Star Trek Ent - Season 4
Star Trek Ent - 4x01 - Storm Front, Part I
Originally Aired: 2004-10-8
Synopsis:
Archer and the NX-01 find themselves in Earth's past, with events of World War II altered by the Temporal Cold War. [DVD]
Problems
None
Factoids
- Season 4 is being done by a new showrunner, Manny Coto.
Remarkable Scenes
- German Soldier: "Americans are good at making movies. They're not so good at fighting."
- Trip: "I was just all set to get home... I wasn't expecting to be in the middle of another... situation." Preach on, brother!
- Daniels showing up in Enterprise's sickbay.
- Alicia: "Patch on your ship says Enterprise! You musta made it off before it sank!"
- The sight of a conquered White House with Nazi flags draped over it.
- Silik's appearance.
- Trip's fight with Silik.
- Archer confronting the alien Nazi.
- Trip and Reed destroying a shuttlepod.
- Archer and Alicia beaming to Enterprise.
My Review
Well I must say that I was more impressed with this episode than I originally thought I would be. Maybe it's the new showrunner, Manny Coto, making the best of the dismal cliffhanger Rick Berman and Brannon Braga left him. I get the feeling Coto wants to wrap up the whole Temporal Cold War thing right here and do it with style. Yes, he's being forced to use alien Nazis, and yes the Xindi conflict is still left with loose ends, but at least this episode is presented in a convincing and mostly intelligent fashion. Ever since TOS: The City On The Edge of Forever, I've been fascinated with the idea of time travel being used to alter Earth's history, making WWII end a different way. We get to see the effects of such an alteration first hand with the Nazis having conquered Europe, Africa, and large portions of North America. They were able to do this thanks to help from a future alien species, a faction in the Temporal Cold War. Their motives remain a mystery, other than the obvious notion that a totalitarian government dominating Earth would drastically reshape future politics.
Star Trek Ent - 4x02 - Storm Front, Part II
Originally Aired: 2004-10-15
Synopsis:
With Silik's help, Archer hones in on the temporal operative who altered Earth's past and threatens to destroy all of time. [DVD]
Problems
- What was that huge fleet doing there at the end of the episde?
Factoids
None
Remarkable Scenes
- The teaser. Hilarious!
- Alicia regarding the transporter: "How does that thing work anyway? ...on second thought I'd rather not know."
- Silik masquerading as Trip.
- Silik helping Enterprise.
- Silik as a human!
- Silik bickering with Carmine.
- Silik taking out several Nazi officers.
- Silik being shot!
- Trip thinking Archer is Silik.
- The upgraded German dive bombers.
- Daniels saying goodbye to Archer, declaring the Temporal Cold War over.
My Review
And so the Temporal Cold War is over. Ent: Storm Front wasn't the best two parter, but consistent with Star Trek's lackluster season finales and premieres of late. I gave Ent: Storm Front, Part II extra points because the Temporal Cold War and hopefully all of Time Trek has finally been put to rest. I also gave the episode a higher mark due to Silik's involvement. I was really sad that they killed off Silik. I was really beginning to like him as a character, but the Temporal Cold War was just the wrong direction for the series and killing off the Temporal Cold War means putting Silik out of the picture. I'm sure the new direction the show is taking is due to the new showrunner, Manny Coto. One can only hope he finally kickstarts the Earth-Romulan wars and the conflict with the Klingons.
The following are comments submitted by my readers.
- From Edward on 2014-09-14 at 4:41pm:
I wouldn't mind another Nazi story if it wasn't so bad constructed:
The aliens kill Lenin in 1916 and Russia never becomes comunist. So in 1939, instead of the USSR Hitler split Poland with, there is the same Russia that fought the Germans in World War I.
How is that not a threat?
- From Dstyle on 2015-10-23 at 5:55pm:
Daniels: "Hey, this Temporal Cold War is heating up pretty fast! Looks like Vosk has been meddling about in 20th century Earth, messing up the whole time line! He needs to be stopped!"
Daniels' fellow Temporal Agent: "Agreed! So, should we send a ship from the 29th century to go deal with him?"
Daniels: "Nah, I was thinking maybe Archer and the NX Enterprise."
Temporal Agent: "Uh, Archer? The guy who is so crucial to the forming of the Federation that you're always trying to make sure he doesn't put himself in danger by going on missions himself? You're thinking you want to send him and his 22nd century star ship? The one with 'hull plating' for shielding? The one that can barely do Warp 5?"
Daniels: "Yup, if anyone can do it, Archer can!"
Temporal Agent: "Well, I can think of a few better candidates for this mission: people who are trained and prepared for temporal incursion, like..."
Daniels: "Sorry, gotta run! I want it to be a surprise!" (disappears into a time tunnel or whatever)
Okay, the whole premise of this double episode is absurd if you think about it for longer than 10 seconds, but I can look past that if it finally ties up this Temporal Cold War. The thing that really bothers me are the Nazis. The damn Nazis. Seriously, Enterprise? Why not just give the Nazi aliens glowing red demon eyes while you're at it? Oh, right, you did.
HEY VIEWERS! THOSE RED EYE ALIENS ARE EVIL! LIKE, SERIOUSLY EVIL! LOOK, THEY'RE EVEN WEARING SWASTIKAS AND EVERYTHING! WHAT'S THAT? 'WHY AM I YELLING?' I'M NOT YELLING! WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT? I'M BEING SUBTLE!
It's annoying, sure, but it also does the narrative a grave disservice. There's that scene where Vosk is talking to Archer about how his species has a very different view of time travel technology than the view laid out in the temporal accords: how it can be used carefully and judiciously to make improvements in the timeline and help better your civilization. It could have been an interesting and nuanced way of looking at the issue of time incursions from a different angle, but, NOPE! Dude is dressed like Hitler! Can't take any of the shit he says seriously!
I mean, I suppose the implication could be that, in the wrong hands, time travel technology could lead to catastrophic outcomes (LIKE IF THE NAZIS HAD THIS TECHNOLOGY! SEE WHAT WE DID THERE?), but it would have been much better if the writers had trusted their viewers (and Archer, for that matter) to come to that realization on our own.
- From MJeffries on 2016-10-08 at 1:59am:
Dstyles
I have been reading star trek reviews and comments for some years now and never once commented myself but your fictitious conversation between Daniels and other is so hilarious that I could not resist. it made my night, good job - From Zorak on 2016-10-15 at 3:57am:
So at this point there is someone new running things huh? Interesting. I certainly didn't hate Enterprise up to this point. It just had so many ups and downs. Long stretches of good episodes and long stretches of bad episodes.
This whole Nazi thing was definitely pretty ridiculous. It wasn't really boring though. They could have done a worse job killing off the Temporal Cold War. A decent set of episodes for getting rid of an unwanted problem.
I'm with you. The whole temporal cold war was a poor decision for this series.
I look forward to seeing the new direction they take things from here.
Originally Aired: 2004-10-22
Synopsis:
Once the NX-01 finally returns to Earth, the weary crewmen face repercussions of their journeys, both positive and negative. [DVD]
Problems
- A WWIII epic won several movie awards, but in TNG: The Neutral Zone, Data said TV became obsolete by 2040. Maybe conventional TV died, but movies were still made?
Factoids
- Erika Hernandez is the captain of the NX-02 Columbia.
- Vulcan is 16 light years from Earth.
Remarkable Scenes
- Archer: "I've been told that people are calling us heroes. When it comes to my crew, you won't get any argument from me."
- Archer freaking out at Soval for his questions about the events of Ent: Impulse.
- Archer: "Things have changed since Enterprise left spacedock. You spend a lot of your time boldly going into battle."
- Phlox' blow up face trick.
- The joke references to the kalifee from TOS: Amok Time when T'Pol first met with Kos were nicely placed.
- T'Pol and Trip visiting the Fire Plains of Vulcan.
- Archer and T'Pol making up.
- The Vulcan dignitary performing the marriage ceremony. He used the exact same words as T'Pau did in TOS: Amok Time.
My Review
Somehow I expected this episode to be just as good as TNG: Family, but it fell short on several levels. There are three plot threads in this episode, one dealing with Archer and his difficulty in accepting hero worship, another dealt with T'Pol and Trip and their relationship, and another dealt with xenophobia on Earth. There is nice continuity all throughout the episode such as that with Ent: The Andorian Incident and Ent: Shadows of P'Jem regarding T'Les and her forced retirement which makes it pleasant to watch and a nice change of pace, but this episode left me with a feeling of inadequacy. More time should be spent on Earth exploring these and other issues, but unfortunately we're not going to get it. Archer was the most interesting character in the episode, with all his self doubt and anger. It was also nice to see more of Vulcan, even if the scope was still somewhat limited. Finally, the xenophobia on Earth is definitely something that wasn't sufficiently elaborated, but a nice idea. Ent: Home is merely a nice idea for an episode incomplete at best. Each plot threat cannibalized the others until none were sufficiently developed. This episode could have easily been a two parter. Or some of the plot threads could have been saved for later episodes. Less time spent on things like Archer dreaming of fighting Xindi reptilians which was totally inappropriate and more time spent on developing the plot threads would have made for a better episode.
The following are comments submitted by my readers.
- From Pete on 2011-01-11 at 3:07am:
I feel like giving this episode a 10 or something, for the same reason they gave Obama a Nobel Peace Prize once he got elected. I am just so relieved to see the Temporal Cold War over and someone good at the helm of the show.
A decent President? PEACE PRIZE!
A decent Trek episode? 10! - From zook on 2013-09-12 at 7:40pm:
Here's a problem: TOS:Turnabout Intruder had as a major plot point that women were still struggling to get command positions in Starfleet. And here we have a female captain for the second NX-class ship in the Fleet, with absolutely no problem and no big deal. I know it was the '60s in the TOS era, and I understand and applaud their motivations, but for the prequel it would have been nice to see even a little something by way of explanation of this discontinuity. - From Kethinov on 2013-09-13 at 2:34pm:
Zook, that's a fair criticism, but I'm not sure how they could have addressed it on Enterprise. Unlike the Klingon forehead problem, this is a social issue, not a technical one. I always got the impression that the 23rd century when viewed on TNG's perspective or the perspective of later productions was simply meant to be seen as an actual throwback to older culture values.
Or, in other words, in Captian Kirk's generation, the Federation somehow experienced cultural regressions in women's rights... not to mention fashion. ;)
That's a weak rationalization, but it's not impossible. And it's also all we've got. It would have been nice if there was an episode somewhere that went into this in more detail, but I think the place to explore that would have been in 24th century Trek, not 22nd century Trek. Indeed, it's a pretty big missed opportunity to account for apparent anachronisms in-universe. - From Deggsy on 2013-10-01 at 7:56pm:
Given the comment from Zook about Turnabout Intruder and female starship captains, there's a couple of factors to consider:
1. The restriction, if there was any, might have just applied to the 12 ships of the Constitution-class starships like Enterprise NCC-1701.
