Enterprise 1.23.02 (1 Viewer)

[Kenny Goldin]

Yeah, it is still on, but WTF! They are watching films in 4:3 in the 2160s!

 

[Greg_W]

You noticed too.

 

[Todd Terwilliger]

In the words of the Comicbook Guy, "Worst Episode Ever"

That horrible epilogue of sorts about the future prime directive
was so awful. I kept thinking to myself, "Don't do it! By all that is holy, leave it alone!" but they couldn't... Ugh, what the hell do I keep watching for? I must be a masochist.

 

[Everlasting Gobstopper]

Ugh, what the hell do I keep watching for? I must be a masochist.

Yeah, maybe you should stop.

 

[Dave Scarpa]

OK I'll Weigh in. First you're right the film was in 4:3 so no OAR Violation there. Not a groundbreaking episode , it's certainly been done before in Data's Day and MASH Even. But these types of episodes are good for character builders. I especially don't mind because I Like Phlox. He's Not turning out to be Neelix and that's a good thing.

Still thou they missed the boat on this ep by a certain degree. This episode would've had a greater impact if instead of Archer Soul Searching off screen, he actually made Phlox Give the Alien's the cure. Then Flash forward a few week's later and they could encounter alien's that would tell of looting this dead planet. They find out it's the planet they helped. So instead of Archer's really painful "Edith Keeler" type speech Predicting that someday they'll have a "Directive", they get to see first hand and very dramatically what type of effect they could have. The Prime Directive one can presume only came about because of Disasteous interference by Starfleet.

But really that's the complaint I have on this whole series so far, it's being played too safe. THe crew really could've stepped off any 24th century starship the way they all behave and act. Where's the Danger of these first bold steps into space? Hell I almost expect themto pull into a federation starbase any second.

Next week finally the wait for another Decon Scene ! What a gratuitious shot at the end of the trailer.This time Hoshi joins in on the fun. The Crew also gets up close and personal with Klingons, who I guess we have'nt pissed off enough to be enemies. You think the panty ass way we've been waltzing around , they'd be off to conquer earth by now (Remember Klingon's of this time period a brutal Warriors) (Yeah Right)

 

[Everlasting Gobstopper]

Yeah, the Klingons may be brutal warriors. That doesn't necessarily mean they'd care the least about Earth. Remember, Humans are a relatively primitive species at this point of the game. Klingons didn't find it honourable to conquer those that can't put up a fight. Also keep in mind that Earth is under Vulcan protection. Since we don't know the relative strength of the Klingon vs. Vulcan civilizations, there's no way of knowing whether it would be smart risking war against Vulcan for such a primitive planet. Don't forget, in the first episode the Klingons were on, Enterprise did them a favour. In the next, and only other episode they were on, they had to be stopped (and only by playing the High Council card) from torturing an innocent crew to death. They don't sound like Snuggle Bears to me.

 

[Chris]

I actually really enjoyed this episode. Probably one of my favs so far. The episode was fairly well acted with an interesting forward plot that had honest to goodness character development.

No, it wasn't unique (someone was right, in that I too was thinking "data's day") but it managed to do a lot of things that "Data's Day" did not do by dealing with a stickier issue..

I generally like the concept of enterprise. I remember how "mixed" the first season of TNG was, and look at this season and think: this continues to hold promise.

By this time in the Voyager series, I had completely given up.

 

[Steve Enemark]

We've gone from bad (last week's ep) to worse (this week's). The story has been done before, and done a lot better. Once again, I look at the clock about halfway through and wonder "when is the story going to begin?".
Would it kill them to have an episode with a engaging plot, not just a strung-together collection of scenes meandering around a been-there, done-that retread of a story told a dozen times before on Star Trek shows alone? At least next week's episode has some Klingons. And Archer's speech at the end was painful.
Anyone else notice both movies mentioned (For Whom the Bell Tolls and Sunset Blvd.) were released by Paramount? Maybe Paramount's film storage vaults were the only ones to survive the Eugenics Wars, eh?

 

[Mike St.Louis]

The whole speech about a 'directive' was pretty awkward but I still think it was one of the best efforts so far.

I also thought Scott Bakula did one of his best performances to date.

Good score too don't forget.

 

[rutger_s]

For those few people who either stopped the watching the Star Trek shows a long, long time ago and never kept up with it or those who never saw a Star Trek show and kept up with it...

I thought the speech was very nice and explained the Prime Directive very well.

I used to watch TNG but that was a long time ago and I rarely watched any of the other ST shows so I needed a refresher on the Prime Directive. Its not like everyone else who watches the show is a Trekkie. Some of the viewers are new to Star Trek or are finally getting back to enjoying the shows.

I also liked how the episode was mainly from Dr. Phlox's point of view and added something rarely seen in a Star Trek show, the point of view from a non-human. Especially when it came to emotions like crushes, friendships, loneliness, and compassion.

