Fight or Flight

During the first couple of weeks of exploration the Enterprise comes across another ship and makes a nasty discovery.

I found this episode to be on par with the first. The plot isn't as exciting but it does cover a few more themes. The nature of exploration and the inherent danger that goes along with it. Also fear and self doubt are big factors in how some of the characters are portrayed, particularly Ensign Hoshi.

It's understandable that some may find Hoshi difficult to tolerate during this episode, however I do quite like this perspective on a Star Trek character. For so many years we are presented with characters who do extraordinary things on a weekly basis that take supreme skill and confidence levels. In this instance, we witness someone who has ability but no confidence and gets completely overwhelmed by situations. I found it refreshing. Things do get resolved in a rather silly way at the end, but I suppose we can't have everything.

Other characters get a bit more screen time. Phlox has some decent moments, but his slug analogy does get old quickly. Trip gives us the opposite side of the coin to Hoshi with his desperation to get off the ship and explore dangerous environments.

Archer and T'Pol continue to clash in their methods of space exploration, this time codes of behaviour is one of what feels will be many slanging matches between the two on board Enterprise. There is only so long that dynamic can go on before it gets a bit tiresome. This type of thing worked with Spock and Bones in the original series because they had excellent chemistry and Kirk's overarching authority had a perfect blend of logic and humanity.

Despite Enterprise's many detractors I haven't felt like switching off yet.

I would see it in her garage whenever I would come visit. The same purse that Hoshi used to bring the alien slug to a new planet... I just have a couple of minor complaints about this episode and then we will get back to that Slug-Purse.

I understand Hoshi's reluctance to continue with the mission, that was not unrealistic.

I don't understand her reluctance to do her JOB. That was totally unrealistic.

Of course, this show represented some of the first people to ever travel the galaxy and visit "Brave New Worlds"- and of course these people didn't act like the crew of the Enterprize D. But still-

But Hoshi was an OFFICER, with a rank. Rather than a "rank" amateur... her reluctance to act when under pressure was not only out of character, it was not believable.

Even if she were as frustrated as she portrayed, she would have not hesitated to do her job- it's what military do. She was on the ship for one major reason, and even if she had intended to quit, she still would have done her job to the best of her ability.

Especially under the circumstances and the threat of being connected to some kind of alien device and turned into snacks.

Even the Maquis on Voyager did their jobs without question when ordered to by their captain.

The other thing going on here, finding an alien derelict in space and seeing that the crew had been subjected to a nightmare scenario, that was almost like "Alien", the creep factor was about 90%.

These two aspects of the third Enterprize episode appears to have torn the episode in half making it weird and creepy on one hand and ridiculous on the other.

The show and the Hoshi character did get better as it went along, showing that Hoshi was talented not just with spoken languages but with mathematical languages as well, when she became infected in one future episode and the ship was under observation by Organians Who were reluctant to help with the ship out of a worthwhile conundrum.

She was even kidnapped by the Xindi reptilians aliens in the last episode of season three, and her talents were made to work for them.

So we know even in this episode that she was capable of communicating with another species even with limited knowledge of those spoken language. She was of course the woman who created the universal translator.

But in this episode she acts like a scared little girl which she definitely was not. Scared, maybe.

Getting back to that clear square purse that she used to bring the slug to a new planet, I was amazed that I recognized that, my friend had one exactly like that. This was an object that could have been purchased at any $.99 only store and that's probably where it was found. Because we know that guys like Dan Curry, who created a lot of objects used in Star Trek even back as far as some of the feature films of the 80s, was known to obtain some of the best props from what we would consider mundane sources. For example the prop for Jupiter station used in a couple of voyager episode, was actually created from three generic trashcan lids. And the side of the Borg cube that was used to show how the ships regenerate was constructed from an even more generic source. Don't get me started on the "hatch" of the Dyson sphere scene in next generation season six episode "relics" where were you last saw Scotty who had crashed onto the Dyson sphere.

