Shockwave (2)

DVD, Enterprise S1 (Shockwave) (2)

What an idea, eh? Ending a season by sending your main character into the far future beyond where any Trek had gone before… Where have I heard that recently, hmm? In all honesty this two-parter has never stuck in my mind in the way so many 'Enterprise' episodes have, especially not compared to the other 'big' episodes. It was charting new ground, not just in sending Archer to the 31st Century, but also in finishing its first season on a cliffhanger, something that no other Trek series had done. But then neither had any other Trek series (bar 'TOS' which knocked out almost thirty!), had such a fully formed inaugural season of twenty-six episodes. It must have seemed like they'd learned all the lessons of fourteen years of continual 'modern' Trek, a seasoned crew behind the scenes and the future of it all must have appeared more secure than ever. I don't know that I would say Season 1 was the best a Trek series had made, but it was certainly a strong debut and I would give it the award for best opening salvo of episodes, it's just a shame they weren't able to carry the momentum forward as thoroughly as they might have: we could have done with more focus, not serialisation, but certainly serial encounters with the Klingons for one, perhaps creating a personal adversary as they would attempt to do with Duras in Season 2, and with the Suliban acting for Future Guy, for another.

If the season was scant on Temporal Cold War detail, it feels they were partly trying to keep this pioneering starship as pure as they could without trashing the timeline too much and having everybody fully aware of what was going on in the bigger picture. There was a delicate approach to such things that was warranted, as we see that rather than Daniels appearing to the whole crew, he plucks Archer out specifically and gives him instructions to pass on. I like this targeted and careful method of dealing with the 22nd Century, rather than raining down time travellers all over and making huge flashy changes everywhere as I suspect current Trek would have done. At least with the coming of the end of the season they took up the threads of the TCW, one of the most potentially fascinating series arcs in all Trek, but also the most underused. We'd had only one episode ('Cold Front'), around mid-season to continue Silik and the idea that the NX-01 is integral to the time period it exists in, a weapon to be wielded by whomever can manipulate it, either positively or negatively, so it was fitting that the season ended on the same note. At the same time, despite my championing of the TCW as a conduit for a potentially terrific well of stories, I couldn't help feeling that this episode in particular might have been better served had they concentrated on the events that began the episode.

It's shocking what happens to the alien colony Enterprise visits, their own shuttlepod the apparent cause of a blast (a shockwave perhaps), that utterly annihilates this entire alien colony, and the aftermath is very realistic, and seeing how problems are dealt with is to me what Trek is all about. This was the most dramatic part of the episode and we can see here the two avenues Trek could have gone down, and partly why the franchise is in the shape it is today, creatively speaking: just imagine if they'd chosen to explore a genuine accident caused by Archer and his crew, the ramifications of what that meant for human space travel was powerful. There's talk of it pushing space exploration back twenty years once the Vulcans use this as proof humans weren't ready. At stake, then, is the entire formation of the Federation which we know is coming in only a decade's time. There would be no alliance with the Andorians or the Tellarites, no knowledge of the greater galaxy, maybe Earth would even have been destroyed when they had no experienced officers to send out to learn why the Xindi attacked in a year or so's time. The stakes are about as high as they can get, especially on a personal level, Archer described by T'Pol as full of agitation, despondency and guilt (reminding me of Captain Janeway in 'Night'). This realistic depiction of remorse and shame is not punctuated by the melodrama of 'DSC,' no crew members are bursting into tears, but it's no less powerful for that, and in fact is far more so.

I said there were two options to pursue, and while this focus on guilt and responsibility was more attractive to me now, I probably would have been more excited about the actual route they chose: that of time travel and conspiracy. I can't shake the impression that this episode could have been as strong as the 'DS9' Season 1 finale (and did feature some of the same themes), if the accident had been the whole story and Archer and the crew trundled home to face the music. Both this and 'In The Hands of The Prophets' show great progress, specifically between a male commander and his female subordinate who had been at loggerheads and distrustful of each other when they first met, and now, after a season of (in this case ten), months of cooperation and learning, have come to depend upon each other, trust each other, even with the hardest things (T'Pol still talks of the Vulcan Science Directorate's determination that time travel is impossible, but she agrees to keep an open mind because Archer is the one asking - mind you, a true scientist should be keeping an open mind anyway and unfortunately the Vulcans do represent the rigid worldview too many scientists stick to, refusing to acknowledge evidence that may put their position in doubt). Archer and T'Pol's growing friendship has been a delight to see and this is the capper, there being no doubt in the Captain's mind now about leaving his Vulcan sub-commander in charge when he does what every Captain always wants to do: handing himself over to the enemy so his ship can go free!

If this episode had followed the trail laid out at the start of it, and they had returned to Earth to effectively face a trial, such as Captain Kirk faced in 'Court Martial' or Dax in 'Dax' (among so many other great examples of the genre), we could have had an even more satisfying conclusion to the season. It wouldn't have been a cliffhanger and it wouldn't have been Big and Galaxy-Shifting, but it would have meant a lot personally for the characters as they must vindicate the decisions they made throughout the season, proving that they were right to be out there. It could have acted as a retrospective to the first year, but without 'Shades of Grey' style clips (if they really wanted to do something especially impressive they could have gone back to previous episodes and created new scenes that we never saw at the time - oh how my creative juices are flowing today!), as each crewmember stands up before the tribunal, or whatever, and cites their case. Soval for the prosecution would be throwing hard questions their way, perhaps causing them to stumble or admit something they were trying to play down, but then Archer would come onto the stand at the end and make a big speech reminding us of what they'd achieved, talking the room round, perhaps even bringing back the odd guest star to rest his case upon their testimony. It would have been a triumphant finale.

The important thing is that much of that optimism and pride in what went right is evident in the episode and is the most Trekky part of the story: despite appearances to the contrary, Reed sticks by his guns, adamant that the shuttlepod's ports were closed, the determining factor in whether the drive plasma was responsible for reacting with the planet's atmospheric gas. He doesn't buckle under, even while concerned about such a terrible event, and it's not pride in himself or avoiding responsibility, it's the First Duty, as Picard would say: the truth. He could easily have become as despondent as his Captain and given in, saying it didn't matter how it happened, it happened, but he is thorough and professional, reiterating there were no leaks in the pod's systems unless they fixed themselves afterwards. This creditable and reasoned response is shared by other members of the crew. Hoshi and Mayweather discuss what they might go back to, assuming the mission is permanently cancelled, Hoshi certain she'll be taken back at her language institute because she's so good (which she says wryly, but isn't any less true), while Travis is a bit more down about things since he can't imagine going back to cargo transports after flying the state of the art warp 5 ship. He also warns that people back home are thinking all they've done is cause trouble out in space, and this is when Hoshi jumps to their defence, saying that's why they need to go back, to tell people what really happened and what a difference they've made!

This is the spirit of Trek, and while Dr. Phlox is more fatalistic in his preparations for whatever his next position is, he again is optimistic, showing that this attitude he's expressed before isn't empty words, looking forward to whatever challenges he'll be faced with, even while knowing he'll miss the crewmates he served with on Enterprise. The point is, no one is hanging their head and believing it was all for nothing and they should slink back home with their tails between their legs to accept whatever punishment there is for daring to believe in the mission and mankind's place among the stars, forging a new path in the darkness. No one, that is, except for Archer in his hardest experience so far. This even after the wise words of Admiral Forrest, who tells him he has the whole crew looking to him on how to react to this, so don't let them down. But he allows personal guilt to overwhelm him to the point he doesn't even want to engage with the job of Captain any more. It takes a visit from T'Pol to remind him of his duty, though she does it without prodding, she simply provides an ear (two ears, pointed). T'Pol, who was of the same opinion as her people about the place of humans out in space, is the one who has turned around the most. Arguably when her character is seen across the entire series you can suggest that she was always geared towards humanity and subconsciously, even in her most Vulcan moments, carries a human bias that goes against her strict society and was gradually allowed to surface the more time she spent among humans, though she tried hard to hide it and not acknowledge it to herself. That's what I take from watching Season 1 again.

Archer has rolled over and given up, but T'Pol is ready to fight to prove they were right to be out there, just like Hoshi. And if she can turn around so entirely, going from almost a spy for the High Command, to fully supporting her colleagues and understanding their wholehearted goodness and desire to help and learn, then even the most guilt-stricken human should be able to buck himself up - she wants Archer to fight his organisation as she's willing to fight hers for him and them. Disappointingly, Archer never learns to overcome his own feelings, to rationalise what happened and put everything in perspective, to take hold of himself and be the man, the Captain, and the hero we need him to be. If there was ever a case for Archer being a weak Captain, and I went into Season 1 expecting to find more evidence of that, this is the point I'd bring up. In reality he's so often shown himself to be a good leader of men and I was actually impressed. It may be that seeing the modern iteration of Captain Pike in 'DSC,' who so constantly requires Burnham to set him straight, it made Archer look so much stronger, but I think even without that comparison to strengthen Archer's position, he comes across well for the majority of the time we spend with him in this season. Which is why it is a shame that he isn't responsible for pulling himself together, Daniels is.

