You're currently viewing a custom sorting.
Star Trek Voy - 7x20 - Author, Author
Originally Aired: 2001-4-18
Synopsis:
The Doctor works on his new holo-novel. [DVD]
Problems
None
Factoids
None
Remarkable Scenes
- The intro to the doctor's holonovel is a nice bit of special effects.
- Tom playing in the doctor's inflammatory holonovel.
- Torres playing in the doctor's holonovel, complete with the mobile emitter backpack.
- Harry finding out his character is a hypochondriac.
- Janeway watching her character condemn the doctor.
- The doctor trying to justify his story to the crew.
- Harry explaining to his parents why promotions are in short supply when there is only one ship in the delta quadrant.
- The doctor experiencing Paris' sabotaged version of the doctor's holonovel.
- The doctor: "My publisher assures me he won't distribute the program until he receives the revised version." Torres: "That must be the one where we assimilate the Borg and take over the quadrant."
- Torres talking to her father.
- Broht legally stealing the rights to the doctor's holonovel, which satires the lack of holographic rights in the Federation, because the author (the doctor), as a hologram, has no legal rights in the Federation.
- The arbitrator contending that the doctor is not a real person.
- Annika meeting her aunt Irene Hansen.
- The doctor winning the case gaining the right to control his own work.
- The scene on the dilithium refinery.
My Review
Lots of mud gets thrown at this episode for being mindless entertainment and in some ways downright offensive. But I personally enjoyed the doctor's absurd recreation. I also think that it's important that the doctor learned not to use such a provocative tone in his writing so as not to offend his friends. The absurd recreation while a fine plot in and of itself is expanded into an episode with a much more serious tone though, which is why I ended up liking it so much. Voy: Author, Author becomes for holograms what TNG: The Measure of a Man was for androids. Granted this episode lacks the level of profoundness the TNG episode had, it retains quite a bit of it. The ending of the episode more than peaked my interest, and I thought it was handled well. What better irony is there than Broht stealing the doctor's work, which satires the lack of holographic rights in the Federation, because the author, the doctor is a hologram and has no legal rights in the Federation! The timing is perfect too. We've seen so many episodes already dealing with holographic persecution, such as Voy: Flesh and Blood, among others. I was waiting for an episode that would spearhead the issue, tackling it once and for all. I'm annoyed that the arbitrator would not declare the doctor a person, closing the issue once and for all, but then again for the sake of the plot I'm kind of glad he didn't. You don't want to do too much in a single episode, now do you? ;) Overall, I think this episode is quite underrated.
Star Trek Voy - 7x21 - Friendship One
Originally Aired: 2001-4-25
Synopsis:
Starfleet orders Voyager to locate the titular probe. [DVD]
Problems
None
Factoids
- Admiral Hendricks claims Janeway has made first contact with more species than anyone since James Kirk.
Remarkable Scenes
- Janeway discussing the Voth with Admiral Hendricks.
- Carey's death.
My Review
Weak. Lt. Carey appeared in season one, then was remarkably absent from future episodes. They brought him back for episodes that dealt with "Voyager's past" connoting that he was lost some time in season one. Now it's revealed that he's always been around and that he never died... only so they could kill him off here! His death was utterly pointless and Janeway's speech about how exploration at the cost of loss of life being unacceptable is just downright offensive. Every starship we've seen on Star Trek has lost life in the name of exploration. That's what makes it so "bold" when they go "where no one has gone before." It's not unrealistic that Janeway, who has just lost a friend (okay, maybe that's a stretch seeing as how he was already a ghost) might be feeling shaky about her convictions but such feelings could have been expressed better. On the other hand, the idea of having Voyager go on a mission to retrieve Friendship One was a good one. I did indeed like the premise of the episode. It's just a shame that instead of getting a discussion about this being the reason the Prime Directive exists, all we got was a dumb hostage story instead.
The following are comments submitted by my readers.
- From Hugo on 2016-04-08 at 7:26pm:
Not too shabby - I enjoyed it quite a bit. The whole setup with the disaster and the connection to the federation was bad, but I enjoyed the rest - felt like classic trek, for a change. - From Rick on 2017-06-05 at 2:40am:
Really? They bring back Carey just to be randomly killed? Somewhat similar episode to Enterprise: Terra Nova, and that episode was far better for me because the hostage takers behaved far more rationally.
When you only have 3 hostages and you are demanding for thousands of people to be evacuated over multiple years, killing one during the first hour of negotiation is not exactly a smart ploy. Obviously there is no way Janeway would then give you control of her ship.
Star Trek Voy - 7x22 - Natural Law
Originally Aired: 2001-5-2
Synopsis:
Seven and Chakotay are stranded. [DVD]
Problems
None
Factoids
Borg Species Designation: 312, name unknown. They used Tetryon based technology.
Remarkable Scenes
- Tom getting stuck with piloting lessons.
- The Ledosians attacking Voyager.
- Tom diverting from his "training" to go on Janeway's "mission."
My Review
Another disappointment. I expected since the teaser that this episode would make Seven begin to pursue the real Chakotay, but it never happened. Additionally, I'm disappointed at the unprecedented level of arrogance displayed in this episode. What right did Voyager have to make decisions for the Ventu? If I were Janeway, yes, I would have wanted my deflector back. But I would have shared with the Ledosians how to defeat the barrier. It just made no sense that the Ventu should be shielded from "medicine, infrastructure, and education" based on some misguided belief that their primitive culture should be preserved. The Ledosians had every right to be angry.
The following are comments submitted by my readers.
- From Kenobie on 2011-05-09 at 3:51pm:
There was a plant\fruit that made a yellowish rock produce fire. Hmmm... How unlikely would something like that really be? Just imagine that there are fruit juice's that create fire when coming into contact with a certain type of rock. How many natural forest fires would that produce. - From Jadzia Guinan Smith on 2015-07-18 at 8:36pm:
A pretty boring episode. I gave it a 3. I can even see someone finding it dull enough to give it a rating of 1 – but I disagree with almost ALL of the specifics of your review.
You are conflating the Ventus' right to have opportunities for contact with outsiders with the Ledosians' "right" to exploit the Ventus' world and impose their own brand of technological "advancement" on them by force. Those are two very different things.
What exactly gives the Ledosians "every right to be angry"? NOTHING was taken from them! They didn't breach the shield, Voyager did! How did they suddenly develop "rights" over something that Voyager made possible? Oh, and by the way, they ATTACKED Voyager after agreeing to allow the shield repairs. It was Janeway who had a right be angry! She had no obligation to share any technology with the Ledosians and every right (and maybe even a duty) to repair the damage she caused to the shield in order to get her people and her deflector out.
However, I do agree that there's a weird sort of reverse snobbery (or the "noble savage" conceit) in deciding there’s value in the Ventus' way of life. But it’s not particular to this episode – it’s pretty much the nature of the Prime Directive. Part of me has always been troubled the paternalism implied in it. Civilization has always benefited from trade and travel and contact with foreigners. The accidental and spontaneous inputs of the universe are ultimately responsible for all change, whether cosmic, or biological, or technological, or social. Still, it is also sort of understandable that they have concerns about overwhelming an unprepared society with technology beyond its comprehension. Either way, it’s probably a little late to start questioning the Prime Directive! But it’s hard to see the justification in your indictment of the “arrogance” in this episode without the indicting the directive itself.
In any case, if you pay close attention, Janeway's decision is NOT based on a positive, substantive judgment that “their primitive culture should be preserved.” It’s based on a policy of non-interference, in this case involving a need to undo her own crew's prior interference. You ask "who is she to decide"-- and I think she would agree with you. She DIDN'T decide. She didn't impose any new order on this world. She just left things as much the way she found them as possible.
The thing about difficult ethical questions is that they don't always have a neat little answer; sometimes Star Trek writers are too ready to produce such "answers" and be smug about it too. In this case, I thought they did a decent job of articulating the lingering dilemma through Seven's uncertainty. I found Janeway's attitude to be pragmatic rather than arrogant, even if a little unsatisfying.
BTW: I was SO RELIEVED that they didn’t turn this episode into a Seven-Chakotay “getting to know you” thing! I was dreading that.... Voyager focuses way too much on crew-member romantic entanglement. I can’t believe you WANTED another soap opera episode! Ugh.
- From Hugo on 2016-04-14 at 7:32am:
Great analysis and comment, Jadzia!
This ep was too slow for my tastes. The b-plot wasn't that interesting, but slightly amusing and it tied up with the a-plot nicely in the end.
I am interested in learning who erected the barrier, and why.
Star Trek Voy - 7x23 - Homestead
Originally Aired: 2001-5-9
Synopsis:
Voyager discovers a Talaxian settlement. [DVD]
Problems
- Neelix says it is the 315th anniversary of the Vulcan first contact with Earth, but it's actually the 314th.
Factoids
None
Remarkable Scenes
- Tuvok's "hypothetical" advice to Neelix.
- Neelix leaving Voyager with his shuttle.
- Naomi: "Thanks, Neelix. But I can put myself to bed. I'm not a little girl anymore."
- Neelix' send off.
My Review
My first reaction to this episode... wow. Naomi looks a lot older since the last time we saw her. Funny how those kids just shoot right up in size. Well, the episode is adequate as a send off for Neelix, but unremarkable as an episode. I just felt that Neelix' character never got used to its full potential, so his send off didn't feel very meaningful. To be honest, I would have rather seen Neelix return to Earth with Voyager. But what's done is done. In a way, I'm glad the writers decided to give Neelix some closure. But it's always sad to see a long time character go. First Kes, now Neelix. It's not like he's really going anywhere though. With only three episodes of Voyager left, I'm sure he'll pop up again on long range communications. So again, the send off didn't feel very meaningful.
The following are comments submitted by my readers.
- From adam on 2011-01-03 at 1:49pm:
Oh man. I saw the Tuvok dancing callback coming from a mile away, and I was totally hoping Tuvok would do some serious soft-shoeing hoopajoo action and completely break character. I had very high hopes. Instead, what I got was a little rhinestone curtsy. What a letdown. Oh well. - From Targ on 2014-06-20 at 10:27am:
This episode never really made sense. Sure the Talaxians could flee their homeworld, but what are the chances of them travelling at the exact same trajectory as Voyager for a distance of 45,000 light years? And how did they get through major obstacles like 10 years of Borg space? Totally implausible. I'm surprised this isn't listed under 'problems'. - From The Emergency Obumpresidential Hologram on 2022-03-12 at 9:33am:
What is with all the prime directive talk in this episode? These are two warp capable species. How is this different than messing with Bajorans or Cardassians? It does not apply at all.
Star Trek Voy - 7x24 - Renaissance Man
Originally Aired: 2001-5-16
Synopsis:
Janeway is held hostage. [DVD]
Problems
None
Factoids
None
Remarkable Scenes
- The doctor: "I'd never admit this to anyone else, but there was a time when I would have given anything to be flesh and blood. But I've come to realize that being a hologram is far superior."
- Janeway's freakishly weird behavior.
- Chakotay discovering Janeway is an impostor.
- The doctor pretending to be Torres.
- The doctor jumping through the wall and grabbing his mobile emitter. Nice!
- The doctor hiding in a sea of copies within the holodeck.
- The doctor as Torres defeating Tuvok.
- The doctor as a Hierarchy member.
- The doctor's program destabilizing.
- Tuvok and Tom retaking the Delta Flyer.
- The doctor's confessions.
- Torres casually explaining that she's fixed the doctor.
My Review
A lot of nice details in this episode. I was fond to see the return of the Hierarchy. Probably most amusing was the doctor's clever use of holographic technology. We get to see the Emergency Command Hologram again too. And we get some incredible special effects as well. I am particularly fond of all of the doctor's athletic maneuvers. There's no doubt that just about everything the doctor did in this episode was one blunder after another, but it made for such wonderful story. Like Voy: Workforce, this episode makes great use of Voyager's continuity. Voy: Renaissance Man remains one of my favorites of the season. Maybe one of the best performances of the doctor ever.
The following are comments submitted by my readers.
- From g@g on 2012-01-25 at 8:32am:
Ok, I'm not quite done with the episode but I think there's a bit of a problem here. On Voyager, the doc acts like he's Neo from the Matrix, aerial kung fu included... then when he's beamed onto the ex-hierarchy vessel, he's quiet and obedient as a lamb. Doesn't really square. That's not even mentioning the fact that photons should probably be able to pass through a force-field, no? Otherwise the forcefield would be opaque (I'm sure there's lots of examples of holograms and the doc in particular going through forcefields in previous episodes, I just can't quite list them at the moment - rather sure he's done so pretty much anytime he's confined someone in sickbay). So, his sudden powerlessness could've been tweaked or explained or something. Both otherwise awesome episode (so far). - From Vengeance on 2012-07-07 at 2:55pm:
Photons may be able to pass through a forcefield, but the Doctor's mobile emitter certainly couldn't. - From Rick on 2013-04-24 at 1:28am:
More treason from the doctor with no consequences. Special rights for oppressed minorities, where have I heard this before? I do agree with the reviewer that everything the doctor did was stupid but the episode was still pretty good. - From QuasiGiani on 2017-11-09 at 1:46pm:
"Special rights for oppressed minorities, where have I heard this before?"