2. The one talking about women not having command positions, Janice Lester, was off her box, who in 2013 might have gone all bunny boiler over not being selected as an X-Factor finalist. - From Zorak on 2016-10-15 at 5:37am:
It appears I'm alone on my opinion of this episode. Personally, I despised almost everything about it. The cheesy sudden romance of Archer, the over the top and pointless xenophobia induced bar fight.. the Trip and T'pol thing was completely uncalled for as well.. I just don't understand what the point of this episode was.
I can only assume that the point, like the Nazi 2 parter, was to wipe away the established norms of the first 3 seasons and begin with a clean slate. To cancel out the Trip and T'pol relationship, to cancel out Archers moral ambiguity and give him a fresh start, and to give the other characters something to do while they're just faffing about, namely getting all superior and indignant about the easiest and most clichéd injustice there is.. a reminder that our heros are always 100% the good guys and everyone else are a bunch of racist evil bad guys. - From President Obummer on 2020-01-29 at 6:52pm:
So Archer regrets marooning that ship with its innocent crew...well how about going back for them or least sending someone to bring them back the stuff they stole? nope sorry
Star Trek Ent - 4x04 - Borderland
Originally Aired: 2004-10-29
Synopsis:
When genetic supermen left over from the Eugenics Wars hijack a Klingon ship, Archer must rely on their creator, the criminal Dr. Arik Soong, to help hunt them down. [DVD]
Problems
- Why doesn't Commander T'Pol get a Starfleet uniform? Oh I know why, because she looks sexier with less clothing. (Sigh.)
Factoids
- J. G. Hertzler plays the Klingon captain who dies in the teaser. He's played two other Klingons. Archer's lawyer in Ent: Judgement and Martok on DS9.
- Brent Spiner who plays Arik Soong in this episode played Data on TNG. This is actually a nice homage, because Spiner is playing his own ancestor in a way, for Arik Soong is the ancestor of the man who created Data.
- Henry Archer died very painfully from Clarke's disease, but genetic engineering could have cured him.
- Archer's new chair was actually rescued from a deleted scene from Star Trek X: Nemesis.
Remarkable Scenes
- The augments attacking the Klingon bird of prey.
- Archer meeting with Arik Soong.
- "Jonathan Archer. What brings you here? They naming the prison after you?"
- Enterprise's relaunch.
- The Orions attacking Enterprise.
- T'Pol being auctioned off at the slave market.
- An Orion female being auctioned off at the slave market. The first time we've seen one since TOS: The Cage!
- Archer and Soong invading the Orion slave market freeing all the slaves.
- Soong using the (Klingon?) painstick to disable the transponder that Enterprise was using to track him.
- Archer's clever recapture of Soong.
- The augments saving Enterprise from the Orions.
My Review
I am still annoyed that Enterprise is ignoring its loose threads, such as the Xindi, the Temporal Cold War, Earth's response to the Xindi crisis, and Earth's xenophobia, but I think we can safely assume some things. The Xindi are probably reorganizing their government and probably looking for a new homeworld. Now that their guardians are gone, they probably don't want to attack Earth anymore. Still, it would have been nice to get a post Xindi-arc Xindi cameo to canonize the armistice. We can also safely assume that the Temporal Cold War is over and we'll never see more of it. Can't say that bothers me very much other than the fact that it made very little sense. We can only hope that these loose threads are tied up later. But for now, Enterprise has finally become relevant. What we were shown here in Ent: Borderland is the first real material convincing me of the reasons for a long term conflict with the Klingons. From their perspective, a group of humans stole a Klingon bird of prey and that's all the reason they need to go to war with Earth. There's also quite a bit of foreshadowing in this episode indicating that that may very well happen. Using the augments for this purpose was an extremely clever idea and getting Brent Spiner to play his own ancestor was an equally terrific move. The main plot is a wonderful connection to both TOS and TNG; what marvelously clever writing. I think here Manny Coto is finally flexing his showrunning muscles, as Ent: Borderland was a great way to start a story arc with the augments and the Klingons whilst giving us some fascinating insight into the much speculated about Orion syndicate at the same time. Nicely done.
The following are comments submitted by my readers.
- From fan ive on 2009-12-30 at 5:07pm:
i find T'Pol much more sweeter and sexier in starfleet uniform than in those fancy dresses - From Pete on 2011-01-12 at 2:57am:
I am fine with an abrupt end to both the Temporal Cold War and the Xindi arc. Both were wastes of time. A line of dialog would suffice for both of them.
Archer: "oh yeah, aren't you glad the Temporal Cold War is over?"
Tripp: "Yes. By the way, did you hear that the Xindi's sun randomly went supernova and wiped out all traces of them?"
Archer: "yes I heard that--I also heard that our government is going to criminalize mentioning the Xindi ever again starting tomorrow." - From Tallifer on 2011-05-21 at 12:46pm:
This series of episodes is such a waste of time: we already explored every facet of the Eugenics War in the old series and in Wrath of Khan. And Brent Spiner makes a better android.
Star Trek Ent - 4x05 - Cold Station 12
Originally Aired: 2004-11-5
Synopsis:
Arik Soong leads his band of Augments to a medical facility where hundreds of genetically enhanced embryos are still stored, intending to retrieve them and bring them to life. [DVD]
Problems
- Persis uppercuts a Starfleet security officer and it sends him into a 360 degree backflip. Taking a hit like that would most certainly kill you, but he gets up right after that and keeps on fighting!
- Why did Archer tell Soong that he was going to blow up the station? It gave the augments all the time they needed to prevent it from happening!
Factoids
- Archer's father died when he was 12.
- The diseases stored on Cold Station 12 that were listed on the screen Malik was reading are all references to previous Trek episodes. Xenopolycythemia; TOS: For the World is Hollow and I Have Touched the Sky, Synthococcus Novae Type A; TOS: The Way to Eden, Rigelian Fever; TOS: Requiem for Methuselah, Tellurian Plague; TNG: A Matter of Time, Anchilles Fever; TNG: Code of Honor, and Andronesian Encephalitis; TNG: The Dauphin.
Remarkable Scenes
- Finally seeing Dr. Lucas!
- Soong torturing the doctors on Cold Station 12.
- Archer: "Why are you so surprised? Whenever a group of people start believing they're better than everyone else, the results are always the same."
- Enterprise battling the Klingon bird of prey.
- Archer's fight with Malik.
- Malik murdering Smike.
- Dr. Soong and the augments escaping.
My Review
Ent: Cold Station 12 is another good episode moving on with the augments arc. It would seem Dr. Soong is losing control of his "children." Malik seems all too willing to use violence, which in a way is a deficiency of the plot, but it also contributes well to the theme that Soong's repeating the mistakes of history. Brent Spiner continues to fascinatingly and skillfully play Arik Soong. I only wonder why Enterprise is doing such a poor job catching the augments. Two episodes in a row now they've failed to capture the augments because they keep getting overpowered. Maybe this is a sign that Enterprise should call for some help? Maybe from the Vulcans?
No fan commentary yet.
Star Trek Ent - 4x06 - The Augments
Originally Aired: 2004-11-12
Synopsis:
In defiance of their "father," Arik Soong's Augments devise a heinous plot against the Klingons which will surely lead to interstellar war. [DVD]
Problems
- I would imagine that by now that T'Pol is eating her words about Klingons not using escape pods.
Factoids
- The current Klingon Chancellor is named M'Rek. He likes to head into the Borderland every so often to enjoy the company of Orion slave girls.
Remarkable Scenes
- Archer's decompression beam out trick. I was surprised by the realism.
- T'Pol: "I wasn't aware the doctor discharged you." Archer: "He didn't. What's our status?" T'Pol: "Holding position near the Klingon border." Archer takes his seat. Poor Phlox... always getting ignored. ;)
- Enterprise engaging the Klingon bird of prey.
- Soong dumping the Denobulan shuttle in into the gas giant.
- Archer pretending to be a Klingon captain, bluffing to the other Klingon captain.
- Soong running back to Archer in a Klingon escape pod.
- Archer: "Superior ability breeds superior ambition. One of their creators wrote that. He was murdered by an augment."
- Soong: "How long can we sustain warp 5?" Trip: "As long as the captain wants it. Or until we blow up, whichever comes first."
- Enterprise using the grappler as a weapon on the D5 battle cruiser's warp nacelle.
- Enterprise destroying the bio weapon and engaging the Klingon battle cruiser.
- Soong: "I've been thinking... perfecting humanity may not be possible. Cybernetics... artificial life forms. " Archer: "Goodbye, doctor." Soong: "I doubt I'll finish the work myself. Might take a generation or two."
My Review
This is the best of the three augments episodes. Firstly, there was marvelous continuity. Soong wanted to take his "children" into the Briar patch, which was the setting of Star Trek IX: Insurrection. The scene when Malik dumps the Denobulan doctor and her shuttle into the gas giant is a nice parallel to Eddington's similar move in DS9: For the Uniform. The scene when Malik crawls around on the floor of the bird of prey is also a cute reference to a Star Trek film, in this case Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan in which Khan did the same thing on the Reliant. Finally, Arik Soong at the end of this episode declares that he's now going to study cybernetics and that his work will take generations to complete. Maybe it was tacky, but I liked it. Unfortunately, the episode like the previous two fell short of being profound. Here it was a real missed opportunity. The biggest problem for which I subtract one point is that Malik never succeeded in releasing the bio weapon against the Klingons. Oh how perfect it would have been if he had! Now we'd have a legitimate reason for the Klingons to go to war with Earth. Not that murder and attempted murder of loads of Klingons doesn't work, but it would have been much more believable if Malik had been successful. Additionally, the scene when Malik returns from the dead to try and kill Soong was just petty, forced, and totally contrived. For that I subtract another point. But overall, the arc was pretty nice and it was thoroughly enjoyable.
The following are comments submitted by my readers.
- From Zorak on 2016-10-17 at 5:47pm:
Agreed on all counts. Definitely a missed opportunity that they successfully shot down the bio weapon. I was really hoping they'd miss. Also, the return of Malik (who seems to have recovered from his burns) was totally uncalled for.
I didn't know what to think about this whole eugenics arc at first. I was worried it was going to be another Xindi thing and encompass the whole season. I'm glad to see it was wrapped up. It got pretty interesting by the end, but I'm glad it's over. I'm not so sure Enterprise has handled serialization very well. I think they've done far better at stand alone episodes.
That being said, I enjoyed this episode. I find it quite interesting how they cast augments here and in Wrath of Khan. All with that similar bone structure and facial type. It definitely gives them a unique look.. sort of like they all escaped from the set of Logan's Run. Also, Brent Spiner was a treat as always.
There is one lingering thing that is bugging me a little in this arc.. It really seemed like the whole point (the entire inside joke, reference, AND retcon) of Data playing someone named Soong was a nod at the parallel between Khan Noonien Singh and Doctor Noonien Soong. But in the end, he actually had nothing at all to do with Khan and was just a descendant of Doctor Soong. I found this extremely bizarre. They seemed to have everything set up for some kind of reveal (like Khan was named after the first Dr Soong or something), but then it turns out the similarity is just a big coincidence after all? And his grandson then gets named after Khan for some reason? Really weird.
