Home  Info  Starships  Fleet Yards  Treknology  Episodes  Database  Fandom  Community	NASA References   FAQ   Site Map

Enterprise (ENT) Season 2, Part 2

Season 1, Part 1 - Part 2 - Season 2, Part 1 - Part 2 - Season 3, Part 1 - Part 2 - Season 4, Part 1 - Part 2

The episode descriptions are given in normal text, my comments in small text. Rating: 0=worst, 10=best (rating system)

Stigma No date given: When he is participating in a medical conference, Dr. Phlox asks Vulcan colleagues for advice about a Vulcan disease, the Pa'nar Syndrome. T'Pol contracted Pa'nar through the mind meld with Tolaris. It is only common among the disrespected subculture of "melders". When the Vulcan physicians find out that T'Pol is suffering from the disease, she is going to be relieved of duty. In an attempt to save T'Pol's career, Archer suggests that she should mention that she is not a member of the minority and was infected by force, but T'Pol thinks that this would only reaffirm the prejudices about the minority. Dr. Yuris, one of the Vulcan delegates, eventually reveals the truth about T'Pol's illness, and he confesses that he himself belongs to the minority.

This is the episode with the most profound discussions about ethical and moral problems since last year's "Dear Doctor". Actually, it is one of very few stories that go beyond the typical and often trifling "political intrigue" or "straightforward action" plots of Enterprise. But aside from that, it is clearly an important episode, one that could and should have been done in one form or another earlier in Star Trek (although there was at least a take on the acceptance of homosexuality already in TNG: "The Outcast").
It is remarkable how the writing avoids any mention of AIDS, although Archer couldn't have found a more fitting precedence from human history to make his point. Anyway, as an AIDS allegory the story of "Stigma" is largely successful. Yet, there is one weakness in it: Only the "melders" can contract Pa'nar in their normal life, whereas AIDS is something that everyone should be concerned about. So it doesn't work out as well as it could have if there had been at least a slight hint that every Vulcan could contract the disease in some fashion or another, not exclusively through the stigmatized practice of "melding".
The other weak point is that the trend of showing Vulcans as stubborn and intolerant continues. Once the authors have discovered that it is easier to trash a reputation that has been built in 30 years of Star Trek than to keep it up, the Vulcans are given all sorts of preconceptions and bad habits in a similar fashion as the Ferengi and the Cardassians in TNG and DS9. Humans, who are said to have learned to overcome their prejudices a century ago, are shown as more enlightened here. Well, maybe the Vulcans are only more honest? It would (fortunately) not be acceptable if a 20th/21st century human stated publicly that developing a cure for AIDS shouldn't be a priority because it would support homosexuality, even if some actually think like that. Anyway, for already quite a while I have the impression that humans and Vulcans are gradually switching roles in the Enterprise Universe, with Vulcans becoming the immature space newbies who need the guidance of humans with their superior morality. Concerning the intention behind the episode, it weighs even more that it may not have been adequate in the first place to transfer a 20th/21st century medical and social problem of humanity to a prominent alien civilization, involving a prominent character. For the sake of creating awareness for AIDS, the Vulcans were definitely the right choice. For the sake of plausibility, however, it may have been better if the episode had shown a disease similar to AIDS among a different, "insignificant" alien civilization. And it wouldn't have overstressed T'Pol's endurance, considering how often her mission, even her whole way of life, has already been questioned before. I don't think that it suits Enterprise to make her the show's outcast, along the lines of Worf, Odo or Seven.
As far as presenting an alien culture as "alien" is concerned, the secondary plot with Feezal and Trip works better to me. It becomes evident that Denobulans in general (and not only the always joyous Phlox) have a quite different view of relationships. This is not a mere cultural clash between species that are otherwise much alike like so often in Star Trek (and particularly like humans and Vulcans). It seems to have its roots in a completely different evolution on Denobula that allowed and even required polygamy and seemingly unlimited sexual tolerance, and which eventually led to overpopulation. The overall image created of the Denobulans is quite fitting. I especially like the brief scene in which Phlox and Feezal are alone, after Trip has spoken out that he feels embarrassed by her advances. Trip has just left the room when Phlox and Feezal smirk at each other and sigh unanimously, "Humans."
"Stigma" shows nice continuity with "Fusion". Not only does it reveal the direct consequences of T'Pol's encounter with Tolaris one year ago, it also continues with the idea that mind-melding was not commonplace among Vulcans in the 22nd century. But what could be still excused with an unlikely radical change in Vulcan society within only 100 years, we now learn that the ability of mind-melding is restricted to only a small minority with some sort of a genetic defect. This is clearly not the case in the 24th century.
The neutron microscope is a bad idea from a scientific viewpoint. Its name and the mention of a "neutron stream" obviously suggest a similar working principle as an electron microscope. Neutrons, however, are much larger than electrons, and they could hardly provide the resolution for observations on an atomic scale.
Remarkable quote: "I wasn't exactly pulling your leg, was I?" (Feezal to Trip, while scratching his leg with her foot under the table)
Remarkable fact: There are over 1 million physicians on Vulcan.
Remarkable effects: The shots of the conference site with the large detailed building were just beautiful. Something I liked too was the 360-degree camera movement around the group of Phlox and the Vulcans while they were discussing.
Remarkable ship: The re-use of unfitting designs continues. It is clearly the Ferengi shuttle that transfers Feezal to Enterprise.
Rating: 4

Cease Fire No date given: Shran calls Archer to mediate in the Andorian-Vulcan conflict over the planetoid Weytahn/Paan Mokar near the Vulcan star system. Weytahn has recently been occupied by the Andorians. After Shran has shown his willingness to engage in talks, Archer, T'Pol and Ambassador Soval take a shuttle to the surface, but they are shot down. In the meantime, Vulcan and Andorian ships prepare for battle near the planetoid, with Enterprise right between them. When the three negotiators finally arrive at the meeting place, Shran discovers that he has been betrayed by Tarah, one of his own people, who is not interested in making concessions to the Vulcans. With the obstacles removed, both sides agree to negotiations about the planetoid.

"Cease Fire" was surely not an outstanding but at least an overall enjoyable episode with a fast pace and a good balance between action and dialogue. Only the good deal of violence was once again a bit annoying - it should have worked without that. The writing was solid and created the required continuity with "The Andorian Incident" and "Shadows of P'Jem". On the downside, why did it have to be a hostage crisis once again? Although it definitely worked out better than usual, the whole plot, like most of Enterprise, was lacking complexity and truly original ideas. On several side notes it gave us more insight into the Vulcan- Andorian conflict, including some trivia. But overall, it led straight to the ending, with Tarah's predictable betrayal and her dull justification (that fortunately falls on deaf ears) being the only plot twist. Well, this may have contributed to the episode's credibility.
Shran took the opportunity to further explain his motivation, and he even showed a likable humorous side when he teased Archer in the end. I liked this development because this opened a potential for him to be more than just a more or less regular villain. I could say quite the contrary about Soval, whose lines were once again full of prejudice and cynicism. He used any opportunity to express his dislike of other races, even if it was only in trivialities and bordered on a sick humor that Vulcans are not supposed to have. In the end, he warmed up a bit, as far as one could say that about a Vulcan. But he remained an overall unsympathetic character, a bad example even among his own, recently much disgraced race. The positive surprise of the episode was Archer. I was never very fond of the character, who always got through with his rash actions and never had to learn a lesson, and likewise of Bakula's portrayal that sought to underline Archer's teenage-like recklessness with over-acting. Here, however, Archer was written as someone who grows with the importance of his mission, like only few times before, and Bakula looked good in that role.
Speaking of Archer looking good in "Cease Fire", one interesting aspect is certainly that he suggests that Earth should be part of "a much larger community". This more or less obvious reference to the Federation that will be founded only one decade later wouldn't be relevant, if not the toast between the Vulcans, Andorians and humans at the end of the episode were definitely meant to show us a glimpse of this bright future. This perspective eases the grief about the many counterproductive departures of Enterprise from the predetermined way.
Remarkable quote: "Maybe we're not out here just to scan comets and meet new species. Maybe we're out here to prove that humanity is ready to join a much larger community." (Archer, to Phlox), "Join me in a drink. To our mutual dissatisfaction." (Shran, to Soval)
Remarkable dialogues: "No offense but my ears are less likely to draw fire than yours." - "What is their fixation with our ears?" - "I believe they're envious." (Archer, Soval, T'Pol), "I think he likes you, pinkskin." - "I wouldn't go that far." (Shran and Archer)
Remarkable facts: The Andorians terraformed the uninhabitable Class-D planetoid Weytahn around 2050 and established a colony there. When the Andorians refused to open the colony, which the Vulcans suspected to be a military base, the Vulcans forcibly removed the settlers from the planetoid. They officially claimed Paan Mokar in 2097. Soval was there as an intelligence officer. Phlox, on the other hand, served as a medic in the Denobulan infantry.
Remarkable starship: We see Andorian ships for the first time, which have a pleasant retro flair.
Rating: 6

