Top 10 Star Trek: Enterprise Episodes

#10 – Silent Enemy (Season 1)

Beginning the list at #10 is the 11th episode of the entire series, “Silent Enemy.” This is one of only three episodes in Season 1 where you actually see Enterprise firing its phase cannons – Berman and Braga were probably saving up money by not incorporating too many special effects into the series.

In the episode, Enterprise encounters a non-communicative alien ship that fires upon them. Enterprise is unable to defend itself as it was not fitted with phase cannons before it left spacedock. Trip and Reed create and install phase cannons into the ship. Afterwards, Enterprise encounters the alien ship again and this time is able to defend itself and defeat their opponent.

#9 – Regeneration (Season 2)

Continuing the list at #9 is the 48th episode of the entire series, “Regeneration.” In this follow-up episode to the movie “Star Trek: First Contact,” Enterprise encounters the Borg for the first time. It’s the only Borg episode that was made during the entire series of Star Trek: Enterprise.

In the episode, a team of scientists in the Arctic discover remains of what appears to be a crashed spaceship, with several humanoid bodies frozen in the wreckage. The bodies are brought back to the scientists’ compound, and are thawed out. The scientists do not know who or what these strange beings are, however, the episode strongly hints that they are the survivors of the Borg sphere shot down in Star Trek: First Contact. However, mostly unbeknownst to the science team, the Borg drones’ nanoprobes set to work, quietly and efficiently repairing the damage to each drone’s biological and artificial systems. Suddenly, much to the researchers shock and horror, their seemingly dead subjects reanimate and viciously attack them without provocation, assimilating them and their transport craft. Using the scavenged wreckage of the destroyed sphere to enhance the transport, they escape into space. The newly assimilated transport craft, which the Borg continue to upgrade with faster warp drive engines and weaponry, attacks and assimilates several other spacecraft along the way. Borg drones find their way aboard Enterprise and attempt to assimilate Doctor Phlox, who uses “omicron radiation” to destroy the nanites and stop the assimilation process. The Borg vessel is finally destroyed by Enterprise, but not before the Borg send out a distress signal which Enterprise crewmembers estimate will take roughly 200 years to reach its destination – presumably the homeworld of these strange aliens.

#8 – Future Tense (Season 2)

At #8 is the 42nd episode of the entire series, “Future Tense.” Enterprise encounters a mysterious escape pod which they later discover to be from the 31st century. They end up having to fight off the Tholians and the Suliban as each faction wants their hands on the pod.

In the episode, the discovery of a derelict pod with a long-dead human pilot opens up a mystery – who is he and what is he doing out farther in space than any known human before? Trip and Reed examine the pod and uncover that it is bigger on the inside than it is on the outside. They also recover a gadget that still has a weak energy signature. Meanwhile, a Suliban ship arrives and claims the ship. Since Archer won’t give it to them, they open fire. They don’t leave until their weapons are damaged and Archer gives chase. Shortly after, the Tholians arrive, warning Enterprise about the pod’s temporal radiation and wanting the pod. However, Archer threatens to blow the pod up, and the Tholians leave. Later on, the Suliban arrive in force and attack. The crew, temporarily escaping from the Suliban, discovers that the Tholians have attacked and disabled a Vulcan ship. The Tholians then disable Enterprise. The Suliban arrive and immediately attack the Tholians. The fight is won when the Tholians annihilate the Suliban force. The Tholians then capture the pod from Enterprise. Trip gets the mystery gadget in the pod, a temporal distress signal, to work, and the pod, human, and gadget dematerialize to where/whenever. Afterwards, the Tholians leave. Enterprise stays to help the Vulcan ship with repairs.

#7 – Twilight (Season 3)

In the top ten episodes of Star Trek: Enterprise, the 60th episode “Twilight” comes in at #7. In an alternate timeline where the Xindi have destroyed Earth, Archer must find a way to alter the past and the save the entire human civilization.

During the episode, while rescuing T’Pol from a spatial anomaly, Archer is infected by subspace parasites in his cerebral cortex, resulting in anterograde amnesia. His condition, reminiscent of Alzheimer’s Disease, prevents him from forming new long term memories. In other words, Archer remembers everything prior to the accident, but any new memories would fade within a few hours. It becomes clear that Archer is not fit for duty, and he is subsequently relieved of his command. Admiral Forrest of Starfleet grants T’Pol a field commission to Captain, but the mission to save Earth fails. Earth and every human colony is wiped out by the Xindi. The only surviving convoy of humans is led by Enterprise under T’Pol’s command to Ceti Alpha V. Twelve years pass and Dr. Phlox finds a cure. Unfortunately, the Xindi track Phlox right to the human colony and begin to attack. Phlox discovers that when he uses radiation treatments to kill one of the parasites in Archer’s brain, the parasite also vanishes from every medical scan Phlox took beforehand – as if the parasite never existed. Phlox and T’Pol devise a plan in which Archer will be subjected to repeated radiation treatments which will eliminate all of the parasites in his brain; therefore, since Archer will never have been infected, he would have remained captain and possibly prevented Earth’s destruction. Unfortunately, the ship is attacked by Xindi vessels before the treatments can be completed. Phlox notes that a subspace implosion would also destroy the parasites. Phlox, T’Pol, and Archer set the ship to self-destruct and create a subspace implosion. Their plan works and the ship is destroyed. The subspace parasites are destroyed by the implosion (which exist outside the normal space/time realm) and the timeline is corrected.

