Episode 4: Strange New World

"Strange New World" deals directly with the issues of racism and xenophobia among the Humans aboard Enterprise. By exposing Tucker, Mayweather, T'Pol and two minor crew members to a psychotropic compound while stuck on a beautiful, earth-like planet, the writing team of Braga, Berman and Sussman create a mechanism to lay the crew's virulent anti-Vulcan feelings bare.

The episode begins with a short-lived "below decks" feel as four white crew members gawk at the beautiful planet that suddenly appears outside the mess hall's windows. T'Pol's scans show that the planet is "Menchara Class" which I take it is the Vulcan predecessor to the "M-Class" designation for earth-like planets used throughout the rest of Star Trek.

While T'Pol encourages a cautious approach to the exploration of this glorious surprise, the Humans are impatient to get going with an away team. “We didn’t come out here to tip-toe around," Archer tells T'Pol.

This statement is the beginning of a pattern of harassing and bullying behaviour aimed at the Vulcan science officer that permeates the episode. Archer and Tucker, in particular, are guilty of the behaviour, challenging T'Pol (often aggressively), making jokes at her expense, suggesting she do things that they clearly know are contrary to her culture and belief systems.

Archer also proves once again his complete unsuitability for the role of leader of Earth's first Warp-Five vessel of exploration. He ignores appropriate precautions, jumps to conclusions and makes poor decisions.

We are introduced to Crewman (and entymologist) Cutler who appears to be destined for a recurring role. She eats Vulcan food and tries to make friends with T’Pol, leading to yet another nasty comment about the Vulcan from Tucker.

A contingent heads to the planet and Archer brings Porthos with him. The dog is permitted to wander around this unknown planet at his leisure, despite the myriad dangers that could await him. T'Pol asks to be permitted to say overnight on the planet, with Cutler and Navokovic, to study a species of nocturnal marsupials she has detected; Tucker and Mayweather decide to join the "party".

A wind storm sweeps in and drives the landing party to find shelter in a nearby cave. Soon, however, the Humans begin to experience strange phenomena -- other humanoids wandering through the storm, strange whispers in the cave -- all displayed in objective mode. We, the viewer, see the "rock people", we hear the voices -- a tactic that seems to be intended to include us in the growing suspicion and subsequent harassment of T'Pol.

Archer and the entire crew fail completely to follow any kind of protocol, before and during the storm, when members of the crew start to display signs of problems, when Tucker's psychosis leads him to hold a phase pistol to T'Pol's head, even when Navokovic runs away from the shelter of the cage, gets lost in the the storm and tells Archer to "go to hell". The good Captain just shakes his head in wonder and doesn't consider the probability that his crewman might just be having some mental health issues.

As paranoia rises on the surface, Archer decides to try to rescue them in a shuttle pod. To everyone's amazement, the pod turns out to be so fragile it can't land in a wind storm that isn't even strong enough to knock over the people standing in the middle of the storm on the planet below!

After returning to Enterprise, Archer orders Reid to use the transporter to save the failing Navokovic but, oh my, wind seems to affect the transporter as well. Navokovic materialises but he's been melded with some of the plant life. A cheap way to rule out an easy transporter rescue, if you ask me.

In saving Navokovic, Phlox finds out there is a psychotropic compound in the air (probably introduced in the pollen of flowers blown down from the mountains by the storm), which affects the crew on the planet. Tucker's anti-Vulcan paranoia continues to build and even T'Pol is affected. It's interesting that the psychotropic compound causes the affected Humans to share hallucinations (that there are other beings on the planet, that T'Pol is in cohoots with them), which at first appears to be a narrative strategy to keep the viewer guessing, but then, when the truth is revealed, makes no sense at all.

Navokovic takes a turn for the worse and Phlox realises that, as it works its way out of his system, it leaves behind a toxin for which it might be too late to treat him. Will Archer’s crew be dead when they can be rescued once the storm passes in the morning? Phlox and Reid generate an anti-toxin that they will be transport down to the landing party. But how can they convince a paranoid, terrified phase-pistol-toting Tucker that it's safe?
  
Tucker refuses to permit T'Pol to collect or distribute the anti-toxin. Archer asks Tucker to trust him but then the rock people appear. Archer comes up with a lie – that they are all on a secret mission to make contact with the rock people and that T’Pol is the only person the rock people will trust. Sato tells T'Pol in Vulcan that T'Pol will have to "play act" to get Tucker to fall for Archer's lie. When Tucker finally lowers his weapon, convinced that the rock people have been mollified by T'Pol's assurances, T’Pol stuns Tucker. She then collects the anti-toxin and injects everyone to save their lives, using the Vulcan neck pinch to subdue a protesting Mayweather.

In waking the next morning, the landing party finds their heads cleared. Tucker apologises to T'Pol and quotes his high school science teacher, Mr. Velik, a Vulcan: "Challenge your preconceptions or they will challenge you."

"Strange New World" tries very hard to be both Star Trek and different from Star Trek, to help Enterprise stand apart from earlier Trek series while remaining true to its roots. As we all know, Gene Roddenberry was adamant that, if the Human race is to survive into the 23rd Century, it would to set aside its baser instincts, such as greed and violence, racism and sexism.

Apparently, B&B decided to set Enterprise apart by making it clear that those instincts are still strong in the 22nd Century.

Two problems arise in my mind. First, Archer and Tucker, especially, are presented as 22nd C men who are even less evolved than most of the 21st C men who would be watching the show. Sure, such men might just continue to exist on Earth in 2150 but would they really be the ones we would choose to lead our first expedition to explore "Strange New Worlds"?

Second, I wonder if B&B were aware that Archer and Tucker's treatment of T'Pol before the psychotropic compound affected the landing party is almost as racist, xenophobic and harassing as Tucker's behaviour under the influence of the drug. The ship's two leading men miss no opportunity to alienate (pardon the pun) T'Pol and remind everyone of her different, of her otherness. They did it in the first two episodes, they did it in "Strange New World" and they will continue to do it in future stories.

While they believe they are engaged in an intelligent and thoughtful discussion of their character's "preconceptions", I'm not so sure B&B aren't just proving to their viewers that they have no real understanding of what racism, xenophobia, sexism and harassment really are and what they look like in action.