Future Tense No date given: A damaged pod with a human corpse is found adrift in space. The Suliban demand the pod to be surrendered. Archer refuses. Further evidence points to a launch date of the small vessel 900 years into the future. The Tholians, a race known for its hostility, appear with the same demand as the Suliban. After the Tholians have disabled a Vulcan ship, they engage the Suliban in a battle, which gives the Enterprise crew the time to make preparations to destroy it to save the timeline. The Tholians, however, manage to disable the warhead inside the pod. After Trip has activated its emergency beacon, the pod disappears without a trace. Obviously it is retrieved by whoever sent it to the past.

After last week's "Cease Fire" was at least a good reissue of the many war diplomacy plots of the series, here is finally an episode with an intelligent plot, solid writing and original ideas. "Future Tense" ranks among the top episodes of the series and is definitely the best of the second season so far. The episode is not as simplistic and predictable as almost everything we have seen in the series so far. It managed to surprise me several times, for instance with the "temporal hiccups" in which time repeated. Although I was prepared to see the Tholians, I was impressed with how much respect for continuity they are treated here, quite unlike other "old" races before. Aside from a good deal of action (especially the space battle between the Tholians and the Suliban), there were some pointed dialogues (for instance, about human-Vulcan interspecies reproduction). I was only a bit disappointed that, except for Reed, none of the minor characters was allowed to make any valuable contribution. Mayweather's line about this not being a cargo vessel is the only thing I remember him saying in quite a few episodes. What I almost enjoyed most was the trivia about various topics with flawless continuity to what we already knew.
The discovery that the pod is larger on the inside than outside is a cute idea we haven't seen in Star Trek so far. Well, only if we neglect the "deck 79" in "The Final Frontier" and the "deck 29" in "Nemesis" ;-). What I liked most about it is that, unlike it would have been the case on Voyager, no attempt was made to explain the technology of the future vessel. Future technology must remain incomprehensible considering that Enterprise just doesn't have the knowledge and tools to investigate it. The mystery factor has become one of the few good traditions of the series since "Cold War" anyway. In this respect, it is another fine idea to tie in Cochrane's fate without getting too specific (about which year he disappeared and from where). This is another mystery that should better remain unsolved.
Nitpicking: The time travel aspects are discussed here. After "Shockwave", we see once again phase cannons at warp. It seems we must get used to that, since it is just too tempting for VFX people (and mostly writers in the first place) to conceive fight scenarios any time and anywhere. Another negative observation is that the future ship's structure was in a pretty bad shape inside and outside, whereas all the delicate circuitry still worked fine.
Remarkable quote: "If a Human and a Vulcan did have a child, I wonder if he’d have pointed ears?” (Archer)
Remarkable dialogues: "I wonder if they [the Vulcan High Command] will believe that humans and Vulcans will be swapping chromosomes one day?” - “They’re more likely to believe in time travel.” (Archer and T'Pol)
Remarkable facts: The Vulcans had little contact with the Tholians, who are said to be very extremely xenophobic. They are believed to be non-humanoid. It is unusual to encounter them that far away from their system. The future vessel is found 100 light years from Earth, 30 light years from the nearest trade route. Admiral Forrest thinks the ship may have been launched from Vega Colony, which appears to be the closest Earth colony of the time. Due to the considerable differences between humans and Vulcans it seems unlikely at this time that could be able of interspecies reproduction. Very few Vulcans have ever mated with other species. Denobulans believed they were the only intelligent species in the galaxy, until the Pasari made first contact with them. In the following, the Denobulans had to re-evaluate their beliefs.
Rating: 7

Canamar No date given: Archer and Trip are mistakenly arrested for smuggling by the Enolians and are on a prison transport to the penal colony of Canamar. When it has just been announced that they would be released, the Enolian Kuroda and his Nausicaan aide incite a revolt and take over the ship. Archer gains Kuroda's trust when he tricks two Enolian patrol vessels by igniting exhaust plasma. Kuroda, however, does not intend to set his fellow prisoners free, but plans to incinerate the ship in the atmosphere of a planet after he has left. An Enterprise away team, having captured the shuttle that was going to rescue Kuroda, takes over the transport. Kuroda, however, does not want to leave and burns together with the ship.

"Canamar" turns out better than expected and continues the recent trend of writing stories instead of filling cookie-cutter scripts with dialogue. Yet, the story is fairly well known from "Con Air" with Nicholas Cage, but it works out nicely in a science fiction universe too. The setting is also reminiscent of TNG: "Gambit", where Picard and Riker had to play the bad guys in order to gain their leader's trust. It befits the producers' initial intention of showing a dark and dangerous universe, in which humans and Starfleet are not yet the revered space police. For once, I found the excessive beating and shooting appropriate, considering what type of people Archer and Tucker were dealing with. In this light, it seems even less realistic and much less desirable that they are frequently getting into equally brutal conflicts, although their opponents should be expected to be more enlightened and civilized than this wild bunch of criminals.
The characters were not as stereotypical as one could have assumed, considering that the plot was borrowed from a successful movie. On the downside, there was Zoumas, the guy who was talking to Tucker all the time (giving Trip his weekly dose of embarrassment). He was funny. But he was quite two-dimensional too and the comical relief seemed a bit out of place here. The only surprise was that he didn't get killed, although this would be the usual fate of such a character. Zoumas reminded me a lot of Neelix in his first and worst two seasons, after which I was equally surprised that Neelix was still aboard and even developed a quite credible personality. Kuroda was definitely the strongest character here, as he even dominated Archer in almost every respect (at least that's what he thought). He may have seen it as his personal victory that he was still free to make the decision to die rather than to be taken to Canamar. On the other hand, I'm always skeptical about that "buddy" type of criminal, who tells touching tales of his past to someone he doesn't know and makes new allies quickly. I just don't think that it's realistic for someone who is such a ruthless misanthropist as Kuroda. Archer and Tucker leave an ambivalent impression here. On one hand, it is remarkable how especially Archer lies and pretends to subdue himself, as opposed to his usual straightforward behavior (along the lines "Hey, we're Starfleet and you've just been waiting for us"). But in what they are doing, they are just too successful. They don't only master the alien technology, that they should be least of all familiar with, they also perform their roles too well and elegantly evade anything that could expose them. Manipulating someone, as Archer did with Kuroda, is anything but easy, especially since Kuroda was not undecided, but had concrete plans. The Enolian officials were just another cliché of a militaristic, in every way very human regime, like already before in "Shadows of P'Jem", "Detained" or "The Communicator" and many TNG and Voyager episodes. Maybe it had better been a previously established Alpha Quadrant species than yet another clone. But perhaps, of all these very similar races, we will see the Enolians again.
It is remarkable that the episode doesn't have a cozy and comical ending, as it is too often the case only minutes after the last phaser shot. Archer's anger about the Enolian authorities was quite understandable, and for once we have to agree about his lack of diplomacy. It had quite an effect on me after the (once again) rather action-heavy episode, that something to reflect about was put at the very end where it wouldn't get lost.
On a final note, we were not shown how the transport ship with Kuroda still aboard was destroyed when entering the atmosphere, although we may surely have expected that. I wonder if the scene was cut from the episode because of the Columbia disaster. 
Remarkable quote: "I may not know how to fly this ship, but I am sure I can figure out how to crash it!" (Kuroda)
Remarkable ships: We see an Enolian transport and two patrol vessels, all nicely modeled with a definite retro touch. The shuttle that saved the prisoners may be yet another Enolian design, although it doesn't belong to the military.
Rating: 6

