Awakening

DVD, Enterprise S4 (Awakening)

What almost ruins a perfectly good story is the portrayal, behaviour and attitude of the Vulcans. I've said it so many times, but I have to say it again because this is such a Vulcan-centric episode and trilogy, in which things of great importance to their culture and place in the galaxy are explored. But it's so difficult to get past Vulcans that are angry, irritated, greedy for destruction, petulant, short-tempered, raising their voices. They're a telepathic race, that fact is integral to the episode, yet they're touching each other on multiple occasions with no effect than if they were human. There's even a tearful death scene in which T'Pol's Mother dies after the attack on the sanctuary! This would all be fine if it were any other race - they're acting more like Andorians, their worst enemy, and with all this lack of respect for the established culture that dates back over two thousand years, it really does become a thorn in my side as I try to enjoy the story. The purpose of this trilogy, as I understand it, was to reposition the Vulcans towards the race we know from the other series', and I could just about accept that, except those who would bring about the change, the Syrrannites, act as emotionally and unrestrained as their fellow Vulcans. Perhaps the new awakening is more about broader themes of peace-loving and rejecting violence than keeping emotions in check? Or much more study was needed for them to develop into the repressed race we recognise. Whatever the reason, (for misguided 'dramatic purposes'), they become like any other villainous leader and his followers or detractors.

Yet there were clear moments in which licence to express emotion were lost or lessened because of their generally heightened attitude. The mind meld scene in which T'Pau tries to remove Surak's katra from Archer's mind, is a prime example: look back at 'TOS,' or 'Voyager' - when a meld took place often the Vulcan in question would begin to show the character of the creature or person he was melding with, taking on the speech pattern, displaying greater levels of emotion, generally acting their hearts out! But because the level of restraint is so low, we get none of that, and with it, much of the mysteriousness is weakened. I also felt Archer should have been increasingly reminiscent of Vulcans in his demeanour, choice of words and stance (a la McCoy in 'Star Trek III'). A lost opportunity for a truly great episode that reached the heights of those other Vulcan-heavy episodes in other series'. The position Archer's given through Surak, as bearer of his soul, is a strong one, helping to cement the Captain in Trek lore in the same manner as Picard, or Sisko, or any of the other great Captains. They all have their first contacts and their boldly going, but I get the feeling it's not until they've gone through some kind of mystical, defining experience that they become legendary figures greater than mere starship Captains. Picard was Arbiter of Succession to the Klingons, and had a deep personal connection to the Borg. With Sisko it was another ritualistic position in an alien culture, Emissary to the Bajorans. Even Janeway became a legend through her share of formative unexplained experiences, though she was more of a straightforward Borg-beater.

So for Archer, leaving aside all his firsts, this was a defining role for him to play on the galactic stage, enhancing his role in history and making him confront things he'd never considered before, like the possibility of the soul, and other such strong themes that Trek likes to tackle or at least throw open to question. I'm not sure I can say those themes are tackled here, it's more a case of T'Pol expressing disbelief and wonderment, with little time for the big questions as attack is imminent and something important and lost must be found quickly (it would have been the greatest embarrassment if T'Pau had dropped the Kir'Shara in the bombardment!). If this had been a 'TNG' episode, perhaps even a 'DS9' it could easily have been all about Archer's reaction to having a katra in his mind, let alone that of the greatest historical Vulcan figure of all time. This could have been 'Rapture' for 'Enterprise,' but sadly, that was never the style of the series, it was always more concerned with the next fight or skirmish, which is ironic considering that these space battles usually come off as weak and underpowered in comparison to the other series' thanks to their place on the weapons development timeline.

Criticism of 'Enterprise's devotion to pace and action my be a little unfair as it set out to be the 'TOS' of the modern era, and it has many a good action episode. This isn't one of them, but in fact that's a positive in this case as it's more about the political ramifications both from the ruling class (a meritocracy, we learn, V'Las rose to power because he was most qualified), and those under the Syrrannite banner. We learn, for instance, that Arev, the Vulcan who helped Archer and T'Pol traverse the dangers of The Forge, was actually the Syrran, leader of the movement back towards Surak's teachings. There's a lot of discussion between various characters, and though the cloud of false Vulcan portrayal hangs heavily over these scenes, it remains engaging enough for the story to mean something. It's also wonderful to see Soval reveal himself a staunch supporter of humanity, and in talking to Trip, who's left in charge of the NX-01, we find out he was stationed on Earth for thirty years. The best exchange in the episode is that in which Trip tells him he hid his affinity for humanity well, which he takes as a compliment! Scenes like this show how different Vulcans are. They are super cool, but they hide it with natural modesty or lack of need to brag. They have so many skills and abilities that humans lack, yet they are happy to serve, and only display these skills when required. It is the essence of being Vulcan. It was a pleasure to see Soval's assistance when he's so often taken a hard line against Archer and his crew, with Trip in particular, being the outspoken type he is, getting angry at him many a time.

