2-16. Future Tense.

THE PLOT

The Enterprise encounters a dead ship, adrift in space, and pulls it into the docking bay to examine it. To the surprise of the entire command crew, the (dead) pilot is human - which should be quite impossible, since no humans have ever been out this far! There are other impossibilities. The ship is bigger on the inside than the outside, and seems to be powered by organic technology. The pilot is not pure human.  He has traces of Vulcan DNA, Terellian DNA, and other species that Phlox cannot even identify. The only conclusion Archer can reach is that both ship and pilot come from the future - which is confirmed by Crewman Daniels' database.

Before Archer can properly decide what to do with this information, the Enterprise finds itself targeted by those who want the ship. The Suliban Cabal wants its technology, to turn the tide of their Temporal Cold War. The Tholians, a xenophobic species with highly advanced technology, also try to lay claim to the ship. With both hostile species determined to gain this prize, Archer finds himself in a desperate race to a rendezvous with a Vulcan battle cruiser.


CHARACTERS

Capt. Archer: For the first time in a while, Archer returns to being stubborn past the point of being reasonable. Once it becomes clear that both the Suliban and the Tholians, both of whom are more advanced than Enterprise, are determined to get hold of the ship, he should be willing to consider destroying it.  It certainly wouldn't be unreasonable to prepare some kind of warhead if the need quickly arises. His desire for answers to the frustrating Temporal Cold War issue overrides his common sense in this instance - something he seems to realize at the end, as he takes upon himself the doubtless bitter task of preparing both an apology to the Vulcan High Command and an expression of gratitude for their help.

T'Pol: In some ways, she's just as unreasonably stubborn as Archer. The Vulcan position is that time travel is impossible, a position which T'Pol describes as "not an opinion," even in the face of the evidence the Temporal Cold War presents. Her recommendation to Archer to destroy the ship is logical, and ends up being proved by what awaits them at the Vulcan ship. But there's a distinct sense that her recommendation is at least partially motivated by a desire to protect herself from evidence that the Vulcan Science Directorate could be (gasp) wrong.

Trip/Reed: These two make an entertaining double act, particularly in the early stages of the episode. Trip's wish to explore the impossible ship contrasts with Reed's urgency for security.  Trip drops a spanner down the ship's shaft to test that the shaft actually is that deep, and not just a hologram. Then he overrides Reed's objections to simply going down the shaft by pointing out that he has to retrieve his tool. The pair also get to experience a time loop together, which foreshadows the time loop in which Reed and Archer later find themselves.

The Tholians: It's been far, far too long since I saw The Tholian Web, so I can't comment on how the ships here match up with the originals. The design is effective, though, as are the clicks and screeches that punctuate the Tholians' communication with Enterprise. I was glad to see how horribly outmatched our heroes are by the Tholians, in both military and technological terms. I've missed that early element of Enterprise, of the humans being near the bottom of the technological food chain.  It's something that's been lost as the show has gone along, and a return to that helps this episode to build tension.


THOUGHTS

Another strong episode, and it's probably no coincidence that it's another one which revisits one of the first season's too-long-neglected running arcs - in this case, that of the Suliban and the Temporal Cold War.The Temporal Cold War episodes tended to be among the stronger episodes of the first season, with Cold Front particularly standing out. Even if the Temporal Cold War was added at the network's insistence, it's interesting, particularly as we receive just a tiny bit more information about it each time it is revisited. It's a heck of a lot more interesting than watching Archer protect miners from Klingon bandits, or other episodes of that ilk.

It also allows the writers to explore some of the Archer/T'Pol character conflict that has so substantially eased since the series began. Season Two Archer, with the horrible exception of A Night in Sickbay, has learned his lessons well and has abandoned much of the pure muleheaded tendencies that made him such a flawed commander in the beginning. This progress has been nicely gradual, almost invisible on an episode-to-episode basis.

Still, the easing of both the stubbornness and the hostility has made Archer a bit more generic than he was at the beginning. By putting him into a situation in which he believes he has a genuine chance to get some answers to questions that have been hanging over him, the writers create a plausible scenario to bring some of that muleheadedness back.  For all the progress both have made, he and T'Pol sometimes do come at situations with directly opposed priorities and agendas.

