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"Broken Bow"
Episode 1.01-02
Air Date
26 September 2001
Written By
Brannon Braga & Rick
Berman
Directed By
James L. Conway
Guest Cast
Vaughn Armstrong as
Admiral Forrest
Jim Beaver as Admiral Leonard
Chelsea Bono as Alien Mother
Melinda Clarke as Sarin
James Cromwell as Doctor Cochrane
Ethan Dampf as Alien Child
Matt Davis as Young Archer
Van Epperson as Alien Man
Jim Fitzpatrick as Commander Williams
John Fleck as Silik
Gary Graham as Ambassador Soval
James Horan as Humanoid Figure
Ron King as Farmer
Diane Klimaszewski as Dancer
Elaine Klimaszewski as Dancer
Thomas Kopache as Tos
Tiny Lister, Jr. as Klaang
Ricky Luna as Carlos
Mark Moses as Henry Archer
Joseph Ruskin as Suliban Doctor
Peter Henry Schroeder as Klingon Chancellor
Jason Grant Smith as Crewman Fletcher
Byron Thames as Crewman
Matt Williamson as Klingon Council Member
Synopsis
Thirty years ago... Young
Jonathan Archer works on a model Starfleet transport. He
discusses the Vulcans with his father, who expresses his frustration
with them but insists that Jonathan refer to them respectfully.
Now... Klaang is pursued
by two Suliban agents through a corn field. He lures them into a
nearby silo and leaps away, firing his disruptor. The blast
detonates methane in the silo in a massive explosion. The owner
of the field, a farmer named Moore, approaches and shoots Klaang with
his trusty plasma rifle.
In Spacedock, Commander
Tucker and Captain Archer inspect Enterprise, which is
undergoing her last few weeks of preparation for launch. Archer
is contacted by Starfleet Medical and asked to return to Earth.
He arrives to find Admiral Forrest and Ambassador Soval engaged in a
debate regarding the unconscious Klaang. The Vulcans, having
prior experience with the Klingon Empire, urge Starfleet to let Klaang
die with honor and allow a Vulcan ship to return the body to Kronos.
Archer convinces Forrest to allow Enterprise to take Klaang,
alive, back to Kronos, in part to prove to the Vulcans that humans are
ready for space travel. Before leaving, Archer invites Doctor
Phlox to temporarily serve as his medical officer, owing to the
doctor's experience with Klingon anatomy. While Tucker and
Lieutenant Reed prepare Enterprise for launch, commenting on
the ship's bio-approved transporter, Archer recruits Ensign Sato two
weeks early with the lure of the exotic Klingon language. The
crew assembles aboard ship, and are initially unhappy about
Sub-Commander T'Pol's assignment as science officer; the posting was
exchanged for Vulcan starcharts to Kronos. After a brief
ceremony in Spacedock, Enterprise activates her warp core and
comes to life.
Thirty years ago... Archer
inserts an anti-grav device into his model.
Now... Enterprise
is launched and engages warp drive for the first time.
In the temporal chamber of
the Suliban Helix, Silik reports to a temporal cold warrior that
appears only as a mysterious humanoid figure through the chamber's
energy barrier. The figure demands that Silik recover Klaang,
and Silik promises success in his mission.
Aboard Enterprise,
Archer tells Phlox to maintain Klaang's heath until the ship reaches
Kronos. Tucker finds Ensign Mayweather in a crawlspace,
floating in microgravity. They discuss Mayweather's "space
boomer" past and his experience on alien worlds, as well as
Tucker's lack thereof. Later, Tucker joins Archer and T'Pol for
dinner in the captain's mess. The two humans try to convince
T'Pol of humanity's worthiness, but she maintains the Vulcan belief
that humans haven't yet proven themselves to be anything more than
impulsive carnivores. As Enterprise accelerates, Klaang
regains consciousness. The main power is disrupted; the Suliban
invade the ship to recover Klaang. While they are successful in
retrieving the Klingon, the effort is not without casualties. In
the aftermath of the attack, T'Pol urges Archer to return to Earth but
the captain is resolute. He argues that this is the crew's
chance to show their abilities. While the crew attempts to track
the Suliban ship, Archer learns from Phlox that these Suliban have
been genetically engineered to have dramatic physical abilities.
