37: Dawn – Star Trek Enterprise Season 2, Episode 13

Hello everybody on today’s episode of trek in time we’re going to talk about how to make friends by beating the crap out of people.
That’s right.
Welcome to trek in time where we’re talking about every episode of star trek in chronological order. We’re also taking a look at those episodes in the context of their original date of broadcast. So we’re looking at things from. 2003 we crossed into 2003 Matt how did that feel that sounds that sounds like very close to my experience I was just like we did it. We did it everybody who are we who’s crossing into 2003 watching episodes of enterprise. Well, it’s me I’m Sean Farrell um ah
It felt great Sean it felt great.
Published author I’ve written some sci-fi I’ve written some stuff for kids and with me as my brother Matt he’s the guru and inquisitor behind the Youtube channel undecided with Matt Ferrell which takes a look at emerging tech and its impact our lives Matt how you doing I’m doing well. Ah.
I’m doing very well how about you.
So today we’re going to be talking about episode 13 of season 2 this is titled dawn and as I mentioned the big question to come out of this one is can you make friends by getting into a fist fight but before we get into that Matt I believe you’ve got some episodes from previous some comments I’m sorry I believe you’ve got some comments from previous episodes.
Yes I do I have one from robotrav big support of the show I have never been as much into the action and fighting scenes as the science and dialogue scenes. But I get that they may be necessary to appeal to a broader audience also can confirm that it’s lots of fun being a Tnt supporter.
Share with us.
Ah, us just quit dodging my coins Sean so.
It’s I can’t make any promises they sting a little bit but I will do my best.
Yeah I mean we’ve been talking about that thread in almost every single episode for the past I don’t know four or 5 shows where it’s like it seems to be leaning more towards the we have to cram some kind of action in here where it feels kind of shoehorned in where if they hadn’t done that it might have actually been a better show.
Yeah, yeah, and I will spoiler right now for this episode this I think is the exception to that because for me, the action is deeply intertwined with.
Yes I agree.
The things I agree with ah robotrav completely I’m always more drawn to the dialogue and the the looking at different philosophical lenses onto a situation This episode I thought did a really nice job of being able to balance those two. So.
Um, agreed the other comment was from Aj Chan a regular commenter as well from the episode of the catwalk where they had to hide in the nacell to protect themselves from a storm the idea to do a bottle episode inside the nacell was brilliant I enjoy seeing other parts of the ship. Like them to sell because it helps me to imagine being part of the crew I agree with that. There’s episodes from like dspace 9 and next generation where they’re in parts of the the station or the ships that you normally don’t get to see like the jefferys tubes and things like that that actually help to kind of like flesh out the experience of being aboard, the ship. Not just these just endless hallways everywhere. It’s it’s kind of fun to kind of see the behind the scenes of what the operation is actually like.
Yeah, and to get a sense of scale as well. We you know we we in watching these shows and this goes back to the original series as well and I think it came. It’s probably born of Gene Roddenberry’s understanding. He was a Navy guy. Think it comes from his understanding of how these ships worked how naval vessels work and right back into the very first series. The original series we see scotty having to crawl into Jeffrey’s tubes that are just barely bigger than him and working inside the belly of the ship at various.
Is.
This.
Various times whereas there’s yeah, the warp core and you’ve got the engineering section and you see people walking into a large room with this massive engine running like that’s all well and good. But when it cuts to the circuitry and the little details at the edges of the ship. It gets smaller and smaller and smaller. Until finally, you’re. 1 guy in a little tiny room and there’s barely enough room for you to stand upright and and I like that detail for that perspective as well and I thought that episode did a really great job of creating a sense of claustrophobia in the way that it was shot and showing people. Literally sitting shoulder to shoulder while trying to make the best of a bad situation. So for today’s episode we’re gonna be talking about dawn as I mentioned this is the thirteenth episode of the second season and Matt do you want to do us the honor of reading the Wikipedia.
Agreed.
