STAR TREK: ENTERPRISE

   Star Trek: Enterprise ran for 4 seasons.  When the show first aired, simply as "Enterprise" I quickly came to the conclusion that I was no longer part of the Trek audience; the show bored me; I couldn't really say what was wrong with the show, and I just didn't care.  I saw random episodes from the first two seasons, and only a few of them were good in my opinion.  I think that Deep Space Nine spoiled Trek for me; it was too rich in character; too willing to delve into Trek's continuity, and take it a step further: something Voyager & Enterprise seemed unwilling to do.  Enterprise also had the distinction of being a prequel to Classic Trek, yet seemed unwilling to BE A PREQUEL.  They had an episode now & again that "introduced" a species we were familiar with and usually got them right [The Tholians, The Nausiccans, The Borg, The Ferengi, The Romulans] though they did screw one or two races up [The Klingon first contact didn't gel with anything we'd heard previously, and The Vulcans did not behave in a way that made sense, given what we knew of them].  The third season featured a season long story arc which I read a great deal about and considered an improvement, but I didn't see the point of getting involved in the show again; I mean, where was it going?  How did this season long arc connect it to previous Treks?  And then the 4th Season arrived, and I started watching, because I had heard a new head writer [Manny Coto - Thank Joss!] had arrived and that he had a vision for the series; after the opening two-parter (which tied off loose ends from the previous season's lame cliffhanger) the show kicked into high Trek gear and continued to kick ass until the HORRIBLE series finale, written by Brannon Braga & Rick Berman; Coto wasn't allowed to write the finale.  One can only speculate what Coto could have done with an Enterprise Series Finale; within his season of Enterprise he fixed the Vulcan problem, explained why the Klingons look different in Classic Trek, set up the Earth/Romulan War & the formation of the Federation, explored the Mirror Universe (linking the Classic episode: "The Tholian Web" to the continuing saga), and managed to include The Organians, Andorians, a Gorn, Tholians, Vulcans, the U.S.S. Defiant, the Orion Syndicate, Section 31, the Vulcan T'Pau, & one of Data's human ancestors, just to name a few; he obviously knew his Trek.  The season linked previous Enterprise episodes to a much larger Trek experience - giving Enterprise a valid seat at the Trek table.  Because of this change, the closing episodes of Season 2 through the penultimate episode of the series form some of the best Trek's ever televised.  The 3rd Season is my favorite; now that I know it goes somewhere, the storyline is like really good DS9; sometimes trumping it's predecessor!  Deep Space Nine will always be my favorite Trek series; it's recurring characters were more developed than most of the other Trek series' main characters.  But Enterprise has, in the last 2 seasons, become my close 2nd favorite, which is actually high praise, coming from me.

 If only that last episode had never aired; I felt insulted, disgusted, betrayed.  I wish I could give a big hug to the entire cast for having to go along with it.  ick.  As far as I'm concerned the episode was a mistake, and I will never view it again.  And I do not include it as part of the series; why should I?  None of the Enterprise crew even appear in the episode!  Many of the events that take place in the episode, and are meant to be emotional, are impossible to be moved by, because it's so obvious that it's impossible that the last days of the crew happened in such a way!?!  I don't even want to talk about it.

Here is an Enterprise episode list, with ratings for the episodes.  The final episode was not originally included in this list, as it's more a Next Generation episode; a really bad one.  But the post series novels have taken what was a horrible climax to a vibrant series and explained away all the nonsense therein.  So, for those reading the books the episode comes with a slight recommendation; for those who aren't reading the books - skip it.

001 BROKEN BOW, PART I ****

004 STRANGE NEW WORLD ***

005 UNEXPECTED ***

016 SHUTTLEPOD ONE ***

017 FUSION ****

028 CARBON CREEK ***

029 MINEFIELD ****

040 STIGMA *****

041 CEASE FIRE ***

053 THE XINDI **

054 ANOMALY ****

098 THESE ARE THE VOYAGES... *ZERO STARS*

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