Enterprise was promoted as the show that would explain how the Star Trek universe all began. The first mission, the first ship, the first crew, the first look into deep space. The show was going to be gritty, tense and the embodiment of the frontier spirit. So has season one measured up or has Enterprise warped off into some all too familiar space? Anthony Clark looks back at the first season...

What is immediately obvious in Enterprise's first year, was how quickly the show's writers lost interest in Mayweather. The grinning 'boomer' gets sidelined from halfway through the run and barely registers at all by the end of the season which is a blessing as the character is wetter than a wet thing on a wet day - and he's the only human character that's supposed to have experience of deep space! Would a man brought up on freighters, facing daily dangers from pirates really be so immature? And that stupid grin...

T'Pol's mastery of the pout is clear from her first scene as is her permanent state of barely-suppressed hostility towards her human compatriots - and we believed that Vulcans don't do emotions. Get away with your silly notions. But at least T'Pol had an excellent comedy costume and a 'keep 'em in place in weightlessness' bra.

Hands up who can tell Trip and Malcolm apart if they don't speak. And hands up who thinks Hoshi is almost as wet at Mayweather. Oh dear, a poor showing for both suggests that maybe the Enterprise bridge crew should be stocking up on character traits for the next season. But at least down in sick bay there's the ever-reliable Nelix hamming up his lines to great comedy effect. What's not explained is how he travelled back in time after Voyager got home.

But what of Captain Archer? Reliable, calm under pressure, friendly and honest to the last, here's a character that has so few rough edges that you'd almost believe he was perfect. And that's just dull. Surely, the first captain in to deep space would be a fearless explorer with fire in his/her belly, not a slightly pedestrian do-gooder - albeit with a nice square jaw.

The original Star Trek was a far better depiction of life on the frontier. Chief engineer Scott always making do with little more than string, a doctor who didn't know all the answers when confronted with a new alien disease and Captain Kirk, a firebrand driven as much by instinct as duty. And let's not forget the show's humorous interplay between Spock, Kirk and McCoy. All these ingredients should be a part of the Enterprise matrix but instead we're presented with something far less interesting - a show with every sharp edge softened and every emotion suppressed.

And don't be fooled by the Temporal Cold War plot - it's neither interesting or exciting if only because our understanding of it is so slight it's impossible to have a feeling for it one way or another. Just try explaining it to anyone who hasn't seen the show and you'll quickly realise that it's not much of a thriller: "A dark force from the future is using genetically modified troops for no good." But as we have absolutely no idea what's at stake or why we can't care.

Enterprise should be exciting roller coaster ride across a new frontier - instead, we're presented with a group of dull characters looking at stuff. If the show is to work it must be less field trip and more strange, new worlds. And as for the title song...

Return to...