The poor guy only ever plays deranged jerks, it seems, although I think I saw him in some movie in which he was a sympathetic character. I really like him as an actor.
I hate time travel in movies. It's never done right. People who write time travel stories never seem to be clever enough to think the damn thing through properly. (Primer is the only good one I can think of right now.) But setting my hatred for time travel aside and also setting aside the car door unlocking tricorder, I liked this episode. I'm glad they didn't get into silly fish-out-of-water stuff and just stuck to the story.
Lt. Yarko - Tue, May 21, 2013, 2:28am (USA Central)
I have to admit: This is the first episode of Enterprise that moved me. Yeah the science made no sense and the ethics were questionable, but accepting all that, I was moved by Sim's predicament and his choice to place the needs of the others above himself. It seemed like the thing Trip would have done. And who can't be happy about a guy getting his dream kiss? :)
Lt. Yarko - Tue, May 21, 2013, 1:35am (USA Central)
Good episode. It felt like a callback to TOS-style morality plays when Gene was trying to get his messages past the censors (my favorite example being the classic "Day of the Dove").
Janeway didn't really carry much charisma at the end though - as pointed out in this review her final judgement felt kind of arbitrary. I also question the away team's cavalier approach toward getting a medical check upon returning - they obviously have not seen enough Trek episodes ("The Naked Time", for instance ;) ) And does Paris have any interests at all outside of old Earth stuff? Is the 24th century really that dry?
But this is still a good episode. 3, I might even go as far as a 3.5.
navamske - Mon, May 20, 2013, 7:34pm (USA Central)
"One thing I would like to point out though...the Doctor seems superior to a regular crew in everyway...so why not have a whole ship made up of Doctors?"
I'm not sure if you're talking about a ship full of EMHs or a ship full of capable EMH-like holograms who serve nonmedical functions. In the latter case, the crew (of holograms) would never be able to leave the ship, except maybe in a shuttle; whether this limitation would be a significant impediment to a Starfleet ship's being actually useful, I can't say. In the former case, it might be useful to have a ship crewed entirely by Doctor holograms, functioning as a sort of roaming medical facility for the use of any ship that passes by and has the need.
A beautiful episode. I love the ending's implication that what we saw may itself have been revisionist history. I know the episode's message is ultimately positive, but it's still fun to think that maybe they did put the Doc on trial and decompiled him to restore order, then covered it up when writing the history.
Yes, have to admit I was amused by the drawing of the Crystalline Entity with people running from it with "scared" expressions... Hmm, perhaps this might mean something.
Just thinking about the oversized comm badges and collar pips cracks me up. They are just the perfect size to be both understated and hilarious. Any bigger and they would have been too slapsticky. One of the best visual gags in any Trek comedy episode.
bow-locks!
yeah, don't destroy the borg when you have a chance, let them live, the poor things, even if they will come back to bite your sorry ar...
if a vulcan was there, he would have seen how illogical it would have been not to take the chance: you spare their species, and how many other species will then be wiped away by the borg thanks to you in the next few centuries? and possibly yours too!
bumfingerers!
their "justification", the hope that hugh's individuality will change them, is one of the most stupid things you can come out with!
they constantly assimilate individuals, never been a problem, has it?
they could have tried, the borg would have survived because they are... well, the borg, and everyone's a winner.
but no.
there is a line between compassion and stupidity, and they crossed it.
by several kilo-parsecs ffs!
not a bad episode though.
at least is not filled with damn kids like too many episodes in season five.
Ugh, the "relationship" between Kes and Neelix in these early episodes is creepy as all hell. Only abusive men are as jealous and posessive as Neelix is, and like him, they don't let the woman have male friends.
Lt. Yarko - Sun, May 19, 2013, 4:29pm (USA Central)
>> I don't blame the actors. I am not sure what the writers, directors, and producers were thinking with this show.
>> I can't understand why she got out of uniform.
The producers were clearly selling sex on this show (and the later Voyager) which was just dumb. But even the original series had sexy girls, you say? Yes. And that was dumb too. Clearly, this approach didn't help either series.
The warning is from Trek itself that we took as mere storytelling rather than mankind's own issues. Exploration is not merely about exploring new star and nebulas, it's about exploring the uncharted possibilities of existence as Q had pointed out at the end of TNG's All Good Things....
