Enterprise: The Andorian Incident

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Terra
Nova

 

Cast & Crew

Director: Roxann Dawson
Written By: Rick Berman &
Brannon Braga and Fred
Dekker

Teleplay By: Fred Dekker

Starring
Scott Bakula as Captain
Jonathan Archer
Connor Trinneer as Chief
Engineer Charles 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
Jeffrey Combs as Shran
Bruce French as Vulcan
Elder
Steven Dennis as Tholos
Jeff Ricketts as Keval
Richard Tanner as Vulcan
Jamie McShane as Tactical
Crewman

Original Airdate

October 31, 2001

Terra NovaWhat
Happened

Capt. Archer decided to take a detour from exploring and orders the Enterprise
to visit a vulcan monastery that’s nearby. After being briefed on proper Vulcan
protocol, Archer, T’Pol, and Trip venture down to the planet surface to meet
with the resident monks. Instead of a short diplomatic meeting, Archer and company
discover that the monks are being held hostage by a troop of Andorians, and
find themselves on the wrong end of their weapons.

It appears that the Andorians, an incredibly paranoid race, believe that the
vulcans are spying on them. The abbot and monks insist that there is no technology
of that type in the building. The Andorians refuse to believe this and set about
tearing the monastery upside down in their eager pursuit of the truth.

Trip manages to repair an old comm system and coordinate a jailbreak with Reed.
During the course of the breakout, two Andorians make it into the depths of
the catacombs beneath the monastery An intense firefight ensues and as Archer
tries to get the upper hand he stumbles across a secret door. Behind it is an
entire listening post, manned by hundreds of vulcans. He orders the building
scanned, then hands the data over to the Andorians, whose paranoia was justified.

Review

Well this had its ups and downs.

First the ups: Nice job with bringing back the Andorians. They will become
founding members of the Federation, so the conflict between them and the Vulcans
should prove to be a fine line to walk for Archer and company. I hope the writers
can handle the situation properly.

The downs: Well, doesn’t this all seem out of place for Vulcans? Lying? Spying?
These are not the traits they are known for throughout Star Trek. Part of me
was waiting for the monks to be revealed as Romulans. That would at least have
made sense.

High Point

Reed’s "Standard Procedure" speech resounds with the series theme
that mankind is still new at this space exploration thing.

Low Point

Since when did Vulcans threaten to kill people? This hostile and conspiratorial
tone for the Vulcans is way too out of place. Can we get back to canon for racial
behaviors?

The Scores

Originality: Not really that original for Sci-fi, but a new one for Star Trek.
3

Effects: There really weren’t too many to speak of, however the exterior shots
of the monastery were nice, as was the hidden Vulcan listening post. 4

Story: I like building up a conflict and a longer running story arc, just the
Vulcan seemed so, illogical. I also saw the ending coming a mile away. 3

Acting: Jeffery Combs, a Trek icon, is great as the Andorian leader. Hope to
see a lot more of him. Good turns from Bakula, and Blalock seems to be getting
the hang of T’Pol. 4

Emotional Response: Just the mere fact that the Andorians are back had my attention
throughout. If it was just another race-of-the-week I really wouldn’t have cared
about the outcome. 4

Production: The cave looked pretty good, as did the monastery I always feel
for production crews that have their nice artwork (the giant Vulcan face) blown
to bits. This one was much better than most of the episodes previously directed
by Roxann Dawson. 4

Overall: I’m giving this one high marks because it’s a step in the right direction.
Don’t blow this storyline guys!. 5

Total: 27 out of 42

Stills & Video

From StarTrek.com

The Andorian IncidentNext
week

"Breaking the Ice"
will air this Wednesday. Looks to be an action-oriented piece, with elements
of more Vulcan spying. We’ll see how far T’Pol’s loyalties go.

13 replies on “Enterprise: The Andorian Incident”

  1. WTF?
    This episode was… weird.
    I liked the beginning, but wtf is with the ending? They left me with more questions than answers!

    So the Vulcans are sneaky spying bastards now? What ever happened to logic? Or is there some (unknown to us) logical reason for all of this? What is going to happen when the Andorian raiders return to their homeworld with the data? Will this start a Vulcan-Andorian war? Will the Terrans somehow intervene (sp?) and is this how the Federation gets started?

