Ex Astris Scientia
Info Starships Fleet Yards Treknology
Episodes Database Fandom Community

Star Trek Enterprise (ENT) Season 1 Reviews

Season 1Season 2Season 3Season 4

Broken BowFight or FlightStrange New WorldUnexpectedTerra NovaThe Andorian Incident
Breaking the IceCivilizationFortunate SonCold FrontSilent EnemyDear DoctorSleeping Dogs
Shadows of P'JemShuttlepod OneFusionRogue PlanetAcquisitionOasisDetained
Vox SolaFallen HeroDesert CrossingTwo Days and Two NightsShockwave I/II

 

Broken Bow

Synopsis

"Broken Bow"

April 16th, 2151: The Klingon Klaang crash lands on Earth in Oklahoma, chased by two Suliban. One of them easily squeezes through the narrow gap in the door of a grain silo. Klaang destroys the silo, killing both pursuers, only to be shot by a farmer. The Vulcans, led by Ambassador Soval, intend to take care of this interstellar matter their way. However, Starfleet Admiral Forrest decides to return the Klingon to his homeworld using Earth's new Warp 5 starship, Enterprise. Captain Jonathan Archer, whose father designed the engine but didn't live long enough to witness the launch, assembles his crew ahead of schedule, including the Denobulan physician Phlox. Vulcan science officer T'Pol is assigned to the mission to supervise the inexperienced humans, much to the dismay of Archer and Chief Engineer Charles "Trip" Tucker. Enterprise launches successfully, and linguist Hoshi Sato begins establishing communication with the injured Klingon. However, while en route to Qo'noS, the ship is boarded by Suliban agents who abduct Klaang. T'Pol recommends aborting the mission, but Archer decides to continue and follows a lead to Rigel X. A landing party consisting of Archer, Tucker, T'Pol, Reed, Mayweather, and Sato travels by shuttlepod to a large trading outpost on the planet. There, Archer learns from a Suliban operative named Sarin that a faction known as the Cabal has been genetically enhanced and supplied with advanced technology by an unknown benefactor from the future as part of a "Temporal Cold War". Their mission is to trigger a Klingon civil war, and Klaang carries evidence that could expose the conspiracy. Sarin offers to help the Enterprise crew but is killed by the Cabal. Pursued by the Cabal, the landing party escapes to the roof of the complex where the shuttle awaits, though not before Archer is wounded. T'Pol assumes command. But she honors Archer's wish to continue the mission and devises a method to track the Suliban ship to a space station hidden inside a gas giant's atmosphere. Once Archer recovers, he resumes command. Enterprise is outgunned by an swarm of small Suliban vessels, but the crew uses the ship's grappler to catch one of these cell ships. Archer and Tucker use it to infiltrate the space station, the Helix, and free Klaang. Archer activates a device that unlocks the magnetic docking mechanism of the Helix. He is successful but has to stay behind on the station, where he faces the leader of the genetically altered Suliban, Silik. Just as Silik is about to kill him, Archer is rescued by the ship's newly installed transporter. After Enterprise successfully delivers Klaang to Qo'noS, the Klingons extract the information encoded within his blood cells. Impressed by this success, Starfleet authorizes Enterprise to continue its exploration mission. T'Pol also chooses to remain aboard the Earth vessel as part of its crew.

Review

This is a 2026 update of the review that I wrote in 2001, shortly after "Broken Bow" had aired. Back then, I was dismayed by the series premise. I thought the character concepts were bland, and I doubted that the writers could successfully handle the self-imposed restrictions of a prequel, in which much of the advanced technology of the TNG era realistically should not exist yet. I was also disappointed by the "Akiraprise" design. After watching the pilot in 2001, however, I found that I liked it. It came with a good story and was unmistakably Star Trek. At the same time, it confirmed several of my apprehensions. My overall opinion on story and characters has not changed all that much between 2001 and 2026.

Let me begin with the characters. First of all, we have Jonathan Archer, the only one whose background is explored to any significant extent. His feelings toward the Vulcans date back to his childhood, when he realized that his father's project was progressing more slowly than it could because the Vulcans were withholding technology. As T'Pol herself says about Enterprise's sensors, "Vulcan children play with toys that are more sophisticated." Archer embodies the inferiority complex that many humans must have felt in the 22nd century. He compensates with a certain underdog pride for his father's and his own accomplishments, that they managed to build their starship on their own, even if it took over 30 years. Archer believes that the Vulcans are not merely cautious but fundamentally arrogant. Unfortunately, they prove him right on nearly every occasion. Archer's response is a form of arrogance of his own; he constantly strives to provoke them. He seems to take pleasure in behaving exactly like the caveman the Vulcans see in him: acting on instinct and emotion, using rude language and deliberately doing the opposite of what he is advised to do. And, of course, eating a large steak in front of the vegetarian T'Pol. He also enjoys pointing out every Vulcan mistake. Overall, he is full of prejudice and defiance and is by far the least skilled diplomat among the Star Trek captains we know. There is clearly plenty of room for development in "Broken Bow", and that development would indeed take place over the course of the series, leaving me very satisfied in hindsight. It is also a nice touch how the flashbacks to Archer's childhood and his model starship mirror the present-day story and illustrate that one should have confidence in oneself rather than relying on, or blaming, others.

T'Pol, like her two fellow Vulcan characters in the episode, comes across as overly smug, unlike Spock or Tuvok, who are generally polite and respectful in both word and deed. Although Archer and T'Pol constantly criticize each other, I feel they are more alike than either would care to admit. Both seem determined to prove the other wrong and fail to realize that they often argue merely for the sake of arguing. For example, I simply don't believe it would be logical to eat grissini with a fork and knife, yet T'Pol does exactly that because she feels compelled to make a point. I can only describe the behavior of both Archer and T'Pol as childish. When I first watched the episode in 2001, I did not see T'Pol as having much potential to become the ship's darling in the tradition of Seven of Nine, although she would eventually undergo a similar development. The way she softens during the course of the pilot is a start, but I still do not really understand why she suddenly changes her mind and continues the mission according to his wishes while Archer is incapacitated. Nor do I see a convincing reason for her decision to remain aboard Enterprise. The story doesn't develop these points sufficiently, making them feel somewhat gratuitous.

Charles Tucker is the third most prominent member of the cast, yet we gain surprisingly little insight into his character. Most of the time, he simply echoes Archer's opinions, especially during his numerous disputes with T'Pol. In 2001, I found Dr. Phlox disappointing, describing him as a sort of hybrid of the EMH and Neelix. I expected him to serve mainly as comic relief throughout the series. Today, I see him differently. In "Broken Bow", Phlox consistently encourages people not to take matters too seriously or personally. He acts as a mediator of sorts, despite rarely interacting directly with T'Pol. My 2026 self finds Phlox far more agreeable than the three constant squabblers.

Hoshi Sato is clearly the most pleasant character in the pilot. In hindsight, I probably overrated her potential in 2001, imagining that she would become a fan favorite rather than T'Pol. Nevertheless, she represents the positive side of humanity in the 22nd century. Unlike Archer and Tucker, she is fully aware of both her strengths and weaknesses and feels no need to pretend otherwise. Despite having relatively few lines, she makes several noteworthy contributions, although the perhaps most memorable one is a casual remark: "You might think about recommending seat belts when we get home."

The contributions of "space boomer" Ensign Mayweather are minimal, and I certainly did not anticipate in 2001 that this would remain true, with only a few exceptions, throughout the series. Malcolm Reed likewise contributes little beyond occasional reports about whether the weapons are or are not ready.

There is one thing that bothered me in 2001 and still today. There hardly seem to be any crew members aboard besides the main characters. A few people can be seen in the corridors and engineering, and one crewman is attacked by the Suliban in sickbay. Nevertheless, considering that Enterprise is supposed to be more crowded than ships such as the Enterprise-D or Voyager, the extras are remarkably inconspicuous, almost as if they were cloaked. I also wonder who is actually in command of the ship while the entire senior staff is down on Rigel X.

Let me come back to the depiction of human-Vulcan relations. The clashes between Archer and Tucker on one side and T'Pol on the other are presented as almost disastrously severe. In my view, the argument at Starfleet Medical early in the episode would have been enough to establish the tension between humans and Vulcans. Yet Archer, Tucker, and T'Pol never seem able to leave the issue alone. Nearly every conversation highlights the cultural divide between the two species, even when far more important matters should be under discussion, such as the mission itself. The constant bickering becomes especially irritating because it is so repetitive. T'Pol criticizes human impulsiveness again and again, while Archer and Tucker complain about Vulcan arrogance all the time. At some point, any reasonable human or Vulcan should have concluded that everything worth saying had already been said. I still don't understand why so much attention is devoted to this conflict. The absence, or rapid resolution, of long-term interpersonal conflicts was frequently criticized in Voyager. I have always found that criticism strange because Star Trek never really needed them before, and Gene Roddenberry actively discouraged them. TOS had the famous disagreements between Spock and McCoy, but those were usually little more than good-natured personal friction and often humorous. TNG attempted, with limited success, to recreate such a dynamic between Data and Pulaski. DS9 came with so many organic tensions among its characters that none of them ever became tiresome.

We are already familiar with "smug Vulcans" from "Take Me Out to the Holosuite" in the final DS9 season, in which Captain Solok challenges Sisko to a baseball game with the only purpose to demonstrate Vulcan superiority. In some respects, the constant verbal sparring between Archer, Tucker, and T'Pol serves as a precursor to that display of bad spirit on both sides two centuries later. I certainly don't appreciate this kind of "consistency". These are simply not the Vulcans I know from characters such as Sarek, Spock and Tuvok, whose logic and manners set a much higher standard. Star Trek should not undermine itself by casting its two most important founding races in such an unflattering light. I think it is inappropriate still today, and it is hardly an excuse that some of the post-2017 Trek continued in the same vein. "Broken Bow" would have benefited from less human-Vulcan conflict, or at least a much more restrained portrayal of it.

The story of "Broken Bow" is not especially cerebral, but it's convincing. The plot develops slowly yet effectively. Some elements, however, become repetitive, most notably the constant Vulcan-human arguments. As already mentioned, the ending does not entirely work for me. Archer and T'Pol spend most of the episode insulting one another, and then, once the mission succeeds, everything suddenly seems fine. Archer admits that he may have misjudged T'Pol, while T'Pol becomes noticeably more cooperative and even expresses a desire to remain aboard the ship. I find it difficult to believe that either of them could have gained so much insight in such a short time. There is an illogical gap in the narrative. It would have been more convincing if they had either reached some understanding much earlier or if T'Pol had ultimately been ordered to stay aboard against her wishes.

In 2001, I also complained that locations such as Rigel X, the Suliban station, the corridors of Enterprise, the decontamination chamber and Qo'noS were excessively dark. That was before darkness became the visual standard on Discovery and Picard. Likewise, I disliked some of the more overtly "scary" moments, such as the Suliban infiltration scenes. These work considerably better for me today.

"Broken Bow" introduces a number of new alien species, all of which we never see again in later centuries - well, with the exception of some Denobulans in Lower Decks. It's also one of those "historical event" stories that a series can realistically afford only once or twice per season. The pilot is filled with firsts: first contact with the Klingons and Suliban, the launch of the first Warp 5 ship, the first phase pistols, the first transporter use, and more. In 2001, and still to some extent in 2026, I found it slightly frustrating that so much supposedly new material was introduced all at once. In this accumulation, it tends to weaken rather than strengthen continuity.

"Broken Bow" also confirmed my concern that Enterprise would portray "Americans in space" rather than a united humanity exploring the unknown together. Almost everything about the series, from the characters and locations to customs and attitudes, is designed as distinctly American. The only notable exceptions are the Amazon University and Malcolm Reed's British accent. This raises the question of why the organization is called Starfleet rather than something like "US Space Navy", since the rest of humanity has to stay at home anyway. Even the otherwise excellent opening credits display a pronounced American bias in their depiction of human achievements, with the exception of the H.M.S. Enterprize.

I'm still a sucker for the Enterprise opening credits. When I first watched "Broken Bow", I rewound the media player several times just to see them again. I understand that not everyone would immediately embrace a Rod Stewart song (performed by Russell Watson here) instead of a traditional orchestral theme, or a montage of exploration history instead of purely space-oriented imagery. Nevertheless, it is strange that, immediately after "Broken Bow" aired, so many fans were annoyed by the title song and demanded it to be replaced by a new theme, or at least an instrumental version, as if this were the most important issue about the series, rather than the setting, stories or canon concerns. In my view, despite or just because of the lyrics that fit perfectly, Enterprise couldn't have a better title theme.

"Let's go!" - "Broken Bow" depicts an adolescent humanity venturing into deep space while being critically monitored by its Vulcan mentor civilization. It is enjoyable to witness this historical milestone, much as it was to watch Cochrane's first warp flight in "Star Trek: First Contact". The pilot also demonstrates how the crew make mistakes, how their technology falls short of their expectations and how their judgments are sometimes clouded by prejudice. Unfortunately, although these themes would have worked perfectly well if they had simply been shown rather than repeatedly explained, they are overshadowed by the obtrusive human-Vulcan conflict, which at times seems more important than the mission itself. Instead of yet another action sequence or yet another argument, the episode might have benefited from scenes showing more of how the ship operates, or perhaps a small subplot for underused characters such as Mayweather or Reed. Despite its weaknesses, however, "Broken Bow" has become something of a classic.

Annotations

Rating: 8

 

Fight or Flight

Synopsis

"Fight or Flight"

May 6th, 2151: The crew is growing bored after two weeks without encountering any intelligent life. Hoshi Sato is concerned about an alien slug they picked up on a planet, which is not doing well in its new environment. Malcolm Reed uses the downtime to work on calibrating the targeting scanners for the ship's spatial torpedoes, but without success. The sensors then detect an alien vessel adrift in space. When hails go unanswered, Archer decides to investigate despite T'Pol's objections. He, Reed and Sato take a shuttlepod to the ship and discover its crew dead, their bodies connected to a network of strange pumps. Since there is nothing they can do for the victims, Archer follows T'Pol's advice and resumes the original course. Meanwhile, Hoshi begins to doubt whether she is suited for the hardships of space exploration and considers resigning from Starfleet. As Enterprise gets underway again, Archer changes his mind. He feels he owes it to the dead crew to find out who they were and who killed them. Enterprise reverses course, and Archer returns to the alien vessel, this time accompanied by Phlox, Tucker and Sato. Phlox determines that the crew were murdered for the triglobulin extracted from their bodies. Hoshi manages to decipher the basics of the aliens' language and sends out a distress call. Shortly afterward, the unknown attackers return with a massive ship. The shuttlepod barely makes it back into Enterprise's launch bay before the enemy opens fire, disabling the warp drive. It soon becomes clear that the attackers have identified Enterprise as their next source of victims. Reed's torpedoes prove ineffective against the larger vessel. A second ship arrives, one with a configuration similar to that of the derelict vessel and evidently responding to Hoshi's distress call. Its captain initially misunderstands the translation matrix, prompting Archer to ask Hoshi to speak directly with him, despite her limited knowledge of the language. She eventually succeeds in communicating the situation, and the alien captain attacks and destroys the hostile ship. Together with the friendly aliens, the Axanar, the Enterprise crew recovers the bodies of the victims. Phlox and Hoshi also manage to find a new home for "Sluggo".

Review

When they announced the series in 2001, Berman and Braga promised that Enterprise would show us the dawn of space exploration, a "developmental stage" in Starfleet history. If that was the goal, they had to reconsider the formulas of Voyager and approach familiar story concepts differently. "Fight or Flight" accomplishes this clearly better than most episodes of the series. It presents the crew as inexperienced and uncertain. They make mistakes and second-guess themselves. They also can't rely on the advanced technology of the TNG era. The concept works remarkably well here. In a sense, "Fight or Flight" justifies the very existence of the series. If you are going to make a prequel, it should feel different from what came before. Nobody needs stories that are merely recycled from Voyager. Unfortunately, a number of those would still follow in the first two seasons.

