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Star Trek: Enterprise – United (Review)

This May, we’re taking a look at the fourth (and final) season of  Star Trek: Enterprise . Check back daily for the latest review.

The Romulans are a very curious species.

They have a long history within the Star Trek franchise. They were introduced less than half-way through the first season of the show, in Balance of Terror . The Klingons would not show up until Errand of Mercy , towards the end of that first year. The Romulans have appeared in just about every iteration of the franchise, their reappearance in the final episode of the first season of Star Trek: The Next Generation serving to connect the show to its legacy. Appearing in both Star Trek: Nemesis and Star Trek , they appeared on both sides of the film franchise reboot.

This could be the start of a beautiful friendship…

Still, the Romulans have never truly been defined. Unlike the Klingons or the Cardassians, the Romulans have never been developed into a fully-formed culture. There are great episodes built around the Romulans, from Balance of Terror and The Enterprise Incident to Face of the Enemy and In the Pale Moonlight . However, there has never been recurring Romulan character afforded the depth of Worf, Martok, Quark, Dukat, Damar or Garak; if populating that list with Star Trek: Deep Space Nine characters feels like cheating, no Romulan measures up to Soval or Shran.

Although they only appear in four episodes of the season, exerting influence over another two, it feels like the fourth season of Star Trek: Enterprise affords more attention to the Romulans than they have received in a long time.

“All right, who arranged the bridge power display to form a smiley face?”

Part of this is down to the simple decision to position the Romulans as a recurring antagonist as the fourth season builds consciously towards the Star Trek universe that fans know and love. Broken Bow had opted to have mankind venture into space as a crisis unfolded with the Klingons, and understandable decision given how iconic the Klingons are within the larger franchise. However, the fourth season affords a lot more attention to the Romulans at the same time that it starts laying solid foundation for the formation of the Federation.

The fourth season of Enterprise repeatedly positions the Romulans as an antagonist force existing in opposition to the ascent of the Federation. Of course, part of this is simple continuity. The Romulans had first appeared in Minefield at the start of the second season, and fans had long been anticipating the potential drama of the “Earth-Romulan War” that had been teased back in Balance of Terror . As with a lot of the background details slipped into early Star Trek episodes, the Earth-Romulan War has sparked all manner of debate and speculation.

“Damn. There goes symmetry.”

The conflict holds a fascination for fans and creators alike. Certain sections of fandom expected that they might see the conflict – or a prelude to the conflict – play out on Enterprise , despite the fact that the Romulans only appeared once in the show’s first three seasons. As with a lot of rumours and gossip about possible story ideas, it is hard to know how much stock to put in the suggestion that Rick Berman and Brannon Braga reportedly considered casting a Romulan as the antagonist of the Temporal Cold War . ( Presumably at a point when it wasn’t going to be Archer .)

In fact, this fascination with the Earth-Romulan War extended beyond the realm of Enterprise itself. In January 2005, while the United trilogy was airing, producer Rick Berman discussed plans for a possible eleventh Star Trek movie . Titled  Star Trek: The Beginning , the film would have been set during the conflict without any established cast. ( With the possible exception of Shran .) The production team actually considered the Earth-Romulan War to be a strong enough concept to carry its own Star Trek feature .

“You can trust me. I’m a pre-TNG Romulan. We’re all about the honour.”

The fourth season of Enterprise engages with the Romulans in a very direct fashion for the franchise. Although one of the iconic Star Trek aliens, the Romulans have been relatively under-developed in the larger context of the Star Trek universe. They never got the attention that was lavished on the Klingons or the Cardassians or the Borg. They were always presented as secondary antagonists. Perhaps the most consistent portrayal of the Romulans came during the middle seasons of The Next Generation , where they were presented as Cold War antagonists.

However, since the end of The Next Generation , the Romulans have been largely overlooked and ignored. Although Deep Space Nine did great work with the Cardassians, the Ferengi, the Klingons, the Founders, the Vorta and the Jem’Hadar, the show struggled repeatedly to get an insight into the Romulans as a potential antagonist or ally. Indeed, Deep Space Nine attempted to develop the Romulans a number of times, never getting it quite right. It seems likely that the only reason that Deep Space Nine tried so many times was because the Romulans were iconic.

“I mean, the Ferengi get more exposure than we do. We really have to work on our brand.”

Deep Space Nine attempted the “Romulan attaché to the station” plot twice, much like they tried the “Federation assigns a security officer to do Odo’s job” plot twice. When the Defiant was introduced with a Romulan cloaking device in The Search, Part I , the show introduced the character of Subcommander T’Rul as a Romulan representative on the station. Played by Martha Hackett, who landed a recurring job on Star Trek: Voyager , T’Rul was never seen or mentioned after The Search, Part II . (Much like Odo’s first rival, George Primmin.)

Four years later, the show would introduce the character of Senator Cretak as a representative of the Romulan government in Image in the Sand . However, the character quickly faded from view following Signs and Symbols . When Cretek did reappear later in the season in Inter Arma Enim Silent Leges , the role had been recast from Megan Cole to Adrienne Barbeau. During the show’s final ar c , the Romulans were represented by a largely silent character (General Velal) while the Federation and Klingons were represented by a host of recurring well-defined characters.

“Have you tried hitting F1?”

The Romulans were largely marginalised over the course of  Deep Space Nine . While The Next Generation had defined the Romulans as masters of trickery and deception, they were skilfully gamed and manipulated by the Federation late season episodes like In the Pale Moonlight and  Inter Arma Enim Silent Leges . During the climactic battle of  What You Leave Behind , the Romulan flagship is casually destroyed while all major Klingon and Federation characters survive.

When the Romulans appeared on Voyager , in episodes like  Eye of the Needle or Message in a Bottle , they were generally treated as representatives of the established  Star Trek universe rather than as a race or culture of themselves. The Romulans were also marginalised in the film franchise. The plan had originally been to feature the Romulans in  Star Trek III: The Search for Spock , but they were replaced by the Klingons quite late in the planning stages. When the Romulans did appear in  Nemesis , they were largely reduced to muscle for Shinzon.

“You remember Nemesis ?” “EVERYBODY remembers Nemesis .”

All of this is to say that the Romulans had never been characterised or defined as consistently as the other major Star Trek aliens. The fourth season of Enterprise places a considerable focus on the Romulans, tying them into the corruption of Vulcan society in Kir’Shara and positioning them as the antagonists of the United trilogy. In the documentary Before Her Time , Manny Coto talks about wanting to do more with the Romulans:

At the same time, there were all those stories that I really wanted to do. I thought could have touched into… moved into the Romulan War, and done more interesting arcs with the Romulans. And really explored that culture in the way that we explored the Vulcans. I knew there were touchstones and things that I wanted to do.

It is interesting that both Kir’Shara and the United trilogy consciously position the Romulans as doppelgängers or alternates. The Romulans are presented as something akin to the shadow self, an enemy that succeeds not through direct engagement by through manipulation. This is consistent with their earlier portrayals in episodes like Redemption, Part I and Redemption, Part II . But there is more to it than that.

“Brent Spiner told me this was a great way to catch Romulans. He said it worked a treat during the Klingon Civil War.”

In Awakening , Surak talks about those who left Vulcan “under the raptor’s wing” , emphasising the shared history between the two peoples. In Kir’Shara , it is revealed that the Romulans have infiltrated and coopted Vulcan society; Talok is revealed to be a Romulan double agent, and there is the possibility that V’Las might also be an undercover Romulan. The episode also teases the idea of reunification of Romulus and Vulcan, foreshadowing Unification, Part I and Unification, Part II .

However, there is a fairly significant emphasis on the idea of the Romulans as an enemy within; an enemy has deeper and stronger connections to our heroes than typical antagonists. In Babel One and United , the Romulans attack Andorian and Tellarite ships in disguise. The teaser to United even finds the Romulans posing as the Enterprise while destroying a Rigellian Freighter, in the hopes of causing a deeper rift between humanity and their potential allies.

“Red light. That’s not good.”

This approach to the Romulans as doppelgängers and subversives reflects Mike Sussman’s plans for the character of T’Pol. During the fourth season, Sussman had been playing with the idea that T’Pol’s father might have been a Romulan rather than a Vulcan :

I had this sneaky plan to reveal that T’Pol’s father was a Romulan, but who knows how that would’ve played out. I think I could’ve sold Rick and Brannon on it. The Xindi arc was a lot of fun and we did some great episodes, but if you’re going to spend an entire season on one conflict, then just do the Romulan War. That’s what season three should’ve been.

It is a story idea that would arguably played to Jolene Blalock’s performance style; Blalock portrayed T’Pol as a highly emotional Vulcan, and that piece of retroactive continuity might have accounted for her choice. It would also have underscored the idea that the Romulans were an embedded threat; one heavily integrated into the Federation.

“Green light. That’s probably not good either.”

There are, of course, pragmatic reasons why Enterprise would opt to develop the Romulans in this manner. Many of these reasons are tied into the fourth season’s fascination with canon. When the Romulans were introduced in Balance of Terror , the script stated that this was the first time that humans had ever actually seen a Romulan face-to-face. In fact, the plot of  Balance of Terror hinged on that fact, with the crew taken aback that their antagonists could look so remarkably like their closest allies.

Of course, there is a lot in Balance of Terror that is difficult to reconcile with the world of Enterprise . Most obviously, the oral history of the Earth-Romulan War presents a conflict a lot more primitive than those depicted on Enterprise ; ships that travelled at impulse and waged war with atomic weapons . Those details are treated malleable and flexible. After all, Earth and Romulus would have to be right next door to make such a sub-light viable, which seems highly unlikely given the portrayal of Romulus in the later spin-offs.

“First the Borg won’t introduce themselves, and now these guys won’t show their face. Continuity is no excuse for being rude.”

Nevertheless, the idea that nobody has ever actually seen a Romulan is treated as an inviolable aspect of Star Trek continuity. (Even Minefield got that detail right, despite featuring a cloaking device, which was presented as a prototype in Balance of Terror .) According to Garfield Reeve-Stevens on the commentary on United , this was a major issue when plotting the three-parter:

I remember lots of – I guess when this was in the planning stage – trying to figure out how we could be having an arc and be featuring the Romulans and yet never see them. I remember one time we were taking a pitch from one writer who’s gone on to great things, and started telling us this great story about Archer and Trip captured by the Romulans and taken to a Romulan prison. And we sat there – it was a great story – waiting for the twist. And he finished the story, and we said, “You realise that nobody sees the Romulans until Balance of Terror in the original series?”

The script repeatedly draws attention to how hard it is working to keep the Romulans separate from the action. When Vrax points out the risk of discovery in United , Valdore is quick to assure him, “That’s the point of this project. No prisoners to capture, no bodies to recover. These drone ships can never be traced back to us.” It seems like the script is also taking pains to reassure fans.

“I’ve checked the canon, Captain. We should be okay.”

At the same time, this approach to the Romulans allows for more engaged commentary and metaphor. As the name implies, the Romulans are basically space! Romans who happen to look like Spock. It is worth nothing that this idea of space! Romans recurs throughout the original run of Star Trek , often as a parallel to the Federation or contemporary America. It happens so frequently that it feels like a conscious allusion to the oft-cited (and somewhat cliché) comparison between the United States and the Roman Empire following the Second World War.

Given how deeply Star Trek is rooted in American self-image following the Second World War, this recurring image feels intentional. In Balance of Terror , Kirk is compared to his anonymous Romulan opponent. In  Mirror, Mirror , Kirk finds himself visiting an alternate version of Starfleet that is very consciously modelled on the Roman Empire. In  Bread and Circuses , Kirk visits a planet with a culture that approximates mid-twentieth century America blended with a more modern Roman Empire.

“They’ve been watching TNG reruns!”

The fourth season of Enterprise devotes considerable attention to two of those three space! Roman cultures. The Romulans are presented as a genuine existential threat to the formation of the Federation through their manipulation of Vulcan society and their secret was against the Andorians and Tellarites. The Terran Empire reappears in In a Mirror, Darkly, Part I and In a Mirror, Darkly, Part II for the first time since the original Mirror, Mirror . (Although the Terran Empire branding did appear on the  mirror! Defiant in Shattered Mirror .)

These elements reappear at an important point in the history of the United States, when the country is embroiled in two separate large-scale military conflicts on the other side of the planet that provoked all manner of protest and criticism. While both the Romulan Star Empire and the Terran Empire provide a gateway to pre-existing Star Trek continuity, they also play into issues around identity and imperialism that reflect contemporary anxieties. The third season of Enterprise is overtly about the War on Terror, but the fourth season is just as engaged with the theme.

“When on Romulus…”

If the Federation is an idealised extrapolation of contemporary American values into the future, then the Romulans embody the opposite side of that equation. This is not a novel idea by any measure. Diane Duane explored it quite skilfully in The Romulan Way . Similarly, the repeated humiliation of the Romulans on Deep Space Nine seemed to suggest that the Federation might not really need an entire race of duplicitous doppelgangers; humanity was quite capable of demonstrating its own worst traits without a shadow self.

The United arc treats the Romulans as an extremely militarised counterpart to the Federation. The Romulan Senate and the Romulan Military are consciously entangled with one another, trapped in a toxic co-dependent relationship. “Bring your ship home,” Senator Vrax instructs Valdore after the first humiliating setback. “I’ll tell the Senate that your test has been a success. Otherwise, they’ll make someone pay for this failure.” Later, Vrax complains that Valdore’s military failures have political consequences, “Do you realise how you’ve weakened my position?”

“It really has been a long road, getting from there to here.”

There is timeliness to the trilogy as well. The Romulans are conducting drone warfare against the Tellarites and Andorians, using unmanned space craft as part of a covert (and undeclared) war in an effort to minimise potential casualties and possible blowback. These sorts of tactics are relatively novel in the larger context of Star Trek ; even during the Dominion War, there was an assumption that most space craft were manned and that only a handful of remote defenses could be reliably automated.

However, warfare in Star Trek has seldom engaged with science-fiction high concepts. The Dominion War was largely presented in conventional terms, with both space warfare and ground combat conforming to popular understandings of military conflict. Stories like  The Ship and The Siege of AR-558 were very clearly grounded in popular contemporary conceptions of the Second World War rather than a logical extrapolation of what combat might look like in the futuristic world of Star Trek .

Operating on autopilot…

The same is definitely true of the United trilogy. The Romulans are using drone warfare against their enemies at the same time that the United States had committed to aerial drone warfare in northwest Pakistan. The campaign began attracting media attention in June 2004 , but quickly escalated . This modern form of warfare is highly controversial , allowing the United States to engage in tactical action without risking the lives of soldiers but also running the risk of damaging the country’s reputation .

In some respects, this focus on drone warfare seems rather prescient. Although unmanned aerial drones were employed by the Bush administration, the programme was accelerated by the Obama administration. Popular culture has only recently begun to grapple with these issues, with the release of films like Andrew Niccol’s Good Kill or Gavin Hood’s Eye in the Sky . To see Enterprise touching on these ideas as early as January and February 2005 is quite striking.

“You’ve seen Day of Honour, right?”

Nevertheless, the remote-operated drone is not the focal point of the story. Instead, it serves as part of the larger portrayal of the Romulans. Much like Judgment seemed to threaten that the War on Terror was pushing America closer to the Klingons than the Federation, the United trilogy suggests that the state of perpetual warfare runs the risk of aligning the United States more closely with the Romulan Star Empire than with the United Federation of Planet. The United trilogy seems to tease two possible futures extrapolated from the contemporary status quo .