Mike Sussman and Phyllis Strong, whose scripts have been the consistent highlights of Season Two, do it again here. They even manage to layer in some decent character moments. Mayweather and Hoshi are basically set dressing again, but all of the others get at least one or two good scenes. Veteran television director James Whitmore Jr. helms the piece with a confident hand, using lighting to particularly good effect inside the future ship.

It zips along at a good pace, furthers the Temporal Cold War arc, and introduces the humans to the Tholians in a way that keeps the Tholians both mysterious and threatening. In short: it's a good one... though something I can't quite put my finger on keeps it from crossing over into being a great one.


Rating: 8/10.

Previous Episode: Cease Fire
Next Episode: Canamar

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1-26, 2-1. Shockwave.

The first season ends and the second season begins with this eventful 2-parter.


THE PLOT

It's a fairly typical first contact situation, one that is by now more or less familiar to both Enterprise and the viewers. Archer is preparing to make first contact with an alien colony, which has some vague similarities to 20th century Earth with some mild cultural reversals (it's a matriarchal society where the men are only just beginning to attain equal rights). Archer leads an Away Team to go down to the surface to make contact, and we're all set for a fairly typical, potentially preachy, likely mediocre standalone episode...

Then disaster strikes, as an accident causes the shuttlepod to apparently ignite the atmosphere, destroying the colony and wiping out its more than 3,000 inhabitants!

Enterprise now faces a recall by Starfleet, with the Vulcans advising that its mission be canceled, with the humans waiting at least another 10 - 20 years before attempting such a mission again.  It appears that the Vulcans have finally gotten what they've wanted from the beginning: Humanity cowed into staying in their own solar system. Archer is too wracked by guilt over the accident to protest.

Then he receives an unexpected visitor: Daniels (Matt Winston), the time traveler apparently killed by Silik, returns to inform Archer that this accident never occurred in the proper, "prime" timeline.  It was the work of the Suliban, attempting to sabotage Enterprise's mission. Daniels gives Archer all the information he needs to retrieve evidence to clear Enterprise. However, unexpected developments leave Archer's ship at the mercy of the Suliban, and prompt Daniels to action which destroys the entire 800 years from Archer's mission to Daniels' present.

It's the end of the world as they knew it. So what do they do now?


CHARACTERS

Capt. Archer: He's spent all of the first season gradually learning (and sometimes forgetting) lessons about responsibility and consequences. Now, the moment a lot of viewers have probably been waiting for seems to occur: a moment of carelessness causes a catastrophe. Archer keenly feels the guilt, which is compounded when he hears that this incident will be used as an excuse to delay humanity's progress. He briefly allows himself to be paralyzed by that, to an extent that is probably unbecoming in a commanding officer. 

Once given a way to fight, Archer throws himself into that fight with all the energy and enthusiasm at his disposal. When all seems lost, he takes the lead to prompt Daniels to find a way to salvage the situation. By Part 2, Archer seems to finally be growing into his leadership role. Broken Bow Archer was resourceful, but careless and too quick to judge the people under his command. The Archer of Shockwave (particularly Part 2) confidently takes charge of a dire situation and uses the skills of his people to turn a horrible situation to his advantage.

T'Pol: Given her initial adversarial relationship with Archer, it is quite pleasing to see how fully she has grown into the role of his second-in-command. When Archer allows himself to wallow in guilt, T'Pol is the one to try to pull him out of it, insisting that he needs to mount a defense for his command. In Broken Bow, Archer was constantly suspicous of T'Pol, and hated the idea of her taking command of the ship. In this episode, he yields command to her with absolute confidence - which she repays by the competence with which she commands the ship and crew.

Silik: The slimy Suliban's third appearance is, perhaps, a comedown from his triumph in Cold Front. He's less confident here, more clearly a lackey to his mysterious superior from the future. However, the character becomes more rounded, in a way. He seems fully in control when engaging Archer and the Enterprise crew on his terms. But when he is cut off from "Future Guy," he all but falls apart. He spends most of Part 2 snapping at his own lackeys while desperately trying to re-establish connection with his "benefactor." At one point, he is literally on his knees begging for this man from the future to appear to tell him what to do. Far from the sinister man in control of all he surveys, Silik is almost like a child, pleading for a father to guide him, to show him what his destiny should be. It makes him less powerful, but in some ways more interesting. I wonder what might be expected from his next appearance.