I can't say so much for the crew of the Enterprise. They don't feature greatly, and the characters that are usually shortchanged, another disappointment inherent in the series' DNA to match Vulcan emotionalism, remain the same - Travis gets a line, Hoshi gets a line, Dr. Phlox doesn't even appear… It's not really detracting from the story, it's more an overarching problem for the series as a whole, which even the well-regarded Season 4 couldn't fix entirely. To be fair, Travis gets more than a line, piloting a Shuttlepod in an unsuccessful rescue attempt, it's just that he's doing what he always does. T'Pol, too, isn't particularly well served, getting upset with her Mother, following Archer around like a nurse to mop his brow, and generally not showing why she came, a non-typical response to death not helping (though the lack of a passing on of T'Les' katra to her daughter could be as a result of the knowledge not being widely known or practiced). With all these criticisms it sounds like I didn't like the episode, but somehow I was able to bypass what didn't work for me, and see past to the greater scope of the story. The possibility of the Vulcans starting interstellar war with the Andorians; Earth's position in all this; Archer conversing with Surak (even he seemed a little emotional, but he had the excuse of being the Father of it all, and was alive long, long ago when his race really were bloodthirstier than Klingons, and more ruthless than Romulans), the vision of devastating war as the Time of Awakening dawned… I suppose there's a strong parallel between then and now, as the Vulcans are creeping back to those ways of arrogance and strong emotions; prideful, not wanting humanity's boldness to outstrip them.

The episode itself doesn't feature these ideas strongly, and I'm digging here, but it's often the case with 'Enterprise' that the viewer has to do the work, sometimes for little reward. At times you feel canon (or lack of it in regard to the Vulcans), is all that's on screen, others that they're trying too hard to be different from established continuity (such as the Xindi mission - I did like the reference to it in the Vulcans' suspicions that Andorians may be developing their own weapon based on Xindi technology), but I feel they've hit a fine balance this season. We've never been this much entrenched in and around Vulcan before, we see their cities of beautiful sun-drenched architecture, the NX-01 lazily gliding over a red planetscape, and the episode's visuals whether CGI or set, are varied and attractive - I especially liked the curved tabletop display V'Las and his fellow ministers viewed. Design did come across a little in the 'Star Wars' mould of the prequels with fine interiors and clean, white technology, but you could also say the prequels had a lot to thank 'TNG' for in style.

The destruction of the Syrrannites and their sanctuary should have been horrific and shocking, but V'Las is such a hammy villain, angry and vicious (for a Vulcan), it's just a scene of threat to the main characters running through caves. TV trying to do big ideas can often fail to live up to them, although CGI brings more possibilities, ability to show rather than tell doesn't mean ability to present an idea better, necessarily. I wasn't shocked by V'Las' actions as I should have been, on reflection, but the episode did succeed in leaving us with a cliffhanger that makes you want to see the concluding part - I can't remember if V'Las is actually an agent of Romulus and this is the first real stirring of Romulan manipulation on the galactic scene, something that comes to fruition later in the season, but if it wasn't, it should have been! I liked the episode on the whole, a little surprisingly given my main reservations, so well done to Director Roxann Dawson for keeping my attention. Hopefully the third part is equally successful in giving me enough to ignore or dampen my problems. A couple of actors returned to Trek for this one, most notably Bruce Gray as Surak (only the second person ever to play the role, after Barry Atwater introduced it in 'TOS'), he'd played Admiral Chekote in both 'DS9' and 'TNG.' And John Rubinstein was in 'Voyager' and a first season 'Enterprise,' here the dissenting voice of Minister Kuvak. It's worth noting this is the first appearance of the great T'Pau since she presided over Spock and Kirk's battle to the death in 'Amok Time,' a brilliant idea to bring in young versions of long-lived characters from 'TOS,' and something you'd think they'd have done more (Flint anyone?), so all eras were nicely represented!

***

Injustice

DVD, Smallville S8 (Injustice)

They got me with Chloe, I'll give them that. I believed it was her, and put down the inconsistency in character to the series' usual faults, not in a shapeshifter who was also Tess' personal assistant impersonating Chloe in order to manoeuvre Clark into killing Davis. I think when Tom Welling's directing it also ups his game as an actor, because he seems more serious and like he's putting all his effort in to make sure his work is right. I'm not saying in all the other episodes he cruised through without trying, just that the way his character was written and the repetitive stories must have made it sometimes difficult to think of the series as anything more than a day job - it didn't often push him. But as Director he must have had more gravitas, or more on his mind, because he comes across more seriously and less frivolous. Then again, this is a serious arc: it's all about Clark moving toward the position of having to kill his nemesis in order to save his adopted home planet. There are myriad voices urging him on to the kill, the only solution in their eyes. Oliver doesn't see an alternative to sometimes having to get your hands dirty, and though not an entirely compromised character, he has lost Clark's respect with his admittance that (he believes, I don't), he killed Lex in the explosion. He feels weighed down by the guilt but considers the burden to be part of being a hero. Tess, becoming more the villain we always suspected she was, despite Oliver's attempts to keep her on a leash, tries to control events like a puppet-master, going so far as to get a group of meteor freaks together to form a super-group.

I have to assume this group, which didn't have a contrived name for itself like most of them do, was made up of recognisable comics characters, but they weren't ones I'd ever heard of, except of course for Plastique who caused trouble in 'Plastique,' earlier in the season, and also when we first got wind that Tess planned to create this group. So we had Neutron (mauled to death by an unseen Doomsday); Livewire, executed, presumably by Tess; and Plastique's friend Parasite who could helpfully nab other people's powers (kind of the Kirby of the 'Smallville' world). Then there was Eva, the assistant who 'played' Chloe. Have we seen any of these others before? I can't remember, there have been so many meteor freaks and super-groups that they all blend together. The question is, did Tess set off the mini-explosive in her minions' brains, or, as she claims, had nothing to do with it? It doesn't really matter as I'm sure we've seen her kill before, or order deaths, and all kinds of nefarious activity, so it's not beyond likelihood, and if you look how frantically and how quick to try to kill the surviving two, she was, it adds credence to the circumstantial evidence, even if she was doing it to save her life. As Clark says, she really is just like Lex, intent on power, even though it's power to save the world. She replies the difference is, unlike Lex, she hasn't given up on Clark and the destiny she believes he has.