Who among us that lived in the 90's could deny that we were overly hopeful. That we held too much heart with our technological progress creating a world that may resemble Star Trek. Yet, the dream ended, futurist like Fukyama and others forgot one important truth, mankind is not merely just a species, a nation, or a group, we are individual people making choices that affected everyone around us.
We need a new way to create the vision, because unless we have a bloody World War based on ideologies as Gene predicted, we would not have peace. Don't forget that Gene's vision of mankind's future also included a decmiation of half the world population.
Lt. Yarko - Sun, May 19, 2013, 12:36pm (USA Central)
To the commenters speculating on Garak's contract with Quark. I think you are taking it too seriously. I don't believe Garak ever had any intention to kill Quark. Why would he risk getting into trouble with his Federation/Bajoran hosts? To do Quark a favour? He doesn't seem motivated by money. He probably just went through the assassination scenarios for fun and suggesting he could kill Quark at any moment, again for fun. Am I the only one who thought this obvious?
Great character insights into Paris in this episode. We learn, finally, that he wants to be a pilot. He enjoys flying spacecraft, in that he prefers to man the helm. He also wants to control the trajectory of spaceborne machines, to "fly" them as it were. Deep, previously unexplored stuff here.
Lt. Yarko - Sun, May 19, 2013, 10:08am (USA Central)
I hate the DNA change episodes too. But, what annoyed me most about this episode is that it was totally disconnected from the Xindi storyline. They start out going to the planet because their Xindi data informed them it was the last place the Xindi ship visited. But then there is no explanation given as to why the Xindi ship had been there. The entire episode is a throw-away unless somehow it plays into a future episode. I suspect it won't, however.
This episode had the potential to be one of Enterprise's very best episodes but was ruined by the morally bankrupt ending. Captain Archer's decision to return the cogenitor to the Vissians was the wrong decision plain and simple. He basically sent a sentient being back into slavery and the individual chose suicide over continued nonexistence as a slave with no name and no rights whatsover.
Let's not sugarcoat this decision with ridiculous talk about the moralities of alien civilizations. There are no alien civilizations that we know of at this point in time. This is a work of fiction. The only moralities we can look to in this situation our human moralities. And by those standards Archer's decision to return the cogenitor is morally wrong.
And please no more talk about the prime directive. As a 40 plus year fan of Star Trek I can say with certainty that the prime directive does not apply to warp capable civilizations. Captain Archer is within his rights to consider a request for asylum from the cogenitor as he himself points out to the Vissian Captain. His big mistake was not to grant asylum in this instance.
Trip was wrong to interfere in Vissian affairs without getting the permission of the Captain or the First Officer. But he was not ultimately responsible for the death of the cogenitor. The Captain was responsible. It was his decision. The buck stopped with him. He made a command decision as Captain and he has to live with the consequences. To throw all the blame on Trip was cowardly and reflected very poorly on his leadership ability.
Lt. Yarko - Sat, May 18, 2013, 11:11pm (USA Central)
It wasn't a great episode, but it had cute moments. And, yes, it would have worked better if there had been prior signs of sexual tension between A and T, but there is no way anyone can convince me that all the hetero males working around T'Pol aren't stressing a bit down in the crotchal region. I try not to notice her body as I watch the show, but it takes effort. I had to laugh when Malcolm mentioned her bum (in another ep) and Trip acted surprised like he's never noticed it. How Malcolm focused on her bum and didn't say anything about her monstrous breasts regardless of whether or not he is a bum man, I don't know. I was sure he was going to say "Have you ever noticed her B--BS!?" I'm really quite annoyed at T'Pol's outfits. They are terribly unprofessional. But anything, I guess, to please the horny teenage fans. (sigh)
There is no way this episode is as bad as Spock's Brain! Give me a break. That episode had NO redeeming qualities at all.
I think this entire episode was designed so that Kira could strut around in black leather and be a sexy bisexual dominatrix. It feels very...um..."fan-powered"
Where is Samantha Wildman? You'd think the writers would at least make some attempt to explain her absence. I know Voyager had lazy writers but this was just ridiculous. Why didn't they just kill her off if they were never going to show her again? Samantha's absence has gone from a funny continuity error to a genuinely disturbing show of neglect. All it would have taken is one line to explain why she's never there, and the writers couldn't even do that. Shameful.
Dayumn, that Lokirrim woman got back. That booty is kaBLAM.
