Cold Front (2)

DVD, Enterprise S1 (Cold Front) (2)

My main observation about this one is that it was more important to the story of 'Enterprise' than it was a good episode, but I still get chills up the spine in certain scenes, namely when Daniels is discussing details of the future with Archer, when Silik does the same, and that final portentous shot of the seal on Daniels' Crew Quarters. When I think about it, I'm not very clear on why this room needed to be closed off - Archer suggests there could be other things in there like the Temporal Observatory device Daniels used to display the time stream, but if so why not go and have a gander? Archer's not bound by any Temporal Prime Directive, he doesn't even have the Prime Directive yet, so you'd think curiosity would get the better of him, especially if there were anything in there suitable to prove time travel possible to the sceptical Vulcans, and get one over on them! The story logic is that they had something to go back to, and with all the insubstantial, intangible signs and wonders of such a momentous intersection in time impossible to fully define and categorise, it helped to end the episode with a solid location, and a handy one that the ship can carry around with it for the writers to open up like Pandora's Box any time they wished. Still, it would have been useful to see what Starfleet's reaction was (through Admiral Forrest, of course), to all this bizarre knowledge and experiences, but if we'd had a concluding scene such as that it wouldn't have had the dramatic close that caps the episode so neatly.

They would revisit Daniels' Quarters at the end of the season, but the big draw of this episode, that I remember thinking when I first saw it, was that one day we'd know what had happened here. Ostensibly it was a laying down of the ground rules of the Temporal Cold War, setting up 'Crewman' Daniels as Archer's sometime aide from the 31st Century (he must have been aboard from the start of the mission, unless he transferred over at some point, because he's known by other crewmembers), while reiterating the veiled threat of Future Guy and his proxy in the 22nd Century, Silik the Suliban. I expected, way into the series, perhaps even the seventh season, we'd finally understand why Silik was instructed to prevent the cascade explosion that almost destroyed the NX-01, and what was really going on in episodes like this. To the detriment of the series we never did get all the answers because the series was cut short, and even if it hadn't been, they effectively ended the TCW at the beginning of Season 4. Unwisely, I feel, because although the real arc of the series was preparation for the founding of the Federation, the real, practical story that was much more in evidence until that final season, were the machinations of the TCW, it's just that it was poorly integrated into the series most of the time. The biggest development turned out to be the Xindi conflict, but that was essentially just a magnified version of this kind of episode, stretched across an entire season, but not really going in-depth on the TCW as it should have, either.

What the series really needed was to be able to snatch Archer or other characters and transport them into future centuries where they'd meet familiar Trek characters like Jean-Luc Picard (not that Patrick Stewart was ever likely to play the Captain again… Right…?), Captain Janeway, Worf, or any number of others who transcend time (Q? The Traveller? Guinan?). There was talk early on that for the second season they might get Stewart to direct an episode, they might bring in Guinan, these juicy possibilities were delightful to someone like me, but then 'Nemesis' came and sunk Trek's credibility, which was already beginning to flounder as viewers fell away from 'Enterprise,' and so the grand plans I'd envisioned of the series bringing all four corners of the franchise neatly together came to nothing. What dreams they were, however, and I wouldn't have been thinking that but for the TCW, because this masterstroke in connecting to the future, beyond even that which we'd seen on 'Voyager' (which itself had dealings with the 29th Century), was the perfect way to knit everything together, even though this was the series set furthest back in time. It was a mandate from the studio, not something the writers wanted to do, and that is what I believe hurt its chances. If it had been designed by the creators they might have been more willing to include regular outings in time or more appearances from the likes of Silik in order to cement the season. This might even have made the series more palatable for viewers becoming increasingly attached to serialised storytelling, and, who knows, might even have saved the series?

