Review

Preliminary remark, I'm going to talk about the premise in part I and the plot of the pilot in part II. So here goes nothing. "Enterprise" - Perhaps the most controversial Star Trek series yet. There are many things about this show that are... different. First of all it's a prequel, taking place before TOS. It manages to present a convincing setting without looking too cheesy like the low budget TOS show did nor too much like TNG, DS9, or Voyager. The name of the series deviates as well, there's no "Star Trek" in it, which is annoying. I'm also slightly annoyed that they named it something so generic as "Enterprise." This creates a lot of confusion with TOS, and TNG. TOS was "the old" Enterprise. TNG was "the new" Enterprise. Is "Enterprise" supposed to be "the new old" Enterprise? The opening theme is a deviation too, no longer being a classical composition accompanied by special effects. Instead, it depicts various NASA accomplishments along with some selected Star Trek history. A lot of people complained about the new opening theme, but to be completely honest, I like it. Although I would have preferred the traditional style more. The opening themes of DS9 and Voyager were much better. (Voyager's was probably the better of the two, but I just liked DS9's more...) Anyway, enough of that. Broken Bow, Part I presents us with an interesting glimpse of the 22nd century. A lot of people complained about the behavior of the Vulcans, but I loved it. No, really! Remember back in Star Trek VIII: First Contact in the short scene in which we glimpse Cochrane confusing his new Vulcan friends with his music and other customs? I knew right from that moment that the road to friendship between humans and Vulcans would be shaky. I was hoping for this kind of conflict. In the future, a luddite-like McCoy still pokes at Spock. And in the distant future, people still make fun of Vulcans in a joking manner. Doesn't it at least stand to reason that at the developmental stage of the human-Vulcan relationship that the various insults might have been real and not sarcastic? I think so anyway. The only thing that really bothered me about this pilot episode was the introduction of two new alien species. You know, as a prequel, Enterprise really shouldn't introduce new alien species. Especially one as a main character! Don't get me wrong, I like Phlox. But if you think about it, is there any reason Phlox can't be of a species we already know about, like the Bolians? I would have loved Phlox as a Bolian! The potential for comedy would have been even higher! While the Suliban are convincing villains, as a prequel, I'm looking forward to Klingon first contact and the Earth Romulan wars as being the center of attention. Not new aliens. Anyway, considering all the initial bad press the show got from various sources, I think for the most part it turned out fairly well. It's not without its flaws though. Only time will tell if they can be ironed out.

Review

I'm really starting to like Silik. He reminds me of Scorpius from Farscape. He even calls the captain by his first name, Jon, the same way Scorpius does to Crichton. :) I wonder if the parallel is intentional. Part two wasn't as exciting as part one, mostly because what happened was largely predictable and some of it redundant. I did like more of the smaller details in part two though. We already got a little bit of the crew's aversion to the transporter when Reed and Travis discussed it in the previous episode. But I rather liked Archer's rather blatant statement of distrust of the transporter in this episode, claiming that it would bring back the user "inside out." A nice irony that Trip would be later forced to use the transporter to rescue Archer. I loved the look on Archer's face after having been transported. The symbolic meaning in Archer's dreams is finally clarified. In part one they didn't seem to serve much of a purpose. Now Archer is recalling his father's advice and applying it to try and quell his natural distrust of Vulcans and to command with no fear. I loved the scene when Henry Archer said "don't be afraid of the wind," showing a picture of T'Pol. The only thing I didn't like about this episode, besides the technical problem listed in the problems section and the things I complained about in part one was the highly inappropriate decontamination chamber scene. What can I say? That was just totally unnecessary. Overall though, I thought the pilot episode was quite good, much better than I thought it would be.

Review

This episode outlines Earth's first contact with the Axanar, a species we've heard of before in TOS (mentioned in TOS: Court Martial and in TOS: Whom Gods Destroy). I'm glad the writers didn't repeat the mistake here that they made with the Suliban and the Denobulans. Granted, nobody knows who was in that alien ship that almost tore Enterprise a new rear end, but I don't think that it's very important. Personally I think this episode belongs to Reed and especially to Hoshi. Reed was concerned that Enterprise would do poorly in a fight due to its primitive and improperly configured weaponry, and he was right. Hoshi was concerned that she'd have no grace under pressure, and she was right too... for a while anyway. It's kind of annoying that she doubted her ability right up to the point when Enterprise was about to be destroyed before finally showing some courage. But it was easily realistic and it was nice to watch her character evolve from a scared little girl to a confident young women in the course of a single episode. As a more general analysis, this episode does well to further elucidate the fact that Earth is hardly prepared for exploration. This mission would have hardly been worth a full hour on any other Star Trek show, so the writers are taking full advantage of Enterprise's weaknesses, for they are a strength in terms of writing for a prequel.

