Unexpected (2)

DVD, Enterprise S1 (Unexpected) (2)

Life lesson-learning is the best thing you can say came out of this one. If there was an episode to demonstrate how high Archer scored on the weak-o-meter, it's this. I remembered it as being a knockabout comedy, and in comparison to the first two episodes after the pilot, it is, but it's not as funny as expected, and doesn't really get going until the Klingons show up, a complete surprise to me: maybe that was really where the title came from. The idea of Trip being the first human male in history to become pregnant is amusing in concept, much like that film about Arnold Schwarzenegger doing the same, but in practice it doesn't get milked (oops, sorry Trip), much beyond his Captain scoffing at the predicament, a realistic reaction, but not one you'd usually associate with Starfleet officers, particularly a Captain! Here's where I suspect a lot of the laxity in 'Discovery' comes from (didn't take long for me to get a jab in, did it!) - not this episode in particular, but using 'Enterprise' as the precedent for a lot of things, forgetting these are earlier humans that are barely out of the Solar System. Still, Archer shouldn't have taken it so lightly, for all he knew it might threaten the life of his Chief Engineer, and as we see at the start, Trip is rather essential in the smooth running of the NX-01. You might even say it's his baby…

If Archer was a little too free with his reactions, one of his biggest mistakes (but not the biggest, that was still to come in his polite accosting of the Klingons), was his overly trusting nature. They discover the sinister presence of a cloaked ship (yes, that's right, a cloaked ship!), hiding in their wake and upsetting the ship's systems no end. When they're discovered they sound quite reasonable and diplomatic so Archer trusts them enough to send over his Chief Engineer (yes, that's right, his Chief Engineer!), to have a look at their engines. Without even one member of Security to act as a guard. On this most valuable of crewmen. One lesson to learn about aliens is that even if they seem benevolent, no, even if they are benevolent, it doesn't mean they can't cause inadvertent harm to you and your crew. For all the Xyrillians' technological advancements they were shown up to be quite naive and flaky. They have the amazing ability to create a Holodeck two hundred years before such technology became standard on Federation starships (or a hundred years if you can swallow the one seen in 'DSC'), not to mention cloaking for their ship (long before cloaks were common), and yet they can't get their own engines to function consistently! Maybe there's a connection there. Perhaps they bit off more than they could chew technologically, and their propulsion problems are a result of the Defiant syndrome: overpowered and over-gunned (except for the gun part). Judging by how unreliable their tech is, maybe that's why it took two centuries to perfect!

The Xyrillians are an interesting species, the first to be welcoming to Enterprise (maybe the reason Archer was so eager to help them), with truly alien ship interiors and very different to many aliens we'd seen before on Trek. They have this scaly external appearance, and their ships contain a mixture of organic and mechanical parts so that they even grow their food on the walls. The atmosphere is so different to what humans are comfortable with that Trip has to go through a decompression chamber for hours before he's ready to go aboard, and even then it takes some time for him to adjust. This sequence was well done, with the slowed speech and affected sound, plus the disorienting vision experienced by Trip, so they were successful in presenting alienness to that extent, not to mention that once again we get to hear alien speech before Hoshi's able to clean it up and put it through the Translator matrix. What I wasn't as impressed with was some of the design decisions they took - the tubing and wiring look very human, and it was lacking in futuristic ideas when it came to simple things like the mechanic's rollers they use to slide under the equipment upon: you can see they run on castor wheels, which looks even more ridiculous than seeing modern office chairs on 'TNG,' for example!

The big deal with the episode is nothing to do with how things look, however, it's the ridiculously early introduction of a Holodeck into Trek history. I don't remember being particularly bothered when the episode first came out because, after all, it is alien tech, it's not like they were showing it running on a human ship (one reason among countless others I was so unhappy with 'DSC'!), and since this is the first time we'd ever heard of the Xyrillians they clearly weren't well known in the galaxy. But now, after 'DSC,' it's like another precedent that was taken from this series, that annoys me. What makes it worse is that it's clearly shown to be a proper Holodeck where you can touch the sand, feel it run through your fingers, the breeze ruffling your hair, it's not just a '3D simulator' as Trip must have been familiar with and assumes is what it is (though he knows about holography, it's like no hologram he's ever seen). If the Xyrillians were truly a xenophobic race that were suspicious of outsiders and shunned contact, that would be another point of logic for how this tech took so long to be common knowledge, but they're not - they're as trusting and naive as Archer is shown to be, and to make matters much worse they even give the Klingons this technology! There are still plenty of reasons why the tech fits better than on the USS Discovery: it's easy to come up with reasons why the Klingon Captain failed to report it to his superiors, enjoying the exclusivity of owning it, or maybe the Klingons were too rough and broke it, unable to keep it operating. And perhaps after their contact with the bullying Klingons the Xyrillians decided to concentrate on stealth tech instead and kept hidden from then on.

