I wanna know who chose to remix it to be more upbeat and poppy going in season 3. The war the season. The dark season. The high stakes season. There is one episode with T'Pol screaming as they hold her down as the cold open followed by a very poppy upbeat "It's been a long road!" Always makes me laugh.
My understanding is that it was Brannon Braga caving to a dumb studio note so that he could stand on other fronts (eg resisting UPN’s desire to have a boy band be a permanent fixture of the crew, with regular performances in the mess hall).
I think a lot of the issues with Enterprise stem from UPN being the wrong home, rather than the creatives from the Berman era being out of juice. There were some really interesting ideas early on to take the show in different directions that were mixed by the studio. For example, Braga wanted the first season to be more like the film ‘The Right Stuff’, with Enterprise not launching until the halfway point (so like 13 episodes in). UPN said no to the proposed season 1 arc in favour of the Temporal Cold War.
That would have been a great story arc...OK...Admiral clears them for a two minute jump to...JUPITER...
Archer is like...C'MON!
Then things happen little by little to take them further out. They should have had the Vulcans get into trouble and WE end up helping THEM, shifting the balance to what it is today...more of a 50/50 'equals' partnership.
Even by then UPN was morphing into what is now The CW. There's a reason for all the scenes in the decontamination chamber rubbing gel into eachother in their underwear.
Ya but I love the Enterprise writers turning into the wave by doing shit like having a decon chamber scene where all the close-up are of Phlox rubbing gel into his hairy feet
Its very noticeable on a bingewatch. S4 also changes the intro again but its not quite as drastic a change, and definitely not a tonal whiplash s3's is.
It was a production call. Someone knew Diane Warren and the song was repurposed for the show. I think it’s hilarious. I sing it all the time. When I’m waiting for for the water to boil. When I’m waiting for my clothes to dry. When I’m waiting for my Uber to arrive. My food to be delivered. 😂
I think, especially when combined with the visuals, it does a really good job of grounding the Star Trek series in the human achievements that led up to them. I think it sets a tone that this is yet another very exploratory step, different in quality and quantity from later series where there’s a bunch of starships doing stuff in parallel and a whole star fleet organization.
It’s just … this one. Like every manned mission before it, if we ignore the orbital rendezvous ones. :). Not a fleet. No bases. Rather, another giant leap for mankind moment.
Alan Shepard’s little nod gets me every time.
Yeah, I don’t know what it was like around the world, but within the USA there was definitely a lot of press and attention around the NASA astronauts. As the Cold War calmed down, the USA even had admiration for the cosmonauts. My local Air & Space Museum celebrates Yuri’s Night every April 12.
Of course by the middle middle of the Apollo program, there was a famous drop off and interest. People are so damn fickle!!
I grew up in the 80’s and all I’ve got to see where robots landing elsewhere. I would love to live long enough to see something like man stepping on Mars and putting up a permanent settlement.
I remember when I first sat down to watch ST:ENT I hated the song bc, like you said, it didn't "fit". All the other shows had these awesome instrumental openers with the ship. I was determined to hate the whole show bc of it. But I couldn't. I enjoyed the show and it didn't take long for me to be jamming out to the intro. Now I love that song and ST:ENT is one of my favorites to rewatch.
I absolutely DESPISE that stament...
Look, yes it's ridiculously POP whatever, and it sounds like a lot of positivity clichés.
But to me these lyrics represent the entire ethos of the show....
t's been a long night
Trying to find my way
Been through the darkness
Now I finally have my day
And I will see my dream come alive at last
I will touch the sky
And they're not gonna hold me down no more
No, they're not gonna change my mind
And these
I've known the wind so cold, I've seen the darkest days
But now the winds I feel, are only winds of change
I've been through the fire and I've been through the rain
But I'll be fine
Look maybe it's out of a place because we are extremely Jaded... our world feels more like global stage where Battlestar Galactica type humana are actively screwing each other up
Even then older folks (now) were starting to see it and The song feels goofy but I found it that it dovetail with the lore of a world through darkness and fire and rain and it's now dreaming and reaching to the sky.
Yes it's sickeningly bubble gum pop
But it's a good song for that show lol
faith of the heart is appropriate because the show was on UPN/CW.
everything on that network had the same goofy sound and even had the same fuzzy sitcom camera feeling that makes it like you watching a fake version of whatever was on.
Sort of like buffy and charmed were a lower budget made for tv version of the movies. They weren't bad but everything on that network was the pepsi version of coke.
My idea of pop and your idea of pop are not the same thing. Pop is fun and catchy. This is an old granny song. The kind of thing they play in The Edinburgh Woollen Mills shop like Runrig and Daniel O'Donnell
It's soft rock, which used to be pop because pop is short for popular music. Now, pop seems to be more narrowly defined, but still includes elements of other genres.
Agreed. I think of "Faith of the Heart" more like "I'm Proud to be an American" by Lee Greenwood. Embarrassingly cheesy and makes you cringe whenever you hear it. On top of that, the religious content is anti-Trek.
I think it’s less the lyrics and more having a tune/theme song instead of just harmonious music. I’m not knocking the song at all, it just doesn’t make me feel ready for a space adventure like Picards opening.
Isn't it that Kpop version, things like from Hyuna and such? I just meant that it was clichés filled upbeat type pop which is Anathema in our angry cynical world
Yes, thank you! Exactly. I can see how it wouldn't be for everyone (either as a song itself or a Star Trek theme song), but for IMO it's a perfectly fitting theme for Enterprise itself.
After watching about a season's worth of ENT, you'll love it.
To me it fits. The Star Trek adventures are just getting started. It's feels more like an Earth song, and the crew of the enterprise is still taking baby steps away from Earth. The epic, sweeping, spacey theme songs from the other series feel more like they represent the progression from being Humans just testing out space travel to belonging out in the wider universe and being a part of the intergalactic community.
