The only Star Trek series that’s honest about technology

Star Trek and Star Wars are often positioned at opposite ends of the spectrum between science fiction and space fantasy — but both franchises are filled with fantastical technologies whose inner workings are never really explained to the audience. Both include faster than light travel, instantaneous communication across interstellar space, and artificial gravity generators that turn on like light switches, to name a few. But there is one oft-overlooked Star Trek series that breaks the mold by showing just how difficult it will be to develop many of the technologies future Starfleet officers take for granted: Star Trek: Enterprise.

Set in the mid-22nd century, the four-season prequel show chronicling the adventures of Captain Archer and the crew of humanity's first warp-5 capable starship may be best known for its cheesy pop song intro, its atrocious finale, and its abrupt cancellation due to low ratings. But having recently re-watched Enterprise, I’ve become convinced that the show as a whole is unfairly maligned. The tight-knit bridge crew of the Enterprise NX-01 includes fresh and interesting characters; the Xindi War that spans Season 3 features some of the most ambitious serialized plotlines of any Trek series to date. Enterprise also does something that no other Star Trek series has ever attempted: It shows us the messy, controversial origins of many quintessential Star Trek technologies.