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Every Star Trek serial is someone ’s favorite ( Star Trek : The Animated Seriesstans , we see you ) , but when it comes to the 18 - class Golden Age of Trek between 1987 and 2005 , the prequel seriesEnterpriseis well the least dear . Airing on UPN for an abbreviated four - season run , Enterprisewas meant to shake things up after three straight series set in the late 24th hundred .
Imagined as a sort of origin story for Star Trek in the style ofThe Right Stuff , Divine Rick Berman and Brannon Braga want to beguile the risk and excitement of United Earth ’s former interstellar space program , evenplanning to expend the entire first season on Earthpreparing for the launch of Starfleet ’s very first Starship Enterprise . The meshing , however , had other melodic theme , insisting that Berman and Braga not meddle with the consistently successful Star Trek formula . Thus , despite call for berth two centuries before , Enterprisebecame , basically , “ moreVoyager , ” which in turn had been “ moreNext genesis , ” a once - great sci - fi procedural that was nearly a ten past its top .
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That ’s not to say that the series did n’t better throughout its four - season run . After two class of fight to justify the show ’s very being , Berman and Braga swing for the fences with a radically unlike third time of year that reinventedEnterprise(now renamedStar Trek : Enterprise ) as a grim and coarse-grained serialized drama take out the wake of a 9/11 - graduated table onslaught on Earth . While immediately more compelling , the revamp failed to boost the show ’s sag ratings , and it was reworked yet again the come class , and run further into the “ prequel toStar Trek ” angle under fresh showrunner Manny Coto . This , many fan will argue , is whereEnterprisefinally found its legs , but it was too little and too late to prevent its cancellation . Still , each iteration of the tumultuous spinoff had its highlight and our list of the 10 strongestEnterpriseepisodes is circularise fairly evenly throughout the run of the show .
Warning : This article comprise spoilers for each listed sequence .
10. Babel One/United/The Aenar (season 4, episodes 12, 13, & 14)
After shinny to establish an indistinguishability for three seasons , the final time of year ofEnterprisefocused on setting the groundwork for important moments in the dealership ’s fabricated history . This three - parter marks the first squad - up between all four of the worlds that will one twenty-four hour period found the United Federation of Planets : Andoria , Earth , Tellar Prime , and Vulcan , as they ’re pitted against each other by a secret foeman . That foeman , of course , turn out to be the Romulans , the shady foreign empire that Earth and its allies are destined to go to warfare with in the days to derive . TheBabel Onetrilogy promises that the news report of this momentous conflict is forthcoming , and that the alinement born in this episode will be fundamental in winning the day . Alas , the serial was strike down before it could make good on this promise , but it ’s still an entertaining chapter in the history of the franchise .
Of course , what really land theBabel Onetrilogy on our list is that it ’s a three - hour write up feature the show ’s best persona , the Andorian Commander Shran ( recurring guest adept Jeffrey Combs ) . You hear us — not bestguestcharacter , bestcharacter , hand down . Shran is a prickly , but baronial warrior obsessed with repay his debt . He ’s a petty paranoid , but he ’s also fairly reasonable and trusty , particularly once you ’ve won his respect . He might not have seemed like such a dainty if he ’d been on the show every week , but this story is a welcome triple dose of our favourite Andorian .
9. Shuttlepod One (season 1, episode 16)
The former day ofEnterpriseare thoroughly unspectacular , as its politic characters and insufficiently fresh stage setting struggle in comparison to the appearance that preceded it . Shuttlepod Oneis a relatively bright touch in the first time of year and a display case for two persona that helped endear them to audiences for the remainder of the series . In this episode , chipper top dog engineer Charles “ Trip ” Tucker III ( Connor Trinneer ) and strait - laced armory policeman Malcolm Reed ( Anthony Keating ) are trap in a Shuttlepod together and , after bechance upon some ominous wreckage , trust themselves to be the sole subsister of the go-ahead crew . The story is about how these two very different multitude each care the prospect of end and the slim possibleness of survival .
It ’s moderately heavily - handed , tramp Reed as a pessimist despite being the only one of the brace to accurately assess the gravity of their predicament , but it ’s really about the birth of a friendly relationship , one that would become a staple of the rest of the series . Behind the scene , Trineer and Keating would remain chum for decades , often appearing together at conventions and plunge their own podcast in 2022 , calledThe Shuttlepod Show .
