Line #64 YMMV/StarTrekEnterprise


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4	* AlternativeCharacterInterpretation:
5	** Some have interpreted Mirror Archer's penchant for having regular hallucinations, [[EvilIsHammy gritting of teeth from what appears to be chronic pain, and irrational behavior]] as actually being symptoms that he suffers from Clarke's Syndrome, the same ailment that killed Archer's father in the regular universe.
6	** A common fan theory is that the only way that Archer got his job was because Henry Archer [[ScrewTheRulesIHaveConnections called in some favors]] before he died.
7	** Alternatively, Archer has been riding on his father's name to get positions such as captain of ''Enterprise''.
8	** Future Guy. While WordOfGod says he's ''probably'' a 27th century Romulan (and ''sometimes'' his silhouette very clearly had the characteristic shoulder pads of Romulan military uniforms), some fans believe he's either an alternate-future ''Archer'' or possibly the Archer from the Mirror Universe. Berman and Braga eventually admitted that a BadFuture version of Archer ''was'' one of the other options they considered for Future Guy's identity.
9	*** Maybe Future Guy was the [[{{Recap/DoctorWhoS23E1TheMysteriousPlanet}} Valeyard]]. Well, he did foreshadow the show’s cancellation and may have been an inexplicable future echo of the lead character…
10	*** [[BewareTheNiceOnes Soval]] is also another candidate for the identity of Future Guy.
11	** The Vulcans in general. Having made [[Film/StarTrekFirstContact first contact with an Earth]] that still had one foot in WorldWarIII, no [[OneWorldOrder unified government]], many areas that were completely lawless and lots of problems caused by decades of conventional and nuclear war. Their curiosity piqued by signs of a warp drive vessel launching from the planet, they [[FailedASpotCheck landed without examining the global situation too closely]] and [[OhCrap found themselves confronted by this mess]]. For the next century they would have to try to gently encourage the humans to get their act together [[YouAreNotReady while fending off constant demands that they share their advanced technology with this potentially dangerous immature culture]]. This could be seen as placing considerable strain on their emotional control, especially since humans (e.g. Archer) were proving to not be above unapologetically cozying up to their enemies (e.g. the Andorians) or forming popular movements with [[FantasticRacism anti-alien sentiments]] such as Terra Prime. At that point it was actually kind of a toss-up as to who would make a better ally, the increasingly uppity Earth or the Romulans (who were at least technically members of the same species as they).
12	** Part of Andre Bormanis' [[WhatCouldHaveBeen original pitch]] for Phlox was that he admits his medical experience on Denobula was as a ''[[HalfTruth veterinarian]]'' and was in fact [[BackAlleyDoctor outright banned]] from operating on sentient humanoid life forms. Some fans have embraced this as canon, because honestly, it makes ''way'' too much sense for the character.
13	** Temporal Agent Daniels is completely incompetent who needed the help of downtimers clueless about TimeTravel to solve his problems, and flagrantly violated the [[AlienNonInterferenceClause Temporal Prime Directive]] on multiple occasions by involving them. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FZAN8bJwySI]]
14	** When the show was first in production, it was rumoured that Malcolm Reed was going to be the first openly gay character in ''Franchise/StarTrek''. Although the creators insisted he was straight, his actor stated that he always considered Malcolm gay and played him as such. His awkward interactions with women and lack of a social[=/=]romantic life was explained InUniverse as a combination of BritishStuffiness and being a workaholic, but can easily be interpreted as a man either in the closet or struggling with his sexuality.
15	* {{Anvilicious}}:
16	** Bakula deserved an Emmy for staying straight-faced through the speech about how Starfleet will one day have a "directive" guide them through the ethics of FirstContact. Urban legend aside, [[BeamMeUpScotty he never actually calls it a "directive that is prime!"]]
17	** The season 3 episode "Chosen Realm". Plenty of religious extremism, religion used to justify suicide bombings and other killings, etc. It also doesn't help that the ending is a quite shameless ripoff of the famous Original Series episode "Let That Be Your Last Battlefield."
18	** "Carpenter Street" feels like an early ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'' episode, as it takes every opportunity to lecture its 21st century audience about how backward their society is. Fossil fuel, smoking, and fast food are all ridiculed.
19	* AssPull:
20	** Quite a few episodes involve aspects of the ''Trek'' universe from a century or two in the future, with horribly nonsensical contrivances to avoid actually messing with canon. Most noticeable is the Borg not identifying themselves for no reason at all except the Enterprise-D crew didn't know who they were at first. Even though "We are the Borg" is their first line to ''everybody'' they encounter in other shows.
21	** The ending of Season 3. After a season's worth of fighting Xindi, talking to Xindi, and being informed by Daniels that the Temporal Cold War hinges on correctly resolving the Xindi situation, the crew finally stops the Xindi weapon and gets ready for a heroic homecoming only to find... [[spoiler:Nazis have taken over the world. Because of the Temporal Cold War]]. It completely pull the rug out from under the dramatic finale episodes, it came with no foreshadowing whatsoever, and [[GainaxEnding had nothing at all to do with the Xindi]]. Rick Berman has since revealed that he deliberately threw in the most nonsensical twist he could think of to essentially dare the network to go ahead with a possible cancellation and let the show and perhaps the entire franchise end on such a ridiculous note. And then he didn't even have to worry about how to resolve it as he turned the reins over to Manny Coto for Season 4.
22	* BaseBreakingCharacter:
23	** Let's just say the misguided argument for withholding a cure from the Valakians in "Dear Doctor" is just one reason Phlox is ''Star Trek's'' most divisive doctor.
24	** [[Series/StarTrekVoyager Kathryn Janeway]] was controversial, but not quite like Jonathan Archer. He gets accusations of DesignatedHero more often than any other Trek captain, for his [[TheResenter bitterness toward the Vulcans,]] amongst other things, leading him to some reckless decision-making (for example, he's as culpable for the result of "Dear Doctor" as Phlox, and he's also come under fire for his decisions in "The Andorian Incident" and "Cogenitor"). They made his greying morality a more central part of his character during the Xindi arc, resulting in a more interesting character, though that hasn't done much to fix the base-breaking.
25	** T'Pol -- some people think that it's interesting to see a female Vulcan as a main character since most other prominent Vulcans are male, and that she's often the voice of reason. Others think she's too similar to either Spock (for being a Vulcan who's the first officer and science officer) or Seven of Nine (for being a serious woman in a catsuit), that said catsuit and/or her relationship with Trip make her too sexualised, or that she has too many NotSoStoic moments.
26	** Hoshi is seen by some as an interesting character for being an {{Omniglot}} and the CharacterDevelopment of her outgrowing the fearful behaviour she had in earlier episodes, and wish she had more screen time. Others think that said fearful behaviour made her too {{wangst}}y and/or bad representation since she's one of the only two women in the main cast.
