Nov 17 | Originally hired as co-executive producer to help with the second half of the show's first season, Kevin Murphy has now taken the reins of Caprica, the Battlestar Galactica prequel on Syfy, according to The Hollywood Reporter. He now serves as an executive producer along with Ronald D. Moore, David Eick and Jane Espenson and oversees the day-to-day functions of the show.
Nov 12 | Star Trek star Zachary Quinto is loosely attached to star in the romantic dramedy Whirligig, reports Risky Business.Quinto would play the lead role in the independent Canadian film, which is aiming to shoot early next year. The movie centers on a man who, in a misguided attempt to woo an older woman, befriends the woman's adopted son.Chaz Thorne is directing the pic, based on a screenplay by Michael Amo, creator of the Canadian supernatural series "The Listener."
Nov 11 | The CNS Foundation, is hosting an on-line charity auction at www.charitybuzz.com. One of the items they are auctioning is a signed movie poster of the new Star Trek movie which has all the cast members and writers. The president of our organization is Carol Abrams, JJ's mother, and she arranged for the donation from Bad Robot Production Company. J.J. Abrams is also a major donor to their organization. The funds raised will go to help find a cure to neurological disorders in children. The auction link is here.
Nov 10 | Candice Bergen, Charles Lisanby, Don Pardo, Gene Roddenberry, Tom and Dick Smothers and Bob Stewart have been selected as the next inductees into the Television Academy's Hall of Fame. They will be honored at a Jan. 20 ceremony at the Beverly Hills Hotel. "This year's inductees have challenged and shaped popular culture, changed television for the better and entertained us royally while doing so," TV Academy Chairman-CEO John Shaffner said. More info at the Hollywood Reporter
Nov 08 | Unreality-SF.net has interviewed Star Trerk author James Swallow about some of his upcoming projects. He talks about Titan: Synthesis and Seven Deadly Sins: The Slow Knife, as well as some forthcoming Doctor Who and Stargate stories.
All 22 episodes of the final season of ENTERPRISE are presented in their original anamorphic widescreen format and look absolutely crisp, even better than what I recall seeing on UPN! The fact that for this final season they switched from traditional film cameras to digital cameras only helps the overall look and quality of the production, so there is no film grain at all. Everything looks just as crisp as the day the episodes first aired on UPN, and all of the episodes are spread out over six discs, with four episodes per disc and the final two episodes and special features on Disc 6.
As with all other sets, the final season of ENTERPRISE is presented in English Dolby Digital 5.1 and 2.0 Surround sound, with your choice of English subtitles or closed captions. With the improvement in picture quality in this final set, why settle for a 2.0 track? It would only be sweeter if a 6.1 DTS track had been included.
I've got to stop here and give kudos to Paramount's DVD mastering team for a rock-solid job well done in every TREK DVD set to date, something I've not done thus far. With exceptional 5.1 digital tracks, you've made every set sound even better than I remember, and the visual quality has dramatically increased over the years. Take a bow, gentlemen, you've done a beautiful job!
Packaging and Menus:
The final season of ENTERPRISE comes packaged in the same dark blue bookcase-style packaging that was used for the previous three releases, once again with a plastic slipcover for the discs themselves (the only difference is the Season 4 marking on the spine) and the module-style exterior storage case. Also included is a 12-page booklet with episode and season preview synopses, and a look into the 'future' of the Original Series. In addition, you get a rebate coupon to apply on the purchase of the final two sets of ENTERPRISE or the complete series.
The DVD's animated menu schematics are essentially the same as those featured on the previous three sets; only this time the opening animation features a Vulcan theme.
The Extras:
For the final ENTERPRISE DVD set, Paramount has packed in a fair amount of extras that come out to about five hours in length. You'd have thought that with this being the final STAR TREK season set for some time to come, barring any re-releases that may come down the road in Blu-Ray format, they could have packed it out even more. Oh well, at least the quality of the episodes themselves (minus 'These are the Voyages') outweighs the quantity of extras this time around.
