"I can't try to save humanity without holding on to what makes me human." - Scott Bakula as Captain Jonathan Archer
Star Trek: Enterprise: Season 3 DVD Review
By A.J. Carson
In its first two seasons, Star Trek prequel Enterprise displayed a frustrating lack of focus. The adventures of the crew of the star ship Enterprise - captain Jonathan Archer (Quantum Leap's Scott Bakula), Vulcan science officer T'Pol (Jolene Blalock), British-born security chief Malcolm Reed (Dominic Keating), former cargo ship boomer Travis Mayweather (Anthony Montgomery), communications expert Hoshi Sato (Linda Park), chief engineer Charles "Trip" Tucker (Connor Trinneer), and Denobulan physician Dr. Phlox (John Billingsley) - were often derivative, and barely distinguishable from the stories told in other editions of the Star Trek franchise. The show's producers seemed to sense that something was wrong, and season two ended with a cliffhanger that promised an extended season three story arc in which the formerly peaceful explorers enter the vast Delphic Expanse in pursuit of the Xindi, a mysterious race that launched a super weapon against Earth, killing millions. Would this be the creative jump spark the series needed to define itself in the Star Trek universe? As it turns out, not really.
Several of the episodes - especially those early in the season - are simply more of the reheated Star Trek leftovers we've come to expect from Enterprise. Here's the episode in which a mysterious space hottie gets the male members of the crew all worked up ("Rajiin"). And the one in which T'Pol loses control of her emotions ("Impulse"), a storyline so overused that soon the writers will have to come up with an episode in which she reigns in her emotions just for the sake of variety. Not to mention the annual episode in which Hoshi's insularity leads to her further isolation ("Exile"). This theme worked well in season two's "Vanishing Point," but feels derivative here, especially when tied to a lame reworking of Beauty and the Beast. The Andorians' wiggly blue antennae must have cost so much to create that the show's producers decided to amortize their cost over the entire run of the series. How else to explain yet another episode where the "pink skins" reluctantly receive help from the possibly deceitful race ("Proving Ground")?
And the Xindi, who seemed so shadowy and menacing in the final episode of season two? Turns out they're simply a collection of sci-fi clichés. Rather than being one race, they are actually a collection of five disparate beings: one humanoid, one reptilian, one sloth-like, one insectoid, and one aquatic (imagine a manatee crossed with the Loch Ness Monster). Rather than adding intrigue or depth to the story, this diversity comes across as silly.
As bland as many of the episodes are, there are a few real gems to be found here. "Carpenter Street" plays like a tightly paced genre flick as Archer and T'Pol head back in time to Detroit circa 2004 to thwart a trio of reptilians who have landed there to develop a biological weapon. The episode follows the proven formula of placing Star Trek characters in a time and place in which they don't belong, this time adding horror and action flick flourishes to the mix. This episode is exciting from start to finish and shouldn't be missed. The horror genre is mined once again in "Doctor's Orders," a haunted house tale in which Phlox is left alone to run Enterprise when a space anomaly forces him to temporarily place the rest of the crew in medical-induced comas. Spooky and suspenseful, this episode, like "Carpenter Street," is successful because it explores new ways of presenting Enterprise's stories. It works because it is different.
"E Squared" is not different. It involves the hoary "alternate universe" plotline that may have been fresh back when Star Trek was simply a series of cave drawings. And yet.it works. As they prepare to enter a dangerous subspace corridor, the crew is confronted by another Enterprise, this one manned by descendents of Archer's crew. This episode is both exciting and emotionally resonant. Who can resist meeting Trip and T'Pol's son? Or Archer's daughter? If only the show's producers could have put as much heart and soul into the series' other borrowed plots.
The Xindi arc does get more exciting toward the end of the season when the producers finally seem to commit to it. Some of the episodes do tend to over rely on scenes of the Xindi council arguing about the fate of humanity. Here was our chance to finally see the Enterprise crew kicking ass, and we're stuck watching an intergalactic version of C-SPAN. The season's final three episodes - "The Council," "Countdown," and "Zero Hour" - do have their exciting moments, but the storyline should have been wrapped up sooner. As it is, there is at least one ending too many here. And a note to the person responsible for coming up with the season ending cliffhanger: if you're going to "borrow" ideas from other sources, borrow successful ones, not the disappointing ending of Tim Burton's weak Planet of the Apes update.
The series also went through other small tweaks for its third season. Because she resigned from the Vulcan High Command, T'Pol now wears civilian clothes. In her case, this means candy-colored velour cat suits, the better to show off her space cleavage. Shameless. And the lame Diane Warren-penned theme song gets "fixed" in a new country/dance remix. See? The show must be better.
Look for appearances by two actors who would go on to star in two of the hottest shows of the following season: Desperate Housewives' Steven Culp as Major Hayes, Enterprise's new military presence, and Lost's Daniel Dae Kim as one of his soldiers.
The twenty-four episodes that make up the third season are arranged in airdate order on seven discs. As with seasons one and two, the discs are housed in cobalt blue plastic holders that are "bound" book-style via a clear strip of tape along the left hand side. Listed on the disc faces are the episode titles, episode dates (i.e. the date the episode "took place" in the Star Trek universe), and original airdates. The case slides into a clear plastic sleeve imprinted with Enterprise's insignia. A brochure gives plot synopses, a brief recap of the first two seasons, and an intro to the derring-do of Star Fleet captains over the years. Also included is a coupon for Star Trek: The Experience at the Las Vegas Hilton and a rebate form for purchasers of seasons three and four. The plastic DVD holder fits into a silver plastic canister which vaguely resembles a canteen. Since all of the cases look exactly alike, they are not as visually interesting when sitting on a shelf as those for the original Star Trek.
The DVD menus - this time built around images of the Xindi Reptilian ship - are just as impressive as we've come to expect from Star Trek releases.
