UPN's Enterprise: Letter-boxed 16:9 (1 Viewer)

[Adam Lenhardt]

I ended up staying home sick today, and while I vegged on the couch feeling miserable, I marathoned more "Enterprise":

1x09 - "Civilization"
The NX-01 Enterprise comes into contact with its first pre-warp civilization, one roughly at a stage of development equivilent to Earth's 16th century.

The advantage of being so early in the timeline is that a lot of the rules that constrict the storytelling in the other Trek shows don't apply here. While T'Pol cautions against making first contact with a pre-warp civilization, it's a Vulcan rule rather than a human one. Under Archer's leadership, they proceed more carefully than they would have under a more reckless captain, but less carefully than would be expected by SNW or TOS.

I liked the world building here; both the digital matte paintings of the planet's surface and the handful of sets create a greater sense of scale than we usually get. Usually starships seem to visit remote outposts or isolated communities. But here, they're in the heart of a major city built up by a civilization 500 million strong.

The story itself felt more Doctor Who than Star Trek: A nefarious alien presence is up to something sinister and mysterious, and a brave hero from another world who travels the stars must intervene to stop them.

What the Malurians were up to was shitty, but admittedly poisoning the water of one neighborhood with industrial waste is less severe than when the Nomad commits genocide and wipes out their entire species in a century or so.

1x10 - "Fortunate Son"
This one didn't thrill me. Its main purpose was to flesh out Mayweather's past as a "space boomer" on long-haul routes traveling barely faster than the speed of light. The Nausicaans were obviously in the wrong, but the plan for revenge cooked up by the XO of the Fortunate was so inept, and his attempts at interrogation so haphazard and needlessly cruel, that it's hard to care much about him either.

1x11 - "Cold Front"
Ugh, more time travel shenanigans. It does further complicate things that the mysterious shadowy figure wanted to save the Enterprise rather than destroy it. Even the plot in "Broken Bow" would potentially point to empowering the future Federation by undermining the unity and cohesiveness of the Klingon Empire.

The reveal that Daniels, the glaringly conspicuous crewman responsible for serving Archer his breakfast, was a temporal agent was telegraphed a mile away. There seemed to be indications that he was a Supervisor like Gary Seven, but since he got killed off I guess we'll never know.

1x12 - "Silent Enemy"
I appreciated that this episode confronted the fact that the Enterprise has been largely outgunned since it ventured into the unknown, and that Archer is taking seriously the need to rectify that.

The aliens were effectively creepy here, despite the bad CGI. They play into our paranoia about grey aliens abducting us for medical experimentation. They are not overtly hostile; they're the most technologically advanced civilization we've come across so far in this series, and had multiple opportunities to wipe out the Enterprise, but didn't. Even by the end of the episode, the only thing we know is that they were curious, and that they didn't like the subspace amplifiers that the Enterprise had set up.

The b-plot with Sato trying to find out Reed's favorite meal was intriguing only because of how opaque his entire personal history is. He's as mysterious as Luther Sloan from Section 31, and there doesn't seem to be any reason a tactical/security officer would need to be that much of a mystery. I was really that curious about him before, but I definitely am now: What's he hiding, and why?

1x13 - "Dear Doctor"
This episode grapples with the principles underlying the Prime Directive, as Archer and Dr. Phlox weigh how much intervention is appropriate in the face of a species' imminent extinction through natural causes.

Such intervention would be directly forbidden by the Prime Directive, once it is put into law, but would also be mandated by basic human decency.

What complicates the situation is that this planet has two sentient humanoid species: The technologically-advanced Valakians, and the primitive Menk -- kept in compounds by the Valakians and limited to menial employment.

The Valakians are on the brink of extinction after hitting an evolutionary dead end, but the Menk are far more genetically robust and have proven to the Enterprise's away team that they are far more intelligent than the Valakians give them credit for.

If the Valakians die out, the Menk would be poised to take the place natural selection has assigned them, as the dominant species on the planet. Much of the Valakians' knowledge would be lost, but they would be able to find their way to the stars eventually.

Curing the Valakians would therefore be condemning the Menk to their current limited and subservient roles. Just because the Enterprise has the knowledge to cure the Valakians, does that give them the right to do so? A big question, with no easy answer.

A nice showcase for John Billingsley as Phlox, who admires humanity's compassionate and gegarious nature but doesn't entirely share it. It was nice to see Crewman Cutler again, too.

1x14 - "Sleeping Dogs"
This one further explores Sato's anxiety when it comes to away missions, and the steps she is taking to address them.

