Enterprise: Sleeping Dogs, Shuttlepod One

Sleeping Dogs brings us to a type 9 gas giant. When the Enterprise detects a power source and life signs in the upper atmosphere, they send down a shuttlepod to investigate. Hoshi proves she is starting to get her space legs, but is not all the way there. Archer hones his Klingon relation skills.
Shuttlepod One has Trip and Reed on an exploratory mission in Shuttlepod One. An encounter involving a an alien ship and microsingularities, leaves part of the launch bay door smeared across an asteroid at the rendezvous point. Trip and Reed's attempt to return to echo Three to report the Enterprise's destruction leads them almost to the brink of death. Some quite amusing moments.

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TOS: The Menagerie

The two part episode which incorporated much of "The Cage", the original original series pilot rejected by NBC. Majel Barret is a smashing and strong brunette in this episode- it's a pity she was bleached, put in a skant and made weaker in the series. Spock's former captain, Christopher Pike, has been severely disabled as a result of an accident. When Spock kidnaps him and takes him to the forbidden planet of Talos IV, clips from the original pilot show why. Features the all time classic big head aliens.

Enterprise: Shadows of P'Jem

The Enterprise is invited to visit the Coridan system, which boasts the biggest shipyards in the sector. And Warp 7 ships. Oooh! En route Archer receives notice that a Vulcan ship will be arriving to transfer T'Pol; the High Council blames her for the events at the P'Jem monastery and their aftermath.
The Chancellor of Cordian forgot the mention one thing: insurgents, who end up kidnapping Archer and T'Pol. Help arrives from unexpected quarters, and for unexpected reasons.

TOS: The Corbomite Maneuver

Not a favorite of mine, though a fan favorite. The Enterprise encounters a mysterious and powerful ship from The First Federation. A helmsman, Baily, cracks under stress, but is let back onto the bridge at the last and most crucial minute- feel good, but good captaining? When the Enterprise is out of power and all hope seems lost, Kirk calls his classic buff. Bad voiceover ensues.

Enterprise: Dear Doctor

Dear Doctor- is a look into what makes Phlox tick- how he views the crew, how he interacts with them, how he acts as a doctor and ethicist, and Donobulan society as well. We hear his thoughts in an ongoing letter w=he writes to a human colleague working on Denobula. Phlox talks to and cares for his pets, then comments on the oddity of that behaviour in humans. We learn that he has three wives, each with two other husbands, and yet that does not seem to preclude him per suing romance with a crewmate. When the Enterprise encounters members of s pre warp culture on a quest for medical aid, they have a moral dilemma. However, they have made prior contact with warp cultures and have specifically sought the help of such a society. The moral dilemmas increase when Phlox makes a discovery about the genome of the two humanoid races co existing on the same planet. I am not sure I agree with the decision Archer makes at his behest, but I will let you watch and decide for yourself.

TOS:Dagger of the Mind

The Enterprise gets an unexpected delivery when they exchange supplies for reports at the Tantalus penal colony. When they return to the Tantalus colony with their highly agitated visitor, Kirk beams down with a psychologist he has "met before" (Spock's expression at this is priceless; so subtle, yet makes clear that he knows what it means when a woman has "met" Kirk). The patients become the counselors, and the doctors become the treated. Like many Star Trek episodes,this has an underlying moral thems; in this case, at what price does a cure come?

Enterprise: The Silent Enemy

The Enterprise is in the process of launching subspace relays when it encounters an unscannable enemy who attacks and damages the ship, and destroys the two subspace relays that have been dropped so far. Archer orders the ship turned around so they can return to Jupiter station to have their phase cannons finally installed. Reed and Trip have different plans though- to prove that their crew can do better than the crew at Jupiter station. They successfully install two of the cannons and are able to defeat their mysterious enemy ( don't tell me, but I feel future story lines being set up). As a side story, Archer wants to plan a special treat for Malcolm's upcoming birthday and orders Hoshi to find out his favorite food. A subspace call with Malcolm's parents shows us why he has just about as much personality as T'Pol.

TOS: What are Little Girls Made of? and Miri

In What are Little Girls Made Of?, we discover that Nurse Chapel gave up a promising career in bio-research to board a starship. In order to, get this, track down her missing fiance. In orbit of the planet Exo 3, said fiance Roger Corby's last known whereabouts, Kirk is instructed to come down alone- until Corby hears Christine's voice. Redshirts inevitably die before Kirk figures out Corby's secret. Let this be a lesson to you, ladies. Don't bother tracking down that lost fiance, he may be a power mad android.

