For the first two seasons of Enterprise, it did not even have the 'Star Trek' brand name attached to it. This is as if God Almighty was divinely intervening to prevent such a terribly bad show for disgracing the legendary Star Trek brand name. The makers of Enterprise kept the "Star Trek' brand off in order to try and attract 'hip new young fans' to watch it while simultaneously flipping the bird to real Star Trek fans and telling them they aren't wanted as viewers. But that plan didn't work. The makers of Enterprise have since, shamefully, added the "Star Trek" name to Enterprise in Season 3 and 4 because they realized that *absolutely no one* was watching Enterprise *other than* the very few hardcore SciFi fans who do not care about how extremely bad any SciFi show is - they will watch it anyways, no matter what, *only* because it's SciFi. They hoped by slapping the Star Trek name onto Enterprise in Season 3 and 4, it would bring back all the many true Star Trek fans whom they had flipped the bird to. That didn't work either. Star Trek has several million fans, but only a pathetically small fraction of them bothered to watch Enterprise beyond the pilot because they knew it was a, non-Trek, and even worse, garbage show. They weren't about to swallow crap and smile by watching the show again *just because* it suddenly got a Star Trek label slapped onto it mid-series. The old "lipstick on a pig" saying applies perfectly here.
Of course, the makers of Enterprise have since, deceptively, shadily, *ret-conned* the Star Trek label onto the first 2 seasons of Enterprise in reruns by editing the logos and text on the opening credits to appear differently than they did during the original airings of Enterprise. They did this to try to mislead the public into thinking that Enterprise was always Star Trek even though the historical record easily proves that it WASN'T! And so they could sell the whole show as a "Star Trek"-branded product because without riding on the Star Trek brand's coattails *absolutely no one* in the Universe would ever watch, much less shell out hundreds of dollars for the DVDs of, Enterprise.
One of the main stars of Enterprise, Jolene Blalock said it best in an interview with the Toronto Star Newspaper written by Rob Salem. I quote an excerpt from Salem's article which was published in the Toronto Star Newspaper a few months before Enterprise ended:
"I don't think you can just throw anything out there and expect people to swallow it," agrees Blalock. "There is Trek lore and Trek history to be followed and adhered to." A former fan herself (her favourite character as a kid was, not surprisingly, Mr. Spock), the actress, despite her vested interest, has never been shy about dissing her own show. "I mean, we started out with 13 million viewers on the pilot, and we somehow managed to drive 11 million of them away."
That Enterprise started out with 13 million viewers in the pilot shows that there is a huge audience out there for good SciFi. That Enterprise lost 11 million viewers, and limped to it's last episodes with ratings of only approximately 2 million viewers is the very best testament there is as to how crap of a show Enterprise truly, indisputably, is.
Enterprise bears the dubious distinction of being the *only* modern Star Trek show to be cancelled after 4 seasons, due to abysmal ratings. All of the 3 other modern Trek shows lasted for a full 7 seasons, *even* the likewise-awful Star Trek: Voyager!
The only reason why Enterprise *even* lasted for 4 seasons was because that is the amount of episodes required to be able to sell reruns of the show to other networks later on. If not for this: "With 4 seasons, we can sell this garbage later on, in reruns!" gambit, then Enterprise *surely* would have been cancelled after only 1 or 2 seasons.
All of the actors on Enterprise were absolutely terrible. With the exception of Jeffrey Combs, who was immaculate - as always - in his recurring guest role as Shran. *He* should have been the star of the show, then it might actually have been a good show! Combs makes all the other actors on the show look like kindergarteners. Combs is a master actor, and they all come across as amateurs next to him. Jeffrey Combs was *way too good* for the Enterprise show, and he was also the one and only redeeming quality that the show had.
The writing on Enterprise was as terrible as the actors. The characters are all talking-heads with 100% interchangeable dialogue, which is *always* a sign of terrible writing. An example: Archer says: "Tell him to shut up!" and then Hoshi screams "Shut up!" at the top of her lungs in a very badly-acted way. I suppose such basic juvenile humor may have been funny in 1982 or thereabouts, but in the day and age in which Enterprise was made, it is reasonable to expect entertainment to be held to a higher standard.
