So, with Enterprise gone after an all too brief stay, what are the enduring legacies of the show?
What many people overlook when criticising the visual appearance of Discovery, particularly how it doesn’t fit in with the Original series, it gels very well with Enterprise. The ships feel like a logical progression, as does the crew uniform design with the blue uniforms and departmental trimming. Further, the “NX-01” design seen on the hats etc is mirrored in the use of Discovery’s iconic “Disco” T-Shirt.
The show itself was made in the infancy of HD, something which both the subsequent Kelvin timeline movies, and current Trek output have adopted.
Enterprise relied heavily on pure CGI for its space scenes, as does Discovery and Picard
. The move away from practical models, while paintful, would prove useful in giving us new and interesting angles for space encounters.
The show did take some risks with its story telling, even when using established Trek Lore. Setting 2 episodes in the Mirror Universe might not seem original, but not using any crew from the original timeline outside of personnel files and imaginary visions was a bold direction. It showed just how far you could stretch the show while remaining true to its core ideal.
While Deep Space Nine was heavily serialised, there would be larger arcs that could go on for a season or more, but there would be other episodes in the season. Season 3’s Xindi Arc would be Trek’s first full serialised story. In other words, it was a multi part story, rather than a season of individualised stories. This approach has been used by both Discovery and Picard.
The outcome of season 3, mainly the reconciliation with the needs to be a warrior, while maintaining the goals of exploration are explored as the Discovery faces the same issue during and after the conflict with the Klingons. Its my hope we see more exploration of this idea in Discovery’s fourth season, as the resurgent Starfleet goes back to exploring as well as rebuilding.
It is the show that inspired fans to dare to dream once again. Its cancellation inspired fans to use the internet in a grass roots way which used the technology of today, to use the methods of yesterday. While the show had its critics, many of whom might have had valid concerns, the Save Enterprise campaign showed that fans were still motivated to keep the flame alive. Also fan methods to resurrect the show would stumble on the method of its return, namely online distribution. There was a prominent campaign to get a new season of Enterprise commissioned for Netflix, with even a hypothetical refit version of the NX01. While the efforts yielded no success, Star Trek became a pivotal foundation of CBS All Access (now Paramount Plus).
Finally, there is a reference to the adventures of Archer and Co, in “Star Trek” (2009) as Scotty makes reference to an Admiral Archer who had a penchant for Beagles, and Star Trek Beyond uses former MACOs in a curious way.
Despite its flaws, Star Trek Enterprise deserved better. It’s first two seasons were far less problematic than those of TNG. It continued the Roddenberry tradition, and yet, it also began to push the Trek envelopes in ways that have been picked up by the later incarnations of Trek. While maligned by a vocal minority of fans, (and having its big anniversaries eclipsed by TOS Anniversaries probably doesn’t help) it has thrived, and there are still movements to bring it back in some form today
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