Darkness on the Edge of Time
27 April 2005
The end of Enterprise has been a bittersweet thought to me since the cancellation of this tenuous entry into the Star Trek universe was first announced. On the one hand, the iron fists with which the fan-deaf Rick Berman and Brannon Braga drove down the ill-fated series made the experience of trying to be supportive of the show maddening.
In their efforts to “broaden the appeal” of the series, to make it appeal to “viewers who have never watched Star Trek ,” B&B stripped from their creation any semblance of a concept or feeling that might have made it work as a Star Trek series, leaving in its place a frequently boring, overly sanitized science fiction cliché that drove Star Trek fans away in droves, and too often abused those die-hards who hung in there, desperately wanting to enjoy the show. Those poor slobs who patiently waited every week for B&B to throw some little morsel their way, only to be met week after week with textbook examples of watered-down mediocrity. The third season Xindi arc had its moments, to be sure, but still rarely managed to look or feel like Star Trek .
On the other hand, Enterprise did (eventually) bear the Star Trek name. Fans such as myself wanted to like it, if for no other reason than to keep the franchise alive in the hope that the next installment would be better. The experience has been akin to watching the Star Wars prequels. Yes, they suck, but, dammit, they're Star Wars .
Storylines and concepts that might have allowed Enterprise to realize its potential were available in abundance on SciFi bulletin boards across the internet… and were consistently met with such inane, arrogant statements, as “we cannot let fans drive the creative process.” Such statements lead me to wonder who they think is watching the show? In any case, B&B blindly stumbled forward, doing what they wanted (and why they wanted to do what they did continues to mystify me).
Then they had the unmitigated gall to blame the fans when it didn't work. Then, when the writing was on the wall, they reluctantly brought in an actual Star Trek fan to helm the series, and immediately threw him to the dogs with one of the most clichéd, hackneyed cliffhangers in the history of SciFi, let alone Star Trek . Manny Coto was doomed from the start. Thank you, B&B.
Despite the promises made during the hiatus between seasons three and four, this last season of Enterprise has not delivered the stunning transformation of the series for which so many fans were hoping. Rather, this fourth and final season has been more like a gasoline powered lawn mower. Coto has been feverishly yanking away at the rope, and the series has sputtered to life momentarily, only to die out again. Now, at the very end, with one good pull, the engine is fully engaged, and there's only a drop of fuel in the tank.
But what a drop it is.
“In A Mirror, Darkly” is, without question, Enterprise's finest hour. It is not without its problems, but we'll get to those in a moment. It does further underscore my solid belief that if Coto had been brought in the minute the ratings began to flag so horribly, we'd all be looking forward to season five with reckless abandon. Alas, all good things…
The episode, penned by Mike Sussman (whose quality of writing and storytelling has been wildly inconsistent) , is set entirely in the mirror universe first documented in the original series episode “Mirror, Mirror,” and revisited both in Trek novels such as Dark Mirror and in Deep Space Nine .
“In a Mirror Darkly” opens on the seemingly familiar scene of First Contact in Bozeman, Montana, 5 April 2063. The feel-good Star Trek: First Contact score plays in the background as Zefram Cochrane approaches the Vulcan ambassador as he emerges from his newly landed ship. As the ambassador urges Cochrane to “Live long, and prosper,” Cochrane reaches inside his coat, produces a firearm, and kills the ambassador as his followers storm the alien vessel.
The game is afoot as a newly edited opening sequence, against the backdrop of an ominous new score, depicts acts of war, violence, and human aggression from throughout history in an effort to swiftly depict the rise of the evil Terran Empire.
On board the mirror NX-01, flagship of the Terran Empire, First Officer Jonathan Archer stages a coup against Captain Maxwell Forrest after the latter refuses to investigate information Archer has received which could provide them with the strategic advantage they need to quell a rebellious uprising against the Empire (causing one to wonder why they don't just build a Death Star?).