Nazi rallys. Limbaa radio. Reagan/Bush campaign stumps.
Pretty much anywhere AWMs are being suckled and suckered.
...
Excellent episode.
Loved the death-bed confessions. Especially loved how 7Of9knew what was coming and did her best to get him to stop!
Was hoping they'd "adopt" the guy from Hierarchy.
But what does it matter, dammit?! Only one episode left. I cannot watch it! I cannot look away! Goodbye my friends! Speak well of me!
Star Trek Voy - 7x25 - Endgame, Part I
Originally Aired: 2001-5-23
Synopsis:
Admiral Janeway travels back in time. [DVD]
Problems
None
Factoids
- In the future, Harry Kim commands the U.S.S. Rhode Island.
- In the future, Admiral Janeway switches from coffee to tea.
- Some time between Voy: One Small Ship and Voy: Virtuoso on Stardate 53317, captain Janeway was abducted by an alien race called the Kellidians. I wonder why the writers didn't pick some other similar episode to reference instead of this made up occurrence.
- In the future, Naomi Wildman has a daughter, Sabrina.
- In the future, Miral Paris is an ensign in Starfleet.
- In the future, Seven of Nine and Chakotay will both die.
Remarkable Scenes
- Seeing Voyager flying over San Francisco.
- The doctor finally chose a name... Joe. I agree with Mr. Paris. Not the greatest choice!
- The doctor: "You're going to have a very healthy baby. But not tonight." Torres: "Tell me you're joking. You're experiencing false labor, lieutenant." Tom: "Again?" The doctor: "As I explained the last time, it's a common occurrence. Especially among Klingons." Torres: "I want this thing out of me! Now!" The doctor: "Misdirected rage. Another common occurrence among Klingons."
- Icheb defeating Tuvok at Kalto.
- Future Tuvok freaking out about Janeway leaving.
- Janeway arriving at the house of Korath.
- Voyager's near miss colliding with a Borg cube.
- Seven having the doctor eliminate Seven of Nine's emotion blocker first discovered in Voy: Human Error.
- Korath: "You question my honor?" Janeway: "If you were honorable, you wouldn't have changed the terms of our agreement."
- Janeway's heist. That's some shuttle!
- Admiral Janeway traveling back in time.
- Admiral Janeway giving captain Janeway orders.
My Review
Well, in the tradition of TNG: All Good Things and DS9: What You Leave Behind, another relationship between characters is made up on the spot. First it was Troi and Worf, then it was Ezri and Bashir, and now Seven and Chakotay. Granted, they've hinted at this relationship between Seven and Chakotay in Voy: Human Error and almost in Voy: Natural Law. Anyway, Endgame, Part I was a sufficiently entertaining episode. I am only slightly annoyed that Admiral Janeway seems to have no problem breaking all kinds of laws just to get her crew home a little faster. Though it seemed obvious Voyager was going to need some kind of major speed boost to make it home before in time for the finale. The 30,000 light years have to come from somewhere! ;)
The following are comments submitted by my readers.
- From Tallifer on 2011-05-12 at 12:18am:
<sigh> I hate episodes wherein the cast have to walk around in old-people make-up: they all look so fake.
At first I was terribly disappointed with most of the endings given to the characters (except for Tuvok's brilliant madness: that should have stayed), but I suppose since they never really happened we can hope that something more interesting happens in the next thirty years.
Seven and Nine and Chakotay: in some ways true to life: it would have been too much of a fairytale for the Doctor or Eejeb to win her.
Star Fleet looks so tired and boring in those new monochrome uniforms.
Star Trek Voy - 7x26 - Endgame, Part II
Originally Aired: 2001-5-23
Synopsis:
Janeway tries to change Voyager's history. [DVD]
Problems
None
Factoids
- There are only six transwarp hubs in the galaxy.
Remarkable Scenes
- Admiral Janeway boarding Voyager.
- Admiral Janeway spilling details about Voyager's future to captain Janeway.
- Janeway: "Though I've had some strange experiences in my career, nothing quite compares to the sight of my future self briefing my officers on technology that hasn't been invented yet."
- Voyager deploying their new armor.
- Voyager shrugging off attacks by three Borg cube.
- Voyager destroying two Borg cubes.
- Voyager discovering the transwarp hub.
- Admiral Janeway spilling the beans to captain Janeway about all the bad stuff that'll happen to her crew.
- Admiral Janeway showing up in Unimatrix One.
- The Borg Queen assimilating admiral Janeway.
- Admiral Janeway infecting the Borg Collective with a neurolytic pathogen.
- Unimatrix One's destruction.
- The transwarp network's destruction.
- The Federation ships battling the Borg sphere.
- Voyager reaching the alpha quadrant.
- Janeway: "Set a course for home." Final line spoken on the show.
My Review
Why oh why didn't captain Janeway just stroll right on through the transwarp hub? We seriously didn't need this whole "have your cake and eat it too" crap. I would have much preferred that admiral Janeway had told captain Janeway about the hub first and had the argument over whether or not to destroy it or use it before entering the nebula. The admiral could then have convinced the captain to use it instead of destroy it, correcting the mistake she made in Voy: Caretaker. Yes, Janeway made a mistake. It would have been a massively awesome humbling experience to see her truly admit it by making the right choice. But no. The writers wanted more than that. The writers not only wanted Janeway to a deliver a major blow to the Borg, but to reach Earth while doing it. (You'll note that they did much the same thing in Voy: Night that they did in this episode.) Hell, the writers even almost saved it by having admiral Janeway "betray" captain Janeway. But again, nope. It was a farce! So in the end, a lot of time in the finale is wasted on this pointless contention between the Janeways and almost zero time is spent on Voyager's homecoming. I was profoundly disappointed that we didn't get to see family reunions, or even Voyager landing on Earth. We're not even told just what exactly happened to the Borg. The way its shown they could have been either extremely wounded or totally and utterly destroyed. They really should have clarified this. Not only that, but captain Janeway brought loads of technology from the future to Earth and we're not shown the repercussions of that at all! I've wanted to know since Voy: Future's End what the repercussions of the mobile emitter would be once Voyager reached Earth. Now we have futuristic stealth technology (which is banned in the Federation as far as I know since TNG: The Pegasus), some really kick ass armor technology, and "transphasic" torpedoes to contend with too! Don't get me wrong. I really liked Voy: Endgame. Maybe if we substituted Voy: Unimatrix Zero with Voy: Endgame and gave us a season of Voyager in the alpha quadrant, it would have been more fitting. But as I always say, what's done is done. We don't quite get the closure I hoped for like in DS9: What You Leave Behind, and the episode wasn't quite as good as TNG: All Good Things, but it was still a damn fine episode and a mostly fitting end for Star Trek Voyager.
The following are comments submitted by my readers.
- From Wes on 2012-02-25 at 5:12pm:
@kethinov, in your analysis of the Voyager series you said it was established in TNG that Borg space is between where Voyager was in the Delta quadrant and Federation space. Do you recall in which episode of TNG that was established? I'd love to watch that episode again. I always thought it was just a nice coincidence the writers came up with for Voyager to run into the Borg.
Additionally, I like these two episodes. I'd probably give them both an 8 or 9 because I agree with you that they could have this episode for the end of season 4 or sometime soon thereafter. There are so many pointless fillers in Voy. But I may also be a bit jaded by my love of DS9's arcs and TNG's lack of needing to get somewhere (e.g. home). - From Kethinov on 2012-02-25 at 10:57pm:
Wes,
The first on-screen confirmation that the Borg are delta quadrant residents comes from the TNG film Star Trek: First Contact. However, fan speculation about the subject was commonplace as far back as the early 1990s and many non-canon novels quasi-established this as fact, which the producers of Star Trek were eventually inclined to absorb as canon.
It was so common to assume this as canon that during Star Trek Voyager's pre-production phases in the early 1990s, Michael Okuda is reputed to have told Rick Berman that "since the gamma quadrant is the province of ships from DS9, [then] this new show [should] be set in the delta quadrant. One of the few things we know about the delta quadrant is that the Borg homeworld is located somewhere there. This might present opportunities for the Borg to be recurring bad guys." - From Wes on 2012-03-16 at 2:37pm:
After watching a lot of Voyager in the past little while--thank you, Netflix--I've noticed another gripe I have. Out of the three series I have really watched (TNG, DS9 and Voyager) Voyagers class is the weakest. In fact, I am often annoyed with the acting of Voyager's cast. I do not discredit their hard work, by any means. However, Jeri Ryan, Robert Picardo and Tim Russ are the only above-soap-opera-caliber actors on Voyager. I'll admit that some of my frustration may simply be due to the writing, but I counter that with the idea that I believe the writers write the characters to the actor's abilities.
Since I wasn't alive during the run of TOS, it's hard for me to criticize their acting since I don't really know how it compared to the acting of the day. Although, I thought their acting was pretty good in Star Trek IV and VI.
I feel quite secure in saying the actors of TNG were the best actors of all. They were each fabulous in their roles and in the movies. You could rarely say that it seemed like they were acting. Instead, it more often seemed like they actually were the character they portrayed.
The DS9 cast is a close second to TNG's cast, for me.
So, while I like some of Voyager's episodes (mostly the ones Kethinov has rated high), the acting annoys me far too often to be a really great series for me. - From Nightwish on 2014-12-15 at 2:41am:
Well... from having tried to watch it twice before and really not liking it to seeing it all in a year and feeling emotional in the end went quite a distance. Sure, some characters were annoying and never did anything right, and other's were inconsistent, but I felt happy for them all in the end. And I'll miss them.
All and all, not a bad trek series after all. I wonder when we'll get something similar again.
And I've found that I mostly agree with your likes and dislikes, which is nice. - From Dstyle on 2015-08-13 at 1:59pm:
Without any "reunion" scenes at the end of the episode, it definitely left me feeling like we, as invested viewers, were denied closure. After all the years trying to get back to Earth, we at least deserved a chance to see Tom reuniting with Admiral Paris, Tuvok's unemotional reunion with his wife and children, Seven's reunion with her Earth family, Harry's long-awaiting reunion with his fiance UH I MEAN PARENTS HIS PARENTS RIGHT I FORGOT WE ALL AGREED TO FORGET THAT HARRY WAS ENGAGED AT THE BEGINNING OF THE SERIES. Ending the series the way it did just left me feeling empty. - From Andrew on 2016-12-12 at 4:13pm:
I just finished watching the entire series on Saturday. After 172 episodes, I definitely enjoyed seeing the future versions of the characters since I feel a strong bond with each.
For that same reason, I share Kethinov's disappointment that we don't see any of what occurs on Earth after they return. Yes, I understand that the show was about "the journey." Yes, I understand that you always want to leave viewers wanting more, but I could not shake the empty feeling that I got when the final shot of the show was Voyager approaching Earth from space.
Voyager could have easily returned in mid to late season 5 (or even season 6) and then used season 6 and/or 7 to explore the crew's lives on Earth. How would Seven of Nine and the Doctor adjust to Earth? How would the new technology and experiences affect Starfleet? What kind of homecoming would the crew receive?
Anyway...I loved the episode and I loved this series. Definitely captures the brilliance of TNG and DS9, but clearly not on the same level. I was just disappointed with the way they left it. Seemed so sudden!
- From Mike on 2017-06-07 at 3:28am:
TNG: All Good Things. Still the best finale in all of Star Trek. This one almost became a close second if they'd just given us some idea what happens after the real return of Voyager. Now I'm in the awkward position of liking a finale with Vic Fontaine more than this one.
In addition to all the things left out of the finale you mention, I'm also bothered by the destruction of the transwarp hub. It's one thing to want to get rid of the Borg, but that is too cool of a phenomenon to just get rid of mere minutes after we find out about it. It also raises the question of why we never got to see a Borg-Dominion War. Plus, the destruction of the hub and the success of the pathogen, though unexpected, seemed a bit too easily achieved. It was a pretty quick denoument after so much build-up.
I do like the twist this finale gave us of showing a potential future for all the characters, and then altering it based on the episode's outcome. That was very similar to TNG: All Good Things, where we know the events that "future Picard" experienced will change. So in this finale, as with that one, I say...if JJ Abrams can muck up the Star Trek timeline, why can't Star Trek play games with its own timeline?
