Vox Sola (2)

DVD, Enterprise S1 (Vox Sola) (2)

Some episodes don't require more than a cursory review and returning to them in the hopes of getting a more in-depth response with much fruitful discussion can be a barren experience. 'Vox Sola' is one such. It may continue the tradition begun in 'DS9' that every Trek series must have at least one Latin title in Season 1 ('DS9': 'Dramatis Personae,' 'Voyager': 'Ex Post Facto,' 'DSC': 'Si Vis Pacem, Para Bellum,' and 'Enterprise' going one better this season with two!), but that's the extent of its intelligent approach in what I can't help thinking is more of a 'Stargate SG-1' kind of story, as much as I like 'SG-1.' I have the impression the CGI was played up as a big deal back in the day, but for every Species 8472, macro-virus and shapeshifting Odo, there's that thing from 'Aquiel.' The slimy white web that causes so much trouble here is undeniably in the latter camp, which is in large part why the episode equals 'Rogue Planet' for being joint weakest of the season. Both these episodes happened to be ones I missed on original run, not catching up until a few years later on DVD, so it does suggest that developing a bond with an episode is something that needs to happen at the time and in order to get the most from it, especially as the other one I missed, 'Fusion,' is similarly lacking in my contemporary eyes. Even so, I can't imagine I'd have thought much more of this one than I do, which is to say that aside from a few choice scenes between characters that warm the cockles and further the ensemble atmosphere, it's a bit of a dullard.

What exactly is failing in the episode can be split between a lack of drama and tension, the potential horror of the sickly creature downplayed, crossed with the creature's realisation in physical and computerised terms being so distinctly disparate: it was fine seeing the CGI slime slipping aboard Enterprise and sliding insidiously along the inside of the wall panelling, but though it shares an approach with the way the Borg form a stronghold in Engineering during 'First Contact,' even down to one Crewman going in search of the other, whose communications have just been sharply cut off (a horror trope itself, I imagine, not being a student of the genre), it fails to create the necessary atmosphere. Roxann Dawson, having proved her Trek directing credentials beyond doubt with 'The Andorian Incident' near the beginning of the season, was let down by the timing and the story here, and it may be that budget and time constraints meant a more potent vision for the creature and the dire straits Archer, Trip and the two minor crewmen are put into, couldn't be achieved. I can imagine a far scarier version of the story with better, creepier lighting and the ticking clock more severe, but as it stands it failed to create the needed tension. The CGI tentacles don't match up with the live action cling film and PVA glue mashup, though I will give them credit for some motion in the slathered web holding its captives.

More could have been done with the idea that these four prisoners' minds were becoming linked, too - I think back to the greatness of 'DS9' episode 'Things Past' in which an entire adventure happens inside the minds of several crewmembers thanks to Odo having some kind of Great Link-related telepathy. There were so few of that kind of alternate reality story on 'Enterprise' that I'd have gladly seen this episode used for a remake of sorts as they did with 'Oasis.' What we do get is Trip panicking and his Captain talking him down, which is true to their friendship and had happened before when they went diving or space-walking, something like that, and Trip was about to pull his helmet off. I think the story's from 'Strange New World' where Archer reminds Trip to trust him and how he saved his life that time, so I liked the continuation of that in their personalities. At the same time it's not much to hold onto, and as humiliating and uncomfortable as it must have been for the actors to be hanging in gunk for days at a time, I don't think it was worth the effort. A big problem is the intentions of the creature - we automatically assume, as Reed rightly does, that it's hostile and is consuming the crew or changing them for some nefarious purpose. And it is a highlight of the story that Hoshi proves herself once again when she'd been feeling a failure and looking around for any sign that other people thought so too - in other words she was being oversensitive and being her own worst critic, typical of a perfectionist.

I love that she can still have these moments, even after all she's gone through and how far she's come, where doubt can creep in, the suspicion that everything up to now had been a fluke and now things were down to brass tacks she couldn't hack it. Self-destructive and untrue as it was, it was very real to her and I appreciate that sense of having to live up to something all the time so that sometimes you wonder if you can keep it up. T'Pol, whom Jolene Blalock does an excellent job with in this episode, reminded me a lot of Tuvok when he would occasionally express his faith in someone - coming from a Vulcan, strict and unemotional (you know, the way they used to be before the Kelvin films and 'DSC,' and to a certain extent, 'Enterprise' itself?), it has so much more weight to it. So it's a shock for Hoshi to hear the pressure T'Pol puts her under is because she knows she's capable of achieving such high standards, a gratifying and warming scene that almost makes the episode worth watching on its own. One way the makers of the series used to show the 22nd Century as being less advanced, was to document the progress of the Universal Translator being compiled, if that's the right word. Hoshi's natural abilities are always more trustworthy than this fledgeling device that will go on to be so integral in Trek future, but at this stage more often than not they have to depend on her.

