Star Trek: Enterprise
"Precious Cargo"
zero stars
Air date: 12/11/2002
Teleplay by David A. Goodman
Story by Rick Berman & Brannon Braga
Directed by David Livingston
Review by Jamahl Epsicokhan
"Careful, man, there's a beverage here!" — The Dude, The Big Lebowski
In brief: Bad. Bad bad bad bad bad. Bad.
If a casual viewer happened to tune in this week, they'd have but one question: So, this is what passes for Star Trek these days?
I sincerely hope not. I hope the producers realized this was a dog and aired it only because, faced with a deadline, they had no choice. I hope they can one day look back and laugh at this atrocity. Laughing is not likely to happen right now, however, as UPN and Enterprise continue to face woeful days of sagging ratings and a questionable future. With an episode like this, those lousy ratings are deserved. Have the producers no respect for their audience's intelligence and, more important, the audience's desire to be entertained?
"Precious Cargo" is nothing. Zero. Zilch. A test pattern. An empty vessel. A hollow corpse. A lifeless mass. A limp body. A vapid hour. A lamentable experience. A lousy outing. A table scrap. A scrap without meat. A piece of garbage. A test of viewer endurance. Television detritus. Hoary insipidity. A road to nowhere. A road from nowhere. Utter crap. Astounding banality. Awful dreck. A dismal failure. An abomination. A self-parody. A bad self-parody. An insult to the intellect. A slap to the face.
Did I mention it was bad?
At the risk of overstating my case, I'll just say that essentially, this episode is one big, long, long, long, long cliché. This is certainly one of the longest hours of Trek ever made. And one of the dumbest. And most boring and pointless. There is literally NOTHING here that inspires thinking. The actors are deer trapped in the blinding headlights of the script, coming at them at 60 mph. Wham. Yikes — looks like this one's a DOA.
The plot rehashes elements of TOS's "Elaan of Troyius," which I'm sure was already a rehash in 1968. "Precious Cargo" is a rehash without the benefit of humor or satire. It plays its premise basically straight, as if it were actually a legitimate story. It clearly is not. It's nothing more than an assemblage of clichés.
The plot in a nutshell: Two aliens are transporting a woman in suspended animation ("Precious Cargo" — get it?). Their cover story is that they were hired to transport her in this manner. The truth is that they actually kidnapped her and are holding her for ransom. In a series of contrivances, this woman emerges from her hibernation, Trip gets on board the alien vessel and is knocked unconscious, and one alien takes off in the ship with Trip and the woman. Trip and the woman must then team up in an effort to escape the alien ship. The other alien is left behind on the Enterprise, where he is subsequently interrogated in the episode's only scene that comes close to working, but is still not nearly as clever or satisfying as it should be.
The woman is named Kaitaama and is played by Padma Lakshmi, who is very nice to look at but delivers a terrible performance. It certainly doesn't help that Kaitaama is a walking, talking cliché — a typically ultra-haughty princess who is appalled at her situation and even more appalled that she might be rescued by a lowly peasant like Trip Tucker. The ongoing "banter" between Trip and Kaitaama is downright painful to be subjected to. Like Trip, we're trapped with Kaitaama for the whole episode, and she's unbearable while also being unconvincing. I never for one moment felt like I was watching actual people, but rather artificial constructions of a hopelessly recycled, lame-brained plot.
There are scenes of Trip and Kaitaama crawling through air vents, cramming into an escape pod (tight spaces, up close and personal; har har!), and finally crash-landing and traipsing through a swamp. All of this goes on for a very long time with very bad dialog and very obviously no dramatic reason for existing whatsoever other than to fill an hour of a floundering network's bandwidth. It's utterly perfunctory and pathetic and without purpose or merit or life or entertainment value. Eventually Trip and Kaitaama get in a shouting match before they then suddenly clinch/kiss, in an oh-so-predictable scene that is so horrendous as to induce eye-rolling and groans. Watching all of this is like witnessing actors sleepwalking through an hour in a meditative trance, while production mechanically soldiers on, pulling the machine's garbage-in-garbage-out lever.
What's perhaps worst about "Precious Cargo" is that it's awful without also being funny. It's simply awful while being relentlessly boring. Okay, I did laugh when Trip punched the bad guy/alien in the face about five times, and then the alien actually looked straight at Trip and exclaimed, "Ha ha!" How ridiculous. My laughter was one of incredulity. If the alien had a mustache, he'd be twirling it while tying Kaitaama to railroad tracks.
The best thing about this episode was its ending. Not because the ending was good (it wasn't), but because it meant the show was over. Just how bad was this episode? Let me give you some details for the sake of perspective. I taped it on Wednesday and watched it on Friday, and when I queued the tape backward one hour, the counter on my VCR told me exactly how long was left in the show until it was over. "0:00" meant the end. My VCR's countdown to zero was the equivalent of Burgess Meredith in Rocky, telling me to hang in there and get through this fight.
Next week: The ship is taken over by aliens and Archer considers blowing it up. Looks like the Cliché Patrol will be on duty again.
