Star Trek Ent - Season 2 - Episode 24
Star Trek Ent - 2x24 - First Flight
Originally Aired: 2003-5-14
Synopsis:
While Enterprise is investigating a nebula, Archer hears that A.G. Robinson, his old rival in the early days of the NX test program, has died. [DVD]
Problems
None
Factoids
- Given Archer's statements in this episode and that Archer met Trip 10 years prior to Ent: Unexpected, we can assume that Robinson broke the warp 2 barrier in 2141, warp 3 was broken some time between 2142 and 2144, and that construction of Enterprise started sometime between 2147 and 2149.
- Trip stands for "triple" because Trip is Charles Tucker III.
Remarkable Scenes
- T'Pol imposing herself on Archer's mission into the dark matter nebula. :)
- Archer: "You remember what Buzz Aldrin said when he stepped on the moon?" Ruby: "No." Archer: "Nobody does. Because Armstrong went first."
- The warp 2 test and the destruction of the NX-Apha.
- The flashback to when Archer and Trip first met.
- T'Pol: "I suppose we'll never know who would have won." Wow, was that T'Pol making a joke about all the fights Archer loses?
- The launch of the NX-Beta.
My Review
An unremarkable episode in terms of the sci fi plot, but a good story in terms of the history lesson. The details we got on the early NX program were fascinating and I most of all enjoyed seeing Archer meet Trip for the first time. The story manages to convince and entertain without resorting to the rather common retconning we've seen lately. I'm only a little annoyed that Robinson had to die meaninglessly before we were told this story. It's also a bit strange that T'Pol endeavored to cheer Archer up in this episode instead of another character.
The following are comments submitted by my readers.
I rate this one 10/10 simply because this type of story is why Enterprise was initially interesting to me. In fact I dislike very much the countless episodes where the prequel Starfleet encounters alien civilizations close at hand yet totally unknown to the 24th century and sometimes more powerful (for example the Suliban).
This kind of Earth-centred, early exploration stuff seems more like that which would preface Kirk.
My issue with this episode is the idea that Earth got Warp 2 so late. Where did the engines in all these freighters we've seen come from? Add to that the speed which they seem to go from Warp 2 to Warp 5 seems out of sync.
Mt. McKinley! Geez, this show sometimes. I have family and friends in Alaska, and I've never met anyone who has ever been to Denali who called it "Mt. McKinley"--especially climbers. When speaking about Denali/Mt. McKinley, the name you choose to use is a political choice, so I guess I'm not surprised that this show picked the white imperialist name over the centuries-old native name, since I assume there aren't anymore First Nations people to complain about it in Star Trek's "utopian" future. Such a small detail in the show, but such a telling one nonetheless, as it strikes me as the kind of detail Roddenberry would have delighted in getting right.
What a strange coincidence: on August 29, 2015 the mountain, formerly known as Mt. Mckinley, has officially been named "Denali". It is hard to believe that no climber ever referred to this mountain as "McKinley" when all maps and literature used this name, in particular the international publications. Interestingly, the mountain was called under Russian rule for some time "„Bolschaja Gora“ (??????? ????), which was nearly a direct translation of "Denali", meaning the "High" or "Big". Does it help the First Nations to ignore the historical facts? I would rather celebrate that the mountain regained its rightful name instead of somehow twisting the historical facts.