Enterprise Season 3 really was great.

[HotRod]

I wrongfully went off talking about the season over in the last episode you watched thread, so I figured I'd bring my opinions over here, where they belong.

Besides watching a couple episodes of Prodigy every night, I've been watching the later episodes of the Xindi arc from season 3 of Enterprise.

I sometimes forget just how good those episodes were. Starting from Azati Prime and the emotions one gets from seeing one of their favourite ships get beaten within an inch of its life. Even though I've seen the episode dozens of times, seeing the NX-01 get shot up like that, still hurts.

To have this followed up with an episode like Damage, where Archer has to make one of the hardest choices made by a captain in the entire franchise, makes it a truly important episodes.

This was of course followed up by the excellent The Forgotten. Where we really see the strain of what the crew is going through and feel the loss of many of the crew. You can say what you want about Enterprise, but unlike other shows, it really made every death feel like a loss.

E², The Council, Countdown, and Zero Hour all followed. The tension, the sparks of hope, the feelings of accomplishment and dread. All thrilling episodes that will forever make season 3 of Enterprise one of my personal favourites.

I really think Enterprise nailed the season long arc approach better than any other series before or after. The entire season was a rollercoaster of highs and lows for the crew of the NX-01. Even more impressive is that virtually nothing feels like a wasted or filler episodes. Nearly everything was a worthwhile contribution to the overall plot.

These last few days of watching episodes have further helped reignite my love of Enterprise.

 

[Richard S. Ta]

I remember feeling it was a massive step up from Season 2 when I marathoned it, years and years back.

 

[Tosk]

Rajiin sucked though. Straight up.

 

[HotRod]

Rajiin sucked though. Straight up.

I didn't mind it. It was definitely a product of its time, but it helps that it had a good action scene introducing the crew to the Xindi Reptilians.

 

[F. King Daniel]

Season 3 was the best of the show. If they started with that energy and direction, it wouldn't have been cancelled.

Instead they coasted, plodded, and it was too little, too late.

 

[Michael]

Completely agree that the third season is the best of the show. There’s a lot to like about the first two seasons, but they did feel like more of the same Trek as what they had done before on Voyager. So season three was the point where I felt the show really came into its own. The Xindi arc, while certainly not perfect or without its problems and leaps in logic, felt fresh and dealt with some interesting and surprisingly dark and relevant themes. Archer, Trip, T’Pol and Hoshi got some cool story arcs and never before in the show did the stakes feel as high as they did in this season.

 

[tomalak301]

I really like the third season, but the second half was better than the first half. That three episode trilogy of Azati Prime, Damage, and The Forgotten was the best three episode stretch of the series.

 

[Mage]

Not only was season 3 great, it showed us what Voyager could have been. A lone ship out there, no support. Damaged along the way without the ability to properly get repaired. A crew getting more on edge because of the increasingly harder life they are living.

 

[HotRod]

Not only was season 3 great, it showed us what Voyager could have been. A lone ship out there, no support. Damaged along the way without the ability to properly get repaired. A crew getting more on edge because of the increasingly harder life they are living.

I had the same thought. I've always held Voyager up as the show with the most wasted potential. Seeing the Enterprise be damaged and stay damaged throughout the remainder of the season only reminded me of that. We could've had something interesting, instead we got TNG-lite.

 

[The Wormhole]

Braga wanted Voyager to have a more serialized approach with repercussions lasting throughout. Remember, Year of Hell was originally pitched as a season long arc and would not have ended with a reset button. It was UPN who stepped in and wanted TNG Lite episodic and that Year of Hell could only be a two-parter with a reset button. As it is, the only reason UPN was okay with Enterprise S3 being serialized was a reflection of the fact that at the time serialization was en vogue due to the popularity of shows like 24.

But yes, I agree season 3 was pretty damn good and definitely the best example of a season long arc in all of Trek. While there is the odd misstep or lackluster episode, it is a 24 episode season and you can't always bat a thousand with something that long, the season overall is definitely quite a delight to watch, even now twenty years later. Even the lesser episodes work well when viewed amongst the rest of the season. I would say the modern shows could learn something about how to do a serialized season by watching this, and that is true in many ways. But a part of me worries they have referenced this season and taken away all the wrong lessons, as you can certainly see a lot of what's wrong with the modern serialized seasons with S3. War, the galactic apocalypse, it's there alright. But with this being the Trek franchise's second serialized storyline, the galactic apocalypse part at least was new.

 

[aquova]

ENT Season 3 is such a wild idea to me. Doing a 9/11-adjacent plot feels very raw just two years after that event, but I don't think it's something that writers would've cared to tackle even a few years after that, it's such a product of it's time. I think it really is the first truly season long arc in Trek, as not even DS9 covered an entire season about a single focused goal in the same way. A lot of what Discovery and Picard does now can be traced back to this season, and overall I think it actually worked really well. We got some really solid character development (well, at least for the characters they wanted to develop...), and the show did a good job giving the Xindi threat the gravitas it deserved while still making it feel somewhat grounded.

That being said, I'm personally more partial to Season Four over Three. I think the two and three-episode arcs really lend themselves well to the stories they want to tell. They got lucky that the Xindi conflict was engaging, but I think they knew they would be pressing their luck to try and come up with another engaging 26 episode story.

