Deep Space Nine or Enterprise
October 21st, 2011 . by Tim Babb (TANcast's #1 Host/Editor Fan)
Day 20:
My wife asked me a question today that I didn’t have an answer for…
Which did you like better Deep Space Nine or the one with Scott Bakula
She then laughed as I sat there in deep thought for more than five solid minutes. Truthfully, I’d never thought about it. Star Trek: The Next Generation is my favorite by far, the original series is a classic, and Voyager is a shuttle bay full of suck. So then, what of the other two Star Trek series? Which was better, the neglected step child of the 24th century (Deep Space Nine) or the show that killed Star Trek for four years (Enterprise)? Let’s look at Deep Space Nine first…
DS9: The Good
First Black captain is nothing to sneeze at. Plus Ben Sisko was a great character. Odo and Garak were also very interesting characters. And Jadzia Dax was hot…oh and the exploration of her previous hosts made for interesting drama. And once Worf joined the crew, what more do you need? The lack of a star ship was noticeable the first few seasons but the Defiant was a pretty awesome ship once it was introduced. The Dominion War plot line was certainly compelling and the Jem’Hadar were great villains. There were definitely some great episodes of this show. Most notably the one where the DS9 cast was “Forest Gumped” into an episode of the original series. Or the episode where we see an alternate future where Jake Sisko has been obsessively trying to rescue his missing father for his whole life. Even though DS9 tended to be more serious than say The Next Generation. They weren’t afraid to have the occasional fun episode like when the crew from DS9 challenged a group of Vulcans toa baseball game. Then of course there is the episode where Sisko is sent back in time and is a sci-fi writer in pre-civil rights America. Classic for giving us this scene:
DS9: The Bad
This series had some misses to be sure. Pretty much any episode that centered on Quark was going to be annoying. Jake episodes were similarly lame (save the exception above). I never really got into the idea of “the profits” in the worm hole. Are they supernatural beings? Are they aliens? Do I care? No. Get back to the fighting. Also, Bajor…pick a side already. You can’t have Federation assistance for 7+ years and not join. The Federation is the winning team, baby. Crap or get off the pot! Oh…Ezri Dax…weak. It’s too bad Terry Farrell got a job on that Ted Danson show and left DS9 right before the final season. Then we had to spend half of the final season proving Ezri was an interesting character. I’m sorry…trying to prove she was an interesting character. Ok, now on to Enterprise.
ENT: The Good
First off, Scott Bakula. Automatic cool points right there. When Sam Beckett is your Captain, you’re bound to have a good time. The character of Trip was also very likeable. Then you add in T’Pol and you get the Kirk, Spock, McCoy triangle…but with sexual tension. Not a bad plan. This show really found it’s groove in the third season. They embraced the idea of their prequel status and started doing episodes that referenced things in the Original Series and Next Gen. Their two part episode that took place in the mirror universe was awesome. And I know a lot of people didn’t like the series finale (using Riker and Troy and the Holodeck…making it basically an episode of Next Gen) but I actually enjoyed it very much. I got the whole “love letter to all Star Trek fans” that they were going for.
ENT: The Bad
Those first two seasons were rough! They were trying to distance themselves from the Star Trek franchise while at the same time exploring it. Also a lot of the plots and dialogue seemed to similar yet inferior to Next Gen. Every Star trek series has one maybe two “non entities” in the main cast. They aren’t great they aren’t bad they’re just there. This show had a whole bridge crew. I can’t even remember the English guy or the Black guy’s names. Also this show suffers from prequel syndrome where things they do contradict “future” stories. Speaking of the future, the whole temporal cold war arc was laaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaame. But the biggest tick on the bad column of Enterprise is that #%$&ing theme song!
That seals it, DS9 wins.
What do you guys think? Did you make it this far through the blog? If so, vote on which show was better…
October 21st, 2011 at 9:57 am
I am sorry but I love ST: Voyager. I also loved ST: Enterprise. I grew up on TNG with my dad watching it on Sunday’s if I remember correctly, but I actually prefer all the newer episodes over the original and TNG. Maybe its because I just generally find the good in all TV shows and movies :).
October 21st, 2011 at 4:48 pm
I only ever watched the entire runs of TOS and TNG. DS9, Voyager, and Enterprise were very much “If I have the time…” sort of episodes. Now with them on Netflix, I’ve been trying to catch up but keep watching episodes of Doctor Who and Warehouse 13 instead.
However, I did have to choose DS9. However, remember for the longest time, Sisko was a Commander, not a Captain… kind of a cop out at first, but they finally gave him his due. The Defiant and the stunt casting of Worf really helped the show, as did the Dominion War. But yes, the whole metaphysical thing about the Prophets and the wormhole I could have done without.
And I really need to get my space bar fixed… this was almost as annoying to type as it was to read…
October 21st, 2011 at 7:35 pm
Right about the choice. Wrong about most of the reasons. Also, it’s not even close. You might as well compare TNG to Voyager, or Arrested Development to Three’s Company
-DS9 was darker and more complex than any other ST series. And, that’s a good thing. (It was, after all, stolen from Babylon 5.)
-The Prophet/wormhole stuff gave the series a multi-layered arc. If I just wanted to watch a war stuff, I’d rent the Transformers movies. I hear they blowed stuff up real good in those.
-Dax wasn’t “hot”. She was very attractive in a classy way. 6 of 1 half a dozen of another from Voyager was “hot”.
-The Defiant smelled of desperation to me, as if the studio made them get out in a starship, instead of waiting for stuff to come to them. (They were imitating the White Star from Babylon 5.)
-ENT was wrong on so many levels. (Altho, my sister loves it.) Other than Scott Bakula, it had almost nothing going for it.
-The ship was too futuristic for when it was supposed to be taking place.
-You are correct about the crew full of nobodies. Other than Bakula, only the dog and doctor were interesting. -Trip was fucking annoying.
-T-Bar, or whatever her name was, was a terrible Vulcan. In fact, Vulcans were portrayed totally wrong in general.
-I did like Jeffrey Combs and the Andorians..
– I liked the song, and the concept of the opening montage. Altho, they showed the sequence out of chronological order, which is not logical. (stupid humans.)
It’s obvious I prefered DS9. But, I preferred Babylon 5 over DS9. And, if Babylon 5 would have had the budget of DS9, it would have been the nest SF series ever on TV, instead of just one of the best SF series ever on TV.
October 22nd, 2011 at 1:19 am
I can’t choose because these are the two Star Trek series I didn’t really watch, so I can’t make an informed decision. I’ve seen maybe 10 episodes of DS9 and I only got through the premiere ep of Enterprise before giving up.
Now that every single ep of every Star Trek series is on Netflix streaming, I am considering watching DS9 in order. I still refuse to give Enterprise a chance. That theme song turned me off permanently.
October 22nd, 2011 at 2:06 am
I gave up on Enterprise after a few episodes, so definitely going with DS9. Actually, I really liked DS9. Nice to see a mention of Garak, my favorite character on the show, Tim! I haven’t seen that show since it originally aired–perhaps I should take some breaks from watching old Mythbusters and watch a little Trek.
I also liked Voyager, though I didn’t start watching it until the second season. Once the characters got over the Starfleet/Maquis conflict, the show got so much better. But what was with those continuous run-ins with the Borg? Didn’t Captain EO take care of the Borg Queen?
October 23rd, 2011 at 3:12 am
lol I had the its real its fake playing in my head over and over during my math class. what triggered this? Synthetic something something I didn’t pay much attention after that I was trying not to laugh too loud in class lol
oh and I vote Enterprise only one I watched of those two, well, my dad watched I just basically caught glimpses and was sucked in