There have only been two Trek series I bailed on, “Deep
Space Nine” and “Enterprise” (“Lower Decks” was a challenge, but once I got it,
I really enjoyed it). But -- in moving forward, it seems nearly
every series, including massively time-jumping “Discovery”, kept referencing
the two series I skipped.
And so.
With an empty DVR and way too much time on my hands, I
plunged in.
And I’ve come to realize why I never finished them.
(Spoilers ahead)
DS9 -- It's bleak. Really bleak. The first
series where the light levels are low and the connections between the
characters are loaded with doubt, insecurity, mistrust and grief.
I came to like some of the characters a good bit. Kira, Odo, Dax, Garak, and Nog were
favorites. Even bad guys, like Weyoun,
played by chameleon actor Jeffrey Combs.
I grew to like Quark although the similar storylines with him became
irritating. It was great to see an
expanded background on O’Brien but I felt like Worf, when brought in, was an
opportunity wasted. A big hole, however,
was that I didn't love Sisko. He's ... broody. Comes off like a
Shakespearean actor who wrings depth out of every word. Clearly, it was a
stab at replacing Picard. But Picard was a leader who was still part of
the group, he set a tone which made you understand why his crew followed
him. Sisko, from the beginning, was "apart". The group
dynamics here are just ... fractured. Yes, Sisko's family life warmed him
up. Yes, there are various love triangles or whatever. And there
are interesting bad guys with layered motivations. But it never
gelled. Each episode became a stand-alone. Oh, let's focus on this
character this week and this other character next week. It turned into --
"this is a comedy, no, it's a historical show, no, it's a murder mystery
..." And let's not go into the same establishing shot of Cardassia
Prime in, like every … single … episode.
The biggest issue, of course, is that there is no
ship. No unknown worlds (exactly …). DS9 is a way-station --
anchored in space. Instead of a bridge, which has iconic moments (anyone
up for Next Gen's Locutus reveal and Riker's reaction?) you have the equivalent
of "The Office" with workers in a pit and Sisko ensconced in a walled
office above them. New characters come in and out for guest appearances
but the series is weak on exploration and surprises. (Oh! Let’s cause a thing and bring in Klingons. The Trek audience loves Klingons,
right?) The producers attempted to fix things
with the USS Defiant ship, but, in the end, the characters always went home --
and the idea that they are forever changed by their experiences in space was
muted.
The ending was … Yeah.
I guess Avery Brooks really didn’t want to keep going with the
franchise. In any case, I get all the
references now, but would I go back and rewatch it, as I have the other
series? No.
Enterprise -- ~sigh~
It started … slowly. Pace, and
energy, was a factor throughout much of the series. But that wasn’t my big issue. The sexualization of women, particularly the
T’Pol character, was unrelenting. And
exhausting. I had hoped they would back
off of that as the show progressed. They
never did. Near the end of the series,
in the Terran universe, comments and treatment of the T’Pol and Sato mirror
characters is sickening. Talk about tone
deaf (the first #MeToo showed up less than a year after the show was
cancelled). “Enterprise” struggled
mightily, particularly when it came to introducing new species unseen in any
other Trek. Their one shining moment, in
my humble opinion, was creating a clever answer as to why TOS Klingons look different. But character development was weak. Anthony Montgomery gets an award for most
under-used actor for four years straight.
He was clearly a token but made the most of it. Unlike DS9, the show not only didn’t grow on
me, but became a struggle to watch.
People say they didn’t like “Voyager” because of the stolen storylines,
but the ripped-off tales here dwarf those of “Voyager”, and were often done
proudly (“Mirror, Mirror” anyone?) And
don’t get me started on the “massive” number of time travel stuff. The first two seasons, which were tolerable,
show a certain amount of naivete and clumsiness of humans as the newest members
of the galaxy travelling community. No
Prime Directive, no United Federation of Planets, a deep distrust of this
newfangled transporter thingy. Crew
cabins are so small the actors had to duck under beams (which got old,
fast). It could have been
interesting. If it had been portrayed
with a sense of urgency I might have bought in more, but instead it was like
watching a toddler trip over his own feet.
A lot. And a bunch of time in
“shuttle pods”. They started to lose me
with season 3. The first Trek to be made
after 9/11, the whole season, like DS9, was committed to war. Without any of the humor and love which can
exist in the darkest of circumstances, the entire season was just … depressing. It is a real sign of poor writing when you
start using the phrase “I had no choice” multiple times in every episode. In drama, characters must have choices. That’s what makes it interesting. By the time we got to the fourth season,
there were no more stand-alone episodes.
Everything was 2 or 3 episodes with “to be continued”. It was tiring. I would have given up there and then if not
for my pledge to “watch it all”. When I
finally was done, I felt relieved and a tad angry. A major loss in the final minutes? Observed by outsiders, so it is as if they
wanted to separate the viewers from the emotional tsunami. Why?
And why say it out loud before it happens so you spend the whole episode
in mourning, knowing it is coming? Prequels
often stumble – you know the characters, who is going to live, the big picture
of how things end. “Strange New Worlds”
is pulling it off for the most part.
“Enterprise” does not.
