Customer Reviews

Star Trek Enterprise - The Complete First Season

5 star:		(68)
4 star:		(29)
3 star:		(11)
2 star:		(9)
1 star:		(13)

 

 

Star Trek Enterprise known in the first season simply as "Enterprise" goes back to the roots of the Federation when mankind begins to explore deep space. The first season contains some fine episodes

Broken Bow
The crew of the Enterprise start their maiden voyage early to take a wounded Klingon back to his homeworld.

Fight or Flight
The crew encounter an alien ship with a bunch of dead bodies aboard. An alien ship later arrives and accuses the Enterprise crew of killing them.

Strange New World
Some of the crew land on an uninhabited planet. When they begin to see strange things, they feel that they are being watched.

Unexpected
When the crew visit an alien ship, Trip's encounter with a female on board results in him becoming pregnant.

Terra Nova
The Enterprise crew visit an outpost colonized by humans only to discover that they reverted to a primitive state.

The Andorian Incident
The crew visit a Vulcan monastery and the Andorians later enter and accuse the Vulcans of spying on them.

Breaking the Ice
The Enterprise encounters a comet and Archer sends a team down to explore, when they become trapped, a passing Vulcan ship offers to help.

Civilization
The Enterprise meets a primitive alien race that is suffering from a disease and the crew offer to help.

Fortunate Son
The crew of an Earth cargo ship are being mauraded by alien pirates and the Enterprise crew attempts to stop the people from starting a fight

Cold Front
When group of Suliban sneak on board, an Enterprise crewmember reveals that he was sent from 900 years in the future to stop them.

Silent Enemy
While an unknown alien ship is targeting the Enterprise and leaving, some crew struggle to find an appropriate item for Malcolm Reed's birthday.

Dear Doctor
When Doctor Phlox asked by a dying pre-industrial alien race to help them, he faces a dilemma about whether helping them would be playing God.

Sleeping Dogs
The crew encounter a gas giant planet with an abandoned Klingon ship in low orbit and a few become trapped on board when investigating

Shadows of P'Jem
T'Pol is recalled by her superiors but is abducted during her last mission with the Enterprise crew. When she is rescued, it is decided that she can stay with Enterprise a little longer

Shuttlepod One
When Tucker and Reed are on a shuttle mission and see pieces of the Enterprise hull, they are convinced their ship was destroyed.

Fusion
A renegade group of Vulcans visit the Enterprise and introduce T'Pol to mind melding

Rogue Planet
The crew visit a rogue planet and discover an alien ship on board with crew hunting an intelligent indigenous life form

Acquisition
A group of Ferengi pirates commandeer the Enterprise and start to plunder it.

Oasis
The crew are told about a nearby alien shipwreck with supplies they need but warned that it is haunted. (Rene Auberjonois who Odo on DS9 guest stars in this episode)

Detained
Mayweather and Archer are captured by a group of aliens and taken to an internment camp for the Suliban.

Vox Sola
A non-humanoid alien comes aboard the Enterprise and starts attacking crewmembers. Hoshi attempts to learn the alien's language so she can communicate with it.

Fallen Hero
The Enterprise crew are assigned to transport the Vulcan ambassador to be questioned about alleged misdeeds.

Desert Crossing
Archer and Trip is invited to an alien world by a man who unbeknownst to them, is a terrorist.
(Guest stars crew from the real USS Enterprise which had just gotten back from Afghanistan prior to filming)

Two Days and Two Nights
The Enterprise crew take shore leave on Risa

Shockwave part I
The Enterprise is recalled after apparently causing the destruction of an alien colony, on their way back they are attacked by the Suliban and Crewman Daniels returns telling archer that the timeline was altered.

This overall is a great season and it is such a shame that ther series was cancelled so early.

Following the success of four live-action TV series and ten feature-length films, producers Rick Berman and Brannon Braga attempted to create a fifth live-action "Star Trek" series that would be set approximately 100 years prior to the time of Captain Kirk (during the original "Star Trek" series, which ran between 1966 and 1969) and 100 years after the fictional character Dr. Zefram Cochrane flew the first warp-capable spaceship, as depicted in the 1996 film "Star Trek VIII: First Contact".