Ambassador Soval: He seems to almost revel in the opportunity to cut short Enterprise's mission, insisting on the ship's recall even when Archer has proved his ship's innocence. Most interesting is that he doesn't seem very interested in the destruction of the colony. He doesn't inquire for more details about the Cabal.  He isn't even mildly intrigued at the "Temporal Cold War," even though by the end of this 2-parter, there is a fair amount of evidence of its existence. In fact, when Archer tries to elaborate on these areas, Soval firmly brings the discussion back to Enterprise's mistakes and disruptions.

I can't help but wonder if Soval might be in league with the Cabal. This 2-parter touches again on the enhanced Sulibans' ability to shape-shift. Do we know for certain that Soval is a Vulcan? Could an enhanced member of the Cabal have taken Soval's place, to influence events? Soval has behaved in a very un-Vulcan manner on multiple occasions (an emotional outburst in the pilot, a decidedly emotional exit in this episode). I'm sure my musings are far off the mark - but there is definitely something going on, if not with the Vulcans in general than at least with Soval in particular.


THOUGHTS

As befits any season climax, Shockwave is a big episode, with a story that literally spans 1,000 (well, 800) years. There are multiple battle scenes, chases, escapes, time travel, post-Apocalyptic landscapes... It's about two steps away from being Enterprise: The Movie. With a fast pace and plenty of incident, the 90 minutes of this 2-parter go by very, very quickly.

Pretty much every character gets a moment to shine. Though the bulk of the action goes to Archer and T'Pol, the supporting cast also get their moments. Trip and Hoshi work surreptitiously to free the command crew to retake the ship. Dr. Phlox provides key assistance in this, and also displays a refreshingly different perspective on Enterprise's recall.  Reed discovers key evidence in the initial accident and undertakes the least pleasant, but most necessary, part of the escape from the Suliban. Everyone gets a page.

Well, everyone except Mayweather, who, as per usual, largely sits around like set dressing. By this point, it must have been clear to all and sundry that his was the one character that truly didn't fit. Cutler (R. I. P., Kellie Waymire) was in exactly three episodes, and she feels more like an intrinsic part of the crew than Mayweather! So why didn't the producers take the opportunity of a season finale to jettison this useless character? The Suliban attack on Enterprise would give a perfect opportunity to do some house-cleaning. Why renew Anthony Montgomery's contract for another season of Mayweather, when by this point it's clear that the writers have no intention of even trying to do anything interesting with the character?

Ah, well. It's a good 2-parter, with some excellent visual effects, well-directed action pieces, and a handful of rather good character scenes in the bargain. As is almost always the case, Part 1 is stronger than Part 2, but the two parts together form a coherent and satisfying whole. It's no Best of Both Worlds, but it is a very satisfying piece, effectively tying off the first season while hopefully raising the stakes a bit for Season Two.


Rating: 8/10.

Previous Episode: Two Days and Two Nights
Next Episode: Carbon Creek

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1-25. Two Days and Two Nights.

THE PLOT

The third time proves to be the charm, as Enterprise finally reaches Risa for its long-overdue shore leave. T'Pol stays aboard to run the ship. Cutler supervises the sickbay as Dr. Phlox takes his needed time to hibernate. Meanwhile, the rest of the command crew head to the planet for very different vacation plans.

Trip and Reed are determined to expand their horizons at a local bar... but their selected one-night-stands have an unexpected surprise for them. Mayweather decides to go climbing on a cliff-face whose slope changes constantly... with predictable consequences. Hoshi decides to just settle in, free of the universal translator, and practice speaking Risan... which catches the eye of an amorous fellow vacationer (Rudolf Martin). Finally, Archer's quiet retreat to a villa overlooking the seaside connects him with an attractive woman (Dey Young)... but as he gets to know her, he discovers that they share a closer connection than he had counted on.


CHARACTERS

Archer: Despite sometimes seeming like the sort of guy who would have been a "frat boy king" in his youth, Archer is not entirely comfortable taking vacations. While Trip and Reed head for a bar to score one-night-stands as fast as possible, Archer decides to take a quiet vacation with his dog, catching up on his reading and watching the stars. He enjoys making a low-key, adult connection with Keyla. However, he cannot turn off his inner starship captain long enough to enjoy her company once she lets slip her own past with the Suliban.

