Star Trek: Enterprise – The Complete First Season (DVD Review)

• Reviewed by: Bill Hunt
• Review Date: Mar 31, 2005
• Format: DVD
• 

Review

(...CONTINUED)

Nine of the season’s episodes also include scenes that were filmed but ultimately cut (mostly for time).  There are 16 deleted scenes in all from Season One, scattered over the six episode discs.  They’re presented separately, accessible from each episode’s menu page (they’re not edited back into the shows themselves).  Not only is it cool to have these scenes, but all of them are presented in anamorphic widescreen like the episodes (with Dolby Digital 2.0 audio) – a very nice and frankly unexpected touch.  Some are fully finished, while some have no visual effects.  All have at least roughly-mixed sound, so you can see (and hear) how the finished scene would have played out.  A few of these are “extended” scenes (including a lengthy conversation between Trip and Malcolm from Shuttlepod One) presented in a combination of color and B&W footage – the B&W footage appeared in the final cut of the episode, while the color was trimmed out.  There are some very cool character moments contained in these scenes, including a number of moments intended to show or refer to the long-time friendship between Archer and Tucker.  You get to see a little more of Hoshi’s unease about space travel from Broken Bow, you see T’Pol and Malcolm teasing Trip about his “condition” in Unexpected (the scene ends with him running out of the room to puke).  It’s fun stuff to see.

Disc Seven contains the all of the set’s featurette and behind-the-scenes content (all of it presented in 4x3 video with 2.0 audio and optional English subtitles).  By far the most entertaining of the extras on this disc is a 9-minute reel of outtakes.  It contains some very funny stuff – Bakula showing up in T’Pol’s quarters with martinis and a cigar, Trinneer trying to say “The Captain and T’Pol...” but blowing the line and then joking that he keeps wanting to say “The Captain & Tennille.”  Nearly all of the cast gets in on the fun.  Particularly nice is that both Kellie Waymire and Jeffrey Combs appear in light-hearted moments here (Waymire sadly passed away recently and Combs’ character Shran is a major fan favorite).

The featurettes are all generally very good and include interesting behind-the-scenes footage and both new and vintage interview clips with all of the major cast members (and some of the production crew as well).  Creating Enterprise opens with an interesting bit of video in which Bakula introduces the crew members (and his fellow cast).  It was produced to introduce the show to both fans (at conventions) and advertisers.  The piece then features Berman and Braga talking about the origins of the show, the cast talking about who their characters are and what they like about them, and various crew members discussing the show’s look and production design.  As you might guess, O Captain! My Captain! A Profile of Scott Bakula focuses on the man in the center seat and the actor who plays him.  Both cast and crew talk about how much they look up to Bakula and what classy professional (and apparent jokester) he is.  In Cast Impressions: Season One, all of the actors talk about their favorite episodes from the first season.  Inside Shuttlepod One is very similar, except that it features reminisces about this specific episode – one of Berman’s all-time favorites.  If there’s a weak link on this set, it would have to be Star Trek Time Travel: Temporal Cold Wars and Beyond.  It starts out interesting, featuring Berman and Braga talking about their Temporal Cold War concept, but it quickly turns into little more than a video timeline of all the “time travel” stories the Trek franchise has told over the years (too many, IMHO).  Particularly interesting (but way too short) is Enterprise Secrets, in which one of the assistant directors shows you how some of the high-tech equipment on the Enterprise REALLY works (it’s decidedly low-tech, as you might imagine).  Thankfully, we’re promised that more “secrets” will be revealed on the DVDs for future seasons.  The most off-beat of the featurettes, Admiral Forrest Takes Center Stage, features the “iron man” of Trek guest stars, Vaughn Armstrong, talking about the unusual variety of roles he’s played in the franchise over the years.  And as there’s always at least one bit of shameless promotion on every Star Trek DVD, here you get a promo trailer for Paramount’s Borg Invasion experience at the Las Vegas Hilton.  It’s very quick, so I can forgive its inclusion here.

Just FYI, Disc Seven also features a trio of hidden Easter egg featurettes (called NX-01 Files).  They’re Very easy to find and are basically just additional clips of interviews with cast and crew members talking about the show.

All of the discs feature very nicely animated CG footage of the Enterprise launching from Spacedock, which then transitions to the ship’s signature computer display interface, allowing you to select the various episodes and options available.  The discs themselves are contained in a slim little sliver-gray outer box that’s shaped like some kind of prop from the show (similar to the TOS DVD sets).  This contains a plastic disc tray like the ones the DS9 and Voyager DVDs were released in.  You get all this... and an insert booklet too.  Nice.

If I had any nits to pick with the bonus material on the Season One DVDs, it’s that I really want more audio commentaries.  I’d particularly love to hear some of the cast members talking about episodes, and maybe a few of the show’s other writers commenting on the various shows they’ve written.  I know that producer Mike Sussman has recorded commentary for one of his Season Two episodes.  Imagine how cool it would be to hear Dominic Keating (Malcolm) talking about Minefield or Anthony Montgomery (Travis) on Horizon (both second season eps).  How about Manny Coto with Connor Trinneer and Jolene Blalock on Similitude, and Judith & Garfield Reeves-Stevens with Blalock and Bakula on The Forge?  Bring groups of people in – get the whole cast involved!  Hopefully, we’ll get 3 or 4 commentary tracks per season on future sets.  One per season just isn’t nearly enough.  I’d also love to see more behind-the-scenes footage in future sets – for example, a look at the making of a new episode each season, and the cast and writers talking about how the characters developed from year to year.  And definitely more outtakes and deleted scenes.  They’re just too good not to continue with them.

One other note... as with previous Trek TV DVD sets, if you purchase The Complete First Season at Best Buy/Media Play/Musicland-affiliated stores, you’ll get an exclusive bonus disc containing the featurette Celebrating Star Trek: A Look at Star Trek Conventions and Fans (if you’re a lucky U.K. Trek fan, you’ll get this in the set, but U.S. fans have to jump through the retail exclusive hoop once more).  Just so you all know.

If it had blasted out of the starting gate with real storytelling direction and momentum (and with real connections to the show it was meant to be a prequel of), it’s unlikely that this series would have struggled in the ratings as much as it has.  Nevertheless, Star Trek: Enterprise is a much better show than a lot of people have given it credit for.  Don’t let my C+ grade for this season (above) mislead you.  Yes, its first two seasons are uneven and a bit aimless, but trust me... this show picks up in a big way in seasons three and four, and it’s worth hanging around for.  If you’re one of those fans who tuned out of Enterprise early in its run, or if you haven’t seen it at all, I strongly encourage you to give it a fresh look now on DVD.  I think you’ll be glad you did.  Its anamorphic widescreen video and 5.1 audio make it fun viewing for those who prefer to enjoy their TV science fiction cinema-style.  And these are easily the best special features on any Trek series on DVD to date.  As a major fan of this show, I’m really very happy with this set.  My hats off to the folks at Toolbox Productions and Paramount who put it all together.  Please keep the great extras coming!