27	* BestKnownForTheFanservice: ''Enterprise'' has a bit of a reputation for being more 'adult' than ''Trek'' series before, with a bit more bad language slipping through and edgier characterization. Oh, and extra {{Fanservice}} -- T'Pol is not-so-subtly an {{Expy}} of [[Series/StarTrekVoyager Seven Of Nine]], complete with a {{Stripperiffic}} outfit, and then there's the infamous decontamination room, an excuse to get everyone down to their underpants OnceAnEpisode.
28	* BetterOnDVD: Very much a [[BrokenBase Love It Or Hate It]] show on its original run for both its concept and also because it was the last piece of ''Star Trek'' to be made in an unbroken 18 year run on TV, ingloriously cancelled before it reached the expected 7 seasons; the advent of the franchise's revival in the JJ Abrams-directed movies, coinciding with the release of ''Enterprise'' on Blu-Ray, has resulted in a sizable shift in appreciation from some quarters of the fanbase. It's not uncommon these days to hear it being spoken about as an under-appreciated gem.
29	* BigLippedAlligatorMoment:
30	** In "Broken Bow", after Archer gets shot in the leg, he has a flashback to his childhood recalling some advice his father gave, then he suddenly sees T'Pol standing there glaring at him. The scene was so jarring that it generated heaps of EpilepticTrees that devolved into nothing when there was never any further reference to it.
31	** The couple of times in the first season when the crew are having casual conversations [[IntimateLotionApplication while rubbing each other down with gel half-naked]] in the [[DecontaminationChamber decon chamber]]. It came completely out of nowhere. The only possible reason why one of the scenes occurred was because it featured T'Pol and Trip rubbing each other down while arguing, which could have been foreshadowing for their relationship developments in season 3, but even that explanation is reaching.
32	* BrokenBase:
33	** The ''Franchise/StarTrek'' fanbase in general is divided up between people who think ''Enterprise'' was either an ambitious-if-flawed series and those who think it was deservedly cancelled. The split likely occurred during [=DS9=]/VOY's run. Those who craved realism and space politics had their own show with [=DS9=], while the TOS lovers had their seven years of VOY (If you hadn't kept up with [=DS9 or VOY=], "Broken Bow" had two or three scenes that old-timers would probably find distasteful). Both sides got funneled into watching ENT. Toss in the TOS fans lured by the promise of classic ''Trek'' adventures, and you wind up with an unpleasable hydra.
34	--->'''''Website/TheAgonyBooth:''''' ''With a lot of old-school Trekkies (understandably) seeing ''Enterprise'' as an attempt to 're-do' ''TOS'', and with a lot of new-school Trekkies (understandably) pissed that the new show wasn't going to build upon the ''TNG-[=DS9=]-Voyager'' continuity, the show went on to polarize fans like never before. If you feel indifferent towards ''Enterprise'', chances are you're not really that into ''Star Trek''.''
35	** There is a serious divide among fans of the series over the closing "These are the voyages..." narration in the last episode. Some fans thought it was cool that they divided the narration up among the various Captains of the Enterprise, while others saw it as a TakeThat to Scott Bakula, who (they argue) had earned the right to make the entire narration himself.
36	*** A similar break was caused by the 2009 reboot when Leonard Nimoy gave the narration rather than Chris Pine. This was fortunately resolved in [[Film/StarTrekIntoDarkness the sequel]].
37	** The Broken Base reached its climax around 2002-2003 when, coupled with the failure of ''Film/StarTrekNemesis'' at the box office, Trek fandom fractured into "bashers" (those who could no longer abide anything related to Trek made by the then-current production regime) and "gushers" (who generally defended the current works, but were scorned by the bashers for blindly liking whatever was put in front of them). As the first Trek series that lived and died during the Internet age, Trek forums were frequently the site of figurative bloodbaths, with both bashers and gushers being banned for flaming each other. There were also some extreme reports of [[InternetJerk fans claiming to want to do physical harm]] to ''Enterprise's'' producers, and one forum saw an infamous exchange where a fan claimed to have gotten so upset at the news that the Borg were to appear in ''Enterprise'' that he [[ShootTheTV smashed his television.]] When ''Enterprise'' finally did end, many fans divorced themselves from "Trekdom"; the JJ Abrams reboot (which divided the fanbase even more) won some back, but others moved on to other franchises.
38	** The Broken Base effect was further emphasized by the fact that whatever the showrunners tried to do to address concerns was slapped down: fans were upset the series didn't have ''Star Trek'' in the title. The title was added, and they were criticized for doing so. The "Temporal Cold War" plotline was abandoned due to being unpopular; they were criticized for abandoning it. An attempt at breaking status quo with the season-long Xindi arc was condemned by the same people who said they wanted ''Enterprise'' to stop being a clone of Voyager and TOS. Even the final season's "Hail Mary" pass of devoting most of the season to prequeling TOS and TNG, something fans had wanted since day 1, was rejected. Ironically, the series was officially cancelled during production of an episode that replicated the costumes and sets of the Star Trek TOS era. But by this point the base was so broken that had William Shatner and Leonard Nimoy become regulars the fanbase would have still turned up their nose at it.
39	** To any moderates or anyone with any opinions that fell between the battle lines, this BrokenBase could lead to absolute lethality in the forums. God help you if you thought the series was a reasonably enjoyable, if flawed, prequel that despite problems actually did quite well with the material it had to work with, showing an imperfect crew who struggled in defining their place and the place of humanity in a quite often hostile galaxy - making mistakes along the way (probably unintended by the writers but which had greater meaning and ramifications within the context of the show) - with the improvements in season 4 making astounding retroactive sense out of many of the issues of the series and Star Trek franchise. There are a small group who feel that despite the wasted potential of plot lines and canon, and a handful of rather painful episodes that pop up here and there which are drowned in hypocrisy and stupidity - like "Dear Doctor" for one - this was still a rather enjoyable show. Of course, expect to be called a troll if you voiced such an opinion at the time. You could get slaughtered (bloodily) in the forums from both sides for voicing any of this interpretation, particularly if you never payed any attention to any WordOfGod information given about the series, and ended up thinking that the series fitted in with continuity, or, horror of horrors, that the Temporal Cold War was an interesting mostly background arc that gave maneuverability and flexibility with regards to whether the series would end up leading into the franchise continuity or into an alternate timeline, giving a more dynamic appeal to a series that could otherwise have been boxed-in by franchise canon.
40	** On the other hand, there are some fans (especially those critical of the reboot) who dismiss any criticism of the show and blame fans for "ruining the franchise" by not supporting the show enough.
41	** The launch of ''Series/StarTrekDiscovery'' has caused yet ''another'' fracturing of the base, with some claiming that ''Discovery'' has helped them gain a new appreciation of ''Enterprise'', for at least trying to stay true to the spirit of ''Star Trek'' even if the execution wasn't always that great, and just as many claiming that ''Discovery'' shows how outdated ''Enterprise'' seemed even when it first aired (and that's before you get to those fans who love both shows, or don't like either of them).