In offering some character development for Valdore, The Aenar suggests that the Romulan Star Empire is a culture that sees itself trapped in a perpetual conflict with the larger universe. In keeping with Balance of Terror , and in marked contrast to the characterisation of the Klingons, it is suggested that the Romulans view this war as a tragic reality more than a romantic fantasy. When Nijil insists that he is a scientist, Valdore corrects him. “We’re all soldiers, Nijil, from the moment we’re born,” Valdore reflects. “When we forget that we invite disaster.”

Soldiers of the Empire.

In some ways, this reflects some critical attitudes towards the War on Terror. There are commentators who see the War on Terror as endless, sustained by a state apparatus that has come to depend on the power afforded to it by a perpetual state of conflict. Glenn Greenwald reflects :

But what one can say for certain is that there is zero reason for US officials to want an end to the war on terror, and numerous and significant reasons why they would want it to continue. It’s always been the case that the power of political officials is at its greatest, its most unrestrained, in a state of war. Cicero, two thousand years ago, warned that “In times of war, the law falls silent” (Inter arma enim silent leges). John Jay, in Federalist No. 4, warned that as a result of that truth, “nations in general will make war whenever they have a prospect of getting anything by it . . . for the purposes and objects merely personal, such as thirst for military glory, revenge for personal affronts, ambition, or private compacts to aggrandize or support their particular families or partisans.” If you were a US leader, or an official of the National Security State, or a beneficiary of the private military and surveillance industries, why would you possibly want the war on terror to end? That would be the worst thing that could happen. It’s that war that generates limitless power, impenetrable secrecy, an unquestioning citizenry, and massive profit.

The portrayal of the Romulans in the fourth season of Enterprise seems to tease out this idea, presenting the Romulans as a culture that thrives on warfare in a manner more subtle (and perhaps more nuanced) than the Klingons.

Maybe they should call him “Val-dour”, amirite?

Valdore also offers some hints of his own back story, reflecting that he was once a Romulan Senator who was humiliated and stripped of his status for daring to question the truths that drive his people. “I made the mistake of challenging the precept of unlimited expansion,” Valdore explains to Nijil. “I asked the question, ‘is conquest truly the best course for our people?’ And I was expelled.” Once again, there is a sense that the Romulans embody certain uncomfortable aspects the American character; they are something deeper than a simple War on Terror metaphor.

There is something telling in Valdore’s choice of words. “The precept of unlimited expansion” sounds almost like a religious doctrine, a spiritual principle around which a society might organise itself. However, it also recalls the doctrine of “manifest destiny” , the founding principle of the United States that suggested the European settlers were all but morally obligated to expand westwards and to claim the continent from the indigenous people. That guiding principle served as a foundation of American identity, brutality and genocide incorporated into frontier myth.

United we stand.

Star Trek is itself an expression of that frontier myth. What is “the final frontier” but an extrapolation and continuation of that doctrine beyond the continent and even beyond the world? Of course, the franchise has attempted to explore and to rectify some of the more uncomfortable implications of that doctrine. The Star Trek franchise hasn’t always succeeded, but it has attempted to offer a counterpoint to that early imperialist doctrine. The optimistic future of Star Trek is about reinterpreting that myth without the suffering and destruction.

In that context, the United trilogy seems to position the Romulans as a cautionary tale. They represent the dark side of “the final frontier.” It is perhaps the strongest interpretation of the iconic aliens since their appearance in The Enterprise Incident , if not Balance of Terror . (Excluding perhaps Diane Duane’s reinvention of them in My Enemy, My Ally onwards.) It suggests a cohesive approach to their culture and society that has largely been absent from part portrayals of the species.

It’s been a while since Shran really blue up…

Historically, the Romulans have tended to occupy negative space in the franchise, defined by their relationship to pre-existing concepts. Balance of Terror labelled their home planets as Romulus and Remus, framing them explicitly in terms of human reference, while revealing that they were a secret violent offshoot of the Vulcan species. When they appeared on The Next Generation , they appeared to occupy the space of “generic antagonists” vacated by the Klingons. On Deep Space Nine , they were the shady conspirators outwitted by the even shadier Federation.

The fourth season of Enterprise takes this approach to the Romulans, their lack of the distinct independence identity that makes the Klingons and the Cardassians so intriguing, and turns it into a defining attribute. As befitting the species that introduced the cloaking device to the franchise and wage a secret war, the Romulans seem to haunt Star Trek . Positioned at the very beginning of the franchise’s history, at the dawn of the Federation, they represent its antithesis; an isolated militaristic culture driven by a philosophy of perpetual conquest of a hostile universe.

“You’re right. Opening the blind at the end of Babel One really let some light into the room.”

The United trilogy positions the Romulans as a spectre.

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Filed under: Enterprise | Tagged: Andorian , Archer , Benedict Cumberbatch , J. J. Abrams , james t. kirk , Jeffrey Combs , Jonathan Archer , Phlox , Romulan , star trek , star trek: enterprise , Starfleet , StarTrek , Television program , Tellarite , vulcan , Zachary Quinto |

19 Responses

Before DS9, the Romulans were my favorite Trek race. I agree that they were never well defined, but I think they had a fair amount of definition. In fact, there are a few aspects to Romulans that always stuck out to me:

Romulans are intelligent. As enemies, they were always brains over brawn. I think they came across as “sneaky” or “manipulative” simply because they their plans usually involved intricate schemes that bespoke a keen intelligence. I always thought this was a refreshing change of pace from most Trek enemies, who simply relied upon brute force (especially the Klingons, who at times come across as quite dimwitted and impatient).

The differences between the Federation and Romulans always seemed political rather than personal. Romans almost never display abject hatred of the Federation. Perhaps fear, mistrust, or a sense that the Federation must be stopped (the one exception I can think of, the centurion from TNG’s “The Enemy,” eventually accepted Geordi as a friend). But there’s always a sense that the Romulan plans against the Federation are due to some strategic imperative, not simply a desire to cause harm.

We also hear Romulans complain about their government and oppression, most famously in “Unification.” In “Face of the Enemy,” the captain recalls that one of her family members was interrogated by the Tal Shiar. Then of course there are all those moments when it seems humans and Romulans could almost become friends under different circumstances. The captain in “Balance of Terror” says this explicitly. For me, the most interesting example is the end of TNG’s “The Chase”. It’s a great moment, in which the Romulan commander and Picard, whose governments are sworn enemies, are the only ones to appreciate the scientific discovery (the Romulans certainly seem more akin to the Federation than the Klingons, then the Federations allies). There’s always this sense that, without the Romulan government getting in the way, the Romulans and Federation would get along famously.

Finally, there’s an interesting gender dynamic. Romulans seem to have made greater strides towards gender equality than any other Trek race (including the Federation). There was a female Romulan commander in “Enterprise Incident” during the same season when Kirk said a woman couldn’t captain a starship. Many of the franchise’s most memorable Romulans were female (Sela, Cretak, etc).

All this I think fits with your point of the Romulans being a sort of dark mirror for the Federation. There are a lot of things we can admire and even see in ourselves, such as gender equality, intelligence, scientific curiosity, but in the end they’re still not quite us.

Those are all very good points, and I’d actually missed a couple of them. I also can’t help but think, like Ed suggests below, that the Romulans were somewhat undermined by the introduction of the Cardassians around the fourth season of The Next Generation.

It’s weird. Romulans change with each iteration. I think all those course corrections and retcons (now they’re Salafi muslims!) take their toll.

The Romulans on TNG stepped into the shoes of Colicos, Campbell, and Ansara. At least that’s my impression. (The Klingons of TNG are rarely spotted outside of the high council, which mirrored Patrick Stewart’s work with the RNC.)

On DS9, the Romulans lost focus because they were supplemented by the Cardassians. Who are basically the same, except they have this fun sense of irony about it.

That said, the Klingons also underwent a lot of changes between various iterations as well, but endured quite well.

Although I suspect that’s because the Klingons were always more “curated” than the Romulans. Nobody has developed a Romulan language except for Diane Duane. No staff writer ever paid the Romulans as much attention as Ronald D. Moore paid to the Klingons. There was never really a Romulan episode like Sins of the Father.

But I think you’re on to something about the Cardassians rendering the Romulans somewhat redundant.

Well, I jumped to that conclusion from reading your DS9 reviews. Something about Cardassia representing the new-style of American anxiety:

False flag operations (Waco?), political upheaval (Bosnia, Yugoslavia), mass surveillance (Omnibus Counterterrorism Act of ’95).

The Romulans worked beautifully as Russians. The late nineties simply called for a different kind of villain. More to the point, I think a small reason why Star Trek “lost its way” is it relied on nostalgia rather of pitting the crew against a relatable menace. Raoul Silva represented intelligence “blowback”. Not only do the villans fail to capture the public consciousness, but they don’t even line up with the strengths and weakness of our heroes.

Kylo Ren represents teenage fascism. If anyone can tell me what the Borg Queen on VOY was meant to represent, I’ll be happy. (Though if Janeway were a militant lesbian like in fanfics, there might be a a connection there, ha.)

Yeah, rewatching Voyager, I get the sense that it really is incredibly retrograde. It’s a nineties show that wants to be set during the Cold War. Whether that’s just nostalgia for the early years of TNG or a reflection of a deeper malaise, I’m not sure. But the whole “space western” thing of Caretaker and the awkward “Kazon as racial other” vibes have a strong nostalgic feel to them. Part of me thinks that the Borg on Voyager were still meant to be communism, which is arguably a step backwards since TNG positioned the Borg as at once a metaphor for communism or all-consuming globalisation.

Which is a long-winded way of saying I mostly agree with you.

I have to admit, I’m surprised that the rebooted Star Trek series hasn’t yet given us a villain who wants to set things back to the way that they “should be”, which would really be the perfect antagonist for 2016 on both a cultural and political level. I’d love to be able to pitch something like that to IDW, for example. But I’m not quite sure it would be of interest to them.

Ed, What on earth is “teenage fascism”? I thought one of the more clever aspects of Force Awakens (which otherwise relied way too much on nostalgia) was making the First Order a cult-like group rather akin to a terrorist organization.

I suspect, and I don’t want to speak for Ed here, that he might be alluding to movements like GamerGate. (And, possibly the “no girls allowed” school of Ghostbusters fandom, though that skews a little older.)

I like the Romulans, though I agree they suffered thanks to the introduction of the Cardassians.

That said their supposed manipulative abilities have been undercut since as early as the original series – ‘The Enterprise Incident’ showed them to be fairly naive when it comes to espionage. While it is not flattering to the Romulans to see them outwitted again and again (and again) I actually think it makes sense that a deeply isolantionist state with an unshakable faith in its’s own superiority should be rather poor at cloak and daggers.

I think the franchise has always had a bit of a problem tying together the Space!Roman strands (represented both by the honourable Romulan military officers and scheming politicians we see) with the super secretive Cold Warrior strands (represented by the criminally inept Tal Shiar.)

“criminally inept”

The only thing they accomplished of note was turning Geordi into a “manchurian agent”. Even that was done with Klingon help.

Another thing which benefited the Cardassians was the separation of powers. The CC wants to expand but the OO wants to insulate. The military seems to have a huge amount of influence on congress, but the civilians can undercut them at the worst possible time.

Yeah, for all the hype around the Tal Shiar, they really were quite terrible at their security brief, weren’t they?

As I said earlier I think it makes sense from an in-universe point of view that Tal Shiar are such poor spies because the Romulans are established as hyperisolationist – they are secretive but at the same time their actual knowledge of foreign powers is nearly equally sketchy.

I can picture the Tal Shiar being effective at quashing internal dissent – the wanabee Vulcans in TNG were infiltrated after all (as I said earlier, in retrospect the decision to make ‘good’ Romulans into proto-Vulcans always felt deeply uncomfortable to me, a strangely reactionary idea that Romulan civilisation has little or no good points on it’s own merits but is simply a wayward Vulcan offshot – at least the Cardassian dissidents weren’t trying to turn their people into humans.)

That’s a very fair point. I just think it’s hilarious that their reputation is so absurdly overblown outside the Empire. Then again, I think that the Klingon spies in Visionary set a low bar for espionage competence in the Star Trek universe.

I think part of the problem with defining the Romulans is that they, as well as the Klingons, underwent a 180 degree shift between the original series and The Next Generation.

In both “Balance of Terror” and “The Enterprise Incident” the Romulans are depicted as honorable warriors who lament the fact that they are being used & manipulated by ruthless politicians as pawns in an unjust war. The Klingons, in contrast, are characterized as brutal, devious, manipulative warmongers governed by a police state, a culture that executes hostages and double-cross their allies at the drop of a hat.

Fast forward to The Next Generation, and the two species have almost completely swapped positions. The Klingons are the ones extoling the virtues of honor and or conquering a foe in a fair fight, and who often find themselves being let down by their ambitions, unscrupulous politicians who fail to adhere to those principles. The Romulans, on the other hand, are now depicted as treacherous, secretive, manipulative figures who subvert other worlds and betray their allies while living in fear of their own totalitarian government.

I think it’s possible to trace that switch back to Star Trek III, which also gave the Klingons their own Bird of Prey. That was the film that was originally written to feature the Romulans as bad guys, only to swap them out for the Klingons with minimal re-writes. Kruge is an underrated Star Trek bad guy, but you can see little traces of honour in his behaviour and that of his crew. (He is also an unambiguous villain, to be fair; but he seems to regret having to kill his lover, even as he is obligated to do so, and his motivations are clearly outlined as patriotic.)

I don’t know if ST III was the point, since that *is* the movie where the Klingons murder Kirk’s son in cold blood. I really think the switch was made when TNG began, and Worf was first introduced. Obviously back in 1987 it would have been totally unthinkable for a weekly TV series to have a regular character who was portrayed as someone who launched sneak attacks and who executed hostages. That sort of darkness or moral ambiguity was virtually anathema to American television at the time. So Worf was instead cast as an honorable warrior, someone who was hotheaded and saw nothing wrong with violence as a solution, but who would never in a million years have acted like Kor in “Errand of Mercy” or Kurge in ST III. Then when we learned Worf’s backstory, that his parents and numerous other Klingons were killed years before in a Romulan sneak attack, suddenly *they* became the brutally treacherous species who were diametrically opposed to the Federation’s expressed values.

That’s a very fair point, actually.

The Romulans are still my favorite “villain” race in all of Trek, and no surprise they’re the only truly interesting villain in this old series.

Anyway, I’ve watched and talked about WAY too much Star Trek for my own good, and I’ve gotten sick of it, so I’m taking a long break, and I’m going to stop responding to all these blogposts, esp. since I only nearly averted a flame war with someone who felt the need to try to insult my politics but failing miserably. Thanks for the reviews, they’ve prompted me to try to write my own take on the franchise.

No worries! I’m glad you enjoyed the reviews, and I wish you the best of luck in your own reviews. It’s the fiftieth anniversary, so what better way to celebrate the franchise?

If you do ever pop back, the reviews will still be here. Thank you very much for your comments and input. I’ve really appreciated them.

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Star Trek: Enterprise

“United”

Air date: 2/4/2005 Written by Judith & Garfield Reeves-Stevens Story by Manny Coto Directed by David Livingston

Review by Jamahl Epsicokhan

"Is this your homework, Larry?" — Walter

Review Text

In brief: A TOS story channeled reasonably through modern Trek sensibilities.

There should be a tally somewhere (and come to think of it, there might be) of just how many societies in the Star Trek mythos have employed a fight to the death as a matter of honor and/or custom.

But first things first. The Romulans are busy causing mayhem with their remote-controlled drone, as they themselves sit in a control room on Romulus. Occasionally, an unhappy senator checks in on them, flanked by two Remans, in a nod to the movie that was the nail in the coffin of the TNG film franchise (snark). They destroy a Rigellian ship while masquerading as the Enterprise . They apparently want to do more than drive a wedge between the Andorians and the Tellarites. It's an attempt to "destabilize the entire region," says Archer — a line that seems rooted more in news headlines than in Star Trek .