The Crossing No date given: Enterprise is swallowed by a much bigger spacecraft. After exploring its interior, Commander Tucker turns out to be possessed by a non-corporeal alien lifeform. Archer's demand to leave Tucker and to release the ship is apparently fulfilled by the alien. But as the crew is working to get the ship operational again, more aliens come aboard, taking over 24 of the crew, while the rest manages to hide in the impenetrable nacelle catwalk. Dr. Phlox, incompatible with the aliens, floods the ship with carbon dioxide, making the possessed crew almost suffocate, whereupon the aliens leave.

This is a solid but overall unremarkable episode, not really boring but quite banal and superficial. The main reason is that there can be hardly anything surprising in the overused "alien possession" concept. The plot is much an amalgam of episodes from TOS: "Return to Tomorrow" to TNG: "Power Play" (evil aliens in the crew's bodies), from TOS: "By Any Other Name" to TNG: "Liaisons" (aliens experiencing human emotions). But "The Crossing" does not even attempt to come up with any new insight or any unexpected plot twist. Even the catwalk trick with one crewman (Tucker then and Phlox now) staying behind to get rid of the aliens is rehashed from "The Catwalk".
Something remarkable is that "The Crossing" jumps straight to action already in the teaser, without any introductory dialogue. But not to the episode's advantage. I don't expect that everything strange is completely explained in every episode. But I don't like if Enterprise is turned into a mystery series that keeps posing questions without bothering to answer them. In this particular case, time was probably the decisive constraint, seeing how the episode starts and ends abruptly to fit the story into 45 minutes. Only sporadically time is spent for consultations among the crew and for explanation attempts, although action is not very dominant either. Considering that the experience of being possessed by aliens ought to change the crew's lives, the reset button is too easily pressed in the end. But even more sadly, there is not any feedback from the crew, not even a sigh of relief after the aliens have left. The episode, unlike some of its predecessors along the same lines, remains on the very surface of its topic. So we don't see any change of the aliens' behavior once they have assumed human bodies. We don't learn if perhaps the "crossing" might be a worth while experience, if it were only temporary. Or if a solution to mutual satisfaction could have been found. In the 24th century, Picard would probably be more open-minded in the same situation -- and he definitely wouldn't end up destroying the alien ship, although I admit that the peacefulness of his mission was often accomplished through unexpected and maybe unrealistic plot twists. 22nd century Trek is different in this respect, but it is not the Trek I love.
Something curious is that Archer must have read many sci-fi novels, considering how fast he realizes that Tucker is possessed by a non-corporeal alien. Well, we already know how visionary he is since his idea of silicon lifeforms in "Strange New World". T'Pol, on the other hand, needs quite a while to recognize Reed's condition when it was already known what was going on. Maybe, with her preconceptions about humans, she found it plausible for Reed to harass her? On a different note, why do non-corporeal beings from subspace need a starship? At least, it would have been a time to show a really outlandish vessel instead of a rather conventional design. Also, what was the big hatch useful for? As T'Pol explained, they only needed to transfer themselves to humanoid hosts because their ship was deteriorating. So what would they normally do with that hatch? This and many other questions remain unanswered.
It is an open secret how Enterprise purposely employs gratuitous sex apparently to reach its target group. Reed's harassment of female crew members (the aliens couldn't have picked a better victim!) was still amusing, but I wonder why it was necessary to show T'Pol in very casual wear once more -- aside from Trip's usual underwear show. On a final note, I liked the episode's somber score, the first to impress me in quite a while. It successfully emphasized the plot, albeit it was a bit too dominant at times when nothing particularly threatening happened.
Remarkable quote: "Would you mind taking off your clothing. I would like to learn more about your anatomy.” (Reed-alien, to T'Pol)
Remarkable fact: Enterprise is now 150 ly away from Earth. Starfleet encounters non-corporeal aliens for the first time.
Remarkable starship: The alien ship is at least 500m in diameter and travels at Warp 6 without any detectable warp field. While not really fitting for non-corporeal aliens, especially the interior of the ship was nicely arranged. It reminded me a bit of V'ger.
Rating: 2

Judgment No date given: Archer is on a Klingon court because he helped alleged rebels to escape. This is what Duras of the battlecruiser BortaS testifies. Although it is not customary any longer, Archer can convince his lawyer, Kolos, to let him tell his version of the story. The court, however, decides that he be transferred to the penal colony of Rura Penthe. Kolos has to join him for disobeying the court. After bribing Klingon officials, Archer can be rescued from Rura Penthe, but Kolos decides to stay behind.

My verdict: guilty as charged. Like several times before in Enterprise I'm shocked how easily Trek writers rip off previous stories without even trying to add any new aspects. "Judgment" is 60% "Star Trek VI" , 30% DS9: "Rules of Engagement" and 10% J. G. Hertzler as Kolos. The Klingon lawyer's initial unwillingness to help Archer and his discomfort with not being a revered warrior reminds me of his colleague who was to accuse Worf in DS9: "Rules of Engagement" (and his disillusionment of about any older human lawyer in any court drama). Still, Kolos is the only character worth mentioning and the only unknown quantity in this extremely predictable story. His initial un-Klingon cynicism, as well as his later courage add at least a little diversity to the otherwise stereotypical roles (with typecast Klingon actors), but with only limited salubrious impact on the story. He is responsible for the only unexpected moment in the whole 45 minutes, when he accuses the court of having no honor. But even this swift criticism remains at the surface, because the judge sentences Kolos to join Archer on Rura Penthe and because time to bring this tedious story to a quick end is running out anyway with only a few minutes left. What I find more interesting is Kolos's remark that Klingons have become ruthless and obsessed with the military only recently during his lifetime. Kolos may be overstating the previous importance of his class of intellectuals, but the focus on war and warriors obviously won't change until the 24th century.
But that's it for the novelties. Everything else said or seen we know exactly from the two previous incarnations of this episode and from the large pool of Klingon stereotypes. Speaking of clichés, do we really need yet another episode in which Archer is captured by aliens? I can anticipate that my review will meet resistance, because "Judgment" was mostly well-received. I know that many viewers pay more attention to dialogues, directing and acting, while I think it can't make up for a plot that has substantial flaws. Well, the director manages to keep together the unnecessarily complex patchwork (considering that we always exactly know what will happen) of brief scenes in real time and recounting, in prison cell, court and Enterprise. But owing to this structure of the story, I think that the episode has rather few good lines and just too many phrases. The only exception once again being the ponderings by Kolos. The rest is concerned with tactical operations in the recounting and the usual Klingon honor blurb on court. Uninspiring like a parliament debate. And without being given an opportunity to excel, the actors' performances are mostly routine.
The authors Taylor Elmore and David A. Goodman, whom I'm not familiar with, obviously think that recounting a previous story is a homage. That they are doing fans a favor just by bringing in fandom's all-time favorite aliens as an excuse for a new story. To make it worse, as a special "courtesy" they feed us with dozens of familiar names and details without any necessity. Duras, Toral, BortaS, Ty'Gokor, Rura Penthe, pain sticks, the judge's spark stone. It's a different century. Doesn't that ring a bell? Things are allowed, even encouraged to be different. But the story burns down to clichés like this: A guy walks in who is identified as Duras, Son of Toral. Yeah, we know - all of his family are treacherous cowards and have probably always been.
Even though nothing could go really wrong because it was simple re-writing, there are two gaps in the plot. Firstly, how did Archer fall into the hands of the Klingons in the first place? I don't think it was explained, although it may have been important to know. But even more annoyingly, it was just too fast and easy to rescue Archer from Rura Penthe. Just bribe a few officials, send down your armory officer and get him. That was easily the least credible and most blatantly rushed ending in the series so far.
Although it was almost a waste of time like "A Night in Sickbay", three points because I like J. G. Hertzler, because I am still fond of Klingons whose reputation was at least not damaged here, and because the battle scenes with the D5 were cool.
Remarkable ship: We finally get to see a genuine 22nd century Klingon battlecruiser, the D5.
Rating: 3

