Inside Pulse DVD Review – Enterprise – Season Four

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credit: amazon.com

Cast:
Scott Bakula….Captain Jonathan Archer
Jolene Blalock….Commander T’Pol
John Billingsley….Dr. Phlox
Dominic Keating….Lieutenant Malcolm Reed
Anthony Montgomery….Ensign Travis Mayweather
Linda Park….Ensign Hoshi Sato
Connor Trinneer….Commander Charles ‘Trip’ Tucker III

The Show

It’s a shame when a shot gets cancelled just as it finally starts to peak. That was just the case with Enterprise. The first couple of seasons were mostly hit and miss but just as UPN, and many fans, started to give up on the show is when it finally found its groove. Sadly it was too little too late to save the series.

Most of season four centered around two or three episode arcs. When it aired originally I was not a huge fan of this concept; for one because of the fact UPN stuck in on Friday nights and aired the show irregularly I often missed episodes. When I started watching the DVDs the season seems so much better because you can watch a story arc all at once in one seating. It truly adds to the enjoyment not having to figure out when the show is on, where its on and worrying you missed something from last week.

The first story arc, ‘Storm Front’, wrapped up the strange cliff-hanger from season three that saw Archer end up in a Nazi POW hospital. I was not a fan of how season three ended, it annoyed me greatly actually, but the two episodes used to explain it were fairly well done. The guest appearance by The Soprano’s Bobby Bacala (Steve Schirripa) as a 1940s gangster was awesome.

The three-episode “Augments” story arc may have been the most enjoyable. It brought back the beloved Brent Spiner who played Dr. Soong. Following that was a three-episode arc that took place mostly on the planet Vulcan, a planet that had never really been explored by any Star Trek series or movie before. At times I found these episodes a bit slow but it was cool to see Vulcan and hear more about Vulcans, the original human allies that have seemingly been ignored or given bit parts since the original Star Trek.

A couple of decent one story episodes followed, “Observer Effect” was an interesting one that had very TNG vibe to it. The next three-episode arc brought back the loveable Romulans and some Remans to boot as they tried to create chaos and war between the Andorians and the Tellarites with Archer saving the day. The visit to the home planet of the Andorians was very cool to see. Plus everyone loves to see the Romulans up to no good.

While the Romulans may be fun to watch the Klingons will still be everyone’s favourite and the next two-story episode arc finally solve the whole messed up appearance of Klingons in the original Star Trek series and a comment made by Worf in an episode of DS9. Besides the fact a little thing Reed’s connection to Section 31 is unveiled.

The two mirror episodes were pretty fun to watch. The beginning with Zephram Cochrane shooting the Vulcans who made first contact was amusing to see but the best was how they sexed up Ensign Sato, aka Empress Sato.

The final three-episode arc was intended to wrap things up and establish the formation of the Federation. While many were upset at the final episode, it was a bit sketch with Troi and Riker on a holodeck re-enacting it, I was one of the few that was not against Trip’s death. He died a hero saving his best friend, not a bad way to go for a man of his character.

Overall as I said this season holds up very well on DVD.

Score

8.5

The DVD

Video

The video was of high quality, I had no problems or complaints.

Audio

I had no problems with the audio. Admittedly I do not have the best system to properly test the audio range of the DVD though. It has Dolby Digital 5.1 and Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround.

Special Features

A great deal of the special features centered around how the show was ending and how it was the first time since the 80s a Star Trek series would not be on the air. For hardcore Trekies they will enjoy the little documentaries and cast interviews. I think the “Inside the ‘Mirror’ Episodes” segment could have been done a lot better. I wish they had talked more about the ‘Mirror’ world and brought more of what happened on other series into that discussion. Several episodes had audio or text commentary. I don’t really care of for this on any DVD but for those that do they were done well enough.

Score

7