Hello crew! I talk a lot about Star Wars on this blog but there is another huge space faring universe I’m a fan of, Star Trek! There was a time people thought Star Wars and Star Trek fans couldn’t get along but you know what? I’ve never found that to be the case in my personal life. I like them both for different reasons. I just like Star Wars a little more because I’m a bit more of a fantasy fan than a hard science fiction fan. Today I am going to review Star Trek Enterprise: Broken Bow, the series pilot.

I’ve seen most of Star Trek and enjoyed the majority of it. To keep myself from just re-watching and experiencing things like I did the first (and second and so on) time, I thought I’d give watching in chronological order a try.

I’m going to review all the Star Trek in Chronological order

This will take some time but I am going to review all of the episodes of all the Star Trek TV series and all the movies in chronological order. I don’t plan on reviewing books, comics etc. that are other media that fit into the timeline.

But as with anything Star Trek, it’s hard to figure out how to count chronologically. Why? Time travel… Great stories but an enemy of anyone who wants to see things happen in order. Technically, not everything I will review will be in chronological order because there are things that happen in the past but later in a series.

I decided to go with this handy list I found called The Star Trek Chronology Project. I’ll be going off their order because they’ve clearly put in a ton of thought, love, and work into the list and their reasons for ordering the way they did align with mine.

By the way, this is not at all the method I would recommend a first time viewer to watch. The shows are kind of their own thing, although there are crossovers, but you don’t have to watch one to enjoy the other. The best way is probably in release order, or just by picking what seems like it will appeal the most to you.

The first episode in the first series on the list is Star Trek Enterprise: Broken Bow. If you can’t stand this series, don’t worry, I’ll get to another series eventually. This particular episode review is going to be in depth but not all of my reviews will be this long and intensive. It’s a pilot episode so I want to give it its due. This will probably be true for every pilot episode I review. Without any further rambling, let’s get into it!

Background For Star Trek Enterprise

When Star Trek Enterprise began things were in a bit of an odd state for the franchise. Deep Space Nine had ended and Voyager was on the way out. Naturally, Paramount wanted to keep their franchise alive so they had Rick Berman and Brannan Braga create a new show. There was a lot of speculation at the time that the show might either focus on Sulu or be a show about Star Fleet Academy. Both would have been great ideas but what we ended up with was a show set after the events of First Contact but before The Orignal Series.

Problems

Star Trek Enterprise therefore had several issues to deal with. First, Deep Space Nine was a beloved series and reaching the critical acclaim of that would prove difficult. But also, during its time, new and old sci-fi series would come along to try to supplant Star Trek as the must watch series. Farscape, Battlestar Galactica (2004 reboot), Firefly, Stargate SG-1, Andromeda, The X-Files, and Doctor Who were all shows that competed for attention somewhere during the four seasons Enterprise aired.

While Star Trek as a franchise was a juggernaut, some people felt it was a bit outdated compared to some of those other shows. Berman and Braga made some creative decisions that might have felt right at the time but are sometimes cringe worthy. They did, however, manage to make a show with a cohesive crew that tells an interesting story which fits well within Star Trek as a whole.

Another issue they had was similar to a problem in the Star Wars universe. Both in Enterprise and the Star Wars prequels, the events take place before the story we first saw but technology in the real world had advanced so much things just looked better on screen. It makes a bit of an odd viewing experience to watch Enterprise and see great makeup, good CGI for the time, and technology that looked fairly realistic, and then watch The Original Series where they are awkwardly tilting a camera to make it look like a ship has been hit. Or the automatic doors pull open a little unevenly since we didn’t actually have automatic doors at the time.

Star Trek Enterprise now

I’m hoping that taking a look at the series now, without thinking about those things, we can appreciate Enterprise for what it was, while still pointing out some flaws in the system. Enterprise was a big gamble and while it worked well, it had bumpy spots, and after the series aired there was a huge dry spell as far as Star Trek television. There were the so called Kelvin timeline films which started in 2009. Those never reached the acclaim of the earlier films and are definitely not as well like as the television shows. And speaking of television, the next Star Trek TV show didn’t debut until 2017 with Star Trek Discovery. That’s a long time with no Star Trek!