There are exceptions, and in keeping with the idea (another thing about the era that makes it unique and distinctly different), that other races are more advanced than humanity, whether it be the Vulcans around every corner waiting to bail the puny humans out of trouble, or future-enhanced Suliban, the Kreetassans of this story are able to learn English by the time Enterprise tracks them down so Hoshi's first problem is solved for her. Not that communicating with the Kreetassans was a priority once she thought she might be able to do so with the creature itself, but it does show the theme of the episode was understanding. With the Kreetassans it was a cultural difference in their extreme offence at the sight of people openly eating, something they do only in private. You'd think they'd have encountered enough other cultures to know that most races happily do so without abashment, but from their angry exit at the start of the episode you can extrapolate that contact with other races didn't get very far in most cases so maybe it was one of the rare occasions when they actually got to the stage of taking refreshment with their hosts. The design of the aliens was good, enough that they would bring them back on one more occasion in Season 2 ('A Night In Sickbay' - another episode that largely failed, so maybe it's the Kreetassans' fault?!). I've always loved Trek's penchant for giving each race an aspect of humanity as its main trait, and in this case it was being extremely offended by everything, a fun and different approach.

It always comes back to the creature, however, and what its intentions were: although Hoshi is successful in her bid to communicate, apparently she never asked it why it had done this to the crew, a question you would think would be near the top of the list after 'what do you want?' We're rather fobbed off with an offhand remark by Dr. Phlox at the end when Hoshi wonders why it took the crew, that it may have needed the proximity of any other life forms, but it's a poor resolution for the guiding actions of an entire episode. It could have been necessary for survival, or it was taking the bodies hostage, it might have required them for food and was planning to digest them, or it might even have been its way of plotting a route to communication and if the minds of these captives had been joined that could have meant they were also joined to the creature. But we'll never know. The implication to me is that they didn't really have a clear idea of what the story was about, they just wanted some horror where it appears the crew are being slowly devoured in a spider's web, and don't worry about the solution or motivation. Hmmm, just the kind of thing I'd expect from 'DSC' and other modern Trek: superficial drama above substance. At least in this case there was some substance with the theme of Hoshi proving herself yet again, but the lack of atmosphere, the slow pace, and the mismatching forms of the creature all played against it.

One of the good scenes occurs in Sickbay when Reed marches in and demands to test radiation or something on the separated tentacle Phlox has been studying (another use for the Decon chamber where we initially see him performing his examination), and the Doctor refuses on the grounds he won't allow it to be tortured. Interspecies ethics are mentioned, and it is a typical reaction from Phlox since he is much more alien in his way of thinking. Had it been Dr. Crusher or Bashir they might well have gone ahead with it in the interests of saving the Captain and other victims, and as Reed said it made sense to see it as a hostile act. But because we never really learned what the creature's intentions were, we don't actually learn if it was hostile or not, which would lend weight to either Reed or Phlox' side of the argument. Again, this is another area of the episode that would have benefited from much more development, but this late in the season with everyone tired and just trying to push through was generally not when you'd get many of the best stories. About the most interesting part of the exchange was Reed saying he's the higher ranking officer and Phlox standing firm and reminding him that doesn't count in Sickbay, and only the Captain can overrule him. This ties down part of the canon which we didn't know for this era - it's well documented that doctors hold top rank in medical matters, even overriding the Captain if necessary, but that's all in the future. At this time the doctor can override anyone but the Captain which suggests they could have made a good story out of a time it was realised that needed to change.

I will give the episode its dues, it was able to use everyone in a balanced way, even Mayweather, glued to his seat on the Bridge. For once it pays off for him that he's unable to extricate himself from the Helm because he happens to be the only available person when the ship finally catches up with the Kreetassans - he looks round and realises there isn't anyone else, stands up and plays the diplomat. Now, there are some issues with what people do in this episode, such as why couldn't Reed have appealed to the next highest authority to overturn Phlox' wishes since the Captain was incapacitated, and Mayweather's scene is another of them. For a start he takes it upon himself to pilot the ship after the Kreetassans before he's even got permission, because T'Pol tells him to do so and he says he'd already done it! You can't have people making executive decisions even when the stakes are as high as the Captain's life, you need to follow the command hierarchy (another major failing in 'DSC' where everyone does what they want a lot of the time without consulting their superiors!). And sure, the Bridge was empty, but isn't there protocol for such a situation? Surely someone had command, you don't leave the centre seat empty, even if it had been Mayweather, as we saw earlier in the season when he's 'given' the Bridge for a few moments and he goes and sits in the Captain's Chair. In this case he doesn't seem to know who's in charge and doesn't bother to contact T'Pol, so as much as the scene is charming and I'm pleased he was given something worthwhile to do, at the same time I wonder what's going on with the command structure!

