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Episode Guide - Season 1 Page 2
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Episode 9 - First Aired November 14, 8 pm UPN
Civilization - Review - Discuss This Episode
 The Enterprise discovers a planet with a technological level similar to that of late 19th-Century Earth. The crew decide to study this planet’s culture and send an away team altered to resemble the alien population. The away team is drawn into a deadly mystery that has already cost the lives of several locals. Archer meets a beautiful scientist named Tyala, who falls in love with him as the two work to solve the mystery. Another alien in the episode is Garos, a local merchant with a devious secret. This episode also reveals at least a primitive version of the Prime Directive is already in place at Starfleet - a Starfleet code that states that unless the natives have a certain level of technology, we shouldn’t contact them because it might upset their natural development. But apparently someone on the planet does have technology (shades of “A Private Little War”?). This is also the first episode to show the crew being altered to fit in with the natives as Archer is dressed in doublet and hose and forehead ridges.
Guest Cast:
- Diane DiLascio as Riann
- Wade Andrew Williams as Garos
- Charlie Brewer as The Alien
Writers: Rick Berman & Brannon Braga - Teleplay by Phyllis Strong & Michael Sussman
Director: Mike Vejar
Review: Finally seeing this one the third time it aired, I can say I was very pleasantly surprised. It was far more than the “give Archer a romance” episode it looked like from the trailer with a very good blend of action, mystery, and prime directive dilemna. Solid performances helped win me over (though did anyone else think Garos looked a bit like a young Shatner/Gary Lockwood?). Yes, there were shades of “Friday’s Child” and several other previous episodes with a technologically advanced species taking advantage of a lower one, but all-in-all it’s a solid, enjoyable episode. I give it 4 out of 5 stars.
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Episode 10 - First Aired November 21, 8 pm UPN
Fortunate Son - Review - Discuss This Episode
 The Enterprise is dispatched by Starfleet to check out a distress call from an Earth freighter, the Fortunate. When the arrive, they find the crew rather unappreciative of their offer of help.
The commander, Captain Keene, was seriously wounded in an attack by Nausicaan pirates. Its first officer, Ryan Cross, a man about 30 years old who has spent his entire life on cargo ships, takes over and distrusts Archer and his crew leading to tensions.
Cross plans to seek revenge on the Nausicaan’s putting his ship and the Enterprise in serious danger. We find out more about Mayweather’s life growing up aboard freighters as he bonds with Cross and his knowledge of freighters actually saves the day.
Guest Cast:
- Lawrence Monoson as Ryan Cross
- Kieran Mulroney as Shaw
- Vaughn Armstrong as Admiral Forrest
- Danny Goldring as Nausicaan Captain
- Charles Lucia as Captain Keenan
- D. Elliot Woods as Boy
- Elyssa D. Vito as Girl
Writer: James Duff
Director: LaVar Burton (Geordie LaForge of Star Trek: The Next Generation)
Review: An interesting episode, though the ending felt a bit hurried. We seem to be getting more character development on Mayweather than anyone else so far...well, except maybe T’Pol. Here we find out more of his history on freighters as he gets to interact with a freighter’s crew. The storyline is rather standard (crew is attacked and one of them goes off the deep end wanting revenge at any cost), but the characters are interesting which helps pull it off. I give it 3 out of 5 stars.
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Episode 11 - First Aired November 28, 8 pm UPN
Cold Front - Review - Discuss This Episode
 When the Enterprise comes in contact with an alien vessel transporting stargazers to observe a spectacular stellar event, Archer invites them aboard the ship not realizing that Silik, a Suliban enemy, is among the passengers. Archer quickly realizes that Silik is engaged in a nefarious time-traveling mission and must stop him before he can tamper with the course of history. This is the first appearance of the Sulibans since the debut episode. It also introduces a Starfleet officer, Daniels, working to stop the Temporal Cold War which is really the first suggestion we’ve had of Starfleet’s time-travel capabilities. (Anyone else think the photo of Archer at left should be in a “Caption This” contest?)