The new series, entitled "Star Trek Enterprise" debuted in the fall of 2001, only months after the previous "Star Trek" series, "Star Trek Voyager" concluded its seven-year run. The show's series premiere, entitled "Broken Bow", began with the appearance of a Klingon on Earth following a mishap long before the formation of the United Federation of Planets. To return the Klingon back to his home world, Capt. Jonathan Archer (played by Scott Bakula, formerly the lead actor of the sci-fi TV show "Quantum Leap", that ran between 1989-1993), gets permission from Starfleet to take the experimental starship named Enterprise, with serial number NX-01, to Kronos, in spite of the misgivings from Vulcans, who don't believe that mankind is sufficiently prepared to begin exploring other worlds and encounter more alien species. The NX-01 is the first man-made starship capable of traveling at a speed of warp 5. Capt. Archer then assembles the rest of his crew for the new Enterprise, including the non-human Dr. Phlox (John Billingsley), the Vulcan Subcommander T'Pol (Jolene Blalok), Lieutenant Malcolm Reed (Dominic Keating), Ensign Travis Mayweather (Anthony Montgomery), Ensign Hoshi Sato (Linda Park) and Commander Charles 'Trip' Tucker III (Connor Trinneer). With over 12,000,000 viewers watching the premiere episode, it initially appeared that UPN, which broadcasted the show, would have another successful "Star Trek" series, just as it had with "Star Trek Voyager". Unfortunately, subsequently shows had much smaller audiences that only continued to shrink with each season. The average number of viewers per episode for the first season was about 6.7 million; for the second season, this number dropped to 4.4 million and for the third season, the number dropped further to 3.8 million. It was during the fourth season that UPN decided to cancel the series, even though there were still another three seasons to be produced because the fourth season ratings dropped even further to 3.1 million viewers per episode.

The question, then, is why did "Star Trek Enterprise" fail to capture the attention of the estimated 30,000,000 "Star Trek" fans living in the U.S.A.? Personally, I believe several factors are responsible. First, the only truly interesting characters were Dr. Phlox and T'Pol. The characters of Reed and Trip were often annoying. However, the most annoying character during the first season was Capt. Archer himself, who repeatedly acted like an arrogant uninvited guest towards every alien species and outpost encountered. Second, the inclusion of the previously unknown species called the Suliban and the notion of a "temporal cold war" from the far distant future ran tangent to the notion that "Enterprise" was supposed to be a prequel leading up to the time of Capt. Kirk. Third, the technology and overall look of the NX-01 often appeared more advanced than what was used in the original 1966-1969 "Star Trek" series, which is supposed to be 100 years more advanced than "Enterprise". Fourth, insufficient attention was given to portraying the various extraterrestrial races responsible for for forming the United Federation of Planets: the Vulcans, the Andorians, the Tellarites, and the Alpha Centauris; as well as to other races known during Capt. Kirk's time. Though the Vulcans were a frequent race depicted in the first season of "Enterprise", the only other future founding race of the United Federation of Planets were the Andorians, which appeared in only two first-season episodes: "The Andorian Incident" and "Shadows of P'Jem". The blame for these various factors that directly contributed to the premature cancellation of "Star Trek Enterprise" rests solely with producers Rick Berman and Brannon Braga. Unfortunately, the addition of producer Manny Coto who did an amazing job of reconnected the fourth season of "Star Trek Enterprise" to the rest of the "Star Trek" TV series came too late to save the show.

Of the 26 episodes the comprise the first season of "Star Trek Enterprise", the most memorable were "Broken Arrow", "Fight or Flight", "Strange New World", "Unexpected", "Terra Nova", "The Andorian Incident", "Breaking the Ice", "Civilization", "Fortunate Son", "Silent Enemy", "Dear Doctor" (one of the best first-season episodes), "Sleeping Dogs", "Shadows of P'Jem", "Oasis", "Two Days and Two Nights" and season finale "Shockwave, Part 1". One disappointing episode was "Fusion", which appeared to contradict descriptions from other "Star Trek" TV series that Vulcans had always practiced mind melds; as was the episode "Acquisition", which included the Ferengi: a species that had only been introduced in "Star Trek: The Next Generation", 200 years later.

Overall, I rate the first season of "Star Trek Enterprise" with 4 out of 5 stars. It was an interesting experiment that had it been given more time, probably would have blossomed into a far better series thanks to the efforts of Manny Coto.

I wish people would stop to think about the "greatest" Star Trek show ever... especially about how it took 3 season's before The Next Generation really got good. Enterprise was pretty good all along and the fourth (and sadly last) season is by far one of the best season's of Star Trek ever created. I only hope we fans won't have to wait too long for Star Trek's comeback from UPN/Paramount's mistake.