Review

A nice premise goes sour. First we had the introduction of a few interesting minor crewmembers, of which I especially liked Elizabeth Cutler, then the peaceful exploration of a new world. The episode lacked contention, but it was far more pleasant than the previous two which were relatively dark and dreary. But night falls and the episode turns into a generic horror story quickly. The whole thing looked to me like an excuse to get the characters down on the planet acting all crazy. And it's not as if we haven't seen this cliche several times over in TOS, TNG, DS9, and Voyager...

Review

Like Ent: Fight or Flight, this is another well thought out episode that uses the prequel premise well. We are shown a few annoying things though. For one, the Xyrillians are a new, made up race. Again, I'm wondering why it was necessary to introduce a new race rather than use one shown before. I am willing to cut a lot of slack in this case though seeing as how I'm at a loss to come up with a race anything like the Xyrillians previously featured that would have been appropriate for use here. I was also pleased at how alien the Xyrillians were. It was a most credible rare treat to show Trip having such a hard time adapting to the Xyrillian atmosphere. Unfortunately though, the episode is clouded a bit because we're shown a fully functional holodeck, sans interactive characters. We've seen technology this advanced as early as TAS, but that's still a very long way off. Granted, Enterprise did not acquire this technology. But the Klingons did. This episode, as well as the use of a holodeck on TAS both seem to contradict TNG, in which all the characters were amazed at the holodeck. This is only a minor inconsistency though. It's possible creating landscapes was nothing new by the 24th century, but creating people and interactive settings was. Then again, in Voy: Once Upon a Time, Janeway mentioned having played the Flotter program when she was a child. Given that she's middle aged, this connotes interactive holodeck technology being in widespread use at least twenty or thirty years before the first episode of TNG. It would seem TNG has been contradicted on three fronts now. We'll just have to accept that on TNG, holographic technology was "new to them," or that it made significant advances, warranting a renewed "wow" reaction. That said, this episode's story was quite amusing without becoming too silly. I love how Trip was forced to admit to Klingons that he was pregnant. It much reminded me of Spock's line in Star Trek V: The Final Frontier: "Please, Captain. Not in front of the Klingons." (Which was a relatively nice scene in an otherwise abysmal movie.) The crew handles the situation as professionally as they can; I rather liked how arrogant and presumptuous T'Pol was in the beginning regarding Trip's alleged behavior. I also liked how she made up for it by using her superior knowledge of Klingon culture to assist in the diplomatic negotiations. She damn near cracked a joke at the end too with her little history book statistic. Suffice it to say, I liked T'Pol more in this episode than in previous ones. She's starting to show that, yeah, she's a stuffy annoying killjoy, but she can be cool at times.

Review

A real mixed bag. It was a good idea to show details regarding Earth's early extrasolar colonies, but they couldn't have done it in a worse way. This whole episode is more or less a rehash of Voy: Friendship One. And indeed smaller plot elements in this episode resemble numerous other episodes. Suffice it to say, this plot is hardly original. But at least it's appropriate. Unfortunately, the already weak plot strains the hell out of credibility. For one, there's the Alpha Centauri technical problem, which is documented in the problems section. Suffice it to say, Alpha Centauri would have made much more sense as a setting for Earth's first extrasolar colony. Then there's the timing. Also documented in the problems section, this episode contradicts Voy: The 37s regarding when Mars was colonized. All of the technical problems could have easily been avoided by simply not making Terra Nova Earth's first extrasolar colony and giving specific dates, but by making it one of many of Earth's first extrasolar colonies. In this respect, the plot could be viewed exactly the same way as intended, except in a more credible manner. There were a few details to redeem the episode, though. One thing I liked was that the Novans had a unique vocabulary, using strange terms much like the Vori from Voy: Nemesis. I was also quite fond of how patient Archer and his crew were with the rather uninformed Novans. I also liked T'Pol's objective opinion once again. Unfortunately, these details do little to enhance this rather ill conceived episode.