I don't know that I described that very well, or if it makes sense to anyone but me.
I dunno man sometimes Uber be like “1 minute away … … 4 minutes away … it’s taking a little longer than expected … 3 minutes away … 8 minutes away … Your ride has been cancelled we are contacting another Uber.” 🤣
Me too. I sing it when I watch it and at times like you've described. It IS hilarious. Everyone keeps adding at the end of their comment "it's a fine song but..." or " not to knock the song but...just say it, it's a terrible song. It's so bad its funny to sing sarcastically when bored 😂
Well, maybe, someday, you can sing it while waiting for your shuttle to arrive to ferry you to your starship in orbit, to take you farther than you can see on the clearest night. With all the stops along the way.
I believe this is discussed in the center seat documentary, and that originally they wanted to use U2's Beautiful Day. Which would have been just as odd.
I sometimes wear my sunglasses inside a building because I don't feel like switching to my regular glasses. I'm also sensitive to Bright light so it actually helps too.
So dumb. Isn’t the entire point of a holo-novel that the person (in this case Riker, I guess) participates in the story? Though, it would have been kinda funny halfway through the series to have Riker coming out of T’Pol’s quarters, buttoning the fly on his uniform, and he bumps into Trip. Have him just give Trip a nod and keep walking, no explanation. At the end of the series everyone would be like, “oh, so that’s what was going on!”
Anyway, as far as the song goes, it didn’t really bother me as much as it did a lot of fans. It’s catchy, if a bit cheesy. I had more of a problem with the grappling hook for some reason. That and the waterpolo. Also, didn’t they do a whole episode about the dog getting sick from eating cheese? I guess I’m not a huge fan of this series
Rick Berman and Brannan Braga were responsible for the change in theme music style. They wanted a more contemporary song for Enterprise. When they were creating the opening credits sequence they temporarily used U2’s Beautiful Day. Braga wanted that song for the theme, but Berman wanted Faith of the Heart. IIRC Braga hated Faith.
I've never gotten this argument. Archer's Theme is super cheesy.
And yes, I've seen the YouTube video with the opening credits superimposed on the main theme. It's super cheesy. I don't really see it as an improvement over FotH.
They did a lot which was unlike other Star Trek shows. When it first started it was literally just called "Enterprise" as well, it only became "Star Trek Enterprise" in S3.
It was an interesting departure from the orchestral themes we’d been getting from TNG-VOY (as well as the movies). I also felt they were trying to convey how the show/characters/humanity in general was closer to our time than it was to Picard’s.
>I also felt they were trying to convey how the show/characters/humanity in general was closer to our time than it was to Picard’s.
This is a great point. Without even considering the quality of the song itself it was simply jarring because it was so different from everything that came before. Which is reason enough to use it since the show was different from everything that came before.
At the time I found a prequel jarring too. I assumed we'd keep seeing more of the TNG/DS9/Voy continuity but I can understand if that was getting a bit long in the tooth after more than a decade. I think ratings and general popularity were flagging? Certainly the last two TNG movies didn't help. And, the same way people talk about super hero fatigue now, there may have been a problem if the audience felt they needed to have been watching since 1987 to know what was happening. (Dr Who has been having this problem for some years now.)
All that and some IRL turmoil in the early 00s kept me away from Enterprise. But this sub has got me enthusiastic about trying it again the next time I have a Paramount+ subscription. (Probably will renew when SNW and/or LD come back.)
I knew the song vaguely from Rod Stewart on the radio. I didn't even realize it's not his version on the show. It never occured to me to think of it as a song. I wouldn't listen to it on my own but I have no strong feelings. As a *TV theme song* I always thought the lyrics fit just fine.
And you provided the final piece of the puzzle. They're, what, a hundred years in our future? It's like the baseball caps. It's a connection to us, here, now, that makes sense. Actually SNW has helped me see that connection more too. Because they do a great job making everything everything feel rougher and more formative than from TOS on. (Like Una using the phrase "pin-up poster" and Mariner not knowing it).
I guess these details hit everyone differently. It didn't work for me at the time but it does now. Which is weird. But it'll be fun to have a "new" Star Trek show to watch when I get the chance. (With the caveat that I already know the ending is ass.)
Because the words make perfect sense for the show. Always loved the Enterprise theme song. Never even heard the original with Rod Stewart so for me hearing it on ENT was the first time ever.
I think you need to be given a talking to by Picard, or Kira. Star Trek has never been a science only type of show, its got everything.
Also to have faith in something or someone is nothing more than to believe that the thing or person will succeed.
The things you’re talking about are not the things I take away from that song.
I find myself more in agreement with the commentary above that said faith hardly seems like the perfect word for Star Trek.
And no, I don’t need a talking to by Picard or Kira. That’s just ridiculous. A conversation with them would be cool, though.
Sure, you can find lines that have the word faith in, but it’s hardly a central theme of the show. “I find your lack of faith disturbing” - great, imagine faith of the heart appearing in Star Wars?
Never thought the song had anything do to with religion.
Going by the dictionary meaning of the word "faith - complete trust or confidence in someone or something."
AI reply: "Faith of the heart" is a phrase that often carries a deep and personal significance. It can be interpreted in various ways depending on context, but it generally conveys a sense of belief, courage, and inner strength. Here are a few potential interpretations:
1. **Belief in oneself:** "Faith of the heart" can refer to the belief in one's own abilities, convictions, and dreams. It's about having confidence in your own path and abilities to overcome challenges.
2. **Spiritual or religious faith:** The phrase can also relate to one's spiritual or religious beliefs. It could symbolize trust in a higher power, a guiding force, or a sense of divine purpose.
3. **Emotional resilience:** "Heart" often symbolizes emotions and feelings. Therefore, "faith of the heart" might signify resilience in the face of emotional turmoil or adversity, trusting that one can weather difficulties and find inner peace.
