The
Enterprise series was pretty good in terms of the acting and the chosen story arcs, but considering that the time frame of that series is set roughly 100 years before the events of
The Original Series, it does take some getting used to the absence of the very advanced technology we've come to see in
TOS,
TNG,
DS9 and
VOY.
For instance, the crew of the
Enterprise NX-01 only ever uses their transporter room — of which they have only one — in the event of emergencies, because the Earth-developed version of this technology is still new and untrusted, and there have been a number of transporter-related deaths. So for most part, they will travel to and from a planet or another ship by way of a shuttle craft.
(Other civilizations appearing in the series do however already routinely use transporter technology.)
Likewise, while the Romulans, the Klingons, the Vulcans, the Andorians and several other civilizations already possess disruptor technology, the
Enterprise NX-01 and its crew don't even have phaser technology yet. As you probably well know, phasers are similar to (but technically more complex than) disruptors, and will become the standard directed energy weapon of Starfleet during the 23rd century. In the official pilot episode of
The Original Series,
"Where No Man Has Gone Before", the crew of the
Enterprise NCC-1701 carry
laser pistols, although a single
phaser rifle is seen carried by Spock, and ultimately used by Kirk. In the
The Next Generation episode
"A Matter Of Time", Lt. Worf also remarks that
"phasers did not exist yet [within the Federation]
in the 22nd century."
The crew of the
Enterprise NX-01 uses a type of plasma weapon at first, which is then later on replaced by so-called phase pistols as sidearms and by three ship-mounted phase cannons — two fore, one aft. These phase pistols appear similar to a phaser or a disruptor, but they are much less powerful and they only have two settings: "stun" and "kill" — the latter merely causing a fatal burn injury, rather than that they would disintegrate the target. The
Enterprise NX-01 also doesn't have any shields. Instead, it polarizes the hull, giving the plating more of an armor-type quality.
My personal favorite character on
Enterprise was T'Pol, played by
Jolene Blalock, who was unfortunately not present at this celebratory convention, even though she normally does attend the conventions. As a Vulcan, her character was very interesting. She even had a sense of (dry) humor about her.
Although T'Pol was originally pushed onto Captain Archer as an attachée by the Vulcan High Command — who during the era of the
Enterprise series are rather meddlesome, conservative and controlling, and who appear to be withholding more advanced technology from humans because they don't trust them — her loyalty to Archer would eventually cause her to go directly in against the Vulcan High Command. T'Pol is also to a large extent co-responsible for a positive evolution in the conservative Vulcan attitude, both on account of how Vulcans think of (and interact with) humans and other species, and on account of Vulcan society itself — starting with Soval, the Vulcan ambassador on Earth.
Last but not least, the producers had fitted T'Pol with a tight cat suit as her uniform. Needless to say, all of her curves were in the right places, which made her
very pleasant to look at... :p
:whstl: :ttr: