The Forge

DVD, Enterprise S4 (The Forge)

The second three-parter of the season opens enigmatically, and sets the stage for much of the season, I feel, in that it doesn't have much meaning for those who aren't already in the know - it appears they didn't have strong belief that the series could gain new viewers and so didn't need to explain things as much. Any Trekker would know the name of Surak, so that immediately tips us off that this is going to be a Vulcan story. Just as the previous story had revelled in the lore of the genetic supermen and the Orions, one of Trek's best known races come under the spotlight here, and in much the same style: many references are spun out of it, and though this is essentially a cross between murder mystery and Indiana Jones ride, the story takes precedence and the majority of these links are woven properly into the narrative. Maybe not the Sehlat, but why not, we've never seen one in live-action Trek before, so they ticked off another on the Trek 'bucket list' before the series died. I'm not going to go through and list all the connections and explain the references as it would take too long, but simply visiting Vulcan is an achievement in itself considering how few times this pillar of the Federation community had featured in previous series'.

This time we're on the surface of the planet, out in the desert with some excellently chosen location work to sell this alien world. Archer even has to wear a new desert jacket atop the standard Starfleet desert gear since it's too hot for him to take. But while Archer tracks down the mysterious Syrranites, those who apparently follow the true teachings of Surak, it's up to his crew to unravel the mystery of Who Killed Admiral Forrest? The Admiral had been an integral part of the series since it's beginning, often there to back Archer up from Earth in his decisions, a good commanding officer who listened and levelled with his man. They don't really give him an emotional sendoff, but there is a nice scene between Archer and Soval in the room on the Enterprise which holds the bodies of all the humans killed in the bombing of the United Earth Embassy on Vulcan. For a start it's interesting to see that's what Earth calls itself, which I believe we may have heard before in historical records, but never so openly, but it's the sign of how much relations have changed that gets you: Soval had long been an antagonist towards Archer, questioning him, irritating him and generally behaving in an un-Vulcan-like way, but now he sympathises - just imagine how Tuvok would have dealt with Archer. He would have striven for emotional control and his wisdom would have been more effective because of it. The difference is that Soval is a prime example of the Vulcans in this time period, but that was about to change.

The Vulcan's and their devious, emotional ways were one of the biggest mistakes of the series (as I've long harped on about), and at last the writers listened and began them on the path to the true Vulcan way in this episode. We still see angry Vulcans, grumpy Vulcans, Vulcans that chuckle, and Vulcans that are sad, and even a Syrranite displays too much emotion, but at least it was a start (and they're all of this generation, I suppose). What grabs you are the legends of the past being brought more to life here. We hear of those that walked beneath the raptor's wings (the Romulans), and we hear of the katra (soul), and not only that, but there's tell of Surak's katra itself, stored in a Syrranite mind. There's a mind meld which, unlike the new Trek films is given the respect such an event deserves (although I didn't think much of Trip's statement that he didn't care about poor Lieutenant Askwith's body, it was just his mind that was important to get the information on the bomber - or Phlox' going along with it without any qualms), the first Vulcan-to-human meld, perhaps? Arev, the mysterious man in the desert that looks a bit like Spock in 'The Motion Picture' when he followed the path of Kolinahr, was intriguing, so it was shame he had to die, but he passed on his important knowledge to Archer who starts to act like a Vulcan.

The mystery works, but there's also a greater sense of the team working together, it's not all Archer doing something, even if he does go off on his task. There's a lovely little scene of the senior staff playing basketball together, and Phlox turning out to be the star player (who'd have guessed!), something which had been lacking since Season 2. Now there's time for the crew to hang out together and maybe have some fun, even though it is short-lived. There are also developments towards greater cooperation between the Vulcans and humans, this being the reason Forrest was at the embassy, so the formation of the Federation, at least in its groundwork, was being formulated. Just as in the 'DS9' two-parter in which Robert Foxworth played an errant Admiral intent on manipulating things his own way, you get the impression his Administrator V'Las is up to no good,even though it's his Chief Security Investigator who's revealed as the bomber, perhaps the reason they cast him? It wouldn't be logical for a Chief Investigator to be wearing those long flowing robes that so many of his race wear, unless his was more of a ceremonial post and he didn't get his hands dirty. Delegation's the answer!

It's also notable for two characters to discuss the traits of alien species, noting how most of the famous ones have a specific personality, but humans share a mix of them all. That's always been the way on Trek (sneaky Romulans, angry Klingons, serene Vulcans, etc), but you don't often hear it spoken of. Koss, T'Pol's husband is back (I can't recall, but surely he'll be killed?), to pass on the next piece of the puzzle in the form of an IDIC necklace which is actually a map, and then we're off on the mission. There's really not a lot to discuss about the episode, it's much more of an adventure in the mould of 'TOS' than an insightful observation of later Trek, no bad thing considering the deep connection to Trek lore. As I watched I was marvelling that something made in 2004 could follow a history (pre-history in this case), established in the 1960s, with elements added over the course of subsequent decades in TV and films. That's the great thing about Trek - it spans so long and so much, but could still produce stories using all that material. That's why we need more Trek set in the real universe, not alternate Abramsverses: there are almost infinite discoveries to be made and the excuse that it can't be done, it's too much of a headache to be done, is all undone by episodes like this. It may not be breaking new ground or telling a radically different story than we've ever seen before, but it uses the characters well and does a tidy job of setting up this new arc while pleasingly picking up things from both lore and this series' history (such as Soval's growing allegiance to humans). And it looks good. What's not to like?

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