“Regeneration”

This was my first experience with Enterprise, and I'm sorry to say I was disappointed. I love self-referential Trek as much as the next person, but I prefer homage (a la "Trials and Tribble-ations" to blatant rip-off. Not only does the suggestion that 22nd-century humans could fend off 24th-century Borg strain my credulity, but the parting revelation (the Borg are coming!) was a pretty cheap shot--the subtext here is that Enterprise is trying to fit itself into a canon in which it clearly does not belong.

Katie was right on the bat with her comment. This entire episode was completely completely in violation of Trek continuity, especially "Q Who", where humanity had its first contact with the Borg. If Zefram Cochrane had made such comments and the Enterprise had encountered these Borg, Picard should have known about them too. The Enterprise had potential, but covering the Borg was such a pathetic ratings ploy.

Whether you like this episode or not is a matter of taste, but I have to point out that there is no continuity mistake here. At least according to one theory, even if we could go back in time and alter the past, those effects would not be perceived until after the moment that the person making the changes returned to a point after he/she left to make those changes. Picard could not have read anything about Archer's encounter with the Borg because it hadn't happened yet (as Jammer states)... he couldn't perceive that the Borg were in the past until after it happened, the Enterprise-E went back in time and stopped the invasion and then returned to the "present" after the Enterprise-E first left. Only then would Archer's encounter with the Borg become "history" and suddenly be a part of the Federation's and Star Fleet's records.
Which is part of why I hate stories dependent on temporal mechanics... it gets so confusing and the ST writers often don't plot things out logically, anyway. However, in this case, there's no reason that the Borg meeting 22nd Century Earth violates 24th Century continuity in this story.

It takes a little imagination, but I prefer to look at it as the information became "lost" or "buried" over time.

Considering the Xindi attack that was about to come, and other major events of Enterprise history... it's conceivable to me that this one encounter with "cybernetic" beings may not be common knowledge 200+ years later during TNG events.

I think this episode conveyed the idea that the writers had no respect for the timeline! Big turn off for me but the final nail in the coffin would be the finale!

I must dissent from what these posters have to say.

In First Contact, the Borg Sphere arrives (as it travels backwards in time) on Earth BEFORE the Enterprise does. What (as the story itself tells us) is the pivotal event that the Borg seek to change, and is therefore, the event, if they are thwarted in their attempt to change it, that will allow the "proper" timeline to resume? The making of first contact. They are thwarted in this effort (they are unable to destroy the Phoenix, or kill Zefram Cochrane). But, the damage they DID inflict on Earth (i.e. the firing that led Lily to cry, "It's the ECON" DID really "happen" - that event was not a "it never really happened because the Borg were ultimately thwarted" event. It happened beacuse the Enterprise could and did, necessarily, restore history, once (and only once) it actually entered the 21st Century. (Contrast this with Star Trek XI, where the timeline was altered FROM THE FIRST FRAME OF THE FILM). Jammer's final paragraph (the one before "Smile, wink, nod") is completely accurate (just as is Spock's like in Star Trek XI, "The reason you aren't familiar with transwarp beaming, Mr. Scott, is that you've yet to come up with the equation for it." At the end of First Contact the ship is restored to the post-TNG episode era. "Q-Who" however, was DURING that era, so how could the characters in that episode have knowlege that history had been restored (i.e. that a force known as the Borg tried to invade Earth but failed) when, as of the stardate of that episode, the invasion (which began after Q-Who) had not yet occurred?
I mean, not to be disrespectful to anyone, but I think there's a clear answer (given how Star Trek treats time-travel stories and the implications of time travel - and it treats the implications consistently across episodes, shows and movies) as to whether any continuity was violated. I happen to think that the answer is "yes," and am not sure why others think "no." Also, remember the final shot of "Time's Arrow, Part II?" If I remember correctly, it was of Data's severed head.

Borg continuity was already "violated" by Voyager, with the idea that Sevens parents knew about the borg some 20 years earlier (so earlier than the encounter in Q-Who at system J25).

Its time to realise that what happens on TNG isn't set in stone. What happens off screen can be jsut as important as what happens on it. Just because Picard and the enterprise hadn't heard of the Borg doesnt mean that Starfleet, or Section 31, or Starfleet intellegence, or Stafleet Science, or Starfleet Xenobiology hadn't heard of them.

Its likely, as Alex above said, that the information was buried/lost/forgotten etc over the centuries, or its just as possible that the information about he Borg was Classified by Starfleet, or buried by Section 31, or something else entirely.

The Hansens as scientists may well have had access to this information for their research, but decided to make their lifes work about finding the Borg and studying them. This doesnt mean that everyone in starfleet would know about them. It's probably on a need to know basis. And why would even the Federation flagship need to know? As far as the people in Starfleet who control this inforamtion are concerned, the Bord are no threat, they are far away in the Delta Quadrant.

Another possible reason that Picard and his crew didn't know about the Borg despite Archer's encounter (and, no doubt, written reports about the events), is because it was just one of many adventures Archer reported on. If Picard or his crew had looked closer at old Starfleet records during the "Q Who" episode, they might have read about the "cybernetic organisms" that seem like the ones they were now fighting in the 24th century. In other words, the continuity can work even if you don't contort yourself with ideas like, "Picard and the Borg hadn't altered the past yet, so those past events hadn't happened yet."

I agree with Joe and Alex. If you notice, not once in the entire episode is the word "Borg" mentioned. With nothing better to label them except "cybernetic beings" (or whatever), the reports could've just faded into obscurity and took on an Area 51-style mystique with 22nd century conspiracy theorists, or something. Not the kind of thing that a 24th century crew would need to worry about usually. Makes enough sense to work if you want to avoid timeline headaches. :p

I find it hard to believe that people don't like this episode just because they can't understand the continuity. This episode is a brilliant example of following up on a previous story AND filling in a few continuity holes yet still being a great standalone story (something which the fourth season, for all it tried, never quite managed).

The Borg are a few surviving stragglers of the Borg Sphere that travelled back in time in First Contact. They escape the ice and go on their merry way, interacting enough to make a good story but not so much that it explicitly goes against everything that has happened before. They don't say their name (IIRC, they never identified themselves in Q Who either) and they don't leave any trace of themselves behind for study. This gives ample scope to allow for Picard and co. not knowing anything about the Borg, nor there being any record of them. The only record Picard may know of is that of a powerful race using cybernetic enhancements being stranded on Earth and then escaping. As Phlox reminds the viewer, the Bynars used cybernetic enhancements, and it's reasonable to assume that they aren't the only known species who do.

It also explains away two continutity issues: how the Hansens knew about the Borg, and how come the cube in Q Who was so far out of regular Borg space. When the Hansens left, all they had to go on were "rumor and sensor echoes". Considering how little evidence of the Borg was left during the episode and the fact they never identified themselves, rumours and sensor echoes would be all that was left. The Hansens would have been aware of the term "Borg" from the El Aurians, but remember, the El Aurians are a race of listeners, not speakers. As for the cube being so close to Earth during the early episodes of TNG (not only Q Who but also The Neutral Zone), again we're given the reason why. They sent themselves a message to come snooping around. In a way, it also helps explain a bit about First Contact. Why pick that time to go back to as opposed to some earlier time? Because they knew they'd have to go back to then, get frozen and thawed so they could send the message to themselves in the first place.

So yeah.

Holy smokes! Two very good episodes in a row. Almost makes up for Archer's genocide and general wreaking of havoc otherwise.

Just when I though I would have to accept Enterprise as a low-key, low quality show. On the other hand, as a TOS and I-IV fan I never watched NG or any other trek. Comments suggest continuity problems. But for me, big whoop.

The Borg are scary. The idea a coming invasion in a few hundred years is super scary. Great trek. Almost makes me want to watch som NG.

This series is actually worth watching!

Regarding DS9 (which I havn't seen) can somebody tell me how a space station sitting motionless in the middle of nowhere constitutes a good settting for trek?

Nice review as always Jammer! I only got around to watching the ep this week and was quite impressed. I'd heard a lot of negative things by people on other websites and had stood clear but this was a great action-adventure-mystery episode with some really outstanding music. The slow assimilation worked for me as a fan of the original Borg from TNG and I thought John Billingsley was great in giving a real sense of fear about what was happening to him. The continuity issues didn't worry me, as you could say it's a timeloop or alternate timeline or the timey wimey ball but it just good fun whatever way. All in all it was a good episode!

"Regarding DS9 (which I havn't seen) can somebody tell me how a space station sitting motionless in the middle of nowhere constitutes a good settting for trek?"

Because it's not just about the space station. It's about the Alpha Quadrant as a whole. And because the cast is no worse than any other cast in Trek, providing good characters to return to.

I mean, it's not like you actually get a sense of adventure and discovery from most TNG episodes...right?

Actually the first contact with the Borg was not in "Q Who" but in "Star Trek The Motion Picture"

Recycled, sure, but I thought it worked overall. The Borg had become over-used by Voyager; as they became de-mystified, they lost thet air of invincibility that made them such terrifying villains. Here, I felt that sense of dread again, much as I'd felt it in TNG and First Contact.

We can debate inconsistencies and possible breaches of cannon with any time travel episode. I was generally captivated by the pace of the action, pleased with Archer's decisiveness, thought Billingsley had some of his most affecting moments as he grapples with his mortality and sense of duty. Based on comments, I'm not holding out hope that this series reaches the heights of TNG or DS9. Still, two solid episodes in a row.

even subspace messages take two centuries to reach the Delta Quadrant?

Good points all around.

