Star Trek: Enterprise Season 4 Blu-ray Review
Aside from a few missteps, the fourth and final season of “Star Trek: Enterprise” ends strong.
In the 22 episode season 4 of “Star Trek: Enterprise,” fans of the underrated sci-fi series can expect to see stories about WWII, the Temporal Cold War, Dr. Arik Soong and his Augments an embassy bombing, TPol’s mother, a transporter, Vulcan mythology, Organians, Andorians vs. Tellarites, the Aenar, Phlox being kidnapped by Klingons for a specific reason, Orion Slave Girls, Shran (!), a mirror universe 2 parter, major character deaths, xenophobia, a baby, and a series finale that takes 6 years later after “Terra Prime” where the Enterprise is set to be decommissioned.
While it’s sad to see the life and potential of “Star Trek: Enterprise” cut WAY too short, I think most fans will be happy with the way the direction of the final season went. In some ways, the fourth season feels like a new show as it fully embraces the prequel premise by diving into TOS connections and exploring the events of that time period. Furthermore, the show was clearly starting to find itself as it gave fans geektastic stories that they have been wanting to see like “Borderland,” “Cold Station 12” and “The Augments” (which all feature Dr. Arik Soong), “Babel One,” “United” and “The Aenar” (which features the always engaging Andorians), “Bound” (an Orion Slave Girls centric tale), the clever mirror universe 2 parter “In A Mirror Darkly,” and some memorable Vulcan centric episodes such as “The Forge.”
While the fourth season is largely a winner, there is one episode that fails in every respect- the series finale “These Are The Voyages…” Not only is this one of the worst series finales in TV history, but it’s an insult to the cast, crew, and fans of “Star Trek: Enterprise” as writers Rick Berkman and Brannon Braga pointlessly kill off a character AND disrespectfully shoehorn in the characters of William Riker and Deanna Troi. There’s no reason for TNG to be given the spotlight here and it’s a slap in the face to everyone involved with ‘Enterprise.’ We all deserved a better finale than this.
Video/Audio:
Presentation: 1.78:1 1080p. How does it look? It shouldn’t be a surprise that the last season features the best picture quality. As you may have noticed, the picture quality was fairly hit-and-miss for the first 3 seasons, this one is largely stunning (aside from some fuzzy looking CGI in spots).
Audio Track: 5.1 DTS-HD MA (with multiple language tracks). How does it sound? The hi-def sound quality of the phasers, Klingons, and ships will be music to the ears of Trek fans everywhere.
Extras:
* Deleted and extended scenes from episode 1, 3, 14, 19
* Outtakes, a photo gallery, script pages for an alternate ending of “Home,” “Star Trek: The Next Generation” and “Star Trek: Enterprise” Blu-ray ads, a behind the scenes featurette on the “In A Mirror Darkly” episodes titled “Inside The Mirror Episodes,” a FX featurette called “Visual Effects Magic,” a featurette on the final shot in “Enterprise Secrets,” a featurette on the throwbacks to TOS in “Links To The Legacy,” a Porthos featurette titled “Enterprise Goes To The Dogs,” a featurette on Michael Westmore’s alien makeup in “Westmore’s Aliens: Creating Dr. Phlox And Beyond,” and wrap party footage in “That’s A Wrap!”
* Text commentaries for “The Forge,” “In A Mirror Darkly, Part 2,” and “These Are The Voyages…”
* “Enterprise Moments: Season 4” sees the cast and crew talking about the highlights of season 4.
* Decent commentaries on “The Forge” and “Observer Effect” by Judith and Garfield Reeves-Stevens and Mike and Denise Okuda that contains discussion about cinematography, “The Forge” being a favorite episode of the 4, the CGI, behind-the-scenes facts, characters, etc.
* Commentary on “United” by David Livingston and Judith and Garfield Reeves-Stevens. David Livingston livens up this track with his stories about directing the episode.
* Two commentaries on “In A Mirror Darkly, Part 1.” One by James L. Conway, Mike Sussman, and Mike and Denise Okuda and the other track is by Mike Sussman and Tim Gaskill (who also provide a commentary track on part 2). Lots of great discussions about stock footage, the story, Tholians, props, etc. The track with Conway is definitely the one to play here though.
* A talkative commentary on “Demons” by Connor Trinneer and Dominic Keating. Personally, I always liked the cast tracks more here as they are more lively and (sometimes) more informative.
* Two commentaries on “Terra Prime.” One by Connor Trinneer and Dominic Keating and the other by Judith and Garfield Reeves-Stevens and Tim Gaskill. The cast commentary is the most enjoyable to listen to.
* “NX-01 File 10”- A brief piece about the fan protest of the series cancellation in front of Paramount Studios.
* A new 4 part extra titled “Before Her Time: Decommissioning Enterprise.” This nearly 2 hour extra covers season 4’s new direction under new showrunner Manny Coto, highlights of season 4, factoids that fans may have never heard about, the cancellation, and a sort of reflective piece about the series containing a wide range of cast and crew interviews. Another superb newly shot extra that is exclusive to this Blu-ray release.
* “In Conversation: Writing Star Trek: Enterprise”- A writer roundtable featuring David A. Goodman, Andre Bormanis, Michael Sussman, Phyllis Strong, Judith and Garfield Reeves-Stevens, Chris Black and Brannon Braga (who shows up late) shooting the breeze. It feels like a true reunion with stories about pitching ideas, Braga, how they got writing gigs, comedy, story ideas, etc.
Overall Thoughts: For Trek fans, picking up season 4 of ‘Enterprise’ is a no brainer. Hopefully, now that ‘Enterprise’ has been released in full, we can get DS9 on Blu-ray next.
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