It pleases me to no end that we continue to see the Star Trek franchise ability to create beautiful props out of basically garbage still alive in the final show of that particular franchise, that franchise which began with the motion picture in 1979 and ended with Star Trek nemesis in 2002-3.

Very few of those original people are left to work on the new Star Trek franchise of CBS. It's like Paramount owned a support crew to make great movies and with the end of the Star Trek franchise of the 80s and 90s, those people all had to find new jobs after some of them, 20 years of constant work.

Fight or Flight has the Enterprise crew slightly bored with the vastness of space. There is very little out there in terms of new lifeforms.

Apart from a sick slug that Hoshi Sato is trying to nurse back to health.

There is a near mishap with a torpedo test that Reed is trying to calibrate.

Danger arises when they find a damaged vessel with the murdered alien bodies hanging upside down. Their fluid being drained.

T'Pol urges Archer to flee. Only he returns to bury the bodies and let the alien homeworld know what has happened. Only for the attackers to return.

It is a kind of episode that makes Archer out to be reckless as he tries to abide by an ethical code. While T'Pol is more logical about the safety of the crew.

The Enterprise may not be a technological match for the attackers or the aliens if it was to encounter them.

It turns out that Hoshi's linguistic abilities are put to the test.

As a character development episode it did not work. Hoshi was the second top graduate in her class and does not look cut out to be in space. Why did they not get the person who graduated first.

I could not buy how she suddenly could communicate with the aliens.

If I was a member of the Enterprise crew. I would not had been happy that my captain endangered my life unnecessarily.

The story is decent and back to the basics of Star Trek. The series is still at the point of getting to know the characters, so that will probably be the primary focus early in season one. Unfortunately, it is already clear that the representation of women in this series is taking some huge steps back from Star Trek Deep Space Nine and Star Trek Voyager.

After seeing some very strong female characters in the previous two Star Trek series (Captain Janeway, 7 of 9, Torres, Jadzia Dax, Kira, etc.), Enterprise appears ready to go back to the weak female characters (with the possible exception of Uhura) in the original series. Yes, Enterprise does take place prior to the events of the original series, but it is still set in the future and one would hope that female characters would be depicted in a much more positive light.

With all the males being characterized as brave and curious adventure seekers, T'Pol has been limited to being a killjoy. Hoshi is whining and complaining about everything, even the location of her room, is on a space mission in spite of being claustrophobic, and is unsure about her own profession. She is given some confidence but only after the encouragement of male characters. Her screaming upon boarding the alien ship was more appropriate for a teen slasher film then for a Star Trek series.

For its time, the original series had some fairly positive and strong women. The Next Generation took that a step further and Deep Space Nine and Voyager did an excellent job of it. Hopefully, as Enterprise evolves, it will get back on that trend.

After two weeks in space, the only contact of the Enterprise's crew has been with a dying worm. Lieutenant Malcolm Reed is trying to align the scanners of the defense system with the support of Ensign Travis Mayweather; Dr. Phlox is researching a slug and a bat that have been brought aboard; Ensign Hoshi Sato is bored and feeling upset for the slug. When Enterprise sees a spacecraft adrift in space, Captain Jonathan Archer decides to go on board with Reed and Hoshi to contact the crew, but they find fifteen dead crewman. Sub-Commander T'Pol advises to leave the place for the safety of the Enterprise and crew. After an argument with T'Pol about code of behavior. Captain Archer decides to return to the craft with Dr. Phlox, Ensign Hoshi and the engineer Reed, and make contact with the planet of the crewman. Dr. Phlox finds that a component of the body of the aliens has been drained by the killers, and they are surprised by the spaceship that has killed the crew. When the situation is dramatic and critical, Hoshi contacts another craft from the breed that had been murdered, the Axanar.

"Fight or Flight" is a reasonable episode of Enterprise with a greater participation of the insecure Hoshi. T'Pol is more restraint by Captain Archer, but her advices are sensate and wise, contrasting with the impulsive Captain Archer. The preoccupation with the slug is silly, and the attitude of leaving the worm in another planet is irresponsible with the environment. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "Luta ou Fuga" ("Fight or Runaway")