An impasse is reached in the investigation due to the inability of Enterprise's
sensors to track the attacker's plasma trail. However, another
lead is found in Sato's analysis of Klaang's delusional ranting: one
word he used, Rigel, is recognized by T'Pol as a nearby star
system. In fact, Klaang was en route from Rigel when he
crashed on Earth, according to previously unmentioned Vulcan research.
The course is set and Enterprise gets underway.
Silik interrogates Klaang
in the Suliban Helix. Although the Klingon insists that he has
no information, he does reveal that he visited a Suliban named Sarin
on Rigel X. Silik leaves, knowing what must be done.
When Enterprise
arrives at Rigel X, an away team is briefed and departs in a
shuttlepod. The pod lands at the planet's trade complex, where
the away team splits into pairs and begins their investigation. Mayweather and
Reed follow an alien man who claims to remember Klaang; it turns
out he is merely an interstellar pimp turning out butterfly dancers.
Tucker and T'Pol have moderate luck with Central Security when they
are informed that there is a Klingon enclave. They contact
Archer and the captain agrees to meet at the enclave. When he
and Sato arrive, though, they are abducted by Suliban agents. An
apparently human woman emerges and begins questioning Archer.
She kisses him before reverting to Suliban form and revealing that the
kiss was an ability to measure trust. Archer passed the test.
Sarin explains that the Suliban Cabal is working to fight a temporal
cold war. They are currently making efforts to incite a Klingon
civil war, and Klaang has the proof that can stop it. At that
moment, Silik's troops attack, killing Sarin. After a heated
gunfight in the arctic environment of Rigel X, the Enterprise
team manages to escape, but not before Archer is shot in the leg.
T'Pol assumes command of Enterprise.
Thirty years ago... Young
Archer crashes his model on the California beach. His father
gently instructs the boy, telling him not to fear the wind.
Now... Tucker and T'Pol
require decontamination; while the others were clean, the two were
infected with spores on Rigel X. They discuss T'Pol's right to
command Enterprise as they spread decon-gel over themselves and
each other. Later, Archer awakens in
sickbay, distressed that T'Pol has been in command. He asks when
Enterprise will arrive at Earth, but to his surprise, he is
informed that they are tracking the Suliban ship. The ship is
pressed to its limits in pursuit. Archer makes the first entry
in his starlog, dated 16 April 2151, but he is interrupted by Enterprise's arrival at a gas
giant. They track the Suliban trail into the planet, where they
find the Suliban Helix. Archer brings the ship to combat
readiness and enters the atmosphere.
The humanoid figure is
given another report by Silik. He expresses concern that the war
was not to involve humans or Vulcans yet, and gives the command to
destroy Enterprise.
Suliban cell ships are
launched from the Helix to intercept Enterprise. The ship
is forced to pull back, but uses the landing bay grappler to capture a
cell ship intact. Tucker and Mayweather study the cell ship and
decipher the controls. Enterprise is under attack by
depth charges when Archer orders T'Pol to prepare for a trip to
Kronos. Reed issues Archer and Tucker phase-pistols, as well as
a device to shut down Suliban maglock systems. They launch in
the cell ship and dock at the Helix, sneaking aboard. Aboard Enterprise,
the attacks get more serious, while the away team finds Klaang and
begins to move him. They are caught by Suliban, and Archer
activates the device Reed gave him. The local area of the Helix
begins to break apart into constituent pieces. Tucker and Klaang
board their stolen cell ship, while Archer is left behind, ordering
Tucker to get Klaang to Enterprise before considering a rescue.
Archer manages to elude the Suliban and finds his way into the
temporal chamber. Meanwhile, Tucker convinces T'Pol to mount a
rescue. Silik enters the temporal chamber with Archer and they
taunt each other. Shots are fired, but owing to the strange
temporal distortion of the chamber, neither is killed.
Archer regains control first and leaves the room. As he runs
down the hall, Suliban agents find him and open fire... but the Enterprise
transporter beams him away before he can be harmed.
