Star Trek Enterprise features the well-known United Earth Ship Enterprise, captained by Jonathan Archer, in the year 2151. The story behind the invigorating narrative is that earth's inhabitants have spent the past 88 years learning how to travel at a speed greater than the speed of light, guided by the Vulcans.
The Vulcans are man's alien allies in the series. Having gained this wisdom, a crew of humans, together with Vulcans, set out to discover the universe - attempting to reach the furthest of space frontiers... 'To boldly go'. Here are 10 things about the main characters of Star Trek Enterprise you might not know:
Nations Come Together
What is so exciting about this series is that it brings people of different nationalities together aboard a single ship. Crew members come from around the world, however, when they step aboard the space ship, they become citizens of the Enterprise.
Lieutenant Malcolm Reed is from England; Ensign Hoshi Sato, from Japan; Chief Engineer Trip Tucker from Florida, US; and Captain Jonathan Archer, from San Francisco, US. Then there is Ensign Travis Mayweather, from outer space, but still, a citizen of the Enterprise.
Like father, like son
They say the apple doesn't fall far from the tree. The same is true for Captain Jonathan Archer and his father. Throughout his childhood, Archer's father worked on the Warp 5 project in San Francisco, at the Starfleet Headquarters.
Growing up, Captain Archer decided to step into dad's shoes, continuing on the work already done concerning Warp 5 test flights. While father passed the baton onto son he probably couldn't conceive of what his son would achieve in his lifetime, especially his work aboard the Enterprise.
Porthos The Evil-detecting dog
There is space on the Enterprise for everybody, including dogs! Porthos is Archer's beagle and turns out to be more than just a sniffer dog. he incredible hound is able to sniff out evil. This seems to be something even dogs on earth can do, with dogs being said to be great judges of character.
Still, Porthos is extra special in that he is able to sit up and bark when the Enterprise approaches any sinister space anomaly. He takes being 'man's best friend' to a whole new level.
Travis Is From outer space
Ensign Travis Mayweather is unlike the other human crew members on board the Enterprise. The reason for this might not be obvious to most fans.
What separates him from the rest is that he was born on a trading ship in outer space, while the humans were out on a space run. He is the only human on board the Enterprise not born on planet earth. This is a feather in any crew member's cap who has set space travel as a priority.
A change of hearts
Hearts change during the series... probably as a result of being cooped up together in outer space for so long. To give an example, Subcommander T'Pol, eventually promoted to Commander, makes her grand entry into Enterprise as second-in-command. She shares a common Vulcan prejudice of humans when she comes aboard the ship. However, it would seem that staying so close to humans for such a long period of time, eventually chisels away at her stony heart. As time passes she develops friendships with the human crew members. One of her strong friends is Archer and she also falls in love with Trip.
A culture splash
It's always refreshing for viewers to get a sense of 'home' when watching a series like Star Trek, where the setting is so far removed to what is familiar.
Enterprise's Chief Engineer Commander Charles 'Trip' Tucker III might have a mouthful of a title, but he speaks with ease, showcasing Southern charm which leaves the ladies on board weak at the knees. This 'good ole' boy' charm has been honed from Southern state influences and hides a tenacious mind, with 'Trip', as he is known, being one of the biggest geniuses onboard the Enterprise.
Woman power on display
Much has been said about female empowerment, and the demographics of the crew of the Enterprise shows that women are high ranking, even in the outermost stretches of the universe.
Captain Erika Hernandez was put in charge of the NX-02 Columbia and did a sterling job of her leadership position. She didn't feature nearly as much as viewers would've liked. However, she and other females on the show demonstrated that women can rank highly in the Star Trek universe. A feather in the cap for femininity and a bold move to go where few women have gone before.
A plot against Archer
When ratings for Star Trek Enterprise dropped, directors considered all kinds of narrative techniques to get fans watching the show again, and many of these affected the main characters in profound ways.
Fans love Captain Archer. He is level-headed, good looking, and does a good job at leading the crew of Enterprise. However, directors considered killing him off in the final Xindi episode and replacing him with a younger new captain. This was decided against and while it would have been a dramatic turn of events, Archer survived to tell the tale.
Behind-the-scenes 'cheating'
Some backstage tweaking is not uncommon when it comes to producing TV series and Enterprise is not excluded from this. Some behind-the-scenes tweaking happened with main character facades to try and fix ratings in down seasons of the show. Producers and costume designers admitted to changing the costumes of certain characters to add to their sex appeal and to positively impact the ratings. One example was adding some cleavage to characters like T'Pol. It seems a really shallow solution to a narrative with great intellectual quality, however, the team behind the series were confident human beings are human beings, and appeal affects show ratings.
Uniquely wired
Fans might ask how Ensign Hoshi Sato managed to find herself on board the Enterprise. She is claustrophobic and not necessarily keen on aliens or space travel. It is her love for language and her ability as a translator which has brought her on board this revolutionary ship.
Interestingly, the narrative reveals that her brain is uniquely wired for languages. This information is relayed to her by one of the aliens on the ship. As a uniquely gifted translator, she is used in a special way during first contact missions.