The essential episodes of Star Trek: Enterprise

Watch these 15 in order and you've got Star Trek: Enterprise — each pick states its reason.

1. 01

   S01E01 · Pilot · September 26, 2001 · 1h

   Broken Bow7.3

   In the early 22nd century, Captain Jonathan Archer commands a crew at the front lines of intergalactic upheaval as he takes command of the Enterprise, Earth's first warp-speed space vessel. For its maiden voyage, he volunteers to return a wounded Klingon to his home planet over the objections of Earth's Vulcan allies, who do not believe the humans are ready for interstellar travel.

2. 02

   S01E07 · Top rated · October 31, 2001 · 1h

   The Andorian Incident8.0

   Archer's curiosity about an ancient monastery unwittingly places his crew in the midst of a long-standing interstellar conflict between the Vulcans and their arch rivals, the Andorians.

3. 03

   S01E23 · Top rated · May 8, 2002 · 1h

   Fallen Hero7.9

   Duty interferes with the crew's first shore leave when the Enterprise is sent to the planet Mazar to fetch a distinguished Vulcan ambassador accused of criminal misconduct. The mission disturbs T'Pol, who's a great admirer of the diplomat.

4. 04

   S01E26 · Season 1 peak · May 22, 2002 · 1h

   Shockwave (1)8.1

   Archer blames himself when the destruction of an alien colony prompts Starfleet to recall the Enterprise to Earth.

5. 05

   S02E01 · Season 2 peak · September 18, 2002 · 1h

   Shockwave (2)8.2

   The sinister Suliban insist that Archer be turned over to them -- and with Archer nowhere to be found aboard the ship. He's stuck in the 31st century, in a decimated city with Daniels, whose intent is to save the future by protecting the past -- and Archer.

6. 06

   S02E04 · Top rated · October 9, 2002 · 1h

   Dead Stop8.2

   Following the ordeal in the minefield, the crew links up with an automated repair vessel that troubles Archer when its computer steals information from the Enterprise's data banks.

7. 07

   S03E13 · Top rated · January 21, 2004 · 1h

   Proving Ground8.2

   Andorian Imperial Guard Commander Shran arrives in the Delphic Expanse and proposes an alliance with Archer, offering to help steal the Xindi's superweapon. Elsewhere, Lt. Talas, an Andorian officer with her own agenda, helps Lt. Reed repair the Enterprise's damaged weapons systems.

8. 08

   S03E14 · Top rated · February 4, 2004 · 1h

   Stratagem8.1

   Archer seeks to destroy the superweapon the Xindi are constructing by creating an elaborate ruse to fool its designer, Degra, into revealing its hiding place. Archer and Degra are in a shuttle. With Degra suffering from memory loss, Archer tells him they escaped together from a prison and that the Insectoids took power after destroying Earth.

9. 09

   S03E21 · Top rated · May 5, 2004 · 1h

   E²8.1

   Before attempting to use a Xindi subspace corridor to reach the Xindi council, the Enterprise crew faces a bizarre encounter with their own descendants on an Enterprise. Captained by T'Pol's son Lorian, the ship warns Archer of an alien attack by Kovaalan ships. Enterprise escapes into the subspace corridor, but attack damage destabilizes the corridor, causing a time shift with the ship emerging in 2037. Will foreknowledge change anything?

10. 10

    S03E22 · Season 3 peak · May 12, 2004 · 1h

    The Council8.3

    Enterprise arrives at the location of the Xindi Council, and with Degra's help and Hoshi translating, Archer makes his plea before the five Xindi races. Archer must prove that the Sphere Builders have been lying and Humanity is not their enemy. While the Primates and Arboreals are already aware of the truth, convincing the other three races will not be easy. The Reptilians and Insectoids refuse to even listen to Archer. Meanwhile, seeing a diminished number of successful timelines with Earth destroyed, the Sphere-Builders arrange a secret meeting with the Reptilians. They seize the Xindi weapon and launch it, protected by five Insectoid ships. Elsewhere, T'Pol and Reed lead a mission inside a Sphere to retrieve its memory core for information about the Sphere network inhabiting the Expanse.

11. 11

    S03E23 · Top rated · May 19, 2004 · 1h

    Countdown8.2

    The Reptilians kidnapped Hoshi to brainwash her into cracking the weapon's arming codes. Meanwhile, Archer and his new Xindi allies (Arboreals, Primates, and Aquatics) attempt to stop the arming of the superweapon aimed toward Earth, launching a full-scale assault on the device. When the Sphere-Builders see the weapon is about to be destroyed, they cause at least one sphere to emit massive spatial anomalies destroying many ships. Reptilians and Insectoids escape with the weapon through a subspace vortex heading for Earth.

12. 12

    S03E24 · Top rated · May 26, 2004 · 1h

    Zero Hour8.3

    Archer tries to coax a traumatized Hoshi into using her decryption skills to disable the Xindi doomsday weapon before the Reptilians can use it to destroy Earth. Archer risks his life in a dangerous gambit to intercept the superweapon, sneak by the Xindi Reptilians aboard, and disarm it from inside. Meanwhile, the Enterprise embarks on its own desperate mission to cripple the rest of the spheres.

13. 13

    S04E01 · Top rated · October 8, 2004 · 1h

    Storm Front (1)8.0

    Archer awakes from destroying the Xindi superweapon in the U.S. circa 1944 as a prisoner of Nazis controlling New York City. But he escapes with the help of American insurgents. The crew aboard Enterprise seeks answers for their journey back in time and the changes to Earth's history. They find a dying Daniels on board who tells T'Pol about an alien faction of the Temporal Cold War led by Vosk, now allied with the Nazis altering the events of World War II. Archer, T'Pol, and the Enterprise must defeat the aliens and restore the timeline to return to their time.

14. 14

    S04E09 · Season 4 peak · December 3, 2004 · 1h

    Kir'Shara (3)8.1

    As Vulcan prepares for war, V'Las sends a commando team to eliminate Archer, T'Pol and T'Pau, while Soval risks his sanity to warn the Andorians of the impending attack.

15. 15

    S04E22 · Series finale · May 13, 2005 · 1h

    These Are the Voyages...6.1

    Commander Riker interacts with Archer's crew in a hologram of their final mission as he deals with a dark secret from his past. Six years after the Terra Prime incident, an emotional Captain Archer and the crew return to Earth to decommission Enterprise and sign the charter for the Federation, the new alliance of planets they helped forge. Enroute, Archer agrees to help his old ally Shran retrieve his daughter as the captain prepares a speech to celebrate the Federation's establishment.