"Marauders"

Written by David Wilcox, Rick Berman, and Brannon Braga
Directed by Mike Vejar


In which the Enterprise crew encounters a mining colony under siege by Klingon raiders, and help the colonists fight back...

Synopsis - Analysis - Memorable Quotes - Observations


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Synopsis

As the episode begins, a shuttle from the Enterprise lands just outside a deuterium mining colony. The miners are anxious at first, thinking that it might be someone very different. Archer, Trip, and T’Pol exit the shuttle and meet with the leaders of the colony, Tessic and Maklii. Trip explains that the Enterprise was recently damaged, and most of the deuterium reserves were lost.

The miners immediately explain that they have no extra deuterium available, and that they cannot help. T’Pol notes that the miners appear to have a large inventory. Tessic explains that the inventory is for another client. As Tessic turns to walk away, Maklii asks if they have experience repairing the pumps. Trip offers his services, and Maklii suggests to Tessic that they could make up the difference if the pumps were operating at full capacity. Tessic reluctantly agrees.

Trip returns to the shuttle for some supplies, and finds a young boy playing inside. Trip talks up the shuttle with the boy, and eventually offers to give the boy a tour of the Enterprise if his parents allow it. Inside the camp, Tessic and Archer bargain over the deuterium. Tessic drives a hard bargain for power cells, which Archer cannot afford. But the colony’s doctor Doctor suggests that they take some medical supplies instead. Again, very reluctantly, Tessic agrees...so long as Trip can fix the pumps within two days. If it can’t be done, then the humans leave without their deuterium.

Shortly, Doctor goes through the available medical supplies with Dr. Phlox. Phlox notes that Doctor is choosing a rather interesting array of items, mostly needed for wounds incurred in combat. Doctor shrugs it off as the danger of working with deuterium under pressure.

Back on the planet, Archer notes to T’Pol that the colony is practically rustic compared to what he would have expected, and Phlox has informed him of the complete lack of basic medical supplies. T’Pol reminds him that they are simply there to trade, not judge. Archer isn’t convinced...especially when the Enterprise detects a ship dropping out of warp in the direction of the planet, carrying a dozen Klingons!

Tessic orders everyone inside the camp. Tessic explains that the Klingons believe that they have an exclusive arrangement with the Klingons, and tells Archer and the others not to get involved. Archer orders Mayweather to put Enterprise out of sight of the Klingon transport. The Klingons beam down, and Tessic and Maklii walk out to meet them. Tessic explains that there has been trouble with the pumps, but the Klingon demands food and drink for his crew first. Then Tessic tells Korok that they don’t have the deuterium quota.

As T’Pol interprets the conversation for Archer and Trip from their hiding place, Tessic asks for an extra week to mine the rest, again citing the trouble with the pumps. But Korok notices that all the pumps are working now, and assumes Tessic is lying. He tosses Tessic to the ground, and Maklii angrily comes to his aid. Another Klingon strikes Maklii, and Tessic begs Korok to stop. Korok reminds Tessic that they come to the colony because they like him, but only so long as they show respect. He gives the miners four days to pump the remaining deuterium, and leaves.

Archer and the others immediately rush out to check on the men. Archer and Trip question them about the arrangement with the Klingons. Maklii explains that the Klingons have been bleeding them dry for five seasons. When asked, Tessic tells them that they are too far from their homeworld to get aid from them. Trip assumes that they have weapons and superior numbers, but Tessic explains that they once tried to fight back. Five men were killed, and then the Klingons slaughtered three more to make their point...including the boy’s father.

Archer offers to help them, but Tessic tells them to take their deuterium and leave as agreed. If they remain when the Klingons return, they’ll only get killed. Archer and T’Pol leave for the shuttle, but Trip stays behind for a moment to speak with the boy. The boy wonders why Trip and the others didn’t use their ship and their weapons to drive the Klingons away. Trip simply tells him it isn’t that simple.

Back on Enterprise, T’Pol informs Archer that they are ready to leave. But Archer rails against leaving the miners at the mercy of the Klingon raiders. T’Pol wonders what Archer thinks they can do. Archer suggests contacting the Klingon High Council to curry favor, but T’Pol counters that Korok is likely acting outside of authority. While she agrees that action should be taken, but short of killing the Klingons, she cannot see any way to make the situation better.

That night, Archer returns to the colony, and winds up helping Tessic repair one of the crawlers. Tessic reminds Archer that the situation with Korok is none of Archer’s concern, but Archer offers to help the miners defend themselves. Tessic snaps back that finding a solution is his responsibility, and regardless of whatever help the Enterprise might provide, they will still be on their own. Archer offers to train the miners to defend themselves.

The next day, Reed goes over the weapons available at the colony. The humans intend to teach the miners how to use their wits to defeat the Klingons. They note that the deuterium fields make the perfect trap. Archer notes that the camp structures are all modular and can be relocated. He suggests moving everything just 50 meters farther from the fields, so they can disguise the well heads. Gulleys in the nearby hillside are deep enough to hide within. They can use the shuttle to move colonists to Enterprise for whatever training they can get in the short time available. Tessic agrees to the plan.

Over the next couple days, Trip andf Archer aids the miners in moving the houses and equipment, while Reed and Hoshi teach them simple sharpshooting. Trip informs Archer that the well heads have been placed on a couple separate arming sequences. But Trip doesn’t have much hope for success. Archer, on the other hand, simply doesn’t like bullies. He never has.

T’Pol teaches the colonists about Klingon weaponry and some simple Vulcan martial art tumbling that they can use to evade most attacks. The boy begs Trip to let him help fight the Klingons, but Trip sternly tells him to hide in the gulleys.