Review

Here's a small taste of the prequel we've been waiting for. A thoroughly underfeatured race from TOS, the Andorians, are given a bit of a backstory in this episode. Their reputation as being aggressive is upheld and they're not abused by being made into generic bad guys either. I'm not exactly happy that the Vulcans are turning out to be more and more evil, but it stands to reason that since the Andorians neighbor the Vulcans that these kinds of petty conflicts would ensue. Overall the episode was convincing. No major continuity issues this time. But the plot wasn't anything special. If it weren't for the plot twist at the end and the promise of some political intrigue as a result, I wouldn't have given this episode as high a rating. We've seen far too many hostage episodes before. I'm just glad this one had something of a purpose.

Review

And now for some hardcore character development. This episode was most successful because it didn't involve any alien conflict or phaser fights, but just chronicled the ship as they investigated a comet. Rarely do we get something so mundane in Star Trek done so well. I was worried that Vanik might end up having some silly hidden agenda and that T'Pol might be involved in some kind of Vulcan conspiracy, like was revealed at P'Jem last week. But thankfully I was wrong. Instead, we watch as Trip helps T'Pol bridge her cultural barriers. She accepts his advice to make her own decision instead of letting rigid Vulcan custom determine her marriage and her career. She even tries some of Trip's pecan pie in the final scene. Archer learns to back away from his Vulcan prejudice too when he accepts help from Vanik. I'm just glad Archer didn't ask Vanik a "poop question" at the dinner among is many attempts at small talk. And Reed... well, I think Reed's just happy he found something to blow up again. Although I think he (along with Travis) took just as much perverse pleasure in building the Vulcan snowman with the oversized ears too. One lingering question... why do shuttlepods seem to have a dangerous habit of sinking into whatever they land on? ;)

Review

An average episode with not much wrong with it other than one detail. It could have easily been done on any of the other Star Trek series. And if you think back to Star Trek IX: Insurrection, or episodes like it, it already has been. So I subtract a point for the episode not being very original. Other than that though, it was well done. I was pleased to see continuity with TOS: The Changeling, showing us a little about the Malurian culture destroyed in that episode. I can't say I mourn them as much now! It's remarkable that Earth doesn't have a non interference policy like the Vulcans do. Trip didn't even think it served much of a purpose! Another good point in the episode... Archer finally won a fist fight. ;)

Review

Another fairly good offering from Enterprise, using the prequel premise well. We're shown that fear of change extends well into the 22nd century. The "boomers" are quite set in their ways, for "warp 1.8 is good enough." We're shown that the boomers running cargo get attacked by pirates occasionally, in this case the Nausicaans. It makes sense that long periods of time alone would cause the boomers to develop their own (closed) culture and their unwillingness to receive help from their own people seems like a natural result of their isolation. I was pleased to see the episode make rather extensive use of Travis, a character I felt was being underused. I just hope his extensive experience in space starts to pay off some more, instead of constantly relying on T'Pol's Vulcan database.

Review

This is the first episode since the pilot which deals with this Temporal Cold War thing. Silik's return is a welcome one, and this episode introduces a new player in the Temporal Cold War, Daniels, who is apparently killed. This episode blurs the image of who's good and who's evil though in the Temporal Cold War. The man who Silik is working for wanted to see the Klingon Empire destroyed, but also wanted to save Enterprise here. My first instincts told me he was a Romulan from the future. But if this were the case, why would he want to save Enterprise? Daniels appeared to be a more advanced version of Captain Braxton and crew from Voy: Relativity, but again, it's hard to be sure of any of this. Cold Front was a sufficiently entertaining episode, but the ending was anticlimactic. This episode may be worth more points than I'm giving it, but it's hard to rate an episode whose ending raises more questions than it answers. And to be honest, I'm not sure if a Temporal Cold War is a particularly good idea for Enterprise. This is Star Trek, not Time Trek.

Review

Preliminary remark, it's annoying that we're shown a hostile alien of the week that we've never seen before and will probably never see again. However, we aren't told their names. Maybe they were one of the many hostile aliens mentioned in previous Trek series but never shown. Regardless, it would have been a better idea to show the Klingons, Romulans, or even the Suliban, not introduce something new. With so many hostile aliens lurking about, it's a wonder that Earth wasn't wiped out years ago. Maybe the Vulcans protected it. Anyway, the basic idea of the episode is fascinating. I'm glad Reed's concerns in Ent: Broken Bow and in Ent: Fight or Flight about the ship being fairly defenseless are finally being addressed. In many ways, this was entirely Reed's episode. He got to blow some stuff up and he got to eat his favorite food! But I think the episode has a much more profound effect on Archer. At the beginning, he was very excited to make another first contact but as this soon leads to yet another conflict, Archer starts having his first real doubts about his mission and wonders if the Vulcans were right. It's interesting and quite consistent that the only person he could talk about this was Trip. Finally, I thought this musical score in this episode was way above average. If only this episode had featured a familiar alien to give us some valuable backstory, it would have been worth eight points.

