Babel One

DVD, Enterprise S4 (Babel One)

Now this is more like it! Using the familiar pieces of the Trek universe to craft a tale that makes sense with the various races used, ingeniously bringing in the Romulans, excellent misdirection (as well as some good direction, too - those low shots of the phase pistol battles on the NX-01, or the shot where the camera pivots round and down from Trip in Engineering were nifty!), Jeffrey Combs, more steps towards the founding of the Federation… there isn't much more you could want. Begin at the beginning: like the previous episode, I was partially taken in by the opening (post teaser, this time), with Hoshi shouting complaints at the Captain. I sensed something wasn't quite right as this was out of character, and I was even beginning to feel my heart sink as I thought they'd got Hoshi's character all wrong… until it turns around at the end and we realise she's helping Archer prepare for a delegation of Tellarites, who love nothing more than to complain! It was funny, it was cute, it got me, and it was a good way to open an episode, contrasting with the devastation of Shran's bridge in the teaser even more.

If the opening worked well, I must also praise the conclusion: not only did it bring misdirection to a head on a grand scale, at quite the opposite end of Archer and Hoshi's little discussion, with a beautiful, spine-tingling shot as we pull out from what appeared to be the bridge of the Romulan vessel, to reveal they're actually on Romulus itself, the famous circular city we'd later see in 'Star Trek Nemesis.' It was like the end of 'DS9' where the final shot pulls away from the station, and had a similar kind of awe to it. The music accompanying the moment didn't really fit, being too noisy and unsubtle, so that may have been a weak part of the episode, but there's too much good stuff to complain about something minor like that. And if minor details you want, there are plenty to devour: for a start, post attack on Shran's wrecked vessel, the Kumari, the voice of the computer sounded very much like Linda Park… Shran isn't exactly a small detail, but it's always a pleasure to have him back, this time bringing Talas, his girlfriend along, only the third Andorian to appear in more than one episode (Shran's subordinate, Tholos, was in his first two episodes). Reed's joke about the crew of the drone ship probably breathing fluorine may have been a reference of the Tholians; Tellarites return, having bypassed Season Three, (though seen in 'Borderland'); the diplomatic meeting is to be held at neutral planet Babel, later the site of an important conference in 'TOS,' and of course, the Romulans return properly after making their series debut at the end of 'Kir'Shara'!

How were they to do that? It would violate sacred canon to have Romulans show themselves on the galactic stage. Ah, but it wouldn't if they weren't seen (the way around it in the NX-01's previous encounter in 'Minefield,' an event that T'Pol reminds Archer of). This created a source of tension in the moment Trip and Malcolm get to the bridge of their ship, as you think they're about to stumble on a room full of Romulans. Even if they had, it could easily be explained away through them being mind-sifted or that they promised not to tell, since they'd already seen the Ferengi and Borg without hurting canon. So clever that it was actually a drone vessel (controlled by a mysteriously white-skinned pilot, though I don't think I noticed that fact on original viewing). It's perhaps not so amazing as it was at the time, but still an expertly designed surprise, and a logical development for a people well known for pulling the strings of puppets. The look of the machine was also impressive, like all the great ship designs it has the effect of making you think of something from the natural world, in this case some kind of sea creature or insect. Nippy little thing, too, as shown by the way Trip and Reed were thrown around. Not sure why they thought the MACOs should be withdrawn to safety first, as their mission was to protect the senior officers, not bolt back to the ship at the first sign of trouble, but it's just a storytelling device really, we wouldn't expect the episode to be about two MACOs rather than the Chief Engineer and Security Chief!

The pair work well together, and have done since Season 1 when they were stuck in a shuttlepod ('Shuttlepod One,' in fact), so it's surprising they weren't developed more as a couple of mates. But that's something the series undoubtedly fell down on, and that Manny Coto was taking strides to improve upon. No wonder people consider Season 4 to be better written, as all it took was more in the way of scenes for people to get to know each other, or go through things together. It makes sense that Hoshi would tutor Archer on the best way to interact with Tellarites, just as it makes sense Reed would be the one to investigate an unknown hostile ship - Archer isn't immediately jumping ship and taking the mission himself. Then again, he has plenty to keep his hands full after winding up with a ship full of Tellarites and Andorians, both of whom vehemently suspect betrayal of the other, and have fast flowing hatred just beneath the skin. A good job by the Captain in a role he's not as familiar with as later Trek Captains: the diplomat. I'm not sure (nor have I ever been!), whether friendship with Shran makes his life easier, or more difficult! Not to say he hasn't had his share of such outings - as far back as Season 1's 'Cold Front' he was transporting delegates, though since the Xindi arc there hasn't been a lot of call for sensitive missions like this. But here we are, coming to the point of the series: preparing the ground for the Federation to come into existence.

