Star Trek: Enterprise 4.2 FAQ

What’s it called?
“Storm Front Part 2.”

Who’s responsible?
Teleplay is credited to new showrunner Manny Coto, who also authored part one.

What does TV Guide say?
“Conclusion. Frustrated by the limitations of Nazi technology, Vosk offers to return Trip and Mayweather to the Enterprise if Archer assists in the creation of a time machine. Meanwhile, Alicia’s comrades in Nazi-occupied New York learn of Archer’s space vessel on the eve of an allied counterattack.”

Is it better than the season opener?
Eh. If you feel like sneaking off to see the achingly hilarious “Team America” tonight, and your TiVo is desperate for space, you’ll survive if you don’t manage to record tonight’s installment. Taken together, the two hours of “Storm Front” thoroughly betray the promise of last season’s finale cliffhanger, extending the long-running “temporal cold war” story-arc without building upon it in any significant way. I believe I’d have been just as happy if we never saw that red-eyed alien Nazi last season - and happier still if last week’s 4.1 (instead of next week’s 4.3) dealt with the crew’s true return from its Xindi adventure.

But is it better than the season opener?
I’ll give it this, part two gets off to a great start: the entire teaser is a “Zelig”-y newsreel depicting Adolph Hitler’s visit to a Nazi-occupied New York City. Much later, in the episode’s closing minutes, there’s an eye-catching shot of the Enterprise zooming past the Chrysler Building as it shoots at photon-toting propeller planes.

The big news?
It turns out that red-eyed Vosk isn’t responsible for all the changes in Earth history. Armies of temporal agents have apparently been hard at work trying to gum up all sorts of different eras. We learn, for example, that Lenin was assassinated way back in 1916 (long before Vosk’s arrival), which is why Russia never went communist and never helped the Allies fight the Nazis.

Does FutureGuy turn up?
He does not.

Do we learn who FutureGuy is/was/will be?
Nope.

What else is TV Guide not telling us?
Invisotext on! We learn that, while Silik and Daniels don’t get along, Daniels’ temporal-agent squad actually once prevented the extinction of Silik’s race. In other giant-spoiler news, Silik now has the Founder-like ability to impersonate any human - but still dies this week in a hail of Nazi gunfire. Daniels, a bit surprisingly, survives the episode.

What’s good?
The newsreel and the very brief starship dogfight over Manhattan. The establishing shot of Nazi banners draped all over the White House. Silik noticing that a year fighting the Xindi has “changed” Archer (as close as we get to a decent character moment in this two-parter).

What’s not so good?
The Golden Brooks and Steve Schirripa characters don’t get any more interesting. Nor do the alien villains. The jokes are terrible. The long “climactic” sequence in which Archer and his new allies storm the Nazi time-travel facility is a huge bullet-riddled bore. And nothing of lasting import traspires regarding Archer, Trip, T’Pol, Hoshi, Phlox or any of the other crew.

How does it end, spoiler-boy?
Queries Archer of T’Pol, “Do they look friendly?”

Herc’s rating for “Star Trek: Enterprise” 4.2?

**

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

8 p.m. Friday. UPN.

I am – Hercules!!

Looking for bumper stickers, plush toys and girls’ underwear covered with cute cartoon double-amputees? Visit The Herc Store!