One thing I was interested in going in that I think the show stayed true with is that the Borg are somewhat limited by the primitive state of 22nd Century technology. On the Enterprise E, with replicators everywhere, they can do a lot right away. But on the transport, or even the first Enterprise, it takes awhile to accomplish anything.

I see them as being a little spoiled by the endless access to new technologies (and worker bees).

I want to add to what Bob was saying. As he is mentioning.

Basically, I loved the episode, but was afraid that the ending would ruin it all. After all, This was going to have to be a victory over the Borg - by an enterprise that are underwhelming compared to the Klingons, Romulans, Vulcan's and just about everyone else.

However, as it turned out, there was the fact that they were limited by the time's technology. Heck, these Borg would have been far more scary had they had shields, but they didn't.
Moreover, they seemed to act like they would have if they had had shields to prevent humans beaming over. I like the idea that even though the Borg are very good at adapting to threats physically, they aren't so good at adapting their strategy. That actually matches what we have seen elsewhere - it isn't often that the Borg stray from their known strategies. And especially not when they are disconnected from the collective.

That is to say, following TNG and Voyager sources on the matter, they were probably forming a mini-collective with just the seven of them. Must have been pretty disorienting to them!
That makes for another disadvantage for the Borg which justifies the Enterprise crew besting them as well as woud give them another reason not to be straying from their normal tactics even though they missed important technology for that (shields!)

Simply a really good solution to the matter, in my eyes.

As for the other issue many people have with this episode, the continuity, I don't have much of an issue with it, really. I am following the theory that that the knowledge was lost in time. Or, at least, obscured enough not to be identified at the time of "Q Who?"
However, I would like to say that time travel theories can be valid as well. I would also like to contest the claim that time travel is consistent in Star Trek - heck, there's not a place were it is done less consistently. In a brief note to make that claim not entirely without proof backing it up, I would like to request anyone who thinks differently to compare Voyager's "Time and Again" with the same series' two-parter "Future's End", which obviously use two different different temporal mechanics.

Two decent episodes in a row!!! IMO, that was the best Enterprise episode so far! Looking forward to watch more soon :)

While you're wanking about continuity, how about the fact that quadrants in TOS were small chunks of the galaxy, much like sectors, yet here they speak of the Delta Quadrant? This episode gets a negative rating from me just for that. I'd rather watch A Night in Sickbay. At least they don't make any continuity errors there, like having Porthos be Spot's great^23-grandfather.

In all seriousness, it's very conceivable that the info was just filed away and forgotten about. I mean, surely it's less unlikely than all knowledge of a popular "franchise" like Star Trek being forgotten by the 22nd century.

The continuity issues didn’t bother me in the slightest. Speaking as a long-term Dr. Who fan (classic series), continuity-wise this is a drop in the ocean. Try to make sense of Dalek history/the Valeyard/Romana’s regeneration/insert your choice of mind-boggling looped self-contradiction here, then try & sew the whole 26 years + NAs/MAs/EDAs/PDAs/Audios/DWM Comic Strips etc into one coherent piece. Next to that, this is a minute wrinkle. Trek canon/continuity is a whole ton more consistent & smooth, helped no doubt by Paramount’s statement that only the TV episodes/movies count as canon (I think I read that somewhere?).

For the episode itself, I’ve always thought it was the best use of the Borg:

1. The FX are the best used on a Borg episode, in some ways better than First Contact
2. The Borg benefit from being seen afresh for the audience through the virgin eyes of a pre-Q Who? crew; this gives them back some of their mystique/fascination, somewhat like the scenes with Seven’s parents in The Raven & Dark Frontier (the best parts of those episodes)
3. There’s no damn Borg Queen to detract from the aggressive hegemonizing swarm vibe. In dramatic terms the Daleks needed Davros for exposition but the Borg just didn’t need the Queen. In this episode they don’t have a single line except the usual ship-to-ship hail (from memory) & it only enhances their threat level as relentless & implacable (ok it helps that the audience know what they’re all about so exposition isn’t needed)
4. These Borg are at a disadvantage; stranded far from the Collective, without a Cube & there’s only a couple of them. This instantly does away with all the scripting problems around our heroes defeating an invincible foe with a damp squib dues ex machina. They get stronger & their numbers grow throughout the episode, and they only get wasted at the last minute by conventional means rather than a magic wand, and the script emphasises that they’re regenerating their ship as they are destroyed – i.e. you get to have it both ways, they’re hard as nails but not invulnerable & they get busted with conventional weaponry only in the nick of time.
5. The direction is top notch
6. The body horror element of assimilation gets a work-out in both visual & script terms

The writers pulled off a clever trick in using the tired old Borg in a new way to great effect. Probably it was the last trick in the box for them though, can’t see how you could go anywhere else with them in future.

P.S. Traditionally speaking, Classic Who fans have always had a bad grudge against Trek (Tat Wood & Lawrence Miles’ About Time books have a fair few anti-Trek jibes). I’ve never understood why, and as a British SF fan I love both Who & Trek.

Having all kinds of personal issues when this was first aired that meant I didn't see this when first aired, I've just watched it for the first time during a complete DVD watch. Luckily I stumbled on Jammer's reviews after looking to see how other fans were taking the episode thanks to a lack of critique on ST:E on Memory Alpha.

I'm surprised by a lot of the comments above - did nobody see Back to the Future 2? Doc Brown's blackboard description of a timeline spearing off into an alternate one perfectly explains this for me, and fits in with what Jammer's said.

The ST:TNG crew meet the Borg for the first time fot humanity in Q Who, and later at the second battle over Earth head back into the past. At this point, the timeline splinters off from the "Prime" timeline of ST:TNG - the Borg have interfered with Earth, regardless of the final outcome.

The ST:TNG we've seen is not from this same splinter that ST:E is on - it's the same way that the reboot movie can exist without just jettisoning the original TV shows completely, they exist at the same time just seperately on a different splinter (on that occasion Nero's destruction of the Kelvin forcing Starfleet to increase their development speed giving us the "improved" 1701 (with no bloody "A", "B", "C" or "D" to quote someone at another time;) )

I think it's perfectly straightforward, you just can't tink linearly.

I found it believable enough. And like Janeway, I'm not even going to TRY and understand the temporal mechanics of it and the paradoxes and everything - it just IS.

However, the whole thing had me questioning "Why?" - I do love that there was a good explanation for them being there, and as an action episode in general I can't argue with the analysis of it being... well, excellent. But the be-all and end-all was that "hurr, we gotta do Borg". In that respect it was pointless, and after Voyager I've seen enough of them. It's worse than Doctor Who and his soddin' Daleks. Pleeeeease can we let them rest nao? (In before they appear in the next reboot movie)

I know why they were after the Tarkaleans first though - they assimilated Arthur Dent, and ended up on a mission to find the perfect cup of tea.

I liked the way the writers tried to close the loop with First Contact and Q Who. If the story is well thought out, minor continuity errors or time travel paradoxes (or real problems) are of less importance. I found it a well paced episode with a cute premise.

What can I say, I think Jammer missed this by 1/2 star. It was 4 stars in my book! Great episode despite reintroducing the Borg. I don't mind the timeline stuff; I've kind of gotten used to jump suited, ridge nosed aliens that speak English and lots of timeline games in Star Trek. And I think the writers worked hard to make the puzzle pieces fit together like Jammer noted. Plus the opening with the guest stars was excellent, it reminded me of 50's black and white b-movies but was perfectly executed. And the music, pacing, effects, everything after act 1 with the ENT crew was so well done, it felt like a cinematic experience. And much to my surprise, they made the Borg threat come alive again, very impressive after all the Borging I've experienced over the years. Episodes like this make me glad I'm finally skipping through Enterprise looking for the cream after years of avoiding it.

It's a fun episode, but it's main problem for me isn't the continuity violation. It's the fact that the 22nd century crew can fight off the Borg when at Wolf 359 the massive Starfleet fleet was destroyed by one cube in the 24th century. It's disrespectful to Best of Both Worlds, Emissary, and Ben and Jake Sisko.

the argument that there is no continuity problem is wrong. Yes Picard and the enerprise traveled to the past after Q who but since they traveled to a past before Q who then they altered the timeline because cochrane now knew about the borg. And since cochrane lived before picard his remarks about the borg should be known to picard especially after the events in this episode. THE CRUCIAL POINT HERE IS THAT THE TIMELINE WAS ALTERED. So the only way to save continuity is to accept that all these events were somehow forgotten, burried in some forgotten starfleet report.

i don't think the issue here is about continuity (which i think they saved pretty well) but the concept of time travel itself in star trek. You can have loop time travel or alternate time travel but not both. For example, the new movie:
-Nero comes back in time, does his thing and creates a new time-line different than the original (alternate time-line)

Regenerations/First Contact:
-Borg travel back in time in order to call themselves so the can travel back in time in order to... (loop-hole time-line)

One thing should never be with the other in the same fictional universe, it's either one way or the other; and it shows a lack of coherence (understandable in a show that's been running for half a century, but still a mistake)

You could say (like a post above) that this IS an alternate time-line (so in this new time-line whenever picard encountered the borg -if he even did- he would be aware of them) but the writers clearly try to stablish a loop element.

another example:
·time's arrow - loop (data's head was already there).
·Past tense - alternate (sisko's face wasn't already in the picture, he came back to an slightly alternate future).

I agree that this episode contains good action and has a clever premise that is well executed.

The last quarter unfolds a bit too much like 'Shockwave, Part II' where convenient scenarios must play out in order to allow our heros to win the day.. but otherwise it flows along nicely.

Continuity? Whatever. There wasn't much continuity from 'Q Who' to 'First Contact' regarding the Borg so I don't care much about it here.