Previous episode: Vanishing Point
Next episode: The Catwalk
125 comments on this post
Mon, Oct 22, 2007, 12:12pm (UTC -6)
Wed, Nov 21, 2007, 8:42am (UTC -6)
Wed, Jul 15, 2009, 11:15am (UTC -6)
Tue, Aug 25, 2009, 9:46pm (UTC -6)
Tue, Oct 13, 2009, 11:06am (UTC -6)
Thu, Feb 18, 2010, 7:16pm (UTC -6)
Wed, May 5, 2010, 11:07am (UTC -6)
You're spot on with most of your reviews Jammer, but I think this one was a bit harsh.
Sat, Jun 12, 2010, 4:31pm (UTC -6)
Sat, Sep 11, 2010, 6:32am (UTC -6)
One and a half to two stars from me.
Sat, Sep 25, 2010, 11:24pm (UTC -6)
Sat, Dec 11, 2010, 5:05am (UTC -6)
Both episodes are on the same level for me. At least this one's got Padma Lakshmi to look at.
Sat, Dec 11, 2010, 8:21pm (UTC -6)
Mon, Feb 7, 2011, 12:58am (UTC -6)
It was at least competently executed from a plot perspective - step by step. True, nothing ground-breaking here - perhaps 1.5 stars or 2, but honestly I'd rather have watched this than a Mirror Universe episode or a Ferengi comedy episode or several other Trek staples.
Mon, May 2, 2011, 3:15am (UTC -6)
Sun, Jul 24, 2011, 1:29pm (UTC -6)
Sun, Jul 31, 2011, 10:53pm (UTC -6)
One thing this episode does illuminate are several themes that will become fatal hallmarks of this series:
1) Numerous episodes in which the crew must put on some kind of poorly acted and elaborate ruse to get something out of the antagonist (T'Pol's silly performance as an inquisitor here, the Ferengi episode, "Canamar", but to cite a few).
2) The consistently adolescent way in which sexuality is depicted or otherwise alluded to on this show. Like the writers are a bunch of Mt. Dew-addled 13-year-olds. I can see the pitch: "Hey, I've got an idea! Let's make them spread K-Y Jelly on each other half-naked every time they return to the ship!" It's insipid.
3) Abductions, kidnappings, and hostage situations provide the basis for the plot in seemingly every episode.
It's clear Star Trek is a money-generating franchise with all the creative strictures and stunted story-telling that that label implies. It's content to run over the same well-trod ground, but with half the brains and a quarter of the heart. And I was naive enough to think Berman and Braga would stretch their wings on their last go-round.
I did get a laugh reading about and remembering "Threshold". I remember seeing it first-run and thinking, "What the hell just happened?"
Sun, Sep 25, 2011, 6:54am (UTC -6)
The second that it was known that a) The precious cargo was female and b) Trip was the one going in - it was painfully obvious where it was leading, so much that I cringed and said "oh here we go" out loud.
Trip's reputation as this series's token tart precedes him.
Sun, Nov 6, 2011, 8:11pm (UTC -6)
I'm not saying that this episode is good, I'm just saying that this review isn't either. Let's disect the review:
In brief: The episode is bad.
Paragraphs 1 through 5: The episode is bad.
Paragraph 6: Reviewing
Paragraph 7: Summarizing
Paragraph 8: Some reviewing before we're at "This episode was bad" again
Paragraph 9: Mostly summarizing, but also some reviewing and some calling the episode
Paragraph 10: There was some reviewing, but more importantly, we're just calling the episode bad again
Paragraph 11: This episode is bad.
This just won't cut it as far as reviews go. You need to spend less time repeating yourself and finding new clever ways to say the same thing and instead comment on why you think the way you do about an episode.
Sat, Nov 19, 2011, 4:20am (UTC -6)
Mon, Apr 2, 2012, 6:43pm (UTC -6)
That said, I'd say this is tied with your "Demon" review as your funniest. The runners up would be your reviews for VOY"s "The Disease", ENT's "The Xindi", and ENT's "A Night in Sickbay". (I don't intend to ever watch "Night in Sickbay" either, after reading the Agony Booth recap of it and then your review.)
Tue, Jul 17, 2012, 1:02am (UTC -6)
Also that you for reminding me of ST VOY Threshold episode, I just saw it a few weeks ago and it was terrible...again. I thought maybe it might have remembered it differently. haha
Mon, Jul 30, 2012, 8:22pm (UTC -6)
What took this episode from bad to completely terrible was Padma Lakshmi. Her acting in this episode sounded like she was reading the lines for the first time and just saying the words to say them. Lakshmi reminded me of the very first Janeway that didn't work out.
As for those criticizing this review, I rather liked the review. It made me feel better about the last 43 minutes of my life. Knowing that I'm not the only one that watched this episode gives me comfort.
Thu, Aug 2, 2012, 9:58pm (UTC -6)
Wed, Aug 8, 2012, 9:58pm (UTC -6)
Nor did I have a problem with the guest actress's acting. I think people are reacting negative to the personality of the character she plays and transferring these negative feelings to the actress instead. For shame.
I'd probably give this two stars.
Thu, Aug 16, 2012, 1:02pm (UTC -6)
Wed, Sep 19, 2012, 2:05am (UTC -6)
Then, when I was considering it after a few years passed, I caught this episode.
