For the most part this is a show without clear direction There’s a general flailing around from theme to theme, never quite sure what kind of story will work. And very little is landing. It’s generally a pleasant way to spend an hour, but it’s not rising to the heights established by the other series. Yes, even Voyager once or twice. Enterprise is giving Voyager a run for its money in the ‘time to classic episode’ stakes – Voyager took 63 episodes, so Enterprise had better get there before the middle of next season if it wants to avoid the dubious distinction of ‘most mediocre series’.
There are two excursions into the truly dreadful – *Precious Cargo* and *Bounty*. But the vast majority of the rest of the episodes just weren’t that memorable.
There are some pretty interesting stories that don’t quite gel – *Cease Fire*, *The Communicator* and *Minefield* in particular. But in each case there’s too much action thrown in, not enough time spent with the interesting bits of the stories. The things I liked the most were *Regeneration*, where the action was at the right dose, and *The Crossing*, which I thought was a good classic SF tale told pretty well.
Where does this one fit? It’s a disappointment of a season, and we’re certainly talking ‘bad Voyager’ territory. Ahead of Seasons 1, 2 and 7, but behind Season 3 in fact. So that takes us to:
The very best of Trek:
– TNG Season 6
– DS9 Season 2
Strong performers:
– DS9 Season 5
– TNG Season 3
– TNG Season 5
– TOS Season 2
– TNG Season 4
– VOY Season 4
Mixed bag:
– TOS Season 1
– DS9 Season 4
– DS9 Season 1
– VOY Season 5
– ENT Season 1
– VOY Season 1
– TNG Season 7
Not good:
– DS9 Season 3
– DS9 Season 6
– VOY Season 6
– VOY Season 3
– TNG Season 2
– ENT Season 2
– TAS Season 1
Really just awful:
– VOY Season 7
– VOY Season 2
– DS9 Season 7
– TOS Season 3
– TAS Season 2
– TNG Season 1
That’s 690 watched, 30,644 minutes, and 93.83% complete. 107,111 words written. 47 to go. Now for the second last season of TV Trek – in one sense, the last season that was good enough that they thought another one was worth it.