Enterprise Flashback: Cold Front

In late 1990s television, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine was one of the few shows blazing a trail for numerous ongoing storylines and plenty of multi-episode arcs. Meanwhile, The X-Files was charting a different course: sprinkling in the occasional "mythology" episode amidst a run of stand-alones. The latter model is what Star Trek: Enterprise adopted for its "Temporal Cold War" story. And its first revisit of this after the pilot episode was a mid-season installment, "Cold Front."

Suliban Cabal leader Silik goes undercover aboard the Enterprise, with an apparent mission to... prevent the ship's destruction? Still, he must be up to no good, asserts a strange new ally named Daniels, who claims to be from the future, fighting for the opposing faction in an elaborate temporal cold war. Archer must decide whether anyone can be trusted.

I feel like The X-Files wasn't just a model for Enterprise in a more sparing use of its overarcing storyline; The X-Files also feels like an inspiration for the notion that "none of this needs to be planned in advance, or make a lick of sense." This is only the second time we're checking in on this Temporal Cold War business, and the storytelling already seems to lack a steady hand at the wheel.

"Cold Front" is peppered with little details that are meant to tease. We see just how much the shadowy "Future Guy" controls the Suliban. We're told that Daniels is from 900 years in the future, and notably only "more or less" human. Daniels claims he's the good guy, yet it's Silik who saves Enterprise from destruction. Daniels gets hit once by weapons fire and basically explodes! We're left at the end of the episode with an ominous locked room, behind the door of which future episodes might spring at any moment.

Yet even with just two data points to pin up on our conspiracy wall -- "Broken Bow" and this -- it's already impossible to consider any of this story without seeming unhinged. Last time, Silik was charged with killing Archer; now his mission is to save his life. How does that make sense? T'Pol points out plot holes in the time travel that aren't actually explained away later. And how do you square any of this with the series' overall ambition to be a compelling prequel? By bringing in future timelines, the series seems to be admitting that being a prequel alone just isn't enough.

But suppose you really do find all this tantalizing, rather than annoying. It's still hard to reckon with the fact that all this material takes up barely half the episode. For some reason, "Cold Front" is also saddled with a story about encountering aliens on a religious pilgrimage to see a solar flare. And this is no minor B plot. Much is made of welcoming these aliens aboard Enterprise and giving them a tour, of Phlox exploring the tenets of their faith, Reed complaining (rightly) about whether they should be allowed into sensitive areas of the ship, Trip "warp-splaining" technology to them they already understand, and more.

And the thing is, all that B plot stuff is the more interesting part of the episode! Because John Billingsley is so strong in his role, Phlox's earnest interest in alien religion is oddly compelling. Because Hoshi Sato and Travis Mayweather have been so underserved as characters, a lengthy scene in which she puts him up to sitting in the captain's chair -- and he is then embarrassingly caught there -- is quite endearing. Give us more character-building scenes like these!

As always, the production values feel sky high. We get a big crowd of alien extras in full makeup. There are fun CG moments surrounding Silik's inhuman flexibility. There's big action, culminating in what amounts to a skydiving escape. It may not make any sense, but it looks great!

Other observations:

• Ultimately, Star Trek: Discovery would, in passing, tie back to all this Temporal Cold War stuff.

• Of all the things they do to make Silik seem villainous, somehow the thing that affects me the most is the way he calls Jonathan Archer "John." It's just so condescending -- and a great performance by actor John Fleck.

"Cold Front" seems to demonstrate that the writers already have no idea where any of this Temporal Cold War stuff is heading. It jams in two story lines, each one feeling like a distraction from the other. It's not an encouraging start for serialized storytelling on Enterprise. I give it a C+.

Prodigy: Cracked Mirror

Fresh on the heels of serving up tribbles, Star Trek: Prodigy delivered its take on another classic franchise concept -- the Mirror Universe.

The Protostar returns at last to a rendezvous with Voyager. But Voyager is trapped in a schism of reality, with different parts of the ship existing in different parallel universes. Crossing between realities, the Protostar crew tries to restore Voyager... and faces a big obstacle from the Mirror Universe.

I feel like this won't be a popular take among typical Star Trek fans -- but I am well and truly tired of the Mirror Universe. Yes, "Mirror, Mirror" was one of the best episodes of the original series. And Deep Space Nine's initial revisit there was a fun bit of fan service. But as the Mirror Universe continued to crop up on that series, then Enterprise, and then became the core of an entire season of Discovery? Well, sure, it could still be fun on occasion... but it sure felt tired a lot of the time. And yet, if Star Trek: Prodigy is to be Star Trek 101 for a new, young audience, I suppose you have to do the Mirror Universe at some point.