    This episode was either written by a genious or an a$$hole. I honestly can’t tell… you tell me.

  2. The Vulcans
    I agree with the comments that the behaivor of the Vulcans were, to say the least, out of place with what we now know as the Vulcans.

    However, to say that they must completely toe the line and never deviate is too strict. I think this opens many interesting plot lines.

    For instance, how do the Vulcans explain this off to their primitive partners? What if it is a secretive militant faction of the Vulcans that have never let go of there emotions? Perhaps they really were Romulans, and the writers did not want to give up all the plot in one show. Who knows?

    I think that instead of the Vulcans being different than we expect the being a low point. Have an open mind about this tangent and see where they take us with it.

    I personally enjoyed this episode. Though my wife thought the Andorians looked very corny. I did not talk to her for days. :)

    Just my .0000001 cents

    • Re: The Vulcans
      The Vulcans may be off in a couple of details, but even in TOS, they were shown as having an air of superiority around them, so it’s not too much different. One thing that it seems to me that the writers may be doing is laying the groundwork for explaining why, of the five founding members of the Federation, Earth seems to be the dominant partner, even though it appears to be the least developed of the races shown so far (aside from the RL that it’s being shown on Earth ;). It could be that they’re establishing that humans, in the person of Captain Archer and crew, may not always be right, but they try to be fair, even to the detriment of their allies or themselves. A reputation of being honest brokers could result in Earth having a disproportionate influence upon the Federation.

      • Re: The Vulcans

        One thing that it seems to me that the writers may be doing is laying the groundwork for explaining why, of the five founding members of the Federation, Earth seems to be the dominant partner, even though it appears to be the least developed of the races shown so far (aside from the RL that it’s being shown on Earth ;). It could be that they’re establishing that humans, in the person of Captain Archer and crew, may not always be right, but they try to be fair, even to the detriment of their allies or themselves. A reputation of being honest brokers could result in Earth having a disproportionate influence upon the Federation.

        Interesting thought… I was thinking of something along those lines (the writers laying down the foundation to explain Earth’s part in the founding of the Federation), but I hadn’t considered the effect that Capt. Archer was the one to give the Andorians the scoop on what the Vulcans were doing would have.

        BTW, can you tell that I just figured out how to add color to comments? ;)

        I think this should be used on the names of the different races more often… I just can’t decide on which color should be used for Terrans.

        • Re: The Vulcans

          I just can’t decide on which color should be used for Terrans.

          How about Terrans or Terrans?

          As for the show itself, I thought this one was, on most measures, the best so far.

          I liked the way that the Andorian antenna expressed their emotional state. Forward and open when curious or confused, back and closed when angry. I liked the “ugly Human tourist” bit they were pulling just before they tackled the Andorian behind the panel. I was reminded of TOS by that tackle; they didn’t bother to get out, scan the place, and figure out what was going on. Tackle first, ask questions later.

          Some bad points, the candles and torches down in the reliquary were lit when the Andorians first got there, oops. And the cavern trek theme has unfortunatly been strengthened.

          However, I don’t understand the complaints about the Vulcans being out of character. Sometimes it is very logical to violate a treaty a little and do some spying. Like if one is afraid that someone is building up an army or something. Threatening to kill someone can be quite logical too, as can actually killing everyone that found out your secret. Pretty much anything can be made to be the logical course of action, given the right set of beliefs. All that and the existance of several factions of Vulcans, some less forthcomming and more protectionist, would be a welcome complication.

          Oh, and if I were the captian, I would be super relieved that someone finally thinks that the Enterprise is well armed.

          • Re: The Vulcans

            I just can’t decide on which color should be used for Terrans.

            How about Terrans or Terrans?

            I think I like Terrans better. Besides, the Andorian did call Capt. Archer pink-face. Then again, that would only work for white Terrans… what about the others?

            Maybe it should be a rainbow.

            Oh, and if I were the captian, I would be super relieved that someone finally thinks that the Enterprise is well armed.

            True. Must have been a huge ego boost. ;)

            PS: Are you that Kaki?