2001 saw the latest, and perhaps final, incarnation of the Star Trek spirit. After the regular end of "Voyager", the producers did not want another show put in the same timeframe explored since the inception of "The Next Generation", but even before the adventures of Captain Kirk himself. Answering to criticism of just repeating the same formula, they created a prequel show, which allowed some ties to established lore, but still gave them the opportunity to do something completely different. With a new crew, a fantastic captain and a new frontier spirit, the concept was a great one. Adding the final touch was the overall story arc, involving the so-called "temporal cold war", dealing with mysterious time-travellers from the future plotting to change the present.
After all, for a first season of any show, and also any Star Trek show, it was very enjoyable, quickly finding it's roots and delivering compelling Sci-Fi television.
Sadly, the harsh reality did not bless the show as one might have thought. To begin with, it started off pretty well ratings-wise, but soon ratings began to drop lower and lower. The show's promotion grew equally smaller and smaller, and by the end of the first year many people did not tune in any more. The reason for that, and for the continuing ratings decline in the following three years, has been, to put it mildly, subject to various discussions inside the so-called Star Tek fandom, with far too many people thinking they were the ones who had the perfect plan for Trek.
You know, Star trek has always been a beacon for intellectual television, in all of it's incarnations. But now, if you visit a Star Trek forum of your choice, you will mostly find angry, agressive and completely psychotic people spending their time insulting and threatening those with a different opinion. When you, as a person, reach a point, at which you wish death to the producers of Star Trek and to many of your fellow fans, where you take the time to describe their various mental illnesses as well as ways to punish them for it, you should really consider having your head checked. By the way, the people doing so still claim to be the "true" Star Trek fans who have the given right to decide what is right and wrong and so deserve to attack their "enemies" in a way not worthy of any human being, Trek-fan or not. They should really ask themselves if any of their beloved Star Trek-idols (not from Enterprise, of course!) would behave anywhere near like that, and if perhaps something else, perhaps they themselves, are the problem here.
When "The Next Generation" really lifted off in the early 1990's, it was the only genuine Sci-Fi show of it's calibre on TV at the time. Since not even the X-Files were on, every Sci-Fi-, Mystery- and Fantasy-Fan immediately watched it, and ratings went through the roof. As things go, it was not long after that when other fantastic shows started to show up on the screen, and made use of the newly created potential, which was a good thing through and through. Since nobody can watch everything and only a small part of the viewers of a particular show are really "fans", ratings went down continuously since the mid-end nineties. The show hit hardest by this phenomenon, as explained above, was "Enterprise". Now this development is generally explained to be caused by the inferior quality of the show "Enterprise", in a very questionable way, to say the least. To begin with, the same people who admired "The Next Generation", and claim to still do, now blame the producer of every Star Trek-show since Gene Roddenberry's death in 1991, Rick Berman, along with his partner, Brannon Braga, who wrote and co-wrote some of the most famous episodes of "The Next Generation" and also "Voyager" as well as the critically acclaimed "Star Trek - First Contact", for destroying the Star Trek universe, obviously forgetting who it was that excited them so many years ago and kept the Star Trek phenomenon alive in the first place. Those people keep saying that Trek has become too much routine, but whenever the creative staff changes something, the self-proclaimed keepers of Trek-lore accuse them of ignoring Gene Roddenberry's vision. What they really want, nobody knows, but it might just be conflict itself for the lack of other ways to blow off steam.
It seems to have become so easy just to criticise other people's efforts to make yourself feel better, while not offering any substancial or contstructive advice to correct the terrible situation you are criticising. It is just like in politics, and like something every bad politician does: You can not just improve yourself by discrediting others and being against everything else, you should have the courage to be for something and be able to say exatly what it is. If you can not do that, please do not tell other people what is right and wrong!
Anyway, if someone hates something so intensely, why would he torture himself and watch it, just so that he can continue to attack the people actually enjoying it? I find this completely psychotic and could not imagine doing it myself. Live and let live, what is wrong with that? Why get so passionate to ruin somebody else for watching a TV-show just to get off you agression?
But not only fans started to tear each other's throats, many important figures in the TV business felt compelled to chime in. Many of the former Trek producers and writers are now doing other shows, which are, for the most part, wonderful gems and great additions to the TV landscape and worth every minute of watching and owning, but why do certain ones of them chime into the negative chorus against Trek, which they wrote for, maintained and developed for years? How can you honestly write for something and, years later, claim that it was unralistic, stupid and uninteresting, and that just what you are doing now is oh so god? I for one can neither agree with that nor really take that kind of statement seriously. Even Jolene Blalock, member of Enterprise's cast, can not resist to occasionally tell the world how crappy she finds the show that has given her a job and made her popular. Why? She may not know herself!
Much of it also has to do with the current press. At some point it was decided that it is no longer pop-culture to like Trek, but to hate it instead. Since it was dicovered that the better headline comes from discrediting the show and the franchise as a whole than to support it, each and everybody started to take aim at the Trek-franchise and pulled the trigger. It seems to be man's nature to occasionally change his mind, but the process should still have some foundation in reality and reason, and in this case I doubt that very much. As said before, you can not make yours better by discrediting someone others, I wish more people would realize that.
To sum it up, Enteprise started it's run in 2001 and would go on for four seasons, after which it would be cancelled after 98 episodes. With bad publicity and overwhelming criticism against the very people who made the whole Star Trek-phenomenon so long-lasting and loved by the same people who then wanted to bring it down, this show still has one of the most, if not the most loyal group of fans, who know what the show stood and stands for, now and for the future. And they are not some geeky guys sleeping in their uniforms with the federation flag on their roof, uttering Klingon proverbs while in the grocery store or thinking they were captains of imaginary starships. They are normal, intelligent people who just enjoyed a fantastic TV-show with the certain Star Trek-spirit, and I could not for the life of me see what could be wrong with that. After 38 years, Star Trek will be put to rest in 2005, but not for good, believe me. Many people have understood what an entertaining show it was and is and the kind of message it sends, and no bad publicity in the world will change that.
Every Trekkie should embrace the show with an open mind and decide wether he likes it or not for himself. If that is too much to ask for some people, then they should just watch or rant about something else.
For all the others: Do not miss this wonderful show!

