Star Trek: Enterprise Review – “Cold Station 12”

Part 2 of the 3 part arc aired last Friday. What did you think?

Review for Part 1

Cold Station 12

Cast & Crew

Director: David Livingston

Written By: Ken LaZebnik

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
Brent Spiner as Dr. Arik Soong
Alec Newman as Malik
Abby Brammell as Persis
Richard Riehle as Jeremy Lucas
Kaj-Erik Eriksen as Smike
Kris Iyer as Deputy Director
Adam Grimes as Lokesh
Amy Wieczorek as Female Pilot
Jordan Orr as Young Malik
Kevin Foster as Security Guard #1

Episode Information

Originally Aired: November 5, 2004
Season: Four
Episode: Five
Production: 081

What Happened

Reunited with his genetically engineered creations called Augments, criminal scientist Dr. Arik Soong and his “children” break into the medical outpost where Soong once worked, to steal the embryos of hundreds more potential Augments with plans to build a superhuman army. They will go so far as to release the deadly pathogens stored at the facility, Cold Station 12, if the staff, headed by Dr. Jeremy Lucas, dares impede Soong’s plan. Meanwhile, Archer and his crew search for clues to Dr. Soong’s whereabouts on Trialas IV, the planet where he raised the Augments, leading them to find one of the doctor’s less perfect children who was abandoned by his siblings. More from StarTrek.com

Review

Here we are at Act Two and the story’s holding its own. The final resolution will have lasting impacts on, not only this series, but the rest of the Trek Universe. I think this is what we’ve been waiting for all along.

High Point

The interrogation scene. Damn good stuff and clearly differentiates Soong from his “children.”

Low Point

Why is it so easy to break into Starfleet buildings/ships and damn near inpenetrable to get anywhere else (ie Nazi strongholds)? “Seems like present day medical research facilities have better security than Cold Station 12.

The Scores

Originality: The hostage crisis is a staple for TV, not just Trek. 3 out of 6.

Effects: Cool fight scene and Cold Station 12’s exteriors were very well done. 5 out of 6.

Story: Drives the story forward, fleshes out characters and ratchets the tension one more notch. 4 out of 6.

Acting: Great casting choice for Dr. Lucas. The Augments are better this time around, less pissy, more pissed off. 5 out of 6.

Emotional Response: Very tense, very well done. 5 out of 6.

Production: New interior shots that fit with the Trek Universe. 4 out of 6

Overall: The suspense is terrific. I hope it lasts. 5 out of 6.

Total: 31 out of 42

Next Week on Enterprise (November 12, 2004)

The Augments

Enterprise pursues Arik Soong and his Augments across hostile Klingon space toward a planet where the geneticist intends to go back into isolation and raise an army of genetically engineered superhumans. But Soong’s “children” revolt against him and plan a biological attack upon a Klingon colony, in order to incite retaliation against Earth. More from StarTrek.com

Additional Notes and Comments

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

TheAngrymob

15 replies on “Star Trek: Enterprise Review – “Cold Station 12””

  1. Channel Flipping
    Well, for the first time in almost a year I watched an episode of Enterprise. Pure dumb luck since I didn’t even realize what night it was on (I thought the previous reviews this season were just running really late :)) and was, weirdly, in front of the TV.

    I liked it. I liked it quite a lot. I’m still trying to decide if I liked it on the fundamental merits (plot, script, acting, direction) or if I just like Brent Spiner a little too much. I still found the moments aboard the Enterprise a little boring (even during the destruct moments I didn’t get a sense of tension on the bridge), but the entirety of the plot was no non-annoying that I can let that go.

    I’m putting Enterprise back on my short list of regular TV watching (Smallville and West Wing are currently the entirety of the list – Alias doesn’t premiere until January) on a provisional week-to-week basis. I hope it stays solid (I’m not looking for perfection but “okay” or “pretty good” would be nice).

  2. upn weirdness
    I missed Enterprise this last week because the UPN station where I live has been goofing around with the trek times. As far as I know it’s on Friday at 8 or 9 everywhere… here it’s on Saturday at 9pm and they it was randomly moved to friday for one night only while the station played a baseball game. Stuff like this makes a show hard to follow and can really hurt the ratings. I hope this isn’t a sign of individual stations giving up on Enterprise.

    • Re: upn weirdness

      I missed Enterprise this last week because the UPN station where I live has been goofing around with the trek times.

      Temporal anomalies are to be expected.
      Bounce the graviton particle beam off the main deflector dish… that ought to solve your problem.

      • Re: upn weirdness

        Temporal anomalies are to be expected.
        Bounce the graviton particle beam off the main deflector dish… that ought to solve your problem.

        I tried that last week and blew out EPS conduits everywhere. You have to reverse the polarity first. DUH.

        • Re: upn weirdness

          Temporal anomalies are to be expected.
          Bounce the graviton particle beam off the main deflector dish… that ought to solve your problem.

          I tried that last week and blew out EPS conduits everywhere. You have to reverse the polarity first. DUH.

          Bah, anyone could have made that mistake. Don’t worry about it, the crew is used to power surges. Heck, I make sure to cross wire a couple of consoles a week just to keep ’em on their toes.

        • Jeffries Tubes
          EPS conduits?!?! You need to make your modifications at the main power junctions, in the Jeffries tubes, between primary power conduits. You can reverse the polarity, but if you use EPS conduits and not the mains you’ll create a back surge. EPS conduits are secondary systems, they’re not meant for that kind of power. You’re lucky the surge didn’t reach your warp coils. You’d be limping back to the Utopia Planitia shipyards from Vulcan at sub-light. See you in ten years.

