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Old May 2nd, 2005, 10:18 AM   #4
Damocles
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Default Poor Writing or Exhausted Writers?

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Originally Posted by Senmut
Decent writing might have helped.
Agreed.

The rest posted by SciFi
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It's not only that. Many of the actors were miscast. Add the lack of character development and you have a recipe for disaster.
Ditto.

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Let's look at season one. ENT started out attracting 12.5 million viewers for it's debut. By the end of the season viewership went down as low as 4.5 million. That should have raised a big red flag and major changes and additions to the cast and writers should have been done then. But season after season continued to show a steady decline in viewership until only the hardcore fans were left watching the show.
Maybe Berman and Bragga didn't know how to fix it?(Very likely if at this stage of the game you have nothing fresh to bring to the table?)

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Now the actors and characters:

Paramount should have bought out Bakula's contract and found a new actor to replace him. That would have spared fans of watching the "Quantum Leap" episodes...Daniel=Al telling Archer=Sam what he should do and what the future should be if he sets it right. Remember, Bakula's contract gave him major input into the stories and his character. Let's face it. Bakula didn't have the right stuff. ENT's captain needed to be like the 1st astronauts, hand picked, confident, and charismatic. Bakula possessed none of these attributes. Maybe he should have played the doctor instead. One wonders who would have been captain if Bakula wasn't pitching a new Quantum Leap show to Paramount and other studios and was offered the part. And besides, without Donald P. Bellisario, Bakula couldn't go anywhere with his pitch unless the studio buys the rights from ironically, Universal Studios and Bellisario. Look at the description of Archer before ENT aired:
Scott Bakula was hired because he was fresh off his QL triumph. the hope was that he would drag in some of the QL base with him into the viewership for Enterprise. He might have done well, enough, but either he misunderstood Archer or the writers did. Since bakula is a good enough actor to give the directors/producers what they want, I blame the writers.

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The Character sketch for Archer
Captain Jonathan Archer is described as being in his 40s, a physical, bold personality, who unlike the Starfleet captains of later centuries, exhibits a sense of wonder and excitement about the strange things he will encounter.

He is said to hold a grudge against the Vulcans, who he blames for impeding humanity's progress - but with his first officer a Vulcan, he will have to reconsider these preconceptions.

Although he has a strong sense of duty, he’s a bit of a renegade (shades of Kirk?) - he’s not afraid to question orders or even disobey them if he feels in his gut that he’s right.
What kind of character sketch as written is this? Meh, covers it.

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Jolene Blalock was obviously chosen to be ENT's 7 of 9. I liked her more in the mirror universe episodes than all the previous seasons combined. At least she got to act like a Vulcan in the mirror universe. That means poor writing was done for that character in previous seasons. Outside of Bakula, nobody in the cast could suggest changes to the script that made more sense to the viewers and developed the character better. The writers ended up turning the character into a drug addict that gives expert massages. Dr Phlox pimping her to Trip was another mistake. T'Pol's character description:
Eye Candy? Roddenberry had lovely ladies but he didn't use them as drapery,

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Character sketch for T'Pol
Sub-Commander T'Pol (formerly named T’Pau) is in her late 20s by appearance (though of course being a Vulcan, she’s probably 129), an "austere yet sensual" Vulcan female. She's the Enterprise's Science Officer and First Officer assigned to the ship to oversee humanity's progress (which sounds like she’ll be a Vulcan liasion of sorts as well). Although she's cautious and guarded around humans, whom she considers primitive and irrational, she'll come to develop a grudging respect for Captain Archer. She’ll become one of his most loyal and trusted crew members.
Again there is no depth, or guidance in the sketch, for writing the character. With no parameters, one hack writer could wreck the character by introducing a gonzo elelment, and because of continuity you would be stuck with that character "history".

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Speaking of Connor Trinneer, he should have been given the Lt Reed part or killed after the 1st season. Maybe Trinneer should have stayed with his day job ( Zeus Zelenko on One Life to Live). The Trip character had no redeeming values and never came close to what was described or fit into the calm, cool ST engineer we have come to know:
Killed would have been better.

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Charaqcter Sketch for Charley "Tripp" Tucker
Trip is described as a Southerner in his early 30s who enjoys using his "country" persona to disarm people. He has an offbeat, often sarcastic sense of humor (like McCoy?).

He was hand-picked by Captain Archer, who is something of a mentor to him.

Though he is a brilliant Engineer and an outstanding officer, he has very little first-hand experience with alien cultures, and will often be a "fish out of water" on the series. He is extremely curious about everything and cannot wait to find new cultures and technologies to learn about.
Where was the southerner, and the "sarcastic" sense of humour?

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Dominic Keating fits the Commander 'Trip' Tucker role better and why it was decided which part he would play at the last minute (Reed/Tucker) is anybody's guess.
I rather think "Reed" was as badly handled as the Tucker character. Why spare him?

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Character Sketch for Reed
Reed is the British Armoury Officer aboard the Enterprise and a bit of a throwback in this new age of humanity's enlightenment. Reed is a 22nd Century soldier, "all spit and polish and by-the-book." He's also a man of contradictions - near-obsessed with munitions, but at the same time soft-spoken, shy and awkward around women.

When testing a new weapon, he’s liable to put on a pair of space-age earplugs because he doesn’t like loud noises.

He’s in his late 20s to early 30s.
Again, is he from Manchester? Does he like classical mmusic like the "Beatles"?
No parameters. Meh factor is very high.

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