It’s Anomalies and Pirates in the episode that originally aired on September 17, 2003. This is Anomaly.
The Episode:
Captain’s Starlog Date Unknown
After a series of anomalies cause a ship-wide power outage, Enterprise comes across a derelict ship that appears to have been undergoing similar issues of their own, but with deadlier results. Finding the entire crew of the alien craft dead it is soon clear that they had been attacked leaving Enterprise in a vulnerable position.
Soon an alien craft approaches Enterprise and begin a boarding raid. When the Enterprise crew fight back, the aliens leave but not before stealing a considerable amount of supplies but not before one of them is knocked unconscious and is left behind. After taking an inventory, it is discovered that much of their antimatter storage pods have been stolen which means Enterprise will be stranded in about a months time. Archer finally meets with the prisoner who has been identified as an Osaarian and soon learns that Orgoth believes Enterprise will not last long as the Expanse is not a civilized place.
Enterprise soon finds a strange spherical vessel and taking the MACO team, they board it only to find much of the antimatter that had been stolen. It seems the sphere has been there for nearly 1000 years and is somehow still operational. Soon Enterprise discovers that the Osaarians once attacked a Xindi vessel and had taken not only fuel but information. Determined to get both, Archer convinces Orgoth to help by threatening to blow him out of an airlock and soon find the Osaarian ship. As the two ships battle, Hoshi is able to get most of the Xindi database and although Enterprise takes damage, they are able to disable the enemy. In the end Orgoth is released to his people and Enterprise leaves with new information about the Xindi they are searching for.
Is this a ‘Good’ Episode:
Only a few months into the Expanse and boy are things already getting dark for Enterprise. It’s really no surprise that they have already encountered the equivalent to pirates and I would not be shocked to run across slavers and who knows what else in the ‘other side of the tracks’ part of space. I swear, it seems that the Delphic Expanse is really just a giant bad neighborhood run by a gang of aliens hellbent on just really doing nothing but letting the neighborhood fall apart and worry that people will come and invade.
The story itself is a good continuation of the ongoing ‘lets go kill the Xindi’ storyline but I am not sure I really buy the fact that Archer has gone from ‘lets follow the rules and try to be the best’ to being willing to torture a prisoner for information. So far in the series Archer has been hard at times but never murderous and certainly never spiteful, so to see him result to torture not only damages his character but makes me question his resolve all together. It’s clear that Archer is already cracking under the pressure of being stuck in the Expanse hunting people who attacked Earth which is sad as, even after being captured and tortured, this side of Archer never emerged. I get trying to make the show a little edgier but, when you take a character in a very radical direction, it’s a little difficult to follow them there.
One thing that really got me is that the Osaarrian, Orgoth, makes mention that they came into the Expanse but, when they tried to leave they were unable to. However, both the Vulcans and the Klingons reported ships returning from the expanse but either badly damaged or with the crew driven insane. So, are there regions of the surrounding cloud that have different effects or is this just the writers forgetting that people can get out, it’s just not all that easy?
Overall, good story, but I really feel like this season is taking Enterprise and it’s crew into a much darker place than the series needs to go. Moving from, this is the origin of the Federation to, lets go kill people who tried to kill us, is a significant jump that should have been built up to from the start rather than just thrust upon us.
Gleanings and Cool Bits:
- While Orgoth doesnt make another appearance, Archers treatment of him does come back to haunt him.
- It is indicated that Trip is still undergoing treatment from T’Pol.
- The Anomalies were hinted at in the previous episode when a full room of stuff was moving unexplainably. Now we know why.
Thanks for reading the Retro TV Review, I look forward to discussing the rest of the series with you, one episode at a time every Monday, Wednesday and Friday! Next Review: Extinction
more reviews I have a weekly series called Key Movies Of My Life that comes out every Thursday and for more retro TV goodness check out the rest of the Retro TV Reviews here.
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Late To The Game 8/25/2021
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