Why You Should Watch Star Trek Enterprise

1: Cogenitor:

This is the name of a 2nd season episode where we find the chief engineer 'trip' in a moral dilemma. The Enterprise encounters the Vissans, a species with 3 genders. One of the genders occupies only 3% of the population and serve only a single purpose, to produce offspring as a 'Cogenitor' for couples of the other 2 genders.

Trip has a problem with the way the Cogenitor is treated, 'it' has the same mental ability as any other member of the Vissan species but is treated as an object with no equal rights.

This is classic Star Trek at its best and the writers of this show "Enterprise" do an incredible job of this one by bringing us a dilemma where everything that appears to be 'right' is completely against the nature of anyone who watches this. This has issues such as Slavery and Human Rights all over it and the episode has a sting in the tale that will send your jaw halfway to the floor.

2: Outgunned

We are an enlightened species, intent on making peaceful contact with alien races, so reluctantly we as humans in our new age of enlightenment we will take the minimum amount of offensive weaponry as possible, OK?

Previous Star Trek shows never really made many story lines about weapons and why should they? The USS Enterprise, Voyager and certainly the Defiant were always a good match for any potential enemy they encountered. But here, during humanity's first days in deep space, we see the characters constantly struggling to come with ways to defend themselves. Eventually in one episode, Archer admits that he although his intention to explore peacfully never wavered, 'he needed those weapons, and a whole lot more'

Seeing these Star Trek characters struggling to bring peace and human values to the galaxy without the the desire of being armed to the teeth is an interesting development.

3: Borg

Everyone's favourite Star Trek villain's appear in this show too but hang on, there is a very good reason why. The Ultimate Plot Device!

Remember in the movie First Contact when picard fires Quantum Torpedoes at the Borg sphere attacking the surface? Well the destruction of the sphere had sent wreckage to the surface of the Earth (The Arctic) and a few well preserved Borg drones have been preserved in the ice. You can imagine the utter carnage that ensues!

22nd century humans of course do not have the slightest clue how dangerous the Borg are and take nowhere near enough precautions, this makes a great episode for a Star Trek viewer since we already know what these bloody Borg are going to do. Some great action, music and drama make for an excellent Borg episode and of course the last outing of the Borg in the Star Trek franchise ever. Not to be missed!

4. Vulcans

Never have the Vulcan characters been so extensively developed before like they have in this series. We find that mind melding is considered a 'dirty' practice and that there are Vulcan sects such as the 'Syrannites' who do not follow the traditional path and are considered rebels and terrorists. Vulcans during this time struggle to keep their emotions in check when things get serious and they prove to be in some cases very unstable and dangerous given that their technology is way better than Starfleets.

5. Humbled

One 1st season episode sees Captain Archer reluctantly having to ask for help from an arrogant Vulcan commander (who is constantly looking over his shoulder) to rescue a shuttlepod trapped inside a comet. The Enterprise is equipped with a magnetic grapple, whereas the Vulcans have a tractor beam. Seeing the Starfleet ship as somewhat puny and simple compared to the Vulcan vessel is again, another departure in typical Star Trek lore.

Caprica Review

Spoilers..

Watching the pilot episode of Caprica I definitely thought 'this is a little slow' compared to Battlestar Galactica. But then, we really should not compare this show to Battlestar Galactica anyway since from the outset it was very clear that this would be a whole new format for the Battlestar Galactica saga.

There are no Space Battles, no External Scenes in Space whatsoever (At least not in the pilot)

This show is set on the planet Caprica, 58 years before the fall and approx 18 years before the 1st Cylon war.

The only familiar elements in this show are the child' William Adams' (Adama) and his lawyer father which we knew about in BSG. The whole idea of this show seems to play upon the ethical conundrum that comes into play when a parent loses a child and has an opportunity to bring that child back, using artificial means. Here we have the birth of AI.

The Birth of the Cylon.

There is one hope for this show in my mind, that it will 'trick' non sci fi viewers into watching it.

In fact I reckon there are plenty of scenes where you could be watching for a good 20-30 minutes without realising for one moment that this show is actually set on another world, over 150,000 years ago. (hopefully this will trick those sci-fi haters out there :-))

I reserved judgement until he very end of this show before I decided if I liked it or not, and I do, I like it a lot.

I can tell you this for sure. This is no 'Crusade'. (The Ill-fated Babylon 5 Followup Show)

This is no cheap spin-off to a successful show for the sake of making more money. There are solid ideas here, solid ideas indeed. But how long will they last?

This is the show outline given by Wikipedia:

Whereas the dark, post-apocalyptic reimagined series revolved around a final bid for survival, Caprica is preoccupied with a world intoxicated by success. "It's about a society that's running out of control with a wild-eyed glint in its eye," states Ronald D. Moore.

The Twelve Colonies are at their peak, self-involved, oblivious and mesmerized by the seemingly unlimited promise of technology. Framed by the conflict between the Adamas and the Graystones over the resurrection of loved-ones lost in an act of terror, the series will explore ethical implications of advances in artificial intelligence and robotics.

Set against the backdrop of a society with technology a few decades ahead of our own, Caprica is more of a regular drama than a traditional space opera. Instead of space, violent conflict and a plot driven by action, Caprica features cityscapes and unfolds in stories which focus on corporate, political, familial and personal intrigue. With the troubled relationship between two families at its center, the series has even been likened to classic 1970s and 1980s prime time soap operas Dallas and Dynasty, garnering accolades such as "television's first science fiction family saga."

Though Caprica is a prequel, it is self-contained and viewers can join without having seen Battlestar Galactica. While it will explore elements of the backstory of the reimagined series, notably the emergence of artificial life and its progeny the Cylons, it will do so in a manner which requires no prior knowledge.

I for sure recommend you get this show on DVD and give it a go!

Sci Fi Stuff

Criminally Under-rated 'Star Trek: Enterprise'

I have to admit, when this show was first talked about many years ago I thought "noooo!, why insert a bunch of prequel stuff into an already well established fictional universe!, its going to screw everything up"

My reasoning was that Capt Picard never had a model of the NX-01 Enterprise on the wall, the historical events of this show were obviously never talked about, so why insert it in?

Why not make another show set in the already well established 24th century? I thought.

Then of course, this show was aired and I watched the first one, but made no real effort to watch more. I survived for a long long time on a strict diet of TNG, Deep Space Nine and Voyager, even the crap episodes would still quench my thirst for Star Trek escapism but this series simply never grabbed me. I would tune in, every so often to 'Enterprise' but whenever I heard the opening music I would cringe.

This is of course complete and utter blasphemy toward everything that Star Trek teaches us, namely an 'open-mind' and tolerance of anything different. I had completely fallen back into the trap of regular bias that so many other people are guilty of.

But, in recent years (otherwise known as the great 21st century Star Trek drought) I have re-discovered Star Trek Enterprise and now I own the entire series on DVD and I absolutely love it!

If you are reading this post then you are probably already familiar about the show, if not then look out for one of my next posts titled "Why You Should Watch Star Trek Enterprise"

Cheers

Muzz