42	** The theme song. While most fans agree that it's cheesy, some fans think that's inherently a bad thing, while others thing the song is actually good, cheesiness and all.
43	** Much like how the ''Voyager'' fandom is split between those who preferred the "Kes era" (Seasons 1-3) and the "Seven era" (Seasons 4-7), there's a three-way split as to where the show's peak was. Some fans prefer Season 1 and 2's continuing the light-hearted and episodic nature of TNG and ''Voyager'', others prefer Season 3's DarkerAndEdgier, more high-stakes direction, and still others consider Season 4's more overtly TOS-prequel nature to be where the show hit its peak.
44	* TheChrisCarterEffect:
45	** The pilot left the audience wondering who the shadowy individual directing new bad guy race the Suliban was. At the end of the series, they're still wondering and apparently no one behind the scenes gave it much thought either. Instead of answering the questions the Temporal Cold War threw up or explaining characters' motivations, the show instead introduced more and more factions, their motives and goals just as nebulous as the ones that were already there. When a new showrunner took over for the beginning of Season 4, he introduced yet ''another'' new faction who were apparently the worst of the lot, blew them up and announced that the war was over and indeed had never happened (even though several events that were a direct result of the war clearly still had). Uh-huh?
46	** Even after the show's cancellation, the identity of "Future Guy" remained muddled. Rick Berman claimed that they had never established his identity, while Manny Coto and Brannon Braga said he was probably a Romulan, only for Braga to later go back on that, claiming he had always intended him to be Archer, which still leaves unresolved ''why'' Archer would be doing all these horrible things. Meanwhile, the EU novels took his character in a different direction than any of those stated possibilities, making him Jamran Harnoth, the leader of a eugenics movement who was also using time travel to ensure his own existence (being of Suliban, Tadaran, ''and'' Romulan descent).
47	* ClicheStorm: "Precious Cargo", especially the haughty princess and the rough-and-tumble common man Trip hating each other until they suddenly, for no reason, kiss and then have sex.
48	* CompleteMonster:
49	** Season 3's Xindi Arc: [[FantasticRacist Commander Dolim]] is the power-hungry leader of the [[ReptilesAreAbhorrent Reptilian]] faction of the Xindi civilization. When the Sphere Builders lie that humans will destroy the Xindi civilization in the future, Dolim attacks the Earth along with the other Xindi leaders, with Dolim, in contrast to his fellow Xindi leaders, taking glee in killing humans. [[GeneralRipper Refusing to consider the evidence that humans may not actually be a threat to the Xindi]], Dolim proceeds to kill Degra for helping Archer, promising to hunt down his family after he has destroyed Earth, and [[ColdBloodedTorture tortures]] Archer and Hoshi into cooperation. Dolim [[NotSoWellIntentionedExtremist loses any pretense of noble intentions]] when he tries to destroy Earth along with the Insectoids so that the Sphere Builders will make his species the rulers of a new Xindi Empire, killing his allies when they question the mission.
50	** "[[Recap/StarTrekEnterpriseS03E01TheXindi The Xindi]]": The [[BadBoss unnamed mine foreman]] is a brutal [[SlaveryIsASpecialKindOfEvil slave driver]] who exploits the need for trellium-D in the Delphic Expanse to line his own pockets. Forcing his workers to operate in hazardous conditions, the foreman has no regard for their safety, often having them beaten or mutilated if they step out of line. When the ''Enterprise'' crew arrives looking for one of the foreman's workers, a Xindi named Kessick, the foreman has the man's [[{{Fingore}} finger cut off]] to provide proof that he's Xindi. Using this as bait, the foreman summons warships to capture ''Enterprise'', planning to enslave the crew to work in the mines. When Archer, Tucker, and Kessick attempt to escape through a plasma duct, the foreman tries to kill them by drowning them in super-heated plasma. When they escape this trap and are recaptured, the foreman decides to simply execute them, with Kessick being mortally wounded in the resulting firefight.
51	* ContestedSequel: See above. Not even ''Voyager'' spawns quite as much bile as this show does, and debates about the merits of every element continue to this very day.
52	* DesignatedHero: Like ''Voyager'', the show suffered by trying to create an flawed captain who was nevertheless always right. Archer's childhood grudge against the Vulcans put two bridge officers at risk when he was reluctant to ask the nearby Vulcans for help, and he once sided with the Andorians over his supposed allies without much examination (and after the Andorians attacked ''him''). He also let a sentient species die out because of the Prime Directive before it even ''existed'' (for reasons that stemmed from a gross misunderstanding of how evolution works), caused a diplomatic incident by taking his dog to a sacred grove of trees, and condemned other ships or cultures for doing things he had done or would do in the space of a few episodes. Meanwhile, the secret agent from the future kept saying Archer would be hailed as one of this era's great figures. (The third season has him committing some acts of dubious morality in the name of protecting Earth, but with more self-awareness of that dubiousness.)
53	* DesignatedVillain: T’pol is cold in the pilot yes, but thanks to Vulcans being control freaks, she doesn’t actually do much wrong, and Trip/Archer spend most of it digging at her, scapegoating her for Vulcan history. She gets a GrudgingApology at the end, but they do the same thing multiple times.
54	* EndingFatigue: The infamous "These Are the Voyages" has gone down as the most reviled finale of any ''Trek'' series due to the fact that's essentially a ''TNG'' episode featuring the ''Enterprise'' cast.
55	* EnsembleDarkhorse:
56	** Shran -- so much so that he would have joined the ship's crew in the planned season 5 as a regular character. His ambiguous status as ally/rival was played with flair by series veteran Creator/JeffreyCombs.
57	** Despite the (not-unjustified) hate surrounding the Temporal Cold War arc, [[TheHeavy Silik]] was generally agreed to be an effective villain. [[TheScrappy His unnamed boss, on the other hand...]]
58	** Archer's dog, Porthos, doesn't figure into plots too much, and maybe that's a good thing considering "A Night In Sickbay," but who cares because he's [[CutenessOverload a good lil' doggo! Yes he is! So good!]]
59	* EpilepticTrees: A theory that existed as far back as the pilot episode was that ''Enterprise'' was actually a ShowWithinAShow in the world of TNG-era Trek, which explained the more advanced-looking technology and supposed continuity errors. This remained a fringe theory in ''Enterprise'' fandom for several years, until the series finale was shown to have a holonovel of the ''Enterprise'' as a framing device, and all of a sudden the theory was taken a lot more seriously.
60	** A nice addendum to the theory would be that with the Xindi incident and the Earth-Romulan War, most of the missions relating to the NX-01 were heavily classified by Starfleet, which remained in effect even into the 24th century, out of fear that some of ''Enterprise's'' more dubious activities might have damaged the Federation if word ever got out. As such, ''Enterprise'' is merely the revisionist history known to the public.
