STAR TREK: ENTERPRISE was at its best
during the fourth
season as the writers wrote many episodes that connected to the original Star
Trek series and even a little to other Star Trek series. STORM FRONT may have
been one of the weak points, but it did wrap up the convoluted Temporal Cold
War saga that lingered throughout the first three seasons. HOME began to lay
out the seeds for other episodes. BORDERLAND, COLD STATION 12, and THE AUGMENTS
found a way to feature the grandfather of Data's creator, Dr. Arik Soong (Brent
Spiner) while THE FORGE, AWAKENING, and KIR'SHARA was an important moment in
Vulcan history with most of the action taking place on Vulcan.
The next couple of episodes were so-so,
but another three
part storyline gave a little look at the Romulans and the Andorians. Then the
writers delivered a story about how come the original series Klingons had no
bumps. BOUND was harmless fluff while IN A MIRROR, DARKLY took a look at what
the Mirror Universe counter parts of our crew were doing while answering where
the USS Defiant from the TOS episode THE THOLIAN WEB went to. DEMONS and TERRA
PRIME set the stage for a guest star stint from Peter Weller and it should have
ended there since the show was cancelled.
Unfortunately, Rick Berman and Brannon
Braga had to come
back to write the terrible series finale (THESE ARE THE VOYAGES..) that some
cast members even hate the episode as much as many of the fans (while Connor
Trineer sees as a way it completed his character’s story arc). Season 4 was the
finest moment of STAR TREK: ENTERPRISE and hopefully the crew of the NX-01 will
fly again one day for further voyages. I
still hold out hope even though it has almost been ten years since the show was
cancelled. The strongest episodes still
hold up as some of the best STAR TREK episodes even though I haven’t watched
them in years like the nice twist ending to IN A MIRROR, DARKLY. I am
sad we might never get to see what
Manny Coto had planned for season five or the Mirror Universe storyline that
never came to be which would have guest starred William Shatner (due to his
agent wanting too much money for Shatner).
SPECIAL FEATURES:
DISC 1-
STORM FRONT Part 1 deleted scene
HOME
Extended Scene and Script Gallery: Original Ending
ENTERPRISE MOMENTS: SEASON FOUR (Archival
Mission Log)- focuses
on how to resolve the cliffhanger from the end of season 3, the Vulcan story
arc, Brent Spiner's three episode stint for the Augments storyline, the final
two part story (with Peter Weller guest starring), and a little bit on the
series finale.
DISC 2-
THE FORGE:
Audio Commentary by Judith & Garfield Reeve-Stevens and
Mike & Denise Okuda
Text Commentary by Mike & Denise
Okuda (2005)
DISC 3-
OBSERVER EFFECT Audio Commentary by Judith & Garfield
Reeve-Stevens and Mike & Denise Okuda
DISC 4-
UNITED audio commentary by David Livingston and Judith &
Garfield Reeve-Stevens
THE AENAR deleted scene
DISC 5-
IN A MIRROR, DARKLY Part 1 audio commentaries:
New audio commentary by James L. Conway, Mike Sussman and
Mike & Denise Okuda
2005 audio commentary
by Mike Sussman and Tim Gaskill
IN A MIRROR, DARKLY Part II commentaries
from 2005:
Audio commentary by Mike Sussman
and Tim Gaskill
Text Commentary by Mike &
Denise Okuda
DEMONS audio commentary by Connor Trinneer and Dominic
Keating
INSIDE THE MIRROR EPISODES (Archival
Mission Log)- talks
about how the episode came about (the original pitch became FUTURE TENSE
(Season 2)) and why it was a two parter (so they could build the sets for the
USS Defiant, the freedom the Mirror Universe gave them for writing the story,
and the CGI Gorn.
DISC 6-
TERRA PRIME audio commentaries:
New
commentary by Connor Trineer and Dominic Keating
2005
commentary by Judith & Garfield Reeve-Stevens and
Tim Gaskill
THESE ARE THE VOYAGES… text commentary
by Mike & Denise
Okuda (2005)
BEFORE HER TIME: DECOMMISSIONING ENTERPRISE
(HD)
retrospective documentary which goes into detail what happened during season 4,
everyone knowing season 4 was the last, and what could have been (like Manny
Coto's plans for season 5, William Shatner for a story arc if it wasn't for his
agent asking for too much money):
PART ONE: NEW VOICES- all about Manny Coto taking control
as
show runner for season 4 and bringing in Judith & Garfield Reeve-Stevens as
writers for the series. Also Rick Berman
talks about producer fatigue.
PART TWO: MEMORABLE
VOYAGES- a look at some of the pivotal
storylines of season 4
PART THREE: FINAL APPROACH-
the final episodes and
cancellation including the reactions by cast and crew. Jolene Blalock was very
vocal about the final
episode while Connor Trineer saw it as a way to conclude his character’s arc.
They also mention how the DVR data for ratings was being considered back then.
PART FOUR: END OF AN ERA- cast and crew reflect on the end
of the show and the writers mention how a new STAR TREK series would be like if
the old writers came back (with all they learned writing for TV shows since
then).
IN CONVERSATION: WRITING STAR TREK: ENTERPRISE-
in this
almost 90 minute feature, several of the writers including Chris Black, Brannon
Braga, Mike Sussman, and Judith & Garfield Reeve-Stevens talk about writing
for the series including the up and downs from favorite episodes to other
stories from the time like how the writing staff was uneven for the first two
seasons and how a couple of Star Trek novel writers were finally given a chance
to write for season four.
Archival Mission Logs:
VISUAL EFFECTS MAGIC focuses on animatics from STORM FRONT
Part 2, how they created the Newsreel for STORM FRONT, CGI Tholians, and a
little bit on some CGI effects from the Xindi arc (this last part should have
been on the season 3 set instead).
LINKS TO THE LEGACY- how some of the
ENTERPRISE episodes
tied into episodes of the original series.
ENTERPRISE
SECRETS is about all the extras in the final
scene for the series finale
THAT’S A
WRAP! highlights from the series wrap party
ENTERPRISE GOES TO THE DOGS
WESTMORE’S ALIENS: CREATING DR. PHLOX AND BEYOND
NX-01 FILE 10- a look at the Save Enterprise
protest outside
Paramount studios that features interviews with the fans and the cast (talking
about how important the show is to the fans)
Outtakes
Photo Gallery
FINAL ANALYSIS: STAR
TREK: ENTERPISE was a show gone before it’s time as it delivered one of the
best seasons of any STAR TREK show ever.
It is too bad it wasn’t around for one to two more seasons. The
retrospective documentary and the Writers
Conversation are must watch extras. I
wish STAR TREK: ENTERPRISE could come back for a few episodes more.
This review is
©4-30-2014 David Blackwell and cannot be
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