 |  | 
| |
|
|
Episode Title: “The Xindi” Plot Summary: At a Xindi council meeting, a humanoid argues that an Earth ship's presence in the Expanse could be coincidence while an insectoid insists that it must be a prelude to invasion. They agree to keep a close watch on Enterprise. Meanwhile, aboard the NX-01, Archer rants that despite their new command center they have gathered no useful data on the Xindi and need to start taking risks, even if it means following advice from a freighter captain of questionable character. As Sato gets to know the new military assault command officers in the mess, Tucker frets about gravitational anomalies in the cargo bays and his own nightmares about his sister's death in Florida. Phlox has recommended Vulcan neuropressure, but both Tucker and T'Pol are reluctant to try it. The planet to which the freighter captain has directed Archer has a massive trillium mine and a terribly polluted atmosphere. Archer and Reed visit the administrator, who breathes through an inhaler and shows them a finger from a Xindi prisoner...but he will exchange the prisoner only for liquid platinum, which Archer can obtain only by stripping it out of the coating of relays on Enterprise. When they return to the surface with the platinum, Archer and Tucker demand to see the Xindi miner, only to find themselves imprisoned by the administrator along with the alien. The Xindi promises to help them escape if they will provide a way off the planet, for all the miners are prisoners. Enterprise has its own problems, for several heavily-armed cargo vessels are approaching the planet and they cannot communicate with the away team on the surface. Reed wants to take down a rescue team but T'Pol agrees with Major Hayes that the MACOs should go down to the surface, keeping Reed's teams on the ship in case of boarding. While the military officers take another shuttlepod to the surface, Archer, Tucker and the Xindi prisoner crawl up an unused plasma conduit. As they climb the alien explains that there are five distinct species of Xindi, all in disagreement about which is dominant. The mining administrator discovers their flight and reroutes plasma through the shaft, forcing the three escapees to dive through a hatch surrounded on the inside by a security force. The Xindi claims that the Enterprise crewmembers abducted him. The MACO team drops in and rescues Archer and Tucker in a messy firefight. Archer threatens to leave the Xindi in the mine, but he promises to give them the co-ordinates of his homeworld. More shooting erupts in the fog on the surface and the Xindi is badly wounded but the Enterprise crewmembers escape unharmed. T'Pol orders the shuttlepods to dock simultaneously so the ship can go to maximum warp, fleeing the arriving "cargo vessels" which have turned out to be warships. The Xindi from the mine dies, but not before he dictates planetary co-ordinates to Phlox. Phlox persuades T'Pol to persuade Tucker to try Vulcan neuropressure, so she convinces him to give her a naked backrub, then to let her return the favour. At the Xindi co-ordinates, the crew finds only a debris field — a planet destroyed about 120 years previously, with the same refined metals and alloys used in the Xindi probe. Archer does not understand why the Xindi attacked Earth over the destruction of their planet 400 years in the future when apparently it hasn't existed for decades already. He orders the ship deeper into the Expanse despite the anomalies. Discovering their entry into the distortion field, the Xindi Council debates the fate of Enterprise once more, with the insectoid representative insisting that if their weapon is not completed quickly, the Earth ship will be destroyed with or without Council approval. Thanks to Trektoday.com Review: With Season 2 ending with a high-note, I was eagerly awaiting the Season 3 opener. Firstly, I’d like to say that I did enjoy the Xindi, but there were some moments that were very poor. The most disappointing aspect of the episode for me was the Xindi Insectoids. They weren’t realistic enough for me to believe that they were they, and weren’t just added in later. They are better than those seen in Andromeda, but the CGI needs to be worked on. Another downside of the episode was the T’Pol/Trip massage scene. I couldn’t help feeling that it had little relevance to the actual plot, and all it did was slow things down. What did I like about the episode? Quite a lot actually. The action sequence where the MACOs rescue Archer, Trip and the Xindi humanoid was enjoyable. Certainly much better than Andromeda. As for the Xindi themselves, I was impressed (forgetting about the poor CGI on the insects). They’re a change from the aliens we’re used to seeing. I hope that in future episodes, we will see more of them, and that the relationships between each species are explored. So, all things considered, this was an enjoyable season opener, but my main concern would be that the show seems to be becoming less and less like Star Trek. Grade: B+ Screencaps:
|
 |
 |
 |
