DVD, Enterprise S1 (Shuttlepod One) (2)
Two men adrift in the vastness of space. That's essentially the situation, although technically they aren't adrift until near the end when we get to see the engine module ejected from the Shuttlepod, but they may as well have been for all the good impulse power was going to do them - I liked the analogy of snails and turtles (or was it a tortoise), and the impression of how long it takes to travel in the huge emptiness of space if you don't have warp drive, which was made clear. I've always respected this episode, though now I don't think it was quite as strong as I used to. Thing is, and I've come to understand this for a long time now, Trek is generally at its best when it stays true to its intellectual side, the side that was forced to blossom in the days when special effects were hyper-expensive and creative solutions had to be found, stemming from ideas and interpersonal dynamics. In other words Trek episodes are stage plays, and this can be no more evident than in stories in which a couple of characters are stuck together talking in a room for the duration, whether that be puzzling out a solution to survival, making peace with death or past actions, or getting to the bottom of a mystery. I think of episodes such as 'Duet' or 'The Visitor' on 'DS9,' 'The Inner Light' on 'TNG,' and probably some on 'Voyager' that don't immediately spring to mind! You could also add to that 'Starship Down' in which various crewmembers are stuck together in parts of a 'sinking' ship, or 'The Ascent' in which Odo and Quark battle to survive on a hostile planet.
Malcolm Reed and Charles Tucker III aren't Odo and Quark, however. They aren't O'Brien and Bashir. They aren't even Harry Kim and Tom Paris in terms of being great mates. In some ways that affords them the chance to open up a bit and for us to learn a bit more about them, but I think it also highlights a weakness of the series: that it was stripped down and primarily about Captain, First Officer and Chief Engineer. I'm glad this episode exists, and I applaud them for experimenting, but it's a rarity for the series, and that's because, although they did carry the essence of the 24th Century series' in their DNA (Hoshi spending an episode trying to work out Reed's favourite food springs to mind!), they didn't carry enough development through in regard to the characters and their intertwining lives and experiences serving together. There were issues, like T'Pol and her drug dependency in Season 3, but one reason the series never flew high for me, and why (until 'Discovery'), I always considered it the weakest in the franchise, was because they didn't build up steam and form deep friendships, fully exploring the characters, playing up the richness of the galaxy by delving into alien races, and preferring in general to bounce around from planet to planet. Look at some of the races they brought back that hadn't been seen and barely even referenced since 'TOS': Tholians, Tellarites, Andorians, Coridanites, Axanar, Orions, Gorn… But how much did we really learn about these races? They could have played up the galactic politics as I was noting last episode, but preferred to keep things simple for the most part.
This kind of episode just wasn't best suited to a series that favoured fights and action over character studies and personal stories, but for that reason it's a novelty in the series. I'm not saying there was no development for the characters, and certainly in, or by, Season 4 they were achieving much more, and I'm certain that had Season 5 gone ahead it would likely have been the best and most satisfying of all, perhaps followed by an almost as good Season 6, and a mildly disappointing Season 7 (if it followed the pattern of most Trek series'!). But I remember a similar episode in Season 4 when Reed and Trip were once again trapped on a small vessel and had a real rapport of friendship, plus that episode (and the trilogy it was part of), were much more dynamic and meaningful to the bigger picture. 'Shuttlepod One' didn't have the advantage of three seasons of character interactions, and it's much more like 'DS9' Season 2 story 'Armageddon Game,' in which Bashir and O'Brien are trapped together while escaping alien authorities that want to kill them, and find common ground where before they were chalk and cheese. It's not quite the same thing here, just that we learn what makes Reed and Trip tick, just as they're finding out about each other. And we do get a good sense of who they are, although I'd argue we already knew their characters very well since the opening episodes were so effective at setting up the cast.
It's just that after this episode I don't have memories of a great friendship coming out of it, and as I say, that time they were stuck in the Romulan drone ship is about the only thing that stands out about their camaraderie, where this episode seemed to promise more for the future. In the same way as Hoshi's efforts to discover Reed's favourite food in 'Silent Enemy,' and his confusion over why she was being so friendly could have created a bond of friendship between them, but didn't particularly, I get the impression that whenever they threw together a couple of the characters into a situation (like Reed, Hoshi and T'Pol in 'Sleeping Dogs'), it didn't really have anything developing from a previous level of understanding between them, or particularly lead to it subsequently in future episodes. At the same time they were doing things to apparently set up characters like Archer and T'Pol, and they succeeded in the sense that he has come to appreciate her so much and she understands her own need to stay on the ship, but such depth was few and far between for the characters. Reed mentions how young Travis and Hoshi were when he thinks they perished with the whole crew on seeing wreckage from the NX-01, and though individually we saw signs of their inexperience or youthful enthusiasm we could have had many scenes between the pair of them, especially as they manned neighbouring stations on the Bridge, yet the ball was dropped and they in particular were incredibly shortchanged as characters.
Reed was one of the middling characters in terms of how much he featured and how many stories he played a role in, and Trip was one of the top three the writers gravitated towards, so it's not like they weren't served, as this episode demonstrates when they get to star in the first completely character-focused drama. Were there any others, though? There probably were, not quite in this vein, but even in Season 2 they continued to do the occasional episode that focused on a character, such as 'Vanishing Point' for Hoshi and 'Horizon' for Mayweather - funny that they should stand out in the mind when those characters were the least used, but then again that's probably why they stick out as they were novelties. This episode was almost entirely a two-hander with the rest of the cast getting little exposure, so much so that I wonder if the story would have been better served had the real reason for Enterprise debris been kept until the end so that viewers didn't know its fate. Instead, quite early on we find out they lost a Shuttle-bay door, lessening the tension significantly. Of course we know the ship hasn't been lost with all hands, unless it was some time related or dimensional twist that's set right at the end, but it's better to be wondering about such things. It would also have allowed the tension in the 'pod to rise quicker if we were trapped within it, rather like the 'Mission: Impossible' episode in Season 3 when Archer is on a 'pod with Degra. Instead they prefer to play it safe and reassure the audience the Enterprise is fine, it's all a mistake on Reed and Trip's part.
It does work in another sense, since the audience is in on the fact that the condemned men have lost hope from believing their ship to have been destroyed, and that really starts the process of emotional turmoil, Reed turning to maudlin 'letters' recorded to everyone he ever knew, while Trip's irritation escalates exponentially. There's a tragedy that these men don't know the truth and the tiny bubble they're trapped in, unable to gain further knowledge, only adds to their uncertainty over their own survival. Maybe it was better to contrast their extreme situation with the ordered calm and routine of the NX-01 going about its business, no one in any concern and yet at the same time Trip and Reed are becoming more and more desperate. We do get a sense of the personalities coming through raw, Trip preferring to keep an optimistic, hopeful mindset - they may not be able to get anywhere that's going to make any difference, but it's always possible an alien ship will run into them. Andorians, Vulcans, Xyrillians, even Klingons would be better than dying from suffocation alone. Reed is already planning his last will and testament and feels the need to spill his guts to all the ex-girlfriends he ever had, as well as his parents who, in a pleasing nod to continuity, he's surprised they never knew he was posted on the NX-01.
The solution they come up with for their predicament harks right back to the first season of 'TOS' - though the Shuttlepod isn't being searched for like a needle in a haystack as the Galileo was in 'The Galileo Seven,' Enterprise isn't in a hurry to get to them so they need to create a flare on the sensors, just as Spock used up the last of his Shuttlecraft's fuel in a desperate, last-ditch attempt to draw his Enterprise's attention, so they cast off their engine and blast it, in both cases saving their lives. It may even have been an homage except that Berman and Braga were well known for not being fond of 'TOS' so I don't know if that was their intention. Whether they knew their forebears well enough is another discussion, but they certainly knew how to write Trek and this is another well-written example of the sub-genre of modern Trek they largely created whether it's the questions we have at the start (how did they manage to lose both sensors and communications, yet the Shuttlepod is still flying around without any problems?), or later (why use a candle when you're trying to conserve oxygen?), which are answered eventually, to the whole ridiculous dream sequence with Reed imagining himself making T'Pol laugh by suggesting he change his name to 'Stinky.' It does go into some weird and wacky parody in that sequence, but it's acceptable because it's all in Reed's head. Then there's the almost as wacky solution to the tiny holes in the hull being temporarily plugged with mashed potato from one of their 'ready meals' Starfleet rations (the mechanics of which were of great interest in themselves - they pop these foil packs in a mini-oven, then it comes out as a ready meal in a tray!).
The best moment has to be when Trip decides the only way for one of them to survive is for him to go into the airlock and sacrifice himself for his friend, a true Trek selfless act. Of course Reed prevents him and they end up on the booze, sharing and shivering in the freezing cold until waking up in Sickbay. I do feel that because I don't have a strong memory of them going anywhere after this as characters, as opposed to mates like O'Brien and Bashir whose experiences gradually made them very close and best of friends in complete contrast to how they were when they first met, it lessens the impact of the episode. It should have been a launching point for them to be doing things together and this in turn would affect how they worked together, but instead they stayed pretty much the same, just as Trip and T'Pol's deepening connection might well have begun this season, but wasn't recognised and picked out until much, much later. Or Trip and Archer's established friendship was allowed to fade somewhat into the background when it could have been a unique bond between a Captain and his Engineer that we'd never seen before. At least the episode ends in the way that some of the great trying experiences have: with the two friends lying in Sickbay together as the camera pulls away - it's straight out of 'The Ascent,' and probably several other episodes, too, and I've always loved that style of ending.
I should mention that this may be the beginnings of Trek falling into the pop culture trap that has since engulfed the franchise and given us references to The Beatles and Elon Musk, things that are contemporary to us rather than nostalgic - I know The Beatles were from almost sixty years ago, but they're still popular and in the public consciousness. What I mean is that in past Treks they used to reference culture: opera, classical music from hundreds of years ago, classic books or poems and famous figures of history. They wouldn't have spoken about pop culture from thirty years ago (can you imagine Captain Kirk mentioning Flash Gordon, for example?). It gave you a sense of reality because we know these things have already stood the test of time and it's like they were playing up the intellectual quality of people from the future that they haven't forgotten physical books and the momentous achievements of composers. Yet now, with 'DSC' we get these pop culture references about nowadays, stroking the ego of people that like this stuff, saying that these are just as valid as the classical artistries of the past, and will be around far into the future, when in reality such tastes are fickle and always changing, and was probably one reason why Trek appeared to be somewhat countercultural before. That began to change with 'Voyager' I feel (though of course even 'DS9' had a 1950s lounge singer in Vic Fontaine!), with classic films being watched, continuing in 'Enterprise' with their film night, and now we get Trip talking of Superman! A giant leap too far, I think.
It's not snobbery to want Trek to stand apart and not get too bogged down in details that pertain to modern life as we know it, but it is the height of arrogance to assume the things we like today, the now, will be spoken of in Trek's idealised future. It could also be that I've grown older and comic book superheroes are ever less appealing all the time, especially as their bland films have become incredibly popular and successful to the point that Trek itself has tried to ape that style of storytelling to its great and obvious detriment! (And this is coming from someone who loves the first 'Spider-Man' film, from 2002, and the Christopher Nolan Batman trilogy!). One thing I do like when they're discussing history or cultural references is a reflection on historical figures yet to be: in this case it's Reed suggesting that the Vulcans would have been less reticent in helping humanity if Zefram Cochrane had been a European (and essentially British I think he means!), rather than the gung-ho North Americans they made first contact with! It's a great perspective (not least being an Englishman myself!), but it's also a little akin to Chekov saying everything was inwented in Muzza Wussia. Another tribute to 'TOS,' or just a coincidence? It's not quite the same thing as Reed wasn't being a revisionist, just sharing the perspective that European Cochrane would have been a better proposition, but as we have to concede, Zefram was who he was and Trek stands on his shoulders.
As a drama, and a novelty for this series, the episode stands apart as they did very few format-breaking types of stories, but as an instalment in a larger entity it doesn't really have any bearing on anything. The actors reportedly enjoyed the challenge, and it must have been one to do so many scenes with only dialogue to keep it going. One things's for sure, you'll never see an episode like this again in the current crop of superhero Trek serials, which is another reason to look upon it favourably, and I do in the context of itself on its own. At the same time I enjoy the connections and development of characters and a series and if this had led to greater heights, just as 'Cold Front' had the potential to set up all manner of greatness with the Temporal Cold War, I'd probably be thinking of it as one of the better episodes, important for what it began. But it didn't, and even with the excuse of the series being cut short in its prime, they still had many episodes in which to potentially expand on these bonds of friendship, and perhaps if they'd done a better job in that it might have gained more traction and survived.
***
Tuesday, 3 November 2020
Shadows of P'Jem (2)
DVD, Enterprise S1 (Shadows of P'Jem) (2)
Along with the Temporal Cold War, galactic politics was one of the two main themes of the series (unless you count exploration as a theme). They hadn't learned from their encounter at P'Jem and so they visit another sensitive location: Coridan, friend of Vulcan. The only Coridanite that ever stuck in my head was the Ambassador from the end of Season 4, an ugly, lumpy creature with mechanical augmentation, and just like the race seen here in this episode, the look of them is forgettable. That's the trouble with this episode itself, we don't get to learn about the Coridanites, their culture, anything about them, other than things aren't going particularly smoothly on the planet, with some factions believing their government is nothing more than a puppet of the Vulcans. The story turns into something less promising than the political and racial intrigue suggests, with most of the action taking place in some dark, dingy rebel compound, a ramshackle fort of tin shacks at night. It's not exactly the most attractive introduction to a species that dates back (or forward), to 'TOS' not becoming members of the Federation until a hundred-plus years after the time of this episode. You can see why, if this instability continued, especially if the Vulcans are the element that divides them, as the Federation's requirements were for a unified planet and the Vulcans were the cornerstone of the organisation so it would have taken decades and generations to overcome the reservations on both sides.
That story on its own could have made for compelling drama, but the story prefers to think small and make it all about T'Pol's imminent transfer (the fourth time she's had the opportunity of departing the ship?), rather than delve deep into the politics of the region. Diplomatic visits to the government of a planet weren't exactly in keeping with the series' style, while kidnap, rescue missions and fights were, due to the pared down, more simplistic approach they took to this era than the 24th Century. If I sound down on the episode I don't mean to be, it's simply that this one never lingers in my memory. I know it's the beginning of Shran and the Andorians becoming recurring characters (he even gets his aide, Tholos, back from 'The Andorian Incident'), and I remember Archer and T'Pol being tied up and wriggling around trying to free their bonds. And that it takes place on some dark, if impressively large, set. It's just that there's not a lot more to it, and I didn't even realise (until recently), that Coridan appeared in the series. Somehow it should have been trumpeted more, they could have been setting up various named and known planets like this for an ongoing saga. Like the Klingons, Romulans, Ferengi, and all the other major races we saw develop in the 24th Century, this feels like one of those establishing stories that would be referred back to in later seasons, that meant something in the grand scheme.