More to the point, Daniels' ability to send him zipping through time to the pre-launch moment where he's literally taken out of his problem and able to have a new perspective. As a side note I don't know what they could have done to make that little trip back more memorable, but I feel like they should have done something special there. I'm not sure what we might have seen, but the chance to travel back to just before the NX-01 set out could have given us something better than just his apartment. Maybe we could have visited the NX-01 under construction (except it was finished, I think), or somewhere important, I don't know, and not that it's a bad scene, but it was definitely a lost opportunity in the way that we got to go back before the series on both 'TNG' (we see a Holodeck recreation of Utopia Planitia with the Enterprise-D under construction), and 'Voyager' (when Seven of Nine is time-hopping around to various eras in the ship's history). I imagine the rationale was that we were only going to be touching on that period briefly so they didn't want to do anything too elaborate. After this, the series takes the direction towards more action and fantasy (even though here it still feels much more scientific and coherent with what we'd seen in Trek before, unlike the stupid-sounding time crystals, open and notorious 'secret' organisation of Section 31 that everybody knows about, and technology they somehow built that's clearly centuries beyond their capability if we're still supposed to believe 'DSC' occurs in the Prime Timeline!).

The series could have gone either way, right from the start: they originally wanted to have the whole first season be the preparation for the launch of the NX-01 which is almost unimaginable in today's age of instant gratification and shiny fantasy sci-fi that bears only a passing resemblance to the well established Trek universe. Even then it was too much for the powers with the purse strings and it was they who demanded the TCW and nixed a season of preparing, something which would truly have been new ground for Trek. As it was they still managed to intertwine personal character stories with high concept ones, though the bent was definitely more towards the action than previous Trek series'. Otherwise we might have had a more psychological study of the characters in this episode rather than a move towards action. Not that I'm suggesting it was bad, on the contrary, if we hadn't had Daniels' intervention we wouldn't have got Archer's exciting mood change from utter depression to focused, driven and back in charge of himself and his ship - I love it when in the eyes of his crew he snaps out of it and orders everyone summoned to the Situation Room at the back of the Bridge, then proceeds to hand out assignments quickly and efficiently, galvanising this Starfleet crew for their task.

It's fun to see Trip so nonplussed by the technical knowledge his Captain now has that is beyond even his engineering know-how. It's also fun to see the future Tricorder, or whatever it was, that had been stashed away in Daniels' Quarters on the Enterprise in 'Cold Front.' They'd like to learn all the knowledge in that future tech (which looked like something 'DSC' would use as a matter of course in their bizarre ultra-advanced reality that bears so little resemblance to the timeline we know - I wish Daniels would go back and sort out that era, and maybe take Captain Braxton along, too, then they could set right what once went wrong, just like 'Quantum Leap' - hey that might not be a bad idea for a new series: call it 'Star Trek: Time Leapers' with Daniels in the Al role, while Braxton does the heavy lifting!), but Archer is strictly interested only in the Suliban stealth cruiser details, primed as he was by Daniels on the importance of knowing as little as possible about future events. The tables are turned and the ship has gone from defeated prey to hunter, tracking down the Suliban and going on an exciting raid. I liked seeing the unique Suliban design again, all lines and angles, with Archer having the knowledge of exactly where to go to find the data disks. It seems a bit risky taking both Trip and T'Pol along, and not Reed, I must say, but then the Captain knew what he was doing.

Having the Suliban be ordinary villains again gave me mixed feelings. It is in Trek's style that it shows enemies to be like us, and not everyone is the same as their group, and I can't help wishing there had been development of the Suliban characters where instead they're only soldiers to be opposed. Even Silik doesn't have anything interesting to add to his character, unlike last time when you're not always sure if he's acting for evil reasons or not. While it's visually dramatic to see them using their genetic enhancements again, crawling along walls and ceilings, in that instance it didn't seem to make much sense as this is their ship and it would surely have been quicker to run! But the raid is precise and targeted thanks to Archer's intuition, and I will say the whole episode was well directed by Allan Kroeker, a Trek veteran, right from the chaotic camera in Sickbay once the team had returned to the ship after the disastrous 'accident,' representing the confused feelings and shock of the participants as they whirl hither and thither trying to process what happened and how it could have. At the same time, with action there's much less discussion to be had and even having just watched it I find myself forgetting exactly what happened in the episode aside from the personal moments and the broad action strokes.

When I first saw it, it would have been the fascination with the 31st Century that I'd have been most thrilled about, but knowing that part two doesn't amount to much (at least in my memory), and that there isn't a great deal to be mined from that time, especially as it's an alternate timeline, it proves far less fascinating than would appear by the questions thrown up. Rather than rely on a wave of satisfaction and hope for the future, as 'DS9' Season 1 ended, they rely on the shock value of a cliffhanger to excite the audience, and shock value is exactly what everything relies on to a ridiculous degree in today's TV and film world. When I think of 'DS9,' and I think of it as the best Trek ever made, I think of the actual lack of direct end-of-season cliffhangers. They tended to set something up, whether it be the might of the Jem'Hadar in the episode named after them, or the threat of the Founders at the end of Season 3. The concern that Gowron is a Changeling another example. Season 5 did end with a more immediately dramatic situation with the station taken over, but even there that was to set up a multi-episode serial, and Season 7 went back to setup for the future rather than specific cliffhanger. You notice that style gives the writers far more leeway and options for how to proceed rather than writing themselves into a corner and having to put the pieces back into order so things can proceed as normal, which is what happened with 'TNG' and 'Voyager' so much, and is the template followed here.

There was so much they could have explored with future-future tech, the politics of the time, the status of races and planets, but they preferred to leave the slate largely blank, either in case they wanted to fill in further details later, or simply because trying to extrapolate a thousand years into Trek's future was a task best avoided. You'd have to be pretty confident to take on such a challenge: confident or, may I say, a touch arrogant that you could come up with something advanced enough to be understood as so much further, or perhaps just a little lacking in understanding of what makes drama. If your head is filled with comic book films and pulpy sci-fi, even fantasy, then you're not held back, because to extrapolate realistically would be a real headache. I think that's why we got so little revealed about Daniels' time, beyond the nugget that they use time portals (which have all been destroyed along with all the technology of the time). It's enough that when you see even the blase time travel master, who apparently died and came back, is worried, you know things are seriously bad. Actually that's another little disappointment: I understand that they preferred to keep the audience almost as much in the dark as the denizens of the 22nd Century in regard to how all this time travel works and the intricacies of the TCW, but they could have thrown us a bone about how Daniels survived being killed.

He fobs us and Archer off with no explanation and one reason Daniels isn't one of the best recurring characters of the series is that he embodies the writers' wish to be condescending rather than spill any beans that would require effort to create. Better not to let anyone in on how this whole thing works because then we'd have to work out how it works, so we'll just make him dismissive and gloss over any important details which it is in the nature of Trekkers to wonder about! It's good to have mystery, but sometimes it can go too far and you need to ground things, especially such ultra-future setup as they're playing with here, though they cunningly get around it by showing this alternate, ruined future. In the end none of the 31st Century connections really amount to much throughout the series, because the TCW was let go and never reached its potential, though this also means it's an element that could be taken up by writers any time they want to - trouble is, after the awful misuse of both the Mirror Universe and Section 31 I have no faith in the current writers' ability to handle Trek lore well. In fact, that's the main reason I dedicated this year to going through Season 1 of 'Enterprise' again: partly it was because I'd never even written basic reviews of the first two episodes, but also I needed something to wash away the aftertaste of 'DSC,' something that was more akin to it than the 24th Century series', widescreen, action-based, but also still revelling in Trek canon, indeed inventing the stuff rather than relying on the Spock family or the Constitution-class Enterprise.

My plan was a success, it brought back the enjoyment of Trek to me and made me remember how much I get from proper Trek. It can't make up for the horrible mismanagement of the franchise today, it can't rekindle hope for good new Trek, but it can restore my delight in the best sci-fi creation ever produced. It also helps that 'Enterprise' is the series of the original run that I've seen the least. That and 'TOS,' I would say. So it still has a freshness to it and makes it enjoyable to revisit. So much so that I wish I could just go straight onto Season 2 and continue my expanded reviews, even though I have far less favourable thoughts on that season than I've always held for Season 1. But other series' that I've put off still need reviewing, though I'll certainly keep in mind I need to go back. What this episode reminded me of once again were the details, the little details that always speak of Trek and its solidity as a coherent and believable world: it was classic stuff when Archer tells Hoshi to make sure the comms are 'on the fritz' so they can neither report nor receive orders. It's happened many times and it's always a good ruse (but only if you succeed with whatever you're trying to accomplish!), and I loved it. One very minor thing I noticed was that as Archer scrolls through the images of the 3,600 casualties of the obliterated colony, they're accompanied by the 'musical notes' visual characters that shows he's reading the Vulcan database, something that similarly impressed me as I wondered where he got these photos from. Logic!

It was even fun to hear Archer reference 'those old Bible films,' good to know that 'The Ten Commandments' et al. the apocalypse of World War III! He says it when Reed asks if the Suliban will come after them, and Archer responds that like those old films, it wasn't 'written.' Unfortunately for him, unlike those old films, time meddling switches things around and the Suliban do indeed come for the Enterprise, or more specifically, her Captain. I like that Archer is so matter-of-fact about handing himself over for the sake of his ship. Maybe he didn't believe in the word of Silik who isn't necessarily the most trustworthy, but perhaps he had faith in Daniels' ability to intervene. As it is, he confidently leaves T'Pol in command, again showing how far they've come, though even in the first episode she was forced to take command. Then Archer was worried about her, now he has no such concerns, and rightly so. Although the tiny Suliban ships don't look like much it's easy to forget they feature the tech of the future and by sheer weight of numbers would provide more than a deadly match for the NX-01. Maybe cliffhanger wasn't the best option for the episode, but it wasn't the worst, either and it does leave you wanting to see what happens next, even if you know it won't match up to this episode's quality.

