DVD, Enterprise S1 (Silent Enemy) (2)
Challenge is the theme this time, an exploration of the reality that not all species in space are as benevolent as humans or Vulcans, as if we needed that spelt out. It's a direct challenge to Archer and his crew, and within that there's the self-imposed challenge laid down by Trip and Reed for their respective Engineering and Armoury departments to pull off a high speed conversion of the weapons systems before they return to home space. But the toughest challenge of them all is Hoshi's mission to learn Reed's favourite food, personally assigned to her by the Captain. He does like to give Hoshi projects to do, maybe because he wants her mind occupied so she'll have less time to think about her many worries, but also because he knows how dedicated and reliable she is, and if he gives her a task she'll complete it to the best of her ability. I really have been most impressed with her in this first half of the season, the episodes in which she's featured in, anyway. It's a real shame she was one of the main characters to slip through the net for the majority of the series. Mayweather was similarly underused, but I don't think the actor was quite as good as he might have been so it's less of a disappointment, whereas Linda Park shows a lot of promise, as is the case here. She's very likeable (especially after so many characters on 'DSC' who are extremely hard to relate to - Tilly! - whoops, a pop at that series in the first paragraph, I'm getting worse!), and it's a pleasure to see her diligent and discreet detective work pay off. Just remember: always go to Dr. Phlox first!
I can see how some considered 'Enterprise' to be too similar to the previous Trek series' when they were supposed to be charting a whole new era, because this B-story smacks severely of 24th Century-itus. It would not in the least have looked out of place in an episode of 'TNG,' 'DS9' or 'Voyager.' Can you imagine 'TOS' doing something like this, devoting significant airtime to Uhura secretly trying to find out what Scotty's favourite food was (easy: Scotch!), it just wouldn't have happened in those days because the minutiae of people's lives had yet to become understood as a draw for audiences. Even soap operas were less common (I think - certainly it wasn't what was expected from genre TV), but that's one of the things that made later Treks more involving, by giving us further insight into their personalities and the impression of going through our lives with them as we saw their lives progress. I would argue 'Enterprise' actually didn't do enough of that level of dissection, and it's always true that a story has to be relatable on some level to connect with the audience. I'm not against the occasional world-ending (or in 'DSC's case, galaxy-ending), drama, but it's hard to care about people put in terrible circumstances if they're strangers and you need to keep touching back to those personal things which make up a person, in order that you do care. That's why Trek works best as a series of stage plays, mostly in a few locations with people talking things out rather than big, bombastic action sequences, only there to thrill or catch the eye.
My point is that though I agree that this series did have the feel of the earlier ones, and sometimes it needed to spread its own wings and do things its own way, and had the licence to do that due to it being so far removed from the rest of Trek, it also paid to use those aspects of older Trek that had worked and that we expected to see. Yes, it could seem ludicrous that a crewmember is tasked with trying to give another crewmember a birthday treat, especially when they were plagued by a dangerous and unpredictable foe that seemed intent only on destroying them. But at the darkest hours are when morale most needs a boost, so though it may seem on the surface to be a frivolous, time-wasting subplot, it was actually a wise move on Archer's part. You almost wish more of the crew could have been involved in some way, perhaps a surprise party in the Mess, except that there's not a lot of room in there and Reed's a very private man and wouldn't have appreciated a lot of fuss and a big gathering. It worked perfectly as a reward for his and Trip's hard work and cooperation of their two separate divisions and made for an ideal tag scene at the end: the climax of defending the ship didn't quite have the euphoria of success the episode needed to carry us out, but due to the tenseness of the situation I'd forgotten that one more thing had to happen, Hoshi's mission needed to be completed and so it was with relish we witness Archer, Reed, Trip and Hoshi in the Armoury enjoying Reed's pineapple-flavoured birthday cake, delighted as he is they knew what his favourite was, for a joyous and upbeat finale.
Although only the secondary story, the amount of frustration Hoshi has to go through in order to learn one piece of information about the secretive Security Chief, demanded a proper payoff, so it was gratifying that they pulled it off so well, Reed never knowing how much effort went into this modest treat. Along the way we fill out a little of Malcolm's circle back on Earth, meeting his parents, sister and best mate (all via viewscreen), to discover they don't know that much about him either (shame we never saw any of them again). Maybe it was a stereotype of buttoned-up Britishness, but I really appreciate that Reed is an example of someone who prefers to keep himself to himself and doesn't feel the need to spread his feelings all over the place (another knock at 'DSC,' yes), even compared to the professional American colleagues he serves with. I suppose attitudes come and go in society (especially after a World War!), so it's good to know that the current penchant for throwing all your private life up on the internet (to which, in a small way I recognise I'm contributing by writing a blog, the irony isn't lost on me), for the world to see ('see me and love me, make my existence justified and not just a tiny, passing blip in a great interminable blackness of the vast universe,' is what the attitude seems to be expressing), isn't all-encompassing in the future. It's pleasant to see some of the anachronisms, too, that the forward-thinking Trek universe carries with it to reassure us that things won't all be pop music and casual speech ('DSC' again, yet another reason it's uncomfortable viewing), but books and fine, high-minded creations of the past won't be forgotten.
I'm not saying that when Trip mentions having a lot of letters to catch up with it meant he was literally writing them out, either by hand or computer, most likely he was just recording vodcasts or vlogs. Or, more simply called, video messages! But the fact that he refers to these communications adds a personal touch to the cold, technological future that wouldn't have been conveyed if he said he was off to send some transmissions. These connections to the past are important in showing that Trek's future preserves the personal and the intimate. I'm not sure Phlox breaking the rules of a physician to bring up Reed's medical file in front of Hoshi was acceptable, even in that century, but it was all in a good cause. Just as long as Malcolm never finds out she knows about his allergies, as I'm sure he'd be horrified. The reason Trip can attend to his letters is because the NX-01 has been dropping subspace amplifiers in order to improve communications now that they're heading further and further out into deep space, a nice reminder that the infrastructure of human exploration is being seeded for the future. The downside is, and I'm only speculating that this was the reason the unknown aliens took a dislike to these visitors from another world, is that leaving your hardware around like some floating sensor array as if marking out territory or spying on others who may have a prior claim, could easily be seen as an aggressive move. I'm surprised it was never discussed that this might have been a motive for the aliens' otherwise unprovoked attack.
These were aliens of a different hue than we normally saw. Most species the NX-01 meets are happy to show their superiority, to boast, to show their aggression, to show their disinterest, to express themselves in some understandable way. But these ones remained completely alien and detached, not responding to Archer's words, and even more creepily, showing that they understood language by playing back words the Captain had spoken in challenge when they discovered the device planted on the Enterprise, now with a chilling new meaning. I don't know if this had ever been done before on Trek, I feel like it had, but I can't put my finger on it and the only thing that comes to mind about aliens completely uninterested in the usual niceties and social protocol of contact, is the Borg, but even they clearly and concisely laid out their position for newcomers! At first these aliens don't even seem interested in them in the slightest (when Travis says 'maybe they checked us out and decided we weren't very interesting,' I couldn't but equate that as a comment from the writers on viewers who showed up for the pilot, but bled away as the season progressed, if I remember my history, but it's just possible this was entirely coincidental and just happens to sound meaningful in hindsight!), but then they reappear later to attack in force, taking out warp, intercom and main power, then when the ship is bathed in darkness, brazenly sending their people (creatures?), aboard for more detailed biological scans and to leave a nasty present behind.
I've said it many times, creeping around in the narrow confines of a dark ship whose power is down is always an excellent way for creating an eerie atmosphere of dread and danger. Couple that with a completely computer-generated race with something off-kilter about them and you have classic Trek horror - they're humanoid in that they have a head and limbs, but they walk unnaturally, and come with such assured purpose and unconcerned attitude, as conquerors who've done this successfully many times before, adding a foreboding creepiness that their appearance can only further heighten. According to 'The Star Trek Encyclopedia' they were nicknamed Shroomies for their misshapen heads. For some reason I had it in memory that they had jellyfish-like craniums, but I must be thinking of some other uncommunicative race. The fact we know almost nothing about them, except that they have more advanced technology, such as energy shielding, adds mystery, but also makes me crave that we could have eventually learned about them. But like the Breen, they remained unknown, although (again according to the Encyclopedia), because the CG ship model was used again in 'E2' in Season 3, and those aliens were designated Kovaalans, they're considered to be the same. Not that we found out any more about them there, but it adds something to their mythos that they were in evidence elsewhere. I wonder if the personal shielding exhibited when fired upon aboard Enterprise (another similarity with the Borg), also contained an atmosphere, as I could imagine, much like the Tholians, that they lived in a different one to humans, furthering their alienness.
One thing I like is hearing a little more about Vulcans' early experience with space travel. We already know it happened long ago (for example, the Romulans left to found a separate empire away from their fellow Vulcan brethren something like two thousand years or more in the past), and though no timeframe is given by T'Pol she explains that her race's early exploration was done in a different time, and the reason they didn't experience as much opposition was because there were fewer warp capable species, which makes perfect sense. T'Pol behaves in a very Vulcan manner throughout this episode, never getting excited or displaying emotion, THE WAY VULCANS WERE MEANT TO BE PORTRAYED! Whew, sorry, just had to get that out. The fact I need to point out episodes where she's completely Vulcan all day long is a sad indictment of the series' (and Trek ever since), precedent and preferment for emotional Vulcans. Still, she's fine here, and all the better for it. The Captain on the other hand… I'm always looking for evidence either way on whether he really did appear weak, or whether it's just my reading of the characters' indecision in certain circumstances. In this case there's a definite claim to be made that he backs down a little too easily in the face of peril and adversity, deciding to head back to the safety of home where they can implement weapon upgrades at Jupiter Station (good old Jupiter Station, mostly associated with Dr. Zimmerman, the creator of the Emergency Medical Hologram in a couple of centuries!).
Sometimes it's prudent to back down, retreat, regroup, but he does seem to turn tail and run after receiving a battering rather than rely on his skilled crew to bail the ship out of trouble. In true Starfleet (and especially engineering), spirit, Trip obeys his orders while at the same time doing everything he can to get the Phase Cannons operational before they get back to the Solar System, with Reed's help. Reed, usually so by the book, is uncharacteristically ready to take shortcuts when installing these new, powerful weapons, but when you consider his motives you can see why: he sees the safety of Enterprise as his priority and if these weapons can be made to work then he'll do everything he can to bring them online, which raises Trip's hackles, as his priority is the warp engines and he's the superior, though eventually realising that Reed's idea will work. Sometimes having something that's overpowered can be a boon - just look at the USS Defiant, and in that same ethic these cannons turn out to be the saving grace when they deliberately overcharge them, taking out the enemy's shields and forcing them to limp away, defeated. This was traditional, hard-working, problem-solving Starfleet heroes all the way. You had to assume they didn't create NX-01 by sitting on their backside and taking it easy, or some form of benevolent musing. Sweat, toil and man hours went into creating this thing and it's good to see some of that in evidence as Trip, Reed, and their teams prove they are the mould from which future Starfleet officers will be birthed. Maybe these early ones are a little rougher round the edges, but it's the same spirit inside, and it was pleasing to see. We even get Reed and Trip working in the NX-01's equivalent of a Jefferies Tube, though more like a Jefferies Tunnel!
There's more of an insight into the Captain's mind when he shares regrets about launching so soon without all the systems online, which again sounds like a statement by the creators - originally they wanted the first season to be all about the preparation, ending with the ship's launch, which would have made it a very different and unique Trek series and shown what could be done with the format, but the studio reportedly wanted them out in space right from day one, denying them the chance to build up to something. Archer feels he rushed the ship out to prove a point, presumably to the sceptical Vulcans, and he's all ready to contact the Vulcan High Command as they could send a ship at Warp 6 and be there in two days, but because the aliens take out the amplifiers they can't, so they must rely on the expertise and ingenuity of the crew to overcome this deadly threat, a true Trek story. Trip talks about the real astronaut pioneers of the past and how they didn't blanch from taking risks, talking round his Captain, and in the process, himself into agreeing to Reed's idea, which was excellent writing, though it does make Archer lesser as really he should have been the one to bolster his men. But then he's also a man of great responsibility and puts it all on himself so if he thinks it's only his pride at stake versus protecting the lives of his crew then it makes sense he'd be quick to play it safe. I think he might have been joking when he showed such concern that there might be a microbe on the asteroid or moon they test the Phase Cannons against, as they've probably stepped on all kinds of things without realising on their Landing Parties, but he did seem serious.
There's a useful reminder that Starfleet doesn't consist of just one ship as we see Malcolm's best friend in Starfleet uniform with a patch on his shoulder different to the NX-01's, plus we hear of 'Duvall' who's just been promoted to commanding the Shenandoah (which might have been a historical ship which the DS9 Runabout was named for except that that was part of a series named for Earth rivers, as no doubt was this, but it's a fun little connection all the same), presuming he's in Starfleet. For that matter, we hear that the venerable old Royal Navy is still going, as Malcolm's Father, Stuart Reed, shows a hint of displeasure that his son went into Starfleet rather than that august organisation. And if there's a Royal Navy there must still be a royal line for the British monarchy unless they merely kept the name for history's sake - heartening to think that the monarchy survived all the turbulent troubles in their family and a changing society! One thing that does sound almost silly, and adds weight to the series' place in the eyes of detractors, is that Archer contacts Reed's parents and then at the end of the conversation when he signs off he reassures them they can contact him through Starfleet just in case they do think of anything that might be Malcolm's favourite food! That such an unimportant piece of trivia could allow communication with the most important ship in Earth history is a bit silly, but I've already explained the need for this good-natured project, so it's not that I mind it, but it's a far cry from the more serious and professional other Treks.
It helps that this was written and directed by two very knowledgeable members of the Trek community, insiders who'd played a big part in it, Andre Bormanis usually the science advisor, and Winrich Kolbe, who directed many an episode (though apparently not of 'Enterprise,' this being his only one and his last Trek of all!). There were a few shots I noticed that stood out, one being the filming of Archer and others entering the Shuttle Bay, seen through the window on the upper level where we have the bright reflections of the console buttons lighting up the glass. I always love seeing a torpedo enter the launcher - so smooth, yet so violent and mechanical. And the aliens' point of view from Archer's comm station where he stands up to them, warning them off through this distorted fisheye image, was also memorable. Villains repurposing someone's speech to send a message in anonymity reminded me of 'The Darkness and The Light' in 'DS9' where Silaran Prin used Kira's own voice to count off each victim he killed (another 'Enterprise' connection: Prin was played by Degra actor Randy Oglesby). It crossed my mind that, had the episode been suitably adjusted, the aliens could have been Romulan, since we saw them as a similar silent enemy in Season 2. It was all that glowing green of the ship that did it. It might have been a cooler story because it tied into something longterm to Trek history, but you'd still have the mystery for the characters. Just a thought, I liked the aliens as they were and the threat they posed, all the same.
They're not much more of a mystery than Malcolm Reed himself, and I wonder if they were toying with setting him up with Hoshi thanks to the amusing misunderstanding between them in the Mess Hall when she claims she has a hot plate in her Quarters and would like to prepare him a meal! We hear he had a thing for a waitress at some Earth fish restaurant, even though he didn't much like fish, apparently, so that adds a little more colour to his character. I was pleased to hear he likes spreading peanut butter on his pancakes (just like me!), but that whole storyline with Hoshi was a delight, despite being trivial, and though Reed remains a puzzle of privacy we know him well enough now to be drawn to him just as we're drawn to most of the characters on the series. I wish Travis had had more subtle characterisation over the years, but at least Hoshi got to show what she was capable of before the series dropped a lot of these 'minor' background stories in favour of more important events in later seasons. But I always love the little things and the elation when Hoshi and Phlox deduce the secret formula to Reed's ideal food counterbalances the serious, life- and mission-threatening gravity of the main plot rather nicely, I feel. It's not a revolutionary episode, but it is my kind of Trek.