Trip/Reed: The double-act they began in Shuttlepod One continues here. The two actors bounce off each other very well in their ill-fated comic quest to Get Laid Now, and their attempted improvisations ("We're both the captain... We take turns") and their continuing bickering is quite entertaining.  That said, their subplot is easily the most disposable of the episode.

Hoshi: A very relaxed episode for Hoshi.  She seems to be genuinely enjoying herself in every scene, whether practicing her language skills with an older Risan couple or enjoying a vacation romance with the guest star of the week. Linda Park is terrific throughout, and it's nice to see an episode focusing on Hoshi without forcing her to deal with emotional "issues." Linda Park is also quite lovely, and in the "morning after" scene, I felt a touch envious of Rudolf Martin's Ravis.

Phlox: His need for hibernation, mentioned in earlier episodes, becomes a plot point here, when he is effectively incapacitated during a minor medical emergency. John Billingsley is highly entertaining as a semi-irrational, sleep-craving Phlox.  Still, this subplot does beg the question: Given that it's part of Phlox's genetic makeup that he absolutely must hibernate for a certain period each year, surely the ship needs more of a backup medic than the girl who has a crush on him? Lovely to see Cutler again, by the way - though it's a pity that this was apparently her last appearance.

Hot Alien Space Babe of the Week: Dey Young is Keyla, Archer's attractive vacation neighbor. At first, she seems to simply be a friendly, somewhat lonely and reclusive woman in early middle age, someone similar enough to Archer in both age and temperament to make a pleasantly low-key, short-term match. Given the innocuous nature of the episode's first half, it actually comes as a surprise when Keyla brings up the Suliban, reminding us of the ongoing arc. Keyla exits leaving us with more questions than answers.  I find myself hoping that we will see her again, if only to see exactly what it is she is up to. Young and Bakula play off each other quite well, so a return appearance would certainly be welcome.


THOUGHTS

Enterprise seems to do very well with character-based episodes. The cast seem to do far better simply interacting in differing settings than when they have to run through Trek formulas. I also can't help but notice that, one episode from the season's end, we are yet to have even have a single "redshirt death." Enterprise may not have been different enough from the Trek formula to stand out in the early 2000's, at the tail end of a glut of Trek spinoffs. But in retrospect, it does have a very different feel than other series, and it seems far more its own show than, say, Voyager did.

There's a definite sense that this ensemble is far more comfortable in their roles than in the early episodes of the series. By this point, every character on the show is working... except Mayweather. I had to laugh when Phlox's reaction to being told there was an emergency involving Mayweather was, "Who?" Even the writers are acknowledging that Mayweather is a nonentity.  The end of this season would have been a fine time to have not only acknowledged that the character didn't work, but also to drop that character (something which I already know didn't happen, but it would have been a good idea).


Rating: 7/10. A quiet, but thoroughly enjoyable, 45 minutes of television.

Previous Episode: Desert Crossing
Next Episode: Shockwave

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1-21. Detained.

THE PLOT

Archer and Mayweather, having inadverdantly violated the Tandaran military zone while investigating in a shuttlepod, awake inside a Tandaran detention center, whose prisoners are otherwise entirely Suliban. The head of the center, Colonel Grat (Dean Stockwell), assures them that this misunderstanding can be cleared up in just a few days' time, and explains that the Tandarans are at war with the Suliban Cabal. Grat is a genial host, and his only concern - apparently, solely for Archer's and Mayweather's welfare - is that they should keep to themselves until they are released.

Archer, who has never excelled at keeping to himself, quickly makes the acquaintance of a Suliban named Danik (Dennis Christopher), and discovers that none of the Suliban in the complex are genetically modified, and none of them are members of the Cabal. Instead, these Suliban were citizens of Tandar, who were abruptly transformed into prisoners "for their own protection" when the Cabal attacked Tandaran space. Archer resolves to help the prisoners regain their freedom... but as Grat realizes how much Archer now knows, he finds that his and Mayweather's own freedom is now in jeopardy!


