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October 3, 2002

Hi Everyone and welcome to the initial installment of our new Supplemental Logs Column.

Our first contributor is 1stOmetiklan.

"The Return of Human Ingenuity"

Remember back when Captain Kirk, Spock, Dr. McCoy and the rest of the
"classic gang" had to use good ol' human ingenuity to get out of a tight
squeeze? Boy, I sure do. Kirk's brilliant albeit haphazardly designed ruse
in "The Corbomite Maneuver" is the perfect example of humanity's desire
to...well, to put it bluntly, survive. The reliance on nonsensical
technobabble as the be-all end-all means to escape trouble has grown
throughout "New Trek's" run. And with "Star Trek: Voyager's" series
finale, "Endgame", the fine art of using elaborate plot devices to get out
of a sticky situation has also risen to a level heretofore never seen in
Gene Roddenberry's venerable franchise. With the launch of "Enterprise"
a year ago, the fifth series in the franchise, I, like many of my friends,
was a bit skeptical. Would "Enterprise" continue with this trend that
began on "Star Trek: The Next Generation", mellowed somewhat on "Star
Trek: Deep Space Nine", and hit the roof on "VGR"? Or, would
"Enterprise" signal a return to the old ways of the original "Star
Trek" series? Well, it seems to me that the latter would apply in this
case.

After one season of Rick Berman and Brannon Braga's installment in the
"Star Trek" series, it is clear that they are indeed determined to
bring "Star Trek" back to what it was. Being objective, there have only
been three unique premises when it comes to the TV series. 1. The original
"Star Trek" series, with its mandate to explore "strange new worlds."
2. "DS9", with the job of shepherding the growth of an alien world,
fighting a galactic war and relating with those non-linear Prophets. 3.
"VGR", about a crew that was "Lost in Space", and fighting like
mad to get home. "Enterprise", like "Star Trek" and "TNG"
before it, is a show about exploration. But there is also something else
there. We have a conspiracy that spans space and time serving as the
backdrop for humanity's first foray into the unknown reaches of the galaxy.
Oh, and there is also a little something that I like to call, "The Return of
Human Ingenuity." Which, after all, is the point of this little excursion of
mine.

"Fight or Flight", the first regular episode of "Enterprise" after the
pilot "Broken Bow", is the one that I would like to concentrate on. I
believe that this episode can serve as the "Ingenuity Barometer" by which
the rest of "Enterprise's" episodes will be measured. In "Fight or
Flight", Captain Archer and his crew discover what they believe to be a
derelict space craft. And like all good explorers before him, he has the
desire to know what is over the next hill. This desire gets him and his crew
into a very sticky situation. Ordinarily, this is the point where Data,
Chief O'Brien or Seven of Nine would pull out their copies of the
"Starfleet Guide to Technobabble and Other Sayings That Drive Fans Crazy".
But this is not "TNG", "DS9" or "VGR"... This is
"Enterprise", and it just so happens that they don't have a copy of
that handbook...well, let's just say it rarely appears and its not nearly as
complete.

The beauty of the resolution of "Fight or Flight" doesn't lie within its
stunning shots of ships engaged in combat. The beauty of the resolution
takes the form of a demure young woman named Hoshi Sato. She is a green
ensign, and the ship's Communications Officer. It is upon her tiny shoulders
that the fate of her crew rests. Does she save her crew by spouting some
cleverly crafted bit of dialogue that would make a NASA engineer cringe? No.
Does she leap into the future and bring back an arsenal of advanced weapons
to save the day? No. She simply uses her innate ability to decipher
languages. By communicating with the Axanar, an alien race that also
suffered at the hands of the nameless aggressors, she is able to convince
them to help the crew of the S.S. Enterprise. Do you see the inherent sense
of wonder in this scenario? "Enterprise" is a TV series that seeks to
use humanity's desire to explore...to know, as the basis for its stories.
What better exemplifies this than a green officer, just out of Starfleet
training, using good ol' human ingenuity to help save her ship and crew?
Well, it certainly isn't the tried and true "phase inducer cross-wired
through the main deflector dish", or a barrage of transphasic torpedoes.
It's something that may be less flashy, but to this fan it is much more
interesting. Time will tell whether or not the writers of "Enterprise"
will hold true to this new (old) philosophy. As a fan of quality
storytelling, I can only hope that they will.

Shaun Whiteaker (1stOmetiklan)