***
Tuesday, 3 November 2020
Uninvited
DVD, Stargate SG-1 S10 (Uninvited)
Unsettling, uneven and unsure if this was really what I wanted to see when the prospect of an off-duty jaunt in the woods with SG-1 and the General was a much more entertaining prospect. They nix that idea pretty early with Daniel written out for the second week in a row (he's in England, apparently, lost in some toff's library on Merlin), and Teal'c, Carter and Vala drafted in on some Prior-watching mission on an alien world that goes awry when a nasty creature starts attacking. And Landry's break was supposedly at O'Neill's cabin, too! Actually I didn't recognise the location, as attractive as it was, so it may be this was just one of O'Neill's many hideaways rather than a place we'd been to before. Which is a shame as it would have been terrific to return to the famous house we saw on occasion. Either way it's not the kind of episode I thought it was going to be, as it could have been hilarious and fascinating to see this mismatched group of people that are the remnants of the SG-1 team, now filled out with relatively new people, at ease together, as uneasy as they might have been. I still think Vala doesn't always work without Jackson around to bounce off, though I will concede that her bubbly chatterings with Teal'c, where she tries to provoke a response, was amusing since her charms or gift of the gab have no effect on his staunch warrior ethic. I suppose if it had been a two-hander between Landry and Mitchell, alone in a cabin in the woods, it might have seemed a bit bizarre for the series, though they have experimented on occasion.
It was not to be and we're soon hunting through an alien forest, guns at the ready (notice that Vala gets one this time). I thought it wise that they refused to show the monster, instead portraying its POV, which worked better than trying to create a convincing creature, CGI or otherwise, on a TV budget, though they betrayed that sentiment later in the episode which looked about as hokey as you'd expect, though the second creature as it died with the dark woods behind and the torchlight shining on it, worked better. From the teaser I didn't know what to expect, was this going to be a buddy-buddy story about a commanding officer and his subordinate getting to know each other better? Was it to be a creepy alien monster in the woods? Horror? Adventure? It was all over the place, hence the unsettling sense of uncertainty. This might have worked if an atmosphere of foreboding had been successfully implemented, but it was all very light and bright (except for the night scenes, obviously), and we've seen so many episodes of hunting some creature, so it was far from original. It wouldn't even be the last as they did a creature on a planet in either 'Atlantis' or 'Universe,' I forget which. A new horror literally emerges when a leech-like parasite launches out of the carcase of the dead creature and then the story becomes even more unravelled as we learn it has something to do with the Sodan cloaking devices which sometimes let these nasties in from another dimension. Okay.
It all ends up on Earth with another of these parasites having mutated a couple of other creatures into dangerous and violent killers, SG-1 (still minus Dr. Jackson), running around until they kill them. It's not a bad episode, I just feel it didn't understand what it was trying to accomplish and moved from one tone to another, one story to another, without an organic narrative. Things like the Sheriff suddenly being torn apart is the sort of thing you'd expect in a horror film. Not that there was excessive gore, and in fact they cut away quite a lot or refuse to show the full extent of injuries, as you'd expect from a mainstream TV series, but it didn't seem to matter that this guy got taken, it was merely a surprise. I wouldn't even say there were shocks in the episode and if you're going for jump scares or creepiness then do it. Or don't. It comes down to being another one where we don't really learn anything about any of the characters and it's just a mild, knockabout adventure with little reminders of the overall arcs such as a member of the Trust is using a Sodan device that must have brought the parasite through, the Priors are mentioned, and Reynolds heads a team. It really seemed like there was a blind somewhere around here in one or both of the plots - Landry instigating this off-duty session to root out a Trust member spying on them; the creature some Prior scheme or other, but no, things were much more simple than that. And it goes right back to what I said at the beginning, I'd much rather have seen the group sitting around doing casual things together rather than on a big hunt. If you've got a licence to experiment then reaching a tenth season must be it. Saying that, next episode is the one I've long been waiting for where they celebrate the series' two hundredth episode so maybe I'll get what I'm looking for there…
**
Unsettling, uneven and unsure if this was really what I wanted to see when the prospect of an off-duty jaunt in the woods with SG-1 and the General was a much more entertaining prospect. They nix that idea pretty early with Daniel written out for the second week in a row (he's in England, apparently, lost in some toff's library on Merlin), and Teal'c, Carter and Vala drafted in on some Prior-watching mission on an alien world that goes awry when a nasty creature starts attacking. And Landry's break was supposedly at O'Neill's cabin, too! Actually I didn't recognise the location, as attractive as it was, so it may be this was just one of O'Neill's many hideaways rather than a place we'd been to before. Which is a shame as it would have been terrific to return to the famous house we saw on occasion. Either way it's not the kind of episode I thought it was going to be, as it could have been hilarious and fascinating to see this mismatched group of people that are the remnants of the SG-1 team, now filled out with relatively new people, at ease together, as uneasy as they might have been. I still think Vala doesn't always work without Jackson around to bounce off, though I will concede that her bubbly chatterings with Teal'c, where she tries to provoke a response, was amusing since her charms or gift of the gab have no effect on his staunch warrior ethic. I suppose if it had been a two-hander between Landry and Mitchell, alone in a cabin in the woods, it might have seemed a bit bizarre for the series, though they have experimented on occasion.
It was not to be and we're soon hunting through an alien forest, guns at the ready (notice that Vala gets one this time). I thought it wise that they refused to show the monster, instead portraying its POV, which worked better than trying to create a convincing creature, CGI or otherwise, on a TV budget, though they betrayed that sentiment later in the episode which looked about as hokey as you'd expect, though the second creature as it died with the dark woods behind and the torchlight shining on it, worked better. From the teaser I didn't know what to expect, was this going to be a buddy-buddy story about a commanding officer and his subordinate getting to know each other better? Was it to be a creepy alien monster in the woods? Horror? Adventure? It was all over the place, hence the unsettling sense of uncertainty. This might have worked if an atmosphere of foreboding had been successfully implemented, but it was all very light and bright (except for the night scenes, obviously), and we've seen so many episodes of hunting some creature, so it was far from original. It wouldn't even be the last as they did a creature on a planet in either 'Atlantis' or 'Universe,' I forget which. A new horror literally emerges when a leech-like parasite launches out of the carcase of the dead creature and then the story becomes even more unravelled as we learn it has something to do with the Sodan cloaking devices which sometimes let these nasties in from another dimension. Okay.
It all ends up on Earth with another of these parasites having mutated a couple of other creatures into dangerous and violent killers, SG-1 (still minus Dr. Jackson), running around until they kill them. It's not a bad episode, I just feel it didn't understand what it was trying to accomplish and moved from one tone to another, one story to another, without an organic narrative. Things like the Sheriff suddenly being torn apart is the sort of thing you'd expect in a horror film. Not that there was excessive gore, and in fact they cut away quite a lot or refuse to show the full extent of injuries, as you'd expect from a mainstream TV series, but it didn't seem to matter that this guy got taken, it was merely a surprise. I wouldn't even say there were shocks in the episode and if you're going for jump scares or creepiness then do it. Or don't. It comes down to being another one where we don't really learn anything about any of the characters and it's just a mild, knockabout adventure with little reminders of the overall arcs such as a member of the Trust is using a Sodan device that must have brought the parasite through, the Priors are mentioned, and Reynolds heads a team. It really seemed like there was a blind somewhere around here in one or both of the plots - Landry instigating this off-duty session to root out a Trust member spying on them; the creature some Prior scheme or other, but no, things were much more simple than that. And it goes right back to what I said at the beginning, I'd much rather have seen the group sitting around doing casual things together rather than on a big hunt. If you've got a licence to experiment then reaching a tenth season must be it. Saying that, next episode is the one I've long been waiting for where they celebrate the series' two hundredth episode so maybe I'll get what I'm looking for there…
**
Cold Front (2)
DVD, Enterprise S1 (Cold Front) (2)
My main observation about this one is that it was more important to the story of 'Enterprise' than it was a good episode, but I still get chills up the spine in certain scenes, namely when Daniels is discussing details of the future with Archer, when Silik does the same, and that final portentous shot of the seal on Daniels' Crew Quarters. When I think about it, I'm not very clear on why this room needed to be closed off - Archer suggests there could be other things in there like the Temporal Observatory device Daniels used to display the time stream, but if so why not go and have a gander? Archer's not bound by any Temporal Prime Directive, he doesn't even have the Prime Directive yet, so you'd think curiosity would get the better of him, especially if there were anything in there suitable to prove time travel possible to the sceptical Vulcans, and get one over on them! The story logic is that they had something to go back to, and with all the insubstantial, intangible signs and wonders of such a momentous intersection in time impossible to fully define and categorise, it helped to end the episode with a solid location, and a handy one that the ship can carry around with it for the writers to open up like Pandora's Box any time they wished. Still, it would have been useful to see what Starfleet's reaction was (through Admiral Forrest, of course), to all this bizarre knowledge and experiences, but if we'd had a concluding scene such as that it wouldn't have had the dramatic close that caps the episode so neatly.
They would revisit Daniels' Quarters at the end of the season, but the big draw of this episode, that I remember thinking when I first saw it, was that one day we'd know what had happened here. Ostensibly it was a laying down of the ground rules of the Temporal Cold War, setting up 'Crewman' Daniels as Archer's sometime aide from the 31st Century (he must have been aboard from the start of the mission, unless he transferred over at some point, because he's known by other crewmembers), while reiterating the veiled threat of Future Guy and his proxy in the 22nd Century, Silik the Suliban. I expected, way into the series, perhaps even the seventh season, we'd finally understand why Silik was instructed to prevent the cascade explosion that almost destroyed the NX-01, and what was really going on in episodes like this. To the detriment of the series we never did get all the answers because the series was cut short, and even if it hadn't been, they effectively ended the TCW at the beginning of Season 4. Unwisely, I feel, because although the real arc of the series was preparation for the founding of the Federation, the real, practical story that was much more in evidence until that final season, were the machinations of the TCW, it's just that it was poorly integrated into the series most of the time. The biggest development turned out to be the Xindi conflict, but that was essentially just a magnified version of this kind of episode, stretched across an entire season, but not really going in-depth on the TCW as it should have, either.
What the series really needed was to be able to snatch Archer or other characters and transport them into future centuries where they'd meet familiar Trek characters like Jean-Luc Picard (not that Patrick Stewart was ever likely to play the Captain again… Right…?), Captain Janeway, Worf, or any number of others who transcend time (Q? The Traveller? Guinan?). There was talk early on that for the second season they might get Stewart to direct an episode, they might bring in Guinan, these juicy possibilities were delightful to someone like me, but then 'Nemesis' came and sunk Trek's credibility, which was already beginning to flounder as viewers fell away from 'Enterprise,' and so the grand plans I'd envisioned of the series bringing all four corners of the franchise neatly together came to nothing. What dreams they were, however, and I wouldn't have been thinking that but for the TCW, because this masterstroke in connecting to the future, beyond even that which we'd seen on 'Voyager' (which itself had dealings with the 29th Century), was the perfect way to knit everything together, even though this was the series set furthest back in time. It was a mandate from the studio, not something the writers wanted to do, and that is what I believe hurt its chances. If it had been designed by the creators they might have been more willing to include regular outings in time or more appearances from the likes of Silik in order to cement the season. This might even have made the series more palatable for viewers becoming increasingly attached to serialised storytelling, and, who knows, might even have saved the series?
The reality was that it took them almost half the season to remind us of the ongoing temporal issues, and while I wouldn't want it to have been part of every episode, or even every other, a smattering of temporal episodes each season might have helped to bring that recurring motif to life and given regular viewers more to enjoy than the planet or alien of the week. Imagine if 'DS9' had completely ignored Sisko's connection to the Bajorans in its first season, or 'Voyager' had failed to have any episodes dealing with Seska and the Maquis. In both cases they were slow to integrate ongoing plots into the episodic format, but they were more in evidence than in 'Enterprise,' and by the time it was being made you'd have expected more continuity, not less. But then I think that was also part of the plan to make this more akin to 'TOS,' with more action-based stories and less need to see it every week in the hopes it would be more accessible. In trying to appeal more to casual viewers they misread the direction of the industry at a time when it was becoming easier for people to catch up with episodes due to changes in viewing technology, and so it would probably have got more eyes on it if it had given them more depth to keep up with. None of this is the episode's fault, and while it isn't exactly one of the best episodes of the season, as I said before, its importance in the grand scheme can't be underestimated and makes for entertainment, at least, even if the arc it was a part of ultimately failed to live up to the introduction in 'Broken Bow.'
For a start we get some nice references to other episodes to remind us that the series doesn't exist in a vacuum, events in episodes had happened, the characters remembered them and those events mean something, which wasn't always the impression on the series, especially in the first two seasons when they were governed by a haphazard approach to exploration. Archer's wonder at Daniels' ability to change his room into some weird panoramic readout of temporal doings is one reason he chooses to believe who he says he is, an agent of the future, but Trip reminds him of the Xyrillians' ability to change an entire room into whatever they wanted, a boat on an ocean, which was an intelligent reminder of alien capabilities. The failure of the original mission from Future Guy to disrupt the Klingon Empire is also mentioned, and the fact that Archer first heard about the TCW from Sarin, a Suliban woman who helped the Klingons, also adds weight to the reality of this situation. At the same time Archer has to make an executive decision and live with the consequences. Daniels is open and honest in his manner, he seems like what a future Starfleet operative might be like, except I'm not even sure Starfleet exists in his time. He's very vague about where he comes from and how things stand then, partly because he doesn't want Archer to have unnecessary information, irrelevant to his mission, and partly because the writers needed the space to make things up in future that wouldn't contradict what was revealed here.
One thing about Trek that I find rather thrilling is how they loved to hold to continuity and the timeline as a specific history to be protected and strengthened, but the thing about Trek storytelling was that they had the fascination with the future even beyond that established history, the future of the characters we're watching in our future. And so now and again we'd have time travel further into time, not just the usual return to a period of Earth history. It's always tough to try and extrapolate how things might be even more advanced, or even whether that future is as hopeful as the centuries we know. Trek always wanted to be optimistic, and yet needed drama through outside conflict, which meant that it didn't want to portray a dystopian endpoint or anything that took us away from the positive ideal of its future. That meant the Federation would survive, humans would continue to prosper, the Federation would expand and grow, inducting more and more races and keeping peace and prosperity for the galaxy. I get the impression that, just as 'Discovery' has totally messed up the 23rd Century, they're going to do the same to the far distant future, with Season 3 set to be even beyond the temporal operatives of the 31st Century, to the 33rd. We'd already seen connections to the 26th, 29th and 31st, so if they wanted to do something without treading on any toes they had to go even further, but I hope they don't make a mess of it as seems most likely judging by the first two seasons.
The beauty of the future beyond the 24th Century was that time travel became a tool Starfleet used and watched over, I think beginning in the 26th, but certainly by the 29th you had time-ships with the ability to right wrongs that had been done to the timeline in the great 'Voyager' episodes 'Future's End' and 'Relativity,' and even in contemporary 'DS9' Sisko was paid a visit by Temporal Investigations who, though they didn't have the ability to fix time, were tasked with keeping reports and doling out punishment if they deemed infractions had been committed by members of Starfleet. By the time of the TCW (maybe a contradiction in terms!), humans could be sent back without a ship and they had access to all kinds of advanced technology, though they still required assistance in their given time periods, whereas the faction from the 28th Century, which Future Guy sends his orders from to Silik, didn't have the ability to actually travel. Travel through time itself had been shown to be possible as early as 'TOS,' with such tricks as slingshotting around the sun, but you have to assume that these manoeuvres are very risky and that though it sometimes appears easy to travel in time, it's something that became increasingly monitored and frowned upon, leading to Temporal Investigations. That's what I like, though, that there was logical progression, they didn't just have 'time suits' running on mythical 'time crystals' as they did in 'DSC,' which went a long way to ruining Trek's consistency and sense of a grounded, scientific reality, while 'Enterprise' continued to maintain that when you sometimes wish they'd been a little more free to leap into the future.
