Treking through all Star Trek

[thew40]

Series: Enterprise - Season One
Episode: “Dear Doctor”
Trek Installment # 12
Grade: B-
Viewing Date: September 23, 2009

Another strong showing for Enterprise as the spotlight finally turns on Phlox. Phlox is the best part of this episode, as the moral debate is a little bland for me. I mean to say, it’s interesting and I’m satisfied with its conclusion, but it just didn’t do much for me.

The development of Phlox is way past due, but it’s done very well here. I liked seeing his friendship with Hoshi, his working relationship with Archer, and his potential romance with Cutler through his eyes. And having Cutler along was something I appreciated, as I grew attached to her in “Strange New World.” Like I mentioned before, I would have loved to of seen a larger secondary cast build-up.

[thew40]

Series: Enterprise - Season One
Episode: “Sleeping Dogs”
Trek Installment # 13
Grade: C
Viewing Date: September 26, 2009

A surprisingly boring episode, despite the inclusion of the Klingons (which normally make it interesting, if not action packed). The threat of the Klingons was dull, the gas giant was lame, and I felt like the crew was in zero danger.

The argument between T’Pol and Hoshi and Reed about trying to help the Klingons is obviously a callback to “Broken Bow,” though a reference would have been nice.

First contact with gagh was fun, along with the rest of Klingon dining choices.

I liked the Hoshi/T’Pol scene. Surprising, actually, and very much appreciated. Great character development and relationship building. I would have liked to have seen moments like these more often with T’Pol and other characters besides Trip.

The Klingon female’s insistence that Archer is going to steal their technology really strikes me as paranoia and has me wondering if this was an attempt to tie back into the more stealthy and sneaky Klingons of the original series. Could it be that the Klingons have stolen technology and thus fear it happening to them, hence their more paranoid and covert movements during the 23rd century, a time when Klingons themselves look all too human? In fact, Archer’s talk with Trip about the Klingons not trusting them speaks to this as well (why are the captain and chief engineer wielding, by the way? Why not, y’know, actual crew members? )

I think if you look for the more subtle connections between Enterprise and TOS and jump to a few conclusions, you would find that Enterprise lends a lot to TOS. As we’ll see, relations between the Klingons and humans continue to be rocky. In fact, with just those few short scenes with the Klingons, we’re given our first real glimpse behind the scenes at the Klingon Empire. I’ll have more on this when we get further out, though.

[darkshadow0001]

thew40 wrote:

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I've arranged the episodes of TNG/DS9/VOY by airdate and (when necessary) storyarc.

Yes. Star Trek XI is dead last.

So technically you should be watching TOS's "The Cage" first if your going chronological order. It's hard to say if Enterprise is truly a TOS sequal, I think it's more of a sequal from the movie Star Trek: First Contact. The Borg are essentially the cause of the changes in Trek as we know it.

[M]

darkshadow0001 wrote:

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So technically you should be watching TOS's "The Cage" first if your going chronological order.

Why? In the internal chronology of the Star Trek universe the events of Enterprise come before The Cage.

[SFRabid]

"Dear Dorctor" and "Fortunate Son" rated higher than "Andorian Incident"? I'm beginning to wonder if this is a joke thread with randomized ratings just to see how people react.

[thew40]

SFRabid wrote:

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"Dear Dorctor" and "Fortunate Son" rated higher than "Andorian Incident"? I'm beginning to wonder if this is a joke thread with randomized ratings just to see how people react.

No, it's not.

"Andorian Incident" had plenty of action and it introduced Shran, but other than that, I didn't like it that much. There wasn't much to like about it. It was very predictable and I hated the way Archer talked to T'Pol throughout, considering his development up to that point.

"Dear Doctor" finally fleshed out Phlox and spent some nice time developing his relationships. The "moral decision" may have been lackluster and the science of it didn't make much sense, but I'll take it. "Fortunate Son" likewise was predictable, but I liked it and appreciated having ECS featured prominently.

NCC-1701 wrote:

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Why? In the internal chronology of the Star Trek universe the events of Enterprise come before The Cage.

I am, however, saving "Regeneration" for after "First Contact."

[thew40]

Series: Enterprise - Season One
Episode: “Shadows of P’Jem”
Trek Installment # 14
Grade: D+
Viewing Date: September 26, 2009

Long story short: The Vulcans, pissed at Archer, punish him by taking away T’Pol. Meanwhile, the Vulcans and Andorians get involved with a rescue mission on Coridan (where they’re fighting behind the scenes) where Archer and T’Pol are being held. T’Pol takes a shot for a Vulcan captain named Sopeck and everyone decides T’Pol’s fine where she belongs.