Where "Broken Bow" took the human-Vulcan conflict too far, however, "Fight or Flight" emphasizes human weakness and uncertainty too much. Reed's late reaction when the torpedo he fired is looping back toward his own ship is still amusing, but it also makes him look rather incompetent. Archer becomes increasingly agitated after leaving the alien corpses behind and begins to direct his frustration at T'Pol and Tucker for circumstances they cannot possibly change. I understand his motivation. He feels guilty about abandoning the victims, wants to do the right thing and needs some sort of confirmation. Still, there is a fine line between leadership and pressuring others into agreeing with him. On the other hand, this leads to one of the episode's strongest moments, quite literally a turning point, when Archer orders Enterprise to reverse course. He commits himself to a course of action that will define his command style and, in many ways, the future philosophy of Starfleet.

Then there is Hoshi. On the one hand, she is terrified by the sight of the corpses hanging from the ceiling of the alien vessel. On the other hand, she generally doubts her ability to cope with the hardships of deep-space exploration and is uncomfortable wearing a spacesuit. I already mentioned in my review of "Broken Bow" that Hoshi feels particularly human because of her vulnerabilities. In "Fight or Flight", however, the accumulation of insecurities is almost excessive. By the end of the episode she gains confidence after establishing communication with the Axanar, something neither Enterprise's technology nor anyone else aboard could have accomplished. Yet this achievement concerns linguistics, which is her core competence anyway. It doesn't suddenly make her less fearful of danger or the unfamiliar environment of deep space. Her development is believable, but perhaps a little too fast.

Nevertheless, "Fight or Flight" is an uplifting and heartening episode. It demonstrates the values that make Star Trek special, just because the characters have not fully embraced them yet. Hoshi experiences meaningful growth. Archer makes an important decision, one that eventually becomes part of Starfleet's philosophy - "we care". The episode also depicts the first successful contact with an alien species under difficult circumstances. I wouldn't have minded learning a little more about the Axanar, but leaving the rest to our imagination is acceptable.

As an early episode, "Fight or Flight" benefits greatly from the fact that the "space rookies" premise is still fresh and used to its fullest advantage. At the same time, it becomes clear that the series cannot rely on this forever. The crew must gradually gain confidence, experience and routine. Once again there are numerous horror elements, and once again they work reasonably well because they serve the story rather than merely to frighten the audience. Even so, Enterprise should not have continued down that path. Too often, horror would be used as a substitute for meaningful story development. So "Fight or Flight" is an excellent example of how to use the basic premise of the series effectively, but it should not be overrated as a template for the show.

One aspect I particularly like is the fact that Enterprise spends two weeks without encountering any intelligent life. Admittedly, this raises the question how thats fit with the claim in "Broken Bow" that Qo'noS is only four days away. And Rigel X even less. Still, when I first watched "Fight or Flight", I appreciated the implication that space is vast and sparsely populated. I thought the series might maintain a degree of realism by not encountering an inhabited planet every week. Reality turned out somewhat differently. At least, gross violations such as instantaneous interstellar travel will remain rare.

The episode also features several pieces of technology that feel refreshingly realistic. There is the docking arm that physically pulls the shuttlepod into the launch bay, the well-designed environmental suits, and above all the difficulty of opening the hatch on the alien vessel. Earlier Star Trek series generally assumed that docking ports throughout the galaxy were somehow standardized and universally compatible.

Annotations

Rating: 7

 

Strange New World

Synopsis

"Strange New World"

Date not given: Enterprise arrives at a beautiful Earth-like planet covered with lush vegetation. T'Pol recommends following standard procedures and conducting a probe survey before anyone lands on the surface. Archer, however, decides to lead an away team personally. Accompanied by T'Pol, Tucker, Mayweather, Cutler, Novakovich and Porthos, he lands on the planet to begin the exploration. After Archer and Porthos return to Enterprise aboard the shuttle, the rest of the team remains on the surface overnight. When a storm forces them to seek shelter in a cave, strange things begin to happen. The crew members start seeing people, creatures and even moving rocks. Novakovich becomes so terrified that he flees the cave and disappears, leaving the others unable to locate him. Meanwhile, Archer attempts unsuccessfully to land the shuttlepod through the worsening storm. Eventually, Novakovich is beamed back to Enterprise, but a malfunction causes plant material to become embedded in his skin. Fortunately, Phlox is able to treat the physical injuries. He also determines that Novakovich's hallucinations were caused by tropolisine, a psychotropic compound naturally present on the planet, and initially concludes that the effects will wear off within a few hours. What Phlox fails to realize is that the compound breaks down into a toxic substance. As Novakovich's condition rapidly deteriorates, Phlox works to develop a cure based on inaprovaline injections. Time is running out to save the landing party, not only because of the poisoning but also because the situation escalates. Convinced that T'Pol is conspiring with alien lifeforms on the planet, Tucker pulls a phase pistol on her. In a desperate attempt to defuse the situation, Archer pretends that Tucker's delusion is true. He claims that the mission is a classified operation to establish contact with a silicon-based lifeform known only to T'Pol, but insists that Tucker must lower his weapon so she can communicate with the "rock people". The ruse works. As soon as Tucker lowers his guard, T'Pol stuns him. She then retrieves the antidote that has been beamed down and administers it to the affected crew members, saving their lives. Novakovich eventually recovers as well.

Review

"Strange New World" has a promising start. Enterprise arrives in orbit of a beautiful planet, the eponymous strange new world. It feels as if the episode could continue along the lines of "Fight or Flight", exploring the unknown through the eyes of an inexperienced crew equipped with comparatively primitive technology. At this point, I don't even mind another argument between Archer and T'Pol. She, of course, wants to follow protocol and conduct a survey with probes. He, of course, wants to take a shuttlepod down and be the first one to set foot on the planet. Well, Porthos will beat him to it. The setup is engaging, and for a while we are left wondering what surprising discoveries await the crew and how they will deal with them.

After about nine minutes of pleasant anticipation and lighthearted banter, however, we get a taste of the direction the story will actually take. Around a campfire, Mayweather shares a ghost story. And really, though unrelated and harmless in itself, this sets the tone for what will follow: a violent storm, a creepy cave and eventually unsettling hallucinations - ghosts. The crew begin seeing all sorts of apparitions, from people to mysterious rock creatures. The explanation is alien pollen. Unfortunately, the effects don't stop here. The affected crew members also lose their grip on reality. Novakovich flees in terror. Tucker completely freaks out and spends the rest of the episode threatening T'Pol with a phase pistol. Meanwhile, T'Pol, much like Spock in the days of TOS, remains largely immune and ultimately saves the day. The logic behind it is sound enough, but do we really need to revisit these old stereotypes once again?

There is remarkably little that stays with me after the episode is over. Tucker pointing a weapon at T'Pol for like half of the time is more exasperating than suspenseful. There is almost no character development because none of the affected crew members are acting of their own free will. Or are they? Tucker's resentment toward the Vulcans resurfaces vehemently once the hallucinations take hold. One could argue that the psychotropic compound only reinforces a sentiment that is already in him. Perhaps he secretly wants to harm the Vulcan who keeps patronizing him? But does it really matter? Hallucinations and paranoia of real-life patients don't make sense, and stories built around them often suffer from the same problem. I don't dislike the concept in principle. There are excellent stories about delusions in Star Trek. TNG: "Frame of Mind" remains one of the franchise's most effective explorations of a character questioning his own sanity. "Strange New World", by contrast, is more about exploiting the situation for easy thrills than about examining the characters themselves. It's an example of how not to approach this type of story.

Speaking of exploitation, the horror elements are technically well executed. The eerie creatures and the moving rocks look convincing. The problem is that they feel largely unmotivated within the narrative. They are exactly the sort of thing I mentioned in last week's review: horror effects and jump scares used as a substitute for genuine story development. Instead of learning something interesting about the planet, the crew or the larger setting, we spend much of the episode watching people lose their minds in increasingly dramatic ways.

One redeeming quality of "Strange New World" is that it is the first episode to involve crew members other than the lead officers. Cutler and Novakovich get quite a bit of screen time. For a while, I was concerned that Novakovich would become the series' first redshirt, dying solely to demonstrate how dangerous the planet is for the main characters. Fortunately, the story avoids at least this one cliché.

Annotations

Rating: 3

 

Unexpected

Synopsis

"Unexpected"

Date not given: Systems begin to malfunction across Enterprise. Artificial gravity fails while Archer is taking a shower, T'Pol's carbonated water turns into syrup and eventually the engines fail. The cause turns out to be a cloaked Xyrillian vessel hiding in Enterprise's warp wake behind the nacelles. After making contact, Archer sends Trip Tucker to help repair the aliens' damaged engines. Struggling to adapt to their unusual environment, Tucker is ready to give up until Archer encourages him to follow the Xyrillian captain's advice and simply get some sleep. The remedy works. Tucker teams up with engineer Ah'len to fix the engines. He later explores a holographic simulation chamber with her, where they perform a ritual involving a bowl of pebbles that telepathically links them. Back aboard Enterprise, after the ships have parted ways, Dr. Phlox discovers an unusual growth on Tucker's arm and delivers a startling diagnosis: Trip is pregnant. It must have happened during the telepathic bond. While Tucker is less than thrilled, Archer sets out to find the Xyrillian ship again. They eventually locate it hiding behind the nacelles of a Klingon battlecruiser. When the Klingons immediately attack Enterprise, Archer asks them to hear him out and imprudently reveals the Xyrillians' presence. The Klingon captain intends to kill them, upon which T'Pol appeals to their honor and argues that they owe Archer a favor after his role in exposing a plot against the Empire. The captain relents only after learning that the Xyrillians possess holographic technology of considerable interest. When the Klingons insist on examining the ship alone, Tucker is forced to reveal his pregnancy, much to their amusement. In the end, the Klingons acquire access to the holographic technology, while the Xyrillians transfer the embryo from Tucker to a Xyrillian male, as the species' men are the ones who carry children.

Review

A lot has happened in the real world since "Unexpected" first aired 25 years ago. In my original 2001 review, I joked about the idea of a male pregnancy and objected that Arnold Schwarzenegger beat Trip to it. Today, that part of the story may not land with everyone any more, given that in some countries a pregnant person can legally be recognized as a man. Even so, I still find the premise amusing. What has changed more is my opinion of the course of the episode. Today, I appreciate the serious first half far more. Like "Fight or Flight", it is about a crew venturing into the unknown and encountering a truly alien civilization. It captures what Star Trek has always been about, as seen through the lens of Enterprise as a prequel. I find Trip's whole visit to the Xyrillian ship captivating. The atmosphere in the airlock is mysterious and slightly unsettling. When he enters the bridge, he struggles to breathe normally. In light of his continuing difficulty to adapt to the aliens' environmental conditions, he is ready to give up. It is a display of human weakness that 24th century Star Trek perhaps showed too little of. Archer's advice to simply take a nap and see what happens feels refreshingly human as well, and it works.

25 years ago, I criticized aspects of this storyline. For instance, why doesn't Trip simply take a spacesuit? Looking back, I think the hardship is worth showing because it emphasizes how alien the Xyrillians really are. Their ship is wonderfully strange. Food grows on the walls, their technology feels unfamiliar, and their scaly appearance is genuinely different from most Star Trek aliens. Up until Trip returns to Enterprise, the story is quietly charming. It is not particularly exciting, but it is warm and engaging as Trip gradually builds a connection with the Xyrillians, especially the likable engineer Ah'len.

Then comes the second half, and the comedy begins with Phlox's diagnosis that the strange growth on Trip's arm is - a nipple. As I mentioned, the humor still works for me. What I like less today is the abrupt tonal shift. The episode begins as a serious first contact story about the challenges of dealing with a truly alien species. Then, without warning, it turns into a comedy about nipples, mood swings, covering up a baby belly and eventually Klingons laughing at the sight of Trip's condition. The problem is not that these scenes are unfunny. Rather, the entire second half is built around an extended joke of male pregnancy. The moment in which Trip reveals his condition to the Klingons of all people still gets a laugh, but today it no longer feels like a particularly satisfying conclusion to the stronger story that came before it.

If I were to rate them separately, I would give the first half eight points and the second half four. That still leaves "Unexpected" at six points on average, exactly where I placed it 25 years ago. It remains a decent episode and, for the most part, a heartwarming one.

One complaint, however, is the same as it was back then: T'Pol's reaction to Trip's condition. Rather than giving him the benefit of the doubt, she immediately assumes he had sex with a Xyrillian female, with his predicament being his own fault. Her attitude comes across as unnecessarily harsh and dismissive. A little more tact would have been appropriate.

As for the two anachronisms, they bother me less than they once did. The appearance of a Klingon K't'inga-class battlecruiser, a design that would still be in service two centuries later, has long been explained by production realities. The intention was reportedly to use a less advanced vessel design that was not completed in time. Likewise, the idea that the Klingons gain access to holographic technology two hundred years before the Federation may be rationalized. Technologies can be forgotten, abandoned, classified, or they simply fail to spread beyond a limited context.

Annotations

Rating: 6

 

Terra Nova

Synopsis

"Terra Nova"

Date not given: Enterprise arrives at Terra Nova, Earth's earliest extrasolar colony. Contact with the settlement was lost 70 years ago, and Enterprise is the first ship sent to investigate what became of the colonists. Archer, Mayweather, Reed and T'Pol take a shuttle to the surface. They discover that the colony is abandoned. There are traces of radioactivity. When a mysterious figure appears, the landing party follows them into a cave system. The encounter ends badly when unseen attackers open fire with machine guns, wounding Reed's leg and forcing the rest of the team to retreat. T'Pol tells Archer that, according to her sensor readings, the attackers are not alien but human - obviously descendants of the original colonists. Determined to free Reed, Archer returns to the surface with Phlox and makes contact with the attackers, who now call themselves Novans. Reed is alive and being held by them. Phlox also examines the Novans and finds that one of them, an old woman named Nadet, is suffering from lung cancer. She agrees to be treated aboard Enterprise along with her son Jamin, under the condition that Reed has to stay behind as a hostage. While on the ship, Phlox cures her illness and discovers that the Novans' water supply is contaminated. Enterprise's records also reveal that Nadet is actually Bernadette, the daughter of one of the settler families. 70 years earlier, an asteroid impact caused the radioactive contamination. The adults perished, while the surviving children took refuge underground. Remembering only a bitter dispute between the colony and Earth that preceded the disaster, they came to believe Earth had deliberately attacked them. Archer concludes that the Novans may need to return to Earth, even against their wishes. T'Pol argues that they have developed their own culture and should decide their future for themselves. When Archer returns Nadet and Jamin to the surface, their shuttle crashes into a cave system. After escaping the wreckage, Archer and Jamin work together to rescue an injured Novan, strengthening the fragile trust between the two groups. In the end, Nadet convinces her people to accept relocation to caves in Terra Nova's safer southern hemisphere. With access to caves and clean water but also reduced radiation levels, the Novans can preserve their way of life with the option of returning to the surface some day.

Review

"Terra Nova" shares a surprising number of similarities with "Strange New World". Both episodes begin with what appears to be a paradise waiting for human settlement, only for that paradise to turn out toxic. In both stories, caves provide shelter and serve as the setting for much of the action. Both involve hostage situations. And in both cases, the worlds are ultimately abandoned as candidates for human colonization. The idea of a poisonous paradise, of course, has a long history in Star Trek, dating all the way back to TOS: "This Side of Paradise". Still, I find it unfortunate that a variation of the same theme appears in two of Enterprise's first five episodes. The story also bears an uncanny resemblance to VOY: "Friendship One", which already showed us how a society survived underground on a poisoned world, took hostages and blamed humanity for its suffering. It also traced the predicament back to an early deep space mission gone wrong. The only major difference is that the victims in the VOY episode were aliens, rather than human settlers. In a broader context, the notion that humanity's 21st century interstellar ventures all ended in catastrophe is a recurring and rather depressing theme in Star Trek, with some more examples still to come.