One final note should be highlighted, as this was the last ever episode to appear on a videocassette, the VHS format that was superceded by DVD. I never collected the videos for this series, though I did buy the pilot's release as that was the only way to see it for me at the time. I also have many happy memories of collecting other Trek videos, in particular 'DS9' for which I bought the entire series, tracking how many I needed from each season as I went. DVD was obviously superior for clarity, but at the same time I sometimes think that the slightly less distinct video resolution worked well for Trek, especially when so many episodes had smoke and sparks, and I can still remember the whole monitor whiting out during explosions in a way that the digital nature of DVD doesn't give you. The individual art for each box and information provided inside were also very collectable. The 'Enterprise' releases didn't have the same level of attention paid to them as the medium died out, but I'll always remember with fondness the more immediate connection to that analogue medium and I wonder what it would be like to go back and watch this final video season in that format. Maybe I'll collect them one day and find out…

***

Two Days and Two Nights (2)

DVD, Enterprise S1 (Two Days and Two Nights) (2)

Risa doesn't exactly have a storied history in the Trek world, nor does it really fit with Starfleet's ethos of hard work, discipline, self-control and self-denial. It's really the opposite of all that! But just as the Vulcans, that most stoic and restrained of races, need to mate every seven years, Starfleet crews need to let their hair down occasionally, and I'm sure they'd argue that 'embracing' all cultures is what the organisation is all about… Perhaps because Risa is opposite in the extreme to the locations we witness most often in Trek it never really feels more than an excuse for the more questionable freedoms Gene Roddenberry envisaged for his vision of the future, that were at odds with the 'perfection of humanity' theme he wanted to portray. It only (so far), appeared in three episodes, across three series' (with 'Shore Leave' of 'TOS' as a similar 'pleasure planet' story and the Paxau Resort holoprogram as the entry for 'Voyager'), and I'd have to mark this as the best. 'Captain's Holiday' was an attempt to iron out the last remaining impression of stuffiness from Jean-Luc Picard, in answer to Patrick Stewart's wish for more action and to win the girl in the stereotypical swashbuckling heroics of old. He went there hoping to read quietly, just as Archer does here, and both found more than they bargained for, even if the derring-do of the NX-01's Captain remained entirely in his hotel room. The return to Risa in 'DS9' ('Let He Who Is Without Sin…'), tried to be something more, as was typical of that series, but turned into another attempt at removing stuffiness, this time from the honourable Worf who saw Risa for what it was, but eventually came around to it from Dax' outgoing, cosmopolitan nature winning him over.

What is it about 'Two Days and Two Nights' that makes this the definitive Risa story? It helps that there are multiple plots going on, this being one of the rare Trek episodes to feature an A, B, C and D storyline, which can be refreshing, though inevitably most of them are slighter than we'd usually expect. Unquestionably the A-story is that of the Captain who just wants a quiet time with his dog - the Starfleet attitudes of restraint and self-sacrifice come through strongly in him as he doesn't even feel it's fair for him to go when half the crew will have to remain aboard, despite 'winning' the holiday by drawing lots. T'Pol is very strict on his attendance as she knows it's important for the Captain to take a break, as any good First Officer would, so it makes both of them look very good. It's telling how much Riker's impishness has infected me when I assumed the gift she'd sent down for him was going to be one of those infamous Horga'hns visitors are supposed to display if they want special attention (in fact we never see one, other than Archer's door control being in the shape of the souvenir). But T'Pol doesn't have the mischievous nature of the Enterprise-D's First Officer and instead has given her Captain a copy of 'The Teachings of Surak,' a lovely looking hardbound book, presumably an English translation since the title is in that language. Once again it's so nice to see real books in Trek rather than Kindle iPADDs!

While, like Scotty in 'TOS,' Archer's desire is to catch up on some reading, which seems a little strange for one usually such an action man (though perhaps a year in command of a starship has left him tired of physical pursuits), the others generally want to take advantage of every aspect of Risan life. Trip and Malcolm make their intentions very clear and are suitably punished by humiliation for their hedonistic tendencies; Travis indulges in his love of rock climbing (a trait we'd revisit, one of the few things we really knew about the character); and Hoshi tries out her linguistic skills. The thing that works about this episode is that, much like 'Voyager,' or some of the other modern series' (I know we can't really call them that now, but they're more modern than 'TOS'), it was a pleasure simply to spend time with the characters and see them in another setting. We've come to like them across the course of the season, so it's enjoyable to see a more comfortably entertaining episode, especially one slotted in between two stories of serious action and danger. And if Risa isn't exactly one of the greatest creations, it's still good to have connections to the wider Trek universe - the Risans wear those same circular emblems on their foreheads and the verdant landscape with its beautiful azure oceans are a relaxing change from all the technological constructions and blackness of space.

One of the best stories of the episode is Mayweather's, and we don't really see any of it! Truthfully, it's not Travis' exploits that make it work, though I like that they gave him something, but Phlox. We see something new about Denobulans: they must hibernate for a few days every year and this little holiday happens to synch up with the Doctor's needs. Only for T'Pol to be forced to wake him when Travis reacts badly to a Risan painkiller. Several things I like about this: the logic is thought out as to why Travis had to come back to the ship, when really it was just so they could wake Phlox and show his madcap state - he wanted his own Doctor, which is a fair excuse. Then there's the woken Phlox who is hilarious as a confused, bumbling and irritable man ripped from necessary slumber, and whom T'Pol eventually believes was a mistake to awaken ("Set a course for Regulus: maximum warp!"). I don't recall them ever exploring this hibernation on the series again, but it was such a great, comic idea, and is funny without making the characters look foolish or incompetent (not going to mention any other series'). Another good idea was to bring back Ensign Cutler as the medical stand-in. I suppose she's been having some training from the doc and, like Tom Paris, is competent enough to deal with minor issues. It does raise the question of why there's no one else on Phlox' staff, as you'd think even a single nurse would be appropriate given the constant danger the ship enters into! The USS Voyager had the excuse that a number of their crew were killed in the pilot, but Starfleet looks a little slapdash here not to include more than one in the medical department.

I would also say that Cutler is underused here, in contrast to her previous roles, and the part could have been any guest character for what it was. At the same time I appreciate what they were doing, attempting to set up recurring characters as the other Treks had, and giving us a sense of continuity with the crew. Rostov is another returning face after his stint as a crewman caught in the web of goo ('Vox Sola'), and interestingly actor Joseph Wills costarred in 'Voyager' episode 'Muse' with Kellie Waymire, so that's a Trek reunion. It's so sad that their plans for Cutler never came to fruition from the actress' early death (plus a regular role on another TV series), as it would have improved the series to see familiar faces and would have given them a chance to build up the background a bit. At the same time, we have to admit that even some of the main cast of the series were poorly developed, so maybe recurring characters wouldn't have fared well either? We'll never know, but characters like Cutler, had they continued, might have led to a more ensemble sense and inspired writing to encourage that, improving all the characters and making the series more whole. There was some attempt to add characters when the MACOs came in for Season 3, but even they were left mostly as stunt men and women rather than fully formed people, an oversight of the series.

We see a bit of local colour thanks to Trip and Reed's foray into a lively bar, and in Hoshi's engagement with the natives (the older couple she speaks to at a restaurant looked vaguely reminiscent of series writers Garfield and Judith Reeves-Stevens, though they obviously weren't!). I always love it when they speak alien languages and show subtitles, it adds to the realism. We even get a little Denobulan when Phlox is rudely awakened, though no translation. There's only one Doctor and there's only one translator! I also liked that the lads were continuing their friendship from 'Shuttlepod One,' Reed so much more relaxed than he used to be. I feel like they should have used the opportunity of the bar to show some other recognisable alien species', say a Lurian sitting on a barstool, or something along those lines. That would have been a great cameo for Mark Allen Shepherd, the Morn costume being designed for him (and he'd already had appearances in both 'TNG' and 'Voyager,' so it should have been full house!). 'Captain's Holiday' marked one of the very rare occasions in which Andorians were seen in the 24th Century, and while it wouldn't have worked to show the blue-skins, maybe they could have gone with other exotic species'. But to put it into context, this was the end of a long first season so they probably didn't have the time or budget to play, especially if it was only going to be background atmosphere. The two muggers that mug the mugs looked familiar when we see them in their true, bat-like form (some kind of personal holo-projector as used by Georgiou in 'DSC' to impersonate other races, or a natural ability?), a little Reman, but it may be that the faces were reused in other episodes.

One possible reference is that Keyla, Archer's neighbour, was a Trill, since she has spots that ripple down her sides, though they are much fainter than other examples we've seen. It's academic, however, as she turns out to be a Tandaran operative, the people that kept Archer and Mayweather captive in a detention camp for Suliban in 'Detained.' I'd forgotten what her story was and just enjoyed seeing the lovely Dey Young again, yet another returning Trek face, and one who'd been in both 'TNG' and 'DS9.' It doesn't quite hold true that if they ever wanted to cast Mysterious Woman With Secret Background they went to her, but both Arissa, the character she played in 'A Simple Investigation,' and Keyla, here, weren't what they appeared and were in fact secret operatives. Hannah Bates in 'The Masterpiece Society' was just a scientist, but it could be said that after that episode she became someone with a 'secret,' or at least different, background when she requested asylum and left the planet she came from, so there is some connection between all three characters which is fun to note. Keyla seems to be just another tourist and Archer is happy to be hospitable to her without behaving like his Chief Engineer and Armoury Officer and throwing himself at her. Good job he remained gentlemanly, as just like the 'women' they entertained, Keyla isn't an innocent. Her little dog may be full of cute, furry rage, and maybe that's what Porthos didn't like, but it could also have been that Archer's dog sensed she was up to no good?