In Miri, the Enterprise discovers an exact copy of Earth. Exact. From the continents to the written language. What except laziness could explain that. Not the processes of geological, biological and social evolution. Upon beaming down to a seemingly deserted town, McCoy is attacked by a juvenile humanoid with obvious mutations. He dies, leaving a mystery of a high speed metabolism. A young girl named Miri is discovered hiding in a building. Kirk plays upon her obvious smittenness with him to get him on her side- which only work until jealousy kicks in. Dr McCoy is in a race against time to cure himself and the other Enterprise crew of the disease which killed the adults of Miri's planet.

Enterprise: Fortunate Son and Cold Front

Fortunate Son ( again, with this show and the song cues) has the crew of the Enterprise responding to a distress call from the freighter Fortunate. When they arrive, they are told by the XO that there is no need to help them-sending the distress call was a mistake. Archer insists they help with repairs anyway, and they soon discover the Fortunate's secret- a captured Nausicaan they have been interrogating. This episode left us wondering what happened to Nausicaan society in the time between Archer and Picard, as Archer era Naussicaans are cleaner, more articulate and better dressed.

Cold Front brings back the Suliban and the Temporal Cold War. Archer's new yoeman is n0t what he seems, and the same is true for one of the religious supplicant's on a ship the Enterprise comes upon in a stellar nursery they are studying. Which time traveler is telling the truth?

Mirror Images Archive by IDW

Again, IDW delivers with a graphic look at one of the most beloved story lines from the Original series era. The Mirror Universe archives offers one speculative glimpse into the events that led Kirk to depose Pike as captain of the ISS Enterprise. An interlude gives us a glimpse at a similar journey, this time the one of young Jean-Luc Picard. I would definitely rate this as a must read. Written by Scott and David Tipton.

Enterprise: Civilisation

This episode introduces us to the fact that while the Vulcan have a non-interference directive, the humans do not, and this necessitates a learning curve. When the crew finds a Minshara class planet with over 500 million souls, they cannot wait to get down and meet them. T'Pol advises caution, which simply mean they make themselves up to blend in with the natives. Discovery of neutrino emissions prove that they are not the first visitors to this pre-industrial planet. A native scientist soon introduces them to the deadly mystery the owner of the anti0 matter reactor brought to this planet. Archer pratices some cultural contamination.

Graphic Novel: Star Trek Archives: Gary Seven from IDW

Gary Seven is one of the most enduring TOS characters in the imaginations of the fans- one we would have loved to see much more of. This collection from IDW fulfills that wish, with two intersecting stories that bring together Gary, and the crews of the Enterprises of Kirk and Picard. The story ,one has some interesting "guest" characters and introduces us to more members of the Aegis. Written by Howard Weinstein and Michael Jan Freidman.

TOS- Mudd's Women

While chasing an unregistered Earth ship through an asteroid field, the Enterprise burns out all but one of it's "lithium" crystals. Fans are further confused by Uhura being in gold. The ship's captain and his "cargo" are beamed aboard at the last minute ( of course) . Kirk and Co must discover the true ind entity and true intentions of the smarmy captain while reaching the mining planet of Rigel XII before the ship's last crystal goes. This episode is a modern feminist's nightmare, and I shudder to think of a future where woman would go to such lengths for a husband.

Enterprise: Breaking the Ice

The Enterprise finds itself following a comet- as yet uncharted, and the largest comet found to date. Not surprisingly, there is a Vulcan ship in the vicinity, fueling Archer's belief that they are being spied upon. Reed and Mayweather are sent to drill to the comet's cure to take samples of a rare element, whose name my brain has replaced with "Atmospherium". Archer warns that the must be off the surface before the side if the comet the shuttlepod is on faces the nearby star. Naturally, this means they aren't, and when the grappler fails to rescue the pod Archer must turn to the taciturn Vulcan captain Vanik to tractor them out.

TOS: The Enemy Within

A transporter accident leaves the Enterprise with two Kirks; one good, one evil. It takes the crew some time to figure out they are dealing with two Kirks, and the scratches on evil Kirk's face ( courtesy of Janice Rand) is only a good indicator until Evil Kirk figure out he just needs to scratch up Good Kirk. They missed the most important clue- Evil Kirk wears a ton of eyeliner, and Good Kirk wears none. This episode looks at our human dark and good side, and why we need both side by side.