I do find Prodigy's take on it quite strange, though. Maybe the Prodigy writers are as tired of the Mirror Universe as I am, because they don't even devote a full 22 minutes to it. First, they offer up a spiritual sequel to the Voyager episode "Shattered" (albeit involving reality instead of time), a fact which Chakotay even acknowledges in the episode. I have no idea why they did this, except perhaps to bring back Okona one more time "just 'cause." (Or maybe it was to tease us with bringing back Tuvix?)

By giving half the episode's short run time over to other, non-Mirror universes, we admittedly don't have time to tire of what we get here. On the other hand, there's no time to bridge the gap between the state of the Mirror Universe the last time we saw it (chronologically) and now. The Terran Empire is somehow right back on top in a decade? Maybe the real message here from the Prodigy writers is that none of this should be taken too seriously (as the Discovery writers did?).

Or maybe "the message" is not to look for messages in a Mirror Universe episode. (I'm pretty sure there hasn't been one since the original "Mirror, Mirror.") What you're supposed to look for is actors hamming it up and having fun, as Robert Beltran and especially Kate Mulgrew do voicing the Mirror versions of Chakotay and Janeway. And even the whales are evil! That's just fun.

"Just fun." That's the overriding thing about this episode, in the moments I can manage to set all that other baggage aside. Since I thought "Cracked Mirror" was by no means "bad," I suppose I'll give it a B-. But I'm glad that by the end of it, the stage is set for the final act of the season -- the Protostar and Voyager are back together, and it's time to conclude the story.

Misunderstanding the Ass-ignment

This weekend, I went to see a movie, armed with some seriously flawed expectations about the content. Still, once I acclimated to what the movie actually was, rather than what I'd expected, I still enjoyed it.

My Old Ass is a comedy starring Aubrey Plaza as a woman who travels back in time to convince her teenage self not to make some life-altering mistakes. At least... that's the movie I was expecting.

In reality, the movie is actually rather wistful and bittersweet. Aubrey Plaza isn't actually in it very much. And it's not remotely as science fiction as the premise suggests. Really, My Old Ass is a rom-com / coming-of-age hybrid, with a few unusual trappings to distinguish it from the wide number of movies in those two categories.

Once you accept that this isn't going to be a "laugh out loud" kind of movie (you get maybe one or two such moments), you become open to the notion that this might be a movie with something to say. "Will they / won't they" dominates the story, but the final act actually swings in with a deeper message about what you might really tell your younger self if you somehow had the chance. 

The movie is written and directed by the up-and-coming Megan Park. This is only her second movie wearing both hats, but I get the feeling that we'll see more from her. Of course, this is movie-making at a level where every dollar of a modest budget has to wind up on screen, so there really aren't any big names in the cast. They spent the money to get Aubrey Plaza. Other than that? You might recognize the star Maisy Stella from the TV series Nashville, or her love interest Percy Hynes White from Wednesday. Still, the movie demonstrates that a rom-com doesn't have to be about two A-list stars you want to see together; it can be carried by believable chemistry between two actors with good dialogue.

I'd give My Old Ass a B. It's a brisk 90-minute watch, though perhaps better enjoyed when you're prepared for some of its more bittersweet elements. If it sounds interesting to you, you should check it out.

Prodigy: A Tribble Called Quest

Season two of Star Trek: Prodigy has been playing a lot of "the hits" -- we've had time travel shenanigans, cameo appearances, hologram hijinks, and more. Why not throw in some tribbles?

The Protostar crew is looking to collect a special compound to fuel their unique propulsion system, and they find it in abundance on a nearby planet. But that planet is infested with tribbles -- and not just "cute but threatening" garden variety tribbles. These have been genetically modified by a Klingon scientist looking to rid the Empire of its "greatest enemy," and they can now grow to gargantuan size... with deadly teeth.

Yes, this episode is pretty goofy. Still, I think it's actually less goofy than any of the other tribble stories Star Trek has served up before this. The Protostar crew faces a serious problem here, and these tribbles feel considerably more dangerous than usual. (If we hadn't already seen the Loom, I'd have said this might be as much menace as I'd expect this kids' show to depict.)

