Last week
Captain Archer and crew played host to two aliens who pretended
to be cargo dealers, when in actuality they were kidnappers.
This week the crew brings on board three aliens who pretend
to be stellar cartographers. Guess what? They aren't!
This past
weekend's release of Star
Trek: Nemesis reminds us that all Star Trek
can be anymore is old stories told in new ways. It's something
we've grown to accept. But Enterprise doesn't have
to run into deceptive alien species every other week.
Nevertheless,
this week's liars warn the Enterprise crew about a mysterious
storm that has enough power to supercharge the warp core,
blow the ship up, AND give everyone radiation poisoning. All
83 crew members, Dr. Phlox's zoo, the three alien liars, and
yes, Porthos the puppy, gather together in the "catwalk,"
the stretch of space in the warp nacelle. And not one of them
struts and models the new fall collection while wearing a
pouty face. Not even T'Pol.
By now
you're wondering, "Space storm? Isn't 'space' pretty
big? Can't they just go up, or down, or AWAY from the storm?"
The answer is... LOOK! Shiny object!
And back
to the plot. There, in the catwalk, they settle down for what
looks like a very nice bonding experience, until the liars'
military comes looking for the stellar cartographers - or
should I say criminals? Those liars.
"Oh,
please please please! This week let me be the
deaf vicar
and
you be the blind nun..."
The local
space militia attempts to commandeer the Enterprise, forcing
the crew to come out of the nacelle and use deception
to fight back. By letting the aliens think Archer is the only
remaining human on the ship he deceives the militia
into thinking he'd rather blow the ship up, then let them
take it (Star Treks: Wrath of Khan, First Contact,
and half a dozen other TV episodes).
To be
fair, Archer and crew are rather adept at their own brand
of deception. This week's fake-out just follows a long line
of lies. Last week T'Pol pretended to be an executioner, earlier
this season Trip pretended to be Archer, and in the first
month of the show T'Pol was pretending to talk to aliens on
an uninhabited planet. Look what this voyage is doing to the
first Earth crew in deep space -- making us play pretend.
Wait.
It's all pretend. Ooh. How post-modern.
Despite
the repetitive theme, and the oddly convenient storm premise,
this was still a good episode. There were fun details that
will surely be woven into future installments of Enterprise.
For example, the aliens didn't need to wear big bulky suits
to protect themselves from the radiation. How odd.
With this
being the last episode until the New Year, we Trekkers and
Trekkies alike will boldly go where we have all gone before:
Rerunland. What is this sun thing people keep talking about?
