Which season of Enterprise did you like the least?
There is some debate over which was truly the worst or best season of Enterprise.
There is some debate over which was truly the worst or best season of Enterprise.
Which season of Enterprise did you like the least?
- Thread starter Trelane_Squire_of_Gothos
- Start date
Is there really that much debate about this? I suppose I'll find out.
Personally I think season 1 isn't just the worst season of Enterprise, it's the worst season of all Star Trek, including TAS, Short Treks etc. Some people talk about how terrible Terra Nova is, but for me that's above average for this season, as stories like Fusion, Rogue Planet and especially Two Days and Two Nights bored me to tears. I would've just turned them off if I wasn't being stubborn and trying to watch every episode (plus I had the idea of writing about each episode for the forum at the time, before it was clear no one was interested!) I ain't even going to mention that other episode, because every time it's brought up it starts huge arguments... which I guess is a sign it's doing something right.
Season 2 had a huge stretch of dull mediocrity starting with A Night in Sickbay, but it picked up a bit halfway through. Season 3 started to really get going around a third of the way in, and season 4 was pretty solid all the way through, until stumbling at the end. In my opinion.
Personally I think season 1 isn't just the worst season of Enterprise, it's the worst season of all Star Trek, including TAS, Short Treks etc. Some people talk about how terrible Terra Nova is, but for me that's above average for this season, as stories like Fusion, Rogue Planet and especially Two Days and Two Nights bored me to tears. I would've just turned them off if I wasn't being stubborn and trying to watch every episode (plus I had the idea of writing about each episode for the forum at the time, before it was clear no one was interested!) I ain't even going to mention that other episode, because every time it's brought up it starts huge arguments... which I guess is a sign it's doing something right.
Season 2 had a huge stretch of dull mediocrity starting with A Night in Sickbay, but it picked up a bit halfway through. Season 3 started to really get going around a third of the way in, and season 4 was pretty solid all the way through, until stumbling at the end. In my opinion.
I thought season 2 and season 3 were worse than season 1. Season 1 was higher energy than season 2, and we got some good foundation for the Andorians in season 1.
My favorite is Season 3. Good momentum, great character development and acting, stellar supporting roles in Degra and Hayes. Archer's idealism took a beating and he really grew into his Captain's role because of the emotional toll of the war, the moral lines he had to cross to save the world, and the galaxy. And T'Pol finally looked like a Vulcan.
Several of my top 10 episodes are in this season -- Twilight, Similitude, The Forgotten, Damage -- but I enjoyed all of them on some level. The ship got the shit kicked out of her and wasn't all pretty and fixed in the next episode, but limped her way, torn up and bleeding, to the end of the season (we'll just ignore that silly little scene at the end of Zero Hour). And great filmmaking, direction, set design, effects, makeup, music. A really gripping, emotionally evocative journey.
Several of my top 10 episodes are in this season -- Twilight, Similitude, The Forgotten, Damage -- but I enjoyed all of them on some level. The ship got the shit kicked out of her and wasn't all pretty and fixed in the next episode, but limped her way, torn up and bleeding, to the end of the season (we'll just ignore that silly little scene at the end of Zero Hour). And great filmmaking, direction, set design, effects, makeup, music. A really gripping, emotionally evocative journey.
Is there really a lot of debate about this?
For an answer, I’ll get back to you in 2025 or so… ;-)
For an answer, I’ll get back to you in 2025 or so… ;-)
I don't think I can pick. Season 2 contains my favourite episodes. Season 3 has a well-planned story arc which really works. Season 1 has some episodes that provide the world-building required for later seasons and has some focus on characters who were overlooked later. Season 4 has the mini-arcs which worked quite well at the time for me because I didn't manage to see every episode but I didn't become unable to follow what was happening either.
Its hard to dislike S1 since the crew, like the viewers, are acclimatizing to the first foray into deep space by humans while under the watchful eyes and parameters of the Vulcans. And that season did provide an early transporter malfunction to justify fear of using it, even if it was not what it could have been. And “Two Days and Two Nights” would have been seen as an acceptable season finale during the Roddenberry era.
S2 I have long viewed as the worst season. Which is ironic, as that’s the season that fulfilled the premise of ENT the most. Considering it deals with
I’m not as big on S3 as I used to be; it used to be my favourite. As while the show finally started to come into its own in this season, the Xindi & Sphere Builders are just weak antagonists and how they went about their plans make less and less sense the more I think about them. Even though the Xindi reflect the allegory regarding terrorism well.
S4 will always be regarded as the best, although I’ll always be ambivalent towards it. As IAMD - an all time classic in its own right - showed what the show could have been really like if the characters started behaving more like their mirror counterparts over the season, particularly as a consequence of the Xindi mission. Plus, there were a couple of missed opportunities to finally add gay and Muslim characters even in a supporting role, and promote the bridge crew and possibly transfer a couple of them to different NX ships to reflect the growth of United Earth Starfleet.