The switch from coy guest to interrogator with a creepy amount of knowledge on the Suliban was scary, and as if to prove he was superior to Trip and Reed once again (as if he needed to), Archer makes good on Reed's wish that he'd brought his scanner and aimed it at her, uncovering her true genetics as Tandaran. There was some good, if overly subtle continuity across this season. I do think they could have done with more overt Suliban and Temporal Cold War stories, but they mixed in a few plots that connected and we get another connection here to 'Detained' (as well as 'Acquisition' when Reed mentions the time Trip saved the ship in his underwear!), which was also an important factor in previous episode, 'Desert Crossing.' I suppose it was all an important reminder of the danger the Suliban posed, because, much like the Klingons, they'd pretty much been left behind as the Enterprise explored new worlds for much of the time. They'd be integral to the season finale so it was necessary to give the audience a reminder, only if they'd been a larger part of the season we wouldn't have needed to be reminded, so they definitely went a little too far towards the episodic than was suitable for the series' and season's main arc - perhaps they could have dropped a couple of the less successful stories, like 'Vox Sola,' 'Rogue Planet' and 'Fusion,' in exchange for a few more essential episodes? Not that they knew which would work well and which wouldn't, this is all with hindsight, of course.

Keyla's questions on where the Suliban came from and where they live, were pertinent, but more important is the issue of what their goal is. I'm not sure that was ever answered satisfactorily since the TCW was never entirely explained, another failing of the series. We know that the Suliban were really just willing tools selected by Future Guy, part of a faction of a war in the future which we may never learn about (and if we do, it's almost sure to be stupid, judging by the sorry comic book fantasy standards of modern Trek!), but the true motivations and purposes always remained cloudy. And that's really the same thing to be said for this episode. It's no great moral story, not a thrilling adventure, and it doesn't have a real resolution, it's just a chance for us to spend time with the characters. Keyla escapes after drugging Archer and we never find out the extent of Tandaran plans against the Suliban. Not that the Tandarans were a very interesting race, they were more like a substandard version of the fascistic Cardassians, and unlike that classic race didn't even look visually interesting, but it was quite something that they suddenly show up in the form of this operative who's there as a honey trap to bleed all the Suliban juice out of Archer, as it gives the galaxy an impression of interconnectedness instead of the Tandarans merely being another race of the week who we moved on from. They needed to play up things like that, but the series never really got going on semi-serialisation in the way that 'DS9' and parts of 'Voyager' did so well.

If there is no real resolution, I suppose there is at least a kind of ironic one where everyone's tightlipped about exactly what happened on their hols, discussing events only in generalities as they take the Shuttlepod back, and all for different reasons. The greatest irony is that only Hoshi, the one most intent on visiting the planet for cultural reasons and as a sort of working holiday to flex her linguistic muscles, had the most enjoyable time - Ravis, the guy who hooks up with her, didn't turn out to be a scoundrel or a crook. His facial design looked rather like a Napean (from 'Eye of The Beholder'), a race I'm always keen to see reappear, with that diamond-shaped extrusion on the forehead, though Ravis' was much shallower and his home planet was almost impossible to say so he couldn't have been one (unless that's what they call themselves in their own language). The cultural details were fascinating, such as the speed of their speech changing its meaning. It's also quite something that Risa lies as far out as humans have ever been before, although I did wonder about that, because we know the cargo ships have been striking out into space for decades, so Archer could have meant generally speaking.

One other reality of the production was its Director being the man who went to the planet on its last appearance in Trek, Michael Dorn. The Worf actor had directed Trek before with three episodes of 'DS9' (somewhat surprising he never did it on his home series, 'TNG'), and they were all great episodes. This happens to be another good one for 'Enterprise' which means every episode he directed worked. That can be put down to getting good scripts, but it seems to me that, like many Trek actors, Dorn's style worked well for the franchise and I wonder why he never did another one. Though he wasn't a flashy Director, he seemed to allow the story to breathe and even threw in the occasional shot that was different, such as Archer's blurry point of view after he's been scratched by Keyla's poisoned nail and sinks to the floor. The depiction of Risa itself looked somewhat artificial, perhaps the matte was CGI rather than a more realistic photo-real painting, but then that fits with Risa's artificial character, and the colours still looked gorgeous and inviting. Certainly the best Risa episode to date. Although deleted scenes can't be considered canon, the one on the DVD for this episode does at least fill in a plot detail that they paid for the trip with dilithium which the Risans were happy to accept.

***

Desert Crossing (2)

DVD, Enterprise S1 (Desert Crossing) (2)

I wish 'Enterprise' had embraced its semi-serialised nature more, because that perfect mix of ongoing stories in an episodic structure that 'DS9' benefited so much from, would have been a real advantage to the series. I say this because of episodes such as this one in which Archer's previous actions drive the story: Zobral, the forceful native who (apparently - it was never directly confirmed or discussed), cunningly reels in the good Captain believing the hype that he's not only an explorer, but a great warrior with a reputation for fairness and integrity, the ideal man to help with his planet's rebellion against a corrupt government. And it was all 'thanks' to the Suliban Archer and crew rescued back in 'Detained,' Zobral mentioning the detention camp Archer liberated and who have spread the good news about this champion of justice as they travelled (a bit like Janeway and crew developed a reputation ahead of them in their sojourn across the Delta Quadrant). It was the wrong end of the stick, wishful thinking on Zobral's part, but it was a good stick to grasp, and not entirely without merit since Archer did indeed rescue the captured Suliban and he really is a man of integrity, balanced, open and an all-round good guy. In fact this is another episode that shows him in all the positive light that you want to see a famous starship Captain given: he's all things - a good Captain, a good leader and a good friend, and though it could be said he isn't quite as firm as a Kirk or Picard might have been when such dubious hospitality was pressed upon them, he's also much more willing to engage and discover.

Archer's good actions in 'Detained,' helping the oppressed, ironically mean that had he not gotten involved they wouldn't have been drawn into the situation here (isn't there a Ferengi Rule of Acquisition about no good deed going unpunished?), but they aren't the only events to be directly referred to, as Zobral asks whether they never encountered anything that made them regret their pioneering exploits - we're reminded of 'Silent Enemy' in which they had to return to Earth to upgrade their weapons, except of course they successfully banded together in true Starfleet fashion and solved the problem before they arrived, another proud moment in the season. It adds so much to the reality of the series that events actually meant something and multiplied their experience - it could also be a foreshadowing of the coming return to Earth in disgrace that would come in season finale 'Shockwave,' just as this episode and the previous one were concerned with heading to Risa, a plan that would come to fruition in next story 'Two Days and Two Nights.' I just wish there had been more of that in the series, quite a different prospect from modern Trek and this series' own Season 3 in which everything has to be tied together with almost no room for manoeuvre (except for the occasional Wild West episode or trip to Talos IV!).

Something else this episode shares with modern Trek is the high production values of actually filming in some realistic locations. They didn't actually go to Morocco or wherever it was they filmed the 'DSC' pilot, 'The Vulcan Hello,' but they certainly shot for realism, something that always brings greater enjoyment to Trek rather than always staying in standing sets or set-based alien villages. 'Enterprise' was good at making sure it had location shooting and I think back to 'Strange New World' and 'Terra Nova' as among some of the best outdoor filming this season, though this one is also a contender as we see Archer and his good mate Trip struggle across the dunes of a real desert. The friendship between the pair was not really explored enough across the series, I always felt, but whenever they did give them something to do it was good for the characters. This time they have a manly game of alien lacrosse to show what they're made of, but while this was fun it serves more as a contrast between frivolous machismo and serious endurance and survival that sport often stands in for: the real manly test is when they're on the run from the authorities under a desert sun with only a couple of water packs to keep them going - it shows Archer's leadership qualities at the peak as he not only has to see to his own safety, but that of a quickly deteriorating Trip (probably didn't help that he'd played Geskana on a full stomach - it seems Torothan culture doesn't care about indigestion!).

The Chief Engineer is well at home around his engines (and we get some nice shots in Engineering - I always love when they place the camera at the far end of the Warp Core and point it back to show off the length and power of this Warp 5 starship, and then there was also that shot I don't remember ever seeing before, which had Trip leaning on one side of the platform at the operational console end as the camera moves into alignment at the other side of the platform), but he doesn't do well in heat. We've seen he can have a weaker mental attitude than his Captain and friend in the past - there's the story of how Archer saved his life when they were in zero-g, and wasn't there another story about saving him when they went diving together? And obviously the time when Trip was infected by the planet in 'Strange New World' and his mind was playing tricks, requiring Archer to talk him out of shooting T'Pol! It's not shameful that Trip should be shown to have problems coping with extremes, it's all part of the job, and though it doesn't make him look up to much it does allow Archer to demonstrate his own abilities and endurance, which is all to the good for a series where the impression can be that he's a bit soft compared to later Captains in the timeline. Episodes like these are good reminders that he was more than a starship Captain who was too easily pushed around and whose small ship often fared badly in battle.

I think also that it's a pleasure in the age of women being the rising stars of 'Discovery' to see a boys' day out with just the two of them going down to a planet (even if Archer does talk about an 'Away Mission' rather than a 'Landing Party'), at the invitation of the domineering Zobral (played by the great Clancy Brown, best known to me as The Kurgan in the original 'Highlander' film). Good casting makes a huge difference and getting someone from genre that hadn't been in Trek before was a great move. His stature and unique voice made him ideal as this leader of alien rebels/terrorists who are fighting against a society that promised equality for all after the casting off of the caste system, before reneging. He's not entirely trustworthy, as we find out, with the gift of, if not a silver tongue, then certainly a persuasive one, and who sees things very black and white. I was surprised that it was never mentioned that he probably put his own ship into disrepair just so the NX-01 would come along and rescue him and he could invite Archer to his planet, but although he admits that he heard about him from the Suliban Captain and wanted Archer to come and help his people with his powerful ship and battle strategies, we never hear that he forced the meeting in their path. Still, he's shown to be much less of a genial and generous host than he likes to pretend when, upon reaching Enterprise he claims their people aren't his responsibility!

