Episode Review - Cold Front
Reviewed by Andy Taylor

Synopsis
The Enterprise is navigated into a stellar nursery full of various coloured gases and protostars, in the hope that the crew can encounter new alien cultures onboard the various ships inside. They make contact with a group of pilgrims who wish to watch the ‘Great Plume of Agosoria,’ a protostar that lets off a burst of energy every 11 years. Archer stays with the ship and offers the pilgrimage the chance to view the energy burst from the Enterprise’s mess hall windows, as well as being able to have a meal before the protostar emits its burst. Good relations are developed between all – Phlox wishes to spend more time with the aliens, including a night aboard their ship as he is as intrigued at spending time with them as he was previously with humans. It all ultimately culminates in Trip giving the aliens a tour of his engineering section, offering insight on the warp engines among other things. However, unbeknownst to him and the rest of the group, a man slaps something on the bulkhead, as well as opening a panel and disconnecting a limb to switch it off within – it becomes apparent that he is a Suliban. However, as soon as the saboteur returns to the group, the ship is rocked by a plasma storm, and is hit several times by a plasma burst after being unable to steer clear. This starts an antimatter cascade that travels towards the warp reactor. Normally this would destroy the ship, however the cascade stops short at the console that the Suliban tampered with just before.

After the pilgrims return to their ship, Trip tells Archer of the separated conduit that saved the ship from destruction – however, what is odd is that no one is taking responsibility for it. Later, Archer is then approached by Crewman Daniels, the man who brought Archer his breakfast that morning. Daniels then decides to reveal that he is not really a member of Starfleet, but an officer from over 900 years in the future. He takes Archer to his quarters where he reveals a futuristic device. He presses a button and a complex holographic ‘temporal observatory’ appears. Daniels then claims that he was sent to try and stop the Suliban – actually Silik who Archer fought on his first mission – from changing history. However, he needs some of the Enterprise’s power and equipment to allow his futuristic tracking technology to work. Archer discusses this with Trip and T’Pol, both stunned and sceptical respectively, and decide that if it is possible that a ‘Temporal Cold War’ exists, they should allow Daniels the access he requires. Trip and T’Pol help Daniels to set up his equipment in Engineering, but neither are prepared for the amazing technology that Daniels uses to allow him to walk through walls.

Meanwhile, Archer tries to find Silik who is among the pilgrims that have returned to the Enterprise Mess Hall so that they can watch the approaching ‘Plume of Agosoria.’ When Archer returns to his quarters, however, Silik lying in wait, ambushes him. Silik insists that someone else is trying to alter history and claims to be there to stop whomever it might be. He is there, as he needs Archer’s help in identifying the unknown officer who is altering time, and reveals that it was he who altered the conduit that then saved the Enterprise. Archer says that he has no idea of the person that Silik is referring to, however accidentally T’Pol announces over the com that the modifications that Daniels was making in Engineering are complete. With this information, Silik stuns Archer. As he waits for Archer to arrive, Daniels’ tracking device alerts him to Silik’s presence in Engineering. He tells Trip and T’Pol to leave at once so that they can fetch reinforcements to stop Silik. As the two leave, they watch as Silik murders Daniels, and then use his camouflaging ability to hide himself. Phlox manages to wake Archer, who then orders every hatch and door to be sealed so that Silik cannot escape from the Enterprise. To confirm his suspicions, Archer takes T’Pol to Daniels’ quarters and finds that the device he used to create the holographic timeline display has been taken, and conjectures that it must have been Silik’s mission to steal it in the first place.

Sato then detects Silik when he tries to bypass the lockout codes in Launch Bay One. Trip gives Archer Daniels’ device that allowed him to travel through walls in order to help him, which Archer is then able to use to walk through a bulkhead and catch Silik by surprise. However, both men are then thrown about as the Enterprise experiences heavy turbulence generated from the plasma burst coming from the enthused  ‘Plume of Agosoria.’ Silik uses the distraction as a way to escape. However, Archer, rather than let him escape with Daniels’ holographic device, decides to shoot it out of Silik’s hand. Seeing that it is destroyed, Silik camouflages himself again and manages to open the Launch Bay doors. Archer manages to hold onto a handrail as the Bay decompresses, and watches as Silik moves towards the edge of the opening and jumps out of the ship. Archer then climbs and manages to repressurise the Bay, allowing him to breath again. T’Pol asks whether they should follow Silik, but Archer decides to allow him to escape – after all, he did not manage to obtain what he originally wanted.

