• Network: UPN
  • Series Premiere Date: Sep 26, 2001
Season #: 4, 3, 2, 1
Metascore
66

Generally favorable reviews - based on 18 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 14 out of 18
  2. Negative: 2 out of 18
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Critic Reviews

  1. San Diego Union-Tribune
    Reviewed by: Preston Turegano
    Jun 25, 2013
    20
    What "Enterprise" doesn't have are charismatic, fun characters. [26 Sep 2001]
  2. Washington Post
    Reviewed by: David Segal
    Jun 25, 2013
    20
    Bakula gives the Capt. Kirk thing his best shot, but the script is riddled with clunkers and jargon. Worse, "Enterprise" has a bargain-basement feel that lands just this side of camp; the space fights aren't much more convincing than PlayStation offerings. And everything is wrapped in a trite message about unity and the importance of getting along. [26 Sep 2001]
User Score
7.4

Generally favorable reviews- based on 73 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 54 out of 73
  2. Negative: 5 out of 73
  1. Feb 1, 2016
    10
    Out of all the Star Trek series and films, Enterprise is easily the most overlooked, and was the only one since the original to be cancelled.Out of all the Star Trek series and films, Enterprise is easily the most overlooked, and was the only one since the original to be cancelled. This isn't because it wasn't as good as the rest, but simply the way it was marketed. The show is in fact a prequel to Kirk's Enterprise, and does take place before the Federation, but what the show lacks in technology, is more than made up for with realism and some of the best character development in the Star Trek franchise.

    100 years after Zefren Cochrane's warp flight, the human race has had enough of Vulcans holding them back, and have created the first warp five star ship in human history. Over the Vulcan's objections, Jonathan Archer (Scott Bakula), the son of the engines designer, has been selected to Captain the ship and explore a galaxy that humans know very little about.

    This show is extremely important to the franchise and all Trekkies, as it not only shows humanities first trip out of our solar system and first contact with all the races we've come to know over the years, but the show fills in a lot of the gaps from all the other series and films! Enterprise explores the origins of Data's creator, the Eugenic Wars (which created Khan), the development of many protocols and much of the tech we see on future ships, but most important of all the series shows how the foundation for the Federation and the creation of star fleet all came together.

    Enterprise was also unique for it's character development and realism, in that it takes place in the not to distant future. We get to know the crew intimately, from their fears to their families, and we see them doing and discussing things never before seen in Star Trek. The Enterprise crew has a classic movie night, watches sports on TV, has pets, and they even talk about sex.

    The cast is lead by Scott Bakula, which was another great move by producers. Casting a veteran science fiction actor, whose been in long running series, automatically gives him that air of experience and authority that Picard had. He's also a younger man, so with no federation policies in place yet, Archer can be just as much of a risk taker as Kirk was, even more so.

    Star Trek Enterprise was extremely enjoyable, and a series people could relate to more than any other in the Star Trek franchise. The show isn't simply about the future and the Federation, it's about what it means to be human and how that compares to other species. It shows what we need to do in order to get along with and understand other cultures, but most of all it fills in so many holes from previous films and episodes, that it truly was the missing link.

    Unfortunately for Star Trek fans, the show barely made a hundred episodes, because it was on a dying network, that folded shortly after the show was cancelled, screwing us trekkies out of three more seasons. As with all the previous series, the story has been continued in books, but in this case, the books were written by the main writers of the series, and do encompass everything that would have happened in seasons five, six, and seven.
    Full Review »
  2. Jul 17, 2016
    0
    Just awful. The characters are moved along only by the plot-device of "We're idiots and never think things through"

    Fart jokes, juvenile
    Just awful. The characters are moved along only by the plot-device of "We're idiots and never think things through"

    Fart jokes, juvenile thoughts on sexually, and they let a genocide happen because "evolution wills it to be so". Archer hides alcohol in the shuttlepod, cares more about his dog than crew mates, gets overwhelmed in almost every close combat situation, and constantly acts like a crazy person, ignoring all reason. This show is the worst star trek .

    DS9 is way better.
    Full Review »
  3. Jun 15, 2014
    9
    The most underrated of all the Trek shows, and not just in my exclusive opinion. It's abrupt cancellation suggests to me the fickle nature ofThe most underrated of all the Trek shows, and not just in my exclusive opinion. It's abrupt cancellation suggests to me the fickle nature of the entertainment industry in the internet age. Neither Deep Space Nine, nor Voyage had strong starts, or consistently entertaining seasons. But they existed prior to the days the heavily critical and meme driven era of the internet took hold. I've suggested before, that if there had been a form of internet when the original Star Wars trilogy had premiered, they'd be as heavily derided as the prequels are online. There's a measure of peer pressure involved when discussing any type of genre series, and being for something that's normally mocked (just tell someone you liked Jar Jar), or weren't necessarily found of something with generally universal critical acclaim (maybe you weren't the greatest fan of Keaton's Batman), and you'll find yourself at the bottom of the cyber pile. And most people probably would rather just join in on the jokes, then have to defend their opinion at every turn. To the point where they think that was their opinion all along. Enterprise seems to fall victim to that way of thinking.

    Like some of it's predecessors, Enterprise didn't have the strongest start, nor the most interesting characters out the gate. The later is still not evidence of a bad, or poorly casted series, as a series normally needs to build characterization and interest in the cast before you'll ever start caring about them. Where it did fail, at first, was some of the preliminary stories weren't necessarily interesting. On Netflix, that's much easier to forgive. But if you've waited a whole week for a show that might not have captured your interest last episode, it was going to be harder to want to make the hour commitment again seven days later. Additionally, previous and current sci fi series, not just Star Treks, had set a considerably high bar for your average episode. Farscape and Babylon 5 had introduced us to the sweeping season/series long story arcs, and the self contained one-offs were not as compelling as the once were. And, let's face it, the modern-era Star Treks were found of taking risks with the more subdued, cerebral storylines that were often hit or miss. Sometimes they made you think. Sometimes they left you wondering "Wait, the episode is over already?".

    Given the chance, though, while ignoring any preconceived ideas, and the show had it's decided shining moments, and strong story arcs. Complaints that the show messed with Star Trek's timeline might be forgetting that almost every series retconned Star Trek history in small ways. And closer inspection of some of those complaints often reveals a lack of understanding, or a lack of having viewed the series in it's entirety. Character development happened early on, in spite of some of the less compelling early stories. But the introduction of the Xindi in Season 3, and Archer's struggles with the realization that Starfleet can't just be about exploration, but also defense, and sometimes offense (a Navy/NASA hybrid), give us some of the most thoughtful, and downright exciting episodes in the whole series. The show also throws us some out right fan appreciation in the form of filling in some details in specific Trek history, such as Data's ancestry, the consequences of a previous series crew's time travel adventures, why Klingons looked so different in the original series, and how we could have an century long rivalry with the Romulans without ever knowing what they looked like.
    Full Review »