Story: The Expanse
Written By: Rick Berman & Brannon Braga
Series: Star Trek: Enterprise
Year: 2003
This finale brings together a lot of the lingering plot threads of the past two years. Sadly all of the plot threads on Enterprise are pretty terrible and uninteresting. You got this Temporal Cold War that is as inane as it is boring, and you got these Klingon who want Archer in prison since “Judgement”...I’ve no idea why either thread has continued this far. The Temporal Cold War shouldn’t have made it out of “Shockwave, Part II”. The Klingon thing comes from one forgettable episode and continued in another disappointing episode. Why did they latch onto that lame thread? Anyhow this episode launches a whole new thread...an Arc that would sustain the whole of Season 3...the Xindi Arc.
A giant weapon comes to Earth and blows out a huge chunk of Florida, killing a whole load of people (including Trip’s sister). Enterprise is called home. But on their way home they encounter the Sulliban (ugh) who kidnap Archer and take him to see that Future Guy (ugh) who spins a boring tale about how Earth was attacked by the Xindi because some other faction from the Future told them that Earth would attack THEM 400 years in the future. Well the Xindi seem like gullible dicks huh? Then after Archer returns to Enterprise they are attacked by Duras and some Klingons because they still haven’t gotten over his escaping Rura Penthe. It is here purely to pad out the episode.
So often I find myself re-writing Enterprise. I would have obviously dropped the Temporal Cold War in “Shockwave,” or even sooner. I wouldn’t have even had the episode “Judgement”, which was completely pointless, let alone let it’s plot infect the plots of two other episodes. With this episode (which clearly got it’s premise from 9/11, what with the unprovoked unthinkable attack and all) I would have made the attackers not some new species in some goofy region of space...I would have called them “Romulans”. And I would have used episodes like “Minefield” to set up the Romulans not digging Earth or it’s people moving out into space...and this being their response.
That would set up season 3 as being a war not with the Xindi, but with the Romulans, a war first hinted at during this time frame in the Romulans first appearance in “Balance of Terror”. Leaving the reveal of the Romulans look a complete mystery to Enterprise or any allies involved in the war. Then Season 4 could easily be set up for the post-war events, with allies who have learned to love each other coming together over the course of the season to create the Federation.
I think this episode is decent enough, it does leave you wanting more in a way “Shockwave” didn’t, despite my reservations about what this episode failed on, I think it set up what was certainly a much more interesting season than the show had previously.
NEXT TIME: Enterprise Season 2 Recap
Written By: Rick Berman & Brannon Braga
Series: Star Trek: Enterprise
Year: 2003
This finale brings together a lot of the lingering plot threads of the past two years. Sadly all of the plot threads on Enterprise are pretty terrible and uninteresting. You got this Temporal Cold War that is as inane as it is boring, and you got these Klingon who want Archer in prison since “Judgement”...I’ve no idea why either thread has continued this far. The Temporal Cold War shouldn’t have made it out of “Shockwave, Part II”. The Klingon thing comes from one forgettable episode and continued in another disappointing episode. Why did they latch onto that lame thread? Anyhow this episode launches a whole new thread...an Arc that would sustain the whole of Season 3...the Xindi Arc.
So often I find myself re-writing Enterprise. I would have obviously dropped the Temporal Cold War in “Shockwave,” or even sooner. I wouldn’t have even had the episode “Judgement”, which was completely pointless, let alone let it’s plot infect the plots of two other episodes. With this episode (which clearly got it’s premise from 9/11, what with the unprovoked unthinkable attack and all) I would have made the attackers not some new species in some goofy region of space...I would have called them “Romulans”. And I would have used episodes like “Minefield” to set up the Romulans not digging Earth or it’s people moving out into space...and this being their response.
That would set up season 3 as being a war not with the Xindi, but with the Romulans, a war first hinted at during this time frame in the Romulans first appearance in “Balance of Terror”. Leaving the reveal of the Romulans look a complete mystery to Enterprise or any allies involved in the war. Then Season 4 could easily be set up for the post-war events, with allies who have learned to love each other coming together over the course of the season to create the Federation.
I think this episode is decent enough, it does leave you wanting more in a way “Shockwave” didn’t, despite my reservations about what this episode failed on, I think it set up what was certainly a much more interesting season than the show had previously.
NEXT TIME: Enterprise Season 2 Recap