Fight Or Flight

DVD, Enterprise S1 (Fight Or Flight)

The first episode, proper, of a Trek series tends to vary in quality - they've just spent a ton of the season's budget on a slap-up pilot that introduces all the characters and main sets of the series, so with episode two they usually fall back on a bottle episode, utilising the standing sets to the full and not doing anything too large in scope - on 'TNG' we got 'The Naked Now,' a sequel to 'TOS' (so much for avoiding old continuity!), where the crew acts drunk from some alien virus; on 'DS9' it's 'Past Prologue' in which a terrorist comes aboard the station and is mixed up in the familiar faces of 'TNG' villains the Duras sisters; 'Voyager' had 'Parallax,' a scientific story in which another ship turns out to be the Voyager herself; and now this, in which Hoshi worries about a slug she picked up somewhere, called Sluggo… This story perfectly highlights both the series' flaws and its potential, as well as its strong connection to the past (its future, our viewing past - prequels get confusing!), in that it's very much a wander in space, aimlessly travelling in the hope that they'll bump into something of interest or value. Here lies the biggest flaw in the series' approach (aside from the problematic depiction of Vulcans which I went into in plenty of detail in the previous episode's review): they didn't have focus or a drive, a plan for the kind of stories they wanted to tell, it was just the same as 'Voyager' (i.e: being out in unfamiliar space), but without the history and well thought-out characters they set up in that pilot, and it shows.

They're bumbling along in space and it's all rather lackadaisical and whimsical, as if they don't have a specific plan or structure in place, either in the writing or in Starfleet's orders. The first episode didn't have that problem because they had a specific mission to return a Klingon to his people, getting mixed up in temporal events much greater than themselves. Here, they're stripped of all galactic importance, which is much more realistic, but you'd think that Archer would have been given a distant star or planet to aim for, at least. Instead, some of the crew are beginning to get restless, having mainly concentrated on ironing out the kinks in their new ship, and thus focused inward rather than out to the stars. And we get Hoshi concerned over an alien slug, Archer irritated over a squeak in his Ready Room floor, and Reed almost blowing up the ship itself when a torpedo targeting test sends it wobbling back around towards the NX-01! This is the sort of stuff you can imagine took place between episodes, not necessarily what we need to see - a reference to these events would have worked fine, but Berman and Braga were still very much in the mindset of 90s Trek: we've got twenty-six episodes (the longest first season since 'TOS,' and almost the last long season we'll ever see, since Season 3 was cut down to twenty-four, Season 4 to twenty-two, and 'DSC' et al are fifteen or less, forevermore), and plenty of time to play with. Perhaps if they'd been considering how best to keep the audience they hooked with the pilot they'd have developed something a little more palatable to those who found that so riveting?

Not that I'm criticising 'Enterprise' - I personally like the first several episodes of this season and remember thinking that if they were this strong out of the gate it could be the best first season ever. The production values are high, the sets look good, and it's more free-flowing than Trek had been used to, yet they hadn't lost the character focus (that would happen along the way). Who would have thought Hoshi would be the one to get an episode effectively devoted to her, right after the pilot? In one sense it's ideal since she's the closest to the average viewer, not someone that likes space or is accustomed to it, but feeling discomfort, rising to outright panic, in every little thing. She's seriously considering turning tail and scurrying back to Earth as fast as she can get the Captain to agree to take her, and so she has an arc. That is the good thing about this first episode, for while it may seem aimless, it actually has an important message to tell, it's just that it does have a gradual rise in velocity that takes its time to come to fruition and so feels much like a 24th Century series in terms of its style. I doubt we'll ever see episodes like this again on Trek because the money is spread less thinly and every episode 'has' to be an event, which to far too many in modern audiences equates to big action and big effects. Trek isn't about that, or at least not in the main: it's about people, and though 'Enterprise' often failed on that count (how many Hoshi episodes can you name from the entire series?), it started off in the right direction on that count, if not in ship destination.