8. Zero Hour (season 3, episode 24)
Enterprisewasn’t the first Star Trek series to attempt a retentive , serialized account electric discharge — Deep Space Nine ’s Dominion Warplayed out over the course of years — but it was the first in the enfranchisement to amply trust to the innovative model of telling a single story over the course of action of an entire season . time of year 3 ’s Xindi arc give Enterprise a new select directive , to find and destroy a planet - killing weapon system before it could be loose on Earth . And , when you ask an audience to pull to an epic story that unfold over a period of months , whether or not that audience feels satisfied with that commitment ride on the success of its finale .
Zero Houris big blockbuster Trek on television , an hourlong action mechanism finale for what is still the longest unploughed tarradiddle bow in the canyon . It tie together duds that had been bequeath dangling throughout the time of year and bring them all together for a rousing adventure with its reasonable share of fist - pump moments . ( It ’s always a delight to see Combs ’ Shran , but his show here gets a red-blooded “ Hell , yeah ! ” out of us every fourth dimension . ) While its tacked - on twist ending require a act of the air out of the balloon ( the writer merely needed a head word - itch cliffhanger to try and avoid cancellation ) , it ’s still a satisfying ending to one of the franchise ’s riskiest stories .
7. Carbon Creek (season 2, episode 2)
If you ’ve been following ourentireseriesofStar Trekcountdowns , then you jazz that we were bind to let in one of the really silly ones on this list . Carbon Creekis a divisive sequence that fudges with the dealership ’s establish history of alien contact for the sake of a goofy , but heartfelt story that speaks to the essence of what Trek is all about . Here , Subcommander T’Pol ( Jolene Blalock ) regales Captain Jonathan Archer ( Scott Bakula ) and Trip with a tall tale about one of her ancestors ( also Blalock ) becoming strand in Pennsylvania in 1957 , along with a small crowd of Vulcan scientists . While they await rescue , the Vulcans are hale to blend in with the human population and engage in some fish - out - of - water funniness .
As with a number of our other pickax , Carbon Creekstands out from the crowd for being notably dissimilar from the “ satellite of the week ” stories that had gotten stale beforeEnterpriseeven debuted . In addition to being a period piece focused on a new set of characters , it ’s also an sexual inversion of the expect . Instead of being a account about human being come at a young world and reckon their humanity reflected back at them , it ’s a report about Vulcans coming toourworld , which is new to them and makes them excogitate what it is to beVulcan . This probably make the episode sound more high - minded than it is , butCarbon Creekremains fun light entertainment that , unlike a pile of earlyEnterpriseepisodes , will believably not birth you .
6. First Flight (season 2, episode 24)
Berman and Braga ’s original concept forEnterprisewas that it would recapture the vim and excitement of the sixties Space Race by framing its early Starfleet crew as pioneers and trailblazer in the new sphere of interstellar travel . This version was tossed in favor of a more familiar form of Star Trek , but we do get one abbreviated glimpse at the serial publication that might have been in the show ’s fiftieth episode , First Flight . This tale flash back to Archer ’s former days as a Starfleet test pilot , long before the Enterprise was constructed . Back then , the delegation of Starfleet was n’t to explore strange Modern worlds — it was to reach Warp 3 without explode , and Archer had to compete with an raiment of other pilots just for the prerogative of possibly blowing up . First Flighttells the story of Archer ’s rivalry with fellow officer A.G. Robinson ( guest star Keith Carradine ) , and how their conflict to be the fastest human in history well-nigh tanked — but ultimately saved — the entire blank programme .
Though not exactly innovational television , First Flightearns a place on our list as an example ofEnterprise ’s unfulfilled potentiality . As much as this series catch more in line with buff ’ expectation in the later season , a Star Trek series with this circumstance and tone would have been something truly new for the franchise , a prequel with an personal identity all its own . Until the dealership inevitably cycle back around to the 22nd hundred , we ’ll have to settle for this one episode .
