Star Trek: Enterprise
"Marauders"
Air date: 10/30/2002
Teleplay by David Wilcox
Story by Rick Berman & Brannon Braga
Directed by Mike Vejar
Review by Jamahl Epsicokhan
T'Pol: "Short of killing the Klingons, any action we take will only make the situation worse."
Jammer: "Looks like you just solved the puzzle. Kill the Klingons at once."
In brief: Milk toast.
While watching "Marauders," I saw during one of the commercial breaks an ad for an upcoming action movie called Half Past Dead, set inside a prison and starring Steven Seagal and Ja Rule. Much to my amazement (and dismay), the end of the commercial informed me that Half Past Dead is rated PG-13. Yes, PG-13. And I'm thinking, has the bloodthirsty testosterone-driven violent American action genre been so watered down for mainstream marketing reasons that now Steven Seagal films are rated PG-13? What has our world come to?
It is of some irony or coincidence or appropriateness or something (or not) that this commercial airs during "Marauders," the epitome of milquetoast Star Trek action, where the last act is devoted almost completely to an extended action sequence where Our Heroes must ward off the threat of the Evildoers, and yet not one person — friend or foe — is killed or even seriously injured. Given that this is, after all, the Star Trek universe and its Evolved Sensibilities we're talking about, I'm willing to grant that this is somewhat appropriate. Certainly more appropriate than a Steven Seagal film released to the masses as PG-13.
My point? I guess that "Marauders" is so devoid of anything worth getting worked up about — for good or ill — that I'd rather get worked up over the fact that Steven Seagal now stars in movies that are rated PG-13 (it's not bad enough that Seagal films are generally garbage; now they're watered-down garbage). Perhaps "Marauders" is your cup of tea and perhaps it's not, but I found it to be a very tame and unimaginative recycling of a very familiar story. (A recent version of this story is the Disney/Pixar film A Bug's Life, more entertaining than this.) Yes, the location shooting and production design here is impressive. Yes, Mike Vejar is a good director. But all the surface gloss and competency in the world cannot make up for story developments that make me shrug and say, "So?"
The plot is about as bare-boned as they come. Colony of miners produces refined deuterium. Colony sells deuterium to passersby. Colony, unfortunately, is being bullied by group of Klingon marauders, who use intimidation and violence to hoard all the miners' output production, leaving them empty-handed. Colony has tried to fight back, but Klingons are too strong and mean. Enter the Enterprise and Captain Archer, who, once he learns about this situation, wants to help.
There's certainly nothing wrong with that story sketch as a starting point. It's classic Trek material, albeit very middle-of-the-road stuff. Unfortunately, there's nothing really right about this story either. The script's approach is to give us the facts and assume we care about them, without giving us anything dramatic or interesting to invite us to care. I guess that's the problem — not that I disliked this episode but rather that I was so disinterested. Archer's humanistic desire to help people (who are initially too afraid to accept his position of standing up to the Klingons) is an admirable (if obvious) character trait. But the episode has no real depth or questions to consider. It's painfully straightforward. "I've never liked bullies," Archer tells Trip at one point. End of story. Philosophizing goes no deeper than that. Okay, there's also, "Give a man a fish, and he eats for a day; teach him to fish, and he eats for a lifetime." Whoa. Deep.
Archer's plan is to teach the colonists how to defend themselves in the few days before the Klingons return to raid the colony. T'Pol holds an introductory martial-arts class, showing how to avoid a Klingon wielding a bat'leth. (There's one amusing moment when T'Pol asks a reluctant Mayweather to help her demonstrate an attack. T'Pol: "You won't hurt me." Mayweather: "It's not you that I'm worried about.") Reed and Sato offer sessions for target practice with firearms. A clever plan is hatched to relocate buildings so the deuterium field will be exposed and can be set ablaze. Trip befriends a boy (Jesse James Rutherford, a sub-par performance) whose father was killed in an earlier skirmish with the Klingon bullies. Archer reassures the colony leader (Larry Ceder, performance par for course), who quietly despairs at his own ineffectiveness. These scenes represent a series of facts mostly free of underlying tension or suspense, scarcely more interesting than as I've just described them. Hence the episode's unfortunate lack of an emotional spark.
