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Star Trek: Enterprise - Complete Fourth Season [Blu-ray]  Review by Suzanne Lanoue 4/23/14

I'm a huge Trekkie and have been for my whole life. I watched every single episode of every Star Trek series (plus all of the movies) except for this one. Not because it was bad, but just because at the time it was on, I was watching and recording way too many shows and just fell behind and never caught up. I have many episodes of the show on tape as well as regular DVD. I'm glad they're on Blu-Ray now. To be fair, it probably is my least favorite of all of the Star Trek shows, or possibly second least after Voyager. It's very hard to say. The writing was not as good as the other Star Treks and it took them a long time to make the cast really well defined and likable.

I've always loved Scott Bakula, but I think he was miscast as the ship's captain. He was just too laid back to be an authority figure of any kind. Plus the writing did not make him interesting enough.  And also, he really does look better with longer hair because he has a prominent nose and the hair helps balance that out. I've seen him in other shows since, where he's much cuter. He didn't smile that much as Starship captain and that's not good because he looks way better when he smiles. I wish they had been able to do more with Archer and romance.

Actually, they did a pretty bad job of casting most of the Star Trek captains, aside from Kirk and Picard. They all were pretty bland and boring. The actors were fine, but the writing made them too nice and boring.

At any rate, this last season of the show is probably the best in many ways. The previous show runner left and Manny Coto took over. He's a fabulous writer and a big Trek fan, so he wrote a lot of great episodes that were geared more towards Star Trek fans and answering questions, filling in blanks in Star Trek history. I'm not going to say I loved every single episode and some of them seem like they were just copying old Star Trek episodes. Which, honestly, I didn't mind, being a fan of the old series.

The episodes stand up pretty well, especially given how awful the two newer Star Trek movies were.  I had forgotten how much I missed Star Trek and watching this season of shows reminded me. I'm definitely going to have to go get the other seasons on Blu-ray and watch them, too.

I have to say that the only thing I didn't enjoy was the last two episodes. They were too sad. They kill off a child, and then a major character, and ruin a romance. I enjoyed seeing the TNG characters come back in the last episode, but I wish they'd done more to show what was going to happen to the Enterprise crew.

There are many fantastic extras on the disk set. The best was when they reunited many of the show's writers to sit around for 2 hours and discuss the show. That was a very eye-opening experience, to hear them talk about how the show was run. I also enjoyed the short feature they had about Porthos! I'm also very glad that they provided closed-captioning for the extras on the disks because that is not always the case, in my experience. It was great to hear that they wanted to bring in real science fiction authors if they'd had a 5th season (that was something that the original Star Trek did and they should have kept doing it).

My only minor gripe would be the cover. That's a terrible picture of Scott Bakula. I know he's not young any more and has been losing his hair for a while, but I'm sure they could have found a better picture than that one. Ick.

Check it out if you're a Star Trek fan. I'm not sure anyone else would enjoy it, at least without watching the other seasons first.

MORE INFORMATION:

Packed with hours of newly produced special features, relive the final adventures of Enterprise NX-01’s heroic crew in high definition when STAR TREK®: ENTERPRISE—SEASON FOUR on Blu-ray debuts April 29^th from CBS Home Entertainment and Paramount Home Media Distribution.

A special highlight to the collection is “In Conversation: Writing Star Trek Enterprise,” an exclusive, 90-minute writing staff reunion special.  The compelling discussion includes series creator and executive producer Brannon Braga, along with Mike Sussman, André Bormanis, David Goodman, Chris Black, Phyllis Strong, and Judith and Garfield Reeves-Stevens, all detailing some of the series’ most fascinating behind-the-scenes stories. Plus, fans will receive special insight on the creation of the final episodes of STAR TREK: ENTERPRISE with a newly produced, four-part documentary “Before Her Time: Decommissioning Enterprise,” which includes more in-depth interviews with the cast and crew.

Featuring all 22 episodes from the final season of the series, STAR TREK: ENTERPRISE stars Scott Bakula, Jolene Blalock, Connor Trinneer, Dominic Keating, Linda Park, Anthony Montgomery and John Billingsley, and follows the thrilling adventures of the first Earth-built vessel capable of breaking the Warp 5 barrier.

