History WhatCouldHaveBeen / StarTrekEnterprise

* The instrumental credits piece, "Archer's Theme," was originally planned to be the title theme, alongside Archer giving the famous "Space, the final frontier" speech. However, executives demanded a lyrical theme song to make the show more "hip," leading to the disaster that is "Faith of the Heart." Given the extreme negative reception "Faith of the Heart" has garnered to this day (Creator/SimonPegg famously said he's never seen an ''Enterprise'' episode due to the song, for example), the reception of ''Enterprise'' probably would be at least slightly improved if they went with "Archer's Theme" instead.

* Early in ''Enterprise'''s development, it was hinted at by producers and writers that an explanation as to why the Suliban are never seen or mentioned in any other ''Trek'' series would be provided, but none ever materialized. The Suliban, like the Temporal Cold War, are totally dumped by the fourth season with no explanation.

* Plans were in the works for a Borg Queen origin story, explaining that she was a Starfleet technician assimilated by leftover Borg from "Regeneration" (despite ''Voyager'' unequivocally stating the Queen was not human).

* An episode titled "Kilkenny Cats," featuring the Kzinti from ''[[WesternAnimation/StarTrekTheAnimatedSeries TAS]]'' and serving as a {{prequel}} to the TAS episode "The Slaver Weapon," was in the works. It was the product of Jimmy Diggs, an intern on TNG and later freelance writer on [=DS9=] and ''Voyager'', who had tried to pitch a Kzinti return in TNG in 1994, and then later on DS9 and VOY. No one else involved in the shows were interested in their return, so he later wrote a script for a proposed CGI film starring Captain Sulu of the ''Enterprise''-B fighting an invasion of the Federation by the Kzinti. It too never got off the ground; however, he finally got his luck when ''Enterprise'' got new management in its final season, with Manny Coto expressing interest in the return of the Kzinti. Working with Neal and Jana Hallford, he wrote a new story about the NX-01 bringing a Kzinti child on the ship. Designs for a 22nd-century Kzinti spacecraft were made, and models of re-designs of the Kzinti were made as well. There's every indication this episode would have been made if not for ''Enterprise'''s cancellation. Indeed, Diggs was so confident after meeting with Coto that he believed at least three Kzinti episodes would be made, and that they would become major villains in the fifth season.

* Creator/JeriRyan expressed interest in appearing as an ancestor of Seven of Nine, but for unknown reasons, nothing came of it.

* Rick Berman and Brannon Braga wanted to allow Star Trek to rest from what they felt was "franchise fatigue", however UPN wanted them to make a new series quickly enough to air alongside Star Trek: Voyager's last season. Berman and Braga agreed to make the series, but only if it aired after Voyager ended. One wonders what would have happened if UPN got its wish (or if Berman and Braga had gotten theirs).
* In very early stages of planning the show, the producers (Rick Berman and Brannon Braga) considered setting the entire first season on Earth and focusing on the lead-up to the mission, and only actually launching the Enterprise NX-01 in the season finale (which would make the title "Enterprise" a bit of a pun, in fact). The idea was to do "The Right Stuff" in the Star Trek universe. There was an ExecutiveVeto, and they were told to get exploring space from the start.
* The villains originally considered for the first season were xenophobic human terrorists who didn't want the NX-01 to reveal Earth's location to thousands of alien species. After the plans to do the first season on Earth were scrapped, so were these villains. This concept eventually resurfaced, ironically enough, in the series' final two-parter "Demons" and "Terra Prime".

