Star Trek Enterprise. It’s a series that a lot of trekkies (which I am not) seem to either love or hate. It wasn’t a successful series from a financial standpoint and was canceled after just four seasons. Like every Star Trek series, it had its highs and lows, but the circumstances just weren’t right for this series to continue. I’ve seen rumors of the series possible being revitalized, and in one of the new features on this season two set, all of the original actors are on board with the idea. It would be cool to see, but all that aside, let’s take a closer look at this latest Star Trek blu-ray release from CBS/Paramount.
So, full disclosure — I hadn’t seen Star Trek Enterprise in any capacity before receiving season two for review. I didn’t watch the series while it was on UPN in the early 2000s, and I didn’t check out the first season on blu-ray. So I was going into season two without knowing much at all about the series, but I was eager to dive in and work it out from there. Well, as is typical with a Star Trek season, the opening episode is the conclusion of a cliffhanger. In “Shockwave Part 2,” we see Captain Archer (Bakula) and Crewman Daniels in the distant future. War and destruction had triumphed; Archer must figure out a way to get back to his normal time and set things right. The second episode is considered by many to be one of the very best. In “Carbon Creek,” T’pol tells the story of how it was her ancestors that were the first Vulcans to interact with humans, not the incident in Montana that is on record as having been the first. It’s a sort of surreal episode whereby this small group of Vulcans, who crashed landed while on a mission above Earth, find themselves stuck in this small Pennsylvanian town. As with some episodes of Data in TNG posing as a human, I found this episode disagreeable. The premise is viable, but the execution is too silly and campy to be great.
Twenty-four other episodes spread across another five discs complete the second season. Some of my favorites include “Vanishing Point,” “Future Tense, and “Dead Stop,” in which a large AI repair station has darker, self-serving ulterior motives. There are some dud episodes too; for me, those included “Singularity,” “Precious Cargo,” and even “Carbon Creek.” In many regards, Enterprise S02 is not much worse than any other Star Trek season from another series. It wouldn’t rank amongst the best seasons, but it has enough entertaining material to enjoy more than once over.
I’ll leave the discussion about the synopsis and merits of each episode for the numerous other discussions online that have already taken place in the years since these episodes first aired, though. Instead, I’ll focus on specifics of this blu-ray set. My first impression of this set was similar to every other Star Trek blu-ray I have had my hands on over the years — it exudes quality. The packaging is typical, but sturdy and eye-catching. The inside cover of the artwork lists the contents of each disc. The discs themselves are securely held in place in book-like pages, yet they’re easily popped in and out of their container. The art on the disc and all menus follow a consistent, functional theme. The disc menus are nicely done, including the succinct, yet attractive and very functional pop-up menus.
I thought the general image quality of the episodes was excellent, but I’m not a videophile, mind you. In reading around the web as a reality check, I discovered that this season, while utilizing enhanced filming tech over the first season, was not shot in even 720p. So this is upscaled material, but I really didn’t see anything that irked me — it’s a great looking set, special effects/CGI included. The most demanding ST fans will find (undoubtedly) something to balk at, but I was impressed. The 5.1 DTS-HD audio was sufficient for my viewing experience, too. It’s not the full-on 7.1 treatment that TNG or I think even TOS got, but, honestly? It sounded great to me. German and Italian dubs in 5.1 as well as several languages in stereo are included, as well as subtitle support for eleven languages.
Season 2 is pretty strong and the presentation quality of this blu-ray set is also strong. The x-factor is the special features, and CBS/Paramount really did a stellar job of taking what was already released on DVD and throwing in quite a bit more. A plethora of audio commentaries, some new, as well as deleted scenes and multiple featurettes as well as two new ‘big time’ features are included. Here’s what to expect:
Disc 1:
-New audio commentary track for “Carbon Creek” with Chris Black and Mike & Denise Okuda.
-Audio commentary for “Dead Stop” with Michael Sussman and Phyllis Strong.
-Deleted Scene for episode “Minefield,” in SD.
-New feature: “In Conversation: The First Crew” runs just over an hour and a half. It’s an excellent discussion between Exec Producer Brannon Braga and the full cast. You’ll laugh, and possibly cry, depending on how invested you are in the show.
-Season 2 Promo (SD).
-Archival Mission Logs: “Enterprise Moments: Season Two” and “Enterprise Profile: Jolene Blalock” (T’pol) are both in SD. Combined they run about thirty-five minutes.
Disc 2:
-Deleted Scenes for “A Night In Sickbay,” that run a bit under five minutes (SD).
-Archival Mission Log: “A Night In Sickbay,” focuses on the making of this episode (SD).
Disc 3:
-Deleted Scenes in SD for “Dawn” and “Stigma.”
-Text Commentary by Mike & Denise Okuda for “Stigma.”
-Archival Interviews for “Stigma.”
-Archival Mission Log: Photo Gallery of a few dozen still images taken behind the scenes/on set.
Disc 4:
-Deleted Scene from “Cease Fire” in SD running just a minute.
-Archival Mission Logs that zone in on the shooting of “Future Tense” and “Enterprise Secrets.” Both are in SD with the latter totaling only five minutes and the former just over fifteen.
Disc 5:
-Two new audio commentary tracks. The first is for “Regeneration” and features John Billingsley and Bonita Friedericy. The second features Chris Black and Mike & Denise Okuda analyzing “First Flight.”
-Michael Sussman and Phyllis Strong provide audio commentary for “Regeneration.”
-Mike & Denise Okuda provide text commentary for “First Flight.”
-Archival Mission Logs: “Levar Burton – Star Trek Director,” runs just seven minutes but does include the TNG actor discussing his Star Trek directorial debut with “First Flight.” The other Mission Log is “Enterprise Outtakes,” also in SD, gives viewers over ten minutes of bloopers — just try and hold a straight face.
Disc 6:
-A three-part, ninety minute feature in HD called “Uncharted Territory,” featuring Brannon Braga. It’s a lengthy, but focused discussion on season two, aspects good and bad.
-Deleted Scenes for “The Expanse” in SD.
-Archival Mission Logs: Three more of these totaling about six minutes in which cast members discuss celebrity visitors to the Enterprise set.
Clearly, the two new 90 minute HD features take the cake as far as the extra features go, but the additional audio commentaries are sure to be appreciated by hardcore fans. It’s great to see that CBS/Paramount did more than just take the features from the DVD release and plop them onto Blu-ray. While no original extra features were touched-up for this release, it’s really the new ones that give even owners of the DVD set a significant reason to upgrade. With that, let’s get to the summary…
