Wednesday, October 17, 2012

Enterprise 2x6 "Marauders"

*

"Marauders" is a really awesome episode, if by "awesome" you take it to mean harking back to the original series when Starfleet and the Klingons were in constant competition.

Starting with the third movie (Search for Spock), the Klingons became more traditional villains in Star Trek. In Next Generation they joined the mainstream with the presence of Worf in the regular cast, in a Starfleet uniform.  In Deep Space Nine there was a war, but not the one everyone remembers.  The Klingons were staunch allies in that war.  In Voyager there was another Klingon (only half, though) in the cast, but at least this one used to belong to a rival of the Federation.

Finally in Enterprise the Klingons went full-circle.  They were rivals again.  They didn't know a human from a Bajoran.  Archer immediately proved how much of a pest he could be in the first episode, keeping a Klingon alive and bringing him home, forcing the Empire to try and be grateful.  It wasn't.  By the second season, we see how little gratitude these warriors really felt.  "Marauders" is the lightest of the encounters from the season.  It is exactly what the Klingons were doing in the original series.  This time there aren't any magical beings forcing anyone to get along (which happened in both notably similar episodes from Kirk's time).  It's just Archer coming across a planet that's gotten a rare deal, and Klingons who come knocking only to end up with a surprise.

It's a wonder that Kirk never did something like that.

Well, there are other episodes later in the season where the full arc of Archer's relations with the Klingons is explored.  This one is another opportunity for the series simply to update us on stuff we've seen before, and it's a clever one at that.  Best to be enjoyed in this fashion.

franchise * series * essential * character

Memory Alpha summary.

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