Star Trek: Enterprise (TV Series) Vox Sola (2002) User Reviews

Now this is certainly an unusual first contact!

[planktonrules · 8/10 · 24 March 2015]

The show begins with the Kreetassans becoming VERY offended at something the humans did during their meeting. However, instead of telling everyone what offended them, they stomp off the ship and it seems like a first contact experience with these folks blew up in their faces...but why?! Well, another first contact experience occurs soon after this--and it goes even worse!! Some weird tentacled creature is hiding in the ship--and it soon grabs several crew members (including the Captain and Trip) and holds them captive. What the creature is, what its intentions are and the fates of the crew entangled within it are all uncertain. So, it's up to the Doctor, Reed and Hoshi to figure out what to do.

The episode is awfully good because it it such a weird and unusual creature and I appreciate that. Too often, the aliens all are bipedal humanoids, so having something 100% different is a great idea. Well worth seeing.

The Spiderweb Stowaway

[Samuel-Shovel · 7/10 · 6 June 2017]

After a short but memorable encounter with a Kreetassan ship, the gang encounters a new species now hiding in the cargo bay. After the web-like organism snatches a few members of the crew (including the captain) T'Pol, Reed, and Hoshi are tasked with figuring out how to get their men back.

This episode was slow-paced but enjoyable. I liked the ethical dilemmas explored with the treatment of the organism after first contact. Phlox refuses to allow tortuous experimentation on the sample he's collected, citing that this organism is an intelligent lifeform and this would be inhumane. Sidenote: If this species wasn't intelligent, would torturing it then be okay?

I'm glad we get to see a few species on ST:E that are a bit more amorphic than we are used to seeing. Even though this species doesn't resemble us, we can still feel sympathy for it as it is separated from the remainder of the organism.

Two parts I didn't like: One, I didn't enjoy the strange feud between T'Pol and Hoshi. Hoshi's got some thin skin and thinks T'Pol is unfairly targeting her and criticizing her. I don't know. I just found it odd and unnecessary to the plot. And since it was resolved with a "I hold you to a higher standard since you're so smart" line, it's not really a subplot moving forward. It didn't do anything for character development either. Unnecessary.

Two, the subplot involving the Kreetassan being offended by the humans eating food in public. Okay, sure. There's a species out there that doesn't eat food in front of each other and finds it offensive to do that. I can buy that. What I can't buy is that the Kreetassan haven't run into other species out there eating in front of them. This would happen constantly to a warp-cable species. The Kreetassan would either have to adapt and get used to looking at this or they would have to tell other species of their custom and ask them politely not to do so. What they can't do is just angrily leave every time time they see someone eating or they'd be ostracized by all other species. Just didn't seem right unless this is one of the first contacts that the Kreetassan have had. But seeing how they've already explored other planets and were able to master the English language so quick, this seems unlikely.

First Contact

[claudio_carvalho · 8/10 · 17 December 2007]

After an unsuccessful first contact with Kreetassans, where nothing works and the group feels offended by some attitude of the earthlings, a jelly lifeform invades the Enterprise and lodges in one of its cargo hold. Later the creature captures with its tentacles Captain Archer, Tucker and two crewmembers and engulfs them in its jelly form. While Reed tries to develop an effective weapon to release his mates from the alien, Dr. Phlox advises that they are short of time, since it will be not possible reversing the symbiotic relationship of the alien with its preys. Hoshi finds pattern of a language in the noise of the creature and with the support of T'Pol, they try to communicate with the dangerous lifeform and find its intention.

"Vox Sola" is an episode that recalls "The Blob", with a jelly lifeform attacking the crew of the Enterprise. The best moment of this film is when the crew goes to the movie theater to watch the cult Henri-Georges Clouzot's "Le Salaire de la Peur", showing that the responsible for programming the movies for the crew has an excellent taste. My vote is eight.

Title (Brazil): "Vox Sola"

Great potential but missed an opportunity to create an interesting episode.