Hoshi is the ideal character to explore because everyone else is straining at the leash to get their hands dirty, visit a new planet, meet new races: EXPLORE! Trip even vocalises this attitude, desperate to be on the Landing Party (I wasn't paying attention, but I don't remember them ever referring to it as that specifically), when they finally do locate an alien craft holding position in space. If there's one thing that always works in Trek, whether it's 'TNG' ('Heart of Glory'), 'DS9' ('Empok Nor'), or 'DSC' ('Context is For Kings'), it's creeping around on an alien vessel in the dark. They were always good at creating atmosphere with torches and dark corridors, and this upholds the fine tradition of a Starfleet crew manually docking and clambering about inside. This one's more creepy than most as we find from the moment you hear the rhythmical clunking of the pump. It gets louder as they approach and then Hoshi's the one to discover bodies strung up from the ceiling, their fluids being pumped out. Just as 'Broken Bow' tried to reintroduce more of the innuendo of 'TOS' into Trek again (presumably to 'spice up' the content in an effort to get strong ratings), this one adds in that dose of horror that was another big part of space in the original, and is much more welcome than the former. Space is supposed to be dangerous and you can't help feel that Archer and his excited crew are hideously underprepared for the challenges that await them out here away from the known space-lanes.

That's the point, though. Although I would categorise this as a Hoshi story, it also prominently shows Archer's mettle and what he believes in. He doesn't want to leave these bodies behind, but acts on the guidance of T'Pol, who believes it would be dangerous to hang around as the species that performed this butchery are likely to return at any moment (reminds me of 'Goldilocks and The Three Bears' - I expect if it'd been a 'DSC' episode we'd have got a whole flashback to old Mother Amanda reading it to Burnham…). Gradually, conscience gets the better of him and he turns the ship around, remembering that they're not out here to play it safe, but to engage with other species, whether that means making enemies, or hopefully, friends. Humanity's need is to get involved, not stand back and let things play out, even when they're outgunned by the bullies. And that's a very strong Trekky flavour to begin a series with, and shows where this desire to form the Federation came from. We wanted pioneer spirit, and it feels good to see it demonstrated. T'Pol is no longer the villain, a spy for the Vulcans so they can keep an eye on this loose-cannon Captain and his little ship, but she's still more often at odds with Archer by preaching the wisdom of caution, not interfering with things they don't understand (a small taste of which was Trip showing anger at an alien Mother weaning her child in 'Broken Bow'), and not indulging curiosity, except that's the reason they're out there. She still is annoyingly spiky and occasionally sharp in her speech, much more than I'd have liked to see in a Vulcan, and I can only imagine what a great character she could have been if they'd kept to the passive delivery of old. But they wanted more antagonism and you can't have that unless both sides are showing emotion, a fatal flaw.

It's nicely inclusive of the other characters, especially Dr. Phlox who relishes every little nuance of life with humans, enjoys food and conversation, yet retains his alien outlook. In short, he's great fun, being simultaneously reassuring, but also warning of the need to accept new things, such as a casual display of callousness in discussing Sluggo, Hoshi's slug, when he thinks the best thing to do is feed it to his Pyrithian bat, much to Hoshi's displeasure! Trip is eager to get involved, not one of these Engineers that wants to stay pottering about his engine, or reading tech manuals in his Quarters like Scotty - he wants to be out there on the edge, nothing held back. Mayweather's much the same. Reed is much more cautious, and he is the Scotty of the piece, content to tinker with the weapons, more concerned about maintaining the safety of the ship than anything else - he'll go on the mission but he wants to pack a rifle and offers to blow things up at every opportunity. He's right to worry, because, as we see in this episode, the NX-01 is woefully underpowered compared to the predators out there, and their desire to be friends isn't going to cut it with other races that are simply out to take advantage of the weak. Crucially, though, the ship's weaknesses are not the characters', and Archer once again shows he's a strong Captain, playing against type in my head that he didn't have that about him. Once he's decided to help these aliens he'll do all he can and they almost suffer the same fate, except that, like I said, it's not technology that is the most important thing about Starfleet, it's the people.

