Day 354: Enterprise, Daedalus

Show: Star Trek; Enterprise

Episode Particulars: S4EP10, “Daedalus”

 Summary: The Enterprise is playing host to a special guest; Emory Erickson (Bill Cobbs), the inventor of the transporter, and his daughter Danica (Leslie Silva). Emory is here to test a new type of transporting that could make starships obsolete, and while Archer (who sees Emory as a second father) isn’t sure he’s on board with that idea, he’s more than happy to help Emory out. But it soon becomes clear that Emory isn’t telling the whole truth, especially after a weird anomaly appears on the ship and kills a crewman. Naturally, the Enterprise crew springs into action to figure out what’s going on, but for once, the anomaly isn’t malicious. In fact, once the truth comes out, it’s actually kind of sad.

Standalone Thoughts: For the most part, this is a pretty good episode. Bakula, Trinneer, and Cobbs all do a great job, especially since they have to go through several emotional registers as the episode goes on. The idea itself has been done before (including on Star Trek), but the execution is generally well-handled, overall striking the required mood. And while there is a bit of heavy-handedness when it comes to the message, it doesn’t descend into outright preachiness, which is all to the good. It gave me the same “pleasantly entertained” vibes as I had in Seasons One and Two, and after the disjointed nature of the Vulcan arc, that was more than enough to make me appreciate it.

Naturally, though, I have some complaints. One is that the episode tips its hand far too early about what’s going on. The conversations between Emory and Danica not only make it obvious that they have an ulterior motive for being on the ship (which is fine, because that’s a media staple), but you can guess pretty quickly what that motive is, especially because Danica and Archer had brought it up one scene prior. It’s another case of “waiting for the plot to catch up”, though at least this time it doesn’t feel quite as long before the characters figure it out. It might have been better to make it clear that something else was going on, but keep it vague until the moment when the characters figure it out, so the audience can be just as surprised as they are.

The other complaint is that it feels like the episode only really had enough content for thirty-five minutes instead of forty (if you take out the opening and end credits). There’s a scene between Archer and Emory that feels like the episode is winding down nicely, but instead of jumping to the transporter pad, seeing Emory and Danica off, we get an extra few minutes featuring T’Pol and Tucker. Now, the two of them had been having conversations throughout the episode, mostly relating to the events of “Awakening” and “Kir’Shara”, and those were fine because it felt mostly like character development. This scene, however, not only feels like it’s in the wrong place, but it implies something that kind of comes out of nowhere. Again, if you’ve been watching the show regularly, you can read between the lines, but I think they needed to add a little more dialogue in there if they wanted it to work properly. If nothing else, a mention of T’Pol’s husband really should have been in there.

Other than those issues, though, it’s a perfectly fine episode. It’s not one that stuck in my memory after my first watchthrough, but I liked it well enough this time, and I’m sure most other people would feel the same way. Besides, after having two dramatic arcs in a row, a standalone, quieter episode is probably just the palate cleanser we need. And that trend continues tomorrow…

How it Relates to the Whole: While I don’t believe the main content of the episode comes up again, the semi-subplot with T’Pol at least is acknowledging the events of the Vulcan arc, while also opening up possibilities for T’Pol’s character and exploring, at least a little, the Tucker/T’Pol relationship. Like I said, I don’t know if it was integrated into this episode well, but I do appreciate the followup.

Other: *This is quite possibly the most abrupt teaser Enterprise has ever had. Normally, the problem with their teasers is that they’re trying to make the mundane dramatic, instead of giving us something that makes us want to come back after the credits. This time, not only is the content (Emory coming aboard and exposition explaining the reason for it) mundane, but it ends with a quick cut to black and no music. It winds up feeling like there was supposed to be a little more, but it didn’t work out for whatever reason, so the editing teams had to make do with what they had. Unfortunately, all that did was make the situation worse.

*I think there was a bit of acknowledgement of the fanbase in this episode, when Emory is talking about the early days of developing the transporter and talking about some of the issues people had with the idea. In particular, the question about whether or not the person getting beamed up is the same person who was on the planet is one that I believe Trek fans have been debating for ages. This scene won’t exactly put an end to the debate, and I don’t know if it was a good idea or a bad idea to bring it up, but the little nod does kind of make the fan in me happy.

Badass Malcolm Moment: Malcolm only appears in one scene today, and while he doesn’t do anything overtly badass, he once again leaps into action with zero hesitation when something goes wrong, while also being cautious. It’s not much, but at least it’s a reminder that Malcolm really is the ideal tactical officer.

After the Fact Update: Two of the executive producers of Enterprise thought this episode was one of the weaker entries of Season Four, if not a downright bad episode. Once again, I seem to find myself going against the grain (though I will agree this isn’t the strongest or most memorable episode out there).