That's something else that didn't make sense: surely, if they're so gregarious they'd have heard of, or encountered, the Klingons and would make sure to steer clear of such a belligerent species? And you'd also think that if they were so happy to welcome other aliens (they say they've had plenty of experience with aliens coming aboard as Trip does), that they'd be a well known race themselves, but Phlox admits to having no knowledge of them, and T'Pol doesn't seem to know them either, and if the Vulcans are ignorant, well… So there are too many inconsistencies for comfort, but then again maybe that is the 'out' of the episode. That these technologically advanced people are so inept that they were destroyed by others. They were too trusting and open and in exchange were wiped out, their achievements forgotten. Or they went into hiding after this experience. Let's hope their attitude was something Archer was able to learn from, because he has a lot to learn from this episode. He wants to reach out and touch every species on the same wavelength, not understanding that not everyone responds the same way to overtures of friendship. The episode came alive for me when the Klingons showed up in their glorious Battle Cruiser. It's odd, because if there was one series that could have got away with designing a range of new ships for the most famous race in Trek history, it's 'Enterprise' - it didn't make any sense in 'DSC' when they gave us such alien-looking vessels for their Klingons a decade before 'TOS,' and yet 'Enterprise,' a century earlier has almost identical ships to 'TOS'! Even so, I loved seeing it here, swinging round majestically and threateningly at Archer's communication.

Captain Archer was reminiscent of a small boy in the playground going up to the biggest, meanest bully there was and asking politely for assistance! It's probably the funniest thing in the episode, but the trouble is we're laughing at the Captain's naivety because we know exactly how the Klingons are likely to react to such mealy-mouthed sentiments. I'll bury 'DSC' for just about everything it did, but the whole concept of the Vulcan hello, recalling how that race chose to respond to the Klingons after first contact failed so dismally, is exactly what was needed here. If 'Enterprise' messed up the idea that human and Klingon first contact was disastrous (by the fact that Archer actually helped them), then this true first contact out in space is more in line with that narrative (even if they part without violence, they still threaten that any approach in future will be met with destructive force!). The episode shows us the stark contrast between human and Klingon ways of operating and neatly distills how each race has developed a mighty empire, but in opposite extremes: while humans are open to new friends and alliances, being the best they can be, good neighbours and boldly striking out into space with these values of selflessness and nobility, the Klingons are ruthless and are out to conquer, quell and subdue - their way of warning a stranger off is to actively blast it! Archer wants dialogue, the Klingons plan to execute the Xyrillian crew!

Another reason Archer looks weak in this episode is because, in comparison to a Klingon Battle Cruiser, the best humanity had to offer was called puny. Not 'tough little ship,' just puny, and that's the impression you often get in the series that made it stand out from the others. Although, like the USS Voyager and Enterprise-D, the NX-01 is fresh off the production line, it is weak compared with many other races out in the space lanes, and so is at a disadvantage, and I like that in spite of this they still carry on optimistically, not scurrying home with tail between legs (as Trip wanted to do during his acclimatisation on the Xyrillian ship!). At the same time, having inferior weaponry and inexperience reflects on the Captain, which doesn't help his cause. I also wonder if it didn't help the cause of the series, too, as so many were used to seeing top Federation tech going toe to toe with the toughest enemies out there and succeeding by their advanced science as much as boldness and ingenuity, that to go backwards to a weak little vessel may have been a step too far for some. Maybe that's one reason Discovery is so all-powerful, audiences sadly needing to feel like they're rooting for the best ship and wanting the gimmickry of spore drives and Holodecks because just telling a good story within the constraints of a given era isn't good enough for them now, raised on comic book characters and mindless action?

At least the Klingons didn't just destroy the human ship, allowing them a chance to leave, but Archer's whiny attempts at reasoning with them didn't help. It took T'Pol to step in, even though logic was likely to be as useful in this situation as reason, praising the Captain as being a hero of the Empire for returning Klaang (nice continuity that helped give the series a little more of that 'DS9' semi-serialised feel). I was wondering if she was being truthful about how the High Council reacted since we never got a translation and Hoshi said at the time that Archer wouldn't want to know, but at the end of the episode T'Pol admits to acting in line with the Klingons, and exaggerating (a lie? An exaggeration - 'Star Trek VI'). One thing we do know is that Archer's name is beginning to be known thanks to 'Broken Bow' and now this, and that this Captain Vorok warns his people's debt to Archer is now repaid (thankfully it didn't become a recurring theme as the back and forth favours with the Andorians would!), since the Xyrillians weren't executed, nor their ship stolen, and Enterprise allowed to contact them and go on its way in relative peace. I don't know how he had permission to speak for all Klingons, but my guess is he didn't, he just took the position he wanted, so relations with the Empire are just as uncertain as if Archer had helped or not. Fun to hear T'Pol say that if not for Archer the Houses would have been fighting amongst themselves by now (exactly what was happening in 'DSC'!), and I wished we could have known what House Vorok was from with the interesting 'F'-shaped logo in the background.