Oh boy yes, strap yourself in I have this is the first time I’ve read this so I apologize.
Synopsis and to our listeners buckle up I think you reading them cold is the only way to go.
Yeah, okay, all right dawn is the thirty ninth episode production number 2 13 of the television series star trek enterprise the thirteenth of this second season.
Yes, we’ll let that 1 sit for a moment because that is written as if it is a sentence but I don’t want to go all writerly on everybody. It’s not actually a sentence.
The redundancy is amazing. Okay set in the set in the twenty one hundreds of the Star Trek Universe the Nx zero one Enterprise has set out to explore the Galaxy Commander Trip Tucker’s shuttle pod is fired upon by an Arconian ship. And is stranded on a desert moon with his attacker as dawn comes on the Moon. The temperature increases beyond What the characters can survive mean meanwhile meanwhile in orbit captain archer of the Enterprise tries to deal with the arconians.
Ah, yeah, this is a good one.
How many times do you have to say the name of the ship we get it. This is the episode that has the enterprise in it. Okay, anyway, he’s wow.
Yeah I I love whitewater rafting through those synopses. It’s it’s always fun. Ah seeing things like the way Matt reads it you can hear our listeners can hear the punctuation they can hear the commas. They can hear the pauses none of those commas are actually in what he’s reading Matt is doing that instinctively. So when Matt read meanwhile in orbit archer of the enterprise tries to deal with the arconians. It’s actually written meanwhile in orbit captain archer of the enterprise tries to deal with the arkonians. There is no punctuation.
Yes.
I Also like that there is occasionally random capitalization such as in the phrase the Enterprise has set out to explore the galaxy. The word galaxy is capitalized. It doesn’t say milky way Galaxy It just says Galaxy So Capital G It’s the galaxy.
Capital G galaxy.
Capital g.
As always Matt you’ve managed to come out of that with a gold star despite the fact that the writing is not nearly as good. This episode was originally aired on January Eighth Two Thousand and three as I mentioned at the beginning of the episode. We’ve crossed into 2003. There’s been a few weeks since the last episode aired. So what we’ve missed is the last two weeks of December of course most shows go on hiatus through that period of the year this episode was directed by Roxanne Dawson this is the third time she’s directing I believe and this episode was written by John Shiban who we last saw as the writer on the episode minefield which both Matt and I thought were and was a excellent episode with some very strong writing and I think that that is on display here as well. This episode cutting to the the end is.
So.
It’s interesting I think one of the things we’ll talk about at the end is its overall reception and lingering reception to this day and I think that there’s some bad I think there have been some unfair things said about the writing so I look forward to getting into that toward the end of the episode. As far as what the world was like when this episode aired well mad it was your last week to be able to dance along to lose yourself by Eminem which as we’ll remember from the end of 2002 the movie eight mile introduced the song lose yourself. It was the number one song for roughly eight weeks or so. So. It had a good standing but this will be the final week that we’ll be talking about that and in the movie theaters. This first week of January the number one film was lord of the rings. The 2 towers which made 25000000 however, it had already been in theaters it debuted in the middle of December but there were no episodes of enterprise that’s why we’re just now talking about it for the first time the 2 towers would go on to make nine hundred and forty seven million dollars which raises this question from may. How does Peter Jackson still have a job. On television. What were we watching well on the day of this episode January Eighth Two Thousand and three this episode earned three point nine million viewers which I’ve left in my notes as Matt could probably see. Oof not a good viewership. It’s down from previous weeks and as Matt I’m sure you’ve picked up on this too. We go through a series of episodes where we’re like yeah this isn’t so great and the numbers kind of plateau.

And then we get to an episode like this which I think is a stronger episode and the viewership goes down. They are not doing themselves a service by having uneven production so they are slowly bleeding viewers but who are they bleeding those viewers to. Well.
Correct.