Although T'Pol does raise her voice a few times in the episode, which I didn't like, preferring it when Vulcans retain their assured and calm demeanour, especially in the face of adversity, a trait I greatly admire, she also proves more than equal to the task of being in command in the Captain's absence: she finds the representative of the government in the bureaucratic Chancellor Trelit to be completely unsympathetic to the plight of her Captain and Chief Engineer, to the extent his bad humour and suspicious nature believes them to be assisting the rebels and there's little she can do in that avenue, but when Zobral shows up and proves unhelpful she quickly applies moral pressure to him, even getting him to come along on the rescue mission, which was impressive considering he was such a stubborn and singleminded individual! One thing I don't understand is why Mayweather wasn't piloting the Shuttlepod! He's supposed to be a great pilot and yet Reed fills the role. It could be put down to the fact that T'Pol was leading and with Zobral along there wasn't room for both Tactical Officer and pilot, but I don't recall seeing Travis at all (just as Phlox also goes unseen), which is a missing piece in this case as Travis should always be the go-to guy when it comes to tricky flying, even if Reed was necessary for a potential combat situation.

I quite like the fact that the episode doesn't require any B-plots, the closest they get being the few scenes with T'Pol in command on the Enterprise. It's not always necessary to have a secondary layer of story to cut to, although perhaps that's what was happening: Mayweather had caught some alien disease and Dr. Phlox was treating him, but we just never saw it! That would have made some sense, and they could have simply mentioned this was happening. At least Hoshi had a meaningful point to make when she asks T'Pol why the Vulcans chose Bozeman, Montana as the sight of first contact with the people of Earth. It's a good question, even if the answer is obvious: because it was the home town of film co-writer Brannon Braga, of course! Okay, so that's the real-world production reason, but T'Pol's answer is that this was where the first warp flight originated, but as Hoshi says, it could have been seen as a slight on the other world nations of the time. This is something that's never been explored, mainly because you'd have to tie down too much canon which is something the writers never liked to do in favour of leaving as much open for future writers as possible (even if the current crop tend to throw canon back in the faces of their forebears as if they can't be bothered with all that 'constraint'!). We don't really know what countries existed at the end of World War III and its best to leave that all a mystery, though if Trek goes on for about another thirty years (if it hasn't been run into the ground by the current administration's inability to make it properly!), canon will catch up with real life!

The point of this conversation is to show that Starfleet needs its own rules on how to operate in the unknown galaxy at large - you'd think they'd have already come up with some basic forms before sending out the Enterprise and they must have had other starships before it, even if they weren't as fast (the Franklin, for example, that little knot of canon conundrum from 'Star Trek Beyond' that did as much harm as good in adding texture to early Starfleet space exploration!), so you'd think some of these issues would have cropped up before. But be that as it may, this is another episode that hints at the coming of the Prime Directive, General Order One. I don't think it ever actually came into being during 'Enterprise' (that could have been one of the overarching themes of the series, along with the Temporal Cold War and the Founding of the Federation, if only the series had lasted a few more years), but Archer is certainly in agreement with T'Pol at the end when they discuss non-interference in alien wars, even if he makes the addendum that Zobral's cause seemed just. So it seems that although the principle of not getting involved was right in this case, he wasn't quite ready to ignore his own sense of justice given the right circumstances. In this case he was manipulated into a position where he could have had a decisive effect on the course of that planet's society, but it was in false expectations of his expertise and he wasn't going to drop his mission of exploration to fight someone else's war, no matter how just, in the same way he wasn't going to dedicate the next few years to finding a cure for the dominant race on Valakis in 'Dear Doctor.'

Although the Prime Directive, diplomacy and the sensitivities of galactic relations are only on the fringe of the episode in preference for a tale of survival (which reminded me of O'Brien and Bashir in 'Armageddon Game' - both on the run from authorities that want them dead, both hole up in a bunker, both feature one of them dying…), which the series tended to prefer, I'm glad that these issues are present. They could have done with being a little more present, perhaps cut to more discussion instead of so much time of Archer trying to keep Trip's mind active (I found it quite funny when he asks him to break down the warp engine and Trip, obsessed with his hunger, starts talking about the different parts of a chicken!), especially as it would have been enlightening to hear more about what the Vulcan High Command sets out as its own rules on dealing with planetary conflict, which T'Pol briefly mentions when she says Archer will have to create his own (governments and not starship Captains need to make the decision, she thinks). But even though the action is more important to the series than the ideas, it is presented with such high production values that it remains an attractive and engaging story with both the glaring light of day and the exciting exit from the blasted camp at night, fire all about as Archer and Trip make their escape into the desert. I don't think we'd seen the NX-01 desert gear before, but that looked really good, and we get another first for Trek: Archer says he found a new use for the stun setting of his Phase Pistol (lighting a fire), though sadly we never saw it happen.

Talking of Phasers, we see the Shuttlepod fire bolts instead of beams in the rescue mission, which always annoys me, more because although I know they can do both, in Trek made after this series (or during - 'Nemesis' did it, too), they always use bolts and not beams, and in the same way as I want my Vulcans to be measured and unemotional, this is another of my major bugbears of Trek made in the 21st Century! At least during 'Enterprise' they still mostly had beams, and they also had thought: the reason Archer knows where to go when they're in the desert is because he kept his survival training in mind - always have an awareness of your surroundings when flying into a location. He was a lot more careful and conscientious than Trip who never even thought about it and would have died if not for his Captain being there to guide him! It shows the difference between careful thought and planning as opposed to lazily just winging it which is how Starfleet officers are far too often portrayed in modern Trek. It's a real shame because the qualities of the characters are one of the great draws when so much recent Trek is merely superficial and doesn't give sufficient thought to such things, preferring magical fantasy solutions and contrivances instead of the less 'cool,' but more realistic nuts and bolts of training and improvement through both mental and physical training (leaving aside Ensign Tilly's jogging!). Another thing I like is the crew back on the ship running through their options for saving their crew-mates: they can't use the Transporter because they can't localise the bio-signs, they can't send a shuttle in the midst of an assault…

These things need to be addressed and not just left to imagination, and it is that attention to detail and the other positives I mentioned that once again remind why Trek is so good in the face of current Trek making me lose heart in the franchise's future. I always liked this episode - it has good music, good boy's own adventure, good location shooting, a good guest star and a good moral issue, all tidily jammed into the space of a single episode, touching upon events that had happened earlier and subtly hinting at things still to come in the last two episodes of what has been a strong first season that could claim to be the strongest Trek ever made. It doesn't matter to me that the aliens are very under-designed, almost not designed at all, you might say, with only a chin tattoo to mark them out as different. But the amount of difference between humans and aliens wasn't really that important and not every race they encounter has to be an elaborate forehead or head-piece. The important thing was creating a culture, something else that seems to be missing from modern Trek which isn't much concerned with the kind of details Trek always used to be concerned with. Exploring a culture, even for the space of one episode, and a race we'd never see again, adds richness and depth to the Trek landscape. If they'd concentrated on an elaborate alien design, but left out the cultural details then it would have come across as generic sci-fi, which is what Trek has become with 'DSC,' and I'm so thankful that I had this to go back to and examine, to remind myself why Trek worked in the past, and reassure me that perhaps one day we'll see the like again.

Points of interest: you can see lines down the dunes that appear to be tracks of some kind - since we only saw hover ships such as Zobral's shuttle this must be a production gaffe. Either that or the Torothans enjoy cycling or biking across the desert! I thought I recognised the chair of Chancellor Trelit, and according to Memory Alpha it was one of the Briefing Room chairs from 'Voyager'! Speaking of, Lt. Ayala himself, Tarik Ergin, was also apparently one of the Geskana players, which is fun to realise. It was a small guest cast (credited, anyway, Ergin was one of the uncredited), but Trelit actor Charles Dennis had also been Sunad in 'TNG' episode 'Transfigurations.'

***

Fallen Hero (2)

DVD, Enterprise S1 (Fallen Hero) (2)

Fallen hero, but ascending episode in my estimation. I didn't used to think as much of this one, but perhaps a diet of 'Discovery' has made me appreciate it more, emphasising its strong points and diminishing its weaknesses. The Mazarites, with their stupid white eyebrows that sweep into their sideburns, were never one of the best designs of the season, but I didn't mind them so much this time. And V'Lar, though I remain unhappy with her far too expressive un-Vulcan-like speech and facial movements, wasn't too much of an irritant - at least she wasn't an existing character repurposed to ruin that character (see: Sarek). I love Fionnula Flanagan, and not only for her terrific name, but because she's one of those great female guest stars that has made an impact on the Trek universe, first through her portrayal of a woman out of the Dax symbiont's past in 'DS9' ('Dax'), and then as Data's Mother in 'TNG' ('Inheritance'), in both cases providing an affecting and defining moment for a main character. She does the same here with T'Pol, although as I always say, I don't like Vulcans that portray emotion as if its just under the surface rather than buried deep below, and V'Lar is yet another stain on the previous portrayal of this most fascinating species. At the same time there is some accounting for her more open and accepting demeanour in that she's an Ambassador to a troubled race, plus, like Spock later in his life, she's an old woman, learned in experience.

