TheGodBen Revisits Enterprise

[TheGodBen]

I recently rewatched Broken Bow and one thing that struck me was the odd pacing. This is also a problem in later episodes. Even though the story was exciting, my mind wandered off from time to time because the pacing wasn't quite right.

The same thing happened to me but I thought that it was because I was tired after a long week. My mind phased out a few times during the episode, even during the conversation between Archer and Sarin as she explains things to him.

May be a bit late to suggest a counter, but Needlessly Gratuitous Sexual Titillation Scenes could work too.

That's a good suggestion but it needs a snappier title.

Nipples Ahoy!: 1

There's one thing that leapt out of your review at me, TheGodBen, which is that very little of the plot of Broken Bow matters.

It's not so much that it doesn't matter, because most episodes of Trek are "filler" which don't matter, it's that the episode claims to be important and it seems to be setting up some sort of mystery, but nothing ever comes of it. If Future Guy's role in starting a Klingon civil war had been explained in Broken Bow then the episode would have been fine, but Future Guy is one of those mysteries which will never be solved (except in the novels, possibly).

Also, props for Tasty Coma Wife. She was hot.

I wonder what happened to Jamie? She just disappeared between seasons and we never saw her wheelbarrow-style ways again.

I think it's kind of outrageous that they introduced the Temporal Cold War as such an important plot point but never had any idea where they would go with this. Who the hell acts like that?

A lot of writers don't have everything planned out and choose to make it up on the fly such as DS9. I really don't care if they have it all mapped out just as long as it ultimately makes sense. The TCW never did.

I completely agree, they didn't need to know where they were going with the Tasty Coma Wife so long as it was reasonably well explained by the end and made some sort of sense. I think one of the biggest mistakes the show made was how it was all brushed under the rug in Storm Front with no attempt to explain what it was all about. I would have rather had 5 minutes of a half-assed explanation than 2 hours of nazis with ray-guns.


Fight or Flight (***)

Back when I was watching the first season of Voyager a few people suggested that the fourth episode, Phage, should have be aired directly after the pilot because the Vidiians stealing somebody's organs showed the Delta Quadrant to be more deranged and lawless than what we were used to. Fight or Flight seems to have taken that suggestion, the mysterious villain species are killing sentient aliens and harvesting them because there is no authority to stop them.

A few things hold this episode back from being as good as Phage. What I felt made Phage such a strong episode was that it ended with Janeway realising she had no way of punishing the Vidiians and she was forced to let them go, whereas Fight or Flight ends with some some of the victim species showing up and blowing up the villain's ship real good. It is a little too neat and tidy for my taste. Secondly, the Vidiians were a very sympathetic villain because they were forced into their actions by their disease, it was kill or be killed. But the villains in Fight of Flight aren't even seen and the suggestion is that they were killing sentient beings for use as an aphrodisiac, which is as far from sympathetic as you can be. It's almost as bad harvesting human horn.

Hoshi's story is interesting because it is not the sort of thing we normally associate with Starfleet officers, she's scared and wants to go home. It's not brilliant storytelling, and it might be a little sexist that it's the woman character that acts this way and not one of the men, but it is taking advantage of the premise of this series in that space exploration is still new to these people. Once again the ending is a little too tidy, she manages to have a conversation in an alien language even though she only knows a dozen words and somehow that gives her the confidence to stay aboard the ship as it flies from one dangerous situation to the next.

Points go to this episode for the use of shuttlepods and EV suits, it helps to lend the show an odd retro/futuristic feel.

Memory Alpha has informed me that the Axanars were referenced twice on TOS, and we have no idea who the villain species are, so neither of these will be added to the alien counter. But Archer did fly over to an unknown ship adrift in space, that doesn't seem to logical to me.

Captain Redshirt: 3

 

[SFRabid]

Every time someone is seen shirtless or in their underwear?

It would be interesting to see who was shirtless most during three seasons, Trip or Kirk. Either one is better than Boy Toy Riker.

I've been watching TOS again on DVD and just finished season 2 and started season 3. In the last few episodes I've seen planned time travel by the Enterprise, a Romulan in a cat suit, and Kirk rushing in without thought. Makes me think, "Hey, Enterprise IS like TOS."

 

[SFRabid]

...

Hoshi's story is interesting because it is not the sort of thing we normally associate with Starfleet officers, she's scared and wants to go home. It's not brilliant storytelling, and it might be a little sexist that it's the woman character that acts this way and not one of the men, but it is taking advantage of the premise of this series in that space exploration is still new to these people. ...

I think it worked only because Hoshi was not a trained officer and was not one to travel in space. She was a teacher along for the ride to further is study of language.