This episode would have aired at Eight P M Eastern standard time here in the us the competition would have included my wife and kids and George Lopez on abc both of those shows got almost 11000000 viewers

So that’s the kind of competition but they didn’t even win this time slot this week and I do not know how to understand what I’m about to say the number 1 show was with almost 14000000 viewers was star search on Cbs I do not recall star search ever being on Cbs.
I Don’t get this I know.
And in this time slot I I thought star search was like the 80 s or something like that. It’s like what what is it doing on Tv again I completely forgot about that.
So that just gives you a sense of where I was I thought yeah it’s it’s yeah so other programming that beat out this episode of enterprise included Ed on Nbc the Fox Wednesday night movie. Does anybody else have trouble recalling when Fox was showing movies in the middle of the week I didn’t remember this but it was austin powers the spy who shagged me and the one program on major networks that enterprise was able to beat but barely was birds of prey. As Matt and I have experienced in the past. Oh yeah, that was a thing so the number 1 show for the week though was with 23000000 Csi people may remember that Csi was a.
That’s right.
Do nothing program from the early two thousand s that would go on to just be forgotten in the annals of history I’m of course joking it is still on the air and in the news on this day from the New York Times January Eighth Two Thousand and three threats and responses.
That’s right.
Un n study sees the potential of 500000 iraqis facing injury in case of war this is part of an ongoing buildup to the us invasion of Iraq that would occur later this year in 2003 and the estimates would prove long-term to be woefully. Also in the news fema was criticized for its handling of Nine Eleven claims an internal review of the federal emergency management agency’s performance after the September Eleventh terror attack has concluded that the agency should have been more flexible and fair in helping people with economic losses. The agency also needs to coordinate better with other government agencies and charities in future disasters. The review concluded the hardships of people both in New York city and in Washington where the pentagon was attacked. There was very uneven response and ah. Particular in Manhattan where people were basically losing their apartments losing their homes because jobs were disrupted incomes were disrupted and then people were left basically out in the cold. So here. We are flying forward into sometime in late September or October of 21 52 and we find well it’s commander Tucker trip is off by himself flying solo in a shuttle craft. Between a bunch of moons testing a new autopilot. So Matt right? off the bat. What did you think about this episode in general and what did you think about this start to the episode in particular.
I in general thought this was a good episode I thought it was pretty strong because it was laser focused. That’s one of the problems I’ve had with the episodes before this it felt like they were trying to bite off more. They could chew too many plotlines. This one was pretty straightforward clear. Focus on one character primarily. So the the whole autopilot thing. It’s Mcguffin who cares have trip do whenever he wants to do in this thing and just have him crash on the planet. It’s like that’s all you needed to do I didn’t care what it was autopile or whatever. So for me, the way introde was not an issue. It was the whole setup of the episode. Needed to happen to make this what I wrote down in my notes was star trek enemy mine was the first thing I wrote and this if you don’t know the movie any enemy mine from the 1980 s it’s an amazing low budget. Be sci-fi movie that is a classic. It is.
Yes.
Lu was it luu gosset junior um Dennis Quade 2 fighter pals that shoot each other down and then they have to work together to this five on this hostile planet. It’s like it’s its this is literally the plot of this entire episode and as soon as it started I was like oh yeah, this episode I remember this.
Yep, and Dennis Quad
Like this. Um, there’s also tininges of you know, like the next generation dharmak and gillard at tonagra. It’s like these 2 different sides having to work together to solve a problem. But overall I thought it was a good episode.
Um, yeah, yeah. Yeah I I agree I think that the setup I didn’t like in particular the idea that trip is out there testing something and the enterprise is apparently just flown away I mean it it from a certain perspective is just like that doesn’t.
Yeah I didn’t understand that that didn’t make sense.
Track like how how do you like good luck with your changes to our shuttle. We hope it works. We’ll be in the next solar system like that didn’t make a whole lot of sense. It would have um I think it deserved a little bit more thought as to like what is he actually doing. Out there. But I agree with you ultimately, it is a Mcguffin. He just needs to be out there so we see him flying between these moons and 1 of the things that I really enjoyed was that they created they they effectively need it to be a needle in a haystack situation.