On Kronos, an Enterprise
away team presents Klaang to the Klingon High Council. A sample
of his blood is taken and fed into a computer, where it is revealed
that data on the Suliban and their activities has been encoded into
Klaang's genes. The Klingons seem to approve of the human actions, and Enterprise
prepares to leave orbit. Archer asks Phlox and T'Pol to stay
aboard as permanent crew members, and they both accept. The ship
begins it's official mission of exploration, setting course for an
unexplored world.
Thirty years ago... Young
Archer's model soars, the father and son watching it fly into the
sunset.
Comments
At this point in the Star
Trek franchise, it's hard to watch a pilot and not compare it to
those which have come before. It seems that Berman and Braga
have learned lessons from all previous pilots and the series that
followed when they wrote "Broken Bow."
The writing is on par with
the better Star Trek episodes of recent years, with dialogue
that maintains the intended "edginess" without being over
the top in trying to be contemporary. There is not a whole lot
of technobabble in "Broken Bow," and it is a welcome change
from Voyager. Even the ending is refreshingly
unexplained: the Klingons read Klaang's DNA and get their Suliban
data, but we don't need to be told this in dialogue. Berman and
Braga grant that the viewer just might be able to "get it"
without explanation, and it works.
For the most part,
Conway's direction is typical of Star Trek episodes; that
stands to reason, as he is a regular director. The only
complaint I had was the gratuitous slow-motion leap during the silo
explosion. The lack of any other similar shots made this one
stand out as out of place. Speaking of gratuitous, perhaps no
scene fits that word better than the decontamination. While
Jolene Blalock and Conner Trinneer are clearly both fine physical specimens,
the sight of them rubbing each other down with gel while nearly naked
seems very out of place in Star Trek. Granted, the scene
is meant to appeal to a specific demographic, but there could have
been any number of situations in which to show some skin that wouldn't
have felt quite so contrived. About the only useful information
gleaned from the scene is that the decon chamber is very, very cold.
It goes without saying
that Star Trek will always have some of the best visual effects
available, but "Broken Bow" is truly impressive. From
Suliban invisibility, distortion, and wall-climbing to the Helix to
Phlox's eerie grin, nearly every shot was perfectly executed.
As far as character
development goes, all that can be said is that it's very early in the
series. Archer clearly comes across as a Kirk-figure, and he is
played flawlessly by Scott "born-to-be-a-starship-captain"
Bakula. While, by the end of the episode, Archer has come to
realize that he has to put aside his distaste for Vulcan policy, it
also seems as though it won't be quite that easy. I
didn't find T'Pol to be much more than what one would expect from a
female Vulcan. Jolene Blalock does seem to have prepared for the
role, because T'Pol's demeanor seems very much in line with Spock and
Tuvok. Based on interviews, Blalock is apparently a fan of the
original series, "Amok Time" (TOS) in particular, and uses
that episode's T'Pau as a reference. It works.
I was quite surprised by
Conner Trinneer's Charlie Tucker. I didn't expect to like the
character, mostly because I thought he would be overplayed. He
is actually quite likeable, a successful cross between all Trek
engineers and "Bones" McCoy. I am ambiguous about Sato
after "Broken Bow." While she is capably played by
Linda Park, her incessant fear of, well, everything may get annoying
with time. Phlox, Reed, and Mayweather didn't have enough screen
time to make much of an impression on me. Offhand, all three
seem like enjoyable characters. Reed wasn't anywhere as stiff as
promotional information suggested. Phlox was appropriately
quirky, but as of yet hasn't shown any of the groan-inducing goofiness
that plagued Neelix, his closest analog in previous Trek.
Overall, "Broken
Bow" is a welcome addition to the Star Trek saga. No
previous series has come off it's pilot with such potential, and let's
just hope that potential will be realized.
Technology
Enterprise presents
us with the "lost era" of Star Trek technology,
falling between our present time and that of Kirk and Spock.