I'm sure I've written this before somewhere, but I always imagined and hoped that if 'Enterprise' had survived into its sixth season and the 40th Anniversary of Trek, they would have done what 'DS9' did with 'Trials and Tribble-ations,' and sent Archer and his crew into 'The Best of Both Worlds' so we could have seen that he was responsible for ensuring the Borg didn't finish Picard and wipe out Earth. It would have been terrific, but the series never made it that far, though at the time of 'Cold Front' everything was possible, and mainly because of the TCW which gave the writers an excuse for time-related shenanigans whenever they wanted - they could easily have come up with anomalies, Transporter accidents, alien devices and figures from the future if they didn't have the TCW as a catalyst, but with it as part of the series' DNA, it made much more sense. So it is very surprising how few time travel stories they did, preferring to concentrate on something-of-the-week, be it aliens, planets or whatever. One of the missed opportunities of the series. I'd have loved to know more about the situation in the 31st Century, but Daniels is deliberately coy: when asked if he's human, he answers 'more or less,' and when they want to know if Earth still exists he says it depends on how you define Earth, so they had plenty to play with (and I'm sure 'DSC' will do, though it's just as likely to disregard what's been said before).
While T'Pol continues resolutely to back the Vulcan position that time travel can't happen and doesn't, Archer likes to keep an open mind, and that apparently (and much to some sour Trekkers' dismay), also extends to religious conviction, which is shown to be alive and well on Earth and in other cultures. We know this because Phlox engaged with both Hindu, Christian and other faiths, including a visit with the Tibetan lamas, attending Mass at St. Peters, and even joining the Vulcans for one of their rituals at the consulate. I expect some would dismiss these references as being some kind of historical reenactment to show what people 'used' to believe, but it's more realistically interpreted that at this time religion was thriving on Earth and among humans, and if they'd wanted to the writers could easily have toed the line that is 'supposed' to be in other Treks that religion and all to do with it had been consigned to the dustbin of history, even though there are references to faith and religious practice throughout Trek history, so it's actually in keeping with the rest of the franchise, as much as some wish it were not so! When Archer says he likes to keep an open mind, he was even referring to the aliens' beliefs, so it would seem he's an agnostic, just as Gene Roddenberry was if you monitor what he said, though many have claimed he was pure atheist through and through (see 'Gene Roddenberry: The Last Conversation' for more on his views), and that that is what shaped his vision for Trek, though there's plenty of evidence to the contrary in 'TOS' (which is often dismissed for being mandated by the studio or added by other writers, but Roddenberry was very much in command!).
Trip is far from being an agnostic on the subject of time travel, and as T'Pol warns him, wanting something to be true does not make for good scientific argument. Well, not in as many words, but that was the gist, and I was completely with him when he says he knew they'd be meeting people from other planets, but other centuries…? I always hoped for cameos from other Trek characters so it was a great disappointment that all we got was Zefram Cochrane in the pilot and Riker and Troi in the finale (which I loved, by the way, in opposition to the generally accepted view that it ruined the end of the series - it didn't). We would get a number of familiar actors playing other roles (Rene Auberjonois and Ethan Phillips are coming up any episode now, to name but two), but it's just not the same as them reprising a much-loved persona. You know something's different by how Daniels is introduced. Usually Archer's stewards aren't afforded the camera giving them a full profile, they just come in, plonk the grub on the table and leave, often without even getting a line, but this time Daniels talks to the Captain and is in the centre of shot, so you probably wonder if this is going to be a lower decks type character as we saw in 'Strange New World,' but which they hadn't really revisited since, which is a real shame as it makes the ship come alive when you think there are people aboard that you know, beyond the senior staff. Little did we realise Daniels would become one of the key recurring characters for the series, even if his appearances were few and far between.
The same could be said for Silik and Future Guy (or 'Temporal Operative' as he's named in 'The Star Trek Encyclopedia,' or 'Humanoid Figure' as he credited in the series itself, though he went uncredited in this episode, for some reason), but they helped to add cohesion to the series, just as Jeffrey Combs as Andorian Shran gave the world a bit of continuity away from nondescript-of-the-week. This is the first time we see John Fleck out of his Suliban guise when he pretends to be one of the alien pilgrims who come aboard the NX-01 to witness a stellar phenomenon, but it wouldn't be the last time (he appears human in Season 4 - and just like then, here he helps rather than hinders Enterprise). Some of his CGI doesn't look as good as it could, particularly the scene at the end when he skydives out into space to escape into the Suliban cell ship waiting for him - here's an idea: why didn't Future Guy upgrade their technology so they could have beamed aboard without primitive 22nd Century sensors detecting him, rather than giving him the ability to turn into Stretch Armstrong?!), but the ideas work well, especially the hand device which Archer boldly uses to follow his enemy into the recesses of his own ship for a confrontation. The usual question remains with phasing: how come he doesn't fall through the floor, but in this case it's 31st Century tech, so of course they could adjust it to travel only on one plane (Bakula gets to be Al, his Dean Stockwell costar in 'Quantum Leap' who could walk through walls with the greatest of ease). 'Handily,' it falls into space, never to be retrieved (not even by temporal agents, I'm sure, since we hear from Daniels they don't deal in minutiae when Trip wants him to give the results of a betting pool!), but I thought it would be irreparably damaged in the fight as Archer could have used it like a knuckle duster. Missed a trick there! Chief O'Brien would have loved one of those things - no more crawling around Jefferies Tubes or clambering up and down ladders!
Though this is another episode resolutely centred on the Captain, that doesn't mean we don't have worthwhile scenes for the others. Phlox is his usual affable self, integrating with the pilgrims to learn about them and their cultures (they're from various worlds - the purple robes looked suspiciously like those of Bajoran monks, repurposed…), even if Archer manages to make a gaffe by having chef prepare them a special meal when it turns out they fast at this time! But they're not rigid, and avoid embarrassing their host by choosing to skip that part of the ritual. The cutest scene goes to Mayweather and Hoshi, eventually to be forgotten members of the crew in later seasons. Here, Reed exits the Bridge for some minor task, officially leaving Travis in charge, and Hoshi urges him to take the Big Chair, which he does and is then put to shame when Reed reappears. It's funny, it's true to life and is a sweet little moment that adds character and reality to the characters, and that's all you need to remind viewers of these people episode to episode - not everyone has to be at the forefront, but equally you can't forget about them. Reed, however, did get a little forgotten in the need for Archer to be the action hero, taking on Silik alone. I wish it had been more like 'The Adversary' on 'DS9' (or even the training scene at the start of 'The Way of The Warrior'), where everyone's toting Phasers and hunting down a shapeshifter. Instead, Archer does it all alone and almost gets himself sucked into space! There was another off moment when Trip and T'Pol leave Engineering at Daniels' insistence for no good reason other than Silik is there. Why would they let him take on the Suliban alone, and why would they then loiter by the open hatch long enough to witness Daniels' death? Surely they'd attack Silik or close the hatch fearing he'd come after them, but instead they just hang around looking undecided!
One thing I did like was how Archer shows Starfleet in this era is just as 'out of whack' with galactic mores as later ships were, in that they're far more positive, open and courteous to strangers than strangers usually are out in the space lanes, interested in others rather than in what they can get out of them, which is exactly how Captain Fraddock came across - he was a glorified bus driver and his bored, disinterested attitude made him sound like one, too, a man that had no interest in the excitement of his passengers, but was at any rate prepared to exploit it! (Sounds a bit like Quark, except he'd at least pretend to be interested, to get to know his marks in order to get more out of them!). And though they mention watching some old sci-fi film that wasn't much cop, you'd think with fifty thousand films in the database they'd work their way through the classics first. That is, unless World War III meant that many films were lost to posterity and only the cheap B-films survive into the 22nd Century. Wouldn't that be a travesty? As long as Trek itself survived I think I'd be okay, though I'm happy for 'DSC' to be lost forever, unless remnants remain as a warning to future generations of the horror of bad writing. This one wasn't badly written. A bit simply, perhaps, without more of the nuance that makes a classy episode, but functionally returns us to the main arc while setting up the season finale, and it wasn't badly directed either, by TV's own Tom Paris, Robert Duncan McNeill, a Director to this day, who began on 'Voyager' and was the first of his cast to direct, here following fellow cast-member Roxann Dawson to 'Enterprise.'
***
My main observation about this one is that it was more important to the story of 'Enterprise' than it was a good episode, but I still get chills up the spine in certain scenes, namely when Daniels is discussing details of the future with Archer, when Silik does the same, and that final portentous shot of the seal on Daniels' Crew Quarters. When I think about it, I'm not very clear on why this room needed to be closed off - Archer suggests there could be other things in there like the Temporal Observatory device Daniels used to display the time stream, but if so why not go and have a gander? Archer's not bound by any Temporal Prime Directive, he doesn't even have the Prime Directive yet, so you'd think curiosity would get the better of him, especially if there were anything in there suitable to prove time travel possible to the sceptical Vulcans, and get one over on them! The story logic is that they had something to go back to, and with all the insubstantial, intangible signs and wonders of such a momentous intersection in time impossible to fully define and categorise, it helped to end the episode with a solid location, and a handy one that the ship can carry around with it for the writers to open up like Pandora's Box any time they wished. Still, it would have been useful to see what Starfleet's reaction was (through Admiral Forrest, of course), to all this bizarre knowledge and experiences, but if we'd had a concluding scene such as that it wouldn't have had the dramatic close that caps the episode so neatly.
They would revisit Daniels' Quarters at the end of the season, but the big draw of this episode, that I remember thinking when I first saw it, was that one day we'd know what had happened here. Ostensibly it was a laying down of the ground rules of the Temporal Cold War, setting up 'Crewman' Daniels as Archer's sometime aide from the 31st Century (he must have been aboard from the start of the mission, unless he transferred over at some point, because he's known by other crewmembers), while reiterating the veiled threat of Future Guy and his proxy in the 22nd Century, Silik the Suliban. I expected, way into the series, perhaps even the seventh season, we'd finally understand why Silik was instructed to prevent the cascade explosion that almost destroyed the NX-01, and what was really going on in episodes like this. To the detriment of the series we never did get all the answers because the series was cut short, and even if it hadn't been, they effectively ended the TCW at the beginning of Season 4. Unwisely, I feel, because although the real arc of the series was preparation for the founding of the Federation, the real, practical story that was much more in evidence until that final season, were the machinations of the TCW, it's just that it was poorly integrated into the series most of the time. The biggest development turned out to be the Xindi conflict, but that was essentially just a magnified version of this kind of episode, stretched across an entire season, but not really going in-depth on the TCW as it should have, either.
What the series really needed was to be able to snatch Archer or other characters and transport them into future centuries where they'd meet familiar Trek characters like Jean-Luc Picard (not that Patrick Stewart was ever likely to play the Captain again… Right…?), Captain Janeway, Worf, or any number of others who transcend time (Q? The Traveller? Guinan?). There was talk early on that for the second season they might get Stewart to direct an episode, they might bring in Guinan, these juicy possibilities were delightful to someone like me, but then 'Nemesis' came and sunk Trek's credibility, which was already beginning to flounder as viewers fell away from 'Enterprise,' and so the grand plans I'd envisioned of the series bringing all four corners of the franchise neatly together came to nothing. What dreams they were, however, and I wouldn't have been thinking that but for the TCW, because this masterstroke in connecting to the future, beyond even that which we'd seen on 'Voyager' (which itself had dealings with the 29th Century), was the perfect way to knit everything together, even though this was the series set furthest back in time. It was a mandate from the studio, not something the writers wanted to do, and that is what I believe hurt its chances. If it had been designed by the creators they might have been more willing to include regular outings in time or more appearances from the likes of Silik in order to cement the season. This might even have made the series more palatable for viewers becoming increasingly attached to serialised storytelling, and, who knows, might even have saved the series?
The reality was that it took them almost half the season to remind us of the ongoing temporal issues, and while I wouldn't want it to have been part of every episode, or even every other, a smattering of temporal episodes each season might have helped to bring that recurring motif to life and given regular viewers more to enjoy than the planet or alien of the week. Imagine if 'DS9' had completely ignored Sisko's connection to the Bajorans in its first season, or 'Voyager' had failed to have any episodes dealing with Seska and the Maquis. In both cases they were slow to integrate ongoing plots into the episodic format, but they were more in evidence than in 'Enterprise,' and by the time it was being made you'd have expected more continuity, not less. But then I think that was also part of the plan to make this more akin to 'TOS,' with more action-based stories and less need to see it every week in the hopes it would be more accessible. In trying to appeal more to casual viewers they misread the direction of the industry at a time when it was becoming easier for people to catch up with episodes due to changes in viewing technology, and so it would probably have got more eyes on it if it had given them more depth to keep up with. None of this is the episode's fault, and while it isn't exactly one of the best episodes of the season, as I said before, its importance in the grand scheme can't be underestimated and makes for entertainment, at least, even if the arc it was a part of ultimately failed to live up to the introduction in 'Broken Bow.'
For a start we get some nice references to other episodes to remind us that the series doesn't exist in a vacuum, events in episodes had happened, the characters remembered them and those events mean something, which wasn't always the impression on the series, especially in the first two seasons when they were governed by a haphazard approach to exploration. Archer's wonder at Daniels' ability to change his room into some weird panoramic readout of temporal doings is one reason he chooses to believe who he says he is, an agent of the future, but Trip reminds him of the Xyrillians' ability to change an entire room into whatever they wanted, a boat on an ocean, which was an intelligent reminder of alien capabilities. The failure of the original mission from Future Guy to disrupt the Klingon Empire is also mentioned, and the fact that Archer first heard about the TCW from Sarin, a Suliban woman who helped the Klingons, also adds weight to the reality of this situation. At the same time Archer has to make an executive decision and live with the consequences. Daniels is open and honest in his manner, he seems like what a future Starfleet operative might be like, except I'm not even sure Starfleet exists in his time. He's very vague about where he comes from and how things stand then, partly because he doesn't want Archer to have unnecessary information, irrelevant to his mission, and partly because the writers needed the space to make things up in future that wouldn't contradict what was revealed here.
One thing about Trek that I find rather thrilling is how they loved to hold to continuity and the timeline as a specific history to be protected and strengthened, but the thing about Trek storytelling was that they had the fascination with the future even beyond that established history, the future of the characters we're watching in our future. And so now and again we'd have time travel further into time, not just the usual return to a period of Earth history. It's always tough to try and extrapolate how things might be even more advanced, or even whether that future is as hopeful as the centuries we know. Trek always wanted to be optimistic, and yet needed drama through outside conflict, which meant that it didn't want to portray a dystopian endpoint or anything that took us away from the positive ideal of its future. That meant the Federation would survive, humans would continue to prosper, the Federation would expand and grow, inducting more and more races and keeping peace and prosperity for the galaxy. I get the impression that, just as 'Discovery' has totally messed up the 23rd Century, they're going to do the same to the far distant future, with Season 3 set to be even beyond the temporal operatives of the 31st Century, to the 33rd. We'd already seen connections to the 26th, 29th and 31st, so if they wanted to do something without treading on any toes they had to go even further, but I hope they don't make a mess of it as seems most likely judging by the first two seasons.