If Archer doesn't know how to address a Klingon yet ("They're actually very kind," he responds pleasantly about the Xyrillians, as if their level of kindness would make any difference to the violent barbarians!), nor does Trip, who makes the mistake of suggesting the Klingon Captain might be frightened of going through the Xyrillians decompression in order to witness this marvellous holographic room. But he can be forgiven as he was a little more emotional than normal due to being with child (the first interspecies pregnancy, apparently - this seems like a subtle preparatory reference to Spock, which they'd be much more direct about in the fourth season when Trip and T'Pol's DNA is combined to form a human/Vulcan hybrid baby). It is different to the episode I thought it would be, as Trip's mood swings and strange observations (like the dangers of the lift in Engineering - I suppose that means there aren't any small people in Starfleet at this time, since he suggests small aliens or children would be at risk. Maybe there's a minimum height requirement for service on a starship in the early years of Starfleet's explorations, because Nog is accepted two hundred years later?), seem less funny and more serious, and it was good to hear him say that he wanted the foetus removed, assuming it was safe, so that sounds Pro Life to me! He was actually quite professional and a credit to the organisation, it was just the dozy Xyrillians that are overly sociable and fail to keep their guests' safety in mind, despite all appearances to the contrary!

But then, they were a haphazard lot. I felt I recognised the Ah'Len (alien?), woman's voice, and found she was played by a previous Trek guest star (Julianne Christie), but not someone I would have been likely to recognise as she was only in the one episode as Neelix' new friend Dexa in his last proper episode ('Homestead'). Trena'L's voice, on the other scaly hand, was easy to pin down as this was the first of many appearances on the series in the role of Degra, the eventual Xindi ally of Archer in Season 3. Oglesby had had a long Trek career already by then, appearing in both 'DS9' and 'Voyager' (my favourite role of his being Silarin Prin from 'The Darkness and The Light'). He was never one of my favourites, like Jeffery Combs or Marc Alaimo, but it was pleasantly reassuring in those long-gone days when familiar faces (or voices), showed up now and again. Even Vorok (Christopher Darga), was somewhat familiar, having been in the two preceding series', most memorable to me as the Musketeer-moustache-sporting Klingon Kaybok in 'The Way of The Warrior' for 'DS9,' so he was my favourite guest role on this occasion.

A few things were a little different in this episode, not that they were wrong as such, but just, well, unexpected! It comes from being so early in the series' run, but it amazes me that so much of the look, the characters and the feel of it was strong enough that they didn't need to change it, whereas you look at every other Trek series and the early episodes do look quite different to what they'd become, but then 'Enterprise' had the benefit of an unbroken fourteen year run behind it, so it shouldn't be such a surprise. I think of Phlox sharing a meal at the Captain's table with Archer and Trip as being unusual. It was more for Trip to complain about T'Pol behind her back, thinking she must have spread it around the ship he was pregnant, when in reality he was just being oversensitive. Then there's the buffet in the Mess Hall, which I don't remember ever seeing before or after (and they were certainly packed in there!). And what about the Xyrillians and their lack of water - Ah'Len produces some little gel blocks and says it was the closest she could get to water, but in that case what were the eels we see swimming around in, in a tank on their ship? That, and a few other things really made me tie this episode into the Xindi saga of Season 3: the eel tank on a starship reminded me of the Aquatics, Randy Oglesby was in the episode, and then at the beginning with things going wrong on the ship, like Archer floating out of his shower, it was like when the NX-01 first entered The Expanse! Funny what connections you make sometimes.

We get a reminder of what races smell like as Trip complains how bad the Klingons smelt when he had to go through decompression with them (surely there was barely space for one, I can't imagine two grumpy Klingons and a pregnant human surviving three hours in that little tube, and that must have been Trip's greatest achievement of the episode!). When I heard that, it made me think of T'Pol complaining about the smell of human food at the start of the episode, and it puts things in perspective: the smell of Klingons to humans is what humans are to Vulcans! (An earthy, peaty kind of smell. With a touch of lilac…). Aside from Trip's endurance with the Klingons he's very professional, something 'DSC' is sorely lacking, so it was lovely to see someone behave properly and even state that he considered himself a diplomat the minute he set foot on the vessel. This is exactly what we want from Trek, not loose morals, people taking things into their own hands whenever they feel like it, or acting as they see fit against orders - Archer has to order Trip to see the acclimatisation process through, and Trip obeys. It's this structured, obedient presentation that is so missing in 'DSC,' yet another aspect of it that alienates it from the rest of Trek. 'Enterprise' may not be perfect, far from it, but it still stands head and shoulders above the inferior attempts to make Trek more appealing to modern audiences. It isn't really a comedy at all, this episode, it's a reminder that neither benevolent nor aggressive aliens are to be taken on first impression and face value. At the same time, Archer represents humanity with hope, and that means sometimes putting your foot in it (or your hands in the granules), and it is the learning of lessons that make these first steps into space such a fascination.

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