![]() |
.. |
STAR TREK: ENTERPRISE
Season Three
Review by Mark Wiechman
Stars:
Connor Trinneer, Linda Park, Anthony Montgomery, Dominic Keating, Jolene
Blalock, John Billingsley, Scott Bakula
Audio: Dolby 5.1, 2.0
Video: Color, Closed Captioned, Widescreen
Studio: Paramount Home Video
Features: See Review
Running time: Seven Discs
Release date: September 27, 2005
"I
was instructing him in the practice of Vulcan neuropressure. How Commander
Tucker was hoping to modify them. They were helping him sleep.”
"What do you mean? Was there ever anything between you and Trip?”
"If you are referring to a romantic relationship... no.”
"The reason I ask is... well... you're all I think about, if you know what
I mean. And, I'm not talking about an adolescent crush. That was... well, that
was two days ago. This is much more serious, the way I feel about you. Anyway,
what's driving me crazy is, I don't know if these feelings are mine... or
his.”
"I didn't mean to make you feel uncomfortable.”
"I'm not uncomfortable.”
"I just thought I should tell you this, while I still had the chance.”
Show
***1/2
The
third season of Star Trek Enterprise is unique because most of the season
revolves around the threat posed by the five-species Xindi culture.
Their mission is to destroy Earth, and our brave crew has to be the first
starship ever to deal with such a large-scale threat.
Paramount had asked the producers to crank the show up a notch or two
this time around. This was a normal
request for this team, who created and wrote many memorable chapters of Stark
Trek lore but often forgot that what the original series so memorable was
that the Earth (or in some cases the galaxy) were in danger and that sometimes
Star Fleet officers had to get dirty when fighting enemies and trample on
regulations to get the job done..
Season
Three succeeds in upping the stakes by putting Captain Archer and his crew in
harm’s way and forcing him to torture aliens and even steal from them to
further his mission, which revives the age-old moral dilemma of the end
justifying the means and (of course) whether the needs of the many outweigh the
needs of the few. A culture of
terrorism also permeates the season’s stories, which were written in the years
soon after 9/11 and while the writers deny a link, events in the world often
influence writers and artists more than they realize.
Highlights
of the season include “Harbinger” which features complex fight and dialogue
scenes as well as perhaps the first butt shot in the whole series (and a Vulcan
one at that!) It also features
Steven Culp (well known as Bobby Kennedy in Thirteen Days and the doomed
Rex in Desperate Housewives). “Similitude,”
from which the above quote is taken, shows Trip being injured so seriously that
he has to be cloned, and his clone struggles with identity and his feelings for
a Vulcan. “Carpenter Street”
introduces a visit from the distant future warning Captain Archer of timeline
problems due to the Xindi. “Damage” features Archer stealing from another vessel
when he feels he has no chance, but strands them in space. “The Forgotten” shows T’Pol experimenting with a drug
which unleashes her emotions, to which she eventually becomes addicted.
And of course the season ends with another excellent cliffhanger, “Zero
Hour,” which supposedly the producers had no idea how to
end…or so they said at the time….
Video
****
This is another excellent transfer from Paramount without any splotching or other problems even though most of the lighting is low. I forgot to mention in my prior review that the episodes are in widescreen.
Audio
****
While
the rear channels are used minimally, the mix of music and dialogue is clear and
well engineered as we have come to expect from
Star Trek releases.
Features
***
The
usual highlight reel of Season Three moves along briskly and is an excellent
introduction to the season as a whole. Prior
to that, though, is the excellent Xindi Saga Begins which explains the
unique arc of this season. This
set’s profile is on Connor Trinneer, who plays the tough southern man Tripp,
who combines Captain Kirk’s macho side with Dr. McCoy’s snide attitude and
impatience with stupidity. This
character is especially interesting, and it was wise to put his profile in this
third set, because he lost his sister in an alien attack on Earth.
In season two he spends several episodes trying to deal with his emotions
and coping with his duties on the ship. This
reminds me of the grief any military, police or fire and rescue person must deal
with when a comrade is lost. This
is also consistently with the “peaceful military” approach of the whole Star
Trek milieu. In this series,
this grief led to insomnia, which T’Pol treated with special massages,
and…well, things happen when attractive Vulcans who are not used to dealing
with emotions massage macho southern men who enjoy playing with knobs!
Trinneer also discusses the challenge of playing a clone of Tripp in
“Similarities,” being buried alive in sand, and the mechanics of shower love
scenes with T’Pol.
A
Day in the Life of A Director: Roxann Dawson features the actress who played the
passionate and obstinate half-Klingon engineer B’Lanna Torres on the Voyager
episode and makes us appreciate the work that directors have to do.
Summary