Horizon January 10th, 2153: While Enterprise is on a detour to investigate volcanic activity on a planet, Ensign Mayweather takes the chance to visit his family's ship, the ECS Horizon. His father has recently died, and although everyone is glad to see him, Travis soon has to learn that it's not his world any more. After an alien attack, he upgrades the ship's plasma cannons to his brother's displeasure. However, when the aliens return and demand the Horizon be turned over to them, the improved weapons help defeat the enemy.

Look who's talking! It can be quickly summarized what I like about this episode. Firstly, Ensign Mayweather finally gets to say more than a few lines. Secondly, it was entertaining, with a good balance between the (dramatic) A-plot on the Horizon and the (humorous) B-plot with the horror movie night. Thirdly, like in "Fortunate Son" and few other episodes before, Enterprise didn't try to imitate 24th century Trek.
On the other hand, the similarity to "Fortunate Son" are already too striking. Although the plots are different (at least by Enterprise standards), both episodes have the same recipe. Here we have Dad's recent death, there it was the captain who was wounded and off duty. Here we have unknown aliens attack the ship, there it was the Nausicaans. Here it is Paul Mayweather who declines Starfleet's help and mocks about Travis's new job, there it was Matthew Ryan. Only that the roles are switched, as Ryan wanted to take revenge at all cost, whereas Paul strives to avert the armed conflict. What I don't understand is why Mayweather's father had to die. After the initial grief it has absolutely no significance in the plot. Perhaps a conflict of Travis with his father, as someone who has been a cargo ship captain for decades, would have even been more pronounced and more interesting to watch. Other weak points are that the trick with the upgraded plasma cannons is just too cheap, and the story is too quickly resolved. It seems that time was running out once again, like already in the two previous episodes. Travis is given a chance to say good-bye to his brother, but his mother doesn't show up once more after the fight with the aliens, and his girl-friend who appears only once doesn't seem to serve any purpose at all. I was hoping for Anthony Montgomery to finally show his talent, but his acting is mostly unremarkable. While the beginning gives him the opportunity to shed a few tears about Mayweather's deceased father, he remains too indefinite for the rest of the episode, always somewhere between sullen and happy.
One major annoyance is the repeated re-use of the Akritirian ship from Voyager as the bigger pirate vessel. It was already inadequate as the Kriosian ship in "Precious Cargo", but here it is completely out of place. There is no excuse in the time of CGI models. Moreover, Mayweather mentions that the vessel's technology is similar as that of the Mazarites. So why wasn't the Mazarite design re-used here?
Remarkable quotes: "The three greatest horror movies ever made: 'Frankenstein', 'Bride of Frankenstein', 'Son of Frankenstein'." (according to Tucker), "Don't be surprised if you see me here again afterwards. I've little doubt that my headache will return." (T'Pol to Phlox, about the upcoming horror movie)
Remarkable dialogue: Mayweather and Reed talk about families on Starfleet ships (reference to TNG!). Reed doesn't think it's a good idea, and suggests to get a psychologist too (or a counselor?).
Remarkable facts: Mayweather's mother is the ship's medic and chief engineer. His grandpa even held five jobs, two of them on the bridge.
Archer thought of joining a cargo ship, a few years before Starfleet was founded. Reed's last family reunion was almost a decade ago. The captain of a cargo ship is required to have an ECA License (where ECA obviously stands for Earth Cargo Authority, an organization not quite as strict as the FCA ;-)). According to Travis, Enterprise has gone "150ly, seen 22 inhabited worlds". This 150 ly must be the longest distance from Earth (mentioned in "The Crossing"), not the total way. The aliens plant a beacon with an explosive dicobalt device on the Horizon's nacelle.
Remarkable ship: The ECS Horizon is a J-class cargo ship. It is 50 years old. The Horizon carries ten cargo modules with a load of 30,000 metric tons. The armament consists of two plasma cannons. Zefram Cochrane designed the warp core himself. He is rumored to have signed the inside of each reactor casing.
Rating: 5

The Breach No date given: An away team with Tucker, Read and Mayweather is sent to evacuate a group of Denobulan geologists from a cave system on Xantoras. The mission doesn't develop as planned when Mayweather is hurt and the Denobulans are reluctant to leave. Meanwhile, Enterprise assists a passenger transport with medical aid and repairs after an accident. One seriously injured patient is an Antaran. It turns out that until 300 years ago there was a fierce war between the Denobulans and Antarans, which is why the Antaran, still full of hatred, refuses to be treated by Dr. Phlox. Urged by Archer to help, Phlox has to overcome his own pride and preconceptions to earn the trust and respect of the Antaran.