In reality, just like the TCW, the politics and races weren't fully developed in favour of a more basic return to planet of the week status. We did get much more of the Vulcans, though far from the coolly dispassionate race we knew, and the Klingons, but mainly two-dimensional moustache-twirling villainy than anything deeper. The Andorians came closest to true development because they were a memorably designed species that had never been explored, so simply by having them feature in multiple episodes we learnt more about them. But races like the Coridanites, Tholians and Orions could have been so much more, and episodes like this could have been putting in the groundwork towards that eventual soaring of the many story threads, as 'DS9' did so expertly. It's true that they eventually did make good on the early promise, with Season 4 a very pleasing collection of more in-depth cultural and political stories, but that was from a new guy in charge who saw the potential of the era and began to play with it, as ever a tragedy that the series wasn't permitted to last the distance into Seasons 5, 6 or 7. All that being said, though I'm disappointed in the wasted potential of the episode, it does work well as a personal story for T'Pol, and is rather moving in the way that any lingering doubts as to her rightful place on the ship are wiped away.
She's to be the scapegoat for the Vulcans' humiliating exposure of P'Jem, their secret observatory uncovered by Archer and crew earlier in the season. Now we learn the Andorians have bombarded the planet, after thoughtfully warning the inhabitants to get out of there. That could have escalated into a full-scale war if the Vulcans had had a fleet of ships in the area, I can imagine (even if, as Trip says to the Coridan rebel, they aren't warmongers, despite their other faults), but the Andorians had something of the righteous in their actions, the Vulcans going against a treaty by having this spy post. I found it telling that, after the immediate concern of whether the monks and their surveillance brethren made it off alive, T'Pol is just as concerned about the relics there. This shows how important artefacts are to the race, even if such materialism isn't logical. It shows they have their idiosyncrasies, if nothing else. It also shows that they were either arrogant in assuming the pesky Andorians would never discover the observatory, or willing to take risks over storing priceless relics in a location that could turn into a war zone if they were found out. They were treating the Andorian threat incredibly seriously that they'd go to that level of detail for the cover. I like that the Vulcans' unease over the Andorians led to humans becoming a third party between the two through Archer's actions and the strange honour pact that grows up between he and Shran, and this in turn develops into humanity's position as mediator and the glue that brings various races together, ultimately leading to the Federation!
For her part, T'Pol has helped to make this glue happen, thanks to her knowledge and experience of her people and how they think and react as opposed to how humans do. Far from her being a liability in the eyes of the Vulcan authorities, she is an important part of how Archer was able to operate, and it's incredible that he went from hating all Vulcans for holding his Father's work back, to grudgingly allowing a Vulcan representative aboard if that was the only way to ensure they got the go-ahead, to actively wanting T'Pol to stay, seeing her as the window on her people, the guide they need in a galaxy brimming with the unknown. I never thought about it before, but she's the Neelix of this series! I'm sure Neelix would have been deeply proud and honoured to consider himself an archetype to be followed by the Vulcans ('Mr. Vulcan!'), but T'Pol, had she lived long enough and travelled far enough to meet the Talaxian, would probably not have been as impressed. But it's true, her understanding of familiar races (to us, the viewers, or them, the Vulcans), was essential to the efficacy of the mission out into space. If the NX-01 had merely come equipped with a Vulcan encyclopaedia which can be imagined how dry and lacking essential details of the kind humans need it would have been, they'd probably have run into a lot more trouble than with an expert alongside to explain the nuances of life in the stars (I do wonder what it would have been like with a replacement Vulcan for a couple of episodes - might have made for some drama).
She was essential, and though we who have seen the series from beginning to end know how unique she was, we're only starting to understand where she stands among Vulcans as one who could do what others couldn't. Or wouldn't. Dr. Phlox pays her a great compliment upon hearing of her coming transfer, by saying she isn't the first Vulcan to serve on human ships, there have been others, but she's the only one who's been able to stick it out longer than a few weeks. If she hadn't had that curiosity or been drawn to the strange mix of human foibles and abilities that mark us out as so different to her people, she had several prior opportunities to exit the ship. It's strange that she was on Earth with the Vulcan Consulate, yet hadn't developed that interest within her. I don't think we know how long she was on the planet before she was selected for the NX-01, perhaps she requested the position on Earth all along, whether she knew she had an affinity for humans or whether it was a subconscious attraction to the species. It may even have been that she was simply given her assignment to the Consulate and while on Earth began to develop an interest secretly within her mind. It seems most likely she was chosen to keep Archer on a leash because outwardly she was sceptical of humans' place in space, was a skilled member of her race, and so was trusted and believed in as one who would do whatever was needed for Vulcan interests while she was aboard Enterprise. If so, they didn't know her well enough, or she didn't know herself well enough because she quickly found a loyalty to this impassioned Captain and his well-meaning crew, perhaps something of the maternal instinct also swaying her, seeing herself as a logically necessary guide for their inexperience.
However these things came to be, she goes from completely cold and resisting, there to do a job, to being integrated with the crew. And it's beautiful that they were able to achieve this in only half a season. I am surprised more people didn't complain, as they did with the Maquis in 'Voyager,' that it all happened too quickly and there should have been more conflict, etc. But, just as with the Maquis, which people seem to forget, there was still room for conflict there. The Maquis were used sparingly, but there were tensions, and resolutions were needed over time, and just because T'Pol was a stolid, card-carrying member of the NX-01, doesn't mean she never gave any opposition. Like any good First Officer she was there to balance out the Captain, and it worked very well that he had a Vulcan in that position because Archer is such a charismatic, upbeat good guy that it would have been easy for any crewmember to be pulled along in his optimistic, jolly wake. He needed T'Pol to question him sometimes, and maybe he understood that and saw it as one of the many abilities she brought to his crew. So he can't understand when she won't fight the Vulcan High Command's decision to play sour grapes and reassign her. As we see from grumpy, outraged Soval (are we sure he's a Vulcan? He could sure use some quality time with Surak!), and his demands of Admiral Forrest, they couldn't do anything to punish the Captain by replacing him, so they do the next best thing and pull T'Pol out of there as the only power they really have.
Forrest deserves some credit here. He's no Admiral Ross, but he is a solid, dependable soul. Previously he'd been a little more giving to the Vulcan way of thinking, but it gets to the point here where he puts his proverbial foot down and stands up for Enterprise and Archer, not backing down in the face of Soval's snarling rebukes. He's right, P'Jem and the situation there was volatile before Starfleet even got involved. Notice how he says Starfleet, and not Archer or the Enterprise. It's a simple difference that says we, all of Starfleet, are invested in that ship. We don't just have one ship, we don't just have one crew or Captain, we are an organisation, when sometimes it can seem as if the NX-01 is the whole of Starfleet. But he takes the responsibility as a whole, widening the issue while the Vulcans seek to narrow it down to the interference at the monastery. We know for sure Starfleet does have other starships (if not Warp 5 vessels), since Soval says all joint fleet operations between Earth and Vulcan will be suspended. I'd love to know more about these operations as I had no idea they existed. It's one of those things you just want more information on, maybe an episode in which the NX-01 joins such a fleet for a joint op. But just as I'm not sure how much ongoing Vulcan diplomatic issues were going to be part of stories, they often didn't follow up on some fascinating potential for expanding the view of what the era was like. They were on a TV budget, it's true, but sometimes you wish they had thought in a wider sense, just as 'DS9' did.
The Vulcans are often shown to be petty in this series, and recalling T'Pol for her part in their unmasking of P'Jem goes to the heights of that emotion. Like Archer, I don't know why she didn't put up a fight for her position. It may have been that she knew she was there on borrowed time and had no say in the matter, and being logical, if there was no action she could take, in her eyes, then the only logical course was inaction (as Tuvok once said). It may be that she didn't wish to cause Archer any more grief by taking a stand on his side, which might have inflamed the Vulcans against him even more than mild distaste. She has family back on Vulcan, it's likely she didn't wish disgrace to fall on them - whatever the reasons, they were selfless, and only when things are cleverly twisted around and the path of least resistance becomes remaining aboard does she deign not to follow the course that seemed unavoidable. She has Archer, and Phlox, to thank for this amazing turnaround. Well, that and the fact that she performed a courageous act of leaping in the way of a Coridanite plasma bullet to take a shot for Sopek, Captain of the Vulcan ship sent to bring her home. In 'The Andorian Incident' we had Bruce French, a familiar Trek face for his other roles, and in this second Andorian story (if it can be called that), it's Gregory Itzin, a great actor who'd been in 'DS9' and 'Voyager' and would appear once more in this series before the end as a human.
I've always liked Itzin, not as much as some of the better known Trek actors (Tractors? They do mention an alien tractor in this episode, but I thought they were referring to farm machinery…), like Jeffrey Combs, but he was terrific as an alien that puts Dax on trial in 'Dax,' and very good in the Morn episode late in that series ('Who Mourns For Morn'), so I'm well disposed towards him. He is playing a Vulcan here, and he does fall into the same traps of most actors that took on the race in 'Enterprise' (to be fair they were probably instructed to be that way), where they have to allow traces of irritation, disdain and other emotional reactions to filter through in their performance, whereas I prefer the clamped-down logical approach. He is one of the better examples, and his role is worked into the story expertly, culminating in his tacit indication he will put in a good word for T'Pol for saving his life - getting a Vulcan to admit something like that to a human is almost like another race gushing with praise and admiration in comparison. The story really turns on this being realistic, and he does go from irritability with the annoying humans, to thoughtfulness at T'Pol's action (Trip puts on his most whiny, drawly accent possible as if to antagonise him when you'd think he could have been a touch more diplomatic as his Captain and First Officer's lives were relying on him - he was probably like that because of his embarrassment and irritation at having to admit something like that to the Vulcans, just as they reacted in the same way about P'Jem!).
There's something mildly comical about this slightly portly Vulcan Captain and his team of two, who go down to the rebel compound in order to extract the captive Archer and T'Pol. Perhaps Trip was right, and they didn't mind if T'Pol got killed in the attempt, as that would solve a few problems, but I don't think so because, although Vulcans aren't supposed to be proud, they know themselves to be right and they don't waste time or deal in finesse, they just blast a wall in and start shooting. I think Sopek believed this was the most direct and immediate way to ensure success, and since he'd been given orders to bring T'Pol back, that's exactly what he was going to do. When he shows… concern is overstating it for a Vulcan, but certainly interest in T'Pol's medical wellbeing at the end, I don't think it's entirely for the reason of needing to fulfil his mission, but that he respects her for taking the bullet for him. I would also like to believe the reason he himself went into the fray when it would seem illogical for the most important member of the crew to be involved in a dangerous rescue mission, was partly his wish to see it through to the best of his ability, befitting the Vulcan mindset, and also because he would feel he was the most experienced person to be in command there. And it is somewhat funny to see who knows how many rebels taken on by just three Vulcans in their shiny silver battle suits and hulking rifles or mortars, and just get stuck in when you'd think a more clandestine approach would have been more the Vulcan style!
Not that there's anything to laugh about in terms of the Vulcans' resolve and ability, they clearly mean business, but it's like it's as much a mission to map a planetoid or attend a diplomatic function as retrieve captives, and that attitude is one of the things I love about the race. Swift, decisive action as the logical response? I buy it, and I buy Sopek's experience in such matters because the Vulcans can be ruthless when necessary ('The Vulcan Hello' should get a mention again here for accuracy of the Vulcan psyche). I do wish there had been a slightly grander scope - the compound was a good size and it's great to see the Vulcans come rushing in during the Andorian rescue attempt (Shran risking his good relations with the rebels since Andorians are on their side against the Vulcan-backed government of the planet), three different sides having a firefight, with humans also in the mix. For efficiency I can imagine the Vulcans only sending three, and it shows how little they esteem their opponents, but only two Andorians? And the biggest miss for me is not having a team of Starfleet Security accompanying Trip and Reed. Reed, as you'd expect is totally up for going down and rescuing his superiors, but he almost rushes into a booby trap, and only Shran stopped them from getting themselves killed by going to the abandoned Shuttlepod. They could have had a redshirt killed when approaching the 'pod which would have made things more real, or even if he was only injured it would show how dangerous this faction was, but they tended to shy away from regular death, strangely, perhaps wishing to avoid the trope from 'TOS.'
What I'm saying was I wanted a big three-way firefight like we'd never seen before - usually on Trek it's a couple of Starfleet versus a couple of aliens, and this was the stage upon which to set a huge battle. Not that the fighting is the most interesting part of the episode, far from it, the heart definitely comes from T'Pol and her adoption into the crew, and that it's spoken aloud. At the same time why not have a massive barney with energy rifles and pistols? I could have done without Sopek making grimaces as he fired or ducked, but forgetting little niggles like this, or the scale, it's pretty well put together and was a great way to reintroduce Shran into the mix, setting him up to be a recurring character, potentially, along with Silik, Future Guy and Cutler. He'd be the only one to last through all the seasons, sadly, but Combs is really spot on here, his conscience shown to be a major motivating factor in his actions and gaining him respect from Archer. He simply doesn't like being indebted to anyone, especially a 'pink skin,' and things look good. So they really dropped the ball in Season 2 taking so long to bring him back, and then only in one episode (though that season drops the ball in a lot of ways and almost killed the series).
I can't help feeling that in some ways this episode was a missed opportunity. As I said, Coridan could have become a name if we'd learned about their culture and coloured in their people, but we don't get to experience any of that, neither in this episode or others, preferring aliens of the week most of the time, which isn't bad in itself, but you need consolidation and development of races. And we don't get to see a crack team led by Malcolm. And it's all very gloomy and dark. But these are the only problems I have, and it's nice to see plenty of humour (Archer teasing Trip in their private meal together is the kind of thing they needed to do more of between characters as it works well, but got somewhat lost for a while; the question of whether the Coridanites had got the right hostages, asked by Reed or Trip, was funny as they call the Captain 'her,' confusing the crew!), and some well done action - the orbital skirmish between a Shuttlepod and a Coridan vessel was hardly 'Star Trek: Insurrection,' but they got the light source swinging around the cockpit right and really sold it, plus I always love a good happening in a planet's atmosphere - I wish we could have seen more than one distant shot of the T-shaped Coridan ship, however, as it's not enough for me. Another wonderful shot is of the NX-01 gliding through space as we come around to the Ready Room porthole to see Archer looking out. It's the kind of motion control shot that had been done on 'DS9' and 'Voyager' as CGI became more powerful, and would later be used effectively in 'DSC' (yes, something good to say about it!).
It still niggles that the Coridanites looked so different to the memorable example in Season 4 and I wish they could have explained it as having more than one species on the planet. The ones shown here were completely forgettable and not one of Michael Westmore's finest creations. Not that they were bad, just bland, in keeping with their lack of development. In an episode full of familiar Trek faces (Vaughn Armstrong, Gary Graham, Gregory Itzin, Jeffrey Combs! - what a guest list!), the two named characters of Coridan, Traeg of the rebels and Chancellor Kalev were also both on their second and final roles in Trek. Jeff Kober (the former), had played a similar role on 'Voyager' in 'Repentance,' and Barbara Tarbuck (the latter), who died in 2016, had appeared in 'TNG,' so it was quite the day for Trek credits connoisseurs, the likes of which we may never see again as it's now rare for actors from previous Trek to appear in the modern films or the Kurtzman-era TV shows (ugh, so sad to have to call it that! I'm sure he's a nice guy, but he can't write Trek, that's for sure), the Trek repertory permanently disbanded. Once again it proves what a pleasure it is to revisit 'Enterprise' during such an unstable period of the franchise today, even if some are calling it a Second Golden Age. Quantity, but not quality seems to be the guiding principle now, ironic given that they make individually much shorter seasons and less episodes, yet 'Enterprise' could knock out twenty-plus a year, mostly with aplomb.
