caveat-warning-type-thingie: it's been a few weeks since I saw this ep, and RL has meant that my reviews had to be delayed longer than I would have liked.  I only watch these eps once, and I'm completely unable to watch them again (at least until the videos come out, anyway).  I took detailed notes, but this review might be a bit sketchy.  Sorry.

episode #5: "Terra Nova"

first impressions
Long lost humans.  ::snore::

second impressions
A potentially interesting plot, a glimmer of character development for Reed and Mayweather … but by the end, no one's awake to care.

quick summary
Enterprise goes to investigate a long-lost human colony whose fate has entered the realm of urban legend.  They find survivors, and then it's deja vu all over again.

memo to TPTB
The teaser is supposed to get audiences interested in the episode to come, not send them running for pillows, blankets and teddy bears.

And I hope you're paying the Exposition Fairy overtime.

about that plot
I haven't seen "Friendship One" yet, and I won't get to see it for another few months.  But, judging from spoilers and plot-heavy reviews, I can see parallels.  Remnants of early human exploration, eventual failure, hostility to Earth.  Sleeping, now.  It's not that it's a bad concept, but they should have let a few more seasons go by before they started borrowing plots from Voyager.

captain's prerogative
(Yeah, only 5 episodes down and I'm already groping for new puns.)

Archer's still over-reacting to things which (probably) wouldn't have phased any of the later captains.  (I say 'probably' because you never can tell with Janeway -- it depends on who's writing the episode.)  It makes sense that all of these things would be new, exiting and scary to him, but it still makes him look out of his depth, if not actually incompetent.

Speaking of comparisons with other captains, Archer gets to give a near-Picardian speech.  Nice work, sort of.

the hair from hell
Yes, the thing which struck me about T'Pol this week was her hair.  I don't like it at all -- it should be longer, darker and styled in a complex and exotic way, like the TOS Vulcan women.

The interaction between T'Pol and Archer was interesting this week.  I can see these two becoming leading figures in the development of the Prime Directive.  My notes suggest that T'Pol was offering conflicting and un-Vulcan points of view, but (naturally) they're unclear, and I'm inclined to say that she was playing devil's advocate.  Which is a good thing -- she's not just a token Vulcan wet blanket anymore.

Reed: he's just damn cute
Well, he is.  Pity about the character development, though.  So many chances lost … All we really learn is that he's into guns, and we knew that already.

It's a pity.  If we knew more, then he'd seem less like a retread of Wesley (Angel Wes, not TNG Wes).  There are a lot of similarities -- good looking young Englishmen, into weapons, team players.  But Reed is too poorly developed to take the comparison further.  The series "bible" said he was shy around women, but we have yet to see any evidence of this.

and the rest
Eh.  Same as usual -- Phlox has a lovely voice, and the others are, you know, there.  Mayweather gets a hint of character development, but it never quite comes to fruition.

other things
The chase between Reed and the 'alien' was quite static and dull.

Yet again, we have caverns!  Early in Voyager's run, caverns were seen frequently enough that it became a source of much criticism.  Enterprise seems to be following in its big sister's footsteps.  I wouldn't mind, but they do make it hard to see.

Enterprise has a situation room!  Just like on The West Wing.  (Small things, small minds…)

The use of language was interesting, reminiscent of "Nemesis" and "Miri".  It was good to see TPTB putting some thought into these things, but it was sometimes confusing.

The cure for cancer was a nice touch.

Good use of music.  But I still hate the theme.

Children are immune to radiation?  Uh huh…

Nadette was a good character, and the actress played her very well.

The first shuttle crash!  "Aw … it's a Braga series…"

smells like teen fanfic
T'Pol: "I'm sure Mr Reed could devise suitable restraints."  Yes, I bet he could.  And I bet he'd have a few ideas on how to use them…

overall score
C+ -- not only was it dull and unsatisfying, with some seriously dodgy science, but the fact is -- I nearly skipped the review, because I just didn’t care.  Critical reviews are fun, positive reviews make me happy.  Not caring -- that's bad.
 
 

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