The synopsis of "The Breach" didn't sound all that interesting to me, so I watched without great expectations. It turned out a pleasant surprise. Looking at the ethical issues, I see "The Breach" as the best treatise in the whole series so far. I prefer it over the questionable swift change of moral in "Dear Doctor", and also over the rather pessimistic prospect of "Stigma". "The Breach" is definitely among the "Trekkiest" episodes of Enterprise in my view.
The two stances of the Denobulans and Antarans are very credibly presented (even if Phlox and his patient may not be representative of their whole respective species). The Antaran is filled with hatred in the beginning, not quite unlike many individuals on our own planet, who learn from their childhood about the atrocity of their alleged enemy, without ever meeting one of them face to face. He is a prisoner of his hatred, as he honestly thinks of doing himself a favor and hurting his enemy Phlox by denying the treatment and ultimately dying for his principles. Ironically, because of his physical weakness he gets a chance to change his mind and ultimately save his life, when the despised Dr. Phlox keeps talking to him. Even though Phlox is anything but guilty of the previous war crimes committed by his people, and even though Phlox tries to make clear to his patient (and to himself!) that he has no hard feelings for the Antarans, the patient doesn't give him a chance at first. Even worse, because Phlox is not the devilish person he would have expected, he permanently tries to provoke the good doctor. Finally, and this is again almost ironical, Phlox manages to establish a basic mutual understanding when he mentions that his own eldest son is member of a group who despise the Antarans just as many Antarans hate the Denobulans.
The episode changes our whole perception of the Denobulans and of Dr. Phlox without becoming inconsistent. We have known the Denobulans as always optimistic and imperturbable. But their apparent charming nature obviously doesn't prevent them from acting like brutal conquerors. Maybe their joyful life is even some sort of protection against too much remorse, which can be just as detrimental as hatred (the most prominent example from Star Trek being Marritza, who posed as the war criminal Gul Darheel to pay off his guilt in DS9: "Duet"). Anyway, it is a pleasant deviation from the conventional "villainous race" pattern that has unfortunately been established for many Star Trek species, meaning that specific "evil" characteristics about them are being stressed even in their normal lives (insidious Romulans, sadistic Cardassians, and lately, arrogant Vulcans). The new controversial portrayal of Dr. Phlox and the Denobulans helps to correct this image. From a humanist viewpoint (well, "humanist" being not exactly the correct term for Denobulans), xenophobia has no ground. There is nothing like an evil country, sex, race, or species. Everyone, irrespective of his/her/its passport, skin color or forehead bones does not only have undeniable legal rights, but also deserves to be treated with respect and kindness. It's simple, almost trivial to someone who had the luck to be raised in a free and open-minded society. But that state does not yet seem to govern Denobula, although the planet may have been on a better way than the homeworld of the Antarans (Antares?). Phlox has always been trying to heed "humanist" principles. As he says to T'Pol, he didn't tell his grandma's horror stories about the Antarans to his own children, he tried to educate them to keep an open mind. But he himself is troubled when the Antaran keeps insulting him. I think everyone can understand that Phlox temporarily loses patience with his patient. It is actually the first time at all that we see him on edge.
The episode profits from the good plot, but even more from strong dialogues and actors' performances, especially of Scott Bakula and John Billingsley. I was never too fond of Phlox as a character, just because he was always much the same, his facets being not very interesting or just too comical. The only exception so far was "Dear Doctor", but the insistence on his questionable personal ethics almost ruined this one for me. Just as Neelix was given the chance to step out of his clown role in the third and fourth seasons of Voyager (Phlox's alter ego, the EMH, even earlier), Billingsley takes the chance to lead his character to maturity in "The Breach".
The plot line about the Denobulan scientists and the away team doesn't strike me as very interesting, although it was probably meant as equally important for the episode as the Denobulan-Antaran conflict. At most, it provides some distraction from the too static setting in sickbay and too much pondering. But thinking that the main plot could have gone to even more depth, it seems almost like a waste of time to frequently switch to the caves. What I initially liked about it is that Mayweather was going to get a key role in the away team, but the "poor ensign" cliché soon prevails, when he must be left behind. It is also a bit contrived that it has to be Denobulan scientists, only because they would take the same transport as the Antaran in the end.
Remarkable quote: "If you don't start moving in the next five seconds, I'm gonna take my phase pistol and shoot you in the ass!" (Trip, to the Denobulan scientist crawling in from of him)
Remarkable appearance: Dr. Phlox shows a Tribble to Hoshi, which obviously only serves as food in his little zoo.
Remarkable facts: The last of several wars between the Denobulans and Antarans ended 300 years ago. Denobulan medicine has similar ethics as the human Hippocratic Oath, one important difference being that a Denobulan doctor has to respect his patient's wish under any circumstance, even if it means letting a patient die who could easily be healed.
Rating: 7

Cogenitor No date given: Enterprise makes first contact with the Vissians, whose advanced technology allows them close studies of a hypergiant star. While Archer is exploring the photosphere of the star together with the Vissian captain in a pod, Trip learns that there is a third gender among the Vissians, the cogenitor, destined for a life as a slave. Trip befriends the Vissian chief engineer's cogenitor and teaches it to read and shows it to enjoy life. When the cogenitor asks for asylum, Archer has to deny the request. But soon after the Vissians have left, Enterprise receives a message that the cogenitor has committed suicide.

No doubt. This is the emotionally strongest Enterprise episode so far, with one of the most intriguing plots. TNG: "The Outcast" comes to my mind, where Riker was struggling for the right of a sexual minority likewise, also with strong personal involvement, and also in vain. Only that Tucker is obviously never sexually interested in the cogenitor, which may lower his motivation, but at the same time increases his credibility. We know from several previous episodes that in spite of or just because of his predominant occupation with machinery he has preserved a great deal of curiosity, of compassion and of honesty. The episode may have been written for any of the other characters, but I'm glad it was Trip. I just like this man.
My only criticism is about the episode's execution, which is losing cohesion and leaves some gaps after about 25 minutes. It almost seems like a lot has been cut from the episode. It may have been wiser to shorten Archer's pod ride and ditch Malcolm's little affair (especially since the latter was not resolved anyway) in favor of the Tucker story. But as already in last week's "The Breach" they were necessary fillers to break down the too heavy main plot into digestible bits. Something that seems strange to me is that despite the episode's overall objective perspective the viewer is forced into Trip's position occasionally, and exactly at the three times when he is informed second-hand about the Vissians' anger about his actions, about Archer's decision to return the cogenitor to her people and finally about the cogenitor's death. I don't think this is not consequent enough. It should have been either more like "Trip's Day" or the narration should have been entirely objective and omniscient.
Concerning the moral dilemma, who is right? T'Pol, who is against any interference with other cultures, and in particular against the application of human standards to aliens? Trip, who has to witness obvious injustice and feels obliged to do something against it? Archer, who does not want to jeopardize the new friendship and strives to find a satisfactory solution for all, while not violating any laws or protocols? I can't tell. Of course, Trip has a very good point. Even though T'Pol is right to point out that there is nothing such as "human rights" in an alien culture, it is made clear (thanks to Phlox) that all Vissians are created equal, just like all humans irrespective of their skin color or sex. More universal ethics need to condemn any kind of slavery of sentient beings, where the term "sentient" will be extended to include artificial lifeforms in the 24th century. But another 24th century example shows that such a principle may not apply always and anywhere. The Federation is allied to the Klingon Empire, a regime which clearly violates basic lifeform rights, even to a much greater extent. In this light convincing Vissians to respect the rights of cogenitors would be equivalent to telling a Klingon warrior to lay down his bat'leth forever. I would never want to decide about it like Archer has to. Unlike the contorted ethics in "Dear Doctor" and unlike the clear obligation to help in "The Breach", "Cogenitor" has no correct solution. The plot could have been constructed to please everyone in the end, a happy end in which the Vissians may have made up their minds, could have granted the cogenitor more freedom and would ultimately have even profited from this enrichment of their culture. But quite the opposite happens. Everyone loses eventually. The cogenitor loses her life, Trip has to cope with his guilt and shattered illusions, Archer may have lost his friendship with the Vissian captain, and the Vissian couple may not conceive a child for a long while (which may seem like a minor loss, but could mean a lot to them). This is the first episode with a truly disillusioning outcome, and I applaud for the courage of showing it in the Trek series where I would have least expected it. While I don't like the many off-screen events hidden from Trip and the viewers as mentioned earlier, I am glad that the death of the cogenitor was not on screen. It may have been turned into some sort of loud protest, which would not have befitted her character. We don't know about other cogenitors, but Trip didn't incite a rebel or even martyr spirit in her, he just made her discover a small part of her true potential.
Is the Vissian society as shown in the episode credible? Honestly, it doesn't completely convince me. The Vissians developed warp drive a thousand years ago. They have been thoughtful explorers ever since, they love to make contact with other civilizations. Still, they treat a minority on their own planet like slaves. If anything, the cogenitors' situation is comparable to that of the slaves on Earth, or more precisely, to humans who were not granted human rights mostly because they had the wrong skin color. But emancipation ultimately prevailed over racism, and I'm confident that this trend will continue as our society evolves. Why should it be that different with the Vissians? The obvious parallel in Trek, on the other hand, can be found among the Vulcans who, after thousands of years, still don't accept "melders" (at least, if we believe in the serious retconning in "Stigma"). But one difference with the Vissians is that the cogenitors not only don't dare to contradict, they obviously don't even know that something isn't right with their treatment. Is it really possible to keep people stupid for all of their life, if they are able to learn to read within an hour? I don't think so.
Science observations: I have almost been missing the inoculations against radiation, but here they come again. On the bright side, the episode mentions that Earth scientists have discovered 92 naturally occurring elements. This is correct, as anything up to element 92 (uranium) is stable. And for once, this shows that 22nd century science is behind, considering the 200 stable elements in VOY: "Emanations", no matter how realistic these are.
Remarkable dialogue: "I imagine the cogenitor provides an enzyme, which facilitates conception." - "What do you mean by 'provides'?" - "Well, first the female has to..." - "No -- no, no. Don't tell me. I don't think I wanna know." - "Oh well. Hmm. I have pictures." (Phlox and Trip)
Remarkable quote: "They treat her like a pet -- kept in her room, not taught to read or write, no name. Porthos has a name!" (Trip, to T'Pol)
Remarkable fact: No Earth ship has ever been within ten light years of a hypergiant.
Rating: 7

