Benefits to actually having a TV — while the reception is pretty cruddy, it does allow me to watch the single TV show I’ve got any real interest in, Enterprise. Last night’s episode was “Unexpected”:
When Tucker is dispatched to assist an alien ship with its power source problems, he is delighted to have a friendly encounter with one of the ship’s female engineers. But after discovering that their special moment has resulted in his becoming pregnant, he realizes he’s had an unwitting experience with alien sex. Now it’s up to the Archer and the crew to return the rapidly growing alien baby to its mother.
Definite mixed feelings about this episode, for me. It was enjoyable enough, and certainly fun to watch, but it definitely had a few moments that concern me a bit.
Things I liked: Trip’s attitude throughout the show — I really liked the understated, very dry approach he took. Archer’s reactions were hilarious, the number of times he had to work to stifle a smirk were hilarious. I do have to admit, too, to a thrill when the Klingon D-7 Battlecruiser appeared on the Enterprise’s viewscreen. I’ve always liked that ship (and Klingon design in general — though they were finally upstaged by the Next Generation-era Romulan Warbird…but I digress), and seeing it in action again was quite nice. On the other hand…
Things I didn’t like: We’re four episodes in, and they’ve already succumbed to the temptation to get some sort of Holodeck on the show. Okay, so the Enterprise didn’t end up with it, but still — is it that difficult to come up with original ideas? And would the Klingons really be appeased/tempted by the possibility of being given holographic technology? Seems to me that they’d be more interested in the cloaking technology that the alien ship was using. Besides, they seemed far to easily dissuaded — it’s hard for me to believe that given the level of tension between the Federation and the Klingon Empire during Kirk’s time, that any Klingon 100 years earlier, with far less contact with Humans to draw from, would put up with Archer’s down-home “Aw, shucks, Paw,” attitude for any longer than the time it would take to send a torpedo up the Enterprise’s tailpipe.
Anyway, taken as a whole, it was an okay episode, with some fairly amusing moments — but for someone who’s been watching Star Trek practically since birth, I really wonder how this show’s going to integrate its story arc with the known back story of the Trek universe. So far, they seem to be doing a fairly shaky job of that, which worries me. Ah, well — we’re also only four episodes in, and none of the Trek series have really hit their stride until somewhere between their second and fourth year, so I supposed it’s a little early to write “Enterprise” off just yet.
Still….