@duhknees
"the Reset Button mentality of TNG"
Examples, please
Janeway: "Unfortunately extinction is often the natural end of evolution."
Four words: WHAT THE FUCK, BITCH???
"Leland Orser"
The poor guy only ever plays deranged jerks, it seems, although I think I saw him in some movie in which he was a sympathetic character. I really like him as an actor.
I hate time travel in movies. It's never done right. People who write time travel stories never seem to be clever enough to think the damn thing through properly. (Primer is the only good one I can think of right now.) But setting my hatred for time travel aside and also setting aside the car door unlocking tricorder, I liked this episode. I'm glad they didn't get into silly fish-out-of-water stuff and just stuck to the story.
I have to admit: This is the first episode of Enterprise that moved me. Yeah the science made no sense and the ethics were questionable, but accepting all that, I was moved by Sim's predicament and his choice to place the needs of the others above himself. It seemed like the thing Trip would have done. And who can't be happy about a guy getting his dream kiss? :)
This was old-school Trek, and I loved it!
Good episode. It felt like a callback to TOS-style morality plays when Gene was trying to get his messages past the censors (my favorite example being the classic "Day of the Dove").
Janeway didn't really carry much charisma at the end though - as pointed out in this review her final judgement felt kind of arbitrary. I also question the away team's cavalier approach toward getting a medical check upon returning - they obviously have not seen enough Trek episodes ("The Naked Time", for instance ;) ) And does Paris have any interests at all outside of old Earth stuff? Is the 24th century really that dry?
But this is still a good episode. 3, I might even go as far as a 3.5.
@Bravestarr
"One thing I would like to point out though...the Doctor seems superior to a regular crew in everyway...so why not have a whole ship made up of Doctors?"
I'm not sure if you're talking about a ship full of EMHs or a ship full of capable EMH-like holograms who serve nonmedical functions. In the latter case, the crew (of holograms) would never be able to leave the ship, except maybe in a shuttle; whether this limitation would be a significant impediment to a Starfleet ship's being actually useful, I can't say. In the former case, it might be useful to have a ship crewed entirely by Doctor holograms, functioning as a sort of roaming medical facility for the use of any ship that passes by and has the need.
"It's Ponfarr night at the Vulcan nightclub." is still the best and most perplexing sentence ever uttered.
A beautiful episode. I love the ending's implication that what we saw may itself have been revisionist history. I know the episode's message is ultimately positive, but it's still fun to think that maybe they did put the Doc on trial and decompiled him to restore order, then covered it up when writing the history.
Yes, have to admit I was amused by the drawing of the Crystalline Entity with people running from it with "scared" expressions... Hmm, perhaps this might mean something.
The the crossing showed so much promise but only left me with heart break at it's failure...
Just thinking about the oversized comm badges and collar pips cracks me up. They are just the perfect size to be both understated and hilarious. Any bigger and they would have been too slapsticky. One of the best visual gags in any Trek comedy episode.
bow-locks!
yeah, don't destroy the borg when you have a chance, let them live, the poor things, even if they will come back to bite your sorry ar...
if a vulcan was there, he would have seen how illogical it would have been not to take the chance: you spare their species, and how many other species will then be wiped away by the borg thanks to you in the next few centuries? and possibly yours too!
bumfingerers!
their "justification", the hope that hugh's individuality will change them, is one of the most stupid things you can come out with!
they constantly assimilate individuals, never been a problem, has it?
they could have tried, the borg would have survived because they are... well, the borg, and everyone's a winner.
but no.
there is a line between compassion and stupidity, and they crossed it.
by several kilo-parsecs ffs!
not a bad episode though.
at least is not filled with damn kids like too many episodes in season five.
Ugh, the "relationship" between Kes and Neelix in these early episodes is creepy as all hell. Only abusive men are as jealous and posessive as Neelix is, and like him, they don't let the woman have male friends.
Not a bad episode.
>> I don't blame the actors. I am not sure what the writers, directors, and producers were thinking with this show.
>> I can't understand why she got out of uniform.
The producers were clearly selling sex on this show (and the later Voyager) which was just dumb. But even the original series had sexy girls, you say? Yes. And that was dumb too. Clearly, this approach didn't help either series.
>> She looks like a 12 yo girl
Not.
