I think the reasons that parts of Star Trek Enterprise didn't work are fairly obvious, so let's skip over them to the good stuff. This is vibes-based so limited spoilers but suffice to say, if you're willing to put up with about half the episodes frankly failing at Star Trek, what you will get is, to me at least, really worth it:
The crew feels more like modern humans as they are much less altered by centuries of fully automated luxury gay space communism
This absolutely still works as Star Trek because in the best episodes you can feel the writers screaming GROW DAMN YOU, GROW YOU MARVELOUS FUCKED UP MONKEYS
Captain Archer basically has to live with this kind of brilliant awful weight of starting out with this joyful Infinite Diversity in Infinite Combinations image of meeting aliens and then like 80% of the time it's running into assholes who got warp travel while being like WAY bigger jerks than humans are in the 2150s
Like it's a very specific flavor of melancholy and Scott Bacula did a good job of portraying it slowly weighing him down on a deep spiritual level
This having a profoundly FUCKED relationship with how Vulcans always seemed to think Humans "weren't ready" especially given how very personal the show makes that point for Archer in particular
Sometimes it's legitimately peak Star Trek, especially when it leans into its relationship with TOS more than, say, the TNG era.
Dr Phlox aka it's me, this character is literally me
When Vulcans are being handled correctly they are handled AMAZINGLY. Sometimes it's bad, but when it's good it RULES
Also the relationship between Vulcans and Humans is really developed in interesting ways that feel perfectly in line with what we have known about them outside of Enterprise
This show literally reinvented Andorians in a way that took them out of the TOS back catalogue and made them into an amazing addition to the core canon races
Tellurites get their due? Finally??
Like if this show had been able to have more of its own identity and more time to grow it would be WAY more widely respected than it is now, like if you haven't seen it maybe look for a skip list first, but by all means give it a go, ESPECIALLY if you were fond of TOS.
Edit, OH AND ALSO:
The galaxy without the Federation is portrayed very intentionally as in kind of a dark age, lots of brooding, miserable conflicts and long-standing injustices. Kind of like the other end of the bookcase with Academy.
Sometimes the show truly, truly executes on understanding its own identity and what that means for trek and sometimes that means a powerfully impactful medical mystery episode and sometimes it means Archer is forced to put a mop on his head and apologize for letting his dog piss on a tree in the Sacred Grove.
I barely believe they managed it but the new Zephram Cochrane canon from the TNG movie was threaded into the story flawlessly
I cannot stress enough how much fun Dr. Phlox is. His entire thing of being simultaneously ridiculous, profound, witty, charming, a lil freak, very normal about animal-based medicine, polyamorous and just slightly a dick about it to monogomous species, and every once in a while shockingly badass in a way that fits inside his natural limitations of being a Good Soft Boy is a masterclass in how you get me to bestow the title of The Character on someone
just like there's lots to rant about
