Star Trek: Enterprise (TV Series) Rogue Planet (2002) User Reviews

As much as I agree with other reviewers on this one...

[XweAponX · 8/10 · 14 February 2017]

I rather enjoyed it.

I had to dismiss the concept that a Rogue Planetoid would have not only a breathable "M-Class" atmosphere and temperature, but green plants without any Sunlight to make them green. But I suppose the "Greens" department didn't have time to paint them purple or whatever Colour plant life would have in such an environment.

What I enjoyed was the Archer plot that included a "Woman" from a poem he read, and the nature of who that woman really was. In my mind, it was a nod to Odo and the Shapeshifters from DS9, which was my Favourite part of that series.

And the fact that they kept the nature of these Rogue Inhabitants a mystery until the end of the episode. It was also a statement about people who will hunt endangered animals, with no thought to species survival. Even if the animals on our planet are not intelligent, we are the stewards of all life on earth, we have a poor record on how we deal with that stewardship. And today, we have leaders who don't seem to care about that, who would destroy our natural parks just for Profit and "Free Market" sake. They can't seem to get a grip on the fact that these are limited resources and should be respected and protected.

What I enjoyed was Archer's discovery of the issue and his tactful handling of the problem at hand.

Tradition must take second place to morality.

[Gore_Won · 8/10 · 19 March 2010]

I think the other comment missed the point of this episode. There are villains in this story, the hunters who placed their enjoyment over the lives of their prey. Hunting sentient beings is so revolting I cannot believe I need to write a post to clarify the point. So what if the hunters have been doing it for generations? I am fairly certain some people used the same argument to defend slavery and fight abolition.

The conclusion of this episode was spot-on. The hunters knew what they were doing and would not be dissuaded from their blood sport. They would keep returning to the planet. The only solution, then, is to arm the inhabitants. One must not mistake practicality for morality, though.

The Song of the Wandering Angus

[claudio_carvalho · 8/10 · 28 November 2007]

The Enterprise finds an errant planet without humanoid life form with a vessel landed in a rain-forest. Archer, T'Pol, Trip, Malcolm and Hoshi take the Shuttlepod to explore and investigate the spot and they meet the Eska hunters Buzaan, Shiraht and Damrus that welcome the group in their camping area. They explain that they are chasing Drayjins, which meat is delicious, in a practice that has been adopted by their people for generations and they call the planet Dakala. They have not been detected by the sensors because they use camouflage to be protected and kill the aggressive shape-shifters wraths that leave a chemical signature when they are afraid. Along the night, Captain Archer hears a woman voice telling him that he needs to understand, and when he follows the voice, he sees a beautiful woman not totally strange for him wandering in the woods.

"Rogue Planet" has an original story surprisingly without villains. In one side, the amicable group of hunters that practice the sport for generations in a wild planet, and in the other side, an intelligent life-form. Captain Archer recalls his childhood and uses his feelings to find with Dr. Phlox a masking agent to keep the wraiths safe. My vote is eight.

Title (Brazil): "Planeta Errante" ("Errant Planet")

A recycled teleplay

[laurentiupopa79 · 6/10 · 18 August 2019]

I believe this was supposed to be a Chakotay episode on Star Trek: Voyager. Seems like it was either discarded from VOY season 7, or was supposed to be a season 8 installment. As VOY had only 7 seasons and the story was too god to be abandoned, it was recycled as an ENT episode. It may seem very unusual as an ENT episode, but consider it a VOY episode, centered on Chakotay in order to enjoy it.

Interesting and a Bit Allegorical but Not Scientific

[Hitchcoc · 6/10 · 12 March 2017]

I have to say I enjoyed this episode but I kept hearkening back to some scientific realities. It would seem that a planet that has gone rogue would just become a frozen sphere in space. If there is no sun to warm it, how could it sustain life. I supposed one could imagine that because there are elements of the supernatural at work here (at least a mind reading ability), we could assume that this planet is something out of a science fiction writer's imagination. All that aside, I did enjoy the whole business with the hunters and their relentless efforts to get enjoyment from their prey. Enter the Enterprise crew which gets in the way of their fun. Archer is chosen to try to change things because a poem by Yeats. This is mishmash. One last thing, why is it so easy to synthesize made to order stuff to solve problems. Phlox is almost too much of a good thing.