Returning to the comparison with "Strange New World": despite its many flaws, that episode derived most of its suspense from a single confrontation that remained consistent throughout the story. Once Trip pointed a phase pistol at T'Pol, the situation stayed tense until the resolution. "Terra Nova" takes the opposite approach. Instead of developing one strong central conflict and exploring how the characters deal with it, it piles on revelation after revelation and twist after twist, all designed to make the plot work. Take the aspect that the Novans believe Earth attacked them. The episode constructs an increasingly elaborate chain of events to make that misunderstanding plausible. It then introduces several further complications in the present to force cooperation between the Novans and the Enterprise crew. The shuttle crash and the rescue of the injured Novan are particularly contrived examples. Rather than emerging naturally from the characters and circumstances, much of the story feels engineered to justify the backstory and push the plot toward a predetermined conclusion.

The depiction of the Novans is another weak point. They present themselves almost as an alien species, yet they are simply descendants of human settlers with painted faces. They should have realized long ago that they are human and share a common origin with the people from Earth. The episode attempts to explain their false beliefs through misinterpretation, isolation and lost history, but the result never becomes entirely convincing. Even the eventual reconciliation feels less like a logical realization on the Novans' part and more like the result of the writers introducing one plot device after another until everyone arrives at the desired ending. The characters don't uncover the truth through their own reasoning.

The Prime Directive doesn't yet exist at this point in Star Trek history. In fact, its earliest precursor will take shape in "Dear Doctor", a few episodes later. Since the Novans are human descendants rather than an alien civilization, the Prime Directive would not apply to them anyway. In that regard, the debate between Archer and T'Pol is one of the episode's more interesting elements. Yet I find their positions strangely inconsistent. At first, Archer is reluctant to relocate the Novans by force, while T'Pol seems to advocate intervention. Later, when Archer argues that the Novans should reconnect with their human heritage because it is their birthright, T'Pol suddenly becomes the one arguing for restraint because they should be given the chance to preserve their culture. The reversal is not adequately explained and makes their debate feel less coherent than it should.

Overall, I still find "Terra Nova" disappointing, but I raise my rating from two to three points. Although the episode is derivative, overengineered and often unconvincing, I do not think it is any worse than "Strange New World". That is hardly a compliment, however. Both episodes begin with solid premises and end up wasting much of their potential.

Annotations

Rating: 3

 

The Andorian Incident

Synopsis

"The Andorian Incident"

Date not given: Seeking a better understanding of Vulcan culture, Archer asks T'Pol to arrange a visit to the remote ancient monastery of P'Jem. Although reluctant, she agrees. Archer, Tucker and T'Pol travel there by shuttle, without being able to make prior contact as the monks reject modern technology. They are greeted by a Vulcan elder, who tells them it is a inappropriate time for a visit because the monks are in kolinahr. But something seems wrong. The monastery is in disarray, and the landing party catches sight of someone hiding from them. The intruders turn out to be Andorians, a species previously unknown to humans. Led by the fierce Shran, they take Archer's group hostage, just like the monks before them. Shran claims that the Vulcans are using the monastery as a cover for a secret surveillance station spying on the Andorians. Convinced that the "Pinkskins" are allied with the Vulcans, he repeatedly interrogates and assaults Archer, demanding information the captain simply does not possess. Archer wants to contact the ship, although T'Pol argues against a violent rescue attempt. Tucker manages to activate an old transmitter hidden within the monastery's catacombs and secretly contacts Enterprise, telling Reed to stand by. Archer, meanwhile, has discovered a secret passage that leads straight into the room where the Andorians are assembled. Using this advantage, a landing party led by Reed beams down and launches a surprise assault. The hostages overpower their guards, but Shran escapes to the catacombs. During a firefight, a hidden door is uncovered deep within the catacombs, revealing a vast surveillance complex concealed beneath the sacred site. The discovery proves that the Andorians' suspicions were correct. Archer provides Shran with evidence of the installation, allowing the Andorian commander to expose the deception.

Review

Ever since I considered revisiting my old Enterprise reviews, there were a couple of episodes whose ratings I firmly expected to raise. "The Andorian Incident" was one of them. Back in 2001, I seemed to be the only person who disliked the episode and gave it a measly two points. But my reasons were quite clear. First, it was the third hostage situation in only six episodes, and that premise was becoming repetitive. Second, Shran struck me as little more than a one-dimensional fanatic without much potential. Third, the episode presented the Andorians as violent and the Vulcans as deceitful, and ultimately argued that the latter somehow justified the former. I didn't accept that argument back then, and I was curious whether I would see things differently today. Over the years, I rewatched the episode a few times, but never with the intention of reassessing it in the broader context of Enterprise. This time, I was fully prepared to revise my opinion.

However, rather than jumping straight to the conclusion, it's worth looking at the story chronologically, which I neglected to do in my old review. The episode begins with Archer's desire to learn more about Vulcan culture. He asks T'Pol to arrange a visit to the ancient monastery on P'Jem. The trip isn't intended as shore leave for the crew but as an opportunity for Archer and Tucker to gain a deeper understanding of the people who, in their view, have been guiding and frustrating humanity in equal measure. Once they arrive, they discover that something is wrong. The monastery is in disarray and the Vulcan elder attempts to maintain the illusion that the monks are peacefully engaged in kolinahr. Archer keeps asking nagging questions, which is awkward because he behaves exactly like the insolent and nosy human T'Pol may have feared he would be. Anyway, it brings the truth to light. A group of Andorians has seized the monastery in search of a secret Vulcan listening post.

The Andorians are portrayed as obsessed. And they are violent, which is in line with how Shras describes his people in TOS: "Journey to Babel". Well, Archer and Tucker initially attack an intruder, but it is the Andorians who arrive armed, take hostages and repeatedly resort to force. Archer is beaten several times during the episode. Shran and his men are determined to locate the surveillance installation and are willing to hurt and kill to achieve their goal. Back in 2001, I viewed Shran as the leader of some extremist faction, essentially a terrorist. We now know that the Andorian Imperial Guard is the regular military of the Andorians. That realization actually makes the episode more troubling to me, not less. We're not looking at a rogue group conducting an unauthorized operation. It's effectively a military incursion into Vulcan territory.

Anyway, the core of the story, for most of the runtime, is the hostage situation and the question of how to resolve it. The plot is constructed in such a way that overwhelming the Andorians is difficult because calling for help is only possible via an old transmitter that may not even work and requires Tucker's engineering expertise. Also, we're told that a rescue team using the transporter would immediately be detected and shot. The second problem doesn't really work for me. There would be numerous places where Reed and his team could beam down without being discovered at once. Yet the episode treats this as an insurmountable obstacle and builds what it presents as a clever solution around it. Archer notices that three openings in the catacombs correspond to the eyes and mouth of a relief in the room where Shran and his men are stationed. He then allows himself to be beaten up yet again, only to drop a figurine through the mouth so Tucker can confirm that both locations are connected. In my view, it's a rather lame twist and an excuse for more violence, and to give Reed an opportunity to blow something up, in this case the face in the wall.

The episode eventually reveals that the Vulcans are indeed operating a covert listening post beneath the monastery. But I remain unconvinced that this discovery justifies the Andorians' actions. Does uncovering espionage legitimize an armed assault? Does it justify taking civilians as hostages? I don't think so. The story seems to assume that once the listening post is discovered, the Andorians are automatically exonerated. That is precisely the moral argument I rejected in 2001, and my opinion on it hasn't changed. I also find Archer's role in the resolution difficult to accept. By the end of the episode, he effectively sides with Shran and provides him with evidence of the secret installation. Archer has only just learned that the Andorians exist. He has virtually no understanding of Andorian-Vulcan relations, the relevant treaty obligations or the broader political situation. Yet he suddenly acts as though he is qualified to judge the dispute and determine that the Andorians have a right to the evidence. Perhaps he learned more off-screen, but the episode doesn't do enough to justify Archer's confidence in making such a consequential decision. Archer also ends up reinforcing his prejudices rather than gaining a better understanding of the Vulcans, which was the entire purpose of the visit in the first place. That makes the outcome even more depressing.

To be fair, there are several things the episode does well. Most notably, it introduces the redesigned Andorians. The animated antennae remain one of Enterprise's most impressive makeup achievements. While the added forehead ridges were probably unnecessary, the overall redesign is an excellent example of how to modernize a classic species while preserving visual continuity. The Enterprise makeup department deserves credit for getting the look exactly right. There is also Shran himself. Within this episode, I find him fairly one-dimensional, as already mentioned. He is memorable largely because Jeffrey Combs brings so much charisma to the role. The full potential of the character would only emerge in later appearances, making his introduction more significant in hindsight. The design of the Vulcan monastery is another strength. Both the exterior location and the interior sets create a distinctive atmosphere and help establish Vulcan culture as something ancient and spiritual. Visually, P'Jem is one of the most memorable locations of the first season.

"The Andorian Incident" is undeniably important to Enterprise. It introduces the updated Andorians, establishes Shran, expands the political landscape of the Alpha Quadrant and lays the groundwork for future stories. Many viewers would therefore argue that it deserves a respectable rating, perhaps six points or even more. I understand that argument, but I can't bring myself to raise the rating significantly. Despite its significance for the series, I still find it more repelling than compelling.

Annotations

Rating: 3

 

Breaking the Ice

Synopsis

"Breaking the Ice"

Date not given: Enterprise encounters a large comet with deposits of the rare mineral eisilium. Archer decides to investigate and take samples. A Vulcan vessel, the Ti'Mur commanded by Captain Vanik, is also present, with the intention to monitor Enterprise, rather than the comet. Archer invites Vanik to dinner in an attempt to improve relations. The meeting proves awkward, as Vanik shows no interest at all in socializing. On the comet, Reed and Mayweather plant explosive charges to reach the eisilium. The operation succeeds, but it also alters the comet's rotation, causing parts of the surface to turn toward the sun and become increasingly unstable. Meanwhile, Trip has discovered encrypted communications between T'Pol and the Vulcan ship. Suspecting that she may be secretly reporting on Enterprise, Archer authorizes him to decode the messages. When Trip learns that the correspondence is personal rather than official, he informs her that he knows about it. She is supposed to return to Vulcan for an arranged marriage, a decision that would require her to leave Enterprise permanently. Trip offers advice, encouraging her to make her own choice, but his distinctly human perspective is of limited comfort. On the comet, conditions rapidly deteriorate. Mayweather injures his leg, cracks begin spreading through the ice and their shuttlepod crashes through the surface. Archer orders to use the grappler to pull the shuttle free, but the attempt fails. Reluctant to accept assistance from Vanik, he wants to try it again. Ultimately, Trip and T'Pol convince him that pride is a luxury he cannot afford. The Vulcan ship uses its tractor beam to free the shuttlepod and rescue the stranded crewmen. T'Pol makes a decision about her future. Rather than returning to Vulcan, she chooses to remain aboard Enterprise.

Review

Just one week after "The Andorian Incident", Enterprise returns to the subject of human-Vulcan relations in "Breaking the Ice". That in itself is not a problem, but I find it unfortunate that the events of the previous episode are not referred to at all. Archer has just exposed a secret Vulcan listening post to the Andorians, an act that could easily have provided a compelling reason for the Vulcans to observe his every move, which isn't considered here.

Anyway, the episode opens with Enterprise investigating a massive comet, larger than any ever observed by humans. Nearby is a Vulcan vessel commanded by Captain Vanik, whose presence quickly becomes a source of irritation. Rather than in the comet itself, the Vulcans seem to be interested solely in monitoring Enterprise and waiting for the human crew to make mistakes.

Archer invites Vanik to dinner, but the encounter is a disaster. The Vulcan captain has already eaten aboard his own ship, refuses to engage in conversation, shows no interest in a tour of Enterprise and rebuffs every attempt Archer makes to establish some kind of relationship. He is extremely dismissive, even by Vulcan standards. Of course, one could argue that Archer approaches the situation entirely from a human perspective and makes little effort to understand how a Vulcan might prefer to interact. Perhaps he should have consulted T'Pol beforehand or adjusted his expectations. Nevertheless, I can understand Archer's growing frustration. When Vanik explicitly states that he has no interest in humans, Archer's blunt demand to know how long the Vulcans intend to spy on his ship may be undiplomatic, but it is also understandable.

The central plot, at least in a superficial view, concerns Reed and Mayweather's mission to collect the rare mineral eisilium from the comet. In the process, they accidentally alter the comet's rotational axis, exposing the surface to sunlight. The ice begins to crack, their shuttle falls into a crevasse and they find themselves trapped beneath the surface. Yet the episode is not really about the action, which is only mildly thrilling anyway. Rather than that, the resolution carries a lesson for Archer. He prefers to solve the problem himself with Enterprise's grappler. When the attempt fails, he wants to try again rather than ask for help. Pride is clearly a factor. Only after considerable urging from both Trip and T'Pol he sets aside his stubbornness and accepts Vulcan assistance. Vanik saves the day, and Archer is forced to acknowledge that his determination to prove humanity's independence can sometimes become a liability. But I feel this realization is a bit thin as a takeaway.

The perhaps more interesting human-Vulcan storyline involves T'Pol and Trip. After Trip discovers and decodes a message that turns out to be private correspondence, he learns that she has been called back to Vulcan for an arranged marriage to a man named Koss. Feeling guilty about the invasion of her privacy, he attempts to apologize, but the conversation quickly turns into mutual reproaches. Trip cannot understand why she encrypted the message when unencrypted communications would not have been monitored or read by anyone aboard Enterprise. A little later, T'Pol confides in him, but only reluctantly. She even admits that he would not have been her first choice, but he is the only person aboard who knows about the situation. Trip's advice does not come from a Vulcan perspective. He offers a modern human viewpoint: decide what you want, not what others expect of you. It is a simple idea, but one that feels alien to T'Pol, so much that she initially dismisses it. By the end of the episode, however, she chooses to remain aboard Enterprise, suggesting that she has begun to consider her own desires as distinct from her obligations. I don't know whether she fundamentally changed her mind and whether Trip really had a decisive role. In any case, the story presents this as the moment when the ice begins to break between T'Pol and the crew, and especially between T'Pol and Trip. We know where that relationship will eventually lead.

"Breaking the Ice" also includes a delightful side story involving questions submitted by school kids on Earth. While not of further relevance to the main plot, these scenes add a charming touch. Archer eagerly answers the first question himself, explaining how the protein resequencer produces food. Another one concerns dating aboard the ship, prompting him to explain that relationships are permitted, though the limited space can make things complicated. When asked how humans communicate with alien species, Archer turns to Hoshi, who explains the universal translator and the occasions when she must step in personally. Then comes the most curious question of all: what happens when you flush the toilet? Because it is "an engineering question", Archer immediately turns to Trip, who suddenly realizes he is expected to answer. The moment is wonderfully played. He awkwardly pauses the recording and mutters about the "poop question" before trying to formulate a suitable explanation. It is difficult to imagine a TNG dialogue with the word "poop", which makes the scene feel refreshingly down-to-earth. Another question is directed at Phlox, who launches into a lengthy and enthusiastic discussion of germs in space. Archer eventually cuts him off before he can continue for several more minutes. While the interruption is amusing, I feel a little sorry for Phlox. It is not exactly polite.

I also enjoy the children's drawings shown at the beginning of the episode. In particular, I love the picture of T'Pol with oversized ears. The joke is mirrored later on the comet, where Reed and Mayweather build a snowman with Vulcan ears of its own. Small moments like these give the episode a good deal of charm.

Overall, "Breaking the Ice" is a bit mistimed just one week after "The Andorian Incident". It combines a straightforward adventure with meaningful character development. The comet plot reinforces the unfortunate theme of Vulcans patronizing humans, but both Archer and T'Pol take important steps to understand the other side, independently of each other. Combined with the humorous school kids subplot, the result is a fair episode, even if it never quite becomes a really good one.

