This column has delivered too many downer tirades lately. They're no fun to read, no easier to write, and it doesn't really improve the situation (which is what matters). There's already plenty of spleen venting on the show anyway. I'm not sure whether a cold universe cares whether we struggle against each other or rise up united instead, though I am convinced more rewards come out of the cooperative approach.

However any fan feels about Trek as a whole, a whole including whatever portion inspires their particular affection, none want to see it mishandled and exposed to that cold universe full of pitiless critics scarcely concealing their sniggering. Those who agree that a premature failure for "Enterprise" might risk that fate should also agree on an objective: rescue. The ship, its crew, and the mission can be saved.

The ship is sound. The core of NX-01 - hardly an experimental ship anymore - has been tested and found true. (It's a bonus though if season three changes include an official revision of her size if not enormous overhauls to her form.) As weapons and systems advance weekly there's even no reason NX-02 (and on to a fleet of successors) need even resemble each other, allowing rapid evolution of starship designs. If indeed progress steps up its pace on the battlefield then there's no telling what later seasons might bring.

The crew is strong. To a man (woman, or dog), individually and as a group, these performers continually keep the show entertaining. (As Anthony Montgomery says in a delightful chat, "they've already told us … that our show is going to be a lot edgier, which is ridiculous, because we've been pretty edgy as it is"!) To the extent the temporary (one hopes) military additions may distract time away from more familiar favorites, I have faith … faith in the cast … that they'll manage to keep it stoked throughout the long run.

Last comes the mission. Henry Archer didn't create his engine so his son would have to needlessly die in space. Did you notice the subtle shift from "Let's see what's out there" (which was good enough for Picard) to Archer's "Let's see what's in there"? Yet like the night, "space the final frontier" is not full of fearsome bogeymen. The best Starfleet could do would be to seek peace with the Xindi and mutually sack the instigators back to whenever they came. We'll find better things to do than war. And that will really improve the situation.

Bring NX-01 home.


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