Best Episode of Season 4, Part 2

[Duane]

Observer Effect by a mile. In fact, it is my all time favorite ENT episode. Some many cast members are at their best in this episode, esp. Archer, Reed, Mayweather, Phlox and Hoshi. I have to agree with the other poster that Archer really felt like a "Kirk-type" Captain in this episode.

 

[angie]

Commie it was a foregone conclusion that in a world where Home is nominated The Forge wouldn't stand a chance. The Forge did what Amok Time did---created an alien Vulcan.Not everyone is ready or appreciative of that.Vulcan should not be the Malibu Colony IMO.

 

[Michael]

Terra Prime for me. (It always breaks my heart.)

A sincere thank you to Defcon, who helped me posting these polls.

 

[pookha]

shrug malibu never looked like this or this.
as for the house it looked more japanese influenced.

speaking of flaws while the forge is great and easily the best of the vulcan trilogy one flaw is that we are not told why vlas is such an over the top emotional vulcan.
though they had one with the existance of the andorian torture device.
was vlas a former victim of it.

but to me the best of season four is obsever effect.

great use of the organians with an interesting story line that suggests why they set up dog and pony show we see in errand of mercy.

 

[commodore64]

The Forge did what Amok Time did---created an alien Vulcan.Not everyone is ready or appreciative of that.Vulcan should not be the Malibu Colony IMO.

Since Angie is from Los Angeles, I'm betting she knows what it looks like.

I think her point, which I agree with, is Vulcan in Home seems human and artificial -- they knock on doors, have beds that look the human, ovens, etc. T'Pol even kisses Trip on the cheek human-style. Versus the Forge. The Forge used an after-effect color shift to make it look hotter, had people speaking in riddles, unusual animals, sand storms, discussion of Vulcan philosophy, displayed the IDIC, etc. In the Forge, Vulcan is strange and unusual, even if we see elements that remind us of humanity (a la the point about Jesus vs. Surak, and how Archer finds the story of Surak sounds "familiar").

That might be an interesting topic to determine whether people appreciated the alien-ness of other cultures or liked when those cultures were more like humans. The thing I always liked about Spock was there were elements of him that anyone could identify with, but the way those came through were from an alien perspective. I think many times it's where they missed the boat in ENT in general, especially with T'Pol.

You know, I kinda liked V'Las in The Forge; he was Vulcanlike. We see that degenerating as the arc continues, which I also liked -- it points out he's a bad guy. I always assumed he was Romulan.

 

[pookha]

a vulcan who identified with the romulans might act differntly any way.

 

[Emperor-Tiberius]

Terra Prime.

Also, the real finale to ENT, as the very next episode is so stupid that it cannot even be considered a coda - but rather, an insult.

 

[startrekwatcher]

speaking of flaws while the forge is great and easily the best of the vulcan trilogy one flaw is that we are not told why vlas is such an over the top emotional vulcan.

I don't see this as a flaw nor does it need an explanation. Vulcans are diverse. I'm sure out of the billions of Vulcans there are some that are more overly emotional. ENT, for better or worse, provided a range of different Vulcan characters with varying levels of emotional control.

Furthermore, it was made clear V'Las rejected the teachings of Surak and embraced the Romulans. I think an argument could be made that one reason he sympathized with the Romulans was the fact that didn't try to suppress their emotions. So I doubt V'Las practiced the techniques Surak developed to allow himself to have better emotional control. I mean it isn't like someone like V'Las would stick out like a sore thumb. Clearly Vulcans in the 22nd century had issues.

I still would argue "The Forge" is the best episode of the season, one of the show's top three episodes and taken with the other two Vulcan episodes ranks up there with the best Trek trilogies(TNG's The Best of Both Worlds I/II/Family, DS9's Circle trilogy, ENT's The Council/Coundown/Zero Hour).

 

[Defcon]

The poll is closed. The best episode of Season 4 is:

Observer Effect

 

[angie]

I still maintain that it is unlikely T'pol would suddenly dress like she shopped on Melrose Ave. on her last visit to Earth for clothes to wear on Vulcan.Nor is it right to have a human there not feeling any different.Being from Florida was the reason proposed by some originally and it is still lame. Having lived in many states growing up the climate of childhood doesn't stay with you your whole life.Trip had always lived with Earth's gravity and had lived in San Francisco for much of his adult life prior to the controlled enviroment of Enterprise. This was contrived writing and good story sacrificed for a plot point anvil.The forge showed us a variety of Vulcans and faux Vulcans. And intiguing Vulcan landscapes. For the records I really doubt even Romulans of the time had the architecture and design style of the Malibu colony.

 

[gblews]

The poll is closed. The best episode of Season 4 is:

Observer Effect

Not a surprise.

I think one thing is true, the ebb and flow of the debate about best episode of season 4 is indicative of just how consistently high the quality level of so many of the episodes. That "The Forge" didn't even make into the finals of this particular poll (though I think it has won, or been close to winning, previous polls) speaks to the high number of quality episodes in season 4.

By contrast, I don't think we'll ever see a season 3 poll here that doesn't feature "Twilight", "Sim", AP/D, "The Forgotten", "The Counsel", etc, going head to head for season's best.

 

[commodore64]

Angie -- or maybe one of the board members who've been here a while -- didn't Coto suggest that Observer Effect was one of the weaker shows?

BTW, if he did he was crazy in the head. OE is one of the better season 4 offerings. I really like what Reeves-Stevens delivered for the most part.

 

[angie]

Coto and many other inside sources sited it as weak feeling there wasn't enough time to work the bugs out! Thank goodness--it was very good---great directing as well.

 

[pookha]

Coto and many other inside sources sited it as weak feeling there wasn't enough time to work the bugs out! Thank goodness--it was very good---great directing as well.

source please.
i dont remember that quote.

i sorta wonder if there is confusion between observer effect and daedalus which he did criticize.

 

[Michael]

The poll is closed. The best episode of Season 4 is:

Observer Effect

Yes. So please vote in the final poll for ENT, too.