Needless to say, I still haven't finished Enterprise.
Wed, Sep 19, 2012, 2:07am (UTC -6)
Sat, Oct 20, 2012, 9:08am (UTC -6)
However, I keep watching this series in hopes of more profound plots.
Sun, Nov 18, 2012, 7:46am (UTC -6)
When the First Monarch tore her dress to get into the pod I thought they might actually depart from the helpless princess trope and make her useful. Silly me! She only tore her dress so we'd see her legs. Low point of the episode was when she asked Trip if there was any food, he said, "Check the compartment right above your head," as in literally a foot above her head, and she whined, "Can't you do it?" I fell asleep with ten minutes to go but it sounds like I didn't miss anything.
Sat, Feb 16, 2013, 1:34pm (UTC -6)
I also liked T'Pol's play-acting--the fact that she's willing to play along with Archer's sort of goofy plan shows that she's become more open-minded (or perhaps just a good sport) since first joining Enterprise--and I would have liked that scene to have played out a bit more. The one thing I really objected to is the ultimate in Trek cliches: the fact that Reed suddenly has to be such a lousy shot with his phase pistol in order to allow the aliens to escape.
At the end of the day this is a solid two-star episode for me--it didn't require me to use my brain but it kept me reasonably entertained, and yes, Lakshmi's performance even helped seal the deal simply because she played off of Trineer so well.
Sat, Mar 9, 2013, 9:41pm (UTC -6)
Mon, Apr 15, 2013, 9:02pm (UTC -6)
Padma is good as eye candy.
Tue, May 14, 2013, 12:42am (UTC -6)
Fri, Aug 16, 2013, 1:04pm (UTC -6)
Oh for the days when trek languages were actually thought out with dictionaries and people who actually studied them... now we get people making noises in an American accent.
Odd that if she's known on hundreds of worlds we never see her people again.
Did like T'Pol as judge though.
Fri, Sep 13, 2013, 8:48pm (UTC -6)
Thu, Apr 24, 2014, 10:45am (UTC -6)
Thu, Sep 18, 2014, 2:21am (UTC -6)
Sun, Jan 4, 2015, 2:05pm (UTC -6)
A bit of trivia that many may already know, but I didn't see it mentioned in any of the comments. Padma Lakshmi was actually married to Salman Rushdie for three years or so.
Rushdie is famous for among other things, being the author of "The Satanic Verses" which made him the target of an Iranian Fatwa requiring his execution. He was the target of at least one assassination attempt as a result.
Fri, Mar 20, 2015, 1:08am (UTC -6)
But it is still below average - zero stars is a bit of a stretch though....
Thu, Apr 23, 2015, 1:50pm (UTC -6)
No doubt that Padma Lakshmi is beautiful, but to criticize her acting here is to miss the point that not even Meryl Streep could deliver this poorly scripted character (a ridiculously cliched stuck-up princess). In addition, Trineer and Lakshmi had no chemistry together so to see them fall into each others' arms was painful to watch.
Yes, it was bad, but at least they didn't de-evolve into slugs.
Mon, Jul 13, 2015, 9:37pm (UTC -6)
I dunno, it really seems like the first few seasons have a lot of unused scripts from TOS & TNG.
Sat, Jul 25, 2015, 1:14am (UTC -6)
Padma's acting was among the worst I have ever seen.
Trip and Padma reminded me of Lone Star and Princess Vespa in "Spaceballs", with their Princess and commoner rescuer mutual hostility, sexual tension, and battle over who is in charge.
Too bad Padma didn't get a chance to sample and judge Chef's cuisine.
Wed, Sep 30, 2015, 6:24pm (UTC -6)
I thought the best part was when Archer and T'pol pulled a "bad cop good cop" routine on the guest alien.
And finally I do have a question, or perhaps an observation for the audience. In the swamp scene where the princess slaps Tripp and then they roll around in the water it sure seems to me that we got a little better look at Padma's anatomy than the censors ever intended. I first caught it when Enterprise came out on dvd. It helps if you use freeze frame and click through just as she is making her first roll. I had kind of assumed the scene would be edited when Enterprise made it to bluray. But there it is. Forgive me for being adolescent about it but I think we might have a Star Trek first. They should have named this episode The Unintended Shot.
Thu, Jan 7, 2016, 12:34pm (UTC -6)
This episode may not have humans devolving into lizards or jealous Klingon lovers or the captain throwing a tantrum over the dog that his direct actions got said dog sick....but holy balls. That "acting".
Wed, Jan 27, 2016, 9:59pm (UTC -6)
Thu, Feb 18, 2016, 8:12pm (UTC -6)
Fri, Apr 15, 2016, 2:28pm (UTC -6)
Fri, Jul 22, 2016, 2:58pm (UTC -6)
Note to the sleeping writers, if you are going to cast a bombshell to play a horrible part, please ensure she can act. I think a talented actress could have probably saved this one. I personally don't even find Padma Lakshm all that beautiful.... just skinny. Conner was so overly trying to overcompensate for her it hurts to watch.
I've only watched this episode twice... actually I wouldn't call it watching - I always end up doing something else.
