the delphic expanse

So I was thinking... and may make a separate post someday with a poll (unless someone beats me to it)... but I was thinking about how much I identify with Jonathan Archer. He's my OTC. (One True Character, for those who don't know.)

When Enterprise was announced almost ten years ago -- yes, it's been that long -- I was immediately intrigued by the involvement of Scott Bakula (who also needs a separate thread). I'd been in Trek fandom for many years, but had become a mundane for almost a decade. Scott, and Archer, brought me back to the fandom fold and the rest is history, lol!

I wrote my very first piece of fan fiction before the premiere, based on what I had read about Archer's character.

Captain Jackson Archer: Early 40s. Physical. Bold personality. Intensely curious. Born and raised an explorer. Unlike the Starfleet captains in centuries to come, he exhibits a sense of wonder and excitement, as well as a little trepidation about the strange things he will encounter. He holds a grudge against the Vulcans, who he blames for impeding humanity's progress. But his science officer is Vulcan, and he's struggling to reconsider those preconceptions. Although he has a strong sense of duty, he's a bit of a renegade - he's not afraid to question orders or even disobey them if he feels in his gut that he's right... .

I think... it was the "curious" and "sense of wonder and excitement" bits, coupled with the casting of Scott that captured my muses from the very beginning. Over the years, I've felt a connection to the character -- both in canon and a lot of fanon -- that I can't explain. His journey was my journey in a lot of ways, and at significant parts of my life.

My main frustration with overall Trek fandom, aside from their almost irrational hatred of Enterprise, was with the rejection of Archer as a strong character. There's no accounting for taste, of course , and I have my least favorites too. But I'd rather build up characters I love (and thus encourage my fellow fen), especially since I think that's what this site was created for. AND THANKS TO THE MODS, BTW!!

So with that in mind...

HOW ABOUT SOME ARCHER LURV!?

Physical.

I just got all twitterpated.

My favorite Archer episodes:

North Star - ( outfit, nuff said)
Stratagem - He's very smart in this episode, and outsmarts the bad guys.
Dead Stop
Countdown

Terra Prime - it gets a lot of attention as a TnT episode, but Archer really holds everything together.

I'm not even sure where to start talking about how much I love Jonathan Archer. I'd watched and enjoyed all of the other Trek incarnations, and they all had characters I admired, respected, enjoyed... But not until Enterprise and Archer could I ever really say I loved a character.

I think it was his accessibility; this was someone I could understand and relate to very strongly. He was a complex man with dreams and a chance to realize them; yes, he was naive at first, and fallible. But he would be the first to admit to both of those things, and to learn from every experience. And his sense of wonder seemed entirely in keeping with humanity's first ventures into deep space.

Over time, I loved seeing Jonathan's character grow, deepen, and develop, along with his relationships with his crew and his alliances with some of the species they encountered. He always stood up to whomever he needed to stand up to in defense of doing the right thing. But he allowed himself to be advised and learned to trust his officers. Of course in the end the decisions were his to make, even when there were no good choices. And he had to live with every consequence, which affected him deeply.

My favorite episodes are those that drive his character development. Without trying to be exhaustive, some that come to mind are Minefield, Judgment, The Communicator, The Shipment, Stratagem, Azati Prime, and of course Twilight and Affliction/Divergence despite how painful they are to watch.

Enterprise is the only fandom where I've ever been inspired to write or make graphics -- actually the first time I have ever been involved in fandom at all. And that's because of two characters, Jonathan Archer and Malcolm Reed. I think I first saw Malcolm thru Jonathan's eyes, and Jon's is usually the first voice that comes to me when I think about writing something.

Mareel
Enterprise is the only fandom where I've ever been inspired to write or make graphics -- actually the first time I have ever been involved in fandom at all.

This is my experience.

Someone asked me once why I was doing a Season 5 of Enterprise, my answer was because it was the first show that I've ever watched where I felt passionate enough about to add more stories that I felt needed to be told. So much left undone, so much left unsaid...

I love the dynamics between Archer and his crew, and, especially for me, Archer and Trip - there was so much left unresolved between the two of them. I felt/feel cheated that it was never addressed. I am hoping, through S5, that I will, somehow, achieve this....

In saying that, I have managed to watch all the other incarnations of Star Trek and, IMO, I believe that Archer was the most, I'm looking for a word here that I can't drag from the back of my brain, but the most unjustifiablely accused (something along those lines), of the whole franchise.

I Love Archer, I love Scott Bakula. I just wished that he had more opportunities to show his worth to the ST community...

Okay, rambling...

paulinem wrote:In saying that, I have managed to watch all the other incarnations of Star Trek and, IMO, I believe that Archer was the most, I'm looking for a word here that I can't drag from the back of my brain, but the most unjustifiablely accused (something along those lines), of the whole franchise.

Maligned? That's what comes to my mind. Obviously, I agree!

So I inadvertently wrote an essay, but the message is intended to be positive, despite mentioning some of his character flaws. I love Archer, I really do, I think that all of his reactions to situations are justified and he evolves in a manner and pace that makes sense according to the events that are thrown at him. His character development I find the most agreeable.

