"...the only reason the last season of Enterprise was so good was because they went back to the source to explain the first series..."

Completely off topic perhaps, but I stopped watching Enterprise about halfway through the first season. My appreciation for Scott Bakula's acting (well, I liked what he did with Quantum Leap) was not enough to keep my attention, and little else did. So what's Lileks talking about? How did the last season of Enterprise "explain" TOS? Anyone know?

ZachsMind | February 27, 11:19 CET

Heh, it must be fun coming into this late, knowing there'll be a beginning and an end to the Firefly 'verse.

ZachsMind, I too only made it halfway through the first season, but I don't think Lileks talking about the last season explaining TOS, but rather the first season of Enterprise itself. Could be wrong though.

GVH | February 27, 11:54 CET

No, much of the final season of Enterprise dealt with various things we saw later in TOS, such as the nature of Vulcan culture, and why Klingons looked different in TOS versus later movies and series, etc.

[ edited by theonetruebix on 2006-02-27 10:36 ]

The One True b!X | February 27, 12:36 CET

ZachsMind, i gave up on Enterprise very early in season 2 but after a friend of mine convinced me to give it another look for the fourth season i have to admit the show did impress me. Coto really turned the show around and almost made me forget the mess that Berman and Braga had patched together to begin with.

If somebody like Coto had been put in charge of the show from the start it could easily have been the best Trek since Deep Space 9, which considering it would only have Voyager, the other Berman/Braga suckfest, to compete with would not have been all that difficult.

Regardless of that though, season four went about in trying to connect the dots between Enterprise and the original Star Trek, dealing with the early stages of the forming of the Federation, the Eugenics War, tensions between the Andorians and the Tellarites and, my personal favourite, explaining why the Klingons in Kirk's time looked very different to what they looked like previously in Archer's and again later in Picard's. I thought bothering to come up with a rational canon reason for the fact that they had less money for alien makeup in the sixties was a very nice touch.

Buffysmglover | February 27, 14:30 CET

Thing about Lileks is that his writing tends to be self-indulgent. That's the one hand. But on the other, once you either wade through, or he focuses on his topic, he really is a witty, skilled writer. So it is, here: you have to get to the bottom of the page, but then he manages to say an awful lot, terribly well, and surprisingly briefly.

filops | February 27, 16:41 CET

Changed link to the permalink.

zeitgeist | February 27, 17:38 CET

I adore Lileks, have several of his books (The Gallery of Regrettable Food is an unalloyed, hysterically funny masterpiece.)

Here, he epitomizes that which frustrates me so often: the intelligent viewer who refuses even to try to watch Buffy. (Full disclosure: I once was that viewer.) My old girlfriend from college used to get mad at me whenever I'd bring Buffy up; now she owns every Joss DVD set, and, of course, Serenity.

Wise up, you oh-so-intelligent folks out there--get past your silly prejudices, and you'll be amazed at the wonders that await you.

Chris inVirginia | February 27, 17:39 CET

p.s. - Lileks' books are hilarious. In addition to The Gallery... mentioned above, there is Interior Desecrations and the recent Mommy Knows Worst which are both fantastic as well.

zeitgeist | February 27, 17:42 CET

Ok, so what was the reason given for why the Klingons looked different? I never got past the second episode, season one of Enterprise, but I'd sure like to know that!

Cool that they even addressed it!

Willowy | February 27, 18:21 CET

Willowy, this Wikipedia article tells you how they explained away the difference in how the Klingons appeared in the various series. Hope it helps.

Buffysmglover | February 27, 18:25 CET

Thanks VwaG, I'll check it out.

Willowy | February 27, 18:29 CET

Wow, I've never even heard of James Lileks before, but I'm already really liking him. I thought that the self-indulgence was rather amusing and entertaining; I dig it.

Then again, I'm sort of a product of the most self-indulgent culture in the history of man.

UnpluggedCrazy | February 27, 23:49 CET

If you get a chance, check out his "Gallery of Regrettable Foods." I laugh so hard every time I flip through that, I'm afraid I'm going to do myself some damage one of these days....

BTW, I just heard from him. He tried to post here but isn't a member, so he asked me to pass this along for him:

... My refusal to see Buffy had nothing to do with any sort of disdain for it; I just don't watch a lot of TV, and tend to resist committing to anything. (Oh, how I fought the X-Files.) Perhaps that's why I like HBO series - they're short and then they're done, and there aren't any commercials.

I felt compelled to point out that "Buffy" is about to start again on FX on Wednesday, and if he liked the writing in "Firefly," he'd probably find things to like in that too.

MaryQue | February 28, 01:14 CET

Okay, James, sorry for assuming disdain! Hope the fact that I've bought about a dozen copies of "Regrettable Food" and a couple each of "Desecrations" and "Mother Knows Worst" makes up for it!

And, MaryQue, I think he should just get Season One and watch the first 2 episodes...I bet he'll be hooked utterly, completely, irrevocably.

I cannot recommend "The Gallery of Regrettable Food" highly enough...I think I have lost measurable weight at the tears of laughter it has educed.

Chris inVirginia | February 28, 02:50 CET

[quote]I adore Lileks, have several of his books (The Gallery of Regrettable Food is an unalloyed, hysterically funny masterpiece.)

Here, he epitomizes that which frustrates me so often: the intelligent viewer who refuses even to try to watch Buffy. (Full disclosure: I once was that viewer.) My old girlfriend from college used to get mad at me whenever I'd bring Buffy up; now she owns every Joss DVD set, and, of course, Serenity.

Wise up, you oh-so-intelligent folks out there--get past your silly prejudices, and you'll be amazed at the wonders that await you.[/quote]

I hear ya, on all counts. I've liked Lileks's stuff for a few years, since I stumbled across his "Dorcus Line of Menswear" stuff and got hooked on his website. I'm glad he turns out to be a Firefly fan.

Like many, I thought I was "too smart" for Buffy, Angel, et al. Until, that is, I actually tried WATCHING them. Within a few episodes of Buffy, I was hooked on the dialog and the storytelling. Hell, before long I even liked Sarah Michelle Gellar, not something I ever would have considered possible before that point! From there, it was a short jump to Firefly, and now I'm a fan of pretty much all things Joss.

It seems the hardest part of making fans out of "the intelligentsia" or the literati, is just getting them to set aside their prejudices and watch the damn shows. Now if we can just get Mister Lileks to give Buffy/Angel a real shot; we'll Whedonize him yet!

Mike

Kwicko | February 28, 02:54 CET

Oh, my, yes, Kwicko, the Dorcus Line of Menswear...a stupendous piece of humor...just hysterical!

Chris inVirginia | February 28, 03:14 CET

OMG, Chris in Virginia! Per your recommendation, I quickly checked out The Gallery of Regrettable Food online. I was worried that the sudden moisture around my eyes might've been blood from all my strenuous efforts to muffle audible laughter (boss is 15 feet away) but was relieved to find only tears. Hy-freakin-sterical!!

m'cookies actual | February 28, 03:26 CET

m'cookies, I sent a friend of mine that book a few years ago. She wrote: Oh. My. God. Cats are staring at me, wondering what is producing these horrible sounds. Eyes red and swollen from intense crying...

And so on. I just love the guy.

Chris inVirginia | February 28, 03:28 CET