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Revisiting Enterprise

The interesting thing about the TCW for me is the fact that it was an intriguing mystery element for the series but was such an epic concept that had it received the kind of development it richly deserved it would have displaced the original prequel premise.

It had the potential if properly developed to become the kind of expansive series-spanning mystery arc that shows like LOST or Heroes became famous for. In fact, I agree with Brannon that it probably would have been better suited for its own series rather than shoehorned into ENT. In its own series you could finally explore and introduce all the factions, their motivations, allow for visits to other fronts besides the 22nd century and wouldn't require the logical gymnastics to always make Archer & crew the heroes when realistically the temporal agents like Daniels should have been the ones saving the day not recruiting others to be their proxies. It also would have alleviated one of the other annoying aspects namely how infrequently the TCW was visited in a season--it was too frustratingly absent. It really hampered the epicness it could have taken on--the Xindi arc did correct a bit of this though.

What I loved about the TCW in the beginning especially in the first season was it was spooky and while the audience understood the significance of Earth our crew couldn't appreciate what was to come in terms of the pivotal role it would play in the future.

"Cold Front" was mainly an episode that confirmed some suspicions we had from "Broken Bow" about the purpose of the TCW and one that raised more questions than it answered leaving the viewer completely confused about what was going on--a hallmark of popular shows like LOST. We were left with wondering who should we trust, who was Daniels, what is the future like where Daniels comes from, what did he mean by being "more or less human", was the NX really suppose to be destroyed etc etc. Unfortunately, the cliffhanger at the end was a flop. I mean we end the episode on a close-up of a door rather than treating us to an intriguing tease.

The episode did boast some reall nice visuals most notably the Temporal Observatory where Archer and Daniels are immersed in timelines three dimensionally.
 
The TCW kind of ebbed and flowed, but one element I always liked was Silik, because John Fleck was so perfect in the role. When we actually got to see the actor's true face in "Storm Front," that was a great touch.

:eek: Oh my gosh! That was John Fleck? I just watched the whole first season of Murder One without realizing that's who it was. Thanks for mentioning that.

In fact, I agree with Brannon that it probably would have been better suited for its own series rather than shoehorned into ENT. In its own series you could finally explore and introduce all the factions, their motivations, allow for visits to other fronts besides the 22nd century and wouldn't require the logical gymnastics to always make Archer & crew the heroes when realistically the temporal agents like Daniels should have been the ones saving the day not recruiting others to be their proxies.

I think that's a good point, I kind of agree that it could've been very interesting on its own. But the question is, should it have been a Trek show, or an original concept? If it was a Trek show, it might not've been successful because some people are too hung on up on the ship/bridge-crew format. And even though there has been one fairly popular show set on a station, I don't know whether everyone would've gone for such a drastic change.
But if you make it an original show, then is it too much like Sliders?
 
A lot of people would love a show based around VOY's USS Relativity from the 29nth century.. I think it would have been great to have a time travel trek series. Daniels could have been a main character whose motives are always somewhat unknown. I thought he was quite compelling. This would be truly new Trek IMHO.
 
Dear Doctor (****½)

This one is really hard to grade because I know the controversy surrounding it. I remember when it first aired, the debate all round the internet (I was using the old startrek.com boards at that time) was about the decision to withhold the cure because of evolution reasons and the possibility of Archer and Phlox playing god. I think it is something to consider, but if you take it at that, isn't that was Star Trek is all about? Didn't Q say that it's not about mapping stars or nebula, but charting the unknown possibilities of existence? I think this episode does exactly what Star Trek has always done, make us think, sit around together debating the merits of it the next day, and just have conversations about it. On that end, Dear Doctor worked really really well.

I also liked learning a lot more about Phlox. He's one of my favorite characters on this show this early in and Billingsley did a great job here. The stuff with Cutler (RIP :( ) was very nice and the scene with him and Hoshi speaking Denoblean was great too.

As for the controversy, I will say the only part of the episode I didn't like was the whole explicitness of "We're going to have a prime directive" speech. In regards to my stance, I've always believed they did do the right thing. They are not out there to play god, and evolution has to take it's course. However, who is to say we can't give Evolution a push in the rear. Who is to say that over time things will go "as planned." I'm playing devil's advocate here, but didn't the Doctor take an oath to do no harm? Where is the line between ethics and the oath.

It's interesting discussion, but doesn't take away from how great this episode was and it was one of the better ones of the season.
 
Sleeping Dogs (***)

Decent Klingon episode, I guess but kind of forgettable. Nice to see Hoshi grow from the freaked out person she was in Fight or Flight to actually wanting to go on these missions, and the stuff between Her and T'Pol was nice. Still though, After the last two episodes, this is a significant step back.
 
My main problem with Dear Doctor (I can actually live with the fact that they didn't get how evolution works - I'm guessing the science advisors in Star Trek are more on the physics edge than the biology edge) is how quickly Archer changes his mind. One scene he's arguing for giving the cure and then the next he's going along with Phlox with an offhand comment about how he's been up all night thinking about it - how about showing us a little of that!!!
 