Enterprise was pitched as a series that would explore the forming of the Federation, but it actually *completely ignored* this fascinating premise. Instead, it featured worthless 'stories'; like the crew beams down to a cave and spends the entire episode shouting at each other in the cave because the planet vegetation drove them temporarily crazy.
Another excerpt from that aforementioned Salem article is very apt. Quoted here, Blacock speaking to Salem: "There is an awkward silence when the subject of the final episode is broached. "I don't know where to begin with that one," she finally stammers. "The final episode is ... appalling."
Blacock was right - the final episode *is* appalling.
It is essential to know that so was the ***ENTIRETY*** of the Enterprise series.
Of course, the makers of Enterprise have since, deceptively, shadily, *ret-conned* the Star Trek label onto the first 2 seasons of Enterprise in reruns by editing the logos and text on the opening credits to appear differently than they did during the original airings of Enterprise. They did this to try to mislead the public into thinking that Enterprise was always Star Trek even though the historical record easily proves that it WASN'T! And so they could sell the whole show as a "Star Trek"-branded product because without riding on the Star Trek brand's coattails *absolutely no one* in the Universe would ever watch, much less shell out hundreds of dollars for the DVDs of, Enterprise.
One of the main stars of Enterprise, Jolene Blalock said it best in an interview with the Toronto Star Newspaper written by Rob Salem. I quote an excerpt from Salem's article which was published in the Toronto Star Newspaper a few months before Enterprise ended:
"I don't think you can just throw anything out there and expect people to swallow it," agrees Blalock. "There is Trek lore and Trek history to be followed and adhered to." A former fan herself (her favourite character as a kid was, not surprisingly, Mr. Spock), the actress, despite her vested interest, has never been shy about dissing her own show. "I mean, we started out with 13 million viewers on the pilot, and we somehow managed to drive 11 million of them away."
That Enterprise started out with 13 million viewers in the pilot shows that there is a huge audience out there for good SciFi. That Enterprise lost 11 million viewers, and limped to it's last episodes with ratings of only approximately 2 million viewers is the very best testament there is as to how crap of a show Enterprise truly, indisputably, is.
Enterprise bears the dubious distinction of being the *only* modern Star Trek show to be cancelled after 4 seasons, due to abysmal ratings. All of the 3 other modern Trek shows lasted for a full 7 seasons, *even* the likewise-awful Star Trek: Voyager!
The only reason why Enterprise *even* lasted for 4 seasons was because that is the amount of episodes required to be able to sell reruns of the show to other networks later on. If not for this: "With 4 seasons, we can sell this garbage later on, in reruns!" gambit, then Enterprise *surely* would have been cancelled after only 1 or 2 seasons.
All of the actors on Enterprise were absolutely terrible. With the exception of Jeffrey Combs, who was immaculate - as always - in his recurring guest role as Shran. *He* should have been the star of the show, then it might actually have been a good show! Combs makes all the other actors on the show look like kindergarteners. Combs is a master actor, and they all come across as amateurs next to him. Jeffrey Combs was *way too good* for the Enterprise show, and he was also the one and only redeeming quality that the show had.
The writing on Enterprise was as terrible as the actors. The characters are all talking-heads with 100% interchangeable dialogue, which is *always* a sign of terrible writing. An example: Archer says: "Tell him to shut up!" and then Hoshi screams "Shut up!" at the top of her lungs in a very badly-acted way. I suppose such basic juvenile humor may have been funny in 1982 or thereabouts, but in the day and age in which Enterprise was made, it is reasonable to expect entertainment to be held to a higher standard.
Enterprise was pitched as a series that would explore the forming of the Federation, but it actually *completely ignored* this fascinating premise. Instead, it featured worthless 'stories'; like the crew beams down to a cave and spends the entire episode shouting at each other in the cave because the planet vegetation drove them temporarily crazy.
Another excerpt from that aforementioned Salem article is very apt. Quoted here, Blacock speaking to Salem: "There is an awkward silence when the subject of the final episode is broached. "I don't know where to begin with that one," she finally stammers. "The final episode is ... appalling."
Blacock was right - the final episode *is* appalling.
It is essential to know that so was the ***ENTIRETY*** of the Enterprise series.