The set contains three optional audio commentaries, featuring StarTrek.com editorial director Tim Gaskill talking with Mike Sussman on 'In a Mirror, Darkly, Parts 1 and 2' and with Judith and Garfield-Reeves Stevens on 'Terra Prime'. These are the same podcast audio commentaries that were featured earlier this year on StarTrek.com, although slightly edited for the DVD release (the original commentaries are still available online for your listening pleasure, including the original expanded audio commentary for 'In a Mirror, Darkly, Part 2'). They're quite informative, as Sussman and the Reeves-Stevenses offer their thoughts on the creations of their episodes and tying them in with elements from the Original Series. We've been promised more exclusive podcast audio commentaries on StarTrek.com down the road, and if they're as good as these first three offerings, I'm sure we'll all want to check them out.
In addition, resident TREK historians Michael and Denise Okuda provide optional text commentary for two episodes, 'The Forge' and 'These are the Voyages'). Once again, they delve into TREK lore for fun and interesting tidbits that connect the dots through the series, which is sure to please the hardcore and casual fans.
There are only three deleted scenes this time around, and that's a real shame. Deleted moments from 'Storm Front, Part II', 'In a Mirror, Darkly, Part II', and 'The Aenar' are included on this set, the first two as extended moments cut from the final broadcasts (they are included along with the black and white portions used in the final episodes). It's a shame when, after the generous amount given in the first two sets, we only get three cut scenes this time around.
Disc 6 carries the bulk of supplements for this final set. ENTERPRISE MOMENTS: SEASON FOUR (16:23) takes a look at the highlights of the fourth and final season. Bakula, Trinneer, Billingsley, and Coto discuss the direction the fourth season took, including bringing the series' mini arcs together with TREK continuity. References to Brent Spiner's and Peter Weller's guest appearances are also mentioned, and Coto surprisingly gives credit to Berman and Braga for their great work on the final episode (surprising since the fans embraced Coto's work to begin with). Unfortunately, there's no discussion about the events that led to the series' cancellation, and that's something I really wanted to look forward to hearing about.
We also have INSIDE THE MIRROR EPISODES (15:41), which delves specifically into the making of the two-part 'In a Mirror, Darkly'. Sussman and Coto really go in depth into what the cast and production crew brought out in these two episodes, observing how Linda Park really got into her part as the mirror counterpart of Hoshi, and how the recreated Enterprise bridge kept growing and growing over the years and various series. As Sussman boldly puts it, Park put the 'ho' into Hoshi this time around.
LINKS TO THE LEGACY (4:25) features a brief discussion with Judith and Garfield-Reeves Stevens, as they discuss some of the elements that tie ENTERPRISE in with the Original Series and the entire STAR TREK saga. The Reeves-Stevenses discuss the tie-ins with the Vulcan sehlat, Section 31, the Andorian home world, IDIC, and the Klingon ridge issue. This all-too-brief feature could have been further expanded with many more fascinating discussions of tying the saga together.
VISUAL EFFECTS MAGIC (13:25) presents an insightful look into the creation of many of the spectacular special effects seen in Season 4. Dan Curry hosts this look at how the effects were created for 'Storm Front', including a pre-viz shot of the Enterprise over New York City and a scene deconstruction of Hitler in New York City. We also get a look at the design of the Xindi and the Tholians as well. It's all too quick by the time it's over, and I wanted to see more detailed looks into the visual effects creation.
The final installment of ENTERPRISE SECRETS (5:52) focuses on the last day of shooting and the many visitors and staff members who have blink-and-you'll-miss-them cameos in 'These are the Voyages'. If you look at the scene very carefully, you'll spot Coto, the Reeves-Stevenses, Bormanis, and other Paramount and TREK crew in the final scenes of the episode.
THAT'S A WRAP (8:59) provides an extremely rare look into one aspect of television production very rarely seen by the public at large: the final wrap party. Most of the cast members, along with Rick Berman, Brannon Braga, frequent guest star Jeffrey Combs (Shran), and director LeVar Burton (who helmed a number of the series' episodes) are present as they speak with the media and with one another about their thoughts on finishing this fifth STAR TREK series. Missing obviously from the cast wrap party are Connor Trinneer and Jolene Blalock.