***
Along with the Temporal Cold War, galactic politics was one of the two main themes of the series (unless you count exploration as a theme). They hadn't learned from their encounter at P'Jem and so they visit another sensitive location: Coridan, friend of Vulcan. The only Coridanite that ever stuck in my head was the Ambassador from the end of Season 4, an ugly, lumpy creature with mechanical augmentation, and just like the race seen here in this episode, the look of them is forgettable. That's the trouble with this episode itself, we don't get to learn about the Coridanites, their culture, anything about them, other than things aren't going particularly smoothly on the planet, with some factions believing their government is nothing more than a puppet of the Vulcans. The story turns into something less promising than the political and racial intrigue suggests, with most of the action taking place in some dark, dingy rebel compound, a ramshackle fort of tin shacks at night. It's not exactly the most attractive introduction to a species that dates back (or forward), to 'TOS' not becoming members of the Federation until a hundred-plus years after the time of this episode. You can see why, if this instability continued, especially if the Vulcans are the element that divides them, as the Federation's requirements were for a unified planet and the Vulcans were the cornerstone of the organisation so it would have taken decades and generations to overcome the reservations on both sides.
That story on its own could have made for compelling drama, but the story prefers to think small and make it all about T'Pol's imminent transfer (the fourth time she's had the opportunity of departing the ship?), rather than delve deep into the politics of the region. Diplomatic visits to the government of a planet weren't exactly in keeping with the series' style, while kidnap, rescue missions and fights were, due to the pared down, more simplistic approach they took to this era than the 24th Century. If I sound down on the episode I don't mean to be, it's simply that this one never lingers in my memory. I know it's the beginning of Shran and the Andorians becoming recurring characters (he even gets his aide, Tholos, back from 'The Andorian Incident'), and I remember Archer and T'Pol being tied up and wriggling around trying to free their bonds. And that it takes place on some dark, if impressively large, set. It's just that there's not a lot more to it, and I didn't even realise (until recently), that Coridan appeared in the series. Somehow it should have been trumpeted more, they could have been setting up various named and known planets like this for an ongoing saga. Like the Klingons, Romulans, Ferengi, and all the other major races we saw develop in the 24th Century, this feels like one of those establishing stories that would be referred back to in later seasons, that meant something in the grand scheme.
In reality, just like the TCW, the politics and races weren't fully developed in favour of a more basic return to planet of the week status. We did get much more of the Vulcans, though far from the coolly dispassionate race we knew, and the Klingons, but mainly two-dimensional moustache-twirling villainy than anything deeper. The Andorians came closest to true development because they were a memorably designed species that had never been explored, so simply by having them feature in multiple episodes we learnt more about them. But races like the Coridanites, Tholians and Orions could have been so much more, and episodes like this could have been putting in the groundwork towards that eventual soaring of the many story threads, as 'DS9' did so expertly. It's true that they eventually did make good on the early promise, with Season 4 a very pleasing collection of more in-depth cultural and political stories, but that was from a new guy in charge who saw the potential of the era and began to play with it, as ever a tragedy that the series wasn't permitted to last the distance into Seasons 5, 6 or 7. All that being said, though I'm disappointed in the wasted potential of the episode, it does work well as a personal story for T'Pol, and is rather moving in the way that any lingering doubts as to her rightful place on the ship are wiped away.
She's to be the scapegoat for the Vulcans' humiliating exposure of P'Jem, their secret observatory uncovered by Archer and crew earlier in the season. Now we learn the Andorians have bombarded the planet, after thoughtfully warning the inhabitants to get out of there. That could have escalated into a full-scale war if the Vulcans had had a fleet of ships in the area, I can imagine (even if, as Trip says to the Coridan rebel, they aren't warmongers, despite their other faults), but the Andorians had something of the righteous in their actions, the Vulcans going against a treaty by having this spy post. I found it telling that, after the immediate concern of whether the monks and their surveillance brethren made it off alive, T'Pol is just as concerned about the relics there. This shows how important artefacts are to the race, even if such materialism isn't logical. It shows they have their idiosyncrasies, if nothing else. It also shows that they were either arrogant in assuming the pesky Andorians would never discover the observatory, or willing to take risks over storing priceless relics in a location that could turn into a war zone if they were found out. They were treating the Andorian threat incredibly seriously that they'd go to that level of detail for the cover. I like that the Vulcans' unease over the Andorians led to humans becoming a third party between the two through Archer's actions and the strange honour pact that grows up between he and Shran, and this in turn develops into humanity's position as mediator and the glue that brings various races together, ultimately leading to the Federation!
For her part, T'Pol has helped to make this glue happen, thanks to her knowledge and experience of her people and how they think and react as opposed to how humans do. Far from her being a liability in the eyes of the Vulcan authorities, she is an important part of how Archer was able to operate, and it's incredible that he went from hating all Vulcans for holding his Father's work back, to grudgingly allowing a Vulcan representative aboard if that was the only way to ensure they got the go-ahead, to actively wanting T'Pol to stay, seeing her as the window on her people, the guide they need in a galaxy brimming with the unknown. I never thought about it before, but she's the Neelix of this series! I'm sure Neelix would have been deeply proud and honoured to consider himself an archetype to be followed by the Vulcans ('Mr. Vulcan!'), but T'Pol, had she lived long enough and travelled far enough to meet the Talaxian, would probably not have been as impressed. But it's true, her understanding of familiar races (to us, the viewers, or them, the Vulcans), was essential to the efficacy of the mission out into space. If the NX-01 had merely come equipped with a Vulcan encyclopaedia which can be imagined how dry and lacking essential details of the kind humans need it would have been, they'd probably have run into a lot more trouble than with an expert alongside to explain the nuances of life in the stars (I do wonder what it would have been like with a replacement Vulcan for a couple of episodes - might have made for some drama).
She was essential, and though we who have seen the series from beginning to end know how unique she was, we're only starting to understand where she stands among Vulcans as one who could do what others couldn't. Or wouldn't. Dr. Phlox pays her a great compliment upon hearing of her coming transfer, by saying she isn't the first Vulcan to serve on human ships, there have been others, but she's the only one who's been able to stick it out longer than a few weeks. If she hadn't had that curiosity or been drawn to the strange mix of human foibles and abilities that mark us out as so different to her people, she had several prior opportunities to exit the ship. It's strange that she was on Earth with the Vulcan Consulate, yet hadn't developed that interest within her. I don't think we know how long she was on the planet before she was selected for the NX-01, perhaps she requested the position on Earth all along, whether she knew she had an affinity for humans or whether it was a subconscious attraction to the species. It may even have been that she was simply given her assignment to the Consulate and while on Earth began to develop an interest secretly within her mind. It seems most likely she was chosen to keep Archer on a leash because outwardly she was sceptical of humans' place in space, was a skilled member of her race, and so was trusted and believed in as one who would do whatever was needed for Vulcan interests while she was aboard Enterprise. If so, they didn't know her well enough, or she didn't know herself well enough because she quickly found a loyalty to this impassioned Captain and his well-meaning crew, perhaps something of the maternal instinct also swaying her, seeing herself as a logically necessary guide for their inexperience.
However these things came to be, she goes from completely cold and resisting, there to do a job, to being integrated with the crew. And it's beautiful that they were able to achieve this in only half a season. I am surprised more people didn't complain, as they did with the Maquis in 'Voyager,' that it all happened too quickly and there should have been more conflict, etc. But, just as with the Maquis, which people seem to forget, there was still room for conflict there. The Maquis were used sparingly, but there were tensions, and resolutions were needed over time, and just because T'Pol was a stolid, card-carrying member of the NX-01, doesn't mean she never gave any opposition. Like any good First Officer she was there to balance out the Captain, and it worked very well that he had a Vulcan in that position because Archer is such a charismatic, upbeat good guy that it would have been easy for any crewmember to be pulled along in his optimistic, jolly wake. He needed T'Pol to question him sometimes, and maybe he understood that and saw it as one of the many abilities she brought to his crew. So he can't understand when she won't fight the Vulcan High Command's decision to play sour grapes and reassign her. As we see from grumpy, outraged Soval (are we sure he's a Vulcan? He could sure use some quality time with Surak!), and his demands of Admiral Forrest, they couldn't do anything to punish the Captain by replacing him, so they do the next best thing and pull T'Pol out of there as the only power they really have.
Forrest deserves some credit here. He's no Admiral Ross, but he is a solid, dependable soul. Previously he'd been a little more giving to the Vulcan way of thinking, but it gets to the point here where he puts his proverbial foot down and stands up for Enterprise and Archer, not backing down in the face of Soval's snarling rebukes. He's right, P'Jem and the situation there was volatile before Starfleet even got involved. Notice how he says Starfleet, and not Archer or the Enterprise. It's a simple difference that says we, all of Starfleet, are invested in that ship. We don't just have one ship, we don't just have one crew or Captain, we are an organisation, when sometimes it can seem as if the NX-01 is the whole of Starfleet. But he takes the responsibility as a whole, widening the issue while the Vulcans seek to narrow it down to the interference at the monastery. We know for sure Starfleet does have other starships (if not Warp 5 vessels), since Soval says all joint fleet operations between Earth and Vulcan will be suspended. I'd love to know more about these operations as I had no idea they existed. It's one of those things you just want more information on, maybe an episode in which the NX-01 joins such a fleet for a joint op. But just as I'm not sure how much ongoing Vulcan diplomatic issues were going to be part of stories, they often didn't follow up on some fascinating potential for expanding the view of what the era was like. They were on a TV budget, it's true, but sometimes you wish they had thought in a wider sense, just as 'DS9' did.
The Vulcans are often shown to be petty in this series, and recalling T'Pol for her part in their unmasking of P'Jem goes to the heights of that emotion. Like Archer, I don't know why she didn't put up a fight for her position. It may have been that she knew she was there on borrowed time and had no say in the matter, and being logical, if there was no action she could take, in her eyes, then the only logical course was inaction (as Tuvok once said). It may be that she didn't wish to cause Archer any more grief by taking a stand on his side, which might have inflamed the Vulcans against him even more than mild distaste. She has family back on Vulcan, it's likely she didn't wish disgrace to fall on them - whatever the reasons, they were selfless, and only when things are cleverly twisted around and the path of least resistance becomes remaining aboard does she deign not to follow the course that seemed unavoidable. She has Archer, and Phlox, to thank for this amazing turnaround. Well, that and the fact that she performed a courageous act of leaping in the way of a Coridanite plasma bullet to take a shot for Sopek, Captain of the Vulcan ship sent to bring her home. In 'The Andorian Incident' we had Bruce French, a familiar Trek face for his other roles, and in this second Andorian story (if it can be called that), it's Gregory Itzin, a great actor who'd been in 'DS9' and 'Voyager' and would appear once more in this series before the end as a human.
I've always liked Itzin, not as much as some of the better known Trek actors (Tractors? They do mention an alien tractor in this episode, but I thought they were referring to farm machinery…), like Jeffrey Combs, but he was terrific as an alien that puts Dax on trial in 'Dax,' and very good in the Morn episode late in that series ('Who Mourns For Morn'), so I'm well disposed towards him. He is playing a Vulcan here, and he does fall into the same traps of most actors that took on the race in 'Enterprise' (to be fair they were probably instructed to be that way), where they have to allow traces of irritation, disdain and other emotional reactions to filter through in their performance, whereas I prefer the clamped-down logical approach. He is one of the better examples, and his role is worked into the story expertly, culminating in his tacit indication he will put in a good word for T'Pol for saving his life - getting a Vulcan to admit something like that to a human is almost like another race gushing with praise and admiration in comparison. The story really turns on this being realistic, and he does go from irritability with the annoying humans, to thoughtfulness at T'Pol's action (Trip puts on his most whiny, drawly accent possible as if to antagonise him when you'd think he could have been a touch more diplomatic as his Captain and First Officer's lives were relying on him - he was probably like that because of his embarrassment and irritation at having to admit something like that to the Vulcans, just as they reacted in the same way about P'Jem!).
There's something mildly comical about this slightly portly Vulcan Captain and his team of two, who go down to the rebel compound in order to extract the captive Archer and T'Pol. Perhaps Trip was right, and they didn't mind if T'Pol got killed in the attempt, as that would solve a few problems, but I don't think so because, although Vulcans aren't supposed to be proud, they know themselves to be right and they don't waste time or deal in finesse, they just blast a wall in and start shooting. I think Sopek believed this was the most direct and immediate way to ensure success, and since he'd been given orders to bring T'Pol back, that's exactly what he was going to do. When he shows… concern is overstating it for a Vulcan, but certainly interest in T'Pol's medical wellbeing at the end, I don't think it's entirely for the reason of needing to fulfil his mission, but that he respects her for taking the bullet for him. I would also like to believe the reason he himself went into the fray when it would seem illogical for the most important member of the crew to be involved in a dangerous rescue mission, was partly his wish to see it through to the best of his ability, befitting the Vulcan mindset, and also because he would feel he was the most experienced person to be in command there. And it is somewhat funny to see who knows how many rebels taken on by just three Vulcans in their shiny silver battle suits and hulking rifles or mortars, and just get stuck in when you'd think a more clandestine approach would have been more the Vulcan style!
Not that there's anything to laugh about in terms of the Vulcans' resolve and ability, they clearly mean business, but it's like it's as much a mission to map a planetoid or attend a diplomatic function as retrieve captives, and that attitude is one of the things I love about the race. Swift, decisive action as the logical response? I buy it, and I buy Sopek's experience in such matters because the Vulcans can be ruthless when necessary ('The Vulcan Hello' should get a mention again here for accuracy of the Vulcan psyche). I do wish there had been a slightly grander scope - the compound was a good size and it's great to see the Vulcans come rushing in during the Andorian rescue attempt (Shran risking his good relations with the rebels since Andorians are on their side against the Vulcan-backed government of the planet), three different sides having a firefight, with humans also in the mix. For efficiency I can imagine the Vulcans only sending three, and it shows how little they esteem their opponents, but only two Andorians? And the biggest miss for me is not having a team of Starfleet Security accompanying Trip and Reed. Reed, as you'd expect is totally up for going down and rescuing his superiors, but he almost rushes into a booby trap, and only Shran stopped them from getting themselves killed by going to the abandoned Shuttlepod. They could have had a redshirt killed when approaching the 'pod which would have made things more real, or even if he was only injured it would show how dangerous this faction was, but they tended to shy away from regular death, strangely, perhaps wishing to avoid the trope from 'TOS.'