Annotations

Rating: 5

 

Civilization

Synopsis

"Civilization"

July 31st, 2151: Enterprise discovers a Minshara-class planet with a population of roughly 500 million. There are no EM emissions, which points to it being a pre-warp civilization. However, T'Pol detects neutrino emissions that should not exist on a world at this stage of development. Archer decides to investigate. After Hoshi has learned enough of the local language to program the universal translator, she, Archer, Tucker and T'Pol travel to the surface in disguise. The inhabitants, known as the Akaali, are physically similar to humans, allowing the landing party to blend in with some make-up. They trace the neutrino emissions to an antiques shop. Archer and Tucker break into the building at night but don't get past the forcefield that protects the antimatter reactor. They are discovered by a woman named Riann, but T'Pol stuns her. The captain stays with Riann. He learns that she is an apothecary and has been conducting an investigation of her own. She suspects that the business owner, a man named Garos, caused a series of deaths through poisoning among the Akaali, among them her brother. The following day, the landing party finds out that Garos is an alien. In the night, Archer and Riann observe how suspicious deliveries are transferred into a shuttle using a tractor beam. They get into a fight with beam weapons with a man who turns out to be a reptilian alien. Archer finally has to reveal the truth to her: he is not from her world but from another planet. Using a security key taken from the unconscious alien, they gain access to the underground installation where Malurians mine a valuable veridium isotope and are using a chemical lubricant called tetracyanate 622, which is contaminating the water supply. As Archer and Riann attempt to shut down the reactor powering the installation, they trigger a security mechanism and become trapped inside the facility. Meanwhile, Enterprise comes under attack from a well-armed Malurian vessel that has been hiding on the far side of the planet. The crew devises a plan. Once Archer and Riann manage to deactivate the facility's forcefield, Enterprise transports the reactor into space and detonates it near the Malurian vessel, which also disables the ship. Before leaving, Archer asks Riann to keep the existence of extraterrestrial visitors a secret. She agrees, noting that no one would believe her anyway.

Review

"Civilization" is one of those Enterprise episodes that somehow fly under the radar. It is neither a fan favorite nor a failure. Looking back at my original review from 25 years ago, I think I underrated it. At the time, I regarded it as little more than a slight variation of a familiar Star Trek formula. Part of that impression came from the story's similarities to TNG: "Thine Own Self", in which Data inadvertently contaminated a pre-industrial society. Here, the contamination is calculated rather than accidental, but the parallels are hard to overlook. What I appreciate more today is the way the episode adapts those traditional themes to the setting of the 22nd century.

T'Pol warns Archer that simply visiting the underdeveloped planet carries risks for them. The Vulcans already have some sort of Prime Directive, humans don't. Archer is eager to investigate and make contact, while T'Pol is aware of the potential cultural consequences. In that sense, "Civilization" explores ideas that would become fundamental in later centuries, in a period when they are not yet fully developed. There are also some nice touches that emphasize we're in an early era. Before the landing party can visit the surface, Hoshi must spend time learning the local language of the city and program the universal translator. Phlox can be seen disguising Hoshi with what is quite literally make-up. The process is clearly less advanced than it would at the time of TNG. Phlox comes across as an in-universe version of Michael Westmore, carefully applying prosthetics before the mission can begin.

Once the story moves to the surface, however, some of my original criticisms remain. Much of the plot unfolds a little too conveniently. Archer and the others quickly encounter Riann, who already suspects that something is wrong with the shop. Together they identify the source of the contamination, obtain the key to the facility and eventually defeat the aliens responsible. The investigation proceeds smoothly but also a bit predictably. Archer's decision to reveal his true identity to Riann feels inevitable from a storytelling perspective. Had he maintained the deception, much of the emotional impact of the episode would have been lost. Still, it is another example of the plot taking a straightforward route to its destination.

I think the chemistry between Archer and Riann works well, and I wonder whether their romance should have been more in the focus of the narrative. One of my favorite moments comes when the universal translator fails, leaving Archer unable to understand a word Riann is saying. He has to gain time to fix the device, and so he kisses her. In the end, when Archer kisses Riann goodbye, she asks whether his universal translator is malfunctioning again. It is a funny callback and a fitting conclusion to their brief relationship. Moments like these give the episode a warmth that I didn't miss but somehow failed to appreciate when I first watched it. Looking back, I also find Riann herself more interesting than I once did. She is intelligent, curious and proactive.

At the same time, I still think the episode misses some opportunities. It could have explored the cultural implications of first contact in greater depth. It could have addressed the question at which point helping becomes inadmissible interference. The latter will happen for the first time just a couple of episodes later, and unfortunately in an awkwardly constructed and scientifically dubious story in ENT: "Dear Doctor".

All in all, "Civilization" is a good episode rather than a great one. It combines a detective story, an alien encounter, a little romance and some action, but it never fully develops any of those elements. Nevertheless, I now think it is considerably better than I gave it credit for in 2001, when I described the episode as one-dimensional. My rating rises from four points to six.

Annotations

Rating: 6

 

Fortunate Son

Synopsis

"Fortunate Son"

Date not given: Enterprise receives orders from Admiral Forrest to respond to a distress call from the ECS Fortunate, an Earth cargo ship. When Enterprise arrives, the freighter is damaged and surrounded by debris. Aboard the Fortunate, Archer's team is greeted by Matthew Ryan, the ship's first officer. Captain Keene was seriously injured when Nausicaan pirates boarded the ship, leaving Ryan in command. Phlox examines the captain and finds brain damage that will take time to heal. Ryan is defiant and insists that his crew can handle the situation without Starfleet assistance but eventually agrees to have the Fortunate's systems repaired and upgraded. As the repairs are almost finished, T'Pol detects a non-human lifesign aboard the freighter. It turns out Ryan has secretly taken one of the Nausicaan attackers prisoner and intends to use him to get past the defenses of the pirates responsible for the assault. Archer orders Tucker to remove everything newly installed on the Fortunate to force Ryan to cooperate. Ryan appears to give in and agrees to show Archer the prisoner. But he leads the Enterprise landing party into a different cargo pod, traps them inside, breaches the hull with an EM pistol, jettisons the pod and goes to warp. Enterprise must rescue Archer and his team before it can pursue the freighter. Obsessed with revenge, Ryan tracks the Nausicaans to an asteroid outpost where the ship that attacked the Fortunate is hiding. But there are also two other Nausicaan ships, so the Fortunate is outgunned. The Nausicaans board the Fortunate in an effort to recover their captured crewmate. Enterprise follows the freighter's warp trail and arrives in time to intervene. Archer attempts to negotiate, but the Nausicaans refuse to stand down. Reed fires spatial torpedoes to convince them, upon which the Nausicaans agree to leave if they get back their crewman. In the end, Mayweather, who is a "space boomer" himself, convinces Ryan that revenge will only lead to more bloodshed. Ryan releases the prisoner. After his recovery, Keene degrades him to able crewman, and the ships part ways.

Review

"Fortunate Son" is another pivotal episode in Enterprise's first season. Like "The Andorian Incident", it is essential for the worldbuilding. Like "Fight or Flight", it becomes very clear we are not in the 24th century yet. Space is vast and humanity's interstellar infrastructure is still in its infancy. Freighters spend years traveling between worlds at Warp 1.8, and an entire culture has developed around that way of life.

The episode is also notable because it finally gives Ensign Travis Mayweather something substantial to do. Up to this point, he has mostly remained in the background, but his experience growing up aboard a cargo ship becomes important in "Fortunate Son". Through his eyes, we get our first look at the "boomer" culture as it already existed before Starfleet began pushing deeper into space. Much of the episode's strength comes from the relationship between Mayweather and Matthew Ryan, the acting captain of the ECS Fortunate. Ryan is a man who has worked hard for his position and who shares many of Mayweather's experiences. The two men chat about life aboard freighters, including the art of turning nutri-paks into something edible.

We then learn that Ryan's parents were aboard another freighter, the North Star. He doesn't have to give Mayweather more details because it seems to be common knowledge that some kind of disaster, perhaps an accident but more likely an attack, claimed their lives, with Ryan himself being one of the survivors. This may help explain some of the anger he carries with him. After the revelation, it becomes clear that they have chosen very different paths. Mayweather joined Starfleet and embraced the future. Ryan stayed with the freighters and resents Mayweather for leaving what he considers his own people. Well, the ensign is trying a bit too hard to sell him on Starfleet life and on progress. Ryan, on the other hand, defiantly insists that warp 1.8 is enough for him. He would rather spend years traveling between worlds than make the same journey in months. From a logical perspective, this is absurd, but perhaps that is exactly how deeply rooted the freighter culture is.

The central conflict arises from the Nausicaan attack on the Fortunate, but it is not the one with the Nausicaans. With the captain injured, Ryan assumes command. He has taken one of the attackers prisoner, whom he hides on the ship. This is where the culture clash between the space boomer and Starfleet becomes an open conflict. Watching it today, I find myself a bit more sympathetic to Ryan than I was 25 years ago. Archer is appalled when he discovers the captive and immediately demands an explanation. Yet from Ryan's perspective, the situation is not so simple. He travels through a region of space where there is no law enforcement, no nearby Starfleet patrol and no one else who would protect his ship. Taking a prisoner after an unprovoked attack does not strike me as unreasonable. In fact, one could argue that he has every right to do so.

The real problem is that Ryan goes beyond self-defense and turns the situation into a quest for revenge. He deceives Archer, traps the Enterprise team in a cargo pod and pursues the Nausicaans on his own. At that point, he clearly crosses a line. What began as a desire to protect his people becomes a personal vendetta. Still, I think the episode benefits from allowing us to understand why Ryan acts the way he does. We sure can support Archer's position, and we have to after Ryan puts revenge above reason. But we also have to consider that Archer may be willing to repair Ryan's ship, but he has no intention of confronting and intimidating the Nausicaans before Ryan forces him to. To be clear, I'm not defending Ryan's actions. Revenge is not justice, and the episode is right to show the consequences of his actions. Nevertheless, I appreciate that the story allows room for his perspective rather than portraying him as a simple villain.

The resolution is that Mayweather finally reaches him. Ryan would not have listened to Archer. But he does listen to someone who comes from the same world he does. Despite Ryan's accusation that Mayweather abandoned his people, Mayweather is still one of them in many ways. Yet the scene is slightly contrived, as Ryan ultimately accepts arguments that are not really new and that he must have considered before. Even so, the emotional logic works because of who delivers them.

Beyond its themes, the episode is simply entertaining. It is exciting, meaningful and occasionally heartwarming. There is also a pleasant near-future charm to the depiction of humanity's early expansion into space. The freighters, the crews and their families and their way of life all contribute to making the setting feel distinct from later Star Trek.

One small disappointment comes during the climax. Enterprise confronts the Nausicaans, but the space battle happens off-screen. We hear about what is happening more than we actually see it. Whether this was a budget issue or a production decision, it leaves the final confrontation feeling somewhat less dramatic than it could have been.

Nevertheless, "Fortunate Son" remains one of the strongest episodes of the season. It expands the setting, develops Mayweather, presents a conflict with genuine moral complexity, and offers an interesting look at a part of humanity's spacefaring culture that later Star Trek largely leaves behind. I gave the episode seven points when it originally aired. Today, I raise that rating to eight.

Annotations

Rating: 8

 

Cold Front

Synopsis

"Cold Front"

Date not given: Suliban agent Silik receives a new assignment from the mysterious figure from the future. Meanwhile, Enterprise encounters a civilian vessel on the edge of a spectacular stellar nursery. Its captain, Fraddock, reluctantly agrees to Archer's request for contact. His passengers are pilgrims who have traveled there to witness eruptions known to them as the "Great Plume of Agosoria". The captain welcomes them aboard Enterprise, where they are given a tour of the ship, including engineering and sickbay. The ride closer to the stellar nursery gets bumpy because of plasma storms. Suddenly, an antimatter cascade begins spreading through the warp engine. The cascade, however, unexpectedly stops before it reaches the warp core, narrowly averting the destruction of the ship. Shortly afterward, one of his men named Daniels reveals a startling secret to Archer. He is not an ordinary crewman but a temporal agent from roughly 900 years in the future. Daniels explains that a Temporal Cold War is being fought in the 22nd century. While he himself can physically operate in this time, his opponent, the mysterious Future Guy, is from an earlier time and can only communicate with his agents as a holographic apparition. Daniels warns Archer that Silik is a danger, although it was him who anticipated and stopped the antimatter cascade. He also demonstrates technology from the future, including a device capable of monitoring events across time. Archer decides to believe him. He informs T'Pol and Tucker of Daniels' true identity and asks them to help locate Silik, who can alter his appearance. When the pilgrims return to Enterprise to observe the Great Plume of Agosoria, Silik appears in Archer's quarters and disables the captain. Daniels confronts Silik in engineering but gets shot and seems to die. Silik escapes. After regaining consciousness, the captain remembers a futuristic device Daniels had shown him, one that allows its user to pass through solid walls. Using it, he continues the pursuit and eventually follows Silik into the launch bay. Silik opens the bay doors, triggering an explosive decompression. Archer narrowly avoids being blown into space, while Silik escapes aboard a cell ship waiting outside Enterprise. With both Daniels and Silik gone, Enterprise is left with more questions than answers. Unsure what advanced technology Daniels may have left behind, Archer orders his quarters sealed.

Review

One thing Enterprise has done surprisingly well so far is establishing that we are in an earlier era of space exploration than in previous Star Trek series. The technology is mostly less advanced, the crew is less experienced, and although the NX-01 itself looks too sophisticated, the overall atmosphere feels distinctly different from the 24th century. Add to that Archer's and Tucker's frustrating relationship with the Vulcans (which sometimes gets frustrating for the viewers too), and the series has developed an identity of its own. To me, that is its greatest strength at this point.

Besides the theme of early space exploration, however, there is another storyline we have not heard about since the pilot: the Temporal Cold War. "Cold Front" brings it back into focus, but not very successfully in my view.

We learn very little about Silik or his benefactor. We still don't have the slightest idea what Future Guy is actually trying to achieve. Of course, that is partly the nature of timeline manipulation. Almost any action can later be justified as serving some larger purpose that the audience simply doesn't understand yet. The episode relies very comfortably on that advantage. In the pilot, Silik wanted Archer dead. Here, he apparently saves Enterprise by preventing the antimatter cascade from destroying the ship. Or does he? Perhaps he caused the crisis in the first place so he could stop it later. We simply don't know. Maybe everything makes perfect sense from the perspective of the future timeline. Maybe it doesn't. We are deliberately left in the dark.

That uncertainty also becomes Archer's dilemma. Should he trust Silik, who has just saved his ship? Or Daniels, who has spent a long time pretending to be an ordinary crewman before suddenly revealing that he comes from 900 years in the future? Archer ultimately sides with Daniels, perhaps because he is human, but objectively he has little reason to trust either of them. T'Pol and Trip are even more skeptical. Neither of them really believes Daniels' story about time travel, yet they follow Archer's orders and help him locate Silik anyway. There is actually quite a bit of potential for conflict here. The crew is confronted with implausible claims, conflicting loyalties and technology beyond their understanding. Yet surprisingly little is made of these opportunities.

By the end of the episode, Daniels appears to be dead while Silik escapes once again. There is no real conclusion. Looking back with the benefit of later episodes, I am not even convinced the writers themselves ever had a coherent explanation for what happens here and why. Daniels will eventually return, but whether it is literally the same Daniels or another version of him from a different point in the timeline hardly matters. This is ultimately my biggest problem with "Cold Front". The episode relies heavily on mystery. It wants the audience to wonder what is really happening, who is manipulating whom and what the future holds. But it has no intention to resolve anything - neither now nor in a future episode. The ominous music and the sealing of Daniels' quarters (with the clear prospect that this "Pandora's box" will be opened again) aim for an X-Files-like atmosphere. But that kind of storytelling doesn't work particularly well in Star Trek.

My favorite aspect of the episode has little to do with the Temporal Cold War. I really like the group of pilgrims visiting Enterprise and, in particular, Phlox's interaction with them. He does not share their beliefs, but he genuinely appreciates their spirituality and enjoys learning about their customs. It's a small subplot about intercultural bonding, yet its charm compensates a bit for the weaknesses of the main storyline.

Overall, the setting of "Cold Front" is appealing and the atmosphere works. But the central story takes too much pleasure in leaving questions unanswered while not exploring possible conflicts. After all the buildup, the payoff amounts to little more than Archer walking through a wall and surviving the explosive decompression of the launch bay. What remains is a rather thin plot wrapped in layers of mystery that ultimately lead nowhere.

