The first few episodes of Firefly have been pretty good. Our heroes are a scruffy band of mercenaries in a cargo ship, hopping from planet to planet looking for work. It was created by Joss Whedon, so it has the same attitude as Buffy the Vampire Slayer, but without all the maxipad ads.

Well, that was annoying.

The idea of a man being impregnated by a female alien was exploited in a short story by Spider Robinson. Not sure if he was the first, but it's also where the name "Fleming Ayniss" came from.

Glad to know that erudite pundits like yourself enjoy the best television shows. My own experience is a strong distaste for the original Star Trek, which has been tempered over the years but is nevertheless eclipsed by my adoration for The Next Generation. Sure, Roddenberry's 1986 sequel was stuffed with silliness--the same inexplicable detachment from the past, a ridiculous utopian society where people had defeated conflict and yet still wore sidearms, atomic-beehive hairdos, sequin-bedecked jumpsuits, and ham-handed scripts. But once the Great Bird passed control along to his subordinates, the series came off with more grit and reality by the day; it abandoned stilted allegories and pushed into episodes where the only priority second to expert characterization was compelling storytelling. From the third season on, virtually every episode is a classic--or at least a good time.

Deep Space Nine was never my cup of tea; I did, of course, appreciate Worf's tenure as I nodded in improvement when the show dropped its pretentions and gave the characters a doggoned starship to blast off of the plot-device tar pit that the space station represented. And then the Dominion war started; enter heartrending serials and twenty-second action sequences straight out of Return of the Jedi. For a few seasons in the latter half of the series I truly did enjoy the show, adenoidal actresses who play Bajorans and father the children of actors who play slimy English doctors notwithstanding.

The last season of DS9 showed a dovetailing of sorts with the wreck we know as Voyager; my personal theory is that the United Paramount Network took the reigns and tried to play genius heir Brannon Braga for a puppet. I'm talking memos that read:

"We really love the show, Bran! Really. It's fabulous. Let me wing this at you: the board has been discussing the 'Trek' dynasty and feel that Voyager can forge a new path in commercial art. Namely, more breasts; less cerebral plots; less distracting emotion for more streamlined acting; easier-to-understand aliens with simple conflict-management skills, thereby involving less complicated ethics issues to resolve by an episode's end; multiple romantic relationships between senior crew members; twice as many episodes this next season involving the 'Borg' characters as indicated in your season report last week. These and many other improvements should see this successful franchise to its greatest heights yet. Ciao!"

Needless to say, I think most people "missed out" on Voyager's season finale.

Funnily enough, I didn't think much of Enterprise when I saw Bakula and company on the cover of a TV Guide. Then I watched the season premiere...and I found my new favorite show; somehow UPN's talons were removed from Trek's creative staff. I agree with your assessments regarding the show, and that the leads make everything work. It's powerful, it's tactile and it places the same emphasis on character development investment as would any television show that hoped for success and longevity (read: TNG).

Malcolm's stoic persona finally made sense to me three episodes ago with the Romulan mine incident; his nervousness with fraternizing with the captain, his unrelenting self-reliance and the unnegotiable work ethic resulting from it; his desire to end his life to force the captain away from risking the entire crew for one man. I dunno...Braga and associates risked coming off as sensationalist but instead hit paydirt and viewers were able to glimpse the underbelly of a tough fellow.

Travis...he's, er, a freighter guy. And, uh, a freighter guy. He gets beat up every other show. Full stop. My only guess is that the writing staff hasn't figured out the perfect "Travis episode" yet, so they hold him back in deference to the characterization of the others.

Phlox--I thought he was a Buddhist ripoff of the inimitably abrasive Neelix, but the actor and this show's writers know how to handle a goofy character who is comic relief on one hand--but wittily poignant when delivering. I thought last night's show was a perfect spotlight. And did you notice the finishing of another's sentences or the kindhearted glances and general comradery between him and the captain? That's the stuff of good shows, and the foundation on which to build timeless stories.

Tapped a spring, here. Whew. In any case, yes: should it stay true to form, we will have another television classic--Trek, no less--on our hands.

Sheesh, I can't believe I ever backed you for President. Enterprise is crap. I dealt with it in detail a while back.

Oh, well. To each his own, I guess.

Enterprise has interesting episodes but Firefly has been great so far, especially th most recent ep. A little over a year ago, soon after Buffy had been picked up by UPN, Joss Whedon went along with the press on a tour of the Enterprise and was like a kid in a candy store. It was only a matter of time before he did his own space opera.

Also I met the guy who plays Phlox. Very nice and funny.

Best TNG episode: The Inner Light

I haven't been able to get into Enterprise - I think the cheesy-ass opening song ruined it for me when I watched the very first epsisode. Unforunate, since I was a huge Quantum Leap fan and was looking forward to seeing Bakula do more television... perhaps I will check it ou again when I remember it's on.

I think the cheesy-ass opening song ruined it for me

Give it time to grow on you--in a heathily ironic Postmodern sense, of course! :-)

And perhaps I'll have fewer typos in the future. Must be residual effects from last night's beer. Yes, that's it, indeed.

I gave up on that lame show after this episode .

I stopped watching Enterprise after the "Hunting is bad, Mmmmkay" episode.
They made a half-hearted attempt at softening the message, but in the end it came out clearly: hunting animals for food is the same as murdering a person.
No thanks. I can do without that sort of propaganda, which I'm sure was lapped up by the producers. If I wanted to hear hypocrites snigger at how 'redneck' and cruel it is to hunt an animal that has a fighting chance while they munch on burgers made from cows that were shackled into pens and bolt-gunned, I'll move to California.

Let's face it...Bakula, in his own way, chews just as much scenery as Shatner ever did. By design, I think...

My wife and I enjoyed Enterprise a great deal. Unfortunately, our local UPN station is now a CBS affiliate and our cable company says, eloquently: "UPN?"

I've always felt a great sense of unease with the whole Star Trek rationale, tho especially with regards to TNG. Objectively speaking, Rodenberry can best be described as a Marxist. The Utopianism, the anticapitalism (no money economy, indiotic greedy Ferengi) and the love of bureacratic authority all get my goat. I will say, though, that Enterprise seems to have gone a fair ways to counterract these totalitarian impulses and thanks to your and Michael's exceptionally learned and articulate reviews, I've determined to join my trekky wife in front of the tube on Wednesdays to salivate.

I agree with much of what you said... after some first season growing pains, the the second season has been spectacular (aside from last night's "is Porthos gonna die" episode) I do think you're a little harsh on Hoshi and Mayweather though. Hoshi did start out a little skittish but has slowly grown more confident. And Mayweather has been exuberant at the newness of the exploration without the normal geekiness and klutziness a newbie usually shows. (you pegged the stiff Britt and the Doc though.)

Next week they're going to rerun the season 2 premiere, normally I'm pissed off when they do reruns this early, but that ep was so cool I'm really looking forward to it.

The first episode I ever saw was the infamous "Dear Doctor", explaining the idiotarian roots of the Prime Directive. Blech. The bad song at the beginning was just salt in the wound. I liked DS9, even though it had similar moral problems. But I couldn't help but like Garak. He was the most deliciously amoral character since Capt. Renault in Casablanca.

While I am a TNG fan, and still watch some of the reruns on TNN, nothing, and I mean NOTHING can compare w/seasons 2, 3 & part of 4 of Babylon 5. Unfortunately for the Great Maker, S4 was too abrupt. But when one doesn't know if there's a S5, one does the best one can.