Star Trek: Enterprise – The Complete First Season (2001 – 2002/CBS/Paramount Blu-ray)
Picture: B- Sound: B Extras: B Episodes: B
We last reviewed this series in great depth back in 2005 when it was
released on DVD. The 2001 prequel Star Trek series takes place between
the events portrayed in Star Trek: First
Contact (when they go back in time) and those events of Star Trek: The Original Series. The year is 2151 and follows crew members of
The Enterprise (the first ship capable of Warp 5) as they explore the
galaxy. The series never struck a chord
with Star Trek fans, garnering less
than adequate ratings and eventually being canceled in its 4th
Season. The series premiered on UPN and
thankfully the network allowed creators to finish the fourth season off before
canceling the series for good.
The series was launched after the final season of Star Trek: Voyager and had a total of 98 episodes filmed. As somewhat alluded to previously the series
was canceled, rather than the creators going out on their own terms. This did allow the writers to wrap up
everything at the end of Season 4
(the best they could), but in the end it was a very weak ending and somewhat
violated what the series and others had established. The reason I mention this is to give fair
warning going into Enterprise that it doesn’t end nicely like the
other series. It is well worth watching
and I am unsure as to why fans did not like the series/why it got such horrible
ratings. Enterprise does a very good job of explaining some of the Star Trek mythos that has been ‘taken
for granted’ in the other series. The
crew members of The Enterprise
are pioneers (even more so then those of The
Original Series or TNG) and the
series has a very different feel than any of the others. The series relates more closely to what we
know scientifically today and the crew has a larger sense of wonderment and
awe.
For a more detailed account of the First Season please follow the link below:
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/2143/Star+Trek+Enterprise+-+The+Complete+First
The content hasn’t changed with this release and SADLY neither has the
technical features, or at least not much.
The picture is adequate but pales in comparison to TNG Blu-rays. The special
effects are the most notably odd feature.
Whereas it seems Paramount spent a ton of
time and money upgrading TNG special
effects, here with Enterprise we are left with less than stellar
early 2000’s special effects that are distractingly bad with aliasing to
boot. I never found the colors to pop or
the blacks very dark; overall having a ‘blah’/muted appearance. The sound is a DTS HD-Master Audio that
(again) doesn’t compare to TNG but
is an improvement over the picture quality.
Like the picture I do find the sound is a bit muted and lacks power, but
does get the job done and utilizes all speakers.
Most Extras were ported over from the DVD, but also includes some HD
exclusive extras as well. Extras
include:
·
Audio Commentaries
·
Creating Enterprise
·
Deleted Scenes
·
NX-01 File 01/02/03
·
Oh Captain! My Captain!: A Profile of Scott Bakula
·
Star Trek Time Travel: Temporal Cold Wars and Beyond
·
Admiral Forest Takes
Center Stage
·
Inside Shuttle Pod One
·
Enterprise Outtakes
·
Celebrating Star Trek
·
Audio Commentary (New)
·
Cast Introduction
·
Network Presentation
·
Syndication Presentation
·
On the Set
·
To Boldly Go: Launching Enterprise
A good series that should have been given more than 4 seasons to get
its footing, as in Season 4 it was
finally hitting the mark.
- Michael P. Dougherty II
