Broken Bow (Star Trek: Enterprise)

The episode won the 2002 Emmy Award for Outstanding Special Visual Effects for a Series, and was also nominated for sound editing and make-up.

It is nine decades since Zefram Cochrane produced humans' first warp flight (as seen in the film Star Trek: First Contact), and Earth finally launches its first starship of exploration, Enterprise NX-01.

Without fully understanding the reasons behind the Vulcans' constraint, he believes that there must be an explanation for holding the human space program back.

Archer, now Captain of the soon-to-be-launched prototype starship Enterprise NX-01, is called to Starfleet Headquarters, where he discusses the incident with Admiral Forrest and Vulcan ambassador Soval.

Prior to departure, Archer seeks additional crewmembers, including Phlox and linguist Hoshi Sato, while Sub-Commander T'Pol is assigned as their "Vulcan liaison".

Arriving at the Rigel X Trade Complex, Archer, Sato, Tucker, and T'Pol are seized by Suliban agents.

Suliban from the Cabal show up, and attack, Silik kills Sarin and Archer is shot, but the away team escape back to Enterprise.

T'Pol modifies Enterprise's sensors to track the Suliban vessel that attacked them, and they follow it to a gas giant.

Production began on Monday, May 14, 2001,[9] and saw the return of many crew with past experience on the Star Trek franchise.

All the sets had to be built, costumes and props had to be made, and all the setup costs of the show were included in the budget of the premiere.

The marathon started at 7 am PT/10 am ET and was live streamed on the YouTube internet video platform, going through each episode chronologically in order of release, with "Broken Bow" airing after "Caretaker".

[22] Ron Wertheimer of The New York Times gave the episode a positive review, saying: "Enterprise gets back to basics, then improves on them.

"[23] David Segal of the Washington Post was critical of the first episode, saying that "the script is riddled with clunkers and jargon" and that the show "has a bargain-basement feel that lands just this side of camp; the space fights aren't much more convincing than PlayStation offerings.

"[24] Laura Fries of Variety says the prequel setting "rejuvenates a somewhat tired notion" but also says "viewers are reminded that this is more akin to their father's Star Trek."

[25] Howard Rosenberg of the Los Angeles Times predicted that Star Trek fans would either "raise the bar impossibly high for this series or watch it because they watch everything with this brand" but as a casual viewer he found the premiere "mildly entertaining, but mostly plays rather tepidly, its occasional glints of intellect pushed far into the background by action.

"[26] Allan Johnson of the Chicago Tribune was positive about the series as an accessible entry point for potential new fans.

[28] Hal Boedeker of the Orlando Sentinel called the story "a standard adventure" and was critical of action sequences as "familiar" and that "it goes boldly and unapologetically where dozens of series have gone before."

"[29] Aint It Cool News gave the episode four out of five, praised Blalock for her performance, and said: "Clearly, an extraordinary amount of love and attention went into this endeavor, from the propulsive teleplay to the careful casting to the world-beating production design.

[6] A review of the Blu-ray release by Blu-ray.com, commented on the visuals, remarking: "The scene in Brazil in "Broken Bow" does offer some nicely brilliant greens, and certainly some scattered traces of good, honest colors are seen throughout, but mostly this is a very uninspired palette", and also pointing out the special effects are in lower resolution than HD that causes some "jagged edges, and lack crisp details."

Much of the action on board the NX-01 is brought to life by the subtle, deep hum of the engines and the little odds and ends sound elements that define the atmosphere.

[44] In the Season 1 DVD special features, producers Rick Berman and Brannon Braga discussed how Diane Carey used the character's internal monologues to frequently criticize the script.