1-9. Civilization

THE PLOT

Enterprise locates an inhabited, Earth-like planet with a medieval culture. Despite T'Pol's warnings about cultural contamination, Archer insists on a small landing party, dressed like natives so as to blend in. However, when the ship's sensors detect emissions that can only be caused by advanced technology... technology that the planet's culture does not appear to reflect.

Archer beams down with Trip, T'Pol, and Hoshi. They quickly identify the source of the emissions - an antique shop, whose owner is actually an alien running an antimatter reactor. The shop owner readily admits to the existence of the reactor, but insists that it is harmless. The local apothecary, however, has other views, blaming the shop owner and his mysterious "midnight deliveries" for a sickness that has started claiming lives, including the life of her brother.


CHARACTERS

Capt. Archer: As the episode opened, with Archer once again blithely ignoring T'Pol (for the Enterprise drinking game: T'Pol says something sensible and Archer ignores her... *drink*), I had hopes that this episode would see Archer and his good intentions creating a major calamity. The number of times we've seen Archer's headstrong, impulsive nature is begging for an episode in which he makes a mammoth misjudgement. I would go so far as to say that my opinion of this series will plummet if we don't get that episode eventually.

I say "eventually," because sadly, this is not that episode. Impulsive, headstrong, and ready to impose his morals on others at the drop of a hat, Archer is also... proved right at every significant turn. Fortunately, Scott Bakula does get a chance to show his skills with low-key humor in his Kirk-like romance with the local apothecary, and also does a fair job with the action heroics. Archer is still likable despite himself - which, at this point, I'm putting down at least as much to the actor as to the role.

T'Pol: Voices concerns about "cultural contamination" that will be echoed by the Prime Directive by the time of TOS. Continues to show disapproval at Archer's impulsiveness. Particularly disapproves of Archer's closeness with Riann (Diane DiLascio), the pretty apothecary. At this point, I am starting to wonder why T'Pol didn't grab at the chance to leave Enterprise in the previous episode. More than half the episodes see her talking sense, and either being ignored or having to argue far too heavily for the rest of the crew to pay her any mind. If I were in her shoes, I would frankly have quit by now and gone home to confirm that humans are indeed impulsive, arrogant, and stubborn.

Hot Alien Space Babe of the Week: Archer gets his Kirk on with Riann, the pretty and brilliant apothecary. Diane DiLascio is highly appealing as Riann, and plays well opposite Bakula. This is fortunate, since the role as written could easily be insufferable. We get scenes in which Dr. Phlox takes care to point out Riann's brilliance and how far ahead of her civilization her work is. She even gets to save Archer at the climax. If this were a fanfic, she'd be a clear "Mary Sue."

Villain of the Week: Is it really much of a spoiler to reveal that Garos (Wade Andrew Williams), the shop owner, actually is evil? I mean, it's not like either the actor or the very predictable story structure are exactly going to great pains to hide it. Garos is a typical Trek villain. He's smug, arrogant, and dismissive of all lives that aren't his own. If this were a TOS episode, Kirk would have to be kept ill or unconscious for half the episode's length to avoid simply slapping Garos into submission in the first 15 minutes. As such, it's near-impossible to feel any remote interest in him as a character.

THOUGHTS

Well, if Terra Nova was a Next Generation episode in all but name, then Civilization is a TOS episode, with Archer very clearly cast in the Kirk role. I quite like TOS, so I enjoyed this episode considerably more than I did Terra Nova. As with that episode, though, I find myself wishing Enterprise would stick to telling stories that are specific to itself. The Andorian Incident and Breaking the Ice show that the writers can do this. So my wish is for an end to knock-offs of other Trek shows' formulas, and more episodes that exploit this show's particular format and potential.

Quibbles about the now-quite-tiresome "Archer-ignores-T'Pol's-advice" plot device and lack of originality aside, this is entertaining enough. Bakula seems to be having fun playing a standard hero role, and the pace moves along at a nice clip. There's a refreshing undercurrent of humor, which seems to indicate that the writers knew they were doing a knockoff and were signalling the audience not to take it too seriously. Still, if the writers could keep the pace fast, keep the tone engaging, and even wink at the audience that they knew this wasn't one to take seriously, then surely those same writers had enough ability to put out a more substantial piece of television than this?

Joss Whedon, in the Firefly DVD's, noted that their show being in trouble brought out the best in Firefly's creative team. They asked themselves, with each episode, "What story needs to be told in this universe?" If only the Enterprise staff had asked themselves the same question a bit more often during their first season, and avoided featherweight filler episodes like Terra Nova and this, then the show might well have met with a stronger overall reception.


Rating: 5/10. Entertaining enough, but ordinary. And honestly a bit frustrating in its predicability.

Previous Episode: Breaking the Ice
Next Episode: Fortunate Son


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