Star Trek Ent - 4x07 - The Forge
Originally Aired: 2004-11-19
Synopsis:
Earth's embassy on Vulcan is bombed, and the ensuing investigation puts Archer and T'Pol on the trail of a Vulcan religious faction hiding in a treacherous desert. [DVD]
Problems
- So if it took Vulcans 1500 years to recover from their wars and begin space travel and Surak lived 1800 years ago, it can be inferred that Vulcans have been in space for 300 years. This is a far too short period of time, why, even the monastery on P'Jem is supposed to be 3000 years old, which is before the time of Surak! Maybe Vulcans had space travel many years before their great wars, then fell into a bout of war, and Surak returned them to their original golden age?
Factoids
- T'Pau is 32 years old in 2154.
Remarkable Scenes
- Soval and Forrest discussing Vulcan's relationship with humanity.
- Soval: "We had our wars Admiral, just as Humans did. Our planet was devastated, our civilisation nearly destroyed. Logic saved us, but it took almost 1,500 years for us to rebuild our world and travel to the stars. You Humans did the same in less than a century. There are those on the high command who wonder what Humans would achieve in the century to come. And they don't like the answer."
- Phlox... the natural at basketball.
- Reed and Travis discovering another bomb in the Earth embassy on Vulcan.
- Soval vouching his support for Archer beginning his own investigation.
- Trip referring to the Forge, a Vulcan desert, as a "hell hole."
- T'Pol: "Over the centuries his followers made copies of his teachings." Archer: "Let me guess, With the originals lost whatever's left is open to interpretation." T'Pol: "You find this amusing?" Archer: "I find it familiar."
- Archer and T'Pol being chased by a sehlat.
- T'Pol regarding domesticated sehlats: "They're smaller, slightly." Archer: "How slightly?" T'Pol: "You have Porthos." Archer: "Porthos doesn't try and eat me when I'm late with his dinner." T'Pol: "Vulcan children are never late with their sehlat's dinner." Archer: "I can believe that."
- Archer regarding the sehlats: "Sounds like that Klingon opera that Hoshi made us listen to."
- T'Pol telling Archer about her lack of need for water for several more days and about her inner eyelid, a nice connection with TOS: Operation: Annihilate. I like her little quote, justifying these physical qualities... "My species evolved on this planet." As if to say, why didn't you know these things about us?
- Arev: "What is Kiri-kin-tha's first law of metaphysics?" Archer: "I'm familiar with Newton's first law of motion. I imagine they're pretty much the same!"
- Soval performing a mind meld on the comatose witness to the bomber.
- Arev giving Archer Surak's katra.
- Archer finding the Syrranites.
My Review
This episode is the culmination of the odd Vulcan behavior arc that Enterprise started and never went anywhere with since the pilot. The new showrunner, Manny Coto has become the loose thread man. We learn in this episode that the root of the "evil Vulcan syndrome" is not just a conservative vs. liberal societal clash like we were led to believe in episodes like Ent: Fusion and Ent: Stigma, but in fact has more to do with the Vulcan religion centered around Surak (which is somewhat similar to Buddhism) and the two different interpretations of it. This nicely parallels human history and serves as a marvelous explanation for the behavior of the Vulcans over the last few seasons. The bombing of the Earth embassy on Vulcan and the handling of the situation couldn't have been more perfect. The tragic loss of Admiral Forrest brings out the true loyalties in Soval, and we finally get to see the guy stand up for what he believes in, performing a mind meld against the High Command's wishes. It can be inferred that sometime between now and TOS that the Syrranites will prevail over the Vulcan High Command--this may perhaps have something to do with why the Federation is formed--for all Vulcans will believe as Arev and T'Pau do. In fact, we know T'Pau from the previous Star Trek episode TOS: Amok Time. She performed Spock's wedding ceremony and was a respected figure at that time. (And very old!) Indeed, this episode is a continuity gold mine. Firstly, when Archer received Surak's katra from Arev, Arev spoke the same words Spock did to McCoy in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan... he said "remember," albeit, in Vulcan. We also get to see a sehlat for the first time since TAS: Yesteryear. We get another mention of the Vulcan inner eyelid that was first revealed by Spock in TOS: Operation: Annihilate. We get to see the T'Karath Sanctuary again, which was last featured in TNG: Gambit, Part II. A Surakian artifact was discovered there 12 years prior to this episode. This detail is fascinating seeing as how it was stated in the TNG episode that one of the last conflicts of the Vulcan civil war was fought there. A marvelous site for the discovery in this episode. Finally, the two questions that Ariv asked Archer regarding Vulcan philosophy were taken directly from the questions that Spock was asked by the Vulcan computer in Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home during his re-education. Obviously, Manny Coto has done his homework. Bravo.
The following are comments submitted by my readers.
- From EvanT on 2011-06-24 at 8:51pm:
I think it's fair to say that Vulcans already had warp travel during the Awakening. After all this is the time that the Romulans leave Vulcan ("those that marched beneath the raptor's wings"?) and obviously they didn't reach Romulus on sub-light speeds.
It's reasonable to assume that Vulcans suspended their deep space exploration until they could rebuild and 1500 years is what? 30 something generations? (perhaps less) It's not that much time to rebuild a society and restructure it around an entirely new philosophy, working out the problems as they went. And I DO believe that the general tone in Star Trek is that Vulcans take things slow and don't rush (similar to D&D elves) simply because they can afford it due to their lifespans. - From Mitch89 on 2013-01-04 at 11:38am:
The parallels to the DS9 two parter "Homefront" and "Paradise Lost" is astounding, right down to the actor playing the crazy power hungry leader trying to take control of everything!
Star Trek Ent - 4x08 - Awakening
Originally Aired: 2004-11-26
Synopsis:
Archer and T'Pol encounter the Syrrannites, a radical group hiding in the Vulcan desert, while the NX-01 crew contends with Vulcan power ploys. [DVD]
Problems
- You've got to wonder why T'Pau doesn't speak in funky language like she does in TOS: Amok Time. ;)
Factoids
None
Remarkable Scenes
- Archer having visions of Surak and the Vulcan wars.
- T'Pau mind melding with Archer.
- Soval: "I lived on Earth for more than 30 years, Commander. In that time I developed an affinity for your world and its people." Trip: "You did a pretty good job of hiding it." Soval: "Thank you."
- Archer regarding T'Pol's "logical" explanation of what Archer is going through: "So I'm suffering from a mind meld hangover?"
- Archer undergoing the katra transfer ritual.
- Surak: "Logic has not won this day. But this day won't last forever."
- Surak instructing Archer to find the Kir'Shara.
- The Enterprise shuttle battling the Vulcan shuttles.
- Archer upon waking up after the katra ceremony: "I feel like I just pulled by head out of a plasma relay."
- Trip: "How many warning shots to Vulcans usually fire?" Soval: "None."
- Vulcan ships attacking Enterprise.
- Vulcan ships destroying the sanctuary.
- Soval revealing that Vulcan is planning to attack Andoria.
My Review
Another excellent episode picking up where the last one left off. It's revealed in this episode exactly what the purpose of V'Las' behavior is. He wants to attack Andoria because he believes they're building a weapon of mass destruction based on Xindi technology, a good connection with Ent: Proving Ground. V'Las and his followers have been suppressing the Syrranites for years because of their pacifist beliefs. V'Las wants to wipe them out because having a group of pacifists around doesn't help when you're preparing to go to war. You can see that V'Las is losing control of the situation as he begins to rely on aggressive tactics more and more, culminating to when he attacked Enterprise and threatened to destroy it. Even some of his cabinet are beginning to question his actions. The episode ends with a nice plot twist in the end with Trip ordering Enterprise to Andoria to warn them of the preemptive strike, leaving Archer and T'Pol back on Vulcan.
The following are comments submitted by my readers.
- From Dstyle on 2015-10-28 at 2:14pm:
One of the things that has always bothered me with Vulcans on this show is how transparently emotional they are. They pay lip service to logic and the suppression of emotions, then they act illogically and emotionally all the damn time. Those tempers flare so easily! So quick to show impatience! I have to ignore it to just enjoy the show, but some times it's harder than other times. I mean, I get it: it's hard to have effective dramatic tension when all the characters are speaking about serious matters with seemingly polite, casual disinterest, but that's how Vulcans need to play it. I'm starting to think playing a Vulcan is far more difficult than most actors realize, and we were all just spoiled by the great performances of Leonard Nimoy. The emotional Vulcan behavior was really starting to bother me during this story line, but I think this episode might perhaps be trying to provide an explanation for that, what with the "getting away from the teachings of Surak" and all. I guess we'll see how it all plays out, eh?
Star Trek Ent - 4x09 - Kir'Shara
Originally Aired: 2004-12-3
Synopsis:
Archer, T'Pol and T'Pau attempt to bring the Kir'Shara (an artifact believed to contain Surak's original writings) to the Vulcan capital, as the NX-01 gets involved in a Vulcan-Andorian military clash. [DVD]
Problems
- While I enjoyed seeing Archer fight so well, and I realize that Surak's katra had quite a bit to do with this, Archer was performing athletic moves that just don't seem possible in air that's so thin.
Factoids
None
Remarkable Scenes
- Soval meeting with Shran.
- T'Pau curing T'Pol of her Pa'nar syndrome!
- Shran torturing Soval.
- Soval: "I'll tear the antennae from your skull!"
- Soval: "Do you know the story of Nurak?" Shran: "What?" Soval: "He was a soldier who lived a long time ago. He was standing watch over the gates of the city of Gaul. He saw a cloud on the horizon moving toward him. He thought it was a sandstorm, so he told no one. It was an army. They destroyed the city. But they let Nurak live. His name now means fool in our language! Just as yours will in Andorian!"
- Archer fighting the Vulcan soldiers.
- T'Pol lying to the Vulcan soldiers cover Archer's tracks.
- Archer Vulcan neck pinching somebody!
- The Vulcans, Andorians, and Enterprise doing battle.
- Archer presenting the Kir'Shara to the Vulcan high command.
- The revelation that V'Las was working with the Romulans.
My Review
Another good episode, but not quite as good as the previous two. Most of the lesser rating stems from the fact that the plot had no major turning points or plot twists other than the ending, which chillingly reminded me of Ent: Zero Hour, except without the alien Nazi silliness. What this episode did do is wrap up several plot threads nicely. T'Pol was cured of her Pa'nar syndrome (Ent: Stigma); it seems the syndrome is actually caused by poorly trained mind melders and the Vulcan high command suppressed the true nature of the syndrome to try and kill off Syrranites and other deviants. T'Pol's marriage was dissolved (Ent: Breaking the Ice, Ent: Home), V'Las was removed from power, and since the leader of the Vulcan high command was a Romulan, or at least a Romulan collaborator, his removal signifies the end of "evil Vulcan syndrome." The ending to the mini arc was satisfactory regarding all things, delivering some nice action and excellent continuity in the process. The Romulan revelation at the end is probably the most interesting detail of the plot, but since it's a cliffhanger, there's not much to discuss about it except for the fact that it seems that the writers are going to continue to honor TOS and never show Romulans onscreen, which pleases me. I'm also pleased that this may be the precursor to the Earth Romulan wars, though I'm not sure how.
