Billed by UPN as an “event.” Sweeps hype? Find out below.
Canamar
Cast & Crew
Director: Allan Kroeker
Written By: John Shiban
Starring
Scott Bakula as Captain
Jonathan Archer
Connor Trinneer as Chief
Engineer Charles "Trip" Tucker III
Jolene Blalock as Sub-commander
T’Pol
Dominic Keating as Lt.
Malcolm Reed
Anthony Montgomery
as Ensign Travis Mayweather
Linda Park as Ensign Hoshi
Sato
John Billingsley
as Dr. Phlox
Guest Cast
Mark Rolston as Kuroda
Holmes R. Osborne as Enolian Official
Michael McGrady as Nausicaan
Sean Whalen as Zoumas
Brian Morri as Enolian Guard
John Hansen as Prisoner
Airdate Information
Originally Aired: February 26, 2003
Season: Two
Episode: Seventeen
Production: 043
What Happened
Upon leaving the Enolian homeworld in a shuttlepod, Archer and Tucker are mistakenly arrested and placed on a prisoner transport vessel bound for the penal colony Canamar. Before the error can be rectified, one of the alien inmates engineers a takeover of the transport, leading Archer to engage in a dangerous gambit.
Review
John Shiban returns for another turn at script writing. It doesn’t have the obvious B&B stench, but it doesn’t hit particularly hard either. The writers for TV Guide have it right with their five tips for fixing Trek. Time to take chances and go boldly.
High Point
Trip’s comic moments continue to be the high points of these episodes, particularly his argument with Zoumas. On one hand, kudos to Trinneer for great comic timing, but on the other, shouldn’t some of the dramatic moments be showing up here?
Low Point
If I were on my way to fiery, painful death, I’d probably be a little more upset than Kuroda was.
The Scores
Originality: At least the crew didn’t try to bore their captors to death with moral debate. 4 out 6.
Effects: Mostly good stuff. The plasma field was a little odd-looking, but otherwise acceptable. 5 out of 6.
Story: It doesn’t forward the overall theme of the show, but it doesn’t detract either. 4 out of 6.
Acting: Good and bad. Trinneer and Whalen were fun to watch, the Enolians were bland and Kuroda doesn’t exude much by way of menace. Bakula also comes off a little childish at the end with his tirade about Enolian justice. 3 out of 6.
Emotional Response: Was anyone all that surprised to find Enterprise crew members in the alien shuttle? 3 out of 6.
Production: I was reminded of prison galleys from Ben-Hur when I saw the interior of the prison ship. Where’s the drummer? 4 out of 6.
Overall: A stable outing, but not exactly a standout piece of work. 4 out of 6.
Total: 27 out of 42
Episode Media
From StarTrek.com
Next Time on Enterprise (March 5, 2003)
The Communicator (Originally Aired Nov. 13, 2002. Read the Review)
Reed accidentally leaves his communicator on an alien planet during a visit, and when he returns with Archer to retrieve the crucial technology, they are captured by soldiers who accuse them of being enemy spies.
Um, wasn’t this about a prison!
They hyped it up about a prison! There was no prison! AHHHHHH!!!
Also, why was this an event? My best guess was it was "social commentary" about a corrupt justice system (especially one that works on a presumption of guilt, as does the US justice Department under the Patriot Act). That’s all I can figure.
I found the episode enjoyable, but forgettable.
Oh, and if you didn’t think Koruda was menacing, you haven’t seen The Shawshank Redemption. He’s just menacing by being there. I wanted him to be more evil.
Re: Um, wasn’t this about a prison!
I have seen it. An actor’s performance in one role doesn’t necessarily affect another (for good or ill). In this case, it did nothing for me.
Con Air?
This really felt like Con Air in 44 minutes with a PG rating to me. Sadly, it is one of the better ones we’ve seen this season.
Also, maybe I’m just biased, but I felt that Trip’s scenes with his talkative neighbour had been written for Mulder rather than Trip.
UT
I guess I’m being a little technical, but I was a little disappointed that with so many different species present, language wasn’t made an issue.
Are we supposed to assume Archer and Trip had correctly programmed UT’s in their pockets the whole episode?
The story was good, but I guess I’m expecting a little too much in the continuity department.
Re: UT
B&B have never let continuity get in the way of a mediocre story.
Re: UT
I guess you’re right – at least the episode didn’t involve time travel. ;) I envision Braga as Doc Brown at this point…
Re: UT
BwahahahAHAHAHAhahaha
Awww…mercy! : )
Re: Continuity? We don’t need no stinkin’ …..
B&B have never let continuity get in the way of a mediocre story.
Only semi-off topic…. So I finally went and played the AVI file of Nemesis that I downloaded from Kaaza (because I refuse to pay 10 bucks for ANYTHING B&B produce).
As I suspected…it sucked.
One question: Instead of Picard John Wayneing it over to the bad guys ship to protect the Enterprise (and losing DATA in the process) why not just beam over an ounce of two of antimatter into the ship instead??
….Knock Knock… Candygram!…..BOOM!
Problem solved… and none of the god guys dies.
B&B scripts SUCK!!!!!!!
Re: Continuity? We don’t need no stinkin’ …..
Don’t get me started about this one…I’m still p****d off about Nemesis. What a picece of crap! And Data died…
On topic, this was one of the better episodes this season. Somehow, Enterprise just has turned out to be disappointing, after such a promising start the first season.
Wait one second. This is an outrage!
Wasn’t anyone else mad about the Enterprise crew returning the prisoners to the Enolians? As long as Archer and Tucker are OK then everything is cool? I had to be restrained.