 "Civilization" |
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by David E. Sluss |
18 November 2001 |
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Home >> Enterprise Season 1 >> >> Episode Review
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THE BOTTOM LINE: I rather enjoyed this episode, despite its by-the-numbers nature and a lot of my usual hobbyhorse issues; it's probably come the closest to capturing the sense of "Old School Star Trek" of any episode to date. CYNICS CORNER RATING: 8.0 (B-) NEW GEOGRAPHY OF THE WEEK: Since we got both a date and an odometer reading this week, we know for sure that things still don't add up in terms of time, speed, and distance traveled. It's been clear since "Broken Bow" that this series was going to play fast and loose with the issue, but let's run it down anyway:
Do the math... NEW TECHNOLOGY OF THE WEEK: Since when do phase pistols, which according to Reed in "Broken Bow" have exactly two settings (stun and kill), have all sorts of spinning dials and beeping controls on them, including a convenient "heat liquid to explode" setting? NEW TECHNOLOGY OF THE WEEK RUNNER-UP: It's interesting to note that this Enterprise has aft torpedo launchers, something Starfleet vessels in Kirk's era never seemed to have, at least not until the Reliant in Star Trek II. Also, for sharp-eyed nit-pickers, you will note that in the climactic battle, when Enterprise was preparing to use the Malurians' reactor as a bomb, Reed told T'Pol that he had loaded the starboard torpedo tube, and we were shown the starboard tube being loaded, but the torpedo was actually launched from the port side. WEIRD TECHNOLOGY OF THE WEEK: I know, I know, I should just accept the Universal Translator as a Suspension of Disbelief issue. And I suppose that it's not realistic to expect this TeeVee show to have the crew spending weeks programming the translator or mastering the alien language. Still, it's a little disappointing to see how well the device works in this series. It had a minor, unexplained malfunction this week (giving Archer, who has apparently forgotten the lessons of "Unexpected," the chance to kirk the babe of the week), but all told the translator seemed to work about as well as 24th century models. More generally, while this problem isn't specific to Enterprise, I've never understood how the translator could be used secretly. It doesn't seem possible, for instance, that Riann would fail to notice that Archer's lips were out of sync with what she heard him say. Time to let it go. Maybe... CONTRIVANCES OF THE WEEK: Let's go through a few of these:
DECK-STACKING OF THE WEEK: Star Trek rarely allows shades of gray to interfere with their alien characterization, and this episode is fairly typical on that score. The cartoonish Malurians are of course nasty, cavalier about their operation's effect on the Akali (and carrying it out for the purpose of making weapons), stupid (continuing their shipments even after they knew that alien explorers were nosing around the antique shop), and - naturally - ugly and reptilian, while the Akali, from what little we can make, out are a Decent, Promising Species, with only minor deformations of the forehead. It's stock characterization, straight out of the Star Trek Script Generator. I don't know why they can't put a different spin on these episodes every once in a while. You know: "Good heavens, we were mining for a rare substance needed for medicine and had no idea what effect it was having on the Akali environment; we'll suspend operations and begin an immediate clean-up." RECYCLING OF THE WEEK: Is the use of Enterprise's Cave Set
required in all scripts, or what? |
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"Breaking the Ice" Next: "Fortunate Sun" |
NEXT WEEK: Travis is mad as hell at Archer's recklessness and he's not going to take it anymore. |
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© 2001 David E. Sluss |