It doesn’t matter. Yeah.
The enterprise needs to have a hard time finding him So How do you do that? Well you create an extensive series of moons in which he could have landed on any of them I like that. But what I really like is the idea of. That environment of all those moons is precisely why he is there I did like the setup of him saying this is the perfect place for me to test this autopilot because with all these disparate gravity wells around me the ship is going to have to respond to those over and over again. So That’s perfect testing environment for what he’s., But he’s developed so it was a case of it feeling like start to finish everything that’s in the episode belongs in the episode and I and I felt like all of it was very well thought out from that perspective even with him making a joke of. Oh may weather, you might be out of a job if this thing works and then minutes later after he’s Attacked. He’s attacked by a small vessel which he does get warning of the Enterprise sees the small vessel on its way he is contacted by archer to warn him of like oh there’s a small craft on its way to you.
Yeah, yeah.
Craft comes out of warp and immediately targets him shoots him down and then pursues him to the the moon that he crashes on I thought it was interesting that they set it up as he is Shot. He never returns fire but the other ship is also incapacitated. So they’ve set up the idea that there’s something in the atmosphere that knocks both ships out of commission. They crash near each other and now they’re on this planet but on his way Down. He bemoans the fact that mayweather is not there to help him fly out of this Problem. So I thought like every line of dialogue.
Yeah, yes.
Yes.
Felt like it was well measured like he’s saying something. It has an impact overall for the entire episode It’s not just like oh here’s a premise doesn’t make any sense. No explanation is like he’s there for a reason that reason also causes a problem. He’s developing something for a reason but maybe. He’s neglecting the fact that the human aspect of it is critical to survival so we end up on the planet. The moon is they they can survive but they don’t have the resources they need to survive long term. They have no food. Trip has no water and the arconan has none of whatever I meant water source I meant yeah like they they won’t be able to they’re they’re going to outlast their supplies and they also do not realize and this is another bit that is introduced through to Paul.
Now trip does have trip does have water.
Their supplies. Yep.
Um, she suggests that the Moons skyrocket in temperature during the day so she estimates that. Temperature is as low as it’s cold on the moon right now but during the middle of the day. It could go up to as high as 100 and I think she says something about °F or something like that. So we’re looking at a situation where trip and potentially the arc conan will both bake and the arconan who’s played.
Yes, yep.
Who’s named Zocon right? off the bat. It’s all Animosity. So We’re introduced to zocon as he basically sneaks up on trip trip flees and then Zocon steals a part of trip’s ship. They’re both dealing with the same situation. The breakdown of their equipment.
But I do what I do like about zocons for the first half of the episode. He’s not really talking because it’s a different language. He’s not saying much. We don’t understand what he’s saying so most of his performance is completely physical and it has to he has to convey his ideas and his line of thinking and all that kind of stuff through through what he’s doing. And I thought that was one of the strengths this episode ah from the directing and the writing because it it sets up right away that he’s a smart guy because he’s he’s outsmarting trip. He’s trapping trip. You can see him and trip going like a little chess match going back and forth trying to outsmart each other. Thought that was really really well done and the little ah the nuances of his performance of he looks like a lizard so let’s have a move like a lizard like whenever the 2 of them fight. He ends up on the ground in like a Gecko position on the ground and it was like and like his head looking up and it was like and then the little head nod he would do was very kind of lizard-like.
Um, yeah. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah.
And I thought it was nice little nuances like that that really helped to sell that he is very alien. He’s very different and it’s like the good the gook that he drinks. It’s like there was some nice stuff that really made him feel very alien and different which I thought was smart Smart Smart smart.