In response to Wes: the acting of the TOS cast was one of that show's strengths. They had an on-screen chemistry that I don't think any of the other series reached. Each series had some amazing actors, but as a group, I think TOS was the best.
It made up for the fact that the storylines on several episodes were pretty weak. Some were downright ridiculous. I'd even say that overall, the science fiction on Voyager was better. But then again, TOS was itself a sci-fi innovation and it all had to start somewhere. - From McCoy on 2017-11-12 at 10:27am:
I think it was a decent closure. I like it more than DS9 (which is a better series, but all that Star Wars-like duel between jedi Sisko and Darth Dukat was... horrible). Don't think we should see the reunions between crew and their families. Final shot with Voyager approaching Earth was great. I'm satisfied:) - From President Obummer on 2020-01-19 at 10:06am:
Maybe not the families, but they could have at least made the final scene near earth longer than 30 seconds.
Also, what's the big deal about destroying the borg hub? The Borg have 5 more and they build them once, they can build them again...
Star Trek Ent - 1x01 - Broken Bow, Part I
Originally Aired: 2001-9-26
Synopsis:
The Enterprise crew sets on a maiden voyage with a mission to return a wounded Klingon to his people. [DVD]
Problems
- Four days to reach the Klingon homeworld from Earth on a ship as slow as Enterprise puts the Klingon homeworld way too close to Earth.
Factoids
- Scott Bakula, who plays Captain Archer, is formerly of Quantum Leap. He has been quoted as being reluctant at first to play the lead in this show, but eventually the idea of playing the first captain of any Earth starship named Enterprise appealed to him after all.
Remarkable Scenes
- The human farmer shooting a Klingon.
- Archer and Trip admiring Enterprise.
- Trip bumping the shuttlepod into Enterprise, scratching the paint.
- Archer making a scene regarding the injured Klingon.
- Archer to T'Pol: "Volatile? You have no idea how much I'm restraining myself from knocking you on your ass."
- Reed and Travis expressing fear of the transporter.
- Cochrane: "Imagine it, thousands of inhabited planets at our fingertips. And we'll be able to explore those strange new worlds and seek out new life and new civilizations. This engine will let us go boldly where no man has gone before."
- Phlox' absurd smile.
- The "sweet spot" scene.
- Hoshi trying to communicate with the Klingon.
- Trip's various reactions to the people on Rigel X.
My Review
Preliminary remark, I'm going to talk about the premise in part I and the plot of the pilot in part II. So here goes nothing. "Enterprise" - Perhaps the most controversial Star Trek series yet. There are many things about this show that are... different. First of all it's a prequel, taking place before TOS. It manages to present a convincing setting without looking too cheesy like the low budget TOS show did nor too much like TNG, DS9, or Voyager. The name of the series deviates as well, there's no "Star Trek" in it, which is annoying. I'm also slightly annoyed that they named it something so generic as "Enterprise." This creates a lot of confusion with TOS, and TNG. TOS was "the old" Enterprise. TNG was "the new" Enterprise. Is "Enterprise" supposed to be "the new old" Enterprise? The opening theme is a deviation too, no longer being a classical composition accompanied by special effects. Instead, it depicts various NASA accomplishments along with some selected Star Trek history. A lot of people complained about the new opening theme, but to be completely honest, I like it. Although I would have preferred the traditional style more. The opening themes of DS9 and Voyager were much better. (Voyager's was probably the better of the two, but I just liked DS9's more...) Anyway, enough of that. Broken Bow, Part I presents us with an interesting glimpse of the 22nd century. A lot of people complained about the behavior of the Vulcans, but I loved it. No, really! Remember back in Star Trek VIII: First Contact in the short scene in which we glimpse Cochrane confusing his new Vulcan friends with his music and other customs? I knew right from that moment that the road to friendship between humans and Vulcans would be shaky. I was hoping for this kind of conflict. In the future, a luddite-like McCoy still pokes at Spock. And in the distant future, people still make fun of Vulcans in a joking manner. Doesn't it at least stand to reason that at the developmental stage of the human-Vulcan relationship that the various insults might have been real and not sarcastic? I think so anyway. The only thing that really bothered me about this pilot episode was the introduction of two new alien species. You know, as a prequel, Enterprise really shouldn't introduce new alien species. Especially one as a main character! Don't get me wrong, I like Phlox. But if you think about it, is there any reason Phlox can't be of a species we already know about, like the Bolians? I would have loved Phlox as a Bolian! The potential for comedy would have been even higher! While the Suliban are convincing villains, as a prequel, I'm looking forward to Klingon first contact and the Earth Romulan wars as being the center of attention. Not new aliens. Anyway, considering all the initial bad press the show got from various sources, I think for the most part it turned out fairly well. It's not without its flaws though. Only time will tell if they can be ironed out.
The following are comments submitted by my readers.
- From warp factor 10.1 on 2012-08-09 at 4:21pm:
The reason I was looking forward to a prequel series was that the wonder and excitement of first contact would be so great. It was a big disappointment therefore when species started coming thick and fast and aliens we had never seen before were almost commonplace. All we needed was a subset of the many species found in TOS. There was still plenty of opportunity to discover how we came across them etc. This was done with the Andorians but that was all.
Although two of my favourite episodes of all are to do with time I usually don't like them and basing a story arc on some incomprehensible time story was again disappointing for me.
There was some good stuff in this series but for me it was all to do with finding out more about known alien species. - From TK8 on 2012-11-07 at 5:33pm:
As a kid who was a bit of an amateur astronomer and TOS through to the present form of Star Trek fan, forgive a pet peeve here. Rigel was named by Arabic astronomers hundreds of years ago. Archer says, it's called Rigel as if was an alien moniker. How's that for a nerdy niggle? This is the first comment I've posted on the internet since 1996. - From OmicronThetaDeltaPhi on 2015-02-25 at 12:47pm:
@TK8 Actually, the "Rigel" thing wasn't an error, but a correction of a blunder made in TOS. The Original Series made several references to a star system named "Rigel" which is fairly close to earth.
For years fans have assumed that this was supposed to be the real (human named) star Rigel, which is problematic because the real Rigel is over 800 light years away.
So the 'Enterprise' writers cleverly solved this decades-old problem, by stating that Star Trek's 'Rigel' is an alien name for a nearby star. A star that has nothing to do with the human-named 'Rigel', except for the coincidence of the two names sounding alike.
Star Trek Ent - 1x02 - Broken Bow, Part II
Originally Aired: 2001-9-26
Synopsis:
The Enterprise crew sets on a maiden voyage with a mission to return a wounded Klingon to his people. [DVD]
Problems
- Picard in TNG: First Contact (the episode, not the movie) said that first contact with the Klingons was disastrous. Okay... Archer makes first contact with the Klingons in this episode and I can't say it was very disastrous. Obviously something is going to go wrong between Earth and Klingons sometime between now and TOS, but sure didn't happen during first contact!
Factoids
- The Suliban weapon did no damage to Archer whilst being transported.
Remarkable Scenes
- Archer: "Even if it is Klang, we're going to have a tough time getting him out of there." Reed: "We could always try the transporting device." Archer: "We've risked too much to bring him back inside out."
- Enterprise stealing a Suliban ship.
- Reed: "They're called phase pistols. They have two settings. Stun and kill. It would be best not to confuse them."
- Trip scraping the hull of the Suliban superstructure, just like he scraped Enterprise in part one. ;)
- Archer and Trip disabling the Suliban superstructure.
- The fight inside the freaky room.
- Archer's reaction to being beamed up.
My Review
I'm really starting to like Silik. He reminds me of Scorpius from Farscape. He even calls the captain by his first name, Jon, the same way Scorpius does to Crichton. :) I wonder if the parallel is intentional. Part two wasn't as exciting as part one, mostly because what happened was largely predictable and some of it redundant. I did like more of the smaller details in part two though. We already got a little bit of the crew's aversion to the transporter when Reed and Travis discussed it in the previous episode. But I rather liked Archer's rather blatant statement of distrust of the transporter in this episode, claiming that it would bring back the user "inside out." A nice irony that Trip would be later forced to use the transporter to rescue Archer. I loved the look on Archer's face after having been transported. The symbolic meaning in Archer's dreams is finally clarified. In part one they didn't seem to serve much of a purpose. Now Archer is recalling his father's advice and applying it to try and quell his natural distrust of Vulcans and to command with no fear. I loved the scene when Henry Archer said "don't be afraid of the wind," showing a picture of T'Pol. The only thing I didn't like about this episode, besides the technical problem listed in the problems section and the things I complained about in part one was the highly inappropriate decontamination chamber scene. What can I say? That was just totally unnecessary. Overall though, I thought the pilot episode was quite good, much better than I thought it would be.
The following are comments submitted by my readers.
- From -_Name_- on 2013-06-16 at 9:51pm:
* The Suliban superstructure was cool.
* The "freaky room" was cool.
* The "inappropriate decontamination" scene was outrageous... I'm not sure it was really inappropriate, but it was definitely gratuitous... I got the sense it was another quick and dirty way for the writers to try and distinguish this series from the rest of Trek, and to make it a bit more cinematic and less TV-like... Completely agree that it was gratuitous, but doesn't really detract either...
- - -
The various tensions between T'Pol and Archer (and Trip) are cool. Turns out this is going to be a lynchpin of the next few episodes, if not the entire series...
One thing that bugged me was the Klingon's relative amicability towards Archer and Trip... I mean, as far as he was concerned he was being transferred from one set of captors (who restrained, drugged and interrogated him) to a previous set of captors (who first shot him in the chest, then restrained him)... Archer+Trip turned their back on him a number of times and being a proper Klingon, with no real reason to trust them, it was weird how docile and accommodating he was. - From Edward on 2014-04-09 at 9:14am:
Maybe because of the "temporal war" the course of events has been altered, thus averting disaster on first contact with the Klingons.
The decontamination scene did feel weird. Still, there are worse things to see in the world than a close-up of Jolene Blalock...
All in all, it was a promising episode. - From Hugo on 2016-11-23 at 3:57pm:
Is it just me that had a hard time separating trip and reed? - From Azalea Jane on 2021-07-24 at 10:31pm:
Glad to see others were squicked out by the decontamination scene. There were little shots in there that were definitely just PG porn. Blatant pandering. I do enjoy it when sex or sexiness is handled tastefully in Trek, but this ain't it. To me it feels so inappropriate because they're sexualizing a scene that isn't--and shouldn't be--sexualized at all. Going for arousal in an unsexy context. If it were an actual sex or foreplay scene, it would have hit way differently.
Star Trek Ent - 1x03 - Fight or Flight
Originally Aired: 2001-10-3
Synopsis:
The crew comes across an abandoned ship of dead aliens. [DVD]
Problems
None
Factoids
- According to T'Pol, one out of every 43,000 planets supports intelligent life.
Remarkable Scenes
- Archer: "Come on, Travis. We've got to find Mr. Reed something to blow up!"
- Phlox sharing his observations of humanity with Trip.
- Hoshi freaking out about the alien corpses.
- Archer second guessing himself and deciding to turn back and go back to that ship to investigate.
- The alien ship thoroughly kicking Enterprise's ass.
- Hoshi defeating the language barrier.
My Review
This episode outlines Earth's first contact with the Axanar, a species we've heard of before in TOS (mentioned in TOS: Court Martial and in TOS: Whom Gods Destroy). I'm glad the writers didn't repeat the mistake here that they made with the Suliban and the Denobulans. Granted, nobody knows who was in that alien ship that almost tore Enterprise a new rear end, but I don't think that it's very important. Personally I think this episode belongs to Reed and especially to Hoshi. Reed was concerned that Enterprise would do poorly in a fight due to its primitive and improperly configured weaponry, and he was right. Hoshi was concerned that she'd have no grace under pressure, and she was right too... for a while anyway. It's kind of annoying that she doubted her ability right up to the point when Enterprise was about to be destroyed before finally showing some courage. But it was easily realistic and it was nice to watch her character evolve from a scared little girl to a confident young women in the course of a single episode. As a more general analysis, this episode does well to further elucidate the fact that Earth is hardly prepared for exploration. This mission would have hardly been worth a full hour on any other Star Trek show, so the writers are taking full advantage of Enterprise's weaknesses, for they are a strength in terms of writing for a prequel.
The following are comments submitted by my readers.
- From Dstyle on 2015-08-12 at 9:56pm:
Despite creating world peace, ending poverty, and eradicating hunger, humanity had yet to learn the catastrophic dangers of introducing non-native species into a new environment. Sorry, random planet: you're about to be overrun with slugs! - From Zorak on 2016-09-17 at 4:08pm:
That part with the slug actually bothered me quite a bit, and not just because it made me roll my eyes at how symbolic it was supposed to be. It's Hoshi's (and Phlox!?) complete naivete in thinking that slug would be just fine marooned on an alien world. They completely doomed that slug and acted like they were it's saviors. What rubbish. - From Hugo on 2016-11-24 at 1:49pm:
Totally agree about the slug!