61	* EsotericHappyEnding:
62	** In "Dear Doctor", Archer and Phlox decide not to give the Valakians a cure to their illness, likely dooming their race to extinction, and this decision helps Phlox gain new respect for Archer? This can be blamed on ExecutiveMeddling; the episode was supposed to end with Archer and Phlox at odds with each other (Archer wanting the cure, Phlox opposing it), but the network didn't want any disagreements between them. So what should have ended up as a debate on the morality of intervention on the fate of another species with heavy consequences, turns into everyone deciding unequivocally that of course it's right to doom millions to die based on some warped Darwinistic ideal of naturalist succession.
63	** "Bound". The idea behind it was noble, but it did it in a half-baked manner. Offering a clichéd appropriation of third-wave feminism suggesting that the Orion Slave Girls are “empowered” by their sexuality and are the ones calling the shots. (The sex slaver is a brain-dead zombie... Didn't we already do this story in "Angel One"?) Which feels like an excuse to justify the cheesecake scenes and lingering {{male gaze}} that runs through the episode.
64	* {{Fanon}}:
65	** Bakula himself suggested Archer's middle name is [[Series/QuantumLeap Beckett.]] OHBOYYYYYYYYY...
66	** The Denobulans have never been seen in any other ''Trek'' series. An interpretation you'll come across sometimes is traced to Phlox and his, let's say, questionable decisions over the course of the series, such as the numerous times he breaks doctor-patient confidentiality, and the infamous "Dear Doctor." Once the Federation began and the BlueAndOrangeMorality of Denobulan medical ethics came to light, perhaps one side or the other realized that the Denobulans are probably not a good fit for the Federation.
67	*** A couple of Denobulans are finally seen again in an episode of ''WesternAnimation/StarTrekLowerDecks'', but it's not made any clearer whether they're Federation members or not.
68	* FanonDiscontinuity:
69	** Depending on who you ask, "These are the Voyages" or even the entire series is either canon, non-canon, or an InUniverse fictional holonovel Riker's enjoying on the holodeck that may or may not be based on historical events with undetermined amounts of ArtisticLicense applied. ''Series/StarTrekPicard'' has implied this may be the case, as it has the ''NX-01'' at the Fleet Museum in a refit configuration she never appeared in during her own series.
70	** Quite a few fans rejected "Bound" for pushing the boundaries of consent of the male crew, on top of the heteronormativity.
71	* FanNickname: Future Guy for the guy in charge of the Cabal from the 29th century that was part of the Temporal Cold War arc. He was never given a real name on the show.
72	* FetishRetardant: The blatant fanservice appeal of the decontamination scenes turned away quite a few potential fans. True, there was a slight ratings bump for the especially titillating "A Night in Sickbay" -- and the numbers plummeted that following week. Those viewers never returned, either. In fairness, watching [[DiscountLesbians Hoshi rub lube onto T'Pol]], [[BelligerentSexualTension who was rubbing it onto Archer]], who in turn was ''[[BestialityIsDepraved rubbing it onto Porthos]]'' might have had just a few too many viewers reaching for the BrainBleach...
73	* FranchiseOriginalSin:
74	** The show went the route of being a {{prequel}} in order to spice up how commonplace certain adventures and technology had become by the end of ''Voyager'', hoping to make space travel feel dangerous and exciting again. But it was still largely helmed by the same team as the TNG-era, and they couldn't help but place emphasis on many of the same types of situations of those shows. Episodes with Ferengi, Borg and holographic technology were all criticized to different degrees for going back to the same well.
75	** There was an active attempt to recreate the [[FreudianTrio Kirk, Spock and McCoy]] trio of the Original Series, using Archer, T'Pol and Trip as a substitute. This came after the TNG-era earned greater success in focusing on the ensemble cast as an evolution of the structure used by TOS. As a result many of the secondary cast members [[OutOfFocus ended up under-utilized]] because too much focus was on those three. Mayweather and Sato suffered the most in this regard.
76	* GrowingTheBeard:
77	** Season 3 or 4. Both seasons (particularly the latter) were far and away better received than what came before.
78	** This actually ends up being FridgeBrilliance because what we see is the Enterprise crew having a rocky start, getting involved in dubious incidents and making mistakes and judgement errors, and then they grow steadily more competent and are shown getting involved in important matters and making wise, experienced decisions. In an in-series manner, the show GrowingTheBeard reflects on the characters and what they do, which actually shows CharacterDevelopment. ''Especially'' in Archer, who, after the events of "The Expanse" at the end of season 2, gradually turns from his naive "aw shucks" demeanor, to a much grittier, determined approach. Sadly, none of this was quite enough to overcome the loss in viewership and fandom goodwill.
79	** A lot of fans point to season 2's "Cogenitor" as [=ENT=]'s first genuinely excellent episode; at the very least, it's one of the show's most controversial.
80	* HarsherInHindsight:
81	** In "Dear Doctor", Dr. Phlox and Crewman Cutler have a discussion about the heart's place as the emotional center for humans, which ends with Cutler saying "you may know about our cardiopulmonary system, but you have a lot to learn about the human heart.". Cutler's actress, Kellie Waymire, would die from a heart defect in 2003.
82	** In the season 2 episode "Singularity", Archer responds to Malcolm's criticisms about their battle readiness by pointing out that ''Enterprise'' "isn't a warship". After the Xindi attack, ''Enterprise'' receives more powerful weapons and a contingent of SpaceMarines, turning her into a warship.
83	** In many ways, Season Two's "Regeneration" is a quintessential "in-universe" example. Part of the thrill of the episode is the fact that viewers with even a passing familiarity with the Borg are far more aware of what the characters are up against than the characters are... and thus, the fact that they're all in ''grave'' danger.
84	** "Demons" and "Terra Prime" depict Mars undergoing {{Terraform}}ation. ''Series/StarTrekPicard'' reveals that whatever changes were made to the environment didn't last -- the planet was be [[OrbitalBombardment firebombed]] by [[AIIsACrapshoot rogue androids]] in the 2380s, reducing it to a wasteland that's still burning ''fourteen years later''.
85	** "Extinction" can be considered this, in light of the coronavirus outbreak.
86	** Daniels may have lived to see the end of the Temporal Wars ([[TheyKilledKennyAgain multiple deaths]] notwithstanding), but it's only a matter of time before [[Series/StarTrekDiscovery The Burn]] destroys damn near everything he fought to protect.
87	* HilariousInHindsight:
88	** In a first season episode, someone is amazed at how far Archer and his crew have come, and asks him what things have been named after him back on Earth. Archer laughs this idea off, but it's revealed later that, eventually, two ''planets'' were named after him.
89	** For those who feel that Archer's skills as a "trained diplomat" are an InformedAbility, the scene in "Broken Bow" with the Klingon High Council, where Hoshi basically tells Archer that he doesn't want to know what the Chancellor said to them, the TNG episode [[Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS4E15FirstContact "First Contact"]] becomes especially hilarious:
90	--->'''Picard:''' Centuries ago, disastrous contact with the Klingon Empire led to decades of war.
