"Carpenter Street"

Written by Rick Berman and Brannon Braga
Directed by Mike Vejar


In which Archer and T’Pol travel back into the past in order to prevent the Xindi from developing a biological weapon...

Captain's Log - 60 Minute Drill - Final Analysis


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Captain's Log

One of the more popular plot devices in the Trek franchise would be time travel, which explains why it has been used to excess over the course of the last few series. It’s not shocking, then, that time travel stands at the center of the series arc for “Enterprise”, especially since it allows the writers more flexibility in terms of continuity. Or rather, it would if the writers were permitted to firmly establish that the events of “Enterprise” are fluid at best with respect to the overall franchise continuity, such as it is.

This episode represents the second time that the Xindi season arc has been tied into the overall Temporal Cold War (TCW), and the early parts of the episode show promise. It turns out that the entire Xindi situation was never supposed to happen in the “normal” timeline, according to the enigmatic Daniels, and Daniels’ faction is flipping out at the possible implications.

As it turns out, the Xindi have traveled back in time to the early 21st century in order to secretly conduct experiments regarding some kind of weapon. This isn’t supposed to have happened, so Daniels manages to send Archer and T’Pol back in time to investigate and resolve the issue. All of which is a nice enough setup for what could have been an interesting episode, but very quickly, things begin to fall apart at the seams.

On the one hand, the writers thought things through well enough to tie the decision by a faction within the Xindi Council to secretly develop a biological weapon into this episode. This explains the need for a super-secret Reptilian Xindi project involving research into various blood types in humans. However, having that secret project take place in the past opens up the door to several other questions.

For one thing, only a few Reptilian Xindi are hanging out in 2004, conducting crude experiments. Why this is the scope of the secret project is never addressed, and so there is the open question of why more Xindi personnel and technology weren’t sent into the past. The easy answer would have been that the Xindi were only given limited technology by the TCW faction aiding them, with the result being only a few Xindi in the past.

While that explains the limited incursion by the Xindi, it brings into question the motives of any future faction within the TCW that would only give their puppets enough rope to hang themselves. There is an explanation that makes sense, and it’s all about misdirection. Having failed to directly eliminate Archer and the NX-01 mission through the use of the Suliban, the TCW faction leader (dubbed “Future Man”) initiates a back-up plan: the Xindi crisis.

This would be a logical explanation, because Archer is clearly meant to pave the way towards Federation. By attacking Earth and effectively drawing Archer into the Expanse where he can be trapped, Future Man ensures that Archer cannot continue to build bridges between the eventual founders of the Federation. At the same time, Future Man seems to have his own plans for Archer. In Daniels’ timeline, Archer might create the Federation of main continuity; in Future Man’s timeline, perhaps something akin to the Mirror Universe.

Whatever the case, these questions and possibilities are left completely unaddressed in the episode, which focuses largely on the events of the 21st century. Oddly, the location chosen to represent 2004, along with the living conditions and clothing design, seems more suited to the 1970s. Perhaps modern Detroit looks like 1975, but even with the occasional highlight of modern technology, “Star Trek IV” seems more relevant.

Given the limited scope of the Xindi operation, the resolution of that problem probably should have taken a back seat to the usual antics of Trek character running around in the past. Oddly, nearly every single “funny” scene fails to hit the intended mark. In fact, most of those scenes are so cringe-inducing (like the horrible drive-thru scene) that it just serves to highlight how badly managed the entire “event” was.

Other plot conveniences creep into the writing as the episode plods forward. Despite prior evidence that humans are woefully outmatched by Reptilian Xindi, Archer manages to handily beat a few of them on his own. During the fight, T’Pol is kept out of it so she can be placed in jeopardy, for all of a few seconds. Like the level of technology presented by the Xindi, their capabilities are lowered so Archer can defuse their plans.

The end result is an episode that feels like a waste of time. The episode focuses on Loomis, the present-day character, and yet fails to flesh out the character enough to make him at all sympathetic. At the same time, T’Pol remarks that Loomis represents the worst of humanity in the modern times, which simply doesn’t make sense in what is supposed to be the world leading to the Bell Riots.

