Star Trek: Enterprise – “Exile”

Now if B&B could just read the thoughts in my mind!

Exile

Cast & Crew

Director: Roxann Dawson
Written By: Phyllis Strong

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
Maury Sterling as Tarquin
Philip Boyd as Com Officer

Episode Information

Originally Aired: October 15, 2003
Season: Three
Episode: Six
Production: 058

What Happened

From light-years away, a powerful telepathic alien, Tarquin, mentally contacts Hoshi and convinces Archer to let the ensign briefly visit his isolated planet in exchange for crucial information on the Xindi.

Review

It’s nice to see the story moving forward consistantly for the past few weeks. Really nice. A little predictable in places, but enjoyable nonetheless.

I loved the ending. Fifty spheres! It explains the Expanse and gives us an out at the end of the story-arc to explain why it doesn’t exist later on in the Star Trek timeline. Nice one.

High Point

“We can still launch without the starboard thruster, right?” I love creative engineering.

Low Point

So you’re stuck all alone with a guy who hasn’t had a ‘companion’ in over a century. Wandering around in a short skirt and high heels does not constitute a wise course of action. Don’t you think?

The Scores

Originality: Sure, getting something for a high price is nothing new for fiction, indeed it’s a core feature. 3 out of 6.

Effects: I was all set to give it a perfect score, but there was something off about the shuttle’s crash on the sphere. 5 out of 6.

Story: It moves Hoshi’s character forward and gives a little insight into who she is. 4 out of 6.

Acting: Park turns in a useful performance this go-around. Most likely Dawson’s influence here. 4 out of 6.

Emotional Response: There’s really no sense of danger, but it does set a definite mood. 4 out of 6.

Production: Tarquin’s home was a nice set piece. Ten times better than any old cave! 5 out of 6

Overall: Moving forward on the plot and enjoying ourselves along the way. 4 out of 6.

Total: 29 out of 42

Totally Useless Trivia

Exile will be the first Star Trek episode screened in HDTV. Too bad they’re so friggin expensive that no one will be able to appreciate it.

Episode Media

From StarTrek.com

Next Time on Enterprise (October 22, 2003)

The Xindi (Season Three premiere repeated from September 11th, 2003)

Fear not, a new episode will appear on October 29th, The Shipment.

Additional Notes and Comments

If you’re interested in what’s in TheAngryMob’s review queue, check out my What’s Coming page.

TheAngrymob

10 replies on “Star Trek: Enterprise – “Exile””

  1. Well, strange as feels to say…
    … I liked this one. Going in, I didn’t think the telepath bit had much potiential. But it seemed to pan out just fine and the villiany wasn’t overdone.

    As for the high point, I think I would have changed Trip’s reply from “We can try,” to “Well, it seems to be launching fine with just that one.”

    More spheres, nice to know. I wonder if Enterprise is the only ship to discover this. If so, it is a nice bargaining chip. If not, someone might not like them snooping around.

    At this point, I would like to see a better map of just how much of the expanse they have seen, and how much they haven’t.

  2. On the Sphere
    I thought that they were using magnetic boots when they were walking on the sphere, so my question would be – if there wasn’t enough gravity to hold them down, why the heck did the shuttle fall back down so fast? Shouldn’t it have either continued to drift away, or just slowly settle back (with the former being my personal belief)? Now, I’m no physicist (though I have decent marks in physics, it’s not my forte), but unless someone can tell me that there was a decent amount of gravity, this is going as my low point.

    • Re: On the Sphere

      I thought that they were using magnetic boots when they were walking on the sphere, so my question would be – if there wasn’t enough gravity to hold them down, why the heck did the shuttle fall back down so fast? Shouldn’t it have either continued to drift away, or just slowly settle back (with the former being my personal belief)? Now, I’m no physicist (though I have decent marks in physics, it’s not my forte), but unless someone can tell me that there was a decent amount of gravity, this is going as my low point.

      I previewed this before I posted. Please don’t read this as sarcasm:

      It’s all creative Trek physics. Even assuming the sphere had a mass of a 50th of an Earth, which is sizeable, a .02 G fall would have taken so long that the show would have ended by the time the shuttle finally reached the surface of the sphere, and it wouldn’t have skidded to a halt in front of the Imperiled Crew Members. I assumed Archer and Trip had magnetic boots too, it’s a good thing aliens don’t build structures using composites, or even aluminum. :)

      Assuming the sphere is hollow and masses even less than .02 G I suspect Archer might be able to toss Porthos into a stable orbit without use of any mechanical assistance. The way the shuttle took off I suspect it might have attained escape velocity using “real world” physics. Archer and Trip freezing to death on an alien artifact would have been an interesting, if unexpected plot twist. :)

      With that out of the way, I’ll beam myself back up to my ship, fire up the matter/antimatter reaction chamber, and head off to Procyon at warp 5, sipping replicated Earl Grey tea in artificial gravity. Someone mind the dilithium crystals please, dilithium seems to be scarce in this part of the universe. :)

      -Joe G.

      • Re: On the Sphere

        I previewed this before I posted. Please don’t read this as sarcasm:

        No worries joe, I’ve got a thick skin. I suppose I’ll just have to suspend my belief a little bit more – or, hey, maybe there was one of those spatial anomalies right there that caused it to fall that fast.

        Yeah. That’s it. That’s it exactly (and yes, I do find it funny that I’m willing to accept FTL, but not faster than possible falling).

  3. Meh.
    Was it me, or did everyone else see the Blue Egg thing and go “I bet Hoshi threatens to break it if he doesn’t let her leave”? Was there an unpredictable SECOND in this episode?

    And, um, I did watch it, but for the life of me I can’t remember WHY they landed on the sphere… must’ve been important, but, uh. Hmmmm.

    At least T’Pol didn’t get naked in th… oh, yeah, Hoshi.

  4. Relatively good
    It wasn’t overly stupid, and thats saying a lot for Enterprise recently.
    I can really tell the difference between B&B writing and the writing of others… it’s like B&B are stuck in a mode or something and can’t write anything from a better/different perspective.

    It was nice to see them expand on Hoshi’s character a bit.

  5. Where have I seen this before?
    “I told you not to come out here.”

    Disney’s Beauty and the Beast anyone?

    • Re: Where have I seen this before?

      “I told you not to come out here.”

      Disney’s Beauty and the Beast anyone?

      Very much so. I thought that from the previews. I halfway expected Hoshi to dance with the alien …

      -Joe G.

      • Re: Where have I seen this before?

        I halfway expected Hoshi to dance with the alien …

        Just be thankful there were no dancing teapots and candlesticks.

        • Re: Where have I seen this before?

          Just be thankful there were no dancing teapots and candlesticks.

          Be my guest
          Be my guest
          Submit at my behest
          I’m Telepathic
          How Romantic
          I anticipate requests

          Exile’s fine
          So divine
          Please do not cross that line
          If you’re outside that is bad
          but I digress

          You’ll really like it here
          Mind games all the year
          Be my guest
          Be my guest
          Be my guest!

          Put on this dress and dance with me Hoshi!

Comments are closed.