After her experience finding the dead bodies, Hoshi's deeply ashamed at her reaction and feels completely useless, and you really feel for her. Even when she finally gets to do her job, an area she should be comfortable in, her confidence is so battered that she can't do what needs to be done - in the midst of this nasty-looking alien ship easily holding the NX-01 captive in space, she needs to communicate with the Captain of another ship that has responded to the distress call she sent out from his brethren's vessel, and everything rides on what she does. The Universal Translator isn't working well enough, she doesn't think he understands so Archer asks her to do it herself and talk directly to him. For much of the episode I was wondering what had made this episode stand out for me on previous viewings, because it wasn't particularly special, introduces the characters a little more, quite competently, looks good and all, but it wasn't until near the end where Hoshi, under pressure, comes through for the crew, using her linguistic skills to get them out of that tight spot as the confused Axanar (Axanaran? Axanarian?), gets increasingly annoyed, until understanding dawns as she's able to carry a conversation with him and he helps them out - that's when it all came together as a worthwhile adventure, much more than people doing things on ships. A person overcomes fear and cowardice, personal lack of confidence, discomfort and professional paralysis to find out what she's made of, and it's an exhilarating moment where you feel incredibly proud of her, vindicated in front of everyone, but most importantly, herself.

That's the missing Trek difference I haven't seen in 'DSC' where everyone acts like their comic book heroes, we don't get to see them face failure with dignity, clamber up by their fingernails and act like ordinary human beings with training that can make them fly when they dig deep. This is real, and this is something 'Enterprise' did miss in a lot of episodes. Unlike Ensign Tilly I really like Hoshi, she's not brash and silly, not rude or 'hilariously' inappropriate, she's a shining example of what Starfleet should consist of, regardless of her fears. That's inspiration, and that's what Trek needs much more than 'geniuses' and technological solutions. Yes, she does betray emotion, but she swallows it and comes through, she's professional. Even with Archer's relatively relaxed attitude you see that chain of command there and that what he says goes. He's there to support his crew, just as they're there to do their duty, and that's why I really like this episode - it's a proper Trek story. As time went on, 'Enterprise' lost the strong sense of an ensemble that is so ably demonstrated here, and you can see the seeds of the 'dumbing down' of returning to 'TOS' for too much of its inspiration rather than the more sophisticated later series' in things like Archer, Trip and T'Pol being set up as the Kirk, Spock and McCoy - here there appears to be an attempt to do an inverted version of the famous trio. Rather than asking Trip and T'Pol's opinion, Archer fights against them as T'Pol reassures they did the right thing in leaving the danger zone, and Trip shows passive interest in what they were like. It gets Archer to verbalise his growing sense of responsibility and decides him to go back, but it's not quite the Kirk/Spock/McCoy decision-making think tank.

I can't criticise this episode for the lack of Hoshi and Mayweather (and Phlox and Reed!), in too many later episodes, rather I enjoy the fact that we do get them all working together. And the episode has many great points about it that have become lost because of familiarity with the series - for example, this is the first we see of the excellent EVA suits, brilliantly designed, just as the standard uniform was. The Shuttlepod looks terrific and it's fun to see them travelling by it to dock with the alien ship. The fact that the NX-01 is so weak and inexperienced gave them somewhere to go, much like 'DS9' and how it started with a smashed-up alien station and characters that either didn't want to be there or didn't like each other. You need to start from a place of potential without putting the audience off, and like 'DS9' before it, 'Enterprise' succeeds in that respect. It might not be as satisfying to see the hero ship get beaten up on a regular basis, or for their weapons and sensors to be inferior in every other encounter, but what it does is give them more opportunity to show their mettle and prove (as we saw numerous times on the earlier Treks), that even without tech, Starfleet officers are a formidable force to be reckoned with because it's their code of conduct, their personal morals and conscience that is their strength, not the tools they've built to carry them further into space. So yes, it is embarrassing for Reed, not to mention Archer, that their targeting scanners aren't accurate enough, or their attack on the enemy looks pitiful, but they have so much room for growth, something that was a key component of suggesting to me the series had a long and fascinating future, far from everything being neat and tidy.