But I do feel that the Borg are one of those enemies that need to be used very sparingly. Not Enterprise's fault but Voyager killed the Borg for me.

3-3.5 (probably the series' 3rd or 4th best episode to this point)

First ep of Enterprise I've seen (recommended by a friend). The verdict?

I liked it. A lot. The in-jokes to First Contact (Phlox: "Do not let them touch you", Reed joking about using holographic bullets on the Borg), the pacing, effects - pretty decent. A little too convenient at times (For instance, why do the Tarkelean drones adapt instantly while the drones on the transport lose about ten or so before finally adapting? Also, how conveeeeenient that those drones survived the explosion and fell to Earth relatively intact...) requiring Treknobabble explanations a bit more than I like, but I could still bring myself to suspend disbelief.

Probably my fave part was the beginning. I was laughing silently to myself while the researchers were talking about the Borg. They might as well have all been wearing red shirts. The fact that they all get assimilated is no surprise, but it's the fact that we, the viewers, can see it coming and they can't, which just makes it so effective.

Now if only Enterprise can be this excellent without having to fall back on old Trek villains...

Overall, excellent ep. I agree with the 3.5 star rating.

This episode is kind of fun if you turn off your brain. I normally despise episodes like that. Maybe it's because it was a decent, non-boring Enterprise episode and the pace and visuals were overall very good.

But please? Let's even take continuity off the table. We've got Magic Borg here, who can seemingly fabricate everything out of nothing. In TNG, newly minted Borg got their prostheses from surgery. Here, random metal parts start appearing, bubbling up from under the skin. Are nanoprobes now mini-replicators too? I guess that's consistent, since they seemed to do everything but Seven's dry cleaning.

T'Pol said the transport gained in mass 3% from the last time they saw it (which was *after* it was done with the Tarkalean ship). Where did they get the mass? Space junk? Stellar debris? Did they assimilate Harry Potter so they could use his magic wand?

While the two assimilated Tarkaleans are running amok on Enterprise, nobody thinks of using the transporter? The Borg adapt quickly to the initial phasers. Then when Malcolm SuperSizes them (in what, ten minutes? by upping the energy?) they drop like flies, then adapt, then drop some more, then adapt again? What? They're a hive mind. Why would some adapt to the phasers while the rest sit there going "Derp. Those phasers killed the last five Borg. Maybe I'll get lucky."

We've seen this kind of convenience before, even in Borg episodes, but never so blatant. Also, even granting that these Borg are perhaps not as advanced as the ones in TNG, it pretty much makes hash of what we know about them. In Q Who, when TNG meet the Borg, they get a couple of shots *maybe*, then the Borg adapt. The TNG crew had to mix it up furiously just to survive. Here, Malcolm does *one thing* and they can *beat* the Borg. Already in this show, in just one episode, they're implacable when we want a good scare, then braindead pushovers when we need to save the day. Some consistency would be nice.

Worst of all, the Borg board Enterprise and stay together and do...nothing. What was the purpose of walking through a bunch of corridors? "Have you told this corridor that Resistance Is Futile (tm)? Right, then. Off to the next one!" Then they inexplicably beam off, when they should have known that Enterprise had its weapons back.

Wouldn't it have made more sense to board the ship, go off in four or more separate directions, and assimilate as many people as possible? Why leave, when all you need is a foothold on Enterprise and then you have both ships? Or, as Jammer pointed out, why leave Earth in the first place? These are the stupidest Borg since Descent.

This episode smacks of *convenience*. Everything is quite convenient, from the number of Borg Reed and Archer are able to shoot to MagicBorg technology that appears out of thin air to how everything was able to be neatly wrapped up.

It works, in a way, but it's also very sloppy and lazy. And that's the kind of thing that tends to take great ideas (like the Borg) and make them boring and toothless. I'd much rather see Our Heroes win because they're smart, clever, and resourceful than because a bunch of contrivances made it so.

When Borg show up it's a good indication the writers are out of ideas. There's a reason Voyager used them so much and DS9 not at all.

@ Sintek...Well, since the Borg had been established in TNG to have their origins in the DQ, it would have been absurd for Voyager not to have them.

Though not a huge fan of ENT (actually, my wife and I had only seen the pilot before this episode), I really enjoyed this episode, particularly since it was connected to First Contact, which is one of my favorite ST movies. The story actually felt a LOT like FC in a lot of respects, including the creepy atmosphere, action, and the feeling of dread that pervades the episode. Not since FC have the Borg felt so menacing, even more so (I would argue) than they were in some of the early TNG episodes, maybe even more so because of the pre-TOS technology. Like FC, this felt almost like a suspense/horror movie as characters are being hunted by the Borg and threatened with assimilation via their nanoprobes. I was on the edge of my seat throughout most of the episode though I pretty much suspected that the Enterprise crew would be o.k. I'd say that Earth got rather lucky given that the Borg survivors from First Contact could have potentially achieved their initial objective of assimilating Earth had they stayed on Earth and kept assimilating people left and right. They also might have taken Enterprise had they not left during the ship-to-ship encounter (my only guess is that they were summoned back to the ship to crew it and/or repair it prior to its destruction). However, the ingenuity of the crew, as well as Archer's realization that the science team ultimately could not be rescued, saved the day in a way that seemed plausible and didn't involve some huge contrivance or deus ex machina.

In terms of suspense, this was the best episode so far. Yes, there were plot holes, but I couldn't look away wondering how they were going to handle the Borg threat.

The suspense largely came from the underestimation of the Borg by everyone from the researchers to Archer, who continues to believe he can rescue the research team long after we know they're a "lost cause." I kept waiting to see when they were going to learn the hard way, and the writers cleverly threw in some red herrings to keep it from being predictable. For instance, I was sure that Phlox was going to turn on Hoshi as she obliviously took her sweet time feeding his plants, but it didn't happen. Then, I wondered if he would attack Archer after he called him down to sick bay, but instead he gave him the fatal injection to administer if all else fails.

Highly entertaining episode, and one of the very few I've truly enjoyed so far.

Makes the Enterprise-E crew look even more stupid. Leaving all that Borg wreckage on 21st century Earth. Oy vey

On the Season 2 blu-ray, there's a commentary track from John Billingsley and his wife, who is also in this episode. It's one of the funniest things you'll ever listen to.

@auralgami: I was also perplexed by why the Borg on the transport were so easily dispatched, but the ones on the Enterprise weren't. Then it occurred to me — Reed and the others quickly upgraded "as many [phasers] as we can", that is, the upgraded phase pistols could take out more Borg than the vanilla kind. Presumably Reed and Archer took along some of the souped-up phase pistols, while the others still only had the "holographic bullet" type (lulz) and thus the Borg were able to adapt to them more quickly.

Also, as far as continuity goes, I think it's fairly simple and straightforward. The Borg ship was left over from “First Contact”, as remarked upon by Cochrane in his speech. As T’Pol notes, no one took his story seriously and at no time did the name “Borg” ever crop up, just “cybernetic beings”, of which there could be many different races (some of which may even be benevolent).

Granted, having some Borg drones survive the crash is implausible, but not impossible, and they *were* shown having substantial damage — missing arms and such. Possibly they were slowly regenerating all that time, only to have it accelerated by being placed in a warmer location.

As to why the TNG crew would be unaware of the Borg in spite of these events, like others said it’s entirely possible. Again, the NX-01 crew would have had no name for the beings they met, just “cybernetic beings”, and this would have been one mission amongst many, many others. Unless the TNG crew had perfect memories of all events in Starfleet history, it’s no surprise that they were unaware of what had happened, and even if they were aware of it, there’s nothing to necessarily make the connection that the “being” of the NX-01 crew are one and the same as the Borg that the TNG met. It’s actually a very nice way to tie up the loose strands of the story and get the Borg into the NX-01 series, hopefully without overdoing it later, and adds a nice note of foreboding at the end. All in all I very much enjoyed this episode, far more than the first half of this season. I agree with the rating, would even give it four out of four.

To those saying this episode conflicts with continuity, it could be argued that the events of First Contact changed the timeline thus allowing this episode to fit into the new continuity.

Okay I know I am really late here but I just can't help myself...I noticed that no one really addresses the real "elephant in the room" on "Regeneration"

I watched this episode when it originally aired and own the DVD and I have said from the very beginning...WHAT WERE THESE BORG DOING THERE IN THE FIRST PLACE?

ST:FC My favorite quote is as follows: "I will not sacrifice the Enterprise. We've made too many compromises already; too many retreats. They invade our space and we fall back. They assimilate entire worlds and we fall back. Not again. The line must be drawn here! This far, no further! And *I* will make them pay for what they've done!

So as we all know the crew of Enterprise E defeat the Borg and Picard tells Data to charge the deflector and they go home (They have a time machine which I will discuss later)

So the big question again is why are there Borg on Earth for that science team to find?

Picard risked 1701-E to stop them from going into Earth's past...They killed the queen, they launched the Phoenix and assured and even darn near witnessed First Contact.

The debris was near the poles and was not picked up by scans? Data knows how to get around the magnetic issues with scanners and poles...Remember we need to keep the Borg out of Earth's past or all the risk and DEATH of 1701-E crew will be in vain.

1701-E had a time machine...That means that the pending arrival of the Vulcans was not an issue. They had all the time in the world to make sure not one single drone was left on Earth.

At one point 1701-E launched her escape pods. They had to retrieve them at some point. Not sure how they do that- Transporters, shuttles either way it is not a quick thing to do so again they had time to do that and no time to make sure they cleaned up debris from the dead sphere?

Speaking of the sphere, usually things falling in the Arctic like that get DEEPER...That one scientist tripped on a Borg foot! This Borg had been there for 100 years. I guess the debris was in a glacier and over time became uncovered...