The Golden Apples of the Sun

[wd-8 · 10/10 · 4 September 2020]

Archer relives the Yeats of his youth. Brilliant.

"The Song of Wandering Aengus" W B Yeats 1899

I went out to the hazel wood, Because a fire was in my head, And cut and peeled a hazel wand, And hooked a berry to a thread; And when white moths were on the wing, And moth-like stars were flickering out, I dropped the berry in a stream And caught a little silver trout. When I had laid it on the floor I went to blow the fire a-flame, But something rustled on the floor, And someone called me by my name: It had become a glimmering girl With apple blossom in her hair Who called me by my name and ran And faded through the brightening air. Though I am old with wandering Through hollow lands and hilly lands, I will find out where she has gone, And kiss her lips and take her hands; And walk among long dappled grass, And pluck till time and times are done, The silver apples of the moon, The golden apples of the sun.

Serious loopholes in the script

[t_maly · 2/10 · 6 July 2012]

I can't believe somebody wrote an episode of a 'rogue planet' that apparently lost orbit and has no sun, is somehow M-class, and yet without that sun is somehow habitable at a reasonable temperature.

Last time I checked, the temperature of a planet is determined by it's distance from a heat/light source, ie a sun.

Without the sun, the planet would quickly freeze to a very(!) cold temperature.

Even with our planet still reliably in orbit, we still experience drastic temperature changes from day to night and season to season.

What the heck were they thinking?

i love this (minor spoilers)

[hydrorion · 10/10 · 29 August 2016]

MINOR SPOILERS any episode that has the captain wanting to kiss a giant slug is a win in my book. Some good social commentary too. Yes there are plot holes; the premise for the 'rogue planet' isn't viable in the slightest but to me that doesn't really matter, it reminded me of the good old fashioned times when Kirk had to defeat a giant green space hand by insulting it. I also continue to be impressed with ENT's visuals and cgi; for something that was made in 2001 it's remarkable how well they did, the creature design on the show is really great. Also some great lines from T'pol as always. I wouldn't say it's necessarily a bad episode, it had some really fun moments that gave me a good laugh and a good message even with the badly researched premise. Still, it's silly in the way that gives you that feeling of classic Trek and i found it very enjoyable.

Watered-Down Social Commentary

[Samuel-Shovel · 4/10 · 31 May 2017]

This episode brings up a lot of plot holes that it fails to address satisfactorily: the lack of a frozen surface (I don't care how many thermal vents you have, that surface would be cold!), the breathable atmosphere, and the green vegetation. Lots of other reviews complain about these, as well as other problems, so I won't waste anymore time doing this.

This social commentary revolves around tradition versus moral principles. At what point do we cast aside traditions that have been passed down through generations in favor of modern morality? Is fishing for sport ethical? Is hunting game ethical? Is modern Japense whaling ethical? ST:E turns it full throttle by showing the Eska hunting sentient-beings (the Wraiths). In today's world, there are far more nuances and complications than is shown in this ST:E episode which makes this more difficult to answer.

My problem with this episode is that the writers have made this issue so cut and dry by pitting two sentient lifeforms against each other, that it more closely resembles genocide and murder than it does recreational hunting. It seems that this is a point that the writers are trying to make (that modern hunting is akin to murdering another lifeform). By creating this genocide-like setting however, the writers don't leave the viewer any room for interpretation or polarity between right and wrong. It becomes far too preachy: "This is right, this is wrong." A great sci-fi allegory involves a story where the viewer can see both sides of the coin and make judgments for him or herself. Unfortunately this episode doesn't allow us to do that.

