Rogue Planet

Archer relives the Yeats of his youth. Brilliant.

"The Song of Wandering Aengus" W B Yeats 1899

I went out to the hazel wood, Because a fire was in my head, And cut and peeled a hazel wand, And hooked a berry to a thread; And when white moths were on the wing, And moth-like stars were flickering out, I dropped the berry in a stream And caught a little silver trout. When I had laid it on the floor I went to blow the fire a-flame, But something rustled on the floor, And someone called me by my name: It had become a glimmering girl With apple blossom in her hair Who called me by my name and ran And faded through the brightening air. Though I am old with wandering Through hollow lands and hilly lands, I will find out where she has gone, And kiss her lips and take her hands; And walk among long dappled grass, And pluck till time and times are done, The silver apples of the moon, The golden apples of the sun.

While this is not a terrible episode, T_Maly's review spots some HUGE problems in the script for "Rogue Planet". The Enterprise finds a planet that isn't part of a solar system--yet it somehow is very Earthlike--with a breathable atmosphere and nice temperatures. This really doesn't make any sense at all.

When the landing party lands, they find some Eska hunters. They are apparently looking for a great delicacy--drayjin. They are supposed to be delicious so the humans tag along. However, a bit later Archer sees a drayjin...and it looks like a hot lady! It's obvious that the creature can assume various forms and is quite intelligent- -perhaps too intelligent to be hunted for food.

Apart from the scientific problems with the episode it's also a tad preachy. Overall, it's not exactly bad...but this isn't exactly a glowing endorsement.

I rather enjoyed it.

I had to dismiss the concept that a Rogue Planetoid would have not only a breathable "M-Class" atmosphere and temperature, but green plants without any Sunlight to make them green. But I suppose the "Greens" department didn't have time to paint them purple or whatever Colour plant life would have in such an environment.

What I enjoyed was the Archer plot that included a "Woman" from a poem he read, and the nature of who that woman really was. In my mind, it was a nod to Odo and the Shapeshifters from DS9, which was my Favourite part of that series.

And the fact that they kept the nature of these Rogue Inhabitants a mystery until the end of the episode. It was also a statement about people who will hunt endangered animals, with no thought to species survival. Even if the animals on our planet are not intelligent, we are the stewards of all life on earth, we have a poor record on how we deal with that stewardship. And today, we have leaders who don't seem to care about that, who would destroy our natural parks just for Profit and "Free Market" sake. They can't seem to get a grip on the fact that these are limited resources and should be respected and protected.

What I enjoyed was Archer's discovery of the issue and his tactful handling of the problem at hand.

I can't believe somebody wrote an episode of a 'rogue planet' that apparently lost orbit and has no sun, is somehow M-class, and yet without that sun is somehow habitable at a reasonable temperature.

Last time I checked, the temperature of a planet is determined by it's distance from a heat/light source, ie a sun.

Without the sun, the planet would quickly freeze to a very(!) cold temperature.

Even with our planet still reliably in orbit, we still experience drastic temperature changes from day to night and season to season.

What the heck were they thinking?

I think the other comment missed the point of this episode. There are villains in this story, the hunters who placed their enjoyment over the lives of their prey. Hunting sentient beings is so revolting I cannot believe I need to write a post to clarify the point. So what if the hunters have been doing it for generations? I am fairly certain some people used the same argument to defend slavery and fight abolition.

The conclusion of this episode was spot-on. The hunters knew what they were doing and would not be dissuaded from their blood sport. They would keep returning to the planet. The only solution, then, is to arm the inhabitants. One must not mistake practicality for morality, though.