Warp Five: A Star Trek Enterprise Podcast

"Sleeping Dogs" 20th-anniversary reflections. When the NX-01 identifies a gas giant, Archer gets excited to investigate. But a disabled ship turns out to belong to the Klingons, and the third meeting with the warrior race goes about how we would expect. Being human, the crew attempts a rescue, but becomes trapped themselves, setting off a race that requires cooperation between the burgeoning adver...

"Dear Doctor" 20th-anniversary reflections. An alien astronaut leads the Enterprise crew to a planet in crisis. Two intelligent humanoid species live side by side, but one is suffering from a deadly disease. Unraveling the mystery puts Doctor Phlox and Captain Archer at odds as they decide whether or not to intervene in the development of another society. And Phlox shares all the details with his...

"Silent Enemy" 20th-anniversary reflections. When the Enterprise encounters an alien ship, Archer once again gets excited about a chance to tell some aliens that he's from Earth. But it turns out that these aliens truly are alien, and the crew of the NX-01 find themselves in danger from a threat that has no interest in interacting in the usual way. This leads Archer to realize that the Enterprise...

"Cold Front" 20th-anniversary reflections. When the Enterprise encounters a freighter transporting a group of pilgrims, Archer sees the perfect opportunity for a little cultural exchange. But what first appears to be an enlightening religious experience turns deadly when the NX-01's engines are sabotaged and an unlikely figure comes to the rescue. Things only get stranger from there when Crewman D...

"Fortunate Son" 20th-anniversary reflections When a Warp 2 freighter named Fortunate sends a distress signal, the Enterprise is sent to assist. But when they arrive, they find that the crew doesn't want help and are holding a Nausicaan prisoner. A tug-o-war between Archer and the freighter's acting captain sheds a light on the rift between Earth's past and future in space as Starfleet and Boomer c...

"Civilization" 20th-anniversary reflections In the first encounter with an Earth-like planet that is home to a full-fledged pre-warp civilization, the crew of the Enterprise NX-01 faces a situation tailor made for the Prime Directive. Excited to explore an alien world and society that reminds them of their own roots, the crew pioneers the trademarked Starfleet plastic surgery and heads down to the...

"Breaking the Ice" 20th-anniversary reflections When the Enterprise takes a detour to investigate a comet, a series of trials put trust to the test. Things get frosty as Vulcan–human animosity and suspicion once again come to the surface aboard the NX-01 while Malcolm and Travis build a snowman on the comet's surface. There lots of ice to break in this episode. In this episode of Warp Five, hosts...

"The Andorian Incident" 20th-anniversary reflections When the Enterprise drops by a Vulcan monastery to check out the meditation, they find a priest whose behavior is so odd, with such outbursts, that they know something must be wrong. Sensing this, Archer and Trip do what humans do and crash the party—a move that leads to a hostage situation and the ultimate discovery of Vulcan treachery. It's a...

"Terra Nova" 20th-anniversary reflections The Enterprise may be the first Warp 5-capable ship—and the vehicle for Earth's first real mission to actively explore deep space—but it isn't the first time humans set out to settle the stars. A planet called Terra Nova was the site of the first human colony outside our solar system. But it has been a long time since anyone has heard from the settlers. Ar...

"Unexpected" 20th-anniversary reflections Starfleet is known for its willingness to lend a helping hand to ships in need, and the same can be said for the Enterprise in those early days of humanity's space exploration. The discovery that a cloaked alien ship is leaching energy from the NX-01 is met with compassion rather than anger, but Trip Tucker gets more than he bargained for when he ventures...

"Strange New World" 20th-anniversary reflections Although the crew of the Enterprise NX-01 visited Rigel X and Qo'noS in the pilot episode, "Broken Bow," the first stopover on a Minshara-class planet during their mission of exploration takes an unexpected turn. What at first appears to be an idyllic Earth-like world becomes the setting for a test of trust between humans and Vulcans as a dark and s...

"Fight or Flight" 20th-anniversary reflections. In their first deep space encounter with an unfamiliar ship, the Enterprise crew makes a chilling discovery that tests their nerves and human instincts. The alien ship's crew has been slaughtered and strung up to the ceiling, attached to a device that collects fluids from their bodies. It's an especially unnerving finding for Hoshi Sato, who is alrea...