There's also a very brief collection of outtakes (2:16) included in this final set. Among the more amusing moments included are some running gags between Bakula and Combs over an Andorian antenna; missed and flubbed lines from the cast; a Vulcan elder and a certain item you CITIZEN KANE fans will pick up on; funny moments with Blalock, Park, and Trinneer; and a hoot of a practical joke from John Billingsley. I wish there could have been more of these priceless gags on this set.
We are also given a still gallery of 60 photos, many of them from the final episodes and from Brent Spiner's three-episode arc (set phasers to dull), and we also have the umpteenth presentation of the BORG INVASION 4-D trailer on the set. As predictable as these two features are, you can easily dismiss them, because there's nothing interesting with either of them.
There's only one hidden Easter egg in this final set, and it's the tenth and final NX-01 FILE for this series. It's quite an interesting clip (4:42) of the fans from SaveEnterprise.com protesting the series' cancellation at the Paramount studios in February 2005, with Scott Bakula and Connor Trinneer offering their thoughts and giving praise to the fans for their dedication to the series.
In addition, at the start of Disc 1 are preview trailers for ENTERPRISE and the entire STAR TREK saga on DVD, as well as the first four seasons of MACGYVER and the first season of THE 4400. While I don't mind the ENTERPRISE trailer, it's a little too late to finally start advertising the series on DVD, wouldn't you think? For that matter, I could have easily done without the MACGYVER and 4400 trailers on the disc, not to mention the concept of forced trailers on DVD to begin with.
As with past sets, Paramount has included yet another bonus disc (and for some, thankfully, the last) for Best Buy, Suncoast, and Sam Goody customers for this final season. The bonus disc includes two extra segments on it, ENTERPRISE GOES TO THE DOGS (a look at the different dogs used as Archer's dog Porthos on the series) and WESTMORE'S ALIENS: CREATING DR. PHLOX AND BEYOND, a look at how makeup artist Michael Westmore created the complex makeup for Phlox. A copy of this bonus disc was not available for review at press time.
Caveats and Concerns:
Perhaps the most surprising thing about this final ENTERPRISE set is the shorter amount of supplemental material this time around. Where in previous sets everything seemed much more generous, this time it's a lot shorter. Only three deleted scenes? Two minutes of bloopers? Brief features that gloss over the truth of the series' demise? And no commentaries from Blalock, Park, Keating, or Montgomery in the featurettes? There's quite a bit missing this time around to bring the series to a more adequate closure.
In addition, the series' episode spots and behind-the-scenes segments are missing, per usual. There's a great segment involving Paul 'Big Show' Wight that aired on WWE SMACKDOWN that took viewers and fans behind the filming of 'Borderland'; it's a brief but fun segment that once again gave viewers an inside look into the series' production.
Furthermore, forced trailers and the Best Buy bonus discs I can do without completely. With the much smaller amount of bonus material this time around, you could have included those two segments from the Best Buy disc, thrown in the episode spots and the 'Borderland' segment, added in some more audio commentaries, deleted scenes and bloopers (if any others exist, which I'm sure they probably do), and deleted the photo gallery and BORG INVASION trailer, and given fans a more well-rounded DVD product. For that matter, Paramount could have lowered the price on the DVD set, as fans have grown tired of the exorbitant price tags for the STAR TREK DVD sets over the past four years.
All of this is buoyed by the uncomfortable fact that this is the last STAR TREK offering on DVD for some time to come, barring any future re-releases on Blu-Ray, the release of the Animated Series, or any themed DVD releases (which StarTrek.com surveyed fans a few months back to get their opinion on). Even more uncomfortable is the fact that a great season like Season 4, not to mention the entire series, had to end on such an ugly note with 'These are the Voyages'. Let's be honest, fans can read through Berman and Braga's nonsense, and fans deserve to know the truth from them for once.
Final Thoughts:
So ends the great modern era of STAR TREK as we know it. Over the course of 25 seasons and four spin-off films produced over the past 18 years, we've had as many bumps and bruises as we have had good stories, as many clunkers as classics. ENTERPRISE is no exception. Whether time, future criticism, and discussion will be kind to these 98 episodes or not remains to be seen. All we know is that whoever steps in to oversee the next great phase of STAR TREK should look back at the mistakes made on ENTERPRISE and not duplicate them, if they want that series to succeed and re-energize the franchise and the fan base.
