monkee reviews 'Strange New World'
First Impression: Another solid outing! This show is getting off to a great start.
Before I begin, I just want to give the show's producers (*gasp*) some credit. They made some significant mistakes with Voyager. I loved the show, but in the end, my disappointment was genuine and acute. Yet, here I am, back for more! It's too soon to say whether or not Enterprise will save Star Trek, but for them to get so many people to tune in with such enthusiasm and anticipation was a victory in and of itself. Will they be able to keep it up? Only time will tell. I hope so.
The Thrill of Exploration: One thing they keep doing right, so far, is to convey the excitement of this first crew. We can feel it as the lower decks personnel gaze out the viewport in the mess hall – speculating about the planet they are orbiting. We can see it on the shuttle crew's faces as they land, then explore the wildlife and flora of a strange new world with two moons! At night, around a campfire, they look up into the night sky and pick out their own sun. That is so cool!
Lower Decks: Will wonders never cease? We meet two new characters from the lower decks, and neither of them dies, even though they get names, dialog and even personalities! I particularly liked Elizabeth Cutler, the entomologist who reads about alien insects over breakfast and is trying to befriend the resident Vulcan. We don't learn as much about Ethan Novakovich, but at least he was the one screaming hysterically this week instead of Sato.
No B Story: I'm pleased to see them break with the standard Trek A-and-B-story formula. It works sometimes, but too often the secondary plot is unrelated and unnecessary to the story.
Technological Difficulties: The imperfect technology continues, and hopefully we will not have as many magical quick fixes on this show. Archer and Reed simply cannot land the shuttle in the windstorm to rescue the landing party. And when they have to risk the transporter to beam Novakovich out, he ends up with sticks and leaves embedded in his skin. Ewww!
Suspense, and Lack Thereof: The story itself was a bit on the simple side this week. I'm usually a sucker for a tale of suspense, but in this case, I'm afraid there just wasn't enough of it. I've been avoiding spoilers, but even TV Guide mentioned hallucinations in their description, so I knew the rock people didn't really exist. And obviously Tucker wasn't really going to kill T'Pol, but...
Tucker: Wow! What a wonderful performance by Trinneer! It's tough to play a character that is so paranoid and hysterical without going over the top – if you go just the slightest bit overboard, you end up just looking silly. He didn't though – he pulled it off beautifully. Tucker is turning out to be one of my favorite characters, and I didn't think I'd like him all that much at first. But I love his enthusiasm, his humor, his intensity, and his flaws.
T'Pol: I'm still not sure about T'Pol, on the other hand, but I liked her well enough this week. It was nice to see her control slip a little, even if she was under the influence of a psychotropic compound. I liked her calm, even exchanges with Archer and Sato. And I always love it when she speaks Vulcan – it's a nice reminder that Starfleet English is not her native language.
Phlox: We also get to see another side of Phlox this week. When he nearly loses his first human patient, Novakovich, his distress is evident. Finally, something has cut through his persistent chirpiness. I was a little surprised, because I expected him to be rather philosophical about these things. But I like being surprised. He's got to be more than the resident optimist, student of human nature, and comic relief.
Mayweather: It was nice to see him, and I'm glad he got some dialog, but we don't know much more about him than we did before. So far, he and Reed are tying for the least developed character. But, it's early yet.
Fun: The slower pace of the episode did allow us to have a little fun. The space ghost stories around the campfire were a nice touch, and it was terrific to see Porthos be the first to bound off the shuttle. "Where no dog has gone before," indeed! I also absolutely loved Tucker taking a picture of the landing party, and Archer thinking twice about putting his arm around T'Pol. And trivia buffs take note – we've now had the first Enterprise appearance of the Vulcan neck pinch!
New Rules: Whether you go boldly, or boldly go, into space, you may find you need to make up the rules on the fly. This week's new rule? You ARE allowed to squash alien lifeforms – if they're in your sleeping bag.
Character Interactions: The Tucker and T'Pol exchanges, naturally, stood out this week. I continue to appreciate the antagonism between them, and the tension. I also enjoyed T'Pol's interactions with Archer, Sato and Cutler. And Tucker and Mayweather were hilarious in their bug-in-the-tent scene.
'Shipper Watch: T'Pol/Tucker is the potential pairing to watch, so far. There are some definite sparks there. Otherwise, it's really too soon to tell. There are other possibilities, but they are far subtler, at this point. T'Pol/Sato? Tucker/Mayweather? Reed/Mayweather? Who knows!
Archer Watch: I think he was a little too quick to blow off T'Pol's voice of caution this week. Maybe in the future, he'll agree to a few probes before he sends a landing party down to a planet. It probably isn't necessary to wait a week, like the Vulcans do, but there has to be a happy medium. I did like the way he improvised when he couldn't get Tucker to believe that he was hallucinating. He was forced to think out of the box and on his feet, and make up a story that would throw the paranoid Tucker off balance. It reminded me, a little, of the way Kirk used to confuse alien computers.
Best Lines:
"Be sure to get a copy of that to the Vulcan High Command!" (Archer, to photographer Tucker)
"Are we allowed to squash alien life forms?" (Mayweather, to Tucker)
"If they're inside your sleeping bag!" (Tucker, to Mayweather)
"You want to shoot a bug?" (Mayweather, to Tucker)
"I'm just gonna stun it." (Tucker, to Mayweather)
"Go to hell!" (Novakovich, to Archer)
"Challenge your preconceptions, or they'll challenge you." (Tucker, quoting his 10th grade Vulcan science teacher)
"Ow! I must have twisted up my neck." (Mayweather, unaware that T'Pol has given him the old Vulcan neck pinch...)
Rating: 8.5/10. I don't think it will be as memorable as the first two episodes, but I liked it!
Next Week: The much-anticipated 'Unexpected,' in which Tucker gets pregnant. It could either be brilliant, or absurd. Bring it on!
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