Alliance-building Reaches “The Council”

The Good: Good plot, Wonderful acting, Decent effects, Clever
The Bad: Light on character development (annoying regression for Tucker)
The Basics: The third season’s serialized plot moves toward a resolution with reversals and politics during “The Council!”


As Star Trek: Enterprise reached the climax of its third season, it had a number of plotlines to resolve and when “The Council” came up, the true adversaries of the season are exposed. While most of the season has had Archer and the Enterprise confronting the Xindi, by the time “The Council” comes up, the Xindi have been exposed as puppets to an alien race of Sphere Building Guardians. The Guardians are essentially the Founders in the Xindi storyline and the concept of the Xindi is somewhat weakened by the derivative nature of the villains.

Moveover, Manny Coto – who wrote “The Council” - seems to be eager to prove to Star Trek fans just how clever he can be. And he is. “The Council” contains the Enterprise encountering what is essentially a Death Star . . . but he writes the solution the Empire should have used in Star Wars (reviewed here!) to protect its massive weapon (a hologram over the vulnerable air vent). As the episode progresses, it starts to strongly move the plotline toward a resolution and it is compelling and entertaining, if a little low on character development.

While the Sphere Builders worry that they are losing the chance to destroy Earth, Archer plans to infiltrate a nearby Sphere. While Degra is harassed by the Sphere Builders, Reed assembles a team to attack the memory core of a nearby Sphere. Degra is convinced Archer is telling the truth and he tells Archer of the history of the Sphere Builders and their relationship with the Xindi. He also briefs Archer on the state of the Xindi Council, including tales of how ruthless Commander Dolim is. While escorting Archer to the Council planet, Degra stands up to Dolim and backs Archer in a clearly military sense.

After appearing before the Xindi Council, the Xindi politicians fracture with the Aquatics breaking as the Council’s swing vote. When Dolim confronts the Sphere Builders, they assure the Xindi Reptillian of Reptillian dominance in the future. While T’Pol, Reed, Mayweather and a M.A.C.O.S. soldier infiltrate a Sphere, Archer presents the Xindi Council with the pod from the transdimensional alien they recovered. Seeing the hologram of the transdimensional alien, the Xindi Council agrees to hear more. With the potential of peace when the Reptillians agree to postpone the launch, Degra and Archer come to believe they can form an alliance to save Earth and the Xindi people.

“The Council” has a strong storyline for Degra. More than simply telling Archer incredible amounts of exposition, the stories Degra tells – most notably about Dolim having his grandson killed – enhance Degra’s character. Family truly is as important to him as it initially seemed. Moreover, Degra spends “The Council” with a surprisingly decent amount of rationality. He is a scientist above all and the way Randy Oglesby subtly emotes as Degra when delivering lines about the Avians enhances the character in a compelling and well-rounded way.

What stands out in “The Council” is the acting. The aliens who are members of the Xindi Council are all portrayed by actors who have a clear ability to play politicians. The arguing in the council chamber is done by Randy Oglesby, Tucker Smallwood, Rick Worthy, and Scott MacDonald, all of whom play their characters with a level of erudition and emotion that makes them seem like viable politicians. Even Dolim is given more in the way of character; the resolution to the episode is smart and illustrates the cunning and ambition of the Xindi Commander wonderfully.

What does not work especially well is Tucker’s character. It has been months since Tucker’s sister was killed in the attack in “The Expanse” (reviewed here!) and his level of anger at the outset of the episode seems unrealistic. The arc for Tucker seems like a forced reprisal. Similarly, Dominic Keating is given a wonderful acting moment as Reed when he reacts to the death of Corporal Hawkins aboard the Sphere. Reed’s anger is presented abruptly and in a fairly ridiculous way. It’s almost like the actor complained about having a shitty arc for the season and the scene was written as filler at the last moment.

The villains in “The Council” are pretty monolithically rendered. The Sphere Builders have an advanced knowledge of temporal mechanics, but their strategy – which, to be fair, evolved in “The Council” – plays along very predictable and linear ways. Instead of making any sort of statement on the value of their existing plan. Moreover, given that they are extradimensional aliens, they seem like they would leave the Federation alone if they weren’t invading our space, so . . .

“The Council” moves along exceptionally well and the episode is a good build-up to a strong ending. The plot-based episode is entertaining and pushes the plot forward in a compelling way, but it is a plot-based, action-adventure episode without a strong amount of character conflict or resolution. There are no truly large themes or concepts in the episode. Instead, the final battle that caps off the episode seems like a chance to show off the special effects and bring up the pulse. It does that, but little else.

The three biggest gaffes in “The Council:”
3. T’Pol cites honor when talking to Reed, a concept that is far more Klingon than it is Vulcan,
2. Phlox mentions having a worm in his body for weight reduction. Given that, it seems like the Trill would be much less shocking in “The Host” (reviewed here!),
1. The presence of the Spheres makes it seem like the Dyson Sphere in “Relics” (reviewed here!) would

[Knowing that single episodes are an inefficient way to get episodes, it's worth looking into Star Trek: Enterprise - The Complete Third Season on DVD or Blu-Ray, which is also a better economical choice than buying individual episodes. Read my review of the penultimate season here!
Thanks!]

8/10

For other Star Trek episode and movie reviews, please visit my Star Trek Review Index Page!

© 2014 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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Light On Character, “The Forgotten” Still Succeeds!

The Good: Moments of character, Generally decent acting, Good plot continuation
The Bad: Thematically heavy-handed on the Tucker/Taylor front.
The Basics: “The Forgotten” has Tucker coming apart at the seams trying to hold the Enterprise together while Archer negotiates with Degra and Jannar to stop them from deploying the Xindi weapon.


Continuing a heavily serialized storyline is a risk for any television series, but when a show truly commits to it, it can pay off wonderfully. With the third season of Star Trek: Enterprise, by the time “The Forgotten” was produced, the show was floundering, so the producers redoubled their efforts to tighten the story arc. As a result, “The Forgotten” plays significantly less well for those who have not seen “Azati Prime” (reviewed here!) and “Damage” (reviewed here!). “The Forgotten” is a direct follow-up to those episodes and while it might be largely plot-based, it is still entertaining and well-presented.

While “The Forgotten” has minimal character development for the main characters of Star Trek: Enterprise, there is some evolution for the character T’Pol and there is a decent amount of expansion for the adversaries Degra and Jannar. While the initiating incident for T’Pol’s continued degradation might have been one of the more contrived messes of the third season, the idea of sustaining the consequences to it plays well in “The Forgotten.” As well, having both Degra and Jannar appear as genuine leaders and men of reason makes the episode flow well.

Following the attack that left eighteen aboard Enterprise dead, the Enterprise is still severely damaged and Archer pushes Tucker to get as many repairs done before the Enterprise has to make a rendezvous with Degra in ten hours. T’Pol meets with Phlox, who reveals that her Trellium poisoning might make her susceptible to emotions for the rest of her life. When the Enterprise arrives for its meeting with Degra, it encounters a spatial anomaly before Degra’s ship arrives and has the Enterprise follow to a safe point, near one of the Spheres. When Archer confirms that the Xindi weapon is not currently being launched, he brings Degra and the Xindi Arboreal Jannar aboard. While they want proof of his time traveling abilities, he is only able to show them the corpses of the Xindi Reptiles brought back from Earth’s past.