            • Re: The Vulcans

              Then again, that would only work for white Terrans… what about the others?

              Yeah, for that reason I like the tan better.

              Maybe it should be a rainbow.

              Ick, I get sick of typeing the font tags for a single word.

              PS: Are you that Kaki?

              Well, I’m not exactly sure what you mean. Not if you are refering to the Kaki that has some star trek slash. (Did a search to see what you might mean.) Not my preferred type of reading material.

              However, I do go by this name on a couple of other sites which you appear to have accounts on.

              • Re: The Vulcans

                Well, I’m not exactly sure what you mean. Not if you are refering to the Kaki that has some star trek slash. (Did a search to see what you might mean.) Not my preferred type of reading material.

                However, I do go by this name on a couple of other sites which you appear to have accounts on.

                Well… not exactly. I’m not into slash either.

                If you are who I think you are, then you’re on the Fuh-Q mailing list.

                • Re: The Vulcans

                  If you are who I think you are, then you’re on the Fuh-Q mailing list.

                  In that case, no, I’m not that Kaki. Sorry.

      • Well Said
        I would also like to point out that in TOS vulcans were usully shown as Arrogant.

        They have also at times been parinoid (Savak in The Undiscovered Country), (The T’pau in the the TOS episode where Spock had to duel for a wife).

        Also note that Tuvak (sp?) lied while he was in the Marquis (sp?)

        There is nothing new in this episode.

        I suspect what is going to happen is that earth Vulcan and Andor (plus some others) will be forced into a military alliance with Vulcan and Andor due to an invading fleet (Romulans are my best bet) the result of this will be the federation….If they want to take the UN stuff that far.

        As for earth being the dominate member…. maybe we breed faster then everyone else?

  3. Cavern Trek
    All in all I liked it, but as a previous writer commented…

    Catacombs, caves, and claustrophobic corridors oh my!

    I’m starting a betting pool that next episode someone gets caught/lost in an ice cave or crevasse.

    Scorecard:
    Broken Bow: underground spaceport
    Fight or Flight: dark claustrophobic ship
    Strange New World: cave
    Unexpected: claustrophobic crawlspaces
    Terra Nova: caves
    The Andorian Incident: Catacombs
    Breaking The Ice: … we’ll see… ?

  4. At Last…Progress!!!
    As Indie might have said, “Caves….why did it have to be caves?” Despite this, I have finally enjoyed an episode of Enterprise! This had absolutely the right feel of trying to get back to basics…ridiculous fisticuffs, cheesy backdrops (LOVE that Vulcan head, the only thing that would have been better would have been if they had found Vulcan cigarette butts or chewing gum wrappers behind it in the cave…), an alien race that had something besides a glob of latex attached to their nose/cheek/forehead, only four of them instead of the Starship Troopers that would have come with a bigger budget, the sardonic comments while getting beat up, the Gaze Into The Camera to denote seeing the vista of the Vulcan spy station, and a Startling Revelation About A Core Character – hmmm, you mean Vulcans sometimes don’t play nice? It is a shock to see them lying and threatening to kill, but that’s GREAT to know Enterprise can deliver a surprise (well, I saw it coming, too, but they tried…)!!! This stuff may be shocking to purists but it makes perfect sense. The Vulcans deliberately purged their emotions why? As repeatedly said thru all the Trek shows, because they were SO violent. About time we saw a little of their true nature…And Archer for the first time acted like a commanding presence instead of first among equal buddies having a great time in their new jalopy. “Doesn’t that thing take images? Give it to him!” The comment above about Earth as an honest broker is something I had never thought about but is a very good point. Neither Earth nor Trek can lead the way with just technology – highlighting those pesky human emotions of fair play and curiosity is all they really have to offer. Hopefully Enterprise will home in on this theme as they have done here. I’m betting on an ice cave next week, too, but that preview shot of guys walking on the comet while NX-01 soared overhead was BEAUTIFUL and right where this show should go. At last, something I haven’t felt about Trek for a long, long time… it might actually get BETTER!?!

    • Universal Translator??!??
      In this episode, everyone spoke english, even the vulcans to one another. Am I missing something?

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