With Soong on the run, Enterprise must stop him from using thousands of embryos to bring about a race of Augments. Originally broadcast on November 5, 2004 this is Cold Station 12.
The Episode:
Captain’s Starlog date undetermined:
Soong and the Augments head toward Cold Station 12 as enterprise attempts to determine where they are headed. Arriving at Trialas IV, Archer finds one remaining person,Udar, who knew Soong and tries to convince them to reveal Soongs Plan. Udar refuses but it is soon discovered that Soong took all of his incubators indicating that he plans to revive the embryos frozen in status. As Enterprise heads toward Cold Station 12, Archer finally gets through to Udar by revealing this ‘augments’ true parentage.
Soong kidnaps Phlox’s friend Jeremy Lucas and then Soongs Augments break into the Station but are interrupted by Enterprise. Soong threatens to kill Jeremy Lucas and Archer backs off. Things go bad during the attempted theft and after the death of one of the scientists, it seems that Soong and his Augments are not going to get what they want. Archer and a team go to the station but run into more problems when Malik uses Phlox’s friendship with Lucas to convince Lucas to help them and exposes Phlox to a pathogen. Determined to save his friend, Lucas relents and Soong is able to get away with the embryos. Soong asks Udar to join them but, after refusing to, Udar is killed by Malik who also takes some additional Pathogen for future use. Once again, the Augments escape leaving Archer and team on the station, but with every pathogen on the station about to be released…
To be Continued
Is this a ‘Good’ Episode:
Why didn’t they just make this a big two hour film like they did with Voyager Dark Frontier? I mean, that would have been a really cool way to go with this one. Anyhow, being the second in the ‘Augment Trilogy’ this is even harder to review than the first instalment but here we go!
One big thing I love about this episode is the ending. Yeah, I know I am getting ahead of myself here but this trilogy of episodes treats this particular installment in a very ‘Empire Strikes Back fashion’ aka, it ends on a downer. The fact that the antagonists in this actually get away with what they are planning and leave Archer and Enterprise in such dire straights is a marvelous way to keep things moving and force people to come back for the next installment. I mean, not that anyone felt like they needed to not watch it, seeing that Brent Spiner is on the show. Honestly, Spiner should have been this season’s big bad making the whole Augment story the big arc, but I guess seeing how last season went, well, they didn’t want to risk it. I don’t blame them really.
Anyhow I really like how Soong sees the Augments as his children but it is Malik who begins to see things differently. It is clear that this guy is supposed to be the analogue to Khan himself, showing how the Augments are volatile in their nature, and he pulls it off well. It is abundantly clear that Malik has plans beyond that of what his ‘father’ desires and we all know, this is not going to end well. Another really cool aspect of this episode is we finally meet Doctor Phlox’s friend, Doctor Lucas. Lucas is someone who we have seen Phlox communicate with and speak of but never actually have met on the series until now. If you notice, Lucas is played by Richard Riehle who also showed up on STNG and Voyager!
Overall, This is a great continuation in the Augment storyline…with only one more to go, any guesses as to how this will end?
Gleanings and Cool Bits:
- Phlox mentions his hibernation cycle will be beginning soon.
- Take note of T’Pol’s uniform in this and the last episode. Even though she is now an official member of Starfleet, complete with rank insignia, she is still wearing a very different outfit than the rest of the crew…seems someone is getting the Diana Troi treatment.
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: The Augments
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 10/25/2021
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