By focusing at length on Loomis without actually giving him any depth, there’s no time or energy left to make the overall plot work as anything more than a device for a trip into the past. But even that plot device is wasted on badly executed “humor”, to the extent that the end of the episode is a blessing for all the wrong reasons.

A lot of attention has been paid to the fact that Berman and Braga have taken a back seat, allowing the writing staff to commit their efforts in a more evident manner. While it is understood that Berman and Braga are still involved in every episode to some degree, it is telling that this episode is extremely flawed. Instead of making this episode distinct, highlighting the popular time travel premise, the writing reduces the premise to such a mundane level that it doesn’t come across as the “event” it was supposed to be.

Once again, it is clear: Berman and Braga work much better as overall contributors, if at all. They falter more often than not when they try to take the reins and write the episodes themselves. The second season provides the majority of proof on that count, and this episode, when compared to the rest of the episodes this season, underscores the lesson.


60 Minute Drill

01:05 – Pizza sitting on the bathroom sink for about 24 hours...the perfect dinner food...

01:28 – Having the bad guy call on a cell phone is rather atypical for Trek!

07:11 – This has to be the most stupid prostitute in the city of Detroit, if not the entire continent...

08:17 – Slow, slow, excruciatingly slow...

10:05 – Damn, this guy works for nothing!

10:13 – About damn time...

10:42 – Always wondered about the food storage on the ship...though it seems like they should be running out by now!

12:00 – This is a really clumsy way to provide exposition that, at least for this episode, means practically nothing...

13:21 – Damn good question, T’Pol. Could it be that Daniels and his faction actually know more than they’re saying, and know that Archer is supposed to go back and take care of the problem?

14:37 –I would have killed to have seen the meeting between Archer, T’Pol, and Daniels, if only to hear T’Pol grill Daniels about the whole time travel thing...

14:57 – So I guess we can call T’Pol “Scully” now!

19:14 – See what happens when you get used to the cute little weiner dog?

19:50 – Interesting how Archer hit every single button on the console, and yet the radio remained locked on the same frequency at the same volume the entire time...

20:35 – This is just plain bad...

21:50 – T’Pol wants to return the money they don’t use, but did she once say anything about returning the truck? No!

23:00 – These people are just plain stupid...beyond stupid...

23:30 – Lest we forget that Trek tackles environmental issues when possible, there’s the obligatory note about conservation of fossil fuels!

25:07 – What spectacular timing...

26:11 – So Loomis never noticed that the weird criminals are wearing reflective purple metallic pants?

28:55 – Now witness the exciting “chase” down the oddly well-maintained old fire escape...

34:58 – Come on, Archer, it’s more fun when he’s still tied to the chair!

35:12 – “Untie him again...” (Ha!)

35:50 – Ah, yes, because the genocide of Colonel Green will be nothing compared to the deprivations of the lowlife Loomis of Detroit!

37:15 – Um, Archer...if you’re sneaking into the clinic, it doesn’t matter what your blood type is, because you’re faking it!

38:00 – Oh, those wacky drive-thru employees...

39:12 – T’Pol, relax! It’s hamburger, it’s not going to jump up and force its way into your nostril!

39:28 – Mmmmm...fries...

41:22 – Odd that the vinyl upholstery on the inside of the door of a beat-up car in 2004 is completely unaffected by a phaser!

45:08 – This is taking forever...

52:06 – Boring...not even “exciting” music can make this better!

53:40 – Apparently the Xindi can’t see or hear incredibly loud clanging of metal in the dark...

54:26 – Ooo...exciting slow motion sequence!

55:10 – So now they have the human-specific biological weapon, and a mutagenic virus that can be genetically altered already in storage...interesting...

55:41 – Where the hell did those mountains in the distance come from?

56:22 – Nice lack of resolution...typical Berman and Braga “ending”...


Final Analysis

Overall, this episode was one of the more disappointing episodes. The pacing was unbearably slow, and concentrating on the underdeveloped character of Loomis took much away from the episode’s impact. Add some odd logic and a complete inability to make any “fish out of water” situation remotely amusing, and this Berman and Braga episode fails on nearly every level.

I give it a 3/10.


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