91	** [[TheWorfEffect "Disastrous contact"]] pretty much sums up Archer's track record with aliens!
92	** In "Broken Bow", Mayweather and Reed talk about the then-new transporter being approved used on bio-organic matter (read sentient beings), Reed dreads that Archer would make the crew use it. Mayweather laughs it off saying that Archer "wouldn't even put his dog through..." [[Film/StarTrek2009 Fast forward a century and a young Montgomery Scott ends up sent to an outpost as punishment for experimenting transportation onto a moving starship using a certain prize beagle... well... ]] [[LegacyCharacter probably his descendant.]] [[spoiler:[[BrickJoke that survives the process]] [[AllThereInTheManual according to the end of novelization.]]]]
93	** After the show's cancellation, fans attempted a campaign to fund a fifth season. Disregarding a substantial donation made by a group of people in the aeronautical industry, it only raised a little over $100,000 (enough to produce about a tenth of ''one'' episode), and was widely seen as a dismal failure and proof that the remaining ''Trek'' fans were at best overly dedicated to a franchise that was increasingly irrelevant, and at worst flat-out delusional. Fast-forward to the modern day however, and various types of media (including a continuation of ''Series/VeronicaMars'', the show which UPN canned ''Enterprise'' to focus their resources on) getting funding through Website/{{Kickstarter}}, it appears that the campaign to save ''Enteprise'' was actually way ahead of its time, and just lacked the infrastructure to succeed.
94	** Not precisely ''hindsight,'' but if you've ever seen ''Film/{{Casablanca}}'', the "Storm Front" episodes--Humphrey Bogart was right when he told Colonel Strasser that "there are parts of New York I'd advise you not to try and invade."
95	** Creator/SethMacFarlane played an engineer on NX-01, who eventually transfers to the NX-02. Already known as a Trek fanboy, he would go on to create ''Series/TheOrville'', which serves as an homage and parody of the franchise, and star as TheCaptain of the title ship.
96	** Among the show's most infamous moments is Archer's "gazelle speech" as an attempt at motivating the crew in "Shockwave". In 2017, then-[[UsefulNotes/NationalFootballLeague New York Giants]] head coach Ben [=McAdoo=] was the subject of ridicule when he tried motivating the team with a story about a sex-crazed lion. It worked about as well as you'd expect.
97	* HoYay:
98	** "Shuttlepod One", being a BottleEpisode with just Malcolm and Trip, can't help but have some of this.
99	** Hoshi and T'Pol develop lots of this early on. T'Pol literally takes her hand at one point while they're working on something, and it's hard not to think ''just kiss already.'' It's implied in other ''Trek'' shows (and confirmed in the EU) that for Vulcans, ''touching hands '''is''' kissing.''
100	* InferredHolocaust: In "Azati Prime", Daniels shows Archer that the Sphere Builders will be defeated in the 26th century. Great, but by that point they'd already transformed 50,000 light years of space, which is one-third the diameter of the Milky Way. No doubt thousands of planets and untold billions of people were wiped out. [[spoiler:Fortunately, ''Enterprise'' may have disrupted that timeline by destroying the Sphere network outright at the end of the season]].
101	* InformedWrongness: T’Pol is treated as a {{jerkass}} for not liking the crew in season one, but they routinely ignore her advice and then get themselves in trouble, mock her for being uptight and even Phlox makes fun of her for not wanting to try food she’s uncomfortable with.
102	* IronWoobie: Reed. Really, the guy should be given a medal for the number of times he's been shot, concussed, crushed under rocks, pinned to the hull of the ship by a Romulan mine, almost hanged, etc.
103	* ItsTheSameNowItSucks:
104	** A major complaint about ''Enterprise'', particularly the first couple seasons, was how strongly similar it was to all the previous Trek shows, particularly ''Voyager''. It took the threat of cancellation to make them do something with the premise.
105	** To the point where even though the technology won't be invented in the Federation for another two centuries, the ''fifth'' episode featured an alien holodeck, while the ''eighth'' episode has the replic- sorry, [[SerialNumbersFiledOff Protein Resequencer]], capable of turning human feces into a pair of boots. "Protein synthesisers" look more than a little like food replicators. (Kirk had to get his sandwiches from a vending machine.)
106	** More damagingly, Rick Berman had been the man in charge of the franchise since Gene Roddenberry's death, and in the first two seasons fans got the distinct impression that [[TwoDecadesBehind his mindset was still stuck in how television worked at that time]], ignoring how the format had been revolutionized starting in the late '90s to feature heavy serialization and few standalone stories. However, when the series ''did'' adopt this format (season 3's Xindi arc; season 4's mini-arcs), it was rejected (and indeed, even today there is serious discontinuity in various fandoms between those who want serials and those who prefer standalones. See ''Series/DoctorWho''.)
107	** Especially laughable is the crew saying the ship’s armor is “offline,” as if the writers were so determined to act like this was any other show in the franchise that they refused to alter the terminology used for shields, despite making no sense.
108	* MagnificentBitch: "[[Recap/StarTrekEnterpriseS04E18InAMirrorDarkly In a Mirror, Darkly]]": The MirrorUniverse version of [[BadassBookworm Hoshi Sato]] stands in stark contrast to her reserved Main Universe version as a conniving SocialClimber who seduces men in the Terran Military who can advance her career while being no less important to the mission for her [[CunningLinguist linguistic skills]] in communicating with hostile aliens. Hoshi supports Archer's mission to recover the ''Defiant'' from the Tholians and helps him to maintain control over the ship, even exposing a plot by T'Pol and other alien members of the crew in time to stop the uprising dead in its tracks. Seducing Archer's bodyguard Mayweather and tricking Archer into [[TamperingWithFoodAndDrink downing a poisoned drink]] while his guard is down, Hoshi emerges the victor out of the continual backstabbing and uses the threat of the ''Defiant'''s advanced weapons systems to declare herself Empress of the Terran Empire.
109	* MemeticMutation: The theme song ''alone'' is a longtime RunningGag in the fandom, to the point that it's practically ''Franchise/StarTrek'''s JustForFun/{{Rickroll}}.
110	* {{Misblamed}}: Fans who prefer the more TNG and ''Voyager''-like feel of the first two seasons often blame UPN's mandating a ReTool for the show's ratings decline and cancellation, claiming that the show would have done fine if they had left it alone. UPN actually forced the retool because the ratings had ''already'' declined severely, with Season 2 alone losing nearly half of its viewers by the end. The retool failed to actually reverse the ratings decline, which likely resulted in the show being put in a graveyard slot for Season 4 and then cancelled at the end of that season, but ratings in Season 3 at least stayed pretty consistent throughout.
111	* MoralEventHorizon: See [[MoralEventHorizon/StarTrek here]].