I did enjoy T'Pol's little judgeship... so that's where my 1 star rating comes from.
Greg, thanks for that... I think I need to do some research :-)
Tue, Sep 6, 2016, 11:48am (UTC -6)
Tue, Sep 13, 2016, 3:00pm (UTC -6)
Tue, Oct 4, 2016, 4:24am (UTC -6)
Sad to say that I am not surprised this is the season where viewers started to be like "You know what? I'm good!".
After the solid trio of Shockwave II/Minefield/Dead Stop, this season has been very uneven so far.
Trip got laid. Cool. Moving on.
1.5 stars for that one Archer/T'Pol scene and some decent Trip lines.
Wed, Jan 4, 2017, 11:24pm (UTC -6)
Mon, Jan 16, 2017, 12:46pm (UTC -6)
Sat, Feb 11, 2017, 11:02am (UTC -6)
I wonder how likely the ending is though. Wouldn't Starfleet have gotten an advantage with having one of its man next to the First Monarch? This isn't the future Federation which has hundreds of worlds and needs its (wo)men more than alliances. Earth could have something to gain here.
Perhaps in a more 'realistic' Trek, Section 31 would have quietly 'suggested' to Trip to take up the offer, or at least make a visit. Than again this means we would have had to see more of this 'plot', so +1 for Trek not being realistic enough.
Fri, Mar 17, 2017, 12:21am (UTC -6)
Mon, May 8, 2017, 2:16pm (UTC -6)
That being said, the episode didn't start out so badly - but it did degenerate into cliche after cliche after cliche - like a Bollywood movie. Maybe Trip and Padma should have done a dance routine in the rain.
But I didn't really think Padma's acting was that bad - she is supposed to act like some kind of high-society princess - her role is supposed to be a cliche in itself.
I don't see too many dreadful Trek episodes for relative rating comparison purposes - it does bring up a comparison to "A Night in Sickbay" and I don't see this as worse or better. "Precious Cargo" gets a precious 0.5 stars / 4 for me.
Sun, May 28, 2017, 9:49pm (UTC -6)
Mon, Jun 19, 2017, 11:32am (UTC -6)
This is a first-time run through of Enterprise for me, and being very familiar with the other Treks, I know that there are usually at last a couple of turkeys in every season, but wow, that was complete garbage. Super-dumb. I can like shows that are very dumb, but that's never what I'm looking for in Trek. That was depressing. Can we be certain that they didn't let an 8-year old write this, just for a laugh?
Tue, Jul 18, 2017, 12:11am (UTC -6)
Tue, Aug 15, 2017, 12:50am (UTC -6)
1 star
Tue, Sep 19, 2017, 1:16pm (UTC -6)
Sat, Oct 7, 2017, 11:03am (UTC -6)
Mon, Dec 4, 2017, 12:21am (UTC -6)
Dumb. A poor man’s “ The Perfect Mate”
Thu, Dec 28, 2017, 8:22am (UTC -6)
In other episodes, the UT just gives regular accents to people. In this episode, somehow the UT picks up on how annoying the character is and gives her a super annoying accents.
I can only imagine the UT was giving Trip the same annoying accent for the alien woman to enjoy, because Trip was grating on my nerves too.
Sat, Mar 24, 2018, 7:01pm (UTC -6)
Thu, Apr 19, 2018, 2:52pm (UTC -6)
Fri, Jun 1, 2018, 11:22am (UTC -6)
For me, the cardinal sin of Trek is not to come up with something new and interesting. And there was absolutely nothing interesting in this episode; in fact if you told me to write a bog standard cliché romance storyline I'd probably come up with this. Except that it's Star Trek, and I don't want it to be some tedious rom com.
When she told Trip to visit her at the end, I said instinctively "just as long as you don't make it another episode. That one is gonna be off-camera."
Tue, Jul 3, 2018, 2:48pm (UTC -6)
Sun, Sep 9, 2018, 11:10pm (UTC -6)
I give -1/5 to this?
Wed, Oct 10, 2018, 1:53pm (UTC -6)
The sheer repetition of ideas. Trip meets an alien woman and hilarity ensues; Trip acts out of character due to sci-fi mind effects; Trip takes command; Trip modifies technology to save the day; er, that's about it for him. I love Trip, my best friend who is even more blunt and impatient than me thinks Trip is the best character by miles, but at this early stage there were more than half the cast being marginalised and reduced to cardboard stereotypes. This was kind of an issue with Voyager with Kes and Kim, both very likeable characters who should have had some excellent and entertaining stories to tell, and Chakotay, who started out badass and eventually gave up on acting in the role due to receiving crap plotlines which all revolved around him being a Native American.
TNG had the ghastly Dr Crusher who shags ghosts and (usually) delivers a bland performance. She was awesome in First Contact, though, but so was everyone since they had a real story to work with. TOS never bothered developing Chekov or Uhura, who weren't even in a few episodes, although again they got decent material in some of the films. Chekov and Sulu were under-utilised in the Abramsverse too.