* The show was originally to feature a far more dangerous mission, where not only hostile aliens but spatial anomalies and unexplained phenomenon prove deadly for Earth's first deep space mission. Executives hated the idea, and as such the first two seasons are some of the safest in Star Trek (even StarTrek.com criticized this by pointing out the NX-01 mission seems considerably less dangerous than the Enterprise-D mission 200 years later. When the official website of the franchise criticizes the show, you know there's a problem). This probably explains why, when allowed to shake things up, the Enterprise gets a massive beating in season three, with several crewmembers dying.
* The "Temporal Cold War" plotline was introduced at the behest of executives worried that Enterprise didn't have sufficient ties to the previous series, to make it less of a prequel. The concept originated from a TV pitch made in the 90s by Brannon Braga that had nothing to do with Star Trek, which explains why the plotline feels so awkward and forced. Braga, Berman and the rest of the writers have admitted to having no resolution or clear concept for the plotline, and even called it "strangulating", which explains why when given the chance, it's completely dumped in the fourth season never to be mentioned again.
* The EM Pistol shown in the pilot was supposed to be the main weapon of Starfleet, but executives felt it wasn't "Star Trek" enough so phasers (phase pistols) were introduced as a replacement within the pilot.
* The Suliban, a not-so-subtle reference to the Taliban and terrorism in general, only exist because the idea of the Klingons being the main alien threat was rejected by executives for being "unoriginal", despite being more fitting for the prequel setting.
* Andre Bormanis’ original pitch for the character (strangled in the crib by Berman and Braga) was that Phlox turns out to have not been a Doctor but a [[HalfTruth veterinarian]] on Denobula, and was [[BackAlleyDoctor expressly forbidden]] from operating on humanoid lifeforms.
* T'Pol was originally going to be T'Pau, who appears in [[Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries the original series]] episode [[{{Recap/StarTrekS2E1AmokTime}} "Amok Time"]] as [[AscendedExtra the priestess officiating]] at Spock's wedding. It was rejected due to issues with royalties and other legal reasons. T'Pau later appears in the fourth season of ENT as a young woman on Vulcan who is leading the Syrranites -- reformers who want to re-establish Surak's anti-military, non-violent principles.
* Mayweather was originally envisioned as [[OlderSidekick older and more seasoned]], making him a valuable advisor to the comparatively rookie Captain Archer. He was ultimately rewritten as green and desperate to prove himself, not unlike Wesley Crusher.
* The instrumental credits song, "Archer's Theme" was originally planned to be the title theme song, alongside Archer giving the famous "Space, the final frontier" speech, however executives demanded a lyrical theme song to make the show more "hip", leading to the disaster that is "Faith of the Heart". Given the extreme negative reception "Faith of the Heart" has garnered to this day (Simon Pegg famously said he's never seen an Enterprise episode due to the song, for example), the reception of Enterprise probably would be at least slightly improved if they went with "Archer's Theme" instead.