The following are comments submitted by my readers.
- From Lee on 2012-04-22 at 7:33pm:
I really love these 3-parter mini-arcs! I think ENT could've been the best of the Star Trek Series if the first two seasons were replaced with episodes like in this season, and instead of (or in addition to) the Xindi crisis, there should have been the Romulan war.
After all, this series is before the Federation of planets, so we should see just as much about the Andorians and Vulcans as we see about the Humans! It's really a shame this series was cancelled after only four seasons...
- From The HMS Obumpresidency on 2023-03-03 at 5:23pm:
Agreed, Lee! It is amazing how much better this series got in Season 4, it even looks better, look at the colours, and the outside views of the ship are beautiful.
Star Trek Ent - 4x10 - Daedalus
Originally Aired: 2005-1-14
Synopsis:
The inventor of the transporter, Emory Erickson, comes aboard Enterprise for a risky experiment. [DVD]
Problems
None
Factoids
- The original transporter took a full minute and a half to cycle through.
Remarkable Scenes
- Erickson discussing the old metaphysical debate about whether or not someone was the same person or just some weird copy after going through the transporter.
- Erickson discussing the original transporter, going through it, and getting drunk with Zefram Cochrane.
- Trip questioning Archer's decision to help Erickson, despite his deception.
- Trip: "The transporter can't do that!" Erickson: "I built the damn thing!"
- Erickson beaming in Quinn despite the fact that he knew he'd die just so he could save him one last time.
- Erickson: "Why settle for making myself miserable when I can spread the misery around to an entire class of students?"
My Review
A decent, though fairly average episode. The plot is rehashed from episodes like DS9: The Visitor, Voy: Jetrel, and Voy: Year of Hell in all of which a character struggles to bring someone back to life. It was a nice idea to bring the inventor of the transporter aboard for an experiment, but I was annoyed that he used deceit and subterfuge to hide his true motives. I would have preferred honesty from the beginning so the plot could focus on something more interesting. The metaphysical discussion about whether a person was still the same person and not some "weird copy" would have been a more interesting topic to cover. The plot to save Erickson's son gains some extra points though thanks to the wonderful acting by all those involved, especially Bill Cobbs as Erickson. He did a marvelous job and really brought a dull episode to life. I would have liked to see him again. One thing I noticed was several long scenes with no musical score. It stuck out to me like a sore thumb, much to the episode's disadvantage. Overall, a decent attempt.
The following are comments submitted by my readers.
- From fan ive on 2010-01-01 at 5:47pm:
so they still use those old wheelchairs from the nineties in the 22. century?? - From joe on 2016-07-11 at 1:22am:
Archer tells Erickson that he was worried about failing flight training but that his father told him the day before he went to "not fail". How is this possible when it has already been established that Henry Archer dies when Jonathan was 12 years old? Does flight training begin that young? - From McCoy on 2017-07-31 at 8:36am:
This is one of the best episodes not only in Ent, but in all of Trek. Erickson is perfect megalomaniac scientist(I know a lot of similar persons) and hiding true motives (plus moral ambivalency - after all redshirt dies) are totally in character here. I had sick fun watching Archer being Archer (I've made my decision and it's only good decision, because I've made it). Poor Trip. I'm starting to really like him:) He deserves better captain! - From President Obummer on 2020-02-01 at 7:02pm:
Erickson reminded me of the terraformer guy from DS9
Star Trek Ent - 4x11 - Observer Effect
Originally Aired: 2005-1-21
Synopsis:
Noncorporeal aliens study the Enterprise crew as they respond to a fatal viral infection brought on board from an away mission. [DVD]
Problems
- This episode is hard to rationalize with TOS: Errand of Mercy regarding the behavior of the Organians.
Factoids
- Organian-Mayweather mentions that Cardassians have been to the planet featured in this episode.
Remarkable Scenes
- The Chess scene between possessed Reed and Travis in the teaser.
- Trip: "I remember Exobiology 101, Captain. Humans are carbon based. Our immune system can't fight silicon."
- The Organians revealing themselves to Phlox after he discovered Trip's and Hoshi's anomalous behavior.
- Archer and Phlox desperately trying to save Trip's and Hoshi's life.
- Hoshi and Trip dying.
- The Organians inhabiting Trip and Hoshi and talking to Archer.
- Archer: "Maybe you've evolved into beings with abilities I can't comprehend. But you've paid a hell of a price. You've lost compassion and empathy. Things that give life meaning. If that's what it takes to be advanced, I don't want any part of it."
- Archer: "If you want to know what it means to be Human, you need to do more than observe."
My Review
This episode was, of course, a bottle show. No guest stars and no special effects other than stock footage. There's no fighting and no weapons fired. Not even the Organians entering and leaving people's bodies is animated. Instead of all this eye candy, we get marvelous performances from all actors involved. Another nice detail was the portrayal of the Organians themselves. All throughout the episode we're given the impression that they're vastly superior to corporeal species in every way. Not in a cheesy direct manner either. Subtle things, like the Chess scene at the beginning or the way they so easily manipulate corporeal bodies were all we needed. All of this put a marvelously different spin on the episode, telling us the story from the Organian perspective. The audience is just as detached as the the observing Organians. What annoys me about this episode is that the Organians shouldn't have been used as the aliens here, as it fouls up continuity with TOS: Errand of Mercy. It could be argued that the Organians went through a radical behavioral change in just 100 years, but given their absurd time frames to exact any kind of change and their radically different behavior in the TOS episode, this doesn't seem likely. A better choice would have been Q. No, seriously. Q, or a group of Q could have easily filled in this role and used the same memory wiping trick. We know how quickly their opinions on things can change. We could have even gotten a cheesy line at the end from Q about visiting in 200 years to see how far humanity has progressed, kind of like the line Arik Soong made about wanting to study Cybernetics at the end of Ent: The Augments. In the end, this was a marvelously well played episode, but for the blunder regarding the Organians, I must strike points.
The following are comments submitted by my readers.
- From GDorn on 2012-01-13 at 8:12am:
I found it hard to believe that sickbay isn't stocked with quarantine suits compatible with medical equipment. - From krs312 on 2012-10-29 at 3:15pm:
Definitely should have been Q. My wife thought they were until I told her. Almost seems like the episode was written that way but someone changed it to be Organians so they could reference TOS. - From Rick on 2014-04-08 at 1:19am:
Why didnt any species in the last 800 years leave a warning beacon about the virus? - From Mike Chambers on 2014-07-15 at 6:57am:
When Hoshi broke out... WHY would there even be ANY way to unlock the quarantine chamber from the inside??
Star Trek Ent - 4x12 - Babel One
Originally Aired: 2005-1-28
Synopsis:
Enterprise journeys to Babel with a Tellarite ambassador on board for peace talks with the Andorians, when a distress call from Shran is received. [DVD]
Problems
- You can easily tell when a stunt double is used for Talas during her fight with the guard. Her stunt double has a vast difference in breast size!
Factoids
- Shrna commanded the Kumari for twelve years. It was the first ship of its class.
- Thanks to Enterprise's upgrades, the ship can now hold warp 5.06 safely.
- Enterprise was officially canceled at about the time this episode aired. Amazing timing, isn't it? Just when the show starts to get bloody good. Just like Farscape.
Remarkable Scenes
- Hoshi and Archer pretending to argue.
- Archer to Gral: "You people are even uglier than I remember."
- Gral: "I've heard this ship is the pride of Starfleet. I find it small, and unimpressive." Archer: "Funny, I was about to say the same thing about you."
- Archer insulting Trip, tricking him.
- Shran and Gral getting into a fight.
- The revelation that the mystery attack ship was in fact Romulan.
- The Romulan ship suddenly coming to life.
- Reed regarding the alien life support system: "With our luck, they probably breathe fluorine!"
- Reed: "There's no rule that says the bridge has to be on the top of the ship!"
- Talas being shot.
- The zoom out at the end when its revealed that the ship was being controlled from Romulus.
My Review
And season 4 continues to deliver the prequel we've been waiting for. This episode expands on the Romulan aspect of the show, showing us once again that in their early days, they tried to manipulate galactic politics from afar, rather than attempt to directly participate. Again, this is perfect for continuity, because Spock said no one had ever seen a Romulan prior to TOS: Balance of Terror. I also liked the nice reference to Babel, which was also the site of a conference in TOS: Journey to Babel. Bringing back the Andorians; especially Shran, and the Tellarites was a perfect development. Daniels once told Archer that Humans, Vulcans, Andorians, and Tellarites were the initial members of the Federation. And T'Pol told Archer that the Romulans probably fear an alliance between these parties. What they fear is the Federation itself. I wouldn't be surprised if the Earth-Romulan wars were a direct attempt by the Romulans to disrupt the founding of the Federation in 2161, which is six years from this episode and plenty of time to wage such a conflict. The Romulan ship itself was fascinating. Controlling a ship remotely could have several advantages, but many disadvantages as well. If these are the types of ships that will be used during the Earth-Romulan wars, I can see how a stalemate might be possible. Earth might even find a way to jam the transmitters so those ships can no longer receive instructions. That could be why the Romulans eventually abandon the design. There was only one thing that annoyed me... I wish we'd got to see a little bit more of that ship. I want to know how it works and why they designed it like that. It's fascinating. Okay, I was wrong, there was one other thing that annoyed me. Did anyone else catch that Travis was interrupted in the middle of one of his lines? First they give him barely anything to say, now they're not even letting him finish sentences! ;) Anyway, this episode was marvelous, and I'm looking forward to seeing more.
The following are comments submitted by my readers.
- From Bob on 2012-03-26 at 11:26am:
OK... so this annoys me, if you watch Balance of Terror, where the Enterprise fist meets the Romulans, Spock says no human has seen a Romulan, because viewscreens where not availiable during the Earth - Romulan war!!
So...just saying we are not seeing the Roulans now is not enough, because your just ignoring the very reason Spock gave!! Either follow the written history,or dont...on this basis the entire Enterprise series is not canon because they have viewscreens. Also, spock makes it clear the Romulan war is fought with old nuclear(?) technology, not phasers and photon torpedoes....*sigh* - From Kethinov on 2012-03-26 at 9:56pm:
Spock's exact line was this: "As you may recall from your histories, this conflict was fought by our standards today with primitive atomic weapons and in primitive space vessels which allowed no quarter, no captives. Nor was there even ship-to-ship visual communication. Therefore, no human, Romulan, or ally has ever seen the other."
He didn't say there were not viewscreens. He said there was no ship-to-ship visual communication. That statement allows for Enterprise's interpretation that the Romulans possessed the capability but refrained from using it to conceal their identities. No continuity error there.
As for "primitive atomic weapons," that one is harder to rationalize. Spock did also say "by our standards today" though which could imply that the phasers and photon torpedos of Ent and TOS may in fact be based on some type of atomic power, with Ent's simply being less advanced. - From krs321 on 2012-11-02 at 3:29pm:
Yeah, the only thing that's way off is the use of atomic weapons. There is obviously no way this is reconcilable with any timeline. I don't think the writers even wanted to waste time on it.