What I'm saying was I wanted a big three-way firefight like we'd never seen before - usually on Trek it's a couple of Starfleet versus a couple of aliens, and this was the stage upon which to set a huge battle. Not that the fighting is the most interesting part of the episode, far from it, the heart definitely comes from T'Pol and her adoption into the crew, and that it's spoken aloud. At the same time why not have a massive barney with energy rifles and pistols? I could have done without Sopek making grimaces as he fired or ducked, but forgetting little niggles like this, or the scale, it's pretty well put together and was a great way to reintroduce Shran into the mix, setting him up to be a recurring character, potentially, along with Silik, Future Guy and Cutler. He'd be the only one to last through all the seasons, sadly, but Combs is really spot on here, his conscience shown to be a major motivating factor in his actions and gaining him respect from Archer. He simply doesn't like being indebted to anyone, especially a 'pink skin,' and things look good. So they really dropped the ball in Season 2 taking so long to bring him back, and then only in one episode (though that season drops the ball in a lot of ways and almost killed the series).
I can't help feeling that in some ways this episode was a missed opportunity. As I said, Coridan could have become a name if we'd learned about their culture and coloured in their people, but we don't get to experience any of that, neither in this episode or others, preferring aliens of the week most of the time, which isn't bad in itself, but you need consolidation and development of races. And we don't get to see a crack team led by Malcolm. And it's all very gloomy and dark. But these are the only problems I have, and it's nice to see plenty of humour (Archer teasing Trip in their private meal together is the kind of thing they needed to do more of between characters as it works well, but got somewhat lost for a while; the question of whether the Coridanites had got the right hostages, asked by Reed or Trip, was funny as they call the Captain 'her,' confusing the crew!), and some well done action - the orbital skirmish between a Shuttlepod and a Coridan vessel was hardly 'Star Trek: Insurrection,' but they got the light source swinging around the cockpit right and really sold it, plus I always love a good happening in a planet's atmosphere - I wish we could have seen more than one distant shot of the T-shaped Coridan ship, however, as it's not enough for me. Another wonderful shot is of the NX-01 gliding through space as we come around to the Ready Room porthole to see Archer looking out. It's the kind of motion control shot that had been done on 'DS9' and 'Voyager' as CGI became more powerful, and would later be used effectively in 'DSC' (yes, something good to say about it!).
It still niggles that the Coridanites looked so different to the memorable example in Season 4 and I wish they could have explained it as having more than one species on the planet. The ones shown here were completely forgettable and not one of Michael Westmore's finest creations. Not that they were bad, just bland, in keeping with their lack of development. In an episode full of familiar Trek faces (Vaughn Armstrong, Gary Graham, Gregory Itzin, Jeffrey Combs! - what a guest list!), the two named characters of Coridan, Traeg of the rebels and Chancellor Kalev were also both on their second and final roles in Trek. Jeff Kober (the former), had played a similar role on 'Voyager' in 'Repentance,' and Barbara Tarbuck (the latter), who died in 2016, had appeared in 'TNG,' so it was quite the day for Trek credits connoisseurs, the likes of which we may never see again as it's now rare for actors from previous Trek to appear in the modern films or the Kurtzman-era TV shows (ugh, so sad to have to call it that! I'm sure he's a nice guy, but he can't write Trek, that's for sure), the Trek repertory permanently disbanded. Once again it proves what a pleasure it is to revisit 'Enterprise' during such an unstable period of the franchise today, even if some are calling it a Second Golden Age. Quantity, but not quality seems to be the guiding principle now, ironic given that they make individually much shorter seasons and less episodes, yet 'Enterprise' could knock out twenty-plus a year, mostly with aplomb.
***
Counterstrike
DVD, Stargate SG-1 S10 (Counterstrike)
A sad and dispiriting episode, not because it's badly done, but because of all the irritating failures in it. There are allies who are really enemies and nothing is achieved except for a victory by The Ori in the guise of Adria, old orange eyes, and Vala's daughter, who is back and fully grown. And by the end of it she's destroyed the Jaffa democratic stronghold of Takara, which had already practically destroyed itself with a stupid new leader (played by David Andrews, Lorian in 'Enterprise' episode 'E2'), who discounts all the great things humans did to help them become Free Jaffa, saying it's in the past, and now believing the Tare's self-interest is as strong as the Jaffa's, quarrelling over the Ori ship that is successfully captured when the Ancient weapon on Takara, already responsible for defeating the Replicators, is used on a newly converted planet. Yes, a lot of lore to follow, but it's tragedy that is the hard thing to bear, in spite of the reassuring presence of Bra'tac, ever the voice in accord with the Tare, and thus vilified by the rulers, especially when he comes back bringing General Landry along to talk sense. Just as little sense is allowed to pass through the mind of Adria who mistakenly believes her Mother will join the way of Origin and embrace The Ori, but she has no mercy for anyone else (except Daniel, who they have a plan for, ominously).
I think it feels like such a sore episode to take because it starts out so positive. Yes, there's the horror of the Jaffa using their weapon to kill thousands who had converted to Origin, almost taking out SG-1 at the same time, but then they have access to an Ori ship, so maybe they can get it back to Earth and examine it, probe its defences, find weaknesses, use it against The Ori. And then, just as things are going swimmingly, or at least there's some hope, a small gang of Free Jaffa arrive to claim it as the spoils of victory, and the distrust seen in their leader runs deep in the ranks it seems by this group. It's so disappointing after so much was gone through for these people, and yet it's all forgotten. They only agree to work with Mitchell and Teal'c when it becomes obvious some third party is in control of the vessel (Adria). There was never really any hope of either salvaging the ship or taking it out, since she has vast Jedi powers that Darth Vader would be proud of: cancelling the C4 explosives Mitchell had planted on the power source for the engine which would have been Plan B if they hadn't been able to lift off before other Ori ships arrived to reclaim it. Teal'c and Mitchell realise when they're above Takara there's no option but to activate this C4 to prevent the Jaffa's home being obliterated, in direct opposition to the self-seeking Jaffa themselves. It shows courage and selflessness in an episode devoid of good qualities since bad people hold all the cards.
What more is there to say? They had an opportunity to get a leg up on The Ori, then the Jaffa show they do have a leg up, but both successes collapse into failure. The only good thing is that dummy, the leader of the Jaffa, was annihilated along with the rest of his misguided council, and though Bra'tac expresses dismay that the leadership's loss will cause the Jaffa to fracture, it could also be a chance for a good leader to take over. Him, for example. Not that he'd want it, but they need someone wise and experienced, not someone that wants to control things as so often seems to happen. Vala's philosophical about it all and ends the episode on a sad impression of inevitability and change, something that added a little depth to a depressingly negative episode. I suppose it's hard to dive right back into galaxy-wide threats and political opposition after such a fun episode as '200,' but maybe it came as a backlash to the news that this would be the end of the series, no Season 11 to come. I don't know, but I wonder, because it does pull on most of the threads of the season and doesn't exactly come out positive and upbeat. That's the trouble with complete serialisation: you can only really have lasting success at the end of the story. In this case it's the end of the season, but if it were more of a standalone story it would be the end of the episode so you get a dose of happy on a regular basis. Sometimes it can be hard to wait for relief like that. Though it was nice to hear Daniel talk of his wife, Share, something so key in the early seasons - you forget the backstories are long. Could there somehow be some form of reunion at the end?
**
A sad and dispiriting episode, not because it's badly done, but because of all the irritating failures in it. There are allies who are really enemies and nothing is achieved except for a victory by The Ori in the guise of Adria, old orange eyes, and Vala's daughter, who is back and fully grown. And by the end of it she's destroyed the Jaffa democratic stronghold of Takara, which had already practically destroyed itself with a stupid new leader (played by David Andrews, Lorian in 'Enterprise' episode 'E2'), who discounts all the great things humans did to help them become Free Jaffa, saying it's in the past, and now believing the Tare's self-interest is as strong as the Jaffa's, quarrelling over the Ori ship that is successfully captured when the Ancient weapon on Takara, already responsible for defeating the Replicators, is used on a newly converted planet. Yes, a lot of lore to follow, but it's tragedy that is the hard thing to bear, in spite of the reassuring presence of Bra'tac, ever the voice in accord with the Tare, and thus vilified by the rulers, especially when he comes back bringing General Landry along to talk sense. Just as little sense is allowed to pass through the mind of Adria who mistakenly believes her Mother will join the way of Origin and embrace The Ori, but she has no mercy for anyone else (except Daniel, who they have a plan for, ominously).
I think it feels like such a sore episode to take because it starts out so positive. Yes, there's the horror of the Jaffa using their weapon to kill thousands who had converted to Origin, almost taking out SG-1 at the same time, but then they have access to an Ori ship, so maybe they can get it back to Earth and examine it, probe its defences, find weaknesses, use it against The Ori. And then, just as things are going swimmingly, or at least there's some hope, a small gang of Free Jaffa arrive to claim it as the spoils of victory, and the distrust seen in their leader runs deep in the ranks it seems by this group. It's so disappointing after so much was gone through for these people, and yet it's all forgotten. They only agree to work with Mitchell and Teal'c when it becomes obvious some third party is in control of the vessel (Adria). There was never really any hope of either salvaging the ship or taking it out, since she has vast Jedi powers that Darth Vader would be proud of: cancelling the C4 explosives Mitchell had planted on the power source for the engine which would have been Plan B if they hadn't been able to lift off before other Ori ships arrived to reclaim it. Teal'c and Mitchell realise when they're above Takara there's no option but to activate this C4 to prevent the Jaffa's home being obliterated, in direct opposition to the self-seeking Jaffa themselves. It shows courage and selflessness in an episode devoid of good qualities since bad people hold all the cards.
What more is there to say? They had an opportunity to get a leg up on The Ori, then the Jaffa show they do have a leg up, but both successes collapse into failure. The only good thing is that dummy, the leader of the Jaffa, was annihilated along with the rest of his misguided council, and though Bra'tac expresses dismay that the leadership's loss will cause the Jaffa to fracture, it could also be a chance for a good leader to take over. Him, for example. Not that he'd want it, but they need someone wise and experienced, not someone that wants to control things as so often seems to happen. Vala's philosophical about it all and ends the episode on a sad impression of inevitability and change, something that added a little depth to a depressingly negative episode. I suppose it's hard to dive right back into galaxy-wide threats and political opposition after such a fun episode as '200,' but maybe it came as a backlash to the news that this would be the end of the series, no Season 11 to come. I don't know, but I wonder, because it does pull on most of the threads of the season and doesn't exactly come out positive and upbeat. That's the trouble with complete serialisation: you can only really have lasting success at the end of the story. In this case it's the end of the season, but if it were more of a standalone story it would be the end of the episode so you get a dose of happy on a regular basis. Sometimes it can be hard to wait for relief like that. Though it was nice to hear Daniel talk of his wife, Share, something so key in the early seasons - you forget the backstories are long. Could there somehow be some form of reunion at the end?
**
The Lorelei Signal
DVD, Star Trek: The Animated Series (The Lorelei Signal)
Uhura gets one of her strongest roles in an episode, ever, perhaps not since Nomad took away her memory that time. She practically becomes Captain Uhura, taking control of the Enterprise and the responsibility therein to save the affected male crewmembers from a siren call that makes them euphoric and drawn to a particular planet in an area of space where ships go missing every twenty-seven years. It's a fresh take on 'TOS' to have Uhura and Nurse Chapel run things, even if the story is a typical space sirens tale mixed with 'The Deadly Years' in which Kirk and company aged drastically in a short period of time. I can't remember the solution to that episode, but here they use the Transporter to reconfigure their bodies back to their proper ages. Trouble is, and this is one of those reasons why you can't take 'TAS' seriously as proper Trek canon, if you can just de-age a body by using an older Transporter pattern then nobody ever has to age! Just keep a pattern handy from when you were in your twenties and every so often re-energise yourself. At least it was a 'scientific' solution, as you'd expect from Mr. Spock, and not some magical concoction of drugs that reverts them to natural form, but it was a bit too much of a liberty with Trek tech.
The message of the story is that immortality isn't all that great if you're stuck in one place, and humanoids need the realities we all experience, otherwise life becomes a curse the these women were living, forever the same age, only able to exist by draining the lives of men (which is why they needed a new ship every three decades), stuck in permanent limbo on this planet. If they'd had any sense they'd have made any men that came along transport them to a new planet, but they didn't appear to think of that! If there's any episode this reminded me of it was 'Favourite Son' from 'Voyager.' That had the added twist that members of crews would suddenly break out in Trill spots and feel drawn to a particular planet, 'revealed' to be a member of that species rather than who they thought they were, then when they'd decided to stay they were drained of life and left to die as withered husks. Maybe the 'Voyager' writers were inspired by this episode? Or maybe it is a bit of a sci-fi trope, life-draining matriarchal societies…
I will give it this: it certainly felt like an episode of 'TOS' thanks to that great incidental music, the weird sounds of the siren call, and the very alien architecture and flora of the planet. I can imagine the temple or castle, whatever it was, to have been a beautiful matte painting like the one in 'The Cage,' and almost everyone (except the women), being controlled by outside forces actually happened in 'This Side of Paradise,' so you can see the influences. The shorter story duration didn't harm it as we get right into things with Kirk's log (hearing that there's been cooperation between them, the Klingons and Romulans was a nice touch - perhaps this sharing of information eventually led to Nimbus III?), and though it's a simple case of capture on an alien planet, the chase as these old men stumble away from the vibrant young women to hide had some drama to it. The settings may have had some inspiration from 'The Time Machine' as the temple with its many steps, the blonde-haired 'Eloi' women and even the giant urn in the gardens (which looked like the pits from which the Morlocks came), gave the impression of that film.
Although Uhura takes over, we see Scotty left in command of the Bridge, which was true to the chain of command in 'TOS,' and he even sings! Looks like the ship had some alterations since the series as there's another Bridge entry point, presumably to a Turbolift, to the left of the viewscreen. Not as drastic as 'DSC' and its awful scale issues and silly outer corridor around the Bridge, but quite a major change all the same. Another change, and I can see why they did this one, is that Majel Barrett doesn't seem to be doing the computer voice - when Chapel speaks to it, it sounds more like Nichelle Nichols, but otherwise it would sound like Chapel was talking to herself (though you can easily hear her voicing the women on the planet). That makes me wonder if Chapel or Lwaxana Troi ever held a conversation with the computer in their roles on 'TOS' and 'TNG.' Surely they must have played that gag at some point? Along with cutting corners for guest voices there is the occasional visual mistake in the animation: when Chapel and Uhura seek out Spock (he communicates telepathically with the Nurse, apparently!), Chapel reaches up to press a button and you see her blue uniform as usual, but the reaching arm is in red! And then there's the black nurse standing by Spock's biobed who changes into a white nurse when the shot changes!
It may be cheap and cheerful, and doesn't exactly match up to Trek as we know it, but this was an inoffensive offering (aside from Transporter regeneration and Vulcan telepathy, both issues that required more precise clarification for future edification, though a lot more fitting than beaming across the quadrant, magic healing blood and Iron Man time suits which Trek has degenerated into in the last decade!), and felt true to the series. It is lacking in humour and the many shades the characters were capable of portraying, but it was okay, if nothing more, and holds a unique place for Uhura and Chapel to shine, which was nice.
