Star Trek: Enterprise or simply Enterprise is an American sci-fi series created by Rick Berman and Brannon Braga, and is based on the works of Gene Roddenberry. It is a prequel to the Star Trek franchise which started with Star Trek: The Original Series (which aired on NBC from September 8th 1966 to June 3rd 1969). Enterprise originally aired from September 26th 2001 to May 13th 2005 and has four seasons, and 98 episodes. It features an ensemble cast which includes Scott Bakula as Jonathan Archer, commanding officer of the USS Enterprise NX-01, Jolene Blalock as T’Pol, first officer and science officer, John Billingsley as Phlox, chief medical officer, Dominic Keating as Malcolm Reed, chief security/tactical officer, Anthony Montgomery as Travis Mayweather, conn officer, Linda Park as Hoshi Sato, communications officer and Connor Trinneer as Charles “Trip” Tucker III, chief engineer.
1. Carbon Creek
Is a fun little flashback episode, it follows a story told by T’Pol during dinner with Captain Archer and Commander Tucker about an experience had by her grandmother. She shakes up the established narrative regarding first contact with the Vulcans by claiming that her grandmother and a few crewmembers crash landed in 1950s Pennsylvania. It’s an interesting episode, surprisingly emotional and heartwarming for a story mostly about Vulcans.
2. The Catwalk
I like episodes that force characters Into tight spaces, it makes for conflict which is the essence of drama. This episode is no exception, it forces the crew and three aliens into the catwalk, a maintenance area located in the nacelles because it is heavily shielded so as to wait out a powerful radiation storm. Of course the aliens are gonna cause some trouble but watch it for more information, and check out this enjoyable episode.
3. Observer Effect
This episode has non-corporeal aliens testing the enterprise crew, and actually reminded me a lot of ‘Cathexis’ a Star Trek Voyager episode with body jumping aliens. Anyway, this episode is a strong addition to the Star Trek canon, it has humanity be tested to see if they are worthy of first contact with an alien species, they observe as each potential species comes into contact with a deadly virus, and gauge their eligibility depending upon how they react to the situation.
4. Home
Is a really powerful episode that shows humanity closing ranks after the destruction caused by the Xindi, Dr. Phlox in particular is shocked by events, he is even attacked. T’Pol also goes home to Vulcan, with Tucker and almost gets married and that functions as a nice secondary story to the events on earth.
5. Vanishing Point
Focuses on Hoshi Sato, she is transported off planet during an away mission despite objections and afterwards starts to experience bizarre side effects that culminate in her completely disappearing at the same time she starts to encounter aliens who are planting bombs on board Enterprise. That’s all in gonna say regarding plot but I will say it’s a strong Hoshi episode that cemented her character more strongly in my kind and is well worth a watch.
6. Similitude
Is a strong episode that challenged the wholesome, goody goody morals of Starfleet that are spoon fed to us in Star Trek series. It has Archer having Phlox grow a clone of Tucker to harvest a body part to save Tucker’s life, this will for sure kill the clone and the ethical dilemma comes from whether the fully sentient clone should die to save someone else, especially since it has all the same memories as the original. It’s a rich episode that shows that especially post Xindi how desperate the Enterprise crew has become.
7. In a Mirror, Darkly Part I & II
Takes place in the mirror universe first visited in TOS, it’s actually a really strong episode and gives the main cast a chance to have fun and break away from the characters established over the past four seasons. Also I would totally watch a series set in the terran universe.
8. Acquisition
Has the Enterprise crew knocked out by gas, and a group of Ferengi begin to case the ship and strip it of anything valuable. It’s a strong bonding/development episode for Tucker and T’Pol which I like since their relationship is one of the best parts of the show. Also we get to see the Ferengi, which I always love, in fact It’s one of the reasons why I like DS9 so much.
9. First Flight
Has Archer telling the story of how he became the Captain of Enterprise, it’s a strong developmental episode for Archer and even though it’s very much filler, much like Carbon Creek, it’s a fun and engaging episode that really works well as part of the second season, because we are still getting to know the characters but are already somewhat invested.
10. A Night in Sickbay
Has Archer having to make an apology to a species known as the Kreetassans while also dealing with the fact his beloved dog Porthos is sick after visiting the Kreetassan homeworld. It’s a strong episode for both Archer and Phlox, we get plenty of screen time with Porthos and it’s just a really touching episode overall.
Honourable mentions go to The Andorian Incident, Dear Doctor, The Expanse, Fusion and Horizon which I also really enjoyed but didn’t quite make the top 10 list.
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