The creator of the Transporter visits Enterprise! Originally broadcast on January 14, 2005 this is Daedalus.
The Episode:
Captain’s Starlog Date Undetermined
Emory Erickson and his daughter Danica beam to the Enterprise to test a new theory that may make interstellar travel possible using a transporter beam. Things go wrong when an anomaly causes Ensign Burrows to become deformed after they encounter a strange form on the ship. It is soon revealed that the Anomaly is actually Emory’s Son Quinn who was believed to be dead. Emory was there in hopes to find his son and, due to his deception caused the death of a crew member. They are soon able to recover Quinn but he dies in Emory’s arms due to his prolonged time in the transported state. Emory is devastated but in the end gives Tucker the data he needs to increase their transporter range and heads back to Earth with Danica.
Is this a ‘Good’ Episode:
Wow…this was….really not a good episode. I mean, great premise, the inventor of the transporter comes to visit and all hell breaks loose, but…it was not executed well. The story is pretty much a rehash of the STNG episode where Barclay finds ‘creatures’ in the transporter beam and they turn out to be people…only this one is pretty tragic in the end when they can’t save Emory’s son. It’s sad but…honestly it really doesn’t work on the whole.
The one good thing about this one is that we do meet some folks from Archer’s past and get a really good insight into his life before Enterprise. Not only that, we finally get the validation of the dangers of early Transporter technology in a way that would make McCoy blow a gasket but done in a way that felt forced and rather tropy. Like seriously, if transporter tech was this spotty from the start, why the heck did they approve it’s use?
One of my favorite headcanon theories is that the events of John Carpenter’s The Fly are the true origin of Transporter technology. This theory would fit this episode in a way with Emory using this old pre-war data as a basis working on finding a way to adjust for the strange aberrations. If they had even hinted at this, I think the episode would have been slightly better, but then again, it wasn’t all that great to begin with so any improvement would have been something.
Overall, just skip this one. It’s pretty pointless and one that ultimately just lets Enterprise transport things further, that’s really it. There is no solid threat, no deep story, no existential crisis, nothing. It’s just there and that makes it not worth your time. Sad really, it could have been great.
Gleanings and Cool Bits:
- Oh and T’Pol has been cured of her disease by T’Pau so, she’s all good now.
- We get a hint of T’Pol and Tucker getting back together…just a hint.
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: Observer Effect
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 11/5/2021
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