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Star Trek: Enterprise: The Complete Series
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Additional DVD options | Edition | Discs | Price | New from | Used from |
DVD
January 10, 2017 "Please retry" | — | 27 | $73.99 | $48.09 |
Purchase options and add-ons
Format | Multiple Formats, Closed-captioned, Closed-captioned, Closed-captioned, Closed-captioned, Closed-captioned, NTSC See more |
Contributor | Scott Bakula, Dominic Keating, Linda Park, Jim Charleston, Connor Trinneer, David Straiton, Anthony Montgomery, James A. Contner, Jolene Blalock, Brad Greenquist, Gregg Henry, James Whitmore Jr., Mark Correy, David Livingston, Allan Kroeker, John Billingsley, Tracey A. Kimball, James L. Conway, Roxann Dawson, David Barrett, Annie Wersching See more |
Language | English |
Number Of Discs | 27 |
Runtime | 70 hours and 23 minutes |
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Product Description
Product Description
Set in the 22nd century, a hundred years before James T. Kirk helmed the famous starship of the same name, Enterprise takes place in an era when interstellar travel is still in its infancy. Captain Jonathan Archer (Scott Bakula) has assembled a crew of brave explorers to chart the galaxy on a revolutionary spacecraft: Enterprise NX-01. As the first human beings to venture into deep space, these pioneers will experience the wonder and mystery of the final frontier as they seek out new life and new civilizations.
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Season One
Under intense scrutiny, the debut season of Enterprise earned a passing grade from critics and Star Trek fans alike. Voyager ended its seven-season run just four months earlier, and fans were skeptical when Enterprise premiered (on Sept. 26, 2001, on UPN) with a theme song ("Where My Heart Will Take Me," composed by Diane Warren and performed by Russell Watson) that defied Trek's revered theme-music tradition. This and other early reservations were dispelled when "Broken Bow" got the series off to a satisfying start, beginning in the year 2151 and establishing a pre-Federation focus on humanity's delicate relationship with the Vulcans, the controversial launch of the NX-01 Enterprise on an exploratory mission, and the potentially devastating consequences of the mysterious Temporal Cold War involving a time-traveling splinter group of the Suliban, a nomadic alien race. While establishing a testy relationship between Enterprise Capt. Jonathan Archer (Scott Bakula) and his smart-and-sexy Vulcan Sub-Commander, T'Pol (Jolene Blalock, in a short-banged wig and form-fitting "catsuit" that were later redesigned), the series introduced engineer "Trip" Tucker (Connor Trineer), whose surprise development in "Unexpected" made him a fan favorite; communications officer Hoshi Sato (Linda Park); helmsman Travis Mayweather (Anthony Montgomery); weapons expert Lt. Malcolm Reed (Dominic Keating), and chief surgeon Dr. Phlox (John Billingsley), a well-mannered Denobulan recruit from Earth's Interspecies Medical Exchange.
As a "prequel' series that predates the original Star Trek by 150 years, Enterprise built upon established Trek lore with episodes involving Vulcans ("Breaking the Ice"), Klingons ("Sleeping Dogs"), the blue-skinned Andorians ("The Andorian Incident," "Shadows of P'Jem"), and the Ferengi ("Acquisition") while offering stand-alone episodes (notably "Dear Doctor," "Fortunate Son," and "Shuttlepod One") that further acquainted fans with the Enterprise regulars. Early Trek technology is also introduced (including "phase pistols" and the rarely used, still-risky transporter), and the series drew strength from what many felt would be its primary weakness: unwritten history and the initial indecisiveness of Archer's bold foray into the unknown. Ending with a dazzling "Shock Wave" cliffhanger that leaves Archer stranded in a decimated Temporal Cold War future, Enterprise set a strong foundation for the events of season 2.
