[ENT] "Vanishing Point"
Gisele La Roche
Story by: Rick Berman & Brannon Braga
Teleplay by: Rick Berman & Brannon Braga
Directed by: David Straiton
Brief Synopsis:
After being transported during a storm, Hoshi believes that something is not
quite right with her. She visits Dr. Phlox who reassures her that nothing
is wrong. She begins to notice that her reflection in the mirror in her
quarters seems to disappear. In the shower, water passes through her hand.
Later, in the gym, her hand goes through the controls and she is unable to
leave. Archer and crew believe that she has disappeared as they can't find
her and Dr. Phlox explains that her molecules have been disintegrating.
Meanwhile, Hoshi discovers two aliens placing bombs on the ship. She tries
to follow them on their transporter pad and instead rematerializes on
Enterprise. She is told that she has just now returned from the planet and
that she was trapped in the pattern buffer for 8.3 seconds and that all that
happened to her was a hallucination.
Review:
It certainly has been an interesting week for me. First my computer was
infected with the Klez worm. Second, I was in an unending mailing list
discussion. The debate was about Enterprise and how I feel that the writers
have not repeated the mistakes of Voyager on the show. There is continuity
within the series, there are arcs and continuing storylines, there is
character development and the show is aimed at an older audience. So far so
good. But I also mentioned that there is no reset button and well, that's
not the case is it? At the end of this episode everything is erased with
little advancement to the characters or storyline.
While last week's episode was a rehash of many Trek episodes involving the
"crew behaving oddly" at least it was interesting to watch. This week's
show is a remake of some of the elements of TNG's "The Next Phase" and is,
to be honest, a yawn. At least in TNG's episode there was some tension as
what was going on was real whereas in this episode, it ends up being all a
dream. With the way things happen in the episode it's not far fetched to
believe that it is from the get go. T'Pol seems to know too much about the
ruins. Archer coldly dismisses Hoshi to her quarters. Crewman Baird
deciphers the language of the aliens easily whereas Hoshi couldn't. It all
seems a little too unreal and of course we find out it is.
It's a pity they picked Hoshi for this episode. Just as she was finally
getting over being afraid of being on a starship, now we see her fearing the
dreaded transporter. Must she always be the one who is wimpy? Still she
does remain cool-headed throughout her ordeal.
I think the story isn't all that bad but it would have been far more
interesting to use someone who would have been less likely to be afraid of
transporters. T'Pol, Archer or even Trip would have added a tad more
suspense as we wouldn't have been so ready to believe they were freaking
out, so to speak. It would have added something to the story to see them
asking themselves what was going on; to see them questioning the reality of
their situation. Sato was too ready to accept her condition and as such
most of the story revolved around her confirming her fears. There was no
interesting conflict here; nothing for the character or the viewer to really
grapple with.
It reminds me of an episode of TNG's Barclay and how he was at odds with
being transported in TNG's "Realm of Fear". He saw something in the
transporter beam but thought he was hallucinating. His fears were
interesting as we, the viewers, knew there was something going on. It was
real. Here we know something is wrong but it doesn't ring true enough. If
this had been the first time we see this type of episode, I'd have said it
was a very good one. But having seen this storyline before, it was way too
predictable. In TNG's "The Next Phase", Ro Laren accepts her fate but
Geordi doesn't. This questioning of their predicament is what adds tension
to the story. Moreover, the alien threat (the Romulans) was real and added
to the suspense.
Of course it fits in with Hoshi's character to have fears but at the end of
the episode she states she would much prefer using shuttlepods so there is
no advancement to her character as such. It would be so much more
interesting if they focused on her linguistic capabilities and gave us some
interesting episode about communication a la TNG's "Darmok". Still, we do
see her being courageous nonetheless as she is willing to go on the aliens
transporter pad to save the ship and so there is "some" character growth.
One thing I found humerous was the use of the "Morse Code". I know it's
been used before in Trek in "Star Trek: The Final Frontier" and it was
funny there but here it just seems silly.
I liked the music in this episode but it didn't really work well. The
tension just wasn't there. The aliens placing bombs on the ship just didn't
add any suspense, at least not enough to go with the music.
Other than that, I liked Linda Park's (Hoshi) performance. She did a good
job. Also, it was nice to see Keone Young again as Hoshi's father. He
played Buck Bokai in DS9's "If Wishes Were Horses".
I give this one a C-.
Gisele La Roche
gisele...@yahoo.com
For previous reviews go to:
http://www.voyagersdelights.com/enterprise_episode_reviews.htm or
http://www.starfleetcom.net/episodes.htm
Go sign the "Make a DS9 Movie" petition at:
http://www.petitiononline.com/mod_perl/signed.cgi?ds9hrzns&1
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