My main problem with Dear Doctor (I can actually live with the fact that they didn't get how evolution works - I'm guessing the science advisors in Star Trek are more on the physics edge than the biology edge) is how quickly Archer changes his mind. One scene he's arguing for giving the cure and then the next he's going along with Phlox with an offhand comment about how he's been up all night thinking about it - how about showing us a little of that!!!

You know, the more I think about that episode, the more I wonder if the rating should have been lower. There were some questionable things, sure, but I did like the "Data's Day" aspect of it, and we got to know a lot more about Phlox.

Shadows of P'Jem (***½)

Another hostage crisis episode dealing with the Andorians. I liked that it brought up consequences dealing with discovering the spy satellite on P'Jem, and we got to see more between Archer and T'Pol. I really do like where this Vulcan/Andorian arc is going, and again, Combs shines as the Andorian commander.

Speaking of which, I rewatched Andorian Incident afterwards, and when do we actually find how he is Shran. They didn't mention him by name at all in these two episodes. What took them so long.

Shuttlepod One (*****)

My second 5 star rating of the season and it's perfectly deserved. I loved this one, seeing the clash between personalities of the optimist and pessimist between Trip and Reed and how awesome both Keating and Connor are in this one. There were two scenes I found hilarious. The first was the dream sequence, where T'Pol smiles at "stinky." The second is when Trip and Malcolm were drunk and talking about T'Pol's bum. Fantastic scene. :guffaw:
 
Fusion (***)

I found this episode a lot more interesting than I expected to. Here the crew meets some emotional Vulcans and T'Pol spends a ton of time with one of them, getting a little bit mind raped in the process. We are also introduced to the Mind Meld, in a scene that was pretty powerful for what was supposed to be an intimate scene. Overall though, I found this one just decent, as it really didn't jump out like Silent Enemy or Shuttlepod One has. For one, does Archer love pain? I mean now he's planning to get beat up and there are no repercussions for it, like when Tolaris throws him across the room, shouldn't that be cause for arrest for assault or something. Archer just let's him go, no questions asked.

As for the intimacy scenes, I was a bit intregued by them, especially T'Pol being drawn to the human music. It gave the character another layer to explore, and I'm not sure if the series does that later on or not.

The B Plot has the typical guy not wanting to make amends with the father until he's talked into it and does it at the end storyline. Not all that memorable, but the guy who played Kov did a pretty good job.
 
The TCW kind of ebbed and flowed, but one element I always liked was Silik, because John Fleck was so perfect in the role. When we actually got to see the actor's true face in "Storm Front," that was a great touch.

Perhaps one reason the TCW didn't seem to gel or have a satisfying overall arc was because it wasn't originally part of the premise of the show. I've read somewhere here (didn't do a search for a source, sorry -- it's laaaaaate) that UPN wanted more "futuristic-ness" in the show, and this is what B&B came up with. When an idea is shoehorned into a writer's vision, sometimes it's hard to really get behind it and make it shine.

That being said, I think there were some cool elements to the TCW. The running idea of "what-if" with all the different possible timelines. Time travel gives me a headache ;) so I didn't sit down and try to make sense out of every little element, but I thought "Cold Front" had some good stuff. The whole sequence of Silik's escape and Archer struggling to get out of the airless launch bay was great.

I thought "Silent Enemy" was a great look at humans coming up against something truly alien, and being totally in the dark as to their motivations for being threatening, and the urgency and suspense of watching our crew battle a superior force with no guarantee that they'll come out of it in one piece. Gripping stuff.

You know, I still think that the Temporal Cold War should have been about 31st century Romulans attempting to ensure that the Federation never gets founded, so they interfere with 22nd century events, but their interference ends up being what causes the Romulan War, and in turn, the founding of the Federation.

A predestination paradox would have been a great explanation for the whole thing.
 
Rogue Planet (**)

I found this episode one of the worst episodes of the season so far. It just felt like a meandering 15 minutes that was stretched to be 43 for no reason once so ever. So Archer is seeing a woman, who speaks in riddles when all she needed to do was ask for help, and everyone thinks he's crazy, only to be told at the end that yes there were the shapeshifters and such and the Eska were hunting them. Uh, ok I guess. Also, to get this out of the way, the plant life on the planet was the least of the episodes problems. Anyway, There was some good stuff, like Reed joining the hunt (Very in character) and the atmosphere was good even though I don't like dark episodes. Still though, this one was a dud.
 
Rogue Planet (**)

I found this episode one of the worst episodes of the season so far. It just felt like a meandering 15 minutes that was stretched to be 43 for no reason once so ever. So Archer is seeing a woman, who speaks in riddles when all she needed to do was ask for help, and everyone thinks he's crazy, only to be told at the end that yes there were the shapeshifters and such and the Eska were hunting them. Uh, ok I guess. Also, to get this out of the way, the plant life on the planet was the least of the episodes problems. Anyway, There was some good stuff, like Reed joining the hunt (Very in character) and the atmosphere was good even though I don't like dark episodes. Still though, this one was a dud.

