"North Star"

Written by David Straiton
Directed by David Goodman


In which the Archer and the crew discover a colony of humans still living under 18th century frontier conditions, and becomes involved when an ugly truth is unveiled about their history...

Captain's Log - 60 Minute Drill - Final Analysis


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Captain's Log

One of the more puzzling concepts explored during the original series was the “Parallel Planetary Development” idea. In essence, this theory stated that given the enormous number of permutations in planetary development of sentient life, the exact same conditions that led to human civilization would eventually take place on some other world. There were also aliens called Preservers, taking humans and planting them on alien worlds. Of course, this was little more than a convenient way to explain the cost-cutting measure of using existing sets on the Paramount lot!

There are several reasons why this concept was hardly ever addressed in the later installments of the franchise. For one thing, the whole concept is so embarrassingly transparent that it doesn’t work outside of the nostalgia of the original series. Also, the budgets of the later installments was much higher than for the original series, allowing for more diverse settings. Add into the mix a more capable special effects technology, growing leaps and bounds since even the film franchise began, and falling back on cheap and convenient sets isn’t nearly so necessary.

Taking all of that into account, it’s hard to see why “Enterprise” would want to stray in that direction. Part of it is likely a feeling of nostalgia, an attempt to tap into the underlying mythos of the franchise as a whole. If so, then it might have been an error in judgment. Even if the whole idea of “parallel development” was replaced with something more realistic, the writers never quite found a way to make the whole situation more than a passing novelty.

At the center of the problem is the disconnection from the Xindi arc. Most of the earlier episodes of the season were saved from being the same-old story by relevance to a larger tapestry. This episode barely even acknowledges the search for the Xindi weapon, and considering that the search is the main focus of the mission into the Expanse, it doesn’t make sense for Archer to embroil himself in the situation depicted here.

This wouldn’t be Trek if there wasn’t a message to be made along the way, but in this case, the message is somewhat strained. There’s a half-hearted attempt to address vague concepts of social injustice, but there are some holes in the story. If the transplanted humans rose up and defeated an alien race with vastly superior technology, then why would the resulting human civilization, as small and sparse as it is, fail to advance once the technology was in their hands? Or, for that matter, simply begin to make improvements on their existing technology?

Perhaps it’s the clichés that come with Western-themed episodes. Not everyone is a fan of the genre, especially when there seems to be little else to say. This episode attempts to say more than the usual Western by grafting a “slaves enslaving the slavers” storyline on top of it. The combination is far from seamless, and if anything, the Scag storyline suffers greatly from a lack of depth.

What remains is the superficial, which lends itself more to satire than seriousness. Archer does a capable job playing the mysterious stranger with a gun, but by the end of the episode, several moments leave him looking soft from too much time sitting in the captain’s chair. This is yet another episode where Trip might have been a more natural choice as the central character, including the impulsive decision to take up the Scag cause based on limited information.

The direction slants towards the washed-out, slightly over-kinetic style that was popularized in the film “Traffic”. There seems to be an unwritten rule in television that any scene set in Mexico or a generic Western theme must be directed and color-graded to match this odd expectation. It’s not as bad in this episode as it has been on other series of late, but it is a style that is threatening to become as cliched in its own right as the extremely overused “bullet time” effect.

Such an episode succeeds or fails on the desire of the audience to see the characters in the novel situation of living out a Western. Usually an episode like this begins in the conventional manner, and then evolves into the Western theme so that the novelty doesn’t have time to wear off. However, by the time the second or third act rolls along in this episode, the concept has worn out its welcome.

One reason might be the emphasis on Archer during the bulk of the episode. While this was partly necessary to make the social injustice plot thread worthwhile, it took away some chances to see something unusual. More of the supporting cast should have been on the planet, even if it meant changing the theme of the episode to allow for it. And that points to the inconsistent feel of the episode: it’s not deep enough to address its moral theme, and it’s not broad enough to play to the strengths of the premise.

As already noted, enjoyment of this episode depends strongly on interest in the Western genre. And yet, there is a certain irony when it doesn’t quite work. After all, “Star Trek” has always been called a “wagon train to the stars”. Can it be all that novel and different when a futuristic Western reverts back to the original “frontier”?


60 Minute Drill

00:37 – That’s not a very convincing alien, now is it? He talks like the humans, dresses like the humans, and pretty much looks like a human with a bad complexion. I’m not impressed.

01:00 – I have to say that starting an episode with lynching is not a staple of the Trek franchise, so at least it’s different...

05:42 – Gee, it already sounds familiar, doesn’t it?

06:21 – T’Pol should still be sticking out like a sore thumb, given her unusual features...

07:55 – As much as the horses allow for an aside for T’Pol and Trip, it raises an interesting question. If the Scags took the humans for slave labor, where did the horses come from? Did the Scags take certain plants and animals as well?

09:41 – Did I mention it was an overly long and tedious aside?

10:43 – And the aliens took coffee, too, I guess...

11:16 – Nice way to drop in some exposition...and give Archer some time to work that bad accent!

14:00 – Not even the unusual camera angles can save this scene from being clichéd...

14:28 – “Excuse me...do you think I could get more coffee before you shoot him?”

16:09 – Does Bennings actually think that hat looks good?

18:22 – How believable would it be for one of the 6000 relatively closely settled humans to admit never seeing one of the aliens living in their midst?

24:13 – OK, I understand that any education can be exciting when it’s all you’ve got, but who gets that excited about the prospect of long division?

25:23 - One punch? All it takes to put Archer down is one punch?

26:44 – Again, not hearing much about how the Scags brought coffee and other things that shouldn’t be on another planet along with the slaves...

28:54 – So there are enough Scags around to brew illegal whiskey, but not enough for people to expect every human on the planet to have seen one?

29:55 – I have to laugh at the guy cleaning the razor in the background while the sheriff yells at Archer, as if he’s being subtle...

31:31 – At least the bad guy has a glass jaw, too!

32:20 – This has to be the easiest jailbreak ever...

33:10 – OK, that was unexpected!

33:36 – As much as using the transporter seems to make sense, consider that the crew is still very wary of it...perhaps the writers was thinking in original series mode a little too much?

38:44 – Bethany looks much better when “sleeping” than at any other point in the episode!

41:44 – Hey, look, Mayweather showed up this week...

44:09 – Um, Archer, wouldn’t the problems between humans and Vulcans count as “intolerance and prejudice”?

45:15 – Wouldn’t the humans on the planet find T’Pol’s catsuit somewhat inappropriate?

50:35 – Why aren’t the phasers and bullets shooting through the fences and wooden supports?

51:32 – That is some seriously cheesy music...

52:23 – At least Bakula remembers to hold his right arm as though it’s useless, at least some of the time!

53:03 – Reed’s tactics...and expression...are priceless!

54:02 – Nice planetscape!

54:10 – Ah, the inevitable view of one’s planet from above...

55:31 – It’s far too simple to think that this one incident, however shocking, would be enough to transform a barely functioning civilization with 300 years of momentum!


Final Analysis

Overall, this episode could only have worked as a novelty. Unfortunately, the comedic possibilities are all but wasted, thanks to limited use of the ensemble and a focus on a thin social injustice message. By the time the obligatory shootout comes in the final act, it’s far too little, too late.

I give it a 4/10.


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