Guest Cast:
- John Fleck as Silik
- Matt Winston as Daniels
- Michael O’Hagan as Captain Fraddock
- Joseph Hindy as Prah Mantoos
- Leonard Kelly-Young as Sonsorra
Writers: Steve Beck & Tim Finch
Director: Robert Duncan McNeil (Tom Paris of Star Trek: Voyager who also directed several episodes of Voyager)
Review: This is one of the most interesting episodes to date giving us some insight into time travel before it was known to be possible (even Vulcans don’t believe it). It also continues the Suliban/time arc begun in Broken Bow and it’s nice to see it being woven neatly into the series rather than becoming a boring, all consuming storyline. There are a lot of unanswered questions left dangling that I assume another episode will pick back up at some point. There is a nice, amusing subplot with Mayweather wanting to sit in the command chair and some good conflicts & mysteries for Archer to solve. The glimpse at other cultures and beliefs along with Phlox’s fascination over them was also a nice touch as it gives us really the first non-human perspective on the universe. We get to see some fun toys from the future too and wonder what else might be in those quarters Archer ordered sealed...(personally, I would have torn them apart!). On a personal note, it reminds me of a ST role play game I once enjoyed (though never got to finish) and couldn’t get “One Ton Tomatoe...” music out of my head! 4 out of 5 stars.
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Episode 12 - First Aired January 16, 2001, 8 pm UPN
Silent Enemy - Review - Discuss This Episode
 When Enterprise is attacked by an unidentified enemy ship, the crew must work frantically to get their new phase canons to operate. Meanwhile, Archer realizes that no one knows Reed well enough to give him a personalized birthday present. An unknown ship trails the Enterprise, attacking mercilessly and repeatedly. The ship doesn’t answer to hails or other attempts to communicate, but does fire on the Enterprise and even boards her to obtain info on the ship and crew. The Enterprise crew are far outclassed by the aliens, who seem to be invulnerable to both the ship’s weapons and the crew’s hand weapons. Archer orders the ship to return to Jupiter to have its cannons installed. Even as the ship rushes back to Jupiter, however, Tucker and Reed work overtime to try and install the weapons themselves and get some kind of defense against the alien ship. According to Dominic Keating, they get to “kick some serious butt” in this episode.
Guest Cast:
- Jane Carr as Mary Reed
- Guy Siner as Stuart Reed
- Paula Malcomson as Madeline Reed
- John Rosenfeld as Mark Latrelle
Writer: Andre Bormanis
Director: Winrich Kolbe
Review: I think this was one of the best episodes so far with a near perfect mix of action and character development. A little more info on the alien would have been nice perhaps...but then I have a feeling this may be a foe they will run into again (and did anyone else think the alien ship looked a bit Romulan?) 4 out of 5 stars.
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Episode 13 - First Aired January 23, 2002, 8 pm UPN
Dear Doctor - Review - Discuss This Episode
 This episode gave us more information about Dr. Phlox as he writes a letter to a colleague about a crush that Ensign Cutler (first seen in "Strange New World") develops for him and we see some of his Denobulan past. Meanwhile, on the Bridge, Capt. Archer is faced with his first pre-Prime Directive dilemma ... should he provide warp technology to a pre-warp race? The Enterprise encounters a pre-warp shuttle that is less than a light-year away from an M-Class planet. The occupants are taken aboard the ship and Phlox discovers they are dying from an unknown disease. When one of the aliens is awakened, he tells Archer he is from the nearby planet of Valakis and that everyone there is dying from the disease. He is one of four astronauts sent out into space hoping to find someone that could help them, but while on their trip, they started to develop symptoms of the disease -- which can lie dormant for years. T'Pol warns Archer that they should not contaminate a pre-warp civilization, but he ignores her and sets course for Valakis anyway. At the planet, he finds Essak, the director of the research center dedicated to finding a cure, who informs him that little progress has been made. Archer and crew learn that Esaak's race is not alone on the planet, and that a completely different species -- the Menk -- are also indigenous to it. Esaak also informs them that the Enterprise is not the first warp-capable species that has come to visit. Other aliens include the Maelins and even the Ferengi, both races of which even the Vulcans have never heard of. Both races left quickly after finding out about the disease, and refused to share their warp technology. Archer wonders if the Vulcans were right in keeping warp technology out of humans’ reach for so many years. Also features the first mention of the Ferengi. This is a moral and ethical story with both Phlox and Archer struggling with difficult choices.