Seriously, all these shows had talented and likeable casts, they had teams of writers and creators and a rabid fanbase. If the showrunners produced boring and repetitive stories and under-used characters while over-using others, that is not franchise fatigue, that is not the viewers' faults for switching off, that is bad writing, bad planning, bad management. The bigwigs in any industry love throwing blame, excuses and even diversions around, but the buck must always stop with the person in charge.
If Enterprise had been amazing, it wouldn't have lost 90% of its viewers - to suggest otherwise ("uhh, they changed it to FRIDAY, the one day a week no-one watches telly or remembers how to record programmes") is insanity. And while Enterprise would eventually go from strength to strength, it had already acquired a well-deserved reputation for mediocrity in its early seasons, and it was absolutely overwhelmed with competitor shows of significantly greater quality and relevance. (BSG, SG1, SGA, Buffy, Angel, eventually even Supernatural which had a sensational first two seasons.)
That was certainly not the case for TOS in the 60s, or TNG in the 80s/early 90s. Hence they thrived.
Seriously, just look at some of the Enterprise episodes so far with characters written out of character, episodes full of plot holes, repetition of ideas, very poor dialogue, lack of prequel elements in many episodes. THESE are the stories that needed to be told to the whole world? THIS is the show to compete against Stargate? This CREW is a consistently well-written, well-developed bunch of heroes who make us want to don our Starfleet jump suits and head out into space?
Thu, Nov 29, 2018, 6:23pm (UTC -6)
[[Before this guy was a Family Guy writer, and before he was a writer for Enterprise, he wrote the Star Trek parody episode of Futurama, "Where No Fan has Gone Before."]]
Was it also before our sun burned hot in space?
Wed, Jan 23, 2019, 9:35am (UTC -6)
The show itself has been a pleasant surprise for the most part, and I think they have done reasonably well to reconcile obvious technological disparities between actual production time, setting time and existing storylines.
To have produced such a contrived episode, with cliched writing and forced acting like this (and a song that let's be honest, sounds like it was written by Matt Stone and Trey Parker as a piss-take) makes it seem like it was left in the hands of the angsty, eye-rolling teenaged hipster offspring who owns some merchandise, but, you know, ironically.
Tue, Mar 12, 2019, 10:50pm (UTC -6)
Sat, Mar 30, 2019, 1:06pm (UTC -6)
I'd far rather watch this than a lot of Discovery S2.
Fri, Apr 5, 2019, 4:18pm (UTC -6)
Tough start for this series when the brains behind it ran out of ideas and have to look in the wastepaper basket for more of them.
Fri, Apr 5, 2019, 4:29pm (UTC -6)
Fri, Aug 2, 2019, 8:36am (UTC -6)
Otherwise ... very thing gruel, but better than I'd expected, given I'd seen Jammer gave it zero stars. It's only zero stars if your Star Trek scale goes from 4 stars (Tapestry, Far Beyond the Stars, Body & Soul, etc) to -4 stars (The Child, Code of Honor, Profit & Lace). Otherwise, it's worth a star.
And I thought Lakshmi's acting was on point for the role ... it's just the role being what it was.
Wed, Aug 21, 2019, 2:29pm (UTC -6)
This is just bad. Lakshmi is so bad. A dozen times I thought: Oh, no." Marveling at how bad this was.
The other bad episodes are at least entertaining but this is just boring bad. The worst kind.
Sat, Sep 28, 2019, 5:03pm (UTC -6)
Lakshmi’s acting wasn’t great but she’s meant to be an alien princess who doesn’t talk to people as equals. It’s fine. I thought they had great chemistry together too. Trek romances are normally awful and I thought this one actually worked. I think I’ve liked all of Trip’s romances so far actually, they’re pleasantly low key and sweet.
The bad aliens are pretty 2D but I appreciate that they didn’t make them more than they were. They weren’t the worst evil ever known or whatever. We don’t even know if they’re typical for their species, so we can probably assume they’re not. I get so sick of the unnecessarily high stakes they often use, it’s my biggest problem with Discovery.
How could anyone not enjoy T’Pol in this? I like how she didn’t really say anything false, just implied it, and let Archer do the real lying for her. And oh, I wish she wore clothes like that all the time! Or at least the outer robes on top of the catsuit.
I thought the visuals of the crash landing were pretty good too.
There have been much worse episodes of Enterprise so far. I guess it comes down to your opinion of the prime directive (I’m always against it!) and how different kinds of humour work for you.
Wed, Nov 6, 2019, 5:25pm (UTC -6)
First, lack of creativity is obvious. This revamp of "Perfect Mate" is an insult to one of my favorite tng episode. While there is a perfect chemistry between Patrick Stewart and Famke Jannsen(her first TV role!), Lakshmi and Trineer one is fake.
Lakshmi is a queen of beauty(like Femke) , I'll give you that, but she can't act, period.
Turn "Perfect Mate" in a screwball comedy was not a bad idea(remember "Tng's Captain's holiday" with vash), but childish script, dialogs and bad acting ruined it.
Obviously, this episode was inspired by 1998 movie "Six Days Seven Nights" with Harrison Ford. Not bad, but scriptwriters should have watched 1934 "New York-Miami" with Clark Gable, that's a hell of screwball comedy!
To conclude,this episode is pile of garbage and belongs to the top 10 st worst épisodes, "a night in sick bay" included.