Most elements established seem to fit the era. As in the
original series, food is synthesized, but not replicated. The
ship has what is described in the script as torpedo weaponry, but apparently
not photon torpedoes, and certainly no phasers. In the actual
episode, red bolts are fired. It's unclear if these are the
torpedoes or some sort of plasma cannon. If they are torpedoes,
they apparently don't have tracking or homing systems, as the red
bolts followed a straight path. Transporters
are dangerous and untrustworthy, but recently approved for beaming
living organisms. The phase-pistols
are interesting. As a crude sort of hand phaser (even called
such in the script), they only have two settings: stun and kill.
The question is: how are they different from true phasers? We
never saw the kill setting in action, so it is unknown if there is a
vaporization effect or just a deep burn. Future episodes should
clear this up. Another intriguing bit of technology is Enterprise's
hull plating. While later ships
often had conformal deflector shields that, for all intents and
purposes, clung to the skin of the ship, it appears that Enterprise
has no projected field of any kind, and instead "polarizes"
these plates to absorb and redirect incoming energy. Since the Suliban
only used particle weapons, it's
still unknown how effective hull plating
is against physical, kinetic-energy attacks. We do know that Enterprise
can withstand atmospheric pressure at some levels, though there is
never mention of just how deep into the gas
giant the ship went. The warp
drive reached Warp 4.5 with no observable difficulty, so we have
yet to see just what the upper limit is. It was called a "Warp
5 engine," but there's no way to know if it can only meet
Warp 5 or exceed it. Enterprise's
sensors are appropriately limited; within
atmosphere, at least, a "long-range scan" referred to
another region of the planet, while later ships would use that term
for many light-years.
Sociology
People of the
twenty-second century behave much as those of the twentieth century
do. Profanity is much more prevalent than in later times, for
example. T'Pol,
as the stereotypical Vulcan, exhibits all
of that race's notorious efficiency and intellectual skill. Sato
is slightly paradoxical. On the one hand, she is portrayed as
highly capable, but at the same time, she is given a jumpiness and
general fear of space travel that some might argue didn't have to be
placed on the only human female. Unfortunately, Enterprise
is plagued by a few stereotypes. Tucker
and Reed are almost
caricatures of their pseudo-cultures, Tucker
talkative and charming, Reed
stiff. There are many Southerners who are coldly efficient, and
plenty of Brits who are friendly and approachable. Some have
complained about the general human dislike
of Vulcans, but I didn't see it played as
a racial (special?) issue; humans objected
to the Vulcan government's lack of support
in space technology, not so much Vulcans
themselves. Furthermore, the undercurrent of antagonism went
both ways, with the Vulcans betraying
their arrogance and near-contempt for the primitive humans.
As drama, the overcoming of these hasty prejudices is both appropriate
and positive.
Continuity
There is nothing in
"Broken Bow" that directly contradicts canon, but there are
many elements of the episode that come close. The crew is issued
phase-pistols, which behave as
phasers with a different name. "A Matter of Time"
(TNG) established that phasers weren't invented until the twenty-third
century, and in "The Cage" (TOS), the crew used laser
pistols. Zephram
Cochrane disappeared without explanation 150 years before
"Metamorphosis" (TOS), set in 2267. "Broken
Bow," however, has the doctor giving a speech thirty-two years
before the episode, which would be in 2119...
two years after he allegedly disappeared. This isn't a
significant problem, as people routinely round years off when speaking
of spans that long, but it is worth noting. The Klingons
are described as operating "warbirds,"
a ship designation previously only used for Romulan spacecraft.
Given that both the Klingons and Romulans
operate birds-of-prey, sharing the "warbird"
term isn't that shocking. "Broken Bow" does violate
some conjectural elements of the Star Trek Chronology, by
Michael and Denise Okuda. That book places first contact with
the Klingons in 2218 rather than 2151.
However, "First Contact" (TNG) said that the contact was
centuries ago, making the Chronology inconsistent, not
"Broken Bow."
Several aspects of Enterprise
are nice continuity touches, particularly with the original
series. The crew uses handheld communicators
that resemble those used by Kirk and crew, and even have the same
sound effect. Likewise, aboard ship, they use similar com
panels. The bridge science station features a pop-up scope,
much like that used by Spock. Sato
uses an earpiece at communications, as Uhura did. Even the
shipboard doors sound like those of the original series.
Rating
9.0 out of 10
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