The bonus features included on the Enterprise: Season One DVDs are almost worth the price of the set, if only to see nearly nine minutes of hilarious outtakes, maintaining a beloved tradition of Star Trek bloopers. The sight (and sound) of Jolene Blalock laughing out of character is pure gold, and it shouldn't surprise anyone that Blalock is just as smart as she is sexy, as proven by her astute observations (along with the rest of the Enterprise cast) in the "Cast Impressions" featurette. It's the usual complimentary fluff included with all Trek sets, but it's obviously sincere, confirming fans' conviction that Enterprise should have lasted beyond four seasons with this close-knit ensemble. Series creators Brannon Braga and Rick Berman deliver a typically dry commentary on "Broken Bow," setting the record straight on debate over the show's "not retro enough" production design (as Braga notes, "you can never please everyone") while defining their concept of "The Right Stuff of Star Trek." As always, Mike Okuda's text commentaries offer a wealth of Trek trivia and detail from Trek's historical canon.
Fans will love the "Enterprise Secrets" revealing low-tech solutions to lighting the warp core and dispensing "replicator" beverages, along with an entertaining profile of Vaughan "Admiral Forrest" Armstrong, who holds the record for Trek guest appearances. The other featurettes are perfunctory, but "Creating Enterprise" provides valuable first-season perspective, and the "Time Travel" feature offers a handy reference for the many time-travel episodes from every Trek series. As usual, Easter eggs (three of them, titled "NX-01 Files") are hidden on the special-features menu, offering short interview clips culled from the primary featurettes. The deleted scenes demonstrate how non-essential material can be sacrificed, and because they don't include post-production sound or visual effects, fans can see and hear the actual soundstage atmosphere of Enterprise's principal photography. --Jeff Shannon
Season Two
With Captain Jonathan Archer (Scott Bakula) trapped in the 31st century, season 2 of Enterprise opens with a rousing resolution to season 1's cliffhanger finale. The first four episodes instantly became fan favorites: "Shockwave, Part II" advances the Suliban's role in the Temporal Cold War; "Carbon Creek" reveals the real first contact (albeit a secret one) between humans and Vulcans in Pennsylvania in 1957, allowing Jolene Blalock to play T'Pol's "second foremother" in a Sputnik-era scenario; in "Minefield," Reed (Dominick Keating) is nearly killed by an explosive device attached to Enterprise's hull; the damage is repaired in "Dead Stop," featuring award-winning digital modeling effects as the disabled Enterprise encounters a mysterious automated space station. Season 2 also emphasizes Archer's ongoing friction with the Vulcan High Command, exacerbated when T'Pol's career is threatened (in "Stigma") by her involuntary involvement with ostracized mind-melders. Connections to the original Star Trek (series and films) continue with episodes involving Tellarites, Tholians, Klingons, Andorians, and even a brief appearance by a Tribble (one of many occasions for humor in Dr. Phlox's sickbay, the setting of many of the season's finest dialogue-driven scenes). Early warp-drive history is also explored in "First Flight," a Right Stuff-like episode guest-starring Keith Carradine as Archer's friend and rival in breaking the Warp 2 barrier.
Consisting primarily of stand-alone episodes that integrate ongoing story arcs, season 2 showcases the primary cast with generally good results: Mayweather (Anthony Montgomery) visits the "boomer" cargo ship he was raised on in "Horizon"; Hoshi (Linda Park) experiences unsettling transporter symptoms in "Vanishing Point"; and Tucker (Connor Trineer) plays a pivotal role in several episodes, notably "Dawn," "Precious Cargo" and "Cogenitor." And while "Regeneration" provoked controversy among fans for introducing the yet unnamed Borg in an early Starfleet context, it's a fine episode (with echoes of The Thing) that holds up to scrutiny, while others (including "The Crossing," "The Breach" and "Cogenitor") feel somewhat recycled, indicating the challenge of finding new ideas in the Star Trek canon. Overall, however, season 2 is consistently strong, with several episodes directed by cast alumni from previous Trek series, including NextGen's LeVar Burton, and Voyager's Roxanne Dawson and Robert Duncan McNeill. They all lead up to a devastating attack on Earth (with seven million casualties, including Trip's younger sister) in "The Expanse," ending the season with high-stakes mystery as Enterprise enters a treacherous region of space in search of the Xindi, an enemy race that factors heavily in season 3.