0 stars
Sat, Feb 15, 2020, 10:48pm (UTC -6)
Most of my thoughts have been well covered above, but I had a comment about something I've seen in this series, over time.
I know the Enterprise doesn't have the crew compliment of the D, but in TNG they'd send over an engineering team. In this episode, it seems like they'd send more than one person to work on their stuff. Perhaps three. Tripp, and two to help or be gofers.
Enjoy the day... RT
Fri, May 15, 2020, 5:36pm (UTC -6)
The first time around, I couldn't believe that this sort of predictable, cliched rubbish was still being made.
Don't give up if you are watching this show for the first time. Things vastly improve and the show finally starts to adhere to its concept. Reviewers were so jaded that they rate the two later seasons lower (much lower) than they should have done. Season 3 is a tremendous improvement and season 4 is like a different show, the only Trek apart from DS9 that remembers its characters live in a bustling, exciting universe.
Thu, May 21, 2020, 4:36pm (UTC -6)
Sexistic, primitive, simple, ridiculous ... still or perhaps because of that, I find it quite funny and enjoyable. But I must admit I lot forward to "the catwalk".
Fri, Jun 19, 2020, 3:28pm (UTC -6)
Wed, Jun 24, 2020, 8:07pm (UTC -6)
Fri, Jul 10, 2020, 1:31am (UTC -6)
To be more fair, maybe 5% of Enterprise episodes are good to great. The other 95% are about like this one. At least this one wasn’t boring.
Thu, Sep 3, 2020, 2:39pm (UTC -6)
I thought this was a decent episode. The language barrier thing was great. I thought the actress playing the princess was all right. I just found the security on the ship has been dreadful in various circumstances.
Tue, Sep 15, 2020, 1:29am (UTC -6)
1/2 star
Thu, Sep 17, 2020, 9:58pm (UTC -6)
Tue, Dec 1, 2020, 8:09pm (UTC -6)
Other than that, it was an ok episode.
And I know everyone's taste varies, but I am always surprised at the females that are portrayed as attractive. The princess was REALLY not pretty to me at all! (but again, that's just my opinion)
Wed, Dec 2, 2020, 1:00am (UTC -6)
Wed, Dec 2, 2020, 1:23am (UTC -6)
Two unmarried people having sex IS immorality, Booming
Wed, Dec 2, 2020, 1:31am (UTC -6)
Hoping for a space being to commit planetwide genocide is immorality, coincidentally something you wish for, but two adults having sex without a priest giving them his approval first is not. You may think so but thankfully most people do not.
Wed, Dec 2, 2020, 1:33am (UTC -6)
You have to make your own decision and carry your own responsibility for it, Booming. I am not here to argue with you
Wed, Dec 2, 2020, 1:45am (UTC -6)
So true. It is not necessary to argue with people like you because you already know all the answers, eh? Let's just wait for god to kill all the wicked, as you call them, aka atheists, Buddhists, agnostics, homosexuals, Shintoists and so many more.
Wed, Dec 2, 2020, 1:51am (UTC -6)
There is one thing to note. We are not "just waiting" We are engaged in a global preaching campaign helping those who want help. Matt 24:14 says "And this good news of the Kingdom will be preached in all the inhabited earth for a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come." 2 Peter 3:9 says, "Jehovah is not slow concerning his promise,i as some people consider slowness, but he is patient with you because he does not desire anyone to be destroyed but desires all to attain to repentance"
The thing is, it would be cruel to let wickedness go on unchecked. Rather, at the appropriate time, God's Kingdom will take control on the earth, and the righteous will live forever in a paradise in perfection. This is the good news mentioned that we are trying to help people to be a part of. Whether they do or not, is up to them-and that goes for each one of us, myself included. So, I do not say "I have all the answers", I am trying to help all who want it
Wed, Dec 2, 2020, 2:05am (UTC -6)
What you wish for, my dear Sean, is the death of everybody who is unwilling to believe what you believe.
Wed, Dec 2, 2020, 2:10am (UTC -6)
Wed, Dec 2, 2020, 2:20am (UTC -6)
Yes, and evil is anybody who isn't willing to believe what you believe. Let's just condense what you believe.
Death to the unbelievers.
Deus lo vult
An because you like quotes so much, here are a few:
“Properly read, the Bible is the most potent force for atheism ever conceived.”
― Isaac Asimov
“In heaven, all the interesting people are missing.”
― Friedrich Nietzsche
“Those who can make you believe absurdities, can make you commit atrocities.”
― Voltaire
Wed, Dec 2, 2020, 2:30am (UTC -6)
Wed, Dec 2, 2020, 2:44am (UTC -6)
Wed, Dec 2, 2020, 2:53am (UTC -6)
https://www.jw.org/en/bible-teachings/questions/messianic-prophecies-jesus-messiah-meaning/
https://www.jw.org/en/bible-teachings/questions/antichrist/
Wed, Dec 2, 2020, 3:20am (UTC -6)
Don't try logic with him. He has the bible. A book compiled under the watchful eye of Theodosius who not only ended the Olympic games, closed the Delphi Oracle, let the last part of the Great Library burn down and started the first widespread persecution of non Christians, he also once killed 7000 men, women and children in a stadium.