The Romulans are loath to man these ships, because they want to cause this mayhem without the possibility of it being traced back to them. The Romulans seem to believe — for reasons beyond my comprehension — that the drone can absolutely not be traced back to them. Obviously they have severely underestimated the fact that their technology is recognizable — enough for T'Pol to have easily put the pieces together in last week's " Babel One ."

Because of this common threat to the region, Archer's mission is to hunt down and stop the drone, with a search radius that will require a small fleet. He thus attempts to forge an alliance between all the involved parties — the Andorians, Tellarites, Vulcans, and Rigellians — with the Enterprise coordinating the search as the command ship since it seems the humans are the most neutral of everyone involved. This is a bit simplistic, I will admit, but it serves its purpose as a hint of the kind of obstacles and eventual cooperative efforts that will pave the way to the founding of the Federation. (Manny Coto said his idea of a fifth season, had the show not been canceled, would've had focus on the formation of the Federation as a United Nations-like case study. That could've been interesting.)

But of course it's not going to be that easy. Talas ends up dying from the phaser wound she suffered at the end of the previous episode. This results in a bereaved Shran demanding the Tellarite who killed her answer for his crime in a traditional Andorian Ushaan — a fight to the death using traditional (and wicked-looking) Andorian ice-cutting blades. The scene where Shran demands the Ushaan is a nice showpiece for Jeffrey Combs, who walks into the room and starts off quiet before unleashing the yelling and histrionics. Combs does a good job here of overacting without it coming across as bad acting.

The fight to the death storyline has "original series" written all over it — especially once it becomes clear that Archer is going to stand in for the Tellarite under the death match's right of substitution rule. Now we have a match between two people who are essentially friends — reminiscent of " Amok Time " — although this whole Andorian notion seems awfully Klingon-like in terms of honor, respect, etc.

What I like best about this idea is the way Archer is boxed in by the pure logic of the situation. If the match is prohibited, the Andorians will pull out of the alliance. The Tellarites refuse to participate, and even if they hadn't, any outcome would likely end in the withdrawal of one party. So Archer volunteers to fight, since he knows Starfleet will go forward with the alliance effort even if Archer dies. Noble, logical, and brilliantly foolish.

What I thought was painfully lame, however, was the script's way of getting out of this with both Archer and Shran still alive. The fight scene itself is adequately staged as action/fun, but the loophole that allows Archer to defeat Shran without killing him completely lacks imagination. We learn after the commercial break that the rules say the match ends "when one fighter is rendered defenseless." That's so disingenuous on the script's part that it's not even a loophole. How can the fight be a death match if the rules themselves don't specify that the fight only ends when one fighter is, well, dead ?

With the fight settled, the alliance can proceed, marking the first time these species have worked together in a common effort. It's not the founding of the Federation, but it's a start.

Meanwhile, Trip and Reed are trapped aboard the Romulan drone and attempt to override the controls. When that doesn't work, Reed goes for a lower-tech solution: sabotage by overloading his phase-pistol. Apparently, the overload feature is actually in the phase-pistol manual, hopefully in a chapter called Blowed Up Real Good. The Romulans struggle to regain control of the damaged drone, and in one scene, they lock Trip in a room and expose him to deadly levels of radiation. I'm not sure if radiation exposure works like this; my thinking is that if you're doubling over in pain because of radiation poisoning, the damage to your body is already done. Removing you from the room isn't going to reverse the damage like giving a suffocating man oxygen. Call it the plot-device version of radiation poisoning.

The drone itself is agile and erratic, making the dogfights a little more interesting as it darts here and there and tries to make people dizzy. At one point, Trip and Reed go to an airlock and are ejected into space and somehow thrown clear of the drone. I suspect this works much like when someone is "thrown clear" during an auto accident — ejected from the vehicle and yet somehow, miraculously still okay. The drone then escapes back to Romulan space.

"United" somewhat challenges conventional structure if this is to be considered part two of a trilogy, because the central storyline involving the formation of the alliance is wrapped up here. Indeed, the episode ends on yet another twist, as it's revealed that the pilot hooked into the drone is not Romulan but what resembles an albino Andorian. It's a bizarre revelation that does not follow from anything we would've expected from watching the story unfold. Think of the last five seconds of " Zero Hour ," but in a way that's intriguing instead of merely distracting.

Next week: Who are the white Andorians?

Previous episode: Babel One Next episode: The Aenar

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◄ Season Index

Comment Section

42 comments on this post.

Reminiscent of Soval's comments in "The Forge" about how humans are the middle-of-the-road species, Archer says here that humanity is defined by the capacity to cooperate. In one scene, the prequel tries to explain the most fundamental oddity in all of Trek: why the Federation is headquartered on Earth and why Starfleet is mostly humans. Archer has a couple of other funny lines: "If I've learned anything these past few years on Enterprise, it's that the future isn't fixed" and, "Things have a way of turning out differently than we expect." Given Coto's commitment to continuity, I must assume those were intended as sarcastic commentary on the Temporal Cold War. More meta-humor when Travis joined Hoshi on the bridge. "What are you doing here?" she asked. "People were complaining that I wasn't getting enough screen time," he may well have answered. Which would also explain Travis's otherwise inexplicable presence at the high-level briefing in Act 1 and giving him credit for designing the sensor net.

Much of my comments for last week's "Babel" can be applied to "United" as well: it's a well-constructed, contrived (the drone ship's vastly superior dogfighting; the sensor net conveniently requiring the input of not two but FOUR species to be successful; the loophole found by Archer to defeat but not kill Shran during the duel) yet entertaining episode. It's always a pleasure to see Jeffrey Combs in these situations because as Jammer says, he does just enough to be entertaining yet does not turn Shran into a caricature by going overboard. And yeah, the Andorian Ushaan smells a lot like Klingon (the blades they use almost look like inverted Bat'leths) but hey, it gives us an excuse to see an interesting new take on the "Fight to the Death"[TM] concept: tying the two duelists together with a short rope (ok, maybe the concept isn't so new, but it's still fairly innovative within the Trek realm).

Romulans sure is pudgy.

Archer's Dog

I thought the Ushaan deathmatch fight loophole was pretty funny and somewhat plausible. Presumably, previous Ushaan fights has only been performed between two Andorians. I think both fighters know not to cut off the antennae. It's a sensitive subject, both "Andorian" fighters would rather die than get their antennae cut off. As Shran said, "you humiliated me" lol

I agree with "Archer's Dog" - the loophole in the deathmatch is plausible, because losing an anthenna is worse than dying to Andorians. Too bad there was no fifth season, as Shran was planned to become a member of the ENT crew and therefore regular in the show. I love the way they explained how humans have the central role in the Federation. I dont look for small plot holes as most people here do - you seem to forget what Star Trek is all about - namely, there are so many big loopholes, such as the humanoid appearance of almost all species throughout the universe, the same composition of the air they breathe, the same gravity requirements, the famous explosions in space with no oxygen, the universal translator being able to figure out the whole language based on ten words it gets... But of course, we dont mind this - this is science fantasy and not science fiction - we all engage in a "suspense of disbelief". If we can disregard all those elephants in the room, why do you constantly have to look for much smaller plot holes? Just relax, imagine a better future and enjoy the show. I love Star Trek anyway they serve it.

Quote from "Milica": "Too bad there was no fifth season, as Shran was planned to become a member of the ENT crew and therefore regular in the show." WOW!! I had not known that, but there's not much doubt that that would have been a huge asset to the show. I'm only just now getting an opportunity to view "Enterprise" via Netflix, and I have to agree with the "general consensus" that this show really took off in the fourth season following the termination of the unfortunate Temporal War plotline. At this point in the fourth season I'm having real *fun* with the show -- and it really feels like a true prequel to TOS. It's really too bad that it took so long for this show to evolve to this point.

Wow, Shran as a permanent crew member would've been all kinds of awesome. A pity it didn't get that far and that sadly, season 4 was too little too late to save the franchise as we know it. Nice to see Travis given a couple of lines. Not sure about circling the camera round and round the table with him and Hoshi though, I got dizzy. 6_9 I'm fine with that theory about having an antenna cut off being worse than death for an Andorian. But it was described as simply that one side has to be incapacitated, which doesn't fit in with that. Oh well. This series has a penchant for the "OMGWTF" cliffhanger...

Thanks for true Trek ! The way I see it, what some viewers think of clichés, I take it as homage to TOS and I like it a lot. There are obviously some problems with the canon (like the romulan war being fought with nuclear weapons), but unlike some hard-canon-fans, it doesn't bother me when the stories remain true to the essence of Trek. Like Milica said, if we can suspend our disbelief over big issues that are common in all Trek, we could overcome some license taken for the sake of storytelling. @Cloudane "This series has a penchant for the "OMGWTF" cliffhanger...". I couldn't agree more, although these last cliffhangers are fun and make me want to know more, unlike the WTF nazis with red eyes ! I also regret there haven't been a fifth season (with Shran, a new dynamic, healthy conflicts and fun): the 4th season was meant to put Enterprise in the right direction, correcting many issues. I had hopes a 5th season would have given us an arc leading to the romulan wars and the slow construction of the Federation.

It's too bad the Romulans were introduced SO early in TOS. Even five or 10 episodes later and some of the stuff that doesn't work with ENT -- because it's just goofy in the first place -- wouldn't have happened. No. 1, the Romulans wouldn't ONLY have impulse technology in 'Balance of Terror'. TOS was always bad about stuff like this -- firing phasers at warp, etc. -- but early in the series is where it shows the most. By the time the Klingons show up in 'Errand of Mercy' it's pretty clear they have warp-capable ships. Also, the talk that 22nd century war gave "no room for quarter" to hold captives is just ridiculous. I realize it was necessary for the big reveal -- that Vulcans and Romulans are related -- but it doesn't quite work as written. And the point about nuclear weapons is valid, of course.

Obligatory comment because no one else has mentioned it on this page yet: the Tellarite makeup is again just gorgeous and incredible. Without a doubt the most convincing "alien" costume I've ever seen on ST or off it. Absolutely well-done and much kudos to the costume designers. An alien that looks believable and not so cliché, different but not so different from your average homo sapien, and not laughably contrived for the sake of screaming out "these guys aren't from planet earth" (à la any of the ridged-forehead species)? Bravo.

This season the use of the transporter became about as standard as it is in the "later" trek shows...we saw the shuttlepods in almost every episode of the first three seasons, but in season 4 they've been scarce.

Shakaama Live

In the 50's I could excuse the writers of saying such and so culture had honor slayings or honor fights to the death. But in 2,000, there's no excuse for it. It is impossible that you have a society that has warp technology, a single dominant species on the planet, and yet have 3rd century earth social systems. This is supposed to be sci-fi, as in "futuristic". We're not so dumb anymore to willingly accept everything that comes across the screen as "good entertainment". And what's more, the writers are not trying to be campy. They seriously are trying to write a sci-fi drama. Bless their hearts.

Shran as a permanent crew member of the Enterprise? An idea made of win! Too bad we never got to see it. I wonder if the book authors have incorporated that idea in the Enterprise reboot novels. ITA with Milica -- why nitpick silly small things when the very premise of the show is filled with holes big enough to fly a starship through? I've been enjoying this rewatch immensely now that I've seen every other Trek ever made. When an episode is in the spirit of Star Trek, as this arc has most definitely been, I am content.

OK Jammer, OK everyone. I got up off my couch and came over to my computer and said if Jammer doesn't give this 4 stars I'm going to personally track him down and... do something. What a nitpicky bunch. What the hell is WRONG with you guys?

I enjoyed this 3 episode arc, as they are the types of stories Enterprise should have been doing in Season 2, once the crew had been out in deep space for a year and did a little exploring. I think most of us Star Trek fans were looking forward to this prequel to see what events led to the formation of the Federation. Two thumbs down to Berman and Braga for digging this series into a deep hole it just couldn't climb out of, not that either of those arrogant shits would ever admit it... Anyway, I thought the stories were good, 3.5 for Babel One and United, 3 for The Aenar... Wish this had made it to a 5th season, sounded like Manny Coto had some great stories planned.

The duel was cheesy but acceptable in an episode that was very satisfying. I agree with the comments that praise this trilogy as being true to the concept of a prequel show and the acknowledgement that this tremendous improvement in the show has come just too late to save it. What have we got now-lens flare, gratuitous bikinis and ugly starships-oh well.

I thought it would have been a nice nod to "stuff the audience knows but the characters don't" (see TNG, "Conundrum") if when Reed and Tucker were looking at the Romulan text on the displays one of them had said, "It looks a little like Vulcan."

I liked it.

Diamond Dave

Solid enough fare, particularly for a middle episode. What's good here is the big picture world building alliance related stuff Archer leads on - it's fun to see the foundations of the Federation being laid down. And even if the death match might be a riff too far on TOS, at least the fairly inventive conclusion offers a way out. The drone storyline is perhaps a little less interesting, but another WTF stinger at the end opens up some interesting possibilities. 3 stars.

Toph in Blacksburg

I'm surprised no one has brought it up yet, but that zoom-out shot near the end from the Enterprise conference room to showing the assembled unified fleet was really something. You can just tell that this was the true birthplace of the Federation.

The fight to the death between Archer and Shran with their hands tied is reminiscent of the Michael Jackson music video "Beat It" where both clan leaders are tied and fighting to the death.

Once again, Star Trek throws the concept of inertia out the window. Reed and Tucker get thrown out of the drone at high speed, next thing you know, they're at a dead stop in space, lol.

Star Trek may be bad at inertia, but at least not bad as you: what should it mean "dead stop in space"? Dead stop in relation to what?

Really liked this episode - good pace, plenty of action but of course we know that a fight to the death between Archer and Shran is not going to end with one of them dying. To call off the fight to the death when one combatant is disabled makes no sense -- disabling a fighter could well be followed by the killing blow. Anyhow, "Amok Time" handled it much better although the fight and the build-up to it was well done. The ending with the white albino was another WTF moment like "Zero Hour" as Jammer mentions. But the theme is short sagas for ENT S4 so why not? Trip/Reed on the Romulan drone was pretty standard stuff -- best course of action is just blowing stuff up instead of trying to figure out how the thing works. I liked the part where they were stuck in space as ships flew by. It's amazing how much of a budget ENT had as compared to TOS for this kind of stuff (seeing all the different starships) -- but that doesn't make the series or the episode better. Seems like Trip recovered pretty quickly from the lethal radiation, which is a bit of a knock against the episode. I was getting a bit tired of Shran but we saw some different sides of him here and it worked well. Ultimately this episode should be a very important one in the history for these races as the Tellarites and Andorians become allies much to the chagrin of the Romulans. Almost 3.5 stars but "United" gets a strong 3 stars for me. Still bothers me that the Romulans have this kind of technology when "Balance of Terror" would have you believe they don't have warp power with just have a powerful plasma torpedo. Would have been nice to see some kind of reference to that episode with the Roman name etc. That's one part left out of the whole continuity initiative...

I must say I'm getting tired of 2- and 3-parters. I think they almost invariably tend to drag on and you forget what happened in last week's episode. They also seem a bit lazy because the writers only have to think of one storyline premise instead of 2 or 3. I wish they had just done single episode stories, like the vast majority of those in TNG, DS9, and VOY. They ensure that the story is paced fast enough to end by the end of the episode and you get some (hopefully interesting) new material each week.