The beauty of the future beyond the 24th Century was that time travel became a tool Starfleet used and watched over, I think beginning in the 26th, but certainly by the 29th you had time-ships with the ability to right wrongs that had been done to the timeline in the great 'Voyager' episodes 'Future's End' and 'Relativity,' and even in contemporary 'DS9' Sisko was paid a visit by Temporal Investigations who, though they didn't have the ability to fix time, were tasked with keeping reports and doling out punishment if they deemed infractions had been committed by members of Starfleet. By the time of the TCW (maybe a contradiction in terms!), humans could be sent back without a ship and they had access to all kinds of advanced technology, though they still required assistance in their given time periods, whereas the faction from the 28th Century, which Future Guy sends his orders from to Silik, didn't have the ability to actually travel. Travel through time itself had been shown to be possible as early as 'TOS,' with such tricks as slingshotting around the sun, but you have to assume that these manoeuvres are very risky and that though it sometimes appears easy to travel in time, it's something that became increasingly monitored and frowned upon, leading to Temporal Investigations. That's what I like, though, that there was logical progression, they didn't just have 'time suits' running on mythical 'time crystals' as they did in 'DSC,' which went a long way to ruining Trek's consistency and sense of a grounded, scientific reality, while 'Enterprise' continued to maintain that when you sometimes wish they'd been a little more free to leap into the future.
I'm sure I've written this before somewhere, but I always imagined and hoped that if 'Enterprise' had survived into its sixth season and the 40th Anniversary of Trek, they would have done what 'DS9' did with 'Trials and Tribble-ations,' and sent Archer and his crew into 'The Best of Both Worlds' so we could have seen that he was responsible for ensuring the Borg didn't finish Picard and wipe out Earth. It would have been terrific, but the series never made it that far, though at the time of 'Cold Front' everything was possible, and mainly because of the TCW which gave the writers an excuse for time-related shenanigans whenever they wanted - they could easily have come up with anomalies, Transporter accidents, alien devices and figures from the future if they didn't have the TCW as a catalyst, but with it as part of the series' DNA, it made much more sense. So it is very surprising how few time travel stories they did, preferring to concentrate on something-of-the-week, be it aliens, planets or whatever. One of the missed opportunities of the series. I'd have loved to know more about the situation in the 31st Century, but Daniels is deliberately coy: when asked if he's human, he answers 'more or less,' and when they want to know if Earth still exists he says it depends on how you define Earth, so they had plenty to play with (and I'm sure 'DSC' will do, though it's just as likely to disregard what's been said before).
While T'Pol continues resolutely to back the Vulcan position that time travel can't happen and doesn't, Archer likes to keep an open mind, and that apparently (and much to some sour Trekkers' dismay), also extends to religious conviction, which is shown to be alive and well on Earth and in other cultures. We know this because Phlox engaged with both Hindu, Christian and other faiths, including a visit with the Tibetan lamas, attending Mass at St. Peters, and even joining the Vulcans for one of their rituals at the consulate. I expect some would dismiss these references as being some kind of historical reenactment to show what people 'used' to believe, but it's more realistically interpreted that at this time religion was thriving on Earth and among humans, and if they'd wanted to the writers could easily have toed the line that is 'supposed' to be in other Treks that religion and all to do with it had been consigned to the dustbin of history, even though there are references to faith and religious practice throughout Trek history, so it's actually in keeping with the rest of the franchise, as much as some wish it were not so! When Archer says he likes to keep an open mind, he was even referring to the aliens' beliefs, so it would seem he's an agnostic, just as Gene Roddenberry was if you monitor what he said, though many have claimed he was pure atheist through and through (see 'Gene Roddenberry: The Last Conversation' for more on his views), and that that is what shaped his vision for Trek, though there's plenty of evidence to the contrary in 'TOS' (which is often dismissed for being mandated by the studio or added by other writers, but Roddenberry was very much in command!).
Trip is far from being an agnostic on the subject of time travel, and as T'Pol warns him, wanting something to be true does not make for good scientific argument. Well, not in as many words, but that was the gist, and I was completely with him when he says he knew they'd be meeting people from other planets, but other centuries…? I always hoped for cameos from other Trek characters so it was a great disappointment that all we got was Zefram Cochrane in the pilot and Riker and Troi in the finale (which I loved, by the way, in opposition to the generally accepted view that it ruined the end of the series - it didn't). We would get a number of familiar actors playing other roles (Rene Auberjonois and Ethan Phillips are coming up any episode now, to name but two), but it's just not the same as them reprising a much-loved persona. You know something's different by how Daniels is introduced. Usually Archer's stewards aren't afforded the camera giving them a full profile, they just come in, plonk the grub on the table and leave, often without even getting a line, but this time Daniels talks to the Captain and is in the centre of shot, so you probably wonder if this is going to be a lower decks type character as we saw in 'Strange New World,' but which they hadn't really revisited since, which is a real shame as it makes the ship come alive when you think there are people aboard that you know, beyond the senior staff. Little did we realise Daniels would become one of the key recurring characters for the series, even if his appearances were few and far between.
The same could be said for Silik and Future Guy (or 'Temporal Operative' as he's named in 'The Star Trek Encyclopedia,' or 'Humanoid Figure' as he credited in the series itself, though he went uncredited in this episode, for some reason), but they helped to add cohesion to the series, just as Jeffrey Combs as Andorian Shran gave the world a bit of continuity away from nondescript-of-the-week. This is the first time we see John Fleck out of his Suliban guise when he pretends to be one of the alien pilgrims who come aboard the NX-01 to witness a stellar phenomenon, but it wouldn't be the last time (he appears human in Season 4 - and just like then, here he helps rather than hinders Enterprise). Some of his CGI doesn't look as good as it could, particularly the scene at the end when he skydives out into space to escape into the Suliban cell ship waiting for him - here's an idea: why didn't Future Guy upgrade their technology so they could have beamed aboard without primitive 22nd Century sensors detecting him, rather than giving him the ability to turn into Stretch Armstrong?!), but the ideas work well, especially the hand device which Archer boldly uses to follow his enemy into the recesses of his own ship for a confrontation. The usual question remains with phasing: how come he doesn't fall through the floor, but in this case it's 31st Century tech, so of course they could adjust it to travel only on one plane (Bakula gets to be Al, his Dean Stockwell costar in 'Quantum Leap' who could walk through walls with the greatest of ease). 'Handily,' it falls into space, never to be retrieved (not even by temporal agents, I'm sure, since we hear from Daniels they don't deal in minutiae when Trip wants him to give the results of a betting pool!), but I thought it would be irreparably damaged in the fight as Archer could have used it like a knuckle duster. Missed a trick there! Chief O'Brien would have loved one of those things - no more crawling around Jefferies Tubes or clambering up and down ladders!
Though this is another episode resolutely centred on the Captain, that doesn't mean we don't have worthwhile scenes for the others. Phlox is his usual affable self, integrating with the pilgrims to learn about them and their cultures (they're from various worlds - the purple robes looked suspiciously like those of Bajoran monks, repurposed…), even if Archer manages to make a gaffe by having chef prepare them a special meal when it turns out they fast at this time! But they're not rigid, and avoid embarrassing their host by choosing to skip that part of the ritual. The cutest scene goes to Mayweather and Hoshi, eventually to be forgotten members of the crew in later seasons. Here, Reed exits the Bridge for some minor task, officially leaving Travis in charge, and Hoshi urges him to take the Big Chair, which he does and is then put to shame when Reed reappears. It's funny, it's true to life and is a sweet little moment that adds character and reality to the characters, and that's all you need to remind viewers of these people episode to episode - not everyone has to be at the forefront, but equally you can't forget about them. Reed, however, did get a little forgotten in the need for Archer to be the action hero, taking on Silik alone. I wish it had been more like 'The Adversary' on 'DS9' (or even the training scene at the start of 'The Way of The Warrior'), where everyone's toting Phasers and hunting down a shapeshifter. Instead, Archer does it all alone and almost gets himself sucked into space! There was another off moment when Trip and T'Pol leave Engineering at Daniels' insistence for no good reason other than Silik is there. Why would they let him take on the Suliban alone, and why would they then loiter by the open hatch long enough to witness Daniels' death? Surely they'd attack Silik or close the hatch fearing he'd come after them, but instead they just hang around looking undecided!
One thing I did like was how Archer shows Starfleet in this era is just as 'out of whack' with galactic mores as later ships were, in that they're far more positive, open and courteous to strangers than strangers usually are out in the space lanes, interested in others rather than in what they can get out of them, which is exactly how Captain Fraddock came across - he was a glorified bus driver and his bored, disinterested attitude made him sound like one, too, a man that had no interest in the excitement of his passengers, but was at any rate prepared to exploit it! (Sounds a bit like Quark, except he'd at least pretend to be interested, to get to know his marks in order to get more out of them!). And though they mention watching some old sci-fi film that wasn't much cop, you'd think with fifty thousand films in the database they'd work their way through the classics first. That is, unless World War III meant that many films were lost to posterity and only the cheap B-films survive into the 22nd Century. Wouldn't that be a travesty? As long as Trek itself survived I think I'd be okay, though I'm happy for 'DSC' to be lost forever, unless remnants remain as a warning to future generations of the horror of bad writing. This one wasn't badly written. A bit simply, perhaps, without more of the nuance that makes a classy episode, but functionally returns us to the main arc while setting up the season finale, and it wasn't badly directed either, by TV's own Tom Paris, Robert Duncan McNeill, a Director to this day, who began on 'Voyager' and was the first of his cast to direct, here following fellow cast-member Roxann Dawson to 'Enterprise.'
***
Insiders
DVD, Stargate SG-1 S10 (Insiders)
Evil villains and their evil plans, lots of recurring characters, and pretty much all based around the concrete walls of Stargate Command - it's some proper retro 'SG-1' for us, then. Baal was never one of the best characters, though he was one of the better Goa'uld black hats, simply because he had a bit more composure than the majority, but it is like a step backward when we go this deep into old mythology. I'm sure if you were a big follower of the franchise back in the day this would have been a torrent of nostalgia for the 'old days' which would garner it a pass, and certainly from a technical standpoint it shows how far motion control technology had improved when we have rooms full of clones (even if occasionally you could spot when they were 'cheating' and just using lookalikes for distance shots), but in the end it's not much more than a mediocre jaunt, killing time, a sort of bottle episode, except for all the technical wizardry of moving shots where we see multiple clones at once, or coming into frame. For some reason Jackson isn't even in it at all, off at Camelot apparently, but maybe they were filming a more Daniel-intensive episode at the same time, one of the ways to curb production costs as usually happens from every angle if a series lasts a long time. Not that his absence particularly hurt the episode (it gives rise to a good observation from Mitchell when Landry talks about Vala only being under control when Daniel's around and he replies that with Carter the same rank as himself, Daniel a civilian and Teal'c an alien he's used to it!), but it doesn't feel as complete.
Instead we're gifted with guests, whether that be appearances from Siler, Lee and Walter, as well as Agent Malcolm Barrett of NID, and of course, the ubiquitous Baal, it all helps to keep the 'SG-1' mood. And I have to say the plan was well worked out with all the clones gathering together creating a signal strong enough from their transponders to be beamed up after stealing the data from O'Neill's encounter with an alien database (the famous image of him getting face-hugged by a contorting wall, which takes me back!), long ago, and which we now learn contains 'gate locations among which the famous Merlin weapon is stashed, Anubis narrowing it down a bit, apparently, and since the addresses given by that Ancient in the previous episode prove to be dead ends for the search. The only snag in the whole plan was Barrett's uncharacteristically stupid, bullheaded decision to storm in and interrogate Baal, taking his gun with him, then getting overpowered. Who would do such an imbecilic thing? Fortunately the team point this anomaly out, suspecting the agent of brainwashing, so that's that out of the way. It doesn't explain why they allowed the clones to be in the same cell, as surely that would likely be part of the plan, if there was one, nor can it bypass how easy it was for SG teams to go on a wild Baal hunt and come back brimming with the clones! Let alone the return to hiding behind thin little trees for cover and taking on gormless Goa'uld that are as useful as nothing much at all, which really does bring back memories, but not very good ones!
So there are some silly flaws - I know we can say that the clones wanted to be captured so they made it easy, but it's an uneven episode. The conclusion was clever, cleverer than most dastardly plans anyway, but it was more of a diversion away from the main story than anything else, and while tying back into the old stories can be a good thing if it leads to more depth in the narrative, this was just too simplistic, soldiers running around, shooting down corridors, and why wouldn't the SGC have the ability to flood anti-Goa'uld gas through the base as part of its security measures, you'd think such a defence would be very useful over the years? That's a conceit of the genre, however, we can't always be forward thinking or the villains would have it too hard and there has to be drama. But I'd have preferred a personal story, maybe Vala experiencing Earth civilian life as Teal'c used to do, some knockabout fun if they have to tread water for a bit. Talking of Teal'c, when did he give up using the staff weapon as it looked strangely out of place for him to be wielding a machine gun. Maybe he always uses guns these days and I hadn't noticed, but it stood out to me on this occasion. It sometimes feels as if time hasn't moved on, because although we've seen major changes such as Teal'c heavily involved in Jaffa politics, Carter being promoted, etc, they still come together and seem like the age-old SG-1 team they always were, minus O'Neill, plus Mitchell and Vala (I keep forgetting the pair of them worked together on 'Farscape,' these characters different enough not to have that connection in mind all the time). I know that's what was wanted, but at the same time it can be hard to take it seriously.
**
Evil villains and their evil plans, lots of recurring characters, and pretty much all based around the concrete walls of Stargate Command - it's some proper retro 'SG-1' for us, then. Baal was never one of the best characters, though he was one of the better Goa'uld black hats, simply because he had a bit more composure than the majority, but it is like a step backward when we go this deep into old mythology. I'm sure if you were a big follower of the franchise back in the day this would have been a torrent of nostalgia for the 'old days' which would garner it a pass, and certainly from a technical standpoint it shows how far motion control technology had improved when we have rooms full of clones (even if occasionally you could spot when they were 'cheating' and just using lookalikes for distance shots), but in the end it's not much more than a mediocre jaunt, killing time, a sort of bottle episode, except for all the technical wizardry of moving shots where we see multiple clones at once, or coming into frame. For some reason Jackson isn't even in it at all, off at Camelot apparently, but maybe they were filming a more Daniel-intensive episode at the same time, one of the ways to curb production costs as usually happens from every angle if a series lasts a long time. Not that his absence particularly hurt the episode (it gives rise to a good observation from Mitchell when Landry talks about Vala only being under control when Daniel's around and he replies that with Carter the same rank as himself, Daniel a civilian and Teal'c an alien he's used to it!), but it doesn't feel as complete.
Instead we're gifted with guests, whether that be appearances from Siler, Lee and Walter, as well as Agent Malcolm Barrett of NID, and of course, the ubiquitous Baal, it all helps to keep the 'SG-1' mood. And I have to say the plan was well worked out with all the clones gathering together creating a signal strong enough from their transponders to be beamed up after stealing the data from O'Neill's encounter with an alien database (the famous image of him getting face-hugged by a contorting wall, which takes me back!), long ago, and which we now learn contains 'gate locations among which the famous Merlin weapon is stashed, Anubis narrowing it down a bit, apparently, and since the addresses given by that Ancient in the previous episode prove to be dead ends for the search. The only snag in the whole plan was Barrett's uncharacteristically stupid, bullheaded decision to storm in and interrogate Baal, taking his gun with him, then getting overpowered. Who would do such an imbecilic thing? Fortunately the team point this anomaly out, suspecting the agent of brainwashing, so that's that out of the way. It doesn't explain why they allowed the clones to be in the same cell, as surely that would likely be part of the plan, if there was one, nor can it bypass how easy it was for SG teams to go on a wild Baal hunt and come back brimming with the clones! Let alone the return to hiding behind thin little trees for cover and taking on gormless Goa'uld that are as useful as nothing much at all, which really does bring back memories, but not very good ones!
