Day 272: Enterprise, Strange New World

Show: Star Trek; Enterprise

Episode Particulars: S1EP3, “Strange New World”

 Summary: The entire crew of Enterprise is delighted when they stumble across an uninhabited planet, one that has an atmosphere very similar to Earth’s. While T’Pol suggests they run some scans from orbit, Archer would prefer to experience the planet up close and personal. Therefore, T’Pol selects two people from the science division, Crewman Ethan Novakovich (Henri Lubatti) and Crewman Elizabeth Cutler (Kellie Waymire) to help her document the plant and animal life on the planet. The three of them plan to stay overnight to observe some nocturnal animals, and Tucker and Mayweather invite themselves along so they can enjoy an evening of camping. Unfortunately, a severe windstorm blows up, so the group has to take shelter in a nearby cave. And even worse, they’re starting to see signs that the planet might not be uninhabited after all…

Standalone Thoughts: This isn’t a bad episode in theory, and it’s certainly a watchable one, but I don’t think it was executed as well as it could have been. I get the sense that this episode was supposed to be going for a horror movie vibe, with an opening act that’s the calm before the storm (literally, actually) before things gradually descend into creepiness. There are two problems with that. One, the opening act in this case is kind of boring. We get several minutes of the away team walking around admiring the scenery, and it just kind of feels like we’re watching a video of someone’s vacation. It also doesn’t help that, despite being an alien planet, it looks like some random park you’d find on Earth. The only indications that we’re on an alien world are the fact that there are two moons in the sky and we see some unusual critters. Couldn’t they at least have put some weird colored/shaped rocks here or there, or slapped a filter on the camera so the grass looked a different color?

Things do pick up once we enter the horror section of the episode, but that’s when we run into the second problem; I don’t feel a sense of stakes. To the episode’s credit, the music and lighting are doing their best to evoke a tense atmosphere, and the concept and dialogue are good, but it overall doesn’t feel like the away team are in any danger. Even when we know everything will probably turn out fine, there should at least be some sense of menace. Plus, instead of making Tucker come across as increasingly unhinged and irrational, Connor Trinneer appears to be chewing the scenery instead. And since he has to do most of the talking, that can make the scenes a little hard to take seriously.

Like I said at the start, though, the episode’s not terrible, just bland. There’s just enough atmosphere to at least somewhat get the horror vibe across, there’s a pretty good exchange between Phlox and Archer, and the opening scenes before the shuttle actually lands on the planet does a decent job of conveying the excitement of discovering a new world. So even when it’s not as strong as it could have been (including a discussion of Vulcan vs. Human practices that was right there in the text but isn’t taken to the proper conclusion), the episode still has potential. Perhaps that phrase is the one that should be used to describe Enterprise in general.

How it Relates to the Whole: Again, nothing really comes of this episode in the long run, at least as far as plot threads go. We are introduced to the recurring character of Elizabeth Cutler and get our first Vulcan nerve pinch of the series, but that’s about it. If memory serves, we won’t be getting something big until three episodes from now. I’m more than willing to wait till then.

Other: *Just one today. As the situation gets even more dire, T’Pol starts speaking in Vulcan for no apparent reason. Then Archer contacts the away team, and she speaks English again, before eventually swapping back to Vulcan and sticking with that language until the end of the climax. We’re given an explanation for this that makes sense…but doesn’t explain how she was able to go back to English for a brief period. I guess we’re supposed to chalk it up to “Vulcan mental control” and leave it at that.

Badass Malcolm Moment: As SFDebris noted in his review of this story (As with Deep Space Nine, I’m avoiding any reviews he makes while I’m working on this project, but there were some I saw before now), Malcolm is kind of a jack of all trades this episode, even when he honestly shouldn’t be. Case in point; given that the transporter is brand new technology and Malcolm expressed ambivalence about using it in the pilot episode, he probably shouldn’t know how to work it. But he beams up a crewman, in the middle of a windstorm, and manages to compensate when difficulties arise. Out-of-universe, it’s a lazy way to give the main cast things to do (and not have to pay for another actor). In-universe, I choose to believe that Malcolm dedicated his spare time to learning how the transporter worked so he’d be able to use it in an emergency. He seems like the sort of guy who would prepare for every contingency.