Civilization
Date: July 31, 2151
Original Airdate: November 14, 2001
By Q
The Story
Excited to find a planet similar to Earth, Archer, T'Pol,
Tucker and Sato dress as the planets inhabitants in an attempt
to explore, without revealing their advanced technology to the
population. While examining the pre-warp planet and its people,
they soon discover the population is becoming mysteriously ill.
Continuing to investigate the source of the illness, Archer meets
the town's apothecary, Riann. With her help, it is learned
that the illness is being caused by an industrial lubricant being
leaked into the water supply. The source of the leak is coming
from a secret mining operation being run by a race called the
Malurians. They're mining for a veridium isotope, which is used
to make explosives.
Archer decides to remove the reactor from the planet by transporting
it to Enterprise. However, the Malurians aren't making that
easy. They threaten to attack Enterprise if they don't leave
orbit, and fire a shot to show their strength. With Archer
still on the planet, T'Pol is in charge and resolves to give
them the reactor if they want it that badly. Ordering Tucker
to transport the reactor into space, right in front of the
Malurian ship, T'Pol then tells Reed to fire a torpedo
blowing it up and disarming the ship.
Leaving Riann with a kiss, Archer leaves and Enterprise rides
off into the sunset.
Review
I liked this episode because it had a real TOS feel to it. We
could feel the crew's excitement when they discovered an
M-Class planet with inhabitants similar to humans. I could easily
picture Kirk and Co. showing the same kind of emotion. Archer
reminded me more of Kirk in this episode than in any other. He
got to kiss a woman and have a fist fight with an alien all in
the same episode!
T'Pol is starting to impress me more with each show. Her
arrogance is slowly fading, and she becomes a little more likeable
every week. She hasn't risen to the level of Spock yet,
but with time, maybe she will. She handled Tucker's insubordination
well, and I liked how she disabled the Malurian ship. She's
becoming quite an asset to Archer and crew.
Seeing the Malurians was a great touch. These are the same aliens
destroyed by Nomad in TOS episode "The Changeling".
I commend Berman and Braga for doing a better job in maintaining
continuity than they did with Voyager.
The questions about just how much they should interfere with
another culture were good, and it was a nice beginning to what
will be known later as the Prime Directive.
The not-so-good
Riann. I cannot believe the lack of emotion or reaction she showed
to the things going on around her! This woman was from a pre-industrialized
planet, and all of a sudden, she has aliens, a shuttlecraft,
and phasers all over the place, not to mention a strange guy
kissing her out of the blue, yet she shows almost no fear or
other emotions. It didn't work for me.
I would really like to have them focus on some of the other
characters for a change. We still don't know much about
Mayweather, Hoshi, Dr. Phlox and Reed. Give them their time.
I've seen enough of Tucker and T'Pol for now.
Porthos was missed again this week. I hope he'll make
an appearance soon.
Overall
This was a good episode. I'm interested to see if they
can keep TOS spirit alive in future episodes. If so, we're
in for a great seven years.
Grade:8/10
Cast:
Scott Bakula as Jonathan Archer
John Billingsley as Dr. Phlox
Jolene Blalock as T'Pol
Dominic Keating as Malcolm Reed
Anthony Montgomery as Travis Mayweather
Linda Park as Hoshi Sato
Connor Trinneer as Charles Tucker
Guest Cast:
Charlie Brewer as Alien/Akaali #1
Diane DiLascio as Riann
Wade Andrew Williams as Garos
Creative Staff:
Director: Mike Vejar
Teleplay By: Phyllis Strong & Michael Sussman