So there are some silly flaws - I know we can say that the clones wanted to be captured so they made it easy, but it's an uneven episode. The conclusion was clever, cleverer than most dastardly plans anyway, but it was more of a diversion away from the main story than anything else, and while tying back into the old stories can be a good thing if it leads to more depth in the narrative, this was just too simplistic, soldiers running around, shooting down corridors, and why wouldn't the SGC have the ability to flood anti-Goa'uld gas through the base as part of its security measures, you'd think such a defence would be very useful over the years? That's a conceit of the genre, however, we can't always be forward thinking or the villains would have it too hard and there has to be drama. But I'd have preferred a personal story, maybe Vala experiencing Earth civilian life as Teal'c used to do, some knockabout fun if they have to tread water for a bit. Talking of Teal'c, when did he give up using the staff weapon as it looked strangely out of place for him to be wielding a machine gun. Maybe he always uses guns these days and I hadn't noticed, but it stood out to me on this occasion. It sometimes feels as if time hasn't moved on, because although we've seen major changes such as Teal'c heavily involved in Jaffa politics, Carter being promoted, etc, they still come together and seem like the age-old SG-1 team they always were, minus O'Neill, plus Mitchell and Vala (I keep forgetting the pair of them worked together on 'Farscape,' these characters different enough not to have that connection in mind all the time). I know that's what was wanted, but at the same time it can be hard to take it seriously.
**
Star Trek Conquest
Wii, Star Trek Conquest (2007), game
I've had a long association with 'Star Trek,' less so with games based upon it. I think I can only lay claim to 'Star Trek: Generations - Beyond The Nexus' and 'Star Trek: The Next Generation,' both on the humble Game Boy, and 'Star Trek: The 25th Anniversary' from the Amiga, but which I played through DOSBox, as the few I've played. Despite there being a Tribble-load of games based on the best sci-fi franchise ever made, most of them have been PC games (don't own one), or for non-Nintendo consoles. Maybe they felt Nintendo's image didn't fit with Trek's, I don't know, but I was pleased to find, after many 'Star Wars' examples on N64 and GameCube, at least on Wii there was one solitary Trek title. I didn't expect much from it, I hadn't heard anything about it, and from first plays I saw it as being quite simplistic and shallow, especially when compared with the 'great novel'-like source material of the Dominion War of the latter seasons of 'DS9.' But that series, and those seasons especially, have always been my favourite of all Trek, just as Trek is my favourite of all entertainments, so the novelty could almost have been enough in itself. But novelty alone can't cause me to play a game for eight hours in one day (as my Wii informed me was the case recently!), it has to have addictive and absorbing gameplay, and that's exactly what this contains.
It's a basic kind of turn-based strategy, with real-time, action-based attack or defence missions for a bit of variety and in case players needed more bang for buck-age, those 'Star Wars' people that can't get their head around just looking at menu screens and icons perhaps, and could easily have not been included at all. The good thing about them is that once you have the measure of the game, you can save yourself damage to your fleet by choosing this route rather than the easier one of letting it play out in icon-based simulation, which saves time, but means you'll sustain some damage or casualties. When you're up against tougher opposition or you can't afford to replace or repair your fleet and are threatened by near foes, it makes a good alternative tactic. Then you simply keep your distance from the defence weapons and starbases, and take them all out leisurely without a scratch. It's not such a good idea if you're attacking a system which contains an enemy fleet as the computer tends to be very efficient at dealing out justice, and if you're defending against an attack I always found it more profitable to use the simulation - even if you don't have a fleet to sway the odds in an attacked system, strong defences can weaken the opposition and occasionally even triumph. Some races will even retreat if robust defence is maintained.
One of the positives about the gameplay is how races respond differently to each other, with some tactics more suited to certain enemies. For example, true to their headstrong warrior nature, the Klingons never back down, so they're most likely to be defeated by selecting an Offensive defence of flinging all your power into the weapons systems rather than into the shields. Though there are really only two options when it comes to battle, Offensive or Defensive, this simplicity is given depth by the temperaments of the races and what advantages or disadvantages they have. This is what makes the game so enjoyable, drawing you in with its simplicity, but providing an enjoyable challenge at the same time. The downside is that once all races have been taken to a winning conclusion I doubt there will be anything to go back for, which is usually not the case with either real-time or turn-based strategy - I still go back to random maps on 'Age of Empires II' even in recent years, and the same can be said of 'Settlers' or X-Com. At the same time, placing all the races in the same place with the same galactic map means you know what you're up against, and I did enjoy trying the game with each of the six races - every time I included all races, with the Fog of War on, and played on Medium Difficulty.
I found that there was a definite hierarchy of power, with the Dominion and their high hit-point vessels proving to be the toughest race and therefore the easiest to win with. At the opposite end of the scale, the Breen were weakest in their overall pros and cons, providing much more of a challenge to becoming victorious. I would say Cardassians were next toughest after Dominion, followed by Klingons, Federation and Romulans. Indeed, who you choose to play as when you first take up the game makes a big difference: I found myself losing a number of times when I began with the Romulans because it took a while to get the hang of it and they weren't one of the more powerful races. So I would certainly recommend beginning with either Dominion or Cardassian forces for the new player. The Dominion have the advantage of a 'safe' area the other side of the Wormhole, guarded by DS9, a tough defensive station that can be hard to dislodge if a good fleet is there to protect it. The Federation were by far in the worst position, right in the middle of the map, while all the others have a good, solid corner to build from, excepting the Breen at the top. Another tactical advantage comes at the bottom of the map with the Argus Array - whoever owns this piece of kit can see the whole map - obviously this only affects a human player because I doubt the computer changes its tactics based on what it can 'see.'
If there had been a multiplayer game this would have been a great leg up, but sadly, one of the game's major faults is being entirely one-player, further reducing its replay value. I can just imagine an epic game of up to six players, and because it's turn-based you'd only need one controller, everyone else looking away during each player's turn. Control with remote and nunchuk works well, although the latter is only necessary for the battles you choose to play in Skirmish, the action mode, so if you wanted to avoid those the whole game can be played one-handed. The battles do take some getting used to, steering with the analogue stick while pointing the remote to aim weapons. What would have been much more enjoyable would have been a sim-like approach where you actually feel in control of a flagship, rather than swirling around like a shoal of fish, but that would have taken a lot more development and as this part of the game is nonessential, perhaps wouldn't have been worthwhile. When you know what you're doing with the game as a whole, you can be zipping in and out of each system, upgrading this structure, creating a fleet and replacing damaged buildings, the remote making it very easy to control, almost like a mouse. The real tactics come from deploying your resources and moving fleets.
You're limited to only three of these, each led by a character from Trek history, specific to your race. You might have Martok as your Captain if you're Klingon, or Tomalak for the Romulans, and all are based on 'real life' figures from that universe except for Thot Rong of the Breen as I don't believe he was pre-existing, but then it's difficult if you add a race that had so little fleshing out in Trek. In some ways it might have been wiser to use a more familiar species, but although the setting isn't a hundred percent accurate (in that certain characters, although all from the 24th Century, weren't in the Dominion War), they were keeping to that war era quite well. I would have preferred if the English speech for each action would have been changed exclusively for the Breen to their metallic grating noise, but I can see that would have confused people, and they did at least have the sound underneath the speech. Attention to detail was rather good, and you even get some cameo appearances from other races since the majority of the systems from the start of the campaign are controlled by others such as Borg, Ferengi, Orion and Xindi! This side of things didn't make a lot of sense, the Borg would have taken out any fleet with ease, and the Xindi wouldn't even have been around at that point, being an enemy from the 22nd Century of 'Enterprise,' but this isn't a game to be taken completely seriously, it's a representation of the Trek universe, not an accurate portrayal, so these additions were fun.
As ever with resource-gathering, territory-expanding gameplay, you have to decide whether to sit tight and build up resources or strike out and risk what you have to speed up the development, and this was a finely balanced area of the game. Although the options were limited, it fit with Trek's simple, but deep nature - in the same way that its complex races can be divided into aspects of humanity, Romulans are devious, Klingons are aggressive, etc. You build a science station or a mining station on each planet. You defend it with either a standard starbase or the high-powered variety, and you can add defences to both. Your fleet, in turn, can be made up of three different classes of ship and all of this costs credits which you earn by mining. Research gives the chance to upgrade ship power, mining efficiency and various other aspects of your race (such as a specialist single use weapon), depending on which you choose to play as, so there's a balance to be struck between earning the cash for more ships and structures, while also improving what you've got overall. Cash or development, offence or defence, it's simple, but compelling. I soon learned the best way to survive is to get a certain number of systems under your control and then upgrade, upgrade, upgrade, because you can't defend what's weak. The sooner you can deploy a fully kitted out fleet with the toughest vessels, the better, and that's a further source of tactics - as you win battles with your fleet it becomes stronger at offence or defence and might even get more movement spaces.
This in turn opens up your options for expansion and attack - one surefire way of defeating an enemy fleet is to attack it, then retreat, and if you have multiple moves for that fleet, and the resources to pour into replacing ships, you can send it back to attack again on the same turn. The enemy hasn't had a chance to repair or replace, so like the waves on a beach you can overwhelm their forces. On the other hand, this can be hugely frustrating if the computer players do it to you! Another wise tactic is to aim for the heart of the enemy's strongholds, their Homeworld. You don't get to do anything special with it, but if you can hold it they won't be able to create a new fleet as these can only come from the Homeworld and once their existing fleets are destroyed they're out of the game. As you can tell, these various tactics make for a satisfying gaming experience. Each race even has a different menu layout and computer voice. Sadly, we don't get any Trek actors (not even JG Hertzler as Martok!), to voice their respective races, nor do we get any official Trek music (which occasionally strays into 'Star Wars' territory, though for the most part is reminiscent of the Trek era they're representing here), so it does come across as a slightly budget-conscious evocation of Trek. It doesn't harm the game itself, but the bells and whistles would have been nice. However, usually it's the other way round, the bigger companies able to pay for music and voice artist talent, but not always putting the effort into the gameplay when they know it'll sell for simply being a licenced product.
Bethesda Softworks have put in the effort, and although it is 'only' a Wii game, therefore it doesn't 'need' to have greater depth because Wii is 'supposed' to be shallow with short, gimmicky play, there's enough depth for many hours of absorption. With the addition of a multiplayer or a random map generator it would definitely have been worthy of an extra star, but it remains a good, enjoyable game in its own right, regardless of whether you're a Trekker or not, and if you are, there's plenty of fun to be had spotting all the little Trekky details, whether that's the summary of facts about each system or planet that you can read before heading into 3D battle, or the names of the Captains, the way you upgrade in rank, and the sheer joy of being able to command a Breen warship or a Romulan Warbird. It's also fun spotting how well they know their stuff, and they do very well - for every cry of "For Earth!" from Federation vessels ('Earth is only one planet in the Federation,' I point out in my nitpicky, nasal voice), you get a "For the Founders," from Dominion forces, and it's just a slight thrill to be playing a game where these races and names are used when I've been so starved of Trek content on the systems I use.
War and money-based resources may not be the best suited themes for a Trek game, since most of it's about teamwork in exploration and solving problems, but that's why 'Star Wars' wins on number of games out there because it's all about action and it's harder to translate the cerebral thrills of Trek into computer game territory, especially when consoles are played down to in complexity for ease of use and quick snatches of gameplay. This game succeeds on both sides, it can be played in bursts (there's even an option to play the Skirmish mode on its own, pitting various races against each other, though there's not much to it), but is also involving and rewarding enough to play for hours at a time, and when you're deep in a campaign you don't want to budge, you'll happily sit there into the night trying to corner that last Dominion fleet so you can take sovereignty over the galaxy. Although I wish there were a multiplayer, the difficulty level does give some replay value, and you unlock ships or locations for Skirmish mode if you win the campaign with each race. Unfortunately, after that there's nothing to earn, and there is a lack of 'set' play to the game in that you can adjust a campaign however you want from the start, so you could just have two races against each other with no Fog of War on Easy. All that being said I've enjoyed it enough that I'm now going to complete all the campaigns with each race on Hard. I think I can say this is the best Trek game I've played. On second thoughts it does deserve the extra star. Die quick, and I'll prosper!
****
I've had a long association with 'Star Trek,' less so with games based upon it. I think I can only lay claim to 'Star Trek: Generations - Beyond The Nexus' and 'Star Trek: The Next Generation,' both on the humble Game Boy, and 'Star Trek: The 25th Anniversary' from the Amiga, but which I played through DOSBox, as the few I've played. Despite there being a Tribble-load of games based on the best sci-fi franchise ever made, most of them have been PC games (don't own one), or for non-Nintendo consoles. Maybe they felt Nintendo's image didn't fit with Trek's, I don't know, but I was pleased to find, after many 'Star Wars' examples on N64 and GameCube, at least on Wii there was one solitary Trek title. I didn't expect much from it, I hadn't heard anything about it, and from first plays I saw it as being quite simplistic and shallow, especially when compared with the 'great novel'-like source material of the Dominion War of the latter seasons of 'DS9.' But that series, and those seasons especially, have always been my favourite of all Trek, just as Trek is my favourite of all entertainments, so the novelty could almost have been enough in itself. But novelty alone can't cause me to play a game for eight hours in one day (as my Wii informed me was the case recently!), it has to have addictive and absorbing gameplay, and that's exactly what this contains.
It's a basic kind of turn-based strategy, with real-time, action-based attack or defence missions for a bit of variety and in case players needed more bang for buck-age, those 'Star Wars' people that can't get their head around just looking at menu screens and icons perhaps, and could easily have not been included at all. The good thing about them is that once you have the measure of the game, you can save yourself damage to your fleet by choosing this route rather than the easier one of letting it play out in icon-based simulation, which saves time, but means you'll sustain some damage or casualties. When you're up against tougher opposition or you can't afford to replace or repair your fleet and are threatened by near foes, it makes a good alternative tactic. Then you simply keep your distance from the defence weapons and starbases, and take them all out leisurely without a scratch. It's not such a good idea if you're attacking a system which contains an enemy fleet as the computer tends to be very efficient at dealing out justice, and if you're defending against an attack I always found it more profitable to use the simulation - even if you don't have a fleet to sway the odds in an attacked system, strong defences can weaken the opposition and occasionally even triumph. Some races will even retreat if robust defence is maintained.
One of the positives about the gameplay is how races respond differently to each other, with some tactics more suited to certain enemies. For example, true to their headstrong warrior nature, the Klingons never back down, so they're most likely to be defeated by selecting an Offensive defence of flinging all your power into the weapons systems rather than into the shields. Though there are really only two options when it comes to battle, Offensive or Defensive, this simplicity is given depth by the temperaments of the races and what advantages or disadvantages they have. This is what makes the game so enjoyable, drawing you in with its simplicity, but providing an enjoyable challenge at the same time. The downside is that once all races have been taken to a winning conclusion I doubt there will be anything to go back for, which is usually not the case with either real-time or turn-based strategy - I still go back to random maps on 'Age of Empires II' even in recent years, and the same can be said of 'Settlers' or X-Com. At the same time, placing all the races in the same place with the same galactic map means you know what you're up against, and I did enjoy trying the game with each of the six races - every time I included all races, with the Fog of War on, and played on Medium Difficulty.
I found that there was a definite hierarchy of power, with the Dominion and their high hit-point vessels proving to be the toughest race and therefore the easiest to win with. At the opposite end of the scale, the Breen were weakest in their overall pros and cons, providing much more of a challenge to becoming victorious. I would say Cardassians were next toughest after Dominion, followed by Klingons, Federation and Romulans. Indeed, who you choose to play as when you first take up the game makes a big difference: I found myself losing a number of times when I began with the Romulans because it took a while to get the hang of it and they weren't one of the more powerful races. So I would certainly recommend beginning with either Dominion or Cardassian forces for the new player. The Dominion have the advantage of a 'safe' area the other side of the Wormhole, guarded by DS9, a tough defensive station that can be hard to dislodge if a good fleet is there to protect it. The Federation were by far in the worst position, right in the middle of the map, while all the others have a good, solid corner to build from, excepting the Breen at the top. Another tactical advantage comes at the bottom of the map with the Argus Array - whoever owns this piece of kit can see the whole map - obviously this only affects a human player because I doubt the computer changes its tactics based on what it can 'see.'
