The One Common Captain

[Zor]

Always remember, in every established continuity of Star Trek there is One Commanding officer who exists in all of them and who's legacy stands uniform though all of them. Be it in the classical timeline, the alternate timeline or the Reimagined Era his legacy remains and endures.

Captain Johnathan Archer of the United Earth Starship Enterprise NX-01. Now let us all feed our Beagles cheese in praise of the founder of Starfleet and the Father of the Federation.

Zor

[Thanas]

Successful troll is successful.

[U.P. Cinnabar]

I'd much rather feed his damned dog chocolate.

[The Romulan Republic]

I'd much rather feed his damned dog chocolate.

Now, now, its not the dog's fault that its master is a sociopathic moron.

[Batman]

Correct. Let's not punish the do for the (many many) failings of its human.

[U.P. Cinnabar]

I'd much rather feed his damned dog chocolate.

Now, now, its not the dog's fault that its master is a sociopathic moron.

Point. Let's feed Archer Chocolate Ex-Lax instead. Instant lobotomy.

[Ziggy Stardust]

So, as someone who isn't super familiar with "Enterprise" other than vaguely remembering the broader plot points, what did Archer do that makes him a sociopathic moron?

[Imperial528]

He let his ship's doctor (Phlox) withhold a cure for an entire species suffering a fatal degenerative disease because the Phlox thought that species was dying out "naturally" and it would let the less intelligent species which they had sincere good relations with rise up in their place, so they shouldn't interfere despite being able to cure them.

Phlox essentially took Darwinian selection as morality and Archer bought it, and then decided it was a good basis for the prime directive. The stupid "we can never interfere" version of the prime directive.

[Prometheus Unbound]

So, as someone who isn't super familiar with "Enterprise" other than vaguely remembering the broader plot points, what did Archer do that makes him a sociopathic moron?

Just one episode where they fucked up what the PD meant (the writers). Left Archer and Phlox basically... wiping out a planet (or letting a planet be wiped out)...

But other than that, nothing really. He made a load of silly mistakes (hey, he's the first Starfleet captain out there on these missions) and his 'Speeches' were god-awful in comparison to Picard's... and he has a habit of losing fist fights in the first two seasons... but that's just his character... like Picard is a pompous ass hole, Janeway is moody and bi-polar and Sisko is a very angry man who lets it get the better of him sometimes.

[Tribble]

Well, there's the time the time when he gave away the existence and location of a secret Vulcan monitoring station to the Andorians, despite the Vulcans being Earth's closest allies. And just being a dick to Vulcans in general.

Or launching the Enterprise before it was ready because he wanted to show how big his dick was (though to be fair he did later admit that was a mistake. After his ship got its ass handed to it.)

However, nothing beats Archer's lunacy in "A Night in Sickbay". That episode needs to be seen to be believed.

Glad to know that the fate of the Earth and the entire Federation rested in such safe hands

[The Romulan Republic]

One Captain to Rule them all.
One Captain to Find them.
One Captain to Bring them all.
And in the Darkness bind them.

[U.P. Cinnabar]

Dude, ain't nobody gonna call him precious.

[Gandalf]

I find it amusing that people put so much shit on Enterprise, but none of the reboots managed to remove him from continuity.

I'd much rather feed his damned dog chocolate.

You show 'em tough guy!

[Thanas]

I find it amusing that people put so much shit on Enterprise, but none of the reboots managed to remove him from continuity.

It clearly is because the reboots are shit as well, so the shitty writers writing them have decided to keep shitty characters because they resemble their own creations.

[Crazedwraith]

Or you know, simply a respect for canon and a quirk of time periods chosen.

eta: You had it right in the first place, Thanas, 'successful troll is successful' spending any time on this thread on underlines that success.

[Prometheus Unbound]

Well, there's the time the time when he gave away the existence and location of a secret Vulcan monitoring station to the Andorians, despite the Vulcans being Earth's closest allies. And just being a dick to Vulcans in general.

The Vulcans broke the treaty. Yes Earth were their allies but they were also not exclusively their allies. Vulcan attempts to fuck over Andorians were similar to those of Earth. Vulcans needed a punch in the nose.

Or launching the Enterprise before it was ready because he wanted to show how big his dick was (though to be fair he did later admit that was a mistake. After his ship got its ass handed to it.)

This is not just an Archer thing, it's an Earth thing. Was United Earth ready? No. But that's the entire point. Even in TOS and TNG, humanity is "not ready" for this, time and again. Did Q's speech go un-noticed, in Q-Who?

However, nothing beats Archer's lunacy in "A Night in Sickbay". That episode needs to be seen to be believed.

Glad to know that the fate of the Earth and the entire Federation rested in such safe hands

I can't argue against that. But that's not his character, that's shitty writing. That wasn't Archer in and of himself. You can't take that episode and then expand that to all of Enterprise. It was one shitty episode with one misunderstanding (writers, producer, director?) on the PD.

[Q99]

Like, I'm not an Enterprise fan, but it was closer to Trek feel than the reboot stuff, and it had it's share of good episodes.

[Elheru Aran]

Yeah, in retrospect... Enterprise wasn't -great- Trek, but it felt like it fit into the universe well enough in a way that the reboot films and Discovery just can't quite manage.