Regeneration March 1st, 2153: When a research team discovers debris of the Borg ship that was destroyed in 2063 near the Arctic Circle, the drones begin to regenerate, assimilate the team and hijack their shuttle. Enterprise pursues the Borg and engages them while they are in the course of assimilating a Tarkelean vessel. With the Borg ship gone, the seemingly rescued Tarkaleans in sickbay inject nanoprobes into Phlox and begin to install Borg devices aboard, until Archer decides to blow them out into space. After disabling the Borg technology, Enterprise is able to catch up with the Borg ship and destroy it, while Phlox makes a recovery by exposing himself to omicron radiation.

A truly action-heavy Voyager episode full of superb visual effects. But it suffers from the crude and predictable plot. And where the heck is Janeway? Sorry, I must have been confused. After a couple of genuine Enterprise plot ideas, the new series borrows excessively from its predecessors again. Although it is a common notion that I'm narrow-minded about it, this complaint is not primarily about continuity. It bothers me most that the authors frequently recycle old scripts or just throw together a few worn-out clichés that fans allegedly expect from Star Trek. Voyager started this trend by carrying all sorts of Alpha Quadrant clichés into the Delta Quadrant where they don't belong. I frequently commented on that, and no one reproached me with being narrow-minded or dogmatic (we should all remember how it was and still is almost fashionable to criticize Voyager). Enterprise, however, does something worse by bringing the 24th century back through time, a time which would desperately need more of a difference to 24th century Trek. The way it presents itself this week, the new series will never develop its own special feel. Moreover, whilst Voyager still had a great deal of imaginative and intellectually demanding writing, episodes like "The Breach" and "Cogenitor" are the exception on Enterprise. Even the rehashes are often dumbed down as if they were to fit with a lower series standard.
It is not only that Enterprise chases the Borg just like Voyager did occasionally and perhaps too often in four of its seasons. Aside from the finding that the Borg were known even much earlier than they should, there was almost nothing to learn from the Enterprise episode. Every single aspect of the Borg has been covered in a more detailed and often almost philosophical approach on TNG or Voyager. We all remember the dramatic events in TNG: "Best of Both Worlds", where Earth's future was at stake, and there was a great deal of personal involvement of the characters. Or TNG: "I, Borg" with the struggle about the Federation's ethical principles. Or Voyager's "Scorpion" with its many convoluted conflicts. "Regeneration" lacks the sophistication of most of TNG's and Voyager's Borg episodes and reduces its plot to effortless, almost dull action with a swift resolution. Acting is mostly unremarkable, because it is not conceded much room. Even Phlox, who was supposed to provide the personal commitment here, can never really convince as being partially assimilated, and his recovery is rushed and implausible. And what is the point in having Phlox mention the group consciousness and Archer and T'Pol not believing him? Sure, it leaves a bit of plausibility if there remains a little secret about the Borg. But what is the significance of such little mysteries to the fan who has all the knowledge of the Collective from the 24th century? The really only noteworthy aspect is that Archer is reluctant to destroy the Borg. Bakula is quite credible in portraying Archer with this stance, which contrasts with Picard's "this far, no further" or Janeway's "I prefer the Borg in pieces". But the outcome is the same anyway. Enterprise shoots the Borg to pieces. Good for what's left of continuity, bad as a plot idea. Sure, it was not possible to show something more profound without straining continuity even more. But that is just the reason why the episode shouldn't have been done in the first place. Sorry!
I don't feel like going into details about the continuity breach here. After all, this time it may be excused as a consequence of the events in "First Contact", unlike in the Ferengi appearance in "Acquisition", where continuity was thrown overboard for an isolated episode of cheap comedy. I enjoyed "Regeneration" when I first saw it, but when I replayed it a few hours later, I noticed something outrageous. The writers repeat the quirk of not calling the continuity violator by its name. Is this Star Trek or Rumplestiltskin? "Borg" was not even mentioned in their standard introduction, where the first sentence "We are the Borg." was simply cut off this time. Incredibly contrived. How stupid do they think that Starfleet is, that they would forget about the Borg only because their name remains unknown? How stupid do they think the audience is, by feeding them with such a poor excuse of an excuse? They could have mentioned the Borg for good, and I might have shut up. But much better, they could have spared us of this whole episode, if they can't handle its problems.
"Regeneration" has an extraordinary amount of references to establish at least continuity with the events in "First Contact". Within the boundaries of the premise, Archer's quoting of Cochrane's speech about the "cybernetic creatures" is pleasant. I also like the occasional name-dropping (the Vulcan with a prosthesis, Denobulan research on nanotechnology, Tarkaleans whom we see for the first time after many mentions, Bynars who are using synaptic processors), which I find quite appropriate this time. But I have seldom noticed so many obviously (self-) ironical remarks, from Reed's "holographic bullets" to Archer's and T'Pol's pondering in the end that the signal would need 200 years to reach the Borg homeworld (I wonder how he can know how far away it is located though). Somehow I have the impression that everything is supposed to be taken with a grain of salt. But too much salt is unhealthy.
Nitpicking: The Borg ship went down 90 years ago, and the corpses are covered only with a centimeter of snow. -- What a coincidence: The transport ship heads away from Earth accidentally more or less straight into Enterprise's direction, at least close enough to be intercepted. -- The ship's mass increases by 3%, but where does the additional matter come from? Interstellar gas converted to heavy metals? -- Reed orders "Increase power to five megajoules". The authors will probably never learn the difference between energy and power. -- Another observation: With no one of the Enterprise crew even killed by the Borg, the hypocrisy continues. -- Also, there is Reed's remark: "Research team, heavily armed. How did these aliens manage to overpower them?" My question is rather since when Earth-based research teams are heavily armed in the first place. It may be because of the polar bears, but Reed's statement sounds as if research teams were always armed. -- Finally, Archer has never hesitated to consult Daniels's omniscient database to find something from the future, so why didn't he look up the Borg? Only because it would have given the death blow to the "don't say my name" trick?
Why do I still concede "Regeneration" three points? I enjoyed it more than other episodes that rank low in my view. In a manner of speaking, "Regeneration" is convincing as "Trek porn". Despite its predictability and superficiality it never becomes boring because it has lots of eye candy and action.
Remarkable fact: In a commencement address at Princeton University in 2064, Zefram Cochrane mentions details about first contact with the Vulcans, including "a group of cybernetic creatures from the future".
Rating: 2

First Flight Date not given: Archer receives the message that an old friend, Captain A. G. Robinson, has died. While they are on a shuttle to explore a supposed dark matter nebula, Archer tells T'Pol about their time in the NX development project. Robinson made the first Warp 2 flight, but barely survived the following explosion of the NX-Alpha prototype. The project was about to be postponed. Archer and Robinson, with the help of Tucker, then took NX-Beta to an unauthorized flight, reaching Warp 2.5, upon which the project was continued. The existence of dark matter in the nebula is proven, when charges fired from the shuttle light up the matter.

