Borderland

I don't understand why Star Trek: Enterprise as a show does not rank at a 10 star average on top of IMDB. Just because its season 4 is fantastic beyond description, and especially this and the next two episodes. The original Star Trek 2 - The Wrath of Kahn motion picture earned a lot of praise for a similar foe. ST Enterprise's take on the Kahn's/Augments/genetically engineered human beings is even better. Forget 80s Terminator and Schwarzenegger. This episode shows you three ruthless Augments. And they absolutely look like they come straight from the 70s. But Terminator-70s. It's very cool, and you'll never see that anywhere else. Absolutely unique. It's no less than Dr. Soong who created the Ubermenschen. Better known from Star Trek - The Next Generation as a descendant who builds android Data. And also played by Brent Spiner. I love the idea of the episodes, the unique take on it, and the new cast. Fantastic. --- Search "Trek Greenspace" on Google Play Books and join my Star Trek Fan Project!

And he is great, and he made these Canon-Breaking episodes watchable.

The Problem with Enterprise is that although this is 100 years before KIRK, excuses are always being made to bring in Tech we know never existed until the 24th Century - In the hands of the Federation! This was because one of the Show Creators, Braga, was stuck forever in a Season 7 Next Generation Temporal Causality Loop.

We all loved Star Terk Next Gen, and some of us even liked Season 7 - I Know Brent did, but many people DON'T. Why? Because of Brannon Braga. I personally liked the guy's ideas, but he could never really move on from that High Point. As Troi tells Mr Barclay in "The Nth Degree" - "We always have that one time in our lives where we surpass ourselves- The Trick is leaning how to live after that." - But Braga, who did great as a writer most of the time, could not move away from that Season 7 Next Gen dynamic - And when he tried, what did he do? He destroyed the best Trek Ship ever- When we KNEW that the Enterprise D was to appear in the Future- Per both Next Gen and Voyager canon.

Now, it is not that Temporal Causality Loops are bad. But Braga would always return the universe to it's original state. Except for the Voyager Arc, "The Year of Hell" - He actually kept the changes, which was an excuse tor Janeway to lose that lousy "Bun" hairdo. Actually, this was the only major change in the time-line that was carried over - This was done one time more, earlier in the series, with Kes, she has Short Pixie hair in the beginning of one 'sode, then long beautiful blonde hair after.

So, Braga will change time-lines, IF it only has to do with Hair, or maybe, Uniforms or Com Badges.

Stet? OK, so what have we here? AUGMENTS. Funny, neither Khan Noonian Singh nor Dr Julian Subatoy Bashir were ever referred to that way. Hmph.

But then again, we have Paul Atreides aka Alec Newman - With A MULLET - With one other guy licking the Arses of a WHOLE ship of Klingons. A Bird of Prey, even.

It's not that I never liked the effects of Enterprise - It was the whole DS9 crew, Marvin Rush, Dan Curry, Mike Okuda and Rick Sternbach maybe, it all LOOKED great.

But this is supposed to be a more primitive time than TNG DS9 and VOY. Starfleet didn't use PADDS back then, they used a large surface with a Stylus.

Plus, the Orion Syndicate. Don't know if they existed back then, BUT, it is a good idea, but they kidnapped half of the NX01 crew TOO QUICKLY. Maybe it is because these eps are only 41 Minutes long- Very short compared to TOS which was always 50 minutes, and TNG/Nine/Voy which was always 45 minutes. However, we DID get to see the selling of an Orion Slave Girl. But we know from Canon, Orion Slave Girls DID NOT wear compulsory gadgets on their necks to control them- We were taught THEY controlled MEN.

But there was this one HUGE Orion guy, he lifted up T'Pal as if she were a kitten! I loved that she kicks this guy in the Groin and he comes tumbling WAY down.

There were a lot of things I liked about this, ergo, the 8 rating. I love the Effects, of which there are a LOT in this series. I loved the Wide Screen aspect Ratio- Babylon 5 broadcast every episode in 16/9 - Why couldn't TREK do this? It depresses me to this day.

Well, this Gang of Mulleted Intergalactic Hoodlums, led by Alec after he kills his way to the top, was not really "made" by Arik Soong - Soong merely found the Embryos, so as "bad" as they were, they were built that way. Newman was a good choice for Male Mullethead, but this story has a chick that Newman and another Alpha Male are fighting over- Sorry, but I DO NOT see anyone fighting over the Skag from these eps. Sorry, Nope, Shudder and Ugh. Shudder-Brrr. These Kids don't even look as dangerous as the Gang that lives down the street from me, they appear to be a Quasi Military Cadre of Ugly Kids.

Spiner brings this episode down to reality level, his performance is actually great.

We also get to see "Martok" again - Or at least the same Actor once again in great Klingon makeup, JG Hertzger, who seems to be one of the High Council. The Klingons in Ent were done well, but WHEN did they ever do away with their Brow Ridges? Maybe that was an Ent Ep that was going to be made, before Brannon caused this series to end prematurely. Oh wait, what?! That happened *this* season... at the time I wrote this review, I had not watched those episodes where the Klingons had kidnapped Dr Phlox... and those episodes actually relate to these episodes. Because, the Klingons couldn't have humans that could actually beat them up easily...

There is no end to the problems that show up for Enterprise. Arik Soong (Brent Spiner) is the mega-geneticist who has caused untold destruction in the universe. Millions have died because of his engineering. He is being held in prison because he is beyond genius in the most evil way. Now, some of the products of his work, augments, young people who have been given superhuman strengths and intellects, have taken their powers and are ready to become a force. They capture a Klingon war bird, killing the entire crew and jettisoning them into space. The now have the vehicle to start their destructive plans. They have the goal of being reunited with their "father" Soong. Together, they feel they can rule the universe. They have it in for earth because they were rejected by the planet in their infancy. If they have a weakness, it's an internal power struggle. They still have the weaknesses of jealousy and arrogance.

It's too bad my whole review can't just consist of that word over and over -- and honestly, it wouldn't be fair: the first scene of Brent Spiner is awesomely promising -- the man has such great presence ... then the rest of the episode completely fails to deliver on that promise, although a lot of things happen, usually with a lot of people explaining to each other why we should care. Young people in tight black clothing is quite the fetching visual as well.

But I'll ask again: where is the Star Trek? Yes, yes, this episode is essentially filling in details of things mentioned in TOS, but so what? These stories should matter in themselves. I'm glad some people are enjoying them, but I'm still waiting for the Enterprise episode that really works, on a Star Trek level, on its own terms.

Star Trek: Enterprise's Augments trilogy is a highlight in the many episodes of Star Trek. The three Episodes "Boarderland", "Cold Station 12" and "The Augments" are among my all-time favorites. The trilogy combines 2 elements of lore that fans will love: The Eugenics Wars and Brent Spiner. Spiner steals the show in all three episodes. Basic plot of this episode: A group of genetically enhanced humans left over from the Eugenics Wars take over a Klingon ship. With war looming over the horizon, the STARSHIP ENTERPRISE takes Aurik Soong (Brent Spiner), the man who activated the embryos of these humans, to try and stop them.

If you're new to Star Trek, definitely catch this trilogy first