Description

Last time we finished up Season 1 of Enterprise, so this week we’re going to take a quick look back at the series so far; hand out awards for “best of” and announce the winner of the Enterprise Trivia Cup.

Joe took home the gold with a sizable lead. Though Jason promises his victory will be short lived as we get into the later seasons of Enterprise.

Enterprise has a lot of ups and downs and our opinions on the show are incredibly varied. Joe and Josh are of the mind that this first season was the best first season of any Star Trek that came before it, while Jason feels it is easily one of the weakest of the Star Trek franchise. That's not to say there weren't highlights that we all shared an affinity for.

Broken Bow is at least up there when it comes to quality of pilot episodes, rivaled perhaps by The Next Generation's "Encounter at Farpoint", though Voyager's Caretaker came up as well. And we all agreed that the season finale, Shockwave Part One, was one the better episodes of Enterprise, certainly for season one. A few host favorites came up, Unexpected, Shuttlepod One, Rogue Planet, Andorian Incident, Cold Front, and Vox Sola.

Season one of Enterprise had a few low points. Travis Mayweather never really took off as a character and seems to be eternally relegated to being the Scrappy-Doo of the bridge. And Archer's character development was minimal. While he no longer seems to hold such unbridled animosity towards Vulcans or T'Pol, overall he seems more a blank canvas than a three dimensional person.

Before diving into categories, Joe made everyone some pretty cool NX-01 caps to celebrate the completion of Season One!

Anyway, onto the Awards!

Award Categories 

Most Improved Character

• T’Pol
• T’Pol
• T’Pol
• Malcom or Reed
• Hoshi
       Winner: T’Pol

Least Improved Character

• Archer
• Mayweather
• Mayweather
• Hoshi
       Winner: Mayweather

Best recurring side character

• Commander Shran
• Commander Shran
• Silik
• Cutler
• Daniels
       Winner: Cutler

Best one-off minor character

• Zobral - Desert Crossing
• Klaang - Broken Bow
• Jarmin - Terra Nova
• Ah’Len - Unexpected
• Riann - “Civilization”
• Sarin - Broken Bow
       Winner: Zobral

Best alien (species or specific character)

• The revamped Andorians
• The creature from “Vox Sola”
• Suliban
• Kreetassans (you eat like you mate)
       Winner: Suliban

Best cold open

• Shockwave Part 1
• Shockwave Part 1
• Rogue Planet
• Shuttlepod One
       Winner: Shockwave Part 1

Worst cold open

• Desert Crossing - “Captain there’s a distress call **Opening Credits**”
• Two Days, Two Nights - “Will the captain go on vacation?! Yes.”
       Winner: Desert Crossing

Best costume design

• Space suits
• Desert wear
• Suliban Cabal (Worst - Temporal Agent Daniels)
• Underwear
• Trip’s Hawaiian shirt/jacket combo
       Winner: Underwear

Best Episode (technically speaking)

• Shuttlepod One
• The Andorian Incident
• Shockwave Part 1
       Winner: Shockwave Part 1

The Wrap Up wrap up

Favorite Overall Episode

• Unexpected (Joe)
• Vox Sola (Chris)
• Unexpected but also the Andorian Incident or Rogue Planet (Josh)
• Shuttlepod One (Jason)

There Are Four Mics is a weekly Star Trek podcast discussing the Star Trek episodes and movies in stardate order. Join Jason Allen, Joe Heiser, and Joshua B. Jones as we look back on Season One of Star Trek Enterprise.

Music credits:
Faith of the Heart/Where My Heart Will Take Me - Written by Diane Warren, performed by Russell Watson, Jerry Lubbock, and the New York Trek Orchestra
Archer's Theme - Dennis McCarthy and New York Trek Orchestra