Abundant bonus features include a generous selection of deleted scenes (non-essential, but interesting to fans); audio commentary (on "Dead Stop" and "Regeneration") by writers Mike Sussman and Phyllis Strong, who explain the challenge of writing under constantly shifting production conditions; and text commentary (on "Stigma" and "First Flight"), in which Trek veterans Michael and Denise Okuda demonstrate their encyclopedic knowledge of Star Trek fact and fiction. Six Easter eggs, known as "NX-01 Files," are hidden on the Special Features menus; they offer brief glimpses into specific aspects of production, including set recycling and art direction. "Enterprise" secrets are revealed for those who pay meticulous attention to detail; "Inside 'A Night in Sickbay'" offers a behind-the-scenes assessment of that memorable episode; and "LeVar Burton: Star Trek Director" celebrates the actor's smooth transition to directing after his stint on Next Generation. "Enterprise Profile: Jolene Blalock" is a tribute to the sexy actress by her fellow cast members and executive producers Brannon Braga and Rick Berman, including Blalock's assessment of T'Pol's pivotal role as Enterprise's resident Vulcan. Best of all, however, are the hilarious outtakes: They show the cast as a family unit, combining hard work with humor as the second season progresses. --Jeff Shannon
Season Three
Described by series cocreator Brannon Braga as "a single episode that lasts 24 hours," the third season of Star Trek: Enterprise is arguably the best in the show's four-season run. With the epic "Xindi saga" as the season's primary story arc, the series found its tonal focus in the unpredictable space of the Delphic Expanse, where alien encounters and matter-warping spatial anomalies forced Capt. Archer (Scott Bakula) to make extreme decisions that tested his ethical boundaries. Realizing the need for a fresh viewpoint, Braga and cocreator Rick Berman hired Manny Coto, a TV veteran who conceived or wrote several of the season's finest episodes (not forgetting Mike Sussman and other members of the series' first-rate writing staff). Coto's involvement was instrumental in shaping the Xindi saga, which began (with season 2's cliffhanger) when Earth was attacked by a Xindi probe--a massive weapon which Archer must now destroy. This vital mission dominates season 3, deriving its potent drama from an impressive variety of characters and subplots focused on the five-species Xindi council, which finds its voice of reason in Primate member Degra (season regular Randy Oglesby) and rancor in the Reptilian Commander (Scott MacDonald), pivotal characters whose fates will be tragically intertwined.
Despite lower ratings and budgetary cutbacks (as evident in several ship-bound episodes with minimal casting), season 3 was equally strong as a showcase for the Enterprise regulars, with plenty of fan speculation rising from the sexy and soothing Vulcan "neuro-pressure" sessions between the insomniac Tucker (Connor Trinneer, better than ever) and T'Pol, whose hidden addiction to a toxic compound allows Jolene Blalock to mine the volatile depths of her character (who now sports a more appealing hairstyle and wardrobe). Meanwhile, security chief Reed (Dominick Keating) engages in heated competition with Major Hayes (reliable guest Steven Culp, from the first season of Desperate Housewives), the leader of NX-01's Military Assault Command Operation (or MACO), which Reed views with territorial suspicion. And while Enterprise still fumbled to develop the characters of Hoshi (Linda Park) and Travis (Anthony Montgomery), John Billingsley continued to bring clutch-player excellence to his role as Dr. Phlox in several highlight episodes including "Doctor's Orders" and "Similitude," the latter featuring equally strong work by Trinneer in an ethically complex (and fan-favorite) examination of the cloning--a typical example of Star Trek at its best.
