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Title:
Star Trek: Enterprise: The Complete First Season On DVD Seven-Disc Set
Region:
One
Genre:
Sci-Fi TV Series
Episodes
Disc One: “Broken Bow”, “Fight Or Flight”, “Strange New World”
Episodes
Disc Two: “Unexpected”, “Terra Nova”, “The Andorian Incident”,
“Breaking The Ice”
Episodes
Disc Three: “Civilization”, “Fortunate Son”, “Cold Front”, “Silent
Enemy”
Episodes
Disc Four: “Dear Doctor”, “Sleeping Dogs”, “Shadows Of P’Jem”,
“Shuttlepod One”
Episodes
Disc Five: “Fusion”, “Rogue Planet”, “Acquisition”, “Oasis”
Episodes
Disc Six: “Detained”, “Vox Sola”, “Fallen Hero”, “Desert
Crossing”
Episodes Disc Seven: “Two Days And Two Nights”, “Shockwave, Part 1”
Stars:
Scott Bakula, Conner Trinneer, Jolene Blalock, Dominick Keating, Anthony
Montgomery, Linda Park, and John Billingsley
Guest
Stars: John Fleck, Melinda
Clarke, Tommy “Tiny” Lister, Jr., Vaughn Armstrong, Jim Beaver, Mark Moses,
Gary Graham, Thomas Kopache, Jim Fitzpatrick, James Horan, Joseph Ruskin,
Jeffrey Combs, Dean Stockwell, Clint Howard, Matt Molloy, Ethan Phillips, Rene
Auberjonois, Den Stockwell, Clancy Brown, and James Cromwell
Based
On “Star Trek” Created By: Gene Roddenberry
Executive
Producers: Rick Berman and Brannon Braga
Average
Episode length: 45 minutes
Extras:
“Creating Enterprise”, “O
Captain! My Captain!: A Profile Of Scott Bakula”, Cast Impressions: Season
One”, “Inside Shuttlepod One”, “Star Trek Time Travel: Temporal Cold
Wars And Beyond”, “Enterprise Secrets”, “Admiral Forrest Takes Center
Stage”, “Enterprise Outtakes”, “Deleted Scenes”, “Audio
Commentary”, “Text Commentaries”, “NX-01 Files”
Languages:
English Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound and Dolby Surround Sound
Subtitles:
English Closed Captions and Subtitles
Packaging:
Seven-Disc Book Style Digipack Within A Molded Plastic Case
Chapter
Stops: 16 For “Broken Bow”/8 Per All Other Season One Episodes
Sound:
Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound and Dolby Surround Sound
Year
of Television Broadcast 2001-2002/DVD Release: 2005
Home
Video Distributor: Paramount Home Entertainment
MPAA
Rating: Not Rated
Reviewer:
Mark A. Rivera
The
year is 2151. 91 years have past since Zefram Cochran piloted the first warp
drive spacecraft, The Phoenix, and initiated Earth’s first contact with
beings from another world known as the Vulcans as seen in the feature film
“Star Trek: First Contact.” A Klingon ship has crashed on the cornfield of a
farm in Broken Bow, Oklahoma. After eluding two strange alien beings pursuing
him, the Klingon is shot down by the farmer’s plasma rifle. At Starfleet
Headquarters, the Vulcan emissaries have negotiated to return the body of the
Klingon to the planet Qo’noS, the Klingon home world, but Captain Jonathan
Archer (Scott Bakula) objects when he learns that the Klingon is still alive and
disapproves of the idea of Vulcans returning back a dead “warrior” when he
can possibly be kept alive and returned to the Klingon home world personally
aboard recently completed NX-01 Enterprise, marking first contact between
humanity and the Klingons.
The
Vulcans reluctantly agree to the mission as long as the second in command of the
Enterprise on her maiden voyage is the Vulcan Sub Commander T’Pol
(Jolene Blalock). With a recorded sendoff from Zefram Cochran at the
inauguration of the beginning of construction on the first warp five engine 32
years earlier, which just happens to be the famous speech we have heard at the
beginning of “Star Trek: The Original Series,” Enterprise begins her
first mission in a series of deep space adventures that depict the early days of
Starfleet and the events that led to the founding of the United Federation Of
Planets.