Oh yeah, the debris field makes no sense either. The Sphere was blown to bits and somehow all that debris came down in a small area. When Shuttle Columbia broke up there was debris field Roughly 250 miles long and 40 miles wide There is no way the Borg debris would be in such a tight arrangement.

@Daniel Lebovic

"What (as the story itself tells us) is the pivotal event that the Borg seek to change, and is therefore, the event, if they are thwarted in their attempt to change it, that will allow the 'proper' timeline to resume? The making of first contact. They are thwarted in this effort (they are unable to destroy the Phoenix, or kill Zefram Cochrane)."

This is both true and not true. The Borg *did* prevent First Contact and assimilated Earth. This is canonically demonstrated onscreen when the Enterprise-E, caught in the temporal vortex but still in the twenty-fourth century, sees a Borgified North America and Data says the population of Earth is "approximately nine billion -- all Borg." What happened then is that the Enterprise arrived in 2063 *before* the Borg had completed their goal and was able to prevent them from doing so, effectively erasing -- or overwriting -- the timeline in which the Borg were successful.

@elhphaba,

"It's the fact that the 22nd century crew can fight off the Borg when at Wolf 359 the massive Starfleet fleet was destroyed by one cube in the 24th century. It's disrespectful to Best of Both Worlds, Emissary, and Ben and Jake Sisko."

I've been thinking about this, and let's compare these two situations:

1-- Wolf 359. A fully functional entire cube , that could have held more than 100,000 fully assimilated and functional drones, (considering a borg cube is HUGE (> 3 km on each side). ) That could easily be more than 10 times the total number of starfleet personnel on those 39 destroyed ships -- assuming not all ships are as large as the enterprise.

2-- Archer, battling an earth transport ship, seized only days ago, that originally wouldn't have had ANY combat capability, let alone be any match for the enterprise NX, with 29 drones aboard - and even then, the great majority of those was still in the very early stages of assimilation, so it's reasonable to assume they weren't 'fully functional' yet. We see just two drones being excavated, so that latter number could even be as low as 2.

Perhaps the Borg do win their battles more by force of sheer numbers than by overhwelming technology. Also, we're not sure that if a collective dies, and only a very few survive, they have (instantaneous) access to all specific knowledge of the previous collective.

In short, I do not necessarily see a contradiction here.

Though I will admit it _is_ a stretch that Phlox is capable of finding a radiation cure within hours whereas 24th century science has a much harder time of it ...

Was watching this on DVD last night and then ducked into the writers audio commentary, was interesting to hear a very defensive Mike Sussman defend the choices made and response to similar criticism seen here.

Overall the whole thing worked and is justifiably regarded as entertaining and well directed with an excellent score, but even Sussman recognized the implausibility and sheer stupidity in Act 1 and admitted that it was a bit of leap to far in logic and belevability which many in the audience couldn't overcome. I got the impression that Braga wanted to do this episode, there were some spare sets and costumes floating around from the First Contact shoot. They did okay to try to tie in some difficult sequel/prequel issues but the explanation of how Flox's radiation treatment for the nanobots somehow got lost from the 22nd century to the 24th century was pretty weak.

We did get something close to an apology for Acquisition although to be fair I don't think we could put that one on Sussman's shoulders!

An entertaining episode even if it stretches credulity and continuity a bit. When Reed and two redshirts were battling the Tarkaleans by the plasma relays, didn't one of the redshirts get injected by Borg nanoprobes? This was never followed up during the rest of the episode. This guy should have become a Borg and started infecting the rest of the crew. Now that's a continuity error.

W Smith: I'm pretty sure Reed clubbed the Tarkalean with his rifle before the drone could inject the redshirt. It's been a while since I watched this episode though so my memory might be a bit foggy.

Ok so if this show is in normal time and 24th century coexisting if it follows after st fc the signal sent taking 200 years in Archers time. Wouldnt it already be in 24 century and reason 7 was assimilated the second time adding later to Janeway troubles instead of Picards. If you follow how messages are sent from past to future like back to the future or quantum where al and sam switch places

WHO CARES!

Done to death again and again..how voyager ruined the fanbase.

And buried Enterprise.

Great episode. I enjoyed the nod to "First Contact". I don't think it busted the Trek timeline, though I do get the point about no 24th century pre knowledge of the Borg. But it is always fuzzy to me what people affected by timeline shift would and wouldn't know, especially when it has been altered so many times.

Anyway, the time travel episodes are all pure fantasy as opposed to sci fi to me as I concur with the determination of the Vulcan Science Directorate that time travel is impossible. There is no past to go back to because it only existed when it was the present. Same goes for the future.

This is, by far, one of the best episodes of Enterprise.

It is also, by far, one of the best Borg episodes. The Borg here are even more terrifying than in Q Who and as frightening as in First Contact.

This episode says a lot about the Trek fandom. Those who like Enterprise will see this as one if the cleverest, most intimidating episodes ever, easily on a par with DS9's finest hours. It provides a clever tie-in to TNG.

Those who don't like Enterprise will whine about a broken timeline, ignoring the fact that the Borg timeline is already a total mess (7 of 9's parents were evidently looking for them before Picard encountered them) - the Federation was clearly aware of the Borg before TNG started.

The only issues - and I mean the ONLY issues - I've got with Regeneration are that Reed manages to batter his way through the Borg ship's crew without too much trouble and Phlox irradiating himself shows there's a cure for assimilation that nobody else in the galaxy will think of 200 years later.

The music, action, writing and directing are utterly first class. The music is beyond the atonal shash Berman decreed Trek episodes must use (just one of the many ways he prevented Trek from being truly competitive against cooler, more modern Sci fi in terms of popular appeal.

Only the extras who appear at the beginning are wooden and lifeless. Again, this is Berman's ridiculous decree that no humans must ever show emotion -- because showing emotion might give Trek a wider appeal and make its human characters more interesting and more relevant to modern audiences.

A good Star Trek episode. as a captain of an Intrepid class once said about time travel, "it gives me a headache just thinking about it."
To pontificate ad nauseum about how "wrong" this episode is is irrelevant and futile. Enterprise nx 01 encountered the Borg first. whether one likes the series or not, that is a fact, and it is undisputed. That is all.

@ I am right,

*** Yanks stands and applauds ***

If you're not going to be able to put questions of continuity aside you're probably not going to like this. For me I don't really care so much, and I loved it.

What's good here is that after the Borg kids and the like on Voyager we finally get back to basics with good, old fashioned killer Borg. This episode conjures an atmosphere of dread - never better than in the highly unusual, regular-less first act - and, helped by the superb score, offers a thrill-ride that doesn't let up. Yes, the last act just has a little too much of the running around corridors thing we've seen much of in the past. But there is too much here, delivered with such verve, not to like. 3.5 stars.

This is one of the few enjoyable and operational Enterprise episodes before Season 4.

This is why I like the in-universe book series that follow TNG/VOY/movies.

Basically the authors, several of whom were Star Trek Writers too, explain it away as a cover-up by Starfleet for the continuity issue. From Archer's Borg encounter to the V'Ger crisis to El Aurian refugees story of Borg invasion to Hanson research to Neutral Zone outpost....There were a lot of bread crumbs, so only something classified top secret could have been hidden so far and so long. They didn't say it out loud, but we can infer it due to the fear of alien invasion and the "safety" of Earth/Federation at stake, Section 31 was most likely behind it.

Which leaves us with some unsettling questions of how long was Starfleet and Section 31 building up for the confrontation with the Borg, probably up to the big failure at Wolf 359.

My guess is that Earth and Star fleet have been preparing for 200 years to face the Borg; multi-phasic shield, quantum torpedoes (based off anti-matter data from the destroyed Sphere), modulating phasers, and so forth were strategies adapted fora big battle they knew would come. However, I think Starfleet and Section 31 underestimated the Borg's ability to adapt and to know its secrets through assimilation. Someone should write an untold background story of Wolf 359, showing the hubris and conceit that must have been in play for decades prior to the ultimate battle that was more or less lost if it weren't for one man and one ship.

I still remember my thoughts before I first saw this episode.

"They don't need to go there" ... "why?" ... "I'm not going to like this" ... Thinking back to the Feregni episode.

Then I watched it.

Damn they did a pretty good job. Very enjoyable hour of trek. Suspenseful, engaging, fast paced...

Outstanding special affects. What Enterprise gave us in this regard still impresses me. I just binge watched Enterprise and man, visually it's still outstanding.

For those that have a hard time with the Borg timeline, dig First Contact, not Enterprise.

As always we can nit-pick details, especially when time travel is involved, but much like Star Trek Beyond, I don't feel the need to because the product is well presented and fits with established canon at the time it was made.

I'll go 3.5 stars too.

Damn, season 2 has really got it's act together from 'Judgment' on. This season might grade higher than I anticipated as well.

@Yanks - In my other comments I rail against annoying prequel tendencies to go against their premise. If you want to tell stories about the Borg, don't have a prequel!! Well, that's my usual philosophy anyway. In this case... totally agree with you. The execution justifies the product and stays my judgement. It was just good.

Good to hear from you Robert. Hadn't heard much since I finished Voyager.

You too! I've been enjoying your ENT reviews :)

Oh, look - the BORG - "yawn".

An excellent tie in to First Contact and the last use of the Borg in Trek TV.

I get the impression a lot of the commenters have some deep prejudice against Enterprise.

Phlox being Denobulan has some experience with nanotechnology and perhaps his physiology allowed him to sustain the nano-probes in himself.

I wonder if they did some quantum dating and allowed them to conclusively prove they were from the future.