The Big Battle in the show's closing act is a bizarre and ultimately borderline-humorous compromise between elaborate action staging and attitudes of unmistakable non-violence. Despite the fact the Klingons are trying to kill Our Heroes, every effort is made for Our Heroes not to resort to killing any of the Klingons. The good guys punch, kick, throw rocks, shoot guns without hitting anyone, and use other non-lethal tactics (included is a scene that shows how T'Pol also fills the role of Action Hero Chick With Spin-Kick Moves), and ultimately they lure the Klingons into a trap where a fire ring appears around them. The big payoff involving the fire ring is overplayed to the point of goofiness; the Klingons' moment of realization is hammered at with the precision of a sledgehammer, making our heroes look not nearly so clever as the villains are clueless.
I dunno. "Marauders" is what it is — a bloodless, light-as-a-feather action show with handsome production values but absolutely and positively no edge. It takes bland safeness to new heights; it doesn't come within a hundred yards of anything daring, offensive, challenging, or otherwise intriguing. If you're looking for a very simple hour of TV that pushes no buttons or envelopes and inspires in you little thought or emotional reaction, this will maybe get the job done. Plus, nobody gets hurt.
But then, you might also find yourself more riled by the notion of a PG-13 Steven Seagal movie than anything that happens here.
Next week: A skeleton in T'Pol's closet?
Previous episode: A Night in Sickbay
Next episode: The Seventh
59 comments on this review
Wed, Jul 9, 2008, 6:37pm (UTC -6)
Tue, Jun 30, 2009, 1:30am (UTC -6)
But no, what I got was a ridiculous exercise in "showing up" the bullies without, miraculously, harming them. And the bullies - KLINGONS! - just shake their fists and leave? Without so much as a bloody nose? I call BS. Honestly, Star Trek was at its worst when it resorted to ham-handed moralistic preaching, of which this episode is an indirect, though apt, example.
Sun, Aug 9, 2009, 5:28pm (UTC -6)
Mon, Sep 14, 2009, 8:53am (UTC -6)
Tue, Nov 10, 2009, 9:18am (UTC -6)
Wed, Feb 17, 2010, 1:30pm (UTC -6)
Are you calling us IDIOTS? Hey, it's the WRITERS who are SUPPOSED to write up a GOOD STORY. I have not seen this so I cannot make an objective summary either way, but writers are only HUMAN who make MISTAKES. You make them sound all-powerful. To quote Gul Dukat with a little alteration:
"And [Almighty] David hands down another judgment!"
Wed, Feb 17, 2010, 1:32pm (UTC -6)
Sat, Jun 5, 2010, 3:58pm (UTC -6)
Sat, Oct 9, 2010, 5:15pm (UTC -6)
I just didn't get the whole business of shifting the settlement a few hundred yards so that they could ignite the deuterium and thereby trap the Klingons. What sort of plan is that? How much could go wrong? All that effort just to humiliate a bunch of Klingons!
In truth the miners were in a no win situation. The Klingons could return at any time. They'd have been better off hitching a ride aboard Enterprise to another planet. A very silly episode.
Enterprise is at its best when it is following a story arc. Having said that some of the 'one offs' are very good.
Wed, Dec 1, 2010, 10:17am (UTC -6)
As per usual Jammer, I find one of your lines used to describe the current episode appropriate to label the entire series.
This week's winner: "devoid of anything worth getting worked up about".
Someone before mentioned DS9's "Rocks and Shoals". Sigh. Now THAT was good television.
Fri, Feb 11, 2011, 12:00pm (UTC -6)
Fri, Jul 22, 2011, 5:41pm (UTC -6)
One good thing: T'Pol's moves. Smooth.
If Archer later faces consequences for interfering, fantastic. But heh, who am I kidding!