* "The Andorian Incident" was originally supposed to feature the Gorn as the antagonistic race, with the Vulcans and Gorn in conflict. This plan was scrapped due to issues with special effects (they didn't think they could do the prosthetic effects justice) and fears of violating continuity with the TOS episode "Arena". The Gorn would eventually appear in "In a Mirror, Darkly" albeit in CG-I form.
* Jeri Ryan expressed interest in appearing as an ancestor of Seven of Nine, but for unknown reasons nothing came of it.
* "Future Tense" was originally supposed to involve the Tholians capturing the USS Defiant, which had traveled back in time after the incident in TOS [[{{Recap/StarTrekS3E9TheTholianWeb}} "The Tholian Web"]]. This was shot down for continuity reasons, but the idea resurfaced in the Mirror Universe two-parter in season four.
* J.G. Hertzler lobbied for his Klingon defense attorney, Kolos, to join the NX-01. "They could use an old curmudgeon like me to balance all the hot young men and women on the show!" ([[BestKnownForTheFanservice Fat chance.]])
* David A. Goodman pitched an episode about a human spy planted on Vulcan shortly after first contact to see if the Vulcans were actually alien invaders. While it was never made, this story was included in the reference book "The Federation: First 150 Years" that he wrote.
* The Klingons were originally considered as the villains for season three, but were quickly rejected for, again, not being an "original" idea. Mike Sussman then tried to get the Romulans to be the main villains, but this was immediately rejected for the same reasons, hence the Xindi were created to fill the role.
* Mike Sussman's original idea for "E-Squared" would be the ''Columbia'' being thrown back in time instead--a result of trying to use Xindi vortex technology (likely salvaged from the crashed probe weapon). The NX-01 crew would thus meet the NX-02 crew's descendants. Executives forced a number of changes that ended up making the episode highly resemble the DS9 episode "Children of Time".
* The network wanted to kill Archer off at the end of "Zero Hour". Which would have been… interesting. Executives even considered a younger, "sexier" captain to take his place. Manny Coto has admitted that he was tempted.
* Rick Berman originally wanted the entire fourth season to be one arc centered on the Storm Front plot, which was thankfully shot down.
* Originally, Arik Soong (Brent Spiner) was going to be Colonel Phillip Green, the mad eugenicist from [[{{Recap/StarTrekS3E22TheSavageCurtain}} "The Savage Curtain"]] (TOS). This explains why Archer and co. have to [[ConsultingAConvictedKiller bust him out of prison]]. As the script developed, the writer decided that Green was just too evil, he couldn't be redeemed--so the character was retooled into an ancestor of Data's. (Mike Sussman and the Stevens family, known for their writing of Star Trek novels, wrote another script, also featuring Green, involving Earth's first starbase and the Reed family but it was quickly rejected by Braga for being "too dark".)
* "In a Mirror, Darkly, Part I" and "Part II" arose from plans for an episode to feature William Shatner guest starring as Evil Kirk, last seen in [[{{Recap/StarTrekS2E4MirrorMirror}} "Mirror, Mirror"]], who was trapped in the past after it was revealed the Tantalus Field actually transported people to another dimension and time. Another idea, originating from Rick Berman, was for Shatner to appear as the chef of the NX-01, who becomes involved in a time travel plot involving Temporal Agent Daniels. Shatner was interested, but negotiations fell through, and the idea never materialized.
* Manny Coto conceived of a story-arc involving a Martian independence movement that would have threatened to crash comets into Earth with the use of a "Verteron Array" unless allowed to secede in a sort of "Cuban Missile Crisis" scenario, with the NX-01 having to mediate. The story never materialized, but some of its concepts ended up appearing in "Demons and "Terra Prime".
* Manny Coto conceived of a story-arc involving a Martian independence movement that would have threatened to crash comets into Earth with the use of a "Verteron Array" unless allowed to secede in a sort of "Cuban Missile Crisis" scenario, with the NX-01 having to mediate. The story never materialized, but some of its concepts ended up appearing in "Demons and "Terra Prime".
* Early in Enterprise's development, it was hinted at by producers and writers than an explanation as to why the Suliban are never seen or mentioned in any other Star Trek series would be provided, but none ever materialized. The Suliban, like the Temporal Cold War, are totally dumped by the fourth season with no explanation.
* "These Are the Voyages...": Mike Sussman had originally pitched an idea which was a take-off of "Shadows and Symbols" ([=DS9=]) and "Pathfinder" (VOY). It opens with Robert Picardo’s EMH treating a patient inside a holographic re-creation of the ''NX-01''. The patient, also by Scott Bakula, is totally convinced that he is , in fact, ''the'' Jonathan Archer, and he needed the Doctor’s help [[NapoleonDelusion to get back to his own century]]. So the finale was originally going to be a glorified Voyager episode was opposed to a glorified Next Generation one. Sussman even admitted it wouldn't have worked as a finale, and it would have given Enterprise a sort of [[GainaxEnding]] Ganiax Ending). It would likely have received even worse reception than what we eventually got.

* The NX-01 would have been refitted with a secondary hull underneath the warp nacelles, ceramic plating, and a deflector dish, which makes it look very much like the prototype for what would become the Constitution in TOS. The new design appeared in the 2011 "Ships of the Line" calendar. Doug Drexler claims the staff were not totally sold on this idea, however.
* Shran would have become a main character and joined the NX-01 in an [[SixthRanger advisory capacity]]. Jeffrey Combs had been pushing to become a ''Trek'' regular since the eighties, and compared his perpetual b-status to watching a baseball game from the outfield.

