Shuttlepod One

DVD, Enterprise S1 (Shuttlepod One)

I don't think this is the classic some people consider it, but it is a little jewel of originality in the first season, and something not often tried on the series, which preferred action to retrospection and this kind of character interaction, that was a preserve of the 24th century series'. A friendship begins, though I don't think it was touched on often, and was left in the dust by O'Brien/Bashir or Paris/Kim, in a similar vein. At least they tried.

There's quite a bit of humour, some interesting mentions (Superman being one, since 'Smallville' was its direct competition at the time!, and the fact Malcolm thinks science fiction is rubbish, for another!), I'm not sure but the 602 club might have been seen in Season Two.

The directing is amazing - to keep so many scenes visually interesting in such a cramped space, they must have loved the challenge, and certainly all involved rose to it. It's always fun to pair off a couple of characters and see them go at it, like bacteria in a petri dish, and they should have done this more often. An achievement considering the shuttlepod makes the Runabout and even the shuttles seem like a tennis court! I'm guessing the deleted scene where Trip tells a tale of taking Archer diving, was taken out for time because it was good otherwise.

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