The alternate timeline of "Twilight" also honors the classic Trek tradition, while "Harbinger" reveals the existence of the trans-dimensional Sphere Builders, whose moon-sized creations affect Enterprise throughout its season-long mission. Finally, the crucial appearances of blue-skinned Andorian Shran (Jeffrey Combs) bring both suspense and comic relief to the season's grim proceedings, adding depth and tentative alliance to Enterprise's pre-Federation politics--a crucial element that assumes greater importance with the jaw-dropping cliffhanger of "Zero Hour" and the surprises in store for season 4, which will bring Enterprise ever closer to the original Star Trek timeline.
DVD features
Gathered on disc 7, the season 3 bonus features for Enterprise are consistent with features on seasons 1 and 2: Identical in presentation but different in content. The "Xindi Saga" featurette summarizes the creative and practical decisions that resulted in the season-long story arc; "Enterprise Profile" acknowledges the popularity of "Trip" Tucker and Connor Trinneer's successful effort to transcend the character's "hayseed" image; and "A Day in the Life of a Director" finds Roxann Dawson (aka B'Elanna Torres from Voyager) well in control as she helms the episode "Exile." As with previous DVD sets, three more "NX-01" files are hidden as "Easter eggs" on the Special Features menus, and they include further appreciations of the Enterprise writers, the work of costume designer Robert Blackman, and John Billingsley's hilarious anecdote about Phlox's prodigious sexual endowment(s). The outtakes are amusing but all too brief, perhaps owing to the higher stakes (and lower ratings) of a dramatically serious season. --Jeff Shannon
Season Four
Despite the near-certainty of cancellation, ratings in the cellar and nothing left to lose, the fourth and final season of Star Trek: Enterprise was unanimously hailed as the best. After ending season 3 with a mind-boggling cliffhanger, series creators Rick Berman and Brannon Braga handed show-runner duties to executive producer Manny Coto, who rejuvenated the flagging franchise by bridging the gap between Enterprise and the future developments of Star Trek: The Original Series. By recruiting lifelong Trek experts Mike Sussman and the husband-and-wife team of Judith and Garfield Reeves-Stevens to his writing staff, Coto ensured that political events in the Enterprise timeline would lead to a "coalition of planets," thus forming the Federation cornerstone of Star Trek's future. But first, Coto had to find a way to extract Capt. Archer (Scott Bakula) and his battle-worn crew from an alternate timeline--the result of the continuing Temporal Cold War--in which the Nazis have invaded U.S. soil in 1944. In the normal Enterprise timeline, political upheavals have left relations between Vulcans, Andorians, Tellarites, and Humans in a state of near-disastrous chaos.
Into this blazing cauldron of action-adventure, Coto and staff introduced story arcs that connected to Star Trek's future, including a three-episode arc ("Borderland," "Cold Station 12," and "The Augments") in which Dr. Arik Soong (played by Next Generation alumnus Brent Spiner) and his superhuman "Augments" chart a tragic course that would lead, in future generations, to the creation of Spiner's cybernetic NextGen character, Data. "The Forge," "Awakening," and "Kir'Shara" returned T'Pol (Jolene Blalock) to her native Vulcan, where encounters with the legendary philosopher Surak, and zealous sect called the Syrannites, lead to pivotal history with the Vulcan High Command. In subsequent episodes, Phlox (John Billingsley) would discover the reason why some Klingons lack "cranial ridges" (thus solving a vexing Star Trek mystery), and "In a Mirror, Darkly" marked and eventful return to the "Mirror Universe" from the original series episode "Mirror, Mirror," for what Coto aptly describes (in the bonus featurette) as a two-part "romp," complete with a "Mirror Universe" title sequence, the reappearance of the U.S.S. Defiant from the original series episode "The Tholian Web," and a glorious recreation of a "Constitution Class" starship bridge that gave long-time Trekkies a breathtaking rush of nostalgia.
