As a "prequel' series that predates the original Star Trek by 150 years, Enterprise built upon established Trek lore with episodes involving Vulcans ("Breaking the Ice"), Klingons ("Sleeping Dogs"), the blue-skinned Andorians ("The Andorian Incident," "Shadows of P'Jem"), and the Ferengi ("Acquisition") while offering stand-alone episodes (notably "Dear Doctor," "Fortunate Son," and "Shuttlepod One") that further acquainted fans with the Enterprise regulars. Early Trek technology is also introduced (including "phase pistols" and the rarely-used, still-risky transporter), and the series drew strength from what many felt would be its primary weakness: unwritten history and the initial indecisiveness of Archer's bold foray into the unknown. Ending with a dazzling "Shock Wave" cliffhanger that leaves Archer stranded in a decimated Temporal Cold War future, Enterprise set a strong foundation for the events of Season Two. --Jeff Shannon, Amazon.com
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Editorial
Amazon.co.uk Review
Under intense scrutiny, the debut season of Enterprise earned a passing grade from critics and Star Trek fans alike. Voyager ended its seven-season run just four months earlier, and fans were skeptical when Enterprise premiered (on Sept. 26, 2001, on UPN) with a theme song ("Where My Heart Will Take Me," composed by Diane Warren and performed by Russell Watson) that defied Trek's revered theme-music tradition. This and other early reservations were dispelled when "Broken Bow" got the series off to a satisfying start, beginning in the year 2151 and establishing a pre-Federation focus on humanity's delicate relationship with the Vulcans, the controversial launch of the NX-01 Enterprise on an exploratory mission, and the potentially devastating consequences of the mysterious Temporal Cold War involving a time-traveling splinter group of the Suliban, a nomadic alien race. While establishing a testy relationship between Enterprise Capt. Jonathan Archer (Scott Bakula) and his smart-and-sexy Vulcan Sub-Commander, T'Pol (Jolene Blalock, in a short-banged wig and form-fitting "cat-suit" that were later redesigned), the series introduced engineer "Trip" Tucker (Connor Trineer), whose surprise pregnancy in "Unexpected" made him a fan favorite; communications officer Hoshi Sato (Linda Park); helmsman Travis Mayweather (Anthony Montgomery); weapons expert Lt. Malcolm Reed (Dominic Keating), and chief surgeon Dr. Phlox (John Billingsley), a well-mannered Denobulan recruit from Earth's Interspecies Medical Exchange.
Captain Archer & co's first year of adventures.
Review date: 2008-03-25 Rating: 8 out of 10
Enterprise is a vastly underrated show, both by the general public, and by Star Trek fandom. After seven years of Captain Janeway's frothy, delta quadrant exploits Enterprise is immediately a breath of fresh air(don't get me wrong I love Voyager but Enterprise is a completely different kettle of fish). The show is darker, visually much more arresting, and with characters that are much more realistic and recognisable. Setting this show in the 22nd century (200 years before Voyager/DS9/Next Gen and 100 years before Kirk&co) enables the human characters to be much more like us than in any other Star Trek series. They have similar attitudes to life, relationships etc, and they like to watch TV & movies, Captain Archer even has a pet dog on board. This all adds to make the show much more accessible to the public at large.
Scott Bakula is a fantastic leading man, and the two main supporting characters of Trip and T'Pol(Connor Trinneer and Jolene Blalock) are equally arresting, and overall the cast is probably the strongest of all the "modern trek" series. The episodes themselves are entertaining fair with few classics, but as far as first seasons go thich is of much higher quality that Next Gen, Ds9 or Voyager (all of which had atrocious first seasons). All in all this a strong start to an entertaining show!