STAR TREK: ENTERPRISE – SEASON FOUR on Blu-ray will be available in 1080p with English 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio, German 5.1 Dolby Digital, French Stereo Surround and Japanese Stereo Surround. The discs also include English SDH, French, German, Japanese and Dutch subtitles.  The Blu-ray is Not Rated in the U.S. and rated PG in Canada.  It will be available for the suggested retail price of $130.00 U.S. and $150.00 Canada. The disc breakdown is as follows:

Disc One:

• Episodes
   
  • Storm Front, Part I
  • Storm Front, Part II
  • Home
  • Borderland
• Special Features
   
  • Deleted Scene on “Storm Front” (SD)
  • Extended Scene and Script Gallery: Original Editing on “Home” (SD)
  • Archival Mission Logs:
  • Enterprise Moments: Season Four (SD)

Disc Two:

• Episodes
   
  • Cold Station 12
  • The Augments
  • The Forge
  • Awakening
• Special Features
   
  • Episode Commentary by Judith & Garfield Reeves-Stevens and Mike & Denise Okuda on “The Forge” – NEW!
  • Text Commentary by Mike & Denise Okuda on “The Forge” (2005)

Disc Three:

• Episodes
   
  • Kir’Shara
  • Daedalus
  • Observer Effect
  • Babel One
• Special Features
   
  • Episode Commentary by Judith & Garfield Reeves-Stevens and Mike & Denise Okuda on “Observer Effect” – NEW!

Disc Four:

• Episodes
   
  • United
  • The Aenar
  • Affliction
  • Divergence
• Special Features
   
  • Episode Commentary by Judith & Garfield Reeves-Stevens and David Livingston on “United” – NEW!
  • Deleted Scene on “The Aenar” (SD) 

Disc Five:

• Episodes
   
  • Bound
  • In A Mirror, Darkly, Part I
  • In A Mirror, Darkly, Part II
  • Demons
• Special Features
   
  • Episode Commentary by Mike Sussman and Tim Gaskill on “In A Mirror, Darkly, Part I” (2005)
  • Episode Commentary by James L. Conway, Mike Sussman and Mike & Denise Okuda on “In A Mirror, Darkly, Part I” – NEW!
  • Episode Commentary by Mike Sussman and Tim Gaskill on “In A Mirror, Darkly, Part II” (2005)
  • Text Commentary by Mike & Denise Okuda on “In A Mirror, Darkly, Part II” (2005)
  • Episode Commentary by Connor Trinneer and Dominic Keating on “Demons”– NEW!
  • Deleted Scene from “In A Mirror, Darkly, Part II” (SD)
  • Archival Mission Logs:
  • Inside the Mirror Episodes (SD)

Disc Six:

• Episodes
   
  • Terra Prime
  • These Are The Voyages
• Special Features
   
  • Episode Commentary by Connor Trinneer and Dominic Keating on “Terra Prime”– NEW!
  • Episode Commentary by Judith & Garfield Reeves-Stevens and Tim Gaskill “Terra Prime” (2005)
  • Text Commentary by Mike & Denise Okuda “These Are The Voyages” (2005)
  • Before Her Time: Decommissioning Enterprise (HD) – NEW!
  • Part One: New Voices
  • Part Two: Memorable Voyages
  • Part Three: Final Approach
  • Part Four: End of an Era
  • In Conversation – Writing Star Trek: Enterprise (HD) – NEW!
  • Archival Mission Logs: (SD)
  • Visual Effects Magic
  • Links to the Legacy
  • Enterprise Secrets
  • That’s a Wrap!
  • Enterprise Goes to the Dogs
  • Westmore’s Aliens: Creating Dr. Phlox and Beyond
  • Outtakes
  • Photo Gallery
  • NX-01 File 10

STAR TREK: ENTERPRISE – THE COMPLETE SERIES on Blu-ray, which includes all four complete season Blu-ray Disc collections, will also be available for the suggested retail price of $305.99 U.S. and $379.99 Canada.

Proofread and Edited by Brenda

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Page updated 4/23/14