In the closing episodes, the formation of the Federation is threatened by a radical xenophobe (Peter Weller) whose isolationist tactics lead Trip (Connor Trinneer) and T'Pol to a future of interspecies parenthood, and while the series-ending "These Are The Voyages..." is considered a disappointment by some, it provided a suitable Next Generation tribute to Star Trek's past, present, and future. Considering the daunting challenge of tying up loose ends while looking forward in a way that demanding fans could appreciate, it's fair to say that Enterprise reached a satisfying conclusion that its cast and crew can be proud of.
DVD features
It's only fitting that Season 4's bonus features have a bittersweet quality, celebrating the Star Trek franchise while acknowledging its uncertain future. For the first time on any Star Trek series, closure was imposed prematurely, and "That's a Wrap" (a video from the Enterprise wrap party at the Roosevelt Hotel in Hollywood) has the privileged feel of an emotional family reunion. (Unfortunately, Jolene Blalock and Connor Trinneer were unable to attend.) "Inside the 'Mirror' Episodes" offers a closer look at those enjoyably nostalgic episodes ("we put the 'Ho' back in Hoshi" jokes Mike Sussman about Linda Park's "empress" persona), and in "Links to the Legacy," Judith and Garfield Reeves-Stevens explain how they brought Enterprise closer to its original Star Trek heritage. "Visual Effects Magic" charts the astonishing advancements in digital effects since the comparatively crude effects of Next Generation, and "Enterprise Secrets" reveals an affectionate assembly of behind-the-scenes personnel on the final day of shooting. There's one final Easter egg (NX-01 File #10) about the ultimately futile "Save Enterprise" fan protest against series cancellation (with appreciative comments by Scott Bakula and Connor Trinneer), and as always, the informative audio and text commentaries are fan-essential features loaded with detailed trivia and anecdotal history. --Jeff Shannon
Product details
- Aspect Ratio : 1.78:1
- Is Discontinued By Manufacturer : No
- MPAA rating : NR (Not Rated)
- Product Dimensions : 7.7 x 6.6 x 7.9 inches; 4.15 Pounds
- Item model number : 908485566088
- Director : Allan Kroeker, David Barrett, David Livingston, David Straiton, James A. Contner
- Media Format : Multiple Formats, Closed-captioned, Closed-captioned, Closed-captioned, Closed-captioned, Closed-captioned, NTSC
- Run time : 70 hours and 23 minutes
- Release date : February 5, 2008
- Actors : Scott Bakula, John Billingsley, Jolene Blalock, Dominic Keating, Anthony Montgomery
- Language : Unqualified
- Studio : Paramount
- ASIN : B000AOEMXM
- Number of discs : 27
- Best Sellers Rank: #61,972 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
- #1,355 in Science Fiction DVDs
- Customer Reviews:
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Second, what’s on the DVDs. The bonus features in this set are awesome. The best of them are the text commentaries by Michael and Denise Okuda: richly informative about the production, creative team, and Trekverse, and at times hilarious.
Third, the show itself. I’m so glad that ENT is now getting the love and respect it deserves. It finally broke the second-wave era’s tradition of the first season being a clumsy mess. Instead, season one has an innocence and optimism I find charming and refreshing, particularly now when humanity has gone off the deep end. The actors had immediate chemistry and were as comfortable with comedy as they were with sci fi and drama. It’s easy to join their excitement over the adventure of being the first humans to go out that far. It also finally broke the first and second waves’ tradition of the civvies being as humiliating as Ralphie’s bunny suit. The uniforms look comfortable, pragmatic, and professional. The creatives really stepped up their game with the makeup and costumes, CG, set design, and especially the ship designs (my favorite in the franchise). I love that the NX-01’s tech is so believable. And Rutherford, Boimler, and La’an are right: grapplers are cool. I like that Archer is an everyman rather than being larger-than-life, with the lovable Porthos at his side. T’Pol, Trip, Phlox, and Hoshi are great characters too, brilliantly written and acted. The show made the Vulcans far more interesting and did the Andorians justice with such rich complexity. It certainly helped that they scored the peerless Jeffrey Combs as Commander Shran. The Denobulans, Suliban, and especially the Xindi are fascinating new aliens added to the canon. Yes, the song is awful, but the visuals in the opening credits are my favorite of any live-action series, beautifully showing the progress of human math, science, transportation, and exploration.
