The crew of the NX-01 has been out in space for a couple of weeks now and are finding it a lot less glamorous than they expected. Their first contact is with alien animal life takes the form of a slug which, in breach of every known zoological protocol of the early 21st century (never mind the late 22nd), someone takes back aboard ship as a pet.
That's a shame because the rest of the episode isn't bad. We have a spooky, deserted ship where the away team discover a group of mysterious alien corpses, suspended from whatever passes for their ankles and being systematically exsanguinated by battery-operated gadgets of some kind. Yes, Hoshi, I think a scream was definitely justified.
Confrontations and misunderstandings arise as Captain Archer battles to convince other members of this race of Slurpees that he is not responsible and that his ship and crew need help against the actual Vampires who are currently attacking the Enterprise. Presumably in the hope of sampling a completely new flavour. The episode ends with another egregious piece of ecological rule breaking when Sluggo is dropped off on a completely different planet in the hope that he/she/it will have the right environment in which to survive*.
The script moves along well and has a few funny moments while the crew are beginning to meld together despite having a Vulcan aboard who's ill-concealed disdain "sucks all the air out of a room". Scott Bakula is effortlessly in charge notwithstanding his affable personality and this seems like a bunch of people I'm going to enjoy getting to know better. I'm still finding that the submarine-style ship's interior and workaday costumes don't have a very Star Trek feel to them and the computer-generated space ships look so unconvincing that I've had to go back to watching on a small screen. I think I'll continue with this series though.
* Without a doubt it's an evolutionary catastrophe in the making. This may be something that other Trek writers might like to re-visit if they are ever short of ideas.
Senior Trekker scores every episode with a 5.
That's a shame because the rest of the episode isn't bad. We have a spooky, deserted ship where the away team discover a group of mysterious alien corpses, suspended from whatever passes for their ankles and being systematically exsanguinated by battery-operated gadgets of some kind. Yes, Hoshi, I think a scream was definitely justified.
Confrontations and misunderstandings arise as Captain Archer battles to convince other members of this race of Slurpees that he is not responsible and that his ship and crew need help against the actual Vampires who are currently attacking the Enterprise. Presumably in the hope of sampling a completely new flavour. The episode ends with another egregious piece of ecological rule breaking when Sluggo is dropped off on a completely different planet in the hope that he/she/it will have the right environment in which to survive*.
The script moves along well and has a few funny moments while the crew are beginning to meld together despite having a Vulcan aboard who's ill-concealed disdain "sucks all the air out of a room". Scott Bakula is effortlessly in charge notwithstanding his affable personality and this seems like a bunch of people I'm going to enjoy getting to know better. I'm still finding that the submarine-style ship's interior and workaday costumes don't have a very Star Trek feel to them and the computer-generated space ships look so unconvincing that I've had to go back to watching on a small screen. I think I'll continue with this series though.
* Without a doubt it's an evolutionary catastrophe in the making. This may be something that other Trek writers might like to re-visit if they are ever short of ideas.
Senior Trekker scores every episode with a 5.