Before Archer finally gets down to getting some sleep, Archer orders that Daniels’ quarters be sealed off for the foreseeable future as a way of making sure that any futuristic and powerful technology will be allowed to remain within the room…

Summary
…And what a way to end the episode, especially with that music – very eerie, and it especially worked well with the very sci-fi aspects of this particular show – the temporal cold war, huge, weird temporal holographic images, camouflage, protostars and the rest, this really did have a lot for the audience to sink their teeth into – much more than the bland ‘Fortunate Son.’

This episode seemed very high-concept orientated, and I liked that the temporal cold war ever so briefly mentioned in the pilot episode was brought up again here in more detail. This is a plot that is likely to develop over time, especially if the rumours about the season finale being based on the cold war are true. We still don’t know much of what’s going on, though there was reference to some form of a Temporal Prime Directive – perhaps a respective nod at Voyager more so than a continuity one. Of course, what we did know was that it was Silik (the guy with the cool, spooky warbled room in ‘Broken Bow) versus Daniels and then Archer, which certainly made some interesting television.

The episode also gave us a share of the futuristic technology that we’d be having rubbed in our faces week in week out if the show’s premise had gone down the rumoured 29th century road instead of the prequel avenue it eventually took. Crewman Daniels’ holographic display certainly had me amazed, and certainly looked out of place on a starship set 150 years in the future. Then there is the concept of the Suliban – I just like how they can morph into other shapes and colours, shapeshifting being one of my favourite sci-fi type things. The walking-through-walls device was interesting, to say the least, even if that was only a plot device, and one possibly not thought out properly – why wasn’t anyone falling through the floors? Well I thought it was entirely possible at least…

One thing that I liked was the small B-plot, or ‘Phlox’s ever-growing curiosity about everything – part 39’ – I liked how Phlox seems willing to do everything, making him both an interesting observer character, if not the fully fledged Spock/Data/Odo/Seven/Doctor/T’Pol character of the Enterprise cast. Well, I suppose he doesn’t pick up his odd sickbay full of magical alien tricks from nowhere… The captain of the alien vessel also humoured me. He always appeared bored or agitated to some degree, which was nice and fun to see – who says that space is exciting all the time?

Character development was put on hold this week to allow the plot to develop instead – personally I thought this was a great choice. Not only will it allow bigger, more interesting episodes in the future, but it is something that needs to be done to a) freshen up the episodic nature of Enterprise so that it’s not the same week in week out, which of course leads to b) keeping a lot of Star Trek fans happy (DS9 fans, in particular me, loved the arcs – very big, very bold, very good. Surely a bit of that in Enterprise must be good?) In fact something I liked was Trip’s offhand comment about when he was on the Xyrillian ship in ‘Unexpected’ (would have been great if he’d have mentioned the episode’s name as well) he saw advanced holographic technology that could easily have created anything that Daniels showed to Archer. That point told me that this mission the crew are on to explore worlds is a progressive, rather than random thing – the crew actually remembers what happened to them a few weeks ago, which is great!

Perhaps one problem with the episode was the fact that they could have ended the temporal cold war malarkey by capturing Silik. OK, that would kill any future plots and reduce the episode to ‘everyone lives happily ever after’ (which would have been a bad way to end, especially compared to what aired – see earlier comments), but the fact that T’Pol is asking to pursue Silik when he escapes suggests that they could have captured him quite easily. So why didn’t they do it? Well, to be honest that’s just a small thing, and it’s the small things that seem to pester people the most.

Of course, how ashamed would this Porthos lover be without mentioning the brilliant (ahem) duties he performed at, well, barking – perhaps he was just making up for the episodes he missed? Though he loves his master – seeing him unconscious scared him, and it shows the meaningful relationship between a man and his dog, reflected in similar relationships between father and son, like Ben and Jake Sisko… What the hell am I on about? Forget the mushy stuff, I just love the dog, and he deserves a place on the cast photo next season (they keep photographing Eddie from ‘Frasier,’ why not Porthos? Is it the name? )



Final Opinion
High concept, high entertainment

Rating: 8.5/10