Annotations

Rating: 4

 

Silent Enemy

Synopsis

"Silent Enemy"

September 1st, 2151: Enterprise deploys its second subspace amplifier, extending the ship's communication range with Starfleet. Shortly afterward, an unidentified alien vessel appears. The ship is impervious to scans, ignores all hails and vanishes as suddenly as it arrived. A short time later it returns, attacks Enterprise without warning, inflicts moderate damage and disappears again at warp. Realizing that Enterprise is outmatched, Archer decides to return to Jupiter Station to have the phase cannons installed. The ship had left spacedock ahead of schedule, before the new weapons were ready. Before Enterprise can reach the Sol system, however, the alien vessel attacks again. This time it disables the ship's main power and sends a boarding party aboard. The intruders perform invasive scans of two crewmen before withdrawing. Unable to contact the Vulcans for assistance and discovering that both deployed subspace amplifiers have apparently been destroyed by the attackers, Archer abandons his plan to return home. Instead, he orders Tucker and Reed to install the phase cannons themselves using the components already aboard Enterprise. Working around the clock, the engineering team successfully assembles the first two cannons. During a test firing, however, bypassing the power relays causes an overload. The shot triggers a massive explosion on the planetoid that serves as the target, and the power conduits have to be repaired. The alien ship returns once more and demands Enterprise's surrender. Archer refuses and orders the phase cannons fired. Their normal output has little effect, so he takes the risk of overloading them again despite the danger to Enterprise's own systems. The powerful blast takes down the enemy's shields, which allows to disable it with spatial torpedoes. Having successfully installed the phase cannons without returning to Jupiter Station, Enterprise resumes its mission and deploys another subspace amplifier, now much closer to Earth. Meanwhile, Malcolm Reed's birthday is approaching. Since he never shares personal details about himself, Hoshi Sato makes it her mission to discover his favorite food. After an elaborate investigation, she learns that Reed takes medication to counter an allergy to bromelin, an enzyme found in pineapples. To Reed's pleasant surprise, the senior crew celebrates his birthday with a pineapple cake.

Review

"Silent Enemy" is one of those episodes that I simply enjoy watching. If I judged it solely by my usual standards, I should probably like it much less. On paper, it is remarkably unoriginal.

Once again, Enterprise encounters creepy hostile aliens who refuse to communicate. They board the ship, remain anonymous and disappear without explanation. We never learn who they are, what they want or why they are interested in the crew. That immediately raises the question: why introduce yet another species instead of simply reusing the bodysucker aliens from "Fight or Flight"? Or, for that matter, why not the Suliban? They already infiltrated Enterprise in "Broken Bow" using very similar tactics. Instead, we get another mysterious species that never returns. From a storytelling perspective, that's rather unsatisfying. Yet the episode wisely uses the aliens only as a catalyst. The real story is not about them but about Enterprise itself.

For the first time, Archer becomes cautious and considers turning back. Throughout the season so far, he has consistently pushed farther into deep space, determined to prove to Starfleet Command, to his watchdog T'Pol and to himself what humanity can accomplish. Here, however, he reaches a different conclusion. Enterprise is not ready. The ship was launched before its phase cannons could be installed, and after encountering a clearly superior opponent, Archer decides the sensible course of action is to return to Jupiter Station and let the engineers complete the work. I like that decision because it shows a side of Archer we have not seen very often. He is willing to admit that the mission may have begun prematurely and, at times, even that he himself may not be ready.

He only changes his mind when the aliens attack repeatedly and retreat is no longer an option. Faced with having no other choice, Archer orders Reed, Tucker and their teams to install the phase cannons themselves. The crew rises to the challenge and succeeds. There is not a great deal of interpersonal conflict here, but there is meaningful character development. The story is about the crew growing into its role. By successfully completing a task they initially believed required Starfleet's specialists, they prove to themselves that they are capable of handling situations on their own. Even though we may criticize that their success ultimately comes in the form of a military victory, it is still an important confidence boost. For the first time since Enterprise left Earth, they win a battle through their own efforts.

The aliens themselves are little more than the "monsters of the week". But I don't mind that very much. They are dangerous, creepy and serve their purpose well, even if they remain completely unexplained.

The B-story is considerably lighter. Hoshi decides to find out Malcolm Reed's favorite food for his birthday, which is difficult as the armory officer keeps duty and private life strictly separate. Archer elevates this trivial investigation to a top priority, almost as if it were more important than Hoshi's actual duties. That is admittedly exaggerated. Malcolm's unwillingness to talk about personal matters, on the other hand, fits his character perfectly. He is socially awkward and reserved. He is not someone who easily confides in others. He is much more comfortable working alongside competent colleagues than forming close personal relationships.

One particularly amusing moment comes when Hoshi invites him to dinner in the hope of learning more about his food preferences. Reed completely misunderstands the situation and assumes she is asking him out. It is not laugh-out-loud funny, but it is a delightful character moment that highlights just how uncomfortable Reed is with social interactions and how determined Hoshi is to solve the little mystery.

Overall, "Silent Enemy" is a good episode. It may not address major themes or significantly change the course of the series beyond giving Enterprise its phase cannons, but it tells its straightforward story mostly well. It is entertaining and satisfying from beginning to end.

Annotations

Rating: 6

 

Dear Doctor

Synopsis

"Dear Doctor"

Date not given: Dr. Phlox is in a correspondence with Dr. Lucas, a human physician serving on Denobula as part of the Interspecies Medical Exchange. Through their exchanged voice messages, Phlox reflects on the challenges and rewards of living among humans. Enterprise encounters a sublight vessel less than one light year from a nearby inhabited planet. The crew discovers critically ill humanoids aboard and learns that they are Valakians, whose civilization is being devastated by a deadly disease. Archer agrees to help and takes Enterprise to their homeworld, where Phlox works alongside the planet's physicians in search of a cure. Phlox discovers that the illness is not infectious but a genetic defect inherited by every generation. Left untreated, it will drive the Valakians to extinction within two centuries. During his investigations, he also studies the Menk, a second humanoid species living peacefully alongside the Valakians but considered less intelligent and largely limited to menial work. The Menk are completely immune to the disease. Hoping their biology may provide the answer, Phlox visits a Menk village and collects scans and blood samples. At first, however, he fails to find a cure. Meanwhile, the Valakians ask Archer to share warp technology so they can seek help from other civilizations. Archer hesitates. Phlox eventually succeeds in developing a cure but comes to a startling conclusion. Because the disease is part of the Valakians' genetic makeup, he believes that allowing them to survive would interfere with the natural evolution of the two species. In his view, the Menk are destined to become the dominant civilization on the planet. He tells Archer that he will administer the cure if ordered to do so, but strongly advises against it. After much deliberation, Archer accepts the doctor's reasoning. Rather than giving the Valakians the cure, Enterprise provides them only with medication to relieve the symptoms of the disease, leaving the future of both species to take what Phlox believes is its natural course.

Review

"Dear Doctor" was among the Enterprise episodes I knew I would have to revisit with special attention to detail. It deals with unusually complex and unusually impactful questions of genetics, medicine, politics and ethics. It recommends itself as the philosophical foundation of what would become the familiar Prime Directive. Almost 25 years ago, I criticized the story heavily. I did not expect my opinion to change much, but I wanted to see whether hindsight and newly discovered aspects would alter my perspective. In a nutshell, my original criticism was twofold. First, "Dear Doctor" fundamentally misunderstands evolution. Phlox presents it as a predetermined process: one species has "bad genes" and is therefore meant to die out, while another has the "better" genes and is destined to inherit the planet. That's simply not how evolution works. Second, the episode presents Archer's decision as an early version of the Prime Directive. Yet if we compare the situation to what the Prime Directive actually means throughout Star Trek, the justification does not fit. The Valakians are not an isolated civilization that needs protection from outside influence. Quite the opposite: they have actively sought contact with other spacefaring species in the hope of finding help.

The beginning of the episode is lighthearted. It takes almost ten minutes before the Valakians even appear. Instead, we spend the opening act listening to Dr. Phlox's correspondence with Dr. Lucas on Denobula. The structure deliberately recalls "Data's Day", replacing Data's diary entries with Phlox's voice messages. I like this framing device, although we don't learn anything essentially new about our doctor. It reinforces Phlox's fascination with humanity and his habit of observing human behavior almost as a scientist studying an interesting experiment. Whether that curiosity translates into genuine empathy is another question, one I will return to later.

When the Valakians finally arrive, the story becomes more engaging. Their situation is desperate. Their people are dying in large numbers, hospitals are overflowing, and even the crew they sent into space is close to death. We also learn that Enterprise is not their first hope. They have already sought help from other species, including the M'Klexa and even the yet unknown Ferengi.

Phlox initially approaches the problem as a physician should. He searches tirelessly for a cure and discovers pretty soon that the illness is genetic rather than infectious. So far, everything makes sense. But about twenty minutes later, his argument is suddenly completely different, although the facts haven't changed. What first appeared to be a medical diagnosis becomes an ethical justification for doing nothing. Because the disease is genetic, Phlox now concludes that the Valakians are somehow supposed to become extinct while the Menk are destined to replace them. That leap simply does not follow. A genetic disorder isn't evidence of nature's intentions. Phlox effectively argues that evolution has a goal and that the Menk are genetically coded to become the dominant species. This is a crude misunderstanding of Darwinian evolution, which has no predetermined direction and certainly no moral purpose - unless we evoke a creator. Watching the episode today, this still strikes me just as strongly as it did 25 years ago.

Archer initially reacts exactly as I would expect. He is shocked by Phlox's conclusion. They came here to help, and now his chief medical officer argues that they should withhold a cure they are capable of providing. The captain says, "My compassion guides my judgment." Yet before long he reverses his position and accepts Phlox's reasoning. He merely provides the Valakians with medicine that eases their symptoms. That change of heart feels abrupt and insufficiently justified. To make the decision sound more profound (to the audience, rather than in-universe), Archer begins speaking in terms that conspicuously include the word "directive". But this is where the narrative loses me. The Prime Directive exists to prevent the Federation from interfering with other cultures that are not ready for the contact (just like the Mintakans in TNG: "Who Watches the Watchers"). In a broader sense, non-interference would apply to all alien civilizations that didn't seek contact or ask for help, be they warp-capable or not (just like the Malcorians in TNG: "First Contact" and perhaps even the Klingons in TNG: "Redemption I"). None of that applies here. The Valakians already know about alien civilizations. They have actively contacted them. Even though it is understandable Archer wouldn't give them the requested warp technology, refusing medical help is the opposite of what later Starfleet principles would require (maybe with the notable exception of TNG: "Homeward" that takes a similarly cold-hearted approach but where we may argue that it actually is governed by the Prime Directive). Calling this incident the birth of the Prime Directive simply does not hold up.

Regarding the "not playing god" argument, there is also Phlox's comparison with Earth's history, which gave me pause for a moment. He argues that if an advanced alien civilization had intervened to ensure that Neanderthals survived instead of Homo sapiens, history would have taken a different course. It sounds persuasive at first, but the analogy falls apart upon closer examination. Neanderthals did not disappear because they had "bad genes". Their extinction was almost certainly the result of environmental change, competition with Homo sapiens or a combination of many factors. It was not some built-in expiry date. The comparison therefore fails to support Phlox's argument. A more appropriate modern analogy might be the trolley problem. Is it morally acceptable to intervene and "switch the tracks" by saving the Valakians, even if that changes the future development of the Menk? My answer is clearly yes. The Menk are not being threatened with extinction. They are not significantly harmed if the Valakians survive. At most, they are denied what Phlox believes to be their "natural" destiny, a concept I reject in the first place. For that reason, I still cannot agree with the ethical conclusion the episode reaches.

There's one aspect of the episode that strikes me as cynical, and it is something I already pointed out in my original review. Phlox's entire argument rests on the idea that the Valakians' fate is "natural". They suffer from an inherited genetic defect, and because it is part of their evolutionary history, he concludes that they should not be saved. Their extinction, in his view, is simply nature taking its course. Now consider a thought experiment. Suppose the Valakians had caused their condition themselves. Perhaps through reckless genetic experiments, environmental pollution or even the aftermath of a nuclear war. In that case, would Phlox still argue that Enterprise should stand aside? I don't think he would. I suspect he would look for a cure, because the disease would no longer be seen as an inevitable part of evolution but as a preventable disaster. If that is true, then the episode creates a deeply troubling dichotomy. A civilization that is responsible for its own suffering deserves help, while one that is simply unlucky enough to inherit a genetic disorder does not. I realize this is not how the writers intended the story to be understood, and I am sure many fans disagree with this interpretation. But it follows logically from Phlox's reasoning. That has always struck me as the episode's most disturbing implication, and I still stand by that criticism today.

One additional detail struck me that I had never noticed before. The crew of Enterprise initially expresses surprise that the Menk even exist. The very idea that two intelligent species could evolve side by side on one planet seems unusual to them. In contrast, when Archer, T'Pol and Phlox meet the Valakian physician, he casually assumes that Archer and T'Pol may be two different species from the same world. To him, that is perfectly normal. This, in my view, becomes important later. When Phlox argues that the Menk are destined to replace the Valakians, he implies coexistence was not the natural way. The story never seriously addresses the alternative that both species might continue to develop together. Instead, it implicitly treats the disappearance of one of them as an imperative natural endpoint of evolution, providing a reason why the Valakians have "bad genes", and ultimately supporting a creator or "intelligent design". Looking at it today, "There can only be one" as a natural law adds another troubling layer to the story, one that I completely reject. Finally, I would like to add that many modern-day geneticists suggest that there may be no evolution in future humanity at all since we are dealing with a worldwide population of humans, as opposed to isolated groups and habitats. There may be no natural selection any longer that would favor certain traits under certain environmental conditions, as humans shape their environment, rather than vice versa. The same should apply to Valakians and Menk, and it makes the whole argument additionally pointless.

That said, "Dear Doctor" does have redeeming qualities, and I think I overlooked some of them in my original review. The framing device with Phlox's letters works well, and the Valakians and Menk themselves are likable and believable. Yet they are almost completely sidelined. The Valakians ask Enterprise for help, they are desperate to find a cure, and yet none of them emerges as a memorable character. I don't remember their names or any particularly meaningful moments involving them. They remain bystanders in their own tragedy. Instead, the episode focuses almost entirely on the Enterprise crew. Of course, this is meant to build toward the final ethical decision, but it comes at the expense of the people affected by it. The episode spends its first ten minutes on the lighthearted framing story with Phlox's letters rather than developing the Valakians. As much as I like those opening scenes, in hindsight they consume valuable screen time that could have been used to make the moral dilemma more personal. Imagine if one of the Valakians had formed a genuine friendship with a member of the Enterprise crew, or if we had learned more about the culture of the Menk beyond the realization that they are more intelligent than it initially seemed.

There is one point where I think I was too harsh in my original review. Back then I accused Phlox of playing with Ensign Cutler's feelings. Looking at it again, I no longer think that assessment was fair. In a sense, Cutler treats Phlox much like he treats humanity. She is fascinated by someone so different from herself. As mentioned in the episode itself, humans are naturally curious about the strange and the unknown. She is exploring an alien culture just as Phlox enjoys studying human behavior. The curiosity is mutual. Nor does she seem particularly heartbroken when Phlox tells her that he is already married to three wives, together with two other husbands. She appears to accept it with good humor. Perhaps friendship was all she wanted in the first place. On this point, I think I have to revise my earlier opinion.

I have also reconsidered my opinion of Phlox himself. 25 years ago I simply did not like him very much. Today I see him as a genuinely kind person whose scientific curiosity often shapes the way he approaches his human crewmates. He sometimes may be interested more in studying people than in the people themselves, but he is not cold or manipulative. He is simply fascinated by other cultures and species, sometimes to a fault. That makes him a more interesting character than I originally gave him credit for. There is only one aspect about Phlox that I dislike in "Dear Doctor", irrespective of his being wrong with his stance: He says, "I came very close to misjudging Jonathan Archer, but this incident has helped me gain a new respect for him." In other words, had Archer not changed his opinion in Phlox's favor, Phlox wouldn't respect him.