I thought it was quite refreshing to see aliens that breath a different kind of atmosphere and have a different environment - and the language/communication problems was also good to see.
The final 5 minutes felt quite standard Trek - with that standoff etc, and a quick resolution...
Star Trek Ent - 1x04 - Strange New World
Originally Aired: 2001-10-10
Synopsis:
Crew members go on a survey mission to a seemingly uninhabited Earth-like planet where a mysterious alien presence sends them into a state of paranoid overdrive. [DVD]
Problems
- Dr. Phlox talks of some "tropolysine" atoms in the pollen that were brought by the storm. Phlox says that they have an extra neutron which breaks down into a poison inside the body. This doesn't make any sense from a physics point of view though. A poison would be a complex molecular structure. Not a stray neutron or a single atom.
Factoids
- T'Pol has been to 36 Minshara class planets.
- This episode establishes that there are 82 crewmembers aboard Enterprise.
Remarkable Scenes
- Trip: "Where no dog has gone before."
- The transporter accident.
- T'Pol using the Vulcan neck pinch for the first time.
My Review
A nice premise goes sour. First we had the introduction of a few interesting minor crewmembers, of which I especially liked Elizabeth Cutler, then the peaceful exploration of a new world. The episode lacked contention, but it was far more pleasant than the previous two which were relatively dark and dreary. But night falls and the episode turns into a generic horror story quickly. The whole thing looked to me like an excuse to get the characters down on the planet acting all crazy. And it's not as if we haven't seen this cliche several times over in TOS, TNG, DS9, and Voyager...
The following are comments submitted by my readers.
- From Krs321 on 2012-02-24 at 8:42pm:
Have to give some props for the way the neck pinch was introduced. Low key. - From Azalea Jane on 2021-07-28 at 5:30am:
I guessed that the characters were under a hallucinogen or shared delusion, a common enough plot in Trek. But I didn't anticipate the resolution; that was delightfully unexpected. I actually loved the little story they concocted to get Trip to back down involving T'Pol and Sato speaking Vulcan. I thought the tension was well-done, though it didn't endear me to Trip at all. And I agree, the neck pinch was a nice touch.
Star Trek Ent - 1x05 - Unexpected
Originally Aired: 2001-10-17
Synopsis:
After discovering the presence of a damaged alien vessel, Archer dispatches Tucker to its aid, but the engineer's encounter with a Xyrillian female has an unexpected side effect. [DVD]
Problems
- This episode aggravates the holodeck invention date problem. See comments.
Factoids
- According to Archer, Trip's case is the first interspecies pregnancy involving a Human.
- According to T'Pol, Trip is the first human male to ever become pregnant.
- Randy Oglesby, who plays Trena'L in this episode, played Kir in Voy: Counterpoint, Silaran in DS9: The Darkness and the Light, the twins in DS9: Vortex, as well as one of Riva's chorus in TNG: Loud as a Whisper.
Remarkable Scenes
- The loss of gravity while Archer was taking a shower. :)
- Trip trying to adapt to the truly alien environment aboard the Xyrillian ship.
- T'Pol: "Three days. You were only there for three days and you couldn't restrain yourself."
- Trip defending himself against allegations of ungentlemanly behavior.
- Archer's less than perfect attempt at diplomacy with the Klingons regarding the Xyrillian ship.
- T'Pol using her knowledge of Klingon culture to diffuse the situation somewhat.
- The Klingons ridiculing Trip.
- Klingon, impressed by the holodeck: "I can see my house from here!"
My Review
Like Ent: Fight or Flight, this is another well thought out episode that uses the prequel premise well. We are shown a few annoying things though. For one, the Xyrillians are a new, made up race. Again, I'm wondering why it was necessary to introduce a new race rather than use one shown before. I am willing to cut a lot of slack in this case though seeing as how I'm at a loss to come up with a race anything like the Xyrillians previously featured that would have been appropriate for use here. I was also pleased at how alien the Xyrillians were. It was a most credible rare treat to show Trip having such a hard time adapting to the Xyrillian atmosphere. Unfortunately though, the episode is clouded a bit because we're shown a fully functional holodeck, sans interactive characters. We've seen technology this advanced as early as TAS, but that's still a very long way off. Granted, Enterprise did not acquire this technology. But the Klingons did. This episode, as well as the use of a holodeck on TAS both seem to contradict TNG, in which all the characters were amazed at the holodeck. This is only a minor inconsistency though. It's possible creating landscapes was nothing new by the 24th century, but creating people and interactive settings was. Then again, in Voy: Once Upon a Time, Janeway mentioned having played the Flotter program when she was a child. Given that she's middle aged, this connotes interactive holodeck technology being in widespread use at least twenty or thirty years before the first episode of TNG. It would seem TNG has been contradicted on three fronts now. We'll just have to accept that on TNG, holographic technology was "new to them," or that it made significant advances, warranting a renewed "wow" reaction. That said, this episode's story was quite amusing without becoming too silly. I love how Trip was forced to admit to Klingons that he was pregnant. It much reminded me of Spock's line in Star Trek V: The Final Frontier: "Please, Captain. Not in front of the Klingons." (Which was a relatively nice scene in an otherwise abysmal movie.) The crew handles the situation as professionally as they can; I rather liked how arrogant and presumptuous T'Pol was in the beginning regarding Trip's alleged behavior. I also liked how she made up for it by using her superior knowledge of Klingon culture to assist in the diplomatic negotiations. She damn near cracked a joke at the end too with her little history book statistic. Suffice it to say, I liked T'Pol more in this episode than in previous ones. She's starting to show that, yeah, she's a stuffy annoying killjoy, but she can be cool at times.
The following are comments submitted by my readers.
- From JRPoole on 2011-07-10 at 2:58pm:
I'm trying convince myself to be a Star Trek completionist and watch all of Enterprise, but, with the exception of the two-part pilot, the episodes here haven't really made the case. None of them are horrible, but the characters--most notably Archer and Tripp are pretty flat, and the forced contention between Archer and T'Pol is annoying.
But what really bugs me are little flaws, like Hoshi's slug, which they leave on a totally different planet. The biggest one, though, is in this episode. "This is the closest we can come to water," the Xyrillian says, handing Tripp a cube of not-ice. So we're supposed to believe that the species are closely related enough to mate together and have similar technology, but they can't make H2O? That's ridiculous. - From Vincent on 2011-10-25 at 3:25am:
You have mentioned the "problem" of adding new species to Star Trek in a prequel, but I don't necessarily believe it is a bad thing. A number of things could have happened to a species between Enterprise and TOS. They could have been wiped out in a war (aren't there supposed to be wars between the Federation and the Klingons and Romulans at some point), or they could have decided to remain neutral and stay out of the Federation, which would limit their appearances in Federation starships of chronologically later series.
I do agree that it is kind of annoying that history as told by previous series does not always match up with the events of Enterprise. - From happydude on 2013-04-16 at 2:02am:
Ah, the good ol' comedic rape episode. Not only one of the worst episodes of this series, it manages to do this seemingly progressive franchise a disservice through its mere existence in trivializing one of the most heinous crimes one can commit. - From DK on 2013-04-24 at 2:55am:
I have to sort of agree with happydude. Imagine if the gender roles were reversed; the femmes would be out for blood. Example: Phlox lecturing a female crew member: "Seems you did a little more than repair work", and pointing out where nipples are growing. Can you imagine a male lecturing a woman about not being able to restrain herself and sticking her fingers where they didn't belong after being unintentionally raped the way T'pol lectured Trip? And all this happened in just one scene and not to mention how much differently the impregnator would be viewed (would "oops, I didn't mean to" really fly for an excuse?).
The reversal of traditional gender roles just does not work for me much of the time and newer incarnations of Star Trek are notable offenders; some of the things Keiko does to Miles would be grounds for boycott had the gender roles been reversed (if I remember right she was a botanist with nothing to do on DS9. Shouldn't she have been cooking his dinner once in a while rather than criticizing, complaining and giving him dirty looks all the time?). Much of the time it seems that 'a strong female character' translates to 'symbolically emasculate all males around' in the more recent Star Treks. And in Enterprises' 'Unexpected' they come near to literally doing it. - From tt5 on 2014-09-21 at 5:42pm:
Am I the only one who thinks that turning on the gravity without warning is like... dangerous. - From Zach on 2015-07-03 at 7:27pm:
@DK: Trivializing Kako like that means we see less of her, which is a good thing. We also get to see more Miles, whick is also goo. - From President Obummer on 2020-01-17 at 6:10pm:
Also, Keiko does prepare food for him on several occasions. DK seems to have some deeper problems with females ^^
Gender roles could have easily been reversed in this episode, it just would have been even more boring. - From Azalea Jane on 2021-07-28 at 6:55am:
I was also bothered by the casual and humorous way in which Trip's violation was treated. Even granting that it was accidental, that Ah'len genuinely had no way of knowing her "game" with Trip would have any lasting consequences with a different species, it still flirts with the "male rape played for laughs" trope a little too hard.
I did like a lot of other aspects of this episode. T'Pol coming to Archer's defense was cool. I'm sincerely hope the writers end up doing more with her character than "sexy resident buzzkill", because she's got plenty of potential for development. I'm always curious to see development with the Klingons, knowing we'd be at war with them at some point.
In general with this show so far I'm really appreciating that they're not glossing over so many details that other Treks have glossed over. Whether it's better budget, better VFX, or the technological limitations in the show, it feels so much more real. The three-hour compression/decompression is a good example, or the crew wearing actual environment suits in "Fight or Flight", or the limits of translator technology, trying to avoid transporters, having paltry weapons... it's refreshing after seeing so much Trek ignore many of the practicalities of space exploration. - From President Obummer on 2023-02-15 at 9:27am:
Rape? How is it rape if nothing involuntary is done and no naughty parts are even touched? It is more like the story from various religions of involuntary conception by gods.
Star Trek Ent - 1x06 - Terra Nova
Originally Aired: 2001-10-24
Synopsis:
Archer and the Enterprise crew set out to learn what happened to the lost human colony of Terra Nova, and discover a tribe of human-hating cave dwellers. [DVD]
Problems
- Archer tells us that at one time, all of Earth's colonies were within Earth's Solar System. Then an M class planet is discovered a mere 20 light years away and is selected for the first extrasolar colony. This planet was named Terra Nova and was colonized in 2078. This, however, contradicts what Harry Kim said in Voy: The 37s regarding early Earth colonies. Kim claimed that Mars was not colonized until 2103. It's very hard to rationalize this, because Archer specifically said Utopia Planitia had been built before Terra Nova was colonized in 2078. Maybe Utopia Planitia was built before the bulk of the actual Mars colony?
- Additionally, Alpha Centauri is closer than Terra Nova. Why wasn't it selected as Earth's first extrasolar colony? It was certainly colonized at some point, because Zefram Cochrane moved there some time during his lifetime...
Factoids
None
Remarkable Scenes
- Archer showing Nadet who she is with old photographs.
- Archer and T'Pol arguing about what to do about the colonists.
- The shuttlepod sinking into the ground on Terra Nova.
My Review
A real mixed bag. It was a good idea to show details regarding Earth's early extrasolar colonies, but they couldn't have done it in a worse way. This whole episode is more or less a rehash of Voy: Friendship One. And indeed smaller plot elements in this episode resemble numerous other episodes. Suffice it to say, this plot is hardly original. But at least it's appropriate. Unfortunately, the already weak plot strains the hell out of credibility. For one, there's the Alpha Centauri technical problem, which is documented in the problems section. Suffice it to say, Alpha Centauri would have made much more sense as a setting for Earth's first extrasolar colony. Then there's the timing. Also documented in the problems section, this episode contradicts Voy: The 37s regarding when Mars was colonized. All of the technical problems could have easily been avoided by simply not making Terra Nova Earth's first extrasolar colony and giving specific dates, but by making it one of many of Earth's first extrasolar colonies. In this respect, the plot could be viewed exactly the same way as intended, except in a more credible manner. There were a few details to redeem the episode, though. One thing I liked was that the Novans had a unique vocabulary, using strange terms much like the Vori from Voy: Nemesis. I was also quite fond of how patient Archer and his crew were with the rather uninformed Novans. I also liked T'Pol's objective opinion once again. Unfortunately, these details do little to enhance this rather ill conceived episode.
The following are comments submitted by my readers.