112	* MyRealDaddy: The 4th season, with Manny Coto as showrunner, is held to higher esteem than the first 3 seasons run by Rick Berman and Brannon Braga. See also RunningTheAsylum.
113	[[/folder]]
114	[[folder:N-Z]]
115	%% * {{Narm}}: The gazelle speech. What a legend.
116	* NarmCharm: "It's been a looooong road... gettin' from there to heeeere..." Somewhere between a Music/{{Creed\|band}} ballad and Music/AirSupply, the ''Enterprise'' theme is both mocked and remembered fondly in equal measure to this day.
117	* NeverLiveItDown:
118	** Phlox and Archer, and by extension writer Brannon Braga, advocating genocide in "[[Recap/StarTrekEnterpriseS01E13DearDoctor Dear Doctor]]" through the exact same misunderstanding of evolution that the ''Voyager'' episode "[[Recap/StarTrekVoyagerS2E15Threshold Threshold]]" is so infamous for.
119	** It's a RunningGag in the fandom that Trip frequently keeps winding up in his underwear.
120	** Hoshi's nervy behaviour in early episodes have made fans think of her as a scaredy-cat. She's also known for losing her shirt in one episode.
121	** "These Are The Voyages" will never be able to escape the fact that it was the series finale for ''Enterprise''...but focused on ''The Next Generation'' characters, to the point the episode was given the dubious distinction of being voted by fans as the worst ''Trek'' episode ever made.
122	* QuestionableCasting: Bakula is one of the sweetest and most charming actors working. But ''Star Trek'' has a very firm and rigid idea of what a commanding officer should be ( ''"Ours not to wonder why, ours but to do and to die!"'') The points where Archer comes closest to working as a character are the points where he seems like a less-stereotypical ''Trek'' captain.
123	* RetroactiveRecognition:
124	** [[https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Joel_Heyman One of the background extras in season 1]] is Creator/JoelHeyman - a case of PromotedFanboy, as one Creator/RoosterTeeth [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BaB2g1YWwjw video]] shows he's quite knowledgeable about ''Trek'' ships.
125	** Terry Matalas was a writer for this series before he went on to help ''Series/StarTrekPicard'' for its third and final season, which served as a reunion with the cast of ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'' (and even featured a few homages to ''Enterprise'' via the refit ship appearing at the Fleet Museum).
126	* TheScrappy:
127	** T'Pol ''could'' have been an interesting character; after all we have never had a female Vulcan main character before and the prequel format opened a whole tree of possibilities for the Human-Vulcan dynamic. The problem was that they made her instantly unlikeable by not only making her a racist who tried to pick at just about every facet of human culture and society she could but did it in an extraordinarily bitchy way that usually amounted to little more than easily refuted straw man arguments, such as the time when she tried to claim that humans were carnivores whilst sitting there watching Archer eat a breadstick. The final nail in the coffin was when they decided to give her some of the most shamelessly juvenile fanservice of the franchise including multiple scenes where they stripped her down to tight skimpy underwear. Like most things on the show she improved immensely by season four but the overall damage was irreparable by this point.
128	** "Future Guy", due to being a major part of the loathed [[ArcFatigue Temporal Cold War storyline]] and such a poorly conceived character, to the point that his true identity was never revealed. (In fact, Berman and Braga hadn't even ''decided'' on his identity.) Especially embarrassing as he was meant to be the show's BigBad.
129	* SugarWiki/SheReallyCanAct: T'pol often gets called an {{Expy}} of Seven Of Nine from ''Voyager,'' and unfortunately critics of her character, and the show itself, sometimes extend their ill feelings to the actress. Jolene Blalock actually has some very good acting moments throughout the series -- to name just one, check out her chilling performance in "Impulse" from season 3, where T'pol slowly goes insane over the course of the episode.
130	* ShockingMoments:
131	** "Azati Prime". They've finally found the Xindi [[EarthShatteringKaboom superweapon]]! And Archer goes on a SuicideMission to destroy it! But he gets captured! And ''Enterprise'' is attacked! And nearly destroyed!
132	** Fan-favorite episode "Twilight" starts off with the image of ''the Earth [[EarthShatteringKaboom being blown up]] with the crew helpless to watch.'' [[MoodWhiplash "It's been a looooong rooooad....."]]
133	* SoBadItsGood: The episode "Storm Front" is mostly just dull. ''But''... the last 10 minutes have the [[CoolStarship Enterprise]] OldSchoolDogfighting [[StupidJetpackHitler Stukas]] armed with [[EnergyWeapon Frickin' Laser Beams]] over [[BigApplesauce Manhattan]]. Yeah.
134	* {{Squick}}: When Trip and Hoshi get all sweaty when they have a silicon virus. Especially when Hoshi ''throws up''.
135	* StockFootageFailure: The clip of the space shuttle ''Enterprise'' in the title sequence is actually one of the later shuttles with its name digitally replaced. This is easily noticeable because the name is in the wrong place. While all of the spaceworthy shuttles have their names painted on the forward fuselage under the cockpit windows, the real ''Enterprise'' has its name painted on the payload bay doors.
136	* StrawmanHasAPoint:
137	** In "Fortunate Son" we're obviously supposed to disagree with the humans on the freighter who are trying to attack a base of Nausicaan pirates because the humans tortured a prisoner for information and the man in charge, Matthew Ryan, is clearly obsessed. However Ryan has a point. So far Starfleet and the Vulcans haven't done a single thing to stop the pirate attacks and the freighters have to endure constant attacks by far stronger pirates. The episode itself seems to unconsciously admit this when Archer can't think up a good counter to Ryan's complaints.
138	*** Just two episodes later, in "Silent Enemy", Archer's position gets further undermined when the shoe ends up on the other foot, and ''he'' and his crew are the ones who are forced to go on the offensive to stop a bunch of aliens from repeatedly attacking ''Enterprise'' without provocation.
139	** Archer in "The Hatchery". He decides they have to keep it running; when the crew protests, Archer says it's the same as if they'd found a nursery full of ''humanoid'' babies and saving the hatchery could serve as a point of truce between them and the Xindi, relating a story where soldiers in the Eugenics War called a truce so they could move the battle lines away from a school. Pretty in-line with Star Trek's themes of respecting life even in forms we're unfamiliar with, right? NOPE. This is irrational behavior that leads to Archer genuinely jeopardizing the mission and T'Pol has to mutiny against him. The only reason Archer wants to save the babies (weird, ''alien'' '''''bug babies''''', guys!) is because he got some egg gunk on him that made him reverse-imprint. Once Phlox fixes it, he's perfectly happy to ditch the hatchery with the HandWave that "they'll survive until a Xindi ship finds them."