There's also a serious message at the heart of this too. Just as the best Star Trek episodes usually have some sort of moral at the heart of their stories, the best Prodigy episodes tend to center some key lesson about growing up. Here, it's that mistakes are part of living, and that you need to learn not to dwell on them.

All of the central characters of Prodigy are young adults, but Rok-Tahk usually feels like the most child-like of all. I think that can sometimes make her difficult to center in an episode story. This feels like the perfect story for her, though. Plenty of adults struggle with the stress of perfectionism, and I think children who deal with it feel the stress even more acutely. Sure, you have to shorthand things a lot to fit it into 22 minutes of television; nevertheless, the way Rok-Tahk beats herself up over her mistakes during "act two" of this story feels quite genuine.

The larger, ongoing narrative still progresses amid this clear "side adventure," though. Chakotay continues to be a mentor for the kids. Zero's injury, and the acknowledgement that it is unlikely to heal, is a reminder that their new body isn't going to last for long. And it looks like we've picked up a new character (of sorts) in the form of the ready-to-be-merchandise Bribble.

I'd give "A Tribble Called Quest" a B. Sure, it feels a bit like "filler," but it has something to say -- an impressive feat, given the (admittedly fun) pure silliness of your average tribble episode.

The Hunt Is... A Bit Off

As often as I gush about the quality of the shows on Apple TV+ (and yes, I do that often), not every show on there is amazing. I recently finished one that was much more average-at-best... but I think still worth talking about.

Manhunt is a 7-episode mini-series chronicling the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. Adapted largely from a book by historian James L. Swanson, the show follows the flight and pursuit of Lincoln's killer, John Wilkes Booth.

I was warned in advance by a friend that this series was a disappointment. And while that put me off it for a couple of months, I ultimately couldn't not watch it. This was covering a bit of history I found particularly interesting, and the show featured a number of actors I quite enjoy. In the end, those very elements are probably what makes Manhunt feel like more of a letdown that it would otherwise be -- there's the sense that some great potential is going unrealized here.

The story is fascinating, and that's what kept me watching through all 7 episodes even after I'd concluded, "there are many shows I watch (and should be watching) that are better than this." In hindsight, what I probably should have done was read Swanson's original book. But in either form, you're experiencing more of the history that doesn't feel as vital as in, say, a Wikipedia article. You see just how fraught the end of the Civil War really was. You see what a turning point Lincoln's death really was, for how sharply his successor Andrew Johnson turned the country in the wrong direction. You appreciate how wild it is that the lesser-regarded actor brother of a super-well-known actor became an assassin. (It would be like if Liam Hemsworth assassinated the current president or something.)

All of that still comes through... but as a TV series, Manhunt doesn't give it to you in the best way. The writing is pretty rough. Ham-handed dialogue very often gilds the lily. The degree to which said dialogue tries to be period accurate (versus lapsing into something that sounds more colloquially modern) is frustrating. And all of that dialogue is in service of an unnecessarily complicated narrative structure: each episode jumps around in time more than an episode of Lost (and without the same thematic resonance), with on-screen captions informing us that we're "24 Hours Before the Assassination" or "3 Years Before the Assassination" and so forth. The gymnastics don't feel like they amount to much to me.

But the actors sure try their best. Like I said, many of them are another reason I wanted to watch the series in the first place. Tobias Menzies has been great in Rome, The Crown, Game of Thrones, and more. But here he's finally in the lead role, as Secretary of War Edwin Stanton. Anthony Boyle, whose grounded performance and effective narration guided viewers through the compelling Masters of the Air, here twists his skills to play the depraved John Wilkes Booth. Perennial "that guy" Glenn Morshower (who 24 fans will certainly recognize) gives a great turn as Andrew Johnson. Patton Oswalt and Matt Walsh are cast wonderfully against their comedic personas in a pair of dramatic roles. Lovie Simone is part of the most emotional story arc of the series, as Mary Simms.

...but all of them are having to wrestle with that unpolished dialogue I mentioned, having to rise above the oddball non-linear narrative. They all give good performances that might otherwise have been great performances.

I'd say Manhunt still manages to reach something like a B- overall. But that's less than I would have hoped for -- and, like I said, less than a dozen other shows I could rattle off the top of my head without pausing for a breath. Still, if you're interested in the chapter of American history, there might be something here for you?

Prodigy: Last Flight of the Protostar, Part II

Picking back up with a two-part episode amid the second season of Star Trek: Prodigy -- this is "Last Flight of the Protostar, Part II."

