Despite the near-certainty of cancellation, ratings in the cellar
and nothing left to lose, the fourth and final season of Star
Trek: Enterprise was unanimously hailed as the best. After ending
season 3 with a mind-boggling cliffhanger, series creators Rick
Berman and Brannon Braga handed show-runner duties to executive
producer Manny Coto, who rejuvenated the ging franchise by
bridging the gap between Enterprise and the future developments
of Star Trek: The Original Series. By recruiting lifelong Trek
experts Mike Sussman and the husband-and-wife team of Judith and
Garfield Reeves-Stevens to his writing staff, Coto ensured that
political events in the Enterprise timeline would lead to a
"coalition of planets," thus forming the Federation cornerstone
of Star Trek's future. But first, Coto had to find a way to
extract Capt. Archer (Scott Bakula) and his battle-worn crew from
an alternate timeline--the result of the continuing Temporal Cold
War--in which the Nazis have invaded U.S. soil in 1944. In the
normal Enterprise timeline, political upheavals have left
relations between Vulcans, Andorians, Tellarites, and Humans in a
state of near-disastrous chaos.
Into this blazing cauldron of action-adventure, Coto and staff
introduced story arcs that connected to Star Trek's future,
including a three-episode arc ("Borderland," "Cold Station 12,"
and "The Augments") in which Dr. Arik Soong (played by Next
Generation alumnus Brent Spiner) and his superhuman "Augments"
chart a tragic course that would lead, in future generations, to
the creation of Spiner's cybernetic NextGen character, Data. "The
Forge," "Awakening," and "Kir'Shara" returned T'Pol (Jolene
Blalock) to her native Vulcan, where encounters with the
legendary philosopher Surak, and zealous sect called the
Syrannites, lead to pivotal history with the Vulcan High Command.
In subsequent episodes, Phlox (John Billingsley) would discover
the reason why some Klingons lack "cranial ridges" (thus solving
a vexing Star Trek mystery), and "In a Mirror, Darkly" marked and
eventful return to the "Mirror Universe" from the original series
episode "Mirror, Mirror," for what Coto aptly describes (in the
bonus featurette) as a two-part "romp," complete with a "Mirror
Universe" title sequence, the reappearance of the U.S.S. Defiant
from the original series episode "The Tholian Web," and a
glorious recreation of a "Constitution Class" starship bridge
that gave long-time Trekkies a breathtaking rush of nostalgia.
In the closing episodes, the formation of the Federation is
threatened by a radical xenophobe (Peter Weller) whose
isolationist tactics lead Trip (Connor Trinneer) and T'Pol to a
future of interspecies parenthood, and while the series-ending
"These Are The Voyages..." is considered a disappointment by
some, it provided a suitable Next Generation tribute to Star
Trek's past, present, and future. Considering the daunting
challenge of tying up loose ends while looking forward in a way
that demanding fans could appreciate, it's fair to say that
Enterprise reached a satisfying conclusion that its cast and crew
can be proud of.
DVD features
It's only fitting that Season 4's bonus features have a
bittersweet quality, celebrating the Star Trek franchise while
acknowledging its uncertain future. For the first time on any
Star Trek series, closure was imposed prematurely, and "That's a
Wrap" (a video from the Enterprise wrap party at the Roosevelt
Hotel in Hollywood) has the privileged feel of an emotional
family reunion. (Unfortunately, Jolene Blalock and Connor
Trinneer were unable to attend.) "Inside the 'Mirror' Episodes"
offers a closer look at those enjoyably nostalgic episodes ("we
put the 'Ho' back in Hoshi" jokes Mike Sussman about Linda Park's
"empress" persona), and in "Links to the Legacy," Judith and
Garfield Reeves-Stevens explain how they brought Enterprise
closer to its original Star Trek heritage. "Visual Effects Magic"
charts the astonishing advancements in digital effects since the
comparatively crude effects of Next Generation, and "Enterprise
Secrets" reveals an affectionate assembly of behind-the-scenes
personnel on the final day of shooting. There's one final Easter
egg (NX-01 File #10) about the ultimately futile "Save
Enterprise" fan protest against series cancellation (with
appreciative comments by Scott Bakula and Connor Trinneer), and
as always, the informative audio and text commentaries are
fan-essential features loaded with detailed trivia and anecdotal
history. --Jeff Shannon