Tag: enterprise | Amy C. Shaw

MY TOP 5(ish) EPISODES OF ENTERPRISE SEASON FOUR

August 31, 2018 • 0 Comments

As my husband and I are going through our second full watch of Star Trek as a couple, I thought it would be fun to report on the highlights along the way, so I decided to copy the same format as Charlene as she posted her journey with Star Trek.

I’m sad I’m finished with Enterprise and this Star Trek rewatch! However, I’m also excited to move on to something new after dedicating so much time to this endeavor! And I’m also excited that soon I will be sharing my top ten of all episodes of Star Trek! Spoiler alert: it’s going to be a lot of DS9.

A note about this list: this season was a lot of two and three episode arcs that are really hard to separate, and I didn’t like the standalone episodes from this season nearly as much, so I stopped at four, but it’s technically more than five. I just wanted to do it this way in order to best reflect my faves of the season. Now, without further ado, season four!

4. Storm Front Parts One and Two

I had really forgotten that the season three finale actually opened a new door in the Xindi story line to be resolved in this two-parter. The intensity of season three continues through these two episodes.

3. Affliction/Divergence

This is the arc in which Enterprise retcons the discrepancy between the Klingons’ appearance from the original series to the other series. I wasn’t as captivated with this arc as I was the first time, but they’re still a solid couple of episodes.

2. Demons/Terra Prime

A group of radical xenophobists create a bispecies baby from two Enterprise crew members to hold as an abomination and further their cause to rid Earth and its territories of aliens. Many consider Terra Prime the true finale of Enterprise and I concur whole-heartedly.

1. Borderland/Cold Station 12/The Augments

This arc explores what happened to some of the other genetically engineered augments from Khan’s time and their attempts to conquer other aliens as well as humans.

What are your thoughts on Enterprise season four? Did you feel the show was too short-lived? On a scale of 1 to 10, how enraged are you by the finale? (10 billion is my answer)

My Top 5 Episodes of Enterprise Season Three

July 24, 2018 • 0 Comments

This is the Enterprise I have been waiting for. From the word go, this season really delivered episode after episode (well, minus a couple of duds). I thought it would be really hard to narrow down my top five because there was so much good, but the hard part was actually remembering the specifics of some of these episodes that served the overall story arc more than an individual episode arc. As a result, most of my picks are episodes that have strong stories that still went with this season’s arc, but stood out a little more on their own as well.

5. Doctor’s Orders

It’s a common Star Trek trope: the ship is traveling through a part of space that will interfere with most everyone’s *insert medical technobabble here*, and only one or two of the aliens aboard can stay awake and take care of the ship. Despite the fact that the episode isn’t totally unique in concept, I really appreciated the insight we got on Dr. Phlox.

4. The Forgotten

Much like the previous episode, I chose this one for its character development, this time though, for Trip as he continues to struggle with the senseless loss of his sister.We also see T’Pol continue to struggle as she weans herself from her trellium addiction. While it’s terrible she has to go through it, it really opens up a new side of her that changes her character.

3. E^2

Star Trek loves doing alternate timeline episodes, and this is one of the good ones. When Enterprise discovers another Enterprise in the Expanse, they come to find out that their ship had been flung into the past and turned into a generational ship, giving the second Enterprise decades to figure out how they can still accomplish their mission to stop the Xinidi from destroying Earth.

2. Similitude

When Trip is gravely injured in an accident, Captain Archer and Dr. Phlox are faced with some very hard decisions. This episode is kind of uncomfortable, but it’s because it really makes you think about the ethics of the situation.

1. Stratagem

I don’t know how to talk about this episode without spoilers, so let me just say that it’s a very interesting exploration on a theme that intrigues me and gets into some interesting psychology.

What are your favorite episodes from Enterprise season three?

My Top 5 Episodes of Enterprise Season Two

June 11, 2018 • 1 Comment

OK, I knew Enterprise really hits its stride in season three, but I expected season two to be a little more interesting. There were a lot of decent episodes, but only a couple of stand-outs for me. Here’s how it came down for me for my top five…

5. Regeneration

Another Star Trek episode, another Borg episode. This one finds a way to connect itself with First Contact (aka my personal favorite Star Trek movie).

