{"id":3536,"date":"2023-10-14T12:00:24","date_gmt":"2023-10-14T11:00:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tomsalinsky.co.uk\/blog\/?p=3536"},"modified":"2023-09-22T16:34:54","modified_gmt":"2023-09-22T15:34:54","slug":"trekaday-111","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tomsalinsky.co.uk\/blog\/index.php\/2023\/10\/14\/trekaday-111\/","title":{"rendered":"Trekaday #111: Detained, Vox Sola, Fallen Hero, Desert Crossing, Two Days and Two Nights, Shockwave"},"content":{"rendered":"

ENT S01E21 Detained <\/strong>(\"3). Waking up in an alien prison is a fairly familiar opening, and I guess it makes sense for Travis to follow in the footsteps of O\u2019Brien, Paris and no doubt others. Adding slightly more interest is the fact that their fellow prisoners are the time-travelling Acne Squad (and that Archer is with him). Once again, Travis is a perfect personality vacuum, and this might have been Montgomery\u2019s last chance to stamp his authority on the role. In a pretty funny piece of stunt casting, it\u2019s none other than Scott Bakula\u2019s old buddy Dean Stockwell as the camp commandant. He doesn\u2019t look like he\u2019s in any way happy to be there, which is pretty disappointing. He underplays to the point of torpor. The episode does at least have some substance to it, but the message swamps the story after a while. Travis spells it out in case anyone was dozing at the back.<\/p>\n

ENT S01E22 Vox Sola <\/strong>(\"4.5). More etiquette and translator shenanigans as a bunch of visiting aliens storm off, but while doing so, they allow some digital goo to pixel its way into the airlock – a 22nd century version of that TNG<\/strong> staple, the glowing cursor which roams the ship causing havoc. It quickly starts absorbing various humans into its revolting appendages. Adding to everyone\u2019s problem, T\u2019Pol is being a dick to Hoshi about her language skills \u2013 which turn out to be key to solving the problem. As ever, the answer in Star Trek<\/strong> is to understand and communicate, rather than triumph through superior firepower. As director, Roxann Dawson brings considerable Nostromo<\/em>-esque atmospher to proceedings and Schuyler sister Renee Elise Goldsberry makes a huge impression as the Ensign who discovers her buddy has been enveloped by alien goo. I\u2019d trade her for Malcolm or Travis in a heartbeat \u2013 maybe even Trip. The aliens who are shocked at public displays of eating is a brave stab at an unfamiliar culture, but other parts of the franchise has taught us that breaking bread as a form of social bonding is literally universal. Very likely, the Zagbars would know they were outliers. Travis is right \u2013 Wages of Fear<\/em> is a masterpiece.<\/p>\n

ENT S01E23 Fallen Hero <\/strong>(\"4). T\u2019Pol wants to know whether the crew has been getting their end away (and she\u2019s far more forthcoming about pon farr than either Spock or Tuvok, for whom this was an intensely personal aspect of their physiology, never to be discussed with anyone). She suggests a Club 18-30 holiday on Risa in order to prevent the crew from getting, as Archer unfortunately puts it, \u201csloppy\u201d. Alas, Enterprise<\/em> is required to ferry an erratic Vulcan ambassador off a nearby planet. Fionnula Flanagan is terrific as V\u2019Lar, who confounds everyone\u2019s expectations from T\u2019Pol down, and this is a great episode for the science officer. \u201cVulcans don\u2019t have heroes.\u201d Yeah, right. Her secret ends up as a bit talky and dry, but it\u2019s great to see a story rooted in character and emotion, even if it is a bit low stakes. That\u2019s two strong episodes in a row. Maybe this new show is finding a groove.<\/p>\n

ENT S01E24 Desert Crossing <\/strong>(\"3.5). Operation Get Some resumes, briefly, before once again the galaxy puts a terrorist between Enterprise<\/em> and Risa. Seemingly friendly Zobral invites Archer and Tucker to join him for a sojourn in the desert. Zobral is played by Clancy Brown who generally only plays scumbags and villains. Surprise! Zobral turns out to be a scumbag and a villain \u2013 or at the very least a freedom fighter who wants Archer to do for his people what he did for the Suliban a few episodes ago. Pairing Archer and Tucker, two very similar characters who generally get on, and who agree on most things, doesn\u2019t lead to much in the way of interest. This is a fundamental problem with the design of this show. The trek across the desert can\u2019t ever be as strong as Odo and Quark\u2019s flog up the mountain, and it\u2019s not clear to me how nobody involved noticed this.<\/p>\n

