Enterprise 04-09-03

[Orius]

This is from the Making of Star Trek by Gene came out in the late 60/early 70s.

The Klingons were a warrior/slave race to an unknown race that disappearred. The Klingons took over their worlds which had other races (also slaves) that performed task for them. Klingon ships were template ships, no new tech for a long period of time (that was one of the reasons for working with the Romalans in ST:OS.

Well, I don't know how much of this is "canon", but that unknown race might be the Hur'q, a race of invaders that occupied the Klingon homeworld or something several centuries after the death of Kahless. They were only mentioned briefly in the DS9 episode "The Sword of Kahless".

 

[Orius]

The trial seemed a little enclosed as well, but I attribute that to being a smaller tribunal than the one Kirk & Bones were subject to. But of all my complaining, I did like that they showed those scenes at all. It did work for me, but because I'm such a huge fan of Trek VI, those locales stood out like a sore thumb to me. But it's all good.

Yeah. Kirk & Bones I think were tried on Q'onos (or however it's spelled), while this seems to have been out in the hinterlands.

 

[fba827]

Got to see it on its saturday evening re-airing.

I liked the episode for several of the reasons already stated -- the biggest of which is the fact that it showed a nice glimpse into the culture -- both as a mention of where it came from prior to the episode (as the advocate mentioned) and also as a starting point to let us see where the culture eventually went (per tos/tng/etc).

I also liked the insert of the Durass family (it was a good geek moment to say to myself "oh, it's Durass!" -- who knows, we may see more of that family to come! He obviously doesn't like Archer and will no doubt be one of the big people against the humans as the cultures come to know each other more.

When I saw the trial end with about 15 minutes left in the show, I thought that surely he wouldbe released. When they started the whole other "set" it was still interesting but could have easily been made into another 30 minutes -- just seemed overwith too quickly (as was already mentioned near the beggining of this thread).

Hmm, now that I think about it, one or two parts of the trial seemed a little rushed, but otherwie not too bad.

I wonder if it was written as is or if it just had to get edited for time...

 

[CCamfield]

I must be misremembering things - there hasn't been another Klingon trial episode in Enterprise, has there? So I must be thinking of Star Trek VI. I really love the Klingon judge's gavel.

Archer was evidently there long enough to grow some stubble, but not long enough to grow much of a beard.

 

[myrdden]

D'OH...missed it.

DS9 had an episode with a Klingon Advocate who was defending Worf. His view that not all battles were on the battlefield; his weapons were words and the law - or something like that.

Myrdden

 

[JacktheRabbit]

How very Voyager like.

You have a major portion of the plot left with only 3 minutes to use. So boom instant sneak in and save Archer.

You would have thought that B&B would have by now realized how lame a format that is.

 

[Umbran]

You have a major portion of the plot left with only 3 minutes to use. So boom instant sneak in and save Archer.

You would have thought that B&B would have by now realized how lame a format that is.

Or perhaps B&B have learned that action or treknobabble escape sequences don't constitute plot, and are lame

They didn't have a major portion of the plot left. The story being told was about Archer and the Advocate, not about an escape from a prison planet. Once the Advocate was in the mines, and refused to leave, the story was over. Archer's escape has abosolutely nothing to do with that morality play, so it was wise to not include it.

 

[Mallus]

The story being told was about Archer and the Advocate, not about an escape from a prison planet. Once the Advocate was in the mines, and refused to leave, the story was over. Archer's escape has abosolutely nothing to do with that morality play, so it was wise to not include it.

Exactly. I really liked the ending. And it was perfectly reasonable given the information about the Klingon Empire {clearly in decline} revealed in the episode that a little old-fashioned string-pulling and bribery was enough to secure Archer's release. I think a phaser's blazing {or worse, a technobabble-enhanced} rescue would have ruined the ending.

 

[John Crichton]

I think a phaser's blazing {or worse, a technobabble-enhanced} rescue would have ruined the ending.

Not only that, but it would have contradicted what Archer wanted. Plus, the Enterprise crew usually are not the aggressors. They are usually the defenders. They only fight when they have to. That and they simply don't have the firepower...

 

[Mallus]

That and they simply don't have the firepower...

Yup. An action-packed ending would have really killed my suspension of disbelief... I didn't have a problem with them trying, but I had a big problem with there inevitable success...

Which brings to mind something I didn't like about the episode. Namely, Archer shooting off his mouth and risking an insterstellar war. Doesn't the Klingon Empire have a military vastly larger than Starfleet at this point {even granting roughly equal technology, wouldn't the Klingons arm every single space vehicle they made? Including lifeboats, which they probably wouldn't make in the first place?}.

When the one Klingon threatens to park a battle fleet in Earth orbit, shoudn't Archer have had more of a reaction to this? We understand that in later Trek Starfleet can offer some real deterence in the face of Klingon bluster. But that's not the case in Enterprise...