Star Trek: Enterprise Episode 104: Strange New World

Episode Title: Strange New World

Director: David Livingston

Writer(s):
Rick Berman & Brannon Braga (story)
Mike Sussman & Phyllis Strong (teleplay)

Wikipedia Synopsis: A storm traps an away team on an alien world, while spores cause them to experience psychosis.

Guest Stars of Note: None

Impressions: We can tell their flashlights are from the future because they have extra buttons.

So they find a new planet that looks like it can support Human life and with no other research decide to land there and in the end they poison themselves with hallucinogenic pollen. Will they learn their lesson for the next time? Probably not.

On this brave new world Captain Archer decides to bring his dog. So... you know... fuck the native ecology. Also, he just allows the dog to run off willy nilly. What if some large predatory animal was around? Captain Archer won't allow his dog to be transported in the transport beam but will let him run off like a lunatic on an alien planet... he's a very inconsistent pet owner.

Speaking of the transporter they transport somebody up in a wind storm and he ends up on the ship with sticks and rocks embedded in him yet somehow he survives due to the one and only Dr. motherfuckin' Phlox. 

Trip becomes a bigger asshole when the paranoia kicks him leading in the end to T'Pol having to stun him which I wish happened somewhere in the first act so I wouldn't have to listen to his assholery.

Mayweather tells a ghost story and you find yourself wishing the plot to that was the plot to this episode.

Have you ever noticed that all alien planets look like California?

Score: 1 out of 4 for the episode, 3 out of 4 for the ghost story, and 8 out of 4 for shooting Trip.

Star Trek: Enterprise 103: Fight or Flight

Episode Title: Fight or Flight

Director: Allan Kroeker

Writer(s): Rick Berman & Brannon Braga

Wikipedia Synopsis: Hoshi faces her fears on an alien ship whose crew was murdered, while Malcolm tries to upgrade the ship's defense system. 

Guest Stars of Note: None

Impressions: Hoshi's unhappiness and fear is paralleled with the health of a slug they have removed from it's native habitat. So there's that. A slug they then release onto a similar yet different planet in a completely different star system so... you know... fuck native ecology.

Trip wants to go and explore but can't and that makes him antsy because he's a man of action or something.

Archer, T'Pol, and Trip have the beginnings of a very awkward dinner and I found myself wishing that they would do an episode of just that, just three people uncomfortably eating salad in space... just half conversations and barely contained resentment.

Archer ignores perfectly sound advice from T'Pol and gets nosy almost leading to his crew being harvested for their brain juices. I understand that he's the defiant adventurer type but when you're boredom almost gets people killed maybe you should re-think command.

Why does Archer always leave the ship? He's the damn captain. Hey, Archer, DO YOUR JOB!

I like that Phlox seems sort of disgusted that he has to constantly point out the Hoshi/slug parallel. Also, why hasn't there been some sort of Phlox spin-off. If the do decide to do the Worf spin-off show then Phlox better somehow be worked into it.

So Hoshi has come to terms with her space fear issues already? Well that was pretty quick arc.

Try as I might, I will never be able to take Reed seriously as some sort of badass. He looks like a math teacher. This is a fault in my character and I accept that.

Score: 1 out of 4.