Fri, Aug 3, 2012, 10:38pm (UTC -6)
Wed, Aug 15, 2012, 1:59pm (UTC -6)
Wed, Nov 14, 2012, 11:20pm (UTC -6)
Tue, Dec 11, 2012, 8:24am (UTC -6)
That.
Tue, Feb 12, 2013, 7:10pm (UTC -6)
Sun, Apr 7, 2013, 10:45am (UTC -6)
The two respective episodes epitomize the two respective shows. Unfortunately, the mediocre series ran for 4 whole seasons, while the brilliant one ran for less than half a season (and a follow-up big screen movie).
"Marauders" is Star Trek Enterprise in a nutshell: prosaic and uninspired.
Mon, May 13, 2013, 1:08am (UTC -6)
Mon, May 12, 2014, 11:54pm (UTC -6)
Thu, Oct 2, 2014, 5:08pm (UTC -6)
Tue, Oct 7, 2014, 11:15am (UTC -6)
"Trip gave some kid the schematics to a Warp 5 vessel. Shouldn't that be kind of classified?"
Funny, I never once thought Trip would give away something classified.
I just knew that Trip gave the kid some floor plans to his star ship with no classified info included.
But then again, I'm not looking to berate Enterprise.
Fri, Jan 9, 2015, 3:51pm (UTC -6)
I was also struck by how daft the plan of moving the town was given that the Klingons probably had to use sensors to scan the area before beaming down. Wouldn't that scan have detected the town had moved fifty meters to the left (or whatever amount it moved)? In a Western film that this story was paying homage to it's less likely the bullies would notice riding into town but when with the technology of the show, it just doesn't make sense.
The plot itself is a retread of far too many better done Westerns and is even parodied by Western spoofs like Blazing Saddles.
It's episodes like this one that remind me why I began to get down on Enterprise during its second season.
Wed, Feb 4, 2015, 4:21pm (UTC -6)
Of course, on a positive note, seeing Mayweather in a tight fitting white wife beater ensured the episode wasn't a TOTALLY loss. :)
Thu, Mar 12, 2015, 5:19pm (UTC -6)
Wed, Apr 8, 2015, 2:51pm (UTC -6)
Sat, May 30, 2015, 8:23pm (UTC -6)
No disrespect but no one cares if what you thought about what Trip did. And unless you wrote for the show you done know if they were just floor plans. As for complaining about people berating Enterprise get over yourself.
Wed, Jul 8, 2015, 8:49pm (UTC -6)
Fri, Jul 24, 2015, 9:06pm (UTC -6)
Sun, Aug 2, 2015, 8:08am (UTC -6)
The writers obviously had no clue that deuterium is heavy hydrogen. They thought of it as starship fuel, so they treated it like oil. *headdesk*
On Earth, heavy water (deuterium oxide) is produced by the distillation (or a similar process) of sea water, which can then by separated into deuterium and oxygen.
Deuterium is also a gas then. In space, another source might be a gas giant.
I suppose you can handwave it away by saying that they found some underground deposit of heavy water or gaseous deuterium. But that's not how it was portrayed as. Instead the liquid (!) deuterium somehow came out of the ground. Like oil.
Fri, Nov 6, 2015, 6:34pm (UTC -6)
Pitiful.
Fri, Nov 6, 2015, 6:36pm (UTC -6)
PITIFUL.
Fri, Nov 20, 2015, 3:30pm (UTC -6)
Tue, Apr 5, 2016, 10:06pm (UTC -6)
Wed, Apr 6, 2016, 6:54am (UTC -6)
Sat, May 30, 2015, 8:23pm (UTC -5)
@Yanks
No disrespect but no one cares if what you thought about what Trip did. And unless you wrote for the show you done know if they were just floor plans. As for complaining about people berating Enterprise get over yourself.
============================================================
Obviously no intelligence.
The same EXACT thing could be said about someone claiming that Trip gave away classified info.
Dumb ass, you just go off and get over something.
Mon, Apr 11, 2016, 3:24pm (UTC -6)
This has all the feel and production values of an early TNG. The plot here is about as well worn as it gets, and it mines all the cliches - we even get an honest to God montage sequence. The final action sequence is beyond risible. It's just dull, derivative and smacks of a series that's running out of ideas fast.