CHARACTERS

Capt. Archer: Still shows a tendency to trust those who look human above those who don't. He is instantly inclined to accept the explanations of the nearly human-looking Grat, and instantly inclined to distrust the Suliban. However, he is getting better and better at looking past his prejudices. It takes him the space of one coversation to accept that Danik and his people are not members of the Cabal, and about that length of time to become morally outraged. Of course, Archer becoming morally outraged on behalf of someone else is hardly remarkable - but in this case, it seems difficult to disagree with him.

Mayweather: One of only two regulars with significant screentime... and he still manages to have no real character! I did appreciate Mayweather's chagrin when called on his discomfort around the Suliban. But nothing is done with that, other than to have Mayweather lecture Relucant Suliban X about how Mayweather overcame his preconceptions, so Mr. Suliban should be able to do the same.  That can hardly can be labeled characterization, even by Trek's sometimes loose standards.

Villain of the Week: That Stockwell and Bakula play well off each other is hardly surprising; that they do so without a single hint of "Sam" or "Al" cropping up in their scenes together is somewhat more surprising. As Grat, Stockwell does a good job of portraying a man who has managed to convince himself that what he is doing is really, truly for the best. At the prospect of a mass escape, he snaps, "You're not rescuing these people - You're condemning them!" It's very much to Stockwell's credit that we believe that Grat believes what he is saying. Grat is definitely the villain; however, he's not a 2-dimensional, mustache-twirling baddie. He's the more interesting villain: The one who believes he is doing what's right - or at least, what's expedient.

SO LET ME GET THIS STRAIGHT...

So where does Enterprise's technology fall, compared with other space-faring species? Early episodes seemed, quite refreshingly, to indicate that our heroes were very much at the low end of military technology, with only primitive shielding and weaponry. Yes, they've now upgraded their weapons. Even so, it seems that they should still be lower-middle at best.

Yet here Enterprise encounters a race that has been at war with the technologically superior Suliban Cabal for years. We have seen that the Cabal possess technology that makes the Enterprise look like something out of the Stone Age. So surely, Enterprise should not be able to: effortlessly jam the Tandaran computers, shoot down two Tandaran ships with as many torpedoes, effortlessly evade the complex's defenses, and then destroy said defenses, all with no real resistance? It's a bizarre discrepancy, given what we've seen in other episodes. Apparently, Enterprise's technology advances, much like the warp engines: at the speed of plot.


THOUGHTS

On the one hand, this is an unsubtle allegory about World War II era Japanese internment camps - one that commits the cardinal sin of an allegory in actually spelling out in the text the event being paralleled! There is no question as to which side is right and which side is wrong. The Suliban imprisoned in the complex are all fundamentally decent, with the only "gray" Suliban being the one who is wary of trusting Archer on first sight. Meanwhile, the Tandarans are either brutal, needlessly strict at enforcing pointless rules, or self-deluded about what it is they're doing. There are no "bad" Suliban in this episode (although a Cabal sympathizer or two would seem to be a natural, given the situation), and there are no "good" Tandarans.

On the other hand, it's another entertaining installment. Once you set aside the lack of subtlety, this is a well put-together show.  The script is tight and the acting is good, with particularly strong guest turns by Stockwell and Dennis Christopher. Yes, the regulars other than Archer and Mayweather get minimal screentime. Still, everyone gets something to do. T'Pol gets to negotiate with Grat, and then deceive him while neatly carrying off a jamming maneuver; Reed gets to blow some things up and hit some people, so he has a good day; Phlox gets to be an artistic perfectionist while preparing a disguise; Hoshi gets to trace and jam transmissions; and Trip... well, Trip mostly gets to be loud, but at least he's heard.

Finally, for an episode that is about as subtle as a 2x4 to the side of the head, it has a suprisingly effective ending note. It's probably not much of a spoiler to reveal that Archer rescues all the Suliban, and they get successfully into space and away from the complex. But it's a decidedly mixed victory, as Archer muses that he's fairly sure they will escape the Tandarans, but is significantly less sure that they "will be all right."

It's a nicely ambiguous end note, in an episode that probably could have used a bit more ambiguity.


Rating: 6/10.