Agreed. It was rubbish. ;)
 
Acquisition (½)

God I forgot how much I hated this episode. This is a prequel series, and they have to include the Ferengi. I hated those episodes on DS9, for the most part, and I hated this episode on Enterprise. Again, like Rogue Planet, they took a 10 minute plot, and stretched it to fit the allotted time. Pretty much Ferengi come on, trick the crew, the crew tricks them back, T'pol plays sexy, Trip runs around in the skivvys (I bet the Trip Tucker girl-fans loved that) and that's all there was. Thanks but no thanks. Worst episode of the season.

Oasis (***)

Yes, the writers took Shadowplay, and pretty much put it as this episode and included Odo as pretty much the icing on the cake, but I didn't think it was that bad. Actually, I thought the stuff between Renee Walker (I didn't know she was on Enterprise) and Trip was pretty good and kind of sweet. Still though, when it's the same concept, and they include holograms, just like Shadowplay did, one really has to wonder if the show as starting to run out of ideas. I think the next episode has Al/Cavil/Dean Stockwell which I remember being a good episode.
 
Detained (****)

Another episode where Archer get's captured and Enterprise has to have a rescue plan? How many does that bring us up to this season, 5 episodes? There's more episodes dealing with some sort of Jail Break than there were regarding the Temporal Cold War, and people said that took up too much screen time. What show were they watching? ;)

Anyway, in all seriousness, I liked this episode a lot. For one, it's the reunion of everyone's favorite dynamic Duo (Or at least mine), Sam and Al. It was great seeing Bakula and Stockwell on screen together again, even though I think watching Battlestar Galactica has soured me a little bit because I see Stockwell, and I think he's planning to annihilate an entire species. We also get a lot of much needed backstory on the Suliban, such as the homeworld, those who didn't join the Kabal, and stuff like that. I remember this Tendarin storyline was one I wish was given more time because we never did find out if those Suliban joined the Kabal or not. Could have made another interesting element to the Temporal Cold War.

Anyway, great episode. Loved the action jail break sequence, and like I said, the stuff between Archer and Grat was what made this episode shine. If I had one problem with it, it was I wonder if the writers treated the audience like they were stupid. Go ahead and just tell us that this situation is like the internment camps of WWII. Not let us, you know, figure it out by ourselves? I know UPN was targeting a younger demographic, but as someone who likes reading up on history, I think our society does a terrible job teaching it to people. That's another topic entirely, but it kind of shows here. Why not give the audience a benefit of the doubt every now and then.

Still though, one of the better episodes of the season and after a tough string of 3 mediocure to bad episodes in a row, this season is heading into the final stretch with a very good one. I remember Vox Sola was my favorite episode of the first season, so I'm looking forward to seeing that one again.
 
"Dear Doctor" was a great one. I loved the impossible situation set up, and the struggle by Archer and Phlox to choose the right course for both races. I thought their decision was a good one. (Picard would have been much more hands-off to both sides, I think, because of his tendency to adhere strictly to the Prime Directive.)

"Sleeping Dogs" - I liked the T'Pol/Reed/Hoshi dynamic on the Klingon ship, that was fun.

"Shadows of P'Jem" was a cool follow-up to "The Andorian Incident." Besides Shran (w00t, a recurring role!!!) there was great stuff between Archer and T'Pol, as he moved heaven and earth trying to keep T'Pol on Enterprise, even when she wasn't even trying herself. I like how she started playing along with the little Phlox/Archer conspiracy at the end, because she realized she wanted to stay.

"Shuttlepod One" - an outstanding, claustrophobic, peeling away of the layers of two of our characters as they face death. I loved it.

"Fusion" fascinated me, the way we saw that T'Pol was irresistibly drawn to the idea of experiencing emotions, and how her curiosity made her vulnerable to Tolaris. And the idea that melding is, in this time, considered a perversion brought up a hugely intriguing difference between "our" Vulcans and the later Vulcans of TOS, who had obviously gotten past that "perversion" idea and welcomed melding into their culture again.

"Rogue Planet" had Eric Pierpoint from a past fave show of mine, "Alien Nation." :techman: Pierpoint also played the shadowy Section 31 operative Harris later in the series (and we finally got to see his face then, yay).

"Acquisition" had Jeff Combs. That alone is worth the price of admission. :biggrin: I know a lot of people aren't wild about this one, but I thought it was a ton of fun.

"Oasis" - Rene Auberjonois. With his own face. 'Nuff said.

"Detained" - I loved seeing Bakula and Stockwell together again. They were such a joy to watch on "Quantum Leap." Plus unexpected Suliban backstory. And Travis with something to do, whoopie!
 
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