Review

I liked this episode, but I hated its ethics. The (future) Prime Directive is shown as a rather arbitrary standard in this episode. Help is refused to a species that goes into space for the sole purpose of seeking help from alien civilizations. Just because they don't have warp drive, they're regarded as unworthy or something. Well, a strict interpretation of the Vulcan (and seemingly Denobulan) non interference policy allows for Archer's actions to be correct. But we've seen even in the 24th century starship crews bending the rules for the greater good in exactly the fashion Archer refused to. There's that, and the events of this episode aren't at all consistent with the "to hell with a non interference policy" attitude taken in Ent: Civilization. What I really didn't like about this episode was how Phlox developed a cure but refused to share it with the Valakians. I 100% agree with Archer about not letting the Valakians have warp drive, but why not cure their freaking plague?! Because Dr. Phlox just arbitrarily decided to let the Valakians die off because he THINKS the Menk might evolve into a better species? Isn't this just a little racist? Isn't making this kind of decision for the Menk exactly the kind of interference the Prime Directive prohibits? Maybe not giving the Valakians the cure was within the bounds of the future Prime Directive, but the way it was shown here was needlessly cruel and wholly hypocritical.

Review

A reasonably entertaining episode, but devoid of consequences, which is annoying. As Archer complains, why does his help always go unappreciated? Archer has helped Klingons three times now and received no gratitude. Did the war with the Klingons start because Earth kept being really nice guys around the Klingons? What we're shown hasn't been very credible so far.

Review

This is a somewhat odd episode. Not only did the characters have to deal with the hostage situation on Coridan (a nice reference to TOS: Journey to Babel), but they also had to deal with the repercussions of the destruction of the P'Jem monetary due to the events of Ent: The Andorian Incident. Both situations seem to come to a head simultaneously. Unfortunately the two plots don't mingle very well. The primary plot seemed to be the hostage situation while the secondary plot seemed to be the aftermath of P'Jem when it should have been the opposite. Seems the writers couldn't make an interesting story out of just the aftermath, so they conjured up a reason for some generic action. The result is a kind of mash up that makes for a rather mediocre episode.

Review

Like Ent: Dear Doctor, this episode is a mixed bag. I loved the episode, but some of the plot logic just didn't make any sense. Why didn't Enterprise retrieve Shuttlepod One immediately after the accident with the Tesnians instead of abandoning them to the asteroid field? Maybe the Tesnians couldn't survive on Enterprise very long and getting them back to Tesnia as soon as possible was the only way to keep them alive, but this is never explicitly stated, nor does Enterprise ever even contact shuttlepod one to explain the change of plans until well after they're underway! For this annoyance, I subtract points, but beyond this the episode is a lot of fun. Watching Trip and Reed pick at each other on that shuttle was some great humor, especially after they got drunk and started discussing T'Pol. With some more careful writing, this episode could have been above average easily. I'm also kind of annoyed that we never got to see the Tesnians.

Review

This episode outlines a Vulcan subculture, a group of Vulcans who embrace emotion and practice mind melds. So now we know of two 22nd century Vulcans. "Evil" Vulcans, who are logical and mostly kind, but arrogant and push hidden agendas. And emotional Vulcans, who tend to lose control, but practice mind melds and are a lot less arrogant for the most part. I think it's obvious that the Vulcans we come to know in the 23rd and 24th century end up being a hybrid of these two groups. Certainly by the 23rd and 24th century, mind melds are no longer a taboo. So there's that evidence at least. Well, while this episode is an interesting Vulcan introspection, it is little more. T'Pol's character is abused for the third time in a row... first a bondage scene, then Reed dreams about her and runs his mouth about her ass, and now she's mind raped. I wonder how much further the writers will take this crap. It's getting worse than Seven of Nine was.

