Mike Sussman & Phyllis Strong Make Good Television, But Poor Star Trek With “Shadows Of P’Jem”

The Good: Decent internal continuity, Generally good acting, Moments of character
The Bad: Huge franchise continuity issues, Make-up, Suspension of disbelief issues
The Basics: “Shadows Of P’Jem” continues to follow-up with Enterprise’s Vulcan conflict with the Andorians, recharacterizing the Vulcans in unfortunate ways.


“To deny the facts would be illogical” – Spock, “A Piece Of The Action” (reviewed here!)

I open my review of “Shadows Of P’Jem” with that quote because with this episode of Enterprise, Brannon Braga and Rick Berman – and their writers Mike Sussman and Phyllis Strong – illustrate that while they are working on a prequel series, they have absolutely no respect for the work they are foreshadowing. As a de facto sequel to “The Andorian Incident” (reviewed here!), “Shadows Of P’Jem” continues to both recharacterize the Vulcans and spit in the face of the original Star Trek. That said, on its own, “Shadows Of P’Jem” is decent television . . . it is just super-sucky as Star Trek.

“Shadows Of P’Jem” – as an Enterprise episode – fits into the ongoing story of the Vulcans, StarFleet and Andorians and their very awkward early relations. Unfortunately, the episode goes out of its way to step on the toes of the original Star Trek: “Shadows Of P’Jem” has the Enterprise making a journey to Coridan, a planet referenced first in the Star Trek episode “Journey To Babel” (reviewed here!). The thing is, if you’re going to bother to make an allusion, it makes sense that you would understand the work to which you are alluding. Braga, Berman, Sussman, and Strong either do not understand “Journey To Babel” or they simply do not care at all about making their work gel up with what is already established.

But even more important, the episode opens with further issues between the established Vulcans and the Enterprise Vulcans. That quote at the top? That’s a huge issue in “Shadows Of P’Jem;” from the opening of the teaser, the Vulcans are denying the facts. In “The Andorian Incident,” they were caught with a spy post under their monastery at P’Jem. Denying or not taking responsibility for it now is uncharacteristic and illogical; that’s coming from both a human (me) and a half-Vulcan (Spock).

The Vulcan Ambassador visits Admiral Forrest to present the distressing news that the P’Jem Monastery has been destroyed by the Andorians and as a result, the Vulcans are withdrawing their ambassadors from Earth. Forrest hails Enterprise to let them know of the situation and let Archer know that T’Pol is being recalled to Vulcan. T’Pol is intended to be the scapegoat for the exposure of P’Jem and its subsequent destruction. While T’Pol takes the news with a stiff upper lip, Archer is distressed to be losing his science officer.

Archer’s solution is to take T’Pol on one last mission with him. Having been invited to the planet Coridan, Archer takes T’Pol and tries to show loyalty to her. However, their shuttlepod is intercepted by insurgents led by Traeg. Traeg is in conflict with the legitimate Coridan government and while Archer and T’Pol are held hostage, the Vulcans arrive to recover T’Pol. Captain Sopek wants to recover T’Pol and keep the Coridan government intact, so when Reed and Trip mount their own rescue attempt, they are surprised to discover other forces at work on Coridan. Aided by Shran and his Andorian lieutenant, Reed and Trip work to recover the StarFleet officers, which is complicated by the Vulcans and their efforts to accomplish the same.

“Shadows Of P’Jem” is very entertaining and it continues to flesh out well the supporting characters, like Forrest, Soval, and Shran (the Andorian leader). Shran is characterized with an almost Vulcan sense of duty and a Klingon sense of honor as he tries to repay his debt to Archer in the episode. Moreover, the way the series continues to allude to prior events makes it seem like it is going somewhere and it actually building upon itself in order to create a stronger narrative and sense of (internal) continuity.

