Star Trek: Enterprise 4.4 FAQ
What’s it called?
“Borderland.”
Who’s responsible?
Teleplay is credited to series newcomer Ken LaZebnik (“Touched by an Angel,” “Providence”).
What does TV Guide say?
“Brent Spinder begins a three-episode stint as an unsavory geneticist with ties to Data, his Star Trek The Next Generation character. In keeping with Trek continuity, Spiner’s Arik Soong is an ancestor of Data’s inventor, Nonnien Soong. But Arik is a far more menacing figure. He’s in prison for creating “augments,” physically and intellectually enhanced humanoids first developed during the Eugenics Wars (remember Khan?). Here, Archer tries to avert bloodshed by enlisting Arik’s aid in locating the mutant-eers (led by Alec Newman), who have seized a Klingon vessel."
Arik Soong was alive during Khan’s Eugenics War era? How old is this guy?
Pretty old, but he wasn’t around in the Khan days. Soong created Khan-like superhumans 20 years prior to the events of this episode by defrosting a bunch of genetically engineered embryos from the late 20th century and raising them as his own. Ten years later, Soong was captured, tried and imprisoned - but they never found his “kids” until now.
Late 20th century? The Eugenics Wars already happened and I didn't hear anything about them? Stupid Fox News Channel!
Oddly, it looks like they’re sticking to the continuity of the orginal Kirk-Spock-McCoy series, which established that, while a lot of us were arguing over the merits of the Stone Temple Pilots, Khan ruled and enslaved a good chunk of Earth between 1992 and 1996.
How does this one stack up against the first three episodes of the season?
I put it at better than the horrible two-part “Storm Front” debacle and not nearly so good as last week’s “Home.”
What else is TV Guide not telling us?
Trip left Vulcan two weeks before T’Pol did, and it takes a while before Trip learns what happened on Vulcan after the wedding.
What’s good?
The 20 seconds they devote to the Trip-T’Pol romance. The manner in which hulking wrestler-actor Big Show displays a doll-like Jolene Blalock to bidders.
What’s not so good?
Spiner seems too aware that he’s the big special guest star and turns in a spazzy, overeager and distracting performance.
The whole "Orion slaver" subplot that takes up the middle third of the episode is a half-baked bore: the LaZebnik doesn't even bother to develop a decent Orion villain for the sequence, and I don’t get why the Orions grab only nine members of the Enterprise crew for slave trade but leave the rest of the crew to effect a rescue. The one Orion slave girl we get a good look at isn’t as hot as the one Susan Oliver played in “The Cage.”
Take away the Orion subplot and you’re left with a tale that’s waaaay too similar to both “Space Seed” and “The Wrath of Khan,” the stories to which “Borderland” serves as prequel. (The similarities to “Space Seed” extend right down to the conflicted, duplicitous girl willing to betray her leader for a hot augment.) If Malik is such a supergenius, why the mullet? And, oh yeah, why are the Klingons willing to attack Earth over this, but not over all the trouble Archer stirred up during season two?
How does it end, spoiler-boy?
“Thousands of your brothers and sisters are waiting to be born. Let’s go get them.”
Herc’s rating for “Star Trek: Enterprise” 4.4?
**1/2
The Hercules T. Strong Rating System:
***** better than we deserve
**** better than most motion pictures
*** actually worth your valuable time
** as horrible as most stuff on TV
* makes you quietly pray for bulletins
In the interest of fairness, though, I will point out that the New York Daily News’ David Bianculli and the Chicago Tribune’s Maureen Ryan offer much more positive reviews of tonight’s installment.
8 p.m. Friday. UPN.
Want to throw $25 toward the Kerry/Edwards campaign and hear Joss Whedon’s 40-minute Oct. 25 conference call? Learn how to do this by emailing:
Looking for bumper stickers, plush toys and girls’ underwear covered with cute cartoon double-amputees? Visit The Herc Store!
Teleplay is credited to series newcomer Ken LaZebnik (“Touched by an Angel,” “Providence”).
What does TV Guide say?
“Brent Spinder begins a three-episode stint as an unsavory geneticist with ties to Data, his Star Trek The Next Generation character. In keeping with Trek continuity, Spiner’s Arik Soong is an ancestor of Data’s inventor, Nonnien Soong. But Arik is a far more menacing figure. He’s in prison for creating “augments,” physically and intellectually enhanced humanoids first developed during the Eugenics Wars (remember Khan?). Here, Archer tries to avert bloodshed by enlisting Arik’s aid in locating the mutant-eers (led by Alec Newman), who have seized a Klingon vessel."