When Archer brings Degra and Jannar to the Xindi toxin he recovered in the past, Degra seems convinced, but Jannar remains skeptical. Phlox relieves the exhausted Tucker before Archer has him share information with the two Xindi about the transdimensional alien that visited and died aboard the Enterprise. That seems to shake Degra, though Jannar wants something much more tangible. When Tucker confronts Degra about the weapon he built, the contrast between him and Archer is tangible. As Archer works to gain Degra’s trust, Reed and Tucker have to go out onto the surface of the Enterprise to fix a plasma conduit rupture before the ship is destroyed.

On the character front, “The Forgotten” has Archer getting more and more desperate, but retaining a level head for conversation the way one tends to expect Star Trek captains to behave. The more significant character arcs are Tucker and T’Pol. Tucker has not slept in two days, since the attack and his exhaustion during the repairs leads him to hallucinate. As Tucker agonizes over writing a letter to the family of an engineer who died in the attack, his character wrestles with a great deal of guilt over the death of his sister. That leads Tucker to his outburst with Degra and in addition to being good television. The only thing that could have strengthened this arc would have been if Taylor (the dead crewman) had actually been featured in prior episodes.

T’Pol’s arc in the episode is a bit more subtle. She shows genuine concern for Tucker and the idea that she might be stuck with emotions is an intriguing twist. Actress Jolene Blalock starts playing T’Pol with more facial expressions and with obvious concern in her eyes whenever she delivers lines about characters being in peril.

“The Forgotten” is also notable in that it features a cameo appearance from Seth MacFarlane, creator of Family Guy (volume ten is reviewed here!). Sadly, though, it is a “blink and you miss it” appearance. More impressive is the performance by Randy Oglesby as Degra. As the episode progresses, Oglesby is given an opportunity to play the character as shaken and when he transitions the character from disturbed to resolved, it comes across completely organically. Oglesby is a wonderful actor and having the long arc to play Degra allows him to illustrate more range than he has on any of his other Star Trek guest starring roles.

“The Forgotten” has some decent special effects for the starships, but the computer generated people on the hull of the Enterprise move awkwardly. It is not enough to sink the episode, but it hardly enhances the episode.

The biggest gaffe in “The Forgotten” is that the Enterprise suffers from a plasma fire, which threatens the ship. It is venting a fire into space, but in “Disaster” (reviewed here!), the plasma fire clearly needs air to burn. In “The Forgotten,” the plasma fire burns out into space in a way that it ought not to.

[Knowing that single episodes are an inefficient way to get episodes, it's worth looking into Star Trek: Enterprise - The Complete Third Season on DVD or Blu-Ray, which is also a better economical choice than buying individual episodes. Read my review of the penultimate season here!
Thanks!]

8.5/10

For other Star Trek episode and movie reviews, please visit my Star Trek Review Index Page!

© 2014 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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Consciously And Unconsciously Against Everything Star Trek, “Damage” Is A Broken Episode.

The Good: Moments of moralization, Pacing, Special effects
The Bad: Very stiff acting, B-plot is a huge problem
The Basics: Archer consciously crosses an ethical line while the writers of Star Trek: Enterprise unconsciously create a messy plotline for T’Pol in “Damage.”


There’s a good rule for a franchise that all future writers for the Star Trek franchise should heed: if you’re going to steal from somewhere for your ideas and plots, steal from somewhere other than your own franchise. Star Trek: Enterprise severely “borrowed” from the Star Trek franchise when it ended with the ship virtually destroyed in one episode and opened with the damaged ship virtually incapacitated and surrounded by enemies, much like in “A Time To Stand” (reviewed here!) and “Rocks And Shoals” (reviewed here!).

That said, “Damage,” which follows directly after “Azati Prime” (reviewed here!), is a fairly grim and realistic episode that finally reveals the Sphere Builders to the audience. Unfortunately, the b-plot, which involves T’Pol degrading fairly consistently, makes little sense in the internal continuity of the third season of Star Trek: Enterprise. In “Impulse” (reviewed here!), Trellium-D – which is used to protect the starships from the effects of the Expanse – is determined to be the cause of the Vulcans going crazy within the Expanse (in protecting their ships, they inadvertently poisoned themselves). The resolution to “Impulse” has Archer deciding not to fortify the ship in order to protect T’Pol and T’Pol is advised not to go near the ship’s store of Trellium-D. So, there is no good reason given that T’Pol would be degrading the way she is in “Damage” (and “Azati Prime”).

Opening with the Enterprise without warp drive, Degra, Jannar, and the leader of the Xindi-Primates demand that Dolim release Archer. Unwilling to trust the Xindi Reptile leader, the Xindi Aquatics take custody of Archer. With E-Deck virtually destroyed, T’Pol prioritizes restoring the deck so Tucker can try to repair the warp drive. When the Aquatics send a shuttle with Archer back to the Enterprise, the Captain is revived and learns that fourteen of the crew are dead with three more still missing. Shortly after T’Pol finds herself unable to control her limbs and emotions, the Enterprise gets a distress call from a nearby ship, an Illyrian vessel.

The Illyrian Captain is eager to trade with Archer, but he is unwilling to strand his own vessel in the expanse by trading away a warp coil that the Enterprise desperately needs to get the warp drive working again. After the Illyrian ship leaves, T’Pol has a nightmare and recovers some of the Trellian D, which she injects herself with. Sato realizes that the Xindi Aquatics are about to take Degra’s children hostage in order to insure he completes work on the weapon and Archer makes the decision to violate his own set of ethics to save Earth and the Enterprise. Ordering Reed to assemble an armed boarding party, Archer is ready to pirate the warp coil the Enterprise needs. When the Sphere Builder is called by the three members of the Xindi Council sympathetic to Archer, she reveals that she has aided the Xindi Reptiles and Insectoids without the rest of the Council knowing. Degra, however, has been swayed by the fact that Archer has provided proof for his story whereas the Sphere Builders remain enigmatic and out for their own agenda. With T’Pol advocating an ethical stance against Archer’s plan of attack, she and Archer come into conflict as Archer steps over the line to board the Illyrian ship and steal their warp coil.

“Damage” is a troubling step back for the character of T’Pol. The retcon concept of T’Pol “medicating” herself with Trellium-D makes no sense whatsoever. While sloppily writing off her entire character arc with Tucker as a drug addition, the fundamental problem with the concept remains tied to what came before. The Vulcans in “Impulse” went much crazier through much less direct exposure to the Trellium-D. Given the sloppy way in which T’Pol has been “self-medicating,” it seems like she would have poisoned herself much worse far before she ever became addicted and the result would have been much more potentially catastrophic before this ever happened. As well, T’Pol has been in Sickbay several times since she started poisoning herself with Trellium-D. And if she wanted to experience emotions, she didn’t need a drug, just to lower her conscious control. And in “Twilight” (reviewed here!), she either would have been dead, much more emotional, or prone to admitting her addiction to the future version of Archer because she had no reason to keep it secret. In other words, the T’Pol plotline with Trellium-D is just an absolute mess.

The exchange between Scott Bakula and Casey Biggs is packed with technobabble. As Archer tries to get a warp coil from the Illyrian Captain, the two actors exchange lines with a stiffness that is difficult to watch. The lack of emotion and realism – the disconnect between the words and the sense that the actors saying them fully understand them – makes the scene flop entirely and the viewer is left feeling like neither actor truly landed it.

