Developing
the Star Trek prequel was a tricky thing. Enterprise
takes place 150 years before Kirk and Spock sailed through
the final frontier. And while no previous episode of any
shows has ever mentioned the fate of Captain Archer and
his crew, there are still certain things we know never happened.
Like Earth blowing up, or the Vulcans dying off or the Klingons
conquering humanity.
The
inherent nature of a prequel show makes for a less dramatic
series. Earth can never be in danger, a plot used in almost
every Star Trek film. How can you write jeopardy
into an episode when the audience already knows the outcome?
Time
travel.
The
very pilot of Enterprise rewrote Star Trek
history. The first voyage of the NX-01 became a battle ground
for the Temporal Cold War. Over the past three years we’ve
watched Temporal Agents pop in and out of the time line,
trying to muck up history for their own good. Enterprise
spent all of season three trying to stop a temporal faction
from erasing mankind from the timeline.
The
Temporal Cold War is as much a part of Enterprise
as the ship, its captain and the aliens. And now in the
second episode of season four they claim it has come to
a close.
The
season opener revealed a Temporal Faction was trapped on
Earth in the 1940’s. They allied themselves with the
Germans and had swung World War II into the favor of the
Axis powers. The alien-powered Nazis had conquered Europe
and now are working on the eastern borders of the U.S.
This
is some cool Star Trek. In the second part of "Storm
Front," Archer calls upon the aid of Alicia Travers
in a plot twist that smells an awful lot like Star Trek:
First Contact. Picard journeyed back in time to a pinnacle
mucked up moment in history and teamed up with timeline
native Lily Sloane.
Unlike
Picard, however, Archer also met up with some former Brooklyn
gangsters. After the U.S. backed out of New York and the
rest of the east coast, the criminal element was about all
that was left for the Germans to conquer.
The
opening old-fashioned newsreel before the Enterprise
theme song sums this up nicely. Watching Hitler take a ‘tour’
of Lady Liberty and Washington DC is like watching someone
throwing up. It’s horrific but you can’t turn
your eyes.
Star
Trek has always stretched the imagination of its viewers.
But Enterprise connects with themes like no other
show has since the original Trek. It’s actually
mind boggling to consider aliens aiding Nazis and owning
New York. The concept alone sounds rather goofy –
but Enterprise pulls it off.
To correct
this nightmare, Archer eventually teams up with Silik, the
Suliban leader who has been tailing Enterprise since its
first adventure. The Suliban are 23rd century operatives,
enhanced by 31st century technology. Silik and others can
morph their bodies, survive in space and cling to ceilings.
All
these techniques were used by Silik to take the place of
Tripp. But true to Enterprise form, Dr. Phlox makes
the discovery, but not a big deal. Subtly he alerts Captain
Archer, who plays it cool. And after a quick game of cat
and mouse, they capture Silik on board. But the thirty seconds
of intrigue and mystery is what fuels Enterprise.
They don’t hand the audience the answers. They make
us wait for it. That’s craft. It shows their patience
and expert direction, writing and acting. Little tiny almost
unnoticed details separate this show from any other.
Archer
and Silik agree their common enemy is the aliens aiding
the Nazis. So Silik dresses up as a human (still played
by the same actor, John Fleck), and the gangsters cover
them as they rush into the alien’s facility. Then
Silik’s IQ drops about four thousand points when he
turns his back on a Nazi and is rewarded with a body filled
with holes.
Here’s
a villain who is cunning enough to appear on Enterprise’s
viewscreen for four seasons, and he’s taken down by
some unknown kid with a gun. Even Silik doesn’t agree
with his fate and tells Archer he’d preferred to be
killed by him.
But
thanks to Silik’s efforts, Archer and Enterprise are
able to destroy the alien compound and magically restore
history. Lt. Daniels stands with the Captain in a corridor
of time and explains the Temporal War, both hot and cold,
is now over.
OVER!?
How
can the Temporal War be over? The very thread of the entire
series ripped from its seam! To eliminate the continual
story line of the Temporal War is about as sensible as eliminating
the Wormhole Aliens from Deep Space Nine. Those
aliens bookended the entire show. And while at times their
presence seemed to confuse things they ended up giving the
series its purpose.
All
last season I asked which cast member would be leaving Enterprise.
Instead of a character, the essential Temporal Cold War
has been written off. This makes little sense. There are
still numerous strands dangling from this storyline.
Season
four promises to have several two or three part stories.
In a few weeks Brent Spiner (formerly Data) will make an
appearance. But mark my words. They can’t kill off
the Temporal Cold War. It would be like yanking the very
heart of the show from its chest. And not in a poetic Klingon
sort of way.
