'Cold Front' Receives Rave Reviews

See Also: 'Cold Front' Episode Guide

'Cold Front' was definitely one of Enterprise's biggest winners so far this season, judging from the reaction of Internet critics.

Six new reviews of the episode have now been posted online, with the temporal cold war story arc drawing praise all round.

• "The best thing about 'Cold Front' is its central mystery - which goes unresolved," wrote TrekGuide's Kate Nagy. "We still don't know who these guys are or what they're up to. We know a little bit more about the 'temporal cold war' itself, but we don't know the role of the twenty-second century, or, more specifically, the Enterprise, in that war." In the complete review, the episode was awarded an A grade.

• Gisele La Roche at Voyager's Delights and LCARScom.net found the Suliban especially interesting. Here's an extract from her review:

  The Suliban are unpredictable and menacing villains at par with DS9's shapeshifting Dominion aliens as is the mysterious man from the future who leads them. We still don't know what is happening with these aliens and their leader or what their plans really are. [...] They are trying to alter the future, but why? This is all very engaging as was this episode.

  The full analysis, in which 'Cold Front' was given a B plus, can be found here.

• Although she also enjoyed the main plot, monkee found the Phlox storyline especially interesting. "Phlox's interactions with the spiritual pilgrims were a joy to watch," she wrote. "This character's intense curiosity about humans, and every other species he encounters, is quite appealing. I love how he truly wants to understand others, and not just for professional reasons. [...] I especially like it when diversity is stressed, and I'm pleased to know that Enterprise has a Captain who's willing to keep an open mind about matters of faith." Overall, monkee rated the episode a 9 out of 10 - to read more, head over to her review site.

• 'Cold Front' received full marks from the webmistress of TrekEnterprise.com, who praised the episode's direction:

  Director Robert Duncan McNeill does not disappoint in this exciting episode full of loose ends (purposely) and tense situations. The camera angles and shots of places on the ship that we have not yet seen are especially exciting. I've been a fan of McNeill's directing since Voyager, with one of my favorite episodes, 'Someone to Watch Over Me', being one of his. I hope that he will return to direct Enterprise again.

  To read more, head over to TrekEnterprise.com.

• "The contrast of alien mysticism, a game of temporal chess, and a mundane thing like movie night on Enterprise is amazingly chaotic, but the chaos worked in this episode," wrote 'FXSJ' at TrekPages. "It was a fun, meaty, and profound episode, containing all the elements that makes Star Trek a success. 'Cold Front' is as close to perfect as any Enterprise episode has been. Only the fight scenes between Archer and Silik could have been improved." The episode scored 4 out of 4 stars in the full review.

• Last but not least, David E. Sluss at the Cynics Corner, wrote that the episode was "a fairly solid outing on its own terms, but it may not bode well for the 'future' of the Temporal Cold War storyline." In his 'Temporal Anomaly of the Week' section, Sluss noted the similarities to many X-Files episodes:

  So, we’re playing the X-Files game with the Temporal Cold War, are we? Memo to Berman and company: You've got a temporal anomaly going on right in your office, since that trend was cashed out at least five years ago. Nevertheless, that's what we seem to have here, with Silik in the Cancerman role and Daniels playing Deep Throat, Mister X, et al. Or is it the other way around? As in The X-Files, neither of their stories makes any real sense.

  In the complete analysis, the episode was awarded a rating of 8 out of 10.

More information on 'Cold Front' can be found in the TrekNation episode guide.

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