Unlike Spock she doesn't have the excuse of being half-human, but she has developed the skill to play roles as part of the mission she's taken on. Still, I don't buy Flanagan as a Vulcan and feel it to be her weakest contribution to Trek, even while I still warm to her as an actress. It's not her fault, either, it appears to have been the misguided people in charge that wanted actors to play the Vulcans in this way, as we've seen in every Vulcan episode starting with the pilot, and the greatest crime of 'Enterprise.' If she hadn't been a Vulcan it would have been better, but I also wish we'd been able to see Flanagan as a traditional example of the race because I'm sure she'd have pulled it off wonderfully. I remember my Aunt liking this episode, and she was someone for whom the series never appealed, despite enjoying all the previous series' - I suspect it was because an older woman was pivotal to the story, and it is good to have age represented, something that frequently isn't the case, but used to be better balanced in the franchise (I put it down to the decision to alter its appeal towards younger, less discerning generations through the 'Summer blockbuster' Kelvin films), though 'Picard' has singlehandedly taken on that area in the modern era. As it is, though the episode is focused on her, V'Lar is not really the point. She's there to hit the nail on the head about the growth of trust in, and faith between, Captain Archer and T'Pol.

Much like Commander Sisko and Kira by the end of 'DS9' Season 1, and Captain Janeway and Chakotay in 'Voyager,' though they began with various degrees of distrust and uncertainty, they have continued the rewarding Trek tradition of finding the good in each other. That is the theme of this episode, set amid the backdrop to a deadly chase that pushes the NX-01 to its absolute limits in classic Trek style. The chase was expertly handled, an excellent example of how making the ship inferior to many other races out there actually created more drama as they can barely hold their own against the Mazarites, these nondescript one-episode wonders. But we care so much more about the fate of the ship because we care about the crew, and V'Lar has some influence on that. T'Pol's conviction that the venerable Ambassador is not guilty of the crimes for which she's been ordered off-world in disgrace, turns into a personal plea to Jonathan Archer that he move from his adamant position of going against the risk and returning her back to Mazar. Archer still doesn't trust Vulcans on the whole, he's been burned too many times, but the person he does trust is T'Pol, and for her he changes his mind. It's a fantastic moment in the development of these characters and is the kind of thing that had the series done more of, it could have become the best. Later failures to achieve such quality of writing don't detract from this episode, and in fact it makes you drawn further towards this one.

The only thing about the central premise, Archer's decision to return V'Lar to Mazar, that doesn't make a lot of sense is that he does it out of outrage that his ship wasn't prepared to go into battle. He deems it safer to return rather than potentially run into more rebel Mazar ships and put the crew in jeopardy when he doesn't know the reason why. But surely going back to Mazarite space would be heading back into the lion's den and actually increase the risk, unless these rebels knew where they were going and had been posted along the route. But that's the only logic problem for me and the rest of it hinges on the tight bond between Archer and T'Pol, so gratifying to see. I loved how V'Lar finally agreed to open up to T'Pol and allowed her to speak with the Captain because she could see the trust Archer had engendered in his First Officer. And Archer won't risk his crew on the word of a stranger, but he will for T'Pol after all they've been through. When V'Lar goes to Archer and tells all I really wanted her to say that she's coming to him now because she's seen the trust T'Pol puts in him, just as Archer puts his trust in T'Pol, but I felt there could be an implication there, and certainly by the end when she takes their leave (wishing T'Pol will "Live long and prosper," though I so wanted her to also perform the hand salute!), it's clear from the way she says she senses a strong bond between the pair.

I'd never considered this before, and it shows how 'Enterprise' didn't entirely succeed in what it was trying to do, mainly because it wasn't entirely sure what it was trying to do, other than keep a Trek series going, but when V'Lar speaks about T'Pol and Archer's friendship boding well for human and Vulcan relations, it could be seen as the foundation structure for the whole Federation to be: Archer was clearly instrumental in bringing about this coalition that would become the formal Federation we know and love, and T'Pol played a great part in his overcoming of anti-Vulcan prejudices, so together, the pair of them were the basis upon which all of Trek was built. It's a little paining to realise that this should have been the rock-steady core of the series and they should have done more overt stories and development in this direction, because if I'm only seeing it now on the third or fourth viewing of the series, then that flags up a loss of such great opportunity. It shouldn't have been a revelation! While we get hints towards the human/Vulcan future, we also get a little further detail shaded in on another Federation member world: Andoria is said to have been visited by Vulcans a few years before they made first contact with Earth, suggesting the blue-skinned ones were only a little more advanced than humans ninety-odd years ago, though their aggressive tendencies would explain why their ships, weapons and experience with other races seem so much more advanced.

Reading between the lines you can speculate that they were like the Lore to Earth's Data, humans meekly going along with big brother Vulcan's advice and instruction, while the Andorians much more quickly threw off the shackles and preferred to make their own way, causing more destruction and difficult times along the way, and would explain the far frostier relations between them and the Vulcans. I love this kind of nuance that can be read into the actions of the characters we see in the series, really bringing alive the cultures and historical fallout between races. It also shows the Vulcans haven't always got things right. And yet, though they aren't the almost perfect race we came to know by the 24th Century (I really hope 'Picard' doesn't mess them up, but I don't hold out much hope since it's been demonstrated in 'DSC' so often that the nuances of different eras are irrelevant to this modern production group), V'Lar does portray some of their best qualities. Her voice and manners may be a little too expressive for my taste, but she behaves in the way we expect: when Archer demands an explanation for the attack on his ship, rather than lie, she simply says she 'has no answers' for him - ah, the Vulcan way with words! And when T'Pol tries to get her to reveal the truth she says Vulcans have kept many things from humans, all for good reason, which shows she's still of the same mindset as many of her race that humans aren't ready for some things, perhaps a small sign of her own prejudices that Archer helps to dispel.

The most important part of her character is her selfless devotion to the mission she's been tasked with. It's not that she fears her own death at the hands of this insidious faction of Mazarite life, but that she wants the people to be free of them. She's been investigating at the request of the Mazarite government and only the threat to her life before she can be called to bring her evidence, forces them to pretend she's been expelled. T'Pol was right about her good character and motives, and is pleased when she finds this hero of hers who inspired her to join the Vulcan Science Council, ultimately leading to her posting on the NX-01, is all that she seemed, and even remembers her. But V'Lar doesn't know her and so she remains remote at first, even while she's so open with her thoughts and happy to talk with the crew. Only when she understands T'Pol better does she refer to their first meeting many years before. Her hero status continues when she sees no way to protect the human ship from the three pursuing Mazarite craft, other than giving herself up, but little does she know the tenacity of Archer and his crew. That's another fine success of the episode, that everyone is on the Bridge doing their job in the race to escape, coming up with other options when they know their engines will eventually let them down.

Trip's in Engineering pumping those engines for everything they've got, taking them right up to the maximum rated speed of Warp 5 for the first time ever. Travis is at the Helm, keeping the course straight and steady, Hoshi sends out a message to the Vulcan ship they're due to rendezvous with, with the help of V'Lar's code, and Reed comes up with a way to mask the enemy sensors so they don't detect when the Sh'Rann is approaching. Even Phlox plays his part by bluffing the invading Mazarites that V'Lar is in the imaging chamber and can't be removed without killing her. A couple of points with this: I did wonder why Archer didn't have teams of Security to capture the Mazarites, as all they needed were a few minutes, so if they were incapacitated it might have given the Vulcans time to arrive. Also, wouldn't the Mazarites want to see a body rather than firing blindly into the chamber? I also felt that V'Lar's triumphant appearance as they leave Sickbay was too un-Vulcan-like and not a sensible idea - after all, they could have strangled her with their bare hands. One thing I absolutely loved was the way the Vulcan ship comes barrelling in majestically like big brother come to break up a scuffle that's beneath them, Phasers ripping into Mazarite hull and the Captain appearing onscreen in Sickbay to bluntly and dispassionately instruct the Mazarites to turn over their weapons immediately or their ships will be destroyed. He was a Proper Vulcan, just the kind I want, not a trace of emotion!

One reason I was never so keen on this episode on previous viewings was the way it began. It's a little too free with intimate details in the opening scene where T'Pol suggests the crew may need a 'relaxing of tension,' and Risa fits the bill. I know they were setting up 'Two Days and Two Nights,' but though they were trying to make a cute, funny scene, the frankness didn't seem all that appropriate, even behind closed doors for the Captain, First Officer and Chief Engineer. It doesn't seem all that likely a Vulcan would be the one to recommend Risa, either, although I'll admit I did like the confirmation that Vulcans do indeed mate only once every seven years. I'm surprised how little suggestion there is that anyone was miffed that after heading off to the pleasure planet they don't make it and are instead called away on a mission, as that might have made for a good scene between some of the lesser-used characters, like Mayweather. I know they're Starfleet so we expect the best from them, but it would be human nature, especially in the 22nd Century, for them to show some disappointment at shore leave being postponed. I did like Archer's approach to the idea being so similar to Scotty: it'll give him time to catch up on some work! Admiral Forrest shows support for Archer - he always seems to be so sympathetic, as if his hand is forced, this is the only thing they can do, even when Archer gets a bit explosive with him, venting more anger at the Vulcans. He's such a conciliatory commanding officer, so far from many of the high-handed Admirals we've seen over the years that require obedience and nothing more, that he'd have made a good Ambassador himself.

