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 - The best Trek since the Original Series comes to a premature endI doubt that anyone shares this particular view, but I enjoyed the Enterprise franchise better than any of the Trek series since the Original. Yes, Next Generation was generally good after its initial growing pains, and DS9 and Voyager had some good moments, but overall, I enjoyed Enterprise more. The fourth season is the best of this shortened series, finally fulfilling the promise of filling in the back-stories we've heard so much about in the other series. In both the 3rd and 4th seasons, multi-part episodes were the order of the day. Watching these episodes on DVD is much less irritating than on network TV, since you don't have to wait an entire week between installments! There is also the advantage of being able to develop characters, increase the budget, etc. In the 4th season, there are a number of multi-parters of note: 1. The resolution of the Temporal War, where Archer and crew must correct the timeline after Hitler successfully invades the United States, using technology supplied by Earth's enemies. 2. The Augments arc. Guest-starring Brent Spiner as Data's (great?) grandfather, this is the best and most important of the story arcs of the season. Dr. Soong steals genetically-modified embryoes (think: Khan, from Space Seed and Wrath of Khan) and raises them as "his" children. They then wreak havoc on the galaxy as they steal ships and generally try to set themselves up as leaders. The arc continues later in the season when Klingons try to replicate the results for their own species, with disasterous results. 3. The Forge: In probably the most important arc in terms of character development, Archer and T'Pol seek out a group of rebels in a desolate and dangerous area of Vulcan called the Forge. Here we learn more about Vulcans than at any time since McCoy inherited a katra in ST III. 4. In a Mirror, Darkly: Set entirely in the "Mirror, mirror" universe, including a unique title sequence, we see the evil counterparts of our favourite characters. It also improbably serves as a big bridge with the Original series, pulling together elements from the classic Trek episodes "Arena", "Tholian Web", and "mirror, Mirror." Very enjoyable in an action-arcade kind of way, although one has to wonder how an empire could remain stable with this many assassinations: 4 flag-level officers are killed out-of-hand in these 2 episodes alone! 5. In the weakest shows of the season, a separist group called Terra Prime tries to get all alien species off of Earth. The final show of the series links it to the Next Generation series by having it take place as a simulation on the Enterprise-D's holodeck (with Riker and Troi taking part as members of Archer's crew). For the most part, the shows are enjoyable, even when they fall into the standard Trek trap of having the 1st half of the 2-parters being much better than the second half's resolutions (but this has been happening since "The Best of Both Worlds", the first season-ending cliffhanger in Next Gen, so there's nothing particularly alarming about it). The best part about Enterprise in general, and this 4th season in particular, is that it uses the accumulated lore of Trek to find story ideas. Thus, we have Tellarites and Andorians at war, followers of Col. Green (who led the bad side in World War III), and even Klingons lacking their cranial ridges (for details, pick up this DVD!) Overall, a very enjoyable season and series, especially for those that have followed the Star Trek shows over the years. A detailed knowledge of the Trek universe is certainly not a requirement, but will add to the enjoyment in viewing these episodes. The extras on the DVD set are not that interesting - the audio and text commentaries are localised in the inferior final few episodes, for example. Nonetheless, the shows themselves are worth the cost of the DVD. Rating:  - The End of Enterprise.OK, this is typical. Just as I was starting to like the series and warm up to it, it gest cancelled. Anyway Sesson 3 was very good and Season 4 is in many ways stringer since there is no longer really one very long story that follows through as strongly. Indeed the episodes are stronger in themselves, probably because the show was getting cancelled. The acting is much improved compared to earlier and the show is really filled with special affects for those who like that. Overall they did an excellent job on this series that I will miss. Rating: - Pretty goodIf you're a fan of Star Trek, you'll enjoy this. However, some of the episodes I felt really went way off into no-mans land (parallel universe type stuff and hokey story lines). The first two seasons were best, the third was exciting but overly-violence orientated for Trek, and this last one was just kind of odd, but still entertaining. Rating:  - Final Episode Ruins HopesI will not give away any spoilers, other to say that the final episode is a spoiler in itself. This series grew on me, and I thought it had some very good storylines. Then the writers decided to say "screw you" to the fans with their final episode, which was truly bad television. I don't know why you would choose to offend the people loyal to the show, which is exactly what you are doing by dashing their hopes for the final episode. If you are angry, don't take it out on the viewers, just refuse to write the finale...have some true moxy, not some childish response to not getting your way. I say "shame on you" to the writers for just being ugly. As for the rest of the season, it was interesting, and if you stop at the next to last episode, it ends with promise. I recommend the show for everything but the last episode. It's not perfect, mind you, but it is good, and the characters are engaging. If you must watch the last episode, well, try to forget it and remember the series for the good times it provided, not the horrible way it ended. Rating: - Season 4, while great, was too late to save the seriesStar Trek: Enterprise sealed it's own fate with the ill-conceived (in my opinion) Season 3. No doubt an attempt to create a futuristic analogy to 9/11, the season brought us too many letdowns, such as the frustratingly one-dimensional Xindi adversaries (in spite of their intriguing multi-species premise), Bakula's all-too-often over-the-top (and thus hard to buy) scenes of rage, an overkill atmosphere of gloom & doom, and an overall "feel" that I can only describe as being like that of a comic book (or, should I say, 'graphic novel'). Having said that, Season Four (4) was a gallant attempt at getting back to the TRUE premise of Star Trek: the full spectrum of the concept of exploration (external AND within), diverse story lines, humor, and, most of all, HOPE. Having been raised on the Original Series, I was especially captivated by the episodes that featured the USS Defiant. The re-creation of the look & feel of the Original Series was quite remarkable. As one other reviewer opined, the producers of the show must have known that the series was doomed, for much of Season 4 seems a bit 'hurried' in tying up multiple storylines. Nonetheless, Season 4 is a true keeper, and, to my pleasant surprise, the least expensive of all the seasons (at least as of this date)!
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