Some people get up in arms about the Ferengi or the Borg showing up on the series long before their first contacts in 'TNG,' and those things never bothered me because they weren't 'official' and they remained unknowns, but Reed's talk of Starfleet working on forcefield technology for the past five years, and his ability to use the research to jury-rig a temporary one here is… uncertain to me. I can't recall if they used forcefields much in 'TOS,' but they must have done, I suppose. They certainly didn't do much with them in 'Enterprise,' if you think of the physical Brig we see later, for an example. I can accept that they were too much of a power drain on these old ships, and the point of a prequel is to set up things for the future, but I quite like the lack of fields, whether that be barriers or Tractor Beams, as something that further assists in setting apart the era from later Trek. Reed is shown to be as much a tech whiz as Hoshi, knocking out this forcefield just in the nick of time, just as Hoshi and T'Pol work together to crack the mathematical code of the alien's language, and I do like that everyone's expertise is pulling together to solve the problem, there's no Michael Burnham or Wesley Crusher super-genius who sorts it all out with a wave of a magic wand! It comes through hard work, experience and dedication, the kinds of ethic Trek was so good at teaching.

It is sad then, that despite all the best efforts of the crew, they were let down by the writing and directing because it's clear there are kernels, if not growing seeds of potential, but these cress-like stalks are ultimately crushed and the episode comes out as a damp squib. I like Vaughn Armstrong and his record-breaking number of distinct alien roles, but I sense his use as the lead Kreetassan was another budgetary decision, either to save time or to give him more to do and keep him on the payroll - that's a good thing, but unlike the Klingon Captain he played in 'Sleeping Dogs,' his voice was far too recognisable. They seemed to have learned their lesson as this was the last alien he ever played in Trek, though continuing as Admiral Forrest for the rest of the series (will he ever return to Trek to continue his never-to-be-beaten run of roles?), and it may have been too many, too soon. He wasn't the only guest star to have been in multiple Treks as Joseph Will who played Rostov, one of the creature's victims, had already been in two roles for 'Voyager' and would go on to play his 'Enterprise' character in other episodes of the series.

Hoshi's the one who comes across best, but each character is allowed their moment, whether it be Reed's bravery and unceasing effort on behalf of his Captain, T'Pol's reassurance of Hoshi, Travis' diplomatic efforts, and Phlox' steadfastness. Trip makes an effort to cheer up his Captain after the disastrous Kreetassan incident by watching a water polo game with him (oddly they watch it on a little square monitor and I don't know if the transmission got damaged in its long journey to the NX-01, but the visual quality looks about as good as an old match from the early 2000s…). Archer also comes across well, even while caught in a web of slime he cares about his crew, asking after Crewman Kelly who's unconscious, and keeping their morale up. His lesson to Trip of 'as soon as you give up, the game's lost,' was a good message and an exhortation to perseverance, exactly the kind of ethic I want to see in my Trek - none of this magical tech and everyone doing what they want, but learning life lessons and using brain, willpower and self-control. Those are some of the things missing in Trek today, but so much is missing they just get lost in a maelstrom of emptiness, and that's why even watching the weakest episode of an 'Enterprise' season (well, maybe not 'Precious Cargo'), is a more enjoyable and rewarding experience than viewing modern Trek, and the main reason I chose to do these updated reviews, because after 'DSC' I really needed the reassurance that Trek had actually been great and it wasn't just my rose-tinted imagination!

A few things we learn about the NX-01 in this episode: it has a pool table, assuming '9-ball' means the same in that century as it does in ours, since Trip offers to play with Archer. It's telling that my first thought went to a Holodeck, but of course they don't have that tech yet (stupid 'DSC' for fudging the issue!), otherwise Archer would be in there every night for some water polo in the pool. Film night is shown, though we don't get to see any of 'The Wages of Fear,' since the system's malfunctioning thanks to the intruder, but we do catch some crew in casual clothing where we usually only see them in uniform. Reed tries to cheer Hoshi up after her inability to catch onto Kreetassan language fast enough, saying they might need a translator for film night since the subtitles go by so fast, which was nice (and it's good to see they don't just watch American films all the time!). Crewman Kelly has a good point when she tells Rostov he can watch the film he's missing any time because it's in the computer, and this was long before streaming services meant that basically happened for a lot of people, though their system is more like iTunes, with it all downloaded onto the computer (a better way in my opinion). Makes you wonder if they have every film and TV show ever, or did World War III destroy some computer data? Talking of that period, Zefram Cochrane scores another mention and I wondered if it might be an oblique reference to The Companion, the non-humanoid life form he eventually ends up living his life with, as Trip asks if Archer thinks this creature was what Cochrane meant about new life and civilisations. And was that supposed to be a rifle variant of the Phase Pistol, held by a security officer when they first attack the creature?

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