**
Uhura gets one of her strongest roles in an episode, ever, perhaps not since Nomad took away her memory that time. She practically becomes Captain Uhura, taking control of the Enterprise and the responsibility therein to save the affected male crewmembers from a siren call that makes them euphoric and drawn to a particular planet in an area of space where ships go missing every twenty-seven years. It's a fresh take on 'TOS' to have Uhura and Nurse Chapel run things, even if the story is a typical space sirens tale mixed with 'The Deadly Years' in which Kirk and company aged drastically in a short period of time. I can't remember the solution to that episode, but here they use the Transporter to reconfigure their bodies back to their proper ages. Trouble is, and this is one of those reasons why you can't take 'TAS' seriously as proper Trek canon, if you can just de-age a body by using an older Transporter pattern then nobody ever has to age! Just keep a pattern handy from when you were in your twenties and every so often re-energise yourself. At least it was a 'scientific' solution, as you'd expect from Mr. Spock, and not some magical concoction of drugs that reverts them to natural form, but it was a bit too much of a liberty with Trek tech.
The message of the story is that immortality isn't all that great if you're stuck in one place, and humanoids need the realities we all experience, otherwise life becomes a curse the these women were living, forever the same age, only able to exist by draining the lives of men (which is why they needed a new ship every three decades), stuck in permanent limbo on this planet. If they'd had any sense they'd have made any men that came along transport them to a new planet, but they didn't appear to think of that! If there's any episode this reminded me of it was 'Favourite Son' from 'Voyager.' That had the added twist that members of crews would suddenly break out in Trill spots and feel drawn to a particular planet, 'revealed' to be a member of that species rather than who they thought they were, then when they'd decided to stay they were drained of life and left to die as withered husks. Maybe the 'Voyager' writers were inspired by this episode? Or maybe it is a bit of a sci-fi trope, life-draining matriarchal societies…
I will give it this: it certainly felt like an episode of 'TOS' thanks to that great incidental music, the weird sounds of the siren call, and the very alien architecture and flora of the planet. I can imagine the temple or castle, whatever it was, to have been a beautiful matte painting like the one in 'The Cage,' and almost everyone (except the women), being controlled by outside forces actually happened in 'This Side of Paradise,' so you can see the influences. The shorter story duration didn't harm it as we get right into things with Kirk's log (hearing that there's been cooperation between them, the Klingons and Romulans was a nice touch - perhaps this sharing of information eventually led to Nimbus III?), and though it's a simple case of capture on an alien planet, the chase as these old men stumble away from the vibrant young women to hide had some drama to it. The settings may have had some inspiration from 'The Time Machine' as the temple with its many steps, the blonde-haired 'Eloi' women and even the giant urn in the gardens (which looked like the pits from which the Morlocks came), gave the impression of that film.
Although Uhura takes over, we see Scotty left in command of the Bridge, which was true to the chain of command in 'TOS,' and he even sings! Looks like the ship had some alterations since the series as there's another Bridge entry point, presumably to a Turbolift, to the left of the viewscreen. Not as drastic as 'DSC' and its awful scale issues and silly outer corridor around the Bridge, but quite a major change all the same. Another change, and I can see why they did this one, is that Majel Barrett doesn't seem to be doing the computer voice - when Chapel speaks to it, it sounds more like Nichelle Nichols, but otherwise it would sound like Chapel was talking to herself (though you can easily hear her voicing the women on the planet). That makes me wonder if Chapel or Lwaxana Troi ever held a conversation with the computer in their roles on 'TOS' and 'TNG.' Surely they must have played that gag at some point? Along with cutting corners for guest voices there is the occasional visual mistake in the animation: when Chapel and Uhura seek out Spock (he communicates telepathically with the Nurse, apparently!), Chapel reaches up to press a button and you see her blue uniform as usual, but the reaching arm is in red! And then there's the black nurse standing by Spock's biobed who changes into a white nurse when the shot changes!
It may be cheap and cheerful, and doesn't exactly match up to Trek as we know it, but this was an inoffensive offering (aside from Transporter regeneration and Vulcan telepathy, both issues that required more precise clarification for future edification, though a lot more fitting than beaming across the quadrant, magic healing blood and Iron Man time suits which Trek has degenerated into in the last decade!), and felt true to the series. It is lacking in humour and the many shades the characters were capable of portraying, but it was okay, if nothing more, and holds a unique place for Uhura and Chapel to shine, which was nice.
**
Sleeping Dogs (2)
DVD, Enterprise S1 (Sleeping Dogs) (2)
Let 'em lie, is the usual advice, but Starfleet always has to poke its nose in, with the best intentions of course. But the road to Klingons is paved with good intentions, and a Targ in the fridge is worth two hanging from meat hooks, or some such saying. The point is this is the next encounter with the warrior race and this time I think he's got it, he's got it, he's finally got it: Archer learns his galactic life lessons slowly, as if he had all the time in the world (or seven years on TV), but at least he gets there. It's strange how he didn't mention 'The Vulcan Hello' entry in the nine hundred pages the Vulcan database sports on the subject of 'Klingon,' as that would seem to be 'How To Deal With Them 101,' but just as the Captain prefers eyesight, taste buds, sniff and touch to a mechanical probe being out there in space to document these experiences, maybe he likes to discover the inhabitants of the final frontier for himself, too? You'd think they'd at least have the computer automatically synch up with the database to provide instant identification of unknown ships, just for the sake of security, but in this case even T'Pol didn't recognise the Raptor-Class vessel as being Klingon. Even though it looks so very Klingon! It is a tasty design and it stands out even more after the poor standards of Klingon representations seen this century (in the real world - the 21st), whether that be 'Into Darkness' or 'DSC.' This one has the essential Klingon lineage to it, and though we don't get quite enough of a look at it for my liking, shrouded in the seething fumes of the gas giant as it is, it looks powerful and majestic.
This is only the third encounter with the Klingons for Jonathan Archer and crew, but the Captain remains determined to help them despite previous animosity from their side. Although the episode is merely passably good, enjoyable and solid by comparison with the misery, depression and disappointment of 'DSC,' its Klingons, its characters and its 'stories,' that it's enough to stand out for me. It wasn't going to win any awards, it wasn't going to go down in history as one of the greats, but what it does, works. It isn't broken, in fact it is a pretty satisfying example of what the series could do with its greater grunt in visual effects, widescreen views and detailed sets. There is some extraneous stuff going on (I never worked out why Reed had a cold, expecting it to be integral to the plot at some point, but it never was!), and some inconsistency, but it's an inconsistency that makes sense. It stems from the fact that T'Pol knows the Klingons and their ways and the humans don't. Reed and Hoshi, even after they've been trapped on this sinking ship, the only conscious Klingon having stolen their Shuttlepod and skedaddled, still want to help the crew, and now themselves. T'Pol, rightly, says Klingons wouldn't want their help and would rather die at their posts as that's considered an honourable death, but later the captured Klingon woman is goaded into assisting in the rescue by Archer saying she doesn't want her crew to die a dishonourable death, crushed by a gas giant, and he's right, she doesn't. So it's clear that although T'Pol has plenty of knowledge on the race she's far from an expert, which I like.
I will concede the episode could have been a classic: three disparate Starfleet officers trapped on a dark, dank Klingon ship, the crew could wake at any moment and they're sinking deeper into the deadly pressure of a gas giant's atmosphere. It's the time for all good Starfleet officers to do their duty, pull together, and use their expertise to get themselves out of a fix. There isn't quite enough tension to make it a great story - when I think of being trapped on a ship amidst rising tensions I think of the unimaginatively titled 'The Ship' on 'DS9.' Now that I come to think of it, that really was an incredibly unimaginative title for that series, more fitted to 'TNG' at the height of its 'The …' period. 'The Enemy,' 'The Survivors,' 'The Offspring,' 'The Price,' and on and on! But I digress. The point is the 'DS9' episode was heavy with atmosphere, like a bomb about to go off. At the same time it was made in that series' fifth season, a position 'Enterprise' was sadly denied reaching against all better judgement (come on CBS, give us a continuation: 'Enterprise II'!), while 'Sleeping Dogs' is only halfway through the opening season when the production was still trying to find its sea legs. But there are signs that a consistency was beginning to be reached, and one of these is in the use of the characters. Hoshi had been largely muted for a few episodes, but she's definitely one of the stars of this show, facing any fears she has head on and putting in the homework on the shooting range in the grand tradition of characters taking target practice, or other games, together in the past, or should that be future, such as Picard and Riker, Picard and Guinan, Janeway and Seven…
Interestingly, the circular 'Star Wars' lightsaber training droid that acts as a target for Hoshi's low-powered Phase Pistol (presumably on a training setting since we know they only have stun and kill capability yet there wasn't even a scratch on the bulkheads from Hoshi's misses - must have had something to do with the power pack we see inserted into the weapon before she starts. I like all these technical details!), was apparently holographic, so we see some evidence for that tech in this series, even if 'DSC' took it way too far beyond what was acceptable for a Trek feel to the 23rd Century. Whatever, it's just pleasing to see Hoshi with a get up and go attitude, jumping into the spirit of exploration and shooting strange new aliens. Okay, maybe not the last bit, but it makes a big difference from the cowering linguist we saw in early episodes. It's not been like a switch being turned on, but a gradual process and you feel so proud of how far she's come, quite in opposition to someone like Tilly on 'DSC' who is just plain annoying, unprofessional and deliberately written for inappropriate humour (the difference is that here Reed is wryly warned not to sneeze into his helmet, which is funny, and there you'd actually see someone sneeze into their helmet, which is not). Hoshi is the right way to do that kind of character and it's a real balm for the soul to see Trek done right, the main reason I started going through Season 1 of 'Enterprise' again in the first place! And she does go the whole hog (or should I say Targ?), even surprising the gung-ho, but cautious Reed by suggesting they fire off the ship's entire complement of torpedoes to create a shockwave big enough to push them into higher orbit.
It should also be noted that her skills of translation and picking up alien languages was as invaluable as ever. Perhaps T'Pol's little Tricorder scanner device might have been reconfigured, with time, to decipher the Klingon readouts for Bridge and Engineering operations (is this the first time we ever saw Klingon Engineering? Probably not, but the sets, the food, the Targs all look great and pull you into the warriors' world), but time was of the essence. At first I couldn't work out from Archer's tone if he was genuine in saying Hoshi had already been assigned to the 'team' (don't think they actually said Away Team or Landing Party this time), or whether he was just making her feel better, but then we hear it straight from the horse's mouth, well, T'Pol's mouth that is, when she states she required Hoshi's skills for the mission. But if so, when was Archer going to inform Hoshi she was to go? I suppose he might just have been about to summon her when she called him and asked to speak, that would make sense. And as it turns out, it's Hoshi's ability to spot Klingon language when they enter the eerie alien ship that tips them off to what they're walking into. This episode is absolutely best seen in the dark because so much of it is gloomy, shadowed hallways in that Viking architecture and style the Klingons had right back to this century, with everything metallic, spartan and harsh, ideal for the metallic, spartan and harsh way they live. As always, the creeping around on a darkened, possibly abandoned ship is what I love and when they're trapped there and the vessel is sinking still lower it delivers the kind of personal situation you want to see Trek characters in.
Not only that, but the lore is respected (another reason this is so much better than a 'DSC' episode), with the Klingons portrayed correctly, details forthcoming that synch up with canon (to use the 'DSC' makers' favourite saying), such as the Klingon honour thing, or that they don't use escape pods, or that they have a very strong odour which Reed can't smell because of his handy cold! Even the apparent glaring mistake of not recognising a clearly Klingon ship design is answered by T'Pol stating she's not familiar with all classes of their ships, which is logical and (just about), believable. It's right for Starfleet that they'd be pro-life, too, in the attitude of Reed and Hoshi to want to rescue the crew. It's a good point that just because the alien culture is about leaving them to die, they can't do that because it conflicts with their morals, and although 'later' Trek crews would probably lean more towards the idea that they shouldn't interfere, they're still green as spacefarers go, and anyway it's proved that this impression of what the Klingons would want isn't necessarily accurate as shown by both the Klingon Captain who doesn't wish to be crushed to death, and the Klingon woman, Bu'kaH (whose name I can't remember ever being spoken). She's typically suspicious, proud, and angry, humiliated as she is to be captured. I loved the ending with that terrific shot of the Shuttlepod flying back down to the ship as debris slices through the gas around them and we see the Raptor rise up before them as the trapped crewmembers' plan works.
It's always great to see them solve a problem, because Trek isn't about galaxy-ending fantasy epics or shoot-'em-up, pew-pew effects, it's about problems being smoothed out with intelligence and training, the things that have been lost from Trek since 'Enterprise' ended and the main missing element that is the 'e equals mc squared' of Trek. And they did it without an Engineer, as Trip was too busy seeming quite relaxed and happy back on the NX-01 - it truly seems that if his engines aren't threatened he's not too bothered about anything else! It's unfair, I know, but Trip was written and portrayed very light in an episode that could have seen the deaths of three of what have become close friends, and he's smiling and being flippant. I know we don't want to see everyone get intensely concerned every time one of the crew is in danger, and it's good to sprinkle a little levity around, but that B-story of Archer and Trip on Enterprise working out how to deal with the Klingons didn't quite gel with the serious situation going on in the gas giant. Though Trip is responsible for getting his Captain to 'think like a Klingon,' so there is some credit due him, and Archer getting a handle on how to approach the race does nudge him up a notch in my estimation when he finally realises you have to tailor your approach to different races who aren't all going to respond in the right way to overtures of peace and friendship. The way to get on with the Klingons is to earn their respect (one of the only things about 'DSC' they got right, but then that was an idea that came from veteran Bryan Fuller, so no wonder!), and to do that you have to show them a bold front (that could have been the episode's title: 'Bold Front'!).
One of the fun details about this story is that it features Vaughn Armstrong as the Captain of the Klingon vessel. We only see him onscreen, either as a log (which reminds me somewhat of the Klingon Captain from 'Dramatis Personae' on 'DS9' who was also suffering from a virus), or threatening the NX-01 at the end. It's a nice reflection of Armstrong's first ever Trek role almost fifteen years previous to this when he played a Klingon in the first season of 'TNG.' I'd be surprised indeed if anyone ever matches his record for number of different characters played across various Treks, and though best known here for Admiral Forrest, this is only the second role of three this season. I wonder if you didn't know his name and you just watched the episode, if you'd know it was the same guy as Forrest - I'd never miss him, being one of those in the know about the little details, so I don't know. It might have been fun for Archer (well, fun for us, maybe not for him!), to stand toe to toe with the belligerent Captain instead of viewscreen to viewscreen, but he does a creditable job of showing his steel when this ungrateful, shamed and embarrassed Klingon threatens to destroy his ship. That's another part of the end that works really well, because you could almost expect a hearts and butterflies conclusion in which the female Klingon thanks Archer for his help, 'you have made a friend today,' that sort of thing, but no, she doesn't get a look-in, it's just the Captain, angry and aggressive. Maybe Archer did read 'The Vulcan Hello' page after all?
