Would you still have watched if...

[CX]

Say B&B had taken their time developing ENT and did a really good job of it, like Babylon 5 style planning eveything in advance (including who the characters are), and managed to execute it perfectly. The catch is, because they waited so long, they would have missed out on most of the actors/actresses being cast in the parts we know them for. So while TnT would've been written more maturely, and Archer would've been someone pretty much anyone could universally respect, someone else would have been playing the parts. Would you still have watched?

[Kevin Thomas Riley]

Would you still have watched?

Of course. In this scenario I wouldn't know who Connor or Jolene was and thus I wouldn't miss them. One could only hope that whatever actors that got cast would have the same amazing chemistry that those two had.

[CX]

Well, I do know who CT and JB are. I guess I don't know myself. Actually, one of the reasons I like ENT as much as I do despite all the problems I see with it is entirely because of their performances and the chemistry they had together.

[Kevin Thomas Riley]

^ Yes, but you're hypothesizing about a situation where we have a B5-esque take on a Trek prequel, and that in itself is much better than what we got, regardless of the actors. So of course I would've watched that.

As for Connor and Jolene, yes they were both a major factor in why I generally liked ENT and stuck with it even during the bad things, such as the season two slump. But that wasn't the question. The question was if I'd watch ENT with a better thought out concept but different actors. Since I then wouldn't know about either the ENT we got or Connor and Jolene, the question becomes rather... odd.

A better question would be if you would have watched an ENT (the show we got) that didn't have Connor or Jolene? Or if it didn't have TnT?

[CX]

I'd proabbly have to say no on both of those counts.

What brought up my question though was something that was brought up over at TrekBBS about rushing ENT to hurry up and get it out, and one of the reasons given for that was so they could cast the people that they did.

[Rigil Kent]

I contest the argument that it would have taken them a long time to set up the "plot" of the series which would then necessitate them pushing the show's production back. It shouldn't take that long to sit down and determine what the 5 year goal was to be. The only reason that there was so much time between JMS' original conception of Bab5 and it's filming is that not many studios had the testicular fortitude to do the show.

I can't answer the question about whether I would have watched the show with different cast members, because that's one of those hypotheticals that simply can't be answered. Probably not, because, as I've said before, the only reason I tuned into ENT in the first place is because I was a Bakula fan from his Quantum Leap days. Remember, I'm not a "good" Trek fan, and frankly don't care much for most modern Trek... even DS9 is chock full of problems for me, and I had completely quit the franchise during VOY's run.

Now, if the question is would I have watched the show with the current cast, but without TnT, I think the fact that I stopped watching it during the second season when they were clearly testing the waters for AinT says it all.

[evcake]

Of course I would have watched it - it would have been Star Trek. I would automatically have given it a chance, at the very least. Same as I did all the others.

[Kevin Thomas Riley]

What brought up my question though was something that was brought up over at TrekBBS about rushing ENT to hurry up and get it out, and one of the reasons given for that was so they could cast the people that they did.

That's something I've never heard about before? IIRC, Jolene was a late addition to the cast.

[Linda]

I agree with Evcake. I would have watched it because it was Star Trek. There are no ST series that I totally dislike, but there are individual episodes in every series that make me cringe. And I can find individual episodes in each series that I think are great, with the majority of episodes being at least interesting, dispite the many scientific blunders and contradictions in canon.

[Asso]

I am not too young.
To tell the true, I am grown with the classic series (which now, honestly, has the quality of the innovative invention, but certainly seems dated).
My enthusiasm in those days never was renewed by the successive series.
Until Enterprise, or, better, until TnT.
When I began to watch the first episodes, I found good ideas not well developed and I stopped watching.
Then, by chance, I watched an episode (I not remember what was it) in which I seen something: TnT, played by those actors.
Honestly I am remained captured and charmed.
So: would I have watched Enterprise without TnT and/or without those actors?
Yes, I would have begun watching. And then I would have stopped.