The reality was that it took them almost half the season to remind us of the ongoing temporal issues, and while I wouldn't want it to have been part of every episode, or even every other, a smattering of temporal episodes each season might have helped to bring that recurring motif to life and given regular viewers more to enjoy than the planet or alien of the week. Imagine if 'DS9' had completely ignored Sisko's connection to the Bajorans in its first season, or 'Voyager' had failed to have any episodes dealing with Seska and the Maquis. In both cases they were slow to integrate ongoing plots into the episodic format, but they were more in evidence than in 'Enterprise,' and by the time it was being made you'd have expected more continuity, not less. But then I think that was also part of the plan to make this more akin to 'TOS,' with more action-based stories and less need to see it every week in the hopes it would be more accessible. In trying to appeal more to casual viewers they misread the direction of the industry at a time when it was becoming easier for people to catch up with episodes due to changes in viewing technology, and so it would probably have got more eyes on it if it had given them more depth to keep up with. None of this is the episode's fault, and while it isn't exactly one of the best episodes of the season, as I said before, its importance in the grand scheme can't be underestimated and makes for entertainment, at least, even if the arc it was a part of ultimately failed to live up to the introduction in 'Broken Bow.'

For a start we get some nice references to other episodes to remind us that the series doesn't exist in a vacuum, events in episodes had happened, the characters remembered them and those events mean something, which wasn't always the impression on the series, especially in the first two seasons when they were governed by a haphazard approach to exploration. Archer's wonder at Daniels' ability to change his room into some weird panoramic readout of temporal doings is one reason he chooses to believe who he says he is, an agent of the future, but Trip reminds him of the Xyrillians' ability to change an entire room into whatever they wanted, a boat on an ocean, which was an intelligent reminder of alien capabilities. The failure of the original mission from Future Guy to disrupt the Klingon Empire is also mentioned, and the fact that Archer first heard about the TCW from Sarin, a Suliban woman who helped the Klingons, also adds weight to the reality of this situation. At the same time Archer has to make an executive decision and live with the consequences. Daniels is open and honest in his manner, he seems like what a future Starfleet operative might be like, except I'm not even sure Starfleet exists in his time. He's very vague about where he comes from and how things stand then, partly because he doesn't want Archer to have unnecessary information, irrelevant to his mission, and partly because the writers needed the space to make things up in future that wouldn't contradict what was revealed here.

One thing about Trek that I find rather thrilling is how they loved to hold to continuity and the timeline as a specific history to be protected and strengthened, but the thing about Trek storytelling was that they had the fascination with the future even beyond that established history, the future of the characters we're watching in our future. And so now and again we'd have time travel further into time, not just the usual return to a period of Earth history. It's always tough to try and extrapolate how things might be even more advanced, or even whether that future is as hopeful as the centuries we know. Trek always wanted to be optimistic, and yet needed drama through outside conflict, which meant that it didn't want to portray a dystopian endpoint or anything that took us away from the positive ideal of its future. That meant the Federation would survive, humans would continue to prosper, the Federation would expand and grow, inducting more and more races and keeping peace and prosperity for the galaxy. I get the impression that, just as 'Discovery' has totally messed up the 23rd Century, they're going to do the same to the far distant future, with Season 3 set to be even beyond the temporal operatives of the 31st Century, to the 33rd. We'd already seen connections to the 26th, 29th and 31st, so if they wanted to do something without treading on any toes they had to go even further, but I hope they don't make a mess of it as seems most likely judging by the first two seasons.

The beauty of the future beyond the 24th Century was that time travel became a tool Starfleet used and watched over, I think beginning in the 26th, but certainly by the 29th you had time-ships with the ability to right wrongs that had been done to the timeline in the great 'Voyager' episodes 'Future's End' and 'Relativity,' and even in contemporary 'DS9' Sisko was paid a visit by Temporal Investigations who, though they didn't have the ability to fix time, were tasked with keeping reports and doling out punishment if they deemed infractions had been committed by members of Starfleet. By the time of the TCW (maybe a contradiction in terms!), humans could be sent back without a ship and they had access to all kinds of advanced technology, though they still required assistance in their given time periods, whereas the faction from the 28th Century, which Future Guy sends his orders from to Silik, didn't have the ability to actually travel. Travel through time itself had been shown to be possible as early as 'TOS,' with such tricks as slingshotting around the sun, but you have to assume that these manoeuvres are very risky and that though it sometimes appears easy to travel in time, it's something that became increasingly monitored and frowned upon, leading to Temporal Investigations. That's what I like, though, that there was logical progression, they didn't just have 'time suits' running on mythical 'time crystals' as they did in 'DSC,' which went a long way to ruining Trek's consistency and sense of a grounded, scientific reality, while 'Enterprise' continued to maintain that when you sometimes wish they'd been a little more free to leap into the future.