The episode has some good conversations about right and wrong, Clark continually defying the easy way of simply killing Davis, even though it's not likely to be that easy - it's all comparative, and would be much harder to save him. He can't just allow Doomsday to romp through the world killing as he goes, but he won't murder him, so he comes up with a third alternative: using the crystal (is this from the Fortress of Solitude? There have been so many of these artefacts and items!), and Black Kryptonite (which he mentions his parents once had to use against him, way back at the start of Season 4, 'Crusade'), to split Davis and Doomsday into two separate entities, the evil creature can then be banished to the Phantom Zone. That was the theory, anyway, until Tess threw that idea out the window by stealing and destroying the crystal, leaving Clark's plan to crumble. What will he do next? Will he find a new way, come up with a new plan, or give in to the Dark Side of The Force? Tune in next time for the final episode of the season…

I had thought from the use of Parasite with his unique ability to take on others' powers, and from the fact that he takes Clark's, that he was being set up as a potential solution to destroy Doomsday. If he could fight the beast using Clark's power, he could defeat it (and it wouldn't matter to the series if he was killed trying), and Clark's qualms wouldn't apply, but that option was nixed by the end of the episode when he and Plastique are once again sent back to Belle Reve from whence they came (or was it Black Creek - again, with so many of these facilities out there you forget which is which and when). Although we've seen Tess and her grand plans hatch out, with ideas like this group to round up Doomsday so Clark can have at it, it isn't until the end of this episode that we learn she's actually acting on a higher authority: some kind of glowing purple ball tells her what to do, and seemed to suggest that she would be the one to save Earth, or whatever it was killed in their apparently Kryptonian language. So is it Zod returning to wreak revenge, Jor-El somehow manipulating events again, or some other member of the race we've not met before?

One guy we have met before was Dr. Emil who returns to help Clark again (I don't know how he just happens to have a 'Knight Rider' type car waiting for Clark, but he must be a resourceful kind of guy). Apart from his assistance, as useful as it was (you always need someone who can come along and clean things up and do the boring analytical work that most superheroes don't want to be bothered with!), Clark was mainly acting alone, and I kind of liked that. Green Arrow's tricked into helping for a bit, and does save Clark, though it's at the expense of their up-and-down friendship when he uses a Kryptonite ring he got from Lex after his 'death' to do it, something which only adds to Clark's distaste (though in real terms it's a sensible thing to have in case Clark goes bad. Not saying it would ever happen, after all, it's only happened a few too many times to keep track of…). When 'Chloe' started to glow after having her internal head bomb go off, I thought it was real Chloe's old reviving meteor power from earlier in the series, but no, it wasn't, and actually Chloe doesn't appear. Nor do Davis, Lois or Jimmy. It's often been an either/or with this cast, but I would expect them all to feature in the finale.

In terms of nitpicking there wasn't much that stood out, with events usually reasonably believably reached (even Oliver's unconventional way of getting out of a scrape after being caught in Tess' bedroom on Clark's mission to steal the black kryptonite from her secret vault), but Parasite punching her while in possession of Clark's power, and not even leaving a bruise when she wakes up, was a fairly major one. Also, they went to kill her, so why tie her up and wait for her to be rescued? The final episode is called 'Doomsday,' but I thought we'd already had that title? Maybe it was just part of the slogan on the back of one of the DVDs (Season 4?). Obviously the beast must be vanquished as that's what the whole season's been about, amidst all the usual time-wasting twists and turns. It's had its usual share of negativity and messed up friendships, with Jimmy in particular left in a very unhappy place. I doubt the finale will change that mood, but you never know. Except you do, because it has to end on a cliffhanger. It is the law.

**

Curse of Enchantia

DOSBox, Curse of Enchantia (1993) game

A game I first played many years ago, and which I was pleased to find available to download on the Abandonia site as it had remained an unconquered challenge for me. I originally played it on my Amiga, but whether it was because of a problem with one of the disks, or because I got irrevocably stuck, I was never able to complete the game. I remember getting to the cliff face section at least, but I'd certainly never reached the icy wasteland, so it was with some pride that I was finally able to lay the game to rest, and more importantly to me, having completed it without referring to any guides, despite getting stuck a few times. Strangely, the percentage complete showed as only 98% when I was done, so I'm not sure what I missed (although I never did gain access to The Red Dragon inn situated just before the fountain in the village, so perhaps there was something I could have done there which would have secured the missing 2%?), but it was a relief to finish. And not, I'm afraid, just due to the satisfaction of completion - it could be a bit of a chore sometimes, and one aspect of the game that proved a grave irritation was the music. The same piece played throughout the entire game without end, and while there were some good little sound effects occasionally, nothing else broke up the aural monotony of this tune. It's not even that it was a terrible piece of music, it was just so repetitive and in the version I was playing on DOSBox, there was no option to turn it off, so the only recourse was to have no sound, something you don't want to resort to!

