monkee reviews 'Regeneration'
First Impressions: 'Impressed' is the word. I'm impressed that they (mostly) managed to pull this off! And they did it in one tight, suspenseful, well-acted hour, too.
Timeless Teaser: Figures concealed in parkas explore starship wreckage on windy, frozen terrain, and discover something...well, chilling. It worked on Voyager's 'Timeless,' and it works here. Even spoilers and promos can't completely take away the impact of a frozen Borg corpse on Earth, centuries before they should be there.
Fear and Loathing in the Arctic Circle: No Enterprise regulars appear in the first act at all. Instead, we watch a group of 22nd century researchers try to unlock this mystery. They know the Vulcans have developed impressive prosthetic devices, but nothing like the ones they find here, and they know Denobulans have experimented with nanoprobes, but they're nothing like the nanoprobes that are in the process of restoring the corpses. They don't recognize the alloys in the wreckage, but carbon dating reveals that it is about a hundred years old. (Viewer Alert! That's the time of 'First Contact.') Because we already know what the researchers don't, this was an excruciatingly suspenseful sequence. We KNOW tubules are gonna pop out and nail someone, we just don't know when! Shouting futile warnings at the television screen ensues. I loved the tension, and the look at 22nd century humans back on Earth. I liked their rapport, and came to care enough about them to regret their inevitable assimilation.
Meanwhile, Back on Enterprise: The restored corpses and the newly-assimilated drones steal the Arctic transport and immediately begin adapting it to their needs, using parts from the wreckage. They add weapons and a cutting beam, and increase the ship's top speed in a matter of days. Coincidentally enough (monkee rolls her eyes, but tolerantly), their heading takes them right into Enterprise's path, and Archer and company intercept them just as they are assimilating a Tarkalean freighter. Because the transport hasn't been fully assimilated, Enterprise is able to stop the attack, but the Borg get away. Phlox slows the assimilation of the only two Tarkaleans Enterprise recovers, and although Enterprise takes some precautions, they end up underestimating the strange cybernetic beings as well. This made sense how could Archer and company possibly know what they're capable of? Phlox is infected, and the two Tarkalean drones begin sabotaging the ship before Archer is forced to space them.
Hero Worship: Zefram Cochrane is one of my all-time favorite Trek characters, so I always appreciate a glimpse of his life. Here, we learn that in a commencement address at Princeton, about ten years after 'First Contact,' Cochrane told a story about cybernetic creatures who tried to stop his first warp flight, and the group of humans from the future who stopped them. No one believed him, and he later recanted (probably because Lily Sloane kicked his butt!), but now Archer has to wonder. And so do we. What could he possibly be thinking, talking about all that?! I got the impression, after First Contact, that Cochrane would be on the straight and narrow from then on, and not drinking quite so much. Still, who knows what set him off. Maybe it's kind of nice to know that he was still a little eccentric and unpredictable.
The Agony of Assimilation: The Borg nanoprobes have some trouble with Phlox's Denobulan immune system, so his assimilation happens in slow motion, over the course of hours instead of seconds or minutes. It's horrific to watch. Billingsley is unbelievably good, using facial expressions, stilted speech and unnatural movements to show his anguish, and his determination not to 'become one of those cybernetic creatures.' He is ultimately able to stop the nanoprobes with omicron radiation. It's a messy, unpleasant solution, but wouldn't you think this 'cure' would at least have been considered in the TNG/VOY future?
Supportive Friendship: My favorite scene in this episode was the one between Phlox and Hoshi in sickbay. He's hurting, scared and anguished, and she reaches out to him a nice continuation of their friendship from earlier episodes. And because he's her friend, he has to send her away, although he does, warily, let her stay for a little while. Sweet.
We are the...Oops, cant tell you that! Archer pursues the arctic transport, and still hopes to rescue the humans and Tarkaleans who have been 'abducted.' But the Borg modifications to Enterprise are activated, and the Borg attack. First, they relay their standard greeting, "You will be assimilated. Resistance is futile." All very well and good, and yes, it's still chilling...except that's NOT the standard greeting, which is always proceeded by, "We are the Borg."
Yo, PTB. Come, now. You aren't going to preserve Trek continuity by simply not identifying all these species 'officially!' I let it slide with the Ferengi, but let's not make it a habit, okay? More on Borg continuity later.
Tromping Around on a Borg Ship: Archer and Reed beam over to the assimilated transport (and it's funny to see that even under the circumstances, the transporter makes them a little nervous). Here's where the episode loses some momentum for me, because while I can understand why the assimilated ship could be vulnerable to 22nd century technology, I can't see why the drones themselves should be. A nanoprobe is a nanoprobe, yet Reed manages to modify his wimpy, little phase pistols to get past the Borg personal shielding a whopping FIVE times before they adapt! How is it that Worf and Tuvok, fine 24th century security officers, couldn't do half as well? It not only annoyed me, it also took away some of the episode's suspense. The Borg should have been at least as scary as they were in TNG's 'Q-Who' throughout the whole episode.
While on the Borg ship, Archer ascertains that the human researchers are beyond saving; they aren't even scanning as human anymore. This doesn't make it any easier for him to order the ship's destruction once he and Reed are back on Enterprise.
Borg Drones, Phone Home: Phlox recovers, and tells Archer that he was connected to some kind of Borg group consciousness when he was infected. He 'heard' them transmitting a numerical sequence, repeatedly. The sequence turns out to be the coordinates of Earth and the destination of the transmission? Someplace deep in the delta quadrant. T'Pol points out that they've at least bought some time, because the transmission won't be received for another two hundred years.