I’m fine with the loophole abuse, but the resolution of the Ushaan was still a little hollow. They had T’Pol going all Michael Buffer in the lead-up, building up the big fight and giving it out that Andorians play with their icy Space Knives for years starting from when they’re mere Smurfs. She points out that as a commander in the elite military force of an interstellar species he’s highly trained in hand-to-hand combat. She doesn’t even have to say at this point that by contrast Archer gets beaten down by pretty much every level-1 mook he encounters and his default reaction to getting into a scrap is to basically say “PLEASE JUST TAKE ME HOSTAGE NOW!” So then they have Archer - puny Earthling - the man who couldn’t fight his way out of Teletubby-land without having a few bones broken by a swing from Tinky-Winky’s handbag, actually win a fair fight against Shran, playing by his rules, using his opponent’s weapon-of-choice whilst he’s bloodlusted. So basically like me lacing on the gloves, stepping into a boxing ring with Anthony Joshua and levelling the giant freak in the first round.

Zakalwe: I, too, thought Archer’s skills were nothing short of remarkable.

Startrekwatcher

2.5 stars Lot of recycled ideas that I didn’t find very interesting like the ritual combat and the stuff onboard the drone felt very repetitive after a while along with bickering and infighting

I enjoyed it, decent plot, pacing, acting was mostly believable. The fight to the death was not necessary, the episode would have been exactly the same without it, it was a little goofy. I found the pair on the drone ship to be the most frustrating in the episode, but it was not a deal breaker for me.

Two things: 1) Great physical acting from Jeffrey Combs after he loses his antenna. Just watch the way he limps and lurches around, perfectly conveying that he’s lost his sense of balance on that side of his body, all without any acknowledgment in dialogue. Great detail and evidence of an actor who really knows his craft. 2) I was hoping for an epic pullback shot of all 128 ships in the fleet, but budget constraints, I guess. The pullback shot we get is very satisfying and again conveys a lot through pure visuals. 3.5 stars. Entertaining, snappy, satisfying, with important contributions to Star Trek lore.

John Daniels

Good episode besides Shran girlfriend dying of a superficial wound, how dumb can you get, the best doctor in the universe and all of sudden she dies, it just seems so unrealistic that you get pulled out of the story.

@John Daniels: This was discussed in the episode. The wound appeared superficial, but the weapon was set to kill and even Talas being only grazed was enough to cause enough damage to kill her.

What botheres me about the loophole plot contrivance the most wasn't that it existed, but how easily Archer defeated Shran. Yes he didn't end up killing him, but he had Shran at his mercy and could have ended the fight with a kill at any time at that point. The episode makes a bit of a deal about the overwhelming likelyhood of Shran winning the fight because Andorians are proficient with this form of combat from a young age. The loophole thing is still silly, but the episode handles it rather poorly regardless.

Picard_Is_Wesleys_Father

It seems plausible Shran simply viewed “incapacitation” as impossible in a battle with serated blades. Archer took advantage of the secondary element of the ushaan-tor, the tether, to choke Shran and then unbalance him by slicing off his antenna. So I think it’s fair to say “duel to the death” is fueled more by the practical and emotional considerations of Shran than the explicit rules themselves.

@Fire: In relationship to the Enterprise coasting slowly into the frame and beaming up Tucker and Reed. I don't know why you have to make it personal. You could have had your 2 cents without being insulting...

I think Shran wasn't really trying hard to kill Archer. Having lost his ship and then Talas, he had lost his will to live and wanted to die a "warrior death" or something. He was just doing enough to make Archer think it was a real fight. Also, the "incapacitated" loophole may not be so much of a loophole either. For all we know, maybe an ancient warrior rite is not so much a real fight any more as it is a ritual. Like Paso Doble is to bullfighting. Maybe it is the comparative naivety of the Enterprise crew that they take it so seriously. All they have are legalities of the ritual, no actual cultural reference.

I agree with the review, good episode overall. I just wanted to point out they haven't completely forgotten Travis is a member of the crew! They decided, hey, we should have him help Hoshi read through the battle rules...at least it was something for him to do

Fantastic episode, if you ask me. What a shame that the series was canceled right when it started being in the right track (as it's tradition, after season three)...

Return to Babel Used a plot device of a peace conference to tell a dramatic story about Spock and his father and his family. Now on Babel one and whatever this is it's like they took the action and the negotiations to seriously. As if that's worth a story in itself. I don't think it is. It seemed this series is more interested in having drones fly around and blow things up then actually do dramatic character stuff. Although that's probably a exaggeration.

The rules of the Andorian Ushann fight-to-the-“death” were always more guidelines than actual rules! Cool looking drone ship!

Mellie Agon

No one has mentioned the two vampire-like guards accompanying the Romulan senator, that we see briefly a couple of times in this mini-arc. I assume they are Remans (ST: Nemesis, anyone?), whom the Romulans sometimes used as bodyguards. Small bit of continuity.

https://www.jammersreviews.com/st-ent/s4/united.php#comment-111831 Tbf it is mentioned in the review.

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During the mid-22nd century, a century before Captain Kirk's five-year mission, Jonathan Archer captains the United Earth ship Enterprise during the early years of Starfleet, leading up to the Earth-Romulan War and the formation of the Federation.

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Whatever Happened To The Cast Of Star Trek: Enterprise?

T he sixth series in the long-running "Star Trek" franchise," "Star Trek: Enterprise" ran from 2001 to 2005 on the UPN Network (now The CW). The series, created by Rick Berman and Brannon Braga, took place approximately a century before the events depicted in " Star Trek: The Original Series " (TOS) and followed the crew of the first starship named Enterprise (not the one depicted in "TOS") as they had their first encounters with the show's most iconic alien races, such as the Klingons and Vulcans. Scott Bakula was at the helm as Captain Jonathan Archer, leading his diverse crew through four seasons of science fiction adventure before the show's abrupt cancellation in 2005.

Like all "Star Trek" alumni, the cast of "Enterprise" has enjoyed a certain degree of acclaim long after their series left the air, thanks to the ardent "Trek" fanbase. Some have continued to act and gain even greater fame, while others have settled comfortably into careers split between doing new work and looking back nostalgically at their "Trek" experiences. Following is a list of the primary cast members of "Enterprise," as well as several actors who played recurring roles, and what they've been up to since the mighty starship was permanently parked in spacedock.

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Scott Bakula As Captain Jonathan Archer

As Captain (and later Starfleet Admiral) Jonathan Archer, actor Scott Bakula led the crew of the Enterprise through four seasons of adventures on "Star Trek: Enterprise." Bakula was arguably the best-known cast member on the series, having earned a Golden Globe and multiple Emmy nominations as the time-traveling hero of the original "Quantum Leap." Bakula was also visible to film and TV audiences through appearances in high-profile projects like "American Beauty" and "Murphy Brown," as well as extensive work in Broadway theater productions.

After "Enterprise" completed its final mission in 2005, Bakula remained extremely active as both a leading man and guest or recurring player. He starred as Special Agent Dwayne "King" Pride in seven seasons of "NCIS: New Orleans," for which he netted a People's Choice Award nomination in 2015. Bakula also starred in the critically-acclaimed, Peabody Award-winning comedy-drama "Men of a Certain Age" with Ray Romano and Andre Braugher, and guested on series ranging from "The Simpsons" to a very funny episode of "What We Do in the Shadows," in which Nandor and Nadja confuse him for Count Dracula. 

On the film front, Bakula has collaborated with Steven Soderbergh on several occasions, including the 2009 feature "The Informant!," the TV drama "Behind the Candelabra" -- which earned him a fifth Emmy nomination in 2013 -- and most recently, the 2023 science fiction thriller "Divinity," which Soderbergh produced.

Jolene Blalock As Science Officer T'Pol

Landing the role of Science Officer (and later First Officer) T'Pol on "Star Trek: Enterprise" proved to be the big break for Jolene Blalock's acting career. It also turned out to be her most notable screen role: the former model enjoyed guest appearances on series like "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation" and "JAG" prior to joining the cast of "Enterprise." While appearing on the series, she also turned up twice on another small-screen sci-fi drama, "Stargate SG-1," and co-starred with Ray Liotta in a thriller, "Slow Burn," which was filmed in 2003 but released in 2007.

Blalock gave only a handful of film and TV appearances after "Enterprise" ended in 2005. The majority of these were guest appearances on "CSI: Miami" and "House," and co-starring turns in the Jason Segel comedy "Sex Tape" and several direct-to-video features, such as "Starship Troopers 3: Marauder." She appears to have stepped away from acting after 2017, preferring instead to focus on her marriage to Live Nation CEO Michael Rapino, with whom she has three sons. The couple also oversee the Rapino Foundation, a charitable organization that benefits developing nations.

Connor Trinneer As Chief Engineer Trip Tucker

Washington State native Connor Trinneer graduated from stage work and bit parts on television to romantic hero status when he was cast as chief engineer Charles "Trip" Tucker on "Star Trek: Enterprise." Trip's primary storyline was an on-and-off relationship with T'Pol throughout all four seasons of the series, though the pair eventually settled for friendship prior to his apparent death in the final episode of the series. For his work on "Enterprise," Trinneer earned Saturn Award nominations in 2002 and 2003.

Trinneer's post-"Enterprise" work has featured a recurring run as the villainous Wraith Michael on "Stargate: Atlantis" and guest roles on numerous series, including "9-1-1," "NCIS: Los Angeles," "and "24." Film projects included a lead in the SyFy original movie "Star Runners" in 2009 and "Unbelievable!!!" a broad comedy featuring 40 cast members from various "Trek" series, including his "Enterprise" co-stars Linda Park, Dominic Keating, and John Billingsley. 

More recently, Trineer appeared in the Tom Cruise drama "American Made" (as President George W. Bush) and Steven Spielberg's "The Fabelmans." In 2023 he reprised the role of Trip Tucker in an episode of the animated short series "Star Trek: Very Short Treks." He's also co-hosted several popular "Star Trek" podcasts, including "The Shuttlepod Show" and "The D-Con Chamber," with "Enterprise" co-star Dominic Keating.

Dominic Keating As Tactical Officer Malcolm Reed

British-Irish actor Dominic Keating was already well-known in his native England for roles on series like "Desmond's" before crossing the pond to play Tactical Officer Malcolm Reed on "Star Trek: Enterprise." Keating came to the United States in the late 1990s and landed guest roles on "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" and other series before joining "Enterprise" for all four seasons on the UPN Network.

Keating remained busy as both a live-action and voice-over actor in the years after "Enterprise." A four-episode arc as an Irish mobster on "Heroes" and guest roles on series like "Prison Break" and "Sons of Anarchy" kept him on screen into the mid-2010s, while video games like "Diablo 3" and "World of Warcraft: Legion" made excellent use of his vocal talents. Keating also played an '80s-era British pop star in a series of TV spots for Sprint/Nextel in the 2010s. More recently, as noted earlier, Keating teamed with Connor Trinneer to co-host the "Star Trek" podcasts, "The Shuttlepod Show" and "The D-Con Chamber."

Linda Park As Communications Officer Hoshi Sato

Shortly after graduating from Boston University in 2001, Linda Park embarked on both her screen acting career and her tenure as a "Star Trek" hero by landing the role of communications officer Hoshi Sato on "Star Trek: Enterprise." Park, who made her feature film debut that same year with a small role in "Jurassic Park III," remained busy with other projects during the series' four-year run, including the 2004 feature "Spectres" starring fellow "Trek" vet Marina Sirtis. She also made her debut as a producer with the 2003 short film "My Prince, My Angel."

Park quickly segued to series regular work on the short-lived "Women's Murder Club" and a recurring role on Starz's "Crash," which was inspired by the 2004 film of the same name. Guest roles on "NCIS" and "Castle" kept her busy for much of the next decade, though she revisited the "Trek" universe in the short fan film "Star Trek: Captain Pike" in 2016. The following year, she joined the cast of "Bosch" for three seasons while also appearing on shows like "The Affair" and "Grey's Anatomy."

John Billingsley As Dr. Phlox

John Billingsley had been active on television and in films for over a decade prior to landing the role of Dr. Phlox on "Star Trek: Enterprise." His work included roles in features like "High Crimes" and on network series like "Northern Exposure" and "The West Wing," as well as a recurring turn as serial killer George Marks, the only criminal to escape capture on "Cold Case."

When "Enterprise" came to a close in 2005, Billingsley resumed his busy TV and film schedule , which included recurring roles as the creepy, vampirized coroner Mike Spencer on "True Blood," scientist Shenandoah Cassidy on the short-lived "Intelligence," and conspirator Terrence Steadman in Season 1 of "Prison Break." 

By the mid-2010s, Billingsley was appearing in multiple series per year: between 2014 and 2019 alone, he was in episodes of "Bones," "Twin Peaks," "The Orville," and "Lucifer," while also enjoying recurring roles on "Turn: Washington's Spies" (as the father of Revolutionary War spy Robert Townsend) and the Freeform series "Stichers," in addition to his work on "Intelligence." His busy streak has continued well into the next decade, with guest turns on "Station 19," "Manhunt," and "Pam and Tommy."

Anthony Montgomery As Ensign Travis Mayweather

Ensign Travis Mayweather served as the Enterprise's navigator and helmsman throughout the four-season run of "Star Trek: Enterprise." As played by actor Anthony Montgomery, Mayweather lent stalwart support to the Enterprise crew's adventures, and on occasion, became the focus of an episode. Among these was the Season 2 episode "Horizon," which introduced viewers to Mayweather's family and his complicated relationship with his father and brother.

Montgomery, whose grandfather was the legendary West Coast jazz guitarist Wes Montgomery, was familiar to TV viewers prior to "Enterprise" through a recurring role on the WB series "Popular," a short-lived early TV credit for Ryan Murphy. When "Enterprise" completed its final mission in 2005, Montgomery moved on to guest roles on "Grey's Anatomy" and the rebooted "Magnum, P.I." and recurring roles on series like "Greenleaf." He also returned to series regular work with the BET limited series "The Family Business" in 2020. 

In addition to his acting career, Montgomery also released a pair of albums of original music and created a graphic novel series, "Miles Away," with writer Brandon Easton.

Vaughn Armstrong As Admiral Maxwell Forrest

Though Vaughn Armstrong's name may not seem immediately familiar to you, he holds something of a celebrated place in the "Star Trek" universe. Armstrong played 12 different characters on four separate "Trek" series, including nearly every alien race in the show's vast array of extraterrestrials, including multiple Klingons, a Borg, and a Romulan. However, he's probably best known as Starfleet commander Admiral Maxwell Forrest, who initiated the Enterprise's missions, on 14 episodes of "Enterprise." True to form, Armstrong also played Klingon and Kreetassan commanders on the series as well.

The LA theater veteran, who appeared in episodes of "Wonder Woman," "Days of Our Lives," and "Melrose Place" prior to his run on "Enterprise," remained very busy after the show's conclusion. Guest and recurring TV credits include "Mad Men," "Modern Family," and "Crazy Ex-Girlfriend," while Armstrong also turned up in several independent features (including "Unbelievable!!!") and lent his voice to several "Star Trek" video games. In addition to his acting work, Armstrong also led the Enterprise Blues Band, a folk and blues group that featured several other "Trek" performers in its lineup, like Richard Herd and Casey Biggs.

Gary Graham As Ambassador Soval

Though science fiction fans may often associate actor Gary Graham with the mostly forgotten "Alien Nation" spinoff series and its many made-for-TV features, the Long Beach, California native also made several appearances in another long-running sci-fi franchise. Shortly after guest-starring on an episode of "Star Trek: Voyager," Graham played the Vulcan ambassador Soval on 12 episodes of "Star Trek: Enterprise," and reprised the role in the short "Star Trek" fan film "Prelude to Axanar." He also turned up in two other "Trek" fan films, "Of Gods and Men" and "Renegades," as well as the slightly more professional "Unbelievable!!!"

Graham's pre-"Trek" and "Alien Nation" credits included the films "All the Right Moves" and Stuart Gordon's "Robot Jox," and after "Enterprise," he appeared in episodes of "Nip/Tuck" and "Crossing Jordan." He kept busy with roles in low-budget independent films throughout the 2000s, including the critically panned "Jeepers Creepers: Reborn" in 2022, and also played in various amateur bands. The 73-year-old Graham died of cardiac arrest on January 22, 2024.