If the music was a negative, the visuals were quite the opposite, being beautifully designed pixel graphics, the design of which is an art form all its own. Great effort and time must have gone into every detail of each screen - I'm tempted to save off some of the screenshots to use as desktop pictures, they were that nice to look at. Just as 'The Settlers' was a delight to experience in great part due to the beauty and simplicity of the graphics, 'Enchantia' really was enchanting, with a good variety of locations and colourful characters. In fact, some of it was more than colourful, you might even say bizarre. By the time you get to the weird area to the left of the village, you're starting to wonder if Salvador Dali was an influence, with a huge nose on legs, piles of cars, socks, cassette tapes and various other things situated around a dreamlike landscape; lips sitting atop another pile of control pads; a volcano spitting out rocks… surreal was definitely the word for it! But that was the form of the game, it was heavily stylised, uniquely so, even among the usual point-and-click adventures which tended to be full of odd characters and strange places in 'The Secret of Monkey Island' mould. 'Enchantia' took things further, however, into the illogical and bizarre, so that if you hoped to solve many of the puzzles you had to think outside the box. Actually, thought wouldn't often be of great assistance thanks to some ridiculous solutions that were inconsistent with the rest of the game or were discovered by accident in trial and error. Perhaps the inconsistency was consistent in itself, so you should have expected silly solutions, but that's not much of a consolation when you're stuck.

I have to admit I was halted a good five times - I couldn't work out what to do on the snowy waste, when it was a case of having to return to somewhere you'd been before after doing something in another area (namely, talking to the walrus, who would then appear at the opposite part of the area to bridge a gap); the ice palace corridor with the pulley system (insert a gun into a panel on the wall! Why? Attack an ice ledge with a broom…?); the ice cave with the green ogre inside (stand behind the pillar so he shuts his eyes); and in the surreal area I was stuck twice. Once, fair enough, because it took me a while to work out I could combine the gold coins with the sock to create a weapon, and second when I was really stuck and all I needed to do was insert the hair into the nose. Yes, because that would make the lips vanish on another screen, wouldn't it… That surreal area may have been the toughest to get past as there were so many options and variables that you would soon get tired of inserting this into that, or combining these two items, or whatever combination of commands you could perform. In the end I had to create a checklist of every action I'd performed with every item, on every other person or object on each screen. And that wasn't much fun. (Not to say some of the solutions weren't ingenious, my favourite being the use of marbles and a tray to cross an electrified floor!).

The trouble was that some of the actions you had available to you were very similar in nature and you had to choose the exact option to make it work. So you might have to insert something, but if you tried to combine it instead, it wouldn't work. Combine, give, insert, unlock could all have been one action. The tone of the game was in the humorous vein, for sure, but rather than being witty as in 'Monkey Island,' it was odd. Granted, the deaths your character experienced were an amusing side note, especially as progress was unaffected, so it was more like a Tom and Jerry cartoon. Animation was good and I liked the breadth of characters you meet, but everything felt so unconnected. The reason I enjoyed it most was because I'd played it before, so there was a nice sense of returning to a place I'd visited long ago in the late nineties, rather than the game's merits. For everything I liked (beautiful visuals), there was something else that got on my nerves (music), so although a challenge, it was a relief to finish, mainly for the unfairness of the puzzles. As you'd expect for those days, the ending was rather limp - a fairly simple final boss battle with the evil queen, then a picture saying 'The End.' The story itself was barely a part of it, unlike, say 'The Legend of Kyrandia,' thanks to the disconnect between many of the people and places. It was unique in that there was no language in it, all communication by pictogram, which must have made it easy to translate for multiple territories. But I couldn't really recommend it. Although unique in some ways (featuring some sections more in the way of platform games), it's flaws outweigh any advancement of the genre, and frustration was far too prevalent. It was pretty, though!

**

The Forge

DVD, Enterprise S4 (The Forge)

The second three-parter of the season opens enigmatically, and sets the stage for much of the season, I feel, in that it doesn't have much meaning for those who aren't already in the know - it appears they didn't have strong belief that the series could gain new viewers and so didn't need to explain things as much. Any Trekker would know the name of Surak, so that immediately tips us off that this is going to be a Vulcan story. Just as the previous story had revelled in the lore of the genetic supermen and the Orions, one of Trek's best known races come under the spotlight here, and in much the same style: many references are spun out of it, and though this is essentially a cross between murder mystery and Indiana Jones ride, the story takes precedence and the majority of these links are woven properly into the narrative. Maybe not the Sehlat, but why not, we've never seen one in live-action Trek before, so they ticked off another on the Trek 'bucket list' before the series died. I'm not going to go through and list all the connections and explain the references as it would take too long, but simply visiting Vulcan is an achievement in itself considering how few times this pillar of the Federation community had featured in previous series'.

This time we're on the surface of the planet, out in the desert with some excellently chosen location work to sell this alien world. Archer even has to wear a new desert jacket atop the standard Starfleet desert gear since it's too hot for him to take. But while Archer tracks down the mysterious Syrranites, those who apparently follow the true teachings of Surak, it's up to his crew to unravel the mystery of Who Killed Admiral Forrest? The Admiral had been an integral part of the series since it's beginning, often there to back Archer up from Earth in his decisions, a good commanding officer who listened and levelled with his man. They don't really give him an emotional sendoff, but there is a nice scene between Archer and Soval in the room on the Enterprise which holds the bodies of all the humans killed in the bombing of the United Earth Embassy on Vulcan. For a start it's interesting to see that's what Earth calls itself, which I believe we may have heard before in historical records, but never so openly, but it's the sign of how much relations have changed that gets you: Soval had long been an antagonist towards Archer, questioning him, irritating him and generally behaving in an un-Vulcan-like way, but now he sympathises - just imagine how Tuvok would have dealt with Archer. He would have striven for emotional control and his wisdom would have been more effective because of it. The difference is that Soval is a prime example of the Vulcans in this time period, but that was about to change.