Previous Episode: Oasis
Next Episode: Vox Sola

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1-11. Cold Front

THE PLOT

The Enterprise encounters an alien ship carrying a group of pilgrims. They are traveling to a stellar nursery, in order to view The Great Plume of Agosoria, which they associate with the beginning of the universe. Archer invites them aboard, granting them a tour, as they all wait for the Plume. The tour takes an unexpected turn when a plasma storm nearly destroys the Enterprise. Only the disconnection of a conduit before the storm saves the ship... a disconnection that was not performed by any member of the engineering crew.

The mystery deepens when Archer is told by Crewman Daniels (Matt Winston), that the crewman is actually an agent from the distant future, here to stop the Suliban from changing history during the Temporal Cold War. The Suliban, Silik (John Fleck), whom Archer had encountered back in the Pilot, has infiltrated the pilgrims. Daniels enlists Archer's aid to find Silik - but Silik may be one step ahead of both of them...


CHARACTERS

Capt. Archer: Silik raises a very good point, in his confrontations with Archer in this episode. Archer rushes to trust Daniels, with very little evidence to indicate that he should. Is it simply that Daniels appears human, and Silik appears... Well, sort of scaly and creepy and lizard-like? Archer shouldn't trust either of these characters as far as he can throw them, and yet he almost instantly takes Daniels' side. This, along with his issues with the Vulcans, may point to a buried streak of xenophobia in the captain (which, as with his other flaws, would be interesting to see genuinely explored).

It is interesting that he recalls that on their first meeting, Silik tried to kill him. That's actually only partially true. Silik was initially completely disinterested in Archer. He only tried to kill the captain when Archer made it clear that he knew more than he should. Archer was there; he should remember that at least as well as I do. Archer's selective memory here is interesting. Also, and I know I've said it before, but his impulsiveness and his insistence on trusting people he has no particular reason to trust... This *needs* to blow up in his face, and soon.

T'Pol: Her skepticism about Daniels' time travel claim is refreshing, and raises a good point. Daniels showed Archer a fancy light show with technology far in advance of humanity's. On the other hand, as T'Pol and Trip point out, they've already seen plenty of technology far in advance of humanity's. Nothing they've seen proves that Daniels is from the future - a point both Trip and T'Pol seem to agree on (and which Archer, in typical fashion, ignores).

Trip: In addition to actually agreeing with T'Pol's caution on this occasion, Trip gets an amusing moment during the tour. His assumption that these pilgrims must be simple folk, and that the Enterprise's engineering system must be beyond their understanding, gets turned on its head when it turns out that several of the pilgrims know as much - probably more - about warp systems than he does. Yet another reminder that the technology that still impresses the humans is old hat to many of the aliens they encounter.

Villain of the Week: Silik the Suliban returns, and he's still creepy. I enjoyed his attempts to reason with Archer. He does have a point: We do not, at this point, actually know that Silik represents "the wrong side." We're led to assume this, because of the events of the Pilot. But it's entirely possible that Daniels represents the "wrong side," and that Silik - while certainly motivated by self interest - may actually be the lesser of two evils. Even Archer acknowledges that they know nothing about Daniels, even at the end. And when Archer prevents Silik from ultimately completing the last bit of his mission, Silik's last words to him are to hiss that Archer may have imperiled his own future. Why should Silik bother? Why not just get out of there? Maybe Silik is telling the truth... or at least, believes that he is.


THOUGHTS

For the second disc in a row, we have a mediocre episode and a downright bad episode followed by a very strong installment that promises even more interesting things to come.

I'm feeling more convinced than ever that this show would have benefitted from shorter seasons, to cut out the filler. Can you imagine the first part of this season running something like this?

Broken Bow
Fight or Flight
Strange New World
Breaking the Ice
The Andorian Incident
Cold Front

That would be probably the strongest and most interesting start of any Trek spinoff, ever. Unfortunately, pointless filler episodes keep intruding to gum up the works. Instead of 26 episode seasons, 13 to 16 episode seasons would have served this show far better.

Ah, well. At least this was a good one. The Temporal Cold War comes up for the first time since Broken Bow. There, it was fancy window dressing for an otherwise fairly typical Trek plot. Here, it is the plot. Archer is given one bit of information, then another bit of entirely conflicting information, and ends the episode knowing possibly even less than when he started. He does know now that cold warriors from the future have an unhealthy interest in Enterprise... or does he?