140	* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodCharacter:
141	** Could go for many characters, but Travis Mayweather in particular stands out. Born and raised on a space freighter, he had the most practical space experience of the entire crew, despite his relative youth and low rank in Starfleet. The writers never seemed to grasp the inherent hooks of this, however, and the poor ensign had more or less nothing significant to do during the show's entire run (''That is patently false! In the series finale he got a name tag''). Indeed, this even led to an unintentional subplot in the second series, where it seems that every other episode Travis was injured and sent to sickbay, simply to give him a reason to appear in the episode. It's also become a popular speculation that after "Fortunate Son" was intended to be Travis's first big focus episode, the crew was so disappointed by Anthony Montgomery's performance that they decided not to ever give him such a large role again (though he ''does'' get one more shot, in season 2's "Horizon").
142	** Hoshi Sato. She really had a strong start, too! She's set up as a highly-esteemed expert in her field, gets some strong character insight in second episode "Fight Or Flight," and even starts developing a relationship with T'Pol (platonic, [[LesYay or maybe not]]) during the first season. But gradually, she's [[OutOfFocus reduced]] from a bridge officer with a vital role and Archer's old friend, to the ship's unofficial errand girl and glorified intern. This was an unfortunate side effect of the {{retool}} the series went through after its first two seasons. Those first seasons put more emphasis on exploration, first contact, and establishing peaceful relations between humans and various other species, all of which gave Hoshi a lot to do. But the third season was one big war arc, and the fourth had a lot of emphasis on armed conflict too, so the role of the ship's communication officer was understandably diminished. There's a CharacterCheck in the second-to-last episode "Terra Prime" where Hoshi gets one last FriendshipMoment with Archer [[spoiler:leading to her getting command of the ship, for the only time in the series,]] but by then, it was too little, too late.
143	** The MirrorUniverse versions of Hoshi and Travis taking over the Terran Empire at the end of that arc can only be a nod to their severe under-use in the prime universe.
144	** Malcolm Reed, who served in freaking ''Section 31'' before joining the Enterprise crew. For the unaware, this is the branch of Starfleet that is roughly on par with [=MI6=] in terms of undercover operations. In other words, Film/JamesBond was the weapons officer of this ship, and he wasn't even a part of the PowerTrio! Malcolm's Section 31 past was {{retcon}} added to the character in the middle of Enterprise's final season, so it's not like they had much time to develop this element before the show was cancelled.
145	** To a lesser degree, perhaps one of the few interesting characters in "Broken Bow" was Sarin, the Suliban Cabal [[DefectorFromDecadence defector]] who is killed after only a few minutes of screen time. One could imagine that she could have made for a great recurring character and foil to Silik, as well as emphasising the threat of the Temporal Cold War dividing entire races into factions, especially if could happen to Humanity as well.
146	** Emory Erickson from "Daedalus", the inventor of the transporter, first human to be transported and like a second father to Archer when he was growing up. The episode could have been far more powerful and tragic if it was revealed he was simply hallucinating his son Quinn being trapped mid-beam, a delusion caused by Transporter Psychosis that was common during this time period due to the imperfect technology. Likewise it would be tragic for Archer, being forced to watch yet another father-figure slowly lose his grip on reality.
147	** Poor, poor, poor T'Pol. We've seen Vulcans as major characters on predominantly human ships before, but T'Pol is the first. Much could be made of the culture clashes, T'Pol having to learn to modify her logic so her human coworkers will actually listen to her, the humans having to learn that their first reaction isn't always the right one and there's much to be gained from calmly analyzing all sides, and so on. Also, crossing over with wasting a good plot, Hoshi expresses interest in learning Vulcan emotional control, because she's terrified of the danger inherent in ''Enterprise''[='=]s mission. Can a human learn to control their emotions like a Vulcan? Is there a price to pay for doing so? How does this affect how humans and Vulcans relate to each other, now and for the next hundred years?[[note]]It's easy to imagine Michael Burnham's character arc on ''Series/StarTrekDiscovery'' was at least partially intended to finally rectify this and give the issues some real exploration.[[/note]] Instead, whenever T'Pol gets some character focus, it's usually either {{Fanservice}}, damaging her emotional control, or [[BreadEggsBreadedEggs damaging her emotional control to facilitate Fanservice]]. By the end of the show, T'Pol has picked up ''two'' separate conditions which hamper her ability to control her emotions ''the very thing that makes a Vulcan an interesting character to explore!'' It's like the writers didn't know what do with a real Vulcan, so wanted to rehash a "discovering humanity" story. . . but what was a meaningful and powerful exploration of the fundamental nature of humanity for Data and Seven of Nine comes off as a TraumaCongaLine for T'Pol.
148	* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodPlot:
149	** Most fans believe that Berman and Braga wasted a perfectly good ''show''.
150	** During the finale, there's a subplot about the epic speech that Archer gives that will go down in the history books. Don't expect to see it.
151	** It probably isn't an exaggeration to say that most fans expected to see the groundwork being laid for the future series; specifically the Romulan war and the leadup thereunto, as well as the infancy of the United Federation of Planets. There was the odd first encounter with an established race, but this happened incredibly infrequently, and usually didn't lead to much in the way of development. It didn't help that Brannon Braga apparently only set the series that far in the past so that he could get the franchise back to what ''he'' thought was its roots: the idea of deep space exploration. According to him, ''Star Trek'' was meant to be about exploration but the latest ''Trek'' series had gotten away from that.
152	*** Which, ironically, is exactly what they missed out on actually doing. In ''TOS'', the major canon races (Klingons, Romulans, etc.) were introduced without any prior history beyond exposition given in the episodes in which they appeared. Audiences were meant to "recognize" them more based on the fact that they were expies of America's rivals in the Cold War, not because there were piles of canon and EU material about them. ENT could have actually put more time into developing the ''discovery'' of species that would play a major role in later series. Instead they devoted that effort to developing races that were mysteriously absent from the other series, such as the Suliban and the Xindi.
153	** The entire Temporal Cold War idea was ''completely'' wasted.
154	*** There could have been crossovers with the [=TNG=], [=DS9=] and Voyager crews in order to save the timeline, going back to help ancient humans, explaining myths and legends from Earth itself ''and'' different cultures. In fact, they could have even gone forward in time to show the infancy of the Federation, if the show creators didn't want to put that in the 22nd century! They could have explained a ''lot'' of species backstory and laid down huge swaths of canon without even having to put it into the show timeframe. An insane amount of good ideas were just sitting there inherent in the introduction. Even the Suliban could have been made into a great plot. The conclusion to the story could have been Archer's crew solving everything at the cost of being erased from the timeline themselves
155	*** On a smaller scale, imagine how neat it could have been if Daniels had been a minor character throughout the first half of season one, occasionally showing up just to deliver news and such, before revealing he was a Time Agent? Instead, the reveal falls completely flat when we've never heard of him before the episode.
156	*** Also, the Temporal Cold War itself wasted the initial premise of the show. ''Enterprise'' was supposedly a prequel exploring how humanity took its first steps into the stars, leading to the founding of the United Federation of Planets and Starfleet as we know them. . . and the Temporal Cold War means you're not getting a show about that, you're getting a show about some jerks from the future trying to screw with that.