The Vulcan's and their devious, emotional ways were one of the biggest mistakes of the series (as I've long harped on about), and at last the writers listened and began them on the path to the true Vulcan way in this episode. We still see angry Vulcans, grumpy Vulcans, Vulcans that chuckle, and Vulcans that are sad, and even a Syrranite displays too much emotion, but at least it was a start (and they're all of this generation, I suppose). What grabs you are the legends of the past being brought more to life here. We hear of those that walked beneath the raptor's wings (the Romulans), and we hear of the katra (soul), and not only that, but there's tell of Surak's katra itself, stored in a Syrranite mind. There's a mind meld which, unlike the new Trek films is given the respect such an event deserves (although I didn't think much of Trip's statement that he didn't care about poor Lieutenant Askwith's body, it was just his mind that was important to get the information on the bomber - or Phlox' going along with it without any qualms), the first Vulcan-to-human meld, perhaps? Arev, the mysterious man in the desert that looks a bit like Spock in 'The Motion Picture' when he followed the path of Kolinahr, was intriguing, so it was shame he had to die, but he passed on his important knowledge to Archer who starts to act like a Vulcan.

The mystery works, but there's also a greater sense of the team working together, it's not all Archer doing something, even if he does go off on his task. There's a lovely little scene of the senior staff playing basketball together, and Phlox turning out to be the star player (who'd have guessed!), something which had been lacking since Season 2. Now there's time for the crew to hang out together and maybe have some fun, even though it is short-lived. There are also developments towards greater cooperation between the Vulcans and humans, this being the reason Forrest was at the embassy, so the formation of the Federation, at least in its groundwork, was being formulated. Just as in the 'DS9' two-parter in which Robert Foxworth played an errant Admiral intent on manipulating things his own way, you get the impression his Administrator V'Las is up to no good,even though it's his Chief Security Investigator who's revealed as the bomber, perhaps the reason they cast him? It wouldn't be logical for a Chief Investigator to be wearing those long flowing robes that so many of his race wear, unless his was more of a ceremonial post and he didn't get his hands dirty. Delegation's the answer!

It's also notable for two characters to discuss the traits of alien species, noting how most of the famous ones have a specific personality, but humans share a mix of them all. That's always been the way on Trek (sneaky Romulans, angry Klingons, serene Vulcans, etc), but you don't often hear it spoken of. Koss, T'Pol's husband is back (I can't recall, but surely he'll be killed?), to pass on the next piece of the puzzle in the form of an IDIC necklace which is actually a map, and then we're off on the mission. There's really not a lot to discuss about the episode, it's much more of an adventure in the mould of 'TOS' than an insightful observation of later Trek, no bad thing considering the deep connection to Trek lore. As I watched I was marvelling that something made in 2004 could follow a history (pre-history in this case), established in the 1960s, with elements added over the course of subsequent decades in TV and films. That's the great thing about Trek - it spans so long and so much, but could still produce stories using all that material. That's why we need more Trek set in the real universe, not alternate Abramsverses: there are almost infinite discoveries to be made and the excuse that it can't be done, it's too much of a headache to be done, is all undone by episodes like this. It may not be breaking new ground or telling a radically different story than we've ever seen before, but it uses the characters well and does a tidy job of setting up this new arc while pleasingly picking up things from both lore and this series' history (such as Soval's growing allegiance to humans). And it looks good. What's not to like?

***

Beast

DVD, Smallville S8 (Beast)

It doesn't begin well, with everyone lying to each other and pulling the wool over each other's eyes in order to help save someone else or themselves - even we, the audience are lied to with an 'it was all a dream' opening in which Chloe's called down to the basement by her resident monster, with romantic intentions. It didn't make the episode better or worse, it just made me think it should have been called 'Lies.' What's to say? Each character we see (Lois and Tess are excluded this time), have their agendas and there's a lot of bad feeling. Not always, as seen in Oliver's generosity to Jimmy, eventually giving him the money he needs to fix his car, but as a permanent job, not a handout. Jimmy's looking worse the wear for his drug habit, so let's hope he works out better than Oliver's last recruit, Chloe, who ends the episode saving Davis from Clark and going on the run! It was one thing to keep him in the basement (not that Davis was above leaving it!), but quite another to prevent Clark sending him to The Phantom Zone, a helpful get-out clause for any problem too big for him to handle. Except Chloe disagrees that such a 'living hell' would be preferable to Oliver's urging to kill the beast. So Clark's moaned at, betrayed, and pushed around from every angle (fortunately, Jimmy gets knocked out before Clark can charge in and stop Queen from being strangled - right after the pair are kidnapped! Well, it wouldn't be 'Smallville' without people being knocked out and kidnapped, right?), not even getting the satisfying battle of right against might, or might against wrong, or… whatever.