I keep coming back to the doubts expressed by T'Pol and Trip. They raise a good point. All the proof Archer (or we) have of a Temporal Cold War stems from two different guys claiming to be from the future and one of them showing Archer a light show. What if there is no Temporal Cold War? Silik's superior could easily be from a more advanced current race, using technology and genetic upgrades to lie to the Suliban for reasons of his own. Similarly, Daniels - aware that Archer has encountered Silik, and guessing that Archer has been told of the "Temporal Cold War" - could be simply telling Archer a convenient lie to enlist his aid. Just because two different people on opposite sides have told Archer the same thing, that doesn't make the thing they told him true.

The episode is directed with quite a bit of visual flair. Silik makes his escape from the Enterprise in a moment that looks like it belongs on the big screen, not the small. The light show Daniels shows Archer is impressive... as is the The Great Plume, for that matter. Finally, I loved the final shot of the episode, leaving us with the image of the seal on Daniels' locked quarters. The open ending has left us with more questions than answers, and a sense of ominous things to come - which, at this point in an arc, is exactly as it should be.


Rating: 8/10. Good stuff.

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1-01, 1-02. Broken Bow

Capt. Jonathan Archer (Scott Bakula) meets the "Kling-ots," while his science officer and engineer take a shower together.


PLOT

When a Klingon crash-lands in a field, it falls to a farmer to make first contact with a new alien race. Which he does... using a shotgun. This incident coincides with the planned launch of the flagship of the recently-formed Starfleet: the Enterprise. The Vulcans, who have spent the last 100 years "advising" humanity (or, possibly, holding humanity back), urge delaying the Enterprise's maiden flight until after they have returned the Kllingon. However, the Enterprise's captain, Johnathan Archer (Scott Bakula), is having none of that, and convinces his superiors that since this happened on Earth, it should be the Enterprise that takes the Klingon home.

The Vulcans reluctantly agree, with the proviso that one of their own is assigned as science officer (Jolene Blalock). And with that, the Enterprise is off on its first-ever mission. A mission which is complicated when the ship is invaded by a race known as the Suliban, who take the Klingon and vanish. Now Archer must follow a scant few, very thin leads in order to track down the Klingon and complete his mission - or return home, defeated, proving the Vulcans right in their belief that man just isn't ready for the stars.


CHARACTERS

Capt. Archer: A reasonably interesting start, at least, for this character. Scott Bakula isn't nearly as good here as he was in Quantum Leap, at least not yet. He remains an engaging presence, however. His Archer is easy enough to like, even as he shows some potentially unlikable qualities: notably, he's quite headstrong (once the Klingon is taken, he really should at least contact his superiors), and he has an only very thinly-veiled strain of bigotry, at least as it concerns the Vulcans. On the other hand, Archer is reasonably resourceful. And the end of the episode does see him grappling with his preconceptions about his Vulcan science officer, even if it's clear he's still uncomfortable with her presence.

Collagen Spock: Jolene Blalock was clearly cast for two reasons, neither of which had anything to do with acting ability. I confess to being predisposed against her, making it little surprise that I found her the weak link in the cast here. The pity of it is that T'Pol seems to have some potential as a character. There is room to play with her conflicting motives: Is she working for the Vulcans (whose motives appear a bit murkier here than in other Trek series), or is she committed to her new ship, even if she isn't particularly happy about the assignment? Sadly, the answer to that question appears to be evident simply from her staying for all four seasons. Meanwhile, Blalock does nothing here to overcome my preconceptions, though I'll acknowledge that she isn't painfully bad in this pilot either.

"Trip": If the ship's engineer is nicknamed "Trip," does that really inspire confidence? How about "Doctor Whoops?" Unfortunate nickname aside, Trip makes a mostly positive first impression, the actor making the most of a handful of character beats. Admittedly, as of this moment, Trip's character seems to amount to: supporting the captain, making wisecracks, and speaking in a Southern drawl. But the actor seems game, and the character has potential to be a scene-stealer.

The Enterprise Crew: The regulars are passably well-established for a pilot, even if most of the rest of the cast doesn't get much to do here. After a promising opening scene, Hoshi the Translator (Linda Park) is mostly reduced to standing in the background and whining. The British guy... is British, and this episode seems uninterested in giving him any other character beats. The token black guy was born in space, likes to sit upside down (top that one, Shaolin masters!), and thus far has no other character. As of this point, I would have to look up the show on IMDB to tell you either character's name.

