User Reviews

I had to rate this episode highly because we get to see the inception of phaser weapons from the Enterprise. A historical moment and the space battle with the threatening aliens is a lot of fun, as well as the crew pulling together to get the phasers online and even amplify them to be more powerful.

There are also some head scratchers and the first is the zero explanation of who the aliens are or what they want. They return three times and twice take shots at the enterprise enough to cripple it but not destroy it. Clearly the aliens possess superior firepower, why are they coming and going? What are they waiting for? Maybe we'll see them again or maybe they were just a plot device for getting the phasers up and running, but we could have used a bit more explanation.

The other head scratcher is why Hoshi, in the middle of a crisis situation, is prioritizing finding Malcolm's favorite food. The aliens are the by far the biggest threat yet to Enterprise and Hoshi is working hard to uncover that Malcolm likes pineapple. Maybe they could have saved that B plot for a different episode when Enterprise wasn't threatened with imminent destruction? It just seemed out of place.

I'm watching Enterprise in 2021 knowing it only lasted four seasons. I can see both the promise and the missteps of this series so far.

This episode seems like another common (if not cliché') not-so-nice alien encounter, with menacing looking ship that approaches, but does not wish to speak.

Archer delivers his typical upbeat (and naive) "Hey we're from earth, so wasssaaaaaap!"

The aliens leave the first time w/o incident, but they get trigger happy the second time, and Archer feels his ship is just not prepared to deal with the threats they have been encountering. All they have are fairly wimpy, non-photon torpedoes. The NX-01 left space dock without installing the 3 phase cannons it was supposed to have. As a matter of fact, they only have the parts to build one. Not good.

Actually, that is exactly what IS good about the episode. We get to see the birth of, and the first successful use of Phasers' on any ship called Enterprise.

I really enjoyed the enemy ship basically having their way with the NX- 01, including boarding the ship with impunity; but in the end a power surge during a preliminary test firing (that almost took out most of the ship) is routed into hull plating (early shields)and the phasers' knock out the enemies shields with the first blast. As they move off, Enterprise fires a rear torpedo and disables the enemy ship, forcing it to disengage and limp away.

With the ship now better armed, they continue on their journey, now with a bit more confidence. Great! This is what Star Trek (and life) is all about. Giving 110% to achieve your goals.

I think this episode was for the most part decent. The side plot with Lieutenant Reed was a bit silly but good for character development which is always necessary if a show is to become truly good in my opinion.

The 'silent enemy' plot was quite intriguing at first as they showed up twice and just seemed to be observing the Enterprise. Archer tried talking to them both times but received no response. The third time they showed up they basically beat up on the Enterprise quite easily and then boarded it. Apparently two crewmen were knocked out and were being scanned 'quite invasively' when they were interrupted by security teams.

Next we get the plot development of the vaunted Phase Cannons and they end up getting used in the final battle scene. The silly part referenced above by me has to do with why the aliens did not simply fire a few times to disable Enterprise instead of letting them fire the phase cannons not once but twice! Somewhat baffling to me. Overall a decent episode, though, and if one wants to pick at a show most of the time they will be able to do so!

Disappointed when this real good show was canceled and this episode demonstrated that they could, even in the first year, make some good TV. Although there is not enough of an explanation as to who is attacking the Enterprise in this, it did set up the realisation of how dangerous space and it's vastness was. When they decide to return to Earth because of a superior enemy, Trip pulls out the stops to improve the weapons on the ship and the crew pull together and eventually improve the ship's defences to such a level that a return home is unnecessary. Such a character driven show, and one that did the rare thing of creating a 'comfortable with each other' situation. The closing scene is warm and friendly and capped a brilliant episode.

Archer and the Enterprise crew are cruising through space when they have a few run-ins with an unidentified race of aliens that mean to give them trouble. Meanwhile Hoshi's given something to do, I guess?

This episode shows how over-matched the Enterprise can be in deep space without any aid from human, Vulcan, or any other friendly race. Some quick thinking by Reed & Trip saves the day but this should be a lesson to Archer to be a bit more cautious when approaching UFOs.

It was finally Reed's turn for a character development episode and, boy was I disappointed! I've been looking forward to his turn because he's slowly became one of my favorite crew members, behind Dr. Phlox & T'Pol, but this subplot was an eye-roller. Favorite food? Really? That's the best we can come up with? Half this episode is about Hoshi being either socially awkward or entirely unhelpful. All we really learn is that Reed is a bit of a recluse (which we already kind of knew) and he enjoys pineapple.

A very forgettable episode that does little to advance the plot.

I'm sorry but this is the one about the bloody pineapple: the sort of unforgettable piece of irrelevant trivia that you wish you hadn't bothered to give up your time to watch but then can't get out of your head afterwards. There was certainly justification for some of the criticisms of the first season of Enterprise and this fruit salad of an episode definitely takes the cake.

It appears as if someone literally picked up a basket of plot ideas and threw them against the wall to see which ones would stick. If I've got it right, this story involves a bunch of mysterious aliens who are following the Enterprise with unknown intent while the crew disobeys a recall to Earth for a weapons re-fit. Any potential hazard or urgency is undermined by the resources being expended on trying to discover Malcolm Reed's favourite food in time for his surprise birthday celebration.

A couple of the aliens do in fact manage to get onto the ship although I'm not sure what they are doing other than to serve to remind us just how awful television budget CGI was in 2001. That will teach us to complain about the usual "forehead of the week"!

One of the only good things about this episode was a cameo by British actress, Jane Carr, as Lieutenant Reed's mother. Instantly recognisable to all Babylon 5 followers, her distinctive presence is always a welcome relief. She is perfectly partnered with Guy Siner as Reed's incredibly stuffy Naval officer of a father. Since this actor has been so often associated with the Star Wars franchise, the two of them much have had plenty to talk about when the cameras stopped rolling.

How does the potential for conflict with this new alien race get resolved? Oh no, that's right! It doesn't. Everyone is so pleased to have upgraded the ship themselves and got one over on the Vulcans (to say nothing of the pineapple) that it just fades into the background by the end of the episode.