Arik Soong was alive during Khan’s Eugenics War era? How old is this guy?
Pretty old, but he wasn’t around in the Khan days. Soong created Khan-like superhumans 20 years prior to the events of this episode by defrosting a bunch of genetically engineered embryos from the late 20th century and raising them as his own. Ten years later, Soong was captured, tried and imprisoned - but they never found his “kids” until now.
Late 20th century? The Eugenics Wars already happened and I didn't hear anything about them? Stupid Fox News Channel!
Oddly, it looks like they’re sticking to the continuity of the orginal Kirk-Spock-McCoy series, which established that, while a lot of us were arguing over the merits of the Stone Temple Pilots, Khan ruled and enslaved a good chunk of Earth between 1992 and 1996.
How does this one stack up against the first three episodes of the season?
I put it at better than the horrible two-part “Storm Front” debacle and not nearly so good as last week’s “Home.”
What else is TV Guide not telling us?
Trip left Vulcan two weeks before T’Pol did, and it takes a while before Trip learns what happened on Vulcan after the wedding.
What’s good?
The 20 seconds they devote to the Trip-T’Pol romance. The manner in which hulking wrestler-actor Big Show displays a doll-like Jolene Blalock to bidders.
What’s not so good?
Spiner seems too aware that he’s the big special guest star and turns in a spazzy, overeager and distracting performance.
The whole "Orion slaver" subplot that takes up the middle third of the episode is a half-baked bore: the LaZebnik doesn't even bother to develop a decent Orion villain for the sequence, and I don’t get why the Orions grab only nine members of the Enterprise crew for slave trade but leave the rest of the crew to effect a rescue. The one Orion slave girl we get a good look at isn’t as hot as the one Susan Oliver played in “The Cage.”
Take away the Orion subplot and you’re left with a tale that’s waaaay too similar to both “Space Seed” and “The Wrath of Khan,” the stories to which “Borderland” serves as prequel. (The similarities to “Space Seed” extend right down to the conflicted, duplicitous girl willing to betray her leader for a hot augment.) If Malik is such a supergenius, why the mullet? And, oh yeah, why are the Klingons willing to attack Earth over this, but not over all the trouble Archer stirred up during season two?
How does it end, spoiler-boy?
“Thousands of your brothers and sisters are waiting to be born. Let’s go get them.”
Herc’s rating for “Star Trek: Enterprise” 4.4?
**1/2
The Hercules T. Strong Rating System:
***** better than we deserve
**** better than most motion pictures
*** actually worth your valuable time
** as horrible as most stuff on TV
* makes you quietly pray for bulletins
In the interest of fairness, though, I will point out that the New York Daily News’ David Bianculli and the Chicago Tribune’s Maureen Ryan offer much more positive reviews of tonight’s installment.
8 p.m. Friday. UPN.
Want to throw $25 toward the Kerry/Edwards campaign and hear Joss Whedon’s 40-minute Oct. 25 conference call? Learn how to do this by emailing:
Looking for bumper stickers, plush toys and girls’ underwear covered with cute cartoon double-amputees? Visit The Herc Store!
Pretty old, but he wasn’t around in the Khan days. Soong created Khan-like superhumans 20 years prior to the events of this episode by defrosting a bunch of genetically engineered embryos from the late 20th century and raising them as his own. Ten years later, Soong was captured, tried and imprisoned - but they never found his “kids” until now.
Late 20th century? The Eugenics Wars already happened and I didn't hear anything about them? Stupid Fox News Channel!
Oddly, it looks like they’re sticking to the continuity of the orginal Kirk-Spock-McCoy series, which established that, while a lot of us were arguing over the merits of the Stone Temple Pilots, Khan ruled and enslaved a good chunk of Earth between 1992 and 1996.
How does this one stack up against the first three episodes of the season?
I put it at better than the horrible two-part “Storm Front” debacle and not nearly so good as last week’s “Home.”
What else is TV Guide not telling us?
Trip left Vulcan two weeks before T’Pol did, and it takes a while before Trip learns what happened on Vulcan after the wedding.
What’s good?
The 20 seconds they devote to the Trip-T’Pol romance. The manner in which hulking wrestler-actor Big Show displays a doll-like Jolene Blalock to bidders.
What’s not so good?
Spiner seems too aware that he’s the big special guest star and turns in a spazzy, overeager and distracting performance.
