Adam Lenhardt
Senior HTF Member
4x11 - "Observer Effect"
This was a more effective stand alone episode. The story was interesting and compelling, even though the aliens' mechanism of observation -- through body snatching -- was deeply creepy. When "Malcolm" and "Travis" were talking in the cold open, my first unsettling thought was that a couple of the wisps from "The Crossing" had stuck around, and Malcolm and Travis had been possessed this whole time.
But once we got into the meat of the story, I appreciated that it was basically telling a Prime Directive story, only humanity is the less advanced species that is at the center of the moral conundrum. It's a unique sort of bottle episodes, with no locations outside of the standing sets and no guest stars, but still two very important new characters.
It's an episode where Enterprise succeeds not by outthinking or outinnovating, but through sheer decency of intention and action. They were spared because they convinced their observers that they were worth sparing.
4x12 - "Babel One"
This episode was beautifully setup, providing a plausible reason for both opposing parties to be on board Enterprise at the same time. Enterprise had to be hosting the Tellarites, because there isn't the same history or relationship there. By rescuing Shran and the survivors for his vessel, Archer has at his disposal Andorians he trusts and who trust him. As the inexplicable events start to pile up, there is an undercurrent of goodwill that keeps things from escalating too far.
And the Romulan plot, using deception and subterfuge to keep the Tellarites and the Andorians at each other's throats to keep their corner of the Alpha Quadrant in disarray, was appropriately devious. With the Earth-Romulan War only two years away at this point, it makes sense to start weaving them in more. At the same time, they're hamstrung by the fact that the Federation doesn't officially come face to face with the Romulans until "Balance of Terror" over a century later. The TOS writers of the time clearly thought it would take longer for live video conferencing to be practically achieved. By the time this Enterprise was made, the theoretical was possible, even if it wasn't commonplace. And now, post-COVID, it's regular part of many of our lives on a daily or near daily basis.
This episode solves that by going more advanced, rather than less advanced. In 2005, when this episode aired, drone war was just starting to become a part of the national discussion. Given that we were fighting wars remotely from the other side of the planet, it would have been logical to scale up the same concept to interstellar travel. If the ships don't have crew, they don't need life support and there would be nobody for the opposing ships to see. I thought it was a clever innovation, but one that will require an explanation for why the technology was abandoned by "Balance of Terror". I liked that Romulus looked just like it did in Star Trek: Nemesis, too.
My one criticism is that Shran's actions in this episode only happened because he was kept out of the loop. I'm not sure I believe, given the stakes and given the situation, that Archer wouldn't have immediately looped in Shran and the Tellarite ambassador. It would seem that the only reason he didn't was so that they could have guns pointed at each other.
4x13 - "United"
This episode really laid the groundwork for the Federation, with the four founding members teaming up for the first time in pursuit of a common purpose.
Jeffrey Combs really sold the hell out of Shran's devotion for Talis, despite it coming out of the blue in the prior episode. I get why they did it, to make pulling off the alliance as hard as possible. But I liked Talis and I'm sad she's gone. I'm fascinated by the Andorians; these episodes implied that Andorian males and females are closer to physical equals than other species, which explains why their society seems to be neither patriarchal nor matriarchal.
I'm not sure I bought Archer getting the better of Shran in combat; as was reiterated in this episode, Shran has been trained as a warrior since he was a young child. He is a military officer in charge of a military vessel. Archer is a test pilot in charge of an exploratory vessel. He might not have been planning to kill Shran, but Shran was planning on killing him.
The reveal that the drone pilot was an Aenar helps explain why the drone technology is not more widespread in later Romulan appearances; if the piloting technology requires the Aenar's telepathic sight and precognition, its rollout would be limited by its supply of Aenar to serve as pilots.
This was a more effective stand alone episode. The story was interesting and compelling, even though the aliens' mechanism of observation -- through body snatching -- was deeply creepy. When "Malcolm" and "Travis" were talking in the cold open, my first unsettling thought was that a couple of the wisps from "The Crossing" had stuck around, and Malcolm and Travis had been possessed this whole time.
But once we got into the meat of the story, I appreciated that it was basically telling a Prime Directive story, only humanity is the less advanced species that is at the center of the moral conundrum. It's a unique sort of bottle episodes, with no locations outside of the standing sets and no guest stars, but still two very important new characters.
It's an episode where Enterprise succeeds not by outthinking or outinnovating, but through sheer decency of intention and action. They were spared because they convinced their observers that they were worth sparing.
4x12 - "Babel One"
This episode was beautifully setup, providing a plausible reason for both opposing parties to be on board Enterprise at the same time. Enterprise had to be hosting the Tellarites, because there isn't the same history or relationship there. By rescuing Shran and the survivors for his vessel, Archer has at his disposal Andorians he trusts and who trust him. As the inexplicable events start to pile up, there is an undercurrent of goodwill that keeps things from escalating too far.
And the Romulan plot, using deception and subterfuge to keep the Tellarites and the Andorians at each other's throats to keep their corner of the Alpha Quadrant in disarray, was appropriately devious. With the Earth-Romulan War only two years away at this point, it makes sense to start weaving them in more. At the same time, they're hamstrung by the fact that the Federation doesn't officially come face to face with the Romulans until "Balance of Terror" over a century later. The TOS writers of the time clearly thought it would take longer for live video conferencing to be practically achieved. By the time this Enterprise was made, the theoretical was possible, even if it wasn't commonplace. And now, post-COVID, it's regular part of many of our lives on a daily or near daily basis.
This episode solves that by going more advanced, rather than less advanced. In 2005, when this episode aired, drone war was just starting to become a part of the national discussion. Given that we were fighting wars remotely from the other side of the planet, it would have been logical to scale up the same concept to interstellar travel. If the ships don't have crew, they don't need life support and there would be nobody for the opposing ships to see. I thought it was a clever innovation, but one that will require an explanation for why the technology was abandoned by "Balance of Terror". I liked that Romulus looked just like it did in Star Trek: Nemesis, too.
My one criticism is that Shran's actions in this episode only happened because he was kept out of the loop. I'm not sure I believe, given the stakes and given the situation, that Archer wouldn't have immediately looped in Shran and the Tellarite ambassador. It would seem that the only reason he didn't was so that they could have guns pointed at each other.
4x13 - "United"
This episode really laid the groundwork for the Federation, with the four founding members teaming up for the first time in pursuit of a common purpose.
Jeffrey Combs really sold the hell out of Shran's devotion for Talis, despite it coming out of the blue in the prior episode. I get why they did it, to make pulling off the alliance as hard as possible. But I liked Talis and I'm sad she's gone. I'm fascinated by the Andorians; these episodes implied that Andorian males and females are closer to physical equals than other species, which explains why their society seems to be neither patriarchal nor matriarchal.
I'm not sure I bought Archer getting the better of Shran in combat; as was reiterated in this episode, Shran has been trained as a warrior since he was a young child. He is a military officer in charge of a military vessel. Archer is a test pilot in charge of an exploratory vessel. He might not have been planning to kill Shran, but Shran was planning on killing him.
The reveal that the drone pilot was an Aenar helps explain why the drone technology is not more widespread in later Romulan appearances; if the piloting technology requires the Aenar's telepathic sight and precognition, its rollout would be limited by its supply of Aenar to serve as pilots.
