So last night was the first new episode of Enterprise, Silent Enemy.
When Enterprise is attacked by an unidentified enemy ship, the crew must work frantically to get their new phase cannons to operate. Meanwhile, Archer realizes that no one knows Reed well enough to give him a personalized birthday gift.
My take on the episode — extremely uneven. Overall I’d give it probably around 3 out of 5, but the show could have been much better.
Basically, the half of the show that dealt with the actual conflict was very good. The unidentified aliens were mysterious, interesting, and threatening (and, in what may be a first for Star Trek, they appeared to be fully CGI creations, allowing Trek to get away from the ‘bumpy forehead’ alien). The writers seemed to be trying to make it clear that even though we’ve got the standard compliment of characters (the Captain, the head Engineer), they’re not carbon copies of the ones we’ve seen in the past — Archer had serious doubts about whether the Enterprise should have left earth with some major systems offline, and Trip initially refused to patch the weapons system into the ship in a way that would probably have had Scotty drooling. Problems with the weapons systems (from not having them to practically blowing themselves up with them on the first test) made for a nice level of suspense thoughout the episode, and Reed and Trip’s determination to get the weapon systems online was fun to watch.
However, the secondary theme of the show — the search for the perfect dish for Reed’s birthday surprise — fell flat for the most part. I did get some giggles out of it here and there, such as when Hoshi clumsily gives Reed the impression that she’s hitting on him (Hoshi’s cute when she’s flustered…well, okay, Hoshi’s cute no matter what, but still…). However, it seemed like a somewhat forced way to cut the tension of the rest of the show, and just kept intruding at times that I didn’t think it should.
Then, my major problem with the show — why in the world don’t they head back to Earth? I was already starting to wonder about that a few episodes back, but it just seems to be more and more foolish all the time. The ship launched unfinished, and while the phase cannon systems were brought online in this episode, were those the only systems that still had work left to be done when Enterprise launched? The ship’s taken a beating on a fairly regular basis so far, and it seems fairly ludicrous to think that they can keep repairing it without a stop off at Earth, as Federation Starbases don’t exist yet for them to refuel or refit at. Even if they’re technically capable of doing the repairs, what about the raw materials?
It’s just starting to seem like their desire to be the first explorers from space is getting in the way of their better judgement — almost like they’re afraid that if they do go back to earth, they won’t be allowed to go play anymore. I can understand reluctance, but Archer himself mentioned to T’Pol that things are pretty rough in their neighborhood. Would a stop off at Earth to make sure everything on the ship is in good shape and actually ready for what they might encounter really be such a bad idea?
Ah, well. Strong moments, but an uneven episode. 3 out of 5.