- From Rob on 2008-04-29 at 3:33am:
I received a very strong impression in Voyager's last two or even three seasons and all during Enterprise that the "creative geniuses" in charge of the shows really didn't give a shit about Star Trek's "history". Now, granted, you shouldn't have to be a "Trek Nerd" with all the minutiae to write or produce the show, but its like these guys didn't even try! An attitude that seems unforgivably arrogant considering how passionate the fans are about this "property". I guess Mutant Enemy (of Buffy and Angel) are just plain more fan friendly than Paramount would ever be.
At least not until the last season when it was too little, too late to save the show's ratings. - From Strider on 2012-10-06 at 3:44am:
I think I disagree. I think you SHOULD have to know Star Trek history to be able to write it. It matters a great deal to some of us whether these details are consistent from series to series. - From OmicronThetaDeltaPhi on 2015-02-01 at 8:52pm:
I actually liked this episode. Maybe that's because I don't agree that the so-called "problems" are indeed problems.
Regarding the Alpha Centauri dilemma: Maybe Alpha Centauri doesn't have any earthlike planets. It may very well be that Terra Nova is the only unoccupied Class M planet within 20 light years from earth. And if that's the case, then embarking on a 9-year voyage to an earthlike planet, where you can simply build huts in the open air and drink natural water, makes much more sense than embarking on a shorter voyage (which would still take years) to a barren world with an unbreathable atmosphere.
Harry Kim's Mars quote isn't necessarily a problem either, because there are many ways to understand the word "colonization". Utopia Planitia could have been a preliminary research station (which makes sense given that it will be used to build ships in the future). while the 2103 date may refer to the creation of the first true colony (or some other relevant colonization milestone)
Star Trek Ent - 1x07 - The Andorian Incident
Originally Aired: 2001-10-31
Synopsis:
When Archer and his crew pay a friendly visit to an ancient Vulcan monastery, they stumble into an interstellar conflict between the Vulcans and their militaristic rivals, the Andorians. [DVD]
Problems
None
Factoids
- In this episode, the Andorian character Shran was played by Jeffrey Combs, who played Weyoun on DS9.
Remarkable Scenes
- Archer and Tucker discovering an Andorian. Wow, the makeup on the Andorians is awesome!
- A Vulcan monk making a comment about how humans smell to T'Pol.
- Archer, committing a faux pas: "So if anyone has a suggestion, I'm all ears. No offense."
- T'Pol's reason for not cuddling up with Archer: "The cold is preferable to the odor."
- Archer's performance with the Andorians.
- Hoshi and Reed's officer expressing fear of the transporter.
- Archer discovering the hidden Vulcan base.
- Shran to Archer: "We're in your debt."
My Review
Here's a small taste of the prequel we've been waiting for. A thoroughly underfeatured race from TOS, the Andorians, are given a bit of a backstory in this episode. Their reputation as being aggressive is upheld and they're not abused by being made into generic bad guys either. I'm not exactly happy that the Vulcans are turning out to be more and more evil, but it stands to reason that since the Andorians neighbor the Vulcans that these kinds of petty conflicts would ensue. Overall the episode was convincing. No major continuity issues this time. But the plot wasn't anything special. If it weren't for the plot twist at the end and the promise of some political intrigue as a result, I wouldn't have given this episode as high a rating. We've seen far too many hostage episodes before. I'm just glad this one had something of a purpose.
The following are comments submitted by my readers.
- From Inga on 2014-01-31 at 8:32am:
What's bother me is that a people so enlightened and logical using a word like "blasphemy". I associate this word with the medieval close-mindedness.
Other than that, it was an interesting episode. - From Zorak on 2016-09-18 at 6:08pm:
I'm not particularly fond of how this series is treating the Vulcans so far. It's seems to belittle and villainize them at every opportunity. It's quite the departure from how revered and honorable they are usually portrayed. This feels like a bit of a slap in the face to Star Trek. I hope they rectify this moving forward. - From Kethinov on 2016-09-19 at 4:21am:
They do. It's going somewhere. Stick around for the season 4 material. :) - From Azalea Jane on 2021-08-02 at 3:32am:
I noticed the same thing Inga did. "Blasphemy," T'Pol? Do you even hear yourself?? The Vulcans fancy themselves so high and mighty for being logical and not swayed by emotions, but they consistently show themselves--or at least some of them--to be incredibly arrogant and superstitious. It's no surprise they feel entitled to secretly violate their treaty with the Andorians. Despite their pacifism, they're just as supremacist as their cousins the Romulans. They have some admirable traits, and their logical nature can be very useful, but they shouldn't be "revered" as per Zorak's comment. That's too simplistic (and would be rather boring).
I kind of like how the Vulcans are proving to be lowkey villains (or at least a foil) in this series. Like our own species, they're multilayered and diverse. Like our own species and many others, their political leadership does not always reflect the sentiments of the people they represent. It makes for some good "divided loyalty" drama for T'Pol.
I loved the twist at the end. Seeing Jeffery Combs was a delight. They set me up to hate the Andorians and then it turns out the Andorians were completely justified in their suspicions.
Star Trek Ent - 1x08 - Breaking the Ice
Originally Aired: 2001-11-7
Synopsis:
While the Enterprise crew researches a newly discovered comet, Archer tries to deal diplomatically with a Vulcan ship that is suspiciously watching them. [DVD]
Problems
- Why does the comet have Earth-like gravity?
Factoids
- Trip has only been in three relationships. "They all went bust."
Remarkable Scenes
- The children's drawings.
- The discovery of and landing on the comet.
- Archer answering the 4th grade children's questions.
- Trip: "A poop question, sir?" I almost died laughing.
- Phlox talking too much on the recording.
- Travis and Reed building a snowman.
- The discovery that T'Pol's communications were personal, not malicious.
- Trip apologizing to T'Pol.
- Archer to T'Pol regarding Vanik: "Help me make him go away."
- Reed enhancing the snowman with Vulcan ears.
- Vanik's behavior at the dinner.
- Vanik: "Your inexperience and your arrogance are your enemies, not us."
- Trip advising T'Pol.
- The shuttlepod sinking into the ice.
- Trip trying unsuccessfully to use the grappler to retrieve the shuttlepod.
- Archer finally giving in and accepting the Vulcan ship's help.
My Review
And now for some hardcore character development. This episode was most successful because it didn't involve any alien conflict or phaser fights, but just chronicled the ship as they investigated a comet. Rarely do we get something so mundane in Star Trek done so well. I was worried that Vanik might end up having some silly hidden agenda and that T'Pol might be involved in some kind of Vulcan conspiracy, like was revealed at P'Jem last week. But thankfully I was wrong. Instead, we watch as Trip helps T'Pol bridge her cultural barriers. She accepts his advice to make her own decision instead of letting rigid Vulcan custom determine her marriage and her career. She even tries some of Trip's pecan pie in the final scene. Archer learns to back away from his Vulcan prejudice too when he accepts help from Vanik. I'm just glad Archer didn't ask Vanik a "poop question" at the dinner among is many attempts at small talk. And Reed... well, I think Reed's just happy he found something to blow up again. Although I think he (along with Travis) took just as much perverse pleasure in building the Vulcan snowman with the oversized ears too. One lingering question... why do shuttlepods seem to have a dangerous habit of sinking into whatever they land on? ;)
The following are comments submitted by my readers.
- From joe on 2016-06-21 at 2:10pm:
This was the first episode that demonstrated just how melodramatic ENT would be and how much worse it would be than all of the other series. - From dominic on 2016-07-17 at 10:24pm:
I am just now watching Enterprise for the first time. I think I'm starting to see why it has a poor reputation.
First I am starting to get sick and tired of the scripts making Captain Archer seem like a dumbass. The rest of the humans don't fare much better.
Second the plot of this episode doesn't even make sense. Captain Archer is the one that ordered T'Pol's message to be decrypted. So why is Trip left on the hook to apologize? And a point that seems minor compared to the others, but how is an inferior race able to crack a superior race's encryption technology so easily?
Star Trek Ent - 1x09 - Civilization
Originally Aired: 2001-11-14
Synopsis:
The Enterprise crew encounters a pre-industrial society that is afflicted with a plague caused by exploitative secret visitors. [DVD]
Problems
- Archer claims that they have traveled 78 light years. But the current date of the episode is July 31st, 2151. Given this date and comparing it to the date in the first episode, Enterprise couldn't have possibly traveled more than 40 light years from Earth.
Factoids
- This episode establishes that Earth has not yet adopted Vulcan's original version of what became the Prime Directive, their non interference policy.
- Garos is from the Malurian system which will be destroyed by Nomad in TOS: The Changeling.
Remarkable Scenes
- Archer: "Starfleet could have sent a probe out here, to make maps and take pictures, but they didn't. They sent us, so that we could explore with our own senses."
- Archer discovering Garos.
- Archer kissing Riann as an excuse to fix his translator.
- Archer winning a fight!
- Trip beaming the reactor up then beaming it aft Enterprise so Reed could fire a torpedo at it to detonate the reactor, dropping the shields of the Malurian ship.
My Review
An average episode with not much wrong with it other than one detail. It could have easily been done on any of the other Star Trek series. And if you think back to Star Trek IX: Insurrection, or episodes like it, it already has been. So I subtract a point for the episode not being very original. Other than that though, it was well done. I was pleased to see continuity with TOS: The Changeling, showing us a little about the Malurian culture destroyed in that episode. I can't say I mourn them as much now! It's remarkable that Earth doesn't have a non interference policy like the Vulcans do. Trip didn't even think it served much of a purpose! Another good point in the episode... Archer finally won a fist fight. ;)
The following are comments submitted by my readers.
- From Old Fat Trekkie on 2011-12-09 at 3:32am:
The technique that Riann used to discover that the antique shop was the source of the epidemic is identical to the discovery of how cholera was spread. It actually involves a well-known graphic – and there is was (or something very similar), in this episode. Google: “John Snow: The London Cholera Epidemic of 1854.” You will see the actual historic graphic. This episode is a 10. - From themadworld on 2013-12-12 at 2:17am:
I want to like this episode. Only one question. Why were the Malurians even there? What was their purpose? They were hiding out on some backwater planet with a dangerous reactor because…evil? Were there resources there? Was there any reason at all for the Malurians to be there?
Also, the Riann/Archer romance was forced.
I like that Enterprise is trying some new things like malfunctioning translators and prosthetics, but there was no substance to this episode.
3/10. - From Hugo on 2017-01-09 at 7:10am:
@themadworld - I assume that the mineral that they were mining was rare and valuable
I sort of liked this ep, I thought it was fun!
Star Trek Ent - 1x10 - Fortunate Son
Originally Aired: 2001-11-21
Synopsis:
Enterprise must intervene when the leader of a human freighter crew sets out for revenge against alien pirates. [DVD]
Problems
- Travis says that even with a warp 3 engine that a 5 year trip at warp 1.8 would be cut down to 6 months. Close, but no cigar. The figure is actually closer to 12 months.
Factoids
- According to Travis, there are 3 more NX class ships on the drawing boards.
Remarkable Scenes
- The low gravity football scene.
- Ryan regarding the transporter: "They say that for a split second you can actually feel yourself in both places at once."
- T'Pol covering for the kid playing hide and seek.
- Ryan betraying the crew of Enterprise.
- Enterprise saving the Fortunate.
My Review
Another fairly good offering from Enterprise, using the prequel premise well. We're shown that fear of change extends well into the 22nd century. The "boomers" are quite set in their ways, for "warp 1.8 is good enough." We're shown that the boomers running cargo get attacked by pirates occasionally, in this case the Nausicaans. It makes sense that long periods of time alone would cause the boomers to develop their own (closed) culture and their unwillingness to receive help from their own people seems like a natural result of their isolation. I was pleased to see the episode make rather extensive use of Travis, a character I felt was being underused. I just hope his extensive experience in space starts to pay off some more, instead of constantly relying on T'Pol's Vulcan database.
The following are comments submitted by my readers.
- From themadworld on 2013-12-12 at 8:54am:
One of the interesting things about this episode – maybe something that could have been drawn on more – was a parallel I saw between the Federation's attitude toward the Vulcans and the "boomers" attitude toward the Federation. Both are trying to prove themselves as independent from the larger, more powerful group.
I really enjoyed this episode. 7/10
Star Trek Ent - 1x11 - Cold Front
Originally Aired: 2001-11-28
Synopsis:
While Enterprise joins an alien pilgrimage to witness a religious stellar occurrence, Archer finds himself again faced against the Suliban warrior Silik. [DVD]
Problems
- The explosive decompression featured in this episode was extremely unrealistic.
Factoids
- This episode establishes that several human religions are still in existence and in practice at this time, including Buddhism and Christianity.
Remarkable Scenes
- Archer: "Looks like we could be having guests. Tell chef to prepare... something."
- Trip describing how the warp engines work.
- Daniels revealing himself.
- Archer: "Are you human?" Daniels: "More or less."