Unfortunately, the character elements for the regular characters are not as impressively presented. Archer has had only about six months with T’Pol as his science officer, so his sense of loyalty to her is respectable. However, Phlox notes that T’Pol is not the first Vulcan to serve on a human vessel (though until this episode, it seems like her presence is a novelty and a truly new thing), only the most enduring. Either way, while Archer is honorable to take responsibility for the exposure of P’Jem, none of the characters adequately address that it was the fault of the lying Vulcans – not Archer and not T’Pol that the monastery was exposed.

Externally, it is a pretty big suspension of disbelief to the viewers to buy that T’Pol could plausibly leave the ship, especially in disgrace. As the resident sex symbol, it is entirely improbable that she would leave, especially this way. The episode lacks a bit of dramatic tension that should be essential to selling that concept. The only other real issue I had with “Shadows Of P’Jem” was that the make-up artists were not attentive enough with Gregory Itzen’s make-up; in Sickbay he has a very clear Vulcan face (yellow-green tint) and a very human (very pink) neck!

That said, “Shadows Of P’Jem” is a taut political drama with an interesting hostage situation plot thrown in. The performances are decent and credible, especially Scott Bakula, who does not seem at all stiff as Archer and Jolene Blalock manages to not smirk her way through being T’Pol. Augmented by decent performances (however brief) by Jeff Kober as the freedom fighter Traeg and Gregory Itzin as the Vulcan Captain Sopek (one of the best Vulcan portrayals so far!), “Shadows Of P’Jem” may not be good Star Trek in the larger context of the franchise, but it is pretty solid television!

The three biggest gaffes in “Shadows Of P’Jem:”
3. Vulcans lie left and right in this episode. Not only T’Pol, but the Vulcan Ambassador Soval, lie to StarFleet Command and the Coridan insurgents.
2. In “Journey To Babel,” the Vulcans and Andorians are on the same side about Coridan admission (against the Tellarites), yet in “Shadows Of P’Jem” they are adversaries,
1. In “Journey To Babel,” Sarek characterized Coridan as “underpopulated” to defend its interests and wealth. In “Shadows Of P’Jem,” Coridan has extensive shipyards and 3 billion people, hardly “underpopulated” or unable to defend itself.

[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 Jeff Kober, please visit my reviews of:
Buffy The Vampire Slayer - Season 6
“Repentance” - Star Trek: Voyager
“Ice” - The X-Files

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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Prisoner Rights In The Delta Quadrant Are Explored In “Repentance.”

The Good: Excellent social message/philosophical exploration
The Bad: Surprisingly boring, No real character development, No acting challenges.
The Basics: When Voyager picks up some convicts, they uncover problematic treatment for criminals in an alien society.


The Star Trek franchise is well-known for smart, socially-oriented “message” episodes. For much of Star Trek: Voyager, that aspect of the franchise was terribly neglected. As the show wound down, though, the series seemed to do more episodes that had social messages, perhaps because they were tired of doing predictable spatial anomaly episodes that teased whether or not the crew would get home. Earlier in the seventh season, there was “Critical Care” (reviewed here!), then there was “Repentance.”

“Repentance” tackles the issues of criminal care and prisoners rights. It is a complicated topic and “Repentance” does a decent job of exploring many of the complicated aspects of the problems with law and criminal justice. What happens when a violent criminal has a medical condition? How does race affect prosecutions and sentencing? What can be done about a criminal justice system that has unequal treatment for people who have money vs. the poor? All of those questions are raised in “Repentance.” They are good questions and “Repentance” is smart for asking them, but it does not have a lot of satisfactory answers, even if the topic is a thinly veiled exploration for our criminal justice system, not that of an alien race.

Voyager rescues a small prison shuttle which has two wounded prisoners. When the Doctor tries to heal them, he is held hostage. Janeway and Chakotay are upset by how the aliens treat the prisoners and how they are being returned to their home planet for execution. When they are brutalized in the impromptu brig on the cargo bay, Janeway intervenes.

Neelix soon begins to empathize with some of the prisoners and the Doctor begins working with the violent criminal, Iko. Even Seven Of Nine soon begins to bond with Iko and comes to believe that something is wrong with the prisoners and the way they are being treated. Neelix soon realizes there is a vast social schism and the prisoners are on the losing end of the Nigean legal system. After using Borg nanoprobes on Iko, the medical condition that made him a murderer is cured and Janeway finds herself in a new ethical dilemma.