Acting on Archer's orders, the militant Major Malcolm Reed imprisons Forrest in the brig as Archer seizes command of Enterprise , and beds Hoshi , the “Captain's woman and I like it” of this particular Imperial starship. Archer orders the Enterprise into Tholian Space to investigate reports of a stolen parallel universe Earth starship that, according to Tholian quantum dating, originated from a destination 100 years into the future.
As an insurance policy, Archer orders Hoshi to transmit his findings to Starfleet Command as he locks the ships navigation onto the coordinates provided by a kidnapped and tortured Tholian pilot, and encrypts the ship's computer so that by the time his newly appointed treacherous first officer, T'Pol (sporting, as does Hoshi, a delightful midriff-baring uniform) , frees Captain Forrest , there can be no turning back.
Forrest tosses Archer into the Agony Booth (newly created by Major Reed and Doctor Phlox ) , releasing him only on the order of Admiral Gardner at Starfleet Command , who has received Hoshi's transmission, and deemed Archer's findings worthy of investigation.
Armed with a stolen Suliban cloaking device (which T'Pol attempts to sabotage, laying the blame at the feet of the scarred Commander Tucker earning the Commander his own extended session in the Agony Booth) , Forrest and crew trudge into Tholian Space where, as promised, they find the Constitution-class U.S.S. Defiant (NCC-1704) in a Tholian drydock, populated only by a handful of alien lifeforms (one of them reptilian). With the Enterprise cloaked, Forrest orders Archer to lead an invasion force onto the Defiant, download the ships computer, and destroy the vessel. Archer protests that they need to take the ship, but Forrest deems that plan too dangerous. As Archer storms angrily out of the room, Forrest orders T'Pol to ensure that Archer doesn't return from this mission.
Archer and his team, consisting of T'Pol, Reed, Tucker, and Mayweather (now Archer's personal bodyguard) beam aboard the Defiant to discover that the Tholians have been busy gutting the ship. Dead corpses of crewmembers, left to rot where they had fallen, litter the ship, including the bridge. Meanwhile, aboard the Enterprise , the captured Tholian pilot has activated a beacon, alerting the Tholians to the cloaked ship's presence. Phlox kills the captured pilot by lowering the temperature in the Decon chamber until the alien's exoskeleton literally fractures and explodes, but it is too late. The Tholians spin their energy web around Enterprise, and destroy her… but not until after all hands (with the apparent exception of Captain Forrest ) has fled the doomed vessel in escape pods.
Unaware of the battle raging outside Drydock, Tucker prepares to reactivate the Defiant's dormant systems and overload her reactor core. Once the bridge springs to life (complete with spectacularly faithful original series sound effects), Archer's away team witnesses the destruction of Enterprise on the Defiant's main viewer. Archer orders the Defiant's engines and weapons systems brought online.
To be continued.
There is so much right about this episode, that it seems nitpicky and somewhat anal to probe its weaknesses.
Sussman's writing is uncharacteristically dead-on and taut. Under James L. Conway's skilled direction, the pacing is relentless, which each subsequent scene more relevant and compelling than the one before it. Criminally ignored support characters such as Mayweather and Hoshi are given the chance to shine, and Conway manages to coax the highest levels of performance out of every single one of his actors. Together, Sussman and Conway manage to accomplish in 40 minutes what Berman and Braga failed to accomplish over the course of three years: the creation of multi-layered, compelling three-dimensional characters, replete with complex interpersonal relationships that both draw in the viewer, and keep the viewer on the edge of his or her seat truly wondering what's going to happen next. Risks are taken in this episode. And they pay off big time. And yet is such a sad commentary that we end up caring more about the fates of these evil mirror images than we ever have about their more familiar “real universe” counterparts. It's not that these flawed and treacherous characters are more “likeable,” it's that for the first time we truly see some spark of “life” in them. As riveting as this episode and these characters are, they have the unfortunate side effect of spotlighting just how abysmally bland both Enterprise and her crew has been for the past three years.
