Impulse

DVD, Enterprise S3 (Impulse)

One of the most anticipated episodes of Season 3 for me, which may explain why I was underwhelmed when I first saw it. I still looked forward to seeing it again, and I rate it as one of the best so far, up there with the first two episodes. The reason I was somewhat disappointed on first viewing was because I thought it was going to be a truly great, classic episode, and it turned out to be on a par with other Season 3 episodes. I think it was the haunted house idea, and thinking how great it would be to have a ship full of zombie Vulcans Archer and his Landing Party have to escape. I imagined something like 'Empok Nor,' and there is a similar horror tone with both of them, but there wasn't enough work on the true horror of the story: that of T'Pol becoming one of the infected. They do deal with it, and it remains the most cliffhanging part of the story as we wait for her to turn and become unmanageable, but when it comes to it Archer simply stuns her and can carry her to safety. I needed more than that. I was thinking as I watched, how cool it would be if T'Pol escaped them and ran off to join her Vulcan brethren, leading Archer to have to go back for her as Picard did for Data in 'First Contact.'

There were parallels with that film and this episode, none more so than the rabid Vulcans being most Borg-like in that they shuffle along and attack, though they didn't have the menace of purpose or the immediate danger of assimilation in close proximity. The reason the episode didn't blow me away was because of, as ever, the way Vulcans are portrayed. Now I know anything inconsistent can be laid at the door of Trellium-D which had affected them mentally and physically, but I wanted them to be fully fighting fit, so that T'Pol needed two men to hold her down, or that Archer would be lifted into the air (as we saw in 'Fusion'). At least T'Pol shows some sign of superior physical prowess, both in the moment she shoves Reed away from the engineering console and in the shocking and extremely brief teaser, Jolene Blalock completely off her head, acting her Vulcan socks off. Her cries of 'murderers!' recalled Spock in an out-of-his-head moment, or Bones when he was injected with drugs - a stunning opening and brilliantly done so you go back in time and spend the episode waiting for her to go crazy, like a time bomb!

As I said, though, Archer manages to fend off Vulcans several times with his bare hands, and keeps T'Pol in check. My favourite moments were in the steady decline of her faculties until she's raving like the drugged up Trip in 'Strange New World.' That fantastic Season 1 episode tops this, and was a reverse of the situation, with T'Pol the one least affected and the humans turning paranoid and delusional. I think they needed to play up her association with this Vulcan ship, the Seleya (named for the mount upon which Spock returned to his body in 'Star Trek III'), the closest we get is when she recognises an engineer that's been strapped down. This was one episode when emotional considerations could have come into play because T'Pol was becoming more uncontrolled in that area. I would have liked to see her weep for her former days and comrades aboard this ship, before she turned on Archer. Maybe Blalock wasn't one of the top tier of Trek actresses, but she may well have been able to pull it off.

There's some satisfying, and indeed, most logical continuity involving the Vulcan ship. Turns out, not only was it T'Pol's former posting pre-consulate on Earth, but that it was the vessel the other Vulcan ship was looking for when it got pulled into the Expanse and sent back footage of its crew killing each other. There's another ominous sign that even if you survive entry into this Expanse, you can't get out, setting up the clever conclusion to that problem: if you can't take the ship out of the Expanse… I'd have thought Archer and his men would have been more prepared for the Vulcans: as T'Pol says, we know what happened to that ship, so it may have been wise to take more soldiers. The token MACO looked ripe for an early grave, so it's either to his credit that he survived, or more likely, the style of the series wherein almost nobody dies, ever. Partly I think this was due to a much smaller crew complement than later-set series', but also they may have restricted deaths to make any fatality have more impact. Unfortunately it didn't work out that way and too often the series appeared weak and lacking in tension.

Tension, dramatic or otherwise, was achieved fairly well in this one. Though the Vulcans weren't given the time or attention to creep up, and were used mainly in shock moments, plunging from the ceiling or out of dark recesses, the lighting assisted in this plan, though the flickering may have been overdone. It certainly improved on most previous scare episodes in terms of the relentless pace and the details in both lighting and sets, but as usual, we don't really get a feel for a Vulcan ship on the same level as we do the NX-01. That's because they had the big budget to spend on the main ship of the series, and the Seleya was only a ship of the week, so the lighting helped them get around the lack of detail. Even so, they gave it a suitably three-dimensional feel, with Archer and his team climbing up out of holes, crawling down into others, and in the mightily impressive Bridge of Khazad-Dum sequence from 'The Fellowship of The Ring,' they achieve a sense of scale as Archer and the others cross a deep ravine, gouged out by asteroids, across a narrow plank.

The effects work of this episode were absolutely phenomenal. We've seen asteroid fields as far back as 'TNG,' and even a Runabout dodging about inside one on 'DS9' ('Treachery, Faith and The Great River'), but this was film quality. I almost cheered when Trip's shuttlepod came tearing through the asteroids to blast Archer's free of the ship! The asteroids looked terrific, and the zipping in and out of the shuttlepods was pure 'Star Wars.' It's safe to say I was impressed! The music was a great help, with, at first, a very 'Matrix' style soundtrack, turning into straight horror as the episode progressed. There was even time for a minor B-story for Travis and Trip as they recreate a similar moment from another Season 1 tale ('Breaking The Ice'), by landing a shuttlepod on one of the larger asteroids to collect samples. This may be the only time we see an anomaly affecting something off ship, as it ripples through the walls of the rocky landscape and they have to scarper.

There are fun little links back to the series before it became militaristic, with Trip of all people being the man to crave a return to such delights as film night. It's not that he professes a desire to leave the Xindi in peace and return to exploration, but he's seen how low crew morale is and wants to bolster it. It was such a relief to see the old Trip back before he became so hard-edged in his wish to avenge the death of his sister. Archer isn't quite so easily unfocused, which is why he misses that the crew's spirits are low: a sign the mission has overtaken his natural instincts, despite his later (slightly cliched, but essential to let us know he hasn't yet crossed the line), assertion that he hasn't lost his humanity to save humanity. T'Pol is surprisingly candid about her race, the buried emotions they keep repressed, and their violent history, but that's another scene we can chalk up to the Trellium's effect on her, making her more unrestrained and open.

The harsh result of the episode is finding out that they can't stop the anomalies by using Trellium-D until Phlox finds a way to immunise T'Pol against its effects. Her selfless wish to be left on the nearest habitable planet is the Trellium talking again, and I laughed in sympathy that she could think Archer would leave any one of his crew behind. There's even a tricksy sting in the tail right at the end when we think the horror's all over, but it turns into a nightmare of T'Pol's. It's another reminder that this is no more Mr. Nice Trek and you never know what's coming, just as the Xindi should't be too secure in their beds, neither should we, the audience.

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