'The Crossing' Fails To Bring Many Reviewers Across

See Also: 'The Crossing' Episode Guide

The first reviews for last Wednesday night's Enterprise episode, "The Crossing", are online. Nearly every reviewer noted the story's similarity to previous Trek episodes about alien possession, and while the acting generally received praise, the writing did not.

• "Well, where to start?" asked Admiral Kahn in pondering the flaws of this episode at Lowerdecks.com. "I couldn't help but thinking - yet again - that I've seen all of this before." Though pleased that most of the cast was given something to do, he felt that the acting was subpar and the pacing uneven. Admiral Kahn gave the episode a final score of C- in the complete review.

• O. Deus at TrekWeb said that "The Crossing" wasn't the worst alien possession episode he'd seen on Star Trek, "but it's certainly not the best of them either", complaining that the story rehashes Trek formula without contributing anything original. He did think that the episode made good use of the ensemble cast and particularly praised John Billingsley's "ability to make even Phlox's most routine tasks and dialogue seem extraordinary and entertaining". The full review can be found here.

• C.J. Carter of ScoopMe also felt that "Phlox came to the rescue and raised the level of a fairly banal adventure". Carter found the episode quite formulaic otherwise and was even frustrated that Phlox's heroism was predicated on his immunity to possession by the aliens. "Enterprise was taken much too easily", he added. "Has 'evasive maneuvers' not been invented yet?" You can read more of Carter's analysis here.

• Matt D. at Trek5.com joked that "like rock and roll, where every generation needs to find its own bands to worship, each new generation of Star Trek writers has to take a crack at possession". Unfortunately for Enterprise, "that writing team of B & B along with Andre Bormanis run out of story about halfway in and have to play for time until we get to an ending a blind trekkie could see a parsec away". Though pleased to see some of the crewmembers not regularly featured on the show, Matt felt that "The Crossing" slowed to a standstill when Phlox started opening panels and turning screws. "This is Enterprise, where things rarely pay off," he noted in the full review, which can be found here.

• Litsa Guevara of TrekPulse enjoyed the acting of Connor Trinneer and Dominic Keating, who "allowed the wonder of the aliens to show through, discovering, as they were, for the first time what it was like to have physicality". She also praised Jolene Blalock's performance when possessed by an alien. However, Guevara found the episode slow-moving and was disappointed that Archer made no attempt to help the aliens once he realized that desperation drove their actions. Learn more about why the episode received a 4 out of 5 rating here.

• Filling in for Keckler at Television Without Pity, Alex Richmond said that "an aversion to Scott Bakula -- or Count Chocula, as I like to call him -- plus the fact that this latest offering to the Trek franchise blows donkey, means I barely know the characters' proper names". Despite some enjoyment of the gratuitous sexual references between Reed and T'Pol, Richmond became confused about exactly what the crewmembers' plans were and scoffed at the alien "light show". You can read more snide comments about the cast and crew in this "C" rated episode at the site.

Discuss this news item at Trek BBS!
 Add TrekToday RSS feed to your news reader or My Yahoo!
Also a CSI: Crime Scene Investigation fan? Then visit CSIFiles.com!