Enterprise Terra Nova and The Andorian Incident

Terra Nova opens with one of the great mysteries of the Human spacefaring age: what happened to the Terra Nova colony, who had lost contact with Earth 70 years before? Thanks to Enterprises Warp 5 technology, the answer can be sought in days, not years. The crew finds the descendants of the original settlers, living underground in the aftermath of ecological disaster and sure the visitors from the sky are not even the same race as they. (The Boy says he thinks it unlikely that society could degrade that quickly, and I will allow him that illusion). Can Archer convince the Novans to trust him in order to avert slow death?
This episodes notable guest stars are Erick Avari of "the Mummy" fame, and Mary Carver, who played Ma Simon on Simon and Simon.

The Andorian Incident introduces us to the political strife that will characterize Vulcan/Andorian relations through out the series. Archer decides that since the Vulcan monastery of P'Jem is nearby, he'd like to drop in for a visit. So much for solitude. He, TiTrip, and T'Pol discover that the Andorians have dropped in first, and not to meditate. Discover of a Vulcan secret almost makes T'Pol show a flicker of emotion. The casting makes us try to imagine an episode where Shran meets Brunt and Weyoun.

Reviewing Enterprise: Strange New World and Unexpected

Strange New World brings the crew of the Enterprise to a world so amazingly Earthlike, they must investigate. When the survey team is stranded on the planet overnight due to raging winds, they begin to act paranoid. When one of the redshirt's lifesigns becomes erratic enough to authorize one of those risky transport, Phlox discovers a psychotropic substance blown down from the mountains has caused the team to go crazy.

Unexpected is the most amusing episode of Enterprise so far. When the Enterprise discovers and alien ship riding it's wake, they discover the ship has had engine trouble and send Trip over to help with repairs. Trip comes back with a little surprise- one of the alien females has impregnated him. Getting the little nipper back to it's mother involves dealing with an angry Klingon captain. I'm a little disappointed the embryo was transplanted to another host and we didn't get to see Trip give birth.

Reviewing TOS: The Naked Time

The Naked Time is quite possibly one of the most classic of the classic TOS episodes. Who can forget the crew of the Enterprise losing their inhibitions; Sulu fencing, Spock crying, perhaps most notably Kevin Riley locking himself in engineering and serenading the crew with "Ill take you home again Kathleen" over and over? Full of funny moments despite the death of a crewmember- but hey, we never really got to know Joe anyway. This episode introduced us to the concept that Kirk was going to get his shirt torn on a regular basis- at least when he was on the lower end of the scale.

Ferengi Rule of Acquisistion, number...?

Yes, I have gine and monetised. I hope my faithful readers will not be offended but will rather click, click. Don't worry; neither mine nor the DM's wages or hours have been hit by this economy. But as the kids get older, they get more expensive. Whover said babies were expensive were wrong- back then I could keep them happy and well with a couple of boobs, 2 dozen cloth diapers, and a stack of second hand onesies. Babies just grow up to be people who seem to need swim, dance, D&D manuals, and camp.

Reviewing TOS- Where No Man Has Gone Before

Where No mas has gone before was the first indication to the fans of the nascent series that they could not always count on continuity "Wait, last week they had three colours of shirts- Scotty was in red, Spock was in Blue, Sulu was in yellow, but now..." Of course we know, from our perspective, that episodes were not broadcast in order of filming. WNMHGB has a some great moments, and a storyline not any more farfetched than other sci-fi- breaking the galactic barrier may turn some of your crew psychic, and some of those dangerously so. The most disappointing thing to me in this episode is Kelso's death; I thought he was a quite promising character! I also wonder what happened to the crewmen who were not Mitchell or Dehner, who were affected by crossing the galactic barrier. We know they exist; we heard Spock speak to Kirk of them. Do they eventually return to normal, or just stay somewhat enhanced forever?

Reviewing Enterprise: Broken Bow and Fight or Flight

Broken Bow is the premiere episode of Star Trek: Enterprise. We start with a crash of a space ship in a cornfield, followed by a chase involving a Klingon, unknown aliens, and a farmer with a phase rifle "Clem, there's aliens in the corn again!" All the main characters are introduced in this episode, although it is Captain Jonathon Archer we get to see in the most depth, including flashbacks to his childhood. The tone for the political relationship between the humans and the Vulcans is set early in the episode, with intimations that the Vulcans are not yet as logically evolved as they will be by Kirk's time.

