this dire situation with all of humanity on the line with failure being not an option, having the compromise their morals for a greater good with no third option this good stuff, the episodes "In the Pale Moonlight" and "Nothing Human" come to mind with this sort of scenario and are both fantastic, and to also show in Archer's case that their decisions psychologically affect them after is good and much needed character growth.

[Meushell]

I admit, I liked the fact that Archer had to rob a ship and leave them to die.

I wish they had followed up on this, even if it was with the news that they didn’t survive.

[Marveryn]

I admit, I liked the fact that Archer had to rob a ship and leave them to die.

thinking it over it too bad the crew of the ship they rob wasn't Romulan or Klingon. Leading to the first klingon war.. or the romulan war that help created the nautral zone.

[CharlesPhipps]

I admit, I liked the fact that Archer had to rob a ship and leave them to die.

thinking it over it too bad the crew of the ship they rob wasn't Romulan or Klingon. Leading to the first klingon war.. or the romulan war that help created the nautral zone.

Funny thing, they were originally supposed to be the peaceful pre-coup version of Cardassians.

[Enterprising]

Late to the party on this, but it seems like a lot of Archer’s issues (and in turn Ent’s) came from the studio powers above the show runners. For those that have the Enterprise blu-rays, I think it’s the season 3 special features, there is some very illuminating and surprisingly frank declarations from Braga about the dynamics of the show, between what they wanted to do, and what they were told to do. To the point I’m surprised they were cleared to be on the final cut of the interviews, as they weren’t very kind to Viacom. Highly recommend people watch them, Braga is surprisingly critical of himself too, which was refreshing to see, as not many creatives admit they either got something wrong, or apologise for it.

They wanted the show to start in the fall of 2002, to allow the staff both a break and some time to think of fresh stories and a new direction. They were told if they didn’t make something for the fall 2001 after Voyager finished in May 2001, then no show would be green-lit for production. So a lot of the staff moved straight on to Enterprise after wrapping Voyager without a break, then of course September the 11th happened right before the pilot aired. Which of course changed a lot of things in the world, and in turn the tonality of our culture and entertainment, so Enterprise no longer really fitted or resonated anymore, that’s why the Expanse story got done, so to bridge that gap in tone.

The opening half of season one was mostly to be ground based originally, with some political intrigue, and our heroes figuring out how to get their first high warp capable ship deep-space worthy in the midst of Vulcan “mothering” and the xenophobe human minority trying to sabotage their efforts.

They were also instructed by the studio to get in any “favour of the month” rock band they could find, to play a song in the Enterprise’s mess hall each week. One of the few notes Braga & Berman outright refused to accommodate the studio on, and because they gave so little push back otherwise, the studio eventually accepted it after repeated refusals. (At one point they got threatened with a budget cut if they didn’t do it.)

So while I’m still a bit salty has to how Enterprise turned out at the beginning, I can at least understand why they had the problems they did, thanks to Braga bringing some of the issues to light.

[BridgeConsoleMasher]

I admit, I liked the fact that Archer had to rob a ship and leave them to die.

I did too. For Star Trek it is really provocative, and shamefully understandable.

I do hold him accountable for that though and I don't believe the show never resolved that issue?

[Link8909]

Late to the party on this, but it seems like a lot of Archer’s issues (and in turn Ent’s) came from the studio powers above the show runners. For those that have the Enterprise blu-rays, I think it’s the season 3 special features, there is some very illuminating and surprisingly frank declarations from Braga about the dynamics of the show, between what they wanted to do, and what they were told to do. To the point I’m surprised they were cleared to be on the final cut of the interviews, as they weren’t very kind to Viacom. Highly recommend people watch them, Braga is surprisingly critical of himself too, which was refreshing to see, as not many creatives admit they either got something wrong, or apologise for it.

They wanted the show to start in the fall of 2002, to allow the staff both a break and some time to think of fresh stories and a new direction. They were told if they didn’t make something for the fall 2001 after Voyager finished in May 2001, then no show would be green-lit for production. So a lot of the staff moved straight on to Enterprise after wrapping Voyager without a break, then of course September the 11th happened right before the pilot aired. Which of course changed a lot of things in the world, and in turn the tonality of our culture and entertainment, so Enterprise no longer really fitted or resonated anymore, that’s why the Expanse story got done, so to bridge that gap in tone.

I remember when the finally of Voyager "Endgame" first aired on Sky One, and when the credits ended we were giving the teaser "before Janeway, before Sisko, before Picard, before Kirk, there was Enterprise", and even remember The Simpsons parodying that teaser.

But yeah, I feel bad for the creative team not given that breather, and as you said would have allowed the staff both a break and some time to think of fresh stories and a new direction, and that's quite good of Brannon Braga to admit something like this.

The opening half of season one was mostly to be ground based originally, with some political intrigue, and our heroes figuring out how to get their first high warp capable ship deep-space worthy in the midst of Vulcan “mothering” and the xenophobe human minority trying to sabotage their efforts.

This sounds awesome

They were also instructed by the studio to get in any “favour of the month” rock band they could find, to play a song in the Enterprise’s mess hall each week. One of the few notes Braga & Berman outright refused to accommodate the studio on, and because they gave so little push back otherwise, the studio eventually accepted it after repeated refusals. (At one point they got threatened with a budget cut if they didn’t do it.)

So while I’m still a bit salty has to how Enterprise turned out at the beginning, I can at least understand why they had the problems they did, thanks to Braga bringing some of the issues to light.

Same, as someone who really didn't like the first two seasons of Enterprise, I never wanted the series to get cancelled like it did.

[CharlesPhipps]

I admit, I liked the fact that Archer had to rob a ship and leave them to die.

I did too. For Star Trek it is really provocative, and shamefully understandable.

I do hold him accountable for that though and I don't believe the show never resolved that issue?

I think the show said he doubled back and never found them again. Which is a nice bit of ambiguity.

[BridgeConsoleMasher]

I admit, I liked the fact that Archer had to rob a ship and leave them to die.

I did too. For Star Trek it is really provocative, and shamefully understandable.

I do hold him accountable for that though and I don't believe the show never resolved that issue?

I think the show said he doubled back and never found them again. Which is a nice bit of ambiguity.

Oh shit they could had revisited that hardcore.