 

[startrekwatcher]

I'd give "Fight or Flight" 3 stars out of 4. It was an episode that did a lot of little things whether demonstrating how making excursions to unknown alien ships is as simple as a jaunt down to the transporter room or the prolonged periods of boredom crews might experience before encountering something interesting or the fact that the NX isn't the baddest ship out there.

Once again B&B get the atmosphere and attitude right by making this experience new and fresh. The episode oozed with tension and had a spooky vibe to it. I always liked this type of episode on TNG where the crew came upon some mystery to be solved. Unfortunately, unlike TNG episodes like "Night Terrors", "Clues", "Schisms", "Remember Me" the revelation about the aliens wasn't that interesting.

Again B&B did some good work with the characters and unlike the early episodes of DS9 or VOY, this crew's interactions were more interesting to watch.

 

[Count Zero]

I've been watching TOS again on DVD and just finished season 2 and started season 3. In the last few episodes I've seen planned time travel by the Enterprise, a Romulan in a cat suit, and Kirk rushing in without thought. Makes me think, "Hey, Enterprise IS like TOS."

Part of the problem is that you can't make the ENT crew look more sophisticated than the TOS crew. And thus they appear a bit anachronistic. I think that in 2151 space travellers would be culturally more objective and have a lot of well thought out protocols regarding contact with alien species and worlds.

 

[Pemmer Harge]

This is the first episode I saw. It was pleasingly spooky and Linda Park made a good impression. However, I remember thinking that Hoshi and Phlox were the only characters who interested me. And they wouldn't have almost got eaten if they'd listened to T'Pol. Oh, and that slug has no chance on a random alien planet!

 

[Pemmer Harge]

Oh, and does Hoshi have superpowers? Her linguistic abilities do seem to involve some sort of magic!

 

[DWF]

Oh, and does Hoshi have superpowers? Her linguistic abilities do seem to involve some sort of magic!

Well she was superhumanly cute.

 

[Pemmer Harge]

Oh, and does Hoshi have superpowers? Her linguistic abilities do seem to involve some sort of magic!

Well she was superhumanly cute.

Amen to that.

 

[SFRabid]

For a while I thought they were going to make her the mandatory super-character and put her in league with Spock and Data.

 

[Bluesteel]

Oh, and does Hoshi have superpowers? Her linguistic abilities do seem to involve some sort of magic!

The woman can break through security locks without any technical expertise. Why? How you ask? That's because according to the ENT writers Maths is an another form of language. Never mind the fact that it's not a language or the fact that it's next to impossible to decyper "Enter Access Code"

 

[Pemmer Harge]

That's because according to the ENT writers Maths is an another form of language.

Genius!

 

[Count Zero]

That's because according to the ENT writers Maths is an another form of language.

Genius!

Well, that's what she said. It wasn't the actual explanation. Throughout the series, she was involved in decrypting stuff, so it stands to reason that she was trained to do it and apparently pretty good at that.

 

[TheGodBen]

As somebody with a mathematically oriented brain who has incredible difficulty in learning new languages, I think it's safe for me to claim that the two are not closely related.


Strange New World (**½)

It's nice to see a crew that is excited about a simple little thing like an Earth-type planet, it's the fun little things like that which make the first half of this episode endearing. I also liked the inclusion of some lower-decks characters, at the time that this episode first aired it made me feel excited that Enterprise might include a large array of secondary characters on the ship, but it didn't seem to go that way in the long run.

Then some weird things start to happen with some rock-men and the episode introduces us to an intriguing mystery. Once we learn the truth of what is going on, that the entire away team is having a bad trip, it's still an interesting story and probably all the better for not putting the crew into a forced suspense scenario. Then begins the forced suspense scenario. If the away-team don't inject themselves with a life-saving medicine then THEY WILL DIE!!!

I suppose crewman Cutler might die, but I think the other three are probably safe due to some SAG rule.

This is an interesting scenario that the crew is in and I can see plenty of potential with this set-up, so it is upsetting that the best the writers could come up with is Trip shouting for fifteen minutes. Unfortunately, when this episode first aired I was so repulsed by the Trip character that I wanted him to be killed off all the way into the second season, which is the point when I started to tolerate him again. At a point when the audience is still unsure of who these characters are, the last thing that should have been done was an episode where their worst vices are magnified.

But at least Archer has learned that his impatience almost got five of his crew killed, so he wont be so stupid as to put them into such an easily avoidable situation again.

Archer refuses to perform the necessary scans and goes down to a planet full of deadly toxins in order to bring his dog for a walk, and he flies a shuttlepod through a storm even though there are qualified pilots on Enterprise.

