November 23

[Anonymous]

Originally Posted by Kira

I...Which brings me to one of the most valid criticisms that Blalock could have put forward, yet doesn't appear to have done so: what possible excuse can the writers still fathom (other than at the whim of UPN execs on crack who think that catsuit=ratings) for NOT GIVING T'POL A UNIFORM? It was stupid before but she wasn't really part of the crew, so I could let it slide. But now, she has a commission. She's accepted the crew and her role on Enterprise. She's resigned from the Vulcan High Council. So why the @*$&# is she still in that catsuit? It drives me insane because it's such a stupidly obvious ploy for ratings, not to mention interferes with the T'Pol-is-becoming-more-human vibe they're trying to send out. Hopefully they'll eventually figure out that she looks better in uniform (see: "Twilight"; Seven of Nine; Deanna Troi) and that it would be more in character for her as a full-fledged member of the crew.

I have to agree with this. Seven was what I liked the least about Voyager and it's worse on Enterprise than ever. Enterprise lost me completely with the Rajiin/T'Pol scene. Rajiin was supposedly assaulting T'Pol telepathically, but it was blantantly gratuitous f/f sexploitation. I don't object to f/f scenes - I am, in fact, a bisexual woman - but get real, that was pure sleaze. I haven't watched Enterprise since.

The whole T&A thing is just a big cop-out. Supposedly, it's to draw male viewers and support the series, but if they put out good quality stories they wouldn't need so much of that nonsense - and they didn't on DS9. Oh sure, the dabo girls wore very revealing clothes, but how much screentime did they get compared to Seven or T'Pol? Even Leeta usually wore dresses that were less revealing than T'Pol's catsuit when they gave her a bigger role.

The whole decon thing told me where this was going. That was nonsense. A real decon should be something to drink to cleanse the system and a delousing, not people in their underwear rubbing gel on each other. That's so obviously nothing but sex it's downright silly.

One of these days the execs will realize that's there's all kinds of pics of nude women all over the internet and people who want to see stuff like that don't need to watch their shows to get it. They don't seem to have realized yet just how much the proliferation of nudity and porn online has de-valued this ploy. They're going to have to wise up soon, because T&A is becoming less of a rating draw all the time as people can easily find all of that they want online.

Let's face it, Enterprise doesn't get nearly as many viewers as Voyager or DS9 because so many people think it's boring and T'Pol's catsuit isn't enough to get them to watch. T&A worked for Voyager, but that was the early days of internet porn. Now home computers, as well as computers online in the workplace, are much more common and people can see all the female nudity and porn they want.

Simply put, they need to get back to producing good stories, without counting on a babe in a catsuit to make them money. And this requires them to not be so lazy as to leave loose ends all over the place or ignore those plot holes that are big enough for Godzilla to walk through. It would also help if the writers didn't ignore what they've written and contradict themselves all the time. Loyal viewers (hell, even casual viewers) remember this stuff and loyal viewers is supposed to be what they're after, right? They need to act like it if they expect to get them. I hope these lessons are learned soon, even if it has to be on SF shows unrelated to Trek.