I'm sure Tess will be glad his destiny has been sidetracked, not! No, there's no smackdown between Clark and Doomsday, whom we don't even see, since Davis is kept under the angry limit by Chloe (sounds a bit like 'The Incredible Hulk'), and it would have been odd three episodes from the end to have a climactic battle between the two. Somehow Clark carries Davis all the way to the Fortress - wouldn't the guy struggle a little, or did he just lie back and let the breeze ruffle his hair, waiting to see where Clark took him? Yes, there are the usual bare patches of logic, but the point is, Clark's just about to send him away, and possibly be pushed into the Zone as well, when Chloe appears brandishing the good old octagonal ship's key, zapping her and Davis away. It's always been about saving Clark, so was she still trying to prevent their inevitable fight, was she backing up her belief that Clark's absence from the world would be a bad thing, knowing Davis would be sure to take him to the Zone, or is she starting to give a fig about Davis ("Tall, dark and Doomsday" as Oliver says in one of several good lines he gets). I suspect she's still going to stab him in the back if it helps Clark, and that could be the final, irrevocable impetus to unleash the beast, with no going back.

What else happens? Apart from heavy-handed soap stuff, with Oliver angry at Clark for not killing Davis, angry at Chloe for protecting a mass murderer; Jimmy angry at Oliver for refusing his request for money, angry at Davis for all he's done; Clark angry at Chloe for sending him on a wild goose chase to Alaska, and then for going on the run with a dangerous creature… You get the picture, it's very angry. Maybe it's the effect Doomsday has on people? Incidentally, I'm not sure when it started being called 'Doomsday,' as, although we all know what it is, I don't remember the moment they found out its monicker, yet Clark definitely uses it here. Any other points of interest? Clark smashing through the Talon's basement doors to save Oliver was good, as was his frustration vented on an ugly pink filing cabinet, which crumples in a Spock-like display of anger (speaking of Spock, Oliver talks about 'the needs of the Cornfield Killer, as opposed to the needs of everyone else,' which is a reference to Spock's death scene in 'Star Trek II' - they do love their pop culture references. I almost wrote 'Spock culture' there). Oh yes, and I recognised the doc, Emil, whom Chloe goes to in what appeared to be Oliver's organisation, who was played by Alessandro Juliani, now familiar to me as the guy in charge of operations on 'Battlestar Galactica,' following Sam Witwer over to this series. Were we supposed to know him? Why would Chloe tell him about Oliver apparently killing Lex if they're part of the same organisation?

As you can see, I'm grasping at straws in regards of what to say, since the story was pretty straightforward. Chloe harbours Davis, Davis convinces her (or she convinces him), to run away, Clark almost gets him, they escape, Jimmy's in a bad way, so Olly helps him. It's not a bad episode, really it's not, there's not a lot to complain about, and it's slightly tense when Davis has both Oliver and Jimmy at his mercy. I'd have liked to have seen Green Arrow, in all his technological glory challenge Davis, to see how well he'd do, just as I'd like them to get to it and have Clark be the contender, but I suspect if and when we do get one, it will be the usual style of throwing people across a room to smash into something (as his and Davis' scuffle consisted of here), rather than anything you can be impressed with. I also kind of wished Jimmy had been awake when Clark saved them, so he could show some initiative and do it without the boy realising, as he used to be forced into in the old days when no one knew about his secret abilities. That old magic left, for the most part, long ago, but I still remember that time he came in, beat up the baddie, pushed a sofa across the floor, left, then came running back in as if he'd just arrived. Such mastery and guile is what I miss. Apart from that, it was fine.

**

The Augments

DVD, Enterprise S4 (The Augments)

I don't know whether it was my disappointment with how the story concluded, but on original transmission I felt this was not much of an episode. Seeing it again without the feeling of a new season and the excitement of where the series was going, I actually liked it about as much as the first two parts, and 'Borderland' didn't make the same impact it did before, so all three are much closer in quality than I thought they'd be. One thing that made a significant improvement over 'Cold Station 12' was the lighting, perhaps because it was mainly on the Klingon Bird-of-Prey, and the NX-01 (it would be interesting to see if it was done by a different person), but whatever the case, there was none of the ugly, flat lighting that blighted the former episode - I was used to the lighting on 'TNG,' and it suited that series, but this was like the difference between that and their first film, 'Star Trek: Generations' in which the lighting was so much more dramatic. Not that lighting really makes that much of a difference if a story's no good, to repeat my sentiments expressed in the previous review, but I like my Trek to look good as well as working in all the other departments. I didn't bring up 'Generations' on a whim, it also holds a connection that struck me for the first time on this viewing: the opening of the episode is similar to that of the film, with both Archer and Kirk taking on a mission to save the station/ship personally from a specific operations console in the bowels of their facility/vessel. They're successful, then both are sucked out into space. Poor Archer, though, there's never a Nexus around when you need one!

I loved that opening, even though it's almost the only time you see Phlox, and we're back to the age-old complaint that he, Mayweather and Hoshi (Malcolm could be added to the roster this time, too), had barely a line, and were basically just extras with familiar faces. It's incredible in such a day and age of TV that fully paid-up actors, in starring roles, were given so little to do, and more so because this was a three-parter which had more time to tell its story than usual! Even Trip and T'Pol were reduced to mainly spouting technobabble in what was essentially a chase, the Enterprise tracking the errant Augments throughout. Suddenly the BOP is no match for the 'Enterprise' (I'm getting flashbacks to 'Generations' again!), and they must flee! It's not like Earth has a huge fleet of ships that are going to track down these people, which is what they seemed to be worried about. However, it did lead to a continuity reference overdrive with Brent Spiner wanting to go back to 'Star Trek: Insurrection,' reassuring his 'children' they'll be safe in the Briar Patch (known as Klach D'Kel Brakt to the Klingons, which is a fun 'DS9' reference as it refers to a battle of the past, so connecting 'Star Trek IX' and 'DS9' - and I've always loved that name!), which I never realised was in Klingon space. Mind you, borders can shift in two hundred years…