Reed, Hoshi and T'Pol made a good team, although I was surprised that she went along with their deception of Dr. Phlox about the need to stay in the decon chamber. Not only that but she actually makes up a headache to encourage him to run the tests again, so Vulcans do lie! Not that that's a revelation, it's a fallacy that they're always scrupulously honest - it makes perfect sense that if logic called for dissembling then that's what they'd do, and she had shown a bond with Hoshi earlier in the episode when she uses Vulcan voodoo to calm the Ensign's nerves when things get all too much for her. Unlike 'DSC' we get a scene of two women talking emotionally (one of them, anyway, the other comforting), but in this case it's how to be professional and control yourself rather than a breakdown into crying in what became an all too common excruciating scene for the later Trek series. Not that this episode is immune from all criticism - for a start, how it starts. While I like the scene in the Armoury with Reed giving Hoshi tips on the hand weapon (and I love all that tech talk that you don't see in modern Trek now), it's a pretty inconsequential teaser that doesn't hold much wonder about where the episode's going, and we've seen they can do a great pre-credits bit when they choose to. When Reed finds out they've dropped out of warp from the panel I wondered if he was reading sensor information that told him a gas giant was near or a ship-wide report from the Bridge. Just a thought.
There's also the unevenness of the story - I already mentioned the lighter tone on Enterprise not quite fitting the weightier situation on the Raptor, but you get a moment early on when there's a beautiful demonstration of the wonder of space when they put the sound of the gas giant on audio and it's evocative of whale song. It's really Mayweather's only moment of the episode where he recalls his people called it siren calls, but it's over too soon and back to business. And like I said, the tension could have been ramped up significantly with such a great concept for drama, especially with the threat of more Klingon ships set to arrive, but which we never see and it would have been a great visual for the NX-01 to sweep away just as they warp in. The temporary solution for how the Raptor could be prevented from sinking lower was admirable, but if they're surrounded by gas why was it a shockwave that dissipated, surely the whole thing would be ignited, either blasting the ship to pieces or launching it out of orbit with extreme prejudice! And I don't believe they mentioned the Transporter even once, which would seem to be a potential solution for emergency escape from such a situation. The obvious answer is the gas prevented its safe working, but I could have done with them crossing that off the list of possible saviours. It also makes a change for them not to want out of the decon chamber as soon as possible, which speaks to the grime and stench of a Klingon ship that they treat it like a spa session. And perhaps a more serious resolution to the Hoshi story was needed, Reed congratulating her on being tough, or some kind of synergy with Archer's own cause to be tough with the Klingons, but it doesn't detract and it's a far better finish to its beginning.
***
Let 'em lie, is the usual advice, but Starfleet always has to poke its nose in, with the best intentions of course. But the road to Klingons is paved with good intentions, and a Targ in the fridge is worth two hanging from meat hooks, or some such saying. The point is this is the next encounter with the warrior race and this time I think he's got it, he's got it, he's finally got it: Archer learns his galactic life lessons slowly, as if he had all the time in the world (or seven years on TV), but at least he gets there. It's strange how he didn't mention 'The Vulcan Hello' entry in the nine hundred pages the Vulcan database sports on the subject of 'Klingon,' as that would seem to be 'How To Deal With Them 101,' but just as the Captain prefers eyesight, taste buds, sniff and touch to a mechanical probe being out there in space to document these experiences, maybe he likes to discover the inhabitants of the final frontier for himself, too? You'd think they'd at least have the computer automatically synch up with the database to provide instant identification of unknown ships, just for the sake of security, but in this case even T'Pol didn't recognise the Raptor-Class vessel as being Klingon. Even though it looks so very Klingon! It is a tasty design and it stands out even more after the poor standards of Klingon representations seen this century (in the real world - the 21st), whether that be 'Into Darkness' or 'DSC.' This one has the essential Klingon lineage to it, and though we don't get quite enough of a look at it for my liking, shrouded in the seething fumes of the gas giant as it is, it looks powerful and majestic.
This is only the third encounter with the Klingons for Jonathan Archer and crew, but the Captain remains determined to help them despite previous animosity from their side. Although the episode is merely passably good, enjoyable and solid by comparison with the misery, depression and disappointment of 'DSC,' its Klingons, its characters and its 'stories,' that it's enough to stand out for me. It wasn't going to win any awards, it wasn't going to go down in history as one of the greats, but what it does, works. It isn't broken, in fact it is a pretty satisfying example of what the series could do with its greater grunt in visual effects, widescreen views and detailed sets. There is some extraneous stuff going on (I never worked out why Reed had a cold, expecting it to be integral to the plot at some point, but it never was!), and some inconsistency, but it's an inconsistency that makes sense. It stems from the fact that T'Pol knows the Klingons and their ways and the humans don't. Reed and Hoshi, even after they've been trapped on this sinking ship, the only conscious Klingon having stolen their Shuttlepod and skedaddled, still want to help the crew, and now themselves. T'Pol, rightly, says Klingons wouldn't want their help and would rather die at their posts as that's considered an honourable death, but later the captured Klingon woman is goaded into assisting in the rescue by Archer saying she doesn't want her crew to die a dishonourable death, crushed by a gas giant, and he's right, she doesn't. So it's clear that although T'Pol has plenty of knowledge on the race she's far from an expert, which I like.
I will concede the episode could have been a classic: three disparate Starfleet officers trapped on a dark, dank Klingon ship, the crew could wake at any moment and they're sinking deeper into the deadly pressure of a gas giant's atmosphere. It's the time for all good Starfleet officers to do their duty, pull together, and use their expertise to get themselves out of a fix. There isn't quite enough tension to make it a great story - when I think of being trapped on a ship amidst rising tensions I think of the unimaginatively titled 'The Ship' on 'DS9.' Now that I come to think of it, that really was an incredibly unimaginative title for that series, more fitted to 'TNG' at the height of its 'The …' period. 'The Enemy,' 'The Survivors,' 'The Offspring,' 'The Price,' and on and on! But I digress. The point is the 'DS9' episode was heavy with atmosphere, like a bomb about to go off. At the same time it was made in that series' fifth season, a position 'Enterprise' was sadly denied reaching against all better judgement (come on CBS, give us a continuation: 'Enterprise II'!), while 'Sleeping Dogs' is only halfway through the opening season when the production was still trying to find its sea legs. But there are signs that a consistency was beginning to be reached, and one of these is in the use of the characters. Hoshi had been largely muted for a few episodes, but she's definitely one of the stars of this show, facing any fears she has head on and putting in the homework on the shooting range in the grand tradition of characters taking target practice, or other games, together in the past, or should that be future, such as Picard and Riker, Picard and Guinan, Janeway and Seven…
Interestingly, the circular 'Star Wars' lightsaber training droid that acts as a target for Hoshi's low-powered Phase Pistol (presumably on a training setting since we know they only have stun and kill capability yet there wasn't even a scratch on the bulkheads from Hoshi's misses - must have had something to do with the power pack we see inserted into the weapon before she starts. I like all these technical details!), was apparently holographic, so we see some evidence for that tech in this series, even if 'DSC' took it way too far beyond what was acceptable for a Trek feel to the 23rd Century. Whatever, it's just pleasing to see Hoshi with a get up and go attitude, jumping into the spirit of exploration and shooting strange new aliens. Okay, maybe not the last bit, but it makes a big difference from the cowering linguist we saw in early episodes. It's not been like a switch being turned on, but a gradual process and you feel so proud of how far she's come, quite in opposition to someone like Tilly on 'DSC' who is just plain annoying, unprofessional and deliberately written for inappropriate humour (the difference is that here Reed is wryly warned not to sneeze into his helmet, which is funny, and there you'd actually see someone sneeze into their helmet, which is not). Hoshi is the right way to do that kind of character and it's a real balm for the soul to see Trek done right, the main reason I started going through Season 1 of 'Enterprise' again in the first place! And she does go the whole hog (or should I say Targ?), even surprising the gung-ho, but cautious Reed by suggesting they fire off the ship's entire complement of torpedoes to create a shockwave big enough to push them into higher orbit.
It should also be noted that her skills of translation and picking up alien languages was as invaluable as ever. Perhaps T'Pol's little Tricorder scanner device might have been reconfigured, with time, to decipher the Klingon readouts for Bridge and Engineering operations (is this the first time we ever saw Klingon Engineering? Probably not, but the sets, the food, the Targs all look great and pull you into the warriors' world), but time was of the essence. At first I couldn't work out from Archer's tone if he was genuine in saying Hoshi had already been assigned to the 'team' (don't think they actually said Away Team or Landing Party this time), or whether he was just making her feel better, but then we hear it straight from the horse's mouth, well, T'Pol's mouth that is, when she states she required Hoshi's skills for the mission. But if so, when was Archer going to inform Hoshi she was to go? I suppose he might just have been about to summon her when she called him and asked to speak, that would make sense. And as it turns out, it's Hoshi's ability to spot Klingon language when they enter the eerie alien ship that tips them off to what they're walking into. This episode is absolutely best seen in the dark because so much of it is gloomy, shadowed hallways in that Viking architecture and style the Klingons had right back to this century, with everything metallic, spartan and harsh, ideal for the metallic, spartan and harsh way they live. As always, the creeping around on a darkened, possibly abandoned ship is what I love and when they're trapped there and the vessel is sinking still lower it delivers the kind of personal situation you want to see Trek characters in.
Not only that, but the lore is respected (another reason this is so much better than a 'DSC' episode), with the Klingons portrayed correctly, details forthcoming that synch up with canon (to use the 'DSC' makers' favourite saying), such as the Klingon honour thing, or that they don't use escape pods, or that they have a very strong odour which Reed can't smell because of his handy cold! Even the apparent glaring mistake of not recognising a clearly Klingon ship design is answered by T'Pol stating she's not familiar with all classes of their ships, which is logical and (just about), believable. It's right for Starfleet that they'd be pro-life, too, in the attitude of Reed and Hoshi to want to rescue the crew. It's a good point that just because the alien culture is about leaving them to die, they can't do that because it conflicts with their morals, and although 'later' Trek crews would probably lean more towards the idea that they shouldn't interfere, they're still green as spacefarers go, and anyway it's proved that this impression of what the Klingons would want isn't necessarily accurate as shown by both the Klingon Captain who doesn't wish to be crushed to death, and the Klingon woman, Bu'kaH (whose name I can't remember ever being spoken). She's typically suspicious, proud, and angry, humiliated as she is to be captured. I loved the ending with that terrific shot of the Shuttlepod flying back down to the ship as debris slices through the gas around them and we see the Raptor rise up before them as the trapped crewmembers' plan works.
It's always great to see them solve a problem, because Trek isn't about galaxy-ending fantasy epics or shoot-'em-up, pew-pew effects, it's about problems being smoothed out with intelligence and training, the things that have been lost from Trek since 'Enterprise' ended and the main missing element that is the 'e equals mc squared' of Trek. And they did it without an Engineer, as Trip was too busy seeming quite relaxed and happy back on the NX-01 - it truly seems that if his engines aren't threatened he's not too bothered about anything else! It's unfair, I know, but Trip was written and portrayed very light in an episode that could have seen the deaths of three of what have become close friends, and he's smiling and being flippant. I know we don't want to see everyone get intensely concerned every time one of the crew is in danger, and it's good to sprinkle a little levity around, but that B-story of Archer and Trip on Enterprise working out how to deal with the Klingons didn't quite gel with the serious situation going on in the gas giant. Though Trip is responsible for getting his Captain to 'think like a Klingon,' so there is some credit due him, and Archer getting a handle on how to approach the race does nudge him up a notch in my estimation when he finally realises you have to tailor your approach to different races who aren't all going to respond in the right way to overtures of peace and friendship. The way to get on with the Klingons is to earn their respect (one of the only things about 'DSC' they got right, but then that was an idea that came from veteran Bryan Fuller, so no wonder!), and to do that you have to show them a bold front (that could have been the episode's title: 'Bold Front'!).
One of the fun details about this story is that it features Vaughn Armstrong as the Captain of the Klingon vessel. We only see him onscreen, either as a log (which reminds me somewhat of the Klingon Captain from 'Dramatis Personae' on 'DS9' who was also suffering from a virus), or threatening the NX-01 at the end. It's a nice reflection of Armstrong's first ever Trek role almost fifteen years previous to this when he played a Klingon in the first season of 'TNG.' I'd be surprised indeed if anyone ever matches his record for number of different characters played across various Treks, and though best known here for Admiral Forrest, this is only the second role of three this season. I wonder if you didn't know his name and you just watched the episode, if you'd know it was the same guy as Forrest - I'd never miss him, being one of those in the know about the little details, so I don't know. It might have been fun for Archer (well, fun for us, maybe not for him!), to stand toe to toe with the belligerent Captain instead of viewscreen to viewscreen, but he does a creditable job of showing his steel when this ungrateful, shamed and embarrassed Klingon threatens to destroy his ship. That's another part of the end that works really well, because you could almost expect a hearts and butterflies conclusion in which the female Klingon thanks Archer for his help, 'you have made a friend today,' that sort of thing, but no, she doesn't get a look-in, it's just the Captain, angry and aggressive. Maybe Archer did read 'The Vulcan Hello' page after all?
Reed, Hoshi and T'Pol made a good team, although I was surprised that she went along with their deception of Dr. Phlox about the need to stay in the decon chamber. Not only that but she actually makes up a headache to encourage him to run the tests again, so Vulcans do lie! Not that that's a revelation, it's a fallacy that they're always scrupulously honest - it makes perfect sense that if logic called for dissembling then that's what they'd do, and she had shown a bond with Hoshi earlier in the episode when she uses Vulcan voodoo to calm the Ensign's nerves when things get all too much for her. Unlike 'DSC' we get a scene of two women talking emotionally (one of them, anyway, the other comforting), but in this case it's how to be professional and control yourself rather than a breakdown into crying in what became an all too common excruciating scene for the later Trek series. Not that this episode is immune from all criticism - for a start, how it starts. While I like the scene in the Armoury with Reed giving Hoshi tips on the hand weapon (and I love all that tech talk that you don't see in modern Trek now), it's a pretty inconsequential teaser that doesn't hold much wonder about where the episode's going, and we've seen they can do a great pre-credits bit when they choose to. When Reed finds out they've dropped out of warp from the panel I wondered if he was reading sensor information that told him a gas giant was near or a ship-wide report from the Bridge. Just a thought.
