TheGodBen Revisits Enterprise

[Alidar Jarok]

I think the interesting thing was the experimental procedure to prolong Sim's life. It would have killed Trip. That's where the moral issue comes in. Of course, if the show really wanted them to take a risk, they would have tried the procedure to prolong Sim's life, have it fail, and they both would die.

BTW, Voyager didn't take any risk with Harry because they never addressed it again. It ended up being a bizarre reset button.

 

[Kegg]

BTW, Voyager didn't take any risk with Harry because they never addressed it again. It ended up being a bizarre reset button.

Naturally. Replacing Trip with Sim would also have been basically a bizarre reset button (and DS9 once replaced one O'Brien with another from slightly further into the future in a time travel episode); but it would have been the unexpected option.

 

[Alidar Jarok]

Well, that would depend on how the crew handled it. He wasn't entirely accepted as Trip and he had a different name, for starters. If they actually played on his relationship with Phlox in pre-Trip form, they would dramatically change the dynamic of the character.

 

[TheGodBen]

Carpenter Street (**½)

Also known as Generic time travel episode #429. Also also known as Braga's audition to join 24's writing staff.

The episode never manages to turn horrendous, but its heart and soul don't feel like they're in it. They seem to be trying to do a light-hearted romp in "the past", á la TVH, but they mix it with a story about a vindictive alien species who are abducting innocent people in order to develop a virus to wipe out the human race. It works in places, but in other places it doesn't, such as the scene where T'Pol and Archer steal a car.

ARCHER: This one has a motion activated security system.

See, this is amusing because we call it a car alarm, but they call it a motion activated security system.

T'POL: This apparatus. It appears to have been designed to incapacitate the vehicle.

See, this is amusing because we call it a clamp, but they call it an apparatus designed to incapacitate the vehicle.

T'POL: Have you ever operated a vehicle from this period?
ARCHER: I can pilot a starship.

Did anyone see that episode of Top Gear where Clarkson and May tried to drive several vehicles from way back when in order to find the first car with a modern control system? If not then you should because it was good fun, especially when they couldn't find the break on that French car and ended up speeding onto an intersection and stopping in the ditch on the other side.

T'POL: I don't believe you've activated your external lighting.

See, this is amusing because we call them headlights, but they call it external lighting.

T'POL: Turn starboard on twenty fourth street.

See, this is amusing because we call it right, but they call it starboard.

Anyway, you see my point. It's not outright irritating, but it is essentially the same joke being repeated over and over. I was rarely bored, it certainly felt like something big was at stake, and it does tie in with things toward the end of the season even if it was only in a minor way. But it still feels like Generic time travel episode #429.

Captain Redshirt: 26

 

[startrekwatcher]

I actually was one of the two people who liked Carpenter Street. The only real issue I have with it is the fact that in order to focus the episode on Our Crew i.e. Archer & T'Pol rather than who it should have featured i.e. Daniels B&B strained themselves trying to justify Archer being the ones who should be sent back to stop the Reptilians.

And this was a problem with incorporating the TCW into a prequel--you would think the trained temporal agents would be the ones sent back to thwart temporal incursions not novices like Archer who very likely could end up mucking up the timeline even worse. I could understand FG needing Archer to act as his proxy given he is restricted to his time period and Silik has a pretty weak track record in accomplishing what FG orders. This would crop up again "Azati Prime" when you have to wonder why Daniels bothered whisking Archer to the future instead of the Xindi council or why he didn't remove the NX-01 when it was underfire from the Xindi armada--afterall if it weren't for temporal meddling the ENT would not have been in the Expanse under attack and who knows what the descendants of those killed could have contributed to the original timeline. You would think he'd be minimizing any change in the timeline as possible.

We saw Daniels move the entire ship before in "Zero Hour" so he could have done it there as well. Also why not send Daniels or a team of temporal agents with their advanced gadgets onto the weapon in ZH instead of risking Archer's life if he is vital to the timeline. So those are some of the pitfalls of a time travel season long arc. But like I said at least B&B were aware of them otherwise they wouldn't have T'Pol raise those very questions--granted we got a weak answer but at least they tried.

Once you get past that the rest of the hour is entertaining if not deep. I've always liked the Archer/T'Pol dynamic and we got it in spades here. The various scenes were nice and decent. I liked the Loomis character too.

I'd give it 3 stars.

 

[Yug]

Carpenter Street (**½)

It works in places, but in other places it doesn't, such as the scene where T'Pol and Archer steal a car.

