The Xindi

DVD, Enterprise S3 (The Xindi)

Season 3 begins strongly with a new urgency, a defined purpose, and the crew itching to get on with their mission to find the race who attacked Earth, but we discover it's been six weeks since the end of Season 2, and tempers are a little frayed. Actually it's surprising how mild-mannered all those on board are most of the time. We only see Captain Archer get a little hot under the collar at Malcolm, petulantly going over what's gone down and the situation they're in when Reed suggests the slim lead they have isn't trustworthy. When we see the Mess Hall and other people around the ship they seem to be chatting amicably, not looking pressured or steamed up or even worried, but since it had been so long, perhaps they'd let go of their tension after a week or two and had almost come to expect nothing was going to happen. If they did, they were in for a shock in this episode as Berman and Braga throw almost everything they've got into this 'reboot' of the series.

Technically, it's not a reboot, it continues the story left at the end of last season, but the essence of Trek-ishness has all but been abandoned in favour of a no-holds-barred action sci-fi series. I don't say that to criticise the new direction because Season 2 presented a series in need of a solid purpose: aimless exploration didn't cut it any more, or at least the style of stories they were doing then were a collection of hits and misses, an uneven experience when you never knew from week to week what you were going to get. Now they set out their stall and it seems to follow the style of the best episode of Season 2, 'Regeneration,' for exciting, rolling action and dramatic tension. The worst episodes of last season ambled along without pace or vitality, but 'The Xindi' never wastes a second. Okay, this is 'Enterprise' so there's got to be some negatives: they make the same mistake of getting Trip and T'Pol in underwear that they got flak for in the pilot. That time it was decontamination, now it's Vulcan neuropressure, but the result's the same.

I suppose it fit, in that this was like a second pilot for the series, and they were repeating a winning formula that had somehow got lost in an attempt to be 'true' to what Trek was supposed to be. But it was always full of action and adventure, and I didn't feel myself wishing for a staff conference. Archer tells them what's going to happen, and the crew obeys. Simple. It was great to see the characters again, even if Hoshi and especially Travis remain relegated to minor inconsequential roles. Hoshi at least got the humorous and enjoyable scene in the Mess, where all four MACO's leap to their feet at her approach… well, at that point I thought it was because she was a woman, but we later see there are female MACOs too, so maybe it was because she was one of the bridge crew. We get our introduction to Major Hayes and some of his men, and Hoshi gets to play her card, impressing the soldiers. It's not an essential scene, but it's an example of the character-building moments that were necessary, while not wasting a moment.

Not wasting time seemed to be the motto of this story, as we get a visit to an alien mining world; a double-crossing; escape attempts; full-on phaser battles; and an impression that danger is around every corner. The anomaly in the cargo bay was a pertinent reminder of the Expanse's unknown properties, which could have been forgotten in all the excitement of tracking down a Xindi miner and the ensuing adventure.Trip appears to spend about as much time around the engines as Archer does sitting in his command chair, but actually we don't see him stripping off the platinum needed for trade, so his 'work' is behind the scenes. Likewise, Archer makes very clear he's not going to be spending a lot of time sitting around now that he's got an urgent mission to accomplish. As we're reminded in the teaser, he and Trip aren't going to be tiptoeing around.

But as robust as his actions are, he hasn't lost all perspective, he's still the Starfleet Captain we know. He shows concern at the mining chief's unnecessary violence of removing the Xindi's finger to give to him, and instead of coming down hard on the guy when they do meet him, he crouches down to his level, not happy about the way he's been treated. In the same vein I suspect he never intended to leave the guy behind, even when he was apparently going without him, he was just trying to rattle him to get the promised co-ordinates of the Xindi homeworld. That left a mystery when we discover the place has been decimated into a rubble field for 120 years, so why are the Xindi after Earth for its destruction in the future? It leaves plenty of questions and makes you want to get right in to the next episode, an important change to the format of the series.

For we'd had three-parters, six-parters, and even 9-parters, but for the first time ever we were going to experience a season-long narrative, never before attempted on Trek. 'DS9' had come closest with its war arc, but not every episode was tied into the ongoing plot, whereas this was. Everything about this first part screams attention to detail, money well spent, and a loud thumping of the chest: "Look at me!" With viewer numbers dropping off before, the makers weren't going to tiptoe around any more than Archer was. The fate of the series was at stake, even more important than planet Earth! So we're back to the edginess of Season 1, with episodes like 'Fight or Flight' and 'Strange New World' where it was enough to be in the galaxy at large for threatening possibilities. Somehow that impression had been squandered, lost and turned into a relatively safe, almost banal atmosphere. No more: now we have sickly aliens trying to do deals; his Bane-like (from the new Batman film), henchmen with their breathing masks and frame-filling forms; severed fingers; Archer crawling through excrement; dingy alien prison camps; people getting down and dirty; and rough, tough miners. No more Mr. Nice Enterprise!

It did strike me as odd that the NX-01 had been travelling in the Expanse for six weeks. I wondered what the crew had been up to in that time, and maybe the boredom was what had lowered the tension levels on deck? Even more so for the MACOs, as they could hardly run around corridors doing military exercises while they waited for an opportunity to use their skills. That also brings up the point about how they hadn't bumped into Hoshi in a month and a half! Maybe they kept themselves locked away? If so, they must have been coming out of hibernation when they visited the Mess Hall. Unless it just happened that Hoshi's shifts never coincided with their walkabouts? We know what T'Pol was doing all that time: choosing new outfits and getting her hair done… Trip had both loosened up (he's no longer on a constant edge, back to his old, jokey self), but also more volatile (the way he slams the Xindi against the wall). He can be forgiven for his temper thanks to not sleeping, and that was a brilliant moment when we see a nightmare of his in which his sister, Elizabeth, dies in the Xindi attack on Earth, giving this action episode a bit of heart.

