Grade "Horizon"
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B+
I was pleasantly suprised. Anthony does well when he gets a chance at some real lines for a change.
Plus, T'Pol POV of the protagonist in "Frankenstein" being an outsider mistreated by fearful humans.....rather insightful, no? That caught me by surprise.
Morpheus, you said Horizon would be dull as dishwater. You missed on this one I'm happy to say.
I was pleasantly suprised. Anthony does well when he gets a chance at some real lines for a change.
Plus, T'Pol POV of the protagonist in "Frankenstein" being an outsider mistreated by fearful humans.....rather insightful, no? That caught me by surprise. Morpheus, you said Horizon would be dull as dishwater. You missed on this one I'm happy to say.
Posted by dogsowar:
F
Utter crap.
After school specials or "A special Blosson" have better writing.
No wonder the ratings continue to plunge.
I found myself more interested in the wife's new scientific calculator halfway through...
Did she call it Steely Dan?
G
Guest
Guest
B
Some nice moments, better than average.
Some nice moments, better than average.
Once again, I'm forced to give an episode of ENT a low grade, and I wish I didn't have to. "Horizon" had some nice moments, but taken as a whole, it just didn't seem to accomplish anything.
Now we see why Mayweather doesn't get many lines: he's dull! The tension between him and his brother could be cut with a sponge, for crying out loud! There were so many opportunities to really make something out of Mayweather in this episode, at least based upon the premise, but they were just left lying about, gathering dust.
Mayweather loses his father. It happens offscreen, and it has almost no impact at all upon him aside from a poignant moment in the sweet spot with Archer (which, based upon that description alone, sounds much more exciting than it really was
). And in that scene, after depending upon the fact that they were in a zero-gravity environment, we see a tear plummet to the 'floor' from Mayweather's cheek. Whoops! 
I hate it when the setup for a scene then is ignored for something that should 'move' the audience. And the "letter from your father" reminded me of the Suliban cell-ship that just as conveniently had been in the ship for months; it was a throwaway line. I really hate this sort of 'retroactive' development.
I still wonder what the point of the "B" plot with the movie was (did that make the volcanic action a "C" plot?); it didn't seem to have any correlation to the "A" plot, and since they didn't seem to have much going on with that, either, one would hope that the "B" plot somehow supports it and offers another perspective, but it just seemed like another opportunity to show a 'slice of life/T'Pol fraternizes' bit of filler. This show doesn't need filler; it needs fully-developed stories!
One thing I did like: I have to admit I got a big kick out of T'Pol's admonishment to Phlox; it was deftly ironic, and his reaction was perfect. I laughed loudly and long at that line. Sadly, the rest of the show couldn't maintain my level of enthusiasm or enjoyment.
There was nothing fundamentally bad about "Horizon"; it's just that there was nothing fundamentally good about it, either. They had the opportunity to really examine the contrast of Mayweather's current and former lives, how it affected him now and how it had made him what he is, but there was nothing that different about life on Horizon compared to life on Enterprise. They could have done something with the potential mutiny situation that Nora told him about; that could have been the major conflict, but they stuck with the flashy and ultimately superficial alien attack.
I could have also done without the nod to families and counselors aboard starships; ENT relies way too much upon in-jokes and allusions to the other series, when it should be creating its own voice. 'Cute' foreshadowing just doesn't substitute for intelligent storytelling; every time I see or hear something like this on ENT, it seems more like the show is supposed to be a commercial for TNG. It's especially bad when a story premise has so much potential to express that voice, but then I've said many times that nearly every episode they've shown in the series' two seasons has had such potential; usually it's so obvious that it's frustrating to watch the show, as one opportunity after another slips by, unresolved. "Horizon" is very much one of those episodes.
What did we learn about Mayweather? That he has a family? We knew that. That running cargo is hard? We already knew that from "Fortunate Son." That he's a great pilot? Well, we haven't really seen that at any time, but like so many other times in this series, it must be true because the other characters made a point of telling us so.