ARCHER: This one has a motion activated security system.

See, this is amusing because we call it a car alarm, but they call it a motion activated security system.

T'POL: This apparatus. It appears to have been designed to incapacitate the vehicle.

See, this is amusing because we call it a clamp, but they call it an apparatus designed to incapacitate the vehicle.

T'POL: I don't believe you've activated your external lighting.

See, this is amusing because we call them headlights, but they call it external lighting.

T'POL: Turn starboard on twenty fourth street.

See, this is amusing because we call it right, but they call it starboard.

That's how Vulcans talk... T'Pol's a Vulcan, that's how they talk.... she's never seen a car, she's a Vulcan, Vulcans are not from Earth. They're from Vulcan. T'Pol is a Vulcan.

I'm an asshole.

 

[apenpaap]

ARCHER: This one has a motion activated security system.

See, this is amusing because we call it a car alarm, but they call it a motion activated security system.

T'POL: This apparatus. It appears to have been designed to incapacitate the vehicle.

See, this is amusing because we call it a clamp, but they call it an apparatus designed to incapacitate the vehicle.

T'POL: I don't believe you've activated your external lighting.

See, this is amusing because we call them headlights, but they call it external lighting.

T'POL: Turn starboard on twenty fourth street.

See, this is amusing because we call it right, but they call it starboard.

I agree, it was rather funny.

 

[Hopeful Romantic]

Carpenter Street (**½)

It works in places, but in other places it doesn't, such as the scene where T'Pol and Archer steal a car.

ARCHER: This one has a motion activated security system.

See, this is amusing because we call it a car alarm, but they call it a motion activated security system.

T'POL: This apparatus. It appears to have been designed to incapacitate the vehicle.

See, this is amusing because we call it a clamp, but they call it an apparatus designed to incapacitate the vehicle.

T'POL: I don't believe you've activated your external lighting.

See, this is amusing because we call them headlights, but they call it external lighting.

T'POL: Turn starboard on twenty fourth street.

See, this is amusing because we call it right, but they call it starboard.

Party pooper. I had a lot of fun with this episode, including the fish-out-of-water stuff. Great Archer-T'Pol byplay, and I thought the delivery by Bakula and Blalock was great.

Plus, the actor who played Loomis -- he never disappoints. Perfect creepy little weasel for this story.

That's how Vulcans talk... T'Pol's a Vulcan, that's how they talk.... she's never seen a car, she's a Vulcan, Vulcans are not from Earth. They're from Vulcan. T'Pol is a Vulcan.

More eloquent words were never typed.

 

[ChristopherPike]

I quite liked how Loomis snuck in Scott's old catchphrase at one point.

T'Pol's reaction to what was on offer to veggies at the drive-in, was on the money for 2003. It's gotten a lot better with places now, if you're after a healthier option.

 

[Mach5]

That's how Vulcans talk... T'Pol's a Vulcan, that's how they talk.... she's never seen a car, she's a Vulcan, Vulcans are not from Earth. They're from Vulcan. T'Pol is a Vulcan.

Holy cow, Batman! Can I, like, use this as a signature line some time?

 

[SRFX]

Carbon Creek, Similitude and Carpenter Street are all episodes I hugely enjoy. By this stage, I was so wrapped up in Enterprise as a series, so connected with the characters and enjoying them having some ongoing tension with the Xindi storyline that I felt I could overlook any shortcomings and enjoy each episode from week to week. There was no way the series could do hugely wrong from my perspective and I was definitely in the for the long haul (as short as it was).

Blech....listen to me....I sound like one of those Voyager fanboys....

 

[startrekwatcher]

When I first heard that ENT was going to have a time travel episode into Earth's past--my first thought was that the Xindi FG sent them back into the post apocalyptic period to further cement the idea that humans were a ruthless threat to them and would also be a perfect place to perform tests without anyone being suspicious.

It also would have been an interesting parallel for the Xindi given that they experienced their own internal strife leading to the destruction of their own homeworld.

 

[Hopeful Romantic]

Carbon Creek, Similitude and Carpenter Street are all episodes I hugely enjoy. By this stage, I was so wrapped up in Enterprise as a series, so connected with the characters and enjoying them having some ongoing tension with the Xindi storyline that I felt I could overlook any shortcomings and enjoy each episode from week to week. There was no way the series could do hugely wrong from my perspective and I was definitely in the for the long haul (as short as it was).