* Plans were in the works for a Borg Queen origin story, explaining that she was a Starfleet technician assimilated by leftover Borg from "Regeneration" (despite Voyager unequivocally stating the Queen was not human).
* An episode titled "Kilkenny Cats", featuring the Kzinti from The Animated Series, and serving as a prequel to the TAS episode "The Slaver Weapon", was in the works. It was the product of Jimmy Diggs, an intern on TNG, and later freelance writer on DS9 and Voyager, who had tried to pitch a Kzinti return in TNG in 1994, and then later on DS9 and VOY. No one else involved in the shows were interested in their return, so he later wrote a script for a proposed CG-I film starring Captain Sulu of the Enterprise B fighting an invasion of the Federation by the Kzinti. It too never got off the ground, however he finally got his luck when Enterprise got new management in its final season, with Manny Coto expressing interest in the return of the Kzinti. Working with Neal and Jana Hallford, he wrote a new story about the NX-01 bringing a Kzinti child on the ship. Designs for a 22nd Century Kzinti spacecraft were made, and models of redesigns of the Kzinti were made as well. There's every indication this episode would have been made if not for Enterprise's cancellation. Indeed, Diggs was so confident after meeting with Manny Coto that he believed at least three Kzinti episodes would be made, and that they would become major villains in the fifth season.
* There would have been more stories set entirely in the Mirror Universe, following up on "In a Mirror, Darkly". They would have consisted of several standalone episodes interspersed throughout the season, after an idea to set the entire fifth season in the Mirror Universe was rejected.
* Tensions with the Romulans would have escalated, as a prelude to the forthcoming Earth-Romulan War.

* Peter Weller would have directed a few episodes, as part of the deal he made for his guest role in season four.
* "Future Guy" who disappeared after season two, was to be featured as a future Archer involved in a plot to correct the "timeline"..or something, at least according to Braga. Others claim he was planned to be a Romulan agent.
* Manny Coto wanted to invite veteran science-fiction writers to write episodes in an effort to get the show to explore innovative sci-fi themes like in TOS and TNG.
* And, of course, in general the fifth season would have been in the vein of the fourth season in terms of structure and tone. Given that it is nigh-universally agreed that season 4 was ''vastly'' stronger than the other seasons, it seems very likely that a season 5 and even 6 would've salvaged the show's reputation with the wider viewing public in the same way ''TNG'' is considered to have improved dramatically after its rocky start.

* There exists an interview with Scott Bakula conducted in the run-up to the release of ''Film/StarTrekNemesis'' in which he says, with utmost confidence, that the next ''Star Trek'' movie would be about him and his crew. Come 2008 (later delayed to 2009, but close enough), after what would have been the customary seven years, we did indeed get [[Film/StarTrek a new film]] - about [[Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries Captain Kirk]]. Presumably, if either ''Nemesis'' or ''Enterprise'' - most likely both - hadn't bombed, we would have seen Captain Archer on the big screen instead.

* "These Are the Voyages...": Mike Sussman had originally pitched an idea which was a take-off of "Shadows and Symbols" ([=DS9=]) and "Pathfinder" (VOY). It opens with Robert Picardo’s EMH treating a patient inside a holographic re-creation of the ''NX-01''. The patient, also by Scott Bakula, is totally convinced that he is , in fact, ''the'' Jonathan Archer, and he needed the Doctor’s help [[NapoleonDelusion to get back to his own century]]. So the finale was originally going to be a glorified Voyager episode was opposed to a glorified Next Generation one. Sussman even admitted it wouldn't have worked as a finale, and it would have given Enterprise a sort of [[Gainax Ending]]. It would likely have received even worse reception than what we eventually got.

