Shaun Corley | Staff Writer

When it came to time to create a new Star Trek show, executive producers Rick Berman and Brannon Braga decided to leave behind the 24th century, home of Trek’s three previous incarnations.  They decided to go back to a time before Janeway, Sisko and Picard.  That wasn’t far enough.  They went further back, before Kirk and Spock, before there was even a Federation.  Back to a time when warp travel and transporters were new technologies, and the galaxy was unexplored.  Strip away everything taken for granted in the Star Trek universe, and show us where it all began.  That’s the premise of the fifth and latest entry into the franchise: Enterprise.

It was a risky venture on their part.  The duo took enormous amounts of flack from fans over Voyager’s lack of critical and commercial success.  In addition, they had the arduous task of maintaining Trek continuity; and not contradicting 35 years of material set AFTER Enterprise’s time frame.   And if the first two episodes are any indication, they’re off to a good start.

The pilot episode, “Broken Bow,” establishes the world of 2151: Earth, within two generations, has successfully managed to eliminate crime, war, disease, poverty and pollution; and now is ready to begin exploring space.  The Vulcans on the other hand feel that humans still aren’t ready; they’ve withheld many technological innovations from them, such as the ability to travel at Warp 5.   The tension between humans and Vulcans is one of the reoccurring themes in Enterprise.

In the second episode, “Fight or Flight,” the Enterprise runs upon an abandoned alien vessel.  They discover the alien crew had been attacked, and their lymphatic fluids harvested by an unknown race.  The hostile aliens return and attack the Enterprise.  This episode demonstrates another cool thing about Enterprise: just how low-tech the ship is.  They have no phasers or shields, and a very primitive form of the photon torpedo, which Malcolm Reed, the ship’s weapons officer, has much trouble calibrating.  They have no replicators, no holodecks and can not travel any faster than Warp 5.  The transporters, a fixture of every Trek, are brand new, and no one really trusts them.

It’s cool to see the beginnings of everything we know about Trek.  The pilot details the first contact between humans and Klingons, and the centuries of bad blood between the two.  The Axanar, a throwaway reference in an old episode of the original series, are featured in the second episode.  The Andorians, another species featured in the original Trek, will be the focus of an upcoming episode. And if the producers stay true to continuity, the Romulans are just around the corner.

A show is only as good as its cast, and Enterprise is no exception.   Captain John Archer, played by Scott Bakula (Quantum Leap), is eager to explore strange, new worlds and boldly go where no man has gone before; he’s clearly a forerunner to the Starfleet officers who come after him. Engineer Charles “Trip” Tucker (Conner Trineer) and helmsman Travis (Anthony Montgomery) share Archer’s enthusiasm.   The rest of the human crew is a bit unsure of things: comm. Officer Hoshi Sato, played by Linda Park, goes white-knuckle every time the Enterprise goes to warp; and weapons officer Malcolm Reed (Dominic Keating) seems more interested in blowing stuff up.   T’pol (Jolene Blalock), the Vulcan science officer, is at odds with Archer over command decisions, and while space travel is nothing new for Dr. Phlox (John Billingsley), he relishes every minute he’s in space.

Enterprise has a lot riding on it, and it’s failure or success will determine the future of the Star Trek franchise.  Two episodes aren’t good enough to make a real judgment, but if they are indication, then I would say Enterprise is off to a good start.