Review

A painfully slow plot. This episode has the honor of being the first Star Trek episode I've ever fallen asleep to during my first viewing. It probably has a lot to do with the fact that the setting is so dark and that very little actually happens. I was also disappointed that this episode was so much of a rehash. We've seen too many shape shifters before. Hell, we've even seen shape shifters living on a rogue planet before, when Sisko first visited the Founders' homeworld! We've also been told in DS9: Treachery, Faith, and the Great River that the Founders were hunted. So, let's recap. Founders: 1. live on a rogue planet, 2. are shape shifters, 3. are hunted. The aliens of this episode: 1. live on a rogue planet, 2. are shape shifters, 3. are hunted. Throw in the fact that the hunters in this episode have a similar moral structure to the Hirogen, and the rehash-o-meter starts going through the roof! Ranting of rehashes aside, I thought the episode was morally correct. I found the whole hunt as distasteful as the crew of Enterprise and I was glad they found a way to sabotage the hunt without actually attacking the hunters directly. It was a clever solution.

Review

I suppose it was only a matter of time before something like this had to happen. Well, I'm not going to rant about how this episode tramples all over continuity like a fanatic at a convention, because with some rationalization it's not so bad. With some more careful writing, it could have even been a great episode. I liked the detail showing the Ferengi whip, and I liked how Archer seems to have scared them all the way back to their homeworld. Knowing the Ferengi, who are driven by fear more than other species, they probably avoided Earth's corner of the galaxy for a long time and once the Federation was formed they probably avoided that too until contact became absolutely necessary in TNG: The Last Outpost. That said, I'm not happy that the writers decided the Ferengi needed a cameo and that they did it in such a careless manner. In order to rationalize this episode, we're forced to believe that these Ferengi were a very long way away from home and that records concerning this incident were not kept in very good detail. Both are distinct possibilities, so I'm just going to leave it at that. Continuity does suffer because of this episode though, and I've forced to mark it down thusly. When you stop caring about such things though and watch the episode for its raw merits, what you find is that its marvelously hilarious. Watch this episode to find the basis for Quark's future "Vulcan Love Slave" holosuite program. ;)

Review

A rehash of DS9: Shadowplay regarding living one's life in a holographic world, with a bit of DS9: Progress. Ezral is a lot like Mullibok. And the treatment of Liana is a lot like Vina from TOS: The Cage, or Kes on Voyager. I think the rehash-o-meter is going through the roof again! As a result, we have a most unremarkable episode. In some ways, annoying too. Ent: Unexpected aggravated the holodeck invention date problem enough, but this episode contributes to it even more. Not only do we have Trip experiencing a holographic system, but he's experiencing a holographic system with holographic people, along with his entire crew! That, and they get a long hard look at the technology too. Finally, unlike Ent: Unexpected, this episode doesn't even have an excuse to show this kind of plot. Like Ent: Civilization, it could have been done on any other Trek series much more appropriately. Given all these problems and the horribly slow plot, I must declare this episode as the second biggest disappointment of the show.

Review

This episode gives us some nice background on the Suliban race, as well as a possible explanation for their extinction in the 23rd and 24th centuries. Since their homeworld became uninhabitable 300 years ago, they're nomadic, and they're being discriminated against en masse, I imagine that mass genocide might have wiped out most of their race. Now all that's left is to find out why the Denobulans are extinct in the 23rd and 24th centuries. ;) In any case, it seems not all Suliban are members of the Cabal, which is understandable. It seems Enterprise has meddled in the affairs of another sovereign alien species, but at least it was for a good cause. Racial discrimination sucks. Which reminds me, I love the scene when Travis got accused of being racist against Suliban. There's a certain irony to that scene. Travis, a man whose race was discriminated against hundreds of years ago, now is accused of repeating the mistakes his ancestors fought against. Obviously, Travis wasn't being a racist, but I still found the scene ironic. I also enjoyed seeing Travis take a more active role after he'd been thoroughly underused in the last several episodes. Overall, I'm glad to see an episode that isn't below average for the first time in a long while.

Review

This isn't the start of the war with the Klingons that we've been waiting for, or the start of the war with the Romulans that we've been waiting for, or anything that we've been waiting for, for that matter. But Vox Sola has a special charm to it. This episode was exceptional from start to finish. It's not filled with cliches or recycled plots; this episode is totally original and a perfect fit for Enterprise. It begins when Hoshi fails to communicate adequately with the Kreetassans. They storm off the ship for some unknown reason, and nobody gives it a second thought. But when the web aliens of this episode start gobbling up crewmen, they decide to contact the Kreetassans again and see if they know anything about the web aliens.

Because of circumstances, it's up to an underused character, Travis, to bridge the cultural barrier and make up for old mistakes. Normally, it would have been better to show Hoshi doing this, but I was pleased that Travis was given a chance to shine here. And shine he did. His solitary dealings with the Kreetassans in this episode was probably his best scene yet on the show. In fact, not a single character in this episode is neglected. Phlox gets to play the humanitarian, fighting for tentacle rights. Reed gets to play with gadgets and new technology, Archer and Tucker get several nice scenes depicting friendship and camaraderie, and Hoshi and T'Pol get several nice scenes showing contention and eventually the resolution of their differences as they work together to decipher the language of the web aliens.