But for now, let’s boldly go back to the past where we first see the debut of the new series with the first episode Star Trek Enterprise: Broken Bow.

Where no man has gone before

The episode starts on Earth, with a young Jonathan Archer, painting a model drone. He starts the episode, appropriately enough, with the words, “Where no man has gone before.” His father Henry watches over the boy and says, “Dr. Cochrane would be proud of you.” This establishes the timeline to be after the events of the movie Star Trek: First Contact. Jonathan even mentions he has the whole speech memorized. But then he asks about Henry Archer’s ship. Jonathan wants to know when it will fly.

Henry says it’s not built yet and we quickly learn the Vulcans are keeping knowledge from humans. Despite this, Henry seems to think the Vulcans must have their reasons. From the Vulcan perspective it seems pretty obvious humans are volatile and impulsive and, you know, could go back to our old ways of waging war at any moment.

That’s not a Vulcan

The scene shifts to Broken Bow, Oklahoma 30 years later. Just in case you are wondering what year Star Trek Enterprise: Broken Bow takes place, it starts in 2121 and skips ahead to 2151.

In a cornfield a ship has crashed. Viewers of Star Trek know exactly what’s running through the field but there is someone chasing behind this familiar alien and they are of a species we have not seen before, even as viewers. The man who lives on the farm sees some pistol blasts in his field and he runs back into his home. The alien being chased runs into the silo and the farmer comes back with what looks like a shotgun. Two of the aliens we haven’t seen before run up to the silo and one of them literally slides under the door as if they were Mr. Fantastic. Definitely not something we’ve seen before. And while the CGI here was amazing at the time, it just kind of barely holds up now. But it’s good enough it won’t take you out of the story.

What the farmer sees next is an alien jump out of his silo, turn his pistol to the silo, and with one shot makes it explode. Presumably with the two we don’t know inside. The alien viewers know dives for cover but when he stands, the farmer is pointing the shotgun at him.

This very tall, very intimidating alien then starts speaking in a harsh, guttural language, in what looks like an aggressive manner. The earthling warns the alien he knows how to use the weapon he’s holding. The alien takes a step forward, still talking, and sure enough, the farmer shoots. The alien is blasted to the ground unconscious.

The Song

One of the oddest and most controversial aspects of all of Star Trek Enterprise is the opening credits. Unlike every other Star Trek TV show, this show starts with a song with lyrics.

It’s a sort of generic pop-ish song with a bit of a country feel. It talks about having faith which seems odd to me in the Star Trek universe, even though it’s, “faith of the heart” in the song. And when I first saw and heard this, I hated it.

I could not stand the song. But, I will tell you, with repeated viewings, and hearing the song often enough, it did start to grow on me. Then it got to the point where I was singing along. I’m not going to defend the song because I feel like it is still out of place but it is catchy if you listen long enough. In case you’re wondering it’s called Where My Heart Will Take Me and is performed by English tenor Russell Watson. People hated the song so much at the beginning, they literally made petitions to get it removed. I’m not a fan of the song but, come on, let’s respect creators’ work here people.

The images

Another deviation in the credits is we’re not just seeing a star ship warp into space here. Instead we’re flooded with images of exploration on Earth. From sea exploration to real images from NASA and the Mars rover to the fictional images of different Star Trek shuttles, finally to the Enterprise taking off.

As far as that aspect of the credits, I think this was brilliant. Remember, the show is before Enterprise has fully been built and gone out to space. So bridging things we know and have seen with what the future might look like once we are a true space faring people feels not only right, it feels inspirational. I wish more shows made me feel that way in their credits.

It also makes me wonder what our present would look like if we had invested heavily in the space program instead of on, you know, buying more bombs and all. At this rate, the Vulcans are never coming.