157	** On a variation, there are a lot of episodes early in season 3 which were completely unnecessary. The Xindi plotline was - despite the IssueDrift - really rather good, and the episodes which dealt explicitly with it were engaging and interesting. But there were a good fifteen or so episodes that could have been used to flesh out the Xindi and the Sphere-Users. Instead we have things like humans being abducted from the Old West and the crew finding an almost exact recreation on an alien planet where they were prejudiced against aliens instead of Native Americans. [[SarcasmMode Yeah, what stunning and original racial commentary.]]
158	** In regards to the above "North Star", it's even more bizarre that Mayweather doesn't appear in that episode, nor do we see any black characters on the planet? You'd think that the scenes where the natives defend their belief that AliensAreBastards for enslaving humans, only to be shot down when it's pointed out that at the time of their abduction (the 1860's), humans ''also'' practiced slavery against [[HumansAreBastards other humans]]?! Furthermore, are there other ethnicities on the planet and if so, are they still prejudiced against them as well? The scenes practically write themselves, yet these things are ''never'' addressed?!
159	** The ''Enterprise XCV-330'', the early Starfleet vessel with a ringed warp drive is never shown, despite being alluded to in the design of the Vulcan starships, which evidently inspired the human engineers to build their own version. "These Are The Voyages" similarly wasted a good opportunity to show the Daedalus-class as being the new Warp 7 vessel replacing the NX-series, since TNG revealed the class was in operation during the 2160's.
160	** Taking place before it existed would have been a perfect chance for {{Deconstruction}} of the PrimeDirective and the moral hazard of its more dogmatic interpretations, perhaps with a realization of becoming similar to the obstructionist and racist Vulcans. Instead we got things like “Dear Doctor”.
161	** Imagine for a second just how different the history of the human race would have been if five other forms of early human had survived into the present day and were just as intelligent as we are. Just how fundamentally different our culture, society, wars, and even the very meaning of what it means to be a human would be. With the Xindi you have all of that intrigue, and you have the fact that they all evolved under completely different evolutionary lines: aquatic, arboreal, insectoid, primate, reptillian and avian. You could base an entire show around this concept. And yet here the fact that there are five (with one extinct) different forms of Xindi is never actually all that relevant beyond whatever hat that the script has assigned to each one (the reptillians are warlike, the insectoids are paranoid etc.) You could have had every Xindi we see be of the same race but different political affiliation and have season 3 largely play out in exactly the same way. The issue is further cemented by the fact that Daniels makes a big point of telling Archer just what valuable and loyal allies the Xindi would end up becoming to the Federation in the future - and then drops the entire race like a stone in season 4.
162	* UnfortunateCharacterDesign: The Alien creature from Vox Sola... dubbed by the fandom as "[[FanNickname The Cum Creature]]".
163	* UnintentionalPeriodPiece: Several elements clearly identify the show as belonging to the early Aughts. The cast includes ''two'' main characters who bear strong resemblance to UsefulNotes/GeorgeWBush. The subtly-named antagonists of the first two seasons are the "Suliban". The third season's Xindi arc is launched with what is essentially space 9/11. Parodied by ''Website/TheOnion'' [[http://www.theonion.com/articles/the-new-star-trek-series,7708/ here]].
164	* VindicatedByHistory:
165	** The show struggled extensively with backlash for a large number of things, from the ContinuitySnarl to being a CosmeticallyAdvancedPrequel to just being a prequel at all. But buried underneath everything the show did have a lot of good ideas; it revealed an area of Trek history that was barely touched and captured the spirit of Starfleet exploration in its infancy. Later incarnations of Star Trek came to recognize how much this series expanded the mythology and as a result the Abrams movies, especially ''Film/StarTrekBeyond'', and later shows make a number of references to the series and even incorporate some of the tonal changes the series experimented with. Let's be real, it'll likely always have a BrokenBase to some extent, but it's certainly looked upon a bit more fondly now than when it was cancelled.
166	** The Temporal Cold War arc never fully made sense in this series, and was [[TheChrisCarterEffect admitted by the writers to not have a clear vision]]. But there were a handful of episodes that briefly captured the MindScrew nature of the TimeyWimeyBall that made it somewhat fun. Later shows, including ''Series/StarTrekDiscovery'' and ''Series/StarTrekStrangeNewWorlds'' would lean into the Temporal Cold War idea recognizing it as a great idea that needed more attention.
167	* SugarWiki/VisualEffectsOfAwesome: Let's not mince words here: the CGI has aged ''terribly''. ''However,'' the makeup and prosthetics for the aliens are remarkably well done.
168	* WhatDoYouMeanItsNotPolitical: The UsefulNotes/GeorgeWBush '''IN SPACE''' canard. But the show raised comparisons. In Season 3, he is embroiled in war against Xindi and their [=WMDs=]! This all depends on another Alternative Character Interpretation: were the Vulcans mildly restrictive guardians of Earth trying to keep a lid on a violent irrational species clamoring for advanced technology and privileges when they weren't ready, wanting to protect humans from the galaxy and the galaxy from them? Or were the Vulcans overly restrictive interlopers who betrayed their own Prime Directive on non-interference and interfered heavily in a paternalistic manner, giving them their protocols for basic deep space exploration but giving them almost no information on different species, their politics, boundaries, advanced diplomatic techniques, and other information that would be vital for interspecies relations because they didn't want to encourage the humans to go beyond simple meet-and-greet diplomacy... so when Archer and his crew blunder into an interspecies situation, they have almost no idea what to do, what to expect, or how they should act?
169	* WTHCostumingDepartment: The bowl-cut that T'Pol sports is frequently derided by fans, particularly since female Vulcans seen in the TOS-era had a variety of hairstyles, making longer hair hardly canon-breaking. And her wardrobe in general. (We can ''see'' Jolene Blalock is a beautiful woman; you don't need to paint on her catsuits to prove it, or make her change multiple times an episode.)
170	** Many fans have also cited her longer hair in "Twilight", "E2" and "In A Mirror Darkly" as being a vast improvement, wondering why it has to take a BadFuture and AlternateUniverse for her to get a decent hairstyle?
171	* TheWoobie:
172	** Tucker often falls into this. Tucker's clone Sim from "Similitude" even ''more'' so, being created solely for [[HumanResources organ harvesting]] for the injured Trip and living just under a week.
173	** Hoshi Sato. No doubt, there's [[{{Omniglot}} a damn good reason]] Archer needs her out there, but between her claustrophobia and general awkwardness - not to mention the abuse she takes through the series, especially "Countdown" - she's clearly bitten off more than she can chew with this position, and gives off a bit of a ShrinkingViolet vibe. Starts to overcome this at the end of the series (unfortunately by then, she'd gone considerably OutOfFocus).
174	[[/folder]]

Context YMMV / StarTrekEnterprise