But what I liked most about this episode was the web aliens themselves. Never have we seen a more unique alien on Star Trek. And it was the perfect opportunity to get the Enterprise crew thinking outside the box. I liked how well everyone worked together. Reed built the first prototype forcefield, T'Pol helped Hoshi decrypt the mathematical portions of the web alien language, and Hoshi reprogrammed the universal translator to adapt it to the alien language. The scene when Hoshi stood behind Reed's forcefield and tried her best to communicate with the web aliens, going from a hostile demeanor to an understanding in just a few minutes was the high point of the episode.

Then the scene when we watch as Enterprise returns the aliens to their home world was as symbolically impressive as it was visually impressive. Finally, I'd be remiss if I didn't mention the episode's unusually beautiful scoring, which was way above average. The whole episode was true to the spirit of Star Trek more so than most others and a pleasure to watch. I've read a lot of other reviews of this episode and I've got to say that Vox Sola is highly underrated.

Review

A nicely entertaining action episode with another embedded Vulcan mystery. But unlike episodes like Ent: Breaking the Ice, we get valuable insight into why Vulcans distrust humans so much. It's humanity's history. Having barely survived a global war, Vulcans offer their assistance but remain skeptical that Earth has really learned from its mistakes. Even the nicest Vulcan we've met so far, V'Lar, has trouble trusting humans. But alas, she does. Her giving into her preconceptions symbolizes the "bond of friendship" that humans and Vulcans will one day have.

Review

I loved the guest star Zobral in this episode. Magnificent actor who played his part very well. This episode features great continuity with Ent: Detained too. I loved how Zobral heard things about Archer from the Suliban who escaped their imprisonment thanks to Archer. Zobral said he heard that Archer was an explorer who was also a great warrior and as a result of this impression he wants to enlist Archer and his crew into his fight by any means necessary. Archer is finally learning that there are consequences for his actions. It's interesting that even after his ordeal, Archer remains sympathetic to Zobral's cause, even if he doesn't agree with his methods. Not only is Archer learning there are consequences for his actions, he's learning that the Vulcan non interference policy makes a lot of sense. Maybe the episode was yet another annoying rehash of the Enterprise crew gets involved in an alien conflict plot, but this episode used it well. We got some real character development for Archer and Trip, and the desert scenery was a nice change of pace. I especially liked the Geskana match.

Review

So the crew of the Enterprise finally gets a chance to experience Risa. Aside from featuring very nice continuity, the episode is filled with irony. Trip and Reed go looking for women and find themselves mugged. Archer goes looking for a woman and finds himself interrogated and drugged. And Hoshi, the only person not looking for a companion, (she even expressed disgust at the entire idea...) ends up finding one and having a great time. It's also kind of funny how Mayweather should suddenly need expert medical attention from Phlox right as Phlox decides he needs to hibernate. In fact, Phlox' very brief scenes in this episode were probably the best parts. In the end, there's a scene with Archer, Trip, Reed, and Hoshi all in a shuttlepod together having an awkward conversation about the "good time" they had. Archer, Trip, and Reed are covering for their naivety, while Hoshi is covering for her arrogance. None of them spent the time as they expected to. ;)

Review

At first it looks like the crew of Enterprise made a major mistake costing the lives of thousands of innocent colonists. But as it turns out, Enterprise didn't cause the shockwave, but a cloaked Suliban vessel toying with the timeline did. The Temporal Cold War arc comes to a head here. Archer's "noble sacrifice" and departure of the ship, only to have Daniels interfere, Enterprise attacked, and Earth's future devastated leave us with a major cliffhanger. Personally, I'm not so fond of the Temporal Cold War arc, but at least it was well used here. I'm hoping part II finally gives us some progress after a total lack of progress in the previous episodes dealing with this arc. One thing I liked a lot about this episode was the running fear, uncertainty, and doubt concerning Enterprise's mission after the shockwave that ignited the mining colony's atmosphere. The cancellation of Enterprise's mission could easily spell disaster for all of humanity. Which brings up another point. Is this Temporal Cold War intended to be an excuse to alter continuity permanently? Is Enterprise the start of a new Trek timeline set in a parallel universe? I sincerely hope the answers to these questions is no.