Let’s meet the captain and chief Engineer

After the credits we see a grown Jonathan Archer, played by Scott Bakula with his Chief Engineer Charles “Trip” Tucker III, played by Connor Trinneer. Scott Bakula has some major sci-fi credibility already having starred in Quantum Leap from 1989 – 1993 so he was a perfect choice for the role. Connor Trineer was not well known at the time but he’s the type of actor who exudes an all American can do attitude and again, is perfectly cast.

The two men are inspecting the hull of The Enterprise. Yes, that Enterprise. Tripp mentions it can hit warp 4.5 which Archer says is to Neptune and back in six minutes. This is kind of slow for Star Trek but it’s one of those lines that again just feels inspirational.

Definitely not a Vulcan

Tripp then bumps right into the hull. Not hard but, man that had to be embarrassing. And then Archer is hailed on the comms. An Admiral Forest needs Archer at Starfleet Medical right away. There, a group of Vulcans and humans are looking at the alien from the farm. The Vulcans tell the human this alien was using some kind of stealth technology on their ships. And we find out these aliens are called… Klingons. The audience knows how bad this could be but this is the first time anyone from Starfleet has seen one. One person even refers to them as a “Klingot.”

Archer finds out this Klingon was injured by a farmer’s plasma rifle. He’s hurt but not dead. The Vulcans, therefore, want to delay the launch of Enterprise. The Vulcans think it’s too risky for humans to tangle with Klingons and they’ve negotiated a deal to take Klaang’s corpse back to Qo’noS the Klingon home world. The problem? Yeah, Klaang is not dead.

Let’s meet Dr. Phlox

Archer boldly busts into the medical room to ask if the Klingon is dead. The doctor in the room is Dr. Phlox, played by John Billingsley. And once again this is great casting. Phlox will never use a one syllable word when a five syllable word will do. And he speaks in truth. Archer asks if the man is going to die, to which Phlox answers with the factually correct, “Not necessarily.”

Archer is furious the Vulcans plan to take the Klingon off of life support even though he has a chance of living. To him, this is not logical but the Vulcans know how much Klingons value death in battle. And Archer calls them out for basically doing what Klingons tell them, even when it’s not the right thing to do. Archer is adamant that humans are not murderers. Archer then demands the Admiral stand up to the Vulcans and let the Enterprise take off.

Let’s meet T’Pol

Archer wants to know how long humans will have to sit around deferring to Vulcans. A Vulcan woman named T’Pol speaks up and says, “Until you’ve proven you’re ready… to look beyond your provincial attitudes and your volatile nature.” Archer snaps back, “You have no idea how much I’m restraining myself from knockin’ you on your ass.”

Perhaps not the most diplomatic way to phrase things there. But Archer has an idea. The Enterprise can take the Klingon back home. And alive. The Vulcans don’t think Archer should cling to his ethical beliefs but as any Star Trek fan knows, that’s what humans do.

Archer says he can be ready in three days but he is missing a comm officer who is in Brazil and they still need a medical officer. The admiral sides with Archer, pointing out humans have been waiting nearly a century and this is a perfect opportunity. The Vulcans are not pleased and shout at the admiral.

Archer points out that when his logic doesn’t work the Vulcan raises his voice. And says he’s been on Earth too long.

The Vulcans leave and the Admiral basically says he knew Archer would be upset about the whole thing and push the envelope here. And the Admiral warns Archer not to screw it up.

The crew is assembled

Right after the meeting Archer bangs on the door and calls Dr. Phlox over. Medical officer problem solved.

On board the U.S.S. Enterprise two men watch as supplies are beamed up. This is still a new technology. They are suspicious of it but it seems to work. One of them hopes the captain won’t make them use it but the other says, “Don’t worry, he wouldn’t even put his dog through this thing.”

Well, there’s one thing you have to know about captain Archer. He loves his dog, Porthos, so of course he wouldn’t.