What I didn't like about Archer is the fact that he's was such an obvious product of the 21st century, inadvertently a vehicle for common -isms and privilege that dominates today's society. I don't like the fact that he was distorted by Hollywood and that Enterprise was so glaringly obvious in being a product of today's societal values, unlike the Trek I always assumed Roddenberry had set out to make (no comment on whether he succeeded or not). Archer began as a pawn in a stupid game, but he eventually outgrew the game and became a strong character who (I think) set himself apart from that dynamic, and you could feel his progress. It was hopeful, without being unrealistic and departing from the original nature of the character. He's a man who's learning, always learning, which is very human and relatable.

I find him the easiest to imagine after the end of the series, too, because his path forward seems very logical and very human, and it's nice to see him change and develop with each new problem and encounter. Going back to the era he reflects most, the 21st century west, the way he developed on the Enterprise acted inevitably as a microcosm of broader society, and in that environment, given his history, I think he evolved in a way that was both believable and desirable, as he left some of his burdens behind and gained new ones. The narrative of his evolving character I actually view, somewhat hopefully, as a reflection of our eventual changing attitudes, as he is invariably the typical American straight white male. The Xindi conflict and the Vulcan arc in particular I love for the way they change him and influenced his later interactions with his crew and other species.

The relationships between him and other characters were also very compelling. There were some elements I found problematic, particularly in regard to his attitude towards aliens and women, another symptom of the societal messages that unfortunately dominate the stage on which the show was created, but, at the same time, his behaviour was believable given his experiences. The way he was written, unlike some protagonists, I never felt forced to agree with his point of view, or afraid to speak up against his flaws. I'm not going to say he was perfect, but he was human, and he did have an undeniable innocence that made him appealing, even as he shed that skin and became something new.

In particular, I always liked that he tried to be a friend in addition to a Captain, and he seemed to pay such close attention to his crew that he noticed things no one else would have. He acted in their best interests, and I never felt he was infallible, especially as he realised that himself. Of course my favourite element is how he relates to Malcolm, in some ways I think they're very much the same; testing the waters of new experiences (personal and professional), venturing into new situations hoping to do something big, and pushing their own sense of self-confidence.

I think overall Jonathan Archer is a good man, and a very interesting character, even when he had to set aside himself to be The Captain. He had a strong sense of morals, and no, he didn't always make the best choice or have the right attitude, as Mareel said, especially in situations where someone was always going to lose, but as a baseline we were always reminded he was human and constantly evolving as all good men do.

I, for one, would have been proud to be a member of his crew and evolve right along with him.

Well said, Mr. Smith.

I have a sort of LOVE-hate-LOVE relationship with Archer. There are so many things I like about him, but then every once in a while, something is just off about the character and I'm left feeling baffled. There were times when the performance just seemed not quite right. I can't really put my finger on it, and I'm not sure if it was SB's acting, or the directing, or the fact that the writing often made him inconsistent.

Yet, despite my occasional disappointment with the character, over-all I really do like him. I could relate to Archer in a way I could never relate to Picard. The things I love are his dedication to his crew, his determination to do the right thing, the way he grows toward a better acceptance of those who are different than him (i.e. Vulcans), and, of course, his hotness. (Sorry, I can be shallow.)

He has some definite weaknesses as a captain, but that's something I like about the character. For example, I think that he was probably chosen to be the captain of Earth's first Warp 5 starship because of who his father was (it's good P.R. for Starfleet) and to tick off the Vulcans. When the series begins, I don't think he was ready to be captain. However, he quickly began reassessing what he was doing and learned fast. He still made a lot of mistakes, but he was obviously growing. (Except when the writers had him make the same dumb mistakes again and again.) By the time season three came along, he had grown as a captain, but he wasn't ready for the Xindi mission. Then again, no human would have been ready. He was an explorer who was thrust into a position he never would have wanted, but he accepted the challenge and prevailed despite all odds. That's why I LOVE Jonathan Archer.

I have to agree about Archer's growth as a person/captain. Honestly, I liked him as a person in the first couple of seasons, but as a captain....not so much. But as his character began to grow and learn from his experiences, I admired that he grew so much and build on what he'd learned.

I think Archer was deliberately written as somewhat naive or over-idealistic in the beginning to make him correspond to Earth beginning to move out of its own solar system. So many hopes and expectations, but then finding there is so much that's not very nice.

I also could appreciate how he became driven in the Expanse, because so much was riding on the outcome. A lot of people didn't like him portrayed as he was during the Xindi storyline, but I found it to be believeable and understandable why he acted the way he did at times.

The shame is that the series was canceled after four seasons. I expect there would have been a lot more growth, or at least refinement, to Archer.

Kathy Rose wrote:I also could appreciate how he became driven in the Expanse, because so much was riding on the outcome. A lot of people didn't like him portrayed as he was during the Xindi storyline, but I found it to be believeable and understandable why he acted the way he did at times.

This is when I fell in love with Archer. I don't mind the darkness of the third season, and I like that he had to make hard choices to save his people (threatening to space someone, cloning Trip, taking another ship's warp drive). Billions of lives depended on him and the crew and I can't fault his decisions.

However, I was disappointed that they didn't deal better with the aftermath of that time more than just a nightmare in "Home". I didn't want to see him bitter or PTSD-ing all the time in the fourth season, but I would have appreciated it if the writers had spent an episode perhaps dealing with his demons from that time.

And now with the superficial:

SCOTT BAKULA IS HOT!!

And seriously, all the shirtlessness in the MU episodes...