If they'd found the Ba'ku planet and it's wonderful life-giving rays, they might have been able to settle down happily and live forever. It would have been quite a sight for Data to arrive on the planet in the ninth film and discover his creator's ancestor still alive and well, residing over and empire of both Augments and Ba'ku! Actually, the Ba'ku might have been able to calm Malik's manic tendencies down. Either that or he'd have killed 'em all, as that was his modus operandi: death to everyone that opposed him, or even might oppose him in future. If he wanted a lonely existence, he was going the right way about it. The Briar Patch wasn't the end of the references: we finally hear the big man's name. Yes, I'm referring to Khan, of course, and not only that, but the Botany Bay (something these episodes score one over on 'Star Trek Into Darkness'). Only, subverting expectations, Malik thinks of Khan as a bit of a coward, someone who ran away, just like Soong wants to do, who, himself, says the Botany Bay was just a myth. I like that it's gone down as this mythical creation, almost from a legend that's been passed down beyond the third World War, when presumably many historical records would have been lost.

I wish we'd learned more of the Eugenics Wars and the circumstances of all that, as well as the leaving of those Augments, but we had quite enough Trek connections to be happy with, such as Archer's comment that 'superior intellect breeds superior ambition,' something Spock warned in 'Space Seed,' only now we learn that this was a quote from one of those that created The Augments and was killed by them for his trouble. The story even plays out a little like 'Star Trek II,' not just visually (we see a torpedo streak round a destination planet, except this one didn't carry Spock, but a deadly pathogen, another parallel with 'DS9' as biological weapons were used in that way in 'For The Uniform' when Sisko attacked a Maquis-occupied world), but thematically as well: Malik is the equivalent of Khan, he's injured in the Enterprise's attack (those Klingon ships really have some problems with their design!), crawls around the bridge a bit, and practically 'spits his last breath at thee' when blowing up the Bird-of-Prey. Okay, so after that they did what Trek II never tried, which was have him miraculously appear on the Enterprise until he's shot through (literally - I can't remember a scene like that since Beverly Crusher phasered Jo'Bril in 'Suspicions'!), by Archer. At least Arik wasn't standing directly in front of Malik. Or was he?

There are other points I could grumble about, such as Soong displaying disappointment at Malik having killed Archer (irritation that Malik kills without his permission, or that Malik kills at all?), then when Archer comes after him, he shows no surprise he's still alive, whatsoever, either in relief that the death of a high-ranking Starfleet figure won't bring Earth's forces crashing down on him, or that he kind of liked the guy, or that Malik 'bungled' again. It was also very hard to stomach such reasonable behaviour from the Klingons, who, upon having the situation explained to them (off camera), don't use it as an excuse to go to war, but stand down from their high horses. Does this sound like typical Klingon behaviour? Not that this series ever really got the Klingons quite right. We never saw a logical reason why first contact with humans and Klingons went badly, or why they didn't just swoop in and destroy Earth (respect for the Vulcans?), and they were portrayed as either stupid thugs or as minorities figures with little choice, and very little honour to rub between them. But that's not this episode's concern, even though it should have been since they were mostly in Klingon space. At least it gave us a good scene partially reminiscent of 'Star Trek VI' where Archer has to talk his way out of being boarded, which would have been interesting to see as I'm not sure we've ever actually seen a Klingon aboard NX-01. It's good that the Universal Translator worked this time, but it meant Hoshi's no longer essential to communication with other species, now she's written a subroutine for some Klingon dialects…

It was fun to hear period details such as who the current Chancellor is (M'Rek), though as usual, Klingons were too easy to bluff with threats of hindering their superiors. It's a shame we didn't see the interaction (about the only Klingon we did see was played by Mark Rolston who'd been a villain in Season 2's 'Canamar'), something else that lessened the episode a little: missing scenes. We weren't privy to the rescue of the Denobulan pilot as she and her ship were dropped into a planet's thermal layer so Soong could escape. A rescue mission would have been ideal to show the crew doing what they're good at, rather than sitting at their consoles pushing buttons. Obviously that's part of the deal, but when that's all you see them do it's a missed opportunity for the characters. Trip and T'Pol squeeze in a little exchange regarding Trip's avoidance of her, and that a human and a Vulcan don't match. It wasn't much, but it made me wonder what it would have been like to see a couple such as Sarek and Amanda as young people, and how they interacted, as it would have been quite unique. Trip and T'Pol are just like any old couple and it's easy to forget she's Vulcan, but at least it lifted my thoughts onto greater themes. One theme that could have done with much exploration was that of genetic meddling. Malik's outraged that Soong is removing the tendency to anger and aggression from the embryos, but that's as far as the it goes. It's difficult to follow through on a debate happening so far back in Trek's history, perhaps one reason why the prequel series idea didn't do so well?