I'm sure I've written this before somewhere, but I always imagined and hoped that if 'Enterprise' had survived into its sixth season and the 40th Anniversary of Trek, they would have done what 'DS9' did with 'Trials and Tribble-ations,' and sent Archer and his crew into 'The Best of Both Worlds' so we could have seen that he was responsible for ensuring the Borg didn't finish Picard and wipe out Earth. It would have been terrific, but the series never made it that far, though at the time of 'Cold Front' everything was possible, and mainly because of the TCW which gave the writers an excuse for time-related shenanigans whenever they wanted - they could easily have come up with anomalies, Transporter accidents, alien devices and figures from the future if they didn't have the TCW as a catalyst, but with it as part of the series' DNA, it made much more sense. So it is very surprising how few time travel stories they did, preferring to concentrate on something-of-the-week, be it aliens, planets or whatever. One of the missed opportunities of the series. I'd have loved to know more about the situation in the 31st Century, but Daniels is deliberately coy: when asked if he's human, he answers 'more or less,' and when they want to know if Earth still exists he says it depends on how you define Earth, so they had plenty to play with (and I'm sure 'DSC' will do, though it's just as likely to disregard what's been said before).

While T'Pol continues resolutely to back the Vulcan position that time travel can't happen and doesn't, Archer likes to keep an open mind, and that apparently (and much to some sour Trekkers' dismay), also extends to religious conviction, which is shown to be alive and well on Earth and in other cultures. We know this because Phlox engaged with both Hindu, Christian and other faiths, including a visit with the Tibetan lamas, attending Mass at St. Peters, and even joining the Vulcans for one of their rituals at the consulate. I expect some would dismiss these references as being some kind of historical reenactment to show what people 'used' to believe, but it's more realistically interpreted that at this time religion was thriving on Earth and among humans, and if they'd wanted to the writers could easily have toed the line that is 'supposed' to be in other Treks that religion and all to do with it had been consigned to the dustbin of history, even though there are references to faith and religious practice throughout Trek history, so it's actually in keeping with the rest of the franchise, as much as some wish it were not so! When Archer says he likes to keep an open mind, he was even referring to the aliens' beliefs, so it would seem he's an agnostic, just as Gene Roddenberry was if you monitor what he said, though many have claimed he was pure atheist through and through (see 'Gene Roddenberry: The Last Conversation' for more on his views), and that that is what shaped his vision for Trek, though there's plenty of evidence to the contrary in 'TOS' (which is often dismissed for being mandated by the studio or added by other writers, but Roddenberry was very much in command!).

Trip is far from being an agnostic on the subject of time travel, and as T'Pol warns him, wanting something to be true does not make for good scientific argument. Well, not in as many words, but that was the gist, and I was completely with him when he says he knew they'd be meeting people from other planets, but other centuries…? I always hoped for cameos from other Trek characters so it was a great disappointment that all we got was Zefram Cochrane in the pilot and Riker and Troi in the finale (which I loved, by the way, in opposition to the generally accepted view that it ruined the end of the series - it didn't). We would get a number of familiar actors playing other roles (Rene Auberjonois and Ethan Phillips are coming up any episode now, to name but two), but it's just not the same as them reprising a much-loved persona. You know something's different by how Daniels is introduced. Usually Archer's stewards aren't afforded the camera giving them a full profile, they just come in, plonk the grub on the table and leave, often without even getting a line, but this time Daniels talks to the Captain and is in the centre of shot, so you probably wonder if this is going to be a lower decks type character as we saw in 'Strange New World,' but which they hadn't really revisited since, which is a real shame as it makes the ship come alive when you think there are people aboard that you know, beyond the senior staff. Little did we realise Daniels would become one of the key recurring characters for the series, even if his appearances were few and far between.

