"Enterprise" The Expanse (2003)

User Rating:

8.2/10   

Director:

Allan Kroeker

Writers:

Gene Roddenberry (creator "Star Trek")
Rick Berman (creator) ...

TV Series:

"Enterprise" (2001)

Original Air Date:

21 May 2003 (Season 2, Episode 26)

Genre:

Action | Adventure | Sci-Fi

Plot:

An unknown probe fires on Earth from space, cutting a swath from Florida to Venezula. Everything in the path of the attack was destroyed...

Plot Keywords:

Captain | Space | Prequel | Planet | Exploration

US TV Schedule:

Tue. Nov. 17

4:00 PM

SYFY

The Expanse

#2.26

Cast

Scott Bakula	...	Captain Jonathan Archer
John Billingsley	...	Dr. Phlox
Jolene Blalock	...	Sub-Commander T'Pol
Dominic Keating	...	Lieutenant Malcolm Reed
Anthony Montgomery	...	Ensign Travis Mayweather
Linda Park	...	Ensign Hoshi Sato
Connor Trinneer	...	Commander Charles 'Trip' Tucker III
John Fleck	...	Silik
Vaughn Armstrong	...	Admiral Maxwell Forrest
Gary Graham	...	Vulcan Ambassador Soval
Daniel Riordan	...	Duras
James Horan	...	Humanoid Figure
Bruce Wright	...	Dr. Fer'at
Dan Desmond	...	Klingon Chancellor
Josh Cruze	...	Captain Ramirez

Trivia:

The Enterprise's sister ship (the NX-02, seen under construction in the episode "The Expanse") was finally given a name, Columbia, towards the end of the third season. The ship was named after the space shuttle Columbia, in honor of its late crew. This leads some to speculate that all NX-class ships will be named after space shuttles, because this is actually also the order in which the orbiter fleet was built. Enterprise came first, as a test vehicle not flown in space, then Columbia. In the order they were produced, the orbital vehicles (popularly known as spaceshuttles) made after the first two were Challenger, Discovery, Atlantis, and Endeavour (built to replace the loss of the Challenger). With NX-01being Enterprise, NX-02 Columbia, it is within reason that NX-03 will be Challenger, NX-04 Discovery, NX-05 Atlantis, and NX-06 Endeavour.

Quotes:

[last lines of season 2]
Capt. Jonathan Archer: [before entering the Expanse] Straight and steady, Mr. Mayweather. Let's see what's in there.

Season-ending cliffhanger succeeds, but scores low in originality

"The Expanse" assembles a mystery and a cliffhanger to predictably end the second season of Enterprise. An automated weapon which Archer believes to be a Xindi probe enters Earth-space and cuts a swath from Florida to Venezuela,killing millions. Archer is contacted by an emissary from the future and told that an invasion is being prepared in the Delphic Expanse - a region of space which the Vulcans, and seemingly everybody else, are terrified of. Meanwhile, the Klingon fugitive subplot is kept alive as Enterprise is pursued by Klingon Birds of Prey (this is really just added to provide some additional action in an otherwise sedate episode, since it has no bearing on the central plot), and Enterprise is refitted with better hull plating and antimatter torpedoes (completely scientifically absurd, but the franchise hasn't really been very concerned with science since DS9 so who cares).

The acting is a touch above the average for this series. The script allows Conner Trinnear to capitalize on American emotions surrounding the 9/11 attack on the U.S.A., as he turns in one of his finest performances during this series. Jolene Blalock also does a very nice job with one of T'Pol's more complicated early interpretations (this character has one of the best arcs in the series, and becomes much more interesting in the 3rd and 4th seasons). However, the script does not just follow franchise formulae, but almost plagiarizes the film Event Horizon in its exposition on the Delphic Expanse.

Entirely predictable, but worth watching because it sets up a good Season 3 opener "The Xindi", and an excellent story arc within the expanse itself.