The two men in question are Malcolm Reed played by Dominic Keating, and Travis Mayweather, played by Anthony Montgomery. Reed is the Tactical Officer and Mayweather is the Helmsman. Mayweather is also what’s called a “space boomer” meaning he was born in space. He’s more familiar with space travel than the rest of the crew and has some knowledge of alien species.

Back on Earth itself, Archer has to recruit one more crew member. Hoshi Sato, played by Linda Park, is his pick for Communications Officer. She’s a linguistic genius but understandably nervous about space travel and the high pressure situation she’s been put in. But she cannot resist the appeal of being the first human to speak to a Klingon.

And with that the U.S.S. Enterprise crew is complete. Sort of.

The Vulcan science officer

There is one more person aboard. Since the Vulcans are not pleased about this mission, they insisted on sending a Vulcan Science Officer along. This is T’Pol, one of the Vulcans from earlier who respectfully, but forcefully disagreed with Archer about the mission. Captain Archer isn’t pleased about it but it’s only a four day there, four day back mission and then she’s gone. I think everyone but the characters know she’s here for the long haul.

T’Pol is played by Jolene Blalock. She’ll become an integral character on the series who plays a major role in changing the dynamics of relations between humans and Vulcans.

She starts of stiff and formal and although she’s not truly displaying emotion, it’s easy to tell she has some contempt for the humans on board. And she doesn’t seem to be a fan of Porthos. Yet.

A new threshold

The Admiral gathers the humans and Vulcans together and gives a send off speech, saying, “Today, we’re about to cross a new threshold.” They have a Warp 5 engine and it’s about to take off. The Admiral then plays Jonathan Cochrane’s words from the dedication of the Warp 5 complex where the ship was built. It’s the same speech Jonathan Archer, as a kid, said he had memorized. And it’s essentially several of the opening lines from the well loved first Star Trek series.

And at long last, it’s time to take the ship out on a mission. Captain Archer starts it with the words, “Take her out, Mister Mayweather. Straight and steady.”

This is yet another moment in this series that simply feels inspirational. Everyone there would have known what kind of history they were making. I hope some day we really do get to explore space in this way because I think it would advance human society immensely.

As they get ready to hit warp, Archer checks in with Trip, gives Mayweather permission to get underway, and T’Pol points out the coordinates are off by .2 degrees. Archer sort of ignores this but I have to say .2 degrees when talking about space travel at this magnitude is an enormous difference. But to be fair, the ship travels really fast so it can be corrected.

But with all of that, the Enterprise has finally begun a mission.

The elusive enemy plots

Remember the aliens chasing the Klingon near the beginning of the episode? We see one of their ships. The leader of this group is Silik, and he is a Suliban. He’s talking to a shadowed humanoid figure. The figure wants to know where Klaang is and tells Silik to recover the evidence. The Suliban asks the figure to go back in time and prevent his friends from being killed. The figure tells Silik he can’t correct mistakes. Silik asks the figure when they will meet again. And the figure says, “Don’t be concerned with when.”

Gotta love time travel. This whole interaction and Silik in particular will become major players in the series but for now remain a mystery.

Sickbay is full of creatures and a Klingon

Dr. Phlox keeps a ton of alien creatures in sickbay to treat all sorts of disease. Captain Archer comes to check on the status of the Klingon. Captain Archer is hoping for the Klingon to be up and about within 80 hours when they reach the Klingon home planet. Dr. Phlox never guarantees anything but he does imply there are good chances.

The sweet spot and an awkward dinner

Apparently there is a spot somewhere on each ship where the gravity is basically reversed. You can go from zero g to being upside down. Mayweather calls this the sweet spot. And he tells Trip about some of the planets he’s been to. In one of the more cringe worthy conversations Trip asks Mayweather about a planet where women have, “three.” It’s never outright stated what they have three of but it’s strongly implied.

Trip leaves to go have dinner with Captain Archer and T’Pol. The scene serves mainly to show some differences between the human and Vulcan cultures. T’Pol won’t eat food with her fingers and she’s a vegetarian. She also doesn’t seem to understand why Archer thought she might have gone sightseeing on Earth.

