ENT - Shuttlepod One

Plot – It’s another one of those early Enterprise episodes that capitalises on the ‘first men in space’ dangers – this time it is Tucker and Reed trapped on a shuttlepod believing that Enterprise has been destroyed and with only 10 days’ worth of breathable air. That’s a solid premise for some good, old fashioned Trek character work. Two men, confined, desperate and fearing death.

Character – Wow, listen to how much of a pompous prig Reed sounds in the teaser. He’s a stickler for discipline and order and likes to keep his mind alert with literature, even in possible downtime. He has very stiff ideals about South Americans, figuring all they like to read is comic books and science fiction novels. He’s a dreadful pessimist in the circumstances and even signs off his ‘this how we died’ recording with ‘may God have mercy on our souls.’ Seriously, did anybody actually warm to this character? The final message he sends to his ex-lover is so coldly worded (and loaded with insults) that his request for her to think of him after he has died is a very odd request.

In a wonderful moment of rage, Trip orders Reed to stop being such an alarmist and to get on with doing something useful to try and get them out of this predicament. For such an amiable man he can sure lose his temper when he wants to.

It feels like they are going for am early O’Brien/Bashir feel with this episode with the two characters grating on each other’s nerves but coming to realise they have some things in common before forming a bromance to last the ages. The only problem is that that was done so spectacularly well with O’Brien and Bashir that this feels like a pale imitation in comparison. Early Bashir was annoying but pretty likable all the same (because Siddig was so charming despite the writing) but early Reed (and late Reed come to think of it) is just really annoying (i.e. it’s less the writing and more the performance).

Performance – When the two of them are pissed as houses, finally some comedy emerges from this scenario. I think what might hold a lot of people back from enjoying this instalment is how deathly it all is for so long. Once Trineer and Montgomery can relax and act like a pair of jocks at a party things lighten up considerably, which makes for fun viewing especially since this is where the situation is at its most dire. Montgomery is especially funny because he has been so buttoned up and stiff until this point. You could almost point at this scene and the obsession over T’Pol’s bum and say that Star trek hasn’t moved on in years when it comes to sexual politics or you could say this is brilliantly deconstructing Trek’s blatant sexism from the 60s by exposing it quite so boldly and humorously. I would have loved it if Reed had turned out to be gay and was obsessing over, say, Mayweather’s bum. Now that would have been revolutionary.

Worst moment – Reed repeating the word stinky to T’Pol in a scene that is meant to be both sexy and funny, and achieves neither. Actually, it is really awkward to watch. Is it ever suggested again that Reed has a latent attraction to T’Pol because that’s an avenue I am very pleased that the writers never decided to go down.

Can you really patch up a hull breach with mashed potato?

I wish they hadn’t done that – Archer asks the question of who is in charge of engineering whilst Trip is away. Shouldn’t the Captain of a vessel know that in case there is an emergency, which there frequently is.

If this were an episode of Blakes’ 7 then the equation of two men on the shuttle and only one days’ worth oxygen left and salvation two days away the answer would be simple, especially if Avon was aboard. But Trek goes down the honourable route, which is far less exciting. I wish Tucker had decided to kill Reed and take his oxygen. I wouldn’t have held it against him.

A reason to watch this episode again – I only have two problems with Shuttlepod One, which is a pretty decent episode of the first season of Enterprise (for those in the know that is called a minor miracle). The first one is I can think of about 20 other combinations of characters on other Trek shows that I wish were stuck in this situation (TOS – Spock and McCoy, TNG – Picard and Wesley, DS9 – Odo and Quark, VOY – Janeway and Kim to name but a few) that would have driven more interesting character work. Reed is just too dreary a character to generate any excitement and so Trip suffers as a result, despite what we learn about them both. Secondly, the direction is nowhere near as tight or as dramatic as it needed to be to show how dangerous the situation really is. It feels like they are only in danger because the characters tell us they are without any visual markers or help. Despite all this I found this fairly enjoyable because of the simplicity of the premise, and the willingness to focus on character (which, as I keep repeating, is primarily what brings me to Star Trek). We do learn quite a bit about the characters, even if one of the two is fairly unmemorable. Trip benefits from being highlighted against Reed and Trineer comes across as more charming than ever as a result. If I were Trip I would have committed suicide before death came just to get away from Reed. The drunk scenes are a highlight. Shuttlepod One is barely above average as far as Trek goes but is way above average as far as Enterprise season one comes. Take from that what you will.

*** out of *****

Clue for tomorrow's episode: