ENT, Season 1 Summary

Star Trek: Enterprise
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WARNING: This article has spoilers for the first season of "Enterprise." Advance at your own risk.?

Hi there. My apologies for the lateness of this review, but it took a great deal of time to go back and watch the season given all of life's other constraints. (Then again, I haven't seen any other season reviews out yet either, so maybe I don't need to apologize all that much.  :-) )

For those new to my season reviews, the drill is this. There's an episode-by-episode recap, where I look at how my opinions on a given episode evolved from the initial review until now. After that there's a more general essay commenting on trends, successes, and weaknesses on a season-wide level. So, onwards! (As a note, comments in []'s during quotables are either my own comments or my own MSTings. But you'd probably have figured that out anyway...)

I. ENT Season 1, Episode by Episode

Broken Bow

Written by

Rick Berman & Brannon Braga

Directed by

James L. Conway

Initial rating

7

Quotables:

• "Think of it: you'd be the first human to talk to these people. You really want someone else to do it?"
• "For nearly a century, we've waded ankle-deep in the ocean of space. Now it's finally time to swim." [sometimes going the full cornball route really works...]
• "Imagine it: thousands of inhabited planets at our fingertips. And we'll be able to explore those strange new worlds, and seek out new life and new civilizations. This engine will let us go boldly where no man has gone before."
• "They have two settings: stun and kill. It would be best not to confuse them."
• "What's that?" "Travis said not to worry about that panel." "That's reassuring."

Broken Bow encapsulates a lot of the series' promise and its drawbacks at the same time. On the one hand, there is a distinct sense here that exploration is new: it's not just the early days of Starfleet, but things like Archer recruiting Hoshi that make it all seem exotic and intriguing. Additionally, Archer's character is set up with a clear- cut arc ahead of him, and I buy at least a large part of the human/Vulcan tension.

On the other hand, we also see that "a more adult series" means that Archer gets to use the word "ass" a lot and that we get horrible and deeply gratuitous scenes like the decontamination chamber (and to a lesser extent the butterfly girls on Rigel). There's a little bit of weirdness for its own sake and a lot of ideas which, while good in principle, seem awfully hamfisted in terms of execution. As a proof of concept, I'll certainly buy it, and it's definitely a fun ride ... but as an episode, it's hardly top-notch.

Final rating: 7.

[Note: When Archer asks T'Pol to stay on, he says that he'll have to start leaving behind his preconceptions. Is there much sustained indication over the course of the season that he actually *does* so?]

Fight or Flight

Written by

Rick Berman & Brannon Braga

Directed by

Allan Kroeker

Initial rating

8

Quotables:

• "We've been out here for two weeks, and the only first contact we've made is with a dyin' worm."
• "We don't select our destinations by what piques our interest." [T'Pol -- apparently Vulcans just stick pins in a 3-d map?]
• "Come on, Travis. We've got to find Mr. Reed something to blow up."
• "At least we know they're bipeds." "What gives you that idea?" "The ladder."
• "We're all frightened by unfamiliar things. You should be grateful that your body of experience doesn't include rooms full of corpses."
• "Talk to him, Hoshi -- it doesn't have to be perfect." [interesting only because T'Pol is the speaker, getting awfully familiar with Hoshi early on...]

Fight or Flight, on the other hand, hits more of its marks quietly than Broken Bow does with a lot more noise. It's a great character piece for Hoshi, but it's a lot of the little touches here that add a lot to the episode as well: equipment's not quite working perfectly, Phlox gets a bit more phleshing out while cheering up Hoshi, and the atmosphere is very properly dark. T'Pol and various statements about what Vulcans don't like don't ring true, and there are a few other minor annoyances, but for the most part that's what they are: minor flaws on a generally successful piece.

Final rating: 8.

Strange New World

Written by

Mike Sussman & Phyllis Strong (teleplay), Rick Berman & Brannon Braga (story)

Directed by

David Livingston

Initial rating

6

Quotables:

• "We'll rendezvous here at 1900 hours, unless the captain wants us to pose for more pictures." [great in print, iffy given Blalock's delivery]
• "... but I couldn't call a place home unless it came with a pair of warp nacelles." "Boomers..."
• "I'd like to believe you, but you Vulcans don't exactly have a spotless track record when it comes to bein' honest with us."
• "We have Novakovich." "And I have a phase pistol pointed at my head."
• "Challenge your preconceptions, or they'll challenge you."

There's some nice "lower decks" material here early on with Cutler and Novakovich, some decent character work with Travis and especially Trip, and Strange New World mostly succeeds in capturing a certain "classic" feel, particularly when it's doing a little misdirection. There are a number of plot conveniences that turn up to let the episode make its point, though (particularly involving the pollen, which seems to change its effects as the plot demands), and it's here that Archer begins his bold tradition of neither listening to advice nor acknowledging mistakes. The episode still wins more often than it loses, but it's not without some substantial flaws.

Final rating: 7.

Unexpected

Written by

Rick Berman & Brannon Braga

Directed by

Mike Vejar

Initial rating

3.5

Quotables:

• "How's the breathing?" "A little easier, but I prefer air I can't see."
• "If we had one of these on Enterprise, I'd *never* ask for shore leave."
• "Why would someone put their hands there, sir?" ["Um ... because you called it a HANDRAIL two lines earlier?"]

Unexpected has one of the best teasers of the season, with Archer stuck in the shower when the artificial gravity goes out -- but it's pretty much all downhill from there. The holodeck shows up about two hundred seasons too early, the "let's play with Trip's perceptions" sequence is both wearing and inconsistent with later events in the episode, the pregnancy cliches are laid on fairly thick, and T'Pol's "she took you home to see her planet" line is among the season's worst both in choice of character and in delivery. I can appreciate the attempt to make the Xyrillians fairly alien, and Archer's quiet amusement at Trip's fate works up to a point, but this one's neither funny nor all that interesting.

Final rating: 3.

Terra Nova

Written by

Antoinette Stella (teleplay), Rick Berman & Brannon Braga (story)

Directed by

LeVar Burton

Initial rating

6.5

Quotables:

• "I am not familiar with the early years of human space exploration?" "Really? Every schoolkid on Earth had to learn about the famous Vulcan expeditions." "Name one."
• "When you get them back to Earth, what will you do? Send them to school, teach them to read and write? Wear human clothing, eat human food? Teach them to live on the surface, enjoy the sunshine?" "You're damn straight. They're human beings. It's their birthright."
• "You can't just pluck them off, bring them to a strange world and hope they'll learn to conform."

This seems to be showing up on a lot of people's "hated it" list, and I'm not really sure why. (Okay, a lot of people claim it's a rehash of Voyager's Friendship One, which I haven't seen, so there may be something there.) It's certainly off-again-on-again in terms of pacing, there are some fundamental problems with the premise (the fact that these Novans would have heard their parents disparaging "humans" rather than, say, "Earthers," for one), and the <tech> solution is a little too easy -- I'll grant all that. Despite all that, though, there's lots about this episode it's hard for me not to like: the fact that looking for lost colonies is something Enterprise probably should do early in its mission, one of the first Archer/T'Pol face-offs that's convincing, Archer actually listening to other people for a change, and so forth. As a mystery, it's clunky; as a study of Archer dealing with the Novans, I think it's got some serious merit.

Final rating: 6.

[Note: Reed insists on going first into the tunnels here, and Archer agrees that it makes sense. Compare that to, say, Rogue Planet.]

The Andorian Incident

Written by

Fred Dekker (teleplay), Rick Berman & Brannon Braga and Fred Dekker (story)

Directed by

Roxann Dawson

Initial rating

9

Quotables:

• "Where's the exploration in goin' places people have already BEEN?"
• "I don't take orders from a comm voice, Ensign -- not unless that voice belongs to the captain."
• "For people without emotions, you sure have a flair for the dramatic."
• "We don't believe in responding to violence with violence." "I admire your ethics, but right now a *little* violence might help."

This one, on the other hand, has "Saturday morning cartoon" written all over it, but in all the better ways. Yes, many of the plot twists are obvious, and yes, Archer seems to go out of his way to act like an idiot on an occasion or two -- but there are the beginnings of some long-term Vulcan/Andorian conflict here, the Andorians are nicely neutral as regards Enterprise itself, even the obvious twists are entertaining, and doggone it, Jeffrey Combs is just way too much fun to watch as Shran. (Jolene Blalock also gets a really good moment as soon as the Vulcans' deception is revealed; the shock on T'Pol's face is wordless, but exceptionally visible.)

Final rating: I'll keep the 9.

[Note: one does wonder whether Archer and Trip made the right move when they first discover the Andorians are present. Why not leave the sanctuary, tell T'Pol what's going on, *then* act?]

Breaking the Ice

Written by

Maria Jacquemetton & Andre Jacquemetton

Directed by

Terry Windell

Initial rating

5

Quotables:

• "Curious? That doesn't sound very Vulcan to me." ["What's that dynamo sound?" "Oh, nothing, just Spock spinning in his grave."]
• "Inform the Vulcans we're about to make a very loud noise."
• "If we were spying, Captain, you would never have noticed our presence."
• "Vanik expects you to refuse his offer. He sees humans as arrogant, prideful. Why not prove him wrong?"
• ...and, of course, "a POOP question, sir?"

"Good in theory, very mixed in execution" sums up an awful lot of this episode. I like the ideas of the comet exploration and of the human/Vulcan tension quite a bit, but neither quite comes off in the episode itself. The comet suffers from sloppy science (the gravity and the incredibly fast heating rate) and from sloppy thinking (what's to stop Reed from heading back solo to the shuttle at top speed, then flying back to pick up Travis?), and the human/Vulcan tension translates here into lots of awkward and interminably long scenes. (It doesn't help that Vulcans are consistently shown to be utterly boring and dull here rather than simply acting superior.) Trip intercepting T'Pol's letter is equally mixed; the idea is nice, but it seems at least half intended to bring Vulcan arranged marriages out into the open rather than to give us much in terms of characterization. The letter home to the kids is a bright spot, but the episode as a whole is a muddle.

Final rating: 5.

[Note: apart from the fact that we need Trip around to bond with T'Pol, is there any reason why the comet-exploring team is Reed and *Mayweather* rather than Reed and Trip? He is the chief engineer, after all, and if that mission wasn't strongly engineering-based I'm not sure what is.]

Civilization

Written by

Phyllis Strong & Mike Sussman

Directed by

Mike Vejar

Initial rating

7

Quotables:

• "Starfleet could've sent a probe out here to make maps and take pictures, but they didn't. They sent us, so that we could explore with our own senses." (it looks goofy in print, but Bakula pulls it off)
• "Seventy-eight light-years to get here, and our first act is breaking and entering." "Maybe you don't have to mention this part in your log?"
• "Have you ever seen anything like that?" "Actually, I have."

Civilization is somewhat thin, but pretty effective for what it is. There's not a lot of depth here -- Garos does everything but villainously twirl his nonexistent mustache, for one thing -- but some of the basic "exploring strange new worlds for the first time" feeling comes through nonetheless. (Trip and Hoshi seem especially enthusiastic.) Archer's "let's give Kirk some lessons" romance actually succeeds more than it fails, and the double jeopardy faced by both the ship and the landing party is both suspenseful and well- resolved. I wouldn't want a steady diet of these, but it's fine.

Final rating: 7.5.

[Note: since the Malurians rather clearly had transporter technology, am I the only one wondering why they didn't just *beam up* the crates that tip Archer off rather than sending a shuttle to tractor them? Would've made for a far cleaner getaway...]

Fortunate Son

Written by

James Duff

Directed by

LeVar Burton

Initial rating

8.5

Quotables:

• "What gives you the right to take prisoners?" [Archer, displaying a planet-sized double standard]
• "Don't kid yourself thinking that you're doing this for some greater good. This is about revenge, nothing else."
• "At warp 3, help's a lot closer than before. You won't have to go it alone." "Going it alone's all I've ever done. For some of us, that's the reason we're out here."
• "We'll adapt. We always have. But things just won't be the same."

Okay, so an 8.5 was overstating the case here; chalk it up to enthusiasm for the idea of getting to know "boomer" culture a bit better. Fortunate Son is still a more intriguing episode than I think a lot of people give it credit for. Given the breakthrough that Archer's ship represents, there should be a real "times are changing" feel when we deal with humans -- and Fortunate Son is one of the few episodes that addresses that in any reasonable way. There are flaws, to be sure -- in particular, Archer addresses the "revenge" part of Travis's concerns while completely avoiding the rest, and Ryan is badly written in the second half in order to provide an easy out -- but I'm interested enough in the ideas to look past some of the muddle containing them.

Final rating: 6. (The last scene gives it an extra half-point.)

[And yes, I *did* buy Travis's big speech. Was it a little halting and forced? Yes. I consider that a facet of the character, not indicative of Montgomery.]

Cold Front

Written by

Stephen Beck & Tim Finch

Directed by

Robert Duncan McNeill

Initial rating

9.5

Quotables:

• "Lieutenant." "Ensigns."
• "There's a difference between keeping an open mind, and believing something because you want it to be true."
• "And you didn't grow up in Illinois." "Oh, I'm from a place called Illinois, sir -- just not the one you're familiar with." "Well, it's good to know Earth'll still be around in 900 years." "That depends on how you define Earth." "Beg your pardon?"

This is the first real test of the "Temporal Cold War" aspect of Enterprise's premise, and so far, so good. There's some humor and some humanizing (with the "haven't you ever wanted to sit in the chair?" bit on the bridge, for one thing), some good mystery surrounding Silik's motives, and a lot of nicely done action -- the last act and a half is virtually flawless from where I sit. There are some minor problems with actors' delivery (both on Blalock's and Bakula's part, especially early on) and there's basically no closure other than that of the very immediate threat, but I can live with all of that -- this one's great, great fun.

Final rating: still 9.5

[Note: take a look at the salt shaker Archer uses at breakfast. I think it's neat.]

Silent Enemy

Written by

Andre Bormanis

Directed by

Winrich Kolbe

Initial rating

7

Quotables:

• "Maybe they checked us out and decided we weren't very interesting." "Us? Not interesting?"
• "You missed T'Pol's latest bout with chopsticks." "Damn. Dinner *and* a show."
• "Are your ears a little pointier than usual?"
• "I don't suppose scanning his taste buds would help?" "Medically speaking, there's no accounting for taste."

Silent Enemy should be a lot better than it actually is, but suffers from a major clash of moods. There's a mysterious alien ship out there shooting the blazes out of Enterprise whenever it feels like it, and Hoshi spends all of her time (and much of the comm bandwidth) trying to figure out Reed's favorite food? I think not. I can buy the phase cannon project, which in turn leads to some decent Trip/Reed friction, and Linda Park and Dominic Keating do what they can with the "Malcolm's food" plot, but this one comes across as a mishmash more than anything else.

Final rating: 6.

Dear Doctor

Written by

Maria Jacquemetton & Andre Jacquemetton

Directed by

James A. Contner

Initial rating

10

Quotables: This one's a lengthy list...

• "They don't have movies where you come from, do they?" "We had something similar a few hundred years ago, but they lost their appeal when people discovered their real lives were more interesting."
• "The captain has committed all our resources to help people he didn't even know existed two days ago. Once again I'm struck by your species' desire to help others."
• "In my experience, humans lack the emotional maturity for interspecies relationships. They tend to be easily infatuated with things they find new. This crewman may simply be satisfying her curiosity." [T'Pol -- and am I the only who wonders what the heck "in my experience" would *mean* here?]
• "We could stay and help them." "The Vulcans stayed to help Earth ninety years ago. We're still there."
• "I never thought I'd say this, but ... I'm beginning to understand how the Vulcans must have felt."
• "All I'm saying is that we let nature make her choice." "To hell with nature."
• "What if an alien race had interfered and given the Neanderthals an evolutionary advantage? Fortunately for you, they *didn't*..."
• "I am not prepared to walk away based on a theory." "Evolution is more than a theory. It is a fundamental scientific principle."
• "Someday, my people are going to come up with some sort of a doctrine -- something that tells us what we can and can't do, should and shouldn't do. But until somebody tells me that they've drafted that ... directive ... I'm going to have to remind myself every day that we didn't come out here to play God."
• "If I hadn't trusted him to make the right choice, I'd have been no better than the Vulcan diplomats who held your species back because they felt you couldn't make proper decisions on your own."

Ah, the most controversial episode of the season. Why? Because there are no real villains here -- just people who individual viewers might be philosophically opposed to. Phlox and Archer have different points of view, but each is fairly well founded -- and as a result, the clash between them is among the strongest this series has yet to offer. I agree that the biology here is a little questionable, both in terms of the mechanics of the "disease" and in the assumption (albeit subtle) that evolution is somehow goal-oriented ... but the details of the science here are not the point: the clash of views is. John Billingsley confirms his status here as one of the cast's major gems, and the look into Phlox's soul is very appealing to boot. If you're not entirely comfortable with Phlox's choice, *good* -- you shouldn't be, any more than you should be with Archer's. That's the nasty thing about "choose the lesser evil" scenarios -- it's a bitch to figure out which one's which.

Final rating: 9.5.

[Note: this episode also contains one of my favorite moments of gentle character humor, when Phlox and Hoshi are talking about relationships. This is how to approach a language barrier properly.]

Sleeping Dogs

Written by

Fred Dekker

Directed by

Les Landau

Initial rating

5

Quotables:

• "I'm reading three bio-signs." ["Um, T'Pol? That would be US."]
• "Photon torpedoes? Never heard of anything like *that*."

Klingons appear. Exposition and pointless rehashes ensue. Hoshi gets some interesting characterization which may or may not go places later. Klingon stereotypes abound. Viewers yawn.

Final rating: 4.

[Note: it's here that T'Pol mentions an atmospheric pressure as being some amount of "GSC." I got confirmation later on that GSC does in fact stand for "grams per square centimeter." To paraphrase what said confirming source said to me, "Yippee -- we're finally going metric! Of course, knowing the difference between mass and force would be nice..." And yes, he's a fellow physics teacher.]

Shadows of P'Jem

Written by

Mike Sussman & Phyllis Strong (teleplay), Rick Berman & Brannon Braga (story)

Directed by

Mike Vejar

Initial rating

6.5

Quotables:

• "Captain Gardner would have made a far more suitable commanding officer." "The Vulcan consulate doesn't make command decisions here."
• "I'm gettin' real sick of bein' cut off."
• "Will she live?" "I wish I could say." [Phlox, shading the truth in ways a Vulcan would envy]

File this one under "death by expectations." "The Andorian Incident" set up a number of interesting plot threads once the Vulcan deception at P'Jem was revealed, and lots of people (including yours truly) were expecting some serious payoff here. What happened? The Vulcans manage to be offended and dull at the same time, we get a "crisis" involving T'Pol's position which no one can believe will go anywhere, and the most interesting thing Archer gets to do all episode is play bondage games with T'Pol. The first act is generally very solid, but after that any pretense that this will be a meaningful episode seems to fall by the wayside in favor of more Vulcan posturing, one-liners from Shran (good ones, at least), and some half-decent action. It's not bad per se, but could've been much, much more.

Final rating: 6.

[Note #1: why is Hoshi the one scanning towards the end? Is she the science officer in T'Pol's absence?]

[Note #2: Phlox's observation that T'Pol isn't the first Vulcan on a human ship so much as the first one to last this long is the first hint that T'Pol might not be your typical Vulcan. One might suggest that Fusion follows this up.]

Shuttlepod One

Written by

Rick Berman & Brannon Braga

Directed by

David Livingston

Initial rating

9.5

Quotables: Another long list. Hang on:

• "Sometimes I think you North Americans read nothing but comic books -- and those ridiculous science-fiction novels." "I'll have you know that Superman was *laced* with metaphor. Subtext layered on subtext."
• "Oh, if only Dr. Cochrane had been a European. The Vulcans would've been far too reticent to help us. But no -- he had to be from Montana."
• "I don't suppose you have a sextant handy." "Left it with the slide rule."
• "God knows what's gonna be lurkin' around behind the next planet we run into." "But that's just it, sir. At impulse we're not likely to be running into *any* planets -- not for at least six or seven years."
• "I'll heat up some rations -- unless of course you'd rather wait until we run into a vessel serving proper meals?"
• "What's your problem with having a little hope?" "And what's your problem with facing the truth?"
• "I don't want to die -- what makes you think I want to die?" "Because ever since we saw Enterprise spread across that asteroid, you've done nothin' but write your own obituary."
• "But with the crew of the Enterprise it was different. I was really starting to feel comfortable with them. And now the only one that's left thinks I'm the bloody Angel of Death."
• "I'm an engineer -- I won't blow up our only engine." "Then I'll ask you again -- ever hold your breath for eleven hours?"
• "How does it feel to be slower than a snail?" "I saw a great cartoon once. There are these two snails sittin' on the back of a big ol' turtle. One snail turns to the other and says, 'Hold on, Fred -- here we go!'"
• "You better hope we don't make it, because if we survive, the first thing I'm gonna do is bust your ass back to Crewman Second Class for insubordination!" "Be my guest! I could use a little less responsibility!"
• "I've invested far too much time trying to figure you out, Mr. Tucker: I'm not about to accept that it was all for nothing."

As with Cold Front and Dear Doctor, what flaws this has are minimal: a throwaway line from Archer suggests that he doesn't know the engineering chain of command, Reed's "Stinky" dream goes on a few beats too many, the bourbon turns up just a little *too* conveniently, and so forth. Those are mostly nitpicks, though -- at its heart, Shuttlepod One is a beautiful character piece tossing Trip and Reed into a fairly dark place and seeing what comes out. Unlike Silent Enemy, the tension and desperation here *do* build, and there's no real cheating the viewer by, for instance, making us allegedly wonder for half an episode whether Enterprise is actually okay. Both Connor Trinneer and Dominic Keating do standout work, and I for one appreciated the look into Malcolm Reed. I don't know how often this particular type of "toss two crewmen together for an emergency" story will work -- Desert Crossing tried it and didn't do so well -- but this one was golden.

Final rating: 9.

Fusion

Written by

Phyllis Strong & Mike Sussman (teleplay), Rick Berman & Brannon Braga (story)

Directed by

Rob Hedden

Initial rating

4.5

Quotables:

• "From the library of Admiral Jonny Archer?" "I had high hopes when I was a kid."
• "Just because they smile and eat chicken doesn't mean they've learned to master their emotions."
• "You probably don't know this, but regret is one of the strongest emotions, and one of the saddest. I have the feeling you haven't had a brush with it yet, but it sounds to me like you're pretty close. It's somethin' you might want to avoid."
• "Feeling any better?" "Has the Vulcan ship left?" "About 20 minutes ago." "Then yes, I'm feeling better."
• "Captain? Do you dream?" "Sure. Sometimes they're even in color." "Is it enjoyable?" "Most nights." "I envy you."

The closing scene is one of the few really bright spots about Fusion. The episode's undoubtedly intended to spark our interest in T'Pol as a character -- but when the "more interesting" dreams are so clearly sexual in nature (and thus the ones many people remember most strongly), it's hard to avoid the conclusion that yet again, there's not so much "T'Pol the character" as "T'Pol the catsuit-babe" to be found here. (Fallen Hero deals much better with T'Pol as a character, methinks.) It's perhaps slightly more interesting than I thought in that there are more hints that T'Pol isn't your typical Vulcan, and I do enjoy the Kov plot -- but balanced out against a rotten performance from Enrique Murciano, some mind-meld history which flies in the face of common sense, and some fairly horrid direction during the mind-meld scenes, and you have an episode I'm in no real hurry to see again.

Final rating: 5 (up half a point for the closing scene)

Rogue Planet

Written by

Chris Black (teleplay), Rick Berman & Brannon Braga & Chris Black (story)

Directed by

Allan Kroeker

Initial rating

4

Quotables:

• "Vulcans are revered for their accomplishments, not for the way they look." [T'Pol, vying for Most Unintentionally Ironic Line Given The Circumstances]
• "Why don't you let me play captain for a while, Malcolm?" [Archer, showing the good sense that's gotten him this far]
• "These can detect infrared!" [Malcolm, being far too impressed]
• "Captain Archer, what are the chances you'd encounter a half- naked woman, who you think you know, dozens of light-years from your homeworld?"
• "Trip -- have you ever known me to do anything foolish, I mean really foolish?" [Archer, with his entry into the "Ya Want The Short List?" sweepstakes]

I know there are people out there who liked Rogue Planet a lot. They're welcome to it. Apart from a decent performance from the guest cast and some nice moments with Malcolm, there's really not much here I can recommend. The planet is made needlessly exotic (and implausibly so given the plants), the "monster that's really sentient" plot has been done to death, the problem is both spotted *and resolved* with not much more than <tech>, and the hunters turn needlessly stupid near the end. Bakula gets a little bit of credit for pulling off the "quietly obsessive" attitude, but that's about it.

Final rating: 3.

[Note: if the Reed/Archer stuff about Boy Scout training had come *before* Archer decides to boneheadedly lead the search party, you could make a convincing argument that he's jealous. As it is, he just looks kinda dim.]

Acquisition

Written by

Maria Jacquemetton & Andre Jacquemetton (teleplay), Rick Berman & Brannon Braga (story)

Directed by

James Whitmore, Jr.

Initial rating

8

Quotables:

• "A man is the sum of his possessions." "Back on my homeworld, that kind of thinking almost destroyed our civilization." "You should have managed your businesses better."
• "Just because a guy's in his underwear, you think the worst."
• "There are times I wish Vulcans hadn't learned to repress their violent tendencies."
• "Sorry, fellas. Bank must be closed today."
• "Not that interesting ... no sense of humor ... always complaining?" "I'll make it up to you." "How?" "Five bars of gold? [...] Open these things, Sub-Commander: that's an order."

Complain all you like about continuity breaches -- I'm far from a fan of most Ferengi episodes, but I had a hell of a good time watching this. A scene here and there made me cringe, to be sure (in particular the "interrogation" of Porthos), and the "let's put Trip in skivvies for half the show" felt somewhat silly, but I smiled a lot more than I groaned. T'Pol actually made me chuckle (which is rare for her) when she set the Ferengi against one another, Archer managed to outwit the Ferengi on their level, and the whole thing just felt like more of a fun romp than most of the DS9 Ferengi shows. I think a second one would be a big mistake, but I enjoyed this.

Final rating: 7.

[Note #1: Why wasn't Porthos knocked out by the gas? If it got the whole crew, presumably it'd get a dog as well.]

[Note #2: Yes, if Archer and company have any scanners working there should be some detail available on the Ferengi well before Picard meets them -- but is there much evidence that Picard doesn't have said information? He might not know about it during the events of The Last Outpost, but by The Battle the Ferengi seem much more like known quantities. I think one can rationalize a single encounter by Archer here -- more would be questionable.]

Oasis

Written by

Stephen Beck (teleplay), Rick Berman & Brannon Braga & Stephen Beck (story)

Directed by

Jim Charleston

Initial rating

6.5

Quotables:

• "You got a lot to learn about makin' friends!" "I've *made* all the friends I need."
• "What happened to your crew?" "They're *gone*, Captain. Isn't it obvious?" "Your real crew." "They didn't seem real to you?"
• "Sounds like you did everything you could to save the ship." "They're all dead. Apparently I didn't do enough."

The Ferengi worked once in Acquisition. Oasis, however, features holograms who most people think are real until shown otherwise -- and that's not only a couple of hundred years too early from a Trek point of view, but about a decade too late from ours. There are few if any surprises here from the plot side -- it holds together, but at the cost of being extremely derivative. What makes the show work as well as it does is the guest stars -- Annie Wersching is decent (and cute) as Liana, and Rene Auberjonois gives his role a lot of depth, making a stock character's pain come to life quite a bit. That's enough to keep the hour going, but not the sort of thing you'd want to come back to.

Final rating: 6.

[Continuity notes: while it was nice to see Trip be the one who recognized the holograms, I think it was more telling that Travis is the one who noted the problems with the alleged colony's food supply. A nice touch.]

Detained

Written by

Mike Sussman & Phyllis Strong (teleplay), Rick Berman & Brannon Braga (story)

Directed by

David Livingston

Initial rating

7

Quotables:

• "You're the new arrivals." "Why are we here?" "Why are any of us here?"
• "If you want to explore alien cultures, you'll have to learn to respect their laws." ["Just ask Wesley Crusher in a couple of ... okay, bad example."]
• "'Be careful of their wicked smiles, their shining yellow eyes. At night they'll squeeze right through your door, and everybody dies.'"
• "I thought you'd decided not to interfere with other cultures." "In this case, I'm making an exception."

Detained is a bit better than I initially gave it credit for. Although the Tandarans are some plot-convenient combination of knowledgeable and idiotic (the latter in keeping a whole slew of spaceworthy ships right next to the compound, for one), and the final escape has a couple of weird editing moments (mostly in dealing with Danik's fate), the show as a whole gets our heroes involved in very plausible ways, with Archer's attitude evolving in gradual and sensible ways. The Tandarans do appear to be decent people most of the time (most of them, anyway), all three of the major guest stars flesh out their characters pretty well. Travis could have been put to more and better use down in the camp, but there's a good mix of action and philosophy here. I'll take it.

Final rating: 8.

[Note #1: What I said above does not apply to the head Tandaran guard, who's not much more than a one-dimensional thug. Even the line readings were dull.]

[Note #2: How could Travis have been better used? For one, when he has his big speech about learning to rise above his preconceptions about the Suliban's appearance, he could point out that not long ago, his own appearance would have provoked a similar reaction in a lot of humans. It's a perfect place for a little real-world resonance; I'm sorry it didn't happen.]

Vox Sola

Written by

Fred Dekker (teleplay), Rick Berman & Brannon Braga & Fred Dekker (story)

Directed by

Roxann Dawson

Initial rating

6

Quotables:

• "'Wages of Fear' -- a classic French film. You'll like it -- things blow up."
• "Think of [water polo] as one part basketball, one part swimming, and one part wrestling." "And here I thought it was just a bunch of guys screwin' around in the pool."
• "Can you assemble some EM emitters?" ["Sure -- I'll go one stage down and grab a few spotlights. Will they do?"]
• "I'm willing to help you, Mr. Reed, but not if it means torturing this organism. Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't our mission to try to better *understand* unique forms of life?"
• "If you feel I have been unfair to you, I apologize -- but I hold you to a high standard, Ensign, because I know you are capable of achieving it."

Damn. This is about as split-personality an episode as you get. The last fifteen minutes have some juicy character conflict (T'Pol/Hoshi and Reed/Phlox) and a great "sense of wonder" resolution involving the alien -- it's really good stuff. Unfortunately, the first 45 minutes have some really stupid "capture the crew" effects, Reed creating crucial pieces of Fed technology almost singlehandedly, "alien links minds together" scenes which feel a lot like filler, and an awful lot of telling instead of showing. I like the end result a lot -- just not how we got there.

Final rating: 6.

[Note #1: When Travis talks to the Kreetassans towards the end, is anyone else concerned that he's the only person on the bridge? Could we not afford extras?]

[Note #2: Hoshi notes a similarity to some Andorian dialects at one point. I'm surprised she knows enough about the Andorians to have any sense of their language at all.]

Fallen Hero

Written by

Alan Cross (teleplay), Rick Berman & Brannon Braga and Chris Black (story)

Directed by

Patrick Norris

Initial rating

9

Quotables:

• "It's my understanding that your mating ritual is effective in easing tension." "That hasn't always been my experience."
• "Cap'n, you need this as much as I do." "NOBODY needs this as much as you do."
• "That was over ninety years ago. How long have you been a diplomat?" "Commander Tucker! I understood that on your world, it is considered bad manners to ask a lady her age." "Well, I, uh, ..." "Forgive me, Commander. My attempt at humor."
• "You presume that my time with humans has left me susceptible to their emotions." "They're our emotions as well. We simply hide them better." [To quote Trip, "Thank you!"]
• "We were asked to pick you up and deliver you to a Vulcan ship. Nobody said *anything* about getting shot at."
• "There are diplomatic matters at stake here which do not concern you. To tell you any more would only put your ship and your crew at greater risk." "How much greater could it *get*?"
• "You really enjoy [having people shoot at us], don't you?" "If you must know, I much prefer the shooting back part."
• "You had just emerged from a global war. The idea that you deemed yourselves ready to join the interstellar community seemed ... premature." "And a century of good behavior hasn't changed your mind?"
• "Are you aware that your engines are overheating?" "So are yours."
• "Archer to Engineering." "*Please* tell me you're ready to slow down."
• "It's called a warp 5 engine." "On paper!"
• "If there was ever a time to start trusting us, this would be it."
• "Someday I'd like to walk into a room without it seeming like a state visit." "Occupational hazard?"

Now that's more like it. Fallen Hero is one of the meatiest episodes of the season when it comes to really giving us a sense of the mid- 22nd century. Ambassador V'Lar (played by the ever-watchable Fionnula Flanagan) is a far more convincing spokesbeing for the Vulcan point of view than any Vulcan we've seen all season, and the fact that she even leads T'Pol to argue on behalf of Archer makes for some compelling moments. The race against time (and the Mazarite ships) oozes tension, and pretty much everything here just rings true. I could have done with T'Pol acting as chief procurement officer in the teaser and without V'Lar explicitly telling us "look, see, they're friends now -- just like Kirk and Spock will be!", but in general my reaction is "yes, more please."

Final rating: 9.

[Note #1: Archer should, however, have known all along about the phase cannons not being able to fire at warp. For him not to smacks of plot-induced ignorance.]

[Note #2: For a species that only mates once every seven years, those Vulcans sure have some mighty phallic-looking ships...]

Desert Crossing

Written by

Andre Bormanis (teleplay), Rick Berman & Brannon Braga & Andre Bormanis (story)

Directed by

David Straiton

Initial rating

4

Quotables:

• "Please! I wouldn't be a very good host if I allowed you to get killed."
• "I was thinking about those Suliban prisoners. If we hadn't helped them escape, we wouldn't be in this situation." "T'Pol's ears must be burnin'."
• "Want your chief engineer's advice?" "What is it?" "Walk away."

"Walk away" isn't bad advice when it comes to the episode, either. It's trying to be Shuttlepod One with a message attached, but it's not succeeding. Clancy Brown does his best to make Zobral worth watching (and it's at least worth pointing out that he wasn't actually after weapons so much as advice), but most of the show is Desert Survival 101, with Trip serving as the Goofus to make Archer's Gallant look more heroic. I like the idea that Archer's starting to face at least one consequence of his past behavior, but this wasn't the venue for it.

Final rating: 5.

