Star Trek Enterprise: Civilization finally allows the crew of Enterprise to do what they are commissioned for. In the episode, the crew finds a planet with a vibrant but as yet unexplored civilization. But knowing how to navigate this civilization without disrupting them proves to be a challenge. This is the first episode that really gets at what the show has been hinting towards since the start.

If you want to know the chronology of the episodes I’ll be watching, I’ll be going down this list. If you notice I’ve missed an episode, let me know and I’ll correct it. And if you missed my first post about Star Trek, you can check that out right here.

You mighta put that on the top of the list

In the morning briefing on Enterprise, T’Pol goes through a few possibilities of where the ship might go next. There are a few natural but interesting locations they could get to with little trouble. During the briefing Captain Archer looks rather bored and is hoping for more. But finally Trip tells the Captain there is a Minshara class planet only four light years away. And it has 500 million life signs. A whole civilization. When Archer hears about this he looks at T’Pol and says, “You mighta put that on the top of the list.” T’Pol just nods her head in response.

While I suspect Trip is actually the one who had the idea to save the best for last, it also seems like T’Pol must have been in on it. While T’Pol is still strictly Vulcan, this is about as close to a practical joke as she gets and it feels like some humanity is rubbing off on her which is great to see.

The Akaali are discovered

The first challenge the crew has is figuring out where on this planet to land, if at all. A run of the scanners proves this civilization is not as advanced as humans or Vulcans. They don’t have advanced technology and they’re not spacefaring at all. Trip wants to go down there but T’Pol advises against it. She says it’s standard protocol to wait until a society develops warp drive before initiating first contact. If you’ve seen the movie First Contact, you know she’s right because this is exactly what the Vulcans did with humans.

Trip does point out those are Vulcan protocols, not human. T’Pol insists starfleet would be wise to adopt them. She wants the ship to collect data from orbit. Captain Archer has Hoshi zoom in on the city they are looking at until they can see one of the people’s faces. And, sure enough, these people look a lot like humans. Just with some ridges on their foreheads (in typical Star Trek fashion).

Hoshi listens in on the different dialects on the planet with real fascination. And she discovers the name of the species, Akaali.

There’s something strange on the planet

With a little makeup from Dr. Phloxx, an away crew is prepared. Hoshi is selected because she’d be able to help if the translator matrix malfunctions.

Before anyone else is selected, T’Pol notifies the Captain that there are nutrino emissions from the city on the eastern continent. Basically this is evidence of technology the Akaali shouldn’t possess. In other words, there are other aliens who already got there.

In addition to Hoshi, Trip, T’Pol and Captain Archer all head down to the planet. T’Pol has to cover her ears with her wig to blend in.

A thin cover story

On the planet it’s a vibrant preindustrial society with lots of activity, flourishing markets, and architecture. Almost immediately, Hoshi notices someone who seems suspicious as T’Pol secretly gathers readings.

Meanwhile, Trip and Archer break into a shop where the nutrino readings are strongest. Trip finds something in the back room. But the pair are not as good at crime as they need to be. A woman follows them in. Whatever is causing the readings to go off the chart is behind a magnetic barrier. And the woman sees some of the technology our crew has. She demands to know what they did to the door. Trip says they didn’t do anything.

Archer makes up a pretty thin cover story saying they are collectors picking up an antique. The woman is smart enough to know a real collector would have waited for the shop to open. The woman gives Archer a hint though when she says she’s been watching the shop for weeks and knows all about the, “evening deliveries.” And she says people are getting sick and dying because of what is going on in this shop.

Then T’Pol stuns the woman with her phaser pistol.

Captain Archer is not good at lying

Archer is a bit upset with T’Pol and asks her not to shoot anyone else while they are there. I mean, reasonable request but it made sense why T’Pol did that. They look at the papers the woman was carrying and figure out she’s an apothecary. Archer sends everyone else back to the shuttle. He tends to the woman and takes her home.

She wakes up and asks what he did to her. Archer says she just collapsed and again she catches him out in a lie. The she mentions someone named Garos. He’s the owner of the shop. Archer gets about as close to the truth as he can by telling the woman there is something strange going on in the shop and he’s there to figure it out. He says he’s an investigator from another city but he can’t tell her any more than that. She doesn’t question him any more but does want to know his name and he tells her it’s Jon.

Garos is also bad at lying

Back on Enterprise, Malcolm Reed says the energy field is close to impenetrable. But he can’t find anything under the shop. Trip figures it’s some kind of dampening field. Archer tells the others on the shuttle that Riann, the woman he was speaking with, mentioned people getting sick. Hoshi says she saw some of them. They had mottled skin and lesions. This was the case with the person who T’Pol and Hoshi saw when they first arrived.

