Star Trek: Enterprise — 4x21 — Terra Prime
Synopsis
A human isolationist leader threatens to destroy Starfleet Command unless all aliens leave Earth immediately.
Remarkable scenes
- Trip: "Do you really think I'm going to help you turn that array into a weapon?" Paxton: "Do you really think I'm going to give you choice?"
- Enterprise hitching a ride to Mars using a comet.
- Archer putting Hoshi in command!
- Archer, Reed, Phlox, and Travis taking a shuttlepod down to Mars.
- The sight of the Carl Sagan Memorial Station and the first Mars Rover. Aww, how cute. :)
- T'Pol: "Tagart syndrome. Since you obviously didn't die by age twenty, you're receiving treatment. Rigelian gene therapy?" Paxton: "You're not a doctor." T'Pol: "They very thing you're warning humans to avoid is what's keeping you alive. Alien knowledge, freely shared. You're not only a terrorist, you're a hypocrite." Paxton: "This is not the time for timidity and second guessing. We cannot afford to doubt ourselves." T'Pol: "Colonel Green also said to be human is to be pure. Under his rule you would have been euthanized for having a genetic disorder. I'm not the first significant leader who failed to measure up to his own ideals."
- T'Pol revealing that she had named her dying baby Elizabeth, after Trip's sister.
- Masaro killing himself in front of Archer.
- Phlox' speech about how Enterprise has become his family and how he desperately wishes for Archer to make something good come from this.
- Archer: "Up until about a hundred years ago, there was one question that burned in every human, that made us study the stars and dream of traveling to them. Are we alone? Our generation is privileged to know the answer to that question. We are all explorers, driven to know what's over the horizon, what's beyond our own shores. And yet, the more I've experienced, the more I've learned that no matter how far we travel, or how fast we get there, the most profound discoveries are not necessarily beyond that next star. They're within us, woven into the threads that bind us, all of us, to each other. A final frontier begins in this hall. Let's explore it together."
Review
The sequel to Ent: Demons impressed me. Coto didn't do such a good job setting up the premise of Ent: Demons to be very interesting, but where he went with it in Ent: Terra Prime was downright moving and would have made a fitting end to the series. Many fans actually consider this episode to be the end of Enterprise because they hate the next one so much, they refuse to believe it's canon. But discussions about the next episode should be held off until my next review. The story shows the almost tragic downfall of Paxton, who's true nature is revealed. He's another Hitler who never had a chance to do any real damage, except of course, to Trip and T'Pol. With regards to them, their relationship has finally shown real progress, something that is much appreciated. I loved how even Phlox broke down when the baby died. The emotion in this episode was well played and totally appropriate. Giving Hoshi command of Enterprise while Archer led the rescue team was also a nice touch. Imagine the frightened little girl that she was in Ent: Fight or Flight taking this kind of responsibility. The scenes on Mars were visually spectacular and the comet ride getting there was even moreso. While in reality this episode isn't much more than your average action episode, the emotional scenes at the end depicting how the alien crew has all become one family is what made me like the episode so much. It's Star Trek at its best.