S2 I have long viewed as the worst season. Which is ironic, as that’s the season that fulfilled the premise of ENT the most. Considering it deals with
- how they handle various first contact scenarios (“Minefield”, “The Communicator”, “Precious Cargo”, “Cogenitor” and “The Crossing”)
- one of the first ever second contact scenarios (“A Night in Sickbay”)
- transporter paranoia (“Vanishing Point”)
- how the early explorers handled encounters with spatial phenomena (“The Catwalk” “Singularity”)
- helped viewers to get to know the Denobulans better (“Stigma”, “The Breach, “Bounty”, and “A Night in Sickbay”)
- features one of the first building blocks for what will become the Federation (“Cease Fire”)
- gave viewers a peak at Archer & Trip's life before the launch of the NX-01 (“First Flight”), T'Pol life before joining the crew ("The Seventh"), Mayweather's upbringing ("Horizon"), and one of Phlox's wives ("Stigma")
I’m not as big on S3 as I used to be; it used to be my favourite. As while the show finally started to come into its own in this season, the Xindi & Sphere Builders are just weak antagonists and how they went about their plans make less and less sense the more I think about them. Even though the Xindi reflect the allegory regarding terrorism well.
S4 will always be regarded as the best, although I’ll always be ambivalent towards it. As IAMD - an all time classic in its own right - showed what the show could have been really like if the characters started behaving more like their mirror counterparts over the season, particularly as a consequence of the Xindi mission. Plus, there were a couple of missed opportunities to finally add gay and Muslim characters even in a supporting role, and promote the bridge crew and possibly transfer a couple of them to different NX ships to reflect the growth of United Earth Starfleet.
I need to check the episode lists for S1 and S2 and then get back...
It's not the consensus but Season 2 is an improvement on Season 1 for me. I think the amount of forgettable episodes between the years are about the same. It's just Season 2 increases the familiarity and there was a vocal resistance to all the Next Gen callbacks going on in a pre-TOS era. Recurring Duras ancestor Klingon in the Undiscovered Country copycat trial and the lite-arc of Archer being wanted by the Empire. Borg in sequel to First Contact. I dunno. I loved all those though. I bet fans will watch Strange New Worlds and suddenly realise what was old - prewarp culture runarounds, meeting lumpy forehead aliens with polarising morality issues and even that rubbish offbeat comedy one - is suddenly brand new again.
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I think 2 is worse than 1, though they're both not great.
Hmm. Having a hard time deciding between S1 and S2, and even, arguably, S3. I think that there is one solid season to be had by cherry-picking the good stuff from the first two seasons. The Xindi arc..... I've always been sort of on the fence about whether I like it or not. I like the character development it causes, and I did like the addition of the MACO's. The overarching story itself, however, just sort of leaves me indifferent.
The MACO's eventually just became red shirts. They were dying all the time.
Season 4 for me. It felt like they were trying to jam as much development of early pre-Federation history as possible. Gave it a rushed nature. At least with the other seasons there was a slow teasing of such things, along with interesting single episode stories and more serialized arcs as the years went on. Plus the season ends on such a godawful note.
Wow, opinions are definitely more split than I expected and there are a lot of votes for season 3.
This is true, but to be fair I think Manny Coto was literally trying to save the show. Unfortunately, it was too little, too late.
Ray Hardgrit said:
I'm not surprised that S3 gets some votes. Not the most, but definitely some. As I said above, I'm kinda torn on it my own self.
The one vote for season 4 is probably either Brannon Braga or Rick Berman trolling the board.
Adding a p.s. to my earlier post, since I, ah, totally did not answer the OP's question. Sorry. These things happen at 1 in the morning. 
It's a tough call between S1 and S2 for me... both seasons had clunker episodes. S1 had growing pains, while S2 should have been better as the cast and crew settled in, but it struggled as well. Keeping in mind that most television shows have stutters in their first couple of seasons. One of the reasons I wish we'd seen 7 years for ENT, since it seemed to be hitting its stride when it was canned.
If pressed, I guess I'd say Season 2 because I expected more, and was a bit disappointed. There were more eps in S2 that I wouldn't necessarily drop everything to watch again. I give Season 1 credit for trying hard, and for giving us Shran. But man, it's so much easier to identify clunker episodes rather than clunker seasons.
It's a tough call between S1 and S2 for me... both seasons had clunker episodes. S1 had growing pains, while S2 should have been better as the cast and crew settled in, but it struggled as well. Keeping in mind that most television shows have stutters in their first couple of seasons. One of the reasons I wish we'd seen 7 years for ENT, since it seemed to be hitting its stride when it was canned.
If pressed, I guess I'd say Season 2 because I expected more, and was a bit disappointed. There were more eps in S2 that I wouldn't necessarily drop everything to watch again. I give Season 1 credit for trying hard, and for giving us Shran. But man, it's so much easier to identify clunker episodes rather than clunker seasons.
1, if only for Dear Doctor.
Picard season 2: Hold my Romulan Ale
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