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

• Reviewed by: Bill Hunt
• Review Date: Jul 13, 2005
• Format: DVD
• 

Review

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Building upon the first season’s DVD extras, Season Two delivers another nice batch of supplements, including featurettes, deleted scenes (nicely presented in anamorphic widescreen), outtakes and more.  Disc One includes audio commentary with writer/producers Mike Sussman and Phyllis Strong on the episode Dead Stop.  There are lots of little insights and amusing comments about where various story ideas came from and how they were developed.  Sussman and Strong seem to have a lot of history (and fun) working together.  It’s a nice track.  There’s also a cute deleted scene from the episode Minefield, in which Phlox attempts to comfort an injured Hoshi by having her identify anatomical parts in Denobulan.  Disc Two offers deleted scenes from the episode A Night in Sickbay, including one in which a troubled Archer confides in Trip about his dilemma.  It’s a shame that it was cut, because it helps you empathize with Archer’s character (and his frustrations) a bit more than you do in the final episode.  Disc Four contains more deleted scenes from the episodes Dawn, Stigma and Cease Fire – they’re all interesting and nice moments, but you can see why they were cut.  There’s also another good subtitle text commentary with the Okudas on Stigma that includes plenty of trivia for the diehard Trekkers.  Disc Six features another commentary with Sussman and Strong on Regeneration, and another Okuda text commentary on First Flight.  The Regeneration commentary is the better of the two Sussman and Strong tracks, I think, as there’s just so much more to talk about, including the fan controversy over the return of the Borg, the writers’ reaction to it, the development of their concept for bringing the race back to Trek in the Enterprise era and much more.  Sussman even takes the opportunity to address some of the fans’ later questions and concerns about the continuity.  It’s a great listen.  Finally, Disc Seven offers more deleted scenes from the season-ending cliff-hanger, The Expanse, including one in which Archer seeks a little female companionship from an old girlfriend before setting out on his most dangerous mission yet.  Again, it’s a shame that it was cut, because it really humanizes his character.

Disc Seven also contains all of the set’s featurette and behind-the-scenes content (presented in 4x3 video with 2.0 audio and optional English subtitles).  The best of this material is another outtakes reel (this one is 11 minutes in length).  We see a sweeping janitor passing through the viewscreen to interrupt a serious moment, Archer teasing Travis about the “pictures” he found in the Ensign’s quarters, a funny but overplayed scene with T’Pol, Trip and Archer all drunk from Carbon Creek (the scene was ultimately reshot sans intoxication), lots of little line gaffs and physical flubs, etc.  My favorite moment is Bakula walking into shot amid a thick cloud of smoke during a tense scene and breaking character to say, “Next year, fire extinguishers all around!”

The featurettes include interesting behind-the-scenes footage, as well as new and vintage interview clips with the cast and production crew.  They start with Enterprise Moments: Season Two, which is a rundown of the major story and production highlights from the year – various people comment on the developments or tell interesting stories.  Berman and Braga seem a little too proud of their lackluster Temporal Cold War story, Mike Sussman reveals his original concept for Future Tense (which ultimately evolved into the fourth season’s 2-part In a Mirror, Darkly), Jolene Blalock tries to be diplomatic about having to play T’Pol in heat in Bounty, Mike Okuda and Bakula provide interesting details about First Flight (you actually get to see some of the futuristic mission patches on the wall of the 602 Club – Man, I’d love to have a set of those), etc.  In Enterprise Profile: Jolene Blalock, the actress talks about how she auditioned for the role of T’Pol, how she’s developed over time, and how the character’s relationships with Archer and Trip in particular have evolved. Braga talks about how he wanted to make the Vulcans interesting again, and how T’Pol’s character was always meant to have a yearning to explore the emotions forbidden by her people.  Co-star Connor Trinneer (Trip) notes that Jolene has the hardest job on the show and complements her performance.  He also jokes that he almost never gets to see her not looking like a Vulcan.  LeVar Burton: Star Trek Director is a very nice piece that takes us behind-the-scenes on the episode First Flight, which Burton directed.  It’s interesting to see this series from the perspective of a longtime Trek alum.  In Enterprise Secrets, 1st assistant director David Trotti talks about recreating the Rura Penthe mines (first seen in Star Trek VI) for the episode Judgment.  Finally, Inside A Night in Sickbay looks more closely at the creation of the season’s second most fan-polarizing episode.  It’s clear that Berman, Braga and Bakula are quite taken with it.  There’s also a photo gallery containing some nice production shots and publicity stills, along with that Las Vegas Hilton/Borg Invasion promo spot again.  Disc Seven also includes three more NX-01 Files Easter egg featurettes (interview clips with the cast talking more about their experiences on the show).

All of the discs feature very nicely animated CG footage of a flight of Klingon warships (from Marauders, I believe), which then transitions to one of the warships being analyzed by the Enterprise’s computer interface (from there you can select the various episodes and options available).  As before, the package is contained in a plastic, sliver-gray outer box.  Inside this is a plastic tray to hold the discs and an insert booklet with notes on the episodes and features.

As with the Season One DVDs, my only real complaint with the extras here is that I still want more audio commentaries.  It would be nice if the DVD production team had been able to bring in more of the actors in groups – particularly the cast members who tend to get short shrift otherwise.  Guest players too would be interesting to hear from – Jeffrey Combs (Shran) and Gary Graham (Soval) for example.  Fox does this pretty aggressively with their TV discs on shows like 24, and I wish would Paramount would follow their lead a little more.  Still, you do get two audio commentaries on this set, which is one more than Season One offered.  And both are very good.  It’s a nitpick, but there you go.

One more note... as with other Trek TV DVD sets, if you purchase The Complete Second Season at Best Buy/Media Play/Musicland-affiliated stores, you’ll get an exclusive bonus disc containing the featurette Shooting Future Tense.  U.K. Trek fans actually get this in the set normally, but U.S. fans continue to have to jump through the retail exclusive hoop.

When I look back at Enterprise – a series that was sadly cancelled just as it was finally reaching its potential after its fourth year – I can’t help coming to conclusion that Season Two was where things really went wrong.  You can forgive a show for not firing on all cylinders (or even having a plan) in its first year, but not its second.  Even the tried-and-true Borg and another attempt at titillation with a hackneyed Pon Farr episode couldn’t keep viewers tuned in – not even diehard Trekkers.  As Season Two drew to a close, the ratings were falling steadily and it was finally clear to Berman and Braga that Enterprise wasn’t delivering much that fans wanted to see.  The series had to change, and quickly.  In response, the producers hastily conjured a 9/11-style attack upon Earth by a mysterious race known as the Xindi, and a desperate mission for the Enterprise crew to prevent an even deadlier strike.  This was introduced in another season-ending cliffhanger, The Expanse.  While it still wasn’t was what fans wanted most (which was the true prequel to The Original Series that Berman and Braga had initially pitched), the subsequent, season-long plot arc was at least enough of a kick in the ass to infuse the series with real drama, a genuine edge to the storytelling and badly-needed momentum and direction.  Those fans patient enough to have remained with the series through two aimless years were rewarded for their loyalty.  Enterprise was about to get a lot better... and it was finally going to be called Star Trek.

The Delphic Expanse awaits.  Season Three here we come...