Enterprise 1x18 "Rogue Planet"

rating: *

the story: The crew encounters a party of hunters who are unwittingly tracking sentient prey.

what it's all about: In hindsight, "Rogue Planet" feels like a leftover Hirogen script from Voyager.  Just look at that summary...!  Otherwise it's one of those historical ironies of the later franchise: an episodic adventure in an era when that was no longer satisfying in and of itself.

But it is worth watching of its own accord.  "Planet" amounts to an allegory of contemporary concerns.  As fewer people hunt for a living, or even for sport, the very notion of it begins to seem barbaric, especially as more people identify as vegetarians or outright vegans.  Enterprise doesn't go so far as to sympathize with all that so far as to acknowledge it as a growing trend.  Sometimes such bare acknowledgment can seem somewhat disastrous (Next Generation's "Forces of Nature"), but here it's merely innocuous.  We get to see Archer once again loosely fitting the Kirk mold of ladies man, a role Trip would fill later in the series, as had already been suggested in "Unexpected."  And on the whole, it's another light exploration of the crew's learning curve, and how they experience this sort of thing as newcomers to the Starfleet mission overall.

criteria analysis:

• franchise - Light allegorical work concerning modern-day hunting.
• series - Not particularly informative.
• character - Light work here, too.
• essential - Not especially.

notable guest-stars:
Eric Pierpont