Moving Forward By Alluding More To Star Trek, “Future Tense” Is One Of The Better Enterprise Episodes!

The Good: Decent concept, Good allusions
The Bad: Clunky writing, Unrealistic odds of victory for the Enterprise.
The Basics: “Future Tense” might be a little lighter on the character front than fans would want, but it is an engaging action-based science fiction episode that keeps the viewer engrossed for the entire hour!


Fans of the Star Trek franchise have long awaited the return of the Tholians to the franchise. The Tholians were an obscure crystalline species seen only in “The Tholian Web” (reviewed here!) where they sparked the imagination of the fans. In Star Trek: The Next Generation and Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, the Tholians are mentioned periodically, but never show back up, despite the fact that those series were set in the same general areas of space as Star Trek. So, given how infrequently the Tholians were actually encountered in the future, it seems somewhat ridiculous that they would appear in Enterprise.

Even that, though, cannot fully mar “Future Tense.” “Future Tense” has very tight continuity within Enterprise, if not the rest of the franchise. Outside some awful writing (in the space of less than thirty seconds, events and objects are described as “unusual” three times!) and Archer making patently false statements (“This is the first opportunity we’ve had to get some answers.” Really? You can say that in a scene after you’ve already used the database from the 31rst Century that has all of the answers to every question you could ask but usually avoid asking?!), “Future Tense” is pretty engaging.

The Enterprise discovers a small pod adrift in space. When they bring the unpowered ship aboard, Reed and Archer cut it open and discover there is a human body aboard. Dr. Phlox discovers that the body is more of a mystery than it initially appears; it has DNA from several other species, including Vulcan. As Reed and Tucker explore the pod – which is bigger on the inside than the outside – the Suliban arrive to lay claim to it. Easily repelling a Suliban cargo ship, the Enterprise is hailed by a Tholian ship which also comes to claim the pod.

When Archer and T’Pol identify the pod as being from the 31rst Century, T’Pol’s absolute belief in the Vulcan Science Ministry’s denial of time travel is challenged. When the Enterprise tries to get aid from a Vulcan ship, they inadvertently get the Vulcan ship crippled. The Enterprise finds itself caught between the Tholians and a Suliban squadron, all of whom lay claim to the mysterious vessel!

“Future Tense” is the first really big space battle for Enterprise. If for no other reason, that gives viewers something more than the appearance of Tholian ships for fans to get excited about. Director James Whitmore Jr. handles the space battles well and the look and feel of the battle is very tense. The battle could have been a real flop given that it is broken up by recurring time loops, much like in “Cause And Effect” (reviewed here!). Instead, though, those scenes are used to add additional tension to the conflict.

The big character conflict in “Future Tense” comes from T’Pol. T’Pol is exposed with direct evidence in the form of the technology and records stored in Daniels’s quarters (there’s a McGuffin that’s never going to get old!), yet she seems to truly still want to believe that time travel is not possible. While she never explicitly comes to believe in time travel, she seems to accept Phlox’s findings that the corpse has both human and Vulcan (among other) DNA. The scene between Phlox and T’Pol in the mess hall is one of the better character moments of the series so far and the show seems to be working at a realistic pace. Much like Scully not abandoning her long-held beliefs, T’Pol does not simply accept the first or second apparent bit of evidence in revising her beliefs. Even so, in “Future Tense,” it is clear that she is opening to the possibilities of time travel.

“Future Tense” does not include any exceptional moments of performance, but the truth is that it does not have any truly poor performances either. Instead, all of the actors seem comfortable with the material they are given and the reality of the situation is maintained without any serious detractions on the performance front.

Ultimately, one of the biggest issues with “Future Tense” is that it makes no greater statement on the universe or humanity than it presents. Instead, this episode is simply a “this is what happens” type adventure. While it is good, it does not rise above the good to be in any way extraordinary.

The three biggest gaffes in “Future Tense:”
3. The ships seen in “Future Tense” appear to be the same configuration as the ones in “The Tholian Web.” Given the power of those ships, the NX-01 Enterprise should not be able to withstand as many shots as it does from the squadron of Tholian ships,
2. The Tholian language includes some horrible screeching which was not a component of their language in “The Tholian Web,”
1. In “The Tholian Web,” only Spock knew about the Tholians, which insinuated that the Vulcans had some contact with the reclusive race outside of StarFleet. However, in “Future Tense” a StarFleet ship encounters the Tholians. How, then, are the Tholians not a known species when so much more of the Alpha Quadrant is explored by the time of Star Trek?!