I don't recall which, but there is an episode where the Enterprise is damaged by an old nuclear weapon and I'm pretty sure by now we'd have heard if the NX-1 used atomic-based weapons vs antimatter weapons (slash the antimatter-engine powered phase-cannons) - From Hugo on 2020-05-13 at 5:07pm:
Go Sato!
The whole plot with the insider spy felt unnecessary...
Originally Aired: 2005-2-4
Synopsis:
Archer tries to unify the Andorians, Tellarites and Vulcans in a plan to capture a marauder ship threatening to destabilize the region. [DVD]
Problems
- The pale skinned Andorian pilot was clearly a "pinkskin" type alien when you viewed his neck in this and the previous episode. He was not turned into a blue skinned alien until his helmet was removed at the end of this episode.
Factoids
- This episode features two Reman guards. The Remans were featured for the first and only other time in Star Trek X: Nemesis.
- The drone prototype ship is a modified warbird.
- The Kumari was named after the first ice cutters to circumnavigate Andoria.
- Andorian metabolism is higher than that of humans.
- Antennae take nine months to grow back.
- It would seem given Shran's reaction to losing an antenna, that the antenna are necessary for balance.
Remarkable Scenes
- Archer getting the Andorians and Tellarites to work together.
- Reed saving Trip from the Romulans.
- Reed blowing up a power conduit disabling the Romulan link to the drone ship.
- Archer taking
- Reed: "You're good at building things, I'm good at blowing them up."
- Travis and Hoshi looking for a loophole.
- Archer receiving fighting advice from Hoshi, Gral, and Phlox.
- Archer's fight with Shran.
- Archer cutting off one of Shran's antennae!
- Enterprise battling the drone ship.
- The drone ship performing some crazy maneuvers.
- Trip and Reed diving out of the drone ship so they can be beamed aboard.
- Alliance ships arriving to continue the battle against the drone ship.
- Enterprise rescuing Trip and Reed.
- Trip pulling Reed's leg. Trip's taking out what Archer did to him in Ent: Babel One on Reed. ;)
- The sight of Shran and Gral making up in the end and the joint fleet.
My Review
This episode is one of the best ones shown yet on Enterprise, and certainly one of the most memorable. It's fairly obvious that this episode is supposed to serve as a precursor to the alliance that humans, Vulcans, Andorians, and Tellarites will one day form as the founding members of the Federation and it was done well here. What I liked most was the fight between Archer and Shran. I was thoroughly convinced one of them would die and was pleasantly surprised when Travis and Hoshi found a way for that not to happen. Additionally, I was glad to see Travis and Hoshi play a real role in the story for once as well. Archer cutting off Shran's antenna is of course an homage to TOS: Journey to Babel in which we saw the antenna of a fake Andorian break off, which was nicely clever. The whole incident served as marvelous character development for Shran and Archer. I really like the relationship those two have forged. Besides that, Trip's and Reed's escape from the Romulan drone ship was extremely exciting to watch. I loved how they just dived into space like that, and finally the special effects depicting the arrival and departure of some of the alliance ships were just spectacular. Ent: United is showing us a pattern of writing not present in seasons 1-3. Manny Coto is taking this show exactly where it needs to go, but too little too late. Maybe if we could have had Coto as the showrunner from the beginning, Enterprise would have more than 4 seasons. Season 4 has been excellent so far, but it's too little, too late.
No fan commentary yet.
Star Trek Ent - 4x14 - The Aenar
Originally Aired: 2005-2-11
Synopsis:
Archer visits Shran's icy homeworld to find an Andorian subspecies called the Aenar, to determine their connection to the marauder destroying ships in the region. [DVD]
Problems
None
Factoids
- Andorian cities are built underground and make use of geothermal energy. Shran didn't see the sun until he was 15.
- Andoria is actually a moon of a ringed gas giant. This could put an end to the Andor / Andoria naming problem, possibly signifying that Andor is the gas giant and Andoria is the moon.
Remarkable Scenes
- Shran revealing the existence of the Aenar to Archer.
- The sight of Andoria... beautiful.
- Archer and Shran visiting the Aenar compound.
- Shran being impaled by a stalagmite.
- The sight of the Aenar city.
- Enterprise battling the Romulan drones.
- The two Romulan drones attacking each other.
- Trip declaring he's going to leave Enterprise.
My Review
This episode was a bit of a let down compared to the previous two, but charming in its own light. The biggest problem was that the Romulan plot was totally exhausted at this point and probably shouldn't have continued. With the writing a bit more careful in Ent: Babel One and Ent: United, they could have been a simple two parter instead of a 3 episode mini arc. The Aenar themselves however were totally fascinating. Rarely is a new alien species presented so well on Enterprise. I was also fascinated to see that Andoria is actually a moon of a ringed gas giant. It's nice to see this kind of planetary diversity every once in a while. The Aenar themselves were convincing as recluses and pacifists. Their makeup and acting was superb all throughout. If there were another suitable reason to feature them again, I'd love to see more of the Aenar. I'm curious to know if they're still around after the Federation was formed. Trip leaving the ship in the ending brought an anticlimactic moment to an otherwise decent episode. I'm wondering why the writers are dragging out the T'Ppl / Trip relationship thing. It's starting to become tiresome. I mean, obviously, Trip is not leaving the ship permanently. This is Star Trek Enterprise. Not Star Trek Enterprise + Columbia. Maybe that sounds cruel, but that's how it is. Trip will be back. So the ending, albeit a surprise, was a let down.
No fan commentary yet.
Star Trek Ent - 4x15 - Affliction
Originally Aired: 2005-2-18
Synopsis:
While Enterprise visits Earth for the launch of Columbia, Phlox is kidnapped and forced to help the Klingons deal with a grave threat toward their species. [DVD]
Problems
- What do those silly pillars of light do on the bridge of the Columbia? They're just as retarded looking as those from Ent: E².
Factoids
- Enterprise sets a new speed record in this episode, warp 5.2.
Remarkable Scenes
- T'Pol performing a mind meld on Hoshi with Archer's guidance.
- T'Pol and Trip meeting in a communal daydream.
- The Klingon General shooting the patient. Awesome. :)
- The revelation that the Klingon disease was actually caused by messing around with Augment DNA.
- Hoshi describing dreaming of Trip the same way T'Pol was.
- Reed to Archer: "There are some obligations that go beyond my loyalty to you and this crew."
- Phlox suggesting the Klingons should have abducted Dr. Soong and the Klingons responding with "we tried, he was under heavy guard." :)
- The launch of the Columbia.
My Review
Ah, the infamous Klingon Forehead Problem. This is probably the most amusing continuity-centered episode ever done. Before I begin my review, let me briefly outline the Klingon Forehead Problem. In TOS, Klingons head no facial makeup, other than some interesting haircuts and a darker complexion. They had no cranial ridges. In the TOS films, Gene Roddenberry did an about face on this and made the Klingons look more alien. He claimed that's how he always wanted them to look, but TOS lacked the budget. A reasonable explanation. And it fell through with DS9 when TOS era Klingons made their cameos. They had full ridged Klingon makeup. But in DS9: Trials and Tribble-ations, the equivalent of an atomic bomb was dropped on Roddenberry's argument. Now don't get me wrong, that episode was a wonderful homage to TOS. But when Bashir et al noticed the difference between the Klingons of TOS and Worf and started speculating as to the reasons why this could have happened and Worf just cryptically responded with "we don't talk about it," it made canonical this Klingon Forehead Problem. An explanation was demanded and none was ever given. Then Enterprise as a series further aggravated the issue by depicting pre-TOS Klingons with ridges! Well, Manny Coto hates loose ends and here we are with Ent: Affliction. The solution to the Klingon Forehead Problem. The Klingons during the late Enterprise era began experimenting with human Augment DNA. The result? A ridgeless, TOS style Klingon. Now, there are still questions to be answered. How far does this plague spread? Why is every Klingon we see in TOS ridgeless? Why is every Klingon we see post TOS ridged? I have my own theories, but I'll wait to postulate them until the second part has aired. My only comment regarding this is wow, Coto has lots of bravery to attempt this. He's trying to correct the biggest continuity error in Star Trek history! That's no small feat. The episode itself was fairly by the book. Trip's emotional problems didn't interest me very much, but I was kind of glad that it gave us a chance to see the Columbia. T'Pol and Hoshi were given a decent showing as well; I loved the mind meld scene. I'm not sure Reed's conflict with Archer was such a good idea. The idea to bring Section 31 to Enterprise is acceptable from a continuity standpoint, but given the limited time left on Enterprise thanks to that asinine cancellation, introducing new complex long term plot threads seems ill advised. Probably the best part about the episode though was Phlox working with the Klingons. They were in character all throughout and I thus found the episode sufficiently convincing. I am impressed with Coto's audaciousness!
No fan commentary yet.
Star Trek Ent - 4x16 - Divergence
Originally Aired: 2005-2-25
Synopsis:
With Columbia's help, the Enterprise crew grapples with sabotage to their ship as they pursue the truth behind the kidnapping of Phlox. [DVD]
Problems
- You've got to wonder why Bashir was so surprised just like O'Brien in DS9: Trials and Tribble-ations. Didn't he study medical history? Maybe he was just playing dumb to put Worf in an embarrassing situation. ;)
Factoids
None
Remarkable Scenes
- The zooming scene just after the teaser. Holy wow!
- The two NX class ships matching course and speed.
- Watching trip climb from one ship to the other.
- Trip doing a cold start of the warp reactor.
- Archer uncovering Reed's connection with Section 31.
- K'Vagh drinking to the bravery of the four Klingon warriors who volunteered to test the various attempts at a cure.
- Enterprise and Columbia battling the Klingon ships.
- Phlox beaming the virus to the attacking Klingons to persuade them to let Phlox cure the virus.
My Review
I must say, that's a damn fine resolution of the Klingon Forehead problem. The only remaining question is why do the "shamed" ridgeless Klingons get so powerful in TOS? It's possible that the virus spreads further and since it only can do "stage 1" it alters ridged Klingons for a hundred years and their cosmetic surgery techniques aren't quite up to the task of fixing the problem until post TOS. That would seem to make sense with why all the ridged Klingons in Star Trek I: The Motion Picture have the same ridges and why post Star Trek I: The Motion Picture productions have progressively better ridges... they were perfecting their cosmetic surgery techniques! ;) Still, you've got to wonder why it would take them 100 years to develop them. But then, given how valued doctors are in the Klingon Empire, it's not all that surprising. Aside from resolving the Klingon Forehead Problem, this episode presents a great action episode at the same time. Trip's leap from Columbia to Enterprise was just the kind of innovative stuff that keeps Star Trek exciting. Phlox bending his ethics with the Klingons added further to the episode's intrigue. Finally, letting the Columbia strut her stuff in battle side by side with Enterprise was just great fun to watch. All in all, a nicely successful episode.
The following are comments submitted by my readers.
