I continue to be pleasantly surprised and endlessly amused by the ongoing theme of this series. Yes, that’s right…the “humans are stupid” motif is alive and well. And if anything, the serious and reverent way that it is depicted makes it all the more hilarious and revitalizing.
Honestly, I have no idea why they didn’t try this before. I mean, it seems obvious, right? You go out into space, sooner or later, you are going to find an alien with males carrying the fetus. And of course, sooner or later, humans are going to get themselves knocked up, because they are the proverbial curious cats with a serious lack of self-preservation skills.
I love the fact that it takes a pretty long time for them to realize that there might be some outside factor causing all the problems on the ship. That ought to tell you just how far out of their depth they are. I mean, the captain’s floating around his shower stall, and this doesn’t even strike him as a serious emergency situation! Just another little problem to fix, right after they figure out where that damned squeak is coming from.
When they finally find the alien ship hitching a ride in their warp field, the writers do an excellent job of depicting a truly alien environment. The atmosphere is just different enough to leave Trip in a slightly tripped-out state, which of course goes along with the remarkably psychedelic design of the alien ship itself. Anyone who was wondering when we were going to see stuff that was similar to the sets on the original series, well, look no further.
Trip goes about his three-day magical mystery tour with a look of constant befuddlement that truly captures the kind of reaction they ought to be having to alien cultures. He really has no idea what they heck is going on most of the time, and it shows. And that’s a *good* thing, because it’s the total opposite of how the crews on the other ST series would have reacted. It’s plain that the crew of this Enterprise is absolutely new to the idea of dealing with alien cultures.
As we get to see them interact more and more, you can see how the trio of Archer, Trip, and T’Pol are meant to remind us of Kirk, McCoy, and Spock. But the basic dynamics of that classic relationship are twisted into something a little less civil. All the disagreements are there, but there is none of the subtle affection that kept situations from getting out of control. Even the Vulcan is less inclined to put up with human stupidity and ignorance, and from her point of view, she has every reason to react in that fashion.
Turning to the premise of the episode, this was something that could have been used for very broad humor. Instead, they kept the moments just a bit subdued. I think they should have cut loose a little bit, and given Trip a little more to work with. As it was, his reactions were awfully restrained for a guy who finds himself looking at permanent reassignment off the ship, and probably living in a contained area while being studied for the rest of his natural life.
I personally found the final act of the episode to be the funniest part of the entire situation. As soon as the old-style Klingon battle cruiser came on the screen, I was gasping for air from laughing too hard. Not only that, but the way that Archer completely had no idea what he was doing in dealing with the Klingon commander. Of course, the Klingons did things exactly the way they always do, but there was something in the way it was portrayed that made it absolutely hysterical!
I was a bit disappointed to find that the aliens impregnated Trip by accident…it would have been the perfect plot twist to have the aliens going around impregnating ignorant space explorers for some unknown purpose, possibly to introduce genetic variation/improvements.
So let’s review the decisions made so far on this show by the humans. They start off by breaking Klingon honor codes and pissing off the Vulcans, they break into a gutted ship and almost get used as raw materials for sex drug production, they camp out on an alien planet without checking the weather or the biology, and now they manage to get one of their men pregnant.
Yep. Humans are stupid!
Some other thoughts:
- I hope you ladies out there enjoyed the shower scene. I’m assuming that’s payback for the T’Pol scenes and the dancers in the pilot!
- Just like an engineer to have the engines close to exploding, but still arguing about whether to shut the damn things off!
- I think the solution for finding the cloaked ship should have been a little less simple for them to find. At the very least, someone should have been terrified at the idea of igniting the plasma venting behind the ship!
- This episode could have worked fine without the holodeck. After all, if the aliens have the tech for a holodeck, then the engines ought to be way out of Trip’s league…
- Finally! A human finally made a comment about how the aliens look just like them, but with funny stuff on their faces!
- I love how Trip’s telling Reed about the more, um, “compatible” aspects of the alien females, and Reed immediately starts asking if Trip saw any interesting weapons technology! I think someone is still suffering from “torpedo” envy…
- The actor who plays the doctor delivered his lines perfectly. Just a hint of humor in his voice, combined with the usual appreciation of anything unusual. It lends just enough of a deadpan quality to his lines.
- Trip is so much like a young Dr. McCoy that I can’t help but like him.
- I love how they managed to make the Klingon ship look both much cooler and yet that much funnier at the same time!
- So the Klingons already have photon torpedoes during this time period. Interesting. That makes it so much better an idea to stick our noses up their butts as often as possible.
- I love how T’Pol stays out of the conversation until it is clear that Archer has no idea how close he is to getting himself and the ship atomized!
- The humans ignite vented plasma behind their ship to find the aliens. What do the Klingons do? Fire on the aliens, and who cares if they survive? Gotta love those Klingons…
- I’m pretty sure that whatever respect for humanity Archer might have managed to get out of the Klingons following the events of the pilot, the revelation of Trip’s little problem wiped that out in no time!
- How ignorant is Archer? You’ve just revealed to the Klingons that the aliens behind them have advanced tech. On top of the already obvious cloaking technology, they have advanced holography. So which do you use to entice the Klingons into letting the aliens live? The holography, of course!
- Best line of the series to date: “I can see my house from here!” Priceless!
- Who wants to take bets that the Klingons wave good-bye to the stupid humans, follow the aliens back to their homeworld, and take the place over to co-opt all that nice advanced tech?
- Speaking of which, I’m thinking the only reason the Klingons don’t just invade Earth and wipe us out completely has everything to do with the massive amount of diplomatic effort on the part of the Vulcans!
Overall, this was the perfect example of what this show is all about. It has all the trappings of Star Trek, but at the same time, there’s none of the cool confidence that humanity presents in the later centuries. One can only hope this inspired premise can continue to be amusing without getting repetative.
I give it a 9/10.
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