[Note #1: How long were those two walking, anyway? They leave in the dead of night, but the next time we see them it's broad daylight and the sun seems not too far off overhead. How far away *was* this encampment they were heading for?]

[Note #2: For anyone who watched "Greg the Bunny" on occasion during its short-lived stint (that would be both of you), I couldn't help occasionally giving Zobral a "Count Blah" riff when rewatching this. "I must warn you ... I am easily offended, blah."]

Two Days and Two Nights

Written by

Chris Black (teleplay), Rick Berman & Brannon Braga (story)

Directed by

Michael Dorn

Initial rating

6.5

Quotables:

• "Travis?" "Rock climbing, sir." ["AAAAIEEEE!"]
• "You should always listen to your science officer." "She'd be the first to agree with you."
• "The Vulcan database said no one leaves this club unhappy." "How would the Vulcans know?"
• "You're up late." "Just looking at the stars." "Don't you get enough of that on your ship?" "Never."
• "I wouldn't be surprised if they're naming schools after you back on your world." "Archer Elementary ... has a nice ring to it."
• "You think this is my fault!" "You were willing to follow two strange aliens into a basement!" "Gorgeous aliens! Don't forget, they were gorgeous!" "They were MALE!" "Not at first!"
• "Doctor, I think this was a mistake. You should return to your quarters." "I appreciate the offer, but it would be best to keep our relationship professional."

I thought this was a mixed bag back in May, and I still think so now. The Phlox plot gets what mileage it can from the situation (and Phlox's "set a course for Regulus" is still pretty funny), but it seems odd that he's the only competent physician on board when we've heard several references in the past to medical *teams*. The Hoshi plot manages to be sweet without going saccharine, the "two wild and crazy officers" bit is a lot less funnier than it clearly considers itself, and the Archer plot raises some interesting questions. (I still think Kayla might have been a better character *without* the Tandaran angle, but I can live with what we got.) It's mostly fluff, but I've certainly seen worse fluff.

Final rating: 7.

[Note: Apparently I'm a sucker for good Hoshi scenes with subtitles: both this one and the one in Dear Doctor are among my favorite Hoshi scenes of the season.]

Shockwave

Written by

Rick Berman & Brannon Braga

Directed by

Allan Kroeker

Initial rating

8

Quotables:

• "Get me Admiral Forrest. This is not gonna be fun."
• "We came here to meet these people -- to learn something about them, not to KILL them."
• "Anyone tries to badmouth Captain Archer in front of me is gonna get an earful, in any language they want."
• "You have to find somethin' good in everybody, don't you? I gotta tell you, that's one of your 'unique qualities' that drives me crazy." "I'll certainly miss your outspoken personality, Mr. Tucker."
• "Commander Tucker told me you were dead -- that Silik killed you." "He did. In a manner of speaking."
• "Can't you ever give a straight answer?" "Depends on the question."
• "I thought you were supposed to protect the timeline, not screw with it." "It has already been ... screwed with, Captain."
• "Assuming he's right, and we manage to find the cruiser, what makes you think the Suliban won't come after us?" "Just like those old Bible stories, Malcolm -- it wasn't written."
• "As I've told you, the Vulcan Science Directorate has concluded that time travel is impossible." "Well, *good* for the Vulcan Science Directorate." [Archer in particular has a lovely playful tone in his voice here.]
• "It's targeting our warp core. They're all targeting the warp core."
• "So you're telling me this just happened? It doesn't look like it just happened!" "No. It looks like it happened a long time ago."
• "There's no way to send you back."

And thus, a cliffhanger. Shockwave isn't a perfect episode by any means -- the technobabble quotient is high enough to stick out (thus showing that "Enterprise" as a series has actually been fairly good at avoiding much of it), the mystery of Daniels' fate is handled perhaps a bit too cavalierly (giving Archer the runaround is one thing, the audience quite another), and a couple of the logic leaps from "there's no record of this" to "the timeline's been tampered with" seem questionable. Overall, however, Shockwave starts off with a bang (or perhaps a <fwoosh> is more appropriate), builds a decent mystery, has some great action in the assault on the Suliban (reminding me a little bit of the recapture of Locutus in BOBW2, though not quite on that level), and certainly gets people's attention in the end. As a cliffhanger, it'll certainly do.

Final rating: still 8.

Whew. Congratulations to everyone who made it through all of that. :-) (It does seem to have come in a lot shorter than DS9's seventh-season one did, for what that's worth.) For those interested in numbers, here are the stats (counting the premiere as two votes, since it's double-length):

Statistics

Mean	+/- Standard Deviation	Median
6.7	1.8	7

Going by the mean, that puts it almost smack in the middle of DS9's seven seasons: 4 seasons ranked above it and 3 ranked below. Going by the median, it's also in the middle: 2 of DS9's seasons have higher medians, and 2 have lower ones. There's a lot less scatter here than in any DS9 season, however: all of the DS9 season had standard deviations above 2.0. (It's a bit above Voyager's first season and WAY above the second. Alas, for those wondering, I don't have the stats handy from my TNG reviews.)

What does all of that mean? Fewer really abominable shows, but fewer clear-cut winners as well. Emotionally, that feels about right as well. So, that seems like a good time to move on to Part II, namely ...

II. ENT Season 1 -- General Commentary

This makes the third time I've found myself evaluating a Trek series based on its first season -- or the third time I've done so in print, anyway. (I got into the reviewing biz just a little too late to look at TNG's first season.) I was generally optimistic after DS9's first season (saying that, while a bit sedate at times, it was "off on the right foot"), and thought that Voyager was okay, but treading water.

So what about "Enterprise"?

"Enterprise" has certainly managed to get away without some of the truly major clunkers that many shows have in their first seasons. TNG was riddled with them during season 1, DS9 had an episode or two that landed with ratings in the 2's, and VOY was in much the same situation as DS9. With Unexpected and Rogue Planet, Enterprise has had a couple of shows in the 3 range, but nothing lower -- they were in no way episodes I'm ever in a hurry to watch again, but they don't have that "how'd this make it to screen" odor that the really horrible shows take on. I think I can find a moment or two in every episode that I've liked.

But at the same time, there's not a lot about this season that's sticking with me, either. Individual moments or episodes, sure -- the Temporal Cold War arc has been fairly entertaining so far, and Dear Doctor and Shuttlepod One were both great hours of television. But the season as a whole seems a bit hollow to me somehow.

The main reason for that, I think, is that once again, what we're told will be new and different is turning into "same old, same old." I don't remember if either Rick Berman or Brannon Braga actually used the phrase "not your father's Star Trek" when talking up the series last year, but both of them went out of their way to say that this series would be more human, more down-to-Earth, and more accessible (for want of a better word) than its 23rd and 24th century counterparts.

What's more, the premise invites exactly that sort of treatment. The Federation doesn't exist. The Prime Directive doesn't exist, at least for humans. Earth is an unknown planet in the galactic community. The Vulcans know us, but aren't too sure about us. From a technology perspective, phasers and transporters are new and relatively untried, and things like photon torpedoes and shields are things we can only look at with envy. We are a little player just trying to make our way in the world, and while we as viewers know that big things are in store for the next few decades, Archer and company certainly don't. Almost everything should be new to them, and almost everything should feel new to them.

