Curious about the new Star Trek series Enterprise? Jayne Denker takes a look into the this new realm of sci-fi. Will Enterprise go where no man has gone before?

Enterprise: Boldly Going Where No Trek Series Has Gone Before--Backwards

Okay, I'm going to start with an important qualifier here--I am not a Trekker; I'm not even a Trekkie. I admit I did go to one Star Trek convention a number of years ago, but I didn't inhale.

I have always dabbled on the fringes of the Trek world(s), preferring the antiseptic, highly evolved, overly polite realm of The Next Generation--only when I happened to come across it in syndication. So what made me tune into Enterprise, the newest venture from the Trek folks carrying on in Gene Roddenberry's name? Simple: Scott Bakula.

I drive my husband nuts watching every silly but endearing episode of Quantum Leap in reruns on the Sci-Fi channel. He asks me repeatedly why I have a crush on a guy who looks like the Muppets' Sam the Eagle, and I don't have a reason. Mention Bakula's name to any female, however, and 98 percent of them will gush, "Ohhh . . . I LOVE Scott Bakula!" Ask why, and 100 percent of them will not have an answer.

But we loved Scott Bakula in Quantum Leap, and in Enterprise, as Captain Jonathan Archer, in his casual-cute baseball cap and onesie jumpsuit (or strutting around in royal blue futuristic Hanes matching T-shirt and briefs--extra points for the gratuitous flash of Bakula leg), he exudes the same bravery, decency, and kindness he emitted in Leap, only more so. Big thumbs up for the new captain.

The rest of the crew is the multi cultural melange that Roddenberry always requested, which is as admirable a requirement now as it was back in the original Star Trek's day.

Most notable is the female Vulcan, T'Pol (Jolene Blalock). Before I saw the show, just going on teasers and photos, I though she was the new token Seven of Nine-type character, added to Enterprise for that touch of sprayed-on-jumpsuit sex appeal that Seven's character served on Voyager, but this Vulcan has a heart, even though she'd never admit it, underneath her very pronounced . . . er . . . form. T'Pol is far more emotional than she's supposed to be, although it's kept well beneath the surface by her Vulcan training. She's complex, subtle, and interesting--an impressive character. Of course, if you're just interested in women in sprayed-on jumpsuits, she will probably do.

In addition, there's the strongly "'Murrican" Southerner, Commander "Trip" Tucker (Connor Trinneer); proper but accessible English Lt. Commander Malcolm Reed (Dominic Keating), fresh-faced African-American Lt. Travis Mayweather (Anthony Montgomery, a refugee from the canceled WB series Popular); Asian-American Ensign Hoshi Sato (Linda Park), who seems to be to Captain Archer as Beverly Crusher was to Captain Picard, but who am I to predict; plus another fussy alien in the Neelix vein (type unknown as of yet, but he's humanoid with the requisite latex facial ridges), Dr. Phlox (John Billingsley, last seen in the wonderful but quickly doomed Fox drama about psychics, The Others).

The hook of the series is that it's 2051, 100 years before Captain Kirk went out to woo the females of myriad alien populations in distant galaxies. With this series so close to our own time, it not only hints at what could happen within our own century, but also displays a humanity in the crew that's closer to our own than to the "advanced" humans that populate the other Trek series.

Park's Ensign Sato gets scared, for goodness' sake. They're all impressed with warp five. The folks on Earth hadn't even seen a Klingon until two minutes into the first episode; one military guy called him a "Klingot." They're not sure they like the idea of beaming up humans. Characters talk about sex! By the first commercial break, I realized I was duly impressed.

Although I started watching the episode with great trepidation, fearing it would be too dry, like the most boring of the original Star Trek episodes, or too poorly written, like the worst of Voyager, I am pleased to report that everything jelled. The characters (and actors) work well together, there's a vast wealth of material to be mined from this being the first ship to encounter life on other worlds, and if the writing stays as good as the pilot, this will work, and work very, very well.

Resounding approval for Enterprise. It could turn me into a Trekkie. Or even a Trekker. Even without the gratuitous Scott-Bakula-in-his-skivvies shots. Although they can stay as well.

Jayne Denker is a thirty something writer who will work on just about any writing assignment, anyplace, anytime as long as it's something nifty associated with pop culture--especially GenX, of course--and/or entertainment. She is actually employed full time as a web content manager but also fills any free time she may happen to find on her hands with freelance writing assignments to offset the "manager" nonsense. Jayne lives with her husband and three psycho kitties (qu'est que c'est) in quite a small lakeside cottage in western New York state. When she's not writing or "managing," she enjoys loafing/watching movies, cleaning up after the psycho kitties, designing web sites, reading, and making magic. Contact Jayne

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