Randy Oglesby As Degra

Randy Oglesby was another character actor who found regular employment on various series within the "Star Trek" universe. He made his first appearance on a Trek series in an episode of "The Next Generation" and later played multiple characters on "Deep Space Nine," while also enjoying a guest shot as a Brenari refugee on "Voyager." He is perhaps best known for playing Degra, the architect of the world-destroying Xindi weapon, on 10 episodes of "Enterprise." He also played a Xyrillian on "Unexpected," the fifth episode of Season 1, before taking on Degra in Season 3.

Oglesby began acting in the early 1980s, appearing in films like "Pale Rider" and on series like "Dallas" under the names Thomas or Tom Oglesby. After adopting his middle name (Randall) for screen work, Oglesby appeared steadily through the 1990s and 2000s in projects like "Independence Day" and "Pearl Harbor" before making his "Enterprise" debut. He continued to appear on other series during this time period, most notably on "The Practice" and "JAG"; post-"Enterprise" roles included guest shots on "Mad Men," "True Blood," and most recently, "WandaVision" (as Wanda's doctor). Oglesby also enjoyed a recurring role on " For All Mankind " as the conservative governor and later vice-president Jim Bragg.

Jeffrey Combs As Commander Shran

Actor Jeffrey Combs is perhaps best-known for his horror film roles, including mad scientist Herbert West in the "Re-Animator" trilogy, along with "I Still Know What You Did Last Summer" and "Would You Rather." But Combs also has a long history of film and television roles outside of the horror genre; like Gary Graham, these included guest and recurring appearances on numerous titles in the extended "Star Trek" universe. One of his best-known "Trek" turns came as the flinty Andorian commander Shran on 11 episodes of "Enterprise" between Seasons 1 and 4.

Combs' "Trek" work also included multiple characters on "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine," as well as appearances on "Star Trek: Voyager" and voice-acting on "Star Trek: Lower Decks" and several "Trek" video games. Combs' post-"Enterprise" roles have been firmly divided between live-action and animated projects: the former included episodes of "The 4400," "Cold Case," "Gotham" and "Creepshow," while Combs could also be heard voicing characters on "Transformers: Prime" (as Ratchet), "Ben 10: Omniverse," "The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes" (as The Leader) and "SpongeBob SquarePants."

Rick Worthy As Jannar

Like Jeffrey Combs, Gary Graham, and other versatile character actors on this list, Rick Worthy turned up in several different film and television projects within the "Star Trek" franchise. The most substantial of these was a recurring appearance as the sloth-like Arboreal named Jannar on 10 episodes of "Star Trek: Enterprise," but eagle-eyed viewers can also catch Worthy as a Klingon on "Deep Space Nine," two different androids and a Starfleet crew member on "Voyager," and as an Elloran officer in the 1998 feature "Star Trek: Insurrection." Two years prior to that appearance, Worthy also lent his voice to the 1996 video game "Star Trek: Klingon."

Worthy's credits prior to "Enterprise" included appearances on "NYPD Blue" and "Stargate SG-1," and he remained exceptionally busy on TV after the "Trek" series came to a close in 2005. He played the humanoid Cylon Simon in eight episodes of the "Battlestar Galactica" reboot and later turned up in multiple episodes of "Heroes," "Supernatural" (as the Alpha Vampire), and "The Vampire Diaries" (as the father of Kat Graham's character, Bonnie Bennett). More recently, Worthy enjoyed lengthy runs as Resistance member Lem Washington on "The Man in the High Castle," and as Henry Fogg, dean of the magic university Brakebills, on "The Magicians."

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Every Enterprise Captain In Star Trek, Ranked

There is no ship more venerated in Star Trek than the Enterprise, and many officers have served as captain, but how do they rank against each other?

There have been many captains and leaders in the Star Trek universe over two dozen films and series across its six-decade history. However, there is no more storied command than those who get to captain the USS Enterprise. However, not all captains are created equal, and some who've earned that position has done it better than others.

For some of the Starfleet officers on this list, the vast majority of their heroics and adventures remain only in the imaginations of fans. Some were only seen on their worst days, and others have iconic Star Trek episodes or films made about their best days. In ranking the captains of the USS Enterprise, the focus will remain on those who were given official command.

10 Fleet Admiral Elizabeth Shelby Had Ambition and a Short Tenure in the Center Seat

Elizabeth denehey as seen in star trek: picard.

Admiral Elizabeth Shelby doesn't really rate highly, but her time commanding the USS Enterprise-F was significant. Introduced in Star Trek: The Next Generation 's "All Good Things," she was an ambitious, career-driven expert on the Borg who clashed with Commander Will Riker, especially after his captain was assimilated into Locutus of Borg . Naturally, he was saved from that fate, and Shelby went onto a successful career in Starfleet.

Fans didn't see her again until Frontier Day, the anniversary of the launch of the NX-01 Enterprise in Star Trek: Picard Season 3. Ironically, her desire to network all the Starfleet vessels in operation allowed the Borg to more successfully assimilate Starfleet than they ever had before. The last anyone saw of her, she was seated in the captain's chair of the Enterprise-F shot multiple times by phaser fire . According to showrunner Terry Matalas, however, "she might be alright."

9 Captain Edward Jellico Was a Unique Leader, but a Wrong Fit for the Enterprise

Ronny cox as seen in star trek: the next generation.

One of the fiercest Star Trek fan debates is whether Edward Jellico was actually a good captain or not. He took command of the USS Enterprise-D when Captain Picard was sent on a deep-cover, top-secret mission investigating Cardassians. This led to the famous "There are Four Lights!" episode , after all. However, good captain or not, he wasn't particularly good for the crew of the Enterprise .

As captain, Picard kept an open-door policy, often willing to hear the complaints and suggestions of his crew. Jellico was no such leader. In fact, he couldn't stand Will Riker. He took wild risks, and his confidence bordered on arrogance . Yet, his strategy successfully prevented a Cardassian invasion and, at the very least, he got Deanna Troi in her Starfleet uniform instead of her civilian attire.

8 John Harriman's Best Act as Captain Was Asking for Help

Alan ruck as seen in star trek: generations, why wesley crusher left star trek, and why he came back.

Like Captain Jellico, John Harriman was another USS Enterprise captain in the shadow of one far greater than he could ever be. As the first commanding officer of the USS Enterprise-B, an Excelsior class ship , he had to follow in the footsteps of none other than James T. Kirk. The shakedown cruise for the Enterprise-B was a media event, with Kirk, Scotty and Chekov on the bridge to mark the occasion, in Star Trek: Generations . The movie was about passing the "torch" to Star Trek: The Next Generation's cast, but this cruise was all about Harriman.

Once the Enterprise-B got a distress call about passenger vessels trapped in what fans soon learned was "the Nexus," it was clear he was out of his depth. Unlike Jellico, who did things his own way, Harriman was not too confident (or arrogant) to ask for help . In allowing Captain Kirk to spring into action, the ship was able to rescue some of the survivors. However, for the rest of Harriman's time in command, he would be known as the captain who got James T. Kirk killed .

7 Captain Seven of Nine and the USS Enterprise-G Has Yet to Be Told

Jeri ryan as seen in star trek: picard.

Even though her story as USS Enterprise captain hasn't been told yet, Seven of Nine's legacy in Star Trek is a big one. First introduced in Season 4 of Star Trek: Voyager , Seven of Nine is Gene Roddenberry's Star Trek ideal personified . She was "born" from the most vicious and intransigent enemy Starfleet ever knew, and is now the captain of the ninth Starfleet vessel to bear that storied name. In other words, she's the "seventh of the ninth."

While Paramount's financial future is questionable, they should still immediately greenlight Star Trek: Legacy , the spinoff series that would follow Seven of Nine's command. Through Voyager , Picard and even in her expanded universe stories, Seven of Nine is a remarkable character. She's survived more than most Starfleet officers. Even though she lost faith in the organization (as they lost faith in her), she remains committed to its highest ideals . As Captain Shaw said in his holographic message, "the book she writes" will be one every Star Trek fan will read until the pages crumble from the bindings.

6 Christopher Pike Was a Good Leader, but Couldn't Hold on to His Ship

Anson mount as seen in star trek: strange new worlds, et al..

Other than his time in the Kelvin Timeline, Christopher Pike was a reluctant captain . In both the first failed Star Trek pilot and the pilot of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds , Pike doesn't really want to be the captain. He felt the weight of responsibility, both for the lives of the crew and, later, his own life, too heavily. However, Captain Pike also represented the best of Starfleet and was quite good at his job .

The character as seen in Star Trek: Discovery and Strange New Worlds is where he's been most defined. He's deferential to his crew more so than any other captain, save perhaps for Jean-Luc Picard. Unlike his 24th Century counterpart, Pike knows better than most how the whole of Star Trek 's future hangs on his every decision. Yet, with honor and bravery, he and the crew of the USS Enterprise still boldly go towards the unknown, ready to face whatever problems they find.

5 Jonathan Archer Made Mistakes, but Showed the Best of Humanity, Too

Scott bakula as seen in star trek: enterprise, this underrated star trek series has the franchise's best pilot.

It was a long road getting from Star Trek: The Original Series to Enterprise , the prequel series about the first Starfleet vessel to bear the name. A ship with so much potential needed a captain of equal measure who could stand and face the unknown in the galaxy without fear. That was Captain Jonathan Archer, and though he wasn't perfect, he was the leader the future Federation needed.

During Archer's time as the Enterprise's captain, there was no blueprint for his job, no one whom he could ask for advice or orders. He made many mistakes, particularly when the NX-01 Enterprise went to war in Season 3. Yet, he was also the leader who showed the larger galaxy that humanity belonged among the stars and helped to create the United Federation of Planets .

4 Starfleet's Red Lady, Rachel Garrett, Understood the Burden of Command

Tricia o'neill as seen in star trek: the next generation.

While not the first woman to captain a ship on-screen, Rachel Garrett was the first woman to command one named USS Enterprise. In Star Trek: The Next Generation Season 3, Episode 15, "Yesterday's Enterprise," she accidentally found her way into the 24th Century face-to-face with her successor. This episode, more than any others, explains how time travel works in Star Trek , because the moment she arrived everything changed.

Yet, for all she did before becoming captain (some of which fans will see in Michelle Yeoh's Star Trek movie ), she earned her place among the legends in what she did next. Knowing she would likely face certain death, she chose to go back to where she belonged on the off chance it would make for a better future . However, she never got the chance to find out for sure.

3 Richard Castillo Was a Starship Captain for 12 Minutes, and He Saved the Future

Christopher mcdonald as seen in star trek: the next generation.

Another Starfleet officer lost from his own time, Richard Castillo began "Yesterday's Enterprise" as a Lieutenant. He ended the episode as the captain of the ship, and he knew he was taking the USS Enterprise-C into certain destruction . It was the last order of Captain Garrett, but he had the courage and strength of character to follow it.

While audiences don't really know what happened when the Enterprise-C made it back to her time, they can guess. The timeline reverted to what it had been, meaning he and the ship did her job. They sacrificed themselves for a future they'd never get to see, because the future they did wasn't one worth saving.

2 Jean-Luc Picard Was Never Better Than on the Bridge of the Enterprise

Patrick stewart as seen in star trek: the next generation, et al., how star trek: the next generation disserviced this fan-favorite character.

In all but two episodes of the revival series Star Trek: Picard , the titular hero is not in command of a starship. While this series has its merits ( even Picard Season 2 ), Jean-Luc Picard is only truly at his best when in command of the USS Enterprise. Over the seven seasons of The Next Generation to the four films that followed, almost no one was better suited for command. While he did resign in protest from Starfleet twice (in Insurrection and before Picard Season 1), he did so because the organization failed to live up to its own ideals.

What makes Captain Picard perfect for the job is both his wits and ability to strategize his way out of a problem. It's also how willing he is to delegate responsibility . Unlike most Star Trek series lead captains, he doesn't have to go on every away mission. Yet, when it is time for the captain to stand up and do the job, he's the one who will make sure history never forgets the name "Enterprise."

1 Captain James T. Kirk Was the Original and Best for a Reason

William shatner as seen in star trek: the original series, et al..

From talking no fewer than four computers to death to risking his career and making Starfleet an enemy just to save Spock , there is no one like Captain James T. Kirk . In "Naked Time" (an episode in Season 1 of Star Trek: The Original Series) , the episode ends with Kirk professing his love for the USS Enterprise. "Never lose you," he swears, "never," but of course, he does

In Star Trek III: The Search for Spock , he has to self-destruct the ship. Immediately filled with regret, Dr. McCoy reminds him that he turned certain "death into a fighting chance to live." Even in newer stories, like the 2009 Star Trek movie or even Strange New Worlds , the USS Enterprise needs Kirk on the bridge.

The complete Star Trek series and films are available to own on DVD, Blu-ray, digital and most stream on Paramount+, while the first 13 films stream on Max

The Star Trek universe encompasses multiple series, each offering a unique lens through which to experience the wonders and perils of space travel. Join Captain Kirk and his crew on the Original Series' voyages of discovery, encounter the utopian vision of the Federation in The Next Generation, or delve into the darker corners of galactic politics in Deep Space Nine. No matter your preference, there's a Star Trek adventure waiting to ignite your imagination.

Star Trek: Enterprise

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Star Trek: Enterprise (originally titled simply Enterprise until the start of the third season) is a science fiction television series. It follows the adventures of humanity's first warp 5 starship, the Enterprise , ten years before the United Federation of Planets shown in previous Star Trek series was formed.

Enterprise premiered on September 26, 2001. The pilot episode, " Broken Bow ", takes place in the year 2151, halfway between the 21st-century events shown in the movie Star Trek: First Contact and the original Star Trek television series. Low ratings prompted UPN to cancel Star Trek: Enterprise on February 2, 2005, but the network allowed the series to complete its fourth season. The final episode aired on May 13, 2005. After a run of four seasons and 98 episodes, it was the first Star Trek series since the original Star Trek to have been cancelled by its network rather than finished by its producers. It is also the last series in an 18-year run of back-to-back new Star Trek shows beginning with Star Trek: The Next Generation in 1987.