* The show was originally to feature a far more dangerous mission, where not only hostile aliens but spatial anomalies and unexplained phenomenon prove deadly for Earth's first deep space mission. Executives hated the idea, and as such the first two seasons are some of the safest in Star Trek (even StarTrek.com criticized this by pointing out the NX-01 mission seems considerably less dangerous than the Enterprise-D mission 200 years later). This probably explains why, when allowed to shake things up, the Enterprise gets a massive beating in season three.
* The villains originally considered for the first season were xenophobic human terrorists who didn't want the NX-01 to reveal Earth's location to thousands of alien species. After the plans to do the first season on Earth were scrapped, so were these villains. This concept eventually resurfaced, ironically enough, in the series' final two-parter "Demons" and "Terra Prime".

* The instrumental credits song, "Archer's Theme" was originally planned to be the title theme song, alongside Archer giving the famous "Space, the final frontier" speech, however executives demanded a lyrical theme song to make the show more "hip", leading to the disaster that is "Faith of the Heart". Given the extreme negative reception "Faith of the Heart" has garnered to this day (Simon Pegg famously said he's never seen an Enterprise episode due to the song), the reception of Enterprise probably would be at least slightly improved if they went with "Archer's Theme" instead.

!!Seasons 1
* "The Andorian Incident" was originally supposed to feature the Gorn as the antagonistic race, with the Vulcans and Gorn in conflict. This plan was scrapped due to issues with special effects and fears of violating continuity with the TOS episode "Arena".

!!Seasons 2-4

* "These Are the Voyages...": Mike Sussman had originally pitched an idea which was a take-off of "Shadows and Symbols" ([=DS9=]) and "Pathfinder" (VOY). It opens with Robert Picardo’s EMH treating a patient inside a holographic re-creation of the ''NX-01''. The patient, also by Scott Bakula, is totally convinced that he is , in fact, ''the'' Jonathan Archer, and he needed the Doctor’s help [[NapoleonDelusion to get back to his own century]]. Sussman even admitted it wouldn't have worked as a finale, so fans should probably be grateful for what we got, to be honest.

* The "Temporal Cold War" plotline was introduced at the behest of executives worried that Enterprise didn't have sufficient ties to the previous series, to make it less of a prequel. The concept originated from a TV pitch made in the 90s by Brannon Braga that had nothing to do with Star Trek, which explains why it the plotline feels so awkward and forced. Braga, Berman and the rest of the writers have admnitted to having no resolution or clear concept for the plotline, and even called it "strangulating", which explains why when given the chance, it's completely dumped in the fourth season.

* The show was originally to feature a far more dangerous mission, where not only hostile aliens but spatial anomalies and unexplained phenomenon prove deadly for Earth's first deep space mission. Executives hated the idea, and as such the first two seasons are some of the safest in Star Trek. This probably explains why, when allowed to shake things up, the Enterprise gets a massive beating in season three.

* An episode titled "Kilkenny Cats", featuring the Kzinti from The Animated Series, and serving as a prequel to the TAS episode "The Slaver Weapon", was in the works. It was the product of Jimmy Diggs, an intern on TNG, and later freelance writer on DS9 and Voyager, who had tried to pitch a Kzinti return in TNG in 1994, and then later on DS9 and VOY. No one else involved in the shows were interested in their return, so he later wrote a script for a proposed CG-I film starring Captain Sulu of the Enterprise B fighting an invasion of the Federation by the Kzinti. It too never got off the ground, however he finally got his luck when Enterprise got new management in its final season, with Manny Coto expressing interest in the return of the Kzinti. Working with Neal and Jana Hallford, he wrote a new story about the NX-01 bringing a Kzinti child on the ship. Designs for a 22nd Century Kzinti spacecraft were made, and models of redesigns of the Kzinti were made as well. There's every indication this episode would have been made if not for Enterprise's cancellation. Indeed Diggs was so confident after meeting with Manny Coto that he believed at least three Kzinti episodes would be made, and that they would become major villains in the fifth season.