As things grow more dire, the Enterprise crew is forced to deal with the Klingons on their own terms, and manage to get everybody out alive.

In terms of greater importance, the main thing is that the Enterprise crew encounters photon torpedoes for the first time, a weapon that will become a crucial part of Starfleet's arsenal.

 

[Matt Hough]

Feel better, Adam!

 

[joshEH]

1x09 - "Civilization"
The NX-01 Enterprise comes into contact with its first pre-warp civilization, one roughly at a stage of development equivilent to Earth's 16th century.

The advantage of being so early in the timeline is that a lot of the rules that constrict the storytelling in the other Trek shows don't apply here. While T'Pol cautions against making first contact with a pre-warp civilization, it's a Vulcan rule rather than a human one. Under Archer's leadership, they proceed more carefully than they would have under a more reckless captain, but less carefully than would be expected by SNW or TOS.

I liked the world building here; both the digital matte paintings of the planet's surface and the handful of sets create a greater sense of scale than we usually get. Usually starships seem to visit remote outposts or isolated communities. But here, they're in the heart of a major city built up by a civilization 500 million strong.

The story itself felt more Doctor Who than Star Trek: A nefarious alien presence is up to something sinister and mysterious, and a brave hero from another world who travels the stars must intervene to stop them.

What the Malurians were up to was shitty, but admittedly poisoning the water of one neighborhood with industrial waste is less severe than when the Nomad commits genocide and wipes out their entire species in a century or so.

Definitely check out TOS: "The Changeling" for the second half of this particular story, Adam.

1x11 - "Cold Front"
Ugh, more time travel shenanigans. It does further complicate things that the mysterious shadowy figure wanted to save the Enterprise rather than destroy it. Even the plot in "Broken Bow" would potentially point to empowering the future Federation by undermining the unity and cohesiveness of the Klingon Empire.

The reveal that Daniels, the glaringly conspicuous crewman responsible for serving Archer his breakfast, was a temporal agent was telegraphed a mile away. There seemed to be indications that he was a Supervisor like Gary Seven, but since he got killed off I guess we'll never know.

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

1x15 - "Shadows of P'Jem"
It was nice to see the events of a previous episode have consequences in this one: As a result of the intelligence provided to by Archer about the surveillance facility under the P'Jem monastery, the Andorians have launched an all-out assault. The target was the surveillance facility, but the ancient monastery was destroyed in the process.

The Vulcans blame Enterprise for the destruction, and have suspended joint operations with the United Earth fleet in response. T'Pol, who prioritized her captain's orders over her people's interests, has been recalled to Vulcan.

Before she goes, however, Archer brings her along for a routine meet and greet at the capital of a planet in the Coridan system which is known for its advanced shipyards.

What Archer doesn't know is that the planet is embroiled in a civil war between the corrupt, Vulcan-backed government and various rebel resistance groups. One such group takes Archer and T'Pol captive.

It's another example of the less progressive side of the Vulcan foreign policy: While they value enlightened civilizations, it is logical to take a pragmatic approach to furthering Vulcan interests. Even though the ruling government in the Coridan system is regressive and exploitative, it is happy to accommodate Vulcan priorities. Having a reliable, cooperative partner is ultimately more important than having a democratic and egalitarian partner.

Fortunately for the captain and T'Pol, the Andorians owe Archer a favor and they don't like being in anyone else's debt. As the rescue attempt is planned and executed we begin to see the complexity of the politics in this region: The Vulcans are spying on the Andorians in violation of their treaty, the Andorians are spying on the Vulcans in violation of their treaty, and both sides are using various factions in the Coridan civil war to wage a proxy war.

The only thing that felt a little too convenient was Archer and Dr. Phlox pulling a fast one on the Vulcan captain to keep T'Pol aboard the Enterprise.

1x16 - "Shuttlepod One"
Far from the first Star Trek episode to use a long shuttle trip for some character development, this one adds in some decent stakes based on the limitations of the 22nd century shuttle pods. It's a bottle episode that embodies the "less is more philosophy".

Reed and Trip are a fun pairing because they are such opposites. Trip is so emotional, even when he probably shouldn't be, while Reed is generally taciturn and somewhat unreadable. But here, it's Reed splitting his guts out while Trip tries to focus on the business at hand.

Definitely check out TOS: "The Changeling" for the second half of this particular story, Adam.

Yeah, that's what I was referencing. It was a neat choice by the writers to take a species we only learned about once they'd been wiped out, and then take advantage of this show being a prequel to fill in some of the backstory there.