And we find out that on this ship, there is a chef. No replicator yet. This is a person doing some actual cooking.

Captain Archer says if T’Pol had seen Earth 50 years ago, she’d be impressed with the progress humans have made. She criticizes the species for being impulsive carnivores. Trip counters with the fact that humans have eliminated war, disease, and hunger in two generations. If only. The sad thing is, it’s not too far fetched to believe we could do that. We just don’t.

Hoshi is up to bat

On the bridge, Hoshi seems nervous about the vibrations on the ship to the point where T’Pol asks her if she wants to go to her quarters. Hoshi responds in Vulcan and T’Pol is annoyed with that since she was instructed to speak English on the ship. Dr. Phlox calls the Captain to sickbay because Klaang is awake.

Hoshi uses the universal translator but the words he’s saying make no sense. Hoshi clearly thinks she’s blowing it. But Dr. Phlox figures out there is something going on with the Klingon’s brain and he’s not capable of making sense at the moment.

Enterprise under attack

Suddenly the power goes out because the Suliban are infiltrating. They take Klaang right under the noses of the crew. In the scuffle one of the Suliban is killed. It’s a mystery how these aliens got on board at all. The sensors should have picked up a signal but they didn’t.

T’Pol tries to make the incident into a reason to return to Earth. She figures since they lost the Klingon the mission is over. But Archer points out, correctly, that he did not lose the Klingon, he was taken from them. T’Pol then calls the whole idea of trying to find who took Klaang a foolish mission.

Captain Archer makes T’Pol speak to him in private. He tells her to back off in no uncertain terms. It’s the first of what will be many confrontations like this.

This Suliban is special

Turns out the Suliban was somehow genetically engineered. This makes them far more stealthy. But it’s not normal for a Suliban to be like this.

T’Pol and Trip work on the sensors but she basically insults human technology. Captain Archer asks if the Vulcans know about the Suliban. She knows what sector of space they are from and that they have never posed a threat.

When Hoshi provides translations of what Klaang said, the word Rigel stands out. T’Pol admits this is one of the places Klaang stopped according to his ship logs. She was withholding the information from Captain Archer and he is not pleased with her.

They set a course for Rigel X to try to retrieve Klaang.

A strange new world

The Suliban interrogate Klaang. They know he met with someone names Sarin on Rigel X. But whatever the Suliban are looking for Klaang doesn’t seem to know what, or where, it is.

Rigel has a huge trading complex which very much reminds me of a large version of the cantina on Mos Eisley in Star Wars. It’s a rough crowd with some definite tough guys around. And they’ve never even seen a human.

Our main crew, other than Dr. Phlox, set out to find Klaang. They split up but the humans tend to get distracted by the surroundings. Malcolm and Mayweather do find someone who says he saw Klaang. T’Pol and Trip wander around and Trip badly misinterprets an interaction he sees involving a child. T’Pol corrects him and tells Trip to learn to objectify other cultures.

Hoshi and Archer end up on the level where Klingons are known to go to eat. And they do see a Klingon or two who run away. Two Sulibans pop out of nowhere and grab Archer and Hoshi.

Enter Sarin

After the Suliban take Archer and Hoshi, they are separated. Captain Archer meets what looks like a human woman who calls herself Sarin. Archer demands she give Klaang back. The woman plants a kiss on the Captain’s lips and shape shifts into what Archer recognizes as a Suliban. Sarin can measure trust but only with close contact. And she knows Archer is telling the truth when he says he just wanted to take Klaang home. She tells Archer she gave the Klingon a message. Apparently the Suliban have been causing havoc in the Klingon factions to keep them fighting one another.

Sarin also mentions a “temporal cold war.” This will have enormous impact on the series as a whole. Archer is understandably confused by it but before Sarin can explain more, she is attacked. It’s pretty standard action for a Star Trek series. Our heroes come together and try to escape being blasted by the bad Suliban group. Before they make the escape, Sarin dies but tells Archer he has to find Klaang.