Similarly, for all of the problems with the T’Pol plotline, one of the bigger issues is that Jolene Blalock does not truly sell the concept. Blalock does not make T’Pol an emotional junkie and she fails to sell the idea that T’Pol would have started down the path for the emotional exploration that the episode retroactively creates. Blalock is not extreme enough in her character’s degredation, nor subtle enough to make the viewer convinced that the character had such ambitions.

Despite that, the emotional journey of Archer is good. It calls to mind the difficulty faced by Sisko in “In The Pale Moonlight” (reviewed here!) and the idea of how far Archer will go to save humanity is a compelling one. “Damage” presents that, and the physical destruction to the Enterprise, well-enough, but not enough to make the episode worth watching for anything other than its place in the heavily-serialized arc.

The three biggest gaffes in “Damage:”
3. The T’Pol plotline completely undermines the internal strength of Vulcans and their lack of emotionalism, making it unrealistic that the cultural conceit of Vulcans lacking emotions would endure for hundreds of years,
2. The Sphere Builder looks like the entity that is the genetic basis for all life in the Milky Way galaxy, revealed in “The Chase” (reviewed here!). However, the Sphere Builders come from an entirely different dimension, so there is absolutely no reason they ought to bear such a similarity to the base entity,
1. Mayweather notes that the Xindi Aquatic language sounds like music and that allows Hoshi to start translating the language. Xindi Aquatic sounds quite a bit like whalesong; Hoshi’s ability to translate the language ought to have made is a much quicker leap for Spock and the Federation to evaluate the whalesong from the probe in Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (reviewed here!).

[Knowing that single episodes are an inefficient way to get episodes, it's worth looking into Star Trek: Enterprise - The Complete Third Season on DVD or Blu-Ray, which is also a better economical choice than buying individual episodes. Read my review of the penultimate season here!
Thanks!]

For other works with Rick Worthy, be sure to visit my reviews of:
Heroes - Seasons 3 & 4
Duplicity
“Proving Ground” - Star Trek: Enterprise
“Rajiin” - Star Trek: Enterprise
“The Xindi” - Star Trek: Enterprise
“Equinox, Part 2” - Star Trek: Voyager
“Equinox, Part 1” - Star Trek: Voyager
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine - “Soldiers Of The Empire”
Star Trek: Insurrection
“Prototype” - Star Trek: Voyager

4/10

For other Star Trek episode and movie reviews, please visit my Star Trek Review Index Page!

© 2013 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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The Key Plot Moment Comes For The Third Season Of Star Trek: Enterprise At “Azati Prime!”

The Good: Some very cool effects, Engaging plot, Good acting
The Bad: Lack of character development, Some effects and performances
The Basics: “Azati Prime” pushes the serialized plot of the third season of Star Trek: Enterprise forward when Archer sees the future and reveals it to Degra.


In the course of virtually every serialized television series, there comes a time when one is either watching or they are not. When that point is reached, the producers usually stop bothering with a review at the beginning of each episode on the assumption that those people who have missed prior episodes will either pick up what they need in the new episode or they should have bothered to watch the prior episodes. With Star Trek: Deep Space Nine’s extensive final arc, that point came with the wonderful “Tacking Into The Wind” (reviewed here!). With Star Trek: Enterprise’s season-long arc focused on the Xindi weapon being built in the Expanse and the Enterprise’s search for information on the weapon (and attempts to halt its production), the point the producers figured viewers were watching carefully or had given up was “Azati Prime.”

As a result, “Azati Prime” includes a number of continuity details that reference prior episodes in the arc of the season. This episode takes on faith that viewers know who Degra is and the encounter Archer had with him in “Stratagem” (reviewed here!), as well as how the Enterprise came to have a Xindi Insectoid shuttle in “Hatchery” (reviewed here!). The episode smartly assumes viewers have much more experience with the series by including the return of Temporal Agent Daniels, which helps make the big, significant episode even bigger.

As the Enterprise nears the gas giant around which Azati Prime, the secret Xindi weapons facility is located, it monitors the Xindi ship carrying Degra, the lead scientist working on the weapon, entering the defense perimeter. After Mayweather and Tucker take the Xindi Insectoid shuttle to the water world Azati Prime, the crew learns that the weapon is near completion. Returning to Enterprise, Archer decides to make the one-way trip to destroy the Xindi weapon. Upon deciding to make a suicide run to destroy the weapon, Archer is transported to the distant future. There, he meets with Daniels, who tells him they are on the Enterprise-J, during a crucial battle with the builders of the alien Spheres that created the Expanse. Telling Archer that he absolutely must not die in order for history to go the way it ought, Daniels reveals that the Xindi were merely pawns of the Builders and that in the future, the Federation is working to save the Xindi from their influence (and save the galaxy from them).

When Archer goes on his attack run, Tucker and T’Pol are dismayed when hours go by without yielding demonstrative results. Archer, as it turns out, has been captured by the Xindi Insectoids. Tortured by Reptilian Commander Dolim, Archer uses the opportunity to make contact with Degra. Giving Degra an artifact from Daniels, he tells the Xindi that the Sphere Builders will destroy the Xindi and the Council begins to fracture over the new information. Degra and the leader of the Xindi Primates begin to question Dolim when the Reptiles attack the Enterprise. With T’Pol in command, the Enterprise savaged by the Xindi ships and Archer is left on his own.

For all of the dependency upon seeing prior episodes in this arc, the writers of “Azati Prime” seem to want viewers to forget that “Impulse” (reviewed here!) provided a reason Vulcans suffer within the Expanse. Given that the Enterprise did not use the element that made Vulcans crazy in the Expanse, there is no viable reason why T’Pol would be emotional in this episode.

“Azati Prime” is a pretty generic action-adventure episode of Star Trek: Enterprise. While it is solidly entertaining, it is lacking in any deeper meanings or actual character development. There is a mild cleverness to the way the episode uses information gleaned throughout the rest of the season – most importantly in “Stratagem” and in a way that makes “Carpenter Street” surprisingly relevant – but the episode is strongly lacking in genuine character development. While the plot is pretty tight, none of the characters grow, change or evolve . . .

. . . Except Degra. Degra does not evolve as much as he finally is given the facts that support the underlying humanitarian bent he has been insinuated to have the entire season. Degra is, above all, a patriot. As a result, he will do whatever he can to protect his people and while he has had pangs of guilt before now over killing seven million people – many of whom, he came to realize, would have been innocent children – he lacked the information to make an informed decision that the Xindi were building a horrible weapon for all the wrong reasons. When Archer presents the scientist with credible proof, he revises his plans, but it still fits with the patriotic nature of his character.

Throughout the episode, T’Pol exhibits a fondness for Archer that has not been entirely evident before now. In fact, she pushes Tucker away for no specific reason and there is some frustration for the viewer on his behalf from that character change. It is almost like the writers abruptly decided to give T’Pol a romantic choice between Archer and Tucker and “Azati Prime” poorly throws that concept into the mix.

On the acting front, the guest stars rule “Azati Prime.” While Scott Bakula is wonderful at performing Archer when Archer is tortured by the Xindi, realistically making him both defiant and fatigued, Matt Winston, Scott MacDonald, and Randy Oglesby steal the show. Winston has a single scene and he is saddled with having Daniels deliver a lot of plot exposition. Winston sells that scene by finally making Daniels seem authoritative, in control, and willing to share the crucial information Archer clearly needs. That is a change for the mysterious temporal agent and it works wonderfully for “Azati Prime.” Scott MacDonald, who plays the Xindi Reptilian Commander Dolim, has a history in the Star Trek universe of getting stuck behind a latex mask and Dolim is no exception. However, while MacDonald has always played affable or generally good characters, Dolim is monstrous and angry. As a result, MacDonald gives a very different performance in “Azati Prime” and the menace that he drips into Dolim’s voice plays perfectly and keeps the potentially bland lines he is delivering from seeming at all cliché.