Yeah, you’ve mentioned enemy mine I couldn’t yeah I mean that’s one of the complaints that some people have about the episode they feel like shaban ah plagiarized enemy mine in order to create this episode I think that that’s unfair because enemy mine is. Creating a multi-year and literally multi-generational story. It is it goes beyond these 2 pilots surviving it goes into them surviving and befriending one another and then one of them in a act of. Care for the other one taking on the offspring and it’s a whole It’s a whole scope beyond what this episode is about which is this is more of 2 people in a lifeboat this is having to cobble together a way to survive beyond. Effectively one day the moment they get into this day. This day is going to kill them if they don’t find a way through.
Well enemy mind is actually kind of an Anti-war film. It’s about you have somebody has to break the cycle of violence or it will just go on forever and that’s kind of the theme. The thematic view of enemy mind like he said it’s a generational thing they learn their animosity gets to set aside they become deep friends. He raises his ah his friend’s son. Like it helps to kind of break that that war that everybody’s locked in for devastating war for both sides. This has nothing to do with that. This is just it’s a similar theme of like you have to overcome your biases and you know animosity to work together to get through things but it’s not an Anti-war film.
Right? It’s it’s it’s about ultimately having they both share the same element of looking past differences to find common ground and it does have that and it is similar to the episode dharmak which is.
And all.
Yes.
As you mentioned a classic of the next generation. Um his arms wide you know Shockow when when the walls fell the ah the difference being in that episode you get past their antagonism you get.
Um, his arms wide Sean his arms wide. Yep.
Immediately into the confusion of what are we doing here because Picard is in a different situation than trip is trip is actively attacked in in dharmak you right? off the bat have the other captain shows up in front of acard and puts his arms out and is just like. Look we’re here together and it’s about okay, overcoming a language barrier under over finding that common ground but overcoming like why are we not able to communicate what are we missing here in this. it is antagonism right off the bat it is and it is clearly a. Antagonism that is born of fear. So it is about how do you in a moment of fear trip is attacked by somebody who there is some wonderful dialogue I think between the arconan captain. And archer toward the end of the episode where the arconan Captain says if I find out that my pilot fired on your man’s vessel unprovoked he’s going to be in trouble and so we’re talking about a fear response. Right out at the bat. The arconan shows up and is fearful of something. He’s fearful of the difference and we’re given a little bit of background around the arconans that to Paul’s history that she shares the vulcan experience with the aonans is almost identical right down to the era. Of their experience with humans the development of warp technology drew the vulcans to both and whereas the humans embraced and were open to collaboration and working with the vulcans even as long as it took and as stymied as they felt through it. The arconan response to it was in her words they were deceitful which I thought was a very interesting framing that that was 1 aspect of the writing that I thought I wish that that had been tweaked a little bit because of all the stuff we’ve learned about the vulcans up to this point in enterprise. The idea that the vulkcans responded to deceit from the aconans and withdrew their support and pulled away from relationships with the aronans I thought was a very interesting framing I would I would have liked a little bit.
I it and I didn’t think it was a bad framing I thought it deserved a little more explanation because we have that history now with this show’s perception of the Vulcans being deceitful on their own So when she says that you take that with that grain of salt of what we know about them now.
Um, yeah.
Um, yeah.
Yeah.
Of like yeah maybe they weren’t deceitful. Maybe they just were not doing what you told them to do and you didn’t like that. It’s like you you you understood that there was more to it. But yeah.
Um, yeah I would have liked. Yeah I would have liked. She says that and then I think in a very I think the to Paul’s role in this was while being in the background largely. The way she was depicted I thought was very a very positive light and I appreciated that she’s coming in with good advice. She’s coming in with advice that is measured and she says I advise caution to archer I would have liked in those moments a little bit of a tweak from him toward her saying when she says the arconans were deceitful. And him saying maybe they just push back harder than humanity because maybe they saw a little bit of what was going on a little clearer than we did. There might have been an opportunity for him to kind of like wink at her and say like oh come on like.
Well there’s also something else I just want to point out this is I this is a complete tangent I don’t know if you noticed this but I noticed it in this episode and my wife was walking through the room and I was watching this and she was like what’s going on there the way. To Paul is sitting at her station on the bridge. Did you catch that the way that Jolene Blalock has to sit so that she’s like right at at the counter like with the the stuff that she’s working on her she has to sit with her like man spreading she is so.
