Site Columns
By KristineJune 2, 2004 - 9:37 PM
Hello World!
So, we've had a week to digest it. If you haven't seen the final episode of Star Trek: Enterprise's third season, "Zero Hour", I'd recommend not reading on, because spoilers will abound. Last chance to look away--I'm going to talk about the by now infamous ending, and its a doozy.
The Enterprise Forum at the TrekBBS is abuzz with talk about the shocking ending. No one is especially shocked that Archer succeeded in destroying the Xindi weapon, but...Starfleet gone? Bomber planes on Earth? And, the kicker...Alien Nazis? I'm all for surprising endings, and clever cliffhangers, but what happened to cliffhangers that make sense? Ones that the show earned, rather than pulled out of nowhere. Star Trek: The Next Generation's "Best of Both Worlds" is a famous one, but really, both TNG and Deep Space Nine had uniformly superior cliffhangers, and Voyager had some good ones, too.
The Alien Nazis are so far out of left field that some are calling the twist brilliant. After all, anything could happen! Did Archer get thrown back in time? Have aliens gone back in time to mess with Earth's timeline by affecting the outcome of World War II? And how does Future Guy factor into all of this?
I'll admit, I was downright disappointed with the ending for a number of reasons. I'm tired of time travel. We got away from it for the most part this season, and I thought season three was easily Enterprise's strongest season. Sure, time travel/future events loomed in the background, but for the most part they didn't intrude too much on the action, with the exception of a few jarring visits from Daniels to remind us of the basic premise.
But my biggest criticism comes with well, the Alien Nazis themselves. Talk about rolling out the blandest, most over-used bad guy cliche. Why not show us a war we're unfamiliar with, a minor skirmish that history all but forgot but that alien enemies are trying to make far more significant than it was historically? Why Nazis? They're the baddest of the bad, sure, but they've been rolled out in so many books, television shows, and movies in the last fifty years. The Nazis were evil, but over-use in entertainment media has turned them into cardboard cutout bad guys. I doubt there will be much depth in their portrayal in Enterprise, and if it's one thing Enterprise could really use, it's a colorful, unique villain.
Trek BBS Today
Below are some of the topics about Enterprise's season ender and what lies ahead currently being discussed at the Trek BBS:
-Could the Nazis save humanity's future?
-Anyone else notice UPN proting ENT?
-Season 4...How would you do it?
More topics can be found at the Trek BBS!
Trek Two Years Ago
UPN was on the upswing in the 2001-2002 year, which saw the debut of Enterprise. The net managed to outperform primary rival WB in almost every category, as well as showing the most growth in total viewers.
Robinson On Why He Couldn't Leave Garak Behind
Andrew J. Robinson chatted with fans at StarTrek.com and discussed the book he penned, A Stitch in Time, which resurrected his popular character.
Interview: Penny Johnson Jerald
TrekToday's Michelle Erica Green discussed Jerald's role on 24 as the wife of a presidential hopeful as well as her character on Deep Space Nine, Kassidy Yates.
Poll Results
Below are the results of the most recent TrekToday poll:
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60.3% - (739
Votes),,
Happy Birthday!
Happy Birthday to Anthony Montgomery, who celebrates his birthday today!
Today's Television Listings
Tonight, UPN will show two episodes of Star Trek: Enterprise back-to-back. "The Xindi" will air at 8pm Eastern time, while "Anomaly" will be shown at 9pm. Here are TV Guide's descriptions of the episodes:
The third season opens with a new action-oriented style as the Enterprise hunts the Xindi who attacked Earth. But Archer and Trip's zeal to capture a Xindi leads them into a trap. This episode marks the debut of the MACOs, Enterprise's elite surface troops.
Distortions within the Delphic Expanse disrupt the Enterprise's computer systems, leaving its stores vulnerable to Ventaxian pirates who loot critical supplies.
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