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

8/10

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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Armin Shimerman Is Rolling In His Grave: “Acquisition.”

The Good: Good acting
The Bad: No character development, Exceptionally basic plot, HUGE continuity issues, Jolene Blalock’s performance/T’Pol’s character
The Basics: When four Ferengi take over the Enterprise, even favorite recurring guest stars cannot save the episode “Acquisition” from the ire of the fans!


One of the actors in the Star Trek franchise who I respect most is Armin Shimerman. Shimerman appears on the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine DVD set to talk about how one of the things he liked most about the job was the chance to do right by the Ferengi. The Ferengi were first embodied by Shimerman and several others as awkward little monkey-like barbarians and as the writers refined their culture, Shimerman regretted the initial way he played the early Ferengi. It’s interesting to hear him talk about his experience; he makes it almost sound like he believes that the Ferengi were a real race who deserved the respect of viewers and, thus his initial performance was almost something racist and his subsequent performances as Quark could redeem that. In addition to appreciating that perspective and respecting the fact that he was the head of the Screen Actor’s Guild, Armin Shimerman is a wonderful actor.

The writers of “Acquisition,” an episode of Enterprise that features the Ferengi, did not have the same respect for the Ferengi that Shimerman did. Come to think of it, they did not do right by the Vulcans in the episode either. Having heard the producers discuss the episode, the justification for “Acquisition” is, rather simply and ridiculously, that the Ferengi never identify themselves as such and thus it’s fine for them to appear in the episode.

Wow, what a bunch of horse shit!

But then, that’s what “Acquisition” is or how it treats the fans.

Enterprise is completely incapacitated, dead in space, when a Ferengi shuttle approaches it. The crew, entirely knocked out, has been gassed and that allows the Ferengi shuttle carrying Krem, Muk, Grish, and Ulis to dock with Enterprise. Once aboard, they begin stealing everything they possibly can. Trip Tucker, however, was in the decontamination chamber when the Ferengi knocked everyone out and he leaves the chamber. Scouting around the ship in his underwear, he quickly determines that the Enterprise has been boarded.

Fortunately for Trip, he is not alone very long: the Ferengi capture Archer and awaken him, demanding to know where, exactly, the ship’s vault is. When he realizes Trip is still awake, he begins to stall. Conscripted to load the Ferengi shuttle, Archer begins to drive a wedge between Krem (the youngest and lowest paid Ferengi) and Ulis (his cousin and the leader of the boarding party). With Trip and the recently-revived T’Pol working together, the three Enterprise officers thwart the Ferengi and their plans to steal everything possible!

“Acquisition” is an enjoyable (gut level) episode that is incredibly simple and has been done to death in the Star Trek franchise. Unfortunately, many of the most enjoyable aspects of the episode are the very ones that rob the episode of even a passing respectability for fans. So, for example, T’Pol lies to the Ferengi about her status on the ship (claiming she is a slave) and she taunts Archer when she has the chance to free him after the crisis has passed. While these are amusing moments, they make no rational sense; Vulcans are not supposed to lie or have much of a sense of humor. In fact, Spock’s inability to even stretch the truth caused him and Captain Kirk innumerable problems, even in trying to outwit lesser beings in “A Piece Of The Action” (reviewed here!). Yet, in “Acquisition” T’Pol lies openly and is ironic as well. And, as is her form, actress Jolene Blalock once again smirks her way through T’Pol, not even managing to keep a straight face when her character is supposed to be unconscious!

Outside the exceptionally standard “diffuse the hostage/hijacking” plot, “Acquisition” is riddled with continuity problems and issues both within the series and within the larger Star Trek franchise. Nog on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine once mentioned that the Ferengi only achieved warp flight by buying the technology from the Romulans. Given the resolution to “Acquisition,” if the humans encountered the Ferengi first, their first encounter with the Romulans ought to leave them believing they are simply up against the Ferengi! Moreover, given how the episode resolves itself, it is utter nonsense to believe that Archer would not ask Krem about his race.

Within the episode, there is a level of preposterousness that can only be explained by the writers and producers saying, “You just can’t think about it too much” to which, I respond, “Have you ever met a Trekker?!” First, Trip brought an artifact back from a lunar colony he had just visited. That artifact is what released the gas responsible for knocking out the crew. Of all the times for Enterprise not to call for help, “Acquisition” is the most ridiculous. When Trip awakens, he says that his decontamination cycle was only supposed to last 20 minutes. So, little over twenty minutes away from a StarFleet colony, the Enterprise doesn’t even send a distress call?! Come to think of it, why Trip didn’t turn the ship around and head it back to that colony . . . and why the crew didn’t take the Ferengi there after they retook the ship so they could stand trial or such makes no sense either. And hey, just because the crew has been incapacitated, why wouldn’t the ship still be moving away from the colony?! And what kind of lame quarantine system can be released by the person in quarantine?!