Think of it like historical records if say some Indians had washed up on European shores or vice versa a few hundred years before Columbus would there be much if any historical reference regarding this?

The Borg encounter would be filed under Enterprise NX-01 alien species mention cybernetic hostile, origins unknown further information requires either Academic permission or a security clearance.

Same thing with the Ferengi incident.

Oh and the score was excellent, And I couldn't help but shudder with the call forward. Archer " It seems like we've only postponed the invasion until what? The 24th century"

Great call forward there.

I guess I must be one of the few who didn't like this episode that much.

What happens is mostly logical***, continuity is kept, and the execution is decent. But bottom line is that the episode doesn't add anything new at all. The "ominous dread" doesn't lead to anything (the characters keep going as is, and we the viewers know humanity will make it through). We have all the by-now-Borg-standard fare and nothing else. The crew relates and deals with the Borg just like any other Starfleet crew would have (besides VOY which was worse). All-in-all, 3 stars.

*** Arguably, it would have more sense for the Borg to follow their original orders, remain on Earth and try to assimilate everyone.

A very audacious idea which works surprisingly well, given the odds against it.

I have one little issue which nobody seems to have mentioned, and the fact it hasn't been discussed suggests that I'm probably just missing something obvious, but here goes:

the Borg in this episode can, after some time, regenerate even when they're dismembered and assumed to be dead. In the 24th century don't dead Borg generally stay dead?

But all the same it was hard not to enjoy this ep, which makes back to back good eps; a rarity for this series thus far.

To those who claim continuity issues, I say: Stop thinking of the Trek universe as being singular. It has been shown over and over again, in all series, to be a multiverse.

The Borg traveling back during First Contact effectively split off a new possible set of events (and timeline/universe).

We can argue whether "our" TNG crew returned to a now changed future (from their perspective), or possibly to their own original future, but from that moment in /that/ universe the Borg being on Earth at that time is now a thing.

The impact was clearly low--people dismissed Cochrane's stories as drunken tales (uhh what about Lilly, well, whatever)--and the Borg didn't get discovered until the time we're now observing which is ENT--considering how rocky things were for Earth at the time I can understand how the Borg could lay dormant for quite a long time.

Just my opinion, but I think it's very possible if we watched a Deja Q episode, which follows from this ENT time and universe, it would look different--Picard might have some dusty details of an encounter 200+ years past, and it might be new and different.

I think this is a terrific episode on its own. It is a bit odd watching it as we all know about the Borg but Archer & Co. don't. It's a bit similar to Picard & Co. in Q Who in their encounter. The Borg are terrifying and without worrying about continuity issues etc., this is the best, purposeful action in ENT since Shockwave Part I.

The plot is well thought out - getting to see a side of Phlox when he's truly grappling with his own mortality after having been infected - great piece of acting.

The foreboding at the end with the message sent to Delta Quadrant also ends the episode on a great note.

The only issue is sort of an external one. ENT has been struggling with mediocre episodes but turning to the Borg and finding a way to incorporate them was well done here - regardless of whether or not it is appropriate. I can't weigh in on if there are inconsistencies in the canon now (not having seen every episode/movie) - but everything came together well in this episode.

For me, 4 stars out of 4. Not a moment wasted, excellent action/adventure and the Borg are portrayed the way they're supposed to be.

I usually like Borg stories. I also usually like time paradoxes; but the implications resulting from this episode should be enough to radically change the TMG timeline. Q sends the Enterprise into deep space where they encounter a Borg cube. Picard: Did you bring us here to bore us Q? We've known about these beings for two centuries. (Worf blasts the cube with the standard Omicron wave ray fitted to all earth starships for the last hundred years,) Thus ends the Borg saga. No Lecutus of Borg, no Hugh, no need for the Enterprise to travel into the past chasing the Borg to Zephraim Cochrane's time. And now this episode no longer exists.

mefive: Wibbly wobbly, timey wimey...just go with it ;)

I think 3.5 stars too high. 2.5 stars seems right

The teaser and first act are very clever and fresh and 3.5 star stuff. Unfortunately the rest of the episode mechanical and formulaic. Plus the material covered such as being assimilated and transformed into another life form was done so much better in TNG's "The Best of Both Worlds" and TNG's"Identity Crisis". Also the debate over trying to rescue those altered was also handled better in those episodes too

Yes it was a stroke of genius the way the writers used the opening left by the film FORST CONTACT to bring the Borg into the prequel but ultimately I don't think it was enough to justify an episode that had to do a lot of tap dancing everywhere else to make their presence work. And the ominous acknowledgment that the Borg would be coming at the end of this episode was a pale imitation of that scebe in the classic TNG Q Who?

This episode sheds some light on one of the theories about Q: that the continuum is humanity of the far future (the secret that Q was about to tell Picard in "All Good Things," but backed off with the cryptic, "you'll find out"). As such, Q was doing Picard a favor by alerting him to the Borg's presence in "Q-Who."

I can buy the fact that this incident may well have been forgotten 200-plus years later. Certainly the much harder continuity error to stomach is why no one in "Q-Who" knew about the Borg in light of the events of ST: Generations, where the Ent-B encountered the El-Aurian refugees fleeting from a Borg attack.

In this new, "headstart against the Borg" timeline, Picard would probably have better anti-Borg technology than the Endgame-Janeway had.

Well, the reason why Picard didn't know about the borg is quite simple:
Do you know the USS Enterprise? I guess you do. Do you know USS Fletcher? USS Somers? USS Murphy? USS Meade? I guess not. The reason is quite simple: There are so many naval ships in the world, nobody can remember them all. In the same way, Picard does not know about every encounter Starfleet ever had. I guess there are quite a few that involve cybernetic organisms. 200 years of encounters, rumors, first contacts and so forth, are simply too much to keep in your head. And nothing made the Borg stick out, really. At that point in time, many species were more advanced than humans. So while their powers were certainly frightening, they did not show up for another twohundred years.

Oh, and I forgot to add: The borg likely took everything usable from the wreckage, and only left hull plating and so forth, which is why further investigations into the crashsite did not produce any insights. It is also possible that they destroyed what they could not take with them. In their first encounter with Picard, they beam their dead back on board to not leave evidence behind.

Ah the Borg, our favorite despicable villains.

They are the perfect nemesis for the Federation and a Starfleet mostly commanded by humans.

While the Borg assimilate other worlds for their technologies, Starfleet, one way or another, infects other cultures with our puny human values.

I loved this episode. Clearly the Prime Timeline was infected. That might well account for the technological differences between DISCO and TOS.

I don’t have the prejudicial dislike of ST Enterprise some others do, but episodes are uneven, with several lame ones bracketing decent ones.

For me, this one was a 4-Star, probably the first one in this series. The production, directing, and especially the score were excellent. I was not bored even for a second.

I frankly don’t care about time travel continuity issues because thinking about that bores me for whatever reason. Still, I have no trouble believing an unnamed cybernetic race would be known to the TNG crew 200 years later. It is also possible, as someone here pointed out, that Starfleet intelligence cloaked this Borg encounter in secrecy.

The one minor quibble I have is that some of the Borg assimilation efforts, especially of ship systems rather than people, seems more magic than science. I was especially bothered by the line about the Borg’s captures vessel having increased its mass by three percent. How was that mass created out of nothing? Did they stop by an asteroid and mine building material? But this was hardly enough to detract from an otherwise great episode.

i agree there are continuity issues BUT watch q who and specifically guinan--guinan's quizzical and "there's more going on here/something is off" looks add some depth to the multi-time line arguments.

I loved this episode, but can't see a continuity problem; this is a classic causal loop. An event (the Borg travel to the past) causes another event (the sphere is discovered in the past leading to the events of this episode), which then has an effect on the continuing timeline until the original event occurs. Both cause and effect then exist in spacetime but it is no longer possible to isolate an origin because there technically isn't one, its become a loop.

As to why the 24th Century crew were unfamiliar with the Borg at J25? I simply assumed that this episode depicted a brief random incident with an unknown lifeforms of which there were no survivors. I doubt that 200 years later it will have flagged up.

I was skeptical at first, but I thought this episode was great. The premise was clever and made sense with established Trek continuity. It was fast paced and exciting and well shot and written.

My favorite part is Archer struggling with the decision to shoot the assimilated aliens out of the airlock. He doesn't even have to say exactly what to do. He looks at T'Pol and she knows what he means. And the show treats this decision as difficult for him. The lingering shot right after it happens of Archer's face in close-up with a thousand yard stare was excellent.

That's some good drama

4 out of 4 for me.

I love the homage to "The Thing".

Time paradox stuff...don't hurt your brain trying to figure it out. This was a suspenseful episode and a proper send-off for the Borg after Voyager ruined them.

Enterprise made the Borg terrifying again.

As far as I'm concerned the entire Enterprise series exists because of First Contact. The Enterprise-E travelled back in time altered the future. That's why we never heard about the Xindi before.

I wish they would come out with a Crisis in Multiple Star Treks like the DC Comics stuff did to clear up its own continuity errors.

Sybock and now Michael Burnham? This can't be the same universe.

I enjoyed this episode, these Borg were a little wimpier than others I have seen, but it was a good change of pace for this series. I am left with questions, but that also is a sign that it is something worth thinking about.

This is a 4 star episode, Jammer. That it has the Borg on doesn't make it less of a perfect episode. It doesn't need to be an original premise to be excellent.

Thoroughly enjoyable episode, AND:

If there are any fans of the very Trekkian game FTL: Faster Than Light (which is basically crew and resource management in ship to ship battles), I feel as though this episode gave that game the blueprint - specifically in how Enterprise and the crew engages against the borg - trying to target particular systems of the ship rather than going for warning shots, or, on the other hand, total destruction. Plus the remote control of the airlock and venting the assimilated species into space.

