Archer and
crew spent this week preparing for a galactic conference between
the Andorians and the Tellarites. These are two great powers
of the Alpha Quadrant who have been fighting for centuries.
We’ve known both of them since the original Star
Trek and they both become founding members of the Federation.
So an episode featuring these two historic races should be
loaded with excitement.
But it’s not.
Why
not? Well, let’s break it down. Enterprise shuttles
some Tellarite ambassadors across Andorian space when they
run into recurring character Commander Shran. His vessel
has been destroyed by a Tellarite. Then the Enterprise is
attacked by Andorians. And the Tellarites and Andorians
want to fight it out on Archer’s ship.
Boy,
this episode writes itself - mainly 'cause it’s been
written a dozen or so times before. There is a fine line
between doing something done before and just redoing old
plots. Everything about “Babel One” feels familiar.
Not just talking about the 24 seasons of other Star
Trek shows, but the plot repeats elements of the past
3 years on Enterprise.
Commander Shran even says, “I regret
that you’re drawn into another one of our conflicts,
Captain.” In other words, “How many more times
can we see Andorians fight against another old school alien?”
But
the tension between these two races is being stressed by
some unknown aliens. We know them as Romulans. Enterprise
has been flirting with the Romulans all season. Fitting
since the Earth-Romulan war has long been established as
happening from 2156 to 2160, and the fourth season of Enterprise
takes place in 2154.
So while
it’s very “Romulan” to create a war from
the shadows… it’s also redundant, since they
did it on every Star Trek series.
Did
anyone else do the math? If one of the greatest wars in
all of history starts in 2156, and it’s 2154…
where are the rest of Star Fleet's ships? The Columbia isn’t
scheduled to launch for a few more months. And then that’s
TWO ships. Maybe the Romulans don’t have a huge fleet.
But apparently they do have a holo-generator-space-flea-ship.
It’s pretty cool – but, very unRomulan. And
if they had access to such extreme technology why did they
not use it against Kirk… Picard… the Domionion…
the Borg… the list goes on.
Now
we’re discussing the very thing many Trek
fans were concerned with when they first learned about a
prequel series. Maybe Enterprise can’t explore
a preFederation galaxy without tearing at the loose continuity
from the other shows. Maybe this was a mistake.
Sure,
they explore the intricate dynamics of the Tellarite and
Andorian cultures. Tellarites prefer to argue and insult.
Andorians prefer abusive women. But it’s little consolation
for a formulaic story.
Enterprise
plans to visit some very common Star Trek themes
in the months ahead. This three part story will develop
into the seeds of the Federation. The next three part story
will feature the origins of the Klingon’s smooth foreheads.
And they’re even doing a Mirror Mirror series (visiting
the alternate everyone's-got-a-beard-universe set up on
Classic).
This is what we WANT to see. Orions, Tellarites,
Andorians, Klingons, Vulcans, Romulans… but it’s
got to be done RIGHT. And this episode was not. It was boring.
Hopefully,
as the plot thickens next week, so will the quality.