The second episode, Fight or Flight, has the crew of the Enterprise searching for something interesting to explore. The concept is reiterated, as it had been mention in the first episode, that space is big (say it with me ..."Space is big, really really big, you just don't realize how incredibly vast space is...I mean, you might think its a long way down the road to the drugstore, but that's just peanuts to space.) they come across a ship where one set of mysterious aliens has been murdered by another set of mysterious aliens, and Hoshi saves the day with her mad translating skilz. All in all I found it a dull episode.

Reviewing The Original Series: The Man Trap, Charlie X

After viewing the movie last week ( and receiving "Enterprise: the Complete Series the same day) , The Dungeon Master decided we should watch all of TOS from the start, in order. We will be doing the same with Enterprise, and I will be doing mini-reviews of each episode.

The Man Trap is the first episode broadcast of Star Trek. It seems an unusual introduction to the series as it does not establish the Enterprise's mission.
One of the "classic" original series episodes (by classic we mean, non Trekkies would remember it, and who could forget the "salt vampire"). It set the tone for future ship searches , including the expend ability of the guys in red, altough the salt vampire seemed happy to kill crewmen in any colour shirt. we don't see Sulu on the bridge, we see him in the botany lab, along with his hand puppet plant.
***Movie Spoilers Follow***
Everyone has an episode of Star Trek they would be happy to never see again. For my husband, it is Charlie X. He is not a fan of the psycho teenage super being. This episode has some rather pathetic moments, with Charlie mooning after Janice Rand and she trying to explain how human mating rituals work. ONe of my favourite parts is the scene in the rec room with Spock and Uhura's det. Given the smile the usually stoic Vulcan sends her way, I think there may have been some basis for Abram's movie pairing.

The Spoiler filled movie review.

You have been warned. Continue at your own risk. This is ALL spoilers.
We went to see Star Trek at the 7 PM Thursday prescreening, in IMAX. Like most die hard fans, I went in with certain amounts of both trepidation and excitement. I am very glad I went to see this movie in IMAX as many of the effects were spectacular (blairwitchcloverfield shaky camera effects non withstanding) and it was well worth going to see it on the giant screen. The movie changes the tieline right at the start. The scene where George Kirk sacrifices himself just as he hears his son's borning cries is predictable- yet I found myself tear eyed. We then move onto glimpses into the childhoods of Kirk and Spock- I was disappointed by the brevity of the Spock'c childhood scenes, as I had read on the net that there was a good look into life on Vulcan inspired by Diane Duane's "Spock's World". Maybe in the dvd release?
The villain, Nero, played by Eric Bana, and his fellow Romulans diverge from the norm as much as the storyline , seeming more like Remans than Romulans. Nero is a one dimensional revenge driven character who could have stepped out of the "bad guy profile" of any number of past movies.
There are some stellar performances . Karl Urban, Zachary Quinto and Zoe Saldana get their characters spot on. I think we can say the same for John Cho, but there is not enough Sulu in the film to tell. Anton Yelchin is am amusing Checkov with an adorable accent. I can't tell why they took an actor, in the one film I have seen him in ( Hearts in Atlantis) had dark straight hair, hire him to play a character who originally had dark straight hair, and then curled it and bleached it? Chris Pine left me cold. He has no fire. Simon Pegg was also fun but I don;t think he captured the essence of Scotty...and what is up with his cauliflower headed sidekick?
All in all, this was a great movie, but not so great Star Trek. I am sure to watch it again; but if I could watch it with anyone in the world, it would be Joel Hodgeson or Mike Nelson.

Treason by Peter David

The latest in the New Frontier series brings the Excaliber back to New Thallon when the newly widowed requests that Doctor Selar attends the birth of her son. When the Excaliber leaves, Makenzie Calhoun contacts his son, Xyon, to ask him to check in on Robin's mentally fragile sister in law Kalinda- and he narrowly save Robin , Kalinda and the newborn. Meanwhile, Doctor Selar tries to unravel the mystery of a mysterious Hermat picked up from a derelict- and what s/he might mean to the lifespan of her son. A story of betrayal and redemption ensues, with more of the loss that seems to permeate recent Star Trek books. I especially enjoyed reading descriptions of Robin nursing little Cwansi.