No I did not.
She doesn’t have enough depths to the to the desk. Yeah.
She is like mant correct. There’s not enough depth So her legs are she’s basically almost in like in a but ballet seeing position and it’s like when you notice wait what’s going on with their legs under the desk. It’s like it’s like that’s not very ergonomic.
Right? That may be something that depending on where the director puts the camera. It’s avoided and maybe that it slipped through because Rex and Dawson wanted a specific shot. That’s very funny. So I think that the.
It ah jumped at me and my my wife when I watched this episode I thought was pretty funny.
Comparisons between enemy mine and dharma are absolutely earned. But I don’t view it I don’t view this as a lesser episode because of them I also thought that this was reminiscent for me of the episode where Kirk has to fight the gorn and it’s about survival. It’s ah it’s a.
Um, yeah.
It’s a setup of antagonism so it feels like it’s a little bit of that episode of the original series. It’s a little bit of next generation. It’s a little bit of enemy mind but it also manages to be its own thing and I think the reason it does that is the stuff that you laid out the fine acting from the man who’s playing Zocon who does. So much work. That’s nonverbal.
So like I was saying ah the things that make this episode stand out as its own thing include the fine performance from Greg Henry who played zocon and Greg Henry is a television and movie actor. He’s done lots of work. Um, and he’s been on in star trek things before he was in one of the movies prior to being in this episode he does so much stuff non verbally he does so much stuff that is verbal but it’s muttered under his breath I liked the fact that you had this guy who was basically super frustrated with the fact that.
So.
He knows what he’s supposed to he’s supposed to be connecting this thing to the thing and it’s just why is this not working and he’s looking at pieces and he doesn’t have that caveman tantrum which a lesser episode would have done. It would have been like I’m thinking about the first depiction of the ferenghi.
Yeah.
Um, oh it’s painful to watch. Yeah.
On next generation where they’re literally dressed like cave people. They’re wearing animal cloths and and are clearly intended to look like they just came out of a cave and they got into a warp vessel to fly across the galaxy. That’s Capital G Galaxy by the way And. He doesn’t have that Response. He’s Responding. He’s Intelligent. He’s working through the problems and I think the other thing is trip the acting here from trip is top notch right up to the point at the end when he is having a moment of I don’t know if I’m going to make it out of this and he’s reminiscing.
Yes.
And he reminisces through episodes that we’ve seen including getting pregnant I Love the fact that that was the last one they threw out. He’s like even got pregnant once and it’s done in this sort of comedic tone but his ability to really shine as an actor.
Everything yeah being pregnant. Yes.
In this episode I thought was was really well done.
Yeah, yeah, the the you you hit on the scene that really I had a note on because my favorite episodes and you might have picked up on this if you over the course of the show are the ones where there’s real good character Development. So It could be an episode that’s laser focused with action. It could be an episode that has no action as long as the plot has a laser focus and has in a clear direction and it focuses on a handful of characters that gives them a chance to develop their character I’m I’m all in and this one gives so much character development to trip. And that final moment where he’s reminiscing and he’s talking about things I thought the one sentence that captured his personality to a T and it was kind of like if you were gonna have to pick anything. He’s said in the entire show and say what is it about Him. He said it’s been a hell of a ride was when he said that I was like that is so trip that’s.
Yeah.
That summarizes his entire character which brought me back to the writing on this episode was so good. It was so good because everything he says is pushing him a step forward giving us his viewers a little more insight into who he is and how he operates and why he’s even out here in space.
Um, yeah.
He’s an adventurer. He’s an explorer. He’s out here to have an experience. It’s a hell of a ride. So I loved Yeah yeah, he always wants to go.
And it’s been consistent with his desire in in all the episodes where he doesn’t get to go planet side. He’s constantly going. He’s constantly going to archer and saying like but maybe I should go because maybe there’s a reason for me to go because maybe I want to go and and.