If there had been a multiplayer game this would have been a great leg up, but sadly, one of the game's major faults is being entirely one-player, further reducing its replay value. I can just imagine an epic game of up to six players, and because it's turn-based you'd only need one controller, everyone else looking away during each player's turn. Control with remote and nunchuk works well, although the latter is only necessary for the battles you choose to play in Skirmish, the action mode, so if you wanted to avoid those the whole game can be played one-handed. The battles do take some getting used to, steering with the analogue stick while pointing the remote to aim weapons. What would have been much more enjoyable would have been a sim-like approach where you actually feel in control of a flagship, rather than swirling around like a shoal of fish, but that would have taken a lot more development and as this part of the game is nonessential, perhaps wouldn't have been worthwhile. When you know what you're doing with the game as a whole, you can be zipping in and out of each system, upgrading this structure, creating a fleet and replacing damaged buildings, the remote making it very easy to control, almost like a mouse. The real tactics come from deploying your resources and moving fleets.
You're limited to only three of these, each led by a character from Trek history, specific to your race. You might have Martok as your Captain if you're Klingon, or Tomalak for the Romulans, and all are based on 'real life' figures from that universe except for Thot Rong of the Breen as I don't believe he was pre-existing, but then it's difficult if you add a race that had so little fleshing out in Trek. In some ways it might have been wiser to use a more familiar species, but although the setting isn't a hundred percent accurate (in that certain characters, although all from the 24th Century, weren't in the Dominion War), they were keeping to that war era quite well. I would have preferred if the English speech for each action would have been changed exclusively for the Breen to their metallic grating noise, but I can see that would have confused people, and they did at least have the sound underneath the speech. Attention to detail was rather good, and you even get some cameo appearances from other races since the majority of the systems from the start of the campaign are controlled by others such as Borg, Ferengi, Orion and Xindi! This side of things didn't make a lot of sense, the Borg would have taken out any fleet with ease, and the Xindi wouldn't even have been around at that point, being an enemy from the 22nd Century of 'Enterprise,' but this isn't a game to be taken completely seriously, it's a representation of the Trek universe, not an accurate portrayal, so these additions were fun.
As ever with resource-gathering, territory-expanding gameplay, you have to decide whether to sit tight and build up resources or strike out and risk what you have to speed up the development, and this was a finely balanced area of the game. Although the options were limited, it fit with Trek's simple, but deep nature - in the same way that its complex races can be divided into aspects of humanity, Romulans are devious, Klingons are aggressive, etc. You build a science station or a mining station on each planet. You defend it with either a standard starbase or the high-powered variety, and you can add defences to both. Your fleet, in turn, can be made up of three different classes of ship and all of this costs credits which you earn by mining. Research gives the chance to upgrade ship power, mining efficiency and various other aspects of your race (such as a specialist single use weapon), depending on which you choose to play as, so there's a balance to be struck between earning the cash for more ships and structures, while also improving what you've got overall. Cash or development, offence or defence, it's simple, but compelling. I soon learned the best way to survive is to get a certain number of systems under your control and then upgrade, upgrade, upgrade, because you can't defend what's weak. The sooner you can deploy a fully kitted out fleet with the toughest vessels, the better, and that's a further source of tactics - as you win battles with your fleet it becomes stronger at offence or defence and might even get more movement spaces.
This in turn opens up your options for expansion and attack - one surefire way of defeating an enemy fleet is to attack it, then retreat, and if you have multiple moves for that fleet, and the resources to pour into replacing ships, you can send it back to attack again on the same turn. The enemy hasn't had a chance to repair or replace, so like the waves on a beach you can overwhelm their forces. On the other hand, this can be hugely frustrating if the computer players do it to you! Another wise tactic is to aim for the heart of the enemy's strongholds, their Homeworld. You don't get to do anything special with it, but if you can hold it they won't be able to create a new fleet as these can only come from the Homeworld and once their existing fleets are destroyed they're out of the game. As you can tell, these various tactics make for a satisfying gaming experience. Each race even has a different menu layout and computer voice. Sadly, we don't get any Trek actors (not even JG Hertzler as Martok!), to voice their respective races, nor do we get any official Trek music (which occasionally strays into 'Star Wars' territory, though for the most part is reminiscent of the Trek era they're representing here), so it does come across as a slightly budget-conscious evocation of Trek. It doesn't harm the game itself, but the bells and whistles would have been nice. However, usually it's the other way round, the bigger companies able to pay for music and voice artist talent, but not always putting the effort into the gameplay when they know it'll sell for simply being a licenced product.
Bethesda Softworks have put in the effort, and although it is 'only' a Wii game, therefore it doesn't 'need' to have greater depth because Wii is 'supposed' to be shallow with short, gimmicky play, there's enough depth for many hours of absorption. With the addition of a multiplayer or a random map generator it would definitely have been worthy of an extra star, but it remains a good, enjoyable game in its own right, regardless of whether you're a Trekker or not, and if you are, there's plenty of fun to be had spotting all the little Trekky details, whether that's the summary of facts about each system or planet that you can read before heading into 3D battle, or the names of the Captains, the way you upgrade in rank, and the sheer joy of being able to command a Breen warship or a Romulan Warbird. It's also fun spotting how well they know their stuff, and they do very well - for every cry of "For Earth!" from Federation vessels ('Earth is only one planet in the Federation,' I point out in my nitpicky, nasal voice), you get a "For the Founders," from Dominion forces, and it's just a slight thrill to be playing a game where these races and names are used when I've been so starved of Trek content on the systems I use.
War and money-based resources may not be the best suited themes for a Trek game, since most of it's about teamwork in exploration and solving problems, but that's why 'Star Wars' wins on number of games out there because it's all about action and it's harder to translate the cerebral thrills of Trek into computer game territory, especially when consoles are played down to in complexity for ease of use and quick snatches of gameplay. This game succeeds on both sides, it can be played in bursts (there's even an option to play the Skirmish mode on its own, pitting various races against each other, though there's not much to it), but is also involving and rewarding enough to play for hours at a time, and when you're deep in a campaign you don't want to budge, you'll happily sit there into the night trying to corner that last Dominion fleet so you can take sovereignty over the galaxy. Although I wish there were a multiplayer, the difficulty level does give some replay value, and you unlock ships or locations for Skirmish mode if you win the campaign with each race. Unfortunately, after that there's nothing to earn, and there is a lack of 'set' play to the game in that you can adjust a campaign however you want from the start, so you could just have two races against each other with no Fog of War on Easy. All that being said I've enjoyed it enough that I'm now going to complete all the campaigns with each race on Hard. I think I can say this is the best Trek game I've played. On second thoughts it does deserve the extra star. Die quick, and I'll prosper!
****
Fortunate Son (2)
DVD, Enterprise S1 (Fortunate Son) (2)
In memory I always want to like this more than I do, even knowing it's less than the sum of its parts. Those parts needed a little more tightness, a touch more polish, but, like the Y-Class freighter's dated technology everything's there, but it doesn't work as well as the state of the art NX-01, and that's a real shame, though we are on an upward curve: this episode is slightly better than 'Civilisation,' which preceded it, and that was slightly better than 'Breaking The Ice,' so these are encouraging signs. Right from the start it has my attention, showing a snatch of life aboard an Earth Cargo Ship, the true pioneers of space flight, you could say, as they're out there with measly Warp 1.8 engines (which we learn are responsible for Mayweather's birth due to the long flights!), pitiful weapons, and any number of nefarious piratical groups out to snaffle their load. Despite this, or perhaps because of it, they're very reticent about accepting help from outsiders, proud of their DIY attitude to space travel, looking after their own, taking care of their problems in their way without interference. They are the very epitome of Trek's 'Wagon Train to the stars' ethos. But the times they are a-changing, and this enforced slow cruise lifestyle is about to be affected by the introduction of significantly faster engines, souped up weapons, and a faster pace of living. From that perspective you can see some of the appeal of this way of life which has been lived in this way, in some cases, for three generations (as it had been by Captain Keene and his family).
First Officer Matthew Ryan isn't so much a bad guy as an opportunist who suddenly finds himself thrust into the centre seat when his Captain is incapacitated, able to exercise his own ruthless ideas about how to protect his ship and crew, but really just giving in to pride and vengeance. Pride that he doesn't need Starfleet or anyone else to help against the pirates they're plagued with, and revenge on those pirates for having the temerity to threaten and steal from them. He wants to show them who's boss against all rational sense - it would be sensible to make a show of force, but raiders like these aren't going to be scared off. This is the crux of the episode, and one reason it doesn't entirely ring true. The issue at hand is whether it's right to use the enemy's methods of violence and intimidation against them, Archer coming in with his far superior firepower and speed and appearing to stand up for the enemy's rights. The two world-views are in opposition, because on Archer's side he's representing the whole of humanity, there to put right diplomatic situations as part of his mission to the stars - he's making a name for humans and with the added improvements of technology and the will to work together and go up against opposition, setting a standard for how humans behave in space. But the old guard have been out here much longer, they've had to contend with challenges their own way without the advantages of the new breed of spacefarer, and this is one of the fascinating things about this era.
I wish we could have gone into more depth about the ECA, and if this had been 'DS9' I'm sure we'd have met up with regular freighter Captains. There would probably have been a greater sense of the changing galaxy as this new, faster technology supercedes the old, but sadly, I think we only get one other ECA story in the series, 'Horizon' in Season 2, in which we meet Travis' home ship. This episode can't be blamed for failing to kickstart a running arc in the series about the pre-Starfleet pioneers out on the shipping lanes, but it does make it less relevant. What it doesn't get quite right is Archer's attitude of how to deal with the Nausicaans, for it is they. I believe these were the first non-'TOS' race to be introduced who were known from the 24th Century (soon to be followed by Ferengi and Borg). They were a race open to interpretation since we know so little about them. They're one of those C- or D-list aliens that show up in a few episodes, but were never very fleshed out, so one of the delights of this story is seeing them again, mainly because the makeup is good, and it gives us another, albeit tiny, datapoint to add to the culture. Not that there ever was much culture, they were always portrayed as little more than ruffians, stabbing Picard through the heart when he was a volatile young man, laughing stupidly, and generally giving the impression of belligerent imbeciles not far up the scale from Pakleds! Here, they're a bit more ordinary, and I can buy that not all members of a species are the same, but it also suggests to me they should have chosen another race to be the antagonists.
What if it had been the Orions? Or the Letheans? Or some other mercenary race - the Nausicaans aren't the most compelling species and this episode doesn't make their case for them. Both examples that interact in the episode speak normally, even if they are just as threatening, but we don't learn anything about them, other than they exist as a force for piracy at this time in history. We get to see their ships, though whether these are from their own design or stolen from another race, we don't know. They have a smuggler's base inside an asteroid from which they go on their raids. But apart from being more eloquent than their 24th Century descendants, they may as well have been aliens of the week. Of course I'm glad they brought back a race rather than making up a new one, and the look is great, especially when they're stomping through the ECS Fortunate in their clumpy boots and thick leather jackets. Still, there's not enough menace given to them, the only example of that comes from Ryan himself who shows a cruel, vicious side. You almost feel sorry for his demoralised Nausicaan prisoner when we first meet him, hunched over, beaten and bruised, but he's soon as uncaring and flippant as any thug who's held captive, so the sympathy evaporates. If they had chosen to use Orions (we know they were pirates), that would have tied in better with 'TOS' and perhaps could have started another ongoing arc, just as we'd done with the Andorians. But I get the impression they weren't quite ready to introduce a green-skinned race, especially after the blue, antennaed Andorians. They were still hewing a little towards the 'TNG' era which Berman and Braga knew so well, and the modern viewers of the time were more likely to recognise a Nausicaan, I suppose, so it makes you intrigued when they're teased.
It always comes back to Archer's slightly unfair reading of the situation, because what could such cargo ships do, but fight back? I suppose it was the taking of a prisoner and mistreating him that Archer reacted to as needing to be put right because humans have a code of conduct, even if they're not in Starfleet. But he has no jurisdiction over them and they're experienced in how to handle attacks on their cargo, so it's a tricky situation (though I liked his solution of threatening to withdraw the technical help they'd been giving). I'm not for a moment condoning Ryan's tactics in taking a captive, and especially not the mistreatment, but perhaps a cargo ship needed to be more ruthless than we'd expect from a Starfleet ship in order to survive. If they came to be seen as weak they'd fall prey to pirates even more. At the same time, Nausicaans aren't the reasonable type that diplomacy can work with, only a show of force, and it could be said Archer's interference was the show they needed. His warning that they'll be seeing a lot more of these class of ships in the future is another pointer towards the changing times, and that Earth vessels are going to become more common, and therefore support each other more. Still, it does smack of the old style of Starfleet involvement, where they shoot onto a scene, sort out the villains, then move on, but there's nothing to stop the pirates coming back again. This helps to make the episode seem a little unsatisfactory, though Captain Keene was a lot more reasonable and experienced to deal with life out there than his emotionally led First Officer. It's good to see that high-minded Starfleet ideal on display about keeping the peace, but against such as the Nausicaans I'm not sure how realistic it is.
It reminded me of 'Valiant,' a similar situation in which the senior, experienced officers are killed with only cadets left to carry out a dangerous mission behind enemy lines. There it was more a sin of pride and arrogance, but essentially the same thing: young man takes command and makes questionable decisions that aren't in favour of his ship and crew, thinking he knows better. Except that was a much better episode. Some of the fault lies with Travis Mayweather - I'd actually forgotten entirely this was one of his few episodes, and that could be because a lot of time is given over to the guest crew and Travis isn't absolutely at the centre though he is instrumental in talking sense into Ryan at the end. We also get an idea of his position and where he's come from by his coming into contact with this ship that's similar to his family's. At first he's thrilled to have fellow boomers to share experiences with, reminisce about the food and what that life is like, but then we see the hard edge Ryan has when he throws guilt onto Travis for leaving his family's ship, and it stings because he does feel some of that, even though he knows he's done what's right for him. He's young, he's still finding out what he wants to do and Starfleet has given him that opportunity, so it was good to get under his skin a bit. The problem is that he doesn't quite have the emotional depth and it does come across a little forced sometimes, a bit like Archer himself - when they're trying to sound tough or angry they're such nice guys, both actors and characters, that they're not as effective or forceful enough.
Maybe this was one reason Travis fell into the background, which is a real shame, because if he'd been given a few episodes like this every season he'd have had the chance to blossom into a classic Trek character with depth and layers to explore. He'd certainly become a better character by the time of 'Horizon' which I always think well of. I also felt he was a little too easily swayed by Archer's words when he goes to see him and wonders if Ryan is right to sort things out himself without assistance. Archer's right that it's wrong for him to be doing what he's doing, but the writing needed a boost to make it believable that Travis' mind would be set at ease so quickly. That's the trouble with the episode, it doesn't quite click on various levels. I think also that Levar Burton, in his second episode as Director for the series after 'Terra Nova,' doesn't inject the necessary verve and intensity in his direction that might have encouraged the same to come out in the performances (though I do like the Fortunate interiors, that corridor even sounded more enclosed and narrow - I wonder if it became the catwalk set?). I feel that Ryan was a little too contained, you needed more of an edge so that when he makes Travis uncomfortable in the Mess Hall he shows his cruel streak instead of mere disapproval. The same with his crewman, Shaw, who is clearly uncomfortable going along with his methods, but never really challenges them. Maybe we needed to get to know the crew a little more, get a sense of the crew getting behind Ryan or growing restless would have added some tension to the time bomb, but things play out a little too smoothly.
