Star Trek Ent - Season 3 - Episode 01
Star Trek Ent - 3x01 - The Xindi
Originally Aired: 2003-9-10
Synopsis:
Captain Archer and his crew set out to gain information about the mysterious and antagonistic Xindi race. [DVD]
Problems
- Trip claims that platinum becomes unstable at 30 degrees Celsius... This isn't true. For that matter, why does the administrator insist on "liquid" platinum? Platinum melts at well over 1700 degrees Celsius. What purpose does constantly keeping it that hot serve?
Factoids
- This episode featured a change to the opening credits. The music has been reworked to be a bit more upbeat.
- The Xindi council is 50 light years from Earth.
- T'Pol has no siblings.
- The outer hull of Enterprise is lined with duranium.
- There are five distinct species of Xindi.
Remarkable Scenes
- The cargo containers bouncing off the walls.
- T'Pol: "Delicate is not a word I associate with Mr. Tucker."
- Tucker freaking out at the Xindi slave.
- The MACOs rescuing Archer and Trip.
My Review
My primary complaint was addressed here. The Xindi aren't exactly as stupid as I originally thought. It seems the rather ill advised move (sending the prototype to Earth) I commented on in the problems section of the last episode was caused by the remarkable disunity of the Xindi council. The Xindi themselves are sufficiently interesting for a multi episode arc; their council reminded me somewhat of the Jedi council from the Star Wars films. It's remarkable how there can be five distinct species of Xindi, especially when it's a rarity for even two distinct species to be native to a single planet. Unfortunately, the episode itself was similarly flawed to Ent: The Expanse. I liked the Trellium-D mining complex though. The administrator was most amusing. What I disliked was Archer's bad attitude and especially the Vulcan neural pressure scenes. Somehow I doubt either will go away. Hopefully they can be presented with better taste in the future.
The following are comments submitted by my readers.
I thought this episode was reasonably good, but then the neuropressure scene happened. Oh dear God! I laughed out loud at the sheer awfulness of that scene. Apparently Enterprise was meant to be more "adult" than previous Treks, well this gave the lie to that!
And now, for your maximum discomfort, I will transcribe T'Pol's actual lines from the Vulcan neural pressure scene:
"Right there. Little closer together. Harder. Harder. Just like that. Please continue. <contented sighs>"
Seriously. An adult wrote that dialogue, and Jolene Blalock had to read that script and then perform it in the scene in an emotionless Vulcan monotone. Now the secret is out: now everyone knows the writer of that scene (who I presume is a horny fifteen year-old in an adult's body) harbors a secret Vulcan love slave fantasy. Aaaaaawkward!
I don't know which I hated more, Archer being a complete asshole to a slave and continuing to be a complete hypocrite and all around terrible character or that 10 minutes of the episode was porn.