In the end I'm not sure you could say the story really went anywhere, it was more about the prestige of using Khan-type characters and stunt casting, bringing Brent Spiner on to up the viewing figures, than really delve into the issues or fully utilise the cast, and that's a real shame. But as a further example of no-holds-barred storytelling, picking up any of Trek's long canon to create an exciting, action-packed story, it worked. And there was plenty of that flavour to enjoy in this concluding part, too, with ship-to-ship firefights and hand-to-hand combat between Persis and Malik. It was also nice to see Klingon spoken with subtitles, although in practice a little pointless since they had no trouble communicating and it was more Soong showing off than anything. Levar Burton, back as Director (how I wish we could have had one last Geordi/Data scene somehow worked in), did a fine job, the effects and music were really good, and, finally, it was Spiner that helped to make this trilogy better than average (I thought he got killed by Malik, but that wouldn't make sense as I also remembered the ending!), and as almost his last, and certainly his last significant contribution to Trek, this was a nice way to bring him back, fitting to end on such an uplifting coda in which he claims to be done with human manipulation and is considering cybernetics - he all but says that Noonian Soong will continue the work (if he knew the name of his descendant), as it is the origins of Data he's thinking up as he sits down again in his cell and gets back to his simple pencil and paper. From such trifles are great creations born.

***

Stiletto

DVD, Smallville S8 (Stiletto)

It's pretty much a comedy episode, but there aren't a lot of laughs. Maybe it's a tragic comedy? The premise is that Lois needs a story as her career's going nowhere, and inspired by the Red-Blue Blur, she winds up creating a spur of the moment superhero of her own: Stiletto! A pretty silly idea, was my first thought - everyone on the series has to be a superhero in costume, except Clark, it sometimes seems, but what was initially created through barmy logic, and seemingly just an excuse to put Lois in a leather catsuit, led to a touching end scene in which Lois finally gets the coveted interview with the untraceable hero. It's a truly great moment with Clark watching from the top of a building as he talks through a voice scrambler so she doesn't know it's him on the other end of the phone box telephone line. And for once, after all she's been through (being a superhero; having to rise to the occasion to save Clark; Clark taking a bullet for her), Lois doesn't want a story, just to offer an ear for this hero to talk to. Even in this conversation there's some fun to be had, as after Clark guesses how she's feeling, she asks "Can you read my mind?" which is obviously a direct link back to the 'Superman' film in which Lois has this (frankly rubbish), song as she's flying through the air with Superman. There's also the witty moment when she gets Jimmy to photograph her in costume for her story, and says she thought about sowing an 'S' on the front, and is that tacky?!

Jimmy's finally back in the picture, though he's a bit messed up. I must admit, I didn't realise that he and Chloe had actually divorced, as she mentions in this episode, as it's not been stated before - I assumed they were just separated and would eventually get back together, maybe Jimmy would save her from Davis, or something. But no, and he's continuing his drugs habit, has fallen in with a rough crowd, and his new job is at a mob boss' club. Oh, and what a surprise that that club happens to be the Ace of Clubs! I know, they have to save money by reusing sets, but it makes the city seem tiny when they have to go back to this same place, which is now a mob hangout! Not only that, but the bad guy for this episode is working for 'Ron Milano,' the biggest mob boss in Metropolis. Yet we've never heard of him before! The lackey who offs him is the real baddie, anyway, though he just seems like an idiot more than a serious contender for a mob empire. Maybe Metropolis doesn't have any big mob bosses in town, and so this minor one is the biggest around… It was funny when Jimmy first sees Lois in costume, but I didn't really get a handle on the line Jimmy's travelling. Did he go undercover, or was he just in need of a job, and why isn't he working for the Planet any more? If he was trying to get in on a story, he wouldn't have been so matey with the bad guy, I'd have thought, so if he was just doing a job as a barman it's ironic that he's working at the good old Ace of Clubs just when it's under mob management, ready for him to get caught up in.

It's the same thing for Lois, once again being a dozy girl: Clark gets to the alarm situation from the police radio, and she never once suspects he's the Blur (his excuse that he had to go and feed Shelby the dog at least lets us know she's still around, though it can't be much of a life for a dog to be left on a farm alone all day!). It was fortunate that the forged money was imprinted with Kryptonite ink so that when Lois stumbles upon Clark's attempt to rescue Jimmy, he's getting his face kicked in, so there's no reason for her to suspect Clark could be anything more than her intern, as she calls him. It was great when he stopped a bullet for her, despite the Kryptonite giving it the power to penetrate him, and I thought all might be up - either the medics would get there and find he's not human, or Lois would realise that no ordinary person could stop a bullet and survive without any problems. But it's skipped over again, with it supposedly being a flesh wound - if he stopped the bullet, then it couldn't just be that simple. Mind you, Lois is that simple!

Talking of things that aren't human, Chloe continues to have a monster in the basement that she refuses to tell anyone about. This time we don't actually see Davis, but he does save her from a knife man, though you can tell the situation's getting to her when, having just deposited the remains of the attacker in the bins out back, she sinks down with blood on her hands. It's a tricky situation, but she shouldn't have got into it in the first place, it's her misplaced loyalty to Davis, and belief that keeping him down there will save Clark, that keeps her going. In reality it's just a device for the writers to keep Doomsday neatly locked up for a final confrontation, I'll warrant. I suppose it would have been difficult to come up with another solution where he wasn't causing trouble but could burst into Clark's life at any moment. Logic doesn't often matter in 'Smallville' and much of it has to be contrived in order to get things to where they're needed - Chloe's car just happens to be stolen by a car-jacker who could use the names locked up in her laptop from Watchtower, for evil; Jimmy's involved in it; and it all coincides with Lois needing a story. So once again, a bit messy in writing terms, but it had enough to be fairly enjoyable, the end scene capping things nicely (and I had to smile at the joke about online message boards wanting the Red-Blue Blur and Stiletto to get together, with Clark saying something like 'who thinks up these things' - a poke into the ribs of the series' more dedicated viewers, I believe!).

**