During the 4th season of Star Trek Enterprise, a call went out across the internet to save the series from cancellation. I happily responded "Let it die and good riddance".
Pointless inclusion of Ferengi, holodecks, lame computer graphics (the Enterprise looked cheap even for 2001. Was that the Gorn? Say it ain't so!), and the tedium of directionless writing summed up this series. The early exploration of space by Starfleet (consisting solely of one vessel, a rather stupid decision) should have been depicted with a sense of wonder. Instead, it all felt routine. Meeting aliens from the original Star Trek series like the Vulcans, Tellarites, Klingons, or Andorians should have been an amazing event in human contact. What a sense of awe, meeting entire civilizations for the first time! Instead, they spent their time exploring every cave set left over from Voyager.
So like many of the original Trek fans who stayed away from this series, I was not impressed. After the first few episodes, I would check in now and again and see how the series was doing. I was usually appalled and/or bored. So there are a lot of episodes I missed. For instance, I never saw "The Andorian Incident" from the first season, setting the stage for the revelation that the Vulcans of this time are not followers of Surak, and they need to be led back to the straight and narrow by Archer and crew. (Did they really need to trash the Vulcans to make Enterprise interesting? There are entire civilizations here that would have provided plenty of conflict without slapping graffiti all over Vulcan culture and turning them into Romulans).
What is compelling to me now is that the cast and producers acknowledge the show's shortcomings in the extras. Go see the Special Features for Season One, they've got Brannon Braga talking about the ratings dropping. They've got Jolene Blalock expressing her considerable ire that T'Pol was just written (as introduced) to nag the humans. We've got some real honesty here, which I find refreshing. It goes a long way, to coin a phrase.
What went wrong with Enterprise could fill entire internet servers. My first example is introducing holodeck technology in first season's "Unexpected". The writers were enamored with the idea of impressing Trip, the Klingons, and the audience with being able to use their newly-found computer background generating. Did they ever stop and think that exploring "strange new worlds" would be far more exciting than impressing us with whether you can generate holodeck settings for the fourth Trek series in a row? (Not to mention that they gave Klingons advanced technology with which to ravage the quadrant with.)
In the first season extras, Brannon Braga cites an all-human cast as the reason for their ratings slide. But I think it was because we were yet again saddled with aliens of the week in rubber Halloween masks. In the aforementioned episode, "Unexpected", why put a beautiful woman in a gruesome glued-on mask as Trip's love interest? Why did that poor woman in "Unexpected" have to sit in makeup for 3 hours to look awful?Think of Kirk's "Wink of an Eye", where he battled a rival over the beautiful Deela played by Kathie Browne. Unrealistic? But rubber foreheads are no more realistic, real aliens might look like a praying mantis, a column of quartz crystal, or a sentient fog. All too expensive for Enterprise. So why not put these beautiful (and handsome) guest stars in some spare makeup and get on with the plot? Same for every episode of this series.
Speaking of which, it would have been a nice conclusion to the "Broken Bow" pilot if the temporal cold war had resulted in the Klingons reverting to their Fu Manchu appearance from Kirk's time. This would have neatly explained the Classic Trek look, would have obviated the stupid story of genetically-modified Klingons (just so Brent Spiner could have a guest shot), and would have neatly introduced in stark terms the menace of the time-traveling aliens.
Which brings me to the thing that I think collapsed the ratings for most, seeing the trailer for Ferengi on Enterprise was what ensured I would never be a forgiving viewer and fan. In the NextGen pilot "Encounter at Farpoint", it was established the Federation had never seen the Ferengi. For 70 years, Excelsior-class starships had been exploring deep space, and still had not reached Ferengi territory until the 1701-D Galaxy class was built. And yet we were expected to believe Ferengi just "show up" on Enterprise? Just because you had some of their rubber masks lying around? The producers never understood that the Ferengi were the reason DS9's ratings never improved, and thought we wanted to see them on Enterprise as well. Wrong. They were about as welcome as WWE wrestlers doing guest spots to help UPN (the failed Paramount television network).
