Star Trek Enterprise is a prequal set before the adventures of James T Kirk.

It brings a fresh idea to the Star Trek Franchise
A team of mid 22nd century humans excluding 1 Vulcan and 1 Denobulan.
As this series is set earlier in the history of Starfleet the characters are more relatable to most people at the time Enterprise aired.
Trip Tucker and Jonathan archer are prominantly noted for using colorful metaphors, and being rather laid back.

Captain Archer is like Kirk and Picard, he does get in Kirk-esque brawls with Aliens, but rest assured you it's usually him sitting in a chair getting a beating from alien interrogators,
Captain Archer is a very believable Captain the others in the cast are no exception,
My favorite would have to be Doctor Phlox, he shows more charisma than any previous Doctor from any Star Trek series, a medical genius who literally uses leeches, and using natural alternatives to synthetic medicines.
Something Dr Mccoy would find repungant but hey Phlox is an alien too!

Unfortunately this series was short lived due to a drop in ratings and the UPN networks low appreciation for the show.

Seasons 1-2 deal more with adventure and are very lighthearted and enjoyable
Season 3 is very dark lots of character development goes on throughout the Xindi story arc, and there are some episodes that can be heart wrenching if the characters grow on you.
one such episode "Similitude" i cannot watch because it's plot is too painful in that sense.

Season 4 is debatably where the most interesting story arcs are, it is the most entertaining, but however it abandons the earlier peaceful exploration theme, and there are only 4 standalone episodes "home" "Daedelus" "the observer effect" and "Trappings"

Its interesting story arcs could be criticised for their heavy condensation and apparently forced attempts to draft out plots that happen in TNG and TOS
Such as Dr Arik Soong deciding on the spot to build androids (hence the creation of Data and Lore)
And the "Augment Virus" which wiped out the Klingons cranial ridges.
It felt more like it was being rushed, you would believe the UFP would take a long time to develop and grow naturally.

All the same those are my personal opinions.
Star Trek Enterprise is Very different compared to previous Trek, but if you watch it you will find it's actually not that different after all but still unique and worth watching.

The first starship Enterprise, its crew and missions. Its captain is Johnathon Archer. He's kind of a mix of captains Kirk and Picard. Ready to fight but knows that diplomacy is also important. The crew is comprised of sub commander T-Pol, a female vulcan officer, Commander Charles "Trip" Tucker, Lt Malcolm Reed, Dr Phlox, and ensigns Hoshi Sato and Travis Mayweather.

Enterprise is Earth's first warp 5 space vessel. Earth is eager to explore space and make contact with new species. Standing in the way are the Vulcans. The Vulcans feel that Earth is not yet ready for this mission, they feel that humans are still "too primitive". But Archer and Starfleet are determined to make this mission work.

Along the way they deal with established Star Trek beings, the Andorians, Klingons, and Tellartes. They make contact with many new species, including the Xindi (major players in s3) and the Suliban. We also see the appearance of the Borg, who in the past made first contact with TNG's Enterprise. Captain Archer also has experiences with time travel. A Starfleet officer from the future contacts him on occasion regarding Enterprises impact on history.

It's kind of weird to see an early version of of the Star Trek universe with more advanced technology that that of the future. Of course you have to account for the fact that the original series was produced in the 60's. But still, it's still a little strange. I didn't start watching Enterprise until it was canceled and being shown in reruns. The special effects are good. I liked the storylines. One of the best was the explanation of why the Klingons ridges are missing during the original series and their reappearance in TNG. There was a virus that affected the Klingon race and it erased the ridges. T'Pol is an interesting character. She's Vulcan and they pride themselves on being able to supresss their emotions. T'Pol however, was very emotional, for a Vulcan that is. She fell in love with Trip and was very attached to him. Trip was my favorite character. The relationship between him and T'Pol was that of love/hate. He distrusted all Vulcans but respected her and he turn fell for her as well. In fact, he made his feelings for her known before she admitted her feelings for him. I was very sad when he was killed off in the series finale. :(

Dr Phlox is an alien called a Denobulan. His race's marital practices include polygamy. Every man and woman have three spouses each. Phlox is eccentric and amusing. The armory officer is Lt Malcolm Reed. His family has made the navy a career for generations and enterprise is just a different kind of ship. Hoshi Sato is the linguist specialist and communications officer. Archer hand picked her for this mission because of her uncanny ability to decifer and translate all kinds of languages. Travis Mayweather is the helmsman. A big part of the storyline of the series is the progression of tolerance of alien species by humans. At first, earth was reluctant to accept their new friends and allies. It took a lot of work to establish trust. Eventually, during the series finale, the Federation charter is signed. Captain Archer was it's architect hundreds of species are united in friendship and peace.