 

[The Wormhole]

Structurally speaking, yes S4's approach of two to three episode mini arcs with the occasional standalone tossed in was a unique way of approaching a season of twenty plus episodes. Though looking back, S4 being largely fanwank doesn't give it the same kind of long term appeal of S3. That said the Vulcan arc in S4 is something I'd rate among the best of Enterprise.

 

[tomalak301]

ENT Season 3 is such a wild idea to me. Doing a 9/11-adjacent plot feels very raw just two years after that event, but I don't think it's something that writers would've cared to tackle even a few years after that, it's such a product of it's time. I think it really is the first truly season long arc in Trek, as not even DS9 covered an entire season about a single focused goal in the same way. A lot of what Discovery and Picard does now can be traced back to this season, and overall I think it actually worked really well. We got some really solid character development (well, at least for the characters they wanted to develop...), and the show did a good job giving the Xindi threat the gravitas it deserved while still making it feel somewhat grounded.

This was around the time frame of 24, and that was a popular series. That whole era of TV might not stand the test of time in the last 20+ years or moving forward, but it was an interesting time in itself. The visceral reaction to 9/11 really did have a big impact on everything, especially our pop culture.

 

[somebuddyX]

I like a lot of Enterprise Season 3 and has a couple of great arcs at the end but I've also never really been completely onboard for it's premise and I found a lot of the standalone episodes forgettable and rehashes from previous Treks. There was too much time travel, like the friendship of Degra and Archer starts with bringing back some macguffin from the future that convinces Degra, no matter if Archer had actually took it of a dead Xindi's corpse or something, and if both sides could time travel in "Carpenter Street," why stick to Detroit. The Xindi could have nuked Washington in 2004 and I'm sure that would have solved their problem.
I appreciate it in theory but I like the execution of Season 4 more, and most of my favourite Enterprise episodes are in Season 2, and I'd still probably rank "Cold Front" over a lot of Season 3 episodes.

 

[Cox of Seagulls]

The last third of season 3, from Azati Prime to Zero Hour, is peak Star Trek. It's crazy to see the problems modern Trek is having with serialization and look back and see that ENT got it right 20 years ago.

The character arcs (Trip and Degra's in particular) work. The sustained tension works. The stakes feel real. The dialogue and the Trekkian mutual understanding with some of the Xindi works. The action works.

Just an outstanding season of television.

 

[FederationHistorian]

if both sides could time travel in "Carpenter Street," why stick to Detroit. The Xindi could have nuked Washington in 2004 and I'm sure that would have solved their problem.

Well, the Xindi did not make decisions that make sense i.e. attacking Florida instead of Starfleet HQ.

Either,

a) the Xindi are tactically and strategically dumb. Which explains why we don’t hear of them in other series. They may be a step above say, the Kazon. But the Klingons, Romulans, Ferengi, Orions Cardassians, Dominion are all cleverer, and outclass them as actual threats. The Xindi not a species that the Federation has to be on their toes about at all.

Or,

b) the Xindi actually have an aversion to violence and high casualties. Which is why they aimed for narrowest strip of land. Which would fit in with the allegory with the War of Terror – those on the Xindi Council are extremists and do not reflect the more peaceful Xindi not seen.

 

[FanST]

Season 3 was good, and season 4 was even better. Such a shame it got cancelled just when things were turning around.

 

[AntonyF]

Season 3 was the best of the show. If they started with that energy and direction, it wouldn't have been cancelled.

Instead they coasted, plodded, and it was too little, too late.

Every word the truth.

 

[Sim]

Got to disagree, I hate ENT season 3 with a passion.

It's a reflection of the ugly, militaristic and xenophobic post-9/11 mindset that took hold of the US at that time and resulted in two unnecessary wars that damaged the standing of the entire West in the rest of the world up to this day. Which were both lost. ENT season 3 was a pro-George Bush propaganda show, a kind of "24 in space". Archer became basically a FOX News talking head, with foam around his mouth. Contrast that with "Battlestar Galactica's" much more differentiated approach, which ran at the same time.

The premise is absurd from the beginning: Why would the Xindi test their weapon on Earth of all places? Mankind was unaware of them, so they gave up their momentum of surprise and gave mankind the opportunity to stop their plans. It makes no sense whatsoever.

Also, the introduction of the Xindi and Sphere Builders was a slap in the face of Enterprise's prequel premise. A prequel is supposed to show how all the familiar things from later series fell into place, which ENT marvelously did in season 4. Instead showing an entirely new race in the 22nd century we have never even heard the tiniest bit about in the 23rd-24th century shows is like admitting the showrunners felt the prequel concept was a failure.

There might be more boring seasons in the history of Star Trek, but there is not a single other season I hate as much as ENT season 3.

 

[1001001]

True story, and a reminder that Trek actors often don’t watch their own show.

I was talking to John Billingsley once about how much I enjoyed Season 3. He expressed his concerns about the change in direction, the 9/11 metaphor, and so forth.

I told him one thing I really appreciated was that the Enterprise and Xindi figured out the were both being manipulated by a third party, and worked together to defeat the Sphere Builders.

John replied “well, I don’t remember anything about that.”