"Cold Station 12" not warm enough

Brikar · 11-07-2004, 03:20 PM

I dunno. I liked "Borderland." It was far more interesting, and had more going on. "Cold Station 12" felt like total filler. It's a story that could have been told in two acts instead of five.

Even the fight with the Klingon ship towards the end seemed to lack energy, and there was little explanation for what happened with the station's self-destruct. I mean, it's understood that the Augments fudged it up, but I think it was left too vague to be particularly interesting a plot development - ESPECIALLY when the dramatic action was split by a commercial break. That was a poor choice for a break.

And the cliffhanger was slightly underwhelming. Really good cliffhangers often leave the viewer with a question - Not really "What will happen next?" but more like, "How will they get out of this one?" Here it seems too obvious how they'll get out of this one. The situation just doesn't seem dangerous enough. There's a countdown of several minutes, and the Enterprise is right there with a working transporter, and Captain Archer is making his way to the obvious "main junction" that every space station everywhere has to turn off the indiscriminate device of doom.

But it's interesting to see that Soong may be starting to realize that his plans are getting a little bit out of control. Yes, he's a villain, but he's no murderer. His reaction to the death of the scientist they were torturing was well-handled, and his increasing frustration over the Augments' rebellious tendencies is pretty cool. But I still can't shake that feeling of, "Hey, look, it's Brent Spiner." I was having a discussion with my friend who also decided to watch this episode, and we kept calling him "Elderly Evil Data", because he seemed to be playing Soong exactly like he would an evil Data, or maybe even Lore.

I still haven't decided whether or not that's a bad thing.

The episode had some good points, definitely, though. Don't get me wrong. It's still one of ENT's better installments. It has a newfound sense of literacy, too. The connection to "Nicholas Nickleby" was a pleasant surprise (though, does anyone else find it hard to believe that Archer's read it? Maybe he saw the movie, hehe).

Stag · 11-07-2004, 04:33 PM

I agree for the most part, however, I wonder if it is suffering from being the middle episode. And when the story completely unfolds, it will seem better.

Brikar · 11-07-2004, 04:43 PM

That's entirely possible. But even as a middle episode, it really doesn't do much to advance the story.

11-07-2004, 03:20 PM	#1 (permalink)
Brikar The Dude Join Date: Dec 1969 Location: Massachusetts Posts: 3,606	"Cold Station 12" not warm enough I dunno. I liked "Borderland." It was far more interesting, and had more going on. "Cold Station 12" felt like total filler. It's a story that could have been told in two acts instead of five. Even the fight with the Klingon ship towards the end seemed to lack energy, and there was little explanation for what happened with the station's self-destruct. I mean, it's understood that the Augments fudged it up, but I think it was left too vague to be particularly interesting a plot development - ESPECIALLY when the dramatic action was split by a commercial break. That was a poor choice for a break. And the cliffhanger was slightly underwhelming. Really good cliffhangers often leave the viewer with a question - Not really "What will happen next?" but more like, "How will they get out of this one?" Here it seems too obvious how they'll get out of this one. The situation just doesn't seem dangerous enough. There's a countdown of several minutes, and the Enterprise is right there with a working transporter, and Captain Archer is making his way to the obvious "main junction" that every space station everywhere has to turn off the indiscriminate device of doom. But it's interesting to see that Soong may be starting to realize that his plans are getting a little bit out of control. Yes, he's a villain, but he's no murderer. His reaction to the death of the scientist they were torturing was well-handled, and his increasing frustration over the Augments' rebellious tendencies is pretty cool. But I still can't shake that feeling of, "Hey, look, it's Brent Spiner." I was having a discussion with my friend who also decided to watch this episode, and we kept calling him "Elderly Evil Data", because he seemed to be playing Soong exactly like he would an evil Data, or maybe even Lore. I still haven't decided whether or not that's a bad thing. The episode had some good points, definitely, though. Don't get me wrong. It's still one of ENT's better installments. It has a newfound sense of literacy, too. The connection to "Nicholas Nickleby" was a pleasant surprise (though, does anyone else find it hard to believe that Archer's read it? Maybe he saw the movie, hehe). __________________ "A million monkeys typing until the end of time will produce the complete works of William Shakespeare. Ten thousand monkeys typing for ten thousand years will write a Hemingway. Ten monkeys typing over Columbus Day weekend will give you a Dan Brown." http://olympusmans.blogspot.com http://benforrealz.blogspot.com

11-07-2004, 04:33 PM	#2 (permalink)
Stag It's me again Join Date: Jan 1970 Location: Florida Posts: 3,286	I agree for the most part, however, I wonder if it is suffering from being the middle episode. And when the story completely unfolds, it will seem better. __________________ "I want to do a motorboat on Shatner's manboobs" - Sam Cogley

11-07-2004, 04:43 PM	#3 (permalink)
Brikar The Dude Join Date: Dec 1969 Location: Massachusetts Posts: 3,606	That's entirely possible. But even as a middle episode, it really doesn't do much to advance the story. __________________ "A million monkeys typing until the end of time will produce the complete works of William Shakespeare. Ten thousand monkeys typing for ten thousand years will write a Hemingway. Ten monkeys typing over Columbus Day weekend will give you a Dan Brown." http://olympusmans.blogspot.com http://benforrealz.blogspot.com

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