* An episode titled "Kilkenny Cats", featuring the Kzinti from The Animated Series, and serving as a prequel to the TAS episode "The Slaver Weapon", was in the works. It was the product of Jimmy Diggs, an intern on TNG, and later freelance writer on DS9 and Voyager, who had tried to pitch a Kzinti return in TNG in 1994, and then later on DS9 and VOY. No one else involved in the shows were interested in their return, so he later wrote a script for a proposed CG-I film starring Captain Sulu of the Enterprise B fighting an invasion of the Federation by the Kzinti. It too never got off the ground, however he finally got his luck when Enterprise got new management in its final season, with Manny Coto expressing interest in the return of the Kzinti. Working with Neal and Jana Hallford, he wrote a new story about the NX-01 bringing a Kzinti child on the ship. Designs for a 22nd Century Kzinti spacecraft were made, and models of redesigns of the Kzinti were made as well. There's every indication this episode would have been made if not for Enterprise's cancellation.

* An episode titled "Kilkenny Cats", featuring the Kzinti from The Animated Series, and serving as a prequel to the TAS episode "The Slaver Weapon", was in the works. It was based on Jimmy Diggs cancelled CG-I film "Lions of the Night", which was to future Captain Sulu of the Enterprise-B fighting off a Kzinti invasion of Federation space. The story was re-worked, with the help of D.C. Fontana and others, to fit Star Trek: Enterprise's setting. The episode even got as far as official art renderings of 22nd Century Kzinti spacecraft being made. Given all this, it's highly likely the episode would have been made if not for Enterprise's cancellation.

* David A. Goodman pitched an episode about a human spy planted on Vulcan shortly after first contact to see if the Vulcans were actually alien invaders. This story was included in the reference book "The Federation: First 150 Years" that he wrote.

* Originally, Arik Soong (Brent Spiner) was going to be Colonel Phillip Green, the mad eugenicist from [[{{Recap/StarTrekS3E22TheSavageCurtain}} "The Savage Curtain"]] (TOS). This explains why Archer and co. have to [[ConsultingAConvictedKiller bust him out of prison]]. As the script developed, the writer decided that Green was just too evil, he couldn't be redeemed--so the character was retooled into an ancestor of Data's. (Sussman and the Stevens wrote another script, also featuring Green, involving Earth's first starbase and the Reed family but it was rejected by Braga for being "too dark".)

* The villains originally considered for the first season were xenophobic human terrorists who didn't want the NX-01 to reveal Earth's location to thousands of alien species. After the plans to do the first season on Earth were scrapped, so were these villains. This concept eventually resurfaced ironically enough in the series' final two-parter "Demons" and "Terra Prime".

* In very early stages of planning the show, the producers (Rick Berman and Brannon Braga) considered setting the entire first season on Earth and focusing on the lead-up to the mission, and only actually launching the Enterprise NX-01 in the season finale (which would make the title "Enterprise" a bit of a pun, in fact). There was an ExecutiveVeto, and they were told to get exploring space from the start.
* The villains originally considered for the first season were xenophobic human terrorists who didn't want the NX-01 to reveal Earth's location to thousands of alien species. This concept eventually resurfaced ironically enough in the final two-parter "Demons" and "Terra Prime".

* The instrumental credits song, "Archer's Theme" was originally planned in fact to be the title theme song, however executives demanded a lyrical theme song to make the show more "hip", leading to the disaster that is "Faith of the Heart". They even recorded Scott Bakula giving his own take on the "Space, the final frontier" speech Kirk and Picard did. Given the extreme negative reaction "Faith of the Heart" has garnered, the show probably would have a slightly higher reception if "Archer's Theme" were used instead.
* Executives considered having a boy band featured in every episode, but this was, thankfully, successfully shot down by the producers.