But those are the reasons the show failed. In rewatching the episodes as a complete set, I find there are highlights and highpoints in the series. It is worth watching again, even if the silly producers introduced a post-9/11 story to be topical. (Gee, there was a Vietnam war in full swing in the 60s, yet Gene Roddenberry didn't hammer us over the head with that, did he?)
Bottom line is that you'll want to buy this DVD set because the actors give it their all, and the bonus features at the end of each season. If the cast was let down by writers and producers who were suffering Trek fatigue, then that's how history records the show's fateful demise. But we can support Scott Bakula's earnest captainship, and the rest of the cast's hard work. People worked hard to get this series off the ground, and to get it out each week. In the final analysis, that's all that matters today. And we celebrate them for it.
(Oh, and if I still haven't sold skeptics on this boxed set. This is the only Trek series to include Outtakes!)
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Enterprise was first to made in widescreen & a song in the opening credits.
The uniform are different to those 3, besides this is the prequel to Captain Kirk's mission, like Kirk they USE hand held communicator not pin one.
Conozco Star Trek desde que se empezó a emitir a finales de los años sesenta y principios de los setenta del siglo pasado (entonces yo era adolescente) y he vivido la creación de todas las que la siguieron (La serie animada, La nueva generación. Espacio Profundo 9, Voyager, las películas de cine y el "reboot" del año 2009, así como Discovery, sin contar con las distintas series que se pueden encontrar en YouTube con actores aficionados), por lo que me considero conocedor del tema para emitir semejante juicio. En fin, como dice el refrán, "para gustos están los colores", por lo que no voy a intentar convencer a nadie. Así que me ha hecho ilusión adquirir Star Trek Enterprise a tan buen precio y en formato BluRay, aunque las dos últimas temporadas no tengan audio ni subtítulos en español (pero los tienen en inglés, aparte de otros idiomas, como francés, alemán o japonés, si no recuerdo mal). Para mí, es un problema menor que asumo gustosamente y que, de paso, me "obliga" a practicar el inglés con la excusa de seguir unas películas que me gustan mucho.
Seulement voilà : développer en 2001 une série au goût du jour (c'est-à-dire avec des effets spéciaux "dernier cri" et une mise en scène "tendance") mais supposée chronologiquement antérieure de plus d'un siècle à une série des sixties au look ultra-kitsch (i.e. "Star Trek: The Original Series")... cela relevait littéralement de l'exploit, pour ne pas dire de l'impensable !
Or force est de constater que ce défi a magistralement été relevé par ses créateurs-auteurs-producteurs Rick Berman & Brannon Braga ! Ainsi, non seulement la série "Enterprise" aura réussi à mettre en scène une transition crédible entre le cynisme de notre monde et l'utopie trekkienne, mais elle sera également parvenue à unifier comme jamais l'univers "Star Trek" (le plus vaste à ce jour par le nombre d'heures de programme)... en "résolvant" avec maestria toutes les incohérences internes qui subsistaient encore entre les différentes périodes de ses trois cents ans de "timeframe" !
Malheureusement, la puissante communauté des trekkers américains est longtemps restée divisée sur la vocation et la portée de la série "Enterprise". Car celle-ci prenait place dans un monde qui n'était pas encore celui de "Star Trek" (afin d'en expliquer justement la genèse, notamment par la fondation tumultueuse de la Fédération), tout en osant donner corps au mythe né de ce qui ne fut pas donné aux spectateurs durant si longtemps. Telle est au fond la condition polémique des prequels dont la mission ingrate est de s'attaquer au "mythe des origines" (cf. la prélogie de "Star Wars", "Prometheus" de Ridley Scott, la série "Caprica" de Ronald D. Moore...).
