Enterprise - In A Mirror, Darkly

Darrell Lawrence · April 29th, 2005, 09:23 PM

Who's seen both parts? What did you think?

I thought it totally rocked. Part 2 was actually BETTER than part 1!!!

Senmut · April 29th, 2005, 09:33 PM

It kicked butt!!!!!!!!!!!!

A whole Alternate Universe series would be so cooooooooooooooolll!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Sci-Fi · April 30th, 2005, 12:15 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Warrior

Who's seen both parts? What did you think?

I thought it totally rocked. Part 2 was actually BETTER than part 1!!!

I've stated this at other ST forums and believe that if you take away the "Empire" aspects of the story arc, this is what fans expected see from ENT from the beginning. The characters finally show the passion and individuality, characteristic of more successful shows. The "uniforms" fit better in the early SF universe and some fans remember the "Tonight Show" where Bakula said ENT would dress more informal, like t-shirts and jeans, but that never happened. The Defiant bridge or something similar and simple is what we should have seen on NX01.

If you listen to the podcast, this story was proposed for season 2 but ended up being changed to the future guy. Too bad. ENT fans would be anticipating season 5 if season 4 was season 1 or 2 and if the TCW never happened. The opening music and title sequence is a lot better, although many fans expected to hear the ST:FC music instead of the Russell Watson: "Where My Heart Will Take Me" song. Some of the actors still need to have been replaced, like Bakula and Trineer, because simply, they were miscast. Their acting abilities is exposed even more in this episode. To quote a few fans:

Quote:

When Scott Bakula is asked to portray Archer as angry or forceful, he comes across as petulant and bad tempered. He doesn't strike me as someone you'd have confidence in as your commander and certainly not someone an enemy would take seriously. When things don't go his way, I get the impression he's going to start stomping his feet, take his toys and go home.

Everyone else rose to the challenge of the script and portrayed their alternate personalities effectively, but I didn't see much difference in the way Archer is always portrayed.

This episode truly illustrated what was inherently wrong with Enterprise as a series.

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This really became obvious in this episode which demanded that Archer be portrayed as self-serving, heartless and cruel. Instead he came across as frustrated, sullen and irritable.

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I never liked him as Archer either. He doesn't have Kirk's charisma, or Picard's professionalism and command presence, or even Janeway's self-confidence for that matter. However, I think there was a *lot* more wrong with Enterprise than their choice of Scott Bakula as Captain Archer. The producers' reliance on tired, formulaic scripts, and a general lack of creative vision top my list.

And I *really* liked last night's episode, Bakula's sullenness and irritability not withstanding.

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Trineer's portrayal of Trip continues to be very annoying and unbelievable as an engineer or even as a handyman. He reminds people of that one kid in school everybody hates and has no friends or even a pet. A prime candidate for the airlock exit.

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Hoshi declaring herself as "Empress" was a good twist at the end and the poisoning of Archer.

Overall, this was a fun arc to watch and most of the actors took their parts to heart and played it for all they could get out of it. Let's see what the ratings are. If ENT ratings are still in the 1.5-2.1 range then only the hardcore fans are watching the show no matter how good the episodes are.

Senmut · April 30th, 2005, 02:01 AM

Of course, three hours would have been better.

TopGun · May 6th, 2005, 02:35 AM

I've seen pics of the episode, and man it looks HOT

Sci-Fi · May 6th, 2005, 01:21 PM

Unfortunately ENT "In a Mirror, Darkly" part 1 only got a 1.4 rating and part 2 got between a 1.8-1.9 rating. The 1.4 rating for part 1 marks the lowest rated episode for ENT this season, replacing the "Bound" episode for that dubious honor.

On the bright side, ENT season 1 DVD sales at Amazon.com is at #24. But it's only been 3 days since the release, so the numbers may be a bit skewed at the moment. The DVD set contains over 6 hours of extras, deleted scenes, outtakes, bloopers, and audio commentaries, plus a few "Easter Eggs".

Darrell Lawrence · May 6th, 2005, 04:07 PM

Has there been much promotion for these shows outside of UPN lately?

Sci-Fi · May 7th, 2005, 12:31 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Warrior

Has there been much promotion for these shows outside of UPN lately?

Dunno about CBS or MTV, but I have seen ad's for ENT on SpikeTV and a few other cable networks and plenty on UPN. Haven't seen or heard about ENT fans doing any grass roots promotion for the last 2 years. Unfortunately, only the fund raising and buying an ad or 2 in a trade or nationally available newspaper was done. Although noble efforts, ENT really needed eyeballs watching the show and only a massive and energetic "get the word out and ask people to watch" campaign could have helped.

Even at the ST boards, this season episode reviews written by long time ST contributors are mixed. ENT fans don't like it, but many good points and criticisms in the reviews can't be ignored or dismissed. "Canonites" is a term heard frequently nowadays to describe those fans that don't like the way previous canon was ignored or broken in ENT. If ENT stories/plots were better and if they concentrated on developing the characters in season 1 and 2, I believe most fans would overlook the canon breaking and just enjoy the series. At least in ST, a prequel may have been a bad idea. Even the Okuda's can't explain the canon in a linear timeline and that's excluding the ENT series. A Klingon or Vulcan series would have been better and more daring for the ST franchise. Or perhaps a Federation ship exploring the Gamma Quadrant. After the fall of the Founders, there must be plenty of stories and mysteries to be explored and discovered. Then they would have had the time to develop a new traditional ST, human based series, on the Starship Enterprise.

Senmut · May 8th, 2005, 01:41 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sci-Fi

Unfortunately ENT "In a Mirror, Darkly" part 1 only got a 1.4 rating and part 2 got between a 1.8-1.9 rating. The 1.4 rating for part 1 marks the lowest rated episode for ENT this season, replacing the "Bound" episode for that dubious honor.

At least they went up.

TopGun · May 8th, 2005, 07:10 AM

probably too little, too late