Warp Five: A Star Trek Enterprise Podcast

"Shockwave" Commentary.   Season One of Enterprise ended in a way no other Trek series had previously done in its first season - with a cliffhanger. In January, 2002, Rick Berman himself teased that season one's finale would "most likely" end with said cliffhanger. Many fans include "Shockwave" as part of their "essential Enterprise", as more than one running story converge in part one of this two...

Ask Me Anything.   Here at Warp Five, we hosts frequently give our opinions on whatever topic we may be discussing. Listening to a podcast, however, is ultimately one-sided, which is why we have created the Babel Conference, a Facebook group where our listeners can discuss our episodes with us and with each other. Sometimes, though, we wonder what burning questions listeners may have that are neve...

"Cogenitor".   Gender: a word that seems simple at first, and in days past had a limited definition. But as with all language, the meanings of words change with use and context. Dictionary.com defines gender (in relation to life forms, and not grammar) as: 1. either the male or female division of a species, especially as differentiated by social and cultural roles and behavior:the feminine gender....

"Desert Crossing."     A few episodes after the events of "Detained" in season one of Star Trek: Enterprise, it comes to light that the story of Archer freeing the Suliban detainees is spreading across the galaxy. And, like a game of "Telephone", elements of the story have been greatly exaggerated, leading some to believe that Archer and the Enterprise are a military power to be reckoned with. Tho...

"The Seventh."     Captain Archer has never really trusted the Vulcans because of what he felt was their interference with the Warp 5 project. When his mission as Captain of the NX-01 finally began, the Vulcan high command installed a Vulcan crew member as his science officer. During the first two years of their mission, Archer and T'Pol seemed to have an uneasy working relationship, until T'Pol a...

"Horizon" Commentary.   Season two of Enterprise is rife with examples of the characters settling into their places in the story, and of the show becoming more comfortable with what it is and what stories the writers and producers wanted to tell. Acting upon a suggestion of Anthony Montgomery, the actor playing the part of Ensign Travis Mayweather, it was decided that an episode would be focused o...

Vul-Con 2018 Wrap Up.     Vulcan, Alberta, Canada is a town about an hour southeast of Calgary, and in the ninties, they made the decision to brand their town with Star Trek themes in order to boost tourism. In addition to Star Trek themed murals, street signs, and statues, they host an annual Star Trek convention with celebrities, a parade, and more. In this episode of Warp Five, host Brandon-She...

Season Two Travis Mayweather Moments.   The Enterprise NX-01 is known in Starfleet history as the first warp five-capable starship. And for every starship, there must be someone at the helm. The NX-01 was regularly helmed by Travis Mayweather, a young, quietly enthusiastic man who "couldn't call a place home unless it came with a pair of warp nacelles". Born and raised on the cargo ship ECS Horizo...

Writers' Room - Enterprise Movie.    How a television series ends may color how viewers feel about that series as a whole. All too often, a series is canceled without notice, and many loose ends are left untied. Sometimes, the series writers know the end is coming, and have chosen how to tell that final story before shuffling off that mortal coil. Even in such cases, the last story may not be to e...

Every society goes through stages of evolution, often propelled by religion. Such change is not always welcome and is rarely easily accepted. There will always be those who feel they are losing power and try to silence those who bring new knowledge to light. But the change eventually becomes the norm—at least until others with more knowledge begin the cycle again. And this can happen on any world,...

New #WarpFive! "Oh, Hoshi, I Love You!" Season One Hoshi Moments   The earliest interactions between people are often the most formative - regardless of whether those people exist in real life, or fictional characters. Though first impressions can often be wrong, many people still cling to those initial moments and form judgments of a person or character, even if those judgments are inaccurate due...

