Judgment

DVD, Enterprise S2 (Judgment)

The important thing to keep in mind when creating a story is the story, as well as the characters and the journey they go on, not seeing how many names and references can be squeezed in that would be familiar to the viewer. When I first watched this I felt it was merely a collection of stuff, and my already high expectations at JG Hertzler returning to Trek, and the fact it was a Klingon episode, were dashed. It's not fair to compare the film series to the TV versions, the budget was far lower, yet the nature of the story, its reliance on the Klingon legal system, taken from 'Star Trek VI' make such comparisons inevitable.

Seeing this years later, my expectations severely lowered, I noticed things that made edged the episode up in my estimation. Before, I found Kolos the Klingon advocate played by Hertzler, a far weaker character than his best role as Martok on 'DS9,' but this time round I wasn't comparing the roles, instead admiring the detailed makeup and revelling in the fact that he was so different. Scenes in which he talks of the way things used to be, when honour was more important, justice more achievable, made him a sympathetic character, even more so when he chooses to take his punishment like a Klingon, serve a year in Rura Penthe, planning to return to try and change things as a vindicated man. His comment asking if Archer thought all Klingons were soldiers is directed just as much at the audience. There have been vague suggestions of other castes in the Klingon society, but so rarely do we hear of them that the warriors became the default view of the Klingon. Indeed, Klingon Warrior sounds more appropriate than stating 'Klingon' because we're so used to that side of them, so it's fascinating to hear him talk a little about the other sides.

I think I remember reading they were thinking of bringing Kolos back in future episodes, perhaps in a year's time, but for good or ill, with the advent of the new direction of Season 3, the growing brushes with the Empire were halted, one of the few parts of the series that deserved to be continually explored. Don't misunderstand me, this isn't on a par with the earlier Klingon story this season, 'Marauders', and I had hopes that more of Archer's history with the race would be dug up at his tribunal. As it stands there was a thrill to hear them refer back to the pilot, and the way Archer saved their society. It would have been useful if they had addressed the first contact, which we know was supposed to have set off years of animosity, yet seemed to have little bearing on the way the race reacted to humanity - as Kolos notes, they were pretty much without honour, bullies and loose of moral code at that time.

The episode could never be accused of holding back in the mythology stakes. Along with the major visits to both the Klingon court with all the trimmings therein, and the hostile penal planet Rura Penthe (both created for 'Star Trek VI'), we get Captain Duras, a no-good Klingon who commanded the Bortas, is apparently the son of one Toral (if I heard correctly), and worked in the Ty'Gokor system. They really spilled their continuity/reference guts out all over this episode! There's little doubt that this Duras is an ancestor of the despicable traitor of the same name in 'TNG' and that his demotion will be a sore point he'll hold against Archer. There are also painstiks and Targ meat, a reference to some Charter of Koloth, long before the famed 'TOS'/'DS9' Klingon of that name was born, and probably even more.

The outside of Rura Penthe looked great, as did the D5 Battlecruiser Duras commanded in the confrontation with the NX-01. The crew's absence from most of the episode is noticeable, although T'Pol shows her great loyalty for Archer by suggesting she may have to personally 'encourage' one of her Klingon contacts to enable all channels of helping her Captain - quite a sacrifice if she'd have had to go through with such a thing, though it seems she didn't have to. The inside of the penal colony wasn't as realistic, mainly because my eye tends to get drawn to the background aliens who aren't laying in to their pickaxing enough to sell it. It also seems far too easy for Reed to just walk off and find Archer and makes the place seem tiny compared with the version seen in the film. Oops, I shouldn't mention the film!

John Vickery was another recognisable name from several other Trek roles, and judging from the eyes I would guess he played Prosecutor Orok, a suitably toothy and sneering individual. The arc of a man who is past it, being inspired to stand up and be counted again after years of living in inaction, is a good one, but it had been done before. There was a similar plot in the Cardassian trial episode 'Tribunal' ('DS9'), which was better through having more character and connection to what was happening. The advocate in that was very different, long being cowed into complete submission so that he actually enjoyed his work, but that shows how terrible times were on Cardassia. As bad as things in the Klingon Empire are in the 22nd Century, they still aren't the police state of that time and place.

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