So, there are a ton of problems with “Acquisition.” Outside Jolene Blalock, one of the problems is not the acting. Three of the Ferengi are played by Trek alums Ethan Philips, Jeffrey Combs, and Clint Howard and the fourth is played by the ever-wonderful Matt Malloy (who is, admittedly, underused in the episode). Scott Bakula is charming and funny as Archer and Connor Trinneer actually rises to the occasion as Trip Tucker. Unfortunately, Bakula and Trinneer have had great banter and the ability to play their characters as friends who can improvise off one another before, so while they give decent performances, they do not advance their characters at all.

But that is “Acquisition;” it’s a lot of flair and fun, but nothing sensible or enduring.

The three biggest gaffes in “Acquisition:”
3. The Ferengi in this episode are more like the evolved, refined Ferengi from Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, not the barbarous initial Ferengi from Star Trek: The Next Generation,
2. In “The Jem’Hadar” (reviewed here), Quark mentions that the Ferengi never had slavery. Yet, in “Acquisition,” the Ferengi want to capture the females to sell at a slave market,
1. In “The Last Outpost” (reviewed here!), the U.S.S. Enterprise (NCC-1701-D) has its first encounter with the Ferengi. That encounter happens out near the Farpoint Station, the farthest point the Federation had explored at that point. Given how StarFleet had only had one encounter with an unfamiliar alien ship, which turned out to be Ferengi, before that and they had only heard rumors and second-hand knowledge of the Ferengi before that, it seems utterly unfathomable that a team of four Ferengi could penetrate so deeply into human-explored space two hundred years prior!

[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!]

For other works with Clint Howard, please visit my reviews of:
Frost/Nixon
Fun With Dick And Jane
How The Grinch Stole Christmas
“Past Tense, Part 2” - Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
“The Corbomite Manuever” - Star Trek

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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"Passion" And "I Only Have Eyes For You:" Literal And Metaphorical Buffy Horror Theatre Rocks!

The Good: Story, Plot, Most of the acting, Sense of mood
The Bad: Moments of acting
The Basics: These two character-driven episodes wonderfully explore grief and the consequences of attempting to find redemption from those we have wronged.


Television that takes risks impresses me. I mean, I can live without every week there being a deep issue or something that merely pleases me, as opposed to knocks my socks off, but I like being impressed. Recently rewatching Studio 60 On The Sunset Strip (reviewed here!) for example, I found myself re-impressed by the power of the language, the fearless quality the show had in actually addressing ethnic relations issues as well as political commentary. So, when I find myself reviewing something like Buffy The Vampire Slayer and find myself impressed in a similar way, that might surprise some.

On the video for "Passion" and "I Only Have Eyes For You," there is a rather impressive moment, one that pleasantly shocked me the first time I saw the episode "Passion." That I still see the scene and sit up in shock when reviewing the episode - having seen it several times now - marks it as reasonably impressive. The only thing is, the nature of the scene in question is one that can only be fully appreciated by those who have been watching the serialized show, rather than those who are not invested in the series. It's also one that makes the second episode almost impossible to review in a reasonable way without revealing (at least in part). That's a spoiler warning from me. Yes, these episodes are about a decade old, but I'm still laying down a spoiler warning here.

What impresses me in "Passion" is how daring the producers and director were with their choice to show a rather grisly, on-screen murder. Moreover, it is one of the principle characters that commits the murder and the victim is a character who has had a strong recurring role in the first and second seasons of Buffy The Vampire Slayer. When the moment comes, there is an on-screen killing that has a sense of timing and artistry I had not seen since the climax to Bound (reviewed here!).

In "Passion," Angelus is on the loose still, tormenting Buffy and her friends at every opportunity. He reveals his artistic talent to Buffy by drawing portraits of her and Willow sleeping, letting them know they are well within his view and capacity to destroy. Treating Angelus as a crazed stalker, Buffy is forced to talk to her mother about her relationship with Angel and some of the danger he represents. Unfortunately for all, while Jenny Calendar works to redeem herself in the eyes of Giles by tracking down a spell that will restore the curse (and Angel's soul) to the vampire, Angelus learns of her research.

