Day 300: Enterprise, Marauders

Show: Star Trek; Enterprise

Episode Particulars: S2EP6, “Marauders”

 Summary: In need of dilithium, the Enterprise heads to a mining facility to trade for supplies. The miners assist them, but it quickly becomes clear that there’s something going on. The answer comes when a group of Klingons show up and threaten the miners, declaring they have four days to mine out the best quality ore. The Klingons have been doing this for five years, and the miners know better than to fight back. However, Archer doesn’t want to abandon someone in trouble, and volunteers his crew to teach the miners how to defend themselves, especially in ways that don’t rely on brute force. Also, a certain tactical officer is really going to come in handy today…

Standalone Thoughts: Despite everything I just wrote in the previous section, you could really sum up this episode in one sentence; “Enterprise does Seven Samurai/The Magnificent Seven”. You’ve got the raiders coming and making trouble for the locals, you’ve got the outsiders helping the locals learn to defend themselves, and you’ve even got the desert location and ghost town atmosphere. Even if you’ve never seen the movies this was inspired by, it’s a big enough part of pop culture that it will probably still feel a little familiar to you.

That being said, just because you recognize a trope doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy it, and I think it’s generally pretty well-executed here. The “training montage” is relatively simple and understated, and they save most of the action for the last ten minutes, mixing gunfire, physical fighting, and clever thinking to add some variety to proceedings. It may not be the best example of the trope I’ve ever seen, and I’d probably put this in the middle to upper-middle of the pack of Enterprise episodes, but it’s entertaining and comes across more as an homage than a ripoff. That’s more than good enough for me.

How it Relates to the Whole: I don’t believe we return to this planet, but the incident here may wind up being referenced in a later episode this season. If it isn’t, though, the biggest contribution this episode makes is showing us that Hoshi is improving at her own firing skills, as evidenced by the way she teaches the miners. So at least it’s a reasonable bit of exposition/character development through action.

Other: *When Archer and Tucker go down to the planet, they’re wearing tan-colored outfits to help offset the desert heat, which makes sense. What makes less sense is that they apparently need to take the time to attach their rank pips to their collars. I fully admit that I don’t know how important it is in the military to display your hierarchy, but to my eyes, this isn’t really necessary.

*The design for the aliens is both simplistic and bizarre this time around. At first glance, it just looks like they have slightly wrinkled foreheads, but then you take a closer look and you realize that some of their hair is literally going into holes in their heads, as if it grew directly out of the holes. It shows a bit more creativity than just slapping a prosthetic on there, but it does make you wonder what sort of conditions led to that form of evolution.

*As a fan of female characters who go against the norm, I really appreciate that we see at least one woman learning how to defend herself and helping out in the big fight at the end. Why wouldn’t we see more of that in the 22^nd century?

Badass Malcolm Moment: Even if we never see him make a precision shot, the mere sight of Malcolm aiming a sniper rifle is a joy to behold;

What can I say? Sometimes, it’s all about the visual presence.

After the Fact Update: Unlike the probable influence of 2001: A Space Odyssey in “Dead Stop”, Memory Alpha cops to this episode being inspired by The Magnificent Seven. Like I’ve said before, no shame in stealing from the classics as long as you make it your own.