Episode 60: Twilight

When a group of Vampires invades the ship, chased by a pack of werewolves...

Oh, sorry, wrong "Twilight".

I really enjoyed the Enterprise version of "Twilight", an episode written by our old friend Mike Sussman. I enjoyed it because it was a fun ride,with a pretty cool space battle at the end.

But, once I had a chance to reflect on it, I really started to wonder just how many more mistakes the Enterprise creative team could make.

"Twilight" is one of those here's-how-it-might-turn-out stories that Star Trek is so fond of delivering. In the Enterprise version, we get to skip forward to a future that involves ultimate Xindi success and the final extermination of the human race.

The first scene involves Archer caught in his quarters as Enterprise comes under attack. When Archer tries to get to the bridge, however, he finds that he has lost command of the ship to T'Pol and, worse, that Enterprise is engaged in a desperate battle to fight past two Xindi ships in hopes of getting to the massive Xindi weapon before it opens fire on Earth.

Enterprise loses the battle, the Xindi weapon blows Earth to bits and the credits roll...

We are then treated to another frame narrative wherein a domesticated T'Pol explains to a suddenly middle-aged Archer how the Xindi came to win the war and all-but wipe the human race from the face of the galaxy.

And it all turns out to be because Archer lost his ability to remember stuff just as their mission into the Delphic Expanse came to a head, resulting in T'Pol taking over command of Enterprise and failing miserably in their mission.

The lesson is simple: only Archer can save the day. Without him at full capacity, the human race is a lost cause.

This is a classic trope of the Hollywood entertainment industry: no matter how powerful the enemy, a single man is always the difference between success and failure for the forces of good.

Just think of all of those Rambo, Terminator and Die Hard movies. It's always one man, one lone man who defies all odds to save the day.

So in "Twilight", we learn that the lone man of our tale of woe is Jonathan Archer. Without him, functioning at full capacity, earth is doomed.

The combined efforts of T'Pol, Tucker, Reid, Sato, Mayweather, the rest of the Enterprise crew, the Vulcans, the plethora of other friendly races aren't enough. It's got to be Archer.

And, better yet, we find that T'Pol's destiny in this alternative time line is to be nurse maid to Archer. For the rest of his life.

The mystery is the reason for that loyalty: is it just loyalty? is it to repay the debt of his sacrificing his safety for hers, as she claims? is it love, as everyone else seems to believe.

The "cult of Archer" has been growing throughout the course of the first two and half seasons of Enterprise and it comes to a head in this episode. We learn very clearly that Earth's only hope is Jonathan Archer.

While "Twilight" is a very effective episode in and of itself -- well written, strongly acted, well-plotted, suspenseful -- what it represents for the overall story of Enterprise is highly problematic.

This deification of Jonathan Archer (and its related subjugation of T'Pol into a "traditional" female role) represents an extension of what happened in earlier Star Trek series with respect to Kirk and Picard in particular, Sisko and Janeway to a lesser extent.But it's taken to a whole other level in the new B&B world of Star Trek.

Jonathan Archer is being presented as a god. And Jonathan Archer is certainly no god.

On smaller points, I wonder that, in this alternative time line, no friendly race intervenes to protect Earth and the human race as the Xindi wander the galaxy, hunting down Earth colonies and survivors. The Xindi are presented as being at a technological level somewhere between the humans and the Vulcans. Why would none of the aliens the humans have attracted not help them?

I am also amazed at the incredibly flawed logic the Vulcans employ in concluding that it was the humans' decision to proceed with the Warp 5 program that led to the Xindi war. Yea, no. The cause of that is 400 years in the future. The Vulcans know that.

And what is this about all these Enterprise crew members who receive promotions after the human race is all but exterminated. We are told that there are only 6,000 people left. How is it that Star Fleet still exists? I know there are still ships and defence of the realm is still important. But why retain the very formal stuff?

I have to think that the very powerful scene of the Xindi weapon destroying Earth had an impact on J.J. Abrams' later destruction of Vulcan in his first reboot movie. And didn't only 6,000 Vulcans survive that attack as well? 6,000 is the magical survival number, apparently.