 

[Jason_V]

Adam, you may want to check out the "Trek in Time" podcast. I started listening from the beginning over the weekend...two brothers go through the franchise in chronological order and also talk about what was happening in the world when each episode aired. They're currently in Season 3...I'm about halfway done with Season 1 ("Dear Doctor" is next for me) and it may make a good companion to your rewatch.

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

1x17 - "Fusion"
Star Trek, and particularly Berman-era Trek, doesn't have a particularly great track record when tackling sexual assault stories. This one is far from the worst, but it's still not great.

It felt like the episode wanted Tolaris's predatory nature to be a shocking reveal, but red flags were going off for me from the first time he isolated T'Pol. There is something about a man cornering a woman alone and pressuring her to accede to his opinion that makes me instinctually uneasy.

The scene where he incontrovertibly goes too far is deeply uncomfortable, as its supposed to be, but I think the episode makes a mistake by dramatizing the aftermath from Archer's point of view rather than T'Pol's. She is the victim, being safeguarded by the good menfolk in Sickbay, while Archer and Tolaris get into a dick measuring contest over her honor. The assault becomes about Archer's defense of his officer rather than the officer's experience of the violation.

I did like that the episode avoided drawing black and white conclusions about these emotional Vulcans. If they had all turned out to be brutish and vile, that would have implicitly endorsed the mainstream Vulcan conclusion that emotions make logical, enlightened existences impossible for Vulcans. But while Tolaris was a nasty piece of work, Kov showed that Vulcan emotions aren't necessarily incompatible with decency.

It was strange to see the Vulcan mind meld portrayed as an arcane ritual that fell into obscurity centuries ago, given how widespread and commonplace it is in the TOS era only a century and change later.

It was fun to see Chris Pine's father, Robert Pine, pop up here as the Vulcan captain.

1x18 - "Rogue Planet"
There were a lot of compelling ideas in this episode, but the execution didn't quite come off.

A rogue planet, and the ways that it may support life without the warmth of a nearby star, was an interesting idea to tackle. But such a place would be truly alien, with flora completely unlike our own, and episodic broadcast television just didn't have the budget to realize that. Instead, we get a Predator-style jungle near the geothermal vents, with no explanation why the plants have green leaves with chlorophyll when there is no sunlight to facilitate photosynthesis.

I liked the first half of the episode better than the second half. I feel like Hollywood is prone to anti-hunting stories, such that whenever hunting enters the story the presumption is that the hunters are evil. But when we meet the hunters here, they welcome Archer and his away team back to their campsite and extend their hospitality. It's nice showcase for some of the appeals of hunting: the communion with the natural world and the tranquility of being off in the wilderness, separate from all of the stresses and concerns of "real life"; the camaraderie of sitting around a campfire or in a blind for hours at a time, with your friends by your side; the connection to heritage and traditions passed down from one generation to the next; the thrill and satisfaction gained from feeding oneself on the bounty of one's own accomplishments.

I thought the episode did a pretty good job of capturing that, and while Archer and his away team didn't share those values, they were able to agree to disagree and still enjoy each other's company.

But when it became about trophy hunting -- and trophy hunting of sentient life, to boot -- all of that nuance went out the window. I did appreciate the resolution: Archer, acknowledging that he had neither the means nor the right to stop the hunt, found a way to make the shapeshifters at least not such easy prey.

If Star Trek Into Darkness, instead of being a Wrath of Khan reboot, had used that budget to tell the story of a truly alien rogue planet, literally into darkness, I think it would have been a lot better than both that movie and this episode.

Adam, you may want to check out the "Trek in Time" podcast. I started listening from the beginning over the weekend...two brothers go through the franchise in chronological order and also talk about what was happening in the world when each episode aired. They're currently in Season 3...I'm about halfway done with Season 1 ("Dear Doctor" is next for me) and it may make a good companion to your rewatch.

Thanks for the recommendation, but I think I'm going to stick with just the show. I only watched a couple episodes during its run on UPN, so this isn't really a rewatch like the other series but a first watch. I want to experience it this first time through without too many outside voices coloring my opinion.

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

Only managed to fit in one episode tonight.

1x19 - "Acquisition"
It's not a terrible Ferengi episode, as far as those go, but the problem is that "Enterprise" shouldn't have a Ferengi episode at all. Setting aside the Roswell incident, the Federation doesn't make first contact with the Ferengi until "The Last Outpost" in 2364. While they're never explicitly called Ferengi here, they would have collected enough data to make a clear identification. One of the tradeoffs of doing a prequel series is that you don't get to play with the toys that aren't introduced in the story until later. This one felt the writers having their cake and eating it too.

