Civilization

Archer explores a planet with a pre-industrial society and discovers other visitors have taken already taken an interest.

This episode starts off strongly with a lot of build up and excitement to doing some proper exploration. Unfortunately it doesn't really continue with the same tone. It just evolves into a pretty run of the mill Star Trek episode where the crew go in costume to mingle with another humanoid race and get drawn into a bit of trouble.

As these type of episodes go, it is pretty good. One scene where Archer's universal translator fails is quite memorable and when the plot starts to unfold things do get relatively exciting. Arch definitely channels his inner Captain Kirk in this one during his interaction with the locals. No wonder T'Pol has a difficulty with this level cultural contamination. All with the best of intentions though.

Overall though I would describe it as a missed opportunity to see something different during these early years of Starfleet exploration.

The Enterprise finds three different phenomena to research: a supernova; three neutron stars; and a pre-industrial planet with 500 million people. T'Pol is against the exploration of the Akaali planet fearing cultural contamination, but when she scans the Minshara-class planet, she finds a powerful antimatter reactor hidden underground emitting neutrino. Archer, T'Pol, Trip and Hoshi use makeup to resemble the locals and travel to the planet. They meet the pharmacologist Riann and discover that several Akaali have been sick after the arrival of Garos, the owner of an antique shop. Their further investigation discloses that the aggressive race of the Malurians is exploring minerals in the underground, jeopardizing the health of the Akaalis.

In "Civilization", once again Archer uses curiosity against the logic of T'Pol, ignoring her wise advice. However, the menace of the Malurians justifies their action like sheriff and interference in the development of the planet. T'Pol also proves that is a great strategist, using the reactor to defeat the enemy. Archer acts like Captain Kirk, having a first and second contact through a brief romance with Riann. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "Civilização" ("Civilization")

An Earth-like planet is explored by the Enterprise crew. They are doing fine until they come to realize that there are forces at work on the planet that could lead to domination and death. There is some kind of generating device that is capable of great destruction. Archer meets a female scientist. If we wanted to nitpick, we could say it's odd that this woman, except for some facial features, similar to stitches on a baseball, is awfully attractive and earth-human. Archer falls for her. Not only is she physically attractive; she is extremely wise. She also handles their abilities and actions without batting an eye. I would expect a bit more bewilderment as they face off with weapons drawn from someone who lives in a really primitive environment. I guess the prime directive hasn't quite found its way into the vocabulary yet.

It's obvious on this series that T'Pol is often irritated by how foolhardy the humans can be when it comes to meeting new races. Once again, the ship comes to a planet and Archer insists on landing to at least observe the Akaali. Fortunately, they at least took some of T'Pol's advice to heart and went in disguise. Also fortunate is that the ship DID investigate, as they soon are shocked to find that some other advanced species is on the planet in disguise also--and these beings are NOT particularly nice and don't mind if they kill a few of the Akaali in the process. So it's up to the landing party to right things without alerting the Akaali of their presence.

This is an interesting episode and a great example of the humans doing good because they are just so darned swell. Worth seeing but not among the better episodes.

Bill Shatner would feel right at home in "Civilization", an Enterprise segment that faithfully captures the feel and story line of a vintage Star Trek episode.

Interacting with a woman on a distant planet that is not as advanced as Earth gives Bakula an opportunity for romance with a charming alien. Actress Diane DiLascio is a demure beauty who I'm glad to see is working again several decades later, looking almost unchanged by the passage of time.

Bakula doesn't have much trouble defeating a heartless guy who is secretly stealing mineral wealth from the planet without caring about harming its inhabitants, and while hardly earthshaking the tale of Contact is effective using a familiar storyline.