Desert Crossing

Archer and the crew help to repair the ship of a gruff desert dwelling alien who insists on rewarding them with a trip to his desert planet. While there they become involved in a war between the main civilization and the rebels, represented by this fellow. Archer and Trip end up roaming the desert, trying to escape death while the crew of the Enterprise do what they can to find them. It's a sort of typical desert survival story with few surprises. T'Pol takes command and does a great job of keeping the aliens off their backs and combing the mass of sand that is the planet.

Capt. Archer & Trip get to leave the confines of the studio in this edition of "Enterprise", and sharing center stage to the durable character actor Clancy Brown.

They answer a rescue mission to save Brown's ship, and then he sweet talks them into coming to his planet to celebrate the good deed. It's very obvious that Clancy is manipulating the duo, and the episode turns into survival mode as the two key crew members trek across a "Dune"-like desert after escaping from Clancy's clutches.

T'Pol, left running the Enterprise in their absence, saves the day, and a brief scene stresses the importance of freewheeling Capt. Archer considering coming up with a new policy (namely the Prime Directive so well-know to Star Trek fans) regarding interfering in the wars and cultural issues of alien civilizations.

When the show begins, Enterprise has done some repairs on an alien's ship. Zobral (Clancy Brown) insists that they follow him to his planet for a feast to thank them for their help. He is VERY insistent and the Captain and Trip go for a visit on this desert planet. However, after some wining and dining and sports (yes, sports) there turns out to be a hidden agenda behind Zobral's invitation. What it is and how this nearly gets Trip and Archer killed is something you'll need to see for yourself.

This is a decent enough episode but is made just a bit better since you get to see Clancy Brown. Too often you hear him as he is the voice actor for many TV shows and seeing Mr. Krabs in person is nice--though he's done quite a bit of acting in addition to the voice acting. Worth seeing.

Archer and Trip Tucker are invited to visit planet Torothan and get caught up in a civil war.

I quite enjoyed this one as it diverted from the usual Trek formula and injected a bit of machismo into the proceedings. The Geskana match and the survivalism are probably something that Trek purists find a bit alien within the franchise but I think it worked as a nice change of tone. As long as they don't do things like this too often, I think it has its place.

There are some nice moments of continuity like when reference is made to Archer as a great warrior for his actions in a previous episode. Also, the continuing foundations for the prime directive being developed is a positive for me.

It is a good one for Archer as he discovers his reputation has reached a different world. He also does a good job of helping a fellow serviceman through some tough times on the ground. Trip doesn't come off as well being portrayed as both physically and mentally inferior to his captain, which is a bit disappointing as he is probably the most watchable character in the series.

Guest star Clancy Brown plays a good part as Zobral who is a bit of an obvious racial stereotype in some ways, but he manages to pull it off with out making it offensive. However, the concept of individuals shown to be living a rather basic tribal existence and at the same time indulging in space travel feels slightly odd to me.

While heading for a leave in Risa, the Enterprise acknowledges a distress call and changes the course to check. They meet and help Kobral, who invites Captain Archer and Tucker to visit his planet Torothan for a feast and a game of Geskana. They accept the invitation and while having a good time with Kobral and his men, T'Pol receives a message from Torothan chancellor Trelitt. telling that Zobral is a wanted terrorist.

"Desert Crossing", the fame of Captain Archer with his assistance to the Sulibans in "Detained" supersedes himself. Kobral is an ambiguous character, and it is difficult to evaluate how honest he is. My vote is six.

Title (Brazil): "Travessia do Deserto" ("Desert Crossing")