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Captain Archer and the crew of the starship Enterprise
have little time to recover from their ordeals in the Delphic
Expanse before they are forced to contend with Nazis in 20th-century
America, augmented humans created during the Eugenics Wars,
a civil war on Vulcan, genetically altered Klingons and anti-alien
bigotry on Earth...
Reprieved
from cancellation following the third
season, the makers of Enterprise were acutely
aware that the fourth year could well be the show's last.
Therefore, they pulled out all the stops to bring us a season
that is not only exciting - following the year-long Xindi
arc of the previous season, this one comprises an innovative
combination of standalone episodes and two- and three-part
serials - but also ties up loose threads from either end of
the Star Trek franchise.
The
opening two-parter, Storm Front, rounds off not only
the cliffhanger ending to the previous season, but also Archer's
dealings with Daniels (Matt Winston), Silik (John Fleck) and
the whole Temporal Cold War. The three-part Borderland/Cold
Station 12/The Augments brings together Brent Spiner as
an ancestor of Data's creator, Dr Soong, and genetically engineered
humans from the Eugenics Wars that also spawned Kahn from
the Original Series episode Space
Seed. The Forge/Awakening/Kir'Shara
offers a virtual checklist of Vulcan continuity references,
including Surak (TOS's The
Savage Curtain), T'Pau (TOS's Amok
Time), the Forge (first mentioned in Deep
Space Nine's Change of Heart and subsequently
depicted in a number of Trek novels) and sehlats (TOS's
Journey to Babel). Journey is further prefaced
by the establishment of a Coalition of Planets involving the
Andorians, Tellarites (who learn to work together in Babel
One/United/The Aenar), humans, Vulcans and Coridans (referred
to in Demons, though it is debatable whether the alien
ambassador who mentions Coridan is actually a Coridan himself).
Affliction/Divergence makes a lot of fanboys like me
very happy by explaining how the smooth-headed Klingons of
TOS came about. Both Borderland and Bound
feature the green-skinned Orions, while the two-part In
a Mirror, Darkly
brings together elements from TOS's Mirror, Mirror
and The Tholian Web. And that's not all: there are
also some Organians (TOS's Errand of Mercy),
a Gorn (TOS's Arena) and a precursor of Section
31 (DS9) in there for good measure!
Much
of the credit for this elaborate, yet remarkably not off-putting,
continuity must go to co-producer/writer Michael Sussman,
himself a huge fan of The Original Series, and co-producers/writers
Garfield and Judith Reeves-Stevens, the authors or co-authors
of numerous Trek novels.
The
highlight of the season is undoubtedly the Mirror Universe
two-parter. My enjoyment of the preceding episodes was ever
so slightly marred by my eagerness to get to this story. In
a Mirror, Darkly is set entirely within the Mirror Universe,
so it can be viewed out of broadcast order - therefore I recommend
that you can dive straight in! As well as showing us the Mirror
counterparts of all the familiar characters - the most eyebrow-raising
of all being the bed-hopping Hoshi (Linda Park) - this story
also features the painstaking re-creation of a 1960s starship,
the Defiant. Production designer Herman Zimmerman,
aided enormously by prior research carried out by scenic artist
Doug Drexler during the making of DS9's Trials and
Tribble-ations, not only convinces us that we are aboard
an Original Series vessel, but does so without making
the Defiant seem less advanced than the ships of the
22nd century. The futuristic illusion is aided by the smooth,
uncluttered lines and more spacious nature of Matt Jeffries'
original design.
My
second favourite story is the Vulcan three-parter. I was surprised
that a serial set on the planet of the logical, pointy-eared
people could be so gripping and entertaining. You may feel
that Vulcan High Command boss V'Las (Robert Foxworth) is overly
emotional, but the story's conclusion sets that aspect to
rights.
Affliction/Divergence is no slouch either in the edge-of-seat
storytelling department, especially during the "Star Trek
does Speed" sequence in which the starships Columbia
and Enterprise attempt a personnel exchange at high-warp
velocity.
The
three-part Augment story is also very exciting, being only
slightly marred by the rather pat ending. We get the idea
that Soong is an ancestor of the man who created Data, without
having it spelt for us.
In
fact, the only two episodes of this season that could be described
as weak are Daedalus and the series finale, These
are the Voyages... Daedalus's Dr Emory Erickson
(Bill Cobbs) is too similar to Dr Richard Daystrom in the
TOS episode The Ultimate Computer. Both men
are once-great scientists struggling to eclipse their earlier
achievements - with lethal results.
It's
a real shame that the final episode is such a stinker. It's
not all bad, but the regulars, particularly Trip (Connor Trinneer)
and T'Pol (Jolene Blalock), seem out of character. When did
Trip become so prone to panic? The involvement of Riker (Jonathan
Frakes) and Troi (Marina Sirtis) from The
Next Generation could also have been handled
better. The tie-in to the episode The Pegasus is of
questionable relevance and could be confusing to viewers who
might not remember the story all that well. There's the added
irony of the fact that the NX-01 crew are supposed
be a decade older (this episode is set in 2161) while Frakes
and Sirtis are pretending to a decade younger. Why not instead
show Riker and Troi post-Nemesis,
on a new mission aboard the USS Titan?
The
preceding two-parter, Demons/Terra Prime, is a far
more satisfying conclusion to the saga.
Though the show was cancelled before it could reach the hitherto
taken-for-granted run of seven seasons, Star Trek: Enterprise
did at least survive longer than The Original Series,
which managed only three. And the fourth season links in so
well with TOS that the two shows could almost be lumped
together and re-branded as one, seven-season, 178-episode
franchise. Is this a Paramount marketing ploy in the making?
At
just 22 episodes long, this season is even shorter than Season
3. However, there is the added viewing pleasure of informative
text commentaries by Michael and Denise Okuda for The Forge,
In a Mirror, Darkly - Part II and These are the
Voyages... In a Mirror, Darkly is unusually blessed in
the commentary department, as both episodes are accompanied
by audio commentaries by Michael Sussman and startrek.com
editorial director Tim Gaskill. Meanwhile, Terra Prime
can be viewed with a commentary by Garfield and Judith Reeves-Stevens
and Tim Gaskill.
The final disc contains an hour and a half of extra features,
including a look Inside the Mirror Episodes; an examination
of the many links with earlier (or, in terms of chronology,
later) Star Trek series; a spotlight on Porthos, the
Captain's dog; and the development of Michael Westmore's make-up
design for Dr Phlox (John Billingsley). This season's photo
gallery contains a generous selection of images from In
a Mirror, Darkly.
Despite
its relative brevity, the sheer quality of this season makes
it easily the best one in Enterprise's run, and a strong
contender for the finest season of Star Trek ever.
Richard
McGinlay
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