"Broken Bow" 20th-anniversary reflections. After 14 consecutive years of telling stories set in the 24th century, Star Trek looked back in time for the premise of the franchise's fifth spinoff series. Initially entitled simply Enterprise, the show that would continue the franchise's run on television after Star Trek: Voyager was set in the 22nd century and sought to answer a question that many fan...

Patrick and Brandon's Finale Special.   The time has come for the hosts of Warp Five to pass the microphones on to a new generation.  A wise man once said that all good things must come to an end, and with Brandon as host for over 110 episodes and Patrick for over 70, they look back with fond remembrance of their tenure with Warp Five. In this episode of Warp Five, hosts Brandon-Shea Mutala and Pa...

NX-01 Movie Night: Spaceballs.   Friendship and fellowship is important for people's general health and well-being. All of the Star Trek series have shown some sort of interaction between the members of its crew on screen in varying ways. The Next Generation had poker, Deep Space Nine had Vic's lounge, Voyager had Sandrine's and the resort program, and Enterprise had movie night. Since the inventi...

Judith and Garfield Reeves-Stevens Interview. Season four of Star Trek: Enterprise saw many changes to the creative team working on the show. One addition to the writing staff of the show was Judith and Garfield Reeves-Stevens. No stranger to Star Trek or television writing, the Reeves-Stevens brought their wealth of Trek knowledge and Star Trek novel writing experience to the team. Drawing on the...

First Time Star Trek: Enterprise Viewer: Season 3. Most Star Trek fans have watched the episodes multiple times, and after more than fifty years of broadcasting, we are surprised when we meet someone that hasn't watched some of the episodes, or even hasn't watched any episodes in a series at all. Kerry Purvis has been a Star Trek fan since she was a small child, but somehow she passed over Enterpr...

NX-01 Movie Night: The Court Jester.    Friendship and fellowship is important for people's general health and well-being. All of the Star Trek series have shown some sort of interaction between the members of its crew on screen in varying ways. The Next Generation had poker, Deep Space Nine had Vic's lounge, Voyager had Sandrine's and the resort program, and Enterprise had movie night. Since the...

Season Four Retrospective Part 7.   An overarching theme for season four of Star Trek: Enterprise was the planting of the seeds of the Federation. The 22nd century showed us a quadrant of space in turmoil with alien races at each others throats, and a separatist movement within humans that believe they should keep all alien cultures from blending with human culture. This group, know as Terra Prime...

NX-01 Movie Night: Rosemary's Baby.   Friendship and fellowship is important for people's general health and well-being. All of the Star Trek series have shown some sort of interaction between the members of its crew on screen in varying ways. The Next Generation had poker, Deep Space Nine had Vic's lounge, Voyager had Sandrine's and the resort program, and Enterprise had movie night. Since the in...

Season 4 Retrospective Part 6.   One of the many reasons to create a prequel story is to explain perceived inconsistencies in stories. Season four of Star Trek: Enterprise attempts to answer many question fans of Star Trek may have, including why Klingons have forehead ridges before and after The Original Series. Whether or not you concerned yourself with an answer, the episodes about the forehead...

NX-01 Movie Night: The Exorcist.   Friendship and fellowship is important for people's general health and well-being. All of the Star Trek series have shown some sort of interaction between the members of its crew on screen in varying ways. The Next Generation had poker, Deep Space Nine had Vic's lounge, Voyager had Sandrine's and the resort program, and Enterprise had movie night. Since the inven...

"Similitude" Commentary.     Season three of Star Trek: Enterprise explored a season long arc where earth decided to send a ship into foreign space in response to a targeted attack on our planet. Travelling hostile space would take its toll on the Enterprise, so how would it affect the mission should the chief engineer die while performing his duty? "Similitude" is an episode that proposes many co...

Essential Star Trek: Enterprise Season Four.    In every season of every Star Trek show, there are some episodes that stand out more than others — but which ones are essential to their respective shows as a whole? We continue our four-part series where we look at each episode of each season and determine if they are essential to the overall narrative of the show. In this episode of Warp Five, host...

T'Pol's Interaction With Humans.   The Vulcans are a species that has fascinated fans for over 50 years. Spock, Tuvok, Sarek, Saavik, and more have captivated our imaginations and provided us a way to look at our own humanity through an alien filter. Star Trek: Enterprise took this group of aliens and changed their portrayal, telling a whole new chapter in their history. With T'Pol being the first...