In spite of all that, this episode was super gratifying. I loved the references, and it made me glad I waited as long as I did to watch Enterprise.

Obviously the Borg, even in their weakened state, should have easily assimilated Enterprise, heck Earth itself. They inexplicably de-adapt to the phase pistols after having previously adapted (including to the enhanced ones) and Malcolm and Archer are just dropping them like flies. They just inexplicably abandon Enterprise for the other ship so that they can be blown out of the sky.

Plus Phlox curing himself with radiation makes zero sense - a far more egregious continuity breach than anything else in this episode.

That said I love this episode. The music, the mystery, seeing the Borg again through fresh eyes... absolutely brilliant and *scary*. Damn but this almost was into horror movie territory. And seeing Phlox struggling with being assimilated was such a gut-punch given what a great character he is. It would be like watching Neelix get assimilated if I actually liked or cared about Neelix.

Fantastic.

It wasn’t explicit but I felt that Phlox had a cure for borg nanoprobes in denobulans, not an actual anti assimilation technique like is used on Picard and Seven and others later or a general anti nanoprobe technique that would work on other species. We know in Voyager (and maybe elsewhere?) that some species cannot be assimilated at all - perhaps Denobulans are hard to assimilate.

I was hoping at first that the researchers would be cautious and destroy everything they’ve found (which would also explain why no one had heard of it later), and it would be tormenting us as viewers “when will they wake up?” but with the characters remaining fairly oblivious. That tension was the best bit of the episode for me. The action sequences we got were fine, there’s something about that green borg lighting! But the way they didn’t say “we are the Borg” to Archer was stupid. I accepted it in the Ferengi episode, because the Ferengi don’t go around with their catchphrase “we are the Ferengi”, but not here.

I don’t see a problem with the timeline at all, as long as we can accept that the fact that this was never filed under “Borg” so no one noticed. Perhaps this strange account was one of the bits of evidence the Hansens were going on later, and they like Cochrane were held to be a bit mad after all.

The thing that annoyed me the most was Archer's killing spree on the borg vessel.

Borg body count on the Enterprise: 1.... 2..... sorry, that's it, they've adapted.
Borg body count on the Borg vessel when Archer is shooting: 1... 2... 5.... 29.... 1500 ..... Bloodiest Movie Ever!

And why on on earth would the Borg trasport the drones off Enterprise, where they had the upper hand, back to the borg ship seconds before it was destroyed. Some kind of "live together, die together" rule ?

Up until this episode, I was relieved that the lack of shields in this series prevented us from hearing that overused ‘shields at’ (some number that decreases with each shot) ‘percent!’ that made every attack on Enterprise seem the same.

But now they started giving updates as ‘hull plating at (some) percent!’... sigh.

Kick. Ass.

- Loved the sense of creeping dread in the first act, as we know from the first minute that these researchers are dead meat.
- Loved that Admiral Forrest showed up, even as a cameo. He and Admiral Ross are in a perpetual dead heat for Trek’s best admiral.
- Loved the thought of a possibly drunk Zefram Cochrane going on a conspiratorial rant about cybernetic creatures from the future at a *college commencement speech*. LOL.
- Loved John Billingsley, who played the body horror aspects of assimilation perfectly and gave a great sense of tension to all his scenes.
- Loved the direction, music, effects, everything technical.
- Loved the idea that when Q threw the Enterprise-D into the path of the Borg cube in “Q Who?” he knew that the Borg invasion was already coming. So he was both teaching an abstract lesson about the dangers of the unknown AND likely saving humanity from annihilation by giving us a heads up.

As commenters above have said, what makes this one of the best Borg episodes is that it strips them down to their basics. No cubes, no Queen, not even the word Borg, just mindless drones advancing ever forward at a sinister walking pace. One of my favorite Enterprise episodes and an easy 4 stars.

I watched this last night thought it was a great episode. The combination of naivete and then pending dread was terrific. If you redacted your knowledge of the Borg prior to watching this, it would have played out like any vanilla Star Trek episode I think that's the thing I liked most about it. You get something that might be a threat, it gets the benefit of the doubt, then either becomes or is perceived as an aggressor later in the episode. The gimmick in this instance is the audience is in on it. It was a very clever episode for me.

@Frank

It's interesting you say this, because I've been taking my friend through Trek for his first time in an abbreviated chronological order, and though he knew *of* the borg, and Seven and that they were the bad guys (of Voyager), he doesn't know much else than that. So it was supremely interesting watching this one with him.

At first he wasn't even sure it was the Borg, though he heavily suspected it. By the end of the episode it was all but confirmed. He said it was a good introduction for them, and I might agree because it makes for a ramping up of suspense from this to 'Q Who'. We'll see what effect, if any this has on 'The Best of Both Worlds' when we get there.

Something else my friend noticed was how this episode tied in with the episode 'Judgement' somewhat. In that episode there was a lot of talk about Archer's character of naivete, and trying to save everyone and kinda bending over backwards to be good (excepting Dear Doctor which I skipped cause of it's murky attempts at PD discourse.) Here in this episode though, as my friend noted, Archer was getting a touch more ruthless, spacing the Borg onboard the Enterprise instead of taking whatever risk he could to save them and his ship.

This was likely unintended, but it was fascinating to me given what happens in Season Three, and it certainly made it so that Archer's actions in one of the early episodes of that season were less jarring for my buddy.

To be honest, I've always suspected Enterprise might work better an an introduction to Trek than a prequel end-capper, excepting a number of episodes that are sub-par retellings of earlier, later stories. For one, all the 'Trek-tropes' built up over the TNG/DS9/VOY run are new instead of tired, and much as I hate the contemporariness of dialogue and behaviour showcased by humanity in more recent series, here being so early, it makes sense that some of that type of thing would still exist here, though it's blended well with the culture established by those shows, allowing to act both as a stepping stone in the development of humanity into how it was in previous series while also providing a more grounded starting point for any new (and especially wary) fans

Just re-watched this fantastic episode -- the very best of the ENT series for me. There's so much to like about it and everything that it gets right -- premise, acting, plot, visceral emotion, and even the musical score.

What I had forgotten about (hadn't seen it in a year and a half) was how Hoshi is concerned for Phlox after he's been infected and Phlox's measured response. Can't understate some of the little relationships formed by members of the NX-01 crew.

This is what a 4* Trek episode feels like. I'd encourage anybody who thinks PIC or DSC is knocking it out of the park to check out ENT's "Regeneration".

Love that this episode makes Q out as a being who really was rooting for and trying to help humanity (albeit in a "lovable a-hole" sorta way) in that it introduces into canon the fact that it was THIS encounter (a self-fulfilling prophecy brought about during the Borg's seemingly-random attack on Earth almost a decade after their first Earth attack following the Battle of Wolf 359) - and NOT the events of the TNG Season 2 ep "Q Who" - that first alerted the Borg to the existence of (and red-flagging-for-assimilation of) humanity.

Love the continuity this episode sets up. I feel the errors can be best brushed aside when you think about it like this. Enterprise doesnt necessarily take place before TNG, DS9, etc, but on a slightly different timeline changed by their fairly frequent visits to the past which probably changed a few things here and there, e.g First Contact.
The music and direction in this one were stellar, and I feel we have to give John Billingsley some major credit for his performances as Phlox, every episode he's superb, here he conveys the fear and confusion of borg conversion extremely well, he may be my favourite Trek doctor.

It seems like Trek itself is not 100% consistent on how time travel is supposed to work. The TNG "Time's Arrow" 2-parter would seem to take the position that you can't actually change the past, because whatever you end up doing when traveling into the past has already happened and is thus part of a single unchanging timeline. Guinan remembers her initial meeting with Picard in the 19th century even though, from Picard's POV, he hasn't yet traveled back in time and met her.

On the other hand, ST: First Contact seems to posit that you can change the past, because when the Borg first travel back in time, the TNG crew witness 24th-century Earth turn into a long-assimilated Borg world before following them into the 21st century to counteract their changes.

just rewatched this and was very very surprised how badly it has aged. i remember that back in the day, i considered it one of the few highlights within the overall very weak season 2.

but without the context of much worse episodes, it really doesnt do much for me. the continuity discussion only goes to show what the central problem with prequels is: you can only do so much. how are the borg ever to be considered a true threat in this episode when you just KNOW that this cannot go anywhere because the writers wouldnt dare to break such a central part of canon.

so all the loving direction, all the carefully crafted suspense music, its all for nothing, cause by design this cannot rise above the level of the viewer saying "allright guys, since you put so much effort into this, i shall be willing to somewhat go through the motions with you".

and of course with all that negative prequel handicap factored in, they still cant help themselves but break canon anyway. so 22nd century phlox is able to find a post nanoprobe infection cure that noone was able to find 200 years later. uh huh. and nobody has ever heard of this species, because, well, they didnt say "we are the borg" but just "you will be assimilated". riiight. SO clever (eyeroll). and that pile of borg tech at the north pole, people just forgot about that again i presume. or section 31 something something.

come on. i dont mind bending canon, but at least only do it when you get something in return. but this, this is just lame. you limit yourself to inconsequential stories because of canon, and then break it anyway. worst of both worlds (heh!).

good thing that DSC finally also left the realm of prequel hell. for the first time in 20 years, we will be able to enjoy storytelling that is allowed to go where no story has gone before. after watching this again, i can only say thank god, and boy, took them long enough to accept that the whole prequel gimmick BS was a mistake all along.

