As long time readers know . . . I love things Star Trek. My family and I have been watching the DVDs for the complete series of Star Trek: The Next Generation . . . devouring the show season by season. Once that’s done, we’ll be moving on to Star Trek: Deep Space Nine as these are two series I never really got to see in their entirety living where I live (actually, I’ve never seen DS9, the downside of living on this side of the planet).

Well, with all this nostalgia time, I am still thrilled that we can get somewhat limited access to the current show . . . the one that is set before all the rest . . . Star Trek: Enterprise . . . we’re behind, but at least we get to see it.

The current season is really kicking some butts. While I understand that Enterprise was having some ratings difficulties and there was real concerns that it would not be renewed for the fourth season, the episodes we’ve seen thus far have been quite good.

I’m glad to see the Xindi menace thread complete so we can get on with new travels and new adventures. I am hopeful that they’ll abandon a lot of the temporal war thread as well . . . it was less focused and more problematic than the Xindi . . . albeit, there are still loose ends dangling there so it’s likely we’ll come back to it.

The season’s opener was a nice close-the-door to some issues and then right into the third episode which really felt like the first. Seeing T’Pol and Tripp take it to the next level and then for her to get married was something. Looking forward to more Vulcan stories and they are listed to come.

Lorraine and I just saw the episode with Arik Soong’s first appearance . . . the return of Brent Spiner to the Star Trek universe, this time playing the ancestor of his character Data’s creator. It was nice to see him without the pasty makeup and in a character that smiles and cuts people down.

The Augments are a nice twist of things . . . homage to the Khan of old but with a more modern feel.

Of course, the really nifty part of the episode is the Orion slavers. Not just the Orion Slave Girls . . . which everyone loves. Well, maybe not everyone . . . but I sure do . . . wish there was more to that bit than just the flash of green skin we were treated to.