- T'Pol denying that time travel exists.
- Daniels making vague remarks about the future of Earth.
- Daniels' little walk through walls device.
- Silik confronting "Jon."
My Review
This is the first episode since the pilot which deals with this Temporal Cold War thing. Silik's return is a welcome one, and this episode introduces a new player in the Temporal Cold War, Daniels, who is apparently killed. This episode blurs the image of who's good and who's evil though in the Temporal Cold War. The man who Silik is working for wanted to see the Klingon Empire destroyed, but also wanted to save Enterprise here. My first instincts told me he was a Romulan from the future. But if this were the case, why would he want to save Enterprise? Daniels appeared to be a more advanced version of Captain Braxton and crew from Voy: Relativity, but again, it's hard to be sure of any of this. Cold Front was a sufficiently entertaining episode, but the ending was anticlimactic. This episode may be worth more points than I'm giving it, but it's hard to rate an episode whose ending raises more questions than it answers. And to be honest, I'm not sure if a Temporal Cold War is a particularly good idea for Enterprise. This is Star Trek, not Time Trek.
The following are comments submitted by my readers.
- From Jadzia Guinan Smith on 2010-08-30 at 8:59pm:
It's clear that in "later" Star Trek history human religions lose their influence significantly, but I'm not sure they disappear altogether. On DS9 Kassidy said her mother would probably insist she were married by a minister rather than a Bajoran Vedek. I know it's an obscure reference, but I just watched the episode recently :) - From Old Fat Trekkie on 2011-12-07 at 1:25am:
There was another Sci-fi "Sliders" that introduced something very similar to the "Temporal Cold War" of Enterprise. I thought it was a disaster to go down that road in both cases.
TOS had a great deal in place - how did that all get there? I believe both TOS and TOS naive audiences would have enjoyed seeing much of that. And of course, I would love to have seen the first Romulan War, and the explanation concerning why the future Federation had such sparce information about them.
Star Trek Ent - 1x12 - Silent Enemy
Originally Aired: 2002-1-16
Synopsis:
An ill-prepared Enterprise is under attack by mysterious aliens with unknown motivations. [DVD]
Problems
- Reed says that the phase cannons have a power output of 500 gigajoules. But that is a unit of energy, not power. Additionally, this number seems way too high when compared to TNG.
Factoids
None
Remarkable Scenes
- Archer contacting Reed's parents.
- The alien ship attacking Enterprise.
- Archer: "Did your people run into as many hostile aliens when they first went into deep space?" T'Pol: "It was a different time." Archer: "How so?" T'Pol: "There were fewer warp capable species." Archer: "This ship just isn't equipped to handle some of the threats we're coming up against."
- Reed and Trip vowing to get the phase cannons online before Enterprise returns to Earth.
- Hoshi trying to figure out what Reed's favorite food is.
- Hoshi asking Reed what his favorite food is, only to have him accidentally take the question as an invitation to romance.
- Archer: "This time we won't be leaving before we're ready." Trip: "Are your ears a little pointier than usual?"
- Reed's test firing.
- Hoshi consulting the doctor about Reed's favorite food.
- Enterprise battling the alien ship, defeating it.
- The celebration at the end.
My Review
Preliminary remark, it's annoying that we're shown a hostile alien of the week that we've never seen before and will probably never see again. However, we aren't told their names. Maybe they were one of the many hostile aliens mentioned in previous Trek series but never shown. Regardless, it would have been a better idea to show the Klingons, Romulans, or even the Suliban, not introduce something new. With so many hostile aliens lurking about, it's a wonder that Earth wasn't wiped out years ago. Maybe the Vulcans protected it. Anyway, the basic idea of the episode is fascinating. I'm glad Reed's concerns in Ent: Broken Bow and in Ent: Fight or Flight about the ship being fairly defenseless are finally being addressed. In many ways, this was entirely Reed's episode. He got to blow some stuff up and he got to eat his favorite food! But I think the episode has a much more profound effect on Archer. At the beginning, he was very excited to make another first contact but as this soon leads to yet another conflict, Archer starts having his first real doubts about his mission and wonders if the Vulcans were right. It's interesting and quite consistent that the only person he could talk about this was Trip. Finally, I thought this musical score in this episode was way above average. If only this episode had featured a familiar alien to give us some valuable backstory, it would have been worth eight points.
The following are comments submitted by my readers.
- From Dstyle on 2015-09-09 at 7:07pm:
According to T'Pol, there were fewer warp capable species when Vulcans first went into deep space. Really? That seems odd to me. Okay, I know from TNG: The Chase that all humanoid life in the galaxy was seeded from a single humanoid species, but I also know from various other TNG episodes that Jean Luc Picard is interested in the archaeology of ancient civilizations, many of which were warp capable. There could be an understandable ebb and flow in the number of warp capable species over time, but I would assume the number would be relatively constant as some older civilizations collapsed while other younger civilizations developed the technology. T'Pol's statement makes it seem like they were one of the earliest civilizations to have warp capabilities, when we know from Picard that that is not true.
Star Trek Ent - 1x13 - Dear Doctor
Originally Aired: 2002-1-23
Synopsis:
Dr. Phlox faces a serious dilemma as a dying race begs for help from Enterprise. [DVD]
Problems
- This episode's ethics are a problem.
Factoids
- Denobulans don't like to be touched.
- The Ferengi once visited the Valakian homeworld. This implies that the Ferengi have had warp drive just as long as humans, maybe longer.
- This episode establishes the annual Denobulan hibernation cycle. It lasts six days.
Remarkable Scenes
- Phlox watching the crowd react to the movie instead of watching the movie.
- Cutler displaying affection for Phlox.
- Hoshi learning Denobulan.
- Phlox discovering that the Valakian epidemic is genetic.
- T'Pol: "The Vulcans stayed to help Earth 90 years ago. We're still there."
- Archer: "Some day, my people are going to come up with some sort of a doctrine, something that tells us what we can and can't do out here, should and shouldn't do. But until somebody tells me that they have drafted that directive, I'm going to have to remind myself that we didn't come out here to play god."
My Review
I liked this episode, but I hated its ethics. The (future) Prime Directive is shown as a rather arbitrary standard in this episode. Help is refused to a species that goes into space for the sole purpose of seeking help from alien civilizations. Just because they don't have warp drive, they're regarded as unworthy or something. Well, a strict interpretation of the Vulcan (and seemingly Denobulan) non interference policy allows for Archer's actions to be correct. But we've seen even in the 24th century starship crews bending the rules for the greater good in exactly the fashion Archer refused to. There's that, and the events of this episode aren't at all consistent with the "to hell with a non interference policy" attitude taken in Ent: Civilization. What I really didn't like about this episode was how Phlox developed a cure but refused to share it with the Valakians. I 100% agree with Archer about not letting the Valakians have warp drive, but why not cure their freaking plague?! Because Dr. Phlox just arbitrarily decided to let the Valakians die off because he THINKS the Menk might evolve into a better species? Isn't this just a little racist? Isn't making this kind of decision for the Menk exactly the kind of interference the Prime Directive prohibits? Maybe not giving the Valakians the cure was within the bounds of the future Prime Directive, but the way it was shown here was needlessly cruel and wholly hypocritical.
The following are comments submitted by my readers.
- From Bob on 2009-05-17 at 11:18pm:
I thought the ethics displayed in this episode were sound. They also did a very good job explaining why they made the decision that they did. I agree with most of your star trek episode reviews, but this was an excellent episode, deserving of a much higher score than a 1. I think you might need to watch it again. You forgot to note in the your Factoids that majority of all technologically advanced planets have a single dominant species. This fact along with the facts that the Valakian "plague" is a genetic defect and the Menk are undergoing an intellectual awakening is proof enough that Archer made the right decision. Humans have no right to influence the evolution of life on that planet. - From Daniel Baldwin on 2009-08-09 at 8:58pm:
No no no! The episode was well written and acted, but morally it's terrible. They don't show us the consequences of this decision, do they? I wonder why? I suggest that people watch Babylon 5 "Confessions and Lamentations" instead. - From ive on 2009-12-06 at 10:25pm:
ethics are perfect in this episode.
compassion clouded your judgement as well.
my rating - 6.9 - From carsonist on 2010-05-03 at 1:48am:
I like this episode. An episode can be good even if the last five minutes include a decision you don't like. I think it's a bit extreme to rate it so low just because of one thing.
Also, Phlox isn't making any decision for the Menk, he just realized that they could end up the dominant species of the planet, and if he interferes, they'll never have that chance. This episode is a perfect example of the Prime Directive, except the part where they gave out the lesser medicine. - From Tallifer on 2011-05-07 at 10:03am:
I am amazed that some people think it is morally acceptable to withhold the knowledge of a cure from a dying race. (And if the Mink are evolving so wonderfully, surely in a few generations they will assert themselves.)
I did give this episode one point however for the very entertaining observations of the doctor. - From rick on 2012-10-19 at 10:20pm:
This episode should be a 0. Well acted, good premise, worst ethical decision I could possibly imagine. Strip away all this science fiction garbage (and aura of a supposedly higher moral standard) and what are we left with? We are left with genocide and that what Phlox/Archer did, pure and simple.
God forbid we would "interfere" (read: save) with a species before they developed warp technology. I love how everyone seems to just accept that premise without thinking about how arbitrary and ridiculous it is. This whole seeming right to develop naturally without interference from other species is quite suspect.
According to the ethics of this episode, we should all just kill ourselves so that we do not affect the natural evolution of the universe. Which brings me to another point. Why are we not a part of the "natural" evolution of the universe. If a virus is killing off a species why is our interference to save the species different than the virus killing it? - From Zorak on 2016-09-21 at 11:38am:
I 100% agree with your review (if not your score). I really enjoyed the episode up until the absolutely ridiculous conclusion. The character development for Phlox was great, the scenes were well done, and everything was shaping up to be another good episode.
Then they ruined it. Even if one were to agree with the ethics (which I certainly don't), it was a completely uncalled for direction for the episode to take. I thought maybe they were going to find out that the Menk (which frankly sounds lie an insulting name for a species) were indeed being mistreated in some way or that the Menk were causing the disease and sharing that knowledge would lead to genocide.
What I was not expecting was for them to decide that this unique culture of two evolving coexisting species should not be saved in favor of a more "normal" evolution where one species outlives the other, all for the sake of fan service to the prime directive. It was a completely ridiculous and unwarranted conclusion based solely on speculation.
Star Trek Ent - 1x14 - Sleeping Dogs
Originally Aired: 2002-1-30
Synopsis:
T'Pol, Reed and Hoshi get stranded on a Klingon "shipwreck" sinking inside a gas giant. Archer tries to convince a captured Klingon to help before his crewmates get crushed in the intense pressure of the planet's atmosphere. [DVD]
Problems
- T'Pol says Klingons don't use escape pods. So exactly what did Worf use in DS9: Penumbra?
Factoids
None
Remarkable Scenes
- Hoshi's target practice.
- Reed: "We can travel faster than the speed of light. You'd think we could find a cure for the common cold!"
- Hoshi, translating a console: "Something they call photon torpedoes?" Reed: "Photon torpedoes? Never heard of anything like that. What else?"
- Bu'Kah: "I've never seen your kind before, but you have made an enemy of the Klingon Empire!" Archer: "From what I've noticed, that's not hard to do."
- Hoshi's reaction to the Klingon galley.
- Hoshi and T'Pol stumbling on targs.
- Archer doing his Klingon homework.
- T'Pol, Reed, and Hoshi using the Klingon photon torpedoes to push the ship up in altitude.
My Review
A reasonably entertaining episode, but devoid of consequences, which is annoying. As Archer complains, why does his help always go unappreciated? Archer has helped Klingons three times now and received no gratitude. Did the war with the Klingons start because Earth kept being really nice guys around the Klingons? What we're shown hasn't been very credible so far.
The following are comments submitted by my readers.
- From Krs321 on 2012-03-13 at 2:26pm:
How is it a problem that Worf used an escape pod 200+ years after T'Pol made that statement? - From CeeBee on 2013-12-21 at 7:52pm:
In the Augment-trilogy in season 4 Archer uses an escape pod on the Klingon ship as well. - From Hugo on 2017-02-13 at 7:49am:
I liked this ep, nice tension and character development. I think the captain should have invited the Klingons for a victory feast in the final scene... Too bad we didn't get a chance to see the braced shuttlepod, I'd be curious what that looked like.
Nice comment in reference to Voyager in the beginning - where Reed comments that they shouldn't lose the shuttle...
Star Trek Ent - 1x15 - Shadows of P'Jem
Originally Aired: 2002-2-6
Synopsis:
When T'Pol is ordered by her superiors to leave Enterprise, she goes on one last away mission with Archer to planet Coridan, where they are taken captive by a militant faction and once again encounter the volatile Andorians. [DVD]
Problems
None
Factoids
- This episode establishes that there are 15 phase pistols aboard Enterprise.