T’Pol takes command

In the dust up on the way back to the ship, Captain Archer is injured. T’Pol tells the bridge that Dr. Phlox needs to meet them in decontamination and she is taking over Enterprise.

When Archer loses consciousness we get a flashback to him flying the drone he was working on before. It crashes but his father tells him not to be afraid of the wind. He tells Jonathan to trust it. And just as the vision fades, T’Pol comes into view, foreshadowing that perhaps the Captain should trust the Vulcan.

The most cringe worthy scene in Star Trek Enterprise: Broken Bow

There is a scene here in this episode which on the surface would be fine. It’s an argument between Trip and T’Pol. Trip wants to make sure isn’t going to usurp the authority of Captain Archer. T’Pol knows she outranks the people on the ship and she still seems to think the right thing to do is return to Earth.

There’s a good deal of tension here and it moves the story forward. It establishes a contentious relationship between the pair and it makes sense as far as character development.

So why is it cringe worthy? Well, just before this argument Dr. Phlox had passed through an anti-bacterial gel to the pair. The whole scene is done with the two of them in their underwear, rubbing the gel on one another. It’s dimly lit and is full of slow, sensuous shots of their bodies.

We’re all adults here, I don’t have a problem with the idea of a bacterial gel. I don’t think it’s horrible to show characters in a state of undress if it makes sense.

But for this, there is literally no real reason we needed to have these characters in this situation. They could just as easily had their argument in another secluded part of the ship.

Star Trek, at the time, was losing ground to some other, edgier shows. So I see why they put the scene in but in retrospect, it just feels gratuitous and unnecessary.

I wish I could say this is the only time this happens on the show but in my reviews to come, well, there’s one episode with this whole concept that would make even this scene blush. But anyway, back to the story of Star Trek Enterprise: Broken Bow

T’Pol helps

In sickbay, Captain Archer wakes up. He’s healing fine and Trip and T’Pol come to see him. T’Pol lets Archer know she took over for him while he was out. He assumes they are headed back to Earth. But instead, they are tracking the Suliban vessel that left Rigel. T’Pol even figured out how to track their radiation trail. Archer asks her, “What happened to this is a foolish mission?” T’Pol responds with, “This is a foolish mission… But as acting Captain, I was obligated to follow your wishes.”

Archer does point out she could have done anything she wanted as acting Captain. Turns out T’Pol might be stiff but she is more on the side of the humans than we thought.

Captain’s log

Captain Archer enters his Captain’s Log but he constantly pauses to ponder T’Pol’s behavior and talk to Porthos. He is stuck on the question of whether or not to tell her about this temporal cold war.

T’Pol calls the Captain to the bridge. From the bridge they see a class seven gas giant. It takes a bit of tweaking but they figure out how to track the Suliban. Turns out there were a bunch of ships. These must be the people who took Klaang.

And for the first time, Captain Archer tells Malcolm Reed to, “Bring the weapons online.”

The Suliban mystery continues

The shadowy humanoid figure is back speaking with Silik once again. This figure wants Sarin’s message to be intercepted before it gets to Qo’noS.

The Enterprise makes it closer to the planet and spots some Suliban vessels. And they find a huge Suliban complex called the Helix.

The Enterprise takes a few hits and they flees to a higher layer of the atmosphere. In the chase, Captain Archer is able to capture one of the Suliban vessels. Archer and Trip fly this ship into the Helix and infiltrate the complex.

Introducing Phase Pistols!

Before they leave, Malcolm Reed delivers new weapons to Captain Archer. They are called “Phase Pistols,” not yet Phasers but it’s the same basic concept. There are two settings on these, stun and kill. And as Reed says, it’s best not to confuse them.

These weapons will play a very important role in this series in episodes to come. But it is cool to see this early version of the weapons and it’s a fun little moment that’s a nod to the more action oriented aspects of Star Trek in general.

The tension escalates

Inside the complex Trip and Archer discover that stun does in fact stun their enemies. Meanwhile Enterprise is in a vulnerable position and T’Pol has to move it away so they can survive until the Captain returns.

