Cease Fire

This is the first Enterprise episode that I have thoroughly enjoyed and stayed immersed because there weren't any serious plot holes, goofs or suspended reality moments that normally jolt me out of the experience.

Of course, it's Star Trek, so we never feel that there's any real danger to our main characters but everything kept moving with plenty of interest as to how things will play out, with lots of humor and good commentary. I always enjoy Commander Shran.

This is what Star Trek should be. A crisis solved by people rather than a technological fix. Space, tech and alien cultures are the playing field that makes it interesting, but the crisis is solved by intellect, not magic tech that's fixed or implemented at the critical moment.

To introduce someone to Star Trek Enterprise, a mini-series of only the Andorian episodes would be good, but need to include one of the episodes where the Vulcans show their displeasure of the listening post and monastery being destroyed.

Actually, this episode did have one of my pet peeves: Would you walk away from your car with the door open? Why do they always leave their shuttle doors open?! :D.

This should have been a two-parter. When you have fine guest stars like Gary Graham (Soval), Jeffery Combs (Shran), and Susie Plakson (Shran's Number Two), you need to give them scope to rip up the scenery. These are actors who get the tenor and rhythms of Star Trek. The dialogue for them seems kind of perfunctory just so they could get it all in. These actors need big chunks of dialogue to chew. A battle zone seems the perfect place for some fire and brimstone between them. They are sort of wasted. For some reason they tried to make Suzie Plakson look unattractive and unrecognizable. That was not necessary given all that she has meant to Star Trek. It is still a very good episode.

Archer is requested to be a mediator between the Vulcans and the Andorians on the disputed planet Weytahn.

The one is a bit of an action/thriller with political tensions that have to be carefully guided by Captain Archer. It contains suspenseful moments that are fairly plausible. Rather than lives being at stake, it's a peace process.

Focus is divided between events on the Weytahn and what happens in orbit above as the Vulcans and Andorians approach. Archer takes the lead on the ground getting involved in all sorts of action and negotiations, whilst Trip Tucker is in the chair trying to keep the enemy ships from getting involved.

As a story it works well and all the actors do a good job. As for the characters, this is another example of Enterprise bad decision to portray Vulcans the way they do. The actors do their best to give ice-cold performances, yet their dialogue is drenched with emotion. This probably makes me sound like some sort of finicky nerd, but it's starting to get a bit tiresome.

This had the potential to be a superb episode but the creative decisions like in so many episodes of Enterprise slightly drag it down.

I loved the Andorians on "Star Trek: Enterprise", so it isn't surprising that I liked "Cease Fire". It seems that the Vulcans and Andorians have been fighting over ownership of a crappy little planet for a hundred years. Now, their cease fire has ended, as the Andorians have taken the planet and the Vulcans are sending troops to retake the place. However, the Andorian leader, Shran, has asked that Captain Archer come to the planet with the annoying Vulcan, Soval, so that they can negotiate a peaceful settlement. While this idea is laudable, Shran doesn't realize that many of his troops don't want peace and will do anything to guarantee war! So, as Archer, Soval and T'Pol near the planet, a nasty surprise is waiting for them.

This is a neat episode as it brings back the loathsome Soval and softens him a bit. Likewise, the show has seen Shran evolve from an angry jerk to a reasonable friend. I loved that the characters (even Soval) have been shown to change--and this makes them multidimensional and very interesting.

Admiral Forrest advises Captain Archer to travel to the small Class D planet called Weytahn by the Andorians and Paan Mokar by the Vulcans on the border of their empires and motive of a long dispute. The Andorian commander Shran does not trust on the Vulcans and has invited Archer to mediate a negotiation of cease fire with their enemies. Archer and T'Pol meet Shran and he releases one hostage to indicate his good faith in negotiating personally with the Vulcan Ambassador Soval. Archer succeeds to convince Soval to go with T'Pol and him to the planet, but they are attacked by Andorians that do not believe in a peaceful solution for the situation.

"Cease Fire" is one of the best episodes of the Second Season. The story has action, good dialogs (I personally liked the dialog between Soval and T'Pol) and a great peaceful message of peace and understanding in the end. The "pink-skin" Captain Archer proves that is very efficient also as a diplomat, winning the deserved respect from the Andorians and Vulcans. My vote is nine.

Title (Brazil): "Cessar Fogo" ("Cease Fire")