In the end, "Horizon" was a pleasant diversion, but nothing more. It certainly wasn't an "event" as it had been hyped, and it really didn't add anything to either the characters or the overall development of the series. Because it played it far too safe and didn't strive to achieve anything, the best I can give it is a C+.
Now we see why Mayweather doesn't get many lines: he's dull! The tension between him and his brother could be cut with a sponge, for crying out loud! There were so many opportunities to really make something out of Mayweather in this episode, at least based upon the premise, but they were just left lying about, gathering dust.
Mayweather loses his father. It happens offscreen, and it has almost no impact at all upon him aside from a poignant moment in the sweet spot with Archer (which, based upon that description alone, sounds much more exciting than it really was
). And in that scene, after depending upon the fact that they were in a zero-gravity environment, we see a tear plummet to the 'floor' from Mayweather's cheek. Whoops! I hate it when the setup for a scene then is ignored for something that should 'move' the audience. And the "letter from your father" reminded me of the Suliban cell-ship that just as conveniently had been in the ship for months; it was a throwaway line. I really hate this sort of 'retroactive' development.I still wonder what the point of the "B" plot with the movie was (did that make the volcanic action a "C" plot?); it didn't seem to have any correlation to the "A" plot, and since they didn't seem to have much going on with that, either, one would hope that the "B" plot somehow supports it and offers another perspective, but it just seemed like another opportunity to show a 'slice of life/T'Pol fraternizes' bit of filler. This show doesn't need filler; it needs fully-developed stories!
One thing I did like: I have to admit I got a big kick out of T'Pol's admonishment to Phlox; it was deftly ironic, and his reaction was perfect. I laughed loudly and long at that line. Sadly, the rest of the show couldn't maintain my level of enthusiasm or enjoyment.
There was nothing fundamentally bad about "Horizon"; it's just that there was nothing fundamentally good about it, either. They had the opportunity to really examine the contrast of Mayweather's current and former lives, how it affected him now and how it had made him what he is, but there was nothing that different about life on Horizon compared to life on Enterprise. They could have done something with the potential mutiny situation that Nora told him about; that could have been the major conflict, but they stuck with the flashy and ultimately superficial alien attack.
I could have also done without the nod to families and counselors aboard starships; ENT relies way too much upon in-jokes and allusions to the other series, when it should be creating its own voice. 'Cute' foreshadowing just doesn't substitute for intelligent storytelling; every time I see or hear something like this on ENT, it seems more like the show is supposed to be a commercial for TNG. It's especially bad when a story premise has so much potential to express that voice, but then I've said many times that nearly every episode they've shown in the series' two seasons has had such potential; usually it's so obvious that it's frustrating to watch the show, as one opportunity after another slips by, unresolved. "Horizon" is very much one of those episodes.
What did we learn about Mayweather? That he has a family? We knew that. That running cargo is hard? We already knew that from "Fortunate Son." That he's a great pilot? Well, we haven't really seen that at any time, but like so many other times in this series, it must be true because the other characters made a point of telling us so.
In the end, "Horizon" was a pleasant diversion, but nothing more. It certainly wasn't an "event" as it had been hyped, and it really didn't add anything to either the characters or the overall development of the series. Because it played it far too safe and didn't strive to achieve anything, the best I can give it is a C+.
^ Agreed totally, Ptrope. Great analysis. Though my assessment of the episode was a bit less positive than yours, I couldn't agree more with your overall sentiments about the way this show is being written.
Well, Ptrope, I think that's a fair review. In reference to the TNG-nods: they're safe. At the very worst, they do what you said. That is, they sound like a "cute" throwaway to TNG. Still, there are people that like those little nods quite a bit, and in this episode the writer(s) smartly used it to tie-into Reed's family. So the line wasn't "pointless" per se.