I liked this one a lot but found some of it confusing. So were they early proto borg or some sort of Borg offshoot species? What was up with their ship it wasn’t square or circular? Other than that this was a great episode that ties in with First Contact (the movie). Voyager should have done a similar thing here with the Borg as Enterprise has. One or two GOOD episodes of Borg and that’s it. Don’t milk it for ratings until Borgs aren’t scary.

@Cody B re: The Borg ship. It's actually just the ship from the research team that found them, being modified over the course of the episode. If you pay attention to the model, you'll see it's eventually got a big cubish chunk added to it at the end. Clearly they were in the process of cubify-ing it.

As for the Borg themselves, I see a few explanations: that being damaged and frozen for 100 years has limited the recall of the small hivemind they create, maybe causing them all to act on instict to rejoin the collective, but with gaps in their knowledge (like their name) or, they link up with the hivemind present at that time which has yet to pick a name or become biological assimilation machines (unlike the drones from the future that we see)

There is also a line in there I believs about how Phlox only survived being injected because of his Denobulan physiology. Maybe the fact he has to share each of his three wives with three partners of their own was too much of a collective for even the nanoprobes to handle.

@Nolan

Ahhh okay that makes sense I must have missed when they said it was the research ship. This was a great episode. The beginning seemed like a homage to the movie The Thing and ten it turned into just plain good Borg episode

There’s no continuity issues about Starfleet knowledge of the Borg. Starfleet doesn’t watch the Star Trek shows and know that this curious incident was significant because it’s The Borg.

They’ve got their hands full with Andorian and Vulcan intrigue, and all the other immediate issues. This would indeed be filed away and forgotten.

Similar with Seven’s parents. There was some knowledge in Starfleet of the Borg, but as a distant possible threat.


I wasn’t a huge fan. Too much of a ratings grab, and way too on the nose in a very annoying way with Archer’s final statement about the invasion being delayed until the 24th century.

After seeing how the Ferengi were retconned into Enterprise, I was not excited to see a Borg episode. I was happily surprised however, and enjoyed this episode quite a bit. I groaned initially but it was because I had forgotten about First Contact (some would say if I can manage to forget all the TNG films, I’d be one lucky fan). Seeing Archer make the hard choice of blowing up the Borg was a bold move, and Phlox remains my favorite character/actor with the believable trials he had to put himself through to fight against this new microscopic enemy. 3/4 stars

“Theres no reason to assume they’re hostile.”

“Uh, sir, this arm alone is equipped with a bone saw, a projectile weapon, and an engraving of a human skull with a the words ‘Resistance is Futile’ encircling it.”

“....You’re fired.”

Sorry but this is really bad. It's just rambling with borgs. The whole idea it's ludicrous, you really think that Enterprise E would've left wreckage of borg on Earth? It's the typical prequlitis syndrome, they can't do a borg episode so they have to come up with a dumb explanation to make them show up. I know this season it's very weak, but there's much better episodes than this crap. I can't help but think that people like it just because the borg shows up, because this episode is really boring.

The episode had a lot going for it, and a lot I didn't like.

At first, I groaned at a Borg episode, but it was handled well. What if a portion of the sphere from Star Trek First Contact crash landed in the arctic? Ok, I can go with that. What if it took 100 years for humans to have the tech to unbury it? Ok, I can see that. And what if a couple drones managed to still be alive (but "hibernating") and were awakened by the survey team? Hmmm--I dunno. I mean it has been established that the cybernetic part of the Borg need the organic part to function, and I think that part would be long dead. But, whatever

I think that the Enterprise crew then was far too equipped to fight them. For one thing, when Archer and Reed boarded the Borg craft, they shot A LOT more drones successfully than I would have thought possible (I thought maybe 2 hits would be the limit especially since they don't know how to randomise the positrons (or whatever Picard's crew do to get more shots)

I also think that infecting the doctor was dumb. I mean, not that the Borg did it, but that he was able to cure himself. I know he's an alien we haven't heard of before, but until species 8472, it seemed that there was no species that the Borg even had trouble assimilating.

And what about the 200 year warning? I mean if Archer knew that a signal was sent and it would take 200 years, it would be prudent for Starfleet to have started preparing for invasion. From what we see in Next Generation, no one had any idea what was coming!

Yea, I understand why the creators of the show did this (the ratings are floundering, and they wanted to have some of the "greatest hits" back for Enterprise), but I think it was a mistake to try to shoehorn the Borg into a 22nd century story.

If they REALLY wanted a Borg episode, I think it would have been better to have Daniels and the temporal cold war involved somehow. And then basically have a reset button at the end of the episode. Nothing else to me would make sense

Agreed that there’s no way Enterprise E would leave wreckage.

It’s extremely annoying that Borg difficulty setting seems to automatically set itself based on the show.

But really worst of all to me is how bland this show tends to be. It’s like the whole show is tranquilized. Somehow the episode feels formulaic even if it really isn’t.

In this case, I suppose it’s because we guess the plot in one second. Borg show up, there’s a pitched battle and someone Enterprise is successful. The crew will never learn who these creatures are, and cute hints will be dropped.

The whole show feels like that so very often.

The bit about Cochrane’s graduation comments was really nice though.

Rewatched this and the previous episode in 2021 and I have to say its one of the best episodes ever.

If you’re a stickler for the rules of time travel, and if continuity is all that matters to you, well, more “Objection!” to you.

For me, an individual episode insults the intelligence or does not. Since the premise of Star Trek requires annihilation of disbelief in the first place, I can’t see how to judge an episode without at least judging it in part on its own merits.

This episode was taut, suspenseful , used the cast well, and had just the right amount of self-conscious winking. Jonathan Billingsley sold me on being scared to death of assimilation. The show “knew” that the researchers were not very bright. (Should Star Trek foreswear all attempts at humor, on the ground that even a successful joke that kids continuity is an abomination?). Also, by the end of Voyager, the Borg had become so overused, their menace so diminished, that Janeway self-assimilates. Regeneration restores some of the menacing vibe the Borg first gave off so long ago in March of 1989. @Silly has made one of the best comments about Enterprise in general, that I’ve ever read: the show seems tranquilized. Not so this episode, but very much so in so many others. Maybe the strain of production of a 14th through 17th consecutive season of Star Trek wore the producers out (never mind that certain particular producers had outlived their usefulness)..... A whiff of pro forma resignation infects some of the later episodes, especially those in season 4 when cancellation had become a fact -e.g., Daedalus and Observer Effect. Re: the former, something is wrong when the Enterprise visits a region of space known as The Pine Barrens and all one can think of is how apt the name is.

This is where thy should have killed off Mayweather. Anthony Montgomery wasn't a very good actor (yet) and the writers had clearly abandoned the idea of giving the character anything to do. By killing him off you rid the show of a worthless character and also restore the Borg to their proper place as a legitimate threat.

As it is, this episode is just ok. It feels like another Voyager vs Borg action-hour episode.

I just did a re-watch of this episode and, despite all the attempts at rationalizing I've just read in the various comments above, there's absolutely--ABSOLUTELY--no way to square what happens with Trek continuity in any way that passes the credulity test. Absolutely no way, that is, except by invoking those three dreaded words from the worst storyline idea Enterprise ever had: Temporal Cold War.

Yup, that's right. This whole thing with Enterprise's encounter with the Borg wasn't supposed to happen, and while Time Agents from the future couldn't manage to stop it from happening because they were being opposed by another faction, they were successfully able to suppress any record of it having happened or knowledge of it having happened from becoming widespread. Thus, the timeline was preserved. Archer and co. didn't know this battle was part of their participation as an active front in the Temporal Cold War, but it was. Yup. There it is. Now I can squint enough to find some amount of enjoyment in this episode rather than overriding disgust at how stupid it was begging its viewers to be.

I mean, it's still an episode the show shouldn't have done. If this is the kind of stories you wanted to tell, why did you make THIS show? I know just how bad the ratings were (deservedly) and just how dire the show's survival prospects looked at the time, so I'll excuse the desperation that led to it. But in the long run, did it really help? Did it do anything other than piss off dedicated fans and reinforce their belief that this show just didn't care, didn't have any respect for them, and didn't have anything to offer instead? No. Not as I recall, anyway. This episode that was envisioned as a turn-on for lapsed fans instead was just another in a long line of turn-offs for those fans who were sticking with it.

I refer to Katie's question as to why 24th-century Borg could be defeated by 22nd-century humans. Well, in a Borg ship that would be true. But the Borg only had access to a 22nd-century human shuttle, which is inherently less powerful than a full starship. I think the Borg being able to upgrade an old shuttle to give the Enterprise a real fight sufficiently shows their technological superiority.
I also questioned whether this violates the Trek timeline, but I consider it to be a separate timeline that was created when Picard went back to the 21st century. In this new timeline, the human race will be FAR more ready for the Borg by the time the 24th century rolls around. Of course, in other Trek time travel stories, there is little mention of other timelines. But that may be because the Trek characters don't really know how time works. They don't travel in time that often, and have often expressed confusion about temporal mechanics when they do.

Watching ENT in 2021, there is another explanation of why the TNG crew hadn't heard of That Dangerous Kybernetic Race....in our days we know that scientists warned about a possible pandemic since 2003 or so, and yet in spring of 2020 in many countries there were no supplies of masks, no plans... not to mention the insufficient way we are dealing with ClimateCrisis. . . Even the more developed people of 23th and 24th century may be bad at dealing with long-term threat. We remember enough Stupid Admirals from TNG or Ds9.

I understand why Jammer has given this four stars, it's a good story for all the reasons he cited. However, the big flaw for me was that I didn't care enough about Enterprise's crew for me to find any tension or suspense in it. Even Phlox, who I like--when he was infected my reaction was a mild, I wonder how they'll fix this. It's impossible to feel any real concern for the crew at this point because they're such flat, uninteresting, or unlikable characters.