There is another aspect of the episode that I also appreciate more today. When Cutler observes that the Menk perform only menial labor while the Valakians occupy the key positions in society, she instinctively judges the situation from a human perspective and finds it unfair. Phlox, however, refuses to make that judgment. He says, "Their culture is different. It's their way." At first glance, this seems inconsistent with his later decision to withhold the cure from the Valakians. I saw it as a contradiction in 2002. I now think it fits his worldview remarkably well. I know I'm repeating myself, but Phlox consistently believes that he should not interfere with what he considers the natural course of another society. If the Valakians currently dominate the Menk, then that is simply how their civilization has developed. Likewise, if evolution now favors the Menk, he believes that this outcome should not be prevented either. As deeply flawed and oversimplified this understanding of Darwinian evolution is, at least his logic is internally consistent.

One thing I do miss, however, is hearing T'Pol's perspective. As the other alien member of the senior staff, she should have had something valuable to contribute to this debate. Yet Archer never asks for her opinion, nor does Phlox consult her. Instead, her main role in the episode is to offer Phlox rather awkward dating advice while he is treating her teeth. It is an amusing scene, but it feels like a missed opportunity. A Vulcan perspective on the ethical dilemma at the heart of the episode could have made the discussion considerably richer.

"Dear Doctor" could have become a classic. Its underlying intention is to tackle genuinely difficult ethical questions and to put Archer in a situation where there is no easy answer. The intended lesson is that humans should not "play god". But the more I think about it, the more this good intent falls apart because of bad science and flawed ethics. That inevitably pulls the episode down. I cannot give seven or eight points to a story that gets its own central message wrong. Even if we set aside the fact that Star Trek has never been particularly good at genetics and theory of evolution, the episode's ethical argument simply does not hold together. The second major problem is its supposed connection to the Prime Directive. I just do not see it. This is not a story about non-interference with an unaware or vulnerable civilization. The parallel to the Prime Directive is therefore forced, especially since earlier episodes this season, such as most notably "Civilization", already explored the idea of non-interference in a way that resembles the later Federation principle much more closely.

Summarizing, my overall opinion of "Dear Doctor" has changed comparably little over the past 25 years, although I see several details differently. There are still many things to like. As mentioned, I enjoy the lighthearted opening, the framing device with Phlox's letters and the interactions between the characters. But as ambitious as the story is, its flawed conclusion undermines what could otherwise have been one of Enterprise's strongest hours.

Annotations

Rating: 4

 

Sleeping Dogs

Synopsis

"Sleeping Dogs"

Date not given: Enterprise approaches a Class-9 gas giant that Archer wants to explore. The crew detects a disabled vessel slowly descending into the planet's dense atmosphere, where it will eventually be crushed by the enormous pressure. Reed, Hoshi and T'Pol take a shuttle to investigate. After docking, Hoshi identifies the writing aboard the ship it as Klingon. The landing party proceeds cautiously with phase pistols drawn. They find the entire crew unconscious, but are suddenly attacked by a Klingon woman. She steals the shuttle and leaves the three Starfleet officers stranded aboard the crippled vessel. As the shuttle flies past Enterprise without responding to hails, Archer orders it captured with the grappler. The Klingon woman, Bu'kaH, is subdued and taken to sickbay. Phlox determines that she and the rest of her crew are suffering from an infection they most likely contracted while raiding a Xarantine outpost. After receiving an antidote, Bu'kaH recovers, but she remains unwilling to cooperate with Archer. Meanwhile the Klingon ship continues to sink deeper into the gas giant's atmosphere. Contact with Reed, Hoshi and T'Pol is eventually lost. Archer makes a rescue attempt by taking Enterprise down, but the increasing pressure forces him to abort the mission. Aboard the Klingon ship, the stranded officers are unable to restart the engines. They use photon torpedoes to create shockwaves that might push the vessel back toward higher orbit. When the first attempts prove insufficient, Hoshi suggests firing all remaining torpedoes simultaneously. The combined explosion finally provides enough lift. Archer and Bu'kaH descend in a reinforced shuttlepod, dock with the Klingon vessel and help complete the repairs. The Klingon crew recovers, and their captain regains consciousness. Rather than thanking Enterprise for saving his ship and crew, however, he demands that Archer surrender his vessel. Archer calmly points out that the Klingons are in no condition to fight, with a heavily damaged ship and no torpedoes left. The two ships then part ways peacefully.

Review

"Sleeping Dogs" is essentially a straightforward action adventure: a ship in distress, an unexpected confrontation with aliens, rescuers who get into trouble themselves and a race against time. It is all reminiscent of what happened in "Fight or Flight" and has already become a familiar theme in Enterprise. This time, the aliens in distress happen to be Klingons, but the story is not really embedded in the larger context. At this point in the series, Archer's relationship with the Klingons is still ambiguous. He has encountered them twice before. In "Broken Bow", he arguably prevented a Klingon civil war, yet received little gratitude in return. In "Unexpected", he helped bring about a truce but also stood in the way of a Klingon captain's desire for revenge. None of that really matters here, though. The episode simply presents the Klingons as Klingons: proud, stubborn and unwilling to make friends. That is exactly what we would expect, irrespective of previous events.

There are a few small character moments worth noting. Hoshi is noticeably more confident than she was in a similar situation in "Fight or Flight", where she struggled with fear during a dangerous mission. This time, she even volunteers for the trip to the alien vessel, eager to make up for her previous weakness. It is a subtle reminder that the crew has grown over the course of the season, even if the episode does not make a major point of it.

Beyond that, there simply is not much to analyze. I like how we see the interior of the Klingon ship through the eyes of the 22nd century officers who are not yet familiar with the species. The plot is well paced, the action is entertaining and the various twists feel plausible. Everything fits together well enough. Perhaps the ending could have been a little more rewarding. It might have been nice if Bu'kaH had appeared again at the end, but her character was never developed beyond the initially reluctant cooperation she provided. On the other hand, the fact that the Klingons simply do not change is something I cannot really fault the episode for.

The small subplot about Reed's cold provides some comic relief. Throughout the mission, he is almost grateful that his blocked nose spares him the stench aboard the Klingon vessel. At the end of the episode, Reed, Hoshi and T'Pol linger in the decontamination chamber a little longer than necessary, quietly enjoying the complete absence of any smell. It is a simple but effective closing scene.

Like "Silent Enemy" only recently, "Sleeping Dogs" is content to tell a solid, self-contained adventure. It is not particularly ambitious, but it does exactly what it sets out to do, and it does it well. Sometimes that is enough.

Annotations

Rating: 6

 

Shadows of P'Jem

Synopsis

"Shadows of P'Jem"

Date not given: The Andorians have destroyed the monastery of P'Jem, which the Vulcans used to hide a listening post. Ambassador Soval complains to Admiral Forrest about Enterprise's role in exposing the hidden Vulcan installation and suspends Vulcan's joint fleet operations with Starfleet. Meanwhile, Archer prepares for a diplomatic visit to Coridan, intending to take Trip with him. Before departure, however, he learns that T'Pol has been recalled to Vulcan, apparently to take the blame for the P'Jem incident. Determined to support her, Archer changes his plans and asks T'Pol to join him. As their shuttlepod approaches the surface, it is attacked by a fighter craft and shot down. They are captured by Coridanite rebels, who oppose their government and accuse it of being nothing more than a puppet regime of the Vulcans. Aboard Enterprise, Trip receives the rebels' ransom demand: they will release the hostages in exchange for 40 phase pistols - but Enterprise carries only 15. At the same time, the Vulcan cruiser Ni'Var arrives under the command of Captain Sopek. He announces to launch an immediate assault on the yet unknown place where Archer and T'Pol are being held. Trip urges caution, but Sopek refuses to cooperate, and Enterprise begins its own rescue mission. Trip and Reed take a shuttlepod to the surface, to a place where they suspect the other shuttle could be located. Instead, they are captured themselves. The captors turn out to be Shran one other Andorian. Shran agrees to work with the Enterprise officers to rescue Archer and T'Pol. Back at the rebel camp, Archer and T'Pol have already made one unsuccessful escape attempt. Archer eventually discovers a small transmitter hidden in his meal, smuggled in by one of Shran's agents, informing him that help is on the way. As the Andorians infiltrate the camp with Trip and Reed, the Vulcans launch their own attack, triggering a firefight. Shran manages to free Archer and T'Pol, declaring that he has now repaid the debt he owes the captain for exposing the listening post. The rescue soon turns into another confrontation, now between Vulcans and Andorians. During the standoff, one of the wounded rebels grabs a rifle and fires at Captain Sopek. T'Pol instinctively jumps into the line of fire, taking the plasma blast intended for the Vulcan captain. Back aboard Enterprise, T'Pol receives medical treatment. Although her injuries are not life-threatening, Archer exaggerates their severity when speaking to Sopek and asks him to restore T'Pol's reputation by reporting that she was wounded while saving his life. Sopek says he will consider that. T'Pol eventually recovers and stays on Enterprise.

Review

I like how "Shadows of P'Jem" explores the political ramifications of "The Andorian Incident", the subsequent destruction of the P'Jem monastery and the Vulcan-Andorian conflict in general. Enterprise establishes another story arc, and in hindsight I appreciate that more than I did in 2002. At the time, I strongly disliked the previous episode because I felt it was not in the spirit of Star Trek. "Shadows of P'Jem" continues along the same path, but at least it acknowledges that Archer's actions have consequences instead of simply moving on to the next adventure.

The episode begins with Ambassador Soval and Admiral Forrest discussing the consequences of the P'Jem incident. Soval appears for the first time since "Broken Bow", but it will not be the last time he harshly criticizes Archer for his impulsiveness and tries to thwart Enterprise's mission, and perhaps human deep-space exploration in general. He blames Archer for exposing the Vulcan listening post, which ultimately led to the Andorians destroying the ancient monastery that served as a cover. While I don't share Soval's general opinion that humans are not ready and need to be supervised, I think he is right in this particular case. Archer had no prior knowledge of the conflict, and one could argue that he betrayed Earth's allies just because he quickly concluded that spying on a neighboring civilization was wrong. Perhaps he also unconsciously seized the opportunity to pay the Vulcans back, since he already disliked them. As Archer is a Starfleet officer and therefore beyond Vulcan jurisdiction, they cannot punish him directly. Instead, T'Pol becomes the convenient scapegoat and is ordered back to Vulcan.

So far, the political situation is handled well - even though, in hindsight, it becomes a repetitive pattern that T'Pol is threatened with being recalled to Vulcan, only to find a way to remain aboard Enterprise. This is already the third time in the series, and several more will follow.

Anyway, beyond this promising beginning, the story itself is fairly simple. Enterprise visits Coridan, a world previously mentioned in TOS: "Journey to Babel", where it would eventually seek admission to the Federation. Since Coridanites were never identified in that episode, Enterprise was free to establish their appearance. None of that matters here, though. The Coridanites themselves never play a role, and their planet merely serves as the stage for what is effectively a proxy conflict between Vulcan and Andoria. As interesting as that premise sounds, with its possible real-world parallels, the episode fails to develop it. Much of the running time is spent on the hostage situation - yes, yet another one. Archer and T'Pol are tied up together and, after a failed escape attempt, end up separated and restrained even more tightly. They discuss T'Pol's predicament as the chosen scapegoat, and Archer reassures her that she should not blame herself. If anyone is responsible for the diplomatic disaster, he argues, it is him. That is certainly honorable, but the conversation itself cannot solve anything. At most, he can reassure her of his support. T'Pol, in turn, sort of returns the favor by posing as the ship's captain and claiming that Archer is merely a steward, hoping to draw attention away from him. Her ruse is admirable, but it also leads nowhere, except for causing an amusing moment of confusion on Enterprise when the rebel refers to the hostages as "the captain and the steward".

Meanwhile, the Vulcans prepare a straightforward military assault, while Trip and Reed attempt a more cautious rescue mission of their own. The unexpected twist is the return of Shran. Jeffrey Combs is once again immensely entertaining, but I still find Shran rather one-dimensional at this stage of the series. In "The Andorian Incident", he was driven by his obsession with exposing the Vulcan listening post. Here, his defining motivation is repaying the debt he believes he owes Archer. That sense of liability remains an important aspect of his character throughout the series, so it is at least consistent. Still, I struggle with his decision to help. The Vulcans remain his enemies, and from his perspective the "Pinkskins" are still little more than Vulcan allies. The Coridan rebels are arguably much closer to serving Andorian interests than Enterprise is, as the enemy of his enemy. Without his desire to repay Archer, there is no reason for him to become involved.

The final confrontation also feels rather convenient. Tensions between the Vulcans and the Andorians are at their highest. Both are established as trigger-happy, yet instead of one side firing on the other and risking an outright disaster, one of the anonymous rebels conveniently grabs a weapon and shoots at Captain Sopek. T'Pol throws herself into the line of fire, saving the Vulcan captain and thereby restoring her own reputation. The conflict is resolved, or at least postponed, remarkably easily. A confrontation that has been building throughout the episode, and indeed ever since "The Andorian Incident", ultimately ends without either side having to make any drastic decisions.

I disliked that conclusion in 2002, and I haven't really changed my opinion. The episode deserves credit for continuing the political storyline and giving the first season a welcome sense of continuity. I can accept the Vulcan-Andorian conflict today. But after all the build-up and a mostly uneventful middle section, the resolution feels effortless and not particularly rewarding. "Shadows of P'Jem" is not as bad as I once thought, but I still don't find much more to appreciate today. My rating rises from one point to only two.

Annotations

Rating: 2

 

Shuttlepod One

Synopsis

"Shuttlepod One"

November 9th, 2151: Trip Tucker and Malcolm Reed are returning early from a survey mission in an asteroid field because their shuttlepod suffers multiple system failures. Their sensors, communications and navigation are down. When they arrive at the prearranged rendezvous point with Enterprise, there is no trace of the ship. Instead, they discover large amounts of debris, including Enterprise's launch bay door. With no functioning sensors to investigate further, they conclude that Enterprise has been destroyed. They don't know that in reality Enterprise rescued a Tesnian ship, and an accident happened when that ship approached Enterprise and rammed the launch door, upon which the alien ship crashed on the asteroid. Enterprise is now taking the Tesnians back to their homeworld. T'Pol suspects that micro-singularities caused the accident, but Archer dismisses the idea as little more than a Vulcan myth. Meanwhile, aboard the shuttlepod, Trip and Malcolm assess their situation. With only impulse engines, no navigation and no way to contact Enterprise or the nearest subspace amplifier, they have no realistic hope of reaching safety. Their air supply will last only ten days. The two officers cope with their predicament in very different ways. Malcolm begins recording farewell messages, believing it is better to face the inevitable with dignity. Trip refuses to give up hope and spends his time trying to repair the damaged systems. Their opposing attitudes soon lead to conflict. The situation becomes even worse when a micro-singularity punctures the shuttle's hull, including the oxygen tanks. Their remaining air supply drops to less than two days. They decide to shut down the heating to gain a little more time. Back aboard Enterprise, T'Pol confirms that the mysterious singularities are indeed real. Realizing that the shuttlepod lacks the protective hull plating of Enterprise, Archer becomes concerned for Tucker and Reed and finally attempts to contact them. By then, Trip has at least managed to repair the shuttlepod's receiver. They pick up Hoshi's call and learn that Enterprise is on its way, but will not arrive for another two days, too late to save them. As a desperate last resort, the two officers detonates the shuttlepod's impulse engines, creating a massive explosion that Enterprise detects from a distance. The ship changes course, locates the shuttle and rescues Tucker and Reed. Although both are suffering from severe hypothermia, they recover fully.

Review

"Shuttlepod One" is another review that probably won't win me friends. I know many fans appreciate the episode because of its character moments. It contrasts Malcolm Reed's fatalistic outlook with Trip Tucker's refusal to give up hope. Reed is determined to face death with dignity and be remembered the right way. Tucker wants to keep living and, if possible, fighting until the very last moment, rather than worrying about what he leaves behind.

That conflict is the heart of the episode. It is amusing at first and certainly reveals something about both characters. But after a while, it begins to wear thin. Trip and Malcolm keep having essentially the same argument over and over again while their situation steadily worsens. The dialogue varies, but the underlying conflict hardly develops. Yes, they come to some sort of common understanding, they eventually reconcile as we would expect in such a buddy episode, but the impact is lessened because it happens under the influence of alcohol and the freezing conditions. For me, there simply isn't enough story here. As well as Connor Trinneer and Dominic Keating play their roles, and as emotionally effective as some scenes are, it all eventually becomes repetitive and boring.