Then there is Randy Oglesby. Oglesby is a wonderful character actor and in “Azati Prime,” the Star Trek franchise finally uses him for a role that requires both intellect and passion . . . without having him play angry. Oglesby makes Degra make a reasonable and emotional transition from scientist working on an abstract problem to an entity who is essentially building a genocidal weapon and understands the magnitude and ethics of that. Degra’s transition in “Azati Prime” works so well because he is pitted in scenes opposite Dolim and Oglesby and MacDonald play off one another remarkably well.

Sadly, Jolene Blalock is given a part for T’Pol to play that makes no sense and the emotional Vulcan is a problem executed with middling acting.

On the plus side, “Azati Prime” features truly breathtaking special effects for an underwater sequence and the final space battle is incredibly rendered (save for the utterly cheesy CG crewmembers who fly out of the holes in the Enterprise). The make-up effects for both Dolim and the wounded Archer are impressive.

But the effects and action are not enough to truly blow the viewer away; “Azati Prime” is entertaining, but not meaningful beyond the limited story being told in this arc. It is enjoyable, but essentially scienc fiction pulp and Star Trek fans tend to want (and deserve) quite a bit more for their buck.

The three biggest gaffes in “Azati Prime:”
3. T’Pol displays emotions in front of Tucker; if humans knew Vulcans had emotions decades before Spock was born, the cultural conceit of Vulcans not possessing emotions would seem to be exceptionally hard to puerpetrate and endure,
2. The Xindi ship seen in this episode looks virtually identical to a Son’a ship in Star Trek: Insurrection (reviewed here!). Given how old the Baku and Son’a were and given how they have no relationship with the Xindi, in the Xindi history in this season, there is no reason the ships should looks alike,
1. Reed describes the Xindi defense perimeter as a “detection grid;” given that the concept existed in this time period (a satellite network creating a defense grid), the idea of the Tachyon net should not have been at all audacious in “Redemption, Part 2” (reviewed here!). In fact, it seems utterly stupid if StarFleet had encountered similar technology in this era that it would take Data to apply it to detecting cloaked Romulan vessels!

[Knowing that single episodes are an inefficient way to get episodes, it's worth looking into Star Trek: Enterprise - The Complete Third Season on DVD or Blu-Ray, which is also a better economical choice than buying individual episodes. Read my review of the penultimate season here!
Thanks!]

For other works with Tucker Smallwood, please visit my reviews of:
Traffic
“In The Flesh” - Star Trek: Voyager
“Home” - The X-Files

6.5/10

For other Star Trek episode and movie reviews, please visit my Star Trek Review Index Page!

© 2013 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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Getting To Know The Enemy Is The Goal Of A Successful “Stratagem!”

The Good: Interesting story, Good performances, Good effects
The Bad: No real character development, Huge plot/character/ethical hole in the storyline
The Basics: “Stratagem” progresses the serialized story of Star Trek: Enterprise by having Archer capture and work over Degra, the lead Xindi scientist.


With all of the time travel, alternate universes, and false realities in the third season of Star Trek: Enterprise, it takes a lot of investment on the part of the fans to care about continued mind games by the time “Stratagem” comes up in the season. “Stratagem” smartly avoids trying to fool the viewer while the episode creates an elaborate plot to explore how Archer fools the leader of the Xindi weapons team. More than any other episode in the third season, “Stratagem” focuses on Degra.

The episode is also one of the most potentially divisive episode of the third season; the episode very obviously uses classic conditioning and shared obstacles to build trust between two people. This is actually a common form of torture for information and the fact that Phlox uses Regulan blood worms and drugs to get information from Degra to distort his sense of reality is troubling. “Stratagem” can easily be argued to be an “ends justify the means” episode, but the troubling level of unethical acts Archer and Phlox engage in – without any debate from T’Pol – is disturbing. On the plus side, the “it’s okay to torture the villain” story is well-balanced by humanizing Degra. Degra’s character is fleshed out in ways that were only previously vaguely insinuated at before in Randy Oglesby’s brief performance in prior episodes.

A small shuttle carrying Degra and Archer evades a Xindi Insectoid attack. With their escape successful, Degra is instantly suspicious, but Archer works to convince the befuddled scientist that they have just escaped from a Xindi Insectoid prison camp where the two had shared a cell for the prior three years. Archer tells Degra the story of the prior three years; how after the test that was sabotaged in “Proving Ground” (reviewed here!), Degra was captured by the Xindi Insectoids and shortly thereafter, Archer was kidnapped and the Enterprise was destroyed. While the Xindi Council worked to complete the weapon and destroy Earth, the Xindi Insectoids were building a fleet which they used to wipe out the other Xindi sects. According to Archer, the Xindi Insectoids were just using the rest of the Council to take over the Expanse and Degra is quick to agree that that seems plausible.

Soon, though, it becomes evident that Archer is manufacturing the incident and the story in order to get information from Degra. While Archer utilizes drugs and blood worms to extract information from Degra, the episode flashes back to how Archer came to be in possession of Degra and the tight-lipped Xindi gives Archer little other opportunity to get information from him. After manufacturing the shuttle and the story, Archer slowly builds Degra’s confidence to find the location of Azati Prime, a classified world where Archer believes the Xindi are building their doomsday weapon. The plan starts to fall apart when Degra becomes suspicious and starts to test Archer for knowledge he does not have.

“Stratagem” has a desperate quality to it that none of the episodes since “The Expanse” (reviewed here!) has truly possessed. The attack on Earth led to a seasonlong journey that has not seemed especially pressing, despite the fact that there have been glimpses of the Xindi preparing their new weapon. The concept for the season is a good one, but the sense of desperation that leads to “Stratagem” seems forced. That makes the episode far more troubling than realistic. The means do not justify the ends and considering that Archer gets the name Azati Prime almost immediately from the Xindi computer core, the elaborate way that Archer tries to get more information is pretty reprehensible. In fact, given that Archer has the name Azati Prime and Degra, he could easily have stalled the Xindi weapon simply by keeping Degra aboard. There was no real need for torture.

Despite the plot-centered nature of “Stratagem,” the additional character details about Degra work well. Unfortunately, Archer never gets to Degra the way he managed to get under the skin of the Xindi Arboreal in “The Shipment” (reviewed here!). As a result, there is something of a character anticlimax in “Stratagem.” The episode keeps tight on the plot and Degra never comes to truly admit that the Xindi weapon is wrong. If anything, Archer’s actions only solidify the distrust Degra has in the humans. It seems strange given how far Archer and Phlox go in the episode that they did not work to leave Degra with some sort of post-hypnotic suggestion that the weapon is wrong or that the humans do not deserve to be wiped out.

