Enterprise Flashback: Marauders

Seven Samurai, by Akira Kurosawa, is a massively influential film. It famously inspired The Magnificent Seven, a high star-powered remake, and countless other stories. If you bother to click on that pile of links to my older posts, you'll learn that none of those versions of the story resonated particularly well with me. So it will likely come as no surprise that I didn't think much of Enterprise's take on it, the episode "Marauders."

The Enterprise stops to refuel at a small mining colony, but finds them unwilling and unable to help. They soon learn this is because of the regular visits from a group of Klingons who have left the colonists barely able to survive. Archer sets out to teach the colony to stand up for itself and repel these marauders.

Even assuming that you like the Seven Samurai story structure more than I do, this episode undermines the structure in several ways that I think compromise its effectiveness. First, the "samurai" in this story actually need something from the "villagers." While it's true that Kirosawa's samurai are paid to help in the original story, Enterprise's need for fuel gives them a more personal stake in this story that mutes the nobility of helping a group of helpless strangers.

In Seven Samurai (and The Magnificent Seven), not all of the saviors survive; some end up dying to protect the villagers. But the seven main cast members of a Star Trek series all have script immunity, of course, once again undercutting the nobility inherent in the original story's structure. And they don't kill any Klingons, either, simply trapping them all in a ring of fire and telling them to "go on, git!" What in the prior 36 years of Klingon behavior suggests to the audience that this will be a sufficient deterrent? (As usual, T'Pol is right: this time when she says that likely killing the marauders is the only way to end the unjust situation.)

Most critically, the mining colonists don't ask for help. Archer observes the colony leader caving to the Klingons, and decides that he needs to teach them all to defend themselves. And sure, by the time all is said and done, it seems to be the right decision. (Though crucially, we'll never be there to see if the Klingons return someday when Enterprise is not around, and how that goes.) These "samurai" are not answering a plea for help, they're forcing their help on a group who hasn't asked for it.

But as usual, Enterprise has excellent production values going for it. (Indeed -- my greatest discovery on this re-watch of the series has been just how much things improved between Voyager and Enterprise.) This episode is filmed largely on location. (In a quarry, from the look of it.) There's elaborate camera work including the use of a crane. There are huge set pieces brought in to create the environment of the colony. Up in orbit, we get a cool new tanker ship design -- clearly Klingon, but clearly meant for hauling.

The climax feels a bit more "Home Alone" than combat, but the action is captured very well by director Mike Vejar. T'Pol's defense-heavy martial arts is well-conceived, we get plenty of phaser blasts to satisfy (although Malcolm Reed displays the accuracy of an Imperial stormtrooper), and that outdoor environment is maximized in the visuals.

Other observations:

• T'Pol's desert outfit is pure white. Where's the logic in that?

• The Klingons have transporters, and aren't at all reluctant to use them as Starfleet is.

• Seriously, though, what is Reed good at? He can't shoot straight, and he can't teach others to shoot straight either: Hoshi is shown to a better shooting instructor.

• It's not that I want them to kill the cute kid that hits it off with Trip. But it feels emblematic of the "Nerf toy" approach of this episode that he never even feels in serious jeopardy.

Sky high production values really do go a long way to making up for a weak script. But I still find "Marauders" to be a low C+ of an episode.