A fine continuation of that theme, here. Despite differences, Archer keeps things together, humans seen as this other species that's new to the high table of the galaxy's politics, and as a result, impartial, especially since recent events on Vulcan (is T'Pol acting more reserved since then, or is that my imagination?). You can see, even from this smaller field of a trade dispute, that Archer and those like him, in spite of the opposition and passions of the various races, are going to be successful in getting the various main species together, and it only makes the tragedy of the series' early cancellation all the more devastating when episodes such as these showed such promise for the future! Who knows how the franchise would have panned out if 'Enterprise' had survived to show the Romulan War and the subsequent alliances leading to the Federation: that optimistic outlook that went missing in Season 3 was coming back in spades. Not that the Romulans were going to do anything to help. I wonder why they wear the uniforms of 'Nemesis,' or for that matter have V-shaped foreheads?

The one could be explained away as the 'later' film uniforms returning to a two hundred-year-old fashion (a stretch I admit, but Romulans have never been the snappiest of dressers!), perhaps for reasons of nostalgia - this could also explain another link, which I believe goes unspoken in this episode: Brian Thompson's Romulan leader is Admiral Valdore, for whom the 'later' film named at least one ship. Amazingly brilliant connectivity to the film series, though it's in the same annoyingly minor or unspoken category as the USS Archer being seen as one of the Starfleet starship names in Stellar Cartography in that film - it's not enough, they should have shown a flashback to 'Enterprise' or had Picard look up something Archer did, it would have been the ideal way to join the two remaining arms of the franchise together instead of almost ignoring them, except for these tiny references. Look, 'Nemesis' may have been one of the least satisfying Trek films, but that doesn't mean it's not part of the franchise, and I can only see that linking film and TV sides together would have benefited both: look at the Defiant cameo in 'First Contact,' it's fantastic! But in those days they were trying not to confuse the issue, perhaps not taking enough confidence in their productions. But this is all with hindsight and I'm getting off track here, 'Nemesis' is a review in itself!

My point was that this Valdore is important enough to be remembered, and though I don't think he did much particularly to go down in history (short of delaying the Babel conference), I suspect he would have become a recurring character in future seasons, a kind of unseen nemesis, since they'd already got rid of Silik and the Suliban. There's a point: maybe the reason the Romulans have uniforms we've seen worn in the future is because they were given them by their own Future Guy, and the Temporal Cold War is not as finished as we thought? Not much of a guy, though, if all he could muster were some checked uniforms when the Suliban were gifted all those genetic powers! Perhaps the Temporal Cold War theory has something to do with the Romulans' future forehead look, too? In 'TOS' they had smooth foreheads, as I've already discussed at the end of the 'Kir'Shara' review, and yet in 'Star Trek XI,' Nero, and the Romulans from the late 24th Century had smoothies too, so it could either be a genetic modification, or there are breeds of the race that have more pronounced V-heads than others. I could see the Romulans breeding those with a V-head specifically as a sign of superiority to flatheads, as that would be just the kind of snobbish thing they'd do. But equally, the Klingon explanation to come this season could work for them, too.

Who to play the return of one of the most important races of Trek? No, not Jeffrey Combs, although it wouldn't have been the first time he'd played more than one role at a time (still amazing he could do Brunt and Weyoun in the same episode!). No, they brought back a less familiar, but still well-used face: Brian Thompson. He plays the Admiral, Valdore, but it's interesting to note that his Trek association stretches back to Season 2 of 'TNG' when he played Klag the Klingon, then another of the race in 'Generations,' and also a couple of roles in 'DS9,' the last of which, a Jem'Hadar in Season 4's 'To The Death,' was nine years before this episode! J. Michael Flynn, the actor playing the engineer or scientist who keeps getting badgered to fix the ship, Nijil (I want him to be a Romulan called Nigel!), had also appeared before, in a 'TNG' and an 'Enterprise' Season 1 episode ('Fallen Hero'), so the Trek repertory company idea had not been altogether lost. And who could forget Lee Arenberg, so successful as a Ferengi in 'TNG' and 'DS9,' (and was also in a 'Voyager'), as the Tellarite ambassador, Gral (oddly, this was also the name of his first role in 'The Nagus' - I wonder if that was intentional or a bizarre coincidence?). So a fine cast had assembled for one of the best three-parters of the series, and it was exciting to see what would happen next!

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