Fort d'un casting très solide (campant des personnages délibérément imparfaits, humains en somme), les deux premières saisons "d'Enterprise" - dont la première devait prendre place uniquement sur Terre (au 22ème siècle) selon le projet initial de Rick Berman - furent portées par un concept original et une véritable inspiration d'auteur. Dans un style très "The Right Stuff (L'étoffe des héros)", elles auront exacerbé une des plus nobles constantes de l'humanité à travers les âges : la fascination pour l'inconnu, et la soif d'exploration... quel qu'en soit le prix ! A l'honneur : ces "fous volants" qui ont fait l'Histoire aéronautique puis astronautique des temps modernes.
Le capitaine Jonathan Archer - incarné par le touchant Scott Bakula - restera la plus vibrante incarnation de cette quête d'ailleurs et de dépassement de soi, posant un regard vierge et insouciant sur l'enfance de l'aventure spatiale dans un cosmos donnant le vertige ! Soit quelque chose de largement inédit en série télévisée.
C'est hélas seulement à partir de sa troisième saison post-9/11 (au style "feuilleton haletant" façon "24") "qu'Enterprise" reçut un soutien quasi-unanime du public et de la critique.
Mais il était déjà trop tard : l'annulation de la série par CBS-Paramount tomba tel un couperet en 2005, au terme de sa quatrième saison (la série devait idéalement en totaliser dix, au minimum sept). Une mise à mort en plein essor qui laisse - encore maintenant - un goût bien amer étant donné l'exceptionnelle richesse thématique et les innombrables promesses de cette "Histoire du futur" en marche...
Malgré tout, les scénaristes eurent le temps d'achever naturellement et élégamment "Enterprise" (sans cliffhanger insoutenable au contraire de tant d'autres séries "victimes du système"), apportant même un superbe point final à quarante années de créativité audiovisuelle.
En 2009, JJ Abrams pratiquera un complet reboot - à la mode comicsienne - de "Star Trek" au cinéma... mais il s'agit là d'une autre histoire (et désormais aussi d'un autre univers).
Puis, en 2017, Alex Kurtzman rebootera de nouveau "Star Trek" – mais cette fois hypocritement – via la calamiteuse série "Discovery" (sise de facto dans un troisième univers).
Du coup, plus que jamais, le chef d’œuvre "Enterprise" représente l'un des apogées de la longue aventure trekkienne (entamée en 1964) et toute l'audace (trop souvent sous-estimée voire incomprise) de ce qu'il est désormais convenu d'appeler "l'ère Rick Berman" (1987-2005).
Ce n'est que justice que la série prequelle soit éditée en Blu-Ray, car du club des six ("TOS/TAS/TNG/DS9/VOY/ENT"), elle seule fut directement postproduite en HD (quoique encore expérimentale à l'époque), ce qui représentait en 2001 une véritable innovation à la télévision américaine. Or douze ans après, c'est au mieux une déclinaison "HD ready" (720p) qui aura été diffusée aux USA (et proposée sur le catalogue iTunes). Il est donc grand temps que le public puisse enfin savourer une "full HD" (1080p) native (qui certes ne prendra toute sa mesure que dans la quatrième saison de la série) sans en passer - au contraire des cinq précédentes - par un lent et coûteux remastering.
Et pour ne rien gâcher, cette édition Blu-Ray "d'Enterprise" bénéficie - comme celles de "The Original Series" et de "The Next Generation" - d'une avalanche de nouveaux bonus à valeur ajoutée critique (et en HD), sans complaisance ni auto-promotion, avec le concours très actif de l'auteur-producteur Brannon Braga.
Enfin, cette édition internationale intégrale (sous pavillon britannique ou italien) est aussi élégante que compacte. Le coffret a beau être légendé en langue anglaise, les Blu-ray eux contiennent bien toutes les pistes française (audio et sous-titres).
Bref, à recommander sans réserve à tous les amateurs de vraie et bonne science-fiction, exigeants aussi bien envers le fond qu'envers la forme.