Star Trek Ent - Season 1 - Episode 18
Star Trek Ent - 1x18 - Rogue Planet
Originally Aired: 2002-3-20
Synopsis:
While exploring an uncharted planet, Enterprise crew members encounter a group of aliens who are hunting down indigenous creatures for recreation. [DVD]
Problems
None
Factoids
- Hunting went out of style on Earth over 100 years ago according to Archer.
Remarkable Scenes
- Archer: "Do Vulcan captains have their portraits hanging at the high command?" T'Pol: "Vulcans are revered for their accomplishments, not for the way they look." Tucker: "Except for the really important ones who get mummified."
- Reed: "Follow me." Archer: "Why don't you let me play captain for a while, Malcolm?"
- T'Pol to Archer: "With respect, captain, I wonder if you would be so determined to find this apparition if it were a scantily clad man?"
My Review
A painfully slow plot. This episode has the honor of being the first Star Trek episode I've ever fallen asleep to during my first viewing. It probably has a lot to do with the fact that the setting is so dark and that very little actually happens. I was also disappointed that this episode was so much of a rehash. We've seen too many shape shifters before. Hell, we've even seen shape shifters living on a rogue planet before, when Sisko first visited the Founders' homeworld! We've also been told in DS9: Treachery, Faith, and the Great River that the Founders were hunted. So, let's recap. Founders: 1. live on a rogue planet, 2. are shape shifters, 3. are hunted. The aliens of this episode: 1. live on a rogue planet, 2. are shape shifters, 3. are hunted. Throw in the fact that the hunters in this episode have a similar moral structure to the Hirogen, and the rehash-o-meter starts going through the roof! Ranting of rehashes aside, I thought the episode was morally correct. I found the whole hunt as distasteful as the crew of Enterprise and I was glad they found a way to sabotage the hunt without actually attacking the hunters directly. It was a clever solution.
The following are comments submitted by my readers.
I have to disagree about the morality of Archers actions. First off, the hunters were very good to them and Archer could have easily gotten them killed with his actions. Second, he never even tried to reason with the hunters or explain his position. He just up and decided these people and their cultural practices are evil and wrong and going behind their backs and sabotaging them was the only answer.
Sloppy writing and another poorly done morality play in my opinion.