In addition to all the reasons posited above, it's also possible that Captain Braxton smoothed out the timeline to suppress knowledge of the Borg, which shouldn't have been known. The defeat of the Borg was important for the Federation to develop the weapons that would be later used against the Dominion. They couldn't just allow a quick fix to be developed that would have kept the Federation in it's naive state of bloated weakness.

I hate that I'm letting myself entertain this discussion. It's a television show, its for entertainment, it's not real life. Anyway, people get stuck on this idea of "continuity", as if time must always happen in a straight line. Time is not a constant, it is relative. Einstein proves this in his theory of relativity. Time is just like space, we travel through it. At the moment we only know of one way to move through time, forward. However, theoretically it should at least be possible to move backward through time if you enter time as a coordinate, like you would enter a coordinate in space. If you consider this, as others have pointed out above, if you go back in time and change something you wouldn't perceive that change until after you've made it. Therefore, there is no continuity issue here at all, in theory.

Also why do we have to constantly have these debates, its a television show, and this was an action packed and entertaining one. It's NOT REAL. Just enjoy.

Just watched "Uncharted Territory", a feature from Enterprise Season 2 Blu-Ray set, where a bunch of producers and other guys involved with the show comment on the challenges they faced bringing the show to life. It's rather self-critical, spending much time on how the show was essentially a let-down in many ways.

At one point, while talking about this episode, Brannon Braga (who was very defensive the entire time) says how good "Regeneration" was and how even haters had to admit that by giving the episode, like, three-and-a-half stars. It's hilarious. I immediately thought about Jammer's rating for the episode and his general feelings about the show. I mean, he's far from a hater, but he had been rather critical of Enterprise and the entire franchise for quite some time. Could it be that Braga was specifically thinking of Jammer? At the time he was -- well, still is -- one of the best Trek critics out there, and as far as I know, some among the Trek staff did follow his work.

Anyway, I chuckled.

Braga comes across as a real life version of the Principal Skinner "It's not me, it's the children who are wrong" meme. He's willing to admit that some of the episodes are crap, but he seems to think the problem was "fan fatigue" and interference from the network. He also seems to be bitter about the positive fan response to season 4.

The ratings for the pilot were amazing so how can you blame fan fatigue? Fans were more than willing to give the show a shot.


He and Berman complain that they started getting notes from the execs in season 2. So who is responsible for all the terrible stuff in season 1?

Berman and Braga are credited as writers on 37 of 98 episodes of Enterprise. A dozen or so are decent episodes, but none of them are among the series very best, imo. The other 20+ episodes are, frankly, terrible. Some of them are among the worst episodes in all of Trek which is really saying something.


I give them a lot of credit for their casting choices and the show's high production values. But they failed at hiring enough good writers to cover an entire seasons worth of episodes, and worse, they failed to get out of the way of the good writers they had. By that I'm referring to the decon scenes which started in the pilot, the boobs in Archer's face scene which Sussman says he was told to put in, and the massage scenes Manny Coto says were mandatory in season 3.

They should have set the show up, and hired the best writers they could find even if it meant they had to spend less money on CGI.

Good Catch Paul M. Pretty interesting. How was this made? Considering how fake and glossy these things have become this is like a time capsule.

Here the link to the video (part1)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hYGGXRNvR5Q

@Marlboro
" So who is responsible for all the terrible stuff in season 1?"
Braga states that: Season 1 just didn't work and that he blames himself for that.

It's at 18:40

@Booming

Yes, it feels like people were allowed to be more honest in the past when recording stuff like this. I also fondly remember Ron Moore's episode commentaries included with BSG Blu-ray sets, where he was *very* frank and honest, and had no qualms when it came to lambasting his own show, dissecting what he thought worked, what didn't, and why.

I may be wrong -- and it's not like a have a huge sample base -- but nowadays it's all "ooh, this was so great, remember", "Yeah, I had a blast filming that, the guys were awesome" and "oh man, catering was just too good on set, I swear I gained 10 pounds eating those yummy little sandwiches", "I know, I was there, and it was 15 pounds, don't try to hide it" "hahahahaha!!!111!!1!"

Ugh.

@Paul M.
I think at some point some of the MBA guys thought that they could use even those vids who are mostly for fans as advertisement. You never know if the truth could hurt the bottom line. There always more than enough fans who just want to hear a bunch of comforting lies. "Oh working on X was such a joy, sure some days it worked better than at other days but in general we had a great time and a great team. I loved coming there every day and being part of this important cultural phenomenon that is Star Trek/Star Wars/Human Centipede. I'm just eternally grateful." and people at home can sink into their easy chairs, feeling content believing that everybody loved each other and it was great for everybody on that thing they really like.

I must say though that the second part of the documentary is less interesting apart from Billingsly who actually makes interesting observations, the rest of the actors says fairly fluffy stuff. Connor Trinneer for example. That guy says a whole bunch of nothing. He almost says that he has become such a great person by being on a TV show. Scott Bakula even showed him to be nice to people.

One of the issues we have today is that actors have become far to important. They are at best talented dolls doing their dance. Sure, every now and then there is an actor who can do many things but most seem fairly shallow. Or maybe it's the fact that there are no mid range films anymore, movies often cost more than 200 million plus another 200 million in marketing. The first season of the new Lord of the rings show cost half a billion. That's 60 million per episode. You better play nice and do what your contract demands "smile and dance, monkey".

Stuff like Hearts of Darkness in which Martin Sheen talks about crawling out of a hotel with sky high blood alcohol and a heart attack, everybody taking drugs and the helicopters they used constantly flying away to mass murder rebels, that kind of stuff will never happen again. The suits will make sure of that.

I enjoyed the episode and fully accept it as a well fabricated series of combat scenarios against Borg, and recent Borg assimilants.

Having said all this, I acknowledge that nearly all commenters before me have noted that the version of the initial encounter with the Borg given in TNG's "Q Who" becomes troubled once Regeneration is seen. Of course, this is inevitable since Regeneration is founded on the story residues of "First Contact" a film released in 1996. Regeneration doesn't come out of Q Who.

If we remember anything of Q Who, we are compelled to scratch our heads and say: "How can Picard not have known the history of Archer's encounter and immediately recognize the Borg as being the same as Archer's cybernetic adversaries from 200 years earlier?" He should have said to Q: "Oh yeah. These guys. Thanks a bunch."

Of course Picard should have said this in Q Who - Except for the fact that Archer didn't exist until 2001. (The Air date of Q Who was May 8, 1989).

I can overlook such issues entirely and live happily with the glaring retcon. But something completely different now bothers me a little..

In reviewing First Contact we learn that the Borg sphere was destroyed sort of over California, not the Arctic Circle.

Great episode!

No continuity problems for me. Archer didn’t know they were Borg, they never call themselves Borg. So Picard would not have known that Archer already had a run-in with them.

Terrible security guard, though. That guy should be fired!

All in all, a nice episode. 3.5 stars for some minor things:

a) the Borg tarcalians booted from enterprize in cold space are not addressed further. They have been left floating in space?

b) its getting tiresome and predictable to give Tpol the role of Kassandra all the time. She suggests to secure the infected Tarcalians. No. She suggests to destroy the enemy ship. Archer is not ready to do that yet. Its like the writers tell us in advance what will happen.

c) When Tarcalians inevitably escape from the moron security officer, its like they are transported to a parallel universe of endless corridors, left alone to do their thing. Malcom cant penetrate their shields. OK. Their devices on the ship are also shielded? Not tested.

d) If they can transport Archer on the enemy ship, they can also transport a bomb. After encountering the first human Borg and realising that there is no hope for them anymore, Archer should have beamed out and a bomb should have taken his place.

Nope they broke TNG. Completely unnecessary but then they’ve already met the ferengi. Was there nothing unique to the series? they have to keep breaking the other shows.
Seriously at this point I’m expecting one huried episode at the end where they form the federation because they can’t be bothered to actually tell us how it happened during the show.

I thought this was a fantastic episode - exciting, intense. As for continuity, I felt like they might have pushed it a tad but overall, they respected it.

The back third of S2 has picked up in general, especially with "Cogenitor" and this back-to-back.

I still rate TOS, TNG, DS9 and Voyager higher, but my opinion of Enterprise is rising with this rewatch (or in many cases, first watch). Maybe NuTrek and Discover in particular have helped that along.

It didn't do much for me I'm afraid. The Borg just don't grab me. They were terrifying in Q Who, the way their cube kept coming no matter what was thrown at it.

Man, I'd love to see the odds of their transport ship ending up "within 1 light year" of the Enterprise. Of all of the directions they could be taking in the entire galaxy, both ships must have been heading in exactly the same one ... why?

Phlox was very good. Again. I really like this character and the acting. Understated. My favourite kind. Speaking of Vulcans...

T'Pol has grown on me a lot too. I wasn't sure about her at first. She didn't do a lot here but there was a nice side-on closeup of her as she was issuing orders at one point. It was short, only a few words, but the combination of the shot and her delivery really clicked. Sizzled, even.

Archer ordering the opening of the hatch to blow those poor souls into space. "There's an outer hatch in that section isn't there?" he asks. I feared he was thinking of suiting up and using it to get to them from the outside. Archer style. But no. His actual plan was better and his quiet remorse afterwards was a nice touch.

Even after nearly two seasons, I'm still thrown a bit whenever Archer goes on an away mission, or worse: beam onto the enemy ship for a phaser fight. Maybe Picard was unique in his stay-on-board approach but it is a very wise approach for the ship's captain. Anything else just seems crazy to me now.