Another reason the episode didn't sit so well in the past was the setting up of expectations for V'Lar as this very stolid, serious Vulcan and she turns out to be yet another 'alternative' type as we'd seen so many times this season. Yes, it throws T'Pol for a loop and puts the crew on V'Lar's side - a wise precaution to get in with them when her life was at risk, though it was as much about her innate interest in other species as a canny move. But the way T'Pol goes to all this trouble it would have been good if she had had a traditional Vulcan to deal with. A moment I love is when Hoshi's accommodatingly given up her accommodations for the sake of the visiting dignitary and T'Pol sniffs the air in the Quarters dissatisfiedly. They later make a direct comment about it when T'Pol apologises for the human smell, which wasn't necessary - I got the reference that Vulcans find humans rather pungent and they didn't need further highlighting of it, even while I applaud the attention to detail. Saying that, if T'Pol was apologising for the smell in Hoshi's Quarters, assuming V'Lar was about to refer to it, why does she later take her to those Quarters as if it's the first time she's been there? I suppose they do all look alike to a visitor, so it's possible she was letting her know they'd arrived in case the Ambassador didn't recognise they were back at the Quarters she'd been shown to earlier.

The series remembers even the little details, as shown by the reminder of Vulcan nasal sensitivity, and something else that is laid down in the lore is an inability for the ship to fire Phasers while at warp. The dinky Phaser Cannon looked great and you get a good sense of temporary victory when they use it to knock the first Mazarite ship out of the pursuit, much to Reed's pleasure. He reports that he's been working on improving the weapon so it won't blow out the nacelles when used at warp, but I like these wrinkles in the technology because it gives them something to overcome and shows the limitations of the time. Archer comes across well, all righteous indignation that he's been used by the Vulcans yet again, then overcoming his distaste and distrust through the mediation and judgement of T'Pol. I also enjoy his quick wit as rather than simply accede to the demands of the Mazarites to hand over his charge, he stalls for time, using the alien Captain's own words about basically not being in the loop and knowing nothing about it, needing to contact his superiors. It shows he has a strong diplomatic bent and doesn't either give in so easily, nor immediately become officious or belligerent, gaining the character more respect. I thought the blue of his off-duty clothes were reminiscent of the old 'TOS' uniforms from 'The Cage' and 'Where No Man Has Gone Before' (you know, the ones that 'DSC' totally ignored and continue to do so, but were established as the uniform of that period!), so I wonder if that was a deliberate touch or just me?

I thought I recognised the Mazarite Captain's face, and I see he went on to play, ironically, Vulcan Minister Kuvak late in the series (the Vulcan three-parter of Season 4), though I probably recognised him better as one of the human descendants whose forebears were captured by aliens in 'The 37s' on 'Voyager,' in both cases the good guy of the piece. The other Mazarite speaking role, the official contacting them from Mazar, was also played by someone who'd previously been on another Trek series and would return in an 'Enterprise' Season 4 three-parter: J. Michael Flynn was in 'The Hunted' on 'TNG' and went on to be a Romulan (Nijil, or 'Nigel' as I like to call him!), in the Andorian three-parter. But of course the main guest was Fionnula, sadly in her last role in Trek. I doubt she's still acting as this was almost twenty years ago and she was no spring chicken so I very much doubt she'll follow Clint Howard as one of the few to make the leap into the third age of Trek, more's the pity because it is much thanks to actors of her calibre for adding so much to Trek over the years, and even if I don't relish her role here, it's for ideological differences rather than any fault in her ability. I was wrong to judge it so harshly before and so it was a pleasant surprise to discover that, as well as the link to one of my favourite early 'TNG' episodes: T'Shanik from 'Coming of Age' has the same home city as the place T'Pol met V'Lar, Vulcana Regar.

***

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?

**

Detained (2)

DVD, Enterprise S1 (Detained) (2)

It's not Travis Mayweather's fault that he seems prominent in a higher proportion of the weaker episodes of the season, it's just unfortunate. It's not even that Mayweather is a poor character - granted, by the end of the series it was very clear he was the most underused, underdeveloped and all around lost creation of the series (Jake Sisko, the similarly most underdone main cast member of 'DS9' had far, far more to do, with arcs and changes across the board - in fact, even the recurring cast in that series were treated more like regulars than Travis!), but when you look at certain episodes in which he was written to his strengths (I think of 'Strange New World,' as one of the best examples, telling ghost stories and being the one to embrace Starfleet principles, but also 'Horizon' in Season 2), you realise how much potential was wasted in stories like 'Breaking The Ice,' 'Fortunate Son' and 'Detained.' This should have been his time to shine - he's alone for most of the episode with the Captain, forcibly held by Tandaran authorities in an internment camp for Suliban who are too weak to defend themselves compared to the whiplash dangerous genetic enhancements that has made the Suliban Cabal a feared force in the Quadrant. But what do we really learn about him, or for that matter, the good Captain? That they fell into the same trap as the Tandarans at first, pre-judging this band of Suliban to be just the same as their terrorist brothers?

You'd expect nothing less than that they'd come around to understanding the distinction between the groups, despite looking the same. You could say the story is almost as simplistic as 'Let That Be Your Last Battlefield' from 'TOS' with its half-black, half-white man versus half-white, half-black. It's a little more subtle than that, and although Archer references a similar internment camp from World War II (part of me wishes he'd spoken of World War III, just to add something to the knowledge of that period), one which held innocent Japanese-Americans for looking like The Enemy, something Trek's own Mr. Sulu, George Takei knows all about, what they're really talking about, I believe, is America's holding of Muslims in places like Guantanamo Bay, without charge. That was the kind of issue happening at that time after the 11th September attacks, so although it seemed the series practically ignored the change in society that resulted from that (partly because it occurred just as the series was debuting so they didn't exactly have a lot of time to address such themes), it was really just going to take them a while until they could reflect it in a traditional Trek morality tale. Also, they may have chosen to largely carry on as they were, to give people something better to think of - my theory for at least one of the reasons Trek fell out of favour was that people were stirred by that attack and the homely, optimistic vision of the future that Trek had spun so long no longer touched on the heartbeat of the populace. Instead, revenge, wild thoughts about who was to blame and why such a thing could have happened to the most prosperous and secure nation on Earth, meant that more violent and unhappy TV fare, such as '24,' became popular and Trek slowly sank into obscurity.

Even with this, which I now consider the first foray into exploring the issues raised by the rise in terrorism, it was largely a one-off, and it wouldn't be until the very end of Season 2 that they chose to really jump on the bandwagon of making harsher characters and dealing with the change in temperament that was in the air by having Earth attacked and the whole of Season 3 diverting them away from meandering exploration to specific, targeted missions that effectively turned the NX-01 into an intelligence team to uncover the plot against their home. The season finale, 'Shockwave,' would also deal with such issues, in a lesser way, and you can tell from episodes such as these, that they didn't realise the seismic shift in television that had resulted partly from the attacks, but also other aspects such as technology (being able to 'TIVO' programmes to make them instantly accessible was apparently a less time-consuming and effortless method of keeping up with your favourite series' in the US, rather than the old method of setting the video recorder, allowing serialisation to become popular), since they were still thinking small, one episode at a time. I do wonder how the first season would have ended had the attacks on the Trade Towers not happened, but that's speculation for the finale and not the place for it here.

One reason I don't think so well of this episode as I do the majority of Season 1's offerings is that it was such an isolated story - when did we ever learn anything about the Suliban as a race again? Here we find out that the Cabal's attacks began eight years ago (is that how long the Temporal Cold War dates back to in this century, or did they begin without their genetic payoffs as mere ordinary terrorists?), that the race is largely nomadic after their homeworld was destroyed, and that some have chosen to integrate into other societies. We don't learn anything about their beliefs, their social structures or really anything else, which is a real shame. I understand Trek's desire to continue to examine even the worst of its foes in an effort to show that it's not as simple to consider an entire race of people the enemy, I just wish they'd gone a bit further on the series when it came to exploring cultures, as previous Treks had done, and which was a failure of 'Enterprise' as it tried to return to the purer action-adventure roots of 'TOS,' not realising that the nuance, subtlety and depth of 24th Century Trek was a large part of the formula for its modern success. It was very true to its traditions, however - the Klingons, the Romulans, even aspects of the Dominion and the Borg, Trek's deadliest foes, had had examples of individuals we could accept, something that added hope in the light of such grave threat. But the Suliban turned out not to be the series' Klingons, Romulans, Dominion or Borg, they simply weren't filled out in anywhere near the lengths those classic races were.

Who even remembers the Suliban now? They were set up as the series' main source of conflict, even if it was with the shady assistance from an unknown power from the distant future (will 'Discovery' finally reveal the identity of Future Guy, since they're going even a little further into that future? If they got James Horan back that would be exciting…), but as far as I can recall, this was the only episode to deal with the race outside of Silik and his fellow minions, and if you don't create a strong enemy your heroes don't look strong coming up against them. It's almost as if they came up with all this cool stuff with the crawling along walls and ceilings, squeezing under doors like Changelings (more on the Dominion connections later), and all manner of creepy abilities, but that was as far as their thinking went. In a way then, this episode is the antidote to that simplicity when we meet this bunch of internees who are just regular people. That's what I liked before, after originally being disappointed that the Suliban were being so quickly defanged. But this time I found myself returning to my original view that it wasn't quite good enough, both the Suliban and the Enterprise crew not receiving their full dues in a trade-off for an action-packed prison break. Not to say that wasn't the highlight, what with Reed performing another Trek tradition and infiltrating as an alien (Suliban this time, though inexplicably Archer can simply look into his eyes and know it's him!), Trip flying down and taking out Phaser batteries guarding the compound in what were some good CGI visuals, an explosive exit and the 'hurrah' of the Shuttlepod and Suliban ships launching to safety.