- From Jadzia Guinan Smith on 2010-09-10 at 12:40am:
Good catch on Bashir's surprise. I also wonder how it came to be that the ridgeless mutants seemed to peak in numbers a 100 years from the divergence, (so much so that they dominated politics and military operations, apparently having shed any shame associated with the deformity) only to pretty much die out about a 120 years later :-) - From Andrew James on 2010-12-10 at 5:56pm:
I always felt or more elegant solution to the continuity problem would have been in Tribbles and Tribulation to have Worf appear in TOS style Klingon makeup and simply ignore the problem. - From peterwolf on 2012-10-03 at 8:00pm:
Interestingly that nobody wondered about similar solutions of the "Klingon forehead problem" when watching the Undiscovered Country. General Chang has very faint ridges, is bald - very untypical for Klingons - and loves Shakespeare! There must have beeen some human influence and, seemingly, more underlying continuity before this Star Trek Enterprise episode Divergence. - From TheAnt on 2013-11-06 at 11:34am:
I am with Andrew James on this matter, TOS were one old show, and things, graphics capabilities, how we perceive what the future might look like, and political correctness have changes everything since then.
And this episode provides one example of the fanboy style written episodes that the entire Enterprise series suffers from.
Ideas and aliens presented in the 1960 early 1970 style, (the following episode with slave girls provides a striking example).
Taken together Enterprise is a series obviously written for the hardcore ST fans, that they hoped would attract a larger audience, it is not strange at all that a show like this cannot be a huge resounding success!
Now with that said, I have to agree that this is one of the better episodes, and one that do not have me cringe. I really liked Phlox for example.
But the major problem lies with the Klingons, we have learned to like their cranky ways, but here we get to learn that they at first have done virus testing on POV's.
It immediately had me started to think and question just about everything really.
Talk about having a skeleton in the closet, with a war atrocity of that magnitude I cannot get that to fit with the idea that the Klingons later would be allowed into the Federation - I would not!
A final blow perhaps after having similar references in "Storm Front" and "Borderland", ST should also deliver a bit of simple fun to provide good entertainment - also in that respect do these episodes fail.
So I will not enter any comment for those other, but only pass over them in this mini review. - From Dstyle on 2015-11-02 at 3:13pm:
To make a fairly nerdy correction to TheAnt's comments: The Klingon Empire does not join the Federation. They merely make peace and are allies, albeit loose ones at times.
Originally Aired: 2005-4-15
Synopsis:
As a gift for negotiating with the Orion Syndicate, Captain Archer receives three Orion Slave Girls. [DVD]
Problems
- Trip calls Kelby a lieutenant, when he actually holds the rank of commander.
Factoids
None
Remarkable Scenes
- T'Pol: "They did report one distinctive feature which bears mentioning." Archer: "Which is?" T'Pol: "A species of flying reptiles, some reportedly over 200 meters long. They're also said to breathe fire. There has been lingering questions over the accuracy of this report." A nice reference to TOS: This Side of Paradise.
- The Orion slave girls putting on a show for Archer and Reed.
- The various crew's reaction to the Orion women.
- Enterprise battling Harrad-Sar's ship.
- Enterprise disabling the grappler on Harrad-Sar's ship.
- T'Pol: "At least we've learned something about the Orions." Reed: "Yeah, the women are in charge." T'Pol: "It proves that even the most disagreeable species have some positive attributes."
My Review
Ent: Bound is a rehash of TOS: Mudd's Women. Here is where Manny Coto's fetish for TOS continuity is starting to get a little over the top. While it was a good idea to give us more information about the Orions, the episode was done in a very immature way. Basically the episode floats around between the men tripping over themselves, the women getting annoyed, and Trip and T'Pol having relationship problems. This episode seemed more to me like a teeny soap opera than an episode of Star Trek. Only the short space battle and the fact that the Orions were aliens made the episode reminiscent of Star Trek. Fortunately, the episode manages to salvage some dignity over similar attempts like Ent: Harbinger (which was actually a better episode, even if less mature) and the dreaded Ent: A Night in Sickbay. For one, the revelation that the Orion women actually control Orion society is an interesting one. This episode also ended the annoying "lets push Trip over to Columbia" mini arc. I had a feeling it was going nowhere... now we know for sure. Finally, the little joke T'Pol made at the end was genuinely funny and a nice homage to TOS when Spock would make similar closing comments at the end of episodes. These details hardly make up for the general immaturity of the episode, but I generally felt somewhere in between liking and hating this episode. It's not very good, but it's not that bad either. Certainly better than most poor episodes of Star Trek.
The following are comments submitted by my readers.
- From James T. on 2008-09-08 at 5:04pm:
"Continuity Coto" didn't write this script -- Mike Sussman did. Coto wrote the story for Part II. Just FYI. - From Nicholas on 2011-11-20 at 10:23am:
I went into this expecting to dislike it; indeed, I considered skipping the episode on the DVD to get to In a Mirror Darkly.
However, I found it really enjoyable. Look beyond the simple "men are gushing over women" to the sci-fi aspect of the Orion women being able to influence and control them with pheromones. It led to some excellent scenes, particularly the sickbay one - Phlox was great to watch.
I wish they'd played up the disgust of the woman at them a bit more, though - there were a few funny background moments, but nothing much.
The Orion man also had the right blend of menace, sleaze and charm; very well-played.
The joke scene with T'Pol capped it off perfectly, and gave it a real TOS feel.
A pleasant surprise, as far as I'm concerned.
Star Trek Ent - 4x18 - In a Mirror, Darkly, Part I
Originally Aired: 2005-4-22
Synopsis:
In the mirror universe, Commander Archer mutinies against Captain Forrest in order to capture a future Earth ship found in Tholian space. [DVD]
Problems
None
Factoids
- This episode is a candidate for my "Best Episode of Enterprise Award".
- This is the 700th episode of Star Trek when you exclude the movies and TAS.
- Trip's facial damage is a reference to what happened to captain Pike in TOS: The Menagerie.
- Tholians require temperatures of 480 degrees kelvin.
- Tholians reproduce asexually.
- Tholians can use their crystalline exoskeleton to act as a naturally resonating transmitter.
Remarkable Scenes
- The teaser with Zefram Cochrane shooting the Vulcans who made first contact with Earth, then stealing their ship... hah!
- Oh my, the opening credits! Didn't see that coming.
- The torture scene in the beginning.
- Archer taking over Enterprise.
- Finally seeing a Tholian!
- Phlox gradually decreasing the temperature in the Tholian's airlock.
- Archer briefing the senior staff about the Earth ship from 100 years in the future from the other universe.
- Cloaked Enterprise arriving at the Defiant.
- Phlox: "Will you kindly die!" Ah, the best Phlox quote ever.
- The Tholian ships deploying their web and attacking Enterprise.
- Archer activating the Defiant.
- Enterprise being destroyed by the Tholians.
My Review
Continuity Coto writes his masterpiece. This episode is a sequel to TOS: The Tholian Web. In that episode, the USS Defiant disappeared, never to be seen again. Now we know where it went... the mirror universe, during the Enterprise era! Aside from this marvelous detail, there are numerous others to redeem it. First of all, a common complaint about DS9 was that it consistently abused the mirror universe. This episode presents the mirror universe exactly faithful to how TOS does, finally. All things from Cochrane firing on the Vulcans during first contact, to the personalities of the characters aboard the ISS Enterprise, to the command structure about the ISS Enterprise were spot on. Additionally, bringing in TOS technology from the regular universe in the form of a sequel to TOS: The Tholian Web was just brilliant. We know that the Terran Empire conquered much of the alpha quadrant by the time of TOS: Mirror, Mirror. We also know humans started off inferior to most of the species they conquered. If Archer successfully captures this TOS vessel of the future, it can explain how humanity became so powerful! Another nice touch was being able to see an actual Tholian. We got a crude drawing of one in TOS, but we never actually got see any. The Tholian presented in this episode is perfectly faithful to the TOS drawing, whilst expanding on it creatively. Another wonderful detail is the use of the Tholian Web itself. When the Tholians deployed their web on Kirk's Enterprise, it took hours to complete. In this episode it takes mere seconds. You might first assume this is a technical problem, but if you notice in this episode, the Tholians have an entire fleet deploying the web. We can infer that the more ships working on the web, the faster it gets deployed. Finally, the opening credits of this episode are a great touch as well. Long have fans complained about the opening theme, claiming it'd be better as an orchestral version. The opening theme presented in this episode is kind of making fun of all the fan criticism, whilst being totally appropriate at the same time! Coto has really outdone himself here. This episode is absolutely hilarious, the writing is wonderfully careful, the special effects are marvelous, and the acting is superb. Bravo!
The following are comments submitted by my readers.
- From hmad on 2010-07-17 at 8:51am:
My God, to see this sweet and respected devotion to not only canon but TOS homage not seen since DS9's "Trials and Tribble-ations" and done in a way that would make Matt Jeffries and D.C. Fontana jealous of the Mirror Universe in true epicness.
It was the almost flawless run of this fourth season that made me lament (a full three years after the end) that this series had finally, after shedding the burnt out Brannon Braga for Coto, found its legs and teeth. Too late, unlike TOS their would be no revival via the fans, even Trekkies were almost trekked out, or at least needed a siesta.
But man, if only Enterprise was given the three more seasons that other franchises were with the same level of bravado that the 4th season had. In the words of a Klingon warrior, it would have been "glorious....!". - From Azalea Jane on 2022-01-01 at 6:34am:
I watched The Tholian Web right before watching this one, so the continuity was cool. So far I've only seen a bit of season 1 of Enterprise, but I decided to treat myself.
I was a little put off by the midriff-baring uniforms on the women. Don't get me wrong -- Hoshi and T'Pol are both gorgeous and fit and this is not lost on me -- it just seems like such gratuitous pandering that it takes me out of the story a little bit. (Do people less confident about their figure have to wear those too?) I also can't forget what a lot of actresses go through to maintain figures like that, just to be able to get work. Jeri Ryan "joking" that she would barely be able to eat while on the cast of Voyager comes to mind. And considering the myriad reports of Rick Berman being a horrible misogynist, it's hard to enjoy those uniforms, gay as I may be.
I'm sure there's an in-universe rationale for the uniforms, but I think it could have been done better. I'd understand if it were in the culture to have uniforms that emphasize certain features, or for crew to have the option to wear "sexy" versions of their uniforms. But if it were me, I'd tone down the women's uniforms and tone up the men's. There is something to be said for subtlety. If "sexy uniform" is an option, I'm sure plenty of the dudes would be into it too! This is himbo erasure! LOL.
Great episode overall, though. Really kept me interested. It's always fun seeing Trek characters out of character. Mirror Archer is unnerving. The sadistic Phlox is downright creepy! And I find the Tholians fascinating. It's always nice when Trek uses non-humanoid aliens. That's pretty rare.
Star Trek Ent - 4x19 - In a Mirror, Darkly, Part II
Originally Aired: 2005-4-29
Synopsis:
In the mirror universe, Archer commandeers the 23rd-century Defiant from the Tholians and uses it in a nefarious power grab. [DVD]
Problems
None
Factoids
- This episode is a candidate for my "Best Episode of Enterprise Award."
