Broken Bow, Prod#ST:ENT 101/102

Synopsis: The Enterprise crew sets on a maiden voyage with a mission to return a wounded Klingon to his people.

MJC Review:

The Drama -

Humans have always been eager, excited, and somewhat desperate to get into deep space. For the last century, they've relied on Vulcans on "what's out there", but now humans want to stand (or float) on their on feet in space. Now they have the means to go "where no man has gone before". For Captain Archer, this is a boyhood dream come true. The mission is straight forward - take the Klingon back to his homeworld. What Captain and crew found out along the way was a bit more than what they had expected. Along their journey, they explore a strange new world, meet weird aliens, and wonder where they will boldly go next. Hey, that's why it's called an adventure. The Vulcan/Human relationship was interesting. Both races work together yet disagree on so many things. Humans feel that the Vulcans have hindered their exploration efforts, while Vulcans think that Humans need more time to develop their "logic" before exploring the unknown. Yet, despite all that, both races do work together. For Archer, his feelings towards Vulcans is most intense. He blames them for slowing down human space exploration and for his father not being able to see the warp 5 project come true. So one, can image how infuriated Archer is when a Vulcan, T'Pol, is assigned to his ship. Oh, well. As events unfold unexpectedly, both Archer and T'Pol find ways to work together to complete a successful mission. Perhaps the biggest obstacle to overcome Archer and T'Pol during the mission was their preconceived ideas about each other.  Well, I guess that they will have to put those silly notions behind them if they are going to work together.  I wouldn't say that they are friends, but they both realize that working together is more beneficial for each and everyone than not.

So how does this Klingon feel? First, he crash lands on Earth, gets shot by a farmer, gets abducted and interrogated by the Suliban, recaptured by the the humans, then finally gets back to his homeworld. No wonder he wants to be killed when he finally gets there - "I've been dishonored in a way you can't imagine".

I'm not sure what to make of the Suliban. Genetically engineered? Suliban dissidents? Interference from the future? Temporal cold war? The whole gives me a head-ache. However, they do make good for special effects. I wish I could turn my hand around like they do.

I thought that the regular characters were well written in. Each had an important role for the plot that only that character could fill. Mayweather is just a natural for space deep space travel. While everyone else is "oo-ing and ah-ing" at everything, Tucker is more like "hey, I was born and raised in this environment" . The scenes with Sato and the universal translator where hilarious. These darn things don't really work right all the time! She has to rely on her own natural abilities and instinct when technology can't translate everything for you. Read is spit and polish. He goes by-the-book. I think is "book" will need adjusting as he ventures into the unknown. I sense that Tucker and Archer go way back. Tucker seems very knowledgeable and intelligent, but he also seems to have much to learn of new ideas and new worlds. I think his offbeat sense of humor is about to get a does of shocking reality as he goes where no man has gone before. His scene with T'Pol, Archer, and Archer's dog was great when referring to T'Pol's keen sense of smell - "I had a shower this morning". I think T'Pol may end up being my favorite character - a logical, young (only 50 - that's young for Vulcans) female Vulcan all in one. Can I stand the pain! More!! Seriously, she'll definitely be the wise one who guides the humans to the unknown. In time, I think she'll learn to respect the emotional and irrational humans a bit more. It'll be interesting to see over time how much she gets emotionally contaminated by being around a ship full of humans all the time. And who is this Phlox character?? Besides having an unusual approach to medicine, not much is known about him. However, he does share a lot curiosity about meeting new species as the humans do. I guess he'll be the mystery character for awhile. It'll be interesting to see how these characters and Archer grow-up over time has they venture into deep space.

I was pleased that they did give credit to Gene Roddenberry in the opening credits - justly done. The first pilot of Enterprise remains true to one of Star Trek's main themes: Exploration.


Tid Bits -

I don't know about the series theme song. It may take awhile to get used too. I DO think that the producers should put Star Trek as part of the series name. After all, this IS Star Trek!! And how'bout that Vulcan chick, T'Pol! Whew!! She brings a whole new meaning to Pon-farr! I thought 'Warbird' was a Romulan-type ship. Oh well, Berman and gang have been known for their oops-inconstancies, but we can forgive them......sometimes. Oh! And that dude in the temporal chamber....looks like a Romulan. Cool looking new Enterprise ship, too. Can I get one?  I think I could like this pre-federation starship if they keep serving steak for dinner - A1 sauce, please. I do have one question about the Enterprise: Got milk?


What it all means -

"To explore strange new worlds, to seek out new lifeforms and new civilizations,
to boldly go where no man has gone before."



4 cool peace signs

MJC 200109.29