This is a decent history lesson and quite a nice homage to real-world space pioneers, but not much beyond that. The A-plot is just the kind of American hero story we are too familiar with, inside and outside Star Trek. Despite all the hardships and against orders we did the right thing, yadda yadda... It is too complacent, too glorifying. Well, such a view suits Archer, along with his frequent complaints about the Vulcans, which are fortunately a bit toned down this time. But if anything may have been better for the story, it would have been a more objective retrospective. Moreover, the characters exhibit only few interesting aspects. We learn that Archer was more by the book a couple of years ago, and that T'Pol is unusually reverent, even sympathetic, when she talks with Archer about his dead friend. What bothers me most in retrospect is that Trip is of so little importance in this story, although it would have been a great opportunity to develop his friendship with Archer. Maybe it would have been more interesting if Tucker and Trip had talked to T'Pol about their time in the NX development project, both with their own personal views. But instead of that, the whole focus is put on a man of whom we know that we will never see him again. Archer and Robinson, although they appear to be very different in the beginning, both turn out rather blunt. Neither of them has a family (that we know of), neither of them seems to have close friends outside the project, and their friendship among each other is not (yet) that strong either. I wonder if they are really the are the type of hero we would like to identify with.
If something becomes blatantly obvious, it's that Starfleet has a severe problem with discipline. Firstly, astronauts who are jeopardizing their flight with risky stunts against orders is something unheard of. This hasn't happened in 40 years of Soviet or American spaceflight, at least not that I know of. And officers who get into a fight in a bar is just another behavior that a military/scientific organization can't tolerate. But the selfish and reckless secret test flight is simply outrageous. Archer, Tucker and Robinson can be glad to have a superior like Forrest, who is more than lenient and who would rather show weakness in his own organization than bow to the Vulcans. Still, I don't like at all how irresponsible disobedience comes out as politically acceptable and is eventually rewarded in this episode.
Observations: The Starfleet patch looks like an intermediate design between NASA and the UFP Starfleet. It seems the responsible people in the Art Department have forgotten about giving the UESPA the Starfleet arrowhead (VOY: "Friendship One"). -- In the 602 Club, we can see an image of the S.S. Enterprise (the ship with the hoop engine). Considering that it is shown as a tribute to test pilots, the ship very likely exists in the Enterprise Universe. -- Archer and Trip didn't know each other prior to Trip's appearance just after Robinson's flight. That must have been ten years prior to the episode (it was mentioned in "Unexpected" that they know each other for eight years). But why didn't they meet earlier? They were both working on the same project, and Archer must have been in close contact with the engineering staff, especially since it was his father's project. Trip didn't sound as if he was new to the team. -- After the NX-Alpha has exploded, Archer looks at a table that obviously shows the speed vs. warp factor diagram. A red light is blinking at the Warp 3 threshold, although Robinson only achieved Warp 2.2. It may be an erroneous reading. But before the accident, one could see it blinking there all the time. -- Finally, there is one really blatant error. NX-Alpha explodes very close to Jupiter. No one with a bit of common sense would plot a course along the solar plane, especially since the asteroid belt is located between Mars and Jupiter. We may blame the field instability for the ship getting that close to Jupiter, but on a half-way sensible course, that would have required a force to bounce the ship back.
Remarkable dialogue: "As Doctor Phlox would say: Optimism!" - "Optimism doesn't alter the laws of physics." (Archer and T'Pol)
Remarkable facts: "Trip" stands for "triple", as he is Charles Tucker III. -- The Starfleet Museum already exists as of 2153. -- The NX prototype was grounded for three months after the incidents in the episode. For over a year, the Vulcans were demanding additional simulations, until they admitted that the engine would probably work. Eight months after that, Duval broke Warp 3 in the NX-Delta. Five years later, the construction of Enterprise began.
Rating: 4

Bounty March 21st, 2153: Archer is the prisoner of the Tellarite bounty hunter Skalaar, who is going to hand him over to the Klingons. T'Pol and Phlox have picked up microbes and need to stay in the decon chamber. The microbes cause a premature pon farr in T'Pol, and Phlox has a hard time to fend her off. In the meantime, Skalaar has to land his shuttle on a Class-L planet to escape a rivaling bounty hunter. Skalaar, whose ship, the Tezra, was seized by the Klingons, is willing to help Archer escape, when he learns that the Tezra has been disassembled. On the ship of the Klingon Captain Goroth, with the help of Skalaar's knowledge, Archer makes it to an escape pod, which can be tractored in by Enterprise.

What an obnoxiously fanboyish script! This is one of the runner-ups for worst Enterprise episode so far. "Bounty" still has some qualities that the trash of "A Night in Sickbay" was completely missing, but overall there is almost nothing about it that I would have enjoyed. There are two almost equally important plots. For once, there is the A-plot with Archer and Skalaar. I don't really care about it, because it is too much composed of common clichés. We have seen all of it before, and better. Archer is in the hands of an alien kidnapper like so many times before. He comes to the rescue of the ship just like in "Canamar". To make it worse, this time he needs only a few seconds to understand the alien controls. The shuttle crash is very reminiscent of "Dawn", only that Archer does not help the alien like Tucker did. Archer escapes to a lifeboat like Tucker in "Precious Cargo". An idiotic plan. Did he really expect he could make it off a ship full of Klingons, only "armed" with his handcuffs? Dialogues remain on the surface, and sound too familiar. Another weak point is that too many different persons and ships are involved, but they are only confusing and add hardly anything useful. The only noteworthy aspect about this plot is that there is good continuity with "Judgment". And for what it's worth, we finally get to see the Tellarites with their enhanced makeup.
The B-plot is simply sickening. T'Pol in pon farr. We all knew this would come, as B&B make absolutely no effort to spare us any such fanboyish ideas. There is simply no decent way to handle a wet fantasy topic like female pon farr. But setting the whole plot in the overused pseudo-erotic decon chamber and having T'Pol run around sweating and in underwear was certainly the worst they could do with it. At least Jolene Blalock was quite convincing in playing what we never asked to see. I have great respect for the actress who didn't show any sign of silliness and thereby prevented the episode from going the whole way down the drain.
Nitpicking: Female pon farr is not inconsistent with what has been established so far in Star Trek. It was only never mentioned. The condition of B'Elanna in VOY: "Blood Fever" may be regarded as an exception, as there is no necessity that Vulcans women would enter pon farr likewise. Much rather than that, it is a mathematical problem now that we know that both Vulcan sexes have a pon farr cycle. If Vulcans women as well as men are sexually active only for one day exactly every seven years, that would give us a probability of 1:6.5 million that any Vulcan couple could ever reproduce. Unless there is some sort of forced correlation, Vulcans would be doomed to become extinct in a few generations. -- It was mentioned once again after "Judgment"  that Archer was the only prisoner ever to escape from Rura Penthe. With bribing the guards being as easy as seen in "Judgment", that claim is anything but credible. -- Who constructed the decon chamber on Enterprise? A lock which may be opened by simply ripping it off the wall? And opening the door doesn't even set off an alert! -- Captain Goroth's ship does not look very Klingon on the outside, but is supposed to be Klingon. Unlike T'Pol explicitly stated in "Sleeping Dogs", it has escape pods. Was it necessary at all to design yet another Klingon vessel? Especially since they unashamedly re-used the Cardassian station.
Remarkable scenes: There are at least two humorous moments I like. The first is T'Pol grabbing the food on her plate with her hand like a Klingon would, which reminds me of her notion "Vulcans don't touch food with their fingers". The second is Reed, who blows up the Tellarite decoy "with pleasure, sir". 
Remarkable facts: Skalaar talks of his ship, the Tezra. She was the first of her class, capable of holding 1 million metric tons at Warp 4.5. The ship was disassembled by the Klingons.
Rating: 1

The Expanse April 24th, 2153: A probe sent by the Xindi devastates areas in Florida and the Caribbean Sea, costing 7 million lives, among them Trip's sister Lizzy. According to the Suliban's visitor from the future, the Xindi did that in preemptive self-defense, because their homeworld would be destroyed by humans 400 years hence. They are supposed to be building an even larger device to destroy the whole planet. Chased by the Klingon Duras, who is going to capture Archer, Enterprise heads back to Earth. Against Vulcan advice, Archer convinces Starfleet Command to send Enterprise against the Xindi, who are supposed to be hiding in the Delphic Expanse, a region of space dreaded by all spacefaring races. T'Pol decides to stay aboard against her orders. Equipped with new photonic torpedoes, Enterprise destroys Duras's vessel and enters the Expanse...

