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Star Trek: Enterprise

  • Is it age appropriate?

    About our ratings

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    Not age appropriate for kids under 6, age appropriate for kids over 8; suggested age 8.

  • Is it any good?

    3.0
  • Common Sense says

    Exploring the galaxy back when it was still wild.

Why We Rated This on for Ages 8 and Up

The good stuff

  • Messages:

    The Star Trek universe features a fairly rigid social structure and tolerates few deviations from authority. That said, this show is set centuries before the others in the franchise and plays up the idea that Captain Archer and his crew are out there exploring the galaxy on their own. As a result, he has more latitude to follow his conscience instead of his orders, though in the end either path would lead him to roughly the same actions.

What to watch out for

  • Violence & scariness:

    Plenty of action, ranging from fistfights and shootouts to spaceship battles, but little blood or graphic injury.
  • Sexy stuff:

    With all those men and women stuck on a spaceship for an extended tour of the furthest reaches of the galaxy, it's pretty surprising how little romance occurs. There's not even much flirting. Still, one of the series' most important plot lines centers on the evolving romantic relationship between two of the main characters.
  • Language:

    No bad language. Apparently humanity has evolved a bit by the 22nd century.
  • Consumerism:

    Not an issue.
  • Drinking, drugs, & smoking:

    Some drinking, but characters rarely get drunk. One of the main characters becomes addicted to an alien drug in an important story arc.

What Parents Need to Know

This review of Star Trek: Enterprise was written by Will Wade

Parents need to know that humans don't always come off looking like the most competent race in this space opera. The show documents some of Star Fleet's early missions beyond the Milky Way, and most of the drama comes from the crew's frequent contact with new alien species. Some of these are friendly, some are wary, and some are immediately hostile; in many cases it's clear that mankind is the new kid on the galactic block, and we often have little concept of protocol. The thinly disguised contempt of some alien cultures (especially the Vulcans) toward the humans might prompt viewers to take a closer look at how people who think they're quite advanced present themselves to others who may have a different opinion.

Families Can Talk About

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  • Families can talk about how the show's interstellar race relations reflect issues we deal with in real life. The crew's encounters with new species and races are often marked by suspicion and wariness as both sides attempt to size each other up. Can you see any parallels in America's own history? In their frequent guest appearances, the famously logic-oriented Vulcans make little effort to hide their disdain for humans. Is there a limit to cross-cultural appreciation? Are there some acts that everyone can agree are unacceptable? Families can also compare this show to other Star Trek series and movies.
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More on Star Trek: Enterprise

What’s the Story?

Star Trek spin-off STAR TREK: ENTERPRISE is set in the wild-and-wooly 22nd century, before the Federation existed and long before any of the rules that govern the original series were created. Enterprise focuses on Jonathan Archer (Scott Bakula), the captain of the original Enterprise -- humanity's first starship capable of true space exploration. Archer and his crew have been asked to venture out into uncharted space. As a result, they're almost always the first humans to step foot on every planet they visit, as well as the first people to meet each new alien race.

Is It Any Good?

Enterprise is a very conscious attempt to recreate the feeling of the original Star Trek series. Liberating it from the heavy canon of the franchise gives the series the ability to react to new situations in ways that can be thought-provoking to the viewer -- without requiring the cast to wonder, "What would Kirk or Picard do?". But there's no getting around the fact that the show lacks the same punch as its predecessors. And though Enterprise doesn't have to adhere to all the elements of the Star Trek canon, it's still part of that rather stuffy universe, which can make it difficult for the show to go beyond simple storytelling. It's entertaining and spins a good yarn, but it sometimes lacks depth.

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Our Members Say

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Most Recent Reviews

  1. Teen Reviewer Age 14
    I rate this title on for age 7 and give it 4.0

  2. Teen Reviewer Age 15
    Lives in Virginia
    I rate this title on for age 10 and give it 3.0
    • My concerns are:
    • Excessive violence
    • Inappropriate sexual content
    • My highlights are:
    • Positive messages
    • Good role models

    pretty good but not voyager

    pretty good it isnt too violent except when the Xindi aliens commit a sort of genocide killing 7 mil. humans it gets a bit weird when Commander Tucker and T'pol have neuro pressure sessions (Tucker has his shirt off,T'pol applies the neuro pressure , though it is for stress relief so theres not anything really happening

  3. Teen Reviewer Age 14
    I rate this title on for age 11 and give it 4.0

    Another Unique Star trek series

    Star trek Enterprise is another exciting and entertaining Star trek series, HOWEVER contrary to what CSM says there is more swearing (in my opinion) than any other star trek series, also there is a good deal of violence: charecters getting beaten up by aliens "phase pistol" shootouts and one episode where a character gets impaled through the leg by a metal spike. It's interesting to see how the crew makes decisions without all of the Federation's directives. Over all another excellent star trek series.

  4. Teen Reviewer Age 14
    I rate this title on for age 11 and give it 4.0

    Another Unique Star trek series

    Star trek Enterprise is another exciting and entertaining Star trek series, HOWEVER contrary to what CSM says there is more swearing (in my opinion) than any other star trek series, also there is a good deal of violence: charecters getting beaten up by aliens "phase pistol" shootouts and one episode where a character gets impaled through the leg by a metal spike. It's interesting to see how the crew makes decisions without all of the Federation's directives. Over all another excellent star trek series.

  5. Adult Reviewer
    Lives in Florida
    I rate this title iffy and give it 5.0

    Star Trek Enterprise

    I loved every Star Trek series, but Enterprise is better then anything else. The characters show more realistic optimism then any other Star Trek crew. And the human characters are more colorful then ever before; for the first time in any Star Trek series humans are more interesting then aliens. In the first two seasons we see a much more intense setting then in other series. Many different alien races are being given secret information from informants from the future, giving them an unfair advantage in a power struggle known as the Temporal Cold War. Season three transformed the show from a Sci-fi into a Sci-fi/epic with the introduction of the most complex, thought provoking aliens ever seen in a Star Trek series: The Xindi. The Xindi are 5 different species that belong to the same race, and they have been manipulated by outside aliens ever since the end of their civil war 120 years earlier. Since the Xindi's greatest weakness was their racial distrust of their other species, they are the perfect metaphor for the nations of Earth. Basically in season three, the greatest Star Trek series meets the greatest Star Trek aliens. Season Four has all the great moments that Enterprise fans have anticipated. The mystery of the Klingon forehead is finally explained, starfleet has it's first encounter with genetically engineered soldiers, an ancient relic restores Vulcan society, the Romulans use a prototype ship in an attempt to stop a coalition, and the Temporal Cold War comes to a end in 1944. And because these are mostly multiple-part episodes, you feel like you're watching full-length movies rather then individual episodes. The series also showed a lot of progression. Enterprise progressed more in four years then Next Generation did in seven. Content concerns mostly consist of bad language. The language is pretty excessive compared to other Star Trek series, comparable to the language you would find in most PG-13 movies. There are some episodes that are inappropriate for kids. “Cold Station 12” is a season four episode that gets a lot more gory then most. In a pretty long scene, it shows the effects of an alien sickness on a human. That scene gets pretty bloody and disgusting. “Storm Front” is another episode that has more bad language then most. It’s set during the 1940s, and depicts gangsters as having nasty mouths. “Harbinger” isn’t a violent episode, but there is a partially-naked scene. “The Council” is a season three episode that has a fairly violent scene where one of the good guys gets knifed with a big dagger. If you decide to let your kids watch the show, you should probably tell them to skip those episodes.

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