The warning is from Trek itself that we took as mere storytelling rather than mankind's own issues. Exploration is not merely about exploring new star and nebulas, it's about exploring the uncharted possibilities of existence as Q had pointed out at the end of TNG's All Good Things....
Who among us that lived in the 90's could deny that we were overly hopeful. That we held too much heart with our technological progress creating a world that may resemble Star Trek. Yet, the dream ended, futurist like Fukyama and others forgot one important truth, mankind is not merely just a species, a nation, or a group, we are individual people making choices that affected everyone around us.
We need a new way to create the vision, because unless we have a bloody World War based on ideologies as Gene predicted, we would not have peace. Don't forget that Gene's vision of mankind's future also included a decmiation of half the world population.
Vulcan zombies! Sweet! The strobing lights were way too much tho. A little of that goes along way.
This is a different Chris to the one above.
To the commenters speculating on Garak's contract with Quark. I think you are taking it too seriously. I don't believe Garak ever had any intention to kill Quark. Why would he risk getting into trouble with his Federation/Bajoran hosts? To do Quark a favour? He doesn't seem motivated by money. He probably just went through the assassination scenarios for fun and suggesting he could kill Quark at any moment, again for fun. Am I the only one who thought this obvious?
Great character insights into Paris in this episode. We learn, finally, that he wants to be a pilot. He enjoys flying spacecraft, in that he prefers to man the helm. He also wants to control the trajectory of spaceborne machines, to "fly" them as it were. Deep, previously unexplored stuff here.
I hate the DNA change episodes too. But, what annoyed me most about this episode is that it was totally disconnected from the Xindi storyline. They start out going to the planet because their Xindi data informed them it was the last place the Xindi ship visited. But then there is no explanation given as to why the Xindi ship had been there. The entire episode is a throw-away unless somehow it plays into a future episode. I suspect it won't, however.
This episode had the potential to be one of Enterprise's very best episodes but was ruined by the morally bankrupt ending. Captain Archer's decision to return the cogenitor to the Vissians was the wrong decision plain and simple. He basically sent a sentient being back into slavery and the individual chose suicide over continued nonexistence as a slave with no name and no rights whatsover.
Let's not sugarcoat this decision with ridiculous talk about the moralities of alien civilizations. There are no alien civilizations that we know of at this point in time. This is a work of fiction. The only moralities we can look to in this situation our human moralities. And by those standards Archer's decision to return the cogenitor is morally wrong.
And please no more talk about the prime directive. As a 40 plus year fan of Star Trek I can say with certainty that the prime directive does not apply to warp capable civilizations. Captain Archer is within his rights to consider a request for asylum from the cogenitor as he himself points out to the Vissian Captain. His big mistake was not to grant asylum in this instance.
Trip was wrong to interfere in Vissian affairs without getting the permission of the Captain or the First Officer. But he was not ultimately responsible for the death of the cogenitor. The Captain was responsible. It was his decision. The buck stopped with him. He made a command decision as Captain and he has to live with the consequences. To throw all the blame on Trip was cowardly and reflected very poorly on his leadership ability.
It wasn't a great episode, but it had cute moments. And, yes, it would have worked better if there had been prior signs of sexual tension between A and T, but there is no way anyone can convince me that all the hetero males working around T'Pol aren't stressing a bit down in the crotchal region. I try not to notice her body as I watch the show, but it takes effort. I had to laugh when Malcolm mentioned her bum (in another ep) and Trip acted surprised like he's never noticed it. How Malcolm focused on her bum and didn't say anything about her monstrous breasts regardless of whether or not he is a bum man, I don't know. I was sure he was going to say "Have you ever noticed her B--BS!?" I'm really quite annoyed at T'Pol's outfits. They are terribly unprofessional. But anything, I guess, to please the horny teenage fans. (sigh)
There is no way this episode is as bad as Spock's Brain! Give me a break. That episode had NO redeeming qualities at all.
I think this entire episode was designed so that Kira could strut around in black leather and be a sexy bisexual dominatrix. It feels very...um..."fan-powered"
Where is Samantha Wildman? You'd think the writers would at least make some attempt to explain her absence. I know Voyager had lazy writers but this was just ridiculous. Why didn't they just kill her off if they were never going to show her again? Samantha's absence has gone from a funny continuity error to a genuinely disturbing show of neglect. All it would have taken is one line to explain why she's never there, and the writers couldn't even do that. Shameful.