Malcolm and Trip also get into a Europe-versus-America argument while on the shuttle, before their situation turns desperate. I have criticized the American bias of the series before, but it becomes especially apparent when Trip claims that warp drive was built by Americans alone: "No Brits, no Italians, no Serbocroatians." Well, yes, it's consistent with the impression given in "Star Trek: First Contact", but it simply doesn't feel right. The writers view technological progress through an American lens, overlooking the international nature of scientific research, where major achievements are typically the result of collaboration across many nations rather than the work of one country alone. Trip's reference to "Serbocroatians" is particularly strange. It is presented as if it were the name of a people or nation, even though "Serbo-Croatian" historically referred only to a language. Not even when Yugoslavia still existed were its inhabitants known as "Serbocroatians". It also raises the questionable implication that Serbs and Croats would eventually merge into a single nation, while excluding Bosniaks altogether. It is a strange choice of words and an unnecessary historical and geographical blunder. Dear makers of Star Trek, please remember that there is a world outside the USA, and if you graciously choose to portray it, take the time to get it right.

The rest of the plot offers next to nothing. Enterprise rescues a group of Tesnians after an accident, which happens off-screen. Of course, this is meant to keep up the mystery for the audience for a couple of minutes after Tucker and Reed spot the debris and think Enterprise has been destroyed. There are only a handful of brief scenes aboard Enterprise establishing that the ship is taking the unseen guests of the T-Race home. Everything else, 95% of the episode, revolves around the predicament on the shuttlepod, which no one aboard Enterprise knows about.

That brings me to the episode's biggest issue. Let's recap the situation. Reed and Tucker are on a shuttle mission that was originally supposed to last longer than it does. Their sensors, communications and navigation systems fail, presumably because of the micro-singularities later identified by T'Pol. Unable to contact Enterprise, they return to the rendezvous point and discover wreckage, including Enterprise's launch bay door. Naturally, they conclude that Enterprise has been destroyed. Given the evidence available to them, every assumption they make is perfectly reasonable.

The problem lies on Enterprise's side. The crew knows Tucker and Reed are out there. After the accident, Archer decides to take the Tesnians home first because they don't expect the shuttlepod to return so early. Fair enough. Perhaps there are reasons why they cannot quickly retrieve the shuttle, which at this point may be 60 million kilometers away, as stated earlier. Perhaps they try to call them in vain off-screen but it was known in advance that communication would pose a problem because of interference in the region. The episode never explains this, but we can still speculate in favor of the crew of Enterprise at this point. What cannot be excused is what happens next. We learn that no one has even attempted to contact the two officers for days. Only after T'Pol confirms the existence of the dangerous micro-singularities does Archer suddenly order that they should check on the shuttle. So that is quite obviously the very first time anyone has even tried to hail them. This is an enormous plot hole. Of course the shuttle cannot respond because its comm array is damaged, but Enterprise has no way of knowing that. The crew simply never checks on Reed and Tucker, who are alone in a tiny spacecraft for days. Not once. I simply cannot accept that.

In the end, when Reed and Tucker are finally rescued, it feels as though Archer should apologize by saying, "Welcome back. Sorry we never bothered to check on how you were doing."

While I'm at it, let me address the other elephant in the room: Reed's dream sequence. He wakes in sickbay, and T'Pol suddenly appears affectionate and seductive, calling him a hero. I found it painfully awkward when I first watched the episode, and I still do. The whole scene is pure cringe. In hindsight, it almost foreshadows "A Night in Sickbay", where Archer has similarly embarrassing fantasies about T'Pol. Both moments feel less like character development and more like the writers indulging in wish fulfillment.

Overall, I dislike "Shuttlepod One" even a bit more than I did in 2002. I can appreciate what the episode is trying to achieve. It aims for an intimate character study rather than an action story. But the central conflict becomes repetitive, the premise depends on a massive lapse in logic and the dream sequence is simply embarrassing. For me, this remains one of the weakest episodes of Enterprise's first season.

Annotations

Rating: 2

 

Fusion

Synopsis

"Fusion"

Date not given: While charting the Arachnid Nebula, Enterprise encounters the Vulcan vessel Vahklas, whose crew have abandoned the practice of suppressing their emotions. One of them, Tolaris, develops an interest in T'Pol. He suggests, as an experiment, that she not meditate before going to sleep, after which she has an unsettling dream of living out her emotions in a night club called "Fusion". When Tolaris mind-melds with T'Pol, a technique that is unknown to most Vulcans, she collapses. Archer is upset. He provokes Tolaris to exhibit his violent nature, upon which the Vulcans are told to return to their ship.

Review

Well, the bothersome and pleasant aspects somehow cancel out each other here. Something that is particularly interesting, also with respect to the previous "Evil Vulcan" episodes, is how they are treated here. For once, we have some nice Vulcans, only to learn that they are actually outcasts, something like space hippies with pointed ears, totally untypical of their kind. Eventually, however, it is ironically the old order that prevails. Of all people, it is Archer, who is usually full of prejudices of the Vulcan establishment, who uncovers Tolaris's violent nature, thereby coming to the conclusion that T'Pol's and other Vulcans' mental discipline cannot be that bad after all. Not that they would grow more likable in his view (it might even reinforce his grudge against the species as a whole), but seeing the Vulcans that could have been he might also develop more respect for the way of living most of them have chosen.

On the other hand, this is exactly the problem with the episode too. As we already know since TOS, the Vulcans once had self-destructive tendencies that they learned to overcome. According to "Fusion", Vulcans have to work on themselves, to go through sacrifices and inconveniences to become the peaceful and more or less likable persons as we know them. It is suggested that, without all this, they would be more violent than the wildest Klingon. I don't like at all how this is presented in the manner of one more "dark secret" about them, and how the difference between the "good" and the "evil" Vulcans is exaggerated. In other words, Vulcans are suddenly shown as wolves in the fold. In contrast, humans, although they also behave somewhat differently in Star Trek than they do today, have not needed punishment, exercise, maybe drugs or whatever - they have seemingly achieved peace without any "tricks". Ironically, the whole series so far and even the course of the episode itself contradicts the bottom line of the episode that Tolaris's way must be wrong because it necessarily leads violent tendencies to resurface. Only two episodes ago we could see an aggressive captain, who was obviously a respected person. On the other hand, at least one of Tolaris's comrades, Kov, was a really nice guy (for what we know), whose only flaw were his hard feelings toward his father. This character and his very nice interaction with an often embarrassed Tucker has actually reconciled me with the story as he compensates for the impression created by Tolaris. Still, if Tolaris is only a single case of violence, why is Archer again generalizing things? Finally, why was Archer so sure at all that Tolaris would become violent? If T'Pol has told him what the viewer could witness during the mind meld, it was at most something like harassment, not really a mental rape. It may have been unpleasant to T'Pol and may have caused physical and psychic damage, but it would still have to be proven that this was intentional and because of his violent nature.

The fascinating part of the episode was how T'Pol's struggled with her emotions which was shown as something both enjoyable and unsettling. I found Jolene Blalock very convincing since the very first day, a real surprise even among the very good cast, but this episode is definitely a highlight and deserves extra praise for acting. For once, the recent tendency to show her in all kinds of weird situations for the pleasure of especially many male viewers was appropriate, even the first unmistakable sex scene in Star Trek (even if it was only a dream). It is only sad that the whole issue couldn't be resolved without stigmatizing her seducer as a diabolic villain who only misused her for his sadistic games (for which a proof is missing). Aside from its impact on the Vulcans' reputation, we have seen something very similar already in TNG when Deanna suffered in TNG: "Violations".

Annotations

Rating: 5

 

Rogue Planet

Synopsis

"Rogue Planet"

Date not given: On a "rogue planet", a planet that has left its orbit, an Enterprise landing party encounters a group of hunters of the Eska. Archer believes to see a young human woman on the planet, but the hunters tell him that this is only an illusion. The truth, however, is that the Eska are actually hunting shapeshifters, of whom one has made contact with Archer by assuming a female form he has imagined in his childhood. To protect the shapeshifters, Archer has Phlox develop an agent that disturbs the Eska's sensors.

Review

The story is very simple in essence, which alone isn't bad. I only wasn't fond of how it was again spiced up with the mystery factor, massively supported by the darkness of the planet. Enterprise heavily relies on this fashionable surrogate for real suspense, more so than any other Trek series so far. On the other hand, the romantic touch to it was nice this time, as Archer was enchanted by the woman, not as a simple sexual fantasy but as a subconscious childhood memory. Nevertheless, I see "Rogue Planet" rather as a below-average episode in the tradition of "Strange New World", "Terra Nova" or "Civilization", which all had rather tedious passages in which the plot progressed at a snail's pace.

The Hirogen vs. the Founders. The parallel was so obvious that I found it frustrating. Instead of the mere citation of clichés I would have liked to learn more especially of the Eska and what may make them different from the Hirogen. Their motivation was explained to some extent, but they remained very unremarkable. In the end, the Eska were eluded with ease, and they were not given the opportunity to make their point, and if only to utter some threats. On the other hand, for once there was a really peaceful solution, even if it was contrived (Janeway wouldn't have mastered this situation without using three or four photon torpedoes ;-)).

Annotations

Rating: 2

 

Acquisition

Synopsis

"Acquisition"

Date not given: A group of Ferengi plunder the ship after they have rendered the crew unconscious - with the exception of Trip, who has been in the decon chamber. While Archer is talking the lowest-ranking Ferengi, Krem, into mistrusting his comrades, Trip and T'Pol are preparing a trap. In the ship's alleged "vault" where the Ferengi expect large amounts of gold they can finally be overpowered. After taking the stolen goods back to Enterprise, Archer leaves Krem in command, warning him never to come too close to a Vulcan or an Earth ship.

Review

"Vulcan Love Slave" - how it all began! So this episode preserves continuity only because the word "Ferengi" is never uttered? Bullsh*t! It is a ludicrous theory that the Ferengi should be identified as late as 213 years later when the Enterprise-D has the first official encounter with them. Even if their whole civilization had heeded Archer's threat for a full two centuries, this wouldn't have prevented Starfleet from finding out about them. It may have been a bit more acceptable, still very contrived, if the Ferengi of this episode had said, in a side note, that they were a long way from their home planet. On the other hand, only a few weeks ago in "Dear Doctor", they have already been explicitly mentioned to be in contact with the Valakians. Although it was probably supposed to be one and the same ship in both episodes, it would suggest that Ferengi are already notorious within the (rather narrow) range of Enterprise. Moreover, one of the other Ferengi mentions a "Bolian female" to Krem in the end. So they already know the Bolians, but the Bolians won't report about them when they join the Federation? Finally, the fact that the Enterprise crew prevails and would be able to scan their databanks gives the death blow to all awkward attempts to excuse the continuity breach, because this should reveal everything important about them (at the very least what they are called). "Admiral, you need to warn all Starfleet ships of these, err, guys with big ears whose race name I neglected to find out."

<rant> Must I be grateful now because they at least attempted to preserve continuity by avoiding the "F" word? B&B don't bother to stick to their own series premise, and after giving us a taste of their interpretation of continuity with the look of the Akiraprise design and her 24th century technology, the K't'inga, the holodeck or the shapeshifters they now open a door to allow just everything. But who among the writer staff (especially now that external script submissions are not possible any longer) would still care for a different premise in a different time if it is so convenient to exploit all the common Trek clichés? The Trek Universe is about to become a static universe as the series fails to show us a development. Always the same stories, the same adversaries, the same technology. Whom will we see next along these lines? Definitely the Romulans, but perhaps also the Borg, Q or maybe James T. Kirk? I wonder how much credibility TPTB will still throw overboard, only for the sake of easy writing, and to please a few fanboys.</rant>

There was a good deal of fun in the episode, but it was once again annoying how the Ferengi were depicted (which is not a particular fault of Enterprise, of course). I may still understand why they could be interested in the dedication plaque as a trophy, but what in the world could they want with the helm seat? Or the food? Considering how gullible they were when Archer told them of the gold or Tucker led them in circles around the ship, the only thing I missed was someone telling them about the "firomactal drive". Honestly, I have no idea how the Ferengi could have ever come so far if the ones we know (of whom only very few were as clever as Quark and his family) are like the Ferengi stereotype perpetuated here. The only scene I really liked was when Archer and Tucker got into an argument about the value of a wife. ;-) The rest of the story (which may have been intentionally reminiscent of TNG: "Rascals") was a bit too contrived. How could only one probe with the gas contaminate the air in the whole big ship? How could the four Ferengi find and empty all fourteen weapons lockers so quickly? Why was exactly one dose of hypospray left for T'Pol (and why didn't Trip try to wake Dr. Phlox instead?). I also didn't like how unhurriedly, almost reluctantly the crew attempted to regain control of the ship. Especially when Tucker first opened Archer's handcuffs and then tightened them again, they accomplished almost nothing. Tucker only learned that there was a hypospray in engineering.

I liked a couple of scenes because they were a bit ironic. For instance, when Krem tried to open the door with two boxes in his hands, he demonstrated how impractical the door openers are. On a funny note, we may regard T'Pol's encounter with him as the foundation of "Vulcan Love Slave, Part I". These little tidbits, like the Vulcan nerve pinch, the Ferengi whip and some other good ideas too, are the reason for my still gracious rating.

Annotations

Rating: 2

 

Oasis

Synopsis

"Oasis"

Date not given: A landing party discovers a group of survivors on a ship that was allegedly attacked and crashed on a planet three years ago. While Tucker is spending a lot of time with the young Liana, Reed's investigation of the ship yields several inconsistencies - there was no attack and the ship is on the planet for over 20 years. Upon their return, Tucker and T'Pol are taken hostage by the survivors and forced to repair the computer system. Liana finally reveals the truth to Tucker. She and her father, Ezral, were the only survivors when the ship depressurized. Ezral created holographic images of the dead crew for her. Archer can eventually convince him to get the ship running again and head back to their homeworld.

Review

"Oasis" may not have been quite the worst, but was the least remarkable episode so far, as it is the most blatant case of plot recycling, much more so than "Terra Nova" or last week's "Acquisition". The extent of originality in the episode amounts to zero. Nearly every aspect of the story, every piece of dialogue and every facet of the guest characters is something that we have seen several times before. In addition, the plot is being developed extremely slowly. Nothing of any significance happens in the first ten minutes when the landing party is running through dark corridors (like almost every week) until the airponics bay is discovered. The next twenty minutes are a bit more eventful, but the destiny of the survivors and Tucker's interest in Kes aka Liana (isn't there an old movie like "Liana, the Girl from the Jungle"?) fail to catch my interest.

The final fifteen minutes are just appalling. Not only couldn't the authors resist featuring the *defining* technology of the 24th century for the second time in the season, even with a perfection Starfleet holograms will still not have 220 years later (I'll spare you of my rant this time). Even the conclusion is exactly the same as in DS9: "Shadowplay" where Rurigan created a holographic village with the same motivation. The little bit of suspense that has been created in the middle of the episode is blown away in an instant when the holographic crew members vanish one after another, maybe already when Trip examines the optronic relays that almost leave no other explanation than a holodeck. I may have expected any resolution of the inconsistencies Reed discovered, but this was easily the least interesting and most frustrating idea they could have come up with (although I admit it is hard to conceive something original because shipwrecked people in Star Trek *always* hide a secret).

Ezral, played by René Auberjonois, who couldn't save the boring story, was the usual stereotypical stubborn old character, like Rurigan or Mullibok in DS9: "Progress" for instance. Liana, on the other hand, reminded me so much of Kes (not only because of her haircut and the fact that she worked in the airponics bay) that I thought I was watching Voyager at times. Well, plot-wise the parallel to Vina of the "The Cage" is obvious too. As for the Enterprise characters, it may at least have been an opportunity to give some of them (most of all I had hope for Mayweather) something to do again. However, it turned out as yet another Archer-Tucker show.