Instead, “Stratagem” is unimaginative in its plotting and character work. However, the performances are solid. Randy Oglesby makes the previously efficient and clear-headed Degra seem entirely reasonably frazzled. Oglesby is a wonderful character actor and here he starts to layer Degra. Oglesby is not given a lot of work to do – the character is fleshed out with additional character details – but Degra is not asked to do any emotional heavy lifting. Strangely, neither is Scott Bakula. Bakula is pretty straightforward as Archer and the performance is not at all demanding for him. Still, he does a fine job at convincing the viewers that Archer can manage the deception he is perpetrating against Degra.

Best for truly moving forward the urgency of the third season plot of Star Trek: Enterprise, “Stratagem” still has a troubling concept, but a decent execution.

The two biggest gaffes in “Stratagem:”
2. The fact that StarFleet uses torture of this type should have made Riker much more resistant to the same techniques (or more aware of what was happening to him) in “Frame Of Mind” (reviewed here!),
1. The Xindi suddenly are using “subspace vortices” that seem to operate much the same way as the transwarp conduits in “Descent” (reviewed here!). Given that, the transwarp conduits should not have been as much of a novelty or anomaly by the 24th Century.

[Knowing that single episodes are an inefficient way to get episodes, it's worth looking into Star Trek: Enterprise - The Complete Third Season on DVD or Blu-Ray, which is also a better economical choice than buying individual episodes. Read my review of the penultimate season here!
Thanks!]

5.5/10

For other Star Trek episode and movie reviews, please visit my Star Trek Review Index Page!

© 2013 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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Information Without Character, “The Shipment” Is Necessary, But Unremarkable Star Trek: Enterprise.

The Good: Good information for the continuity of the Xindi plotline
The Bad: No superlative acting or character moments.
The Basics: “The Shipment” moves along the Xindi plotline that consumes the third season of Star Trek: Enterprise, without advancing the main characters in any recognizable way.


With the long arc of Star Trek: Enterprise’s third season, the writers and producers of the series worked hard to progress the overall plot of the arc in each and every episode. In the wake of the largely contained episode “Exile” (reviewed here!), the show did a significantly more important episode for the overall Xindi arc with “The Shipment.” The problem with the seasonlong arc for Star Trek: Enterprise is that the writers and producers had a firm idea of the plotline they wanted, but no idea what they wanted to do with the main characters of the NX-01 Enterprise.

As a result, “The Shipment” is a wealth of information essential to the Xindi plotline, but it is utterly lacking in any character development for the main crew. In fact, with nothing exceptional to do to lead the characters to grow or develop, the actors are left doing extensive exposition. The result is that many of the performers do little but present technobabble for the episode and that makes it worth quite a bit less than it should be.

With the Xindi scientist, Degra, preparing to test the weapon the Xindi are building to destroy Earth and promising that, if the test is successful, Earth’s obliteration is only weeks away, Captain Archer takes Sato’s lead about a Xindi colony seriously. Reed, Archer, and Corporal Hayes investigate the Xindi colony where the weapon is being built. There, they learn that the Xindi Sloth are shipping out Kemocite to the facility where Degra is building the weapon. The lead Xindi on the colony, Gralik Durr, claims ignorance of the weapon that Degra is building.

As Tucker verifies the Kemocite is the same as what was used in the probe that attacked Earth, Archer interrogates Gralik Durr. With Hayes preparing to bomb the Xindi colony, Tucker and Phlox disassemble the Xindi rifle they confiscated and discover that it includes organic components. Gralik Durr tells Archer the history of the Xindi war and the destruction of the Xindi Homeworld (and the genocide of the Xindi Avians), which is interrupted by Degra’s early arrival at the colony. Taking Gralik Durr into hiding, Archer comes to believe that the Xindi might be telling the truth about his ignorance of the kemocite’s military destination. Rather than continuing with the plan to bomb the facility out of existence, Archer decides to use the kemocite to track Degra back to the weapons lab producing the ultimate weapon.

“The Shipment” contains a b-plot that is entirely unrealized in this episode, but sets the stage for subsequent episodes. Tucker, T’Pol, and Phlox studying the Xindi rifle leads the Enterprise crew to develop countermeasures to the weapons and that seems sensible, but very plot-focused as well.

On the acting front, Dominic Keating gives a particularly clunky delivery during a chase through the woods, which provides the episode’s only overt action sequence. Otherwise, “The Shipment” is a lot of decent actors presenting a lot of exposition. Actor John Cothran Jr. is given the heavy lifting of the episode, but the make-up does not allow the character of Gralik Durr to truly emote. As a result, Cothran delivers lines that contain an emotional journey for the character as he realizes he may have abetted in a horrible attack and may be aiding in a forthcoming genocide, but Gralik Durr is hardly presented as an emotionally-realized character. Archer barely develops and the lesson he learns in the final moment of the episode is hardly a remarkable one for fans of the Star Trek franchise.

In the end, “The Shipment” is a part of the essential Star Trek: Enterprise for its plot elements, but it is an unremarkable episode overall.

The biggest gaffe in “The Shipment” is that the devices used by the Xindi Reptiles are virtually identical to the devices used by the arms merchants on Minos in “The Arsenal Of Freedom” (reviewed here!), so the fact that Yar and company don’t recognize them two hundred years later seems dimwitted.

[Knowing that single episodes are an inefficient way to get episodes, it's worth looking into Star Trek: Enterprise - The Complete Third Season on DVD or Blu-Ray, which is also a better economical choice than buying individual episodes. Read my review of the penultimate season here!
Thanks!]

For other works with John Cothran Jr., please visit my reviews of:
Rango
Yes Man
The Cell
Spawn
“Crossover” - Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
“The Chase” - Star Trek: The Next Generation

4/10

For other Star Trek episode and movie reviews, please visit my Star Trek Review Index Page!

© 2013 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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Nothing So Compelling On Liberating Sex Slaves, Why “Rajiin” Flops!

The Good: In-Enterprise continuity, Hints of character growth
The Bad: Soap operatic Trip/T’Pol moments, Some super-cheesy special effects, Moments of stiff performance, Utterly obvious casting.
The Basics: The hot blonde of the week turns out to be bad news for the crew of the Enterprise in “Rajiin.”


The third season of Star Trek: Enterprise is notable in that it had a heavily serialized structure. As the season progressed, elements carried over from episode to episode and there were frequent teasers that utilized the mysterious Xindi Council. By the time “Rajiin” came up, the executive producers seemed confident that the continuous elements of the story – like Archer still bearing the effects of being mutated in “Extinction” (reviewed here!) – could be included because those watching the show were becoming more regular about their viewership.

“Rajiin” illustrates that the search for information – the Enterprise crew has been desperately hunting information about the Xindi – goes both ways. But while the continuity might be fairly good, the specific details are less than thrilling. While Nikita Ager ably plays the alien Rajiin, there is an unfortunately obvious quality to her casting. She is the stereotypical Hollywood blonde sex symbol and her appearance in “Rajiin” makes Archer seem like quite the tool (he was attracted to a virtually identical blonde in “Rogue Planet,” reviewed here!). In addition to the obvious casting, “Rajiin” suffers because it does not make a larger statement; it is very plot-based and thematically limited.

The Xindi Council reluctantly agrees to give the Xindi scientist Degra more time to build his planet-destroying weapon in the wake of the destruction of his laboratory. Despite the council being divided, the researcher is given more time without a mysterious other option being exercised. Aboard Enterprise, Tucker is worried about how the late night visits to T’Pol’s quarters appear to others aboard the ship. At the same time, Archer continues to recover from his mutation infection and he goes in search of a source of Trellium-D needed to insulate Enterprise from the spatial anomalies in the Expanse. On the bazaar barge the Away Team visits, Archer tries to get information on the Xindi and there he encounters a merchant selling sex slaves, including Rajiin. Rajiin escapes the merchant trying to sell her and flees to Archer’s side. After a short fight, the Away Team escapes with Rajiin to the Enterprise.