The same could be said for Silik and Future Guy (or 'Temporal Operative' as he's named in 'The Star Trek Encyclopedia,' or 'Humanoid Figure' as he credited in the series itself, though he went uncredited in this episode, for some reason), but they helped to add cohesion to the series, just as Jeffrey Combs as Andorian Shran gave the world a bit of continuity away from nondescript-of-the-week. This is the first time we see John Fleck out of his Suliban guise when he pretends to be one of the alien pilgrims who come aboard the NX-01 to witness a stellar phenomenon, but it wouldn't be the last time (he appears human in Season 4 - and just like then, here he helps rather than hinders Enterprise). Some of his CGI doesn't look as good as it could, particularly the scene at the end when he skydives out into space to escape into the Suliban cell ship waiting for him - here's an idea: why didn't Future Guy upgrade their technology so they could have beamed aboard without primitive 22nd Century sensors detecting him, rather than giving him the ability to turn into Stretch Armstrong?!), but the ideas work well, especially the hand device which Archer boldly uses to follow his enemy into the recesses of his own ship for a confrontation. The usual question remains with phasing: how come he doesn't fall through the floor, but in this case it's 31st Century tech, so of course they could adjust it to travel only on one plane (Bakula gets to be Al, his Dean Stockwell costar in 'Quantum Leap' who could walk through walls with the greatest of ease). 'Handily,' it falls into space, never to be retrieved (not even by temporal agents, I'm sure, since we hear from Daniels they don't deal in minutiae when Trip wants him to give the results of a betting pool!), but I thought it would be irreparably damaged in the fight as Archer could have used it like a knuckle duster. Missed a trick there! Chief O'Brien would have loved one of those things - no more crawling around Jefferies Tubes or clambering up and down ladders!

Though this is another episode resolutely centred on the Captain, that doesn't mean we don't have worthwhile scenes for the others. Phlox is his usual affable self, integrating with the pilgrims to learn about them and their cultures (they're from various worlds - the purple robes looked suspiciously like those of Bajoran monks, repurposed…), even if Archer manages to make a gaffe by having chef prepare them a special meal when it turns out they fast at this time! But they're not rigid, and avoid embarrassing their host by choosing to skip that part of the ritual. The cutest scene goes to Mayweather and Hoshi, eventually to be forgotten members of the crew in later seasons. Here, Reed exits the Bridge for some minor task, officially leaving Travis in charge, and Hoshi urges him to take the Big Chair, which he does and is then put to shame when Reed reappears. It's funny, it's true to life and is a sweet little moment that adds character and reality to the characters, and that's all you need to remind viewers of these people episode to episode - not everyone has to be at the forefront, but equally you can't forget about them. Reed, however, did get a little forgotten in the need for Archer to be the action hero, taking on Silik alone. I wish it had been more like 'The Adversary' on 'DS9' (or even the training scene at the start of 'The Way of The Warrior'), where everyone's toting Phasers and hunting down a shapeshifter. Instead, Archer does it all alone and almost gets himself sucked into space! There was another off moment when Trip and T'Pol leave Engineering at Daniels' insistence for no good reason other than Silik is there. Why would they let him take on the Suliban alone, and why would they then loiter by the open hatch long enough to witness Daniels' death? Surely they'd attack Silik or close the hatch fearing he'd come after them, but instead they just hang around looking undecided!

One thing I did like was how Archer shows Starfleet in this era is just as 'out of whack' with galactic mores as later ships were, in that they're far more positive, open and courteous to strangers than strangers usually are out in the space lanes, interested in others rather than in what they can get out of them, which is exactly how Captain Fraddock came across - he was a glorified bus driver and his bored, disinterested attitude made him sound like one, too, a man that had no interest in the excitement of his passengers, but was at any rate prepared to exploit it! (Sounds a bit like Quark, except he'd at least pretend to be interested, to get to know his marks in order to get more out of them!). And though they mention watching some old sci-fi film that wasn't much cop, you'd think with fifty thousand films in the database they'd work their way through the classics first. That is, unless World War III meant that many films were lost to posterity and only the cheap B-films survive into the 22nd Century. Wouldn't that be a travesty? As long as Trek itself survived I think I'd be okay, though I'm happy for 'DSC' to be lost forever, unless remnants remain as a warning to future generations of the horror of bad writing. This one wasn't badly written. A bit simply, perhaps, without more of the nuance that makes a classy episode, but functionally returns us to the main arc while setting up the season finale, and it wasn't badly directed either, by TV's own Tom Paris, Robert Duncan McNeill, a Director to this day, who began on 'Voyager' and was the first of his cast to direct, here following fellow cast-member Roxann Dawson to 'Enterprise.'

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