The Crossing

DVD, Enterprise S2 (The Crossing)

This was slightly better than I remembered it. Faint praise perhaps, but I certainly appreciated the visual effects more. Though CGI people at that stage of the series still didn't move realistically enough, even with the bulk of EVA suits to cover their movements, they kept Archer, Trip and Reed mostly static in those long shots. The other effects, the whale-like maw of the vast ship, the way the entities went into someone's head blue, and came out with an orange glow as a visual representation of that person's consciousness being removed, and the way they floated out with a brief template of that person's face, were all very good, as was the interior of the alien ship, both seen by the Landing Party or through the windows.

The only things that had stayed in my head (makes it sound like one of those creatures!), were that energy beings took over bodies, that I didn't think much of the EVA suit CGI, and… Hoshi kicking someone's face in! I think I felt more ambivalent towards the episode on first viewing because I was expecting some strong alternate character acting, but Trip and the others only portray more vacant versions of themselves. When I think back to so many episodes in which people were taken over or, for whatever reason, exhibited different characters to their norm, the performances in this variation seem weak, but now I see it as more of a choice by the writers, and that that blankness was what they intended the actors to play.

Some have greater variation to their usual characters, Reed in particular becomes surly and lecherous. You'd think the crew would instantly notice his bizarre and sexist behaviour, but the female crewmembers he talks to just frown slightly and stare into space. Either this means they've learnt to ignore Reed because he's so uninteresting to them, or this isn't strange behaviour for him - either way it doesn't look good for him! I didn't feel T'Pol should have shown any sign of fear or anxiety at his presence, for one thing she would have greater physical strength than him, and being a Vulcan she should have retained her coolness and equanimity, even more at such a moment. It is that mental strength, even in the face of a threatening situation, that makes Vulcans so attractive and distinctive, but it's another pointer to the unorthodox way of playing them that unfortunately permeated the series. I keep mentioning it, episode after episode when it annoys me, but that's because I also watch the older films and TV episodes and know which version of the race I prefer!

The main things that made me rethink my position on the episode were that I realised, as Archer says, that this is the first time Starfleet has encountered non-corporeal beings, and that Dr. Phlox is allowed to be the hero. Now that I think about it, I wonder why the existence of non-corporeal beings didn't shake up Archer and the crew. They quickly accept the situation, and aside from Hoshi slipping back into her worried persona (she wears a different earpiece too, one that is more stream-lined and less Uhura), no one seems the slightest bit rattled at the prospect of 'ghosts' roaming around zapping into people's brains and sending them off into the ether! That's not quite true, there are some fast-moving scenes where Reed or Mayweather try and escape the wisps, which injected panic and emotion into the mostly slow and emotionless story. Did they really think they could escape something that breezes through doors as if they aren't there? Actually Travis was successful and thanks to him they learn the catwalk is a safe haven. He's actually allowed off his seat on the bridge, which is a nice surprise, even doing his own stunt when Trip knocks him flying!

The catwalk was a brilliant invention so I was so pleased to see it used again, since on these kinds of series they often reveal some location and then never explore it beyond the needs of one episode (e.g: the gravity sweet spot, though in that case we wouldn't have to wait much longer). It looks as good as ever, and this time we get to see someone knocked clean over the railings as alien Trip runs along the length of it to escape, pushing people out of the way in his headlong dash. I loved the shot of him standing in the background with his face partially obscured by grating - an effective way of showing he was taken. We also see the inside of the engine struts which lead up to the catwalk (when Travis escapes a wisp), and the familiar open lift in Engineering appeared to rise up from a lower level which I don't remember seeing before.

Phlox' troubles with the crew, whether it was fighting Hoshi, holding T'Pol (who recovers extremely quickly from her ordeal - she staggers away from the doc, but by the time she's reporting to Archer she's walking normally!), or fighting Trip when trying to release the gas, all show his confidence and workmanlike sense of duty, even though such things are out of his usual course of expertise, and give us a chance to see his character come through, which he doesn't get if he's stuck in sickbay all the time. Trip would repay Phlox in the much later episode 'In A Mirror, Darkly' as I remember the alternate versions of them have a fight in a Jefferies tube or something. It's not the last time Phlox would be saving the ship and moving round a deserted Enterprise, as he would do the same kind of thing in 'Doctor's Orders'. 'The Catwalk' episode was also similar, with someone creeping about the empty ship.

When you aren't expecting much you tend to get more out of an episode and notice the good points you might have missed before, so while I would have preferred a chilling episode in which people being taken over at random causes the crew to fall apart in paranoia, I can accept this as a different kind of story. It doesn't stop me from wishing for certain things: a seething mass of the wisps at the bottom of the strut entrance to the catwalk would have been more scary, and would have made T'Pol seem more heroic if she strode into their midst for her experiment, however, there were occasional creepy bits, the best being Hoshi thrashing about on the floor like a wild animal until Phlox injects her. We never did find the answer to Hoshi's question: why didn't the entities take over everyone at once and be sure of capturing the ship? Perhaps they feared they wouldn't be able to operate the NX-01 and so wanted to get a better idea of these lifeforms before proceeding with the takeover. It does make them seem rather dithery and ineffectual, which makes me question their desire to save themselves and their fellow entities - they spend time trying out food when they should be taking over!

The episode could have done with a coda in which T'Pol suggests precautions to take in case of future encounters with non-corporeal beings, and Archer wondering if they should have blown up the alien ship like that as there's no moral side to the story to give it more depth. For that matter we never found out much about the entities, such as what was floating around holding the possessed crewmember's consciousness when the entity was in a body? And how could Archer be sure that gassing the bodies of the crew would return their consciousnesses to them? They might have been stuck out floating for evermore. Such entities as these automatically bring to mind the Organians, but we wouldn't be seeing them for quite a while.

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