Rajiin begins going through the Enterprise crew, apparently possessing both the ability to scan (with a biological ability) life forms and exert influence over crewmembers using telepathic abilities. But, after incapacitating T’Pol and Tucker, Rajiin is exposed and she attempts to flee the ship using the transporter. Far from helpless, Rajiin is revealed to be a cold-blooded operative and her apparent allegiance to the Xindi Reptiles makes Archer instantly suspicious.

“Rajiin” works in the larger story arc of the Xindi to show just how determined the Xindi are. Just as Archer has become unhinged in some ways trying to find information about the Xindi, the Xindi are desperately gathering data on humans. “Rajiin” reveals that the M.A.C.O.S. are not indestructible and that the different factions of the Xindi are pursuing different agendas. In addition to the planet-destroying weapon, it seems the Xindi are eager to start work on a biological weapon. In that regard, the agendas defined in the episode – where Rajiin is being used to acquire biological information on humans – makes perfect sense (they would not have had access to human DNA before now).

The episode also shows that some of the Xindi factions are able and willing to work together. The Xindi Insectoids and Reptiles are seen working together in the breakout of Rajiin. In the process, though, the special effects department creates one of the crappiest special effects of the series. The Insectoids shoot barbs by the hundred that look like mini disruptor blasts and the effect is utterly ridiculous.

The only real character development in “Rajiin” comes in the form of Degra. The Xindi scientist, played by Randy Oglesby, clearly expresses misgivings about the Xindi mission using his body language (more than his lines). While the other Xindi want to progress on two fronts – planet-killer and the bioweapon – Degra is not sold on the idea of genocide and that plays out well for the character with its roots being evident in this episode.

“Rajiin” otherwise seems more like a teenager’s wet dream than a substantive episode of Star Trek. Archer falls for the hot blonde, hot blonde bewitches the only two other female cast members, including a pretty sensual massage with Jolene Blalock’s T’Pol featuring a lot of gasping and near-cupping of the breasts. It’s not all that exciting, but director Michael Vejar seems determined to make the psychic rape scene seem more like a sexual fantasy than the violation that it is (which is troubling).

None of the performances are particularly exceptional and Linda Park steps on one of her lines pretty bad (one assumes Vejar wrote the stumble off as an issue with the character being mind-controlled but given the fluidity of her dialogue before and after, it just comes across as sloppy. Even Scott Bakula’s more primal performance – Archer is still suffering effects from his species change in the prior episode and Bakula makes the acting choice to have Archer jerk around a bit more than usual in early scenes in “Rajiin” – do not land all that effectively in this episode.

Ultimately, the net effect of “Rajiin” is that the viewers learn of a second Xindi weapon and that the three men who wrote the episode had a pretty banal sense of the erotic to bring to the Star Trek franchise.

The gaffes in “Rajiin” is . . . Given how easily Dr. Phlox treats T’Pol’s injuries, there is no reason Dr. McCoy shouldn’t have been able to inoculate against the Elasian tears in “Elaan Of Troius” (reviewed here!) and the Lethian Telepathic Attacks should not be nearly as hard to treat in “Distant Voices” (reviewed here!).

[Knowing that single episodes are an inefficient way to get episodes, it's worth looking into Star Trek: Enterprise - The Complete Third Season on DVD or Blu-Ray, which is also a better economical choice than buying individual episodes. Read my review of the penultimate season here!
Thanks!]

For other works with Scott MacDonald, please visit the reviews of:
Carnivale
“The Xindi” - Star Trek: Enterprise
Babylon 5: A Call To Arms
“Hippocratic Oath” - Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
“Caretaker” - Star Trek: Voyager
“Captive Pursuit” - Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
“Face Of The Enemy” - Star Trek: The Next Generation

3.5/10

For other Star Trek episode and movie reviews, please visit my Star Trek Review Index Page!

© 2013 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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A New Theme Song, A New Name, “The Xindi” Starts The Third Season With A Stumble.

The Good: Good pacing, Decent plot progression.
The Bad: Little in the way of character development, Continuity issues
The Basics: “The Xindi” opens the third season of Star Trek: Enterprise with enough to keep the viewer interested, but nothing that is at all superlative.


In redefining Star Trek: Enterprise, the executive producers worked to make both substantive and cosmetic changes with the series. On the cosmetic front, the show changed its name to Star Trek: Enterprise (from Enterprise) and the opening theme song was jazzed up. Substantively, “The Xindi” reboots Star Trek: Enterprise with a direct follow-up to “The Expanse” (reviewed here!) and a third season that is heavily serialized. The second episode in the arc is the third season premiere, “The Xindi.”

To its credit, “The Xindi” picks up well-enough with a plot that is engaging enough, though it is pretty much an action-adventure story. There is almost no character development and the acting is nothing exceptional. Instead, this is a building episode and one that adds new information to the storyline without actually giving away the store or feeling much like anything else called Star Trek. The key for a season premiere is to try to get the viewer to keep tuning in and “The Xindi” hardly does that, though it is engaging enough to divert the viewer for the course of the episode.

Six weeks after entering the Expanse, the Enterprise is targeted by the Xindi Council. Aboard Enterprise, Archer is frustrated by how little information the ship has accumulated about the Xindi. Sato gets to know the new military assault commandos brought aboard before the Enterprise left Earth while Archer explores a strange physical anomaly inside the ship with Tucker. Arriving at a mining planet, Archer finds himself and Tucker at the mercy of the foreman who requires a bribe to connect Archer with the Xindi who is living on the planet. After supplying the foreman with liquid platinum, Archer meets with Kessick, the nine-fingered Xindi.

Kessick reveals that he is enslaved on the mining planet and he demands that Archer take him with Enterprise before he will give Archer the location of the Xindi homeworld. While Archer and Tucker work to liberate the Kessick, T’Pol and Reed employ the M.A.C.O.S. to rescue them in advance of a conscription force arriving at the planet to enslave Enterprise’s crew. Kessick reveals that the Xindi have five distinct races, before he betrays Archer. Upon making it back to Enterprise, T’Pol and Tucker attempt to sooth their frayed nerves in advance of the ship arriving at the Xindi homeworld.

“The Xindi” is a mess of substance and sensationalism. For those fans desperate for Jolene Blalock sideboob, the episode is bound to satisfy as T’Pol ends up pointlessly topless in the episode. I’m all for gratuitous nudity, but in “The Xindi,” it’s just stupid; the pretense for getting T’Pol topless is that she needs Tucker to give her a back massage. The thing is, where she wants him to apply pressure is just below the collar of a loose-fitting shirt, so there is no earthly reason for her to remove her top.

On the flip side, the episode starts to flesh out the Xindi both internally and by reputation. Seeing the five Xindi races (two of which are computer generated) well in advance of Kessick telling the viewers what they have seen is an interesting way to go, as is the display of power by the M.A.C.O.S. The M.A.C.O.S. are much more aggressive than the standard security officers in the Star Trek franchise. The rescue scene is pulled off in an impressive way.