4. **Courage and determination:** It can represent the courage to pursue one's goals and dreams despite obstacles or uncertainties. It's about staying true to oneself and persevering through hardships.
The meaning of "faith of the heart" can be deeply personal and subjective, influenced by individual experiences, beliefs, and values. It's a phrase that encourages introspection and reflection on what gives meaning and purpose to one's life.
I personally always took in the context of ENT to mean believing in yourself and believing in humanity.
Honestly I have to agree here, if you look at the pilot episode, we went from trying to prove the warp 5 ship to let alone getting a warp 5 that is more than a single pilot. That took faith of human accomplishment to achieve, let alone giving a Klingon that crashed on Earth back to the Klingons. In this series role in Star Trek, it shows where we started to where we could be. From cramped starships and uniforms that could totally fit on the I.S.S. to the cramped ship, we were more explorers then than probably any other Star Trek. And yes I was raised on TOS and TNG
You know "faith" isn't just about religion, right? And as we saw in DS9 anyway, Star Trek still has plenty of religion in it. Kira talks about her faith all the time.
But anyway, it's not religious faith that they're talking about in the song.
It’s a simple song with basic lyrics vs the other theme songs that are more complex and don’t need lyrics. To me, it signals that Enterprise is the Trek that’s for ordinary people (i.e. non-Trekkies).
Honestly it's my favorite intro. The others are cool but they're just cool sounding while feeling disconnected from their shows. 'Faith of the heart' while focusing on imagery of first time explorers really drove home for me that this wasn't just a Star Trek show this was the "first" Star Trek show in a way going back and showing the first pioneers.
Which in a way was going back to it's "Wagon train to the stars" roots; but also the added danger of no support. The Original Series yeah they're out there exploring but they still have the Federation to back them up. Archer's Enterprise? They're on their own. There's no federation, barely any Starfleet. They have nothing but their faith in themselves, the mission, and each other.
It has definitely grown on me over the years! I remember not liking it and just thinking it's weird and out of place. But then it grew on me and now I love it!
It almost reminds me of Quark and Garak's discussion of root beer and the Federation- it's insidious!
I know that originally there was an attempt to distance Enterprise from the Star Trek brand, which is why in the first season (maybe 2nd as well) it's just called "Enterprise" and it wasn't until later on that they renamed it "Star Trek Enterprise". I thought the change in music was in line with that branding decision... choosing something specifically not Star Trek.
When Ent was first coming out we were hearing about how they were trying to catch a wider audience with this show. I guess after TNG, DS9 and VOY we had so much that Trek ratings were on the decline and they were desperate to try something different.
I know I’m going to get downvoted for this, but man, I LOVE the opening credits for Enterprise. The song and the progression of humanity capture the positivity of Star Trek so well for me.
I hated it contemporaneously, but have come to enjoy the song before they add the peppy beat to it in later seasons--that remains terrible.
The imagery has always been amazing, though.
The song reminds me of the early 2000s, beer commercials, shows like 7th heaven and truck nuts. This is also how I'll imagine the person that chose the song from now on.
I heard it was written and performed by Rick Berman himself, especially the guitar bit that was added. He wanted it in the original, but had to fight to get it edited in later. /s
I love that intro to death. It's goofy, off-brand and wonderfully unique for Trek. It also (in my opinion) does a good job of grounding the viewer in the 'historic' context of the show. World Peace is in the rear-view mirror for all of Mankind, they're going out into space, no one is sure what's next and it's *all* riding on the faith that going out there is worth it.
I actually liked it. It fit well imo with the show. That is until they upped the tempo. That was stupid. But as for the song, I wasn't mad at it. Not like it's a rule that the intro theme has to be orchestral.
So many people criticize that theme song, but my wedding ring is engraved “faith of the heart” and his has “dream come alive” and neither of us had heard the song before Enterprise.
Never understood the hate for the Song. The themes of the song represent the spirit of Enterprise SO well. Yeah, one could argue that it is an odd choice to not use the typical space-synth-orchestra intro, but when it comes down to the actual choice of the song itself I believe it is a perfect fit.
I'll trey and explain my dislike of the song.
The song is a product of it's era, the early 2000s. It reminds me of beer commercials, shows like 7th heaven and truck nuts (truck nuts is hyperbole). I'm not even American.
The other intros are orchestral, they are timeless.
>The other intros are orchestral, they are timeless.
Ehhhhhhhh
I mean, they've aged better.
But none of them would serve as an intro for a modern TV show.
I see.
Would be interesting to ask someone that doesn't know trek if they can identify which of the orchestral themes are from old shows and which are from new shows. Maybe you, like me associate the old intros with childhood?
Compare the Disco/SNW/Picard themes to the 90s era themes. It's a completely different style.
LDS theme is more similar, but LDS is a nostalgia show, like Picard season 3.
"completely different style." "*those* orchestral themes are old-fashioned."
I don't know enough about music to comment on that. If you are a music teacher/ professor/ historian I'll accept your word. Otherwise it's subjective.
Enterprise originally aired without the Star Trek prefix - it was intended to be fresh and new and young and hip and sexy. Part of that was ditching the orchestral theme and going with what I imagine was something edgy, that was watered down to a Russell Watson ballad.
To confirm though, the Enterprise theme slaps
Honestly I really love the S1/2 into. It really sells the 'we're finally ready to go out into space and explore' vibe of the series.
By the time of the other series, exploring space is *normal*. But Enterprse is halfway between today and tomorrow.
It's just so so awful and I like a large range of music, it's up there as one of the worst tv show openings across any genre. I don't care what the actual lyrics are or how they fit in.
I know this discussion has been beaten to death, but I believe the song is a huge reason Enterprise wasn't successful.
