Plot – The most fun aspect of this bodysnatching episode is how the aliens aren’t evil, just spectators and how they manage to shift from body to body effortlessly and without the hosts knowing they have been taken over. It means from scene to scene we are watching different pairs of actors playing the aliens, which keeps things lively.
The conclusion the episode seems to draw is that the crew on Enterprise is more surprising and spontaneous than any of the other species the Observers have watched over 800 years. It’s waving a flag for this bunch, saying they have survived this long out in space because they are very good at what they do. Humans are stubborn and intuitive and intelligent. It’s a very optimistic outlook.
Character – Hooray for some character development for Ensign Hoshi, who we have to literally trap in a confined space in order to get some backstory out of her. The story of how she was kicked out of the Academy for running an illegal poker game offers some promise that there is more to her than meets the eye. Perhaps it should be revealed that she was doing the same thing on Enterprise all along, running a secret gambling ring, a slicing a profit right off the top. Trip thinks she’s a genius, how she can take a snippet of a language and adopt it to communicate. I really liked the observation that maths is just another language that she can crack and that when pushed she can override safety protocols.
Archer, with tears in his eyes, visiting Trip to let him know that as of yet they haven’t managed to find a cure. Scott Bakula plays the scene as though he is convinced that his friend is going to die, despite what he is saying. It’s surprisingly affecting for what isn’t said. ‘Right now Enterprise needs a Doctor more than it needs a Captain’ says Archer selflessly. They really started getting his character right in the final season, didn’t they? Archer trusts T’Pol to such an extent that he will hand Command to her without a second thought and he insists that she keeps hold of the Ship and doesn’t let any red tape bound Admiral take it away from her. It’s a surprisingly affecting scene where the camera lingers just long enough on Jolene Blalock to be affecting.
Performance – Dominic Keating plays the Observer with the same unbearable smugness that he does Reed, and yet somehow it is even more intensified.
Production – Alien beings at loose covertly on a Starship is just about the hokiest Trek stand in I can imagine and yet Mike Vejar directs this piece as though it has never been done before. Since this is a bottle show he gets the chance to explore the standing sets in quite a refreshing way, the camera swopping through the corridors and taking long, luxurious looks around decontamination, Phlox’s lab and the Bridge.
Best moment – The aliens choose to reside in the body of Mayweather. A decision that I am very grateful for since I haven’t seen him do anything particularly useful or memorable until this point. Okay, this may not be insight into the guy himself but at least it utilises Anthony Montgomery and at this stage I will take anything I can get. He plays the Observer with a zeal to learn about humanity, with a glint in his eye that is quite infectious. I’m starting to wonder that Montgomery has a fair amount to offer as an actor as long the writers give him something to do.
This is Enterprise directly having an impact on TOS, somewhere that the fourth season dared to venture quite a few times. I don’t pretend to know much about the Organians, just that this encounter with Archer means a shift in how they think about interfering with other species that would come in handy for Kirk in the future. Archer’s desire for the Organians to experience compassion as a way of understanding them more fully is not only a development of a TOS created race but a reasonable conclusion the episode as a whole. It ticks both boxes nicely.
Worst moment – ‘Someone always dies’ says one of the aliens at every available opportunity to try and ramp up the tension. ‘Someone always lies’ could be the tagline for the episode.
I wish they hadn’t done that – This is Star Trek after all. If one of your shipmates turns up and starts asking unusual questions then report him immediately to your commanding officer. There’s a good chance there is a non-corporeal lifeform in there rather than the fact that they might just be out of character.
A reason to watch this episode again – More interesting than it has any right to be given it is a bottle show featuring non-corporeal beings observing the Enterprise crew, Observer Effect shows how the fourth season is delivering the stock Star Trek stand-ins with much more panache than the first two seasons. Everyone gets a chance to play the witnessing aliens and the best performances don’t always come from those who you might expect (Anthony Montgomery was my favourite) and the script uses the fact that there are no guest stars to tell a reasonably engaging tale of alien interference. You’re not going to walk away from Observer Effect feeling as if you have watched a revolutionary episode of Star Trek, but I’m fairly certain you’ll be entertained and have learnt a little about the characters in the meantime. When to this show I can’t really ask for more than that. Mike Vejar deserves a medal for making such cliched ideas seem so fresh.
***1/2 out of *****
Clue for tomorrow's episode:
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