The character front of the episode is remarkably barren. Outside Tucker daydreaming about his dead sister and the fact that Reed has some friction with Major Hayes of the M.A.C.O.S., the big character elements in the episode are Archer’s irritability and the fact that T’Pol cannot sleep. That T’Pol cannot sleep is an underwhelming follow-up to the Vulcan chaos shown in “The Expanse.” T’Pol is not going psychotic like the Vulcans were shown in “The Expanse” and given that the Enterprise has been in the Expanse for far longer than those Vulcans were, this seems like a serious oversight.

Otherwise, “The Xindi” is a blasé beginning to the third season. The episode is not bad and Stephen McHattie stumbles through the role of the alien foreman with little room to truly shine, but he lands the creepy alien with the same level of talent he has brought to every other character he has played. His performance stands out amid stiff acting from Connor Trinneer, Scott Bakula, and Dominick Keating. But even McHattie cannot make “The Xindi” into more than it is; a simple action adventure start to a season that struggles to be more than sensationalism at its most mediocre.

[Knowing that single episodes are an inefficient way to get episodes, it's worth looking into Star Trek: Enterprise - The Complete Third Season on DVD or Blu-Ray, which is also a better economical choice than buying individual episodes. Read my review of the penultimate season here!
Thanks!]

For other works with Stephen McHattie, be sure to visit my reviews of:
Immortals
2012
Watchmen: Under The Hood
Watchmen
300
The Fountain
A History Of Violence
"In The Pale Moonlight" - Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
The X-Files - "Nesei" / "731"

6/10

For other Star Trek episode and movie reviews, please visit my Star Trek Review Index Page!

© 2013 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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The Gutting Of Star Trek Continues, In Name, But Slightly Better: Star Trek: Enterprise Season Three!

The Good: Generally strong serialized story
The Bad: Uncompelling villains, Terrible character "development," Dull acting, Divergences in Plot
The Basics: While the Enterprise blasts its way through a region of space heretofore unexplored and unheard of, viewers wonder what happened to the once mighty minds behind Star Trek.


It is worth saying that regardless of the strength of the overall storyline of Star Trek Enterprise - The Complete Third Season, the show still falls dramatically short of the quality one expects out of the Star Trek franchise. Moreover, as insulting as the Temporal War was as an "out" for the writers to disguise their terrible attention to details in the Star Trek timeline, the concept of the Expanse is equally inane.

Ultimately, what season three of Star Trek Enterprise (and it finally does acknowledge being Star Trek now) asks the viewer to believe is that the NX-01 Enterprise has entered a region of space called the Delphic Expanse that is essentially one massive field of warped space maintained outside normal space by the Xindi, who attacked Earth at the climax of season two. This suspension of disbelief; that there existed in the Star Trek universe a massive area of space essentially constructed by aliens that there has never once been occasion to reference before now.

Please.

Now a few weeks into the Delphic Expanse, the Enterprise is desperate for information about the aliens that attacked Earth. They soon learn that their enemies are the Xindi, a race comprised of five distinct species and that the Xindi are responsible both for the attack and the existence of the Expanse. With the aid of their M.A.C.O.S. (think Marines in space), the Enterprise continues deeper into the expanse in search of the Xindi.

As Captain Archer becomes more and more vengeful against the Xindi (one might think the opposite would occur as the anger from the immediacy of the attack wore off), the Enterprise is put in increasingly dangerous situations as it attempts to stop the Xindi from building an even more powerful weapon.

Finally, at last, there is something positive to say about a season of Star Trek Enterprise, other than it finally acknowledges that it is Star Trek. Season three of Enterprise follows an almost completely serialized arc. Despite witless sidetracks like the Western planet ("North Star") and the Tucker Replicant episode ("Similitude"), the season mostly focuses on Archer's attempts to learn about and thwart the Xindi.

The problem, then, is that the Xindi never truly come alive as compelling villains. Sure, they attacked Earth (something we are told in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine had not happened in hundreds of years and that even the Klingons had not dared to try), but this season, on their turf, they are factionalized and often come across as silly as opposed to menacing. Sure, they are building a superweapon (yes, it even looks like a Death Star), but what is motivating them is unclear and later nonsensical. Having the ability to create things like the Expanse, one would think the Xindi would have the power to keep any threats far away if what they truly wanted was to be left alone.

In addition to the problems of the villains, season three attempts to bring back prior guest stars who had been enjoyable, like Jeffrey Combs as the Andorian, Shran. The problem with such cameos this season is that it makes all the experiences the Enterprise goes through seem like some sort of hoax. It begs the question, why is Shran able to show up and get so deep into the Expanse when it took Enterprise this long to get this far.

Maybe Shran should have had his own show. It probably would have been more interesting.

This season guts any sense of Star Trek philosophy in exchange for action and combat. In the process, it creates such ridiculous villains as zombie Vulcans and the Sphere Builders, who look remarkably like the Founders on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. The addition of the M.A.C.O.S. is fundamentally against the supposed peaceful mission of StarFleet. But honestly, season three is all about revenge. There is no enlightenment here, there is no hope for humanity (or Vulcan, really, with T'Pol's participation) and no silver lining.

Here is how season three finds the intrepid warriors of the NX-01 Enterprise:

Captain Jonathan Archer - Obsessed with getting revenge on the Xindi for their attack on Earth and determined to stop the construction of more doomsday weapons, he takes on the clearly more advanced race(s) in the most improbable fight the Star Trek universe has seen,

T'Pol - For the most part abandons her Vulcan logic and pacifism to join the crew on their galactic butt kick, but hey, any problems with her being emotional can be blamed on The Expanse. Not crappy writing, it's the area of space Enterprise is in,

"Trip" Tucker - Now that Archer is acting more like a savage, Tucker has the chance to move in on T'Pol. Otherwise, he just supports his Captain on his quest for revenge,

Malcolm Reed - The security chief is actually given a mild amount of character through conflict with the M.A.C.O.S. After all, what is the purpose of a security chief when you have 'roided up Marines to go shoot everyone,

Hoshi Sato - Occasionally they remember she's aboard to have her translate something,

Ensign Travis Mayweather - Sits at the helm and drives Ms. Daisy, er, Captain Archer,

and Dr. Phlox - He's busy patching everyone up because they get into a lot of fights.

It cannot be emphasized enough that even though Star Trek Enterprise - The Complete Third Season tries to hold together the show with one continuous arc, the twenty-four episode season continues to run on empty. There are two time travel episodes that draw the same conclusions as one another and a third time travel episode because, well, the writers just keep falling back on that dead one-trick pony. Add to that witless rewrites of prior episodes, written by essentially the same group of people - "Doctor's Orders" is a recast version of Star Trek Voyager's "One" (reviewed here!).

Star Trek Enterprise's third season essentially wraps itself into itself, creating a show that can say "it doesn't matter what we do in here because the resolution to this crisis will not have an effect on everything we know about the franchise. That's just stupid. That's not Star Trek. This DVD set might be enjoyed by people who like mindless, action-adventure science fiction, but fans of Star Trek will find little to enjoy here.

For more detailed reviews of the episodes in the third season of Star Trek: Enterprise, please visit the reviews of each episode in this boxed set. The episodes in the third season are:
The Xindi
Anomaly
Extinction
Rajiin
Impulse
Exile
The Shipment
Twilight
North Star
Similitude
Carpenter Street
Chosen Realm
Proving Ground
Stratagem
Harbinger
Doctor’s Orders
Hatchery
Azati Prime
Damage
The Forgotten
E2
The Council
Countdown
Zero Hour

4/10

For other television reviews, please visit my Television Review Index Page for an organized listing!