• 1 Production
• 2 Cast of characters
• 3.1 Seasons 1 and 2
• 3.2 Season 3
• 3.3 Season 4
• 3.4 Plans for Season 5
• 5.1.1 Theme song
• 5.2 Original novels and relaunch
• 5.3 DVD releases
• 6.1 Rebroadcasts
• 7 References
• 8 External links

Production [ ]

In May 2000, Rick Berman , executive producer of Star Trek: Voyager , revealed that a new series would premiere following the final season of Voyager . [1 ] Little news was forthcoming for months as Berman and Brannon Braga developed the untitled series, known only as "Series V", until February 2001, when Paramount signed Herman Zimmerman and John Eaves to production design Series V. [2 ] Within a month, scenic designer Michael Okuda , another long-time Trek veteran, was also signed. [3 ] Michael Westmore , make-up designer for Trek since Star Trek: The Next Generation (TNG) , was announced as working on Series V by the end of April. [4 ] Returning as director of photography would be Marvin V. Rush, [5 ] who had been working on various Trek s since the third season of TNG . For visual effects, Ronald B. Moore , who had previously worked on TNG and Voyager , was brought in. [5 ]

However, the biggest news would wait until May 11, 2001. The title of Series V was revealed to be Enterprise , with Scott Bakula , of Quantum Leap fame, playing Captain Jeffery Archer, a name that was quickly changed to Jonathan Archer due to fan feedback. [6 ] Four days later, the rest of the main cast was announced, [7 ] though the character names would not be announced until the next day. [8 ] Berman explained the decision to initially exclude the words "Star Trek" from the show's title: Well, you know, if you think about it, since The Next Generation , we've had so many Star Trek entities that were called " Star Trek "-colon-something [...] Our feeling was, in trying to make this show dramatically different, which we are trying to do, that it might be fun not to have a divided main title like that. And I think that if there's any one word that says Star Trek without actually saying Star Trek , it's the word " Enterprise ". [9 ] "You all are witness to a show that guarantees instant attention, recognition, anticipation and most importantly, success [...] Star Trek is the most popular science fiction franchise in the world. - Tom Nunan [10 ] On May 14, 2001, shooting began for the pilot episode, "Broken Bow", on stages 8, 9, and 18 at Paramount Studios. Three days later, Tom Nunan, entertainment producer at UPN, held a press conference formally announcing Enterprise to the world at large. [10 ] Featuring a video on the history of the Star Trek franchise, Nunan held up previous installments of the franchise as proof-of-concept that Enterprise would succeed. [ citation needed ]

On September 26, 2001, the premiere episode of Enterprise , "Broken Bow", aired on UPN with an estimated 12.54 million viewers. [ citation needed ] [1] [2] Mars Sojourner , seen in the opening to Star Trek: Enterprise Through the life of the series, Star Trek: Enterprise would mark several milestones for Star Trek television production. Enterprise was the first to be produced in high-definition; the first to be broadcast in HDTV , beginning on October 15, 2003, midway into the third season; [11 ] the first to be filmed on digital video (season 4); [12 ] and the first science fiction television or movie production in history to use video footage taken on another planet (the Sojourner rover approaching the Yogi Rock , taken by the Mars Pathfinder lander and used in the opening credits). [13 ]

A number of episodes of Enterprise were directed by Star Trek alumni: [ citation needed ]

• Star Trek: The Next Generation star LeVar Burton directed nine episodes
• TNG and Star Trek: Deep Space Nine star Michael Dorn directed one episode
• Voyager star Roxann Dawson directed ten episodes
• Voyager star Robert Duncan McNeill directed four episodes

Cast of characters [ ]

• Jonathan Archer ( Scott Bakula ), captain of Earth's first Warp 5 starship, Enterprise . His father designed its engine, giving Archer a very personal connection to his ship. Archer feels an immense amount of pressure concerning his mission, especially when hunting the Xindi to save Earth from destruction. Subsequently he is assigned Earth-local or diplomatic missions, instrumental in founding the Federation.
• T'Pol ( Jolene Blalock ), science officer of the Enterprise , originally attached to the Enterprise by the Vulcan High Command to keep the humans out of trouble. Becomes very loyal to Archer, leaving her position in the High Command to accompany him, find the Xindi, and later join Starfleet. A version of T'Pol who was flung into the past gives birth to the first human/ Vulcan hybrid. In later seasons, forms a romantic relationship with Trip. She also has her DNA stolen, along with Charles Tucker's, in order to make the first Vulcan/Human hybrid in the "normal" timeline, who died from complications.
• Charles "Trip" Tucker III ( Connor Trinneer ), chief engineer of the Enterprise , and long-time friend of Captain Archer. Started off conservatively modest, but becomes more seasoned as the series runs, losing a sister in the Xindi attack. In later seasons, forms a romantic relationship with T'Pol. He also has his DNA stolen, along with T'Pol's, in order to make the first Vulcan/Human hybrid in the "normal" timeline, who died from complications. Trip was killed in the series finale based 10 years in the future saving the ship while it was under attack.
• Malcolm Reed ( Dominic Keating ), tactical officer of the Enterprise , also in charge of ship security. Reed comes from a long line of Royal Navy men, but joined Starfleet due to a fear of drowning. An extremely taciturn man, his own family, when asked, could not name his favorite food (pineapple).
• Hoshi Sato ( Linda Park ), communications officer and linguistic genius. Capable of learning alien languages extremely quickly, Hoshi serves as the interpreter between the Enterprise crew and new alien species, even after the Universal Translator is on-line. Suffered anxiety about her place on board originally, but exposure to frequent danger helped her realize her value to the ship.
• Travis Mayweather ( Anthony Montgomery ), helmsman. A "Space Boomer," Travis is unique on Enterprise being born in space. Son of a freighter captain, Travis knows many of the alien species as well as locations that Earth traders frequent. As Enterprise moves farther and farther from Earth, his value in this area lessens, but his skill at the helm is constantly appreciated, making him the pilot of choice for many missions.
• Dr. Phlox ( John Billingsley ), chief medical officer. A Denobulan member of the Inter-Species Medical Exchange, Phlox is brought aboard the Enterprise to care for their Klingon passenger. Afterward, he volunteers to stay on, delighting in the experience of humanity taking its first steps into the larger galactic stage. An exceedingly cheerful alien, Dr. Phlox uses many animals and various naturalistic cures to practice his trade, instead of the usual technological implements. Dr. Phlox also devised a method of eradicating Borg nanoprobes, but because the method is fatal to humans and nearly so to Denobulans, it has little use.

Main article: List of Star Trek: Enterprise episodes

Seasons 1 and 2 [ ]

Main article: Star Trek: Enterprise (season 1) Main article: Star Trek: Enterprise (season 2) The first two seasons of Star Trek: Enterprise depict the exploration of interstellar space by the crew of an Earth ship able to go farther and faster into outer space than any humans had previously gone, due to the breaking of the Warp 5 barrier that made interstellar travel feasible, analogous to the Bell X-1 breaking the sound barrier . The crew faces situations that are familiar to Star Trek fans and shows the origins of some concepts which have become taken for granted in Star Trek canon , such as Lt. Reed's development of force fields and Captain Archer's questions about cultural interference eventually being answered by later series' Prime Directive .

A recurring plot device is the Temporal Cold War , in which a mysterious entity from the 27th century uses the Cabal, a group of genetically upgraded Suliban , to manipulate the timeline and change past events. Sometimes sabotaging Enterprise' s mission and sometimes saving the ship from destruction, the entity's motives are unknown. Agent Daniels , a temporal agent from the 31st century, visits Captain Archer occasionally to assist him in fighting the Suliban and undoing damage to the timeline.

In the past ninety years since Star Trek: First Contact , the Vulcans have been mentoring humanity to what they see as an appropriate level of civilization, routinely holding back scientific knowledge in an effort to keep humans stranded close to home, believing them to be too irrational and emotionally-dominated to function properly in an interstellar community. When Enterprise finally sets out, the Vulcans are often conspicuously close by. This generates some friction as, in several early episodes, Archer and others complain bitterly of the Vulcans' unsubtle methods of checking up on them.

Season 3 [ ]

The third season sees the change of the series' name from Enterprise to Star Trek: Enterprise as well as an updated main title theme. Season three introduces the Xindi , an enemy bent on annihilating humanity via a planet-destroying super weapon.

The third season follows a single story arc , beginning in the second season finale " The Expanse ", in which a mysterious probe cuts a wide, deep trench from central Florida to Venezuela , killing seven million people. Enterprise is recalled and retrofitted as a warship, with more powerful weapons and a group of elite Military Assault Command Operations (MACOs). Enterprise travels through an area known as the Delphic Expanse to find the Xindi homeworld and prevent another attack against Earth. The crew learns in " Azati Prime " that the Sphere-Builders, a transdimensional species, have technology that allows them to examine alternate timelines. The Sphere-Builders know that in the 26th century, the "Federation" fleet, led by Enterprise' s distant cousin, the Enterprise -J, will lead an attack against them that will defeat them. They wanted the Xindi, who revered them as "the Guardians," to destroy Earth in the hope that this would deter the formation and existence of the Federation. However, in the season finale, " Zero Hour ", Enterprise manages to defeat the Sphere-Builders and destroy the Xindi weapon. They also succeeded in returning the Expanse to normal space. The season ends with the Enterprise being mysteriously transported into the middle of World War II. This plot was resolved in " Storm Front ", Parts I & II.

Season 4 [ ]

The show was renewed for a fourth season on May 20, 2004. The renewal moved the show from Wednesday night to Friday night, a move that seemed to replicate the third season renewal of the original Star Trek , when it was moved from Thursday night to the Friday night " death slot ". Many cast and crew members supported it, saying that The X-Files gained more viewership during its first three years on Friday nights. As a sequel to "Zero Hour," "Storm Front" and "Storm Front, Part II," opened up the fourth season on October 8 and 15, 2004. The episodes ended the ongoing Temporal Cold War arc, which proved very unpopular among the show's viewers during the first three seasons. The Xindi arc, started over a year ago in "The Expanse," ended with the third episode, "Home," which mostly dealt with Captain Archer's ethically and morally questionable actions during the yearlong mission in the Expanse. The general theme of the season was a refocus on the prequel concept of the series, with many episodes making reference to themes, concepts, and characters from past series. The fourth season saw Brent Spiner ( Data from Star Trek: The Next Generation ) as the imprisoned scientist Dr. Arik Soong , an ancestor of Data's creator (Dr. Noonien Soong, also played by Spiner in at least two episodes of Star Trek: The Next Generation ), in a three-episode arc at the end of which Soong abandons the concept of improving mankind in favor of creating artificial intelligence: an allusion to what will eventually become Data.

The Soong episodes later gave rise to a story arc where the Klingons were attempting to improve their species through the continuation of Soong's work. This allowed for an explanation of why the Klingons on The Original Series lacked brow ridges and were much more human looking than Klingons in any of the other series; they were mutants created by faulty genetic engineering.

Season 4 also addressed some discrepancies between the Vulcans of The Original Series and those depicted in Star Trek: Enterprise . In the Vulcan Civil War arc, Romulan subversion of the Vulcan High Command leads to a splinter group of Vulcans opposed to the High Command's actions, believing those actions to be against the teachings of Surak, the mythic leader who brought logic to Vulcan. After this storyline, Vulcans began a cultural transformation that was presumably a turn toward the more enlightened Vulcans of Trek series set further in the future. For example, mind-melding before the ancient teachings were recovered was considered immoral; after, it was embraced as the legacy of all Vulcans. A two-part return to the Mirror Universe, made popular by The Original Series and Deep Space Nine, titled "In a Mirror, Darkly," was made late in the fourth season, which took place in the parallel dimension. These episodes use the Enterprise crew as the most barbaric members of the Terran Empire. As a sequel to the original Star Trek's "Mirror,Mirror" proved popular while "Part II" had an ending which was a cliffhanger. Had the series gone on for a fifth season, the story would have continued. The story was "continued" by means of the first "Mirror Universe" anthology published in 2007 by Pocket Books. The story, "Age of the Empress" was crafted by Mike Sussman, the writer of "In a Mirror, Darkly."

Romulans also stir up trouble midway through the season. While a diplomatic conference is hosted by Earth on the planet Babel, Romulans, using drone ships with holographic emitters (mimicking any ship) stir up trouble with the Andorians and Tellarites. This places the two races at each other's throats, and when they are revealed to be Romulan, Archer devises an alliance, similar to the Federation, with the Vulcans. This three-part arc, which presaged the inevitable Romulan-Earth War of 2156, received the lowest Nielsen ratings of the entire series, leading UPN to cancel it on February 2, 2005.

In the final story arc of the season a human terrorist group, called Terra Prime, are bent on removing all non-humans from human planets and genetically engineer a child from DNA samples of Commander Tucker and Commander T'Pol. They use the baby as a means to anger humans who have become afraid of aliens since the Xindi conflict and launch a campaign from Mars to drive the alien outsiders from human space. This storyline has been said by producers to represent how humanity must overcome its own bigotry and hatred in order to become the human race seen in later Trek s.

The series cancellation was announced prior to the writing of the final episode of the fourth season allowing the writers to craft a series finale . This final episode, titled " These Are the Voyages... ", aired May 13, 2005 in the United States and was one of the most heavily criticized episodes of the Star Trek franchise. Much of the criticism focused on the premise which essentially reduced the finale to a holodeck adventure from the Star Trek: The Next Generation series. The episode featured guest appearances by Jonathan Frakes and Marina Sirtis as their Star Trek: The Next Generation characters William Riker and Deanna Troi . Disregarding their eleven years of obvious aging, the episode is based during the TNG episode " The Pegasus ". [14 ] Brent Spiner lent his voice to the finale, and is briefly heard as Data . The last episode held the most views, but was the lowest rated episode of the series. Jolene Blalock , who plays T'Pol, voiced her negative opinion about bringing the two Next Generation actors to Enterprise .

Plans for Season 5 [ ]

At the time of its cancellation, planning for a proposed fifth season of Enterprise was underway. Most details of this never-made season come from comments made by producer Manny Coto who in 2009 stated that two arcs of this season may have been to show the 'origins of the Federation' and 'whispers of the Romulan war', and consequently, the Romulans would have been the major villains of the season. [15 ]

Coto also stated that had the series been given a fifth season, the recurring Andorian character of Shran may have joined the Enterprise in an advisory role.

Other possible plans for the season included: an episode showing the construction of the first starbase; a Borg Queen origins story with Alice Krige as a Starfleet medical technician who makes contact with the Borg from Season 2's " Regeneration " and becomes the Borg Queen, and a Mirror Universe arc spanning four or five episodes.

There were also hopes for an episode in which T'Pol would finally meet her father and discover that he was in fact a Romulan agent who had posed as a Vulcan officer prior to faking his own death. The revelation that T'Pol was half-Romulan would have shed light on her affinity for humanity and as well as her interest in experimenting with emotions.

Cancellation [ ]

By the third season, ratings were continually declining, and the threat of cancellation loomed over Star Trek: Enterprise . This, along with the poor box office performance in 2002 of the film Star Trek Nemesis , cast an uncertain light upon the future of the Star Trek franchise in general.

Fans launched a letter writing campaign similar to the one that saved the third season of the Original Series . [16 ] On May 20, 2004, it was announced that Enterprise had been renewed for a fourth season, but that the show would move from Wednesday to Friday nights. [17 ] This move echoed the rescheduling of the original Star Trek to a Friday night time slot for its third season prior to its ultimate cancellation, as Friday nights have traditionally been considered "death row" for a major TV production.

Hired as a writer during the third season, Manny Coto was promoted to co-executive producer, becoming the series showrunner for the fourth season. Coto decided to retain the "arc" concept of season 3, but reduce it from one season-long arc to several "mini-arcs" of two or three episodes, with few standalones. The producers attempted to attract viewers by terminating a long-running story arc (the Temporal Cold War ) and scheduling numerous episodes that served as prequels to storylines from The Original Series and The Next Generation .

Beginning in the summer of 2004, and continuing throughout the fourth season, there were reports that William Shatner would reprise the role of James T. Kirk or perhaps an ancestor in the series, [18 ] but an agreement could not be reached. [19 ]

The fourth season got off to a slow start in the ratings on October 8, 2004, due to the Friday time-slot, preemptions by local sports in some markets, and by coverage of the second presidential debate between George W. Bush and John Kerry in others. As well, Enterprise fans continued to indicate they chose to watch the weekend showing rather than the Friday broadcast, or chose to "time-shift" the program using their VCR or DVR equipment. In October 2004, it was announced that Enterprise was the 25th most popular Season Pass on the TiVo television recording system in the United States. [20 ]

Speculation as to the future of the series came to an end on February 2, 2005, when UPN announced the series had been cancelled and its final episode would air on Friday, May 13, 2005. [21 ] Fan groups such as "Save Enterprise" and "TrekUnited" joined forces and announced a drive to raise money to finance a further season of Enterprise . Approximately $30 million was the goal of the campaign, based upon estimates of the cost for a full season cited by John Billingsley and others. [22 ] In addition, Washington, D.C. lobbyist Dan Jensen circulated a letter on Capitol Hill in an effort to appeal to the sentiments of legislators. As a result, then Florida Congressman Mark Foley (R) agreed to sign the letter. The Washington "lobbying" effort garnered considerable press, and had a feature article on the front page of Roll Call . [23 ]

Production of the fourth season concluded on March 8, 2005, and by the end of the month, Startrek.com was reporting the Enterprise sets had been taken down, marking the first time that Stage 9 at Paramount Studios has been without Star Trek sets since the late 1970s. The website did not indicate whether the sets have been preserved in storage (the industry term being 'fold-and-hold') or if they have been destroyed. [24 ]

As of April 13, 2005, Paramount and UPN remained adamant that the cancellation of the series was final and that the studio was not interested in continuing the current incarnation of Star Trek . [25 ] TrekUnited officials, however, still claimed to be in talks with Paramount over the future of the series at the time. [26 ]

The website IGN Filmforce, reported on rumors Paramount had actually decided to cancel Enterprise after its fourth season as early as midway through the second year, quoted an unidentified "executive involved with Enterprise " as saying this scenario was "very likely".

