Sharpen up your Zefram Cochrane statue as we take a stab at “Twilight”!
Peter Aidan Byrne of Trek vs. Trek joins the show this week for our first episode about Star Trek: Enterprise, a series with a shaky reputation but a solid entry in “Twilight”. Archer wakes up with a bad haircut and a Groundhog Day dilemma . . . or is that 50 First Dates? I can’t remember. Meanwhile, Earth is cinders, humanity is nearly extinct, Porthos has hip dysplasia, and only one thing can put things right where they once went wrong. Either these time parasites go or we do!
Enterprise tends to be seen as something of a failure, as if the Trek franchise was scraping the bottom of the barrel like a ravenous alien played by Mick Fleetwood. But it’s episodes like this, which showcase the bravery of our heroes, the storytelling skills of sci-fi veterans, and the plain weirdo cool of Trek at its best that make a case for Enterprise as a flawed but bright jewel in the crown of the franchise. During our discussion, we talk about the history and development of Enterprise, how serialization finally won out in Trek, the Enterprise “purges”, how the death of the VCR may have killed ’00s Trek, the real life inspiration behind Archer’s memory loss, how the episode is a metaphor for senescence and care-giving, what 24th century art might be like, and how fiction is more frivolous and necessary than ever.
We also talk about the episode’s Wrath of Khan parallels, returning the Rosemary’s Baby PADD to Blockbuster, Loud Cop and LOUDER COP, Gunfight at the NX-01 Corral, the evolution of the Federation’s mores over two-and-a-half centuries, peeking ahead with time travel, blowing Archer’s head off, Richard Crenna’s kid, we confess exactly when we dipped on Trek, Peter recoils from the entitlement of 22nd century humanity, and Aaron makes another Farscape reference!
Gotta keep up with the Shasta McNastys!
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Listen to “Season 4, Episode 3 “Twilight” (ENT) with Peter Aidan Byrne” on Spreaker.