- Hoshi Sato created a "linguacode translation matrix" in her late 30s.
- Archer's mother's name is Sally Archer.
- Archer's name is among the most recognized in the Federation. Historians called him the greatest explorer of the 22nd century and two planets were named after him.
- Archer retires as an admiral and commander in chief of Starfleet and goes on to become the President of the Federation at some point!
Remarkable Scenes
- Archer and crew stealing the Defiant.
- Archer sporting a TOS style captain's uniform.
- Archer and Hoshi discussing the Federation and their alter egos' personal biographies.
- Archer defeating the Gorn.
- Phlox regarding Earth's literature: "I skimmed a few of the more celebrated narratives. The stories were similar in some respects but their characters were weak and compassionate. With the exception of Shakespeare, of course. From what I could tell his plays were equally grim in both universes."
- The Defiant crushing a rebellion.
- Archer executing Admiral Black.
- T'Pol and Soval persuading Phlox to join their rebellion.
- T'Pol to Hoshi: "I'm surprised you're not exhausted from all the beds you've jumped into recently!"
- The Avenger battling the Defiant.
- The Defiant destroying the Avenger.
- Hoshi poisoning Archer.
- Hoshi: "You're speaking with Empress Sato. Prepare to receive instructions."
My Review
Part II is every bit as good as part I. In this episode, we get to see the Defiant strut its stuff with Archer loving every minute of it. He obviously has issues with anger and paranoia, as well self doubt which manifests itself as regular-universe Archer constantly taunting him, which was a nice touch. All the characters act as you would expect them to, with the aliens forming a rebellion on the Avenger, only to be destroyed, and Archer getting rid of anyone he even remotely sees as a threat. A possible deficiency is the Gorn stuff. We got a nice mention of the Gorn in Ent: Bound, but fans have been asking to actually see another Gorn for a while now. The usage was appropriate here, but in some ways it felt more like filler. I felt that the whole Gorn sequence was obtrusive and that it should have either been elaborated more or not done at all. The CGI Gorn was extremely well done though. The updated Gorn reminded me a lot of the Skaarans from Farscape. Now, I might have struck a point for the Gorn sequence if it had really wasted time, but it didn't. The episode's pace was sufficient that the ending was still amazing. Empress Hoshi Sato schemes her way to the top! I didn't see that one coming at all, and I wholeheartedly enjoyed it. She reminded me of Persis from the Augments arc. She did the very same thing, but eventually she stood up for what was right and died because of it... not Hoshi! Immoral and corrupt all the way, and it allows her to rise to the top! How viciously nasty! It should be noted that the fan reaction to this two parter has been mixed. Yes, these two episodes waste a great deal of time that could be otherwise spent on more relevant episodes; none of the events of these two episodes actually even take place in the real universe! Yes, I too found it somewhat annoying that Enterprise is squandered what little time it had left. But Ent: In a Mirror, Darkly was just so well written and so entertaining that I simply couldn't strike points from it due to timing and circumstance. The episode probably would have made more sense in season 1 or 2, but better late than never.
The following are comments submitted by my readers.
- From Abigail on 2009-04-20 at 12:28am:
These two episodes were very intriguing! I loved the continuity with TOS -- the ship (of course), the Tholian web, the gorn (although he looked and acted nothing like the TOS gorn). I also loved the opening credits! It caught me completely off-guard!
I do have one pretty big complaint ... It was very odd that the crew of "our" enterprise never came into play. Despite its intrigue, it felt a bit like a waste because it has nothing at all to do with the rest of the show, plot-wise. I kept waiting for them to bring in "our" characters! Because of this, when it was over, I felt like it needed a part III. - From peterwolf on 2012-10-04 at 9:54am:
Two more and mirrored heavy arguments why the 4th Enterprise season was so amazing. The first two seasons I saw only dubbed in German after watching it now on DVD, but I still liked the characters of T'Pol and Captain Archer. For example, characters like Reed you can only really appreciate in the original version. Anyway, the last two seasons of Enterprise were so much better with their continuous plots and unblievable great topics and good stories leading to TOS (like Andorian and Vulcan "history")! In fact, the decent, closer to real life characters were great then, overall much better than Voyager. Sheer madness to cancel this series! - From Dstyle on 2015-11-04 at 2:44pm:
I was really disappointed that the two Vulcans who helped T'Pol release Captain Forrest in Part I didn't have evil Mirror-Vulcan goatees, so I'm glad to see Soval was at least sporting one! - From Luke on 2016-07-27 at 8:37am:
There is a HUGE continuity problem here - if the ship from our universe was the USS Defiant, and it was build along time before DS9s Defiant, the why wasn't the one from DS9 the -A?
It shouldn't matter that it was the first of class - in fact I don't think they would reuse a name for the lead ship of a class in the same was the lead Sovreign wasn't the Enterprise.
Of course, DS9 was made before ENT, but still it's another small yet irritating continuity problem. - From Temlakos on 2016-08-15 at 9:47am:
The numbering of USS Defiant NX-74205 is in no way inconsistent with the numbering of USS Defiant NCC-1764. The only reason for the A, B, and C designations for the Enterprise is that Starfleet honored Captain Kirk by retaining the original NCC number of his ship, and adding A, B, C, etc. for each successive iteration. Consider the real-life naming of multiple ships named Enterprise in the United States Navy. (With another one--USS Enterprise CVN-80, the third Ford class carrier--already in the graving dock, if I am not mistaken.) - From McCoy on 2017-08-01 at 2:23pm:
I like everything related to TOS:) Shame that upcoming Discovery doesn't look like true retro sf (looks quite opposite, sadly). However I see one continuity problem here. If they managed to get Defiant, why they didn't improve technology over time? Kirk visited his mirror Enterprise, not some advanced vessel. So Terran Empire just keep building Defiant-era ships with no upgrades over 100 years? Unlikely:) - From Azalea Jane on 2022-01-06 at 10:16pm:
Hats off to the production designers. I thought they blended TOS and ENT designs seamlessly. Reminds me a little of the Tribble episode in DS9. Though they didn't recycle footage for this one, they still had to have sets and costumes that bore close enough resemblance to TOS without clashing. For me it really helped bridge the gap between eras a bit. We all just have to collectively pretend that the Duplo-looking controls on the Defiant are more advanced than those on the NX-01!
Hoshi's last-minute coup was quite surprising to me, too! Especially with it ending right there. Mirror Archer was much too much of an egotistical hothead to handle being an emperor! Sato, on the other hand, knows the value of patience and subtlety, and letting your enemies underestimate you while you take advantage of their weaknesses. I agree the Gorn subplot was kind of random. They catch him, then just kill him, and that's it? Oh well. I also thought that gravity trick was pretty clever - I wonder why we don't see that more often!
One could call this two-parter irrelevant because we don't see them interacting with "our" universe characters, however I think it was pretty cool to see the aftermath of what we see in The Tholian Web. It does raise the question of why mirror Terran technology isn't more advanced, but my guess is that Mirror Sato never let the Defiant be studied or reverse-engineered and that it eventually got destroyed when enough of her enemies got wind of it and the threat it posed. It is technology from far in the future with a too-small crew. It's eventually going to be too unwieldy.
I don't think it's an error that we've seen two ships called Defiant. The first Defiant was lost over a hundred years before the second one. There's no chance they'd be confused.
Originally Aired: 2005-5-6
Synopsis:
A xenophobic faction of humanity threatens to undermine talks to form a new coalition of planets. [DVD]
Problems
- Why were Trip and T'Pol selected for this undercover mission? Isn't this kind of personal involvement exactly the reason why you wouldn't select them?
Factoids
- We get extra information about Colonel Green, who was first featured in TOS: The Savage Curtain. In that episode, he was said to be known for attacking his enemies whilst negotiating with them. In this episode we find that he exterminated millions of people suffering from radiation sickness after World War III to prevent future generations from inheriting deformities.
Remarkable Scenes
- Samuels: "With this Coalition of Planets we seek to strengthen our bonds of friendship, render permanent the peace that now exists among us for the ongoing exploration of our galaxy. Let us dedicate ourselves to these worthy goals so that future generations can look back upon this moment with pride and eternal gratitude."
- Samuels regarding the universal translator: "They are extremely precise. Though when I'm listening to the Tellarite Ambassador I wish they were a little less precise."
- The revelation that the child was somehow T'Pol's and Trip's.
- Reed contacting Section 31.
- Paxton and Greaves watching an historic Colonel Green speech.
- Trip meeting with Greaves, then attending the Terra Prime meeting.
- Trip and T'Pol being captured.
- The moon mining facility taking off.
- The lunar colony going to warp, arriving at Mars, and landing on it.
- Paxton firing on the Moon.
My Review
This episode is nothing special, but not bad at the same time. It picks up on the xenophobia that humanity faces which first flared up in Ent: Home. I'm glad they're going somewhere with this, but I was hoping it wouldn't be taken in the direction of a KKK of the future. Unfortunately, this is exactly what Paxton represents. His racism is blatantly impractical and he's clearly a madman, just like the Colonel Green from 100 years before he admires so much, or Hitler from 200 years before. Only the minor details of this episode redeem it. For one, it's interesting to get a chance to see the Luna colony. I also enjoyed the special effects with the colony lifting off and traveling to Mars. Good stuff there. The most appealing aspect of this episode was the seeming preliminary talks regarding the formation of the Federation. Otherwise, the motives and intent of the antagonist remain unclear, and it's hard to give the episode much more than an average rating. On a side note, Travis gets lots of lines! It's a shame the small part of the story he was conceded was so full of cliche though...
The following are comments submitted by my readers.
- From Mike Chambers on 2013-11-25 at 5:46am:
Factoid: Minister Nathan Samuels who gave that speech at the beginning of the episode played by the same guy who played Tam Elbrun in TNG: Tin Man. Or at least I think it is. It sure looks and sounds like him.
Star Trek Ent - 4x21 - Terra Prime
Originally Aired: 2005-5-13
Synopsis:
A human isolationist leader threatens to destroy Starfleet Command unless all aliens leave Earth immediately. [DVD]
Problems
- Why didn't Archer just shoot Paxton instead of letting him make his speech to buy time while the window got ready to explode?
Factoids
- This is the 32nd planet Reed has set foot on.
- This is the 248th planet Phlox has set foot on.
- The guy who played Masaro wasn't an actor. He won the role in a contest.
Remarkable Scenes
- Trip: "Do you really think I'm going to help you turn that array into a weapon?" Paxton: "Do you really think I'm going to give you choice?"
- Enterprise hitching a ride to Mars using a comet.
- Archer putting Hoshi in command!
- Archer, Reed, Phlox, and Travis taking a shuttlepod down to Mars.
- The sight of the Carl Sagan Memorial Station and the first Mars Rover. Aww, how cute. :)
- T'Pol: "Tagart syndrome. Since you obviously didn't die by age twenty, you're receiving treatment. Rigelian gene therapy?" Paxton: "You're not a doctor." T'Pol: "They very thing you're warning humans to avoid is what's keeping you alive. Alien knowledge, freely shared. You're not only a terrorist, you're a hypocrite." Paxton: "This is not the time for timidity and second guessing. We cannot afford to doubt ourselves." T'Pol: "Colonel Green also said to be human is to be pure. Under his rule you would have been euthanized for having a genetic disorder. I'm not the first significant leader who failed to measure up to his own ideals."
