

(written from a Production point of view Real World article

Enterprise redirects here; for additional meanings of "Enterprise", please see Enterprise.

Star Trek: Enterprise, originally titled Enterprise until Season 3, is the sixth series set in the Star Trek universe. Created by Rick Berman and Brannon Braga, and based upon Gene Roddenberry's classic 1966 Star Trek (and its subsequent spin-offs), Enterprise was a prequel set a century before the time of Kirk and Spock. The series followed the voyages of the first starship Enterprise and mankind's first steps into the "final frontier". Initially titled as simply Enterprise, the series ran an abbreviated four seasons. The series debuted in 2001 on the United Paramount Network replacing Star Trek: Voyager. It was cancelled in 2005.

As of 2020, due to its placement in the Star Trek timeline, Enterprise is the only Star Trek production whose continuity is not affected by the events of the 2009 film reintroducing the crew of James T. Kirk, making it the only TV series in the Star Trek universe to maintain continuity in both the prime and alternate realities.

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Summary

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Enterprise was created in the hopes of revitalizing the Star Trek franchise since ratings for the previous series, Star Trek: Voyager, had waned near the end. Intended to be more modern, with characters far from Gene Roddenberry's 24th century Utopian Humanity, Enterprise was situated in one of the least explored eras in the Star Trek universe and a time only 150 years from present day.

Enterprise was set in the 22nd century, at a time before the Federation and while United Earth was just becoming a player in interstellar politics.

The producers – under the guidance of Roddenberry's successor, Rick Berman – sought to set the series apart from those that had come before, creating nearly every set, prop and costume anew and tending toward a more encompassing, "you-are-there" style of storytelling.

According to comments made by Executive Producer Brannon Braga in discussions with fans at TrekMovie.com, Berman's original idea for the series was to have the entire first season set on Earth as Humanity's first-ever warp starship was constructed. This was soon decided to be too far removed from the style of the franchise as a whole, and so the premise was redrafted.

Enterprise, like Star Trek: Deep Space Nine before it, featured numerous story arcs throughout its run. Story lines included the Temporal Cold War and the Xindi arc that took up the show's entire third season.

The series was the first to incorporate lyrics into its opening theme song (unused lyrics did exist for the original series' fanfare); it also did not include the words Star Trek in its title until the third season episode "Extinction".

Like its predecessor, Star Trek: Voyager, Enterprise aired on UPN, rather than in first-run syndication like TNG and DS9. Premiering on 26 September 2001 with a strong opening, the two-hour pilot "Broken Bow" garnered a 9.9 overnight rating and a 15% share. Ratings, however, declined over the next few seasons, dipping to an average 2.5 million viewers an episode.

As early as the second season, rumors of the show's imminent cancellation pushed the producers to find new directions to take the series. Beginning with the series' third season, Enterprise adopted a darker tone and a more violent arc, in some ways mirroring the post 9/11 sentiment.

While many critics were impressed with the new pull of the series, ratings remained low, and the show was canceled at the end of its fourth season.

Even so, Enterprise accomplished a number of technical firsts for a Star Trek series. It was the first series to air in high definition, with "Exile" being the first episode to air in that format. It was produced with third-generation Sony HDTV cameras starting in Season 4; the first 3 seasons were filmed with traditional 35mm film cameras (which were then transferred to digital for broadcast). The series was also the first to be produced in widescreen format.

Enterprise was nominated for five individual Saturn Awards, won an ASCAP Award in 2002 for "Top TV Series", was nominated for seventeen Emmy Awards, winning four, and two episodes were nominated for Hugo Awards.

Plot summary

Launched in the year 2151, the NX-class starship Enterprise (the first of United Earth's advanced warp five vessels) was at first on temporary assignment. Though years of preparation still lay ahead, the ship was unexpectedly put into service when a Klingon national crash-landed on Earth, putting the entire planet at stake should he not make it back to his people. Under the command of United Earth Starfleet Captain Jonathan Archer, son of the famed scientist Henry Archer, the crew of Enterprise succeeded in their mission, but found themselves surrounded by deeper mysteries. Warranting the extension of their assignment into a full-blown mission of deep space exploration, the crew of Enterprise set off into the unknown, taking with them a Vulcan science officer (or chaperone) named T'Pol and a Denobulan doctor named Phlox.

Enterprise's first years were rocky; while the ship made contact with such species as the Suliban and the previously mentioned Klingons, such contact was not peaceful. In its first two years alone, the ship's crew found themselves in armed conflict with a range of species from the Tholians to the Coridanite to the Borg... and things only got worse. By its third year in space, an alien species known as the Xindi brutally attacked Earth, killing millions.

The NX-01 was dispatched to a remote and previously uncharted area of space known as the Delphic Expanse in order to prevent the Xindi from completing their ultimate goal of destroying Humanity. While the mission was successful, after nearly a year in the Expanse, the ship suffered severe damage and many losses.