Sure enough Trip and Archer find Klaang. He knocks Trip on his butt as soon as he’s freed. Any angry Klingon is no joke. But Archer has him at gun point. Well, Phaser Pistol point but you get the idea.

There is a bit of a battle as they leave. Trip gets Klaang back to Enterprise but Archer isn’t so lucky. He uses a device Malcolm Reed gave him to demagnetize all of the Suliban vessels from the complex. But he’s stuck on the complex himself.

Hoshi also gets a moment to shine here as she is able to hear the signal Trip is making and T’Pol even thanks her in Vulcan.

Time travel stuff

On the Suliban complex, Archer stumbles upon a strange room where things seem to vibrate. There’s a special effect here which we know has something to do with time travel.

Back on the Enterprise, Trip demands T’Pol go back for Archer but she refuses. It’s too dangerous and would put the overall mission at risk.

On the Helix, Archer hears a voice who seems to know the Captain. The voice tells Archer to forget Klaang and leave the room. Silik rushes Archer and grabs his Phase Pistol. He fires at the Captain but Archer sees it in slow motion and dodges it.

Archer escapes the room and in classic Star Trek fashion, there is a fist fight.

Meanwhile, the Enterprise tries to dock at the Helix but it’s impossible and they go to what T’Pol calls plan b. Did you guess it? Yep, for the first time ever, a human is beamed onto Enterprise from a hostile environment. But we have set up our main villains for the whole series now. Things feel like they are getting started.

Klaang’s message

At long last, Enterprise arrives on Qo’noS with Klaang very much alive. He is shamed for what happened. But he also has his hand sliced with a rough looking knife. His blood is collected and his DNA is displayed on a screen. Inside his blood cells is a message from Sarin. The leader of the Klingons points the knife at Archer’s throat and says something in Klingon. (Sorry, I don’t speak Klingon so I don’t know what and neither does Archer.) Archer says he will take the gesture as a thank you. Hoshi remarks she doesn’t think they have a word for thank you. When Archer asks what was said, Hoshi tells him he doesn’t want to know. I can believe that.

Back on Enterprise, Captain Archer summons Trip and T’Pol to his quarters so he can tell them what the Starfleet Admiral’s orders for them are. A shuttle is on the way to pick T’Pol up. Admiral Forest wants the ship to keep going. Trip goes off to do some repair work on the hull, hoping it’s the last time anyone takes a shot at Enterprise. Yeah, good luck with that, buddy.

Privately, Archer admits his prejudice toward Vulcans to her. He knows the mission would have failed without her help. He knows it would look bad for him to ask the Vulcans to allow T’Pol to stay. But if she requests it, well, then we have a show here people!

On the bridge, Archer decides they should go explore the nearest inhabited planet. The episode ends with a shot of a young Jonathan Archer flying his drone with confidence.

Star Trek Enterprise: Broken Bow conclusion

And there we have the first entry in the Enterprise series. Star Trek Enterprise: Broken Bow starts off on really solid footing here. All of the characters are established and a bit of tension is introduced. Plus, we have a time traveling set of bad guys to look out for in the future. The Vulcans and humans are in a tenuous relationship but are definitely allies. As far as Klingons go, well, we’ve barely made an impression on them yet but if they decide they don’t like humans, we’re in trouble.

There are small moments of missteps here, especially with the bacterial gel scene, but overall it does work. The acting is great. There isn’t a ton of action but it feels like the right amount for a Star Trek show. After all, in this kind of series we want to see our heroes try to win peacefully first. The action there is in the show is nicely paced and calls back to some other series pretty well. It’s an interesting time period to explore as well.

There will be some amazing moments in this series and some amazingly frustrating moments as well. But for the most part I would recommend the series. I don’t think it is anyone’s favorite series in Star Trek cannon but I admire what they were trying to do and it was a worthy effort.

Until next time, all I can say is, live long and prosper.

P.S. Prefer Star Wars? Check out my reviews here.