“Star
Trek” has shared a symbiotic relationship of sorts with “Star Wars” for
decades and although the two franchises may seem quite different, over the years
they have both helped feed the ongoing hunger for outer space adventure coupled
with human drama. It was the success of “Star Wars” that prompted Paramount
to bring “Star Trek” to the big screen and long after George Lucas completed
his classic trilogy of space operas in 1983, “Star Trek” continued to thrive
on both the big and small screen with visual effects by Industrial Light and
Magic. With an animated series, five live action series, and ten feature films
as well as an expanded universe of books, games, novels, and more, “Star
Trek” will continue to go boldly where the imaginations of the fans take it
long after the 40th anniversary in 2006. After nearly two decades,
next television season will be the first one since 1987 to not have a live
action “Star Trek” series broadcasting first run episodes. I have read
rumors of another “Star Trek” feature film prequel that would take place in
between “Enterprise” and “The Original Series,” but would feature an
entirely new cast and would premiere theatrically sometimes in 2006 for the
fortieth anniversary of the franchise. However with nothing officially confirmed
as far as I am aware of at the time of this writing, I would not anticipate
anything though I would be very surprised of Paramount let that year go by
without something to celebrate the venerable franchise. Ironically a live action
as well as an animated series based on “Star Wars” is being developed for
television broadcast around 2006 so wouldn’t it be funny if “Star Wars”
filled in the gap on television left by “Star Trek” while “Star Trek”
thrived on the big screen if an eleventh feature film proved to be successful?
Somewhat
similar to the way molded plastic cases were produced for the three season DVD
sets released by Paramount Home Entertainment for the original “Star Trek”
television series, “Enterprise” comes packaged in a gray plastic container
that opens up to reveal a book style seven-disc Digipack disc holder within a
transparent plastic slip and there is also a ten-page booklet detailing a brief
episode synopsis for all 26 first season episodes as well as some introductory
notes related to the series. Off all of the season by season DVD sets Paramount
has released related to “Star Trek,” I think the first season of
“Enterprise” is easily the best one yet and I am eager to review the three
remaining seasons that will be released throughout the year. This is the first
“Star Trek” series to be shot and broadcast with high definition television
in mind so the picture quality is excellent with an anamorphic widescreen
(1.78:1) broadcast aspect ratio presentation as well as a choice between English
Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound and Dolby Surround Sound and English Closed
Captions for the hearing impaired and subtitles encoded onto all seven discs
within the set. The interactive menus are beautifully animated with motion
transitions and are all easy to navigate too.
There
are extra value features sprinkled about all seven discs and some noteworthy
episodes to discuss regardless of whether or not they have been graced with any
form of additional material. On disc one the pilot “Broken Bow” (86:42)
features an audio commentary by Executive Producers Rick Berman and Brannon
Braga as well as text commentary by Michael and Denise Okuda, who continue to
provide the most fact and anecdote filled text commentaries of any sci-fi series
on DVD. The Okudas also provide text commentary for the episodes “The Andorian
Incident” on disc two and “Vox Sola” on disc six.
Deleted scenes presented in anamorphic widescreen 16 by 9 with stereo
soundtracks are provided for “Broken Bow”, “Fight Or Flight”,
“Shuttlepod One”, “Sleeping Dogs”, “Fallen Hero”, “Two Days And
Two Nights”, and the series finale “Shockwave, Part 1.” A “Play All”
feature is provided for the deleted scenes, which can be viewed individually as
well.
Now
that I have gotten the mechanics of the extra value features associated with
certain episodes out of the way, I can discuss what episodes I think are
definitely worth viewing in the set as well as a few anecdotes of my own. There
are two story arcs in season one that are of particular importance to the series
because as future seasons continue they will help lead the viewer to the
founding of the United Federation Of Planets as we first came to understand them
in the original “Star Trek.” The first story arc that runs through the
series involves “The Temporal Cold War.” Throughout seasons one and two
viewers have seen a mysterious character give instructions to the Suliban and
even counsel Captain Archer with regard to the Xindi threat in the second season
finale episode “The Expanse.” In “Broken Bow” if you look closely at the
mysterious figure giving the instructions it almost looks as though the humanoid
might be a Vulcan or a Romulan. The clarity of the DVD transfer makes it
possible to see what look like pointed ears on the speaker. Whether or not the
Friday, May 13, 2005 season finale will reveal the identity of the individual
remains to be seen, but I am curious to know if it is just me or if anyone else
noticed any other visual details of the mysterious speaker in “Broken Bow.”