#6 – Shockwave, Part I and II (Seasons 1 and 2)

The 6th best episode of the series is a 2-part story arc. “Shockwave” sees the Enterprise crew confront the Suliban and get involved in the Temporal Cold War. Both parts of the episode are complete with action and suspense.

In the first part of the episode, Starfleet orders Enterprise to return home when the crew seemingly causes the destruction of an alien planet they were exploring. Archer is visited by former crew member Daniels, who traveled through time to warn him that the Suliban are trying to sabotage Enterprise’s mission, and the two travel through time to try to thwart the Suliban’s plans. In the second part of the episode, Daniels and Archer must find a way back to the 22nd Century in order to make sure history plays out as it should. Meanwhile, on Enterprise, the Suliban have taken over the ship, but Reed, Trip, and T’Pol formulate a plan to eject them and succeed in doing so.

#5 – The Expanse (Season 2)

Kicking off the top five episodes of Enterprise is “The Expanse,” the 52nd and final episode of the series’ second season. The plotline for the entire third season is set up as Enterprise is refitted into a warship and set out into the Delphic Expanse to find the Xindi.

In the episode, when an unknown alien race attack Earth with a space probe that cuts a destructive swath from Florida to Venezuela, killing over seven million people, Enterprise is recalled to Earth by Admiral Forrest. On the way back to Earth, Jonathan Archer is kidnapped by the Suliban. Archer lashes out at the Suliban leader, Silik, thinking the Suliban responsible for the attack, but Silik professes innocence. The Suliban give Archer information about the race that attacked Earth, a race known as the Xindi. When Enterprise draws near home, they are ambushed and nearly destroyed just outside the sol system by a Klingon Bird of Prey commanded by Captain Duras. Fortunately, Starfleet vessels arrive and disable the Klingon ship, forcing it to retreat. The crew learn that seven million people have been killed, one of them being Trip’s sister, Elizabeth. The loss devastates Trip, who swears revenge on the Xindi. Meanwhile, Archer debates with Starfleet and the Vulcan High Command to let Enterprise enter an area known as the Delphic Expanse and find the Xindi. Vulcan ambassador Soval tries to dissuade Archer from going, by showing him the ship’s logs of a Vulcan ship which had entered the expanse – the entire crew was driven insane. A Klingon ship had also entered the region, which caused the entire crew’s bodies to splay open, inside out. In time, Starfleet accepts Archer’s proposal and begins refitting Enterprise. Archer also requests a detachment of MACOs, expecting significant ground combat. When all is done, the crew of Enterprise begins their journey toward the Delphic Expanse. They are immediately attacked by three Klingon vessels, one of which is commanded by Duras, who has a personal score to settle with Archer. Two of the Klingon ships refuse to enter the Expanse and withdraw; Duras’ ship is destroyed by Enterprise, which proceeds on its way into the expanse.

#4 – The Council (Season 3)

The first part of the three-part season 3 finale, and the 74th episode of the series, is also the #4 best episode on our top ten list.

In “The Council,” the episode revolves around Archer’s attempt to convince the Xindi Council that humanity is not the true enemy, but the Trans-Dimensional Beings known as the Sphere Builders. He manages to convince all of the species except the Reptilians and the Insectoids. The Reptilians, along with the Insectoids, seize control of the Xindi weapon and deploy it. Degra is murdered by Commander Dolim and the Xindi-Reptilians kidnap Hoshi Sato. While this is happening, T’Pol, Malcolm, Travis and a MACO are sent by Archer to infiltrate one of the Sphere Builder’s spheres and retrieve its memory core. During the operation, the MACO officer is killed, leaving T’Pol, Malcolm and Travis as the only ones to return to Enterprise.

#3 – Countdown (Season 3)

The second part of the three-part season 3 finale, and the 75th episode of the series, is also the #3 best episode on our top ten list.