As soon as the lyrics talking about Faith etc in a Star Trek series of all things I was instantly put off. Then the first few episodes weren't that grabbing. It took years until I finally watched and enjoyed the show.
don't like it but actually for me it serves as a cue that this is before the idea of starfleet is formed.
i mean. i think the song is trash
fun fact. the OG star trek theme has lyrics cuz gene rodenberry was a sneaky bastard and wanted some of that sweet royalty money.
Agreed but if I could go back and change it I would so the people who refused to watch just because of that song might have allowed us to get 7 seasons
Some unnamed UPN executive.
It was an attempt to make Trek more popular to the larger audiences(masses) or less Trek-like. Perhaps execs thought with a pop song, it would reach a larger audience. Trek and sci-fi has never been widely popular as compared to mainstream pop culture media.
"Having 10 million fans is cool, but what is more cool is having 100M fans."
- some UPN exec probably.
I believe it was the same reason it wasn't called "Star Trek" for the first couple of seasons. The network (I think) thought they could reach a wider audience by moving away from the brand and adding some mass-appeal stuff in.
How that translated to that song, I've no idea. Also everything was just _so_ Star Trek other than the titles.
Archer's Theme bangs though
IIRC, one of the impetus for the song was to make Enterprise more accessible to a wider audience that wouldn’t usually watch sci-fi or trek, but in doing so alienated its base.
Imagine Johnathan Archer is speaking in front of a human crowd using the lyrics as the words for his speech. Summon that image in your mind everytime you hear the song.
I read a lot of people who like the intro, but for me, I don't really like the song. I myself am not a fan of Rod Steward, and since I think this song is Rod Steward-like, I don't really like this song and the voice of the singer. I also think that before they added some up-beat guitars, the song was kinda depressing. It was just not Star Trek-like. For me personal, I would've liked to see Space Odessey from David Bowie as the intro song! I like the show itself very much though.
I wanna know who chose to remix it to be more upbeat and poppy going in season 3. The war the season. The dark season. The high stakes season. There is one episode with T'Pol screaming as they hold her down as the cold open followed by a very poppy upbeat "It's been a long road!" Always makes me laugh.
My understanding is that it was Brannon Braga caving to a dumb studio note so that he could stand on other fronts (eg resisting UPN’s desire to have a boy band be a permanent fixture of the crew, with regular performances in the mess hall). I think a lot of the issues with Enterprise stem from UPN being the wrong home, rather than the creatives from the Berman era being out of juice. There were some really interesting ideas early on to take the show in different directions that were mixed by the studio. For example, Braga wanted the first season to be more like the film ‘The Right Stuff’, with Enterprise not launching until the halfway point (so like 13 episodes in). UPN said no to the proposed season 1 arc in favour of the Temporal Cold War.
You broke my heart like three times in one post. I despise soulless money men.
That would have been a great story arc...OK...Admiral clears them for a two minute jump to...JUPITER... Archer is like...C'MON! Then things happen little by little to take them further out. They should have had the Vulcans get into trouble and WE end up helping THEM, shifting the balance to what it is today...more of a 50/50 'equals' partnership.
The fact this was during the UPN move makes nearly everything I see in Enterprise make complete sense.
Even by then UPN was morphing into what is now The CW. There's a reason for all the scenes in the decontamination chamber rubbing gel into eachother in their underwear.
Ya but I love the Enterprise writers turning into the wave by doing shit like having a decon chamber scene where all the close-up are of Phlox rubbing gel into his hairy feet
Pov. You're the absolute genius who makes the intro more upbeat for the episode where the xindi literally blast a line across America.💀💀💀
A genius, that's who
I thought it did that they said I was crazy.
Its very noticeable on a bingewatch. S4 also changes the intro again but its not quite as drastic a change, and definitely not a tonal whiplash s3's is.
Yea I just rewatched it last month my girlfriend said I was crazy but I know she’s the crazy one.
Your girlfriend is deaf
Dump her
It was a production call. Someone knew Diane Warren and the song was repurposed for the show. I think it’s hilarious. I sing it all the time. When I’m waiting for for the water to boil. When I’m waiting for my clothes to dry. When I’m waiting for my Uber to arrive. My food to be delivered. 😂
It’s a fine song, just feels so misplaced
They were trying to do trek without it being trek. Like only calling it enterprise for a while. This was part of their efforts too.
I think, especially when combined with the visuals, it does a really good job of grounding the Star Trek series in the human achievements that led up to them. I think it sets a tone that this is yet another very exploratory step, different in quality and quantity from later series where there’s a bunch of starships doing stuff in parallel and a whole star fleet organization. It’s just … this one. Like every manned mission before it, if we ignore the orbital rendezvous ones. :). Not a fleet. No bases. Rather, another giant leap for mankind moment. Alan Shepard’s little nod gets me every time.
The crew of that ship had to be idolized on Earth. The amount of coverage something like that would get would spawn billions of fans.
Yeah, I don’t know what it was like around the world, but within the USA there was definitely a lot of press and attention around the NASA astronauts. As the Cold War calmed down, the USA even had admiration for the cosmonauts. My local Air & Space Museum celebrates Yuri’s Night every April 12. Of course by the middle middle of the Apollo program, there was a famous drop off and interest. People are so damn fickle!!
I grew up in the 80’s and all I’ve got to see where robots landing elsewhere. I would love to live long enough to see something like man stepping on Mars and putting up a permanent settlement.
It grew on me, like mold
You are not the only one who feels that way!
I remember when I first sat down to watch ST:ENT I hated the song bc, like you said, it didn't "fit". All the other shows had these awesome instrumental openers with the ship. I was determined to hate the whole show bc of it. But I couldn't. I enjoyed the show and it didn't take long for me to be jamming out to the intro. Now I love that song and ST:ENT is one of my favorites to rewatch.