For anyone that was a fan of the original Star Trek, Star Trek Enterprise was a satisfying look at the early days of earth's introduction to the interstellar community. This series answered a lot of the questions fans had as to the early relationship between Vulcans and humans, Klingons and humans, Romulans and humans, not to mention those 'Green Orion Slave' babes mentioned in the original Star Trek series. Star Trek Enterprise was well written, well produced and is missed by this reviewer. I thought the series ended to soon. The opening theme was, I thought, an especially touching tribute to the human race's never ending quest for new frontiers and horizons. One of the best of the Star Trek spin off series!

Not bad for an early effort, but it's clear that the writers and actors were still finding their feet in this one. Still and all, this one could easily have been a Classic Trek episode from early in the first season. Good acting from all involved, however, both on the ship and in the cave, and the characterizations were beginning to gel. There was also a good deal of foreshadowing of future plotlines and one particular pairing.

But the writers of this ep must have been fans of Marion Zimmer Bradley's Darkover books -- kireseth flowers and the Ghost Wind, anyone?

I can understand why Enterprise only lasted for 4 seasons. I won't say it's because it was a bad show, I thought it was okay. The reason I think Enterprise was so medicore was because of its lack of flair and buzz. Most of the stories were so dull and were like other stories from the other genres of Star Trek. The acting was decent, but the storylines were just too predictable. It made me want to change the channel at times. I will say that it did a good job of playing to a simple, realistic plot. Overall, Enterprise was just average. Thank you.

This is a prequel to the original star trek series and is set aboard the original starship enterprise the NX-01. Un like other star treks this has a very different feel about it and the show has been overly criticised because of it. The setting is darker and more realistic than other star trek shows with more realistic and flawed characters as well as more realisitc ideas about the future. It also builds nicely on the background and myhtology of the star trek universe.

All in all it may not be quie as we remember it but it is star trek and it is good. Plus (and I may be alone here) I really like the theme tune!

This is the only Star Trek shows that I really like. It is the only one that has the feel of the original series on which I was brought up. It could be that, as in the original series, Scott Bakula is convincing as the Captain Archer. One likes him and cares about what happens to him and his crew. Just as Kirk and the principles carried the original, so Archer carries this one. (I will have to admit that I am a solid Bakula fan since first discovering hi in Quantum Leap and Lord of Illusions.) Really glad to have discovered this one!

This is my favorite show. My brother got me started on it in 2007, since then I've been almost obsessed with enterprise and everything star trek. That's why I was so mad at the star trek writers when I watched the last episode that I could not watch it. but then my brother told me about a star trek book that supposedly fixes everything. About 1 month later my brother brought home the "good that men do" the legendary fix it book, so I read it and it fixed it, if you hated the ending of the show then read it.

While watching Futurama's latest DVD; during the demolition derby scene, an irate George Takei shoots down Scott Bakula and curses him for "destroying the franchise." I have to disagree with this. The two things which were responsible for Enterprise's failure were impatience and that frakking theme song.
When STNG first aired I couldn't get past the damn hair accessory on Geordi's face. After a trusted friend insisted the show was worth watching, I learned to ignore the one prop flaw (even after hearing that it actually was discovered on the head of the prop guy or art director's teenage daughter's friend) and became a die hard fan of it, DS9 and to a slightly lesser extent Voyager. One thing all these shows had in common was a classic Star Trek theme song.
Every time I got through the teaser on Enterprise, that cheesy, wannabe anthem, out of place, semi-rock song caused me to change the channel and then get sucked away by something else. When news came they were canceling it, I tuned in for the last few episodes, being a big Peter Weller fan, as well as for the STNG tie in finale. Realizing only too late that the show was well worth watching. Then Sci-fi eventually started airing whole weekends of the show, so I decided to record them and found all the great gems; like the Augments, and history of Vulcan, and the best part is I could fast forward through that bloody awful song.
So if you didn't like this show and just didn't know why, I suggest you give it a try on DVD where the skip next button will take you right past that oh so Long Road.