The whole "Orion slaver" subplot that takes up the middle third of the episode is a half-baked bore: the LaZebnik doesn't even bother to develop a decent Orion villain for the sequence, and I don’t get why the Orions grab only nine members of the Enterprise crew for slave trade but leave the rest of the crew to effect a rescue. The one Orion slave girl we get a good look at isn’t as hot as the one Susan Oliver played in “The Cage.”
Take away the Orion subplot and you’re left with a tale that’s waaaay too similar to both “Space Seed” and “The Wrath of Khan,” the stories to which “Borderland” serves as prequel. (The similarities to “Space Seed” extend right down to the conflicted, duplicitous girl willing to betray her leader for a hot augment.) If Malik is such a supergenius, why the mullet? And, oh yeah, why are the Klingons willing to attack Earth over this, but not over all the trouble Archer stirred up during season two?
How does it end, spoiler-boy?
“Thousands of your brothers and sisters are waiting to be born. Let’s go get them.”
Herc’s rating for “Star Trek: Enterprise” 4.4?
**1/2
The Hercules T. Strong Rating System:
***** better than we deserve
**** better than most motion pictures
*** actually worth your valuable time
** as horrible as most stuff on TV
* makes you quietly pray for bulletins
In the interest of fairness, though, I will point out that the New York Daily News’ David Bianculli and the Chicago Tribune’s Maureen Ryan offer much more positive reviews of tonight’s installment.
8 p.m. Friday. UPN.
Want to throw $25 toward the Kerry/Edwards campaign and hear Joss Whedon’s 40-minute Oct. 25 conference call? Learn how to do this by emailing:
Looking for bumper stickers, plush toys and girls’ underwear covered with cute cartoon double-amputees? Visit The Herc Store!
I put it at better than the horrible two-part “Storm Front” debacle and not nearly so good as last week’s “Home.”
What else is TV Guide not telling us?
Trip left Vulcan two weeks before T’Pol did, and it takes a while before Trip learns what happened on Vulcan after the wedding.
What’s good?
The 20 seconds they devote to the Trip-T’Pol romance. The manner in which hulking wrestler-actor Big Show displays a doll-like Jolene Blalock to bidders.
What’s not so good?
Spiner seems too aware that he’s the big special guest star and turns in a spazzy, overeager and distracting performance.
The whole "Orion slaver" subplot that takes up the middle third of the episode is a half-baked bore: the LaZebnik doesn't even bother to develop a decent Orion villain for the sequence, and I don’t get why the Orions grab only nine members of the Enterprise crew for slave trade but leave the rest of the crew to effect a rescue. The one Orion slave girl we get a good look at isn’t as hot as the one Susan Oliver played in “The Cage.”
Take away the Orion subplot and you’re left with a tale that’s waaaay too similar to both “Space Seed” and “The Wrath of Khan,” the stories to which “Borderland” serves as prequel. (The similarities to “Space Seed” extend right down to the conflicted, duplicitous girl willing to betray her leader for a hot augment.) If Malik is such a supergenius, why the mullet? And, oh yeah, why are the Klingons willing to attack Earth over this, but not over all the trouble Archer stirred up during season two?
How does it end, spoiler-boy?
“Thousands of your brothers and sisters are waiting to be born. Let’s go get them.”
Herc’s rating for “Star Trek: Enterprise” 4.4?
**1/2
The Hercules T. Strong Rating System:
***** better than we deserve
**** better than most motion pictures
*** actually worth your valuable time
** as horrible as most stuff on TV
* makes you quietly pray for bulletins
In the interest of fairness, though, I will point out that the New York Daily News’ David Bianculli and the Chicago Tribune’s Maureen Ryan offer much more positive reviews of tonight’s installment.
8 p.m. Friday. UPN.
Want to throw $25 toward the Kerry/Edwards campaign and hear Joss Whedon’s 40-minute Oct. 25 conference call? Learn how to do this by emailing:
Looking for bumper stickers, plush toys and girls’ underwear covered with cute cartoon double-amputees? Visit The Herc Store!
The 20 seconds they devote to the Trip-T’Pol romance. The manner in which hulking wrestler-actor Big Show displays a doll-like Jolene Blalock to bidders.
What’s not so good?
Spiner seems too aware that he’s the big special guest star and turns in a spazzy, overeager and distracting performance.