[justTripn]

Would I have watched without those two actors? In my case, the relevant question is would I have watched without Connor? Yes, absolutely, since I watched all the other Star Treks. Would it instantly have become my all-time favorite Star Trek series? Who knows, maybe? I actually give alot of credit to the writers--they wrote a wonderful Trip and a wonderful Enterprise series. On the other hand, Connor said at a conference that the writers didn't have a hard and fast idea of Trip's character at the beginning and probably patterned Trip after Connor himself in many ways. So, I'm sure there was some feedback between the character and the actor. And I'm not convinced that a hard and fast, preplanned goal for the show is always the best way to go. Alot of great ideas might just occur to the writers as they go along.

[JadziaKathryn]

I would've at least started watching, but I never would've come back after Season 2. I was unhappy with that season and stopped watching not long after the horror known as "A Night In Sickbay." Then the third season was my first year in college and Wednesday nights were the InterVarsity Christian Fellowship meetings. However, I once watched a Saturday night rerun (that one where they trick Degra in the shuttle, and I looked at startrek.com to see what had happened before) and they advertised that the next week was "E2." I squealed with joy at the Lorian teaser in the ad - much to the shock of my roommate! (I then spent the next week fervently hoping they'd show R/S descendents, but that's another story. I was an R/S shipper before a TnT shipper.) I started taping the rest of the season. When they moved ENT to Fridays the next year that worked out really well for me. (My roommate decided she didn't like it enough to watch and usually went elsewhere. After "Home" she had to listen to me mutter in disgust that T'Pol married Koss. Putting up with this is one of the reasons she was the best roommate ever!)

So, I would've started watching ENT without the actors. If the writing was better I might never have stopped, but without them I surely wouldn't have come back.

[Elessar]

I didn't know who ANY of the actors were before ENT, not even Scott Bakula, so I wouldn't have known the difference.......... as long as they were good.

Colin Ferguson for Trip!

[Linda]

I made it throught the first two seasons and continued to be a fan of the show without being overly excited about it except for Soval who I liked very much. In the third season, I liked Trip and T'Pol, but was pining for an episode that would show that somehow Trip's sister had survived, because from the brief scene of Elizabeth, I really felt for her and for Trip. Then the episode 'The Forgotten' came along and it was a wonderful episode, especially with Connor's acting, but dashed my hopes for a brother-sister reunion. So I had to write a fan fic where she did survive and explain how that could possibly be. And I kept hoping for a return of Soval. From the first, I really got into the irascible Vulcan crumugeon. Finally I was delighted that in the fourth season Vulcan arc Soval showed his true colors. And I still am miffed that they canceled after the fourth season because I was hoping to see much more of Soval, Trip and T'Pol cementing their relationship, and the details of the formation of the Federation. But fan fic has helped soften that blow.

[Kevin Thomas Riley]

Well, to answer my own question from abovethread, yes I would have started watching the show even without Jolene and Connor (since I had never heard of either of them before ENT). I suffered through all of VOY even if I was very disappointed with it, because it was Trek. But at the time there weren't a lot of sci-fi to watch in my country. So for the Trek label alone I would've checked it out. Maybe some other actors would've captured me like JB and CT did.

If I would have kept watching is another story. I would probably not want to repeat my VOY experience. In reality I would probably have bailed on the show in season two if I hadn't been online (at TrekBBS) and learned that things improved drastically in season three (we were a year behind in Sweden). And another thing that kept me watching was Jolene and Connor, and since I became a TnTer from the beginning (Broken Bow, Strange New World, Breaking the Ice) I held out for them even during the inane Captain Archer and Sidekick Polly tripe of season two.

Now, would I have watched ENT without TnT? It depends. If they hadn't toyed with it from the very beginning I might not have known about the potential. But if they did what they did but then abandoned it halfway I might have left, especially if they'd have gone the AinT route. I just can't stand that "pairing". Just imagine season three but with Archer instead of Trip, and season four... Yuck! No matter that those season were generally good otherwise, I just don't think I could've coped with AinT.

I could probably have survived no TnT, or a continuation of the annoying "will they, won't they" thing, provided the stories otherwise were good.