This must be a conspiracy! B&B made an episode with everything they could think of just to annoy me. "The Expanse" must be one of the most fanboyish episodes ever made. Action and conflict may have been supposed to make up for the dramatic shortcomings. Florida burnt down. Battles with Klingons (three of them!). Photonic torpedoes. A platoon of MACOs (="Starfleet Marines?) on board (which we may not have seen yet only because of budgetary reasons). The episode did not challenge us with profoundness, but only with its fast pace. Whilst the end of most recent episodes was rushed, this time it was already the beginning. Fanboys may cheer if there's a battle every few minutes, but I expect a story. It was hard to find one. The Xindi attack, the Klingon High Council scene, the briefing on Enterprise, Archer abducted once again by the Suliban, the first Klingon attack. All in only ten minutes. There was no time to tell a story. And ironically there was supposed to be a travel of several months back to Earth, which seemed to last at most a few days, just as the time needed to refit the ship too. The correlation between real time and episode time did not work. Most importantly, Tucker's grief about his sister's death was totally neglected. Between his initial hope that she might be alive and his defiant denial to mourn when he talks to Reed months later there is an emotional vacuum. When and how did he realize that Lizzy was dead? We will never know. I'm sure that it would have been a great character story, given Connor Trinneer's unsurpassed performance among the regular actors. But it remained superficial, and it is just like Lizzy died for nothing but a little personal involvement needed to link together Earth's and Enterprise's destinies.
Fortunately the pace slowed down after Enterprise had reached Earth, but the story didn't really become more profound. There were scenes with some novelties in them, for instance between T'Pol and Phlox who discussed their loyalties. And the already mentioned interaction between Trip and Malcolm, which was only too late, months after Trip's sister's death. But most dialogues were composed of the same type of phrases we have been hearing over and over. Especially the latent Vulcan-human hostility resurfaced vehemently, without showing us any new facet. Once again, Vulcans were opposed to Enterprise's mission, once again they denied the possibility of time travel, once again they called anything "foolish" or "illogical" that they didn't understand, once again T'Pol was called back to Vulcan. Even politicians in the real world have more imaginative arguments and act more pragmatically despite all of their dogmas. Never has any Star Trek series been so shamelessly repetitive. It almost seems like the producers were mistaking a lack of development for continuity. Among the regular debaters, Soval remained the annoyance he had been throughout the whole series as the Vulcan pighead who believes in an absolute truth and who acts against anything he should have learned from Surak. And he didn't notice what an illogical crap he was telling himself. Fairy tales that "the laws of physics don't apply" in the Expanse, of mutilated Klingons and finally the video of Vulcans becoming insane. Send that guy back to Vulcan and let him perform the kolinahr!
Summarizing, there was too much of what should be of secondary importance in a dramatic TV series. Too much action, too much VFX (although it was well-done), too many persons, too many places. A bit less of everything would have served the story well. Especially the Klingon sub-plot was totally unnecessary, as it was not linked to the rest in any way and is not supposed to be continued in the follow-up now that Duras is obviously dead. Klingons were only conceded a part of comical relief. But stripping the plot of all the ballast may have exposed its simplistic nature even more, which boils down to "We'll do what we have to", as Archer put it.
B&B have crossed the line this time. In more than one respect. Regarding continuity, we had several major breaches before, but there was always some sort of loophole to allow fans to make up twisted theories why various events or inventions would not interfere with established facts. Not that I would concur with cheap tricks like not mentioning the names of the Ferengi or Borg, but at least it showed that they still cared. From now, they won't. Why bother about Romulans, who are supposed to attack Earth, if you can have the much cooler Klingons and pull some mysterious aliens like the Xindi off the hat? Everything's possible from now. But what concerns me even more, is Enterprise's "bold new direction". Quite obviously, it's a militaristic one. Not that I would be generally opposed to that kind of storyline. DS9 was quite successful with something along these lines. But I think it is simply indecent to exploit people's feelings after 9/11 like that. I support self-defense in the real world as well as in Star Trek, but linked to events in the real world in such a strong way, the episode seems to me specifically like a promotion for George Bush's "crusade" against the evil. With the Vulcans playing the part of "Old Europe". The only ironic undertone in this respect is the reason for the Xindi attack, that they have done it in preemptive self-defense. I assume that this is a hidden message and I hope it has reached the audience.
On a side note, this was the last time the show had "Faith of the Heart". Casual fans were complaining about the optimistic and decidedly retro lyrics from the very beginning, and especially those who wouldn't give a damn on good stories and on continuity. They have won. Enjoy the "bold new direction" and most likely some patriotic march as the main theme!
Technical stuff: The Xindi weapon rips open the soil at a width of some 500m and a depth of perhaps 200m with an incredibly sharp border. It looks like a volume of 4000km*500m*200m = 400km^3 of soil simply vanished. If it was all vaporized, it would have burnt many kilometers of ground on either side. Moreover, it would have created a catastrophic pollution of Earth's atmosphere. -- Still, the number of 7 million deaths is vastly exaggerated. 4000km*500m gives us a mere 2000km^2 of devastated ground. Only metropolitan areas on Earth are that densely populated, not a random strip from Florida to Venezuela, which is includes 50% of sea. The weapon must have affected several kilometers on either side of the rift, maybe through radiation. But that would have left corpses. -- Photonic torpedoes. Oh my. Only one year ago, Hoshi found what she translated as "photon torpedoes" in the Klingon ship's complement. Not even Malcolm knew what they were about. But even much worse, it is yet another technology that doesn't belong into the 22nd century. It was my sincere hope that they would spare us at least this one anachronism. To make my annoyance complete, they just took the torpedoes in use since "The Wrath of Khan" and repainted them in silver, the color to suggest "primitiveness". Oh, and now it seems intentional that they are launched from the pod and not from the main hull, although the refit was not that extensive. -- The Klingon BoP is a new model with the necessary changes to make it different from the 23rd/24th century version. But who asked for yet another Klingon ship? There are already four(!) distinct 22nd century designs, as many as for the movie era and 24th century combined. -- We finally get to see two other types of Starfleet ships. They may be kitbashes, but are nicely done if we don't look too closely.
Remarkable quote: "It's interesting. You and I - the only aliens on board this vessel. To go or to stay. For me, it was a simple question of loyalty toward the Captain, and the sad realization that he'll need me more than ever on such a crucial mission. But for you, it's a more difficult decision. Does your allegiance lie with the High Command, or with Captain Archer?" (Phlox, to T'Pol)
Rating: 3

Proceed to ENT Season 3, Part 1

Home   Top
	Last modified: 29.08.07
http://www.ex-astris-scientia.org/episodes/ent2a.htm