ENT: Demons

[FlynnTaggart]

I found it a misstep. They built up so much by actually tapping into "prequelness" in Season 4 that they undermined the the very thematic foundation of that season by effectively ending it with some random human villians.

I personally liked it. It felt to me a good way to lead into the Federation, where humans are no longer the xenophobic bastards we were before (atleast nowhere near as much). The xenophobia is not going to disappear especially after the Xindi attack and probably ramped up more with the delegations on Earth. Here are those aliens who attacked Earth, who attack our interplantary shipping, who come to Earth and steal our jerbs and romance our menfolk (poor Trip, dude was like the reverse Kirk when it came to alien women). Terra Prime existing makes sense and Terra Prime and the feelings that helped create it have to be overcome for humanity to move into the Federation era.

The final mission of the Enterprise going against the representations of humanity's dark side, its xenophobia and hatred, makes sense to me. And would help to explain why humanity was willing to embrace the stars rather then huddling behind our space walls, Terra Prime were some terrible people making babies to kill, attacking the moon (which we only got one of, be nice to keep it pristine), hijacking death rays, and menacing the Earth they claimed to put first. Admiral Robocop and his group was about the fear of the unknown, the fear of the alien and with their defeat and airing of their dirty laundry humanity was free to evolve into something new and better. Like space amphibians.

[Beastro]

Admiral Robocop and his group was about the fear of the unknown, the fear of the alien and with their defeat and airing of their dirty laundry humanity was free to evolve into something new and better. Like space amphibians.

Applying evolution to these matters gets my back up given that this is Trek and Gene's noted use of the term in his demands to eliminate things like grieving and interpersonal conflict from the series. It and the common use of reasonable and logical are used more as off hand remarks in the same way Deus Vult once was.

The issue is there are things to fear in the unknown by its very nature whether one is a hunter-gatherer wondering what predatory animal lurks in the darkness or what threatening alien races lay beyond known space. That doesn't mean to hide from it, as the unknown has treasures to gain from it. This is the symbolic foundation of the dragon's lair full of treasure, but the treasure doesn't preclude the fact that there is a dragon guarding it.

This is something Trek can't escape, even Enterprise and how handled the Xindi scare, they were tightly worried about it and that compelled them to face it rather act like there was nothing to worry about. The Borg are the example in Trek of the danger of the unknown. But all of this comes down to how one handles meeting the unknown, especially when one cannot go back from now knowing glimpses of it without remove the threat they pose.

In the case of the birth of the Federation and the issues around it, it was a generalized embracing of everyone and is clearly a coming together of races with a common interest, mainly the threat the Romulans posed.

[Enterprising]

So there just happened to be random death ray on Mars for those Terra-Prime losers to hijack just like that. No security what so ever to make sure that no one can hijack it or anything like that. So is there reason why no one else had even tried to hijack it or even think about doing so before that.

Just recite to yourself Picard's speech in "Neutral Zone" after one of the humans from the 20th used the comm system to bring him down to their quarters, and you'll have your answer how stuff like this happens in Star Trek.

[aceina]

i cant believe sfdebri is anti martian he has reallly let me down

[Riedquat]

Sounds like this episode was as subtle as a sledgehammer.

[Worffan101]

It's not a terribly subtle episode, but I really liked this two-parter as a whole and I felt Demons was a good lead-in. Some of it was a little rote, but I felt Demons built the tension well, and (spoilers) the fight between Archer and Paxton in "Terra Prime" was actually pretty cool. It was an almost B5 kinda story, in a good way, and I liked it a lot.

[clearspira]

Its not subtle but I do wonder how much of that opinion is influenced by 2019 politics towards immigration. Its always been there, but I would argue this episode is far more timely now than it was then.

[9ansean]

Its not subtle but I do wonder how much of that opinion is influenced by 2019 politics towards immigration. Its always been there, but I would argue this episode is far more timely now than it was then.

I felt that same way. It was kind of odd watching something that obviously wasn't seen by nearly as many as something like Into Darkness (which also had Paul Walker) only to find how eerily it actually hits closer to home that a lot of current Trek. At the time it was no doubt influenced by the post-9/11 sentiments, with the aftermath of the Xindi attack. While those anti-arab sentiments can still be heard in a lot of places, at the time I wouldn't have imagined such an influx of hostile statements towards immigrations and diversity in general. Something I can remember shocking me even in 2016.

Analogy is always difficult, especially when tied to anyone kind of event. Because as Chuck pointed out in Stigma, the more obvious the allegory the more you risk not only dating yourself but seaming to dumb down very complicated problems. Here however, at actual more about HOW extremist oversimplify conflict to justify their actions.

Because Terra Prime DOES have a legitimate point. The Xindi Council never did officially apologize or offer reparations for their attack! It's partially ironic that pointed out in a rabble rosing speech witnessed by Tucker (who himself lost someone close in the attack) before he's captured as a spy. Too often bigoted extremists are written as just one dimensional monsters (which again we saw with Stigma). Here they really do recognize that moral panic can't exist with real concerns about a credible threat.

[Riedquat]

Its not subtle but I do wonder how much of that opinion is influenced by 2019 politics towards immigration. Its always been there, but I would argue this episode is far more timely now than it was then.

Makes it all the more irritating. At one time it could've been just another episode with the villain of the week but as it is it feels like a case of "You *must* share our values and we'll just assume anyone who doesn't must therefore be evil, with no legitimate motivation." Look what happened when ENT tried that with Dear Doctor...

[CharlesPhipps]

The episode, sadly, aged very well.