The Eastern Orthodox Church considers him to be a saint.
Wed, Dec 2, 2020, 3:29am (UTC -6)
Theodosius, while combating paganism, also came out in favor of the orthodox [Catholic] Church; his edict of 380 C.E. ordered all his subjects to profess the faith of Pope Damasus and the [Trinitarian] bishop of Alexandria and deprived dissidents of freedom of worship. The great Council of Constantinople (381) again condemned all heresies, and the emperor saw to it that no bishop would support them. Nicene [Trinitarian] Christianity had well and truly become the State religion . . . The Church was closely united with the State and enjoyed its exclusive support.
Thus, it was not the unadulterated Christianity of the apostles’ days that became the State religion of the Roman Empire. It was fourth-century Trinitarian Catholicism, imposed by force by Emperor Theodosius I and practiced by the Roman Catholic Church, which was then as it is now, truly a part of this world.
We have nothing to do with that kind of so-called "Christianity", Boomer. If you notice, again, I haven't quoted from any of those "fathers" of Christendom, that either blended pagan beliefs with the bible, or taught their own thing.
However, the bible was not "compiled under the watchful eye of Theodosius". That is just when it became the religion of the state
Wed, Dec 2, 2020, 3:39am (UTC -6)
I never got a chance to thumb through a King James Bible until I stayed in a hotel room for the first time. I was shocked to see a half dozen books were "missing".
There's still no universal consensus on exactly what the Bible is. One denomination's apocrypha is another denomination's Holy Word.
Wed, Dec 2, 2020, 3:52am (UTC -6)
You bring up another good point! I found a really good article on this subject:
https://wol.jw.org/en/wol/d/r1/lp-e/1200000305#h=5:0-12:1212
Wed, Dec 2, 2020, 4:00am (UTC -6)
Jehovas Witness consider the bible to be the finals authority and their bible version is the Vulgate if I'm not mistaken and the Vulgate was compiled under the reign of Theodosius.
Jehovas witness have the lowest amount of college degrees of all religious groups by far in the USA. Pretty impressive. 76% are against LGBT+ and 74% reject evolution. Nice...
Sadly I have to work now.
Wed, Dec 2, 2020, 4:09am (UTC -6)
No, we do not use the Vulgate. We use the New World Translation.
And you are correct-we do not typically go to a university (or college). Here is some information on the subject and you'll see why:
https://www.jw.org/en/jehovahs-witnesses/faq/jw-education-school/
https://wol.jw.org/en/wol/d/r1/lp-e/402013764?q=higher+education&p=par
As far as the other things you mention, both that lifestyle and the theory are not in harmony with the Bible. It is nice-thank you
Wed, Dec 2, 2020, 4:12am (UTC -6)
Once again, I appreciate your finding what we do impressive. But, remember, we are not taking credit for it. By following the bible, we are able to avoid such things, so credit goes to God for providing His Word so we can avoid different pitfalls that many fall into. I don't want you to think we feel somehow better than others. Indeed, as I said before, we strive to help all to gain an understanding of the bible, please God, and live in the paradise that He promised is soon to come. It is not something we credit ourselves for. So, the impressiveness goes to God, not us
Wed, Dec 2, 2020, 4:32am (UTC -6)
Those links didn't address my question at all, as far as I can tell.
So let's consider a scenario instead. Let's say God is up there thinking, I'd like to give the world a new message. More information.
There's literally no way He could get His message through, because you would consider it contradictory to a 2000 year old book. It must be in the Bible or it can't be from God. There is literally no way for Him to give you new information.
If I were a follower of the Vedas, or Bhagavad Gita (also considered the word of God) and I took that same approach (which many do) that only these texts are the word of God and nothing else, it would follow that I could not accept the Bible as God's word. I can't see that your approach is any different.
Wed, Dec 2, 2020, 4:41am (UTC -6)
Actually, the Bible does prophecy new scrolls being opened, but that is only after Armageddon. Rather than wondering about new information, isn't it best at this time to follow the information we do have? I think a lot of people simply do not want to do that.
Wed, Dec 2, 2020, 4:53am (UTC -6)
Wed, Dec 2, 2020, 5:17am (UTC -6)
Well, it all depends upon whom you mean is controlling people. If you refer to some kind of elite group of men, sadly, a lot of religions do engage in such behaviour. But if you were to research Jehovah's Witnesses, you will see that no one is profiting over another. The bible's guidelines on proper morality is not making any of us rich or anything like that. And it is also something we all strive to follow. I know at one point Booming mentioned homosexuality. We all face various temptations. And this is not a point of bragging, but rather it is showing how God helps us: I have never had that particular temptation. However, I am a single man who is middle aged. Of course the temptation to commit fornication is something I have had to contend with, but again, with Jehovah's help, I have not given into it. I can also see the dangers of falling to such a course. Know man has had to control me, or profit from this. You see, again, I understand that a lot of people do control people with false claims, even claiming to be a religious person. But true religion does not do that
As John 13:35 says, "By this all will know that you are my disciples—if you have love among yourselves" True Brotherly love would never let one profit over another. It is rather the wicked that do this as Ecclesiastes 8:9 says, "man has dominated man to his harm"
Wed, Dec 2, 2020, 9:39am (UTC -6)
Wed, Dec 2, 2020, 3:36pm (UTC -6)
Is that sarcastic?