The whole "Orion slaver" subplot that takes up the middle third of the episode is a half-baked bore: the LaZebnik doesn't even bother to develop a decent Orion villain for the sequence, and I don’t get why the Orions grab only nine members of the Enterprise crew for slave trade but leave the rest of the crew to effect a rescue. The one Orion slave girl we get a good look at isn’t as hot as the one Susan Oliver played in “The Cage.”
Take away the Orion subplot and you’re left with a tale that’s waaaay too similar to both “Space Seed” and “The Wrath of Khan,” the stories to which “Borderland” serves as prequel. (The similarities to “Space Seed” extend right down to the conflicted, duplicitous girl willing to betray her leader for a hot augment.) If Malik is such a supergenius, why the mullet? And, oh yeah, why are the Klingons willing to attack Earth over this, but not over all the trouble Archer stirred up during season two?
How does it end, spoiler-boy?
“Thousands of your brothers and sisters are waiting to be born. Let’s go get them.”
Herc’s rating for “Star Trek: Enterprise” 4.4?
**1/2
The Hercules T. Strong Rating System:
***** better than we deserve
**** better than most motion pictures
*** actually worth your valuable time
** as horrible as most stuff on TV
* makes you quietly pray for bulletins
In the interest of fairness, though, I will point out that the New York Daily News’ David Bianculli and the Chicago Tribune’s Maureen Ryan offer much more positive reviews of tonight’s installment.
8 p.m. Friday. UPN.
Want to throw $25 toward the Kerry/Edwards campaign and hear Joss Whedon’s 40-minute Oct. 25 conference call? Learn how to do this by emailing:
Looking for bumper stickers, plush toys and girls’ underwear covered with cute cartoon double-amputees? Visit The Herc Store!
Take away the Orion subplot and you’re left with a tale that’s waaaay too similar to both “Space Seed” and “The Wrath of Khan,” the stories to which “Borderland” serves as prequel. (The similarities to “Space Seed” extend right down to the conflicted, duplicitous girl willing to betray her leader for a hot augment.) If Malik is such a supergenius, why the mullet? And, oh yeah, why are the Klingons willing to attack Earth over this, but not over all the trouble Archer stirred up during season two?
How does it end, spoiler-boy?
“Thousands of your brothers and sisters are waiting to be born. Let’s go get them.”
Herc’s rating for “Star Trek: Enterprise” 4.4?
**1/2
The Hercules T. Strong Rating System:
***** better than we deserve
**** better than most motion pictures
*** actually worth your valuable time
** as horrible as most stuff on TV
* makes you quietly pray for bulletins
In the interest of fairness, though, I will point out that the New York Daily News’ David Bianculli and the Chicago Tribune’s Maureen Ryan offer much more positive reviews of tonight’s installment.
8 p.m. Friday. UPN.
Want to throw $25 toward the Kerry/Edwards campaign and hear Joss Whedon’s 40-minute Oct. 25 conference call? Learn how to do this by emailing:
Looking for bumper stickers, plush toys and girls’ underwear covered with cute cartoon double-amputees? Visit The Herc Store!
“Thousands of your brothers and sisters are waiting to be born. Let’s go get them.”
Herc’s rating for “Star Trek: Enterprise” 4.4?
**1/2
The Hercules T. Strong Rating System:
***** better than we deserve
**** better than most motion pictures
*** actually worth your valuable time
** as horrible as most stuff on TV
* makes you quietly pray for bulletins
In the interest of fairness, though, I will point out that the New York Daily News’ David Bianculli and the Chicago Tribune’s Maureen Ryan offer much more positive reviews of tonight’s installment.
8 p.m. Friday. UPN.
Want to throw $25 toward the Kerry/Edwards campaign and hear Joss Whedon’s 40-minute Oct. 25 conference call? Learn how to do this by emailing:
The Hercules T. Strong Rating System:
***** better than we deserve
**** better than most motion pictures
*** actually worth your valuable time
** as horrible as most stuff on TV
* makes you quietly pray for bulletins
In the interest of fairness, though, I will point out that the New York Daily News’ David Bianculli and the Chicago Tribune’s Maureen Ryan offer much more positive reviews of tonight’s installment.
8 p.m. Friday. UPN.
Want to throw $25 toward the Kerry/Edwards campaign and hear Joss Whedon’s 40-minute Oct. 25 conference call? Learn how to do this by emailing:
In the interest of fairness, though, I will point out that the New York Daily News’ David Bianculli and the Chicago Tribune’s Maureen Ryan offer much more positive reviews of tonight’s installment.
8 p.m. Friday. UPN.
