Originally Posted by blandstalker

In honor of johnnypark's question, I decided to watch the third and fourth seasons of Enterprise. When the show aired, I watched the first ten episodes as a trial, then decided not to watch the series because it looked like all the worst habits of Voyager. It's been on my to-do list for awhile. And hell, I suffered through most of Voyager over the past few years.

I just finished the third season and am pretty impressed. They did something I've never seen on Star Trek before, which was to create a consistent, arc-based story that progressed through the entire season. While it can't compete with the depth DS9 accomplished over five seasons, it did do some things I've never even seen on DS9, and the attention to continuity and character is incredible.

When it's good, it's really good. Unfortunately, when it's bad, it's still warmed-over Voyager (which is itself warmed-over). There are episodes that are complete wastes of time, and others that are uneven or whose pacing could be improved. Characters are also a mixed bag, and Sato, Mayweather, and Reed are as undeveloped and wallpaper as ever. There were a couple of true surprises in there, though, which were a genuine delight. I'd place one of the third season episodes in any Trek top ten list.

I'm trying to be a little vague, because if (like me) you hadn't seen it, it's worth watching. Even though there are dogs (sorry Porthos), the payoff is worth it, and if the show had been like this from the start, I never would have quit watching it. It's a shame that it took the show so long to figure itself out, resorting to actual quality as a last resort. That I was able to skip almost 40 episodes and not notice anything missing says a lot about how much potential went to waste as the show aimlessly went where every Trek show had been before.

I'm catching up on a handful of highly rated Season 2 episodes, then on to Season 4.