 

[Nigel McN]

I enjoyed the episode a lot, I really just wished he didn't use the word 'directive'.

 

[ikiru]

I enjoyed the episode and agree that it was one of my favorites thus far.
Archer's end speech was a bit, shall we say, cheesy, but I know that they are still going through some growing pains with the Enterprise show in general.
I do like the fact that Archer has toned it down with the vulcan. Its a nice "racism turned trust" development we have going on.
The doctor still amuses me.
I really enjoy this crew. They have their flaws as far as abilities, which is a welcome change from the immortal-like TNG characters. Plus, they havent gotten too carried away with the technobabble (which bugged me to no end in previous series).
Another plus...they havent done time travel yet.
-ikiru

 

[Jack Briggs]

Alas, I had to work late last night and so I missed it. I must wait for Sunday's repeat.

What a range of opinion here. So, why is it I think I'm going to like this episode?

One thing, though--slightly off-topic. For the past few weeks I've been screening my TOS DVDs. That first season remains the most consistently excellent incarnation of Star Trek ever. What great stories. And with stories like those, who needs state-of-the-art technical wizardry?

This new series continues, in my view, to be off to the best start since TOS--though it is not at the former series' level of excellence. (Trek didn't become a phenomenon for nothing, after all.)

 

[derek]

While the episode dealt with some strong ethical and moral questions...the end result seems to be a sad, deep and extremist Darwinian solution that devoids any moral obligation to humanity. How bout Flox jumping up to defend the seeming solitude of the evolutionary cause? While Flox and Archer are shown to 'defend' their positions soundly, ultimately Archer betrays his moral conscience and escapes any culpability by invoking the prime directive. In fact he ultimately chooses the easy way out. It's easy to leave destiny in the hands of naturalism for the cause of 'evolution.' But if humanity doesn't have soul...that's exactly where we be. No inherent direct responsibilty, no moral code, no guiding principles. Leave the hunger stricken, sick, diseased, those with AIDs, the ignorant Indians and tribes all to die to prepare the red carpet of naturalistic evolution. How could you argue to act in their favor based on this principle? Archer and crew should have helped motivated by human compassion. But the principle here takes precedence over the heart. But doesn't letting them have medication to 'ease the symptoms' in fact betrays the prime directive. So which is it? Interfere? Not interfere? Don let your compassion come in the way! (but they did.) So ultimately the episode is a tribute to extreme naturalistic Darwinian principle...and one big let down for humanity.

 

[Jason Seaver]

What a range of opinion here. So, why is it I think I'm going to like this episode?

Because even the folks who disliked it are still saying that "Dear Doctor" is about ideas and ethics and characters as opposed to magic particles?

Personally, I liked it a lot, even if the writers have extraordinarily goofy ideas on how evolution works. They did a good job of making Phlox an actual interesting character, and actually making him seem a little alien in thought as well as appearance. One of "Enterprise"'s best yet.

 

[Jack Briggs]

Well, considering your recommendation. ...

Actually, Phlox has been one of my favorite characters so far, even though I can't pin down why. I am really looking forward to this episode.

 

[Todd Terwilliger]

I like this latest incarnation of the good doctor but for me, it is not enough... I will say, I was fairly intrigued up until the (in my mind) horrible endgame. All the good momentum I had from the episode in general was completely destroyed by the "directive" speech. I think it might have actually scarred my mind...

 

[Bill Catherall]

I liked the episode, mainly because I like Phlox so much. In the first episode I saw him and thought "oh no, another Nelix." But he's turned out to be my favorite character of them all. And like Jack, I too don't know why. Trip is #2.

 

[Greg_S_H]

One thing nobody's mentioned yet is that they basically had it both ways at the end. It seems to me that when they gave them the medicine, they were basically at them. "AHEM! Maybe if you study this real closely, you'll find a permanent cure!" So, they didn't give them a cure, but they paved the way for them to find it on their own.

Still thou they missed the boat on this ep by a certain degree. This episode would've had a greater impact if instead of Archer Soul Searching off screen, he actually made Phlox Give the Alien's the cure. Then Flash forward a few week's later and they could encounter alien's that would tell of looting this dead planet. They find out it's the planet they helped.

I don't think the impact would have been felt that quickly. Maybe in Nemesis, they could have had the Enterprise-E visit the planet and find only remnants of the less-advanced species (don't remember their name).

 

[Everlasting Gobstopper]

Jack,

You and I share similar tastes w/regards to Trek so far as I've seen. I think this is a pretty decent episode. Ergo, you will like it (how's that for blatant inference?).

Actually, Phlox has been one of my favorite characters so far, even though I can't pin down why. I am really looking forward to this episode.

Speaking as an actor, I'd have to say it's the simplicity of his performance. He doesn't put on any airs, he just acts very naturalistically. Despite his being an alien, he seems like just an ordinary guy.