ENT - "Broken Bow"

The most striking thing about Enterprise is just how different of a show it is from the other Trek series. In truth, Enterprise really isn't "Star Trek;" it's a hybrid of NASA and Star Trek. Heck, the first two seasons of the series didn't even have "Star Trek" in the title. I find that the best way to watch Enterprise is to think of it as a generic sci-fi series with tons of Star Trek references.

Enterprise is about the exploration aspect of Star Trek more than anything else. As the highly controversial opening credits sequence shows, this series is more about the "we will prevail" nature of the human spirit than it is about TNG-style sociology or TOS-style action. "Broken Bow" establishes this point very well, showing how the human race has come along since Zefram Cochrane's warp flight in 2063. Approached from that angle, this episode is quite intriguing, illustrating that humankind is literally taking its baby steps into space.

Another very nice thing about this episode (as well as the series in general) is that it is visually wonderful. This was the first episode of Star Trek to be filmed in HD widescreen, and it makes a huge difference. Additionally, every set and prop looks perfectly believable. The special effects aren't lacking here, either, as we see (mostly) great CG effects. The Suliban shape-shifting could have used some more realism, but other than that the effects are without any major flaw.

The character introductions are all very well-done; we get just enough background on every member of the bridge crew. However, there is an inherent problem in that we never grow to love the crew in this episode. Even the oft-groaned-over pilot of TNG made us love Data with his quirky whistling; we don't get anything like that here. When you don't care about the characters, it's hard to care about the show at all. At the same time, however, Enterprise does present the only realistic-seeming characters in all of Star Trek; they're far from the silly and simple archetypes of TNG and TOS. It's just too bad that they aren't interesting.

The biggest problem with "Broken Bow" is that it's intrguing, but never really exciting. The main focus of the episode is more intellectual and symbolic in nature, rather than emotional. While that's fine if the narrative is meant to be a masterpiece of intelligence, "Broken Bow" pretends to be a much more action-oriented story. While the phaser fights are all well and good, they feel somewhat forced into the narrative. Additionally, there's one scene that is very obviously only there for sex appeal. It makes no sense, and only furthers the idea that Enterprise was just trying too hard to be something it wasn't.


All in all, "Broken Bow" is a great introduction to the series, but isn't very fun. It's more intriguing than entertaining.