Cold Front

OK, so what if time travel is the most over-used plot device in sci-fi, particularly in star trek. This episode gives us one grand, independent, fresh perspective on the whole idea. I must of seen this ep. over a hundred times and I still find fresh ideas and hidden messages within the work. It's well worth the time it takes up. You just need a little patience at the start.

Admittedly this is not exactly Bakula's finest hour. he didn't give the most believable performance, neither did John Fleck for that matter. But the congrats here go to the writers more than anyone. Whoever came up with the idea for this ep deserves serious praise. That goes for all eps in it's line. From Shockwave to Zero Hour that is.

This ep may be a cornerstone. It may be one of the most well told eps of it's time. However, because of the relatively poor acting, I must give it only 3 of 5 stars.

I really liked Cold Front. When a story is good enough to grab my attention and get my imagination working I can overlook all the "wibbly-wobbly timey-wimey" complaints and cast aside any disparaging thoughts about the writers of prequels needing to go into the future to avoid messing with cannon. I'm just going to go along for the ride. Maybe this explains the "love it or loath it" response to so many time travel episodes.

It helps that Matt Winston as Temporal Agent Daniels and John Fleck as Silik the Suliban are two of the best recurring guest actors we see in Enterprise. It also helps that the introduction of an agent from the future and the concept of a Temporal Cold War is treated with so much genuine scepticism by the crew. It helps that branching time lines and the idea of historians being able to study past events such as the building of the pyramids are so convincingly explained and, of course.....

......it helps that the insertion or removal of body modifications by the Sulibans' mysterious handler is so "gorram" cool.

We also have a secondary plot in which Dr Phlox experiences the Great Plume of Agosoria along with some chanting devotees who were apparently added in to the story as the cover for Silik's infiltration and acts of sabotage. Perhaps the writers were trying to demonstrate a greater interest in seeing religious faith as an aspect of diversity rather than sticking with the "what does God want with a starship?" approach of the original Star Trek writers and cast. We tread on dangerous ground with such subjects but, then, isn't that what SciFi is for?

Please excuse the references in this review to other shows and films: Senior Trekker scores every episode with a 5.

This suspenseful Enterprise segment is the first to depart from traditional tv series' emphasis on stand-alone episodes -so important for re-runs. This show has no ending this time, not a cliffhanger, but merely letting the viewer stew until some future, unspecified segment(s) will pick up the storyline and fill in more blanks. It's tantalizing but frustrating.

Subject is time travel and sabotage, but Bakula and his crew (and the audience) are left in the dark as to what's going on. Folks from the future meddling in current events clearly have the upper hand, and without comparable technology to fight back, our heroes are helpless and indeed appear to be feckless.

Not remembering over 20 years later what happened with this storyline, I'll have to wait and see how it develops, but I prefer self-contained stories, the old TV format typified by say the case by case structure of the classic "Perry Mason".

The Enterprise encounters the Suliban whilst hosting some religious pilgrims on their way to witness a major space phenomenon.

This is a strong episode that appears to have kicked off a story arc surrounding the Temporal Cold War. Time travel is overused in Star Trek (and Sci-Fi in general) but this concept is excellent. After witnessing The Borg, The Dominion and various other antagonists within the franchise you do wonder what other credible threat the writers could conjure. The creation of a war involving time travel as an emerging technology was a top drawer idea.

It's all done rather well in terms of plot, pacing and character moments. Archer is at the centre of it all with some good support from Dr Phlox and T'Pol who's personalities come through in a number of scenes. Scott Bakula took a panning from several reviewers for his performance here, but I didn't think it was that bad. I just think of him as a Jim Kirk inspired Sam Beckett in space and it all works fine for me.

The only character I have really struggled with so far is Travis and in this one he is presented as a man-child that would make Tom Paris cringe. It probably doesn't help that Anthony Montgomery's performances have been quite unconvincing and he hasn't had much decent dialogue to work with.

I definitely won't be giving up on Enterprise yet as this particular arc has hooked me. Let's hope it lives up to the promise.

While I pretty much enjoyed this episode, I never really understood the totality of the actions of the Time Traveller. A group of aliens is invited on board the Enterprise. Secrets are shared and certainly the possibility of sabotage is all around. Why is Archer so trusting? Being new to his position, one would think he would have some element of caution with strangers. You can show kindness to them without selling the store. He is really a careless man who often puts his ship and crew in danger. We again have the Suliban, who appeared in an early episode. They can shape shift and seem to sense this time traveling thing is somehow going to harm them. Let's hope things become a bit more secure.