ENTERPRISE 04/30/'03: "Cogenitor" (1 Viewer)

[Rex Bachmann]

title: "Cogenitor"
episode: #48
original airdate: April 30, 2003
writers: Rick Berman & Brannon Braga
director: LeVar Burton
synopsis: "The Enterprise crew encounters the Vissians during a study of a star going into supernova."

The trailer makes this look to be a silly ménage à trois episode. (A "sweep(s) delight"?) Funny what American broadcast network executives think will pay off at the peek ratings times of the year.

 

[Jason Seaver]

writers: Rick Berman & Brannon Braga

Enjoy, suckers.

Okay, the preview was mildly amusing with one good Phlox line. But it looks like they're trying to use a species's third sex to do a "hey, we shouldn't treat women like they're good for nothing but making babies" parable. Except that that message is sort of, well, in the "duh" category for most of this show's audience.

 

[Patrick Sun]

Hmm...so, no decontamination gel rubdowns in this episode?

 

[Tony Whalen]

Well, when the episode first started, I had vauge visions of Riker and the Janai (sp), the androgenous race that he got involved with.

However, that didn't last. THAT TNG episode was attempting to address homosexuality, whereas this was dealing with a totally different subject.

I really REALLY wanted to kick Trip in the nuts... I was cringing whenever he started thinking about the Cogenitor, much less interfering. My wife and I were almost shouting at the screen "Trip! Don't do it man!"

I *DID* get a very pleasant surprise out of this episode. Well.. two...

1. Always enjoy seeing Andreas Katsulas (sp). Being a B5 fan, it's nice to see him outta the Narn makeup.

2. Archer. I was fully expecting a little lecture from him, and a pat on the back for Trip. Because he HAS set a bad example for first contact situations. (Hello? Meeting people with Porthos anyone?) But the lecture that Trip DID get... WOW. Now THAT was more like a Starfleet captain, in my mind.

When Archer told Trip about the Cogenitor commiting suicide... and Trip goes "It's my fault", I expected Archer to be semi-sympathetic. I did NOT expect "You're DAMN RIGHT it is!" Good job Captain!


Personally, I woulda thrown Trip in the brig for a couple of weeks... probably with some of Phlox's leeches.

DESPITE it being a B&B episode... I enjoyed this one.

 

[PhilipG]

Not a bad episode. Phlox's line "I have pictures" was said with hilarious relish by the actor - it was worth watching just for that.

And Tony, Andreas Katsulas was in Trek years before B5 (as the Romulan Tomalak in TNG). Terrific actor.

At the end, I was a little disappointed in Trip's reaction. It was Archer who was wrong not to grant asylum. Of course Trip got him into the mess in the first place, but Archer was the one who just swept the problem under the carpet. He could have given the "it'll take time" speech to the cogenitor, but instead he just sent her packing without a single encouraging word.

 

[Terry St]

This is the first Enterprise episode I've bothered to tune in since they lost me during that long stretch of reruns. I probably should have waited another week to fall off the TA wagon.

The thing that irks me about Enterprise is that these primitive proto-federation humans are always superior in some aspect to every single bloody race they meet. In this case, the aliens have some pretty nice technology but are in many areas very close to humans in terms of sophistication. However, it is revealed that they have been warp capable for about a thousand years, so obviously they can't be as smart as humans. (Although one of them memorizes the collected works of Shakespeare overnight!)

The plot is a by-the-book human crusade against alien stupidity. This alien race has a third gender, called cogenitors. They're every bit as intelligent as the other genders, but aren't allowed to read, pursue a career, or do anything but be passed from couple to couple producing an enzyme to help the females get impregnated. They aren't even permitted names. They just sit in their assigned couple's room like dogs, staring off into space in utter boredom. Tucker takes it upon himself to covertly educate this particular cogenitor. It learns to read in a day! He then smuggles it back to Enterprise for a tour and a movie. (They watched "The Day the Earth Stood Still." Blatant promo tie-in for a recent release?)

The aliens, naturally, get pissed off at Tucker. The cogenitor applies for asylum. Archer then has to make an "ethical decision" about whether relations with the aliens or the cogenitor's rights are more important. He does this off-screen, thus sparing us from the messy logic of english majors. Everybody is sad. The cogenitor goes back to it's ship and the aliens depart. The alien ship reports that the cogenitor killed itself shortly afterwards. Archer then delivers a particularly hypocritical lecture on not interfering with other cultures to Tucker.

Oh, and there were also sideplots with Archer going on a male-bonding shuttle trip with the Shakespeare quoting alien captain and Malcolm being seduced by an alien female. Both are totally irrelevant, but the latter lets us watch tight alien booty crammed into spandex and the former provides the excuse for using up this episodes special effects budget. The aliens, uncharacteristically, don't resort to violence like uncivilized savages.

