[Zardoz]

Originally Posted by Commodore

My bet is that Earth ships became equipped with deflector shields sometime after the Coalition of Planets was formed. Who knows, perhaps the advent of deflector shield technology aboard Earth ships was the turning point in the Romulan Wars...

I would assume that the technology would have come from, or been adapted for use by the Vulcans who had a vested interst in the outcome of that war.

ENT made it clear the sheilds were know of by humans, but the technology did not exist in any form on human ships.

[stuart hammal]

Although it wasn't stated onscreen in dialogue, but in "In A Mirror, Darkly - Part Two" (Set in the Mirror Universe, for those who haven't watched it) a Starfleet file on Archer is shown briefly on a monitor and according to the DVD commentary it says he became an Admiral and then the first President of the United Federation of Planets. After his two terms in office he lived long enough to witness the launch of the Constitution-class Enterprise in 2245!

[horatio]

That lovely piece of background art from Mike Sussman really shows the development of the character. A Vulcan-hating, over-ambitious guy learns concepts like non-interference from Denobulans and Vulcans, teaches cooperation to some species in the region, thus lays the cornerstone for the Federation and works as a politican in the new-founded UFP during the later part of his life.

[Zardoz]

Originally Posted by horatio

That lovely piece of background art from Mike Sussman really shows the development of the character. A Vulcan-hating, over-ambitious guy learns concepts like non-interference from Denobulans and Vulcans, teaches cooperation to some species in the region, thus lays the cornerstone for the Federation and works as a politican in the new-founded UFP during the later part of his life.

[horatio]

When I first saw some episodes of ENT I was puzzled by this jerk-captain and I guess that most people felt similar when they just caught a few episodes on TV.
It's really a show that you gotta watch in order, otherwise one misses how the characters and even whole species like the Vulcans learn and grow.

[Zardoz]

Originally Posted by horatio

When I first saw some episodes of ENT I was puzzled by this jerk-captain and I guess that most people felt similar when they just caught a few episodes on TV.
It's really a show that you gotta watch in order, otherwise one misses how the characters and even whole species like the Vulcans learn and grow.

[Roysten]

Originally Posted by horatio

When I first saw some episodes of ENT I was puzzled by this jerk-captain and I guess that most people felt similar when they just caught a few episodes on TV.
It's really a show that you gotta watch in order, otherwise one misses how the characters and even whole species like the Vulcans learn and grow.

I think that of all the Captains, Archers character arc was the richest and truly showed him becoming a good captain, less prejudice against the Vulcans he saw hindering his mission and overall a more mature, well-rounded person.

Definitely one to watch in order, probably more so than DS9.

[Zardoz]

Originally Posted by Roysten

I think that of all the Captains, Archers character arc was the richest and truly showed him becoming a good captain, less prejudice against the Vulcans he saw hindering his mission and overall a more mature, well-rounded person.

Definitely one to watch in order, probably more so than DS9.

He didn't feel that way the first 2 seasons of the show.

Picard, and to a lesser extent, Sisko got great development. They tried with Janeway.

[horatio]

Originally Posted by Roysten

I think that of all the Captains, Archers character arc was the richest and truly showed him becoming a good captain, less prejudice against the Vulcans he saw hindering his mission and overall a more mature, well-rounded person.

Definitely one to watch in order, probably more so than DS9.

We even learn what kind of person he was before the NX-01 launched in episodes like "First Flight" or "Minefield" (a bit more subtle as he talks about his more relaxed command style, something the zealous Archer we saw in "First Flight" probably would not have considered to be correct).

While DS9's story-arcs are obvious in the later seasons, ENT looks like TNG 3.0 on the surface and the character-arcs, the relevance of chronology becomes only apparent after one has watched the show in order.

[horatio]

Originally Posted by Zardoz

He didn't feel that way the first 2 seasons of the show.

Picard, and to a lesser extent, Sisko got great development. They tried with Janeway.

I think he changes gradually, e.g. he recognizes T'Pol skills at the end of the pilot or learns the equivalent of the Prime Directive from Phlox in the first season.
But the experiences with the Xindi have most likely had the profoundest impact upon him as he learns to take enemies seriously and forge alliances whenever possible. One could claim that the Xindi crisis is a precursor of the Romulan War in terms of these two elements, fight for your survival together with those who are also (perhaps more mildly) threatened.