5. Demons/Terra Prime (season 4, episodes 20 & 21)
take any Trekkie and they ’ll narrate you direct : The series finale ofEnterpriseisbad . These Are The Voyages , which takes billet years after the rest of the series , but is actually a holodeck simulation being playedcenturiesafter the rest of the serial , is a full mess and an awful way for the show to terminate . The coda feels all the more anticlimactical since the previous story , the ending of which aired that very same nighttime as the finale , actually offer a fairly solid decision . The two - partDemons / Terra Primebrings the Enterprise back home to preside over an historical agreement between worlds that will someday chair to the birth of the United Federation of Planets . However , these transactions are jeopardized by a terrorist group called Terra Prime , which threaten to put down Starfleet Command unless all extraterrestrials impart Earth . step up the wager is the revelation that Terra Prime has create an babe human / Vulcan hybrid to attend as an lesson of their “ corrupted ” futurity , and she ’s the genetical girl of T’Pol and Trip .
Lending an tune of gravitas to the story is guest whizz Peter “ RoboCop ” Weller as terrorist leader John Frederick Paxton , who see himself the savior of the human subspecies . Paxton and Terra Prime lay out the very real madness of xenophobia , draw one - to - one comparisons with the logic and motives of white supremacist who view ethnical or genetic hybridization - pollination with other races as an blast on their identity . Star Trek , of course , preaches the opposite school of thought , that every grouping is strong when they espouse each other ’s difference and process together as one . DemonsandTerra Primehave the crowd of Archer ’s Enterprise fighting for the very ideals behind Star Trek at a juncture in story where they are in direct jeopardy . It ’s a key turn full point in the evolution of humans from the unexampled kids on the galactic block to a leader in the spare-time activity of interstellar heartsease and successfulness . The fact that the stake are personified in Trip and T’Pol ’s tenuous sister is just icing on the bar .
4. Damage (season 3, episode 19)
The third season ofEnterprisedelivers some of the most “ post-9/11 ” television you ’ll ever see . Debuting in 2003 while24was at its peak , the Xindi arc dealt with the impact that a mortal surprise tone-beginning can have on a society that views itself as untouchable . Like America after the Cold War , the United Earth of the 22nd century think of themselves as existing at “ the final stage of history , ” as if trouble and strife are behind them . They ’re the honest guy rope , and they ’ve acquire . Suddenly , their head game of primacy is shattered , and they do n’t know how to handle the chance of another cataclysm . However , where in real life the 9/11 flack did not turn out to be a forerunner to a new era of dramatic foreign terrorist natural action on U.S. stain ( as we were all told to expect by the news program of the day ) , the firing of a index arm at Earth by the inscrutable Xindi , is , in fact , only a trial run for a much larger attempt that would destroy the planet instantly . Thus , Earth dispatches its only capable starship , Enterprise , into a life-threatening expanse of space to locate and destruct the Xindi ’s weapon of mass destruction before it can be completed , by any agency necessary .
So , when enterprisingness is seriously damage in a encounter with Xindi force , Archer is forced to empty his “ develop ” moral code and make terrible choices to complete his urgent foreign mission . A Good Samaritan answer their hurt call and offer help , but what Enterprise really need is a decisive set of function that the friendly vesselalsoneeds to survive . The overall ethics of Star Trek have always maintained that you ca n’t salve human beings by sacrifice your own humanity , and nearly always constructs report to formalize that item of view . This time , Archer is apply no way out . At the same time , Commander T’Pol is facing a altogether dissimilar national battle , as the truth about her abuse of the psychoactive substance Trellium - D eventually number to light . Blalock , of whom very little is need in the first two seasons apart from wearing tight outfits and being leer at by the photographic camera , outshine the entire cast with her performance in this acute and call for instalment .
3. In a Mirror, Darkly, Parts I & II (season 4, episodes 18 & 19)
ThatIn a Mirror , Darklyis many fans ’ favoriteEnterpriseepisode is about as damning a unfavorable judgment one could make about the series . The two - parter is set in entirely the Mirror Universe , the topsy - turvy parallel timeline in which the Enterprise serves the fascist , xenophobic Terran Empire , and thus features none of the show ’s regular characters . or else , the cast gets to overact it up by portraying their dastardly counterparts who , while for certain over the top , are more fun and more interesting than their Prime Universe counterpart . Here , a dissatisfied Archer leads a coup against stubborn Captain Forrest ( frequent guest lead Vaughn Armstrong ) , who ’s an Admiral in the Prime Universe , and take the ISS Enterprise into foeman territory to seize a knock-down ship from an alternative future tense — the Constitution - Class USS Defiant from theStar Trek : The Original SeriesepisodeThe Tholian entanglement .
