he fifth Star Trek series begins its maiden voyage with a two-hour pilot episode called "Broken Bow." One hundred years before Kirk will explore in Star Trek and decades before the Federation of Planets will be established, the crew of the very first Enterprise is about to explore "strange new worlds and seek out new life and new civilizations."
For nearly 100 years, the Vulcans have held the human race back from deep-space exploration. As "Broken Bow" opens, a spaceship crashes on Earth in the middle of a farm and a Klingon is shot by a farmer. Vulcans offer to take the Klingon back home, but Capt. Jonathan Archer (Bakula) and Star Fleet have a different idea. As their first deep-space mission, they are to return the injured Klingon to his homeworld on their new starship, the Enterprise NX-01. The Vulcans don't think this is a good idea, but reluctantly agree to hand over the appropriate star charts if one of their own, Sub Commander T'Pol (Blalock), is allowed to serve as the Enterprise's Science Officer for the brief mission.
After the Enterprise gets on its way, the ship is attacked and the Klingon is kidnapped by mysterious aliens. T'Pol reminds the captain that without the Klingon, his mission is over and it's time to return home. Archer isn't about to do that.
Using the technology that they have at hand, the Enterprise crew follows a lead to a distant planet where they may just be able to find out the location of the missing Klingon. But they've never done this before—and with language translation challenges, untested transporters and weapons, and one often uncooperative Vulcan Sub Commander, it's going to be a journey unlike any Star Trek before.
Maybe the best Trek of them all
Right from the opening credits we know this is something different. The song
plays "It's been a long time, getting from here to there," as a mix of images
through the ages show how far exploration has taken the human race. When the series starts, it's in black and white as a father talks to his son, Jonathan Archer, about space travel. Years later, a
Klingon shows up in living color to remind us we're not in Kansas anymore. No, we're in Oklahoma, where he has crash-landed.
"Broken Bow" is a wonderful beginning for Enterprise, as it lays out the long-standing disagreement about human space exploration between the hot-headed and temperamental humans and the logical and condescending Vulcans. Like eager teen-agers, the humans have more confidence in themselves than the parental Vulcans.
Enterprise does a terrific job at bridging the gap between the present day and Kirk's universe. Bakula wears a baseball cap and has a dog, the humans are quite likely to eat a nice thick steak, and there are modern-day references thrown around to make us feel at home. And there's also plenty of Star Trek-ian elements to remind us that we're in Gene Roddenberry's universe.
However, what really makes the Enterprise universe unique is that the characters feel more human. They get nervous, they make bad judgments, they're funny, and some of the time they don't know what the heck they're doing. That's a refreshing change of pace from the jaded travelers of other
Star Treks, where exploring the universe became old hat. If this Enterprise breaks down, they are all alone with little experience and no convenient Federation to save their butts. As T'Pol reminds Archer, "Space is very big."
The cast is full of unique characters who each get at least a few minutes to establish themselves in "Broken Bow." Scott Bakula inhabits the character of Jonathan Archer as though he's always played it. He's part cowboy, part diplomat and all starship captain. Break-out star Blalock is more than a little reminiscent of Seven of Nine. However, she's not just a carbon copy. She is more than suited to the task of being the antagonist in the group. Other standouts look to be Connor Trinneer as Chief Engineer Trip Tucker and John Billingsley as the very alien Dr. Phlox.
That's not to say that Enterprise is perfect. There's only one strong female character (T'Pol), and she's wearing a skintight cat suit. Traveling from planet to planet is too instantaneous. The plot is conveniently laid out in a way that doesn't feel realistic. And there are the standard little Star Trek-type odds and ends that require the ability to seriously suspend belief in order to enjoy the story. Despite those few quibbles, Enterprise has the potential to be the best Trek of them all.