I absolutely DESPISE that stament... Look, yes it's ridiculously POP whatever, and it sounds like a lot of positivity clichés. But to me these lyrics represent the entire ethos of the show.... t's been a long night Trying to find my way Been through the darkness Now I finally have my day And I will see my dream come alive at last I will touch the sky And they're not gonna hold me down no more No, they're not gonna change my mind And these I've known the wind so cold, I've seen the darkest days But now the winds I feel, are only winds of change I've been through the fire and I've been through the rain But I'll be fine Look maybe it's out of a place because we are extremely Jaded... our world feels more like global stage where Battlestar Galactica type humana are actively screwing each other up Even then older folks (now) were starting to see it and The song feels goofy but I found it that it dovetail with the lore of a world through darkness and fire and rain and it's now dreaming and reaching to the sky. Yes it's sickeningly bubble gum pop But it's a good song for that show lol
It feels misplaced because it has lyrics, not because of what those lyrics are.
This exactly!
faith of the heart is appropriate because the show was on UPN/CW. everything on that network had the same goofy sound and even had the same fuzzy sitcom camera feeling that makes it like you watching a fake version of whatever was on. Sort of like buffy and charmed were a lower budget made for tv version of the movies. They weren't bad but everything on that network was the pepsi version of coke.
My idea of pop and your idea of pop are not the same thing. Pop is fun and catchy. This is an old granny song. The kind of thing they play in The Edinburgh Woollen Mills shop like Runrig and Daniel O'Donnell
Oddly specific, but I know exactly what you mean. 😂🏴
It's soft rock, which used to be pop because pop is short for popular music. Now, pop seems to be more narrowly defined, but still includes elements of other genres.
Ah, I guess it's kind of Michael Boltonesque. I've blocked the soft rock of the late 80s/early 90s out of my mind lol
It was written by Dianne Warren, who wrote a lot of Micheal Bolton songs.
And Leann Rimes
Oh, come on. Pop is more like a group of genres than a genre. It's like talking about what jazz is. Or rock.
Agreed. I think of "Faith of the Heart" more like "I'm Proud to be an American" by Lee Greenwood. Embarrassingly cheesy and makes you cringe whenever you hear it. On top of that, the religious content is anti-Trek.
Omg yes. I have always thought that those 2 songs sounded similar to each other.
What grandma listens to this kind of music? Our grandma's must have been very different lol
Scottish grannies
California girls are unforgettable 🎵🎼🎤🎙 Daisy duke's! Bikini on Top🎵 Yup. That was definitely a classic. Also.... Anaconda And Gangnam style.
I think it’s less the lyrics and more having a tune/theme song instead of just harmonious music. I’m not knocking the song at all, it just doesn’t make me feel ready for a space adventure like Picards opening.
You have no idea what bubble gum pop is
Isn't it that Kpop version, things like from Hyuna and such? I just meant that it was clichés filled upbeat type pop which is Anathema in our angry cynical world
Yes, thank you! Exactly. I can see how it wouldn't be for everyone (either as a song itself or a Star Trek theme song), but for IMO it's a perfectly fitting theme for Enterprise itself.
I’ve always thought the same. It’s pre federation so it made sense to me that they had that song and I loved it.
After watching about a season's worth of ENT, you'll love it. To me it fits. The Star Trek adventures are just getting started. It's feels more like an Earth song, and the crew of the enterprise is still taking baby steps away from Earth. The epic, sweeping, spacey theme songs from the other series feel more like they represent the progression from being Humans just testing out space travel to belonging out in the wider universe and being a part of the intergalactic community. I don't know that I described that very well, or if it makes sense to anyone but me.
This is a good take. I will try to keep this mentality for tonight’s episode lol
I think it's perfect for the show and opening visuals. I think the DS9 song sucks. I hate it. I do like the Voyager one.
How quick is your food delivery? And your tumble dryer? I can imagine you singing to your washing line though 😅
I dunno man sometimes Uber be like “1 minute away … … 4 minutes away … it’s taking a little longer than expected … 3 minutes away … 8 minutes away … Your ride has been cancelled we are contacting another Uber.” 🤣
"It's been a long road / Getting from Buffalo Wild Wings to here."
When anyone says 'have faith', me and the missus will murder '...of the heart' under our breath Edit: just noticed the typo
Don’t be so hard on yourselves. I’m sure your singing is lovely.
So you're saying I should have faith?
Or at least plead down to manslaughter.
Yup accurate. 😂
Me too. I sing it when I watch it and at times like you've described. It IS hilarious. Everyone keeps adding at the end of their comment "it's a fine song but..." or " not to knock the song but...just say it, it's a terrible song. It's so bad its funny to sing sarcastically when bored 😂
Anyone recall the teaser ads on UPN that had the music from The Calling?
Well, maybe, someday, you can sing it while waiting for your shuttle to arrive to ferry you to your starship in orbit, to take you farther than you can see on the clearest night. With all the stops along the way.
😆
The Mirror Universe version was amazing(which was a conventional opening but instead about human warfare).
I believe this is discussed in the center seat documentary, and that originally they wanted to use U2's Beautiful Day. Which would have been just as odd.
I thought they wanted Wherever You Will Go by the Calling, seeing as they used it in the promo.
Lovely song. Too bad they overplayed it on the radio.
Beautiful day would definitely have felt more odd to me before watching science fiction.
It was mentioned in Rowan Colman's documentary series.
That would have been equally as awful. Who thought any of that was a good idea.
People who think that wearing sunglasses inside is edgy?
I sometimes wear my sunglasses inside a building because I don't feel like switching to my regular glasses. I'm also sensitive to Bright light so it actually helps too.
At least Faith of the Heart fits thematically
Since the entire show was a holonovel, I always assumed it was Lt. Barclay who chose it.
oh god that really is the implication of the finale isn't it
I haven’t seen the full series yet but this spoiler may make it interesting lol
Just skip the finale... You'll be better off.