Guest Cast:
- Kellie Waymire as Elizabeth Cutler
- David A. Kimball as Esaak
- Chris Rydell as Alien Astronaut
- Karl Wiedergott as Larr
- Alex Nevil as Menk Man
Writers: Maria Jacquemetton & Andre Jacquemetton
Director: James Contner
Review: This is an episode that is sure to make you think and stir up controversy....ahhhh....Star Trek at it’s best! While a bit slow going in the first half and with no traditional “action” some viewers might have wanted, the strength of this episode is in the moral dilemna and the way Archer and Phlox handle it. The seeds of the Prime Directive are definitely sown here...and Archer’s grapling with it shows a great deal of growth and development in his character. And for the first time, we see Phlox realize being part of the crew might not be as much fun as he thought (as well as learning a few tantalizing facts about Denubians!). If you let yourself get into the story and think about the themes presented, it is truly a mind-boggling dilemna....do you save one race so that another can never grow on their own? I won’t get into the debate here...I’ll leave that for the message board :) All in all, this is one of the best Star Trek stories to date and it seems the writers are getting a very good handle on the characters....something Voyager’s writers had never seemed to have done. Let’s hope the trend continues. My first 5 star episode.
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Episode 14 - First Aired January 30, 2002, 8 pm UPN
Sleeping Dogs - Review - Discuss This Episode
 The Enterprise encounters a Klingon Raptor-class scout ship drifting through the outer layers of a gas giant. Archer decides to board the ship and discovers all the Klingons aboard are unconscious, infected by a virus (another one?) Archer tries to help the Klingons, but is hindered by the only Klingon aboard who avoided being infected by the virus, a Klingon Cook named Bu’kaH who is the embodiment of Klingon paranoia. Supposedly a “fun” episode.
Guest Cast:
- Michelle C. Bonilla as Bu’kah
- Stephen Lee as Captain Klaax
Writer: Frek Dekker
Director: Les Landau
Review: An interesting, if somewhat disjointed story. While it gives us a bit of a glimpse into Klingon ships & culture, I had the impression of a hasty editing job (or a lot cut out for whatever reason) as the pacing wasn’t as polished as other episodes. I also wasn’t very impressed by Bonilla’s Bu’kah. The strength of this episode is the developing relationship of T’Pol with the rest of the crew, especially Sato, though I feel an opportunity was missed...it would have been fun for Reed to have passed on his cold to the Klingons! I expected that actually since otherwise his having a cold served little purpose to the story. Archer is starting to improve in understanding how to deal with alien cultures which should grow in future episodes. I give it 2 out of 5 stars.
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Episode 15 - First Aired February 6, 2002, 8 pm UPN
Shadows of P’Jem - Review - Discuss This Episode
 Since P’Jem was the name of the Vulcan monestary in The Andorian Incident, this episode will be another encounter with the Andorians...though this time with Shran coming to Archer’s aid. Archer gets caught in a civil war with the Andorians coming to their rescue when he and T’Pol are kidnapped by a militant faction on the planet. The crew is also dealing with T’Pol being ordered back to Vulcan by the Vulcan High Command though she does not want to leave the Enterprise.
Guest Cast:
- Jeffrey Combs reprises his role of Shran from The Andorian Incident
- Gregory Itzin as Captain Sopek
- Gary Graham as Ambassador Soval (first appearance since Broken Bow)
- Vaughan Armstrong as Admiral Forrest (first appearance since Broken Bow)
- Jeff Kober as Traeg
- Steven Dennis as Tholos
- Barbara Tarbuck as Chancellor Kalev
- Stephen Lee as Klingon Captain
Writers: Story by Rick Berman & Brannon Braga, Screenplay by Michael Sussman & Phyllis Strong
Director: Mike Vejar
Review: Is it just me, or is it awfully easy to capture the Enterprise crew? Not only did Archer and T’Pol get caught by the militant faction, but Reed and Tucker got caught by the Andorians! I did like Shran’s reason for helping Archer and the resolution of T’Pol’s reassignment, but the story seemed a little weak to me. For one thing, just what is the civil war about?? Did I blink and miss it? This one was better than Sleeping Dogs, but not as good as some other episodes...just 3 out of 5 stars.
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