Enterprise Season 4 is Still Sweet!
By
Kristin Battestella
Previously,
I reviewed Enterprise’s Fourth and Final season out of order, and that original praise
can still be found here. Sine we’ve recently finished our great Star Trek rewatch, however, it’s nice to
revisit what was the last Trek spinoff’s
finest hour.
Captain
Jonathan Archer (Scott Bakula) and his Chief Engineer Trip Tucker (Conner
Trinneer) return to Earth after the Xindi crisis and face potentially catastrophic
events on Vulcan with Science Officer T’Pol (Jolene Blalock). Lieutenant Reed (Dominic
Keating) must face friends from his Starfleet past while Doctor Phlox (John
Billingsly) encounters disturbing xenophobic attitudes. Can Earth work with its
Vulcan and Andorian neighbors in galactic alliance– or will humanity’s short
sightedness upset an already delicate interstellar balance?
“Storm
Front” and “Storm Front Part II” aren’t bad episodes in themselves to open Year
4, but the ‘Alien Nazis in New York! Who’ll stop them? The mob!’ absurdity was the
worst possible cop out to resolve the Season 3 cliffhanger. New show runner Manny Coto somehow resolves
this dilemma and puts an end to the dumb Temporal Cold War, but the beginning
and end of this final season feels like a big F U from departing producers Rick
Berman and Brannon Braga. I get that they were trying to wrap up all of Trekdom in “These Are The Voyages…” but
it was really unnecessary and a total waste of all things Enterprise
– honestly, to resolve an entire series by putting it inside a crappy TNG afterthought? It doesn’t do guests
Marina Sirtis and Jonathan Frakes any favors by having them repeat their
characters’ younger selves, and Jeffrey Combs’ fate as the Andorian Shran is
unfortunately cheapened. Ultimately, it feels as if the series’ own finale does
everything it possibly can to disown Enterprise.
After the majority of magic that is Season 4, the finale’s treatment is a
gross, grievous mistake.
Fortunately,
with Coto at its helm, Enterprise fulfils its prequel promises by
returning to themes from the original Star
Trek. “Home” is a much better resolution to the previous season’s consequences
and Xindi plots before Brent Spiner’s guest arc and allusions to Khan in
“Borderland,” “Cold Station 12,” and “The Augments.” The younger actors playing
the Augments are a bit tacky, granted, but the intensity is well paced across
these episodes, with solid peril to conclude each hour. Jolene Blalock also has some serious
revelations as T’Pol, and anyone who disagreed with the decidedly pissy and
emotional Vulcans on Enterprise will be pleased to see “The Forge,”
“Awakening,” and “Kir’Shara.” At last we get to see the planet, the people, and
the problems resolved with great Vulcan connections and a restoration of TOS ideals thanks to more fine guests
like Joanna Cassidy (Blade Runner) as
T’Less, Gary Graham (Alien Nation) as
Soval, and Kara Zediker (24) as T’Pau.
Year 4 is brighter and more colorful,
too – Enterprise looks more like the original Star
Trek thanks to Orions, Tellarites, and a tongue in cheek Klingon resolution
with “Affliction” and “Divergence.”
“Daedalus”
and “Observer Effect” should work, but these one off filler shows fall a bit
flat or feel like left over stock scripts. I don’t know why Enterprise was not envisioned as a limited series
with different 22nd century themes each year.
What’s wrong with making a retro SF show? Enterprise could have taken full advantage of the
excellent “In a Mirror, Darkly” two parter and been a Mirror TOS set or a companion TOS era series all along. Why not have a
6 or 8 episode mirror mini series? In a smaller season devoid of bottle shows
and hip clichés, these bright colors and period sci-fi gadgets would have been
dynamite! The Andorian plots in “Babel,” “United,” and “The Aenar” add a hint
of unseen Romulan interference as well, and the two part “Demons” and “Terra
Prime” have humans shaking off our last prejudices for alien alliance and the
seeds of the Federation. Simply put, Enterprise
deserved to continue on these topics. There was certainly potential for more
founding of the Federation themes and Romulan plots, and the series was not a
washed up waste as so many were led to believe thanks to the earlier seasons’
unrealized promise under Berman and Braga.
In the end, I think Enterprise simply came at the wrong time – caught
between Voyager fatigue and a
transitioning television era. The original producers wanted to stick with the old,
tried and true formula but a fresh, punchy homage perspective was needed to
take this last spinoff to the next level.
Those unhappy with the current Trek
film incarnation’s youthful hipness can return here, and I definitely
recommend original series Star Trek fans
take in this Fourth, final, finest season.
No comments:
Post a Comment