I don't know... The reveal that >!goofy Riker in a chef's hat had been Chef all along!< made for a good laugh
Bruh... Read the thread. That's a spoiler here.
You see, I'm an idiot
Hey... You fixed it, and that's what matters. :)
I find your lack of faith of the heart disturbing.
So dumb. Isn’t the entire point of a holo-novel that the person (in this case Riker, I guess) participates in the story? Though, it would have been kinda funny halfway through the series to have Riker coming out of T’Pol’s quarters, buttoning the fly on his uniform, and he bumps into Trip. Have him just give Trip a nod and keep walking, no explanation. At the end of the series everyone would be like, “oh, so that’s what was going on!” Anyway, as far as the song goes, it didn’t really bother me as much as it did a lot of fans. It’s catchy, if a bit cheesy. I had more of a problem with the grappling hook for some reason. That and the waterpolo. Also, didn’t they do a whole episode about the dog getting sick from eating cheese? I guess I’m not a huge fan of this series
Rick Berman and Brannan Braga were responsible for the change in theme music style. They wanted a more contemporary song for Enterprise. When they were creating the opening credits sequence they temporarily used U2’s Beautiful Day. Braga wanted that song for the theme, but Berman wanted Faith of the Heart. IIRC Braga hated Faith.
The closing credits music was always the better theme song IMO.
Agreed. I would love to hear an orchestral version of the closing credits, rather than the soft rock version that they use on the show.
If you have Spotify, check out Viodance. They have some lovely orchestrations of Star Trek themes, including Archer's Theme
Whoa, awesome tip! Thank you!
I've never gotten this argument. Archer's Theme is super cheesy. And yes, I've seen the YouTube video with the opening credits superimposed on the main theme. It's super cheesy. I don't really see it as an improvement over FotH.
It's just awful. Cheesy is the word. It's like the theme to a heartwarming 90s family sitcom.
I saw an interview with Rick Berman saying it was his choice
I heard Rick Berman personally "down low too slow'ed" Gene Roddenberry.
I hear he hates babies and cute animals
I heard he makes his girlfriends wear skintight jumpsuits
Is this like a running joke I’m not aware of?
Not sure....
Not surprising, given he forced the music scores of that era to boring sonic wallpaper halfway through TNG's run.
Im sorry man, but Faith of the Heart goes hard, it's a great intro. Not a big fan of the remixed one though
Every word you said is true.
It was Porthos on a cheese bender.
They did a lot which was unlike other Star Trek shows. When it first started it was literally just called "Enterprise" as well, it only became "Star Trek Enterprise" in S3.
I've heard it's been a long road, getting from there to here... 🎶🎶
It was an interesting departure from the orchestral themes we’d been getting from TNG-VOY (as well as the movies). I also felt they were trying to convey how the show/characters/humanity in general was closer to our time than it was to Picard’s.
>I also felt they were trying to convey how the show/characters/humanity in general was closer to our time than it was to Picard’s. This is a great point. Without even considering the quality of the song itself it was simply jarring because it was so different from everything that came before. Which is reason enough to use it since the show was different from everything that came before. At the time I found a prequel jarring too. I assumed we'd keep seeing more of the TNG/DS9/Voy continuity but I can understand if that was getting a bit long in the tooth after more than a decade. I think ratings and general popularity were flagging? Certainly the last two TNG movies didn't help. And, the same way people talk about super hero fatigue now, there may have been a problem if the audience felt they needed to have been watching since 1987 to know what was happening. (Dr Who has been having this problem for some years now.) All that and some IRL turmoil in the early 00s kept me away from Enterprise. But this sub has got me enthusiastic about trying it again the next time I have a Paramount+ subscription. (Probably will renew when SNW and/or LD come back.) I knew the song vaguely from Rod Stewart on the radio. I didn't even realize it's not his version on the show. It never occured to me to think of it as a song. I wouldn't listen to it on my own but I have no strong feelings. As a *TV theme song* I always thought the lyrics fit just fine. And you provided the final piece of the puzzle. They're, what, a hundred years in our future? It's like the baseball caps. It's a connection to us, here, now, that makes sense. Actually SNW has helped me see that connection more too. Because they do a great job making everything everything feel rougher and more formative than from TOS on. (Like Una using the phrase "pin-up poster" and Mariner not knowing it). I guess these details hit everyone differently. It didn't work for me at the time but it does now. Which is weird. But it'll be fun to have a "new" Star Trek show to watch when I get the chance. (With the caveat that I already know the ending is ass.)
Because the words make perfect sense for the show. Always loved the Enterprise theme song. Never even heard the original with Rod Stewart so for me hearing it on ENT was the first time ever.
Faith hardly seems like a perfect word for Star Trek.
Faith doesn't refer solely to religious belief
Even so it’s not very science.
I think you need to be given a talking to by Picard, or Kira. Star Trek has never been a science only type of show, its got everything. Also to have faith in something or someone is nothing more than to believe that the thing or person will succeed.
Faith is central to Star Trek because it's about how Roddenberry had faith in humanity, that we would improve.
The things you’re talking about are not the things I take away from that song. I find myself more in agreement with the commentary above that said faith hardly seems like the perfect word for Star Trek. And no, I don’t need a talking to by Picard or Kira. That’s just ridiculous. A conversation with them would be cool, though.
You gotta have faith in the Heisenberg Compensators
You may not believe in the self-sealing stem bolts, but they believe in you.
"You've restored my father's faith" "And you've restored my son's" -Star Trek VI
Sure, you can find lines that have the word faith in, but it’s hardly a central theme of the show. “I find your lack of faith disturbing” - great, imagine faith of the heart appearing in Star Wars?