Although widely reported as the death knell of the Star Trek franchise, the cancellation of Enterprise was followed within months by the announcement that Paramount was in pre-production on an 11th Star Trek feature film. After a false start involving Berman which would have set the film in a time period after the events of Enterprise but before TOS , Paramount recruited a new producing and writing team, which ultimately led to the release of a new Star Trek film film in May 2009. Like Enterprise , the new film (which did contain an indirect reference to the series: Scotty believes he has been "exiled" to the remote Starfleet outpost where Kirk and the older Spock encounter him as punishment for losing Admiral Archer's beagle - whom Kirk is quite familiar with - in a transporter mishap) also adopted a prequel concept, with a different approach.

In other media [ ]

Soundtrack [ ].

Main article: Enterprise (soundtrack) Although the series used more composers than any other Star Trek series ( Dennis McCarthy , Jay Chattaway , David Bell , Paul Baillargeon , Velton Ray Bunch , Brian Tyler , Mark McKenzie , John Frizzell and Kevin Kiner), only McCarthy's score for the pilot has been released.

Theme song [ ]

Main article: Faith of the Heart The series' theme song, "Where My Heart Will Take Me", written by Diane Warren and sung by Russell Watson , was a marked contrast to the sweeping instrumental themes used in all other Star Trek series. It was also the first theme song in Star Trek history not originally written for the show it was used; it was originally the theme song to the movie Patch Adams (where it was sung by Rod Stewart and originally entitled " Faith of the Heart "). [27 ] [28 ]

Like other aspects of the series, the theme song polarized fans. Online petitions were signed demanding its removal from the titles. [29 ] A new, more uptempo arrangement of the theme song was introduced for the third season, but this did not assuage the song's critics, and elicited criticism from some who liked the original version. [30 ]

The theme song, as well as the opening credits, were altered for two back-to-back episodes in season 4 entitled " In a Mirror, Darkly ", which take place in an alternate mirror universe .

Throughout the show's run, there was extensive Internet speculation as to whether the theme song and opening credits would be changed. [31 ] This speculation was fueled in October 2004 when the official website startrek.com posted [32 ] an opening credits sequence in which Scott Bakula recites a modified version of the famous speech, ending instead of with the gender-specific 'man' or the gender- and species-neutral 'one' but rather the species-specific 'human', accompanied by "Archer's Theme", the instrumental used as the closing credits music for the series. The never-before-seen introduction was: Space... the Final Frontier. These are the voyages of the starship Enterprise . Her continuing mission: to explore strange new worlds; to seek out new life and new civilizations; to boldly go where no human has gone before. In 2001 UPN heavily promoted the premiere of Enterprise with a song by The Calling , " Wherever You Will Go ".

Original novels and relaunch [ ]

Like the Trek series that preceded it, a series of original novels based on Enterprise was launched by Pocket Books soon after the program debuted. During the run of the series, however, only five books were published (not counting episode novelizations), a low number compared to the other series. No Enterprise -specific novels appeared at all in 2005 and the first post-cancellation novel, Rosetta by Dave Stern, did not appear until February 2006.

As explained by Pocket Books editor Margaret Clark, it was decided to scale back the number of books published not due to low sales or lack of interest in the prequel series, but due to the fact that the televised series often conflicted with planned literary plotlines, or beat the book series to the punch entirely. The novel Surak's Soul by J.M. Dillard , includes as a major plot point the aftermath of T'Pol killing a person during a mission. Before it was published, however, the TV series aired "The Seventh", an episode with a similar core plot point, which forced last-minute revisions to Dillard's book. Later, the novel Daedalus , by Dave Stern, included flashbacks to the early days of the NX Program which needed to be revised to avoid conflicting with the already-broadcast episode " First Flight ", which also featured a look at the early days of the NX Program. Apparently, things were not expected to change during the fourth season; in a May 2005 posting at the TrekBBS , Clark explained that the lack of Enterprise novels was intended to avoid any further potential storytelling "land mines" since "Season Four kept doing stuff we wanted/planned to do". [33 ]

With the series concluded, novelists are free to compose continuation novels without fear of being preempted or contradicted by the show, save for any restrictions put in place by the finale episode. In May 2005, Clark announced plans for a new series of Enterprise novels that will constitute a "relaunch" similar to that of the literary continuation of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine . Clark indicated that the books will cover events in the six years between "Terra Prime" and "These Are the Voyages...". [33 ]

An original novel, Last Full Measure , was released in April 2006. It takes place during the third season Xindi Arc and therefore is not considered part of the relaunch ( Rosetta takes place during the fourth season and likewise is not considered a relaunch volume, either). However, Last Full Measure does contain a "framing sequence" that serves as a preview for the Relaunch. This framing sequence, which has proven controversial, suggests Trip Tucker did not die in the events of "These Are the Voyages..." and is alive in the early 23rd century, though the reason for this is not explained. According to Clark, again posting on the TrekBBS, dissatisfaction over the finale episode is the driving factor behind the continuation novels/relaunch including a story arc that suggests that Trip's death in the finale was not as it seemed. [ citation needed ]

The first official relaunch novel, The Good That Men Do by Andy Mangels and Michael A. Martin was published by Pocket Books on February 28, 2007, and gives a different perspective on the events shown in the final episode. This book also provides a lead-in to a series of books that will document the Earth-Romulan War that has been referenced in the other Star Trek materials, but was never developed during the television production of Enterprise . [ citation needed ]

The relaunch novels' concept, of Trip not actually dying in the final episode, is based on an enigmatic moment in which Trip is supposedly near death and is being loaded into a medical chamber. He looks up at Archer, smiles and winks; Archer smiles back and also winks. The novels take this to mean the death of Trip was actually an elaborate ruse and not his actual death. The book reveals that the events of the holo-program from "These Are the Voyages" are a deliberate lie. Noting the inconsistencies in the episode as proof that it is a fabrication, namely, the pirates' warp 2 ship that is somehow able catch up with Enterprise , and the complete lack of MACOs and security teams when the pirates board the ship. It should be noted that the established criteria of Star Trek canon disqualifies novels as being official continuity; the decision to undo Trip's death in "These Are the Voyages" in the novels marks one of the only occasions in which a licensed, expanded universe spin-off has openly contradicted a major part of Trek continuity – an earlier example involved the launch of a series of novels featuring Kirk that suggested the character did not die at the end of the film, Star Trek Generations .

Kobayashi Maru continues the story, with the Romulans continuing their attacks against the newly formed Coalition of Planets. Archer and crew appear to be the only ones who believe the Romulans are truly behind the attacks. The book culminates in Archer facing the infamous Kobayashi Maru no-win scenario, and the beginning of the Earth-Romulan War . [ citation needed ]

The third installment of this series, The Romulan War: Beneath the Raptor's Wing , was released in October 2009. The novel explains the beginning of the Earth-Romulan war and the desperation of the Coalition of Planets. [ citation needed ]

The fourth installment of the novel series is titled The Romulan War: To Brave the Storm , by Michael A. Martin was announced in Star Trek Magazine issue 154, released in trade paperback format on October 25 2011 and is the final novel in The Romulan War series, taking the story to the end of the Romulan War and the decommission of the Enterprise. [ citation needed ]

DVD releases [ ]

In October 2004, coinciding with the start of the show's fourth season and months before the cancellation announcement, Paramount revealed plans to release the four seasons of Enterprise to DVD in North America during 2005. It has yet to be revealed whether this had any bearing on the decision to cancel the program since Voyager was offered to syndication midway through its run with no impact on its network status, and TNG , DS9 , and Voyager all saw episodes released to home video during their runs, long before those series ended. It had also become commonplace for current series to have past seasons released to DVD.

The first season DVD was released on May 3, 2005, ten days prior to the broadcast of the final episode. This release marked a couple of firsts for Star Trek TV series DVD releases. It was the first to include extensive deleted scenes (although footage cut from the premiere of Voyager had been included in a featurette previously), and it was the first to include an outtakes or blooper reel. The remaining seasons were released on July 26, September 27, and November 1. All the remaining sets also included deleted scenes and outtakes of varying length. [ citation needed ]

Although the show was produced with HDTV in mind, CBS Home Entertainment currently has no plans to release the show on Blu-ray . [ citation needed ]

Reception [ ]

[4] [5] A graph of Star Trek: Enterprise' s Nielsen ratings for the series' durationSeasonal rankings (based on average total viewers per episode) of Star Trek: Enterprise on UPN:

Rebroadcasts [ ]

UPN continued to air reruns of Enterprise for only a month after the series finale, with the last network-broadcast episode, "In a Mirror, Darkly" (Part II), airing on June 11, 2005 – this despite initial announcements that reruns would continue throughout the summer. With disruptions from local sports programming, many areas never had the opportunity to see all the episodes, which had been aired elsewhere.

Syndicated rebroadcasts of the series began in North American markets on September 17, 2005. [38 ] Broadcasts in high definition began on HDNet in late 2006 and continued through 2010.

NBC Universal 's Syfy ran the series from January 8, 2007, [39 ] until July 2008 in four-episode blocks every Monday night. Since Sci Fi does not own HD airing rights to the series, it was shown in a 4:3 letterbox 16:9 format on both the SD & HD feeds. Syfy played reruns on weekdays at 5pm, though not in their original broadcast order. Enterprise was replaced by Stargate Atlantis in June 2009. Syfy still airs Enterprise at 4pm on a couple of weekdays.

In Canada it was aired on Space, but no longer after 2010, or earlier.

It is aired on Star World on weekdays at 4:30 p.m. in India.

It is aired on MTV3 Scifi on weekdays starting from April 1, 2009 at 7:00 p.m. in Finland and repeats on Saturdays.

In October 2007, Virgin 1 in the UK announced it is "The new home of Star Trek" [40 ] and aired Seasons 1 through 3. Season 4 was broadcast beginning April 30, 2010 at 9 pm BST. [ citation needed ] It aired on Channel One (formerly Virgin 1) until the channel's demise. Episodes have been aired on the Sky Atlantic channel as of its February 2011 launch.

In Belgium and the Netherlands it is aired on the SciFi Channel (Benelux).

In Australia it is aired on the local SciFi Channel in 16:9 on weekends.

In Portugal it is aired on MOV every weekday at 19:10 and on Wednesdays at 21:40.

In July 2011, Netflix added the entire Star Trek: Enterprise series to its list of streaming shows, and in August 2011, Amazon added it to their Instant Video service. [41 ]

References [ ]

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• ^ "Designers Start Work on New Series" . Startrek.com . 2001-02-23. Retrieved 2007-12-20.
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• ^ "Westmore to Continue Making Aliens" . Startrek.com . 2001-04-26. Retrieved 2007-12-20.
• ^ a b "Star Trek Veterans Back on the Job" . Startrek.com . 2001-05-15. Retrieved 2007-12-20.
• ^ "New Series Enterprise & New Captain – Bakula" . Startrek.com . 2001-05-11. Retrieved 2007-12-20.
• ^ "Enterprise Cast Named" . Startrek.com . 2001-05-15. Retrieved 2007-12-20.
• ^ "Enterprise Characters Revealed" . Startrek.com . 2001-05-16. Retrieved 2007-12-20.
• ^ "Enterprise Cast, Producers Answer Questions, Part I" . Startrek.com . 2001-07-19. Retrieved 2007-12-20.
• ^ a b "UPN President Introduces Enterprise" . Startrek.com . 2001-05-17. Retrieved 2007-12-20.
• ^ "Enterprise Gets the HDTV Treatment" . Startrek.com . 2003-10-15. Retrieved 2007-12-18.
• ^ "Fourth Season Commences Sans Film" . Startrek.com . 2004-07-15. Retrieved 2007-12-18.
• ^ "Crazy credits for "Enterprise"" . IMDb.com . Retrieved 2010-11-24.
• ^ "UPN Releases 'Terra Prime,' Finale Plot Details" . Trektoday.com . 2005-03-24. Retrieved 2007-12-18.
• ^ "Undeveloped Star Trek: Enterprise episodes - Memory Alpha, the Star Trek Wiki" . En.memory-alpha.org. 2005-02-02. Retrieved 2011-12-10.
• ^ "Fan Groups, Sites Rally on Behalf of Enterprise " . startrek.com. 2004-05-28. Retrieved 2009-07-04.
• ^ "Enterprise Renewed for Fourth Season" . Startrek.com . 2004-05-20. Retrieved 2007-12-19.
• ^ "Rick Berman on Enterprise Season 4" . TrekWeb. 2004-05-22. Retrieved 2006-12-19.
• ^ "Coto, Writers Reveal Mirror Universe Backstory" . TrekToday. 2005-03-17. Retrieved 2006-12-19.
• ^ "TiVo Press Releases" . Tivo.com . 2004-11-01. Archived from the original on 2004-11-01. Retrieved 2007-12-18.
• ^ ": Enterprise Canceled!" . Startrek.com . 2005-02-03. Retrieved 2007-12-18.
• ^ "Save Enterprise 2005 Outlook" . TrekUnited.com . Retrieved 2007-12-18.
• ^ [1 ] [ dead link ]
• ^ "A Brief History of Paramount Stages 8 & 9" . Startrek.com . 2005-04-05. Retrieved 2007-12-18.
• ^ "Enterprise Decision Final, Support Appreciated" . Startrek.com . 2005-04-12. Retrieved 2007-12-18.
• ^ "Paramount Said 'No' to TrekUnited Campaign" . Trektoday.com . 2005-04-12. Retrieved 2007-12-18.
• ^ http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0129290/soundtrack
• ^ http://www.encyclocenter.com/Faith-Of-2495.html
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• ^ "The Trek Report #2:Bring on the Augments" . IGN. 2004-10-28. Retrieved 2006-12-19.
• ^ "Is Enterprise Losing Faith of the Heart?" . TrekToday. 2003-09-04. Retrieved 2006-12-19.
• ^ [2 ] [ dead link ]
• ^ a b "Star Trek Books News" . TrekToday.com . 2005-05-18. Retrieved 2007-12-18.
• ^ "Star Trek: Enterprise on DVD" . TVShowsOnDVD.com . Retrieved 2007-12-18.
• ^ a b "How did your favorite show rate? (2001–02)" . USA Today . 2002-05-28. Retrieved 2007-05-25.
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• ^ a b "2004–05 Primetime Wrap" . The Hollywood Reporter . 2005-05-27. Retrieved 2007-05-25.
• ^ "'Enterprise' Enters Syndication September 17th" . TrekToday.com . 2005-08-28. Retrieved 2007-12-18.
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• ^ Gagliano, Gabe (2011-08-17). "Star Trek Beams onto Amazon Prime Along with CBS and NBC Universal Content" . Techofthehub.com. Retrieved 2011-10-09.