There's also the unevenness of the story - I already mentioned the lighter tone on Enterprise not quite fitting the weightier situation on the Raptor, but you get a moment early on when there's a beautiful demonstration of the wonder of space when they put the sound of the gas giant on audio and it's evocative of whale song. It's really Mayweather's only moment of the episode where he recalls his people called it siren calls, but it's over too soon and back to business. And like I said, the tension could have been ramped up significantly with such a great concept for drama, especially with the threat of more Klingon ships set to arrive, but which we never see and it would have been a great visual for the NX-01 to sweep away just as they warp in. The temporary solution for how the Raptor could be prevented from sinking lower was admirable, but if they're surrounded by gas why was it a shockwave that dissipated, surely the whole thing would be ignited, either blasting the ship to pieces or launching it out of orbit with extreme prejudice! And I don't believe they mentioned the Transporter even once, which would seem to be a potential solution for emergency escape from such a situation. The obvious answer is the gas prevented its safe working, but I could have done with them crossing that off the list of possible saviours. It also makes a change for them not to want out of the decon chamber as soon as possible, which speaks to the grime and stench of a Klingon ship that they treat it like a spa session. And perhaps a more serious resolution to the Hoshi story was needed, Reed congratulating her on being tough, or some kind of synergy with Archer's own cause to be tough with the Klingons, but it doesn't detract and it's a far better finish to its beginning.
***
200
DVD, Stargate SG-1 S10 (200)
Simply delightful, the way the series chose to celebrate it's 200th episode is to truly celebrate the series in as many different ways as possible, couched in a story about the TV show 'Wormhole X-Treme!' being turned into a film. Martin Lloyd, the alien who lives on Earth and wrote what we learn was a three-episode failure (that sold well on DVD, according to Teal'c), comes to the base to get SG-1's ideas for improvements to the script on the very day the Stargate breaks down and they're stuck there. Was it all a plot to get everyone together for a party, and if so was it more than just celebrating Mitchell's 200th trip through the 'gate? Whatever, it was actually quite emotional to see 'SG-1' old and new walking up that famous ramp into the Stargate: the new team, the old team, even Walter the technician. And O'Neill, they had to bring him back! I thought at first (knowing very little about the episode other than there would be some kind of 'Farscape' skit and puppets), they were just going to tease us, starting off as they did with a flashback to an 'untold adventure' when he became invisible. It was a good trick, until he actually speaks so you think if they got his services to provide the voice surely they'll have him there in person. But no, he shows up voicing a puppet version of himself from the pilot in a 'Thunderbirds' version of the series, poking fun at some of the lines (Carter's ridiculous 90s 'equality' springs to mind), and the young(er), fresh-faced team that started this whole thing ten years before.
With all the fun and games, countless in-joke after in-joke that laughs at both the series, its history, the genre, other sci-fi series', and the industry itself, you could forget what an immense achievement it was, and still is to this day, for a TV series, particularly science fiction, to last as long as it did. 'Smallville' may have matched it a matter of a few short years later, and other series' have since surpassed the record, but this was the first continuous series with original cast members still starring (others, like the 'Star Trek' franchise and 'Dr. Who' did many more episodes across spinoffs or continuations), to reach that milestone and it was right that they applauded themselves by taking an entire episode out. Right from the opening scene we're seeing a 'recap' of past events and then the Furlings show up, those mythical creatures named as one of the four major races who (I think, my 'Stargate' lore is a little lacking), co-created the Stargates, whom we were never going to see because they sounded so silly, and for a moment they had me. I was genuinely wondering if I'd missed something because I never remembered them being in… ah, it's all an idea for the film! Very clever, poking fun at their own lore, while giving us what we wanted to see: oversized teddy bears that are very reminiscent of large Ewoks, and I think it's fair to say that they were the call-out to 'Star Wars' in the episode, which also referenced both 'Farscape' (which, lest we forget, two of the current cast played the main characters), and 'Star Trek' (which they've often aped, in reality, though this time they're playing on the original 60s series, even recreating a little part of the Engine Room!).
Smile after smile lights up your face, and that's how it should be. Every other scene is 'worth the price of admission alone,' whether that be Vala's reimagining of 'The Wizard of Oz' (Teal'c as Tin Man was superb!), the teen version of 'SG-1,' recast with younger actors who are more emotional and always having personal issues (not so funny when you realise this joke became reality with 'Star Trek XI,' which came out around two years after this so they'd have been aware of its development at the time), to the great ideas bursting out of it. As much fun as it was to bring back some or all of the 'Wormhole X-Treme!' cast from the episode of the same name (I don't know the actor's names, although the woman was recognisable, but I assume they probably did get them back), I would have preferred the episode to end not with that cast doing DVD extras and being interviewed about their experiences (especially as it was ruder than the rest of the episode), but blink out with that shot of everyone going through the 'gate. I'm sure it'll be affecting when it finally comes time to watch the last episode of the series, except that I know there are still two TV films with the characters, and that most show up here and there as late as 'Stargate Universe,' so it's not truly goodbye. But if they can make it as beautiful an ending as the walk through the 'gate it'll be really something.
They got O'Neill back, they had Don S. Davis to voice General Hammond, or the puppet version of him, and they have a few other characters you'd expect (Siler's line about things always happening to him is fun), and I don't think they could have topped it for ideas. I just wanted to see more of them as 'Farscape' characters, and especially amusing that Ben Browder wasn't in his original role. Indeed (to quote Teal'c), my face threatened to explode with smiling so much and it's just so much fun. I do sometimes think they were a little too obvious, like pointing out this is 'The Wizard of Oz,' or this is 'Farscape,' but I suppose they didn't want to frighten away the casual viewers - though if there were casual viewers of the series tuning in for a tenth season you'd think they'd get the references that fall outside it, at least! But a real pleasure throughout and if I had the time I could go through and point out every funny thing, but if I was to do that I might as well just watch it again. The only sting in the tail, and I believe this is true, but I'm not a hundred percent certain, is that during the filming of this episode they were told this would be the final season. That seems incredibly insensitive to drop on a cast and crew when they've put so much effort into celebrating the series and it sounds ironically like the exact sort of thing the higher-ups would do. But there's still two-thirds of the season to go, so it's nose back to the grindstone and I hope they create more episodes as good as this to finish out with.
***
Simply delightful, the way the series chose to celebrate it's 200th episode is to truly celebrate the series in as many different ways as possible, couched in a story about the TV show 'Wormhole X-Treme!' being turned into a film. Martin Lloyd, the alien who lives on Earth and wrote what we learn was a three-episode failure (that sold well on DVD, according to Teal'c), comes to the base to get SG-1's ideas for improvements to the script on the very day the Stargate breaks down and they're stuck there. Was it all a plot to get everyone together for a party, and if so was it more than just celebrating Mitchell's 200th trip through the 'gate? Whatever, it was actually quite emotional to see 'SG-1' old and new walking up that famous ramp into the Stargate: the new team, the old team, even Walter the technician. And O'Neill, they had to bring him back! I thought at first (knowing very little about the episode other than there would be some kind of 'Farscape' skit and puppets), they were just going to tease us, starting off as they did with a flashback to an 'untold adventure' when he became invisible. It was a good trick, until he actually speaks so you think if they got his services to provide the voice surely they'll have him there in person. But no, he shows up voicing a puppet version of himself from the pilot in a 'Thunderbirds' version of the series, poking fun at some of the lines (Carter's ridiculous 90s 'equality' springs to mind), and the young(er), fresh-faced team that started this whole thing ten years before.
With all the fun and games, countless in-joke after in-joke that laughs at both the series, its history, the genre, other sci-fi series', and the industry itself, you could forget what an immense achievement it was, and still is to this day, for a TV series, particularly science fiction, to last as long as it did. 'Smallville' may have matched it a matter of a few short years later, and other series' have since surpassed the record, but this was the first continuous series with original cast members still starring (others, like the 'Star Trek' franchise and 'Dr. Who' did many more episodes across spinoffs or continuations), to reach that milestone and it was right that they applauded themselves by taking an entire episode out. Right from the opening scene we're seeing a 'recap' of past events and then the Furlings show up, those mythical creatures named as one of the four major races who (I think, my 'Stargate' lore is a little lacking), co-created the Stargates, whom we were never going to see because they sounded so silly, and for a moment they had me. I was genuinely wondering if I'd missed something because I never remembered them being in… ah, it's all an idea for the film! Very clever, poking fun at their own lore, while giving us what we wanted to see: oversized teddy bears that are very reminiscent of large Ewoks, and I think it's fair to say that they were the call-out to 'Star Wars' in the episode, which also referenced both 'Farscape' (which, lest we forget, two of the current cast played the main characters), and 'Star Trek' (which they've often aped, in reality, though this time they're playing on the original 60s series, even recreating a little part of the Engine Room!).
Smile after smile lights up your face, and that's how it should be. Every other scene is 'worth the price of admission alone,' whether that be Vala's reimagining of 'The Wizard of Oz' (Teal'c as Tin Man was superb!), the teen version of 'SG-1,' recast with younger actors who are more emotional and always having personal issues (not so funny when you realise this joke became reality with 'Star Trek XI,' which came out around two years after this so they'd have been aware of its development at the time), to the great ideas bursting out of it. As much fun as it was to bring back some or all of the 'Wormhole X-Treme!' cast from the episode of the same name (I don't know the actor's names, although the woman was recognisable, but I assume they probably did get them back), I would have preferred the episode to end not with that cast doing DVD extras and being interviewed about their experiences (especially as it was ruder than the rest of the episode), but blink out with that shot of everyone going through the 'gate. I'm sure it'll be affecting when it finally comes time to watch the last episode of the series, except that I know there are still two TV films with the characters, and that most show up here and there as late as 'Stargate Universe,' so it's not truly goodbye. But if they can make it as beautiful an ending as the walk through the 'gate it'll be really something.
They got O'Neill back, they had Don S. Davis to voice General Hammond, or the puppet version of him, and they have a few other characters you'd expect (Siler's line about things always happening to him is fun), and I don't think they could have topped it for ideas. I just wanted to see more of them as 'Farscape' characters, and especially amusing that Ben Browder wasn't in his original role. Indeed (to quote Teal'c), my face threatened to explode with smiling so much and it's just so much fun. I do sometimes think they were a little too obvious, like pointing out this is 'The Wizard of Oz,' or this is 'Farscape,' but I suppose they didn't want to frighten away the casual viewers - though if there were casual viewers of the series tuning in for a tenth season you'd think they'd get the references that fall outside it, at least! But a real pleasure throughout and if I had the time I could go through and point out every funny thing, but if I was to do that I might as well just watch it again. The only sting in the tail, and I believe this is true, but I'm not a hundred percent certain, is that during the filming of this episode they were told this would be the final season. That seems incredibly insensitive to drop on a cast and crew when they've put so much effort into celebrating the series and it sounds ironically like the exact sort of thing the higher-ups would do. But there's still two-thirds of the season to go, so it's nose back to the grindstone and I hope they create more episodes as good as this to finish out with.
***
Dear Doctor (2)
DVD, Enterprise S1 (Dear Doctor) (2)
'A Day in Sickbay' or 'Phlox' Day,' or even 'Phlox: Clash of Cultures' might have worked as titles for this, the first weighty episode of the series, issue-driven as opposed to action-driven. Before the Prime Directive there was: this! Archer and his intrepid crew had already encountered a pre-warp civilisation before (in 'Civilisation'), but the protocol there was much more straightforward as post-warp aliens were interfering in a pre-warp culture and Archer wasn't about to stand by and let them. The situation is much less clear cut this time around and so you'd think it would end with some kind of compromise where all parties come out of it dissatisfied. Instead, Phlox gets his way, the Captain going along with his refusal to give the imperilled Valakians the cure they need to fight a genetic impairment that is likely to result in their extinction eventually, generations down the line. I didn't warm to this episode as much as I did on original viewing because both A- and B-plots deal with awkward situations from my perspective and I can't really support the choices that were made, even if supported by comfortable direction and sensitively handled music. The minor plot concerns the likeable Ensign Cutler returning for her second of three appearances after a good role in 'Strange New World.' Only this time she's spending rather a lot of time with the good Doctor (as Phlox says, sooner or later everyone comes to see the Doctor), to the point where he realises she's interested in him more than just a casual acquaintance for cinema buddies (they see the Gary Cooper/Ingrid Bergman film, 'For Whom The Bell Tolls,' unsurprisingly a Paramount film - funny how all the classics in the 22nd Century were made by them!).
It's not that I had a problem with her interest, it's just that once she knew he was married to three other wives (we do learn a significant amount about Denobulans, which is a plus for the episode), part of a polygamous setup his people employ for no apparent reason other than they're aliens and this illustrates their differences. No, it was her casual response to his telling her, responding that she's not looking to become another wife to add to the collection. So just for the fun, then? Promiscuity is obviously something, as for most people in the world today, that isn't considered anything wrong in Trek, concerning at such a supposedly 'enlightened' and advanced level of human development. I will say that this secondary plot in the story at least gave Phlox something else to think about. I wouldn't say 'to deal with' because he's not averse to Cutler and it's more him being open to other cultures, while warning her that his is different to hers. And it shows a different side to his character that we hadn't seen. But as with the best story threads, this ties into the main plot, but not really in the deepest way, that of dealing with another culture - Phlox is quite matter of fact about the way the Valakians treat the less developed Menk as inferior, glass half full, citing the fact that generally when more than one sentient species exist on a world, one usually kills off the other, so at least that hasn't happened.
It's not that the Valakians are portrayed as a terrible, evil people, Archer might not have been open to helping them at all if that had been the case, it's just that they thoughtlessly exploit the Menk as that's the only reality they know. I'm not sure it's even fair to say they exploit them as we find out so little about how the two cultures interact, just that they're essentially considered less mentally able. Would the cure have been refused them if they treated the Menk decently and were shown to be looking out for them, encouraging them to develop their minds? Would that have made it acceptable to ensure the Valakians didn't die out 'naturally'? There's the crux, it all hangs on this old Theory of Evolution, the 'grand school of thought' that follows this bizarre and coldly detached belief - there's a reason it's called the theory rather than the fact. But you're not going to convince most people involved with Trek against the theory, it's just one of those things embedded in the culture. The real question is whether it's right to get involved. If you can help, should you? I like that we don't get all the facts immediately, it's not until near the end you realise what it's all about. At first it's a clear case of a less advanced race asking for assistance, Phlox able to provide the superior medical knowledge and technology to be able to do so, with no obvious ethical dilemma. The Valakians are clearly not too far behind most spacefaring races, they even have pre-warp ships and know well that there are other races out there, so it's not a question of hiding the truth from them.
The question is, in such a vast galaxy with so many races and planets therein, who can you help? As T'Pol said, the Vulcans came to help Earth and they're still there ninety years later! Archer seems more intent on zipping in on their way hither, handing out some advice and knowhow then hopping off on their merry way to the next encounter of people to meet, places to visit. It shows up the irresponsible nature of this style of adventuring, which isn't very comfortable to see since that's what all of Trek is about. But once you've found someone that needs the help you can give, where do your obligations end? Personally I think it was wrong of them to withhold the cure. Phlox' reasoning is that it will change the balance of power on the planet, or more precisely, preserve that balance. Because humans and Denobulans are fair-minded they don't see it as right that this monopoly the Valakians have always held over their weaker fellow residents should be reinforced by them and instead are willing to let 'nature' or 'evolution' or 'fate' take its course so that the Valakians may eventually die out. The law of the jungle. But as Archer said to Phlox, he's a doctor, he's interfering against nature every time he heals a patient. It's a complicated situation, but I wonder what the result would have been if the Menk had been equals to the Valakians, would the same idea hold true? That whoever has this genetic immunity should be allowed to overcome the other because that's nature? That's the burden of getting involved, it's not a fun, light course to take, it suggests sacrifice and dedication.