The only trouble is I felt we never had proper resolution. Clearly Archer and Mayweather's change of heart as they see what's going on there (that was Grat's big mistake: not setting them free instantly, allowing them to mingle with the inmates and learn their stories, though he would never had known the extent of selflessness Archer and crew would model in the face of injustice), was the turning point of the episode, which is why it is still an enjoyable story (and knocks almost all of 'DSC' into a cocked hat - not hard to do), but along with not really getting anything from Travis and Archer being together, we don't have an arc for Colonel Grat, we don't know if the violent Major Klev was killed in the escape blast, and most importantly we never know the fate of the Suliban who did escape. If there had been a follow-up that told their story, how they bravely resisted the Cabal's pressure to join up or die (another Islam parallel), perhaps calling on Archer to assist them (in a similar vein to the colonists versus the Klingons in 'Marauders,' maybe), then it would be acceptable, but I don't remember ever hearing about them again, and it's this inability to pick up threads and run with them that was another contribution to the series' failing ratings in my view, the same way the Temporal Cold War was so sparsely developed, and even the Andorians involvement with the NX-01. If you look at the first seasons of the two preceding series', 'DS9' and 'Voyager,' they both unfold either Bajoran culture and ongoing attitudes, or Kazon, and it helped unify the season as a whole. 'Enterprise' never pressed home such an advantage, despite having previous experience to build on.

There are also the expectations this episode fails to live up to, since you assume from the fact that it deals with the Suliban that it would be another link in the TCW, but the only connection is that Grat questions Archer on the events of 'Broken Bow' and demands answers on the Suliban, their genetic enhancements and who they're working for. He even seems to know about the TCW, which you'd think would have been kept off the record, but apparently Archer allowed all the information to be kept in the computer, and that extended to the Shuttlepod! What should have been a highlight of the episode, the pairing of Scott Bakula with his 'Quantum Leap' costar, Dean Stockwell, was frankly not that big a draw. It's not like they have these tremendously well-written scenes, they're just general prisoner/commandant chats that show none of the flair we've seen from similar tales in the past (e.g: Picard and Gul Madred in 'Chain of Command'), and demonstrates how desperately this series required experienced Trek writers capable of making more than just another 'the enemy aren't all my enemy' morality tale. Having seen three-fifths of 'Quantum Leap' since I last watched this episode (I'd never seen Bakula's most famous series before), I wondered if that would have an affect on my appreciation for the important choice of casting, but when it comes down to it, just as when I see Ben Browder and Claudia Black playing different characters together in 'Stargate SG-1,' and forget their 'Farscape' history, I didn't see Sam Beckett and Al interacting because these are actors and they play roles.

The problem is I've always found Grat to be a rather dull character. Stockwell brings his usual insistence into whatever he says, but beyond the novelty of getting those two actors back together in a sci-fi series it was a waste of talent and they should have kept him for something superior. How would it have been if Degra had been played by Stockwell and all those integral scenes in Season 3 had been him and Archer? I wouldn't want to replace Randy Oglesby, who brought such contained vehemence to the role, but it's the kind of thing that would have made more sense than an unmemorable prison commandant in a grey uniform who has about three conversations with Archer and never learns anything himself or has an arc - when we last see him holding a weapon to Archer's head and spitting venom about all Suliban being the same, having just watched 'A Few Good Men' again, he reminded me of the ferocious Jack Nicholson Colonel who is provoked into admitting his indiscretion that he doesn't see as anything wrong. Stockwell got the chance to act there, but it was too little a role for him. I doubt he'd have been able to play something too recurring (such as Degra), because he was always in demand, and of course it would be in the next few years that he had an important part in 'Battlestar Galactica,' but I'll always see his one appearance as a missed opportunity, even if it was only based on a fun, throwback pairing. Nowadays I'm sure that would have been played up exponentially, but maybe they were being complacent then and felt Trek didn't need to make waves to get attention by shouting it from the rooftops that they were getting Bakula and Stockwell back together.

For me, the far more interesting casting came with Dennis Christopher and Christopher Shea. Was it a complete coincidence that the two main Suliban characters were played by actors most famous on Trek for their Dominion Vorta roles? They were both bad guys, as most Vorta were, so were they subtly playing with the Trek audience's expectations here that they'd be bad as a means of pulling the rug? I can't say I ever thought these Suliban appeared dangerous, going around with washtubs and being shocked by Major Klev's cattle prod, but it's always tricky to remember without hindsight how the first viewing was. It seems likely that these specific actors were chosen (and it was weird that the first Suliban we hear in the episode was an old woman who sounded very like the Female Changeling!), for such reasons, and it's another great enjoyment for those of us well up on guest characters from 'DS9' - this season did a terrific job of recasting names that had appeared in previous Trek productions, giving it more of a family feel in spite of the change from the time period we'd become used to (and another reason 'DSC' feels so completely cold and alien since we almost never have anyone who'd ever been in Trek before). That's not to say the casting was perfect - although I felt Christopher was ideal as the main Suliban, Danik, Shea's huge eyes always made him seem wrong somehow. It worked brilliantly when he played Keevan the slimy Vorta, but something about the Suliban makeup didn't work with him, though as I say, it was good to see familiar faces.

When you think about it, it's surprising the Enterprise (and other starships), didn't get in more legal entanglements than they did (though then there wouldn't be much Star Trekking! Maybe a Starfleet JAG series will be Alex Kurtzman's next gambit?). While the Prime Directive had yet to exist (though T'Pol does remind Archer he'd decided not to interfere in other cultures - he replies he's making an exception in this case), Archer is a decent sort and generally feels obligated to obey the local laws and not flout his power (not least because the NX-01 is often not the most powerful ship around when dealing with unknown aliens!), so alien laws would generally be obeyed, though of course if it came down to the life of his crew he wasn't going to be bound by anything like Picard was when Wesley walks on the flowers in the infamous 'Justice'! It's very in keeping for him to act on his sense of injustice, and he and Travis showed their heroism by not accepting the beam out when they had the option because Archer wanted to find a way to help the oppressed (though I would have liked, for example, the Captain to offer the way out to Travis so he, too, could have shown solidarity rather than us taking it as read that he wouldn't have abandoned his Captain). It's also warming to see the confidence he has in his ship and crew, secure in the belief they'll be along shortly to get him out of this fix. It shows how well the crew has integrated, including T'Pol who manages to do a spot of distraction technique, blithely talking over Grat as part of the plan to compromise Tandaran security, the kind of playacting you'd not usually associate with a Vulcan, which shows her once again as quite different.

It's not really much of an ensemble episode, though everyone has some little part to play, which is another reason why I feel it falls short as a Mayweather/Archer story - we should have learned more about those characters through their interactions, there should have been more interactions in the first place (something akin to what Reed and Archer go through in 'Minefield,' maybe taking the beating Mayweather receives a little further so he and the Captain could have a moment, maybe Archer needing to reassure him they're doing the right thing, that sort of scene), and so the pairing falls a little flat. Since this is such a big security matter I was surprised when Reed wasn't all over it and I don't even remember if he was in the episode before he appears in Suliban guise. This could have been a blind so we forget he exists and then we're as surprised as the colleagues he's come to rescue when he does show up, but it just seemed odd to me, though he redeems himself once he's in the flesh. It was an interesting choice to cut to a scene in the middle of a transport and we just see the tail end of something dematerialising - it shows they were up for doing things differently and out of the usual established visual form that had been so rigid for so long (a bit like when the CGI artists began to introduce zoom and pan 'handheld' shots for the battle scenes in 'Star Wars Episode II,' except this time it actually worked and didn't take me out of the world). In the past they'd have either shown the whole transport sequence or not shown it at all, so I enjoyed that on-the-fly approach that made things more dynamic.

I don't think that was the moment Reed beamed down, but I could be wrong, as I did feel the absence of seeing him do that. It wouldn't have been a problem later in the series, but at this stage the Transporter is still treated with concern as most haven't used it. I don't know if this was Reed's first use of the device, but it could be another of those missed opportunities not to give some context when a person is about to beam down (or up), for the first time ever, because it would be an experience of such magnitude that not to play it seems wrong (something they'd play up with Hoshi in 'Vanishing Point'). At the same time, in this particular instance they were working to keep the twist hidden, so they had specific reasoning for doing so - not that Reed as a Suliban was that great a twist, I can't help feeling that so much subterfuge and planning went into what was a very brief moment of surprise, and Trek organising and manoeuvring things around just to manufacture a 'gotcha' moment for the audience is generally a wrong move (witness the vast hoop-jumping, logic-defying efforts with Voq/Tyler in 'DSC'!), but it's not something that harms the episode.

What is harmful to the episode is its unfinished nature: it touches on prejudice and the sin of locking people away for looking like a society's enemy, but we never see that society change its ways. What would have been so much more powerful is if Archer's efforts had led to sweeping changes in how the Tandarans viewed their settled populations of Suliban integrators. The episode shows up the simplistic nature of the series in not going far enough, thinking that showing Archer and Mayweather's change of heart was enough. But it leaves the fate of the Suliban hanging, even Archer unsure whether they'll make it, and that's the kind of thing I expect (disappointingly), from modern, serialised Trek which never has a full and proper resolution, denying the catharsis that makes you feel that things will be alright in the end, preferring to leave the next stage for another day. This doesn't even have the next stage to show for its efforts, and the level of exploration of the Suliban as a whole was a letdown of the series. Grat doesn't learn anything, the episode doesn't go far enough in any direction. I didn't even remember this as a Mayweather episode, if it can be called that. It's difficult to do so because although he's second banana (and he was so rarely that), he doesn't get much weight in the story, he's just there. Sure, he gets his face beaten for refusing to give in, and he tries to make friends with Sajen, to the others' suspicion (again there was gold there to explore prejudice being on both sides, but it was undeveloped), but beyond that he was wasted. And when the whole series wasted him it's hard to think well of an episode that at least had the potential to give him a chance to show what he was capable of.

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