Captain Redshirt: 5
Transporter: 2

 

[Count Zero]

I would rate that episode higher. It certainly was very different from the standard Trek episode because it showed the flaws of the characters and the tension between humans and Vulcans. You don't usually see a Trek crew being so distrustful of each other. I think Connor Trinneer did a great job of conveying Trip's fear and paranoia as well as his struggle against his preconception. I'm not that big of a Trip fan, either.
There were a lot of nice little touches in the episode, like the photo they take at the beginning, the campfire scene, Trip and Travis fighting the bug in their tent.
And I really liked how they played the 'redshirt' angle. I was so sure that Novakovich (was that the name?) would die, but then he didn't. It jibes well with the unusual turn the whole episode takes in that the rock people aren't real.

 

[Pemmer Harge]

This one's OK. Of course, if they'd surveyed the planet from orbit first, like a crew member whose name I forget suggested, they probably wouldn't have had such difficulties. I'm still not very interested in these people though, I guess that's what drags most of these episodes down for me.

 

[Dane_Whitman]

I agree with the score for Fight or Flight, but I'd give this episode *** at least. There's just so much to enjoy in this episode, especially the little touches that seperate ENT from the other shows. I love the 'frontier' exploration spirit and these people being completely fascinated by a single planet while in the other shows new planets where treated as hardly anything special.

I agree there's more to this episode than that, but the first half really resonated with me. "Are we allowed to squash alien bugs?!"

 

[Gotham Central]

TheGodBen...good to see you taking on Enterprise

May the wind be at your back, and the scratches on your DVDs minor


That said...in terms of counting, you've GOT to count either Mayweather lines or scenes per episode. They should not include helm/nav related dialogue given from behind the driver's seat. "Aye sir" is not dialogue. It would be interesting to watch that number drop to zero as the series moves on.

 

[Seven of Five]

I think overall that Enterprise had a decent enough start. Broken Bow was a nice setup, if you ignore the Klingon inconsistencies. The animosity between Humans and Vulcans is well played, and unexpected. I agree that the lack of development of Future Guy hurts the pilot retrospectively. It was a mystery that ended up fizzling out later on in the series.

Hoshi is one of my favourite characters, and think that she was criminally underused throughout ENT's run, so Fight or Flight was right up my street! The actual plot of the episode is quite weak, but at the meaty core of it is Hoshi. I liked how she hadn't taken very well to space flight, and how homesick she was - certainly nothing that we've had before in Trek. Her slug was goofy, but endearing.

TGB, you say that having a female in this role is slightly sexist, whereas I'd go with a bit predictable. Nothing more.

Strange New World, as some have said, had a brilliant first half. The enthusiasm everybody showed for finding their first planet was so well played. It really set apart how new the Enterprise's mission compared to others that came before. It falls apart in the middle when the episode takes the 'Strange' part of the title too literally. Kelly Waymire played Cutler very well, and I wish she could have made more than three appearances before her untimely death.

 

[Hopeful Romantic]

At a point when the audience is still unsure of who these characters are, the last thing that should have been done was an episode where their worst vices are magnified.

You mean like in "The Naked Time"? Or "The Naked Now"? When you put characters under pressure, you learn things about them that you would otherwise never know. That's the fun of episodes like these. I can see why the writers would do it right off the bat -- to help the viewers learn more about the crew.

Archer refuses to perform the necessary scans and goes down to a planet full of deadly toxins in order to bring his dog for a walk

Is that why he blew off the scans? For Porthos? I must have missed that line.

Seriously, if Archer had done the scans, they wouldn't have gone down there. Scratch entire episode. Since the writers clearly wanted to do this episode, I agree that they should have shored up the reason Archer thought it would be safe. The scans don't recognize the alien spores as a toxin, or some such.

and he flies a shuttlepod through a storm even though there are qualified pilots on Enterprise.

I figured Archer, as a former test pilot, would have been the most qualified pilot, since Travis was on the surface.

The "Captain Redshirt" count... hey, I bought into the idea that Archer wouldn't order somebody to do what he wouldn't do himself, especially if it were perilous. He's not General Patton; he's an explorer. The so-called "self-sacrificial streak" was used consistently for the character, and it worked for me.

Of course, future Starfleet captains would never, ever allow personal feelings get in the way of... hmmm.

There were a lot of nice little touches in the episode, like the photo they take at the beginning, the campfire scene, Trip and Travis fighting the bug in their tent.

Agreed on all points. There is something totally cool about the idea that 150 years from now, humans will still enjoy telling scary stories around a campfire. And the bug thing was a scream.

And Novakovich didn't die! Maybe you should count "hoary old cliches avoided."