1.5 stars - and it only gets the .5 because no-one ends up chasing a bat.
Mon, Apr 25, 2016, 7:16pm (UTC -6)
Tue, Apr 26, 2016, 10:00am (UTC -6)
You obviously missed this part of the episode.
"TESSIC: If you're thinking about coming back, I wouldn't advise it. We'll be ready. We're not afraid of you anymore.
(Korok holsters his weapon.)
KOROK: We can find deuterium anywhere. Yours isn't fit for a garbage scow.
(He speaks into his communicator and the party is beamed away. The colonists rejoice at their victory.) "
These garbage scow Klingons don't want to bother with it. Why would they?
Thu, Jun 9, 2016, 4:22pm (UTC -6)
Thu, Jul 21, 2016, 8:14am (UTC -6)
I guess I like the anti-bully theme.
There are good parts to this unimaginative effort. T'Pol's instruction, Hoshi's demonstration, Archer's good natured intent, everyone working together in an effort to stand up for themselves.
I don't consider these Klingons front line "warriors". They, for all intents and purposes run a delivery truck. I think it's reasonable to suppose that these guys would sooner not let this little charade get back to the home world or be written about in the Quo'Nos Times. I know it's a strrrrrrrrrretch, but it might be plausible. :-)
To killing some Klingons... now that would have ensured a return with guns-a-blazin. So in that sense I liked the execution of the so-so plan.
Not sure why the kid couldn't have gone to Enterprise.
T'Pol in white is worth one star :-)
But 2 stars is about right for this one.
Sun, Sep 18, 2016, 10:47pm (UTC -6)
Mon, Oct 17, 2016, 11:10am (UTC -6)
Here, writers just order us to turn off our brains, forget anything we know about Klingons and waste our hour watching the lamest excuse for an action ever filmed.
But since Jammer gave that horrible episode in which Doctor and Captain effectively exterminate whole race in the name of a dubious doctrine (At the end of which Doctor Mengele and Joseph Goebbels would sign happily) I need to learn to be less surprised by Jammer
Tue, Dec 27, 2016, 10:13pm (UTC -6)
Immediately recognized where they were going with the defence of the colonists from the bandits (Seven Samurai/Magnificent Seven/A Bug's Life homage), but in all of those the bad guys (and some good ones) die. They kinda have to. Archer correctly points out that he hates bullies and they must be stood up to. But these Klingons are not going to steal the colonists' lunch money and give them wedgies: they murdered several of them and left the kid an orphan. Their leader even mentions they will slaughter the boy as an example to those who would dare defy them. But scaring them off with some pyrotechnics? Disappointing.
On the plus side: T'Pol finally wore something different AND she's a badass martial arts expert who knocked out a Klingon with a roundhouse kick that would have made Bruce Lee or Chuck Norris proud. Hoshi is an expert shot, too!
The best choice would have been to confront the Klingon pirate ship in orbit, return fire once they fired on the Enterprise and destroyed it. They were not Klingon military but pirates. Any number of things could go wrong and cause them to disappear forever, including some mechanical failure, a collision with an asteroid or black hole, them mistakenly picking on some colony world of a race that wouldn't put up with crap, such as Romulans or Cardassians, etc. As some two-bit criminals, it's not as if the Klingon fleet would spend much energy in an investigation and then revenge.
It's as if some FCC censor pulled the producers aside and told them this is a show for young kids so they had to change the script and make it so not so much as even a nose starts to bleed after T'Pol kicks a Klingon in the face or Archer bats another one in the head with a fence post or whatever he hit him with inside the hut. The censors' made what could have been a pretty strong episode pretty silly.
One scientific quibble: as a plentiful component of seawater (0.015%), seeking deuterium in a desert was a corny idea. It's not as if the writers couldn't have looked up the term and figured that out in 30 seconds. In previous shows, especially TNG, they made up new elements and chemicals in almost every other episode. Why not just make up some cool-sounding name for whatever essential-for-starships item the colonists are mining? How about dilithium crystals, for instance? Those are usually found underground on planets with desert-type climates.