I think it ultimately reflects badly on Starfleet. It's not their mission to go out and provide resources and succour to as many races as they find, but at the same time they can't just fly on by because they do have ethics. They should have given them the cure, but with the agreement that a contingent of human, Vulcan and Denobulans would be stationed on the planet in an attempt to stand up for the equality of the Menk, to see fair play. If the Federation existed then it could have had a longterm plan in which it invested its expertise and resources to try and affect the societal norms. This would have shown actual care instead of an easy cure and move on, or don't cure and leave them to the mercy of nature. True, in the decade they have to use the medicine the Valakians may well develop scientifically enough to be able to come to the cure on their own, in which case Phlox would be responsible for maintaining the balance of power anyway since he gave them that extension. But there is no Federation, Starfleet only has this one fast ship that can get about and maybe they should have refused to go to the planet in the first place rather than intervene, other than healing the pilot they met. That's why they needed a Directive in the first place and I can't help thinking this event could have been used as a catalyst towards forming the Federation if they'd thought about it, a coming together of multiple races to assist this planet and ensure fairness, but just as Starfleet couldn't commit to the longterm, the writers weren't ready to begin the early steps to that which they should have.
It's a low-key story for most of the time, styled in the form of a 'letter' to Phlox' human colleague, Dr. Lucas (voiced by a different actor here as they didn't know they'd be casting Richard Riehle in the role three years later!), which is why this is similar to 'Data's Day' on 'TNG,' which broke the format to give us a very different type of Trek story that hadn't been done before. It's nice that they revived that as it's not the sort of thing you'd expect on this series as it was so unsophisticated in some ways compared to the 24th Century Treks, relying on visuals and action rather than character (Trip, Reed and Travis are the casualties to the background this time). That's one reason why I used to think more highly of it: it reminded me of the other Treks. They could have done with more development like this, it's just that the situation they put Phlox in is hard to get on board with. But there is fun along the way, with reference to the Ferengi (one of the races who visited Valakis, who even T'Pol doesn't know), setting them up ready for a coming appearance; some of the Cutler stuff is quite charming; and learning more about Phlox' people - his six-day hibernation would be shown in Season 2, and we get subtitles as he teaches Hoshi Denobulan in a lovely scene. Like other episodes talking about letters it's comforting to hear of 'old-fashioned' ideas like pen pals being used in the 'future,' more relatable (at least for me!), than uploading to social media hubs that would be a more likely extrapolation, which hadn't been invented when the series was made. There's another sly dig at viewers when Phlox says Denobulans had films, but they lost their appeal a few hundred years ago when people realised their real lives held more interest, which is all good fun, as are the practical creature effects of Sickbay, even though the teaser isn't much of a teaser as it doesn't tease anything!
We even hear a little about 22nd Century dental treatment: T'Pol had her teeth 'sealed' years ago, yet some decay has appeared! I suppose there aren't many dentists on Vulcan, then. Archer relies on her quite a lot here for guidance, but apart from warning how involved the Vulcans had to be with Earth, she pretty much lets him do whatever he wants. I could have understood it that she advised not getting involved at all, but things weren't clear then and human compassion was a big part of the message of the story. Which is why it's harder to take when Archer's compassion is overridden by a choice to interfere no longer. I would have to say he does look weak in this episode, his experience hasn't developed enough to know just what to do so he instead backs away slowly, hands up, and though he at first gave Phlox a hard time, goes with Denobulan ethics. And as I said, he keeps having to defer to T'Pol's Vulcan experience in such matters. For example he's naive enough not to suspect that the aliens might try to steal their technology, while T'Pol advises Phlox and the equipment should be watched. Not that anything did happen, and in fact the aliens are never threatening or anything other than mild-mannered, if unsympathetic due to their casual treatment of the 'natives,' but Archer is a little too trusting sometimes. That can work when others see that he's so genuine, but at the same time it can be a disadvantage against him, taken by others who aren't so noble.
The trouble comes when the Valakians want the secrets of warp drive, because that really is off the table, they have to develop such a society-changing advancement themselves so they can make their own mistakes and learn from them. This is very different from a natural deficiency that is slowly killing them off and so it was time to get out when they felt they could ask such a thing. Again, this could have been another reason used for having a contingent from Starfleet or Vulcan come and watch over their development so that they could assist without being overbearing or actually changing their culture, yet also be able to give warnings about things in the process that might otherwise come at much loss of life. But again, allowing something to happen or not happen could be seen as playing God and it's a whole sorry, messed up situation that does really put a pall over the fun of space exploration. This, more than any violent, aggressive aliens, is harder to deal with, because it's not about personal survival, it's about responsibility, sovereignty, and all the other issues of freedom and control that come with it. There is no easy answer, and that's good sometimes, but it also means it should be difficult to just go back to fun adventures and there should have been more continuity in what happened subsequently when in fact they mainly returned to action adventure stories. Maybe not enough people wanted to watch something that carried weight and made them think, and that's why Trek became such a dumbed down franchise in the years after 'Enterprise,' because if intelligence and complexity don't make money, and simplistic eye candy does, then you know which way things are going to go.
**
'A Day in Sickbay' or 'Phlox' Day,' or even 'Phlox: Clash of Cultures' might have worked as titles for this, the first weighty episode of the series, issue-driven as opposed to action-driven. Before the Prime Directive there was: this! Archer and his intrepid crew had already encountered a pre-warp civilisation before (in 'Civilisation'), but the protocol there was much more straightforward as post-warp aliens were interfering in a pre-warp culture and Archer wasn't about to stand by and let them. The situation is much less clear cut this time around and so you'd think it would end with some kind of compromise where all parties come out of it dissatisfied. Instead, Phlox gets his way, the Captain going along with his refusal to give the imperilled Valakians the cure they need to fight a genetic impairment that is likely to result in their extinction eventually, generations down the line. I didn't warm to this episode as much as I did on original viewing because both A- and B-plots deal with awkward situations from my perspective and I can't really support the choices that were made, even if supported by comfortable direction and sensitively handled music. The minor plot concerns the likeable Ensign Cutler returning for her second of three appearances after a good role in 'Strange New World.' Only this time she's spending rather a lot of time with the good Doctor (as Phlox says, sooner or later everyone comes to see the Doctor), to the point where he realises she's interested in him more than just a casual acquaintance for cinema buddies (they see the Gary Cooper/Ingrid Bergman film, 'For Whom The Bell Tolls,' unsurprisingly a Paramount film - funny how all the classics in the 22nd Century were made by them!).
It's not that I had a problem with her interest, it's just that once she knew he was married to three other wives (we do learn a significant amount about Denobulans, which is a plus for the episode), part of a polygamous setup his people employ for no apparent reason other than they're aliens and this illustrates their differences. No, it was her casual response to his telling her, responding that she's not looking to become another wife to add to the collection. So just for the fun, then? Promiscuity is obviously something, as for most people in the world today, that isn't considered anything wrong in Trek, concerning at such a supposedly 'enlightened' and advanced level of human development. I will say that this secondary plot in the story at least gave Phlox something else to think about. I wouldn't say 'to deal with' because he's not averse to Cutler and it's more him being open to other cultures, while warning her that his is different to hers. And it shows a different side to his character that we hadn't seen. But as with the best story threads, this ties into the main plot, but not really in the deepest way, that of dealing with another culture - Phlox is quite matter of fact about the way the Valakians treat the less developed Menk as inferior, glass half full, citing the fact that generally when more than one sentient species exist on a world, one usually kills off the other, so at least that hasn't happened.
It's not that the Valakians are portrayed as a terrible, evil people, Archer might not have been open to helping them at all if that had been the case, it's just that they thoughtlessly exploit the Menk as that's the only reality they know. I'm not sure it's even fair to say they exploit them as we find out so little about how the two cultures interact, just that they're essentially considered less mentally able. Would the cure have been refused them if they treated the Menk decently and were shown to be looking out for them, encouraging them to develop their minds? Would that have made it acceptable to ensure the Valakians didn't die out 'naturally'? There's the crux, it all hangs on this old Theory of Evolution, the 'grand school of thought' that follows this bizarre and coldly detached belief - there's a reason it's called the theory rather than the fact. But you're not going to convince most people involved with Trek against the theory, it's just one of those things embedded in the culture. The real question is whether it's right to get involved. If you can help, should you? I like that we don't get all the facts immediately, it's not until near the end you realise what it's all about. At first it's a clear case of a less advanced race asking for assistance, Phlox able to provide the superior medical knowledge and technology to be able to do so, with no obvious ethical dilemma. The Valakians are clearly not too far behind most spacefaring races, they even have pre-warp ships and know well that there are other races out there, so it's not a question of hiding the truth from them.
The question is, in such a vast galaxy with so many races and planets therein, who can you help? As T'Pol said, the Vulcans came to help Earth and they're still there ninety years later! Archer seems more intent on zipping in on their way hither, handing out some advice and knowhow then hopping off on their merry way to the next encounter of people to meet, places to visit. It shows up the irresponsible nature of this style of adventuring, which isn't very comfortable to see since that's what all of Trek is about. But once you've found someone that needs the help you can give, where do your obligations end? Personally I think it was wrong of them to withhold the cure. Phlox' reasoning is that it will change the balance of power on the planet, or more precisely, preserve that balance. Because humans and Denobulans are fair-minded they don't see it as right that this monopoly the Valakians have always held over their weaker fellow residents should be reinforced by them and instead are willing to let 'nature' or 'evolution' or 'fate' take its course so that the Valakians may eventually die out. The law of the jungle. But as Archer said to Phlox, he's a doctor, he's interfering against nature every time he heals a patient. It's a complicated situation, but I wonder what the result would have been if the Menk had been equals to the Valakians, would the same idea hold true? That whoever has this genetic immunity should be allowed to overcome the other because that's nature? That's the burden of getting involved, it's not a fun, light course to take, it suggests sacrifice and dedication.
I think it ultimately reflects badly on Starfleet. It's not their mission to go out and provide resources and succour to as many races as they find, but at the same time they can't just fly on by because they do have ethics. They should have given them the cure, but with the agreement that a contingent of human, Vulcan and Denobulans would be stationed on the planet in an attempt to stand up for the equality of the Menk, to see fair play. If the Federation existed then it could have had a longterm plan in which it invested its expertise and resources to try and affect the societal norms. This would have shown actual care instead of an easy cure and move on, or don't cure and leave them to the mercy of nature. True, in the decade they have to use the medicine the Valakians may well develop scientifically enough to be able to come to the cure on their own, in which case Phlox would be responsible for maintaining the balance of power anyway since he gave them that extension. But there is no Federation, Starfleet only has this one fast ship that can get about and maybe they should have refused to go to the planet in the first place rather than intervene, other than healing the pilot they met. That's why they needed a Directive in the first place and I can't help thinking this event could have been used as a catalyst towards forming the Federation if they'd thought about it, a coming together of multiple races to assist this planet and ensure fairness, but just as Starfleet couldn't commit to the longterm, the writers weren't ready to begin the early steps to that which they should have.
It's a low-key story for most of the time, styled in the form of a 'letter' to Phlox' human colleague, Dr. Lucas (voiced by a different actor here as they didn't know they'd be casting Richard Riehle in the role three years later!), which is why this is similar to 'Data's Day' on 'TNG,' which broke the format to give us a very different type of Trek story that hadn't been done before. It's nice that they revived that as it's not the sort of thing you'd expect on this series as it was so unsophisticated in some ways compared to the 24th Century Treks, relying on visuals and action rather than character (Trip, Reed and Travis are the casualties to the background this time). That's one reason why I used to think more highly of it: it reminded me of the other Treks. They could have done with more development like this, it's just that the situation they put Phlox in is hard to get on board with. But there is fun along the way, with reference to the Ferengi (one of the races who visited Valakis, who even T'Pol doesn't know), setting them up ready for a coming appearance; some of the Cutler stuff is quite charming; and learning more about Phlox' people - his six-day hibernation would be shown in Season 2, and we get subtitles as he teaches Hoshi Denobulan in a lovely scene. Like other episodes talking about letters it's comforting to hear of 'old-fashioned' ideas like pen pals being used in the 'future,' more relatable (at least for me!), than uploading to social media hubs that would be a more likely extrapolation, which hadn't been invented when the series was made. There's another sly dig at viewers when Phlox says Denobulans had films, but they lost their appeal a few hundred years ago when people realised their real lives held more interest, which is all good fun, as are the practical creature effects of Sickbay, even though the teaser isn't much of a teaser as it doesn't tease anything!
We even hear a little about 22nd Century dental treatment: T'Pol had her teeth 'sealed' years ago, yet some decay has appeared! I suppose there aren't many dentists on Vulcan, then. Archer relies on her quite a lot here for guidance, but apart from warning how involved the Vulcans had to be with Earth, she pretty much lets him do whatever he wants. I could have understood it that she advised not getting involved at all, but things weren't clear then and human compassion was a big part of the message of the story. Which is why it's harder to take when Archer's compassion is overridden by a choice to interfere no longer. I would have to say he does look weak in this episode, his experience hasn't developed enough to know just what to do so he instead backs away slowly, hands up, and though he at first gave Phlox a hard time, goes with Denobulan ethics. And as I said, he keeps having to defer to T'Pol's Vulcan experience in such matters. For example he's naive enough not to suspect that the aliens might try to steal their technology, while T'Pol advises Phlox and the equipment should be watched. Not that anything did happen, and in fact the aliens are never threatening or anything other than mild-mannered, if unsympathetic due to their casual treatment of the 'natives,' but Archer is a little too trusting sometimes. That can work when others see that he's so genuine, but at the same time it can be a disadvantage against him, taken by others who aren't so noble.
The trouble comes when the Valakians want the secrets of warp drive, because that really is off the table, they have to develop such a society-changing advancement themselves so they can make their own mistakes and learn from them. This is very different from a natural deficiency that is slowly killing them off and so it was time to get out when they felt they could ask such a thing. Again, this could have been another reason used for having a contingent from Starfleet or Vulcan come and watch over their development so that they could assist without being overbearing or actually changing their culture, yet also be able to give warnings about things in the process that might otherwise come at much loss of life. But again, allowing something to happen or not happen could be seen as playing God and it's a whole sorry, messed up situation that does really put a pall over the fun of space exploration. This, more than any violent, aggressive aliens, is harder to deal with, because it's not about personal survival, it's about responsibility, sovereignty, and all the other issues of freedom and control that come with it. There is no easy answer, and that's good sometimes, but it also means it should be difficult to just go back to fun adventures and there should have been more continuity in what happened subsequently when in fact they mainly returned to action adventure stories. Maybe not enough people wanted to watch something that carried weight and made them think, and that's why Trek became such a dumbed down franchise in the years after 'Enterprise,' because if intelligence and complexity don't make money, and simplistic eye candy does, then you know which way things are going to go.
**
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)