Collective, Schmollective: What I wonder about is why they even had to transmit a message. Aren't they connected to the Borg collective? And if they aren't, after all this time, what are they, exactly? A mini-collective, like we saw in Voyager's 'Unity' or 'Survival Instinct?' And if they're merely a mini-collective, then why isn't their individuality surfacing, as it did with the drones in those episodes? For now, I'm just going to assume there's an explanation I'm not grasping, and move on to the temporal confusion.
The Chicken or the Egg: Here's my interpretation of what's going on here, temporally. In the 24th century, the Borg assimilate a human family, the Hansens. They find them no more or less interesting than any other species they've assimilated. Several years later, Q introduces the rest of humanity, via Picard, to the Borg prematurely, to prove a point. At about this same time, the Borg receive a transmission from two hundred years earlier, and decide these humans might be worth looking into (especially if they're able to ascertain that a Borg time-traveling ship was involved). They try to facilitate the assimilation of humanity by turning Picard into Locutus, but we all know how well that works out for them. Picard remains a thorn in their side for years to come, especially after the Hugh incident, and eventually they get annoyed enough to send a sphere back to Earth's past to prevent First Contact. That doesn't work out much better for them, except that it's the remains of that ship that initiate the events in Archer's time. (As an aside, I'm going to point out that it looked to me like Picard's Enterprise had pretty much vaporized the 'First Contact' sphere. I'm just saying...) What we have here is one of those temporal causality loops that give Janeway such a headache.
Time is the Fire in Which Continuity Burns...I don't understand why Picard's timeline isn't the least bit familiar with the Borg. Just because the events that set everything into motion haven't happened yet doesn't mean they shouldn't still be on file in a big way. They occurred, for a fact, in the past. Cochrane's Princeton speech is part of the historical record, and Archer's log and the arctic research teams findings should be too. It's going to take some creative storytelling to explain this to my satisfaction. Maybe something will happen to the records during the course of this temporal cold war. It had better be something like that, though, because...
How to Permanently Alienate a Trek Fan: If this series ends with Archer in the shower before the mission begins, I'm going to be one angry monkee. I mean it!
Or maybe the whole thing will have happened in Porthos' head, as he stares thoughtfully at his starship chew toy...
No. Now that's just silly. I hope.
Loose Ends: We could see more of the Borg on Enterprise, although I think I'd rather not. The Tarkalean drones that Archer spaced will be nicely preserved in the vacuum of space. Some drones may have survived the destruction of the assimilated transport, too. And there's a temporal cold war going on heaven help Archer if the Borg become one of the factions, if they aren't already. We don't want to overlook how badly JANEWAY has ticked them off they may have STARTED the temporal cold war because of her!
Character Interactions: The character work in this episode was outstanding. The camaraderie among the research team got me to care about their fate. Phlox's anguish and Sato's compassion were beautifully played, and I enjoyed Archer and T'Pol's scenes, too, in which they discussed his options, or lack thereof. Even the smaller, wordless moments added a spark to the show Sato and Mayweather's exchanged glance on the bridge when Archer declared the research team lost speaks volumes.
'shipper Watch: Nothing overt, but T'Pol was nicely supportive of her Captain, and seemed to understand what he was going through.
Archer Watch: I loved Archer this week! He really was trying to be mindful of the need for security with the assimilated Tarkaleans he just had no way of knowing how dangerous they could be. He did all that he could to preserve life, but knew when he had to make a tough call and take life instead. He anguished over these decisions he clearly loathed having to space the Tarkalean drones. And he wanted so badly to believe he could help the drones on the transport you had to feel for him when he found that he couldn't. This was an excellent outing for Archer.
Oh, and he was clever to remember that odd speech of Cochrane's and put two and two together.
Best Lines:
"We don't know anything about this species, or what they were doing here a hundred years ago." (Moninger, to Drake)
"There's no reason to assume they're hostile." (Drake, to Moninger. Hahahahaha! Famous last words...)
"Cybernetic corpses, digging through remains in the middle of the night...why would I be jumpy?" (Rooney, to Drake)
"Feeling better?" (Moninger, to apparently dead drone)
"If I've told you once, I've told you a million times DON'T PROVOKE THE BORG!" (Q, to his son. But they're words we could all live by...)
"You had no choice." (T'Pol, to Archer, after he spaces two Tarkalean drones)
"Why are you wearing a phase pistol?" (Phlox, to Sato)
"Oh, it's Lieutenant Reed's idea. If you come near me, I'm supposed to shoot you." (Sato, to Phlox)
"I hope you'll use the stun setting." (Phlox, to Sato)
"You've looked after me more times than I can count. I want to return the favor." (Sato, to Phlox. Awwww!)
"I underestimated these nanoprobes once. I don't intend to make the same mistake twice." (Phlox, to Sato)
"I want to take these people home the humans and the Tarkaleans no matter what state they're in." (Archer, to T'Pol)
"There isn't anyone on that ship we can help anymore." (Archer, to T'Pol)
"They were transmitting a numerical sequence. I heard it over and over again." (Phlox, to Archer)
"It seems to me we've only postponed the invasion until what the twenty-fourth century?" (Archer, to T'Pol)
Rating: 9/10, and kudos for the clever maintenance (mostly - I think) of continuity.
Next Week: Oh, joy. T'Pol is in HEAT! Sigh. Well, we were overdue for a ludicrous sex episode. Maybe it won't be as bad as it looks (she said, optimistically.) Actually, there are two new episodes, back to back. The first one, 'First Flight,' with Keith Carradine as the man who was supposed to command Enterprise, looks very interesting.
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