Star Trek: Enterprise — 1x07 — The Andorian Incident

Aired 2001-10-31

SpaceOpera.com rating:5

Average reader rating:6.61

Synopsis

When Archer and his crew pay a friendly visit to an ancient Vulcan monastery, they stumble into an interstellar conflict between the Vulcans and their militaristic rivals, the Andorians.

Remarkable scenes

Archer and Tucker discovering an Andorian. Wow, the makeup on the Andorians is awesome!
A Vulcan monk making a comment about how humans smell to T'Pol.
Archer, committing a faux pas: "So if anyone has a suggestion, I'm all ears. No offense."
T'Pol's reason for not cuddling up with Archer: "The cold is preferable to the odor."
Archer's performance with the Andorians.
Hoshi and Reed's officer expressing fear of the transporter.
Archer discovering the hidden Vulcan base.
Shran to Archer: "We're in your debt."

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.

4 reader comments

What's bother me is that a people so enlightened and logical using a word like "blasphemy". I associate this word with the medieval close-mindedness.
Other than that, it was an interesting episode.
by Inga | 01/31/2014 at 8:32 am

I'm not particularly fond of how this series is treating the Vulcans so far. It's seems to belittle and villainize them at every opportunity. It's quite the departure from how revered and honorable they are usually portrayed. This feels like a bit of a slap in the face to Star Trek. I hope they rectify this moving forward.
by Zorak | 09/18/2016 at 6:08 pm

They do. It's going somewhere. Stick around for the season 4 material. :)
by Eric Newport | 09/19/2016 at 4:21 am

I noticed the same thing Inga did. "Blasphemy," T'Pol? Do you even hear yourself?? The Vulcans fancy themselves so high and mighty for being logical and not swayed by emotions, but they consistently show themselves--or at least some of them--to be incredibly arrogant and superstitious. It's no surprise they feel entitled to secretly violate their treaty with the Andorians. Despite their pacifism, they're just as supremacist as their cousins the Romulans. They have some admirable traits, and their logical nature can be very useful, but they shouldn't be "revered" as per Zorak's comment. That's too simplistic (and would be rather boring).
I kind of like how the Vulcans are proving to be lowkey villains (or at least a foil) in this series. Like our own species, they're multilayered and diverse. Like our own species and many others, their political leadership does not always reflect the sentiments of the people they represent. It makes for some good "divided loyalty" drama for T'Pol.
I loved the twist at the end. Seeing Jeffery Combs was a delight. They set me up to hate the Andorians and then it turns out the Andorians were completely justified in their suspicions.
by Azalea Jane | 08/02/2021 at 3:32 am