Episode Note: Why do the most important and senior officers of the crew insist on exploring unknown planets by themselves first? (I know Enterprise isn't the only ST show guilty of this but can we fix it please? Shouldn't you send down some lackeys first to make sure it will be alright? Sending down the Captain (which should never happen), the Chief Engineer, the Armory Officer, and the Comms Officer seems extremely foolish and not planned out at all.

A Senior Trekker writes.......................

[celineduchain · 5/10 · 22 April 2022]

One of the most beautiful and well told stories of this or any other Star Trek series.

I see that it has had mixed reviews; mainly I suppose for the totally implausible idea of a planet drifting across the Cosmos unattached to any solar system of its own. The idea of a biome totally supported by the heat from volcanic vents is not such an implausible one but giving it a breathable atmosphere and recognisable plant life was too much for most viewers' suspension of disbelief. The Eska hunters have been coming here for generations? How exactly? This planet must have left their own solar system an unfeasibly long way behind many decades since.

As I have said multiple times before, if the story is good enough to engage my attention then it's just a piece of fiction and this particular piece of fiction has all that I could ask for forty minutes of absorbing entertainment.

We have a group of hunters at the very peak of their prowess, risking their lives in a darkly hostile and mysterious landscape. At first they seem hearty and even welcoming but there is a secret that they are trying to conceal without even properly understanding it themselves. In contrast to all this bravado, we have the equally perplexing and ethereal wraith that only Archer can see. Somehow, it is extremely satisfying to the viewer that, far from being a sexual fantasy as his crew-mates suggest, she is in fact the image of innocence plucked from a poem he loved in childhood.

(Another reviewer has helpfully quoted Yates' poem: The Song of the Wandering Aengus*, in full.)

The Science Fiction concept that joins these disparate elements together is the idea that the beautiful woman is in fact a manifestation of the hunters' prey, an alien seeking to make its plight understood by the Enterprise crew by taking a form that one of them will recognise. The hunters themselves, while not exactly subtle in their camouflage-wearing, weapon-toting machismo, are nonetheless treated with a certain amount of respect for their traditions. A more-or-less satisfying conclusion is reached by the end of the story.

The hunters are played by various Star Trek and Science Fiction regulars including Keith Szarabajka who's highly distinctive voice is instantly recognisable to any follower of Babylon 5. Stephanie Niznik's performance as the romantic apparition was both dignified and memorable: she inhabited this role as if she had been born to it and it is with a certain sadness that we see how her career thereafter declined until her untimely death in 2019.

(* An Aengus is a mythical demi-god associated with youth, love and summer in the Gaelic tradition)

I wish I had skipped this one

[snoozejonc · 5/10 · 25 August 2020]

Enterprise encounters a 'rogue' planet separated from its solar system and Archer, T'Pol, Tucker and Reed decide to explore.

Not a strong episode aside from a bit of social commentary about people only caring about protecting a species they find appealing.

I'm no scientific expert but I struggle to accept the notion of that planet being the way it was depicted and Archer being written in such an irritating way after his first sight of the mysterious woman. The indigenous species on the planet evolved in a certain way to survive, but the amount of screen time dedicated to him soul searching, before a solution to the hunting problem is conveniently obtained, is not the most compelling. I wanted him to get off the planet and take the Enterprise somewhere more interesting.

I was close to skipping this one, but stuck with it to the end and regretted it.

T_Maly is right about this one....

[planktonrules · 4/10 · 22 March 2015]

While this is not a terrible episode, T_Maly's review spots some HUGE problems in the script for "Rogue Planet". The Enterprise finds a planet that isn't part of a solar system--yet it somehow is very Earthlike--with a breathable atmosphere and nice temperatures. This really doesn't make any sense at all.

When the landing party lands, they find some Eska hunters. They are apparently looking for a great delicacy--drayjin. They are supposed to be delicious so the humans tag along. However, a bit later Archer sees a drayjin...and it looks like a hot lady! It's obvious that the creature can assume various forms and is quite intelligent- -perhaps too intelligent to be hunted for food.

Apart from the scientific problems with the episode it's also a tad preachy. Overall, it's not exactly bad...but this isn't exactly a glowing endorsement.