Exactly.
Like you said that is the perfect encapsulation of his character and it is. It’s a demonstration of getting that moment. It takes work but it’s not impossible and that’s what you and I have been asking for for characters like Mayweather.
Yes.
We’ve been asking for that for Linda Parks character of Hoshi like we want there to be more opportunities. We see it with teal we see with archer you even get it with flocks. But some of the characters don’t get their moment to shine and it’s really unfortunate because when. Does happen. You can see that they can make it work. They can make it happen. You get an opportunity for trip to be speaking his character throughout the entire episode I love the fact that he at every turn of confrontation with this guy is looking for ways to de-escalate.
Yes.
Right? up into the midst of and this was at the beginning of this episode my question for all of the listeners is can you make a good friend by beating the crap out of them. They have this is something in that and I talked about earlier finding the balance between action. And philosophical examination is tricky and this episode I think marries those 2 very very well because the action that takes place in the form of a minutes long fistfight where at any moment 1 of them could potentially kill the other one.
Who.
Is very well rendered that fight scene it it leaves question marks as it’s going on of is trip going to have to kill this guy in order to get out of here. We go into it with the assumption that trip will survive because of course he’s a main character on the show. But it really does push to an edge right? up trip looks like he’s had the snot knocked out of him the makeup the makeup at that moment. They’ve managed to push his upper lip into a position that makes it look super swollen marks under his eye.
Because he has yeah.
Blood coming out of his nose. He’s been choked. He’s been pummeled. He’s hit the other guy with a rock and they are now in a position where he’s got the gun the one and only gun drawn on on this guy. And you think he might have to pull the trigger and for the second time in the episode. He throws the gun away. It becomes a much more dramatic moment because he’s already done it once and it wasn’t far enough. Yeah, it was like I threw it away once and it wasn’t far enough now I’m gonna really chuck this thing.
The message is being received. Yeah.
And he chucks it away at a distance. We’re getting to it is now going to take more effort and both of them are so exhausted from their fight and I love that moment that for me is a demonstration of strong storytelling and strong character revelation in that moment.
There’s 1 other moment that jumped out at me was it doesn’t play down to us the viewer usually like there’s a scene where trip. Um, he’s working on the other ship and he’s struggling and to get at work and he’s to get it to work and he’s being basically. Told you have to do this. You have to get it working. He’s like I can’t I can’t just look at this and he says come look at this. He says he’s like yeah this is not going to wear a bow and he gets the guy to come over and he like does the little spray of the eyes. They did not telegraph that to us the viewer at all. So I love the fact that shows he is so he’s.
Um, yeah, yeah.
Um, yeah.
Quick on his feet. He’s thinking fast where ah a weaker script would have been like showing him like looking at the panel and then kind of doing a glance at him and going hey I need you to come over here and look at this. It would been telegraphing I’m about to do something nefarious where it was. It wasn’t telegraphed to just the viewers So when he does that it’s just like it’s a surprise to.
Um, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Yeah, and I think that it’s I agree with you completely and I feel like it’s It’s almost unfortunate that I feel like the reason that that strength of that moment came out of the fact that trip is by himself I Think if there had been another person an ally for trip.
The other guy as well as to us. So it’s.
He would have said something.
In that scene he would have been like I’m going to spray him in the face and then try to spray him in the face instead of just doing it and it’s the just doing that happens in this episode again and again and again including when you get the.
Like yeah.
Zocan is spraying that stuff out of his mouth and he sprays him in the eyes blinding him at one point in the fight. Um, we’ve seen that spit used to to benefit it heals a wound but the idea that it’s also potentially used.
Yeah, yeah.
5
As a weapon like we know that that exists. But when that moment comes out it just happens. It doesn’t It’s not telegraphed. It’s not.. We’re not left with well. Ah, here’s a list of things I’m expecting to happen at any moment even though what does happen. Right? from the beginning you can tell what type of episode you’re going into. Oh He’s going to have to learn to work with this alien in order to get off this moon safely. That’s fine because what really strong storytelling does is makes you forget you know the path it makes you experience the journey and that I think is what this episode does.
