Broken Bow, Part 1

"Broken Bow" takes us back to where it all began. Set 150 years in our future and 100 years before Kirk, Spock and McCoy. This installment of the "Star Trek" franchise, is in my opinion the first series since "TOS" to recapture the feelings of wonder, danger and excitement of "Going Where No Man Has Gone Before". Scott Bakula is perfectly cast as Jonathan Archer, the first Captain of the first "Star Ship Enterprise". He and the entire cast truly show a true reverence for the Star Trek legacy. John Billingsley is Brilliant as the alien Dr. Phlox, and Jolene Blalock is totally luscious as the tempting but logical Vulcan science officer T'Pol. Broken Bow is in my opinion the best premier episode of any of the Treks, and I believe Gene Roddenberry would surely be proud.

Before I start, I would like to say to all those hard-core Star Trek fans out there that unlearn what you have learned. Okay, I got that from Yoda, but it still holds true here. When watching and critiquing (if you're a nit-picker), one must approach the new series with an open mind.

Expectations aside, I thoroughly enjoyed Enterprise. The fifth installment into the Star Trek series franchise peaked my interest months ago when I first heard about it. I was skeptical at first, I will admit to that. I just didn't want another Star Trek: Voyager, which I spent that last 7 years faithfully watching the show with little to no satisfaction when it came to an end. But when Scott Bakula signed on, Dr. Sam Beckett himself, I denounced all skepticism and it sparked my enthusiasm for the new series. Right off the bat, Enterprise threw us into the thick of things: the Klingon, Klaang, evading the Suliban, the Vulcan/Human conflict, the problematic temporal cold war, and the cameo by James Cromwell. Okay, those are more like intriguing features than throwing us into the thick of things. What can I say? I was impressed. The matter of the title song is quite a controversy among friends. Many thought it should go. I say, keep it. It's different and in a way sentimental, paying homage to exploration and discovery. I took me five viewings of the pilot to get used to it. Enterprise delivers in every way possible that a Star Trek series should: a bold captain, a diverse crew, technobabble, transporters, phasers, shuttlepods, warp drive, and humor. For all those who don't like Enterprise, I say this to you: give the show some time. It's still a newborn, finding its own way to be unique, exciting, and most of all appealing. Remember, many people didn't get into Deep Space Nine when it first came on. It grew to be a fantastic series. It might not have rated well with the hard-core fans, but there are more than plenty enough serious fans who think so. Enterprise may very well become the best Star Trek series since The Next Generation.

A strong pilot, this two-hour episode does an excellent job of setting up the characters and background for "Enterprise," the "prequel" to the original "Star Trek" series. It stumbles a few times into "Trek" convention and cliché--candy-colored space strippers never seem to go out of style, and I can already foresee snickering references to T'pol as "Seven of Vulcan"--but the ensemble looks strong, the characters are well-drawn, and one can already see hints that this particular crew will have to be more resourceful, in different ways, than those of earlier (later?) series. Scott Bakula hits the right note as a captain with Kirk's brashness and daring but without his smugness and swagger, and I look forward to the ways in which the series will feature the engineer, weapons master and communications officer (not just a glorified phone operator anymore!) as supporting players. The writers seem to have picked up on the one big mistake made in "Star Trek: The Next Generation," "Deep Space 9" and "Voyager": Instead of starting with a big ensemble cast and giving characters short shrift, it's starting with a smaller core of characters to which a little more variety can be added later--which I hope happens, because after about a half-dozen episodes, more variety will be needed.

These first two episodes were necessary to gain inroads into the obstacles that needed to be overcome so that the exploration of the galaxy could commence. These were basically search and rescue missions which allowed us to see where we were at with the Klingons, the face of arrogance when it relates to the stonewalling, obstructionist Vulcans. And to see other species and to put together a crew that will be facing off with every type of problem as they go on their mission. This predates the original Star Trek series and gives us a more primitive, even more dangerous set of circumstances. This should be fun.

I suppose you could say I am a Trekkie (I love Next Generation, Voyager and Enterprise) and when I first bought Broken Bow on video (I missed it on TV) I was overwhelmed by every thing good about it, it rocks. Ever since my dad got me into Star Trek, I've been watching it every day ever since, which probably explains why I love Enterprise. Every actor and actress perform on the mark (my favourite character has to be "Trip" for his humour and sarcasm). Trust me if you're a Trekkie you'll love this!!!