Except when Archer, T'Pol, Reed and Phlox are lured into a cargo bay in which they have a firefight, get locked in by Ryan after he's made a hole in the bulkhead so they're leaking atmosphere, then cast adrift. I was thinking he'd gone way too far as it at first seemed like he was kidnapping them and obviously the Enterprise would stop at nothing to retrieve those people, but it wasn't quite as bad, just a diversionary tactic so they could escape, and it worked. Trip should have been more in evidence as he'd have been in command while Archer and T'Pol were aboard the Fortunate, but we don't see him getting het up. There's a real lack of tension that was needed to pull this episode off. I'm thinking of episodes like 'Fight Or Flight' and 'Strange New World,' and it's clear from those that the series can do it, it just wasn't gelling here. The Nausicaans needed to be more of a threat where they just came across as another type of Klingon, violent and bad, but simply dealt with. If only there had been more scenes like the final one between Archer and the restored Keene - a fresh, young Captain who's already learned a lot, and an experienced old leader who lives the ways of the Old West, but is governed by his head, not his emotions. He was a much more charismatic and characterful person than any of his crew so it's a shame he had to be incapacitated for most of the time - he even deals fairly with Ryan, demoting him, but keeping him aboard because they take care of their own. Even when you first see him, throwing an American football across the large distance of his hold he came across well.
Everything about the opening suggested this was going to be a good one, from that football scene with the low gravity throws to the beauty of this cargo vessel, and that we get to see a Nausicaan ship for, I think, the first time ever. It also makes sense that Enterprise should get involved since the nearest other Starfleet ship is three weeks away from Fortunate's position at maximum warp, which gives an idea of what a difference the Warp 5 engine makes. It's great to have confirmation that there are other Starfleet ships out in space, because sometimes it feels like the NX-01 is the only ship in the fleet, but in reality it's the only one with this range out beyond where human ships have gone before. Again, I wish we could have heard more about other Starfleet ships (the Franklin from 'Star Trek Beyond,' for example), and had a greater sense of Starfleet's scope in this era. Travis sets the ball rolling in that respect, boasting there are at least three more NX-Class starships on the drawing board (though we'd only ever meet one, Columbia, and then not until the final season), so you do get that impression of human expansion and the changing of the guard from this slower way of life to a more technologically superior one. I can't help but wish there had been more poignancy in such discussions, almost like the move from sailing ships to steam driven, and the changes that wrought on life and commerce.
That's another thing. We know there was money even in the 23rd Century, but it's a reminder that money is still a motivator in the 22nd as that's the point of cargo runs - though Ryan's question if Travis was buying him lunch was in order to give him the recruiting speech, could be seen as flippant, there's still the idea that goods cost money. He's definitely an old school space mariner in the sense that he's fascinated by the new technology, such as the wonder of the Transporter, but he likes the life he knows best and is loyal to that. The changing of the frontier, the coming of law and regulation curtailing the cowboy attitudes and turning things into more of a community than pioneering spirit, could have been a really strong theme for the episode to explore, but it doesn't go far enough. I'm not sure we even get the true motivation of why Travis joined Starfleet. He's asked a couple of times and he suggests it's for the new experiences and that he didn't see a life hauling cargo on a freight run as fulfilling, but it's still all a bit surface level, we haven't got deep enough into the character and that's why you need to see the friendships on a ship. Just as Paris and Kim, or Bashir and O'Brien on other Treks did, we needed to see the Enterprise lads doing things together more and telling their life stories, and though they did go into it a little, especially Season 4, it was one area in which this series was lacking overall.
The mention of the ECS North Star confused for a moment because if I think of a 'North Star' connected with this series it's the Season 3 episode of the same name, except that was a group of humans that had been abducted by aliens centuries ago, so it had nothing to do with the ship. There's a good reminder that Enterprise's mission also requires reporting back to Earth and Admiral Forrest, and to do that they deploy subspace amplifiers for improved long-range communications, so I'm glad that 'everyday' details like this do get addressed, since the logic and believability factor of Trek has been cast off in 'DSC' (oops, I almost got through an entire review without mentioning my problems with that series!). It's appropriate that Captain Keene looked just like Shakaar, the Bajoran leader from 'DS9,' since his First Officer Ryan was played by Lawrence Monoson who'd been a Bajoran on that series. Charles Lucia himself (Keene), had been on 'TNG,' but most memorable as Mabus, the Trabe enemy of the Kazon who tries to murder all the sect leaders in 'Voyager.' Didn't spot him, but the 'Star Trek Encyclopedia' opened my eyes. Someone else I didn't spot was that Kieran Mulroney was in 'The Outrageous Okona,' so gets the award for furthest back appearance in this episode. Danny Goldring as the Nausicaan Captain is another very familiar name with multiple roles in 'DS9' and 'Voyager,' and he'd be the only one of these to return to 'Enterprise' (another alien in 'The Catwalk'). Even D. Elliot Woods (the prisoner), had been a Starfleet Officer in 'Star Trek: Insurrection.'
It's good to see the incremental improvements of the season out of Berman and Braga's hands, since they couldn't write everything so more writers needed to be trained up in the ways of this series, and the trend would continue into the next episode. I do find it a shame that this one didn't live up to its potential, either in learning about a previously established alien race or laying the groundwork for another human group which could have been explored in detail since they had a connection through Mayweather. Importantly, it showed potential for the kind of stories they could do - they'd already visited a human colony, alien ships, a pre-warp alien planet and now the cargo ships of this era, helping to make it stand out as a distinct and different time, though one that was coming to an end, NX-01 a kind of harbinger of change. It's strange to think that even the concept of a United Earth was very recent as a world government had only come into effect the previous year, 2150, and we were but ten years away from the founding of the Federation itself. The pioneers of the ECS had had their time and their way of life was about to change, it's just that we never got to see that happen.
**
In memory I always want to like this more than I do, even knowing it's less than the sum of its parts. Those parts needed a little more tightness, a touch more polish, but, like the Y-Class freighter's dated technology everything's there, but it doesn't work as well as the state of the art NX-01, and that's a real shame, though we are on an upward curve: this episode is slightly better than 'Civilisation,' which preceded it, and that was slightly better than 'Breaking The Ice,' so these are encouraging signs. Right from the start it has my attention, showing a snatch of life aboard an Earth Cargo Ship, the true pioneers of space flight, you could say, as they're out there with measly Warp 1.8 engines (which we learn are responsible for Mayweather's birth due to the long flights!), pitiful weapons, and any number of nefarious piratical groups out to snaffle their load. Despite this, or perhaps because of it, they're very reticent about accepting help from outsiders, proud of their DIY attitude to space travel, looking after their own, taking care of their problems in their way without interference. They are the very epitome of Trek's 'Wagon Train to the stars' ethos. But the times they are a-changing, and this enforced slow cruise lifestyle is about to be affected by the introduction of significantly faster engines, souped up weapons, and a faster pace of living. From that perspective you can see some of the appeal of this way of life which has been lived in this way, in some cases, for three generations (as it had been by Captain Keene and his family).
First Officer Matthew Ryan isn't so much a bad guy as an opportunist who suddenly finds himself thrust into the centre seat when his Captain is incapacitated, able to exercise his own ruthless ideas about how to protect his ship and crew, but really just giving in to pride and vengeance. Pride that he doesn't need Starfleet or anyone else to help against the pirates they're plagued with, and revenge on those pirates for having the temerity to threaten and steal from them. He wants to show them who's boss against all rational sense - it would be sensible to make a show of force, but raiders like these aren't going to be scared off. This is the crux of the episode, and one reason it doesn't entirely ring true. The issue at hand is whether it's right to use the enemy's methods of violence and intimidation against them, Archer coming in with his far superior firepower and speed and appearing to stand up for the enemy's rights. The two world-views are in opposition, because on Archer's side he's representing the whole of humanity, there to put right diplomatic situations as part of his mission to the stars - he's making a name for humans and with the added improvements of technology and the will to work together and go up against opposition, setting a standard for how humans behave in space. But the old guard have been out here much longer, they've had to contend with challenges their own way without the advantages of the new breed of spacefarer, and this is one of the fascinating things about this era.
I wish we could have gone into more depth about the ECA, and if this had been 'DS9' I'm sure we'd have met up with regular freighter Captains. There would probably have been a greater sense of the changing galaxy as this new, faster technology supercedes the old, but sadly, I think we only get one other ECA story in the series, 'Horizon' in Season 2, in which we meet Travis' home ship. This episode can't be blamed for failing to kickstart a running arc in the series about the pre-Starfleet pioneers out on the shipping lanes, but it does make it less relevant. What it doesn't get quite right is Archer's attitude of how to deal with the Nausicaans, for it is they. I believe these were the first non-'TOS' race to be introduced who were known from the 24th Century (soon to be followed by Ferengi and Borg). They were a race open to interpretation since we know so little about them. They're one of those C- or D-list aliens that show up in a few episodes, but were never very fleshed out, so one of the delights of this story is seeing them again, mainly because the makeup is good, and it gives us another, albeit tiny, datapoint to add to the culture. Not that there ever was much culture, they were always portrayed as little more than ruffians, stabbing Picard through the heart when he was a volatile young man, laughing stupidly, and generally giving the impression of belligerent imbeciles not far up the scale from Pakleds! Here, they're a bit more ordinary, and I can buy that not all members of a species are the same, but it also suggests to me they should have chosen another race to be the antagonists.
What if it had been the Orions? Or the Letheans? Or some other mercenary race - the Nausicaans aren't the most compelling species and this episode doesn't make their case for them. Both examples that interact in the episode speak normally, even if they are just as threatening, but we don't learn anything about them, other than they exist as a force for piracy at this time in history. We get to see their ships, though whether these are from their own design or stolen from another race, we don't know. They have a smuggler's base inside an asteroid from which they go on their raids. But apart from being more eloquent than their 24th Century descendants, they may as well have been aliens of the week. Of course I'm glad they brought back a race rather than making up a new one, and the look is great, especially when they're stomping through the ECS Fortunate in their clumpy boots and thick leather jackets. Still, there's not enough menace given to them, the only example of that comes from Ryan himself who shows a cruel, vicious side. You almost feel sorry for his demoralised Nausicaan prisoner when we first meet him, hunched over, beaten and bruised, but he's soon as uncaring and flippant as any thug who's held captive, so the sympathy evaporates. If they had chosen to use Orions (we know they were pirates), that would have tied in better with 'TOS' and perhaps could have started another ongoing arc, just as we'd done with the Andorians. But I get the impression they weren't quite ready to introduce a green-skinned race, especially after the blue, antennaed Andorians. They were still hewing a little towards the 'TNG' era which Berman and Braga knew so well, and the modern viewers of the time were more likely to recognise a Nausicaan, I suppose, so it makes you intrigued when they're teased.
It always comes back to Archer's slightly unfair reading of the situation, because what could such cargo ships do, but fight back? I suppose it was the taking of a prisoner and mistreating him that Archer reacted to as needing to be put right because humans have a code of conduct, even if they're not in Starfleet. But he has no jurisdiction over them and they're experienced in how to handle attacks on their cargo, so it's a tricky situation (though I liked his solution of threatening to withdraw the technical help they'd been giving). I'm not for a moment condoning Ryan's tactics in taking a captive, and especially not the mistreatment, but perhaps a cargo ship needed to be more ruthless than we'd expect from a Starfleet ship in order to survive. If they came to be seen as weak they'd fall prey to pirates even more. At the same time, Nausicaans aren't the reasonable type that diplomacy can work with, only a show of force, and it could be said Archer's interference was the show they needed. His warning that they'll be seeing a lot more of these class of ships in the future is another pointer towards the changing times, and that Earth vessels are going to become more common, and therefore support each other more. Still, it does smack of the old style of Starfleet involvement, where they shoot onto a scene, sort out the villains, then move on, but there's nothing to stop the pirates coming back again. This helps to make the episode seem a little unsatisfactory, though Captain Keene was a lot more reasonable and experienced to deal with life out there than his emotionally led First Officer. It's good to see that high-minded Starfleet ideal on display about keeping the peace, but against such as the Nausicaans I'm not sure how realistic it is.
It reminded me of 'Valiant,' a similar situation in which the senior, experienced officers are killed with only cadets left to carry out a dangerous mission behind enemy lines. There it was more a sin of pride and arrogance, but essentially the same thing: young man takes command and makes questionable decisions that aren't in favour of his ship and crew, thinking he knows better. Except that was a much better episode. Some of the fault lies with Travis Mayweather - I'd actually forgotten entirely this was one of his few episodes, and that could be because a lot of time is given over to the guest crew and Travis isn't absolutely at the centre though he is instrumental in talking sense into Ryan at the end. We also get an idea of his position and where he's come from by his coming into contact with this ship that's similar to his family's. At first he's thrilled to have fellow boomers to share experiences with, reminisce about the food and what that life is like, but then we see the hard edge Ryan has when he throws guilt onto Travis for leaving his family's ship, and it stings because he does feel some of that, even though he knows he's done what's right for him. He's young, he's still finding out what he wants to do and Starfleet has given him that opportunity, so it was good to get under his skin a bit. The problem is that he doesn't quite have the emotional depth and it does come across a little forced sometimes, a bit like Archer himself - when they're trying to sound tough or angry they're such nice guys, both actors and characters, that they're not as effective or forceful enough.
Maybe this was one reason Travis fell into the background, which is a real shame, because if he'd been given a few episodes like this every season he'd have had the chance to blossom into a classic Trek character with depth and layers to explore. He'd certainly become a better character by the time of 'Horizon' which I always think well of. I also felt he was a little too easily swayed by Archer's words when he goes to see him and wonders if Ryan is right to sort things out himself without assistance. Archer's right that it's wrong for him to be doing what he's doing, but the writing needed a boost to make it believable that Travis' mind would be set at ease so quickly. That's the trouble with the episode, it doesn't quite click on various levels. I think also that Levar Burton, in his second episode as Director for the series after 'Terra Nova,' doesn't inject the necessary verve and intensity in his direction that might have encouraged the same to come out in the performances (though I do like the Fortunate interiors, that corridor even sounded more enclosed and narrow - I wonder if it became the catwalk set?). I feel that Ryan was a little too contained, you needed more of an edge so that when he makes Travis uncomfortable in the Mess Hall he shows his cruel streak instead of mere disapproval. The same with his crewman, Shaw, who is clearly uncomfortable going along with his methods, but never really challenges them. Maybe we needed to get to know the crew a little more, get a sense of the crew getting behind Ryan or growing restless would have added some tension to the time bomb, but things play out a little too smoothly.
Except when Archer, T'Pol, Reed and Phlox are lured into a cargo bay in which they have a firefight, get locked in by Ryan after he's made a hole in the bulkhead so they're leaking atmosphere, then cast adrift. I was thinking he'd gone way too far as it at first seemed like he was kidnapping them and obviously the Enterprise would stop at nothing to retrieve those people, but it wasn't quite as bad, just a diversionary tactic so they could escape, and it worked. Trip should have been more in evidence as he'd have been in command while Archer and T'Pol were aboard the Fortunate, but we don't see him getting het up. There's a real lack of tension that was needed to pull this episode off. I'm thinking of episodes like 'Fight Or Flight' and 'Strange New World,' and it's clear from those that the series can do it, it just wasn't gelling here. The Nausicaans needed to be more of a threat where they just came across as another type of Klingon, violent and bad, but simply dealt with. If only there had been more scenes like the final one between Archer and the restored Keene - a fresh, young Captain who's already learned a lot, and an experienced old leader who lives the ways of the Old West, but is governed by his head, not his emotions. He was a much more charismatic and characterful person than any of his crew so it's a shame he had to be incapacitated for most of the time - he even deals fairly with Ryan, demoting him, but keeping him aboard because they take care of their own. Even when you first see him, throwing an American football across the large distance of his hold he came across well.
