| Review : |
A well executed action episode, serving as a fitting climax (and most of a resolution) to this arc. Some great special effects and cgi, nice looking space battles, and a decent fight for Archer (with a hilarious ending). The shot with Archer running on the catwalk while everything explodes around him was a little cheesy though. The episode as a whole was arresting, and managed to create a decent amount of tension, which is a win for the writers/director because I'm coming at this episode from the DVDs, so I know that Archer and Earth will be A-OK. I have a bit of a problem with how they handled Hoshi - it's nice to see Reed showing some compassion and concern for her well-being, but she looks more like she's recovering from the flu than from *worms* in her *brain*! Maybe they'll show some recovery, after effects in season 4, but in this episode they glossed over it a bit too easily. I'm always a little confused by the whole "trans-dimensional/out-of-phase/quantum vibrating/" aliens who can walk through walls but damage systems in doing so. Apparently the effects on normal physical objects varies with the whim of the alien - it sure doesn't hurt a wall to walk through it, but stick a hand in a plasma conduit and it starts going wonky. It's all just a little messy and vague. I didn't mind Shran showing up, but it's a little weird that he was the only help they got - where were the other Starfleet vessels, the Vulcan ships? Even if we accept that whatever time-travel effect that connects with the ending of the episode is happening on earth, it apparently hasn't affected Andoria, so why aren't the Vulcans nearby? I know they're a bit antagonistic in ENT, but this seems a bit much. I'm not a huge fan of period pieces in Star Trek, so I'm a bit worried about where it's going, and it made for a somewhat cheesy ending to an otherwise very good episode. |
| Review : |
A brilliant action episode. The plot ran at warp speed throughout. Not much thinking required, but gripping for all but the last five minutes, then it gets weird. There did seem to be a lot of 'happy coincidences' all the way through, like the Cavalry (in the shape of Shran and the Kumari) coming over the hill in the nick of time. Still, as I suspected might happen, the 'Death Star' blew itself to pieces just before it approached firing position. Why doesn't Starfleet have a home-defence fleet, or at least a few squadrons of interceptors? Maybe the weapon was already in the past, although Shran's appearance would be a bit strange. On that subject, that was the big let-down. Americans always seem to use the Nazis and WW2 in an almost comic-book manner, and I hope that the follow-up avoids this trend. Incidentally, the Mustangs that we saw could not exist. They have British-designed Merlin engines (the early versions didn't, and they were rubbish at altitude) and the Germans would have to defeat Britain before they could cross the Atlantic. Still, if we pretend that the last five minutes didn't happen, it wraps up the Xindi arc in a blaze of glory. Will we see them again? |
