After decades of being held back from deep space exploration by the Vulcans, the human race makes its first venture into interstellar travel with Captain Jonathan Archer at the helm of the Enterprise NX-01, Earth Starfleet's first Warp 5 vessel. The crew's mission is to return an injured Klingon — the first the human race has ever encountered — to his people on Qo'noS. But when a villainous race of aliens called the Suliban kidnap the Klingon, Archer and his crew must make an unexpected detour into another world to retrieve their precious cargo — and stave off a dangerous diplomatic interstellar crisis.

Scott Bakula (Captain Jonathan Archer)
Jolene Blalock (Sub-Commander T'Pol)
John Billingsley (Doctor Phlox)
Linda Park (Ensign Hoshi Sato)
Anthony Montgomery (Ensign Travis Mayweather)
Dominic Keating (Lieutenant Malcolm Reed)
Connor Trinneer (Commander Charles 'Trip' Tucker III)

John Fleck (Silik)
Melinda Clarks (Sarin)
Tommy 'Tiny' Lister Jr. (Klaang)
Vaughn Armstrong (Admiral Maxwell Forrest)
Jim Beaver (Admiral Dan Leonard)
Mark Moses (Henry Archer)
Gary Graham (Ambassador Soval)
Thomas Kopache (Tos)
Jim Fitzpatrick (Commander Williams)
James Horan (Humanoid Figure)
Joseph Ruskin (Suliban Doctor)

Marty Davis (Young Jonathan Archer)
Van Epperson (Alien Man)
Ron King (Farmer Moore)
Peter Henry Schroeder (Klingon Chancellor)
Matt Williamson (Klingon Council Member)
Byron Thames (Crewman)
Ricky Luna (Carlos)
Jason Grant Smith (Crewman Fletcher)
Chelsea Bond (Alien Mother)
Ethan Dampf (Alien Child)
Diane Klimaszewski (Dancer)
Elaine Klimaszewski (Dancer)
James Cromwell (Zefram Cochrane)
Porthos

• The Suliban Cabal are a renegade faction of Suliban that has been genetically altered by the "Humanoid Figure", a 29th century figure who gives them orders as part of a Temporal Cold War.
  
• Mayweather, the helmsman, is a space boomer, raised on a cargo ship.
  
• Hoshi, on leave from Starfleet teaching linguistics in Brazil, was recalled 3 weeks early by Archer to function as comm officer.
  
• Phlox was participating in the Interspecies Medical Exchange; Archer recruited him because he was familiar with Klingon anatomy.
  
• This is the first appearance of the controversial decontamination chamber. Dressed only in their underwear, Trip and T'Pol, spread bio gel on each other.
  
• This is the first use of the grappler — a tow cable with a claw on the end.
  
• The transporter was just approved for transportation of bio-matter, but had not been tested with humans yet. The first human test was Archer — beamed out of the Suliban helix at the last second.
  
• The crew is given new hand-held weapons, phase pistols, before they leave Earth.
  
• At the Enterprise launch ceremony, Zefram Cochrane is shown on video giving his famous speech: "We'll be able to explore those strange new worlds, and seek out new life and new civilizations. This engine will let us go boldly where no man has gone before."
  
• The three Starfleet Command officers who give Archer his first mission — Admiral Forrest, Admiral Leonard, and Cmdr. Williams — are named for the Original Series regulars DeForest Kelley, Leonard Nimoy, and William Shatner.
  
• John Fleck (Silik) previously played the Romulan Taibak in the Next Generation episode "The Mind's Eye".
  
• The series was originally named just Enterprise. The title card didn't change to Star Trek: Enterprise until Season 3.
  
• The pop rock theme song "Faith Of The Heart" (aka "Where My Heart Will Take Me") plays during the opening titles and was composed by Diane Warren. Russell Watson performs this version. (The original version, performed by Rod Stewart, appeared on the Patch Adams soundtrack.) A more traditional orchestral composition, titled "Archer's Theme" and composed by Dennis McCarthy, will play over the end credits from episode 2 onwards.
  
• Porthos was played by two different beagles, named Prada and Breezy.