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By Christian
June 25, 2001 - 2:08 PMA new review appeared online today of the script of 'Broken Bow,' the two-hour opening episode of Enterprise, containing both more plot info as well as thoughts on the quality of the series.
"[I'm] happy to say that, in current script form anyway, Enterprise is the best Trek pilot yet," wrote editor Garth Franklin at Dark Horizons. "[Enterprise] plays like a straight out action-adventure with the characters getting down to business right away and a lot more phaser shooting involved than all the previous pilots put together - the only sentimentality creeping in with the very hokey last two pages. [...] Of all the Treks I've seen before, the mix of politics and action as such in this pilot resembles 'Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country' the most - it ain't Trek at its best but its solid, very engaging and fun as well as being more appealing to non-Trek fans."
Dark Horizons based its review on the second draft of the Enterprise opening episode, dated November 2000. Changes may have made to the script since then, though the basic storyline is likely still the same. The review provides the following major new story points:
- 'Broken Bow' will show the first mission of Captain Archer's crew, hastily pulled together to bring home the injured Klingon who crashed on Earth. They will travel to Qo'nos in the S.S. Enterprise, the first ship capable of reaching Warp 5, built by Archer's father. However, shortly into the mission the Klingon is kidnapped by the Suliban Silik, who is taking orders from an unknown power from the future. The Enterprise goes after the Suliban to recover the Klingon and find out why the Suliban so badly want him.
- The relationship between Archer and T'Pol is described as similar to the Skinner/Mulder relationship on the X-Files, with "a mutal level of respect and animosity." As a Vulcan, T'Pol knows more about the situations the crew encounters, but doesn't volunteer this information until she has to. According to Dark Horizons, strong characters in the pilot script include Doctor Phlox, whose brand of medicine seems to involve lots of solutions with leech-like creatures, Comm Officer Hoshi Sato, who has problems with traveling at high speeds, and Charlie 'Spike' Tucker, who is slightly xenophobic.
- The Suliban, Enterprise's main recurring villains, are a nomadic race who specialise in genetic engineering. Each member of their race looks different, depending on which genetic elements are enhanced by the faction they belong to, but most seem to have a chameleonic skin and are able to crawl along walls and roofs. According to Dark Horizons, the race itself has a lot of potential, though their leader Silik is not very well developed.
- The November 2000 draft of the script featured a mysterious figure from the distant future, who the audience only sees as a shadow in a special "temporal chamber," where time itself is distorted. This gives Silik the advantage of knowing the outcomes of situations before they happen, but also will lead to a Matrix-style fight scene in the pilot. Interestingly, the first reports about Enterprise in early 2000 also mentioned a villain from the 29th Century, though none of the later reports included this aspect of the series. It is of course still possible that this aspect was cut since November 2000.
- The Orion slave girls mentioned last week (story) will apparently indeed not appear in the opening sequence, but may be featured later on in the show, when the crew visit an alien underground market place. Malcolm Reed and Travis Mayweather end up in an alien red-light district, where they are offered the 'services' of the Orion girls by a space pimp.
Garth Franklin at Dark Horizons concluded by saying he felt 'Broken Bow' would be "more elaborate, more gritty and more adventurous" than Star Trek has been in a while. "Its certainly got off to a more interesting start than either DS9 or Voyager did," he wrote. "It's the type of series that will pull in newcomers and those who thought the spin-offs lacked the gung ho and fun of the original series. [...] As a result I'm sure opinion of this series will be more argued over than any previous spin-off. - in my opinion though, it's not earth shattering but it's certainly a very good start and should be an interesting show."
In the full review, containing much more info on the characters and the premise of Enterprise, the episode was awarded a 7/10. As usual, please be aware that Paramount has released no official information on the Enterprise plot yet, and until then any such information from unofficial sources should be treated as you would any rumour. Discuss this news item at Trek BBS!
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