In "I Only Have Eyes For You," a spirit haunts Sunnydale High. Buffy and the gang work to learn what it will take to put the spirit to rest, while Giles is uncharacteristically unhelpful with the research. As incidents progress, Giles becomes more and more convinced that the spirit is trying to communicate with him and in his grief, he puts himself and the others in danger.

Buffy The Vampire Slayer may not, traditionally, be truly great television, but it does have its moments and the show works best when it operates on both a literal and metaphoric level. On a very literal level, "Passion" is a character's quest for redemption that results in the ultimate sacrifice - a dismal metaphoric level interpretation would say that there's no redemption for our crimes as the monsters of the world will exploit our weaknesses and human vulnerabilities - and "I Only Have Eyes For You" is all about the guilt survivors have when one dies without receiving the forgiveness they had in their heart for them. Giles is integral to both episodes and he works the literal levels to bone, illustrating a character that quietly accepts his lover's efforts to make amends for her past betrayal, but whom he is not able to forgive in time.

The metaphoric level of these episodes is a continuation of the events of "Innocence" (reviewed here!). In that episode, the metaphor explored the fear many young women have that when a relationship becomes sexual, the man they are involved in will become a monster. The transformation of Angel into Angelus personifies that fear. In "Passion," that metaphor is extended to encapsulate the idea that many American women are taught to fear sexuality because it makes men crazy. Yes, sadly, this insecurity exists and is fostered often enough in the treatment of sex crimes and sex education in the U.S., but in "Passion," the metaphor is wonderfully extended to the point where it is almost a hyperbole . . . and then it gets snapped by writer Ty King. When Angelus is at his very worst, when he reaches the pinnacle of his evil, it is the result of what was in him entirely, not anything that even remotely relates to Buffy. In this way, Buffy The Vampire Slayer (of all series'!) courageously debunks the myth that female sexuality is somehow to blame for evil. Wonderfully, this puts the evil within the heart of the evildoers and (finally!) absolves the woman of the blame for (for lack of a better term) sin.

Who would have guessed metaphoric television could be so complex and intelligent? Yet, it is. "I Only Have Eyes For You" is a bit less complex on the metaphoric level. Indeed, the best I might say about that episode is that the metaphor extends to the concept that guilt can make us careless and by not working through our feelings of guilt, our crimes from the past, we often diminish ourselves.

All of this works on both levels because the characters are interesting and compelling. These episodes are powerfully focused on Angelus, Giles and Buffy. Angelus at this point is a rather pure embodiment of evil, having relinquished almost every hint of his humanity. David Boreanaz plays Angelus with a strong, cool sense of creepy. The thing is, when the possessing spirits at Sunnydale High overcome Buffy and Angelus, the result is an acting challenge that Boreanaz has to work for. When the spirit releases him, Boreanaz has some amazing facial expressions/body language to perfectly characterize Angelus' revulsion and it works.

Similarly, Sarah Michelle Gellar manages to play Buffy as a cold warrior in her interactions with Angelus in a way that she had not done up until this point. Moreover, when she is overcome by the possessing spirits at the high school, her performance mirrors Boreanaz's and she makes an extraordinary effort with the acting that works. Add to that that there are gender issues that get swapped with the performers that they make work. While there are moments of weak acting in these episodes, Gellar and Boreanaz are not the one's playing them!

Neither is Anthony Stewart Head, who plays Giles. Giles is broken in these episodes and Head plays him with an amazing, rash, dark quality that transforms the viewer's impressions of the character and the actor's ability to play him. Head turns the character of Giles on his ear and makes the viewer believe that the usually stoic and somewhat distant Giles could be so deeply wounded by the loss of a love we barely saw before. And he does it. Amazingly.

These are good episodes, but the novelty of the gimmick of "I Only Have Eyes For You" wears off quite a bit with subsequent viewings, even though the shock of the murder in "Passion" does not. Anyone who likes strong drama with witty dialogue will enjoy these episodes. Anyone who has no tolerance for the conceits of science fiction/fantasy/supernatural events will likely find this too much to bear, though. Everyone else should buckle up for two decent episodes of television that work very well together.

[Knowing that VHS is essentially a dead medium, it's worth looking into Buffy The Vampire Slayer - The Complete Second Season on DVD, which is also a better economical choice than buying the VHS. Read my review of the premiere season here!
or the complete series is available here!
Thanks!]

"Passion" - 9/10
"I Only Have Eyes For You" - 8/10
VHS - 7.5/10

For other television reviews, please click here to visit my index page!

© 2011, 2008 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.

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