- T'Pol revealing that she had named her dying baby Elizabeth, after Trip's sister.
- Masaro killing himself in front of Archer.
- Phlox' speech about how Enterprise has become his family and how he desperately wishes for Archer to make something good come from this.
- Archer: "Up until about a hundred years ago, there was one question that burned in every human, that made us study the stars and dream of traveling to them. Are we alone? Our generation is privileged to know the answer to that question. We are all explorers, driven to know what's over the horizon, what's beyond our own shores. And yet, the more I've experienced, the more I've learned that no matter how far we travel, or how fast we get there, the most profound discoveries are not necessarily beyond that next star. They're within us, woven into the threads that bind us, all of us, to each other. A final frontier begins in this hall. Let's explore it together."
My Review
The sequel to Ent: Demons impressed me. Coto didn't do such a good job setting up the premise of Ent: Demons to be very interesting, but where he went with it in Ent: Terra Prime was downright moving and would have made a fitting end to the series. Many fans actually consider this episode to be the end of Enterprise because they hate the next one so much, they refuse to believe it's canon. But discussions about the next episode should be held off until my next review. The story shows the almost tragic downfall of Paxton, who's true nature is revealed. He's another Hitler who never had a chance to do any real damage, except of course, to Trip and T'Pol. With regards to them, their relationship has finally shown real progress, something that is much appreciated. I loved how even Phlox broke down when the baby died. The emotion in this episode was well played and totally appropriate. Giving Hoshi command of Enterprise while Archer led the rescue team was also a nice touch. Imagine the frightened little girl that she was in Ent: Fight or Flight taking this kind of responsibility. The scenes on Mars were visually spectacular and the comet ride getting there was even moreso. While in reality this episode isn't much more than your average action episode, the emotional scenes at the end depicting how the alien crew has all become one family is what made me like the episode so much. It's Star Trek at its best.
The following are comments submitted by my readers.
- From Dstyle on 2015-11-05 at 7:33pm:
Gannet: "Travis, I'm not a member of Terra Prime. I'm a member of Star Fleet Intelligence."(at this point every single person watching the show realizes that this is true, because there'd be no reason to include it in the script otherwise)
Travis: "So why don't you tell Captain Archer? One call to your superior and you'd be out of this brig in a second."
Gannet: "Sure and have the real Terra Prime operative know who I am?"
Travis: "Or, you know, just tell Archer anyway, because if there is a Terra Prime operative at large on this ship it'd be incredibly irresponsible of you to not do anything about it. Archer doesn't have to let you out or let anyone other than his senior staff know anything, but if what you're saying is true then you're absolutely telling the wrong person right now. I'm sure you must have some sort of protocol you're supposed to follow in situations like this. Didn't they teach you anything at your space-spy training school?"
Gannet: <flashes a knowing, come-hither look> "Hey, why did you and I break up again?"
Travis: <rolls eyes, walks out>
- From Hugo on 2020-05-12 at 8:54pm:
I was waiting for the mayor from Buffy to bring out his crazy side... !
The lunar mining facility didn't impress me - it looked more like an alien prison camp. At the time of Enterprise it should have been more factory-like and with more machines/robots... - From Mitch O on 2021-03-19 at 10:40am:
Bit of a continuity error in this episode. They talk with surprise that Vulcans and Humans can have a child together, but the characters already know this from the season 3 episode E2. Wh
Star Trek Ent - 4x22 - These Are the Voyages...
Originally Aired: 2005-5-13
Synopsis:
Six years in the future, an emotional Captain Archer and the crew return to Earth to face the decommission of Enterprise and signing of the Federation charter. [DVD]
Problems
- There are two Rikers in the opening scene just after the teaser due to oversights in the stock footage.
Factoids
- This episode is the winner of my "Worst Episode of Enterprise Award" and is therefore a candidate for my "Worst Episode Ever Award".
- The TNG stuff in this episode is a connection, or rather an expansion, to TNG: The Pegasus.
- Jhamel, from Ent: The Aenar, and Shran had a child 5 years prior to this episode.
- It's something of a sick joke that we never once get to see Chef on Enterprise, and now that we finally do, it's Commander Riker playing his part. :)
- Much of the crew of the Pegasus on the screen Riker read were people involved in the production of Star Trek.
- The NX-01 was made into a museum ship after it was decommissioned.
- Trip never graduated from college.
- The admiral behind Reed during the signing ceremony is Manny Coto.
- Enterprise is the only Star Trek series which never added or removed a main character throughout its entire run.
- Thanks to this episode, Commander Riker has appeared in all the Star Trek series at least once, except for TOS and TAS.
Remarkable Scenes
- The CG Enterprise-D. Wow!
- Troi: "How could Archer survive without a fish tank?"
- Trip: "Been a hell of a run, Malcolm. I never thought it would come to an end." Reed: "All good things..."
- Talla: "Thanks, pinkskin."
- CG Enterprise entering CG asteroid field.
- The (pure voice) Data cameo.
- Phlox discussing with Riker-Chef the time during Ent: The Forgotten when he had to haggle with Trip regarding the hours of sleep he was being forced to "endure."
- Archer: "Here's to the next generation."
- Trip just before he sacrificed himself to save Archer and the ship: "There's just one other thing I need to tell you. You can all go straight to hell."
- Phlox doing another super smile.
- With images of the 3 Enterprises... Picard: "Space, the final frontier. These are the voyages of the starship Enterprise. It's continuing mission--" Kirk: "To explore strange new worlds. To seek out new life and new civilizations." Archer: "To boldly go where no man has gone before."
My Review
In interviews before this episode was aired, Rick Berman said, "One of the reasons we did it is we wanted to say kind of a 'thank you' to people who watched not only Enterprise but some of the other shows." Brannon Braga was also interviewed about the episode and referred to it as a "valentine to all of Star Trek." This is not a valentine, it's an insult. Even Jolene Blalock (T'Pol) referred to the episode as "appalling" before it aired; I couldn't agree more. First of all, this episode spends about one third of its time focusing directly on Riker and/or Troi in an episode that's supposed to send off Enterprise. As if that weren't bad enough, the whole justification for the TNG cameo was shoddy. TNG: The Pegasus wasn't the most spectacular episode ever written, but it was solid, and didn't need a coda. Aside from that, even the Enterprise-specific writing was annoying. Take Trip and T'Pol's relationship for example. In Ent: Terra Prime, there was hinting that their relationship would finally go somewhere. But here we are 6 years later. Did it? Nope! Sorry! And if that weren't bad enough, proverbially they kick a man when he's down by abruptly killing Trip for absolutely no reason. He gets a shamefully unceremonious death all so Riker can learn some half assed lesson about not keeping secrets from Picard, which annoyingly stole the focus from the show so much so that we don't even get to hear Archer's speech during the signing of the Federation charter. Now, I don't know about you, but I found the whole idea of Enterprise being decommissioned and the Federation being founded a lot more interesting than Riker's edutainment. Troi even says Federation citizens must memorize the speech. But it's not important enough for us to hear it here? Then there's that space the final frontier line... why exclude Sisko and Janeway? Because their ships weren't named Enterprise? Why not just let Archer do the line himself? The line tried to be touching, but came off as just as offensive as the rest of the episode. And there you have it... the worst finale a Star Trek series has ever had. Now, don't get me wrong. The basic idea of the episode wasn't too bad. I think the idea of bringing the TNG crew into a holographic NX-01 was a pretty damn good idea. It would have made a really great stand alone episode, perhaps even set on Riker's new ship the Titan! But not as the finale. And I dare say, my biggest disappointment with Enterprise's cancellation and rushed finale is that we never, ever got a sufficient prequel regarding the Earth-Romulan war and the start of the war with the Klingons, which, I dare say, was the whole goddamn point of this show. The Earth-Romulan war did supposedly occur in the interim 6 years, but there's not even a single mention of it in this episode. A glaring omission. In the end, Enterprise was a great series with a great deal of potential (especially after Manny Coto took over as showrunner) that was killed off prematurely. And the sad thing is, thanks to this episode, it'll never be revived and ended properly like TOS was. It's an enormous shame that the last episode of Star Trek after an amazing 18 year uninterrupted run closes the incredible series on such a lackluster note.
The following are comments submitted by my readers.
- From Steve Mohns on 2011-08-10 at 5:48pm:
Awfully tough on this episode, Eric! I saw it again last night, a number of years after seeing it live, and liked it as much, if not more.
I did think that it was a nice tie-in of Star Trek series for the fans, both with surprise roles for Riker and Deanna, whom we'd not have seen for about 9 years, and the fine connection of all three Enterprises and captains saying the opening monologue at the end. (And yes, no Sisko and Janeway because it's the Enterprise) That you didn't like the absence of Romulans or a romance between Tripp and T'Pol, or hearing Archer's speech are all legitimate personal reasons for you to not like the episode, but all three are reasonable choices to have been made and don't make it a bad episode. I'm glad actually, that we didn't see the speech. (They didn't do that great a job of writing the one he gave in the previous episode). This way we can imagine that it was epic. At least this way there was still an opening for an Enterprise movie with the Romulan war. And unrequited love is ultimately more satisfying artistically than a happy ending romance.
The episode itself had plenty of emotion, as one would hope for in a finale, certainly from T'Pol and Tripp, and though we don't like to see Tripp die, he did so with glory, and it made for a memorable episode.
Personally, having just watched the finale of Enterprise, TNG, and Voyageur, I rank them Enterprise, Voayeur, and TNG. The latter was way longer than needed for the material in the story (should have been tellable in one episode easily), had a lot of mumbo-jumbo contrivances to make the plot work, featured the Farpoint storyline, a very poor premier episode, and though I hate to say it as a fan of both Stewart and Picard, sub-standard acting by him.
It is a shame that Enterprise couldn't be kept going more than the 4 seasons. I think it had easily the strongest start of any series since TOS, hitting the ground in full stride unlike all the other series, and had better acting, music, writing than them as well. The only place that it didn't get top marks for me is in the magic of several of the characters in TOS and TNG. - From Jem5x5 on 2014-01-26 at 8:35am:
Well, I finally got here, and whilst this episode wasn't as bad as I feared after everything i'd read about it, it was undoubtedly a shockingly poor way to send off Enterprise - what should have been a poignant final story about the ships retirement and mothballing became a cheap backstory for a couple of cameo appearances. Tuckers death seemed really cheap and pointless - in all the previous situations where him and the captain had faced peril, why had his first thought never been "i'll blow myself up!" before? And why did the main protagonists seem to be totally over it 5 minutes later when Archer was waiting to do his speech? I think i'm also going to regard Demons/Terra Prime as the real series finale - the crew and the ship were able to perform heroically one last time, and it paved the way for the foundation of The Federation, so it means an end at an important moment in Trek history. And now, as i'm watching Trek in a rather wonky order, on to DS9!
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