Star Trek: Enterprise

Plots

:For plots of specific episodes see

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The first two seasons of Enterprise depict the exploration of space by a crew who are able to go farther and faster than any humans had previously gone. It presents situations which are not entirely unfamiliar to Star Trek fans, but which allow its characters to face them unencumbered by the experience and rules which have built up over the following years of Trek history. Enterprise takes pains to show the origins of some concepts which have become taken for granted in Star Trek canon, such as Reed's development of force fields, and Archer's questions about cultural interference which would eventually be answered by the Prime Directive.

Related Topics:
Canon - Force field - Prime Directive

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The Vulcans are often close by to offer help when needed, but believe that humans are not yet a mature enough species to be exploring the galaxy. This generates some conflict as, in several early episodes, Archer complains bitterly about the Vulcans looking over his shoulder all the time.

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A recurring theme throughout the first three seasons is the "Temporal Cold War", in which a mysterious entity from the future uses technology to help a species known as the Suliban manipulate the timeline and change past events. Sometimes providing bad information to the crew of Enterprise and sometimes saving the ship from destruction, the entity's true motives are unknown. A human from Earth's future, Agent Daniels, visits Captain Archer occasionally to assist him in fighting the Suliban and undoing damage to the timeline.

Related Topics:
Temporal Cold War - Suliban - Captain Archer

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The fact that Earth is not yet the significant interstellar presence it would later become is underscored in the first two seasons with a running joke: whenever an Enterprise crewmember says he or she is from Earth, the alien's response is invariably, "Earth? Never heard of it."

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Low ratings encouraged the series' producers to seek a new direction. The third season changes the series' name to Star Trek: Enterprise and introduces a new enemy, the Xindi, whose goal is the annihilation of the human race due to fears that someday humanity will wipe them out.

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The entire third season follows one long story arc, which begins in the second season finale "The Expanse" in which the Xindi deploy a prototype weapon which cuts a wide, deep trench from central Florida to Venezuela killing seven million people - an event analogous to the September 11, 2001 attacks in real life. Enterprise is refitted as a warship with the addition of military personnel and travels through the Delphic Expanse to find the Xindi homeworld and prevent another attack against Earth.

Related Topics:
Story arc - The Expanse - Florida - Venezuela - September 11, 2001 attacks - Delphic Expanse

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The third season, especially later episodes, has been received more favorably by fans and critics.

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The episodes "Twilight" and "Proving Ground" were popular with fans, as was the arc formed by the last seven episodes of the third season:

Related Topics:
Twilight - Proving Ground

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• "Azati Prime"
• "Damage"
• "The Forgotten"
• "E²"
• "The Council"
• "Countdown"
• "Zero Hour"

Some of these were written or co-written by Manny Coto, a writer who joined the series in its third season. Coto's other scripts, such as "Similitude" are also considered to be of a higher caliber than earlier stories, which likely contributed to his being promoted to executive producer and show runner for season 4.

Related Topics:
Similitude - Show runner

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The Xindi story arc carried over into the fourth season, being related peripherally to the two-part season premiere, "Storm Front" (being a detour as Enterprise returned to Earth), and "Home" serving as a coda to the arc.

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Season 4 produced a mixture of two- and three-episode arcs, along with a few standalone episodes. The general theme of the season appeared to be a focus on the prequel concept of the series, with many episodes referencing themes, concepts, and characters from past series. Season 4 saw the finale of the "Temporal Cold War" depicted in the previous three seasons. The fourth season also saw the much anticipated return of Brent Spiner (Data from ') as the criminal mastermind Dr. Arik Soong in a three-episode arc ("Borderland", "Cold Station 12", and "The Augments") involving genetically enhanced superhumans known as "Augments". Coto has stated that his intent is to push the series towards the eventual founding of the United Federation of Planets.

Related Topics:
Temporal Cold War - Brent Spiner - Data - Arik Soong - Borderland - Cold Station 12 - The Augments - Augments

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Season 4 also addressed some discrepancies between the Vulcans of The Original Series and those depicted in Star Trek: Enterprise. The "Vulcan Civil War" arc ("The Forge", "Awakening", and "Kir'Shara") was hailed as among the most interesting and intricately woven plotlines of the series. In it, the characters meet T'Pau (a character who shows up in The Original Series in the episode "Amok Time") and the audience sees Romulans trying to undermine the stability of the balance in power between the Andorians and Vulcans.

Related Topics:
The Forge - Awakening - Kir'Shara - T'Pau - Amok Time - Romulan - Andorian

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The exploration element of the first two seasons (and previous Trek series) was downplayed in the fourth season, which was informally referred to as the "Solar System Arc" due to the fact that most storylines begin with Enterprise being assigned a mission from Earth, rather than simply encountering adventure through exploration. While many die-hard Trekkies welcomed the show's focus on introducing concepts from other Trek series, some critics bemoaned the decision to more or less abandon the "exploring strange new worlds" concept of the early seasons.

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The creators of the series also made the decision with season 4 to increasingly focus on the three core characters of the series – Archer, Tucker, and T'Pol – in lieu of further developing the supporting characters (Sato, Mayweather, Reed, and Phlox).

Related Topics:
Archer - Tucker - T'Pol - Sato - Mayweather - Reed - Phlox

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This format, based upon the similar "triumvirate" format used for the Original Series (which primarily focused on the trio of Kirk, McCoy, and Spock), began to emerge during the first season and has sparked further criticism from fans used to the ensemble format of ', ', and ', and other recent SF series.

Related Topics:
Kirk - McCoy - Spock

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During the fourth season, the supporting characters, particularly Sato and Mayweather, were focused upon less than they had been in previous years.

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The series cancellation was announced prior to the writing of the final episode of the fourth season, which allowed the writing team to craft a series finale. The episodes before this were welcomed by fans - including a two-parter detailing how Klingons become more human-looking during the period of TOS (as well as showing Section 31) and a two-parter taking place in the Mirror Universe and featuring a starship from the TOS era.

Related Topics:
Series finale - Klingon - Section 31 - Mirror Universe

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The final episode of Enterprise, entitled "These Are the Voyages ...", aired May 13 in the United States, and was one of the most heavily criticised episodes the series ever aired as it doubled as both a series and a franchise finale. The episode featured guest appearances by Jonathan Frakes and Marina Sirtis as their ' characters William Riker and Deanna Troi. The show took place during the TNG Episode "Pegasus" http://www.trektoday.com/news/240305_01.shtml. Brent Spiner, another TNG veteran who had guest starred earlier in the fourth season, had a speaking role as Data.

Related Topics:
These Are the Voyages ... - May 13 - Jonathan Frakes - Marina Sirtis - William Riker - Deanna Troi - TNG - Brent Spiner - Data

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