Everything about the opening suggested this was going to be a good one, from that football scene with the low gravity throws to the beauty of this cargo vessel, and that we get to see a Nausicaan ship for, I think, the first time ever. It also makes sense that Enterprise should get involved since the nearest other Starfleet ship is three weeks away from Fortunate's position at maximum warp, which gives an idea of what a difference the Warp 5 engine makes. It's great to have confirmation that there are other Starfleet ships out in space, because sometimes it feels like the NX-01 is the only ship in the fleet, but in reality it's the only one with this range out beyond where human ships have gone before. Again, I wish we could have heard more about other Starfleet ships (the Franklin from 'Star Trek Beyond,' for example), and had a greater sense of Starfleet's scope in this era. Travis sets the ball rolling in that respect, boasting there are at least three more NX-Class starships on the drawing board (though we'd only ever meet one, Columbia, and then not until the final season), so you do get that impression of human expansion and the changing of the guard from this slower way of life to a more technologically superior one. I can't help but wish there had been more poignancy in such discussions, almost like the move from sailing ships to steam driven, and the changes that wrought on life and commerce.
That's another thing. We know there was money even in the 23rd Century, but it's a reminder that money is still a motivator in the 22nd as that's the point of cargo runs - though Ryan's question if Travis was buying him lunch was in order to give him the recruiting speech, could be seen as flippant, there's still the idea that goods cost money. He's definitely an old school space mariner in the sense that he's fascinated by the new technology, such as the wonder of the Transporter, but he likes the life he knows best and is loyal to that. The changing of the frontier, the coming of law and regulation curtailing the cowboy attitudes and turning things into more of a community than pioneering spirit, could have been a really strong theme for the episode to explore, but it doesn't go far enough. I'm not sure we even get the true motivation of why Travis joined Starfleet. He's asked a couple of times and he suggests it's for the new experiences and that he didn't see a life hauling cargo on a freight run as fulfilling, but it's still all a bit surface level, we haven't got deep enough into the character and that's why you need to see the friendships on a ship. Just as Paris and Kim, or Bashir and O'Brien on other Treks did, we needed to see the Enterprise lads doing things together more and telling their life stories, and though they did go into it a little, especially Season 4, it was one area in which this series was lacking overall.
The mention of the ECS North Star confused for a moment because if I think of a 'North Star' connected with this series it's the Season 3 episode of the same name, except that was a group of humans that had been abducted by aliens centuries ago, so it had nothing to do with the ship. There's a good reminder that Enterprise's mission also requires reporting back to Earth and Admiral Forrest, and to do that they deploy subspace amplifiers for improved long-range communications, so I'm glad that 'everyday' details like this do get addressed, since the logic and believability factor of Trek has been cast off in 'DSC' (oops, I almost got through an entire review without mentioning my problems with that series!). It's appropriate that Captain Keene looked just like Shakaar, the Bajoran leader from 'DS9,' since his First Officer Ryan was played by Lawrence Monoson who'd been a Bajoran on that series. Charles Lucia himself (Keene), had been on 'TNG,' but most memorable as Mabus, the Trabe enemy of the Kazon who tries to murder all the sect leaders in 'Voyager.' Didn't spot him, but the 'Star Trek Encyclopedia' opened my eyes. Someone else I didn't spot was that Kieran Mulroney was in 'The Outrageous Okona,' so gets the award for furthest back appearance in this episode. Danny Goldring as the Nausicaan Captain is another very familiar name with multiple roles in 'DS9' and 'Voyager,' and he'd be the only one of these to return to 'Enterprise' (another alien in 'The Catwalk'). Even D. Elliot Woods (the prisoner), had been a Starfleet Officer in 'Star Trek: Insurrection.'
It's good to see the incremental improvements of the season out of Berman and Braga's hands, since they couldn't write everything so more writers needed to be trained up in the ways of this series, and the trend would continue into the next episode. I do find it a shame that this one didn't live up to its potential, either in learning about a previously established alien race or laying the groundwork for another human group which could have been explored in detail since they had a connection through Mayweather. Importantly, it showed potential for the kind of stories they could do - they'd already visited a human colony, alien ships, a pre-warp alien planet and now the cargo ships of this era, helping to make it stand out as a distinct and different time, though one that was coming to an end, NX-01 a kind of harbinger of change. It's strange to think that even the concept of a United Earth was very recent as a world government had only come into effect the previous year, 2150, and we were but ten years away from the founding of the Federation itself. The pioneers of the ECS had had their time and their way of life was about to change, it's just that we never got to see that happen.
**
The Pegasus Project
DVD, Stargate SG-1 S10 (The Pegasus Project)
They won a great victory, says Teal'c, and he's not wrong! Taking out an Ori ship, the first such impossible-to-destroy vessel to be destroyed, on one end of the Stargate, while also taking out a Wraith ship in the Pegasus galaxy… What a terrific denouement, and the opening and middle bits weren't too shabby, either! It was a significant achievement and comes across so much sweeter for the fact we have both SG-1 and the 'Stargate Atlantis' team working together on what boils down to a mere science experiment when you think about it. But the thrill of success, the joy of the great Carter and McKay brains working together, supported by their respective associates, was an absolute delight and exactly what I was hoping for. In this time now when 'Star Trek' fails to live up to its own history and mission statement, it's amazing to see a 'Stargate' episode that shows them exactly how it should be done in both science and character stakes. I thought I was going to enjoy this episode as soon as I realised they were following up on the clue from the previous episode and heading to Atlantis via the good ship Odyssey under Captain Emerson (got a bit confused at first as I assumed from the episode title it was the Pegasus under Captain Caldwell, before realising this is the Pegasus galaxy, hence the name, and Caldwell's ship was called Daedalus anyway!). And they introduced the city beautifully, showing it off in all its glory so that I almost wished I was watching the next season of that series, except I'd already gone through their Season 2 which corresponds with this season.
I guess it won't quite be the multiple episode, huge team crossover I was imagining, because they have no reason to hang around at Atlantis now they've got the 'gate addresses for the two planets which hold Merlin's anti-Ori ordnance. But although this is likely the extent of the crossover (loved McKay's mentioning to Carter his episode stuck in a Jumper with only a hallucinated version of her to assist him, typically inappropriate!), it was a joyful one at that, and I bathed in the back and forth banter of the various characters: McKay talking too much, as usual, easily manipulated, Carter grudgingly respectful of his brilliance, Mitchell short-fused on the guy, Sheppard being buddies with Mitchell, Vala just looking around like a kid in a toy shop, eagerly awaiting the moment she'll be allowed to grab a load of 'souvenirs,' loot clearly still at the forefront of her mind as the main draw for SG-1's missions… Oh, it was wonderful. I wish there had been a little more reminiscing with Weir about the time she was their boss, but you can't have everything, and I realised how attached I've grown to the 'Atlantis' cast now by how happy I was to see them again. Though there was essentially no physical action in the entire episode it was carried by the characters and by the intelligent, well structured story which has time perils, the uncertainty of whether this experiment will work, and the grave stakes that hang in the balance if it fails.
It was imperative to pre-empt any chance The Ori had of sending more ships through the Supergate, it's bad enough that they're in our galaxy at all, carving a swathe through any planet or fleet they encounter. But they never gambled on our Earth heroes having access to another galaxy entirely and coming up with a plan to dial in to the Supergate, thus preventing it from going to wherever The Ori forces come from. Expert use of the spinoff series and its concepts, while also cleverly tying in some lore from of an old, old episode in which the Stargate got stuck on a black hole and was going to destroy the world. Now that I think back to it I don't remember it as being a particularly good episode, but I love that they're still so much a part of the unfolding lore, and that's one of the things that attracts me about long-running franchises: that they have this burgeoning cache of story points, any of which can be brought up and exploited at any moment, keeping the world connected, building upon what has already been established, reinforcing the canon and the reality of what came before and what can continue. This is one reason Trek has really let the side down in recent years with its failure to understand these concepts under a new group of people taking over, and perhaps if it were new minds continuing the 'Stargate' saga now they'd also change things beyond acceptable limits, but it's a relief and a pleasure to watch something that does the kind of thing I want it to, and does it well.
I could point to 'DS9' as possible inspiration for this whole storyline of an unstoppable new enemy coming through to 'our' area of space, and the characters blocking access so more ships can't come through (it was a minefield to the Wormhole against the Dominion in that series, but the concept is very similar), but if you're going to borrow, do it from the best, isn't that right? For me it was just lovely they were able to integrate the continuing quest so well with Atlantis, even carrying out two plots simultaneously, one with the Supergate, Teal'c at the other end to coordinate and report on the success of the plan, and Daniel going through the Atlantean database in hopes of narrowing down the planets where Merlin's weapon is, Vala tagging along. She proves useful when her simplistic approach works - just ask the hologram, only that's too easy, and unfortunately, for once, Daniel's mind gets someone into trouble. In this case it's the ascended Ancient, Morgan Le Fey, once Merlin's enemy, but later friend according to her. She's posing as a hologram to help out, that's why they got the two planet locations, but because it was too easy it raises Daniel's suspicions and things unravel from there - she admits who she is, but eventually gets pulled back by her fellow Ancients, and after the episode had ended on such a high of mutual success with the Supergate, things return to a more sober state when Daniel realises The Ancients won't be helping them against The Ori.
Vala was wonderful in this episode, so curious and childlike: easily bored, yet wowed by the size and colour of everything, insolent enough to treat The Ancient with little respect, but also alien enough not to understand ordinary, everyday human references like Christmas and breeds of dog. It was charming and a brilliant idea to have these things pass her by so that for once she can be completely taken at face value. I'm surprised Rodney never made attempts to get to know her, but then he was a little occupied in orbit of his sun, Samantha Carter, so he didn't have time for anyone else. I just hope this isn't the end of the two teams' cooperation, I'd love to see Mitchell and Sheppard do some soldier stuff together, Teyla and Teal'c fighting off baddies would be terrific, and maybe Dr. Zelenka and Dr. Lee working on a project together? Not only that, but it makes me eager to get back to 'Atlantis,' almost more than to see the rest of this season, though my interest levels have just taken a hike upwards after the writing, structure and execution of this episode (the black hole was beautiful, too). A simple, but deep story that does everything it needed to do. Well done, team.
***
They won a great victory, says Teal'c, and he's not wrong! Taking out an Ori ship, the first such impossible-to-destroy vessel to be destroyed, on one end of the Stargate, while also taking out a Wraith ship in the Pegasus galaxy… What a terrific denouement, and the opening and middle bits weren't too shabby, either! It was a significant achievement and comes across so much sweeter for the fact we have both SG-1 and the 'Stargate Atlantis' team working together on what boils down to a mere science experiment when you think about it. But the thrill of success, the joy of the great Carter and McKay brains working together, supported by their respective associates, was an absolute delight and exactly what I was hoping for. In this time now when 'Star Trek' fails to live up to its own history and mission statement, it's amazing to see a 'Stargate' episode that shows them exactly how it should be done in both science and character stakes. I thought I was going to enjoy this episode as soon as I realised they were following up on the clue from the previous episode and heading to Atlantis via the good ship Odyssey under Captain Emerson (got a bit confused at first as I assumed from the episode title it was the Pegasus under Captain Caldwell, before realising this is the Pegasus galaxy, hence the name, and Caldwell's ship was called Daedalus anyway!). And they introduced the city beautifully, showing it off in all its glory so that I almost wished I was watching the next season of that series, except I'd already gone through their Season 2 which corresponds with this season.
I guess it won't quite be the multiple episode, huge team crossover I was imagining, because they have no reason to hang around at Atlantis now they've got the 'gate addresses for the two planets which hold Merlin's anti-Ori ordnance. But although this is likely the extent of the crossover (loved McKay's mentioning to Carter his episode stuck in a Jumper with only a hallucinated version of her to assist him, typically inappropriate!), it was a joyful one at that, and I bathed in the back and forth banter of the various characters: McKay talking too much, as usual, easily manipulated, Carter grudgingly respectful of his brilliance, Mitchell short-fused on the guy, Sheppard being buddies with Mitchell, Vala just looking around like a kid in a toy shop, eagerly awaiting the moment she'll be allowed to grab a load of 'souvenirs,' loot clearly still at the forefront of her mind as the main draw for SG-1's missions… Oh, it was wonderful. I wish there had been a little more reminiscing with Weir about the time she was their boss, but you can't have everything, and I realised how attached I've grown to the 'Atlantis' cast now by how happy I was to see them again. Though there was essentially no physical action in the entire episode it was carried by the characters and by the intelligent, well structured story which has time perils, the uncertainty of whether this experiment will work, and the grave stakes that hang in the balance if it fails.
It was imperative to pre-empt any chance The Ori had of sending more ships through the Supergate, it's bad enough that they're in our galaxy at all, carving a swathe through any planet or fleet they encounter. But they never gambled on our Earth heroes having access to another galaxy entirely and coming up with a plan to dial in to the Supergate, thus preventing it from going to wherever The Ori forces come from. Expert use of the spinoff series and its concepts, while also cleverly tying in some lore from of an old, old episode in which the Stargate got stuck on a black hole and was going to destroy the world. Now that I think back to it I don't remember it as being a particularly good episode, but I love that they're still so much a part of the unfolding lore, and that's one of the things that attracts me about long-running franchises: that they have this burgeoning cache of story points, any of which can be brought up and exploited at any moment, keeping the world connected, building upon what has already been established, reinforcing the canon and the reality of what came before and what can continue. This is one reason Trek has really let the side down in recent years with its failure to understand these concepts under a new group of people taking over, and perhaps if it were new minds continuing the 'Stargate' saga now they'd also change things beyond acceptable limits, but it's a relief and a pleasure to watch something that does the kind of thing I want it to, and does it well.
I could point to 'DS9' as possible inspiration for this whole storyline of an unstoppable new enemy coming through to 'our' area of space, and the characters blocking access so more ships can't come through (it was a minefield to the Wormhole against the Dominion in that series, but the concept is very similar), but if you're going to borrow, do it from the best, isn't that right? For me it was just lovely they were able to integrate the continuing quest so well with Atlantis, even carrying out two plots simultaneously, one with the Supergate, Teal'c at the other end to coordinate and report on the success of the plan, and Daniel going through the Atlantean database in hopes of narrowing down the planets where Merlin's weapon is, Vala tagging along. She proves useful when her simplistic approach works - just ask the hologram, only that's too easy, and unfortunately, for once, Daniel's mind gets someone into trouble. In this case it's the ascended Ancient, Morgan Le Fey, once Merlin's enemy, but later friend according to her. She's posing as a hologram to help out, that's why they got the two planet locations, but because it was too easy it raises Daniel's suspicions and things unravel from there - she admits who she is, but eventually gets pulled back by her fellow Ancients, and after the episode had ended on such a high of mutual success with the Supergate, things return to a more sober state when Daniel realises The Ancients won't be helping them against The Ori.
Vala was wonderful in this episode, so curious and childlike: easily bored, yet wowed by the size and colour of everything, insolent enough to treat The Ancient with little respect, but also alien enough not to understand ordinary, everyday human references like Christmas and breeds of dog. It was charming and a brilliant idea to have these things pass her by so that for once she can be completely taken at face value. I'm surprised Rodney never made attempts to get to know her, but then he was a little occupied in orbit of his sun, Samantha Carter, so he didn't have time for anyone else. I just hope this isn't the end of the two teams' cooperation, I'd love to see Mitchell and Sheppard do some soldier stuff together, Teyla and Teal'c fighting off baddies would be terrific, and maybe Dr. Zelenka and Dr. Lee working on a project together? Not only that, but it makes me eager to get back to 'Atlantis,' almost more than to see the rest of this season, though my interest levels have just taken a hike upwards after the writing, structure and execution of this episode (the black hole was beautiful, too). A simple, but deep story that does everything it needed to do. Well done, team.
***
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