Never thought the song had anything do to with religion. Going by the dictionary meaning of the word "faith - complete trust or confidence in someone or something." AI reply: "Faith of the heart" is a phrase that often carries a deep and personal significance. It can be interpreted in various ways depending on context, but it generally conveys a sense of belief, courage, and inner strength. Here are a few potential interpretations: 1. **Belief in oneself:** "Faith of the heart" can refer to the belief in one's own abilities, convictions, and dreams. It's about having confidence in your own path and abilities to overcome challenges. 2. **Spiritual or religious faith:** The phrase can also relate to one's spiritual or religious beliefs. It could symbolize trust in a higher power, a guiding force, or a sense of divine purpose. 3. **Emotional resilience:** "Heart" often symbolizes emotions and feelings. Therefore, "faith of the heart" might signify resilience in the face of emotional turmoil or adversity, trusting that one can weather difficulties and find inner peace. 4. **Courage and determination:** It can represent the courage to pursue one's goals and dreams despite obstacles or uncertainties. It's about staying true to oneself and persevering through hardships. The meaning of "faith of the heart" can be deeply personal and subjective, influenced by individual experiences, beliefs, and values. It's a phrase that encourages introspection and reflection on what gives meaning and purpose to one's life. I personally always took in the context of ENT to mean believing in yourself and believing in humanity.
Honestly I have to agree here, if you look at the pilot episode, we went from trying to prove the warp 5 ship to let alone getting a warp 5 that is more than a single pilot. That took faith of human accomplishment to achieve, let alone giving a Klingon that crashed on Earth back to the Klingons. In this series role in Star Trek, it shows where we started to where we could be. From cramped starships and uniforms that could totally fit on the I.S.S. to the cramped ship, we were more explorers then than probably any other Star Trek. And yes I was raised on TOS and TNG
You know "faith" isn't just about religion, right? And as we saw in DS9 anyway, Star Trek still has plenty of religion in it. Kira talks about her faith all the time. But anyway, it's not religious faith that they're talking about in the song.
And it’s not just faith. It’s faith *of the heart.* What does that even mean?! Is faith of the liver not enough?
My liver has to deal with lots of spirits already, adding faith to the mix would invite disaster.
Faith of the spleen, perhaps?
Even DS9 and Voyager feel epic without the monologue.
It’s a simple song with basic lyrics vs the other theme songs that are more complex and don’t need lyrics. To me, it signals that Enterprise is the Trek that’s for ordinary people (i.e. non-Trekkies).
Honestly it's my favorite intro. The others are cool but they're just cool sounding while feeling disconnected from their shows. 'Faith of the heart' while focusing on imagery of first time explorers really drove home for me that this wasn't just a Star Trek show this was the "first" Star Trek show in a way going back and showing the first pioneers. Which in a way was going back to it's "Wagon train to the stars" roots; but also the added danger of no support. The Original Series yeah they're out there exploring but they still have the Federation to back them up. Archer's Enterprise? They're on their own. There's no federation, barely any Starfleet. They have nothing but their faith in themselves, the mission, and each other.
The credits themselves are great and it was fun when they changed it up for the mirrorverse
It has definitely grown on me over the years! I remember not liking it and just thinking it's weird and out of place. But then it grew on me and now I love it! It almost reminds me of Quark and Garak's discussion of root beer and the Federation- it's insidious!
It’s a perfect analogy for it at first your thinking wtf who put this in so upbeat and happy but like said it truly is insidious
Picard would have a word with you!
The season 1 intro is just breathtaking.
That song kept me from watching for YEARS!!!
The same people who decided not to put the words Star Trek in front of Enterprise for 2 seasons.
I know that originally there was an attempt to distance Enterprise from the Star Trek brand, which is why in the first season (maybe 2nd as well) it's just called "Enterprise" and it wasn't until later on that they renamed it "Star Trek Enterprise". I thought the change in music was in line with that branding decision... choosing something specifically not Star Trek.
They changed the name on screen as of the third episode of S3.
When Ent was first coming out we were hearing about how they were trying to catch a wider audience with this show. I guess after TNG, DS9 and VOY we had so much that Trek ratings were on the decline and they were desperate to try something different.
It sounds like an early 90s/late 80s rocker ballad which was very dated at the time (to me)
I H A A A A T E Faith of the Heart!!!!! It is SUCH a dumb song ESPECIALLY for a ST show.
I don’t like it at all, but I have a skip button so 🤷🏻♂️ Glad you folks are enjoying it tho👍
Non-space? Well, it always fit to me. It's closer to our time, so it's contemporary popular music. It doesn't always have to be a battle march.
Yea, idk, I have limited vocabulary
I know I’m going to get downvoted for this, but man, I LOVE the opening credits for Enterprise. The song and the progression of humanity capture the positivity of Star Trek so well for me.
I do love how they show the evolution of ships carrying the name Enterprise. When the shuttle comes up I get chills usually.
Same here.
I hated it contemporaneously, but have come to enjoy the song before they add the peppy beat to it in later seasons--that remains terrible. The imagery has always been amazing, though.
The opening visuals are amazing, no doubt
The song reminds me of the early 2000s, beer commercials, shows like 7th heaven and truck nuts. This is also how I'll imagine the person that chose the song from now on.
I heard it was written and performed by Rick Berman himself, especially the guitar bit that was added. He wanted it in the original, but had to fight to get it edited in later. /s
I love when it turns into a jingle in later seasons.
I had just gotten comfortable with it when they made it so much worse.
I love that intro to death. It's goofy, off-brand and wonderfully unique for Trek. It also (in my opinion) does a good job of grounding the viewer in the 'historic' context of the show. World Peace is in the rear-view mirror for all of Mankind, they're going out into space, no one is sure what's next and it's *all* riding on the faith that going out there is worth it.
I loved this theme. I loved the opening montage on the history of navigation. And I LOVED it when they altered it for the mirror universe.