* T'Pol was originally going to be T'Pau, who appears in [[Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries the original series]] episode "Amok Time" as [[AscendedExtra the priestess officiating at Spock's wedding]]. It was rejected due to issues with royalties and other legal reasons. T'Pau later appears in the fourth season of ENT as a young woman on Vulcan who is leading the Syrranites -- reformers who want to re-establish Surak's anti-military, non-violent principles.

* "Future Tense" was originally supposed to involve the Tholians capturing the USS Defiant, which had traveled back in time after the incident in TOS "The Tholian Web". This was shot down for continuity reasons, but the idea resurfaced in the Mirror Universe two-parter in season four.

* "In a Mirror, Darkly, Part I" and "Part II" arose from plans for an episode to feature William Shatner guest starring as Evil Kirk, last seen in "Mirror, Mirror", who was trapped in the past after it was revealed the Tantalus Field actually transported people to another dimension and time. Another idea, originating from Rick Berman, was for Shatner to appear as the chef of the NX-01, who becomes involved in a time travel plot involving Temporal Agent Daniels. Shatner was interested, but negotiations fell through, and the idea never materialized.

* Several reappearances of characters or species from the original series would have included the character Flint, the cloud city of Stratos, and the Tan Ru probe.

* Originally, Arik Soong (Brent Spiner) was going to be Colonel Phillip Green, the mad eugenicist from "The Savage Curtain" (TOS). This explains why Archer and co. have to [[ConsultingAConvictedKiller bust him out of prison]]. As the script developed, the writer decided that Green was just too evil, he couldn't be redeemed--so the character was retooled into an ancestor of Data's. (Sussman and the Stevens wrote another script, also featuring Green, involving Earth's first starbase and the Reed family but it was rejected by Braga for being "too dark".)

* An episode titled "Kilkenny Cats", featuring the Kzinti from The Animated Series, and serving as a prequel to the episode "The Slaver Weapon", was in the works. It was based on Jimmy Diggs "Lions of the Night" story created for the cancelled Captain Sulu CG-I miniseries, re-worked to fit the Enterprise setting. The fact that it got as far as art renderings being made for the Kzinti starships and writing contributions from D.C. Fontana indicate the episode most likely would have been made.

* The EM Pistol shown int he pilot was supposed to be the main weapon of Starfleet, but executives felt it wasn't "Star Trek" enough so phasers (phase pistols) were introduced as a replacement within the pilot.

* Rick Berman originally wanted the entire fourth season to be one arc centered on the WW2 two parter's plot, which was thankfully shot down.

* Manny Coto conceived of a story-arc involving a Martian independence movement that would have threatened to crash comets into Earth unless allowed to succeed in a sort of "Cuban Missile Crisis" scenario, with the NX-01 having to mediate. The story never materialized, but some of its concepts ended up appearing in "Demons and "Terra Prime".

* Manny Coto wanted to invite veteran science-fiction writers to write episodes in an effort to get the show to explore innovative sci-fi themes like TOS and TNG.

* "In a Mirror, Darkly, Part I" and "Part II" arose from plans for William Shatner to guest star as Evil Kirk, last seen in "Mirror, Mirror", who was trapped in the past after it was revealed the Tantalus Field actually transported people to another dimension and time. Another idea, originating from Rick Berman, was for Shatner to appear as the chef of the NX-01, who becomes involved in a time travel plot involving Temporal Agent Daniels. Shatner was interested, but negotiations fell through, and it never happened.

* In very early stages of planning the show, the producers considered setting the entire first season on Earth and focusing on the lead-up to the mission, and only actually launching the Enterprise NX-01 in the season finale (which would make the title "Enterprise" a bit of a pun, in fact). There was an ExecutiveVeto, and they were told to get exploring space from the start.