As the fateful time approaches, everything is in place. Tessic expresses his worries for their mutual people, and Archer tells him about their first experiences with the Suliban. He realized that even if fighting wasn’t the reason for the mission, they had to fight back or they would never keep going. Archer is just as sure that they can win against the Klingons.

When the Klingons arrive and beam down, the camp is deserted. They immediately realize that the pumps are silent. Korok calls out to Tessic angrily, and then sends his men to search the buildings. Suddenly a miner runs into sight, and the Klingons run in pursuit. The closest Klingon gets clotheslined. Then miners begin firing at the Klingons from well-hidden positions. Things get more personal when colonists hidden in the camp toss rocks at the warriors, and then evade hand-to-hand combat using T’Pol’s techniques.

Archer takes down one of the Klingons, and then T’Pol takes down another to allow the colonists in the camp to fall back to the gulleys. The Klingons see them take position, and begin marching towards the hillside. When Archer realizes that they’re too far from the hidden well heads, he orders the miners to move through the gulleys to lead the Klingons to the proper position. Oddly, the Klingons just walk along and stumble into the middle of the deuterium field!

Trip sets off the first couple firing sequences, surrounding the Klingons with burning deuterium. Tessic steps into view, and informs Korok that the remaining well heads are right under their feet. Tessic tells Korok not to come back, because they’ll be ready to fight back. Korok backs down immediately and leaves.

Afterward, the miners are all rather happy with themselves. Trip finds the boy back in the shuttle, playing with the various bells and whistles. He gives the boy a copy of the Enterprise specs as a parting gift. Tessic gives Archer an additional 2000 liters of deuterium as thanks for teaching them how to defend themselves.


Analysis

One of the most common complaints about “Voyager” was the lack of meaningful action. Too many episodes were simply “there”, showing a distinct lack of enticing dialogue or unexpected twists. With “Enterprise”, there were concerns that this trend would continue, leading to a series without spirit. This episode falls squarely into that category.

As plots go, this had some potential. The idea of fierce hand-to-hand combat with renegade Klingons, especially if the crew of the Enterprise has little idea what to expect, was appealing. Given that humanity has yet to truly encounter the full brunt of Klingon resolve, it could have taught Archer a powerful and important lesson. After all, he still operates under the foolish assumption that the Klingon High Council would be reasonable.

The problems with this episode appear from the very beginning. The teaser is a complete and utter waste of time, and demonstrates once again a lack of effective writing. Exactly what is that short scene supposed to present to hook in potential viewers?

But to make things worse, that slow and methodical pacing remains throughout the episode. Tessic’s constant attempts to get Archer to leave ought to have set off immediate alarms, but it takes observations about camp conditions and medical supplies to paint the picture. One almost imagines that Archer would have just left without a clue had the Klingons shown up on time!

Even this slow beginning could have picked up during the third act, which is the episode’s best material. Once Archer finally gets Tessic to agree to staging a confrontation with the Klingons, the preparations and predictions promise a hard fought battle for respect and autonomy. There are some nice moments where the crew gets to show some of the character development over the past year, and that’s always welcome.

Unfortunately, after finally gaining a hint of tension, the confrontation with the Klingons falls completely flat. After the initial surprise, the Klingons should have been able to wipe the floor with their opponents. The idea that the Klingons would just let themselves be led into a trap, and then stay in that trap, defies all logic. For one thing, none of the miners or crew were hiding all that well in the gully, and the Klingons should have been able to pick them off from a distance with their weapons. And never mind that the Klingons could have simply used their transporters to escape that deuterium trap!

There is the argument, I suppose, that these are renegade Klingons far from their own space scraping along through sheer bravado, but does that make sense? Even renegade Klingons ought to have recognized that a little borrowed courage isn’t the same as a true resistance. After all, the Klingons didn’t even fight back in any real sense. Are we supposed to believe that they flinched at the first sign of adversity? What, are these the Klingons sent into exile for being afraid of a fight?

The episode wasn’t a complete loss. Archer’s comments about bullies allude to his lingering anger over the Vulcan treatment of humanity, for example, and while the scenes between Trip and the boy were annoying in the usual heavy-handed Star Trek fashion, they resisted coming right out and identifying Trip as a father figure. T’Pol seemed a little more violent than Vulcans are typically portrayed, which again suggests that the eventual rise of Federation changes the Vulcan way as much as it changes Earth.

But those moments are few and far between, and the entire final act is a complete letdown. With the season now fully underway, the passion and energy evident in the first season has nearly disappeared. Unless the writing can drastically improve, most likely with Berman and Braga finally giving up the reins, there is a very good chance that the series will end with this season.


Memorable Quotes

Nope. Not one good line in the entire episode....


Observations

- Could that white jumpsuit have been any tighter? Geez, just paint the damn thing on next time...

- Oh, look, more aliens that have nothing more than folded-up plastic glued to their foreheads...how original!

- Interesting design for that Klingon transport. It looks more like the cruisers in TNG than it ought to...

- Could that kid have had less acting ability?

- Nice interplay between Tessic and Archer while they are fixing the crawler...tons of double meaning!

- Good to see the progress in Hoshi’s shooting skills...nice continuity from early in the series!

- Interesting how T’Pol is happy to mention these details on Klingon weaponry, when she didn’t even want to talk about Klingons when the series began...

- It’s nice that T’Pol teaches them that one move, but could they really use it against Klingons dozens of times without them catching on?

- OK, so T’Pol looks silly in her Rambo costume...

- So, just how badly did the boy mess up the settings on those switches on the shuttle’s control panel?

Overall, this was yet another disappointing episode for this sophomore season. The plot is filled with holes and lack of impact, and the direction is slow and uninteresting as a result. The actors do their best with what they have, but it’s simply not enough.

I give it a 4/10.


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