All right, now that I’ve seen the entire series, let’s break this down. Fair warning, I am a long-time Trek fan, and can get a little nit-picky about some details.

• Temporal war… was done already by the time that I wrote the last post. When they resolved the issue at the end of Season 3 and the opener for Season 4, that apparently unraveled the cause for the temporal cold war. Thankfully, they handle the time travel physics as consistently as possible to the Trek universe. Which is to say, I can’t put into words the rules involved in time travel, paradoxes, etc, but it feels solid. It doesn’t feel phoned in.
• I wasn’t wrong to look forward to the mirror universe episodes. I have to think that they were having fun and knew that they didn’t have another season, because they seemed to throw everything into their mirror universe counterparts. There was a Vulcan with a goatee! And a whole new intro without a shitty song with shitty lyrics! On top of that, seeing the TOS ship from the primary universe whoop some newer-looking Enterprise-era arse was extremely gratifying. These two episodes were total fan service, and I loved them.
• As for the final episode, I liked the concept, but it was implemented for crap. I’m not saying the Federation phase cloak discovery wasn’t an extremely stressful time for Riker, and I think that it was a neat idea for him to visit the decommissioning of NX-01on the holodeck to set his own internal conflict into perspective. However, Jonathan Frakes was… not the same man that he was during the taping of Next Generation. I was surprised as hell to see NCC-1701-D instead of E. It was difficult for me to suspend disbelief and see Riker as Riker, instead of a hastily slapped together linkng to the overall Trek universe. And lest you think I’m just a naysayer without any constructive input, I have two suggestions for better ways to end the series:
  • Instead of the discovery of the phase cloak device, fast forward to Picard’s retirement, and Riker’s promotion to Captain of the Enterprise E. Keep the nervousness, and cap off the character’s constant struggle with leaving Picard’s side to assume his own command. Appearance wouldn’t kick the viewer out of the story, and it would have ended Enterprise while continuing the progression of the Trek universe up until the reboot 8 years later.
  • Trash the entire idea, have the Traveler and Wesley Crusher show up in cowboy hats (and possibly an epic beard for the Wes), declare to Archer that they have a course he can plot, steal the ship, and conquer Risa in a bloodless coup.

I’m happy that the series didn’t suck rocks like I’d remembered. Except for the intro. Sooooo much rock sucking.

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?