There was only one scene I liked in the whole 45 minutes. Characteristically of the episode, this was not a serious contribution to the story, even if it may have been intended so, but only a funny side note. When T'Pol notices that Tucker holds Liana in high regard, she can't resist to remind him of his "affair" on the Xyrillian ship: "I'm simply noting that last time you found someone this competent you wound up carrying her child." Liana walks in and asks, "Am I interrupting?" T'Pol: "Not at all. Commander Tucker and I were just discussing his previous repair experience." Last week Archer still claimed T'Pol had no sense of humor. ;-)

Annotations

Rating: 1

 

Detained

Synopsis

"Detained"

Date not given: Archer and Mayweather find themselves arrested in a detainment camp of the Tandarans, together with a number of Suliban. Archer soon finds out that obviously none of the Suliban imprisoned there is genetically altered or guilty of any crime. Colonel Grat justifies their imprisonment in that it would be for the Suliban's own security, to avoid them being made soldiers in the Temporal Cold War. Archer, however, decides to free the prisoners. With help from Enterprise, the Suliban escape to their ships.

Review

Although "Detained" does not really put an end to the recent lack of innovation and inspiration in Enterprise, it is an overall positive surprise because it proves that even cookie-cutter plots may be turned into something special. With yet another hostage-taking and yet another interference into internal affairs of a planet, the episode is somewhat reminiscent of "The Andorian Incident" and "Shadows of P'Jem"; still the course of the story is quite different this time. "Detained" creates suspense through acting instead of action and spares us of endless beatings and shootings until the culmination in the last five minutes. I like how the episode critically comments on Earth's own history, namely the repression and imprisonment of people only because of their racial or national descent. In this resgard it also shows the Suliban in a different light and, moreover, tells us a great deal about them. Archer needs to change his mind about them, and unlike it was with his previous premature actions, I think he now makes the right decision. It may seem exaggerated to attempt to free all the Suliban with force, as many may have been killed. But I think that the "wiser" Starfleet captains of later centuries would have supported the prisoners likewise in one way or another. What I like too is that the authors have finally used the opportunity to concede Travis Mayweather a few decent lines after he had been window dressing for most of the season.

The Tandarans (yet another T-Race...), however, were rather uninspiring. Their military was depicted too stereotypical - as just the willing helpers of a racist regime. In an effort to render them as familiar as possible, they were only given Bajoran-like noses and Romulan-like uniforms. "Al" Dean Stockwell as Colonel Grat didn't impress me very much either, although it's not his fault. I appreciated that he was shown as sinister instead of openly hostile, but the writer made his motivation and the justification of his actions too vague to turn him into a formidable opponent. He and Archer didn't really have any business.

Annotations

Rating: 5

 

Vox Sola

Synopsis

"Vox Sola"

Date not given: After a cultural misunderstanding, the insulted Kreetassans leave the ship in a haste. Unnoticed by the crew, a creature with tentacles slips through the airlock and hides aboard Enterprise. When crewmen investigate malfunctions aboard the ship, they are caught by the creature and spun into a web. With Archer, Tucker and three more crewmen trapped like this, the rest of the crew attempt to free them with force, but they would endanger their crewmates' lives by that. Finally, Reed devises a forcefield to get close to the creature without danger, while T'Pol and Hoshi develop a method to communicate with it. The lifeform, actually part of a huge organism, has taken the crew members as a surrogate for the lost contact with its own kind. It agrees to release the crew in exchange for being transferred to its home planet.

Review

"Archer to Lieutenant Ripley. We could use your help down here." Not only in the "Alien" series, but also in Star Trek itself, we have already seen plenty of stories with non-humanoid creatures that endanger the crew, most notably in TOS: "Devil in the Dark" or TOS: "Operation: Annihilate". Considering that I expected almost nothing from watching yet another episode like that, "Vox Sola" ("single/solitary/lonely voice") turned out a positive surprise. It presented a Trek-like variant of the "Alien" theme in that the alien lifeform was not killed but released after communication had been established. It was also extraordinary that the first choice would have been to kill the creature indeed, something that for once successfully distinguishes Enterprise from the three Star Trek series set in the 24th century. Another interesting aspect is that the creature didn't suck out the lives of its victims as we have seen it so often in science fiction, but was actually lonely and seeking for company. Although I was prepared to see the most trivial scary effects so far, they were surprisingly reduced to a minimum here. Instead of that, the episode had a great deal of character interaction, and everyone of the crew played an important part. Especially the conflicts between T'Pol and Hoshi and between Reed and Phlox worked out well. Even Mayweather had a part in the story again when it was up to him to negotiate with the Kreetassans, which he did with palpable stage-fright.

Annotations

Rating: 6

 

Fallen Hero

Synopsis

"Fallen Hero"

February 9th, 2152: Enterprise is ordered to take the noted Vulcan diplomat V'Lar, currently ambassador to Mazar, to a rendezvous with a Vulcan vessel. On Mazar, V'Lar has been accused of several crimes, but she refuses to make a statement about the charges against her. At T'Pol's request, Archer agrees to carry on with his mission, although Mazarite ships demand the extradition of V'Lar. With Mazarite ships attacking Enterprise, Archer has to buy himself time until the arrival of the Vulcan ship. Finally, the Mazarites can be defeated, and V'Lar may be transferred safely to the Vulcan ship. Her actual mission was to uncover corruption in the Mazarite government, but she did not reveal it because of her lacking trust in humans.

Review

The old spirit is back in this episode, which reconciles me to some extent with the overall negligence and the many conscious errors that were made before in the series, in particular the questionable pleasure of frequently seeing Vulcans with evil hidden agenda or aggressive behavior. 89 years after "First Contact", it is actually the first time in the series at all that there is a positive development of the human-Vulcan relations - in general as well as between Archer and T'Pol. This alone makes the episode a pleasure to view. V'Lar's little speech in the end may be a bit too solemn, but with regard to continuity, it is finally a step into the right direction. Aside from that, the story is quite exciting. Only that I would have wished to see something more elaborate than Enterprise running away from the Mazarite ships all the time.

The dermal regeneration that Phlox mentions to the Mazarites is definitely a ruse, since we know the tomography unit may not be used for that purpose. I hope the authors will remember that too. As for the mention of Risa in the episode, I always thought that it was a fairly unknown place at the time when Riker recommended it to Picard in TNG: "Captain's Holiday". On the other hand, Picard may be the type who just doesn't care where ordinary people go on vacation just to relax and/or have sex.

Annotations

Rating: 7

 

Desert Crossing

Synopsis

"Desert Crossing"

February 12th, 2152: After the successful repair of his shuttle, Archer and Tucker are invited by Zobral to visit him in his desert camp. Enterprise is warned by the planet government that Zobral is a terrorist and that the two officers are regarded as his helpers. Meanwhile on the planet, Zobral tries to persuade Archer and Tucker in vain to join his cause. When the camp is attacked, the Starfleet officers escape to the open desert. After a long walk, they are finally rescued by a shuttle, after T'Pol has convinced Zobral to support them because he was responsible to get them into trouble in the first place.

Review

"The galaxy could use more people like you." This is what Zobral thinks of Archer and Tucker. This statement gains a completely new significance when he attempts to recruit the two officers for his cause, not knowing that Archer is not a great leader but just a Starfleet captain who strives to do the right thing (or what he thinks is right). The intra-series continuity in the episode is great, as it shows the consequences of Archer's actions in "Detained". His reputation proceeds him, and this is only plausible in a region of space which is smaller than at the time of TOS or even TNG. As for the plot itself, Enterprise is caught in the middle of a civil war yet another time, and we have seen similar struggles for survival several times before in Star Trek.

The episode may have been intended as a way to cope with the present-day phenomenon of terrorism. But as such, it doesn't work out quite well. Like several times before in Enterprise, the conflict parties fail to make their points and their motivations remain rather vague. In this respect, "Desert Crossing" reminds me a lot of "Shadows of P'Jem" where shooting, beating and bondage games were a poor surrogate for the lack of a real plot. Fortunately, there is a tad more development in "Desert Crossing" besides the mere action, and the open-air desert scenes are definitely a highlight, also because they make Archer's and Tucker's desperate situation palpable.

Annotations

Rating: 3

 

Two Days and Two Nights

Synopsis

"Two Days and Two Nights"

February 18th, 2152: Part of the crew finally take their deserved vacation - two days and two nights on a pleasure planet called Risa. Trip and Malcolm are seeking company in a bar, but the two attractive girls turn out to be thieves. Hoshi meets an alien man, and they soon find more interesting activities than only learning each other's languages. Travis engages in rock climbing and breaks his leg, and Dr. Phlox has to be interrupted in his hibernation to tend to an allergic reaction due to a medication on Risa. Captain Archer, finally, meets a woman, but he eventually finds out that she is a surgically altered Tandaran spy who tries to find out where the Suliban helixes are located.

Review

Th synopsis of "Two Days and Two Nights" reads like a "Love Boat" episode - and that's what it is. The setting is only slightly different. The way of storytelling, with multiple light-hearted plot threads about the adventures and problems of the guests, is much the same.

It is a fun episode overall, something for the viewer to relax, quite as the characters intended to do. Irony is in the plot itself, and in many single lines. All our brave crew wants is relaxation but what they get is excitement and/or trouble. Hoshi is a bit miffed about Trip's and Malcolm's apparent intentions to meet aliens of the opposite sex, but in the end it is her who ends up in bed with an alien - whereas Trip and Malcolm are robbed. Travis is overly confident about how he can climb rocks with ever changing steepness, which conjures up his accident. Archer just wants to take a break from interstellar politics for two days, but has to realize that spies would not respect his wish to relax. Even Phlox is interruped in his hibernation because of adverse circumstances.

Since nothing with serious consequences happens in "Two Days and Two Nights", nothing should be taken too seriously. Nevertheless, the episode with its countless references to previous heroic deeds or mishaps may have the best intra-series continuity. Unfortunately, this applies to the plot vehicles likewise. Even though it has an ironic undertone here, seeing that everyone of the crew is being knocked out in one way or another adds to the overall awkward and naive impression that has been created of them over the first season. The fact that that Malcolm and Trip are once again fettered and in their underwear is just the icing on the cake. As much as I enjoyed it, it has become hard to take the crew seriously as characters any longer because the same already happened in serious stories. In other words, the potential that may have been in a one-time comical look at the crew's misfortunes has already been wasted throughout the season. By now, it is rather a self-ironic look at the series as a whole.

Another issue is that, except for Hoshi's long conversations in alien languages (I don't remember any sub-titled scenes that long in Star Trek), Risa is not very alien. Well, there are (at least) two moons and Horgahn-shaped door buttons, but that's it for the specifically Risan setting. Looking back, it would have been more interesting to see the crew getting into trouble because of the special customs, laws or environmental conditions or anything else intrinsic to the planet. Only Travis's allergic reaction to the treatment on Risa falls into this category but remains a side note. The way the story unfolds, the episode could have taken place in Florida as well.

Speaking of Florida, who else thought that especially the bar scene with Trip and Malcolm borrowed a lot from the 1980s? The synth-pop music, colorful hairstyles and finally Trip's and Malcolm's Crockett & Tubbs outfits.

Annotations

Rating: 5

 

Shockwave I/II

Synopsis

"Shockwave I/II"

Date not given: An Enterprise shuttle seemingly causes the ignition of gases in an atmosphere, costing thousands of lives on the planet below. Admiral Forrest has no choice but to cancel the mission and call Enterprise back to Earth. Daniels, the time traveler from the 31st century, however, knows that the Suliban are responsible for the disaster by planting a device on the shuttle's hull. He sends Archer on a mission to track down a Suliban stealth cruiser, disable it and steal the evidence. But on the way back Enterprise is surrounded by Suliban vessels. In an attempt to correct history once again, Archer is transferred to the 31st century, but his absence triggers a development in which Earth is being devastated. Without any time travel equipment, Archer and Daniels are trapped in the 31st century, while Enterprise is facing a battle against a fleet of Suliban ships... Daniels and Archer find out that the Federation never existed in the current version of the 31st century, and that it must have to do with Archer's disappearance from the 22nd century. Searching for Archer, the Suliban have boarded Enterprise and confined the crew to their quarters. Archer and Daniels manage to send back a message through time to the Enterprise crew. Reed finds a time travel device in Daniels's former room, but Silik takes it, and Archer is returned from the 31st century to the Suliban Helix. In the meantime, having faked a warp core breach, Enterprise breaks free from the Helix. Archer manages to take Silik hostage and get back to Enterprise. The mission is allowed to continue.

Review

"And now the confusion...". I usually don't review two-parters separately, but this one would receive 8 points for part one and only 3 for part two. The first part of "Shockwave" makes several promises the conclusion doesn't keep. While the cliffhanger leaves several options as to how the temporal mess may be explained and fixed later on, the second part absolutely fails in doing either of that. The time travel aspects are discussed on a separate page, but they are not the principal problem. Among many weak points about the logic I am especially annoyed that there is no other interpretation possible except that Daniels must have abducted Archer against better knowledge that this would necessarily change history and might lead to exactly the disaster that happened. How stupid of him! The successful attempt to fix the whole situation by creating a temporal transmitter with a few extremely simple modifications to Archer's communicator and scanner is another major annoyance. The device suddenly even has a holographic imager! As if it would only take a good 21st century engineer to turn a 19th century telegraph into a modern cell phone. This is the most ludicrous engineering nonsense in Star Trek in a long time! Without any change to the plot, Daniels could have taken one of his own advanced devices or modified parts of his protection suit to send the message, which may have already been difficult enough.

There are several more errors and plot holes, which show up massively in the second part. Was it part of the plan that Silik would take away Daniels's device from Reed and that Archer would be trapped on the Helix upon his return? It almost seems so since no one backed Reed while he broke into Daniels's quarters. And did Silik really think he had any chance to contact Future Guy with a device he had not the slightest idea how to operate? Silly Silik! Why is Silik so awfully important that his soldiers stop the attack when he is taken hostage? Why didn't Archer simply keep Silik as a prisoner? And finally, since when can Enterprise fire phase cannons at warp?

The second part also compares badly to the first one in that some of the tasteless Enterprise clichés show up again. T'Pol tortured in underwear, Hoshi losing her shirt, Reed beaten until he bleeds by Silik. Braga and Berman should finally start thinking about which kind of audience they are aiming at. But what I actually like least about the second part is that everything said about Archer's mission in particular and human-Vulcan relationships in general exactly echoes what has been stated so many times before. Especially the final five minutes with the stereotypical statements by Archer, Tucker, Forrest, Soval and T'Pol are perfectly interchangeable with "Broken Bow", "The Andorian Incident" or "Shadows of P'Jem". Of all people involved, only T'Pol may have changed her mind, but this became apparent as soon as in "Broken Bow". I really wonder when the whole human-Vulcan story arc will finally see an advancement. While it is certainly realistic that such things don't fundamentally change in the course of only one year (I would be the last person to contest this), I simply expect more from a story arc than hearing the same statements and discussions all over again.

There are certainly a number of things I really like in both parts of the episode. First of all, the disillusion of the crew in the first part is quite credible. The failure of Archer's mission in one case may have endangered the whole space program and the future of the human race. Once again, Enterprise establishes a palpable difference to the saturated and secure 24th century. The crew's efforts to regain control of the ship are quite witty, including Tucker's modification of the comm system (which was a lot more credible than what Daniels did with Archer's communicator) and the faked warp core breach. What an improvement compared to the half-hearted actions in "Acquisition"! The special effects, like the explosion in the planet's atmosphere or the battle between Enterprise and the Suliban, are outstanding.

One interesting observation (thanks, Martin!) is that, while the future was in ruins, Silik had no possibility to contact the guy from the future. This may be taken as a hint that this guy is actually human, or that his future was affected as well, so he either didn't exist or had no interest in waging a "Temporal Cold War".

Annotations

Rating: 6

 


Proceed to ENT Season 2

TopShare
View as gallery

https://www.ex-astris-scientia.org/episodes/ent1.htm

Last modified: 14 Jul 2026

© Ex Astris Scientia 1998-2026, Legal Terms

This website is not endorsed, sponsored or affiliated with CBS Studios Inc. or the Star Trek franchise.

Sections

Info

Starships

Fleet Yards

Treknology

 

Episodes

Database

Fandom

Community

 

Social

Support

Site Map

FAQ

Contact

 

News

Updates

EAS Today

Trek Feeds