I`m a proud owner of all the star trek series and thought i would take a chance with the often bashed Enterprise. I expected it to be horrible and badly acted but was pleasantly surprised. I find it to be interesting, funny and well played out. Almost realistic (or as realistic as one can get when talking about people flying around in space ships). Effects are great and I found the storylines interesting. I kept looking for what it was that bothered fans so much. Sure, the Vulcans were a little too emotional for a people who weren`t supposed to be and the uniforms were a little strange but overall I liked it. The only issue I could see fans not liking was that it was too down to earth in that the sets were small and more submarine like rather than the sprawling niceties we are acostomed to (with the exception of the Defiant) and very dark as opposed to the brightness of the Enterprise or Voyager. I believe that Enterprise, much like DS9, showed a grittier, darker edge to Star Trek and most fans like the everything is happy and easy to solve aspect of the Star Trek. I personally believe that the darker aspect of Star Trek is the more interesting and think that is when the best writing comes out (ie DS9). So, if you`re looking for Wesley Crusher or Q, this is not for you. If you`re a fan of brooding Odos and dark storylines, I think you`ll like it.

I'm so sad that this show is leaving us after such a short life. But fear not fans because they will live long in beautiful long lasting DVD. I liked this show from the beginning and thought it was well done, Scott Bakula was a great captain and the rest of the crew was well cast. The early episodes were actually pretty good for a new show and I was quickly impressed. The effects were great and the set design was top notch. I have had this item on pre-order for quite a while now and am eagerly awaiting it's arrival. I've been a fan of Star Trek since I was a little girl watching re-runs on our 13 channel TV and have watched every movie/spin off series that has come around, some were better than others but all were satisfying and carried their own. Maybe there will be a movie in the future, hey one can hope right?

Enterprise admittedly got off to a slow start and, yes it spent far too long in the "expanse". The cast and acting on the show were always excellent. By the 4th, and unfortunately last, year the writing finally caught up. Then, in an obvious move to kill the show, UPN moved it to the 8:00 Friday time slot against Star Gate. Even though the show struggled to find itself, it was still very, very good. Given the chance to continue, future years could have been excellent. I will definely purchase the Season 1 DVDs and pray that they will issue the other 3 years. Try it you'll like it.
Oh!, note to Sci-Fi channel, why don't you pick it up for a 5th season? It would be a heck of a lot better than that horrible Battlestar Galactia.