There are the occasional references to other Treks that we'd expect, but this being a personal story (or 'stories' if you count Archer's realisation he needs to stick to his principles), they aren't in your face. Phlox namechecks Nausicaans, a famous C- (or even D-) list race from 'TNG,' the thugs of the galaxy (which we'd see later in the season, and at least once more in Season 2), which is interesting since they were only familiar from the 24th Century (most famed for stabbing Picard through the heart in his younger years). You'd think they'd have tried to make reference to more 'TOS' races like the Andorians (oh, they were coming, don't you worry!), but it suggests they knew they were playing to the 'TNG'-era crowd who knew later races better than the old ones. In fact we do get a race from 'TOS,' the Axanar, best known for a couple of mentions in 'Court Martial' and 'Whom Gods Destroy' as the site of an important battle (and nowadays most associated with the 'fan film debacle' of the same name, sadly). This is just the sort of thing it would have been fun for 'DSC' to explore since we know it took place during the 2250s, but perhaps they didn't want to stir up a hornet's nest with the controversy around it. At least 'Enterprise' gave us the look of the species, almost Cardassian in their lizard-like appearance (I got this episode confused with another one in which aliens are strung up and was looking out for the Cardassian among them - maybe that was 'Shockwave' or 'Dead Stop'? I don't know the series well enough, obviously!), and it is wonderful to hear an alien language for Hoshi to decipher, something that firmly places this series in its 22nd Century setting.

I can't say the Axanar stood out particularly, but it probably doesn't help that we never saw them again as they were ripe for exploration. It's not explained how the first Axanar ship was so easily subdued by these fluid-sucking baddies, yet one more Axanar ship blasts them out of the sky. I hesitate to say Enterprise weakened them with its one paltry torpedo blast (akin to straining to unscrew the lid on a jam jar, then someone else coming along and popping it off easily!), but this tough-looking spiky ship (reminiscent of the Romulans with those splayed out wings), did go up rather easily. This is an example of something they could have set up for the future: perhaps the enemy isn't destroyed, but limps away filing away its info on the human ship and bumping into them again, or even visiting Earth with a belligerent attitude where the Vulcans have to send them packing and it's a black mark against Archer for stirring them up? The Axanar could have become an ally they met again later, but these potential pieces that were laid down early on were far too often left forgotten and unused in the desire to deal with simplistic aliens of the week too often. There's also a question about Vulcan behaviour, too, as T'Pol states that her people don't share human enthusiasm for exploration, but how did they come to make first contact with species such as humans in the first place if they didn't have curiosity? It must have been more than simply a pragmatic approach to keep an eye on potentially hostile aliens, and curiosity does seem to be a trait in their race otherwise they'd never join Starfleet. They may be excellent at keeping curiosity in hand over personal matters (and behaving likewise about their own culture), but when it comes to the universe, they've always seemed as 'fascinated' as anyone!

Of course T'Pol could have been stringing them along, or towing the party line (like the myth 'Vulcans never lie,' for example). There is one problem with her that is nothing to do with the character: her name. I think this marks the first episode where the Captain says, "Archer to T'Pol," which always comes out a bit clunky, but what can you do with the Vulcan naming convention as it is, though I can't help thinking they should have avoided that line wherever possible, such as saying 'T'Pol, do you read?' or something along those lines. And I was interested to hear a little of the pre-Phaser weapons - Hoshi says she was cleared on 'EM sidearms' and 'Class-3 Pulse Rifles.' It made me wonder if 'EM' stands for electromagnetic and is something I could have done with a lot more history on. It would also have been good if they'd been using Laser Pistols in keeping with what we saw later in 'The Cage,' but so much of that great episode has been overwritten by both 'Enterprise' and 'DSC' that it's a real shame more inspiration wasn't taken from it. What I would praise is both the direction and music of what I consider the best post-pilot episode of any series, before or (especially!), since (though I've yet to see 'Picard'). I loved hearing a rendition of the main theme within the episode, at the end, but also the triumphal music when Hoshi is battling herself and winning through reminded me of 'The Untouchables' film. Allan Kroeker usually directed big episodes like series finales, but he does a great job with everything from the claustrophobic confines of the darkened alien vessel, to the action of the crew climbing out of the Shuttlepod and running along the gantry, shot from beneath (poor Dr. Phlox trying to keep up!). It may not be an episode full of goodness from start to finish, but what there is puts it firmly in the strong category of this opening salvo - and I didn't think I'd have much to write about!

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