© 2013, 2006 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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Terrible Writing Plagues “Unexpected.”

The Good: Basic concept, Special effects
The Bad: Huge continuity (in episode and in franchise) issues, No decent performances, Huge ethical issue overlooked, No real character development.
The Basics: Trip Tucker gets more than he bargained for when he is impregnated by an alien female in “Unexpected.”


As a writer, I am big on continuity. After all, I hope when I encounter – and create – a body of work, I can enjoy a story that makes sense (especially in context) from beginning to end. In the Star Trek franchise, there are numerous continuity issues that pop up simply from the fact that Paramount never employed a Star Trek expert fact-checker to keep all of the new stories in line, as far as the details went. But sometimes, there are stories or elements of stories that are just plain sloppy. “Unexpected” is one of those episodes of Star Trek: Enterprise.

What makes “Unexpected” sloppy, as opposed to riddled with continuity problems? Take, for example, the moment – surprisingly early in the episode – where Dr. Phlox reveals to Trip Tucker that Tucker has been impregnated by the Xyrillian female. At that moment, Phlox speaks about how the female impregnates the male Xyrillian in a way that indicates he has prior knowledge of the Xyrillians. However, his very next line is that he has no way to know how long the gestation period of a Xyrillian embryo is. So, which is it? Does Dr. Phlox have prior experience with the Xyrillians where he knew that females impregnated males, but failed to warn Trip about the possibility of such medical risks or does he completely guess about Xyrillian biology and then give up trying to explain? Because if it is the latter, Dr. Phlox is a real bullshitter; when he finds Trip has been impregnated, he has no records or documents about Xyrillian DNA, so he’s just guessing that the growth in Trip’s ribcage is a Xyrillian fetus and not, for example, a xenomorph from Alien (reviewed here!). Sloppy writing . . . grumble.

Enterprise is coasting through space experiencing mechanical malfunctions, like the Captain’s shower failing when E Deck loses gravity. By igniting their warp plasma, they reveal the presence of an alien ship in their wake, which is causing the feedback that is causing the shipwide disruptions. Trip Tucker is assigned to aid the alien ship and after a decompression wherein his body tries to acclimate to the alien environment, he board the Xyrillian ship and discovers the environment is a bit much for him. After a short nap, though, he manages to fix the alien compression coils and he makes a friend of the Xyrillian engineer, Ah’Len.

When Ah’Len has Tucker to a holographic simulation unlike anything the human has ever encountered, they do an exercise that forges a temporary telepathic bond between them. After three days aboard the Xyrillian ship, Tucker returns to Enterprise and the two ships head their separate ways. Within a day, though, Tucker is aghast when he grows a nipple on his wrist and Dr. Phlox informs him that he is pregnant. As the Enterprise tries to track down the Xyrillian ship, Tucker’s pregnancy commences and he begins to exhibit side effects of his impregnation. When Enterprise finds the Xyrillian ship, it is in the wake of a Klingon ship and Archer and Trip’s problems are multiplied.

As far as the basic story goes, “Unexpected” has one massive problem that is never explored and, considering Enterprise is part of the Star Trek franchise, the social message issue not being explored is unconscionable. Initially, Archer, T’Pol, and Phlox chide Tucker about having been unable to control his hormones and having had a sexual relation with an alien in the brief time he was with the Xyrillians. The fundamental flaw is that the chiding never ends and the most likely, probable, explanation for Trip’s pregnancy is never even mentioned.

Trip Tucker was raped.

Commander Tucker was unconscious on the Xyrillian ship for at least an hour. Between that and the fact that he claims to not have had consensual sex with an alien, the most logical explanation for his pregnancy is that he was raped. In fact, given what limited experience viewers have with Trip Tucker by this point, he seems like he is the kind of guy who would brag about “banging the alien chick.” But, no, he is adamant that he did not have sex with any Xyrillians. Ergo, the most logical explanation for his pregnancy is that he is raped. Yet, this aspect is never broached.

That makes the episode a pretty banal concept episode where “heh, der, a man got pregnant! Ha!” instead of something more sophisticated. Like the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode “Angel One” (reviewed here!) where the only real gimmick to the episode is that the crew visits a planet with a matriarchal society, “Unexpected” has a simple and ridiculously droll concept that is not deeply explored or affords the opportunity for no deeper conversation or concept. Trip Tucker does not have any sort of moralization about keeping or aborting his rape baby, instead, he just wants a parasite removed.

I’m also disturbed when I can engineer a better design than the writers/production designers and “Unexpected” initially set me off for that. Captain Archer starts the episode in the shower when the gravity kicks out. It seems to me that a sensible starship design that actually uses water in the pipes would have an automatic shut-off if the gravity fails and a drain that immediately becomes a vacuum under the same circumstances. That is how smart people design such a system. Why? Because when you’re stuck in space on a journey of several weeks, months or years, it makes no sense to risk your most important officers to the potential of what happens in “Unexpected,” namely the captain slipping and falling in the shower (which, realistically, could have fractured his ankle, knee, or tailbone).

Because there are no deeper moral issues raised, “Unexpected” becomes a lame novelty episode without any real character development. In fact, the episode illustrates T’Pol to be something of a lame tactician when she mortgages the cache built with the Klingons from “Broken Bow” (reviewed here!) on a comparatively low-stakes encounter with the Klingons. Archer continues to be painfully uncertain and shockingly uninteresting.

As for Connor Trinneer’s performance as Tucker, he seems to be channeling William Shatner’s performance from “Turnabout Intruder” (reviewed here!) here. Instead of an organic presentation of Trip as a pregnant man, he begins to impersonate the worst stereotypes of women in playing his character as pregnant. At least he gets that dumbfounded, shocked, open-mouthed expression right when he is told the news of his character’s pregnancy.

Sadly, that is almost all that the episode does do well.

The three biggest gaffes in “Unexpected:”
3. Yet another brand new alien race never again seen or alluded to in the series’s that followed. This might otherwise not be so bad, save that in Star Trek: Voyager when Tuvok is listing off aliens that use biological components in their technology (one of the many allusions to the Breen), and he does not mention the Xyrillians. If the Xyrillians are pretty much local to the Earth/Vulcan area, then it would have seemed like a race he would have mentioned and that the novelty of finding a race that integrated biological and technological components would have diminished after two hundred years,
2. From reality, males have gotten pregnant in our times (less than ten years after this episode originally aired). Therefore, T’Pol is wrong with her conclusion at the end of the episode,
1. In this episode, both StarFleet and the Klingons encounter aliens with (essentially) Holodeck technology. Holodecks were still new in “Encounter At Farpoint” (reviewed here!), so viewers are meant to believe that it took almost two hundred years for the Federation to adapt the Xyrillian technology?! At least as important, the only reason for the Klingons (in context) to be granted the same technology is the implication that they used it to develop their cloaking devices. However, Klingons got their cloaking technology from the Romulans in Star Trek.

[Knowing that single episodes are an inefficient way to get episodes, it's worth looking into Star Trek: Enterprise - The Complete First Season on DVD or Blu-Ray, which is also a better economical choice than buying individual episodes. Read my review of the premiere season here!
Thanks!]

2/10

For other Star Trek episode and movie reviews, please visit my Star Trek Review Index Page!

© 2013 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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