“Repentance” is smart in that it is sufficiently complicated to be satisfying, even if it is occasionally obvious. Iko might be rehabilitated, but the prisoner Joleg tries to make a jail break at his first possible opportunity. “Repentance” is an issue episode and thus has almost no real character development. In fact, what is perhaps most disturbing about it is that it reinforces how Janeway is characterized as uncerebral and lacking in deeper philosophical thoughts. It is Seven Of Nine who has to talk Janeway, yet again, into re-evaluating her initial stance and considering that the Prime Directive may not apply to the current situation.

Even so, this is not a particularly compelling Seven Of Nine episode; it mirrors the structure of virtually every early Seven Of Nine episode where she resisted doing things the way Janeway wanted her to. Of the main crew, there are no stellar performances in “Repentance” and its pacing is slow and pedantic.

On the other hand, the guest cast is fine. F.J. Rio, who plays Joleg, has a completely different part from his genial character on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. While Tim De Zarn plays his usual hardass, slightly creepy character in the role of Warden Yedig, Jeff Kober breaks out as Iko. Genre fans might easily expect Kober to play a serial killer (he played the warlock who seduces Willow to the dark side on Buffy The Vampire Slayer). Here he starts with his familiar and cold role and evolves Iko into a character viewers want to see survive and can actually empathize with.

Unfortunately, it is not enough to save the episode. “Repentance” is not focused enough to be a truly compelling character study and does not change any of the main crew in a way that makes the episode anything more than what it is. In fact, it is a huge missed opportunity for closing off the Maquis arc by foreshadowing how Janeway might defend half her crew should they make it home. As a result, it ends up as just an issue episode that we’ve pretty much seen before.

[Knowing that VHS is essentially a dead medium, it's worth looking into Star Trek: Voyager - The Complete Seventh Season on DVD, which is also a better economical choice than buying the VHS. Read my review of the final season here!
Thanks!]

For other works with Tim De Zarn, please check out my reviews of:
The Artist
Cabin In The Woods
Spider-Man
“Initiations” - Star Trek: Voyager
Pay It Forward
Fight Club
“Wrongs Darker Than Death Or Night” – Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
“Starship Mine” - Star Trek: The Next Generation

4.5/10

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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One Dull, One Terrifying, The X-Files Balances Out With "Conduit" And "Ice"

The Good: Character development, Tension in "Ice," Generally the acting
The Bad: "Conduit" is largely boring and predictable, "Ice" neglects character development in favor of mood.
The Basics: "Ice" is terrifying and tight, while "Conduit" is pretty much for science fiction lovers only, making for an erratic video.


Once in a while, I come to dread the simplicity of reviewing the old VHS tapes. With two episodes each, The X-Files videos sometimes paired tremendous episodes with complete lemons. "Conduit" and "Ice" is an example of one such pairing. "Ice" is a tense psychological horror with a creature of the week plot that is likely to keep most viewers guessing well into the last act, while "Conduit" is a somewhat standard alien abduction storyline with a very slight twist.

The X-Files had some truly great episodes and "Ice" might well be one of the first that truly knocked it out of the park. Following on a string of strangely similar corporate crime mystery episodes, "Ice" popped up to freak out viewers with a very straightforward frightening bottle episodes. Sadly, "Conduit" seems like one of those episodes that had a one line pitch and the writer struggled to make it into a full forty-three minute show.

In "Conduit," a young woman goes missing in Iowa while sleeping out under the stars next to her eight year-old brother. Her mother, who as a girl witnessed a UFO at the same lake her daughter disappeared from, is gratified when Mulder picks up the case and arrives to investigate. Scully is deeply skeptical about the abduction, more so when it appears that the girl is something of a wild child.

Soon, though, even Scully is doubting when the body of the girl's boyfriend is unearthed and Mulder discovers strange burns around the campsite the girl disappeared from. But none of it is as strange as her brother, who is writing ones and zeroes that he is receiving from television static, binary codes that are anything but random!

