I get sucked into television. Much like when I read a good book, I get sucked in so far that I tend to close out everything else going on in the real world. When real life denizens dare to pull me back for whatever reason, important or not, I get irritated. So much so that I don’t want to watch shows or movies that I’m looking forward to until the kids have gone to bed. I want to be immersed in the story. I wouldn’t call it an addiction, but it is something that I have to actively fight when it comes to grander plans, like writing.

So, like some of my other compulsive quirks, I’ll defuse this one by sharing it.

When Star Trek: Enterprise first hit the airwaves, I was lukewarm about it. Starting off with time travel was ballsy, and I’ve never been impressed with the way that it’s been done on TV. Then there’s that infuriating, enraging, pluck out my own eardrums opening theme. Thanks to Netflix, I can skip its aural atrocities every episode. Nevertheless, I abandoned the entire series, and I don’t really remember why.

Could have been the Borg episode. Seriously, the Borg are going to show up before Q sends Picard out into the Delta quadrant? Was this because the Borg episodes in Voyager were the only really good ones? (Not that I’m opinionated.) I neglected to remember the time traveling Borg in the First Contact movie. The wreckage from the sphere had to go SOMEWHERE. So, in the end, the Borg episode was forgivable enough for me to relax and enjoy it.

The entire series is on Netflix streaming, so I added it to my queue. I’ve been watching it. I’ve been enjoying it. I’ve been awed and horrified at the amount of damage dished out to both the Enterprise and its crew. They tear the shit out of both. Just so much hull damage, system damage, blood of all colors, psychological damage, emotional upheaval… I’m impressed. And I’m enjoying it. The characters are developing (mostly), and to see the initial interaction between Humans, Vulcans, Klingons, and Andorians. Though, I was surprised that the Klingons had the ridged skulls, unlike in the original series.

I would have abandoned the series at the end of Season 3. Instead of getting a well-earned warm welcome home after months and months of hellish reality-warping travel and conflict, with the end of Earth always looming just in the distance, they get punked and sent back in time to World War 2. What, is this the Wheel of Time? Is this an Amy campaign? Am I watching any Spider Man movie ever? The slight was quickly remedied, and even explored some of the emotional and social scars left behind from all of the crazy that went on.

I haven’t yet finished the last season (4), but I’m greatly looking forward to the Mirror, Mirror episodes. I’m also hoping that they can tie up this temporal war crap before they got canceled. I mean, three seasons short of the standard Star Trek 7, so how hard did they have to scramble, and how much notice did they have?