Singularity

DVD, Enterprise S2 (Singularity)

If someone were to write a parody of 'Star Trek' I imagine it might come out something like this episode. Except it would be funnier. There are almost excessive levels of continuity references, whether they be the ship's encounters with Suliban, Mazarites or Risa, knowing in-jokes about the future in which Trip wants to include tactical displays on the armrests of the Captain's chair and Reed develops a ship-wide alert signal (Reed Alert!), Zefram Cochrane and the warp project, or the obsessive behaviour of the crew in general, all under the influence of the trinary star system's radiation. It's not even 'bad' Trek, it's just moderately enjoyable, derivative ideas that don't go far enough to slap the parody label on them, or enough to make much of an impact, leaving the only exciting moment up to the special effects, which I must say were suitably action-oriented after such a 'quiet' episode.

The ship flying through a storm of meteors, breaking up as they approach is very 'Star Wars' and, for once, shows the advantages of a small ship with it's responsive manoeuvrability. There are good scenes in there too, such as Malcolm and Trip pretty much coming to blows and having to be separated by the Captain, or a visit to many of the locations on the ship which we don't often see, including our first view of the galley. Though the performances are suitably eccentric they don't reveal much about the characters and nothing much happens to be too worried about, aside from Phlox planning to open Mayweather's brain up for observation, leading T'Pol to use a Vulcan nerve pinch on him.

T'Pol, supposedly unaffected by the radiation still behaves in an atypical Vulcan way; getting agitated, raising her voice when things go bad, and generally not exuding the cool confidence under extreme pressure that I suspect draws most people towards the race. This of course, can be put down to the radiation, and we can assume she was affected slightly though this isn't mentioned in dialogue. The only development to come out of the story is the Tactical Alert, though you wonder why, after so many attacks they've never thought of such a procedure before. Still, it's supposed to be a learning curve for the crew, it's just a shame it also seems to be a learning curve, and an uneven one at that, for the writers. If you want to see this episode done much better watch 'DS9' Season 1 episode 'Dramatis Personae'.

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