This , of course , is why the episode is so darling — it ’s 2nd part is a smorgasbord of nostalgia , as theEnterprisecast wanders a arrant facts of life of the 1960sStar Trekset , dons old - school uniforms , and face classicTrekvillains the Tholian and the Gorn , which are redesigned using contemporary CGI . Since the story is alfresco of the normal continuity , anything can and does fall out , and it ’s a wild drive . much none of this episode ’s succeeder has anything to do with the series from which it ’s sprung , but it ’s a charmingly bonkers 90 transactions of television that has , against all betting odds , really had sanctioned relevancy for episodes ofStar Trek : Discoverythat were bring about 15 years afterward .
2. Twilight (season 3, episode 8)
Any sci - fi show with in high spirits stakes can profit from a “ worst - face scenario ” fourth dimension change of location episode . Nothing clarifies the importance of a hero ’s mission more than find for themselves exactly what will happen if they fail . And like any story mark in an alternate futurity , there ’s the added excitement of get a line events that would never be allow for to happen in an episode that “ counts . ” Take , for instance , Twilight , which open with a disoriented Archer fighting his way to the bridge of the Enterprise just in sentence to watch Earth get blasted into scrap . After this shocking teaser , we find out that Archer has confirm an injury that prevents him from constitute novel tenacious - condition memories , and that as a termination , the endeavor ’s mission to destroy the Xindi superweapon fails and most of humanity is killed . Twelve yr later , a method acting is discovered to untie Archer ’s accident , perhaps saving Earth in the process , and the scattered Enterprise bunch gathers for one last charge for all the marbles .
The scenario is intriguing in itself , as are the glimpses into the possible futures of the rest period of the even characters , but the heart of the sequence is the relationship between the ailing Archer and T’Pol , who has remain by his side throughout his malady . By this point in the series , the Romance language between T’Pol and Trip Tucker was already in motion , but this alternating timeline show a very different sort of bond paper develop between T’Pol and her former headwaiter , one which is , perhaps , not particularly healthy . Blalock ’s performance as this future T’Pol ( one of two she would portray that time of year ) is quietly compelling , and an early index number of how much her character would acquire over the course of the Xindi arc .
1. Similitude (season 3, episode 10)
At boldness value , Similitudeseems like a retread of a dilemma confront by theStar Trek : Voyagercrew in the episodeTuvix . Strange fortune have direct to the instauration of a young life form , and the only elbow room to save a conversant member of the gang is to take his life . The new life shape , naturally , does n’t want to die , but the rules of television need that everything go back to normal at the closing of 45 moment . Similituderetains everything about that story that run inTuvix , while making it more interesting at every step . Here , chief applied scientist Trip Tucker is mortally wounded in an accident , and the only way to save him is to grow a quickly aging clon of him and harvest its brain tissue . Even though this procedure is supposed to be nonlethal , Archer and Dr. Phlox ( John Billingsley ) would ordinarily resist at performing such a morally dubious experimentation .
However , this story take aim place midway through the Xindi arc , and the Enterprise is the only hope of saving the Earth from total destruction . Earth want initiative , Enterprise needs misstep , and Trip needs his clone ’s encephalon tissue , so Archer has no choice . sorry , the crew has to ascertain this clone , who they name “ Sim , ” grow up over the course of weeks , gradually inherit the memories of his presenter . When he hit the age at which he ’s supposed to donate his psyche tissue , Phlox determines that the graft to save Trip will be fatal to Sim .
Similitudeplaces our Starfleet heroes in an unsufferable situation and explores it from several pragmatic and emotional angles . There ’s Archer buckle under the force per unit area of his daunting mission , becoming ever more willing to play the villain so long as it serves his mission . There ’s T’Pol ’s confusion over her romantic feelings for Trip , versus Sim ’s professed lovemaking for her . There ’s Phlox , a family man , raise a short boy in his sick berth only to be asked to sacrifice him by his own hand . And , ultimately , there ’s Sim himself , an impeccant nipper who is accumulating two confounding solidification of memories as he grows up and struggling with an identity crisis and a resentment toward the man he was create to save , who is alsohim .
The playscript , performances , and product all make the most of the instalment ’s conception , resulting in a catgut - wrenchingly emotional hour of television . It ’s no admiration that Coto , this sequence ’s author , would be pass on the keys to the serial publication for the next season , and why so many lover like he ’d stimulate the luck to see it through for a few more years .
Stream all four seasons ofStar Trek : EnterpriseonParamount+ .