          Amateurs.

          They’ll let anyone out of the Academy nowadays. :)

          -Joe G.

          P.S. Big w00h00’s for the third episode in this arc. In three short episodes Spiner and some excellent writers created a whole new Trek character, and made him believable! :)

  3. some interesting nuances

    Some high points (and maybe a few spoilers)

    • Even seeing his colleague tortured to death, Dr. Lucas defied TV and ST convention and did not betray the universe. In other words, “The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few.” (Of course, he cracked the second time, but it was good while it lasted.)
    • That Klingon Bird-of-Prey is damn sneaky even without a cloak. (We can assume that creating a cloak effect is simple enough that if the writer or director wanted it, they would have it.)
    • Soong’s relationship with his children, especially Smike, was genuine and convincing.
    • The shuttle getaway inside the BOP; it was a subtle demonstration of some excellent piloting.

    And the low points

    • Archer to villains: “We’re going to activate the self-destruct.”
      villains to Archer: “You forget we’re smarter *AND* faster. See, we’ve just thwarted your plan, you big git.”
    • This last one is more a personal pet peeve. If the story will finish in the next episode, it is “to be concluded”, not “to be continued”. The teaser for next week advertised the “stunning conclusion”, but the on-screen text said “continued”.
    • Re: some interesting nuances

      That Klingon Bird-of-Prey is damn sneaky even without a cloak. (We can assume that creating a cloak effect is simple enough that if the writer or director wanted it, they would have it.)

      The cloaking device wasn’t invented until TOS by the romulans, who then gave/sold it to the klingons…assuming, of course, they hold to the established storyline.

      I agree with the low point being station security: if you’re really worried about intruders, you would essentially airlock them, not stand there waiting for them to shoot you.

      • Re: some interesting nuances

        That Klingon Bird-of-Prey is damn sneaky even without a cloak. (We can assume that creating a cloak effect is simple enough that if the writer or director wanted it, they would have it.)

        The cloaking device wasn’t invented until TOS by the romulans, who then gave/sold it to the klingons…assuming, of course, they hold to the established storyline.

        They traded their cloaking technology for Klingon war ships with warp drives. In TOS the Romulans originally had Cloaks, but no warp.

        The real world reason for this is that he Klingon ships cost a lot so they were told to use them more, so they used them for Romulans as well as for Klingons from then on. Ahhhh…. budgets…

        • Re: some interesting nuances

          The cloaking device wasn’t invented until TOS by the romulans, who then gave/sold it to the klingons…assuming, of course, they hold to the established storyline.

          circa 2268

  4. Wow
    Partially pissed because this is what the series should have been three freaking seasons ago but maaaan, this is pretty good.

    Aside from a lot of the plot holes and ‘wussy’ type statements already listed I thought it was pretty good. Doc Lucas killing off a co-worker was just classic, that was great. Though he gave in too fast for my taste with Dr. Phlox, not that I like it but I’d really like them to kill off a main character every now and then and do things a la ER where new people come and go instead of the ‘7 years and people never move up int he world’ type thing, granted this is the only ship of the fleet.

    Good god, security people are dumb. Why are you in a denobulan shuttle? You’re not denobulan? oh wait let me pull out my gun after you kick the ass of the first guy and beat me sensless. Red shirt city. Can’t the security guys put up a bit more of a fight?

  5. Not bad
    I must admit, I’ve been following the reviews here and started wathching once I heard B&B weren’t writing anymore.

    And to be honest I’m pretty pleased, I wasn’t a fan of TOS, or TNG to be honest, but liked DS9 because it was dark and gritty.

    I’m glad the writers killed off that old ‘Temporal Cold War’ plot, it was rubbish. Enterprise seems to have grown up a little since, what with cold blooded torture scenes and some half decent acting. I may just carry on watching if this keeps up.

    PS, There are 2 ships in the fleet now are there not? Did Archers lady friend not from 2 episodes ago not get promoted to captain of the fleets ‘only other warp 5 capable ship’? Or am I just making stuff up now?

    • Re: Not bad

      PS, There are 2 ships in the fleet now are there not? Did Archers lady friend not from 2 episodes ago not get promoted to captain of the fleets ‘only other warp 5 capable ship’? Or am I just making stuff up now?

      From the looks of it, the 2nd warp 5 ship, the “Columbia”, was still in drydock. That means Enterprise is still the only active ship.

      • Re: Not bad

        From the looks of it, the 2nd warp 5 ship, the “Columbia”, was still in drydock. That means Enterprise is still the only active ship.

        I imagine there are several ships in Starfleet, Enterprise and Columbia being the only two warp 5 ships. All the rest are older models (one of which we see in the opening credits). Remember the flotilla that greeted our heroes at the end of Storm Front, Part 2?

        • Re: Not bad
          yes the enterprise is the prototype, the columbia, they said in the last season there were actually three other ships being worked on, back when the enterprise left for the Expanse,n im assuming they’ll launch the columbia and forget to check an o-ring and then the doiscovery will come next.
          Why does it take so freakin long to build a starship anyway, are they NOT more motivated after the xindi incident?
          The one Ship in the fleet is getting old, can we get a few more built so we can go back to the sweet space war scenes? I want to see more mayhem.
          by the way spoiler for the next episode, you can tear a nacelle off by pulling hard?? meh???

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