One of the fun ideas underlying this episode is that Earth's century of Vulcan-guided peace, progress, and prosperity has made the crew of the Enterprise gullible in ways that Zefram Cochrane's generation wouldn't have been. They fell for the Ferengi's ruse in part because they are no longer on guard for cutthroat capitalism.

I liked the limitations of their technology ultimately being responsible for their salvation; because the transporters can't decontaminate in transit yet, people who go on away missions need to go through a somewhat lengthy decontamination process every time they come back to the ship. Trip being in the decontamination chamber, a sealed environment cut off from the rest of the ship, is what allowed him to stay awake when the gas was released and then Die Hard the shit out of the situation.

Krem is another character where Jeffrey Combs disappears behind the voice and the makeup. On the other hand, Ethan Phillips's voice is so distinctive that I immediately thought of Neelix when Ulis spoke, even though it's a very different performance. Clint Howard was mostly wasted as Muk.

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

1x20 - "Oasis"
Ghost ship framing aside, it's essentially a remake of the DS9 episode "Shadowplay". I thought that was a better episode in just about every way, especially in how it used the central concept.

I don't generally think of Rene Auberjonois being much like Odo, but they strangely even gave his character here a similar hairstyle.

I enjoyed Tom Bergeron's brief appearance as an alien trader at the beginning of the episode.

Trip's flirtation with a young blonde Annie Wershing was fine. He definitely fits into the mold of the sailor with a lover at every port, but I didn't feel like they had especially great chemistry together. Trip and T'Pol have a lot more chemistry.

1x21 - "Detained"
The explicit parallel in this episode is to America's Japanese internment camps during World War II, but it's impossible to ignore the fact that it was made in the months immediately following 9/11, a point in time when fear of the other was particularly heightened.

I appreciated the shades of gray in this episode; there is a tendency in Trek to divvy civilizations up into enlightened utopias like the Federation and barbaric or fascist nightmares like the Cardassians. But it seems pretty clear that the Tandarans were once a tolerant and pluralistic society, that had welcomed Suliban refugees and integrated them successfully into their communities. In the original timeline, before shadowy figures from the future created the Cabal, it's entirely likely that the Tandarans continued to be a tolerant and pluralistic society.

Even the internment camp isn't as bleak as prisons usually are on TV. The kids have art supplies, everybody gets adequately fed, and aside from the inspections a couple times a day, the detainees are mostly left to their own devices. The conditions are just good enough that the Tandarans can convince themselves that the suspension of the Sulibans' rights is not inhumane.

I enjoyed the scenes with Archer and the camp warden, a nice little "Quantum Leap" reunion with a very different dynamic between Scott Bakula and Dean Stockwell. The intelligence the Tandarans were able to gather about the Enterprise and its actions thus far as a good reminder that even twentysomething episodes in, this Enterprise hasn't really traveled all that far.

I'm not sure how I feel about Archer's prison break. I understand the impulses that led him to it, and he undoubtedly did give his fellow detainees a shot at freedom. But I can't help but wonder if he condemned all of the other detainees at all of the other internment camps to a crackdown and far more draconian conditions as a result. It might have been better for the Suliban as a whole if he had shared his intelligence with the warden and got lawfully released after the three days.

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

1x22 - "Vox Sola"
This was just a plain good old Star Trek standalone episode. It stands to reason that alien civilizations would be, well, alien. We get two examples of the difficulties and complexities of that here: First with the humanoid Kreetassans, and then later with the very much non-humanoid web and tentacle creature.

One of the fun parts about this being a prequel is that the universal translator doesn't yet work like magic after hearing only a few words. Bridging linguistic differences is a regular concern for this Enterprise, the rule rather than the exception. One of the biggest leaps that must be made here is that any one linguist would be up to the immense challenge posed this assignment. What's surprising is not that Ensign Sato struggled with the two languages this episode, but that she so seldom has struggled to this extent with other languages.

I also appreciated the complexity with which the Kreetassans were portrayed. Given that their language is way more complex than human languages, it makes sense that they would be able to translate English a lot faster than the humans would be able to translate Kreetassan. And I like that it wasn't so much a linguistic faux pas that caused offense, but a cultural one: Eating, to them, is a private and intimate act much like sexual intercourse. Just as we would randomly undress and start screwing on the kitchen table when we have company over, the Kreetassans wouldn't eat in front of others -- especially guests that they've just met. Ensign Mayweather handled that situation very delicately, explaining why the offense happened, and making a genuine apology for it.

