Enterprise - "Civilization"
One of the few pieces of background knowledge I had regarding Star Trek prior to pursuing this task was the Prime Directive - the order of non-interference with alien species so as not to impact the course their civilization may or may not take. In this episode, we learn that the directive is Vulcan in origin, as T'Pol states it as official Vulcan policy when the crew encounters a new M-Class planet that has not yet reached their own Industrial Revolution. I will say that this is one of the better episodes from the first season so far. It's got a nice balance of spacefight action combined with brawling on the ground, almost reminiscent of "Return of the Jedi". Furthermore, it has some romantic entanglements for Archer - a nice human touch. The first kiss he shares with the Alkaali native is to mask his malfunctioning translator, but the second one lingers and is real. At first when Archer rips the face off of the Malurian interloper on the Alkaali planet, the lizard-like skin reminded me of the Suliban, who haven't been heard from in some time. I was hoping it was development of that plot, but to no avail. I think that is the disappointment I am feeling - I was hoping that Enterprise would be a little more serialized, but so far the episodes have been one-offs. This isn't a bad thing, as I think there's a place for the self-contained story; I was just hoping to find a longer plot thread. Hopefully that will come.
