Trip is testing an upgrade to the shuttlepod's autopilot system when, out of nowhere, an alien ship appears and attacks. Trip is forced to crash on a nearby moon, which conveniently has a breathable atmosphere, to try to effect repairs. But the alien has crashed, as well. Soon, Trip finds himself taken captive, working to repair the alien's ship while attempting to find a way to communicate.
Meanwhile, the Enterprise's search for Trip is interrupted by the arrival of the Arkonians, whose missing man, Zho'Kaan (Gregg Henry), is responsible for shooting Trip down. They tentatively agree to coordinate their search. But their suspicions are inflamed by the presence of T'Pol, the Vulcans being hated by this particular race.
CHARACTERS
Capt. Archer: Though one can see his negative reaction to the Arkonian captain's "leave at once" ultimatums, he wrestles down his temper in order to negotiate for the Arkonians' help in rescuing Trip and Zho'kann. He listens to T'Pol's confession of the Vulcans' past with the Arkonians without being judgemental, showing character progress (first season Archer would have leapt on such a confession), nor does he gloat when T'Pol admits that he did better with the Arkonians than the Vulcans did.
Trip: A Trip-centric episode. Yes, another one. Even allowing for him being one of this show's "Big Three," there have been a few too many Trip episodes lately. How about a nice piece for Hoshi, or a Phlox episode?
That said, this was a much better episode for Trip than Precious Cargo was. His engineering resourcefulness allows him to get both himself and the alien off the planet. His dealings with Zho'Kann are very well-played. Trip never shows weakness to the alien, but he does everything he can to work with him and to show that he geniunely wants to work together to get them both off the planet. It's rough diplomacy at best, but it's fair to say that this kind of interaction helps to turn a likely enemy into a potential ally.
T'Pol: Has grown to respect Archer and his command enough to instantly trust him with the background on the Arkonians. When Archer is able to effectively deal with Arkonians' captain to help rescue both Trip and Zho'kann, she readily admits that Archer's approach to them was far more effective than the Vulcans' had been.
THOUGHTS
Dawn opens with Trip making a crack about how the upgraded autopilot will make Travis Mayweather redundant. Hasn't the show itself already done that?
The episode is basically a blend of the science fiction movie Enemy Mine and the old TNG episode, Darmok. It's highly derivative, but that's actually OK in this case. Dawn isn't going to make anyone's Top Ten, but it's a well-made and well-paced 45 minutes of television. We get a little more background on the Vulcans' intervention with other warp-capable species, showing us that Archer's reaction to Vulcan interference is far from unique. Between the Andorians and the Arkonians, one begins to wonder if the Vulcans haven't been making as many enemies as friends with certain of their policies.
At the same time, Trip gets a strong spotlight episode. Arguably, the show's been overdosing on Trip-heavy episodes of late. But perhaps somebody reasoned that after Precious Cargo, a competent Trip episode was needed to repair the damage.
Rating: 6/10.
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Next Episode: Stigma
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