The key moral in this episode is not "Respect other cultures" so much as it is "Yes, we're superior, but meddling can piss people off." It's obviously a comment on recent american foreign policy, but not a particularly perceptive or original one. It would be nice if the occasional superior race showed up, as in TOS and TNG. Heck, it'd be nice if they stopped raking the poor Vulcans over the coals. T'Pol gets two scenes this episode. In the first she practically whines about an assignment and then lies in order to offload it on Tucker. In the second she merrily congratulates Archer on making the right decision. Sullen, lazy, dishonest, and smug.

Even if he never looked good in a thong, I miss Spock.

P.S. I was also happy to see Katsulas on screen again. The guy is a great actor even if he's so odd looking the only parts he can get are monsters and aliens.

 

[Mark C.]

Good episode. But Horrors! Did anyone see the preview for next week. The Borg!!!! Noooooooo!!! This is Voyager all over: If it's Sweeps month, it's time to roll out the Borg.

So much for any hope for this series.

 

[doug zdanivsky]

Yeah, I enjoyed that one, too.

It also reminded me of that TNG episode with Riker..

Next week's might be good.. Finger's crossed!

 

[Rex Bachmann]

Well, at least the title's a clever wordplay (on progenitor, of course). (Alternate title: "And Baby Makes Four.")

Terry St wrote (post #6):

How do you know? Have you ever seen Spock in a thong?

 

[Tony Whalen]

Did anyone see the preview for next week. The Borg!!!! Noooooooo!!! This is Voyager all over: If it's Sweeps month, it's time to roll out the Borg.

Even though I totally agree that Voyager completely castrated one of the best villains created for Trek....I'm going to keep an open mind about the upcoming ENT episode.

 

[KerryK]

Was anyone else reminded of the Atwood novel "A Handmaid's Tale"? It almost seemed like that sort of arrangement, not that they gave us any details on how the whole situation worked, beyond some sort of vague enzyme stuff. I hate it when they introduce an interesting concept like this and then don't really explain how it works.

And I hope poor Malcolm got laid - it might loosen him up a little.

 

[Doug Smith]

A really great episode - one that will keep me watching the series because it truly explored the science fiction genre again. It doesn't really matter what you think of the argument - whether pro or con. The show was about what if we met a race of beings like this? What if?

 

[Jack Briggs]

Doug, I was thinking just the opposite, and how so non-SF it was.

First, the good: As mentioned in last week's thread, the broadcast picture quality seems to be improving. Instead of the usual washed-out, smeary images, last night's picture popped off the screen. Good chroma saturation and contrast.

Now, for the bad: Oh ... dear ... god. Even though we had human "aliens" in The Original Series, one thing that TOS did do was attempt occasionally to create really alien aliens. Has Enterprise ever given us something on the caliber of a Tholian? Newp. So here, in the TNG tradition, we have "aliens" whose distinguishing physical characteristics are mild ridges to the sides of their eyes. Otherwise, these "aliens" would look pretty much at home at any outdoor bistro in West Hollywood. And their social concerns are so ... human. So Western. So 21st century. (Their English was really good, too. Where'd they learn it? Sorry, but me don't buy no "universal translator.")

There was nothing truly "science fiction" about this. It was just another B&B-concocted morality play that lifted elements from any number of post-TOS spinoff series episodes.

Jason Seaver called us suckers, buddy. He was right.

 

[CharlesD]

Lame lame lame. The only good bit was the Doctor's "alien porn" line. I'm sorry I watched.

 

[Jack Briggs]

B&B are just marking time, collecting paychecks. This franchise is dying before our eyes. We were saying it during Voyager, now we're living it. I don't think Star Trek is going to survive Rick Berman and his little pal Brannon.

 

[Ray Gutnick]

In the angel thread someone generally posts the daily ratings...anyone know how enterprise is doing?

 

[Terry St]

How do you know? Have you ever seen Spock in a thong?

You got me there, but there are some things you don't have to experience first hand to know you won't like. (e.g. Would you prefer licking an ice cream cone or a live sea urchin?)

 

[Mike Broadman]

I thought this was the best episode this season, and I'm a pretty harsh critic of the show. Dramatically, it worked really well, which allows me to forgive its flaws.

I liked the fact that Archer was so wrapped up in the positive first contact that he didn't dwell too much on the cogenitor issue. We all knew which decision he would make.


I assumed the cogenitor was learning to read her native language which is translated for the us, like when aliens in any movie or TV show speak to each other in what sounds like English.

And, of course, Katsulas is the man!

 

[Jeff Kleist]

And, of course, Katsulas is the man!

Yes he is, THE ONE ARMED MAN!

 

[phil-w]

I just watched "Cogenitor" and I enjoyed it. I was following along and started to get wrapped up in what was going on. I thought that they were going to end it in the usual happy last minute wrap up with everything is ok. I was pleasantly surprised with the somewhat dark ending.

Oh, and thanks Jack, for confirming what I noticed last week about the picture quality