Lowerdecks.com - The Full Story

October 3, 2002

Minefield - REVIEW
By Shadowfyre
Special thanks to Paul Pytlik for the screencaps.

Summary

This episode opens with Reed joining the Captain for breakfast, during which it is painfully obvious how uncomfortable Malcolm is with the arrangement. Before Archer can dissuade Reed from discussing ship business, T’Pol interrupts and announces they have discovered an uncharted system with a Minshara class planet. Archer orders the ship out of warp to investigate.

As Enterprise approaches the planet an explosion rocks the ship, injuring at least seventeen people and tearing a gaping hole in the forward port section of the ship. Soon after Mayweather detects something striking the ship and a close scan reveals a cloaked mine attached to the hull, no doubt of the same variety which caused the explosion. Archer orders the grappler arm, which is still mounted with the Suliban cloak sensing beacon, lowered to scan the immediate vicinity. At first nothing is revealed, but T’Pol adjusts it and it reveals an entire field of cloaked mines- with Enterprise right in the middle of them.

Reed suits up and ventures out onto the hull to take a closer look at the mine while Trip begins working on a plan to detach the affected hull plates. A mysterious vessels uncloaks and Enterprise is hailed, but they are unable to decipher the language. A couple warning shots from the alien craft convinces Archer to set course out of the system, giving Travis the job of navigating through the minefield.

Outside Reed unexpectedly trips something on the mine and a magnetic arm is released and impales him through the leg as it affixes itself to the hull. Archer joins him and has Malcolm talk him through the disarming procedures. During this time the two men talk and Reed discusses his reasons for feeling uneasy at Archer’s overtures at friendship.

Hoshi soon translates the message they received earlier and identifies the ship as representing the Romulan Star Empire – a species T’Pol seems to have heard of in the past. The Romulans soon return and demand that Enterprise detach the affected hull segment and leave their territory, even at the expense of Malcolm’s life. Archer devises a plan to accomplish both relatively quickly. The hull section is detached and as it floats away, Archer severs the magnetic arm from Reed’s leg, triggering the detonation sequence. They push off and use shuttlepod hatches to shield themselves when the mine explodes.

The Romulans swoop in for what appears to be an attack, but Enterprise manages to scoop up Archer and Reed and warp away to safety.

Analysis

“Minefield” is a study in contrasts. It simultaneously imparts to the audience what both skillful and sloppy writing can accomplish. As with most of Enterprise as a whole, it’s strength is in the characterizations and it’s flaws are in the detail – or more specifically, lack of attention to particular details.

This story is at heart about two men from different walks of life, finding a common ground and understanding. A theme that is often used in Star Trek with Humans and Aliens in the major roles, but here those slots are filled by Archer, the commanding officer with the open personality and Reed, the junior officer who seems to keep to himself. These segments are where the real meat of the story can be found, as we get to learn more about Malcolm’s mindset and what drives him. The Romulan story thread seems thrown in just too tantalize some fans and enrage others. More on that later.

Reed’s predicament - trapped on the hull and his willingness to sacrifice himself for the crew is compelling, but any true sense of danger or drama is overshadowed by the fact that we the audience know that Reed will not be allowed to die. Trek has always played it safe in these situations and this episode isn’t any different.

Still, viewed within the dramatic parameters that the franchise seems to have set for itself, the story is engaging enough to rank it as one of the better episodes of the series. After the initial plot driven beginning, the story is carried along by the characters. We are there as Reed relates to Archer the reason he joined Starfleet rather than the Royal Navy, as well as what it is that sparks the heroic and pragmatic fire within himself. His insistence that he be allowed to die in order to safeguard the ship, and Archer’s stubborn refusal to let him do this, followed by Reed’s acceptance of the captain’s more optimistic view, all unfolds in the exchanges these two have while on the outer hull. This is where the story slows down some, but still retains that Human element that draws us in.

The Romulans on the other hand, were completely superfluous to this story. Any mysterious alien of the week could have filled this spot, and indeed it may have been better if it had been one of those other species, for in this episode not only is continuity bent – it’s shattered in such magnitude and to such a degree that only Voyager was ever able to duplicate.

At the heart of the issue is the cloaking device. More specifically, it’s the Romulan vessels and mines employing a cloaking device. Now, after watching this episode I only have two questions for the producers: What kind of idiots do you take the audience for, and what kind of idiots are you?

I know that seems harsh, but up until now I was willing to give the producers the benefit of the doubt when it came to the continuity issue. They at least seemed to be trying, harder than they did so with Voyager. This story comes along and completely obliterates any notion whatsoever that these people care about continuity. For them it is obviously an abstract concept, something to ponder over but never take too seriously.

“Balance of Terror” from The Original Series has been brought up a lot recently, and in preparation for this review, I hauled out my DVD and gave it another, scrutinizing look. In it we hear Spock comment that cloaks were theoretically possible. Now, the word ‘theoretically” implies, at least to me, that while the concept is thought possible, no instances of it being put into practice have been executed. Cloaks were a new variable when Kirk squared off against the Romulans in that episode.

Now, it’s true that Enterprise has already violated the cloaking continuity factor. We’ve seen two species so far who employ it, and Archer and crew have even been given the means by which to penetrate it at times. That’s bad enough in that it seems to directly contradict Spock’s statement. However, one can still make an argument that such early encounters with cloaking technology were at some point classified and a century later, even Spock would not have known. That’s all fine and dandy.

However, Romulans with cloaking devices at this point in history defies all sense of logic. The Earth-Romulan war is just a few years away and the producers are now expecting the audience to believe that during that conflict the Romulans never utilized what could potentially be a decisive technological advantage? It’s bad enough that the primitive atomic weapons Spock referred to have turned into beam weapons, but now we are supposed to buy into the idea that the Romulans mysteriously lost the ability to cloak their vessels during the war? A war they lost? That must be the case because when speaking of that war, Spock never mentioned cloaked ships. Indeed he was as surprised as everyone else that the Romulans had made, what was to him just a concept, into reality.

What is truly sad is that too often, the producers try to put forth the idea that continuity is bent or violated in order to tell a good story. This episode is a classic example of continuity being needlessly broken, yet the story would have worked just as well had it been adhered to in the first place. The Romulans seem to only be there as a way to tease the audience. Nothing is done with them…but then again, what CAN be done with them without plowing another starship sized hole in continuity? At this point, why not? The producers have made it clear they don’t care. I wouldn’t be surprised to see Archer fistfighting (and losing) with Romulans at some point. This story has caused a shift in my perspective. I can longer give the producers the benefit of the doubt. It seems clear to me that this series will never live up to it’s potential, not if this is the approach the producers are taking.

The Good

The mention of the World Cup and Archer’s referring to the sport as Soccer, as opposed to the more world wide accepted name Football, which Reed uses in reference to it.

The Romulan vessels. Their design reflected the look encountered by Starfleet in Kirk’s day. A nice touch.

No one saw a Romulan.

The Bad

Cloaks – enough said.

Phlox, Mayweather and Hoshi being regulated to the background as usual.

The Curious

Over a year in space and Archer is just now inviting Reed to breakfast?

How did the ship make it so far into the minefield unscathed when it took Travis’ fancy Atari skills to get them out?

Why did Archer or T'Pol never order "on screen" when the Romulans hailed? The Romulans may have refused to communicate in such a manner, but the Enterprise crew should have noted this.

Overall

A well written and acted character piece that was unfortunately set amongst the most gargantuan continuity error this side of the galactic core. The elements for one of the series best episodes are there, but they are overbalanced by the producers obvious uncaring approach.

Final Grade

6.5/10

<<<Back to Main