Warp Five: A Star Trek Enterprise Podcast

The Head-Butting Race. Tellarites! There was never a race on Star Trek as stubborn, as prideful, abrasive, insulting and literally (and figuratively) pig-headed…and these are their “good” qualities! Arguably one of the more interesting races in Star Trek, the Tellarites have long been a fan favorite presumably for one simple reason: They were one of the four founding members of the Coalition of Pl...

How does the NX-01 Crew enjoy their off-duty downtime? We all know how tough work hours can be, and the pressures and responsibilities of Starfleet's best and brightest crewmen and women aboard the NX-01 in 2151 were obviously enormous. So, what did they do off-duty to help themselves relax? Did Archer JUST watch Water Polo videos? Did T'Pol JUST read Surak and drink Tea? How did Hoshi keep her li...

Terra Nova. An Episode Lost in Translation. One of the main goals for Warp Five is to give our listeners a fresh and positive perspective on Enterprise. It is only journalistically responsible for us to not only discuss the "positive" elements of this series...but the "problematic" as well. To be sure, there were issues that plagued all four seasons of Enterprise ranging from poor writing to sever...

Re-imagining Enterprise Season One. "What if...", "Missed Opportunities...", "So much potential..." - stop me if these phrases sound familiar when describing Enterprise. When Brannon Braga originally pitched Enterprise to the United Paramount Network - a.k.a. the UPN - his original mission statement was essentially "Star Trek meets The Right Stuff". However the "executive powers that be" saw thing...

Warp Five Supplemental: Our First Subspace Postcards Show! In each episode of  Warp Five  we delve into the minutiae of ENTERPRISE, which in turn generates a lot of feedback from you, our loyal listeners, in the form of what we would like to now call: Subspace Postcards. Every so often, when they start piling up, Hoshi downloads them onto my PADD so I can find some quiet time in the Sweet Spot to...

The SHRAN...the MYTH...the GARAK of Enterprise!   Shran of the Andorian Imperial Guard is undoubtedly one of the most beloved characters in ENTERPRISE. Meticulously and brilliantly portrayed by Star Trek "everywhere man", the living legend Jeffrey Combs - Shran exploded onto ENTERPRISE in Season One's The Andorian Incident. In only 10 episodes and a handful of off screen references (such as the En...

Captain Jonathan Archer...Into Darkness.   In the beginning, Archer was a Starfleet Captain namely in rank, but not a Starfleet Captain of any measurable EXPERIENCE. It is fair to say that he was unprepared for deep space, but is this merely a valid criticism or in fact a sheer truism? Think about the validity of that specific critique and ask yourself, “How does one truly prepare for the unknown...

Crewman Elizabeth Cutler. Our Eternal Valentine.   On Warp Five Episode 57: The Class of 2151, Christopher Jones and I discussed the pros and cons of having such a young and inexperienced crew at the helm of the very first Warp 5 deep space mission. But we deliberated these observations from officers at the command level - like Travis and Hoshi. However, Crewman Elizabeth Cutler was also a part of...

Captain Jonathan Archer: The Untested Optimist.   Jonathan Archer was far from being the quintessential Starfleet Captain, which made his overall character growth across four seasons of Enterprise one of the most interesting character journeys in Star Trek. His command was wrought with trial and error, and his humanity and moral center usually set him at odds with certain aspects of the mission an...

A Season One Guide for "Baby" Boomers.   Thanks to the ever increasing popularity of Star Trek on Netflix, Hulu, YouTube, CBS.com and more - being able to have online access to almost every Star Trek series has become increasingly easier and more convenient over the last decade. In reading many of our fan's comments on The Babel Conference, our dedicated Trek. Fm listener's page on Facebook, more...

Travis Mayweather.   From the best and brightest that Starfleet had to offer, Travis Mayweather was chosen to be the first watch helmsman of the NX-01 because he was the most naturally gifted ensign trained for the position and logged in more deep space interstellar star hours than any pilot in StarFleet - from his earlier days as a "boomer"; a child born and raised in space on the ECS Horizon fre...

Mind Melds in the 22nd Century.  The Vulcan mind meld is one of the most iconic elements in the history of Star Trek. Next to the salute, it is probably the most recognized aspect of the Vulcan people. But the mind meld that we came to know through the TOS films, TNG, and beyond was not the mainstay throughout Vulcan history. There was a time when the joining of minds was viewed as a deviant act,...

