Star Trek: Enterprise — 1x18 — Rogue Planet
Synopsis
While exploring an uncharted planet, Enterprise crew members encounter a group of aliens who are hunting down indigenous creatures for recreation.
Remarkable scenes
- Archer: "Do Vulcan captains have their portraits hanging at the high command?" T'Pol: "Vulcans are revered for their accomplishments, not for the way they look." Tucker: "Except for the really important ones who get mummified."
- Reed: "Follow me." Archer: "Why don't you let me play captain for a while, Malcolm?"
- T'Pol to Archer: "With respect, captain, I wonder if you would be so determined to find this apparition if it were a scantily clad man?"
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.