Acquisition

When T'Pol opens an alien object found in the surface of a planet by Trip, a gas is released and the entire crew of Enterprise faints. Four Ferengi pirates - Krem, Muk, Grish and Ulis – break in Enterprise to steal the supplies and belongings in the starship and they awake Captain Archer trying to find the location of the vault. Meanwhile, Trip was in the decontamination chamber and is not affected by the gas, and wakes T'Pol. Using the greed of the quartet, Archer and Trip lure them.

"Acquisition" introduces the greedy Ferengi merchants – actually four pirates of space. The story is funny, and I loved when the crushed Krem asks T'Pol to caress his ears. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "Aquisição" ("Acquisition")

Look, this is one of those episodes you have to take as is. The reality is that they could've easily overpowered the Ferengi at numerous points and not had all of the silliness.

I also question whether or not they would've impounded the ship and taken them back to Starfleet as prisoners. Granted, rules weren't really established then, but this was more of an 80's scheme and then off your way once they foiled the scheme. I would argue that they had an obligation to take the ship, weapons, technology, etc or at least taken them apart and seen how they work.

Anyway, just take it as is and it's fun and enjoyable.

To see Clint Howard finally get to shine in a role where he doesn't look nearly so...exotic... as he does in movie and TV roles of the past. And then to put the other 3 crewman in such elaborate makeup, all just to match Clint's more "...unique" characteristics; well, it shows more empathy and heart than I thought Hollywood was capable of displaying.

XD xD In all seriousness, if was fun getting to watch Ethan Phillips return to the Trek Universe, playing the Ferengi raid party leader. He was previously on Star Trek:Voyager as the delta quadrant scavenger turned ship's cook Neelix.

There isn't much more to the episode than a handful of ship's crew vs the 4 ferengi raiders. Feels like the producers were trying to keep costs low. Although it didn't feel quite like a true bottle episode, they DID manage to wring a cute and decent story from a rather... "wash cloth" sized idea.

All in all, This is a fun episode that never quite shifts into second gear, it tries to get the audience "invested" (😉) in the story, but often it feels like it is not quite sure which way to turn, and thus stalls out.

Decent, nothing special, top line of the episode: "my lobes...stroke my lobes." 🤢

I enjoyed this episode. Fortunately for me, I understand that Star Trek is NOT real, it's all pretend for the sake of entertainment. It is not meant as an exercise in logic or a treatise on real space exploration. It's entertainment, designed to amuse, distract, and entertain. Instead of trying to pick out every little plot hole, discrepancy, unlikely scenario, or continuity failure, I like to put my brain in neutral and let it enjoy the audio/visual candy Star Trek spoon feeds it. When I return to work tomorrow and prepare for the surgeries that await my skills, THAT'S when I can reengage my brain and ensure all seriousness is at full peak. I enjoyed watching the actors have fun with their parts. That Jeffery Combs, what a hoot!

Attempted comedy and fake-suspense are terrible in this misguided segment, more like "Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea" (or "Barrel") than a Star Trek episode.

The Enterprise is taken over by a bumbling gang of thieves, wearing makeup prosthetics leftover from Armin Shimerman as Quark in "Deep Space Nine". Only Clint Howard retains his look underneath the very fake ears, nose and facial ridges.

It's up to Trip, Captain Archer and T'Pol to save the day and it seems like hours rather than 45 minutes for the story to unfold. Other than watching Jolene Blalock keep a straight face, there's nothing diverting here.

And the rest of the cast of regulars get to pick up their paycheck by sleeping on the job.