Weaponizing Starfleet.   When we look into deep space, we see a grand opportunity for scientific exploration and learning. The thought of armed conflict with others who want to destroy us doesn’t guide the design of our missions. In the 22nd century, a similar view was seemingly held by Starfleet. The organization was, after all, an outgrowth of the United Earth Space Probe Agency, and as such lea...

Developing the Transporter. Even those who have never watched Star Trek know about “beaming” from place to place. A fictional technology originally created to deal with the reality of television budgets, the transporter has become known to pretty much everyone; and for Star Trek fans it’s part of everyday life. But in the 22nd century, transporters were used only for cargo. The idea of beaming hum...

22nd-Century Starfleet Officers and Training. As Star Trek fans, we're all familiar with Starfleet. But the organization we know from the 23rd and 24th centuries is much more that of a spacefaring civilization than the one we see on Enterprise. When fans watch Enterprise for the first time, they are often surprised that some of the officers aboard the NX-01 are uncomfortable in space. Hoshi Sato f...

Reflections on Early Characters. When a new Star Trek series premieres, it's always exciting to meet the new characters and imagine where the writers will take them. Some stand out immediately as favorites. Others fail to connect with viewers right away. And some leave us on the fence, staring at potential but wondering when it will be realized. In this episode of  Warp Five , host Christopher Jon...

Shatner on Enterprise. Almost. Back in 2004, rumors were flying that William Shatner might appear on  Enterprise . Many TOS cast members had appeared on other incarnations of Star Trek—Bones, Spock, Scotty, and Sarek on The Next Generation, Sulu on Voyager, and Kor, Koloth, and Kang on Deep Space Nine to name a few. So the idea that Kirk could show up on Enterprise was made perfect sense. Well, re...

John Frederick Paxton. Some people don't handle change well. Some see it as not only as an inconvenience but a threat. The Xindi Scare left many on Earth questioning the wisdom of interacting with aliens and allowing them to call our world home. This gave strength to a movement called Terra Prime, which had been around for a few decades prior to the Xindi attack. At the head of this group was John...

The Enterprise Movie. Back in the Naughts, word around the Alpha Quadrant was that Archer and the crew of the NX-01 would inherit the Star Trek film franchise once the TNG crew finished their run. Before that could happen, however, events transpired that nixed not only the plans for Enterprise on the big screen, but Star Trek itself. While Enterprise never landed at the cineplex, we can always dre...

Orions on Enterprise. They're seductive. They're big. They're green. And, according to The Animated Series, they're politically neutral. They are, of course, the Orions! One of the most famous aliens in Star Trek thanks to Susan Oliver's portrayal of a slave girl in "The Cage," the Orions are mentioned throughout Star Trek but rarely seen. That all changed when the fourth season of Enterprise roll...

Xindi-Aquatics. Of the six original Xindi species, the Aquatics may be the most unique. Not only do they lack the humanoid form of the others, but their life under water means they have a very different world view from their fellow Xindus natives. They are said to be the first Xindi to have developed intelligence, yet they are the most challenging for us to communicate with and understand. In this...

The Temporal Observatory. We've seen some pretty cool gadgets and amazing technology on Star Trek, but few were as incredible as Crewman Daniels's Temporal Observatory. This handheld device was essentially a map to not just the stars but to time itself. With it, one could monitor the activities and movements of temporal agents and watch history itself unfold. It wasn't a passive thing either. With...

T’Pol’s Drug Addiction. We know that Vulcan's have emotions. In fact, they have more powerful emotions than humans. They just hide them well. The introduction of drug addiction to T’Pol’s story gave the writers a tool with which to break down the wall and show what is going on underneath the controlled, logical exterior. But was this needed for the continued growth of Vulcans as characters on the...

North Star. As a prequel to TOS, it should come as no surprise that Enterprise would have a Wild West episode. The Original Series gave us "Spectre of the Gun," a story that played off the Shootout at the O.K. Corral. TNG even got in on the action with "A Fistful of Datas." So "North Star" made Enterprise the third Star Trek series to put on the cowboy hat, but the way it wore it was a bit differe...

Extinction Rewrite. As much as we love Star Trek, not all episodes can be winners. Every series has a few stories that leave you wanting more. Often there's a great setup that goes unexplored, leaving you with thoughts of how it could have played out. That's when you rewrite. Enterprise fumbled on the third play of a long drive to find the Xindi superweapon in an episode called "Extinction." Direc...