"Detained" Deep Dive.   In the wake of the bombing of Pearl Harbor, Executive Order 9066 was issued by President Franklin D. Roosevelt on February 19, 1942, authorizing the deportation and incarceration of Japanese Americans. Nearly 120,00 people on the West Coast were forced into internment camps further inland under suspicion of spying for the enemy. At least 62% of those incarcerated were Unite...

Writing the MACOs Into Starfleet.   The Military Assault Command Operations became a part of Star Trek: Enterprise in season three. Not a division of Starfleet, they were a United Earth military organization that had trained relentlessly as soldiers, but had little actual battle experience outside of simulations, though their technology and tactics were more advanced.  Rumor has it that after The...

Season 4 Retrospective Part 2.   Genetically enhanced humans have popped up in all forms of science fiction media for almost as long as the genre has existed, and Star Trek is no exception. Our first look at "augments," or genetically engineered humans, came in the original Star Trek series episode "Space Seed", when we meet the unforgettable Khan and learn about the Eugenics Wars of Earth past. G...

Fathers of Star Trek: Enterprise.   In most stories, mothers are generally represented in a positive light, but what about fathers? In many stories, fathers are presented as stern, authority figures that generally lack displays of emotion. Many characters have strained relations ships with their fathers, and there are frequently cases of estrangement betweent fathers and their children. Standing o...

Death on the NX-01.     Fans of Star Trek often debate which Captain is their favorite, which generally leads to the debate of which Captain is "the best." Discussions often include topics such as which Captain was the most diplomatic, disobeyed the Prime Directive the most, which Captain would you like to serve under, and which Captain would you survive the longest under. An image has been going...

NX-01 Movie Night: Frankenstein.   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...

Zombies in Pop Culture and "Impluse."   The general public has been made aware of zombies with the explosion of these undead beings in pop culture due to television shows such as The Walking Dead and iZombie, as well as films such as Night of the Living Dead and World War Z. However, what the general public knows about zombies is very far from what zombies originally were in Haitian Voodoo, and th...

"Extinction" Commentary. Season three of Star Trek: Enterprise has some of the best episodes in the show's entire run. However, early in the season, while trying to follow up on leads as to the location of the Xindi home world, our intrepid crew arrives at an empty planet with a burned corpse near a broken shuttle. Though the episode was directed by Star Trek veteran LeVar Burton, sometimes even t...

NX-01 Movie Night: Kung Fu.   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 invention...

Season 4 With Larry Nemecek.   One of the biggest regrets of the cancellation of Star Trek: Enterprise was that it happened right at a time when digital cameras were making their way into the main stream. Behind the scenes photos were limited to Polaroid photos and how many pictures a roll of film could hold. Had it lasted a few more seasons, we would have had the most documented behind the scenes...

Comparing "Judgement" and Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country.    There are many episodes of Star Trek that have a sense of familiarity. With well over 700 episodes an films, its understandable when a writer comes up with a story that is similar to one we have seen before. However, when a writer tells a story that is meant to be an homage to a previous tale, will fans consider it to be a case o...

A Conversation With Dave Rossi.   Life often takes people down unexpected avenues. Case in point: Dave Rossi. He never intended to end up in Hollywood, working on his most favorite franchise, on the series with which he grew up. Not only did he spearhead the remastering of TOS, but worked for fourteen years straight on every incarnation of Star Trek from The Next Generation to Enterprise. In this...

Vulcans and the Path to Discovery.    Vulcans have been a part of Star Trek since the first episode of the original series. Viewers spent decades with this race, feeling that they understood what Vulcans represent, and how they behave. Then Star Trek: Enterprise came along and showed us a different side of the Vulcans - a side which is also represented in Star Trek: Discovery. In this episode of W...

Warp Five Role Playing Game.   While all Star Trek series have focused on a main set of characters, every once in a while an episode would come along and show the viewers the lower decks of the ship, and what some of the less important crew members would be doing. Enterprise never got the chance to do this, until now...  In this episode of Warp Five, hosts Brandi Jackola, Patrick Devlin, and Brand...