Trip suggests taking one of them onto Enterprise to find out what is wrong with them. But T’Pol points out the fear of alien abduction caused a great deal of apprehension on Earth for centuries. She’s not wrong there. She advises talking to the shopkeeper.

They start by asking about the antique collection. Garos realizes they are not from that province. Archer pulls out his datapad and says, “Neither are you.” Garos’ DNA doesn’t match any on the planet.

Archer explains they are explorers from Earth. Archer wants to know what Garos is doing there. He says he is also an explorer. He says he came to the planet a couple of years ago and was quite taken with these people and decided to stay. None of it sounds believable. Archer then questions why he has an antimatter reactor in his basement. Garos swears there’s nothing nefarious about it and says it’s basically a fabricator device. When Archer asks him about people getting sick, Garos claims it’s a native virus that has nothing to do with him. Before they can grill him further, more customers enter and the crew leaves.

Poison in the water

Archer goes back to Riann with T’Pol. T’Pol takes some readings in the room. They press Riann for more information about the illness spreading. Riann’s brother has died to this illness which is why she’s so keen on stopping it. She has figured out a pattern that people first got sick closest to Garos’ shop and there have been suspicious deliveries.

T’Pol leaves to go finish her analysis. But Archer stays to try to find out what is happening.

On Enterprise Dr. Phloxx takes a look at T’Pol’s readings and is impressed with Riann’s findings. Basically, whatever Garos is doing has poisoned the ground water. Not a good situation to say the least.

Captain Archer gets romantic

While Archer is speaking with Riann, the translation matrix goes down for a brief moment. He doesn’t understand what she’s saying so he kisses her. I guess that’s one way to cover up. He then says someone was passing by so he did that as a distraction. The matrix kicks back in and it seems Riann is not upset by the kiss at all.

They do see one of the deliveries to Garos’ shop. Whoever these people are speak into a communicator in a language neither Archer nor Riann understand. After they leave, Riann and Archer go to check the crates but a ship comes down and beams up the aliens. Riann asks Archer if he’s ever seen anything like that and he finally admits he has.

Someone shoots at them and Archer goes off to find the culprit. There’s a fistfight and Archer subdues the guy. And he peels off a mask. This is definitely an alien blending in with the Akaali. Riann seems pretty freaked out by the whole thing and wants more answers from Archer.

He explains they are explorers. With a device Archer takes from the alien, he’s able to get into the room Garos is hiding. There’s tons of advanced technology there.

Enemies defeated

Turns out Garos is mining something to create explosives. The whole thing is what is poisoning everyone. Archer plans to have this technology transported onto Enterprise but he still has to deal with the dampening field. Archer has a choice between pushing a blue or yellow button to disable it. He chooses poorly. A heavily armed ship approaches.

Garos hails Enterprise and demands they leave or his ship will open fire. T’Pol demands to speak with Captain Archer. Garos says he’s dead and the ship fires on Enterprise. They are damaged but it’s nothing major. But a few more hits like it would be devastating.

Garos hails Archer. Archer tells Garos he’s contaminating the water supply but Garos doesn’t care. Garos also says he’ll let Archer leave with Riann if he drops the whole thing. Archer gives Riann his phase pistol and tells her to shoot anyone who comes through the doors.

T’Pol tells the bridge to prepare to leave orbit. Trip gets royally angry and tries to belay the order. I don’t know how many reviews in a row I am going to have to say this but T’Pol has earned the benefit of the doubt and no one gives it to her. She points out the order was to prepare to leave orbit and she has no intention of leaving the Captain, dead or alive.

Archer manages to disable the dampening field but the enemy ship attacks Enterprise again. Enterprise manages to get a lock on the reactor. And the aliens on the planet go after Archer and Riann, using phase pistols right in front of everyone. In the best move of the episode, T’Pol has the reactor transported to Enterprise then transported right in front of the enemy ship. Malcolm Reed then hits it with a torpedo and the reaction disables the enemy ship. Pretty damn smart if you ask me.

Archer and Riann do manage to escape the hostile aliens, and Garos. The Captain allows the aliens to leave.

Captain’s Star Log

Captain Archer summarizes the events of the episode in a star log dated July 31st, 2151. And he delivers an antidote to Riann for the sick people on the planet. The Vulcans are also tasked with occasionally looking in on the Akaali. Archer advises Riann to keep it all to herself. And Archer kisses her again. I’m not sure but I think this is the first in a storied history of Enterprise Captains hooking up with women on a planet they have just found.

Star Trek: Civilization in conclusion

This was a really good episode. It gives the crew a complex problem to navigate without obvious solutions. And it gets at early hints of the prime directive. It doesn’t quite get developed here but it at least is the beginnings of humans thinking about if they should contact civilizations more primitive than theirs.

The next episode is titled Fortunate Son. Watch for my review next week!