Sun, Apr 9, 2017, 7:50pm (UTC -6)
The very first reply nailed the most obvious problem, which I'm surprised Jammer didn't mention. MAYBE Archer doesn't know Klingons well enough yet to realise that he's effectively handed the camp a death sentence, but surely T'Pol does, and the viewers certainly do.
Mind-numbingly insipid. Fllls me with respect for Hogan's Heroes.
Scraping the barrel with this one, guys.
Mon, Apr 24, 2017, 5:47pm (UTC -6)
This is just lame through and through. Why don't the Klingons detect a Federation ship in orbit? Won't they be back with more power? How is the mild embarrassment they faced going to deter them? They like being bullies.
The episode spending time showing them moving the camp, training etc. was all just filling time. Is that female colonist really able to avoid a Klingon attack based on a few minutes of T'Pol training.
These Klingons really come across as looking like fools.
Anyhow, this episode is just there - nothing to take away from it. Just Archer & Co. trying to feel good about themselves helping (temporarily) some bullied colonists. For me 1/4 stars. Seems like ENT does a lot of these kinds of episodes and it's starting to get tiring.
Wed, Aug 30, 2017, 1:12am (UTC -6)
Sun, Nov 26, 2017, 4:13am (UTC -6)
Mon, Nov 27, 2017, 11:44am (UTC -6)
Sun, Nov 26, 2017, 4:13am (UTC -6)
"Why did the Klingons not realize the second time around that the coordinates for their transport were different from before?"
They did, but only after transport.
I don't hold these Klingons in a high regard. They basically run a dump truck.
No songs in their line of business.
Mon, Dec 4, 2017, 12:35am (UTC -6)
Dull but nice location shoot and the Klingon makeup and costumes standout
Wed, Jan 24, 2018, 12:28pm (UTC -6)
Fri, May 25, 2018, 9:43pm (UTC -6)
Thu, May 31, 2018, 1:14pm (UTC -6)
Sat, Jun 30, 2018, 6:40am (UTC -6)
Sun, Sep 2, 2018, 11:33am (UTC -6)
And people blame the actors! XD
Tue, Sep 11, 2018, 11:57am (UTC -6)
These Klingons are marauders, raiders, bullies, they're not official Klingon Imperial Officers so there most likely is literally only maximum 15 of them or so, theres no real benefit to risk their lives just to get a bit of Deuterium (Which the Klingons can't extract themselves so they literally need the colonists in that case) and since the colonists said they'll be ready, it's likely they'll continue to train how to defend themselves using knowledge they've learnt from the Enterprise crew. So not only is it likely the Klingons would stay away (since they don't know the Enteprise has helped them remember) but it's likely the colonists would at least know how to put up a fight.
Sat, Nov 17, 2018, 5:06am (UTC -6)
I was a little disappointed that they weren't able to spring Lt. Barclay from the mental hospital, but the shuttlepod did an awful lot like a GMC van, and I could've sworn I heard Ms. T'Pol said, "I pity the fool who tries to attack this mining colony."
Also thought it was a nice touch when they replaced the usual opening credit song with, "Today, still on their mission from Starfleet, these Terrans survive as explorers of space. If you have a problem, if no one else can help, and if you can find them, maybe you can hire.....the Enterprise."
Sun, Mar 10, 2019, 11:21pm (UTC -6)
Thu, Jul 25, 2019, 5:42am (UTC -6)
What's funny is the episode even shoots itself in the foot on its own silly terms. Consider the fact that the Klingons have transporters and the implications of that little tidbit to this whole cockamaney plan Archer cooked up to "trap" them in a ring of fire.
These weren't even Klingon military or pirates, just a bunch of random a-holes in a freighter. What was the point of giving them a technology that made the entire plan hopeless? The Klingons could just beam the colonists into space incidentally.
Dumb dumb dumb.
Sat, Nov 16, 2019, 3:43pm (UTC -6)
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