Shockwave rounds out Season One with a number of surprises. Probably the most significant being a sudden upturn in the quality of the writing. Fatigued with what must at times have seemed like an interminable search for new ideas, the show running team of Berman and Braga had definitely allowed things to slide during the last few episodes but all of a sudden...............
........the narrative is eventful, the writing is crisp and everyone has something to do. Additionally, it helps that we have two of our best guest actors: John Fleck as Sillik the Sulliban and Matt Winston as crewman Daniels. We also get an absolutely stunning glimpse of the 31st Century. I've complained more than once that, when viewing Star Trek Enterprise retrospectively, the twenty-year-old CGI can be distracting but whoever worked on that final scene did a bloody good job. It still takes my breath away.
This episode and its follow-up next season are at the heart of the so called "Temporal Cold War". I still struggle to understand what's going on but I'm afraid that's the way with time travel stories. Since it's an entirely fictional construct masquerading as a set of deeply philosophical conundrums, we really shouldn't try so hard. The only important question really is "is this stuff entertaining?" and in the case of Shockwave my answer is a resounding "yes!"
Personally, I rate this as one of the best Star Trek time travel stories throughout the entire canon but I still score every episode with a 5..
........the narrative is eventful, the writing is crisp and everyone has something to do. Additionally, it helps that we have two of our best guest actors: John Fleck as Sillik the Sulliban and Matt Winston as crewman Daniels. We also get an absolutely stunning glimpse of the 31st Century. I've complained more than once that, when viewing Star Trek Enterprise retrospectively, the twenty-year-old CGI can be distracting but whoever worked on that final scene did a bloody good job. It still takes my breath away.
This episode and its follow-up next season are at the heart of the so called "Temporal Cold War". I still struggle to understand what's going on but I'm afraid that's the way with time travel stories. Since it's an entirely fictional construct masquerading as a set of deeply philosophical conundrums, we really shouldn't try so hard. The only important question really is "is this stuff entertaining?" and in the case of Shockwave my answer is a resounding "yes!"
Personally, I rate this as one of the best Star Trek time travel stories throughout the entire canon but I still score every episode with a 5..