Star Trek Enterprise-
The Complete First Season
(Paramount Region 1 NTSC DVD)
(2001)
review by Head Cheeze

It’s a daunting enough task to make a sequel to a beloved television series/entertainment phenomenon like Star Trek, with all of the series intertwining mythology, characters, races, and history, but imagine the challenge that longtime Trek producers Rick Berman and Brannon Braga would undertake when they decided to make a Star Trek series that not only wouldn’t rely on said history-it would create it!

That was the unique set of problems that faced the writers, cast, and crew of Star Trek-Enterprise, an unfairly maligned series which, as of this writing, is just weeks away from the airing of its final episode after a bumpy four year run (and its most creative and compelling season yet).

Jonathan Archer (genre vet Scott Bakula) is entrusted with the command of Earth’s first deep space exploration vessel, the Enterprise, and its eager crew. It has been nearly a century since the Earth was visited by the mysterious Vulcan race, and, in that time, the Vulcans have helped to oversee the development and training of the Enterprise and its crew. While the Vulcans intentions were to make sure that Earthlings were prepared (both physically and mentally) for the challenges and surprises of deep space exploration, folks like Archer view their input as derisive and disheartening. The addition of a Subcommander T’Pol (Blalock) to Archer’s crew proves to be a contentious move on the part of the Federation, as Archer instantly resents her presence, considering her to be nothing more than a set of Vulcan eyes monitoring the progress of the human crew and its very human captain. Archer’s views are shared by his longtime academy friend and ship’s engineer, Trip Tucker (Trinneer), who, along with weapons officer Malcolm Reed (Keating), is equally disgusted by the way Vulcans have stood in the way of mankind’s progress ever since they’d arrived a hundred years before. So, it’s with a mixture of excitement and fear of failure that the Enterprise makes its maiden voyage; one that will forge new alliances, reveal new enemies, and boldly go where no one has gone before.

I have to admit that it took me a few episodes to get “hooked” on this latest incarnation of Star Trek. After the disappointing Voyager, I’d resigned myself to the fact that those behind the franchise had simply run out of ideas, especially after the fantastic Deep Space 9 and Next Generation had both run their respective courses. However, I soon found myself getting emotionally invested in these characters, especially the relationship between Archer and T’Pol (not a sexual one-that would come later, with a different character altogether), and couldn’t help but share the wide eyed enthusiasm of this crew as they discovered things that were old hat to the crews of future Enterprises. I found Scott Bakula’s Archer to be the perfect balance between the space cowboy that was Captain Kirk, and the diplomatic tactician that was Jean Luc Picard, all the while possessing qualities completely unique to him. Archer is a kid in an intergalactic candy store, and his excitement is simply palpable.
Meanwhile, Jolene Blalock proves to be more than just a pretty face (and oh, what a face) as T’Pol. Her mysterious background occasionally rears its emotion-tinged head, as, throughout the series, we discover that she is much more than a stone faced puppet of the Vulcan High Command- something that Archer discovers, as well, and the two characters develop a bond not unlike the one between a certain other Captain and his Vulcan first mate.

Paramount presents the entire first season of Enterprise in an impressively designed package that features a hard plastic outer casing that holds a clear multi-tray jewel case within. Spread out over seven discs, the set features all of the first season’s episodes in widescreen, as well as several featurettes, outtakes, and deleted scenes. Much like the recent Paramount releases of the original Trek series, this set is a bit on the pricey side, but the quality reflects that.

While this first season of Enterprise was a bit uneven at times, this was truly a case of the crew finding its bearings-just as in previous Trek incarnations. The majority of this season’s episodes are entertaining, but focus more on the development of the characters and their relationships in the confines of space, rather than the tense action of later seasons. Personally, I appreciated this, as it gave me a much greater emotional investment in what would come later.

As a footnote, I’ve noticed that, since Paramount announced that this would be the series final season, the show has not only gotten even better than it already was, it has crafted a tremendous story-arc that shows such enormous promise that it is simply tragic that it will never get the chance to play out in the way it deserves. It’s a shame, but it’s also ironic that the very same Star Trek “fans” who led to this series’ demise are now the very same folks chastising Paramount for pulling the plug too early.

So, if you want to prove to Paramount that you truly want this series to continue in some form, I suggest you march right down to your local DVD seller and add Enterprise-Season One to your collection.