Remarkable Scenes
- Archer teasing Trip about not going to Coridan.
- T'Pol passing Archer off as a steward.
- Shran declaring that he can't sleep at night knowing he still owes Archer for what he did for him.
My Review
This is a somewhat odd episode. Not only did the characters have to deal with the hostage situation on Coridan (a nice reference to TOS: Journey to Babel), but they also had to deal with the repercussions of the destruction of the P'Jem monetary due to the events of Ent: The Andorian Incident. Both situations seem to come to a head simultaneously. Unfortunately the two plots don't mingle very well. The primary plot seemed to be the hostage situation while the secondary plot seemed to be the aftermath of P'Jem when it should have been the opposite. Seems the writers couldn't make an interesting story out of just the aftermath, so they conjured up a reason for some generic action. The result is a kind of mash up that makes for a rather mediocre episode.
The following are comments submitted by my readers.
- From zook on 2009-06-07 at 4:36am:
Shran is played by Jeffrey Combs, who also played the Vorta Weyoun in DS9.
Star Trek Ent - 1x16 - Shuttlepod One
Originally Aired: 2002-2-13
Synopsis:
During a shuttlepod mission, Tucker and Reed are cut off from Enterprise and become convinced the starship has been destroyed and that their days are numbered. [DVD]
Problems
- Your hair and nails do not continue to grow when you die. Instead, the skin around the hair and nails desiccates and therefore shrinks.
Factoids
- Reed's attempt to attract Enterprise's attention in this episode is an homage to Spock's similar attempt in TOS: The Galileo Seven.
Remarkable Scenes
- Trip and Reed picking on each other's heritage.
- Trip complaining about Reed's pessimism.
- Reed dreaming about T'Pol.
- Trip and Reed getting roaring drunk and discussing T'Pol.
- Trip and Reed blowing up the impulse engine in an attempt to attract Enterprise's attention.
- Trip trying to sacrifice himself to save Reed.
My Review
Like Ent: Dear Doctor, this episode is a mixed bag. I loved the episode, but some of the plot logic just didn't make any sense. Why didn't Enterprise retrieve Shuttlepod One immediately after the accident with the Tesnians instead of abandoning them to the asteroid field? Maybe the Tesnians couldn't survive on Enterprise very long and getting them back to Tesnia as soon as possible was the only way to keep them alive, but this is never explicitly stated, nor does Enterprise ever even contact shuttlepod one to explain the change of plans until well after they're underway! For this annoyance, I subtract points, but beyond this the episode is a lot of fun. Watching Trip and Reed pick at each other on that shuttle was some great humor, especially after they got drunk and started discussing T'Pol. With some more careful writing, this episode could have been above average easily. I'm also kind of annoyed that we never got to see the Tesnians.
The following are comments submitted by my readers.
- From Zorak on 2016-09-22 at 10:40am:
I was also confused by the plot of this episode. I didn't much understand any of what happened with the Tesnians or the debris of the Enterprise or the situation at large. It was all kind of glossed over. Putting that aside, I liked most of this episode. I've always liked Trip and have wanted to see more Reed and it was a good episode for both of them.
Mostly, this episode was about developing Reed. Trip is already so well developed that he was just Trip. There were a few things that bothered me though, about Reed.
#1 Reed is a bit mysterious. That's a big part of his characters appeal. I think by showing so much of who he was they diminished the mystery quite a bit.
#2 What is with Reed and food? First, when a hostage on Terra Nova, he grimaces at the presumably disgusting "digger" meat. Then on his birthday they explicitly make a big deal out of how much he doesn't care about food and will eat whatever is in front of him. Now in this episode he seems to have a significant reaction to the Sea Bass meal. It's like the writers are going out of there way to contradict themselves.
#3 The worst scene of the episode and one of the worst things I've ever seen on Star Trek. Reeds dream of T'pol. I have so far found the humor on Enterprise to be spot on. Hilarious at times. But this scene was one of the worst pieces of anti-comedy I have ever had to sit through. Had this scene not lasted so long, I'd have overlooked it. But apparently someone thought the "stinky" thing was so cute and funny, that they just kept running with it for what was really an absurd amount of time.
Originally Aired: 2002-2-27
Synopsis:
A group of atypical Vulcans visiting Enterprise subject T'Pol to uncomfortable new ideas. [DVD]
Problems
None
Factoids
None
Remarkable Scenes
- Trip: "Where'd you hear that?" Kov: "A Vulcan anthropologist told me he'd seen the ritual during an Earth expedition." Trip: "They're not trying to kill the quarterback. They're just trying to keep him from throwing the ball and running with it. It's only a game. Not a... fight to the death." Kov: "I see."
- T'Pol dreaming.
- The mind meld scene.
- Archer confronting Tolaris about his assault on T'Pol.
My Review
This episode outlines a Vulcan subculture, a group of Vulcans who embrace emotion and practice mind melds. So now we know of two 22nd century Vulcans. "Evil" Vulcans, who are logical and mostly kind, but arrogant and push hidden agendas. And emotional Vulcans, who tend to lose control, but practice mind melds and are a lot less arrogant for the most part. I think it's obvious that the Vulcans we come to know in the 23rd and 24th century end up being a hybrid of these two groups. Certainly by the 23rd and 24th century, mind melds are no longer a taboo. So there's that evidence at least. Well, while this episode is an interesting Vulcan introspection, it is little more. T'Pol's character is abused for the third time in a row... first a bondage scene, then Reed dreams about her and runs his mouth about her ass, and now she's mind raped. I wonder how much further the writers will take this crap. It's getting worse than Seven of Nine was.
The following are comments submitted by my readers.
- From Inga on 2014-02-16 at 11:10am:
I'm tired of T'Pol being sexualised all the time and, like you said, it IS getting worse than Seven of Nine was...
Star Trek Ent - 1x18 - Rogue Planet
Originally Aired: 2002-3-20
Synopsis:
While exploring an uncharted planet, Enterprise crew members encounter a group of aliens who are hunting down indigenous creatures for recreation. [DVD]
Problems
None
Factoids
- Hunting went out of style on Earth over 100 years ago according to Archer.
Remarkable Scenes
- Archer: "Do Vulcan captains have their portraits hanging at the high command?" T'Pol: "Vulcans are revered for their accomplishments, not for the way they look." Tucker: "Except for the really important ones who get mummified."
- Reed: "Follow me." Archer: "Why don't you let me play captain for a while, Malcolm?"
- T'Pol to Archer: "With respect, captain, I wonder if you would be so determined to find this apparition if it were a scantily clad man?"
My Review
A painfully slow plot. This episode has the honor of being the first Star Trek episode I've ever fallen asleep to during my first viewing. It probably has a lot to do with the fact that the setting is so dark and that very little actually happens. I was also disappointed that this episode was so much of a rehash. We've seen too many shape shifters before. Hell, we've even seen shape shifters living on a rogue planet before, when Sisko first visited the Founders' homeworld! We've also been told in DS9: Treachery, Faith, and the Great River that the Founders were hunted. So, let's recap. Founders: 1. live on a rogue planet, 2. are shape shifters, 3. are hunted. The aliens of this episode: 1. live on a rogue planet, 2. are shape shifters, 3. are hunted. Throw in the fact that the hunters in this episode have a similar moral structure to the Hirogen, and the rehash-o-meter starts going through the roof! Ranting of rehashes aside, I thought the episode was morally correct. I found the whole hunt as distasteful as the crew of Enterprise and I was glad they found a way to sabotage the hunt without actually attacking the hunters directly. It was a clever solution.
The following are comments submitted by my readers.
- From Zorak on 2016-09-22 at 10:31pm:
I have to disagree about the morality of Archers actions. First off, the hunters were very good to them and Archer could have easily gotten them killed with his actions. Second, he never even tried to reason with the hunters or explain his position. He just up and decided these people and their cultural practices are evil and wrong and going behind their backs and sabotaging them was the only answer.
Sloppy writing and another poorly done morality play in my opinion.
Star Trek Ent - 1x19 - Acquisition
Originally Aired: 2002-3-27
Synopsis:
When the Ferengi, a group of intergalactic thieves, stun the Enterprise crew and try to rob the ship, it's up to Trip to work covertly to stop them. [DVD]
Problems
- The whole premise is a rather annoying continuity problem. See comments.
Factoids
- There are only 172 rules of acquisition at this time.
- Jeffrey Combs (Weyoun, Brunt, Shran) and Ethan Phillips (Neelix) play Ferengi characters in this episode.
Remarkable Scenes
- Archer getting beat up by the Ferengi...
- Archer regarding Vulcans: "They're really not all that interesting once you get to know them."
- Archer: "Trust me, she's got no sense of humor, she's always complaining..."
- T'Pol: "There are times I wish Vulcans hadn't learned to repress their violent tendencies."
- The Ferengi pulling a gun on the the retractable medical scanner bed as it approached him.
- The Ferengi talking to Porthos.
- Trip being hit by a Ferengi whip. Nice reference to TNG: The Last Outpost.
- Archer and Trip putting on a shwo for the Ferengi.
- T'Pol picking on Archer for the things he said about her to the Ferengi.
- Rules of Acquisition; 6. Never allow family to stand in the way of profit. 23. Nothing is more important than your health, except for your money. 45. Expand or die. ?. A man is only worth the sum of his possessions.
My Review
I suppose it was only a matter of time before something like this had to happen. Well, I'm not going to rant about how this episode tramples all over continuity like a fanatic at a convention, because with some rationalization it's not so bad. With some more careful writing, it could have even been a great episode. I liked the detail showing the Ferengi whip, and I liked how Archer seems to have scared them all the way back to their homeworld. Knowing the Ferengi, who are driven by fear more than other species, they probably avoided Earth's corner of the galaxy for a long time and once the Federation was formed they probably avoided that too until contact became absolutely necessary in TNG: The Last Outpost. That said, I'm not happy that the writers decided the Ferengi needed a cameo and that they did it in such a careless manner. In order to rationalize this episode, we're forced to believe that these Ferengi were a very long way away from home and that records concerning this incident were not kept in very good detail. Both are distinct possibilities, so I'm just going to leave it at that. Continuity does suffer because of this episode though, and I've forced to mark it down thusly. When you stop caring about such things though and watch the episode for its raw merits, what you find is that its marvelously hilarious. Watch this episode to find the basis for Quark's future "Vulcan Love Slave" holosuite program. ;)
The following are comments submitted by my readers.
- From Pete Miller on 2006-12-10 at 6:38am:
As with many Enterprise episodes, you kind of have to ignore the continuity errors. After all, it is Brannon Braga's show. I find that when you dismiss the Ferengi first contact stuff, this episode becomes quite enjoyable. The humor is priceless, and I like how the Ferengi here are much more like the Ferengi we see in TNG rather than DS9.
Also, I really like Jeffrey Combs and Ethan Phillips in this one. - From JRPoole on 2011-07-21 at 11:35pm:
I agree with the sentiment here. Not a bad episode if you take it with a grain of salt. One thing that DS9 (still probably my favorite Trek overall though it got kind of religiousy after Roddenberry died) got so right was what it did with the Ferengi. They were so well used as fodder for satire in so many solid humor episodes even if you have to overlook a few really bad outings.
The problem with TNG-style Ferengi is that, much like the ones here, they seem so much of a self-parody that it's hard to believe they're really capable of space flight and pose any threat at all. At least these are a little sharper than the hissing, growling, whip cracking Ferengi we see early on on in TNG. - From Josh on 2011-10-08 at 1:08am:
This has pretty much everything you need in a light-hearted episode: lots of humour, my two favourite ST supporting actors, and a solid 20 minutes of Trip running around in his underwear.
Usually Ferengi in large numbers annoy me, but its hard not to like Jeffrey Combs and Ethan Phelps. Besides Clint Howard, who was the other Ferengi played by?
One thing I wasn't sure about; I thought gold didn't hold much value to Ferengi? I could swear I remember Quark saying something to that effect... - From Dstyle on 2015-09-03 at 1:09pm:
Hey, did any of y'all notice that T'Pol is a very attractive woman? Don't worry if you didn't: the writers will make sure to repeatedly draw your attention to it episode after episode.
Originally Aired: 2002-4-3
Synopsis:
The crew is directed to a barren planet, where a derelict ship may be salvageable for supplies. But the crew quickly learns that rumors about the shipwreck being haunted may be true. [DVD]
Problems
- This episode further aggravates the holodeck invention date problem. See comments.
Factoids
- René Auberjonois, who played Odo on DS9, plays Ezral in this episode.