At times, we've had that -- the end of Vox Sola, for instance, conveyed the wonder that we'd expect to see in their position. Hoshi's delight in new languages has shone through on several occasions, particularly in Broken Bow, Dear Doctor, and Two Days and Two Nights. We've made mistakes because we don't know the galactic situation -- The Andorian Incident, for instance, though Archer managed to turn that blunder into an advantage of sorts.

Most of the time, though, very little about the events in the series seem all that new -- to them, and most especially to *us*. Despite the fact that we're so new to the galaxy, we've already had The Klingon Episode, The Hologram Episode, even The Ferengi Episode, for pity's sake. Enterprise doesn't have shields, but "polarize the hull plating" seems to serve *exactly* the same function -- sure, the dialogue and visuals are slightly different, but in terms of the ship's ability to resist damage I sure don't see any changes. We don't have holodecks, but that hasn't stopped holodecks and holograms from showing up. There is, in short, far too much reliance on a lot of standard Trek tropes, even if they're hiding under assumed names. (And frankly, if I hear "polarize the hull plating" one more time I'm going to start threatening various forms of local wildlife -- it's close to a meaningless term, and definitely starting to grate...)

If these protestations about "same old, same old" ring a bell, they should: I said much the same thing in my first-season review of "Voyager." I quote:

---

That makes for a very, very strong sense of "same old, same old" when it's used, and that quite frankly makes it easy for the show to feel stale, despite the fact that it's only 16 hours old in terms of material. There have certainly been some entertaining hours here and there in "Voyager" so far, with a few being quite good indeed -- but when the majority of stories feel warmed-over, there's not a lot of impetus to look for the next one. (There's also not a great deal of impetus to watch a show again in reruns, which may account for the rather startling drop I've seen the show have in reruns' ratings so far.)

---

Apart from the note about ratings, which I haven't paid any attention to this time, you could replace "Voyager" with "Enterprise" and come out with a paragraph I agree with almost to the syllable. That's not really a great sign.

On the other hand, that sense of sameness may help explain why the Andorians are working out as well as they are. Despite the fact that they've been a part of Trek tradition for over three decades, we really don't know much of anything about them -- not much about their culture, virtually nothing about their relationship with other Federation members such as humans or Vulcans. As a result, seeing them feels fairly new, and our mild familiarity with them winds up letting the charges against the Vulcans stick a little more soundly.

As for the Vulcans, my impression now is much the same as it was after Broken Bow: the idea is fine, but the execution's been spotty. I like the idea that the Vulcans don't really approve of humanity -- even given Sarek's high position a century later while married to a human, there are lots of things about human behavior and human history which any Vulcan could rightfully point to with eyebrow cocked in disapproval. V'Lar, by far the most interesting Vulcan I've seen this year, embodied and voiced that disapproval beautifully well - - and with that opinion as an underpinning, Vulcan *policies* towards humans make perfect sense by their logic.

Where I fundamentally disagree with the series' tone is in how Vulcan behavior itself is presented. I've no argument with the Vulcan opinions on humans, as I said -- but when we're told, *repeatedly*, that Vulcans aren't curious, that Vulcans don't explore, that Vulcans appear to have absolutely zero redeeming qualities whatsoever, it feels like serious revisionist history just to give Archer something to rail at. No particularly significant Vulcan we've seen prior to this series has held that kind of attitude. Even leaving out Spock (since he's half- human and something of a rebel), Sarek is clearly interested in other cultures and other worlds, Saavik was quite curious about other non- Vulcans, Tuvok always seemed to have a healthy exploring streak (if tempered by practicality) ... hell, even T'Pring had motivations viewers could buy into, however faux-dispassionately she described them.

Does it make sense that Vulcans are more cautious explorers than humans? Yes, of course -- and given the Vulcans' frequent sense of superiority, it also makes sense that they'd be damned patronizing about it when trying to persuade the humans that their way is right. I'm also perfectly willing to believe the Vulcans' conduct as regards the Andorians -- we don't know enough about the situation to judge. But the way I read it, there's a concerted effort being made here to make the Vulcans hissable simply by virtue of their personalities, and in so doing those personalities are being fundamentally altered. I don't buy it.

Now it's very possible, of course, that this will all change over the course of the series -- but to me, that's akin to how a great many DS9 Ferengi shows started with Quark acting far more extreme than usual so that he could "learn the error of his ways" and revert back to the status quo. It's moving the goalposts and hoping the audience doesn't notice, which I think is sloppy workmanship.

[And don't get me started on how many times Vulcan marriage and mating practices have already come up in a single season.]

It doesn't help that T'Pol has simply not connected with me as a character, and I think that's more due to the acting than the writing. When Seven of Nine popped up on Voyager, an awful lot of people predicted that she wouldn't be any more than the sum of her various prominent body parts. From what little I saw of post-Seven Voyager, I think Jeri Ryan convinced most of those people otherwise. (Certainly the reviews I read suggested that Seven was potentially the most interesting character of the lot.) Jolene Blalock faced the same problem going in, given T'Pol's outfit and the way she was presented - - and unfortunately, I really don't think lightning has struck twice.

She certainly isn't horrible in the role, but I think she's deeply inconsistent. There are times when T'Pol comes off as actively sneering rather than being impassively snide (Unexpected comes to mind, as does Rogue Planet), and other times when she's simply speaking in a monotone when there should be some sort of undercurrent (the "unless the captain would like to pose for more pictures" line in Strange New World coming most immediately to mind here). Sometimes Blalock has truly impressed me and convinced me that T'Pol is "real" -- the closing scene of Fusion, her conversation with Archer in Dear Doctor, most of Fallen Hero, and the wordless look of shock at the end of The Andorian Incident all come to mind as examples -- but there seems almost no way to predict when she will or won't pull it off. When she's getting this much screen time, that inconsistency is a problem.

Archer is one of the other two characters getting the most screen time -- not surprisingly, as he's the captain and all -- and I don't entirely buy him either. This time, I think the fault lies mostly in the writing.

Should Archer be inexperienced? Sure. Should he be rash at times, especially when trying to prove that Vulcans don't need to tug on the apron strings? Absolutely. Should he make mistakes? Without any doubt.

What concerns me is that nine times out of ten, Archer blunders his way into something, has enough good luck to come out smelling like a rose, and never seems to learn a thing from his experience. In Strange New World, for instance, T'Pol's advice was dead-on. Was Archer within his rights to ignore it? Sure. Should he have potentially acknowledged afterwards that he was wrong? Yep -- and even if he didn't, T'Pol for damn sure should have made the point.

There's The Andorian Incident. There's Terra Nova, where his insistence on exploring personally gets Malcolm captured. There's Fortunate Son, where he insists on staying to help the boomers without any reason other than wanting to butt in. There's Fusion, where he all but orders T'Pol to spend time with the Vulcans. There's Rogue Planet, where he not only deliberately puts himself out in front of the party over Reed's express wishes, but decides "hey, let's set down right next to the only other inhabited part of the planet -- of course they'll be happy to see us." (I'll ignore the wandering off into the jungle alone, since he at least acknowledges that's foolish.) There's Oasis, where he brings aboard a life-pod without any apparent precautions.