External links [ ]

• Star Trek: Enterprise at StarTrek.com
• Star Trek: Enterprise at SCIFI.com
• Star Trek: Enterprise at Memory Alpha (a Star Trek wiki )
• Identification of images in opening credits
• Star Trek: Enterprise at the Internet Movie Database
• Star Trek: Enterprise at TV.com
• 1 Mama's Family
• 2 Roughnecks: Starship Troopers Chronicles
• 3 Silver Spoons

• Cast & crew
• User reviews

Star Trek: Enterprise

A century before Captain Kirk's five-year mission, Jonathan Archer captains the United Earth ship Enterprise during the early years of Starfleet, leading up to the Earth-Romulan War and the ... Read all A century before Captain Kirk's five-year mission, Jonathan Archer captains the United Earth ship Enterprise during the early years of Starfleet, leading up to the Earth-Romulan War and the formation of the Federation. A century before Captain Kirk's five-year mission, Jonathan Archer captains the United Earth ship Enterprise during the early years of Starfleet, leading up to the Earth-Romulan War and the formation of the Federation.

• Rick Berman
• Brannon Braga
• Scott Bakula
• John Billingsley
• Jolene Blalock
• 539 User reviews
• 109 Critic reviews
• 14 wins & 50 nominations total

Episodes 98

Photos 1142

• Capt. Jonathan Archer …

• Sub-Cmdr. T'Pol …

• Lt. Malcolm Reed …

• Ensign Travis Mayweather …

• Ensign Hoshi Sato …

• Cmdr. Charles 'Trip' Tucker III

• Ensign Billy

• Crewman Haynem …

• Adm. Maxwell Forrest …
• Vulcan High Command Member …

• Ambassador Soval …

• Cmdr. Shran …

• Xindi-Primate Councilor …

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• Trivia Admiral Forrest is named after DeForest Kelley , the late Star Trek (1966) actor who played Leonard H. McCoy. Similarly, Commander Williams and Admiral Leonard from the pilot Broken Bow, Part 1 (2001) are named after series stars William Shatner (James T. Kirk) and Leonard Nimoy (Spock). Big Foot (1982) (#2.5) also had a character with a last name Forrest. That show had numerous references & stars from the Star Trek franchise, the most well known of which was William Shatner from the original TV series.
• Goofs Whenever the video signal is being lost, instead of pixelating, as a digital signal would, the picture shows analog "snow," which would be unheard of by that era.

Commander Tucker : You aren't saying much tonight. Don't tell me you're still upset about me and Amanda.

Subcommander T'Pol : I'm not upset.

Commander Tucker : Sure sounds like it.

Subcommander T'Pol : You're mistaken.

Commander Tucker : Why would a few neuropressure sessions between me and a MACO be such a big deal. Unless...

Subcommander T'Pol : Unless what?

Commander Tucker : Unless you're a little jealous.

Subcommander T'Pol : I don't experience jealousy.

Commander Tucker : You're doing a pretty fair imitation of it.

Subcommander T'Pol : I am not, in any way, jealous of you and Corporal Cole.

Commander Tucker : You know, your voice is tensing up. That's a dead giveaway.

Subcommander T'Pol : I didn't know you were an expert in vocal inflections.

Commander Tucker : I don't need to be an expert to read you. Come on, admit it. You're a little jealous.

Subcommander T'Pol : Are you implying that I'm attracted to you?

Commander Tucker : That kind of goes along with the assumption, doesn't it?

• Crazy credits The opening credits video footage of the Sojourner rover approaching the "Yogi" rock, taken by the Mars Pathfinder lander, make Star Trek: Enterprise the first television show or movie in history to use footage taken on another planet.
• Alternate versions The Region 1 DVD release of Season 3 modifies the opening credits of the first three episodes of the season to say "Star Trek: Enterprise" instead of "Enterprise", in order to be consistent with the rest of the season.
• Connections Featured in How William Shatner Changed the World (2005)

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• September 26, 2001 (United States)
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Picard's enterprise tried to save chief o'brien after star trek: tng's finale.

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Picard Playing Poker In TNG's Finale - What It Really Means

I can't think of a better series finale than star trek: tng, even 30 years later, yes, doctor who season 14 just repeated the same story 2 episodes in row.

• Picard and the USS Enterprise-D tried to save Chief O'Brien after TNG's finale in a bold mission against the Cardassians.
• DS9 provided updates on Enterprise crew post-TNG finale, impacting Dominion War effort and Worf's new home.
• USS Enterprise-D underwent upgrades between TNG finale and Star Trek Generations, leading to a crash on Veridian III.

Just a short time after the events of the Star Trek: The Next Generation season finale, Captain Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart) and the USS Enterprise-D embarked on a mission to save Chief Miles O'Brien (Colm Meaney). The TNG finale aired on 23rd May 1994, wrapping up the TV adventures for the crew of the USS Enterprise-D until Patrick Stewart returned for Star Trek: Picard in 2020. In November, the TNG crew would relaunch the Star Trek movies as William Shatner literally handed the franchise over to Patrick Stewart in Star Trek Generations .

However, fans didn't have to wait until November to find out what happened next to the Star Trek: The Next Generation characters , as an Easter egg in an episode of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine updated viewers on the whereabouts of the USS Enterprise-D. DS9 would occasionally provide updates on the movie exploits of the Enterprise crew, with the events of Star Trek: First Contact heavily impacting the Dominion War effort, and Lt. Commander Worf (Michael Dorn) finding a new home on DS9 after the destruction of the Enterprise-D. DS9 's first such Enterprise update occurred just two weeks after the TNG finale in 1994.

TNG’s finale “All Good Things” saw Captain Picard finally join his senior staff for a hand of poker, a gesture that meant more than it might seem.

Star Trek: DS9 Revealed USS Enterprise-D Tried To Save O'Brien After TNG's Finale

In Star Trek: Deep Space Nine season 2, episode 25, "Tribunal", Chief O'Brien is arrested by the Cardassians and put on trial for supplying weapons to the Maquis. Outraged at the Cardassians arresting a Federation citizen without prior extradition negotiations, Starfleet decided to put pressure on the Cardassian Union. Picard's Enterprise was part of a small group of starships sent to the Federation-Cardassian border to demonstrate force and pressure the government into releasing O'Brien from prison . As O'Brien was Chief Petty Officer aboard the Enterprise, Picard and the crew had a personal stake in their assignment.

Due to Miles O'Brien being a background character in early episodes of Star Trek: The Next Generation , he had various ranks, including Ensign and Lieutenant. He was finally confirmed to be a Chief Petty Officer in TNG season 4, episode 2, "Family".

Unfortunately, the presence of the USS Enterprise-D, USS Prokofiev, and the USS Valdemar wasn't enough to dissuade the Cardassian Union from their plan to execute Chief O'Brien and discredit the Federation . It was therefore up to the combined efforts of a mysterious Maquis informer and the crew of Deep Space Nine to expose the Cardassians' elaborate deception. Unmasking O'Brien's former colleague Raymond Boone (John Beck) as a Cardassian impersonator, Commander Benjamin Sisko (Avery Brooks) brought "Boone" to the tribunal, which swiftly brought the sham trial to a close.

What Happened To USS Enterprise-D Between TNG And Star Trek Generations?

The gap between the broadcast of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine season 2, episode 25, "Tribunal" and the theatrical release of Star Trek Generations is reflected in the time that passes in-universe. When audiences next see the crew of the USS Enterprise-D, they're celebrating Worf's promotion to Lieutenant Commander in an elaborate holodeck hazing ritual. Beyond their attempts to pressure the Cardassian government to release Chief O'Brien, not much is known about what the Enterprise-D crew were up to between "All Good Things" and Star Trek Generations .

The Star Trek Generations version of the starship Enterprise has had several upgrades since the events of "All Good Things", suggesting a refit took place some time after the O'Brien situation. A refit would allow time for some much-needed downtime for the crew after the Star Trek: The Next Generation finale. Among the upgrades seen in Generations are additional science stations on the bridge, a chair for Worf at the tactical station, and new lighting was also fitted. It's just a shame that the upgrades to the Enterprise were so short-lived, as the ship crashed on Veridian III a few short months later.

Star Trek Generations is currently streaming on Max.

Star Trek: The Next Generation

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Star Trek: The Next Generation is the third installment in the sci-fi franchise and follows the adventures of Captain Jean-Luc Picard and the crew members of the USS Enterprise. Set around one hundred years after the original series, Picard and his crew travel through the galaxy in largely self-contained episodes exploring the crew dynamics and their own political discourse. The series also had several overarching plots that would develop over the course of the isolated episodes, with four films released in tandem with the series to further some of these story elements.

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, also known as DS9, is the fourth series in the long-running Sci-Fi franchise, Star Trek. DS9 was created by Rick Berman and Michael Piller, and stars Avery Brooks, René Auberjonois, Terry Farrell, and Cirroc Lofton. This particular series follows a group of individuals in a space station near a planet called Bajor.

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A Warp Drive Breakthrough Inches a Tiny Bit Closer to Star Trek

A team of physicists has discovered that it’s possible to build a real, actual, physical warp drive and not break any known rules of physics . One caveat: The vessel doing the warping can’t exceed the speed of light, so you’re not going to get anywhere interesting anytime soon. But this research still represents an important advance in our understanding of gravity .

Moving Without Motion

Einstein’s general theory of relativity is a tool kit for solving problems involving gravity that connects mass and energy with deformations in spacetime. In turn, those spacetime deformations instruct the mass and energy how to move. In almost all cases, physicists use the equations of relativity to figure out how a particular combination of objects will move. They have some physical scenario, like a planet orbiting a star or two black holes colliding, and they ask how those objects deform spacetime and what the subsequent evolution of the system should be.

But it’s also possible to run Einstein’s math in reverse by imagining some desired motion and asking what kind of spacetime deformation can make it possible. This is how the Mexican physicist Miguel Alcubierre discovered the physical basis for a warp drive—long a staple of the Star Trek franchise.

The goal of a warp drive is to get from A to B in the time between commercial breaks, which typically involves faster-than-light motion. But special relativity expressly forbids speeds faster than light. While this never bothered the writers of Star Trek , it did irritate Alcubierre. He discovered that it was possible to build a warp drive through a clever manipulation of spacetime, arranging it so that space in front of a vessel gets scrunched up and the space behind the vessel stretched out. This generates motion without, strictly speaking, movement.

It sounds like a contradiction, but that’s just one of the many wonderful aspects of general relativity. Alcubierre’s warp drive avoids violations of the speed-of-light limit because it never moves through space; instead space itself is manipulated to, in essence, bring the spacecraft’s destination closer to it.

While tantalizing, Alcubierre’s design has a fatal flaw. To provide the necessary distortions of spacetime, the spacecraft must contain some form of exotic matter, typically regarded as matter with negative mass. Negative mass has some conceptual problems that seem to defy our understanding of physics, like the possibility that if you kick a ball that weighs negative 5 kilograms, it will go flying backwards, violating conservation of momentum. Plus, nobody has ever seen any object with negative mass existing in the real universe, ever.

These problems with negative mass have led physicists to propose various versions of “energy conditions” as supplements to general relativity. These aren’t baked into relativity itself, but add-ons needed because general relativity allows things like negative mass that don’t appear to exist in our universe—these energy conditions keep them out of relativity’s equations. They’re scientists’ response to the unsettling fact that vanilla GR allows for things like superluminal motion, but the rest of the universe doesn’t seem to agree.

Warp Factor Zero

The energy conditions aren’t experimentally or observationally proven, but they are statements that concord with all observations of the universe, so most physicists take them rather seriously. And until recently, physicists have viewed those energy conditions as making it absolutely 100 percent clear that you can’t build a warp drive, even if you really wanted to.

But there is a way around it, discovered by an international team of physicists led by Jared Fuchs at the University of Alabama in Huntsville. (The team is also affiliated with the Applied Propulsion Laboratory of Applied Physics, a virtual think tank dedicated to the research of, among many other things, warp drives.) In a paper accepted for publication in the journal Classical and Quantum Gravity , the researchers dug deep into relativity to explore if any version of a warp drive could work.

By Matt Simon

By Celia Ford

By Emily Mullin

By Carlton Reid

The equations of general relativity are notoriously difficult to solve, especially in complex cases such as a warp drive. So the team turned to software algorithms; instead of trying to solve the equations by hand, they explored their solutions numerically and verified that they conformed to the energy conditions.

The team did not actually attempt to construct a propulsion device. Instead, they explored various solutions to general relativity that would allow travel from point to point without a vessel undergoing any acceleration or experiencing any overwhelming gravitational tidal forces within the vessel, much to the comfort of any imagined passengers. They then checked whether these solutions adhered to the energy conditions that prevent the use of exotic matter.

The researchers did indeed discover a warp drive solution: a method of manipulating space so that travelers can move without accelerating. There is no such thing as a free lunch, however, and the physicality of this warp drive does come with a major caveat: The vessel and passengers can never travel faster than light. Also disappointing: the fact that the researchers behind the new work don’t seem to bother with figuring out what configurations of matter would allow the warping to happen.

The Future of Gravity

On one hand, that’s a gigantic letdown. We already have plenty of methods for traveling slower than light (rockets, walking, etc.), so adding one more to the list isn’t all that exciting. Plus, even if we wanted to build this warp drive, the gulf between this hyper-theoretical work and an actual, physical propulsion mechanism is the same as the difference between writing down Newton’s laws and building a Falcon 9.

But that doesn’t mean this new development isn’t interesting. We don’t fully understand gravity, and we know that Einstein’s theory is incomplete. One of the signposts that we have to a future understanding of gravity is the fact that general relativity allows for interesting, exotic solutions—like warp drives—that appear to violate other domains of physical understanding.

Us physicists like it when all of our theories line up and agree on the nature of the Universe. So if the energy conditions set real limits on physics—limits where things like negative mass don’t just not exist , but can’t exist —then we’d like a physical theory that says that from the beginning, instead of relying on add-ons like the energy conditions.

Exploring how a warp drive might (not) work, and under what conditions and restrictions, is a step in that direction. For years physicists thought that the energy conditions outlawed all kinds of warp drives, yet the new research shows a possible way around that. What comes next will be a win no matter what; whether we get a fancy superluminal warp drive or not. That’s because whatever comes out of future lines of inquiry along these directions, we’re going to learn more about the force of gravity, and just possibly revolutionize our understanding of it.

And who knows what we’ll get once we understand gravity better.

This story originally appeared on Ars Technica .

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The Black Keys Quietly Cancel International Players Tour 2024

By Steven J. Horowitz

Steven J. Horowitz

Senior Music Writer

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The Black Keys have quietly canceled their upcoming International Players Tour, which was scheduled to bring them to arenas throughout North America.

The tour, announced in early April, was scheduled to kick off in September, with dates set for New York City’s Madison Square Garden and Los Angeles’ Kia Forum. The 31-date trek would have brought them across North America, with stops planned in Seattle, Boston and Milwaukee before concluding at Detroit’s Little Caesars Arena on Nov. 12. All dates have been marked as canceled on Ticketmaster’s website, and no reason was given for their removal.

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Management and publicity for the Black Keys did not respond to Variety ‘s requests for comment.

The Black Keys, which consists of Patrick Carney and Dan Auerbach, were set to kick off the tour in support of their most recent album “Ohio Players,” which released in April. Just three days ago, the pair appeared on NBC’s “The Voice,” where they performed “Beautiful People (Stay High).”

The band also recently debuted the documentary “This Is a Film About the Black Keys,” which had its world premiere at SXSW last month. The film explored the historical tensions between the bandmates as well as what united them. “We’ve figured each other out, for the most part,” said Auerbach in the doc. “We’re just two very opinionated, hard-headed people, trapped for eternity together.”

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