I thought this series had a nice, comfortable, retro kind of feel that felt like watching an 'enhanced' version of the original series. I don't think it was pretending to be anything more. Take it on its own merits, enjoy it simply for what it is, and I think it stands up just fine all on its own.
Take my opinion for what it's worth folks. I'm not a 'die-hard' Trek fan. My Trek experiences are severely limited, mostly exposed to the original series and early Next Generation stuff. I'm no expert here. All I'm saying is that with my limited knowledge of the Trek universe, I personally was not disappointed in the least, and will now pre-order this set. And as an admitted Trek-novice, I do recommend reading some other reviews by people who are more knowledgable of the subject before you decide.

Good space Sci-Fi is hard to come by. And Star-Trek (TOS) created a lot of fanatics that were spoiled by great Star-Trek concepts for years. I speak for myself when I say that Enterprise was one of my favorites! Whether from great story lines, Computer graphics, or acting that was actually believable so you were locked into the story and couldn't wait for next week. The crew of the Enterprise was an outstanding cast that had personalities you loved. And we finally got a good Vulcan again. Jolene Blalock did a superb job and Scott Bakula was an obvious choice for an early pre-federation Captain.
This series of Star-Trek makes you want to get going on space travel and since Kirk and Spock, We forgot about steps to get to where they were. The first time the transporter was used in an emergency situation made you proud. And the early dangers of space travel and new species that we took for granted were great writing.
I was very sadden that Enterprise never got to go as long as The Next Generation, Deep Space 9, or Voyager, but it was some of the best Star-Trek concepts ever... I will watch these disks over and over so this was a great investment

A lot of people slam this show. However, it was a brilliant concept and a great pilot episode. Too bad the people behind it lacked talent for execution of good ideas. They should have hired a better writing staff (like that of season four) and let them take the series where no series had gone before.

And while most episodes in season one were very good, about one out of every 5 were pretty bad. Terra Nova with it's not so clever alien language morphed from English was a low point. But others were super episodes including the hailed Shuttlepod One, which was one of the best Trek episodes of all time.

Out of the 26 season one episodes, at least 15 to 20 were very good, and better than the first seasons of Next Generation, Deep Space Nine and Voyager, all of which took 2 to 3 seasons before the great episodes actually outweighed the bad ones in any given season.
TNG had season 3 before it found it's footing. DS9 had to let Avery Brooks Hawk-ify his role before things got good. And Voyage floundered aimlessly like Battlestar Galactica 1978-lite until 7of9 came on board. In most cases I started watching the previous series in their first season, then bailed out only to return years later when it was in syndication. Even now, I never watch reruns of seasons one two and three of any of those series when they air.
But Enterprise had me at hello. I watched it from beginning to end, and never missed an episode. Sure, season two lost some focus and had too mainly aimless episodes. And season three had it's single story arc which they couldn't keep interesting for a whole season and ended up havng filler episodes to avoid showing the holes in their storytelling ability. But season four got it all right. And just like the previous series, season four was to be the real start of better things to come. But it got cancelled.

People scratch their heads and wonder why it couldn't get the ratings to stay on. Yet no one recalls that all 3 previous series launched in syndication, not on UPN solely. In fact UPN launched on Voyager's back as a network, yet I watched Voyager on the local Fox network which played all Trek shows in syndication. SO ENTERPRISE was the first of the series to actually only have UPN as it's home. So less people were able to see it. Somehow people forget that.

And when we talk about Trek people who slam Enterprise heap praise on the original series, which I can happily say I can't really bear to watch a full episode of. For the time, it was revolutionary, but out of that time... well, it's aweful. No doubt about it. It stinks in a modern context. But then again, I was not born until 5 years after it got cancelled, so I had no original point of entry. The first original Trek cast thing I saw was ST 4 The Voyage Home. From there I became a fan of Trek.

But it is perspective. I like the New Battlestar Galactica quite a lot, but I love and adore the original which came on when I was 8. The original was a classic and will always be. Yet some of the fans of the new series who were born less than 2 decades ago, seem to have a hatred for the original, which offends me. I am sure my dislike of the original Trek offends some of those fans similarly. >But I digress.

Enterprise is great Trek. But like all Trek, is flawed by often weak writing and poor executive producer mindset. But everyone knew that going in. And if they say they didn't, they are having selective amnesia. Go back and watch Seasons one of TNG, DS9 or Voyager. Then watch season one of Enterprise. Tell me which of the four has more quality episodes. ENTERPISE. Pound for pound, more satisfying than the others.