On the other hand, the web and tentacle creature was a totally different form of life than we've encountered, and the efforts made to communicate with it cut to the heart of what Trek is about. And I loved how genuinely alien its home planet was, once they brought it back and returned it.

This show has done a really good job casting minor roles, too, with Crewman Kelly played by Angelica Schuyler herself, Renée Elise Goldsberry.

1x23 - "Fallen Hero"
It's a a strange quirk of Star Trek that ambassadors -- the most boring characters on some shows -- are often the most interesting characters that pass through these shows. V'Lar is no exception, and -- as played by Fionnula Flanagan -- is more openly emotional than most Vulcans. She's an old timer who has seen it all, done it all, and isn't going to put up with any bullshit.

It holds an important milestone, with this Enterprise reaching Warp 5 for the first time, but all of the cloak and daggar stuff and the race against time is almost beside the point. Really, it's an episode about relationships: The dynamic between the captain and his science officer, the shifting sands between T'Pol and her hero, and the evolving relationship between the humans and Vulcans more generally. The right outcome is achieved only because V'Lar and T'Pol trust one another, and Archer and T'Pol trust one another. Archer risks everything because T'Pol asks him to. And she's done plenty over the course of the season to earn that trust.

But on a larger scale, this is the first time the Vulcans have asked Enterprise for help, and Archer and his crew came through under very trying circumstances. That has to earn United Earth's space program some good will with its Vulcan minders.

On a shallower note: T'Pol makes 64 look pretty damn good.

1x24 - "Desert Crossing"
Star Trek has had some half-assed aliens over the years, but even in a franchise full of pointy ears, bumpy foreheads, and funny noses, the dwellers of the desert planet are a complete phone in job. Other than their caste tattoos, they're indistinguishable from humans.

While it's always fun seeing Clancy Brown in anything, this episode was really only interesting to me for one reason: The fact that the entire plot is a consequence of the events of 1x21. The Enterprise is getting a reputation in its corner of space, and one that grows in the telling. By this point, Archer didn't liberate eighty-something Suliban from one internment camp, he freed thousands from concentration camps. Even though this series is heavily episodic, I like that the events of individual episodes can have consequences later.

1x25 - "Two Days and Two Nights"
Speaking of phoned in alien species designs, the Risians were one of TNG's least ambitious efforts: Basically human except for a tattoo on their foreheads between their eyes. But what this episode understands is that a vacation planet would naturally attract lots of different species from lots of different planets. The bar where Trip and Reed were trying to pick up women reminded quite a bit of the cantina from the original Star Wars in this respect.

Most of the Star Trek series have done a Risa episode or two at some point, and what I liked about this one is that it felt the most like the kind of shore leave you hear stories about from real world navy vets back in the day. Each of the three plot lines kept my interest, and contrasted well with each other.

It really tickled me that Sato, the only person in the shuttle down who planned to put her leave to constructive use, ends up being the only one of the four of them to end up getting laid.

I liked Archer's flirtation with the neighbor next door; it felt like a more mature courtship than we usually see from this era of Trek, with Dey Young being an age appropriate love interest for Scott Bakula. And then the Hitchcockian turn later in the episode furthers the intrigue of the Tendarians and the Suliban.

Trip and Reed getting mugged and then waking up tied up in their underpants just felt classic.

Back aboard the Enterprise, I felt back for the poor doctor. It was nice to see Crewman Cutler again, though, who I guess is filling a similar role to Lt. Ogawa in TNG.

1x26 - "Shockwave"
The Temporal Cold War heats up in a big way as the Enterprise is framed for the cataclysmic destruction of a mining colony settled by the matriarchal Paraagans. As the enigmatic Daniels pulls Archer to and fro through time, it becomes clear that the threat runs deeper than even Daniels expected.

I don't love time travel episodes, and it was especially tedious having T'Pol argue for the impossibility for time travel when we've seen many, many times that time travel is possible, both in a linear sense and a quantum mechanical sense.

I did like the way the deaths of the colonists weighed heavily on Archer, and the way the Vulcans took advantage of the tragedy to try and nip humanity's space exploration in the bud.

And it sure ended on one hell of a cliffhanger.

 

[Sam Favate]

I'd say Enterprise had a pretty darn good first season, despite a hiccup or two. I especially liked the visuals in Desert Crossing. Clancy Brown makes everything better. My favorite episodes were the ones focusing on the Vulcans and Andorians.

BTW, if you can, watch the bonus material on the blu-rays to see how the show succeeded despite the best efforts of the UPN brass to interfere. The story about them wanting to feature a different musical group on the show every week is priceless.