Things required to get Enterprise into continuity

[whoiam]

Originally Posted by Infinite Improbability

A: They just spent four years on the Dominion War, and it was too soon for another one.
B. A war in which you never look at the enemy would be boring pretty quick. If they actually had Archer face-to-face with a Romulan, it would be the last straw for those paying attention for such things.
C. Unlike DS9, the NX-01 would be doing war-stuff ALL the time. The Starfleet is just two starships plus maybe a few dozen smaller ones. If you're doing espionage and weapons testing you can't explore or have comical subplots.

A: I was suggesting using it in the place of the Xindi arc... if timing's the issue, then putting it in season 3 is no worse then using the Xindi, which was a 'war' arc in all but name.
B:True, although you can get around that to an extent by having the only face-to-face contact being by T'Pol and Phlox, say - remember that there has already been contact between Romulans and Vulcans in the series, so why it wouldn't be possible for T'Pol to find out the link between the species and then keep quiet about it, as administrator thingymagummy did...? Plus, it gives you a chance for T'Pol to have some character development as a Vulcan, rather then as 'token science babe'.
C: Again, I was suggesting replacing season 3, in which they had much the same trouble inserting any actual exploration or comedy. Surely having an enemy we actually know wouldn't have made this any harder then the Xindi did? After all, we know very little about the Romulan side of what will eventually be the Neutral Zone...

Originally Posted by Infinite Improbability

Nada. A show needs ratings to survive in syndication and get renewed. A show needs QUALITY to survive in reruns and in the public eye. Enterprise's quality was good, and it was improving, but they started off on a bad foot and scared or ticked off a portion of their key demographic.

I'll agree there - Enterprise season 4 was better then Enterprise season 1 or 2... and season 3 was more like DS9 then anything like the other seasons. It even had some decent cameos (especially Brent Spiner), and fewer rubbish/pointless episodes (like the one with the Orion Slave Girls, which proves that people in the future have lost the fine art of using air filters), when compared to the earlier seasons.

Of course, I am not counting the first two episodes of the season. Part of my mind still refuses to accept I even watched those.

Slightly off-topic, I cannot wait to see what Zeke does with the Evil Alien Nazi arc, and the Orion slave girls...