The November 2001 television sweeps episode “Cold Front” begins just over four months since Captain Archer had come into contact with the Suliban while returning the Klingon courier back to his home world. Now when the Enterprise makes contact with an alien vessel transporting stargazers to observe a spectacular stellar event, Silik (John Fleck) the Suliban enemy whom Archer had last contacted while rescuing the Klingon courier from the Suliban array has found his way aboard the Enterprise in disguise among a group of aliens who Captain Archer had invited to tour the vessel.
Shortly
thereafter, a crewman of the name of Daniels (Matt Winston) reveals himself to
be a member of an agency from 900 hundred years in the future that ensures that
time explorers do not disrupt the Temporal Prime Directive. Daniels was sent to
prevent Silik and the group who the Suliban are working for from tampering with
events in the 22nd century that can alter the flow of history. To compound
matters, Sulibans are virtually impossible to identify under sensors because of
the genetic engineering their race has received. Since Vulcans do not believe in
time travel, Sub Commander T’Pol (Jolene Blalock) is skeptical of Daniels’
story leaving Archer too wrapped up to discover the one natural item that
appears to be able to detect a Suliban aboard the Enterprise; the Captain’s
dog.
“Cold Front” is a terrific follow-up to the series premiere “Broken Bow.” It raises the bar on the tensions regarding the mysterious “Temporal Cold War” and tests the gung ho and naïve nature of the Captain Archer and his mission without becoming too pessimistic. We learn a bit more about the Suliban and a few hints of the universe 900 hundred years in the future without ever ruining the mystery. In fact I think while some issues are made clearer while others questions raised and the episode does not conflict with anything Trek viewers have learned from watching the original series and “Voyager.” In fact, former “Voyager” star Robert Duncan McNeill, who played ensign Tom Paris on that show, directed the episode. Roxanne Dawson and Levar Burton also directed episodes in the first season of “Enterprise.”
The
second story arc that becomes increasingly important to the series involves the
Andorians and the Vulcans. Dawson directed the episode “The Andorian
Incident,” which features genre film and television actor Jeffrey Combs and
begins a series of actions that have continued to have consequences throughout
the entire series. “Shadows Of P’Jem” and “Detained” are important
follow-ups for season one regarding this story arc while the first season finale
“Shockwave, Part 1” left viewers wondering how events in The Temporal Cold
War that sent Archer to a post apocalyptic 31st century Earth could
be undone.
Jeffrey
Combs along with “Voyager” alumni Ethan Phillips and Clint Howard play
Ferengi who make unofficial first contact with members of Starfleet in the
episode “Acquisition.” Other guest stars to make appearances in season one
include “Deep Space Nine” alumni Rene Auberjonois, Scott Bakula’s
“Quantum Leap” co-star Dean Stockwell, as well as Clancy Brown (Highlander)
and Gary Graham, who not only appeared on “Voyager,” but was a costar of the
Fox series “Alien Nation.”
The
balance of the extra value materials can be found on disc seven. These include
the featurettes “Creating Enterprise” (11:27), “O Captain! My Captain! –
A Profile Of Scott Bakula” (9:30), “Cast Impressions – Season One”
(12:25), “Inside Shuttlepod One” (7:57), “Enterprise Secrets” (2:00)
“Admiral Forrest Takes Center Stage” (5:14), and “Star Trek Time Travel:
Temporal Cold Wars And Beyond” (8:11), which features a nice detailed montage
of clips from throughout the live action television programs and feature films
depicting various moments of time travel throughout “Star Trek.” A reel of
outtakes (9:03), at least three hidden “NX-01 Files” that run between 2 and
five minutes each as well as a trailer for the Vegas attraction “Borg
Invasion” (: 32) wrap up the features in this DVD box set.
“Star
Trek: Enterprise: The Complete First Season On DVD Seven-Disc Set” is
available now at retailers on and offline courtesy of Paramount Home
Entertainment.
©
Copyright 2005 By Mark A. Rivera
All Rights Reserved.
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