In “Countdown,” with time running out and the Xindi weapon about to be armed, Archer has to persuade the Xindi-Aquatics to help destroy the weapon. Hoshi suffers torture while a prisoner of the Xindi-Reptillians. They had kidnapped her to use her translation skills to gain the third set of codes needed to operate the weapon. Hoshi’s kidnapping provides the proof needed to prod other Xindi factions into the direction of believing Archer. A battle between Archer’s Xindi-supporters and the Xindi-Insectoids and Reptilians breaks out around the superweapon. A small squad of MACOs lead by Major Hayes beams on board a Reptilian ship and rescues Hoshi. Just as Hayes is beamed out, a Xindi-Reptilian soldier fires through his dematerializing form. Hayes collapses on the transporter platform, crying out. He later dies, but not before naming his successor.

#2 – Zero Hour (Season 3)

The third and final part of the three-part season 3 finale, and the 76th episode of the series, is also the #2 best episode on our top ten list.

“Zero Hour” concludes the entire season 3 storyline and features two separate stories taking place simultaneously. T’Pol orders Enterprise to Sphere 41, destroying it and in doing so taking out the entire network of spheres that are causing the anomalies in the expanse. At the same time, Archer boards Degra’s ship with Malcolm Reed, Hoshi Sato, and a team of MACOs. They manage to catch up to Dolim’s ship and the weapon as they approach Earth. With help from Commander Shran, an Andorian friend who has arrived to provide assistance, Archer manages to board the weapon, deactivate it, and plant the bombs that will destroy the weapon entirely. Once the weapon is disabled, Archer then races away from the weapon platform as it is exploding, but the crew on Degra’s ship cannot get a transporter lock on him and he does not escape the blast by being transported onto their ship. While destroying the weapon, the Xindi-Reptilian ship is destroyed by Shran’s ship. Sato and Reed return to the Enterprise with the sad news that Archer did not make it off the weapon. Nevertheless, Enterprise returns to Earth inside a Xindi-aquatic ship. After bidding farewell to their comrades, they hail Earth but receive no communication in response. In fact, they fail to establish contact with any orbital platform or with the lunar base. Surprised, T’Pol orders Tucker and Mayweather to investigate by flying a shuttlepod down to San Francisco. They remark that everything looks normal on the way down, but are soon attacked by what seem to be P-51s. The final scene in the episode is of a Nazi camp, presumably on Earth in the same time. An SS officer is summoned by a doctor to examine a patient who was recently brought in. The officer follows the doctor to the interior of a large tent. The doctor remarks that the badly burned patient has an unfamiliar uniform, and shows him to the officer. Here, the audience discovers that the patient is in fact Captain Archer. Just before the weapon exploded, Daniels transported Archer into the past in order to stop Vosk, an alien helping the Nazis alter history after being stranded in Earth’s 20th century. The storyline continues in the first episode of Enterprise’s fourth and final season, “Storm Front.”

#1 – In a Mirror, Darkly, Part I and II (Season 4)

Finally, we come to the best episode of the entire series of Star Trek: Enterprise! Sitting pretty at #1 on our top ten list is the alternate universe storyline in season 4, “In a Mirror, Darkly.”

The episode’s teaser opens with the closing scene from the feature movie Star Trek: First Contact, and features footage originally used in that feature film. Most of the footage of the Vulcans landing on Earth is directly lifted from the film, up until the point where Zefram Cochrane shoots the Vulcan, and the assembled humans raid the ship. The credits then roll, depicting not peaceful exploration, but milestones in humanity’s history of war, both terrestrial and interstellar. Deep inside Tholian space, a cloaked Enterprise encounters the USS Defiant, NCC-1764 fresh from its last appearance in the Original Series episode “The Tholian Web.” It appears that, after disappearing into interphase, the Defiant was carried not only a century back in time, but into the mirror universe, where the Tholians of 2155 are intent on using it to break away from the oppressive and anthropocentric Terran Empire. Jonathan Archer takes an away team to the Defiant to capture it for the humans. Meanwhile, Enterprise is caught and destroyed by the Tholians, with Forrest lost but the rest of the crew escaping in escape pods. Archer declares himself captain of the Defiant and orders his crew to take the fight to the enemy.

In Part II, Archer repopulates his ship with the escaped crew of Enterprise, defeats an insurgent alien fleet, and decides to declare himself Emperor, using the Defiant and its advanced technology as his trump card. Several crewmembers, including Archer, wear 23rd Century Starfleet uniforms instead of their environmental suits from Enterprise. A conspiracy led by various alien members of his crew, including T’Pol, Phlox and Soval, fails to stop him. However, he is incapacitated by his lover Hoshi Sato, and she declares herself Empress upon arriving at Earth. The episode closes on that note, with the final fate of all main characters unknown, except for Archer, who was poisoned via champagne.

Other Good Episodes

In particular, many fans of the series might wonder why I’ve left out a couple of other good episodes on this Top 10 Episodes List. I’ve tried my best to write a list incorporating what I believe are the best episodes of the series, based upon action, storyline and amount of special effects used. If you believe there was another good episode of the series that’s worth being mentioned, feel free to post a comment to my article and let everyone else know.