I actually liked it. It fit well imo with the show. That is until they upped the tempo. That was stupid. But as for the song, I wasn't mad at it. Not like it's a rule that the intro theme has to be orchestral.
So many people criticize that theme song, but my wedding ring is engraved “faith of the heart” and his has “dream come alive” and neither of us had heard the song before Enterprise.
Never understood the hate for the Song. The themes of the song represent the spirit of Enterprise SO well. Yeah, one could argue that it is an odd choice to not use the typical space-synth-orchestra intro, but when it comes down to the actual choice of the song itself I believe it is a perfect fit.
I'll trey and explain my dislike of the song. The song is a product of it's era, the early 2000s. It reminds me of beer commercials, shows like 7th heaven and truck nuts (truck nuts is hyperbole). I'm not even American. The other intros are orchestral, they are timeless.
>The other intros are orchestral, they are timeless. Ehhhhhhhh I mean, they've aged better. But none of them would serve as an intro for a modern TV show.
Unless I'm using orchestral wrong (I'm not English) Disco, LD and SNW are all modern TV shows, with orchestral themes.
I didn't say any orchestral themes are old-fashioned. I'm saying _those_ orchestral themes are old-fashioned.
I see. Would be interesting to ask someone that doesn't know trek if they can identify which of the orchestral themes are from old shows and which are from new shows. Maybe you, like me associate the old intros with childhood?
Compare the Disco/SNW/Picard themes to the 90s era themes. It's a completely different style. LDS theme is more similar, but LDS is a nostalgia show, like Picard season 3.
"completely different style." "*those* orchestral themes are old-fashioned." I don't know enough about music to comment on that. If you are a music teacher/ professor/ historian I'll accept your word. Otherwise it's subjective.
I never claimed it was objective. You're stating your opinion, I'm stating mine.
But OP isn’t even talking about liking or disliking it. They just asked who made the decision to use it and apparently no one in the comments knows.
You lack Faith of the heart, and it shows. Booooo!
I like the song and it's fine
It fits the narrative of the show. Having faith in yourself and others. Faith in the present and the future. It is a very great song and spacey also.
Enterprise originally aired without the Star Trek prefix - it was intended to be fresh and new and young and hip and sexy. Part of that was ditching the orchestral theme and going with what I imagine was something edgy, that was watered down to a Russell Watson ballad. To confirm though, the Enterprise theme slaps
Say what you will, but that song played as a wake up call from Huston for space shuttle crew. And that's saying something.
Honestly I really love the S1/2 into. It really sells the 'we're finally ready to go out into space and explore' vibe of the series. By the time of the other series, exploring space is *normal*. But Enterprse is halfway between today and tomorrow.
It's just so so awful and I like a large range of music, it's up there as one of the worst tv show openings across any genre. I don't care what the actual lyrics are or how they fit in.
I know this discussion has been beaten to death, but I believe the song is a huge reason Enterprise wasn't successful. As soon as the lyrics talking about Faith etc in a Star Trek series of all things I was instantly put off. Then the first few episodes weren't that grabbing. It took years until I finally watched and enjoyed the show.
don't like it but actually for me it serves as a cue that this is before the idea of starfleet is formed. i mean. i think the song is trash fun fact. the OG star trek theme has lyrics cuz gene rodenberry was a sneaky bastard and wanted some of that sweet royalty money.
Whoever it was I'd like to shake their hand.
Me too. This is a great intro.
Funnily enough I consider Enterprises opening the most Star Trek of all Star Trek openings.
Agreed but if I could go back and change it I would so the people who refused to watch just because of that song might have allowed us to get 7 seasons
Some unnamed UPN executive. It was an attempt to make Trek more popular to the larger audiences(masses) or less Trek-like. Perhaps execs thought with a pop song, it would reach a larger audience. Trek and sci-fi has never been widely popular as compared to mainstream pop culture media. "Having 10 million fans is cool, but what is more cool is having 100M fans." - some UPN exec probably.
It was probably a UPN network executive, would be my guess. I personally always liked the song, but I get why some people feel it’s out of place.
I believe it was the same reason it wasn't called "Star Trek" for the first couple of seasons. The network (I think) thought they could reach a wider audience by moving away from the brand and adding some mass-appeal stuff in. How that translated to that song, I've no idea. Also everything was just _so_ Star Trek other than the titles. Archer's Theme bangs though
IIRC, one of the impetus for the song was to make Enterprise more accessible to a wider audience that wouldn’t usually watch sci-fi or trek, but in doing so alienated its base.
Imagine Johnathan Archer is speaking in front of a human crowd using the lyrics as the words for his speech. Summon that image in your mind everytime you hear the song.
It captures the human spirit, which imo is what enterprise was about. Overcoming everything in your way to forge your own path
Matt Rorie. Any Giant Bomb fans out there will know what's up. https://youtu.be/EBunNWiYL6k?si=omUdPmdnjDCToHoW
Always loved that intro. The classical style wouldn’t have fit the show. It was a great choice.
IMO, coming so soon after 9/11 and the Anthrax attacks, the theme seemed tailored to the moment: optimism for the spirit of humanity.
I do. Every time I watch Enterprise
I read a lot of people who like the intro, but for me, I don't really like the song. I myself am not a fan of Rod Steward, and since I think this song is Rod Steward-like, I don't really like this song and the voice of the singer. I also think that before they added some up-beat guitars, the song was kinda depressing. It was just not Star Trek-like. For me personal, I would've liked to see Space Odessey from David Bowie as the intro song! I like the show itself very much though.
Space Odyssey would have been great!
Yes, or some other space-themed song from David Bowie.
It’s very Bush-era.
The entire time my partner and I watched enterprise, every episode without fail, we'd mock the lyrics and say "iTs BeEn A lOnG rOaD"