* T'Pol was originally going to be T'Pau, who appears in [[Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries the original series]] episode "Amok Time" as [[AscendedExtra the priestess officiating at Spock's wedding]]. They must have realized just what dissonance that would cause with continuity and established character. T'Pau later appears in the fourth season of ENT as a young woman on Vulcan who is leading the Syrranites -- reformers who want to re-establish Surak's anti-military, non-violent principles.

* Like Combs, J.G. Hertzler lobbied for his Klingon defense attorney, Kolos, to join the NX-01. "They could use an old curmudgeon like me to balance all the hot young men and women on the show!" ([[BestKnownForTheFanservice Fat chance.]])
* Mike Sussman's original idea for "E-Squared" would be the ''Columbia'' being thrown back in time instead--a result of trying to use Xindi vortex technology (likely salvaged from the crashed probe weapon). The NX-01 crew would thus meet the NX-02 crew's descendants.
* The network wanted to kill Archer off at the end of "Zero Hour". Which would have been… interesting. Manny Coto has admitted that he was tempted.
* Originally, Arik Soong (Brent Spiner) was going to be Colonel Phillip Green, the mad eugenicist from "The Savage Curtain" (TOS). This explains why Archer and co. have to [[ConsultingAConvictedKiller bust him out of prison]]. As the script developed, the writer decided that Green was just too evil, he couldn't be redeemed--so the character was retooled into an ancestor of Data's. (Sussman wrote another script, also featuring Green, but it was rejected by Braga for being "too dark".)
* "In a Mirror, Darkly, Part I" and "Part II" arose from plans for William Shatner to guest star as Evil Kirk, last seen in "Mirror, Mirror". Since it was little more than a cameo, Shatner likely shot the idea down, and his castmates gave ''Enterprise'' a "meh" grade, anyway.
* "These Are the Voyages...": Mike Sussman had originally pitched an idea which was a take-off of "Shadows and Symbols" ([=DS9=]) and "Pathfinder" (VOY). It opens with Robert Picardo’s EMH treating a patient inside a holographic re-creation of the ''NX-01''. The patient, also by Scott Bakula, is totally convinced that he is , in fact, ''the'' Jonathan Archer, and he needed the Doctor’s help [[NapoleonDelusion to get back to his own century]]. Fans should probably be grateful for what we got, to be honest.

* The NX-01 would have been refitted with a secondary hull underneath the warp nacelles, ceramic plating, and a deflector dish, which makes it look very much like the prototype for what would become the Constitution in TOS. The new design appeared in the 2011 "Ships of the Line" calendar.

* Several reappearances of characters or species from the original series would have included the character Flint, the cloud city of Stratos, and the Kzinti from the animated series.
* There would have been more stories set entirely in the Mirror Universe, following up on "In a Mirror, Darkly". They would have consisted of several standalone episodes interspersed throughout the season.

* "These Are the Voyages...": Mike Sussman had originally pitched an idea which was a take-off of "Shadows and Symbols" ([=DS9=]) and "Pathfinder" (VOY). It opens with Robert Picardo’s EMH treating a patient inside a holographic re-creation of the ''NX-01''. The patient, also by Scott Bakula, is totally convinced that he is , in fact, ''the'' Jonathan Archer, and he needed the Doctor’s help [[NapoleanDelusion to get back to his own century]]. Fans should probably be grateful for what we got, to be honest.

* Originally, Arik Soong (Brent Spiner) was going to be Colonel Phillip Green, the mad eugenicist from "The Savage Curtain" (TOS). This explains why Archer and co. have to [[ConsultingAConvictedKiller bust him out of prison]]. As the script developed, the writer decided that Green was just too evil, he couldn't be redeemed--so the character was retooled into an ancestor of Data's.

* Originally, Arik Soong (Brent Spiner) was going to be Colonel Phillip Green, the mad eugenicist from "The Savage Curtain" (TOS). This explains why Archer and co. have to [[HannibalLecture bust him out of prison]]. As the script developed, the writer decided that Green was just too evil, he couldn't be redeemed--so the character was retooled into an ancestor of Data's.