Dr. Phlox (John Billingsley) shows some promise. The actor has a potentially creepy undercurrent to him, which could be fun to play with - though I have a sinking feeling that the show will end up just going the "comedy relief" route with him. None of the actors makes me cringe during line deliveries, though I reserve the right to hate one or more of them by the end of the season.


THOUGHTS

For all the many bad things I have read about Enterprise, Broken Bow is surprisingly a pretty good pilot. The regulars are all at least introduced, we get a functional sense of the characters of three or four of those regulars, and we get to see a passable amount of interaction among them. At the same time, the episode presents a fairly interesting story, while hinting at both backstory affecting the various races and characters and foreshadowing conflicts to come. There is plenty to build on here, and every reason to believe that this pilot should lead to a good program. Well, every reason except the rather poor status the program actually enjoys within Trek fandom.  I will attempt to approach it with an open mind.

There are certainly things I would like to see built upon. In only his second scene, we see Archer commenting on how emotional the Vulcans are reacting, the humans seeing the Vulcans as untrustworthy throughout. I would enjoy seeing this developed further. What if the humans aren't simply being provincial, and these Vulcans actually are hiding something? Alternately, what if the Vulcans' motives actually are for the best, but the humans end up being genuinely dangerous. Certainly, Archer's insistence on plunging into situations head-first seems likely to backfire on him at some point. What if Archer ends up creating an incident, maybe even starting the Klingon war referred to so often in TOS? I'm not optimistic about the series actually going such places - but the potential is there.

The Suliban seem poised to be major recurring baddies for this show, and do make a reasonably sinister presence here. CGI enhances them in nicely creepy ways, such as the Suliban who slides under the door to the grain silo, or the Suliban creeping along the ceiling in the darkened Enterprise sickbay during the attack. The "Temporal Cold War" alluded to here has potential to be interesting, though there's equal potential for it to be used as a lazy plot-reset device.

Really, "potential" seems to be the key word here. It seems obvious that Enterprise is being devised as a more arc-driven show than previous Trek series, with much of Broken Bow at least as concerned with setting plot threads in motion as with the episode's own plot. Most of the elements in evidence here could be really good. But it all depends on the execution... and though I am trying to approach the series with an open mind, and enjoyed this initial installment at least, it's difficult to optimistic about a show that is still widely held to have been a "franchise killer."

Scattered things I liked: I love the design of this first Enterprise. Very cramped, very submarine-like, it does a good job of suggesting technology more primitive than the original series Enterprise, while at the same time looking... well, looking good enough for 2001 audiences to have been able to take it seriously. I like the sense that the humans are a bit out-of-their-depth. I like the need for a human with strong language skills, and that communication with the Klingons is anything but simple.

Scattered problems: Blalock's flat performance. Does it improve? The decontamination scene... I approve of the women's uniforms on TOS, on the grounds that a little pandering isn't necessarily a bad thing. On the other hand, blatant, in-your-face pandering is a bad thing, and the "peekaboo" tone of the decontamination scene makes it feel like one of the "boring parts" of a porno. Phlox to T'Pol and Trip: "It's a good thing we aren't on cable, or the decontamination procedure would involve a hot, sweaty, naked sex scene."

Also, does it really have to be such a quick trip to Klingon space? Just a few days there and a few days back? Surely, this ship is far slower than the TOS Enterprise. And there's no need for it. Archer's dialogue could just as easily have been, "Just 3 weeks there and 3 weeks back." Given that the trip to the Klingon planet is interrupted anyway, it wouldn't particularly have changed the plot. If Klingon space is really just a few days away for this primitive Enterprise, then so much for space exploration - everything is apparently just a couple days' drive away! It's something I can squint at and overlook if later episodes don't repeat this kind of marginalization of the vastness of space... but it does grate, particularly in that it bespeaks a certain laziness which does not raise hopes for future episodes.

On its own merits, though, Broken Bow is a fair pilot, with several strong elements and much potential to be turned into a strong series. I can't make myself feel entirely optimistic about the series to come. Still, I have seen far worse pilots to shows that I've ended up loving (Babylon 5 springs to mind), so... we'll see how it goes.


Rating: 6/10

Next Episode: Fight or Flight

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