Add Tail Slate
to Your Site/RSS
| Blog: |
| Tail Slate |
Topics: |
| films, movies, television |
Jolene Blalock (left) and Scott Bakula star in Star Trek: Enterprise.
I was surprised that Enterprise had chosen to enter into another three-episode arc after just finishing one, but I was glad they did. So far this season has been getting better and better, and this episode was easily one of the best crafted stories this season.
Part of the appeal, I think, is that it is rich with Star Trek lore. Finally, Enterprise is fulfilling its purpose, helping define how and why the galaxy and its inhabitants are the way they are in The Original Series and beyond.
In the case of “The Forge”, we learn how the Vulcans we’ve seen in Enterprise become the Vulcans we see in The Original Series and it successors.
It opens with an explosion at the Earth embassy on Vulcan that kills Admiral Forrest, a recurring character since the show’s premiere. The investigation finds that a dissident movement on Vulcan that distrusts aliens is responsible for the bombing. However, when Archer and the crew of the Enterprise NX-01 investigate the incident, they soon learn that a conspiracy at the highest levels of Vulcan is actually responsible, and could lead to a deadly civil war.
There are a lot of great moments in this episode, all of which are when the Vulcan traditions and abilities take center stage. We have Judith Reeves-Stevens and Garfield Reeves-Stevens to thank for that, of course. These two have been fan favorites for years as writers of numerous Star Trek novels and undeniably understand the franchise and its fans. This has been the first time they’ve been welcomed into the television universe by Trek, and their premiere is a really well written Trek episode.
Enterprise has always portrayed the Vulcans as slightly more emotional, and somewhat more limited in their thinking than those we’ve had in other series. This episode, and the two that follow, will attempt to explain this difference and how things change. We learn that the members of the dissident movement, called Syrrannites, are not violent but are actually much more “liberal” than the “conservative” ruling class of Vulcans on the High Council. They practice the forbidden mind melds, believe in the “katra”, and are firm followers of Surak, a Jesus-like character in Vulcan history.
Clearly this small group will eventually become the majority in the future, as all these “forbidden” things are the norm by Spock’s time. And they are all wonderfully used throughout this episode. When T’Les, a Vulcan who helps Archer and T’Pol as they search the Vulcan desert for the Syrrannites, is mortally wounded during a storm and grabs Archer’s face and says the cryptic Vulcan word, “Remember”, how can you not smile? Any Trek fan worth his or her salt knows what that means, and those new fans who may not soon will.
But I think the moment I really liked was when T’Les was explaining some Vulcan philosophy, and the music started incorporating the music from Star Trek III: The Search for Spock.
It is simply refreshing to see Enterprise become involved in Trek lore, where it belongs, instead of being cast off into massive storylines with highly predictable endings that don’t relate at all to the show’s overall purpose.
Share on Facebook
- 
-