And I am 100% at picking, based on the episode itself and how I react to it, which ones are written by Rick Berman and Brannon Braga and which are not.
I knew, as soon as I watched "Zero Hour", the final episode of Season Three of Enterprise, that B&B held the pen on this one.
How? Well, after two excellently paced, action-packed episodes in which I found very few "Oh brother" moments, I found myself oh-brothering left right and centre throughout "Zero Hour".
Start with Hoshi Sato. In the last two episodes, she is strong and tough and succumbs to the Xindi Reptilians only after not one but two injections of the little critters. In the B&B episode, she is whiny and sulky and overcome with guilt. Her skills are desperately required in the battle to destroy the weapon but she has to be carried, poor little woman that she is, into the fray and, when the game is on the line, she manages to lose her computer pad and cower in a corner.
T'Pol does a little better. She has a little bit less control of her emotions in this one and we are forced to endure several honestly creepy scenes between her and Tucker but at least she retains command of Enterprise and keeps the focus on accomplishing their Sphere-destroying mission, no matter what the consequences to the ship and crew.
And then, well, let's just say B&B seem to me to be a little more willing to fall into sloppy writing and reliance on silly, hackneyed devices to propel their story than their more talented, committed writing colleagues.
The episode features practically an all-male cast and offers plenty of space battles and laser fights. Archer and Reid each find themselves hanging by their finger tips over bottomless pits at one time or another and each manages to beat up a Xindi Reptilian in a fist fight. Just when all seems lost, Schran and the Andorians show up out of nowhere to save the day, then disappear for extended periods. And, of course, Crewman Daniels makes an appearance to remind us all of how important Jonathan Archer is personally to the future of the Federation and to allow Archer to behave all moody and macho and to declare: I don't care about the future; I just care about the future and I'm going to go risk myself in the weapon to show how important I really am to all things.
Meanwhile, the effort to take out Sphere 41 includes a series of trite strategies like:
- crew members who argue that "it's not worth the risk", when clearly it is, so that the intrepid leader can show her singular resolve;
- an externally imposed time-clock ("the human body can only survive in this space for 14 minutes" -- it's nice that Phlox can be so exact, both about the impact of a phenomenon he hasn't had time to study on the human body and about the effectiveness of a remedy he has hastily thrown together);
- aliens ("Sphere People") who are suddenly able to attack Enterprise directly by sticking their hands into key systems;
- a Doctor who just happens to have figured out in advance how Enterprise security can adjust their weapons (in a matter of seconds) to ward off said aliens;
- the classic "I only need a few more seconds" motif when no more seconds are available according to the externally imposed time clock;
- the very helpful development that the taking of the risky extra seconds actually resulted in the reduction of the time needed to escape the nasty conditions so everyone can survive; and
- the remarkable success of a plan that only moments before had been declared too risky and unlikely to succeed.
It is remarkable, however, that despite its many many significant flaws "Zero Hour" manages to be an exciting romp.
Here's the usual summary of the plot:
Over the objections of Phlox, Reid and several other people, Archer takes a badly injured and guilt ridden
Sato onto Degra’s ship in pursuit of the weapon. He needs her to decrypt the
schematics of the weapon provided by Degra in order to help the assault team. Meanwhile, the Sphere People,
recognising the danger Enterprise poses, enhance Sphere 41 to create dense
anomalies around itself. Enterprise goes after the Sphere despite the risks
to the crew but has to deal with an assault from members of the Sphere People themselves.
Archer ignores a request from Daniels to have Reid lead the attack on the
weapon so that Archer can play a key role in founding the Federation and, with
a last minute rescue from Schran and the Andorians, gets to the weapon. Phlox
helps the Enterprise crew beat back the Sphere People; Schran destroys the Reptilian ship; Sato helps Archer find
the sequence to disable the weapon.
Three lines of action, three locations, all interwoven into an intense episode.
Just at the pivotal moment in the assault on the weapon, Sato loses her computer pad and puts that mission in jeopardy.
Schran's ship blows up the Reptilian warship but then, for some reason, plays no more role in the plot.
Enterprise destroys Sphere 41, which
defeats the Sphere People and causes a chain reaction that destroys at least
one other Sphere (we learn later that they are all destroyed).
Sato remembers the key information, while she and the rest of the team evacuate the weapon, Archer stays as the last one to set the
explosive charges. Archer succeeds with the weapon but then faces the commander of the
Reptilian vessel in the usual hand-to-hand combat, blowing the commander to
bits with his last charge. Archer attempts to escape the weapon in slow motion run to the
outer hull and the waiting transporter lock but we are left to wonder if he makes it.
Enterprise succeeds, the
Expanse returns to normal space but then, when Degra’s ship returns to tell
them the weapon has been destroyed, Reid tells T'Pol, Tucker and the others that Archer did
not make it back to Degra’s ship in time. We learn at the end that the Xindi
Council will be reconvened, the Insectoids have been forced to recognize the evil that is the Sphere
People and the Reptilians will eventually rejoin. Enterprise is
transported back to Earth inside an Aquatic vessel.
All seems well and Enterprise (for the first time of many) has saved the Earth. But, uh oh, Star Fleet is not there anymore. Mayweather and
Tucker head to San Francisco on a shuttle pod to see what’s happened – they are
met by a flight of USAF P51 fighter planes and, in the last scene, we see a
badly burned Archer, lying in a WWII era Nazi medical camp being treated by
German doctors, overseen by an alien Nazi officer.
And, if you're like me, you reacted to that final Alien-Nazis-in-21st-Century-America cliffhanger with a massive "oh yuck" and "oh brother" and "oh crap" all at once.
First, it is a hopelessly overused plot: Nazis reborn. Yuck.
Second, it means that the time travel stuff is still going strong. The timeline has been changed by the Xindi encounter anyway and Archer and his crew are destined to restore it. Give me a break.
And, quite literally, give us all a break. If we got caught up in the intense ending to the Xindi plot, we as viewers, just like the Enterprise crew itself, need a bit of a break. Let us get home, get settled, rest a bit and then move on. Shakespeare understood the need to pace your story with your audience in mind but... well, these writers are no Shakespeare.
I actually shivered with revulsion at the introduction of this cliffhanger, and not in a positive way. I don't think that it should come as a surprise that, while the Xindi plot seems to have managed to slow the decline in Enterprise's ratings somewhat, the introduction of this ridiculous new cliff-hanger at the end of Season Three led to Season Four premiering to significantly lower audience numbers.
Once again, the show runners seem to display a remarkable lack of understanding of what their audience (existing or target) really wanted.
No comments:
Post a Comment