ENTERPRISE – Season 3 Review
Page 9 of 10The ship
It is partially repaired but needs a major overhaul. It has a warp coil from the Illyrians (“Damage”). Still no shields although Reed was supposed to be working on them in season 1’s “Vox Sola”.
REVIEW:
Overall, this has been a great season. The show has improved a great deal over season 1 and 2. The Temporal Cold War has been put on hold but we did get to see some glimpses of Daniels here and there. Archer is important to the formation of the Federation so what has happened to him in “Zero Hour” will no doubt be resolved. The Xindi arc was interesting enough although the finale was a bit rushed. We saw a lot of growth in the characters save for Mayweather. The writing has much improved. The direction was for the most part great this season as was the acting.
We didn’t see much of the Vulcans except for the zombies in “Impulse”. No Klingons of course but we did see the Andorians and the glorious Shran (Jeffrey Combs of DS9 fame). Last we saw, Shran said Archer owes him. I love it as most likely we will see Shran again. Let’s put it this way, we better! Then there are the Illyrians. I hope Archer makes some sort of restitution to them. Ok, I’d like to see Casey Biggs again. We met the Xindi and they were surprisingly well fleshed-out in the end. Randy Oglesby’s death scene is unforgettable. A great dramatic scene of the Shakespearean kind. Scott MacDonald as Dolim is also to be commended for creating a great villain.
There is still no Prime Directive and no Federation of course. Still, we saw a glimpse of the future where Archer is at the signing of the charter and the formation of the Federation. From the “Zero Hour” synopsis: ” Archer finds himself in the future with Daniels. They are at Starfleet. Daniels tells him they are seven years into the future. He adds that the Vulcans, Andorians, Tellarites and Archer himself are all there to sign the charter that will create the “United Federation of Planets”. Archer tells Daniels he needs to get back. Daniels tells Archer to let Reed or someone else go to the control platform. He adds that the formation of the Federation won’t happen without him. Archer doesn’t listen and insists that Daniels send him back to Degra’s ship.”
Continuity within the series is excellent. What happens to a character is not forgotten and events from previous episodes are relevant and referred to in later episodes. Character development is good although mostly reserved for the triumvirate of Archer, T’Pol and Trip.
Still, I don’t have any desire to re-watch it all as much as I enjoyed it immensely. Unlike DS9, which even after having viewed the episodes umpteen times I am still more than interested in watching it over and over again. Ditto for TNG and even TOS. Can’t say the same for Voyager or Enterprise. I’m not sure why other than to say that I grew attached to the characters and actors in DS9, TNG and TOS and don’t have those feelings for the Voyager or Enterprise characters. The characters of DS9, TNG and TOS to me are like family. They are lovable.