As for the CGI action (which I thought was animated rather slickly, and had nice camera angles), rather than a mutiny--again, that was the "safe" choice for the show. Mayweather needed to come back feeling good for character continuity reasons, the episode needed some space action for the adventure buffs, etc. While a seasoned Trek viewer might be tired of this formula, it is the best combo for cathing a wider audience.
I think the most apt criticism I ever read about the show, and one that applies to most critical opinions here, is that the show is too safe, or not daring enough, for veteran Trekkies, and too "Trek" for new viewers; hence dissapointing everyone but the middle (which I think I fall into).
Still, defining filler as a non-arc, non-"big three" episode, the last three "filler" episodes ("The Crossing" "Canamar" "Horizon") have been better than a large amount of Enterprise. Plus, the "arc" episodes as of late have been pretty good. I think the show is on a slow, but noticable, upswing.
PS- I seem to grade exactly one letter higher than you do every time. That gives me a great sense of scale on how our opinions mesh/diverge.
As for the CGI action (which I thought was animated rather slickly, and had nice camera angles), rather than a mutiny--again, that was the "safe" choice for the show. Mayweather needed to come back feeling good for character continuity reasons, the episode needed some space action for the adventure buffs, etc. While a seasoned Trek viewer might be tired of this formula, it is the best combo for cathing a wider audience.
I think the most apt criticism I ever read about the show, and one that applies to most critical opinions here, is that the show is too safe, or not daring enough, for veteran Trekkies, and too "Trek" for new viewers; hence dissapointing everyone but the middle (which I think I fall into).
Still, defining filler as a non-arc, non-"big three" episode, the last three "filler" episodes ("The Crossing" "Canamar" "Horizon") have been better than a large amount of Enterprise. Plus, the "arc" episodes as of late have been pretty good. I think the show is on a slow, but noticable, upswing.
PS- I seem to grade exactly one letter higher than you do every time. That gives me a great sense of scale on how our opinions mesh/diverge.
Ptrope, great analysis. I agree with most of it. I was torn between C+ and B- (the latter I went for). In the end I chose that because I think AM pulled off a surprisingly good performance, especially considering what he had to work with by way of a script. I thought the eprformances all around were great this week and that is what kept this ep from nose diving.
B. The episode really touched me for personal reasons due to my Grandmother passing away on Monday. I really liked the Mayweather/Archer scene. It was very well acted. Montgomory shows he can act. He's the weakest actor on the show but he's not bad.
C - It was an okay episode. I just wish they would have done something to further the story of exploration, rather than the "Going Home" and "Dinner and a Movie" plots.
The girl in the red shirt on the Horizon was very pretty, so I give that scene an A+. Was there dialog there?
This really should have happened in the 1st season, rather than wait until the end of S2 to develop a character further. Plus the character development is nothing terribly unique. Okay, he lost his father, and proved himself to his brother, and realized that everyone is proud of him. How has he changed as a person?
It's sad that I enjoyed the "movie" sub-plot as much (if not a hair more) than the MAIN plot. And that was just because of T'Pol's sarcasm.
Gah, they're supposed to be explorers -- well, EXPLORE SOMETHING!
The girl in the red shirt on the Horizon was very pretty, so I give that scene an A+. Was there dialog there?
This really should have happened in the 1st season, rather than wait until the end of S2 to develop a character further. Plus the character development is nothing terribly unique. Okay, he lost his father, and proved himself to his brother, and realized that everyone is proud of him. How has he changed as a person?
It's sad that I enjoyed the "movie" sub-plot as much (if not a hair more) than the MAIN plot. And that was just because of T'Pol's sarcasm.
Gah, they're supposed to be explorers -- well, EXPLORE SOMETHING!
I'll go with a solid B for "Horizon." I thought it was a far better Mayweather episode than "Fortunate Son," and I was pleasantly surprised by the subtlety of the script and Anthony Montgomery's acting ability. Plus, the B-plot was perfect. Not bad at all...
A
Better than the average episode and one of the best.
Better than the average episode and one of the best.
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