Upon returning home, Enterprise served a more diplomatic role in the service of United Earth, easing relations between the Vulcans, the Andorians, and the Tellarites, and paving the way toward a Coalition of Planets, an alliance that eventually lead to the founding of the United Federation of Planets. Though still often tumultuous, Enterprise continued its mission of exploration as well, bringing Humans in contact with even more new worlds and new civilizations.

Main cast

Star Trek: Enterprise was the only live action Star Trek series to complete its run without a change in the main cast. Star Trek: The Animated Series also didn't have a change in the main voice cast during its two seasons. Star Trek: EnterpriseStar Trek

Special guest stars

Recurring guest stars

Production crew

Gene Roddenberry – Creator of Star Trek

Opening credits

The opening credits for Star Trek: Enterprise contained a number of images referencing modern-day as well as historical exploration and space travel leading up to the launch of Enterprise NX-01 in 2151, including the Enterprise OV-101 shuttle, named in real life in honor of Star Trek. Also used in the sequence is a clip of Zefram Cochrane's ship, the Phoenix, from Star Trek: First Contact, and the real-life animated footage of the Mars rover.

Two versions of the opening title sequence were created, one for the prime Star Trek universe to the tune of "Where My Heart Will Take Me" which was seen at the beginning of the majority of episodes, and the other which documented the rise of the Terran Empire in the mirror universe episodes "In a Mirror, Darkly" and "In a Mirror, Darkly, Part II" which was done to an instrumental.

Episode list

Season 1

ENT Season 1, 25 episodes:

Season 2

ENT Season 2, 26 episodes:

Season 3

ENT Season 3, 24 episodes:

Season 4

ENT Season 4, 22 episodes:

Proposed Season 5 stories

Related topics

Notes

The wrap party for Enterprise was held at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel, 7000 Hollywood Boulevard on Wednesday, April 13, 2005 at 7:00 pm. "Dress Festive" and notations that cocktails, dinner, and a DJ were available were on the invitations. The introduction featured the following text: "This Mission May Be Over But Let's Get The Party Started! Paramount Network Television invites you and your guest to journey back in time at the historic Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel and glimpse the future in the newly-launched Theodore Restaurant and Lounge. Let's commemorate the final voyage of Star Trek: Enterprise."

Video games

Only two official video games set in the Enterprise era have been released – Star Trek: Encounters and Star Trek: Legacy. However, these two games are not true Enterprise games, as they cover the franchise as a whole.

Syndication

With four seasons, Enterprise reached syndication less than a year after its cancellation, in some markets airing multiple times a week. However, with the 40th anniversary of Star Trek, Enterprise was replaced in syndication by "remastered" versions of classic TOS episodes on 16 September 2006.

Episodes are available on CBS.com and its sister site TV.com. Netflix online streaming subscribers can also view episodes.

The first three seasons are also available on the Xbox Live Marketplace (currently US only), a premium service offered with the Xbox 360 and Xbox One. Each episode costs about two to three US dollars, and are available in both standard and high-definition widescreen. Two part episodes are broken up into two separate episodes and must be purchased separately.

All seasons are also available on the iTunes Store and on Amazon Instant Video in both standard and high-definition widescreen.

Media

Music

"Archer's Theme"

"Archer's Theme" is an instrumental piece of music used over the closing credits. It was composed by Dennis McCarthy.

The theme was originally intended to be played over the opening credits of the show. (citation needed • edit) McCarthy, having also composed the theme for Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, wrote the piece in a style reminiscent of the later Star Trek series. Even though the piece opens with a subdued but recognizable version of Star Trek theme fanfare, McCarthy wrote it in keeping with the spirit of the show to be overall less classical and more modern instrumentally.

The producers' decision to use "Where My Heart Will Take Me" in its stead was a controversial decision that the producers made in an attempt to make the series appeal to an audience wider than that of existing Trek fans. (citation needed • edit)

Altogether four different versions of end credits were used in the show. In the pilot episode, "Broken Bow", an instrumental version of "Where My Heart Will Take Me", also known as "Faith of the Heart", was used.

In the following episode, "Fight or Flight", "Archer's Theme" is heard in a different arrangement. In addition, there is a different closing theme in the double feature "In a Mirror, Darkly", reprising this episode's unique opening credits music.

"Where My Heart Will Take Me"

See also: "Where My Heart Will Take Me".

The use of an album-oriented rock theme tune is in stark contrast to previous series in the franchise, and provoked a negative reaction in some fans, (citation needed • edit) to the point of protesting outside the studios.

One of its most prominent detractors is Simon Pegg. Pegg was a fan of Star Trek prior to appearing in the films, but according to a 2011 interview:

"I think that the theme music to Enterprise was probably the most hideous Star Trek moment in history. I couldn't believe that they had this great idea of sort of pre-Kirk/Spock Star Trek, and they gave it a dreadful soft-rock music start. It just seemed so ill-advised. I mention Admiral Archer [in 2009's Star Trek] – it isn't struck off because of the terrible music. Scotty actually mentions him. But [the theme music] is terrible. I've never seen Enterprise, because I couldn't get past that music. It would still be ringing in my ears when the show starts."