The 1 sentence from this episode that summarizes that Sean is it’s a hell of a ride that’s.
Beautifully.
It’s a hell of a ride. So overall I think that it’s pretty clear Matt and I both really enjoyed this episode I would give it I would give it a nice solid b plus like like a good, a good solid grade. Response on the whole is kind of uneven I found a lot of information online saying that people thought that this first of all was too much of a rehash of previous episodes I think one of the things that Matt and I have touched on in previous episodes of this podcast is star trek did not have a lot of new. Ground to walk and enterprise was largely rehashes of earlier concepts. So it reaches a point where that as a negative you really can’t keep beating that horse. We’ve seen it before we’ll see it again. We’ll see multiple episodes coming up in the next you know, two and a half seasons of enterprise we’re going to see similar storylines. But if you’re going to see a similar storyline. You want to see it done well and I think that’s what this one does is it does trod familiar territory. But it does it really well as opposed to an episode that we talked about previously which is trips adventure with the princess again we felt like we’d seen that story before. In fact, it’s almost the same sort of plotline him having to learn to work together with somebody. He doesn’t know. So that they can survive a bad situation but that felt hackneyed whereas this doesn’t this feels it makes like I said it makes you forget you know what’s coming it makes you enjoy getting there. So I think there’s that response and as far as like biting off of um.
Yes.
Agreed yep.
Enemy mine I I I don’t think it’s I don’t think it’s worth um, beating up this episode for its comparisons to enemy mine I think that. This does a really terrific job and does it in an environment where toward the end as they are trying to elevate their communication array high enough to be able to communicate with the ships in space. Um I found all of that really compelling as like a survival story.
Yes, yes.
2 of them with their resources are depleted. They’re theyre on their lastsp gasp. Ah and it’s in a location where I was just like how is this filmed this looks pretty impressive. It looks like a giant rocky precipice that they’ve climbed up in order to to signal their their ships and. I was left thinking like this is kind of a scale that we don’t normally get in star trek. Yeah yeah.
Yeah, agree at at least at this time in the show’s production. But yeah I agree it was. It was very well executed.
So to our listeners. What are your thoughts about this. Do you think that this is like we’ve talked about another story where they may be walking familiar ground but they do a good job with it or do you have the opinion of others which is to say. Yeah, we’ve seen this before. Why did they bother? Let us know in the comments you can go in Youtube directly below the video and you can leave your comments there or if you’re listening through Spotify or Apple or another podcast provider. You can find our contact information in the podcast notes. We’d love to hear what you have to say next time Matt we’re gonna be talking about the episode stigma. What do you think that’s about.
Now No Sean But wonder if you have to wear a big letter a or something on your chest.
Um, adultery on the enterprise who would have thought and met you want to let our listeners know what you have coming up on your other channel. What are you talking about next week
Ah, next week well in the coming couple weeks from now I’m gonna be talking about solar roofs I’m gonna be revisiting that topic ah like the Tessa solar roof is stealing all but thunder but there are other products on the horizon that look really promising more affordable worth considering. If you’re into that kind of stuff check that out.
As for me, you can go to my website http://seanferrell.com find information about my books and you can also find the books available on Amazon Barnes and noble or your local bookstore or public library a reminder if you want to support the show. Please consider reviewing us on Apple Google. Spotify wherever it is you listen and if you’d like to more directly support us. You can go to trek in time show and you can click the become a supporter button and throw some coins at us and just a quick word of thanks to our subscribers on Youtube we’ve recently passed a thousand subscribers and we appreciate you.
Um, yeah.
Subscribing We appreciate you checking out our episodes and we appreciate your feedback. We enjoy reading the comments and we look forward to talking to you next time about stigma. Thanks so much for listening everybody. We’ll talk to you soon.