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Enterprise 4/9 "Judgment" (Spoilers)
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Posted by: JYoung

Let's get this out of the way:
It was actually good, not great but good.
Considering I expected it to suck, this was a pleasent surprise.

Some notes:
Yes, I saw Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country......
How did Archer get before the Tribunal?
Duras of the Bortas?
Oh my God, a chase through the rings and Archer's actually using his head...
Very good performance by J.G. Hertzler.

The episode looses points for not explaining how Archer got captured nor showing the escape but the interaction between Archer and Kolos makes up for it. (I still sense the influence of Beavis and Butthead even though David A. Goodman wrote the episode)
We see the Klingons sliding into the dishonorable Klingons of TOS.

While the episode was derivative of ST6, it still came off better than all the other episodes of Enterprise.
Grade B

Now if B&B would let people like Goodman handle the writing, we'd have a better series.

Posted by: Skittles

Wow. I totally agree with you on every point you made. I'm surprised. :D

I personally thought it was a great episode, with the exception of the ending, which I felt was a total copout. After such a gripping and dramatic episode, it seemed like there should have been more to Archer's escape. However, it was definitely a well structured and well paced episode. After seeing the previews, I even decided to watch this episode the night it was aired on, rather than waiting until the weekend.

I have to agree on J.G. Hertzler. He was fantastic last night. I thought he was absolutely stellar as Martok on DS9, but he definitely showed off a few different aspects of his acting talents last night.

This definitely qualifies as my favorite Enterprise episode now.

Posted by: Rob Helmerichs

As for the abruptness of the ending, [future spoilage]

Spoiler Alert! (highlight to read)
I'm not sure it's over. There are indications in recent press releases that this episode is going to lead into major plotlines for next season.

Posted by: brahamt

JYoung, you're points are all, uh well, on point (sorry about that). I agree with everything.

When it started, I prepared to tap the list button so I could delete it, as the lead in was a little weak, but for some reason, I didn't. One a 10 point scale, I'd give this one a 7, which is way higher that 90% of the other eps I have seen this year.

Posted by: jboehm

I guess I simply don't care about these characters, especially Archer. And it just upset me to no end to see them cookie cutter one of my favorite ST movies that had great characters, funny and thoughtful dialoged, not to mention awesome fight battle scenes with outcomes I cared about.

Posted by: mchasal

I'm just wondering how many times there going to do the "Crewmember X is trapped on a prison planet and Crewmember Y rescues them." storyline. Even though they all are a bit different, its really tiring to see it over and over.

Mike

Posted by: tonyoci

Haven't read this thread yet I just wanted to see jyoungs opening comments, I did not watch the show last night but based on his "praise" I cannot wait to get home and watch it.

T

Posted by: jones07

quote:
Originally posted by mchasal
I'm just wondering how many times there going to do the "Crewmember X is trapped on a prison planet and Crewmember Y rescues them." storyline. Even though they all are a bit different, its really tiring to see it over and over.

Mike

About as many times as STNG did them Halo deck episodes. I just hated them HD storylines

Posted by: tonyoci

So I watched the show and mostly agree with jyoung. There were some minor technical issues in my opinion - for example the rather pleasant and clean holding cell was very un-Klingon.

Overall though I have the same problem as jboehm, I really do not care much about these characters, whereas I always cared about Picard, Data, Sisko etc. This makes it tough for a show to be liked.

I generally find Archer OK so a show mainly featuring him is OK, but next weeks show featuring Merriweather is not likely to be good for me. Now only if what was hinted at the in the previews actually happens I might be happy.

T

Posted by: Sinuralan

The episode seemed okay to me, but it felt very weak compared to any of the similar TNG episodes. Archer just doesn't have the same conviction or speaking ability as Picard did.

Posted by: Chandler Mike

It was okay, but I'm bored with the crew interacting with species we know already.

Kirk never encountered this many Klingons in his travels...and this is supposed to be the FIRST trip out there...let's see some original planets, with strange new life, etc.

The episode before was pretty cool, with the aliens needing the humans as hosts, or something to that effect. That was a new, somewhat unique idea.

Mike

Posted by: Big_Daddy

I agree with most of the rest of you. Continuity be damned - the episode was better than 90% of its predecessors.

I also have not gotten invested in the characters. Scott Bakula just doesn't do it for me as a captain. In a few of the scenes, it looks like he was trying to channel James T. Kirk, especially in the scenes where he was talking about "a few courageous people".

Unfortunately Shatner must not have fully crossed over, because instead of the lines coming out with passion and faith, they came out sounding tired. Sort of like, "I'm exhausted, hungry, and going to be killed. Oh, yeah, these courageous people did a good thing."

The other interesting comparison with TOS was how the crews handle the captain's order to save the ship and forget about him. The end result is the same - ie, the Enterprise saves the captain - but where Scotty/Bones/Spock would have their passions flare and a big debate, here it's just Trip whining a bit and T'pol promising to take care of things in a very vague and unsatisfying way. "Diplomatic channels" my butt!

Posted by: Frylock

I don't get it. I found this episode boring and repetitive. It seemed more like a comedy block episode than a quality Sci-Fi episode.

The "who's lying" plot was kind of weak, especially since they did it in the original. Not exactly the same, but felt too similar.

Posted by: Bryanmc

Didn't care for it much here. Would have been nice if they had used the ST6 Klingon courts as a basis for the setup rather than using that scene word for word.

Could have been better with some tension on the Enterprise and perhaps some behind the scenes of the prosecutor's motives, etc.

I'm getting soured to the whole "this was cool once so let's do it again and again and again and again, etc."

I watched First Contact last night and could remember how intense that movie was when I saw it in the theater. They were fighting the Borg! How cool! Those are some bad mofos. I remember the scene where Picard kills one of the crew asking for his help after he got injected by the Borg's tentacles. What a strong moment.

At least it was in 1996, when I saw it in the theaters. Now the Borg are so emasculated that the entire movie felt flat to me. Makes me sad that something like that entire movie, which was pretty cool, now is kinda weak because of lack of imagination from the writers.

Now go back and watch ST6. Kirk and McCoy get sent to Rura Penthe. Ooooooo.... scary. Captain Archer walked out of there 100 years before. Can't be too bad, can it?

One of my favorite lines comes from that scene in ST6. The Klingon warden gets up on the box to meet the new prisoners.

This is the gulag Rura Penthe.

There is no stockade, no guard tower, no electronic frontier!

Only a magnetic shield prevents beaming.

Punishment means exile from prison to the surface - on the surface, nothing can survive.

Work well, and you will be treated well.

Work badly, and you will die.

Looses a bit of bite now. :(

Posted by: JYoung

quote:
Originally posted by Bryanmc
Didn't care for it much here. Would have been nice if they had used the ST6 Klingon courts as a basis for the setup rather than using that scene word for word.

I've seen this complaint before and I just thought that they were using standard court phrases, not unlike our American courts ("I sentence you to be hanged by the neck until you are dead and may God have mercy on your soul....")

The thin characterization has been a problem that's plagued this series from day one but at least in this episode, I saw glimmerings of why Archer should be the captain. And again, Hertzler was outstanding as Kolos.
Although, I will readily admit that the Klingon version of Archer was more interesting that the regular version.

"I'm Captain Archer of the battlecruiser Enterprise"
and
"Death to the Empire".

:D

Posted by: bonscott87

quote:
Originally posted by Chandler Mike

The episode before was pretty cool, with the aliens needing the humans as hosts, or something to that effect. That was a new, somewhat unique idea.

Mike

Stargate anyone?