Enterprise - Episodes - "The Andorian Incident"

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"The Andorian Incident"

Written By: Fred Dekker, based on a story by Fred Dekker, Brannon Braga, and Rick Berman.

Directed By: Roxann Dawson.

Guest Cast: Jeffrey Combs as Shran, Bruce French as the Vulcan Elder, Steven Dennis as Tholos, Jeff Ricketts as Keval, Richard Tanner as the Vulcan Initiate, and Jamie McShane as the Tactical Crewman.

Synopsis: While Archer and his crew delight in discovering astronomical phenomena missing from their Vulcan starcharts, the captain diverts Enterprise to visit a nearby Vulcan monastery called P'Jem for the sake of improving human-Vulcan understanding. When they arrive, however, it is quickly apparent that something is amiss. Archer, T'Pol, and Tucker are soon captured by a group of antennaed aliens known as Andorians led by Shran and held with the monastery's students. Apparently, the Andorians believe that the Vulcans have a massive spy facility hidden at the monastery, an accusation that the Vulcans steadfastly deny. The Andorians interrogate Archer regarding the facility and destroy the away team's communicators, but the captain has no knowledge and is returned while Shran's men continue to search. The Vulcans lead Tucker through a secret passageway to an old transmitter, which he repairs. Contact is made with Enterprise, presently under the command of Lieutenant Reed. A daring transporter beam-in allows a security team to effect a rescue, but the ensuing firefight spills into the secret passages. When the Andorians take refuge in a chamber of relics, Keval refuses to allow the humans admittance. Archer and his team do not heed the warning and push through. During the conflict inside the chamber, a door is uncovered... a door concealing a massive Vulcan spy facility, to the shock of humans and Andorians alike. The Andorians are allowed to leave, indebted to the humans for uncovering the truth. The Enterprise team departs P'Jem, having indeed gained a new understanding of the Vulcans.

Comments: This was an immensely enjoyable episode for a fan of the original Star Trek series, as it obviously featured the Andorians. For those not in the know, the Andorians were featured in "Journey to Babel" (TOS), and have appeared occasionally as background aliens in the years since. All we learned about the race in that time was that they are a passionate and sometimes violent people, and in particular had differences with the Vulcans. "The Andorian Incident" doesn't disappoint in fleshing out their behavior, though it offers little in the way of background information. Another fan-drawing part of this episode is Jeffrey Combs playing Shran. Combs is almost universally loved by fans of Deep Space Nine for his portrayals of Brunt and particularly Weyoun. Although his role was essentially simple--be a thuggish enemy leader--Combs shone as always, making Shran easily my favorite guest character so far. I certainly hope that he returns, perhaps to pay back his debt to Archer. In other characterization, I have to say that I didn't care for the monastery Vulcans, and I'm not speaking of the part where they spy and lie. As a whole, the actors just played the parts too human for my taste. I don't mind when Vulcans show hints of emotion, as T'Pol routinely does, but these are adepts of Kolinahr. They are supposed to be the "best of the best" when it comes to repressing emotion. I would expect Kolinahr disciples to behave essentially like on-duty Data from The Next Generation, or Spock upon first returning to the Enterprise in Star Trek: The Motion Picture. Cold, calculating, and blunt. Archer and Tucker both came across as the seasoned friends they have been implied to be, particularly during the initial entry into P'Jem. T'Pol, though, is still slightly enigmatic. We see that she has significant loyalty to Archer, transcending even her homeworld's security. But is she loyal because she respects the captain, or because it is the logical course of action? Only time will tell, and we'll likely see a shift from pure duty to genuine respect over the next few years. The actual plot is not a new one, with the bad guys ultimately being proven correct, but the fact that it is the Vulcans, of all people, to be the spies make it feel relatively fresh. There are a few potential holes, though. For one, what was the purpose of Archer's second beating? If they wanted to see if the three holes led into the atrium, why not just look through them like Reed later did? This episode had little in the way of visual effects; the digital matte painting of P'Jem was certainly effective, but the novelty has worn off. The real visual treat was the Andorians, with their articulated antennae.

Sociology: We learn in this episode a great deal about Vulcan society. The most important revelations concern their relationship with the Andorians. The Vulcans may abhor violence, but they don't have any such qualms about spying, lying, and breaking treaties. But really, why should they? Humans, with our delicate emotions, have concepts like "honor" and "fairness." In a matter of self defense, or national security, could there be a logical reason to break a treaty? If the Vulcan High Command had credible reason to believe that the Andorians were going to engage in military actions, wouldn't it be logical to have an early-warning system in place? I think a case can be made that the Vulcans were acting in their own best interests, and in a logical way. We also learn that the Andorians are an empire, though it seems that refers to their planetary government; they probably aren't an interstellar empire. They have never heard of Earth or humans, and are quick to form racist generalizations, calling Archer and Tucker "pink- skins."

Technology: The transporter is used rather flagrantly in this episode, suggesting that perhaps the crew is growing accustomed to it. They have still only used it in situations that make shuttles impractical, so I don't think there will be frequent beam-downs any time soon. They did, thankfully, show that none of the team was too happy to be transported even if it was a duty. Reed uses some small demolition charges to enter the atrium, but there's nothing too shocking about them. The massive Vulcan sensor array was interesting to look at, but unfortunately we learned little about it's capabilities. We know only that it can scan Andoria, located near Vulcan.

Continuity: Getting the small stuff out of the way, we learn that it has been nine weeks since "Broken Bow," a perfectly reasonable span of time. The real continuity issue in this episode is the characterization of the Vulcans and the Andorians. In the case of the latter, there is very little previously established material; they have always been said to be a passionate, somewhat violent race, and they are certainly consistent here. The Vulcans, though, present a problem for many people. Somewhat overlapping with my sociological comments above, many fans object to the Vulcans spying on the Andorians, and more importantly, lying about it. This is related to the general feeling that Vulcans in Enterprise as a whole have acted much more rudely to humans as in other series, and maintain an air of superiority. Have the creators changed the premise of Vulcan behavior? Examining previous Star Trek, we find that the answer is no. In the first episode to feature Vulcans other than Spock, "Amok Time" (TOS), there are two relevant guest stars. T'Pring, Spock's betrothed, is manipulative and scheming, deliberately staging a fight with an unprepared combatant and attempting to drive Spock away so she can keep her secret lover, Stonn. The Vulcan matriarch T'Pau is offended to see humans at a Vulcan ceremony. She asks Spock pointedly, "Art thee Vulcan, or art thee human?" emphasizing the dichotomy between the two cultures. Nobody informs Kirk that he is fighting to the death, and when he discovers the fact, nobody gives him a chance to decline. Vulcans are as diverse a people as humans, and there has always been an undercurrent of angst between the two species.

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This page was last modified on November 04, 2001.