Terra Prime

This double episode is a worthy conclusion to this rather average series. And it also marks the birth of the United Federation of Planets.

The actual events in this episode are rather lame though. The mining facility's weapon is so powerful, you have to wonder why you've never seen anything like it on Starfleet ships before. The whole story about the cloned baby hybrid of human and Vulcan DNA didn't convince me at all either. Firstly, with just one cloned baby you would hardly be able to gain supporters for your racial madness - the current "threat" to people on Earth still seems far too small to me at this point. Apparently it is not the case that Earth is overpopulated by aliens, that humans can no longer find jobs or apartments and that crime and violence have increased (all reasons for comparable arguments in our day when it comes to immigrants). Secondly, this whole exaggerated emotional attachment of Trip and T'Pol to this baby is a bit far-fetched. Yes, the baby is genetically their offspring. But it's also a test-tube baby, a pure clone. From stolen DNA. This emotional connection that they both portray in the episode doesn't seem authentic. T'Pol was neither pregnant with the baby nor was it taken from both of them at an early stage. There wasn't even an act of conception.

And also: Why did this insane human supremacy supporter need DNA from T'Pol and Trip to create a clone? He could have taken any Vulcan or human and created a clone from their DNA. Maybe even an Andorian and a human to make the result even more vivid. Ultimately, it was all about presenting an alleged abomination to his followers in order to further incite their racial madness and stir up hatred and violence.

Mayweather also proves once again in this double episode that he is a really bad actor and was just an extra in the entire series anyway. And this unsympathetic reporter/agent then added fuel to the fire and completely ruined the already boring scenes with him.

This episode also once again shows that the concept of a phaser set to stun is still not understood. With a weapon that doesn't kill or cause injury, you can basically just shoot away. So why do Archer and the others storm the command center of that mining facility and not just take out everyone they find there - no questions asked. Instead, the villain is of course spared and has time to strike back. Typical Star Trek!

And why is Hoshi still an ensign? After all these years and even saving Earth from annihilation, a promotion would have been absolutely necessary. What do you actually have to do in Starfleet to become a lieutenant or commander when apparently even preventing the destruction of Earth doesn't qualify?

This is the penultimate episode of "Star Trek: Enterprise" and it does a great job of setting the stage for the ending of the series. In it, Enterprise must sneak into the compound on Mars of the nut-case (Peter Weller) who is threatening to destroy the Federation before it can begin. In other words, while the humans and their new alien friends are about to sign a treaty forming the Federation, this idiot plans on destroying all this due to his xenophobic dream!

Part two focuses on the infiltration of the compound and then setting the wheels in motion for the Federation. Each was accomplished well and in an exciting fashion. Because of this, it makes a fine addition to the Trek franchise--well worth seeing and Weller makes an excellent baddie.

In Mars, the xenophobic terrorist John Frederick Paxton threatens the aliens on Earth and gives an ultimatum: they shall immediately leave the planet; otherwise he would destroy the Starfleet Headquarter with a powerful weapon that is locked on the target. The aliens question whether humans might be capable to lead their alliance process. In the Enterprise, Archer asks Reed to meets Harris that helps him giving privileged information to the invasion to the facility. Meanwhile T'Pol and Trip meet their baby and they give the name of Elizabeth; however T'Pol discovers that Elizabeth is seriously sick and needing medical assistance. Gannet discloses to Travis that she is a secret agent from the Starfleet Intelligence and she is assigned to find a Terra Prime operative that is working undercover in Enterprise.

"Terra Prime" is a good conclusion of "Demons". The guest star Peter Weller performs a contradictory villain. The best part of the episode is the relationship among T'Pol, Trip and Elizabeth. My vote is eight.

Title (Brazil): "Terra Prime"

So our overblown zealot had feet of clay. Good. This is an excellent episode with great pacing and a story of love and loss. It also sets up much of what happens next for the lineage of the Enterprise. Suspicion and hatred for those things we don't know is the most destructive force we deal with. It would be nice if our leadership would take a hard look at themselves at times. Yes, there are dangers. Address them. But don't paint the whole world with the same brush. Excellent concluding two part episode. One thing. I wonder how many sea lions were lost when that heat ray hit the water?

In the beginning...

In 2001, I started to watch the series Enterprise because something about the concept intrigued me. I had not gotten into The Next Generation, and I was too busy for DS9. I watched the re-runs of the Original Series when I was a kid, and that was the appeal that led me to Enterprise.

Enterprise debuted around the same time the 9/11 terrorists attacks came. Although the show had been planned months ahead of time, and was hyped throughout the summer of 2001, the show had the misfortune of bad bad timing. Anyone who watches Enterprise now, and wasn't alive or old enough back then probably can't imagine how big of a change that was for even someone such as myself - who at the time taught students how to file forms for government services. But the whole world stopped, and there was little time for the distractions of fictionalized TV. Some of these episodes were canceled, and broadcast during the wee hours of the night. Some came during very important war announcements.

Sometime in late November 2001, a friend who had started watching Enterprise in the beginning as I had, asked if I was able to keep up. When I said that I wasn't, he informed me that UPN - the now defunct network that broadcast the show - was going to air a marathon to get viewers up to speed. I then told my friend that I would forgo the show for its original run, and watch it during its re-run period, because there was no way to get back into it, and judge it fairly.

"And," I said, "this show is going to have a hard time showcasing Science for Peace when most of America is suffering from a blood-lust."

What I didn't know is that those re-runs would never come...

Earlier this year, though, I had a chance to go through the whole series on Amazon Prime. I wasn't impressed. The first two years of the series were a mess. The characters were ill-defined, and sloppily utilized. The situations were banal. And, from the stories that were presented, the writers' interest in science was small.

The third season was at least coherent. The writers gained an interest in some science - the science of war. The Enterprise characters gained characterizations. And - finally! - there was a reason for Trip.

But it was the fatal fourth season that turned in the best episodes. And none better than Terra Prime.

The science dilemma of the show is how science advancements leave people behind. Don't just assume that the victims of advancements are the villains, such as the xenophobe John Frederick Paxton. No, everyone gets victimized for the furtherment of science: from Capt. Archer in DEMONS, the first part of this two episode story; to the very sad exploitation of T'Pol and Trip.

Yes, science is a tool that can be used for good or bad. This was the tale of those got stomped by it.

It's a pity that it took Enterprise four years to come up with a great Sci-Fi story.

(And can you believe they came up with one of the worst televised shows ever in the next installment?)