Me too.

 

[TheGodBen]

Party pooper.

Then my job here is done.


Let That Be Your Last Chosen Realm (*½)

There are no men in this world like D'Jamat. Yes, there are men who are blinded by their religious faith. Yes, there are men who deny scientific evidence because it doesn't fit with their faith. Yes, there are men who are willing to kill innocents based on their faith. Yes, there are men who can brainwash other people into fighting religious wars based on nothing. But those men tend to be charismatic. I've seen all sorts of religious and political leaders who say and think wildly absurd and often dangerous things, and I've seen people flock to them as though they were wise men of great virtue, and in all of those cases I could understand why. With D'Jamat I see an uncharismatic individual, one who offers nothing to his people, and the only members of his group that get a significant number of lines both oppose his tactics.

The episode itself doesn't do much new; some aliens capture the ship, the good guys recapture the ship, there's a space-battle, Phlox injects a dumb alien with an off-button hypo... It's standard stuff, not all that badly written but so unoriginal that it quickly became boring. As for the Xindi arc, the episode references it and we get a few hints about what the spheres might be all about, but it is all based on the beliefs of some fanatical nutters so there's no point in taking it seriously.

Disappearing Aliens: 27
Transporter: 9

But this is it, this should be the last aimless episode in the season. I know there are episodes to come with filler plots, like Doctor's Orders and E², but they still fulfil a small purpose as the episodes that get us from point a to b. This season is currently scoring 5.25, only Voyager's first season is beating it, so if the show ups its game in the second half of this season (as I remember it doing) it has a strong possibility of setting a new benchmark for these review threads.

 

[apenpaap]

Chosen Realm wasn't that bad, though I agree about Dejá Matt. Archer's execution by transporter was pretty funny.
And next is my favourite Enterprise episode.

 

[startrekwatcher]

Chosen Realm was one of those episodes where the threads related to the arc were peripheral to the main story but were nonetheless infintely more compelling. The only thing I liked about this episode was hearing more about the spheres and the setback in the mission when the location of anomalies was erased making the journey into the Expanse without trellium all the more dangerous.

Other than that it was boring. The religious fanaticism was tiresome, the retaking of the ship was formulaic and well worn and the regular cast had the week off since this was an Archer piece. Thankfully next episode returns to the Xindi in a major way after 6 episodes without the council or much in the way of arc-heavy plot advancement episodes.

 

[Praetor]

"Let That Be Your Last Chosen Realm.'

Good stuff, Godfrey.

Also, I hated 'Carpenter Street.' I had started tuning in around 'Twilight' and 'Carpenter Street' ticked me off so much that I stopped for a while.

 

[SRFX]

Chosen Realm worked for me on the first viewing, simply because I unconsciously bought into the story emotionally. I really HATED these aliens - I mean, I am certain that was the writer's intention, but I dunno, I played right into it, more so than I thought I would have.

In hindsight, it's not a fantastic ep, but it's better than the likes of Extinction or Exile.

 

[TheGodBen]

Proving Ground (****)

It's about time. This episode starts with a recap of the events from The Shipment and seems to pretend that it is picking up from that point, despite that fact that that was six episodes ago (and six months according to MA). Nevertheless, this episode picks things up nicely by advancing the Xindi plot only slightly while the main focus is actually on Archer and Shran.

While I wasn't impressed with Shadows of P'Jem or Cease Fire, I do love the dynamic between Archer and Shran, two men that respect one another but have a hard time turning that respect into trust. This episode plays off that brilliantly; Archer wants to trust Shran but remains cautious, Shran wants to help Archer but has orders not to, and I in the audience really want the two of them to get along but know it's probably not going to work out. It's like a will they/wont they romantic situation, but involving two men, one of them blue, and a weapon that's going to destroy Earth. Ross and Rachel didn't have that last part, did they?

One problem; Shran only finds Archer now? Where has he been all this time? This sort of meeting would probably have worked better earlier in the season, because according to the chronology it has been nine months since Enterprise entered the expanse. Why couldn't he have found Enterprise last week and saved me from Chosen Realm? Another problem I had, if it can be called a problem, is that I would have loved to see the alliance with Shran played out over multiple episodes rather than just the one. It is such an interesting dynamic, and would have further developed relations between Earth and Andor once the show returns to normal next season.

 

[Mach5]

Andorian Mining Consortium runs from no one!

A great episode!