This episode largely serves as a sequel to “The Andorian Incident,” but it lacks all of the fun of that episode. There’s very little here to really appreciate. The story is contrived and even though I found Coridan to be pretty interesting, it was brushed aside rather quickly. The only redeeming quality of this episode is the return of Shran. Nothing pushes the Vulcan/Andorian subplot forward, nothing makes me feel sorry for Archer or T’Pol, and nothing really drew me in.

[thew40]

Series: Enterprise - Season One
Episode: “Shuttlepod One”
Trek Installment # 15
Grade: A
Viewing Date: September 26, 2009

There’s a lot of good about this episode and for an episode where a lot doesn’t happen, that’s saying something. “Shuttlepod One” is a great character building episode. Have Trip and Reed faced with mortality really breaks out their flaws and ideals and presents an honest and intriguing look at how one faces death.

Just a real class act of an episode. Well done. Nothing else to really say about it - this is a great one.

[thew40]

Series: Enterprise - Season One
Episode: “Fusion”
Trek Installment # 16
Grade: D
Viewing Date: September 29, 2009

How much more interesting would this episode have been had it been revealed the emotional Vulcans were really just Romulans doing intelligence on Enterprise and messing with T’Pol out of hatred of their Vulcan ancestry? 100 times better, that’s how much.

But alas, we’re given a rather silly episode with some slap-happy Vulcans on a tour of the galaxy. There’s the round one that hangs around Trip, who doesn’t get along with his Dad. There’s the psychotic one who mind-attacks T’Pol. And there’s the one that loves chicken.

The episode just makes a big about showing off these Vulcans. “Look! Here are some Vulcans that are emotional, yet still jerks!” Yadda, yadda, yadda. Where’s the interesting part?

Now, I’ll give them a little credit in that emotional Vulcans are somewhat interesting, but it lost me when the sleazy Jazz music kicked in.

Archer very much gets into T’Pol personal life when he tells her to have an open mind. What business is that of his to say something like that to her? I mean, he’s not even being subtle about it like Picard used to be whenever he’d have Worf deal with other Klingons.

No thanks. I really wish these guys were Romulans.

And just why was this episode called “Fusion?” What fused in it?

[thew40]

Series: Enterprise - Season One
Episode: “Rogue Planet”
Trek Installment # 17
Grade: C-
Viewing Date: September 29, 2009

This felt like a real pointless episode. Much like the previous one, there was very little to it. I actually liked the hunters more than the shape-shifting telepathic slug people. They were fun, relatable, and well-rounded. I would have rather had an episode with Reed and Archer running through the jungle with these guys than the stuff we had. Actually, it would have been better that way – it could have played up the difficulty that they have in trying to be smug and superior in the face of a somewhat brutal, yet all too human tradition.

Overall, this episode felt fluffy and made our heroes look just plain gosh-darn heroic. And not in a Kirk way.

[M]

thew40 wrote:

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And just why was this episode called “Fusion?” What fused in it?

Well, the jazz club in T'Pol's dream is called 'Fusion'. Plus, the practice of the Vulcan mind meld can be described as a fusion of two individuals, too.

[Saul]

thew40 wrote:

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One of my big nerd fantasies was to watch all of Star Trek in chronological order. For years, this was nothing more than a fevered dream. But now I’m in a position to do it.

Oh you lost your Job.

[thew40]

Saul's Eye wrote:

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Oh you lost your Job.

No, actually. Quite the opposite. I got a job that pays better and thus allows me to do this.

[gupeter]

I tried that but I started to get a bit burnt out.

It became more of a task than anything else. So I just decided to take it slow. Watch a bunch of episodes leave it alone for a bit and then go back to it say weeks later.

[thew40]

gupeter wrote:

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I tried that but I started to get a bit burnt out.

It became more of a task than anything else. So I just decided to take it slow. Watch a bunch of episodes leave it alone for a bit and then go back to it say weeks later.

Yeah, it can be like that sometimes. Right now, I'm in the middle of Enterprise Season Two and it's like a slew of bad episodes. I have to sometimes force myself to skip to ones I know are good. I'm really looking forward to Season Four and TOS, though.