The marooned Protostar has been repaired... but without critical fuel, it cannot reach space. The deuterium that the ship needs can be harvested from the intense storms on the planet, but this means Chakotay and the cadets must sail into the heart of the storm. Quite literally, in fact, as the Protostar sails along the planet's clouds like a boat on the ocean.

This is a really fun episode, with a clever premise that somehow hasn't been done before on Star Trek. Despite countless references to "old sailing vessels" throughout multiple Star Trek series, this is the first time we're seeing a starship used as one. And I'm glad the idea was left for Prodigy to present, as animation seems like the perfect medium for it. From the colorful backgrounds of the "calm seas" to the dangerous swirling maelstrom of the climax, every part of the voyage looks beautiful.

Not all the animation in the episode is top-notch, though. Prodigy has generally been good about capturing the likeness of the established Star Trek characters brought onto the show. Another such character makes a cameo appearance here... but Beverly Crusher looked so unlike Gates McFadden (at any age) that it undermined the moment. It seemed so "not right" to me that it even made me question the voice; I wound up checking the end credits to confirm that it was indeed McFadden voicing the character.

Which is a shame, because the content of the scene was wonderful. Having Crusher speak as a mother to give advice to Janeway was a brilliant way of connecting the characters. And the writers also wove a great connection to the final season of Star Trek: Picard, with Crusher hinting at the growing distance between her and Jean-Luc at this point in time. It's kind of wild how McFadden played this character for 7 seasons of Star Trek: The Next Generation, but only now in the 2020s is she getting her best-ever material to play. (It surely helps to have more women in the writers' room.)

I was also pleasantly surprised by the scenes between Chakotay and Dal. I really do find Dal to be the most annoying character on the show (though I think that's intentional), and so I'm often wary when a story focuses more on him. But Chakotay's mentorship of Dal is a good story for both characters, and I love that the lesson here was essentially that one can be valuable without necessarily being the "leader." (That's something Dal could really take to heart.)

Part II of this story was as good as part I -- and taken together, the real high point of the season so far. I give "Last Flight of the Protostar, Part II" a B+.

Body Positivity

When someone gives me a recommendation of some TV show that seems right up my alley, yet I've never even heard of it before -- chances are it's streaming on Netflix. No other service seems as skilled to me at hiding interesting content in a deep dark hole. The latest example of this was an 8-episode mini-series from last year that I heard about only in the last few months, Bodies.

Bodies begins with a brain-teasing hook: in multiple different time frames -- decades apart -- London cops discover an identical dead body. He appears to have been stripped and dumped, but there are no signs that he's been transported there. He appears to have been shot dead, but there's no bullet in the body and no sign of an exit wound. And as each detective in each time frame pursues their investigation, they find only ever more strange mysteries at play.

Assuming that you're hooked in by the bizarre premise, you're in for a wild ride. Over 8 episodes, Bodies undergoes a massive shift in tone and scale. That initial mystery is clear science fiction... though mixed with a healthy dose of CSI-style crime solving. But each episode becomes more overtly sci-fi. In short order, you come to feel like you're watching some spiritual successor to Lost, spooling out odd mysteries. But the science fiction keeps amplifying, and soon the show feels like it's inspired most directly by Dark (a tragically underseen German show, also buried in the depths of Netflix).

One advantage Bodies has over either of those inspirations is that it was only ever conceived to last 8 episodes. Any mystery it introduces does have an answer, and not one that will be withheld for long. But there are disadvantages too. Lost was operating on a second level apart from the "island mysteries," telling moving stories about the characters and quietly commenting on the human condition. Bodies is not remotely so profound; there are subplots involving each detective in each time frame, but their personal trials never seem drawn as sharply as the overall sci-fi elements. And Bodies isn't ultimately as clever, either; Dark does a much better job at crafting a labyrinthine puzzle that still holds together once you've seen all the pieces.

Still, it doesn't have to be a competition. After all, there's neither new Lost nor new Dark on your TV screen anymore, so if another show wants to come along and scratch that itch -- even if somewhat less effectively -- why not let it and enjoy yourself? There are numerous actors in the cast that will be unfamiliar to you, and you'll probably find at least one you want to look for in the future. There's a stylish production quality throughout -- no small feat for all the radically different time periods that must be portrayed.

I would give Bodies a B. Sure, there are things right now that better earn the mantle of "must watch TV." But it deserves to be watched more than I expect it will, deep in the Netflix basement.