4. Dawn

This one has some strong shades of the TNG episode Darmok, but I thought it was a well-done depiction of two people who were trying to shoot at each other and who can’t communicate coming to eventually trust one another.

3. Singularity

Because of some space anomaly or something, everyone on board Enterprise, save T’Pol (of course), becomes utterly obsessed with a single task they feel they must complete. T’Pol has to find the answer and save the day before everyone’s obsession gets even more carried away.

2. The Expanse

The season finale sets up for the upcoming Xindi arc for season three. They tried to pack a lot in this episode so it probably could have been done in two (or leave out the Klingons), but it was still a pretty good prelude for what’s to come.

1. Carbon Creek

At dinner one evening, T’Pol entertains Trip and Archer with a story about the first time Vulcans actually visited Earth, though Trip and Archer are skeptical of it. This episode does such a good job of getting us to connect with a Vulcan character we don’t even know and root for him when he decides that he wants to make a life for himself on Earth with people he has come to care for. Definitely the strongest of the season, in my opinion!

What are your favorite episodes of Enterprise season two?

My Top 5 Episodes of Enterprise Season One

February 17, 2018 • 0 Comments

I’ve got faith, of the heart… Oh, Enterprise theme song. How turn-of-the-century you are.

I was really excited about starting Enterprise again, because since my first watch of it, I’ve said it’s my second favorite Trek series (after DS9). I remembered not loving the pilot though, nor really most of the first season, but I thought: well, I know the characters now, it’ll be different.

Guys, the first season is still rough, even when you know it gets better. I can see why it might be hard for someone to get into. (Also, after watching the first few episodes of Discovery and being thoroughly unimpressed, I can better appreciate why people were super dubious of Enterprise when it debuted.) However, when looking for my top 5, I actually did have a hard time narrowing it down. While Enterprise did struggle with execution in their first season, they were definitely trying to tell good stories, and I can see it so many times in this first season.

So first, some honorable mentions: Silent Enemy, in which the B plot of Hoshi trying to discover Macolm’s favorite food outshines the main conflict (this was the first time I felt I connected with the characters when I watched the show the first time) and Shadows of P’Jem, in which we see the aftermath of the episode The Andorian Incident (also a decent episode). Now for my top 5…

5. Breaking the Ice

A lot of this episode is forgettable, but there are two things about it that really stand out to me. One is that it’s the first time we see T’pol trust Trip with something personal. She doesn’t do it willingly, as Trip reads a personal letter of hers that was encoded and flagged as suspicious, but we see this play out later on (including in another episode this season, Fusion, which I also considered for this list, but that Vulcan dude seriously gives me the heebie-jeebies). The second is Enterprise accepting the Vulcan ship’s help at the end of the episode. Archer really has a chip on his shoulder for the Vulcans holding them back from going out into space sooner, but here is a moment where he has to admit that they can’t do everything on their own. I think for a show that is about the beginnings of mankind’s deep space exploration, that is a very important moment.

4. Dear Doctor

So the doctor’s attitude at the end really kind of bothers me, which is why this is lower on the list rather than higher, but I am definitely a sucker for epistolary episodes. I like the insight it provides of the doctor’s life, ethics, and culture.

3. Acquisition

I can’t believe I’m putting a Ferengi episode at number three on my list. I can’t stand Ferengi episodes. But really, it’s fun to watch Trip first, then Archer, and then T’pol, outsmart the Ferengi (not hard to do) and get Enterprise back.

2. Shuttlepod One

I remember this one being a favorite for me during my first watch, but I have to admit that Trip and Malcolm both annoyed me in this one this time, plus they seem to jump to the conclusion that Enterprise was destroyed a little too quickly for me to really buy into it. But I chose this one as one of my favorites despite these things because it is good development for both Trip and Malcolm.

1. Detained

Captain Archer and Travis Mayweather are imprisoned alien race who believe they have purposely encroached their space. When the leader of the internment camp where they are staying at realizes the misunderstanding, he says they will be free to go on the next transport ship out, but as Archer gets to know the Suliban that are in the camp with them, he stages a revolt. This episode of course makes you think of internment camps in American history and how misguided they are.

What are your thoughts on Enterprise? Which episodes form season one stand out to you?

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