Rating:
Program: 4
Audio/Video/Extras: 5/5/3
Final Rating: 4/5 stars
No you're not the only one. I liked it too, and the poll here on Trekweb will also tell you that many people loved it. Some can not stand to think about this, but that's just the way life goes...
I liked the episode though I do think that it could have been so much better. I'm not very picky when it comes to episodes. I pretty much like them all. In fact, I've been rewatching Season 1 on DVD and I really don't understand why people don't like Enterprise. It's an awesome show!
Enterprise is much better when watched on DVD one episode after another. It's more akin to reading a novel. However, watching it weekly with a large break of re-runs mid-season just didn't work as well for me because it just couldn't seem to keep my attention.
I don't quite agree with the bashing of the series finale. Some of it worked; some of it didn't. I really didn't like that Trip and T'Pol come together in the final season and then we find out that they broke up years before, but maybe they're having second thoughts about that. Why not put them together? Trip dies sacrificing himself for Archer. I've got no problem with that. Totally in character. It wasn't as stupid or pointless death. I didn't like that no one seemed to react to it, though.
I didn't like that no one got promoted or got their own ship in all those years.
I didn't mind Riker and Troi looking back at the "history" through the holodeck. It makes room for later writers to say that some of the history was wrong (and the program was in error). For instance, Trip could have survived, but been recorded as dead. It could've been a ruse to help Shran out of his difficulties somehow or something.
Why cut off Archer's speech?!?!? Because it was good enough to cement the Federation!!! Because it's an "I have a dream" level speech. It's better left to the imagination, isnt' it????
What I didn't like was that it was a Pegasus tie-in. I'd rather it be a Titan tie-in. That aside, tying it in to Pegasus didn't make sense. I don't know when Riker had time to be in the holodeck. And in Pegaus, he expressly states that he hoped he DIDN'T have to decide which captain to betray, but when they found the ship he HAD to choose---right there in Pegasus's engine room. And he told Picard when they beamed back. Riker DID NOT tell Picard about the cloaking device PRIOR to that---so Archer didn't lead him to his revelation. If Archer DID lead him to his revelation, he chickened out and decided not to tell Picard until after they actually found the Pegasus---which makes Riker seem silly. It's like they didn't bother to go back and watch "Pegasus."
Why cut off Archer's speech?!?!? Because it was good enough to cement the Federation!!! Because it's an "I have a dream" level speech. It's better left to the imagination, isnt' it????
Exactly. Plus what a lot of people forget is the fact that TATV aired immediately after Terra Prime in which Archer gave a climactic speech, easily the best speech he gave during the course of the series. To have the finale episode end the same was is clumsy from a storytelling perspective.
The error, perhaps, was in having Archer give a speech at all in Terra Prime.
I too cannot fathom why people hate this episode so much. I really disagree with the reviewer that it was a middle finger. Leaving the series with a Nazi alien cliffhanger would have been a middle finger. Ending the series with Trip crying on T'Pol's shoulder would have been a middle finger, too, come to think of it.
Enterprise ended exactly the same way Babylon 5 ended - with a concluding episode and then a coda that looked into the future. It worked with B5 and IMO it worked with Enterprise. I for one am glad the DVD releases are done so that people can stop parroting the same complaints over and over again and start realizing what a great show it was that they pissed on for four years, and it's the type of show we'll probably never see again.
Star Trek will be back, but as anyone who has paid attention will tell you, it won't be our Star Trek. It'll be a clone of BSG, of Firefly, of Farscape. It'll be a post-911 creation that depicts the ironic, rather spiteful culture that has emerged in the last 4 years. Gene Roddenberry's creation of a "goodness and light" science fiction concept ended with TATV.
Ending the series with Trip crying on T'pol's should a middle finger? Alot of people would disagree with you on that. TATV was the real middle finger if you ask me.
To me, truth is not some vague, foggy notion. Truth is real. And, at the same time, unreal. Fiction and fact and everything in between, plus some things I can't remember, all rolled into one big 'thing.' This is truth, to me.
| 