ENT S01E25 Two Days and Two Nights <\/strong>(\"2). Finally, Enterprise<\/em> makes it to Risa, and Archer was in the half of the crew who won the lottery to be allowed shore leave \u2013 along with Hoshi, Trip, Travis and Malcolm. Amazing how being in the opening titles gets you all the breaks. One wonders what Phlox did wrong. And once again, it turns absolutely forever for anything resembling drama to show up. Almost the first half of the episode is like being slowly shown someone\u2019s holiday snaps. When the drama does start, it\u2019s all vacation misadventure cliches with no specificity of either incident or reaction (but with an unhelpful dose of homophobia). Travis\u2019s story is too boring for us to witness it, so he has to come back to the ship and tell everyone about it instead. One whole star for John Billingsley\u2019s hilariously hungover Dr Phlox.<\/p>\n

ENT S01E26 Shockwave, Part I <\/strong>(\"2.5). Lest we forget, the first episode of Enterprise<\/em> aired barely two weeks after the terrorist attacks on the Pentagon and World Trade Center. It was a weird time to be launching an American television series which focused on optimism, openness and the importance of treating strangers as friends we haven\u2019t made yet. Given the all-American, largely white, back-to-basics cast, the gravitational pull of US foreign policy on the writers room would have been mighty. And lo, the series finale opens with a disaster which costs the lives of over 3000 people and threatens to start a war. It\u2019s a slightly nauseating start to the episode. Take the colossal loss of life seriously, and the fact that Enterprise<\/em> is being mothballed seems trivial. Take it lightly and nothing really matters, does it? Sounds like a job for the rest button. And lo, Archer finds himself sent back in time to before his mission began for a do-over. Now armed with secret information from the past\/future\/whenever, Archer can ride the good ship Wish Fulfilment Fantasy to reveal the badguys and blow them all to bits. Hurrah. But it\u2019s the end of the season, so things aren\u2019t quite that straightforward. In fact, nothing about this muddled episode is straightforward, which is a shame as I think they\u2019re going for good old-fashioned cops-and-robbers adventure stuff, but the mystery surrounding the Suliban, the Temporal Cold War and the accident, starts to become confusion, which is fatal for engagement, no matter how many Acne Lads are dropping from the ceiling. Trip boggles at the thought of a matriarchal society. Sigh.<\/p>\n

ENT S02E01 Shockwave, Part II <\/strong>(\"3.5). To be fair to Shockwave<\/em>, it\u2019s a pretty nifty cliffhanger. Daniels brings Archer forward in time to discover that by so doing, he\u2019s prevented himself from bringing them back. It\u2019s a bit conceptual, but I do like a seemingly insoluable problem. The one useful thing they have at hand is a library full of paper books, which is a lovely symbol of knowledge and advancement and enlightenment. Daniels mourns the loss of a memorial to the Federation, a topic which can\u2019t help but pique Archer\u2019s curiosity. Watching the team come together on Enterprise<\/em> to try and outwit the Suliban has some interest (although it\u2019s hilarious that Trip only thinks to try and contact those members of the crew who are in the opening titles \u2013 why didn\u2019t the production team just have a smaller ship with a crew of seven for crissake\u2026) but I\u2019m disappointed to see that \u201cspace legs\u201d Hoshi has regressed to grumbling about having to do anything which doesn\u2019t involve translation. And we could definitely do without her losing her top on the way through the crawlspace. John Fleck is a strong villain, and having him beat up Malcolm is good way of making us hate him. But the grafted-on Temporal Cold War makes less sense every time it comes up and I grow fearful that the Enterprise<\/em> crew are going to be bystanders and not participants. It\u2019s not at clear how Trip was able to fake a reactor breach in a way which would be convincing enough the fool the Suliban, and yet which could be fixed in a matter of only seconds.<\/p>\n

Season 1 wrap-up<\/strong><\/p>\n