What would life be like without some Star Trek series on the air every season? The world hasn't known such an existence since 1986. Now, chances are that this will remain the case for the foreseeable future.

Tonight, Zan Lynx journied to the Louisville Compound to watch the premiere of Enterprise. Since the UPN reception at his house is even worse than it is on the main tv here (as in nonexistent), we went up to the room of Bitscape's parental units and watched the 2 hour television event over pizza.

What to say about the show? Well, it is definitely signature Star Trek, although that opening title credit music really had me wondering. (I mean REALLY.... WONDERING.... Is that actually going to be the permanent theme? The music is alright by itself I guess, but it is so.... Not in the Star Trek style.)

Although the premiere might be a little early to be judging characters, I'm going to take a stab or two.

Like the captain. Quite the heroic type, which is appropriate, if a tad clichéd. Of course, given that he's being played Scott Bakula, he's got the Quantum Leap factor going for him. I doubt he could ever be a cool as Picard (who could?), but he might give Kirk, Sisko, and Janeway a run for their money. Maybe.

T'Pol. A vulcan science officer is a good thing. Spock proved that. Now Sub-commander P'Tol is off to a very strong start at proving it again. (Or should I say, "for the first time.") The way she and Captain Archer hit it off after the initial distrust of each other's races seemed a bit too quick for believability, but if it must be squeezed into a 2 hour premiere for the plot to work, so be it. Promising character.

Ensign Sato. Well, she's cute enough. Her quick linguistic skills obviously came in very handy in the absence of universal translator technology. (I think for a viewer to appreciate this episode to its full extent, knowing Klingon would have been nice. Not everything was subtitled. I'm still dying to know what that Klingon actually said to Captain Archer at the end. Klingon language classes. That's what they need in high schools for foreign language credit. Klingon.)

Doctor Phlox. Some good comic relief for sure. bouncing thought that his personality seemed a lot like Neelix. Perhaps so, perhaps so.

None of the rest of the new crew made a strong enough impression to lead me to comment this time around. I'm sure more of the characters will be filled out in future episodes though.

The story was relatively predictable, but held my interest nonetheless. Isn't it often the case that premieres exist simply as a vehicle through which to introduce all the characters (and something of the setting)? Yes, I think so.

Oh, and what's with calling that star system Rigel? lol. Was it an intentional reference? It had to be. Have we now reached the point where it is en vogue to name planets after homonyms of the names of characters from other scifi series? (Doh. Just looked it up in the dictionary. Insert foot in mouth. Thank you.) Or should I have said, "Insert Rigel in mouth." Nah. Insert Rygel in mouth. Bleah! Way too stringy. Like eating a reptile (which I have actually done once, btw). But I digress.

Now, the question, is the show good enough to make it worthwhile to go invade my parents' room every week (assuming no one else is watching anything up there) to watch? At least for a while, I think so. I want to see some more episodes, see how things develop in the early Starfleet era. Seeing how the politics between the humans, Vulcans, and Klingons develop could be the most interesting part of all.

Oh, and just when I though I had broken that other addiction once and for all, UPN has to stick a Buffy spot into almost every commercial break, each showing a little more footage than the one before it. Now, I must admit, I'm fairly psyched to watch that premiere. Get back with the Scooby gang, and find out what means Buffy will use to rise from the grave. Oh dear, oh dear. So much for my Tuesday / Wednesday evenings.

Eeek. Well that was fun. Maybe now I can slip in a Kohan game or two before bed. (Hopelessly addicted, yes.)