One of the biggest changes, although it wasn't far from the original, was the remix of the theme music. I wasn't sold on it, but I did notice it felt much more upbeat and optimistic, in contrast to what was going on in the story. It was almost a siren call telling us everything was going to be alright and that there would come a day when such bright and cheery music would suit the series, but it was not this day. It wasn't a big thing, but I would almost have expected them to do a thematically grimier variation than a more uplifting, jolly beat. I can't complain about the fantastic incidental music, which emulated that throb of anticipation from 'Regeneration,' and the weight of threat. I'm not saying this episode was 'Regeneration,' it wasn't, but it carried off the hallmarks to a good degree, making it much more of a thrill ride than a cerebral challenge.

The other major change was the addition of two little words to the title: 'Enterprise' was now 'Star Trek: Enterprise' in a desperate attempt to bring in those Trekkers who'd abandoned the series. But turning it into less of a Trek show, while simultaneously trying to draw attention to its ancestry, sent a mixed message, showing that even though the will was there to turn the series around and make it more appealing, they were in two minds about the direction. I certainly wasn't against it being changed to 'Star Trek: Enterprise' - if anything I was worried when the series started that leaving off the long-established prefix meant they planned to move away from the clean-cut moral style of the other series' while utilising the universe for their own enjoyment (cough–'StarTrekXI'–cough). But once I'd seen the opening episode I didn't mind, and in a way, it might have been better to let the series keep its original identity and title as it was a sign of giving in, of a series that had failed. Ultimately the change was probably a good thing when you consider how Trek-filled it became in Season 4.

Major Hayes and his MACOs get their time in the limelight, much to the evident displeasure of Reed, who at this stage is still on speaking terms with the force that has come aboard to usurp his security team's purpose. Despite this, it's Trip that accompanies the Captain to the mining facility. Reed and Hayes play the strains of the seeds of dissent to come, in front of T'Pol, when Hayes wants to go on a rescue mission without him. Reed, however, is in command overall, so there's a mixed team (in more ways than one - it looked like the token woman had messed up, but then she does some cool moves with a cattle prod/night stick and shows just what the MACOs are made of!), and a thrilling rescue, if less precise than you'd expect if it had been down to Reed and his team. We even get a fancy sniper take-down from one of the soldiers, so the military presence is strongly in evidence. I loved their patchy, paint-spill design uniforms, so different from the usual pristine, blue jumpsuits of Starfleet. So the MACOs made a good first impression, although I didn't really expect them to have such an impact on the first episode, but it was all part of the kitchen sink approach they took to this opening story.

The Expanse is clearly not uninhabited, which is a relief considering this was the space we'd be exploring for the foreseeable future, but there could be all kinds of aliens in here. In a way, I really wanted the mining chief and his guards to have been an established Trek race like Letheans or Gorn, but I can see how that might have been a distraction from the story, and it wasn't needed, just something that would have taken things up another notch. As it was, the design was great and they certainly were imposing, as was the environment - the old cave set never looked so different! I thought I saw some green Benzites in among the various half-seen mining slaves, but whether that was an intentional reference or not, I couldn't tell. It was enough that this was a place full of ne'er-do-wells. Another shift away from the Trek-ness we might have got, was that Archer didn't even consider leading a prison rescue - he didn't have the time or inclination, it was all about getting the next clue.

If the moralistic side of it was missing, the links to previous roles were many, thanks to the impressive cast list. Scott MacDonald was back playing another reptilian character (Dolim), after Tosk on 'DS9,' Tucker Smallwood, Rick Worthy, Randy Oglesby, Daniel Dae Kim, Richard Lineback were all known for previous Trek roles. Even Steven Culp (Hayes), had been aboard an Enterprise before when he was cut from the theatrical version of 'Star Trek Nemesis' (he took over as First Officer of the '-E'). Amazingly, Stephen McHattie as the mining chief had played Senator Vreenak on 'DS9,' the complete opposite of the wheezing, slimy character here! Was it a good idea to give away all the Xindi races at once? Well, if it was designed to draw the viewer in and want to come back for more then it was a triumph. The Xindi council scenes showed just what the series was capable of with full-CGI characters in the Insectoids and Aquatics, and we even got alien language and subtitles, which always deepens the alien feel. They were probably trying to do the unexpected, so instead of gradually revealing each part of the Xindi collection, they throw them all out there for us to wonder over, details still to be filled in. For now, it was enough to see this varied collection of beings, subtly connected through the pimpled lines on their cheeks, and another supreme job from Michael Westmore and his team.

Even the ship looked majestic, gliding across frame, filling our vision with its wide saucer, shuttlpods also making an appearance (I wanted to see them dock at emergency speed after the rescue and see it from the inside with people scrambling out as the ship comes under fire, but I can't complain). In every department this production smelt of new drive and excitement, embracing the challenge laid down to regroup, both from the character's view and the producers of the show, seize the audience, and make them come back, make them enthuse and wonder and get excited about 'Star Trek' again. It succeeded in its goal, forming a tight, well-scripted story that brings in many pieces, but never gets bogged down, with sets of high production value, CGI that was confident, and well-used characters in a messy, dirty, dangerous, rough region. But whether they could keep this breakneck speed and intention rolling the whole season, is the question looming large… The one other piece of trivia for this episode is that it's the only title ever to begin with an 'X.'

***