ENT - Countdown

Countdown is one of the last episodes in the Xzindi arc of Enterprise’s third season. And it is actually one of the best episodes in this season of Enterprise that actually have to do with the Xzindi. There are a lot of incredible visual effects in this show that serve to draw one into and enhance the storyline. It was because of these effects that this episode won an Emmy for special effects. While this is quite an achievement, at the same time it illustrates one of the fundamental problems with Enterprise. Star Trek is first and foremost about the stories, the plot, not about how good things look when they blow up in space. While good visual effects do serve to enhance the story line they cannot carry the show alone. If the plot is one dimensional or just plain bad the effects are not going to make up for it. While the best case is for a Trek show to have both a good story line and great special effects, having only the latter will not make for a successful show, no matter how good the effects are. Those producing Enterprise seemed to have forgotten that, and I believe that it is one of the main reasons that the show was canceled. In addition to the excellent special effects, the storyline of the show was actually quite good – for Enterprise. Countdown was an excellent episode of Enterprise, however, insofar as its ranking in the entire franchise, it was rather average.