In almost all of those cases, he lucked out, at least in that no one was seriously hurt. But he's reckless -- the only time he appears to think an action was in error was in Shockwave, when it wasn't even his actions but those of his crew that were apparently at fault. I guess what I'm saying here is that Archer doesn't appear to be growing much as a character, and as a result he hasn't yet managed to grow on me. Mistakes I can handle -- a reluctance to learn from or even acknowledge them is a different story.

Desert Crossing, dull as most of it was, started to correct this: Archer's actions in Detained gave him a reputation in that part of space, and he had to address that reputation when Zobral made use of it. I like that part of the show a great deal. Two Days and Two Nights suggests that there may be more such repercussions to come, and I'm interested in them. Those make up a good start in terms of how he's perceived off the ship -- now we just need some sense that anyone *on* the ship, ideally Archer, is paying attention.

In fact, since the Prime Directive still needs to come into being at some point (almost certainly with significant Vulcan kibitzing), you could easily tie that into some rash action of Archer's boomeranging in some disastrous way. (You could also have someone worshiped as a god, but that may have been done to death.) Dear Doctor had Archer deciding, in effect, that a sin of omission is a lesser evil than a sin of commission, and that's sort of the philosophy behind the PD -- but I think talking it through is a lot less convincing than showing some contact or other which leads almost directly to the Prime Directive. It'd get some history on track, and maybe even let Archer learn from a mistake or two.

As long as I'm on the subject of Archer, about halfway through the season I started having some minor problems buying into Scott Bakula's performance. When he's talking to any alien race, Archer seems to get louder and slower-paced than he usually does. It's not blatant, but it's noticeable -- and frankly, it smacks of the stereotypical "Ugly American" more than anything else. He wasn't like that in the first half of the season, or at least if he did do that it did it much more rarely, so I can only assume that it's a delivery he's deliberately adopted, either on his own or on the suggestion of various directors and producers over the course of the season. Either way, can I make a humble suggestion that Archer's mannerisms change just a little bit?

The third member of this new triumvirate would be Trip, and I'm basically fine with him. I don't agree with those occasional claims I've seen that Connor Trinneer's giving Emmy-quality performances (maintaining one's dignity through most of Unexpected is laudable, but not *that* laudable), but he's doing a perfectly decent job -- and I've no problem with Trip as brash engineer or as loyal Archer-buddy. I'm not seeing all that much depth to the character yet, but he's always been watchable. (Well, okay ... apart from the clubbing with Malcolm.)

More than most Trek series to date, "Enterprise" has a serious case of its second-tier characters outshining its alleged stars. I'm much more interested in Hoshi, Reed, and Phlox than I am in any of the big three: all three characters seem to be, not just sensibly dealt with, but possessed of a lot more depth than their higher-ranking counterparts. (That may not be a coincidence: if they're not having to take the starring role most of the time, the actors may instead devote some time to justifying their own character's actions to themselves, thus grounding the role a bit. On the other hand, I could be talking complete nonsense. It's happened before.  :-)

In fact, I think the conscious effort to build up the big three at the expense of the others can sometimes exact a price in terms of viewer fatigue. A long-time friend of mine who's an even longer-time Trek fan suggested to me back in the spring that Acquisition could have been used as a way for us to see some of the minor characters rather than as yet another big adventure with Trip and his underwear. (If I remember what he suggested correctly, it would involve Hoshi being in decon rather than Trip, waking up Phlox in the hopes that he'd be able to wake the others, and the Ferengi intentionally waking up Travis rather than Archer, since he's at the helm and therefore "must be in charge." I've certainly heard worse ideas.) When someone who's been a fan as long as he has is starting to chafe at some characters' overexposure, maybe there's something to it.

I'm particularly intrigued by the relationship that seems to be developing between Hoshi and T'Pol. T'Pol is holding Hoshi to a high standard because "I know you are capable of achieving it," and seems to be teaching her the occasional meditation technique as well. I like that quite a bit -- any communications officer as interested in language and culture as she is can find a lot to explore in Vulcan ways, and I'd love to see a human crewmember who doesn't think Vulcans are all that bad. (She'd serve as a counterweight to Trip and Archer, at the very least.) Mark me down as in favor of letting those characters interact a bit more.

There have been a few other relationships that have shown some evolution. Archer/T'Pol have certainly started to trust one another a bit more, even if V'Lar's "and I sense friendship" is telegraphing what we're supposed to believe much more than I'd like. Trip and Malcolm seem to have become reasonably good friends -- nothing I'd buy on the level of, say, Bashir/O'Brien quite yet, but I'm willing to give it time.

The serious odd man out so far appears to be Travis Mayweather -- I've got the definite sense that no one knows what to do with the character, and that's a shame. Even leaving aside the whole "boomer" culture clash we saw in Fortunate Son, Travis probably has more space experience than anyone else on the ship, with the possible exception of T'Pol. He may know races others don't, and maybe could be a little jaded when others are excited. (And, of course, I'm perfectly happy to see more of the boomer/Starfleet culture clash.) It's a little hard to tell from what little we've gotten to see, but I think Anthony Montgomery's up to a job like that -- just decide what the character's going to do and do it already.

The other big plot point we've seen this year has been the Temporal Cold War, as shown in Cold Front and Shockwave. So far, both of those shows have been exciting, to be sure -- but I'm still reserving judgment until I see what's going to spin out of it. Done wrong, it could trail on endlessly like the mythology arc on "The X-Files" or be used to justify any number of changes to "established" Trek history. It hasn't yet, to be sure -- but so far all we've gotten is one mystery after another. Resolving those mysteries and taking the plot forward is going to be the hard part. Shockwave, Part II should start shedding a lot of light in that regard, and I for one am going in cautious, but optimistic. (And hey, John Fleck's certainly worth watching as Silik.)

Given my concerns about Archer, T'Pol, the Vulcans and the "sameness" of the adventures, though, it'd be easy to think that I'm deeply disappointed by "Enterprise" ... but that's not really true. As I said earlier, most of the episodes were perfectly fine as ways to spend an hour. I'd like to think, though, that "Enterprise" can be more than a way to keep people in front of television advertising for one hour a week -- some of its predecessors certainly were at times, and I think the premise supports a less "generic Trek adventure" show than we've gotten so far.

In short, "I hold you to a high standard, Enterprise, because I know you are capable of achieving it." Here's hoping future seasons rise to meet that standard; I know I'll be around, at least for a while.

See you next season!

Tim Lynch (Castilleja School, Science Department)
tly...@alumni.caltech.edu <*>
"Have you ever seen anything like that?" "Actually, I have."
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Copyright 2002, Timothy W. Lynch. All rights reserved, but feel free to ask... This article is explicitly prohibited from being used in any off-net compilation without due attribution and *express written consent of the author*. Walnut Creek and other CD-ROM distributors, take note.