the story: An away team discovers meddling aliens in a developing society.
what it's all about: "Civilization" is essentially the first regular episode of the series. It features a classic-style mission and even features Archer in a kind of Kirk role where he becomes involved with a local woman. It doesn't really linger, as previous episodes had, on the novelty of the deep space experience. It's just the crew discovering things on an alien world, in an alien, well, civilization.
And...that's about it, really. There's a neat bit of franchise continuity, in that the interloping aliens the crew encounters are Malurians, a species later wiped out by Nomad in "The Changeling" (the original series episode that helped form the basis of Star Trek: The Motion Picture). The role they play in "Civilization" is not dissimilar to the kind of competing role the Klingons ended to occupy, not only in the original series but later in Enterprise itself ("Marauders"), although they choose to hide their actions and even their scaly appearance (we only catch a glimpse). This kind of sneaking around actually makes them similar to the Romulans, who would also show up later in the series, so it's almost like foreshadowing.
criteria analysis:
- franchise - An episode that will feel completely normal to longtime fans.
- series - Our first chance to see the crew function on a routine basis.
character- Aside from Archer channeling Kirk, not a lot of distinctive material here.essential- Not particularly. Nothing hugely significant happens here.
Wade Williams