Wed, Dec 2, 2020, 6:02pm (UTC -6)
No.
But still I learned quite a bit about your group. That they predicted the world to end at least six times. Or that you are against blood transfusions?! If all Americans were Jehovas Witness more than 4 million people would die each year because of that. Extrapolating these numbers for the amount of Jehova witness (almost 9 million) would mean that every year almost a hundred thousand people die.
But as I said, I have much to do and really don't need any explanation/links why this is actually a good thing.
Wed, Dec 2, 2020, 6:21pm (UTC -6)
Ok, if it wasn't sarcastic, then please have a look at the links after you are finished with yours friends. He is in the Taliban? Is that the political group, or does that mean something else?
As far as predicting the end of the world, we have predicted the end of this world system if that is what you mean-not the world. But as Jesus said, "No one knows the day or hour" (Matthew 24:36), so setting a date is wrong.
Actually, it is "Jehovah's Witness", not "Jehovas Witness". And yes, we do not take blood as Acts 15:29 says. People would not die because of not taking blood-there are medical alternatives that we avail ourselves of.
You said, "I have much to do and really don't need any explanation/links why this is actually a good thing", but then you said earlier, you would read my links after your friends. Which is it?
Wed, Dec 2, 2020, 7:22pm (UTC -6)
Wed, Dec 2, 2020, 7:29pm (UTC -6)
Wed, Dec 2, 2020, 7:59pm (UTC -6)
In reply to what you said earlier about profiting from morality, I wasn't talking about JWs because I don't know much about them. But certainly, there was a lot to profit from by espousing, dogmatizing and enforcing moral codes in the past. The Israelites at various times thought that they were out of favor with God and that being good and moral and doing His 'will' would get Him back on their side, to deliver them a savior, return their homeland, banish the Roman occupation etc...
The idea that God takes sides continues today in various forms, and with what you are preaching about the wicked being destroyed while the good (you) being saved.
Wed, Dec 2, 2020, 8:16pm (UTC -6)
Jesus did teach us to forgive those who are repentant. Like 1 Corinthians 6: 9-11 says, "Or do you not know that unrighteous people will not inherit God’s Kingdom? Do not be misled. Those who are sexually immoral, idolaters, adulterers, men who submit to homosexual acts, men who practice homosexuality, 10 thieves, greedy people, drunkards, revilers, and extortioners will not inherit God’s Kingdom. And yet that is what some of you were. But you have been washed clean" The people in many of those episodes you mention are not repenting as they are doing their bad deeds over and over again!
Tom, I would NEVER declare myself "good"-that is for Jesus as Jehovah's appointed King to judge. To judge me, and you, and everyone else. But yes, God does take sides, or rather, those who side with Him are approved by Him. That is what I try to do
Sun, Dec 6, 2020, 6:07pm (UTC -6)
Well, I mean, the man you are talking about forgave those who were literally trying to (and did) kill him. If you need any more evidence that he was teaching unconditional forgiveness of all, and not concerned with "repentance", I don't know what anyone can tell you. Maybe you have let a strict, literal interpretation of 2000 year words blind you.
But let's be logical here. A God that takes sides is not really a God, it's an idol. If God is all-powerful, omnipotent, and if there is some other power that can challenge Him, to the point where He needs to "destroy the wicked", or "punish the evil", or "judge the wrongdoers" then we are just worshiping one power out of many. Because if God is the source of all being, then being inherently good, it must follows that only God's creations are real, and good. And anything we see that appears to oppose that must fall into the realm of illusion. If we emphasize the need to repent before we can forgive, we are making illusions real, placing our faith in their power over God's.
I don't know exactly what JWs believe but personally, a god who is weak enough to be affected by what I watch on TV, who I have sex with, and what words I speak, is not one I want to waste my time with.
Sun, Dec 6, 2020, 11:03pm (UTC -6)
You have to choose what you will do, and who you will serve. If you are going to go directly opposite of what the bible commands and say that God is weak because He wants us to not watch bad programs, and have immoral sex, you should examine your true motives.
Is it that you just don't want to be told what to do?
Mon, Dec 7, 2020, 6:53pm (UTC -6)
Is it that you just don't want to be told what to do? "
Not at all.
Let me think how to put this. You say that it is not up to you to judge, that it's up to God. Okay, perfectly reasonable statement there. But then you are saying that Sean J Hagins, lowly and humble servant of God, has the power to change who He created you to be, from one created in His image holy and innocent, into what you are not - into something sinful and wicked and guilty. And God is powerless against this, to the point where He will be very angry and punish you for it. I mean, that's pretty impressive. And all without breaking a sweat! Just switch on the wrong TV channel, sleep with the wrong person. Such power almost seems.. godlike...
So my question to you would be, why worship anyone? You could almost start your own religion.
Tue, Dec 8, 2020, 1:36am (UTC -6)
What you are doing is pointless.
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