In "Ice," Scully and Mulder are sent up to the Arctic Circle to a scientific research outpost that is studying ice samples from deep in a crater. The members of the drilling team are all dead, having killed one another and the final two scientists taking their own lives while claiming "we are not who we are." The FBI agents arrive at the outpost with a geologist, two doctors and a pilot to try to determine what happened to the original expedition.

Soon, though, it becomes clear that the ice that the scientists were studying contained something living and possibly extraterrestrial. When a dog at the facility bites the pilot, it quickly becomes clear that the bite transferred something into him and when Mulder and Scully determine what it is, they struggle to maintain a quarantine to prevent it from being released upon the population at large!

Perhaps the only thing that works in "Conduit" is the character development. Viewers are reminded of the open case of Samantha Mulder, abducted while Fox Mulder was in the room with her. Mulder takes a tabloid journalism piece and turns it into and FBI case in part because he is still hunting his sister. "Conduit" does an excellent job of presenting Mulder as a man so lost in his own grief and sense of self-absorption over the loss of his sister that he will follow any clue to try to discover what really happened to her. This is played out and played up in "Conduit," with Mulder using every possible opportunity to mourn the disappearance of his sister again.

Conversely - and ironically given the overall quality of the episode - "Ice" is a plot-driven episode that does not include much in the way of character development at all. Instead, Mulder and Scully are turned against one another when one of the members of the team is murdered, leading the audience to legitimately wonder who in the group killed their fellow and what, exactly, it is that possessed the scientists. "Ice" does not belabor its decisions or cause the characters to question why they are doing anything; they are afraid for their lives and one person is contaminated with something that might drive him to kill!

The performances in "Ice" are very tight. In addition to wonderful performances by David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson - who finally seem to be in their groove as Mulder and Scully - the episode features an appearance by Felicity Huffman. Long before she got work on Sports Night (reviewed here!) or Desperate Housewives, Huffman appeared on an episode of The X-Files and she gives such a strong performance as one of the doctors sent to investigate the outpost that one is forced to wonder if she auditioned for the role of Scully originally. Character actor Jeff Kober makes a similarly distinctive appearance as Bear, the pilot.

Just as everyone seems to bring their a-game to "Ice," they seem to let "Conduit" flow with little or no enthusiasm for the script. Gillian Anderson presents her usual lines of disbelief in the phenomenal with a surprising amount of boredom and detachment, as if she's beginning to wonder why Scully isn't opening up to extreme possibilities yet. None of the guest actors make much of an impression either in "Conduit."

This is not to say that "Conduit" is a complete wash; the episode is fairly clever in that it has a neat gimmick/concept. The boy appears to be a conduit and how that manifests is that he sits in front of his television writing binary codes that turn out to be snippets of music or famous images or defense department transmissions. It's a cool concept, but it doesn't go anywhere. By the end of the episode there is no greater sense of what the boy is than when the gimmick is first introduced and that tends to make the viewer feel like a tool as opposed to entertained.

The result is a wildly uneven viewing experience. On the plus side, like all of The X-Files videos, there are bonus features! Long before DVD, Fox Video decided to add some value to the VHS releases of The X-Files by including snippets of an interview with Chris Carter, the creator of the show, wherein he discusses the episodes. This is a decent little bonus and his thoughts on both episodes are interesting enough, but will likely just be appreciate by the fans.

Ultimately, I recommend this video because "Ice" is just that good and "Conduit" is not the worst hour of television by any means. But largely this will be enjoyed by fans of science fiction and horror more than general aficionados of drama in general.

[Given that VHS is a rapidly dying medium, a far better investment would be The X-Files - The Complete First Season, reviewed here!
As well, those who already love The X-Files will find The X-Files - The Complete Series to be an even better buy! That’s reviewed here!
Thanks for reading!]

“Conduit” – 4/10
“Ice” – 8/10
VHS - 6/10

For other television show reviews, please visit my index page by clicking here!

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