Star Trek: Enterprise — 4x10 — Daedalus
Synopsis
The inventor of the transporter, Emory Erickson, comes aboard Enterprise for a risky experiment.
Remarkable scenes
- Erickson discussing the old metaphysical debate about whether or not someone was the same person or just some weird copy after going through the transporter.
- Erickson discussing the original transporter, going through it, and getting drunk with Zefram Cochrane.
- Trip questioning Archer's decision to help Erickson, despite his deception.
- Trip: "The transporter can't do that!" Erickson: "I built the damn thing!"
- Erickson beaming in Quinn despite the fact that he knew he'd die just so he could save him one last time.
- Erickson: "Why settle for making myself miserable when I can spread the misery around to an entire class of students?"
Review
A decent, though fairly average episode. The plot is rehashed from episodes like DS9: The Visitor, Voy: Jetrel, and Voy: Year of Hell in all of which a character struggles to bring someone back to life. It was a nice idea to bring the inventor of the transporter aboard for an experiment, but I was annoyed that he used deceit and subterfuge to hide his true motives. I would have preferred honesty from the beginning so the plot could focus on something more interesting. The metaphysical discussion about whether a person was still the same person and not some "weird copy" would have been a more interesting topic to cover. The plot to save Erickson's son gains some extra points though thanks to the wonderful acting by all those involved, especially Bill Cobbs as Erickson. He did a marvelous job and really brought a dull episode to life. I would have liked to see him again. One thing I noticed was several long scenes with no musical score. It stuck out to me like a sore thumb, much to the episode's disadvantage. Overall, a decent attempt.