I read with amusement the suggestion posted on a popular SciFi board that the entire series should have been set in the Mirror universe. While I can't agree, I can understand the sentiment. Unlike with any previous multi-part story arc, I find it almost unacceptable that I have to wait an entire week to see the second part of this stunningly well-crafted tale. I am also feeling more remorse then ever before regarding what I now believe is the premature death of this series, I also feel, more than ever before, the stabbing pain of wasted potential. Stories like these, building upon the rich wealth of TOS canon, could have been a Trek fan's wet dream. Berman and Braga should be ashamed of what they have done to Star Trek .
But, as I said earlier, the story is not without its weaknesses. While the introductory scene in Bozeman is certainly nostalgic and clever, it also creates its share of problems. Over the course of the first two seasons of Enterprise , it was beaten into us that Starfleet's development up to that point had been greatly hindered by the reluctance of the Vulcans to share their technology. Yet in the Mirror universe , that technology is taken forcibly from the get-go. The “logical” assumption, then, is that the Mirror Starfleet would have developed at a much more rapid pace, and the Mirror Enterprise would be significantly more advanced then that with which we are familiar. Yes, Archer makes reference to the Mirror Enterprise having a tractor beam, but I suspect that this more aggressive species of humans would not have only mastered the secrets of existing Vulcan technology , but improved upon it. For me, this is a glaring weakness, and I believe the episode would have been stronger without the opening scene.
Further, in the early moments of the episode, Archer , addressing T'Pol, makes reference to Zefram Cochrane having “turned the tables” on the Vulcan invasion force, making the Vulcans “slaves” to humanity. While T'Pol does deny being a slave, she does not deny that the First Contact was actually a precursor to invasion. If the Vulcans had actually amassed an invasion force, the shattered and scattered Earth of 2063 would hardly have been in a position to defend themselves, much less emerge victorious, with nothing but Cochrane's rudimentary warp ship and a single commandeered Vulcan scout vessel.
The idea of Vulcans being subservient to humans at first glance strikes me as being inconsistent with the notion that Vulcans are to be feared, as evidenced by the Mirror Spock's admonition to Mirror Sulu in “Mirror, Mirror:” "You may attempt to kill me. If you should succeed, remember-my operatives would avenge me. And some of them are vulcans." Yes, a lot can change in a Century, but T'Pol's statement that the Vulcan Science Directorate has dismissed the possibility of parallel universes suggests that even in the mirror Universe, the Vulcans are more stodgy and passive than the more aggressive and “enterprising” humans. I stand by my assumption that humans would have built upon their stolen Vulcan technology, and surpassed them. That last bit may be excessively nit-picky, but is one of the few aspects of this otherwise outstanding example of Star Trek that made me feel “funny.”
As anxious as I am to see the second part of this episode for the story, action, and characters, I am anxious to see what becomes of the Defiant. If the ship is not destroyed, we will be left to wonder why the Mirror, Mirror Kirk -era Enterprise wasn't significantly more advanced. There's a fine continuity line being walked here, but I have faith in Coto to cross the chasm unscathed.
In the end, “In A Mirror, Darkly” is the most satisfying Enterprise episode since “Broken Bow.” The detail with which the Constitution class Defiant has been recreated ( again, hearing those faithful and accurate sound effects was like a homecoming for me) is nothing short of stunning, and I gratefully tip my hat to all those involved in crafting this episode. Enterprise arc conclusions have been notorious for their failure to live up to their initial installments, but if Part II approaches the greatness of Part I, then this episode should be released as a standalone DVD feature, packed with as many extras, scenes, interviews, and commentary as possible.
In any case, as I have little faith in the ability of B&B to end the series with dignity, I look to next week's episode as being the last episode of Star Trek we are likely to see for some time.
I'll be there on time and I'll pay the cost for wanting things that can
only be found in the darkness on the edge of time.
Bill Gordon is the co - owner of the Science Fiction message board Cylon Alliance and a co - founder of the Colonial Fan Force.
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