Remarkable Scenes
- T'Pol reminding Trip of his encounter on the Xyrillian ship.
- Trip: "What if she gets hurt? What are you going to do then, program up a holographic doctor?" Ah, if only Trip could see Voyager. ;)
My Review
A rehash of DS9: Shadowplay regarding living one's life in a holographic world, with a bit of DS9: Progress. Ezral is a lot like Mullibok. And the treatment of Liana is a lot like Vina from TOS: The Cage, or Kes on Voyager. I think the rehash-o-meter is going through the roof again! As a result, we have a most unremarkable episode. In some ways, annoying too. Ent: Unexpected aggravated the holodeck invention date problem enough, but this episode contributes to it even more. Not only do we have Trip experiencing a holographic system, but he's experiencing a holographic system with holographic people, along with his entire crew! That, and they get a long hard look at the technology too. Finally, unlike Ent: Unexpected, this episode doesn't even have an excuse to show this kind of plot. Like Ent: Civilization, it could have been done on any other Trek series much more appropriately. Given all these problems and the horribly slow plot, I must declare this episode as the second biggest disappointment of the show.
No fan commentary yet.
Star Trek Ent - 1x21 - Detained
Originally Aired: 2002-4-24
Synopsis:
Archer and Mayweather are detained by the Tandarans in a Suliban internment camp. Learning of the Suliban's persecution by the Tandarans, Archer enlists the aid of Enterprise and his crew. [DVD]
Problems
- This isn't the first case of this, but I wonder how an alien nursery rhyme translated by the universal translator retains its rhyme.
- Enterprise is 5.2 light years away from the prison, but reaches it in only a few days. That would have required a speed of a lot faster than warp 5.
- So the shuttlepods have phase cannons now?
Factoids
- Dean Stockwell who plays Colonel Grat in this episode is old friend of Scott Bakula (Captain Archer). The two friends starred on Quantum Leap for many years.
- The Suliban homeworld became uninhabitable 300 years ago.
Remarkable Scenes
- Trip: "A Vulcan lawyer? We'd be better off getting the electric chair."
- Colonel Grat interrogating Archer about the Cobal and the Temporal Cold War.
- T'Pol toying with Colonel Grat.
- Reed to Travis: "You look worse than I do."
- Reed's boyish smile as he destroys the door.
- The shuttlepod strafing the prison.
My Review
This episode gives us some nice background on the Suliban race, as well as a possible explanation for their extinction in the 23rd and 24th centuries. Since their homeworld became uninhabitable 300 years ago, they're nomadic, and they're being discriminated against en masse, I imagine that mass genocide might have wiped out most of their race. Now all that's left is to find out why the Denobulans are extinct in the 23rd and 24th centuries. ;) In any case, it seems not all Suliban are members of the Cabal, which is understandable. It seems Enterprise has meddled in the affairs of another sovereign alien species, but at least it was for a good cause. Racial discrimination sucks. Which reminds me, I love the scene when Travis got accused of being racist against Suliban. There's a certain irony to that scene. Travis, a man whose race was discriminated against hundreds of years ago, now is accused of repeating the mistakes his ancestors fought against. Obviously, Travis wasn't being a racist, but I still found the scene ironic. I also enjoyed seeing Travis take a more active role after he'd been thoroughly underused in the last several episodes. Overall, I'm glad to see an episode that isn't below average for the first time in a long while.
The following are comments submitted by my readers.
- From Zorak on 2016-09-24 at 1:32pm:
I have pretty much enjoyed every episode of Enterprise so far, but things are starting to get really repetitive. They take a situation with a LOT of grey area and Archer arbitrarily decides which side is 100% good and which side is 100% evil with almost no understanding of the situation at large and then proceeds to force his will onto both sides, often using violence, trickery and coercion to get his way.
I'm starting to see why this show has the reputation it does. Archer is setting himself up as judge, jury and executioner for the galaxy. How is Earth not at war with every species around by now?
Star Trek Ent - 1x22 - Vox Sola
Originally Aired: 2002-5-1
Synopsis:
When a strange, symbiotic alien creature boards Enterprise and captures several crew members, it's up to Hoshi to decipher the creature's complex language. [DVD]
Problems
None
Factoids
- This episode is the winner of my "Best Episode of Enterprise Award" and is therefore a candidate for my "Best Episode Ever Award."
- "Vox Sola" means "solitary voice" in Latin.
Remarkable Scenes
- Trip trying to cheer up Archer about the bad first contact.
- Travis: "Why don't you stay for the movie tonight?" Reed: "What's playing?" Travis: "Uh... 'Wages of Fear'. Classic foreign film." Reed: "Hmm." Travis: "You'll like it. Things blow up." Reed: "Hmm. Sounds fun."
- Trip: "I wouldn't want to be taking a swim if the gravity plating went offline." Archer: "No... no." I wonder if he's remembering his issues with the shower in Ent: Unexpected. ;)
- The alien creature capturing crewmembers, including Archer and Trip.
- Reed's EM emitters injuring the captured crew.
- The captured crew reading each other's thoughts.
- Phlox fighting for the rights of the severed tentacle.
- Travis answering the hail from the Kreetassans.
- Travis finding out why the Kreetassans were offended.
- Trip: "When Zefram Cochrane talked about new life and new civilization, do you think this is what he meant?"
- Reed testing his forcefield.
- Hoshi communicating with the life form.
- The crew visiting the life form's homeworld, returning it to its home.
My Review
This isn't the start of the war with the Klingons that we've been waiting for, or the start of the war with the Romulans that we've been waiting for, or anything that we've been waiting for, for that matter. But Vox Sola has a special charm to it. This episode was exceptional from start to finish. It's not filled with cliches or recycled plots; this episode is totally original and a perfect fit for Enterprise. It begins when Hoshi fails to communicate adequately with the Kreetassans. They storm off the ship for some unknown reason, and nobody gives it a second thought. But when the web aliens of this episode start gobbling up crewmen, they decide to contact the Kreetassans again and see if they know anything about the web aliens.
Because of circumstances, it's up to an underused character, Travis, to bridge the cultural barrier and make up for old mistakes. Normally, it would have been better to show Hoshi doing this, but I was pleased that Travis was given a chance to shine here. And shine he did. His solitary dealings with the Kreetassans in this episode was probably his best scene yet on the show. In fact, not a single character in this episode is neglected. Phlox gets to play the humanitarian, fighting for tentacle rights. Reed gets to play with gadgets and new technology, Archer and Tucker get several nice scenes depicting friendship and camaraderie, and Hoshi and T'Pol get several nice scenes showing contention and eventually the resolution of their differences as they work together to decipher the language of the web aliens.
But what I liked most about this episode was the web aliens themselves. Never have we seen a more unique alien on Star Trek. And it was the perfect opportunity to get the Enterprise crew thinking outside the box. I liked how well everyone worked together. Reed built the first prototype forcefield, T'Pol helped Hoshi decrypt the mathematical portions of the web alien language, and Hoshi reprogrammed the universal translator to adapt it to the alien language. The scene when Hoshi stood behind Reed's forcefield and tried her best to communicate with the web aliens, going from a hostile demeanor to an understanding in just a few minutes was the high point of the episode.
Then the scene when we watch as Enterprise returns the aliens to their home world was as symbolically impressive as it was visually impressive. Finally, I'd be remiss if I didn't mention the episode's unusually beautiful scoring, which was way above average. The whole episode was true to the spirit of Star Trek more so than most others and a pleasure to watch. I've read a lot of other reviews of this episode and I've got to say that Vox Sola is highly underrated.
The following are comments submitted by my readers.
- From Pete Miller on 2006-12-10 at 11:45pm:
I agree that this is an underrated episode. There were lots of little things that made it a good episode to watch, like the prototype forcefield. It also had that Star Trekkish spirit to it. However, I don't think it's deserving of a Ten. I'd say more like a 7, maybe an 8. - From JRPoole on 2011-07-24 at 12:36am:
This is a remarkable episode for a lot of reasons. What I like most is the way that what could have been just another alien of the week episode gets some storyline/character building touches, like the Hoshi/T'Pol dynamic, the mention of Risa that gets explored later, the Univeral Translator drama, the force field development, etc. I wouldn't give it a 10, though, because the main plot, though executed well, is pretty much a rehash of a very familiar Star Trek meme: misunderstood alien turns out to be sentient and its hostility is only a miscommunication. How many times have we seen this? I can't remember episode names, but it all started with the Horta. TNG had the sand crystals, the huge baby space creature "nursing" off the Enterprise, and several others, as did Voyager and DS9 in their turn.
This episode also highlights the weaknesses of Enterprise for me. "Vox Sola" excels because it's character-driven. With the stiffest, most wooden characters Trek has ever seen--Archer and Tripp--safely tucked away inside the AOTW, the other, stronger characters can shine.
Star Trek Ent - 1x23 - Fallen Hero
Originally Aired: 2002-5-8
Synopsis:
Archer is ordered to transport Vulcan Ambassador V'Lar, an early role model of T'Pol's, from a planet where her integrity has been called into question. [DVD]
Problems
None
Factoids
- This episode establishes that the phase cannons can't be fired at warp. Reed thinks the problem can be solved later though.
Remarkable Scenes
- T'Pol's expression of concern in the teaser.
- V'Lar's strange behavior when boarding Enterprise.
- Trip insinuating that Reed enjoys space battles.
- Archer deciding to outrun the Mazarite ships.
- V'Lar explaining that Earth's World War III was the reason for her mistrust of humans.
- Archer: "Archer to Engineering." Trip: "Please tell me you're ready to slow down." Archer: "Sorry Trip, but we need a little more speed." Trip: "I don't know how much more I can give you!" Archer: "It's called a warp five engine!" Trip: "On paper!"
- Enterprise reaching warp 5.
- The Enterprise crew putting on a performance for the Mazarites.
- V'Lar regarding Archer and T'Pol: "I sense a great bond between you. A bond of trust and respect. But also a bond of friendship. I think it bodes well for the future relations of our two peoples."
My Review
A nicely entertaining action episode with another embedded Vulcan mystery. But unlike episodes like Ent: Breaking the Ice, we get valuable insight into why Vulcans distrust humans so much. It's humanity's history. Having barely survived a global war, Vulcans offer their assistance but remain skeptical that Earth has really learned from its mistakes. Even the nicest Vulcan we've met so far, V'Lar, has trouble trusting humans. But alas, she does. Her giving into her preconceptions symbolizes the "bond of friendship" that humans and Vulcans will one day have.
The following are comments submitted by my readers.
- From Zorak on 2016-09-25 at 5:52pm:
I liked this episode. I really liked this episode. In a lot of ways, this is what Star Trek is and should be.
However, like every episode of Enterprise there is always a moment when things start to unravel and stop making sense. 9 times out of 10 it is due to Archer, and this episode falls into the 9 times category. Putting aside Archers decision to turn the ship around (I'm just going to ignore it), it's his absolutely convoluted and ridiculously complicated plan (that never should have worked) at the end that made me have to roll my eyes once again.
Instead of getting into how ridiculous all the theatrics were and that the Mazarite captain fell for a trick a 5 year old wouldn't fall for, I'm just going to point out one thing. The second the Mazarite captain boarded Enterprise it was checkmate. Archer won. With him on board the Mazarites had no leverage. It was over. The fact that they let the Mazarites keep their weapons and let the whole drama unfold was ridiculous. Just once I'd like to see consequences to such incompetence.
The following are comments submitted by my readers.
I felt this episode was quite terrible. It tried to be too much, and in the process was ultimately nothing. Had the writers not banked so much in the knee-slapping hilarity of masterwork, "Photons be Free", we could have had a decent story. I guess we had to get to holo-rights soon or later. Since we're six episodes away from no more voyager, this would be far to much later. Better time would have been spent on the doctor logging time in the holodeck for his first sexual experience, or medical breakthough. Two hyposprays down....way down.
I think this episode portrays Tuvok's legal skills (and anyone else who assisted) very poorly if they could not even mention Data's case in TNG: The Measure of a Man. It seems as though referencing that case would be an extremely obvious and effective tactic.
No matter what you think of this episode, you have to love Tulok's evil Vulcan goatee. Nice nod to TOS.
Same flaw as in Measure of a Man: even if the Doctor was ruled not to have rights, then Starfleet would own the rights because they own the Doctor. There is no way for the publisher to win.
Very interesting watching this episode in January 2023, six+ months into the popular rise of AI generated art (Midjourney and Dall-E etc) and a few weeks/ months into the popularity of AI ChatGPT for writing. The issues feel more relevant now than perhaps possible to reviewers in the past - and it was impressive to me how well the episode navigated them and balanced with both humor and an array of turns that all felt true to the characters.
Also found it funny that the “live view” of Earth was ultra famous 1970s photo The Blue Marble.