[wwcanoer-tech · 7/10 · 18 November 2021]

A tentacled alien has boarded Enterprise and is grabbing, enveloping and neurologically tapping into five crew members. We don't know why but it doesn't appear to be eating them.

Various minor computer functions, such as the weekly movie appear to be affected by frequency distortions caused by this alien. When the doctor says that its many synapses indicate that it's capable of higher brain function, Hoshi decides to try to interpret these frequency distortions as its language.

The captured crew soon discover that they can read each others thoughts and memory. This clearly shows that the alien is integrating their brains. This was a great opportunity for the crew to try to communicate with the alien by (1) trying to feel the thoughts of the alien and (2) all thinking the same thought so that the alien has a better chance of feeling it. Could start simple. Ex. Everyone think "up, lift us up". When the alien responds by lifting them up, they try "down", then "loosen", then "disconnect". Great if it could disconnect one person and that person quickly recovers (showing that no permanent damage and that the alien has no ill will) and can provide insight as to the alien's thoughts and/or feelings.

Imagine that the crew understand the alien conveying the the thoughts "broken", "lonely", "door" and realize that the alien is talking about the severed limb that's in sick bay. The doctor brings the severed limb, it re-integrates with the alien, and then the alien releases another one of the crew. This would show how to end the crisis as they further communicate and understand that it just wants to go home. This would lead seamlessly into Hoshi's work trying to communicate via frequencies because she as a starting point to understand its goal.

In the episode, Hoshi is able to establish communication and almost immediately says that she's receiving numbers that look like latitude and longitude. However, there's no way that this alien would use the same notation as Earth. More interesting would be if they had to search for clues to interpret the numbers. Best would be something that the audience can decipher along with Hoshi, so that we're more involved, less passive. One option is words: planet, spin, axis, 100 divisions top to bottom, volcano at 20, home is at 40. (i.e. Latitude). The better option is all math, it gives the equation of a sphere, and the equation of a circle (i.e. Circumference), which shows their latitude. Lots of possibilities.

As always, once the crisis is averted, we learn almost nothing more about this alien species. Only a scene of the alien being reintegrated and Phlox saying that it is a single organism.

Some logical problems are: Who is the alien talking to? Hoshi can only decipher a language if someone is talking. Is she detecting its thoughts? Is it connected to the ship or just giving off electromagnetic waves? How can it grow in size without eating? Sure, to be entertained we routinely ignore details like this but I wish that the writers could take the time to think through more of the details and explain them. Often it would only take another line or two.

Flubber in space

[tomsly-40015 · 7/10 · 28 February 2024]

This episode is a very typical Star Trek episode:

An alien creature that initially poses a threat to Enterprise and the crew and is only perceived as an intelligent and sentient creature at second glance. Ethical discussions about whether to respond with counterforce to the creature's violence, with at least one crew member voicing their deepest concerns and morally prevailing against the majority opinion. In the end, the crew manages to communicate with the creature, and it turns out that the creature isn't actually evil but is just afraid and wants to go back to its planet. The crew then helps the creature, no one is seriously injured and everyone lives happily ever after.

Basically the quintessence of Star Trek: You shouldn't brand alien beings, cultures and civilizations as evil and dangerous simply because you don't understand their language and their way of life seems different and incomprehensible.

If this had been a VOY or TNG episode, it certainly would have had a bit more substance. Instead, Archer philosophizes about water polo (who the heck watches water polo?) and Hoshi feels bullied by T'Pol (apparently no one still understands the Vulcan ways and their logic). The subplot with the alien guests who see it as an insult if someone eats food in public is a bit cheap but also a kind of foreshadowing of the misunderstandings between different species. However, Mayweather's apology seems quite ridiculous - also because Anthony Montgomery seems like a helpless young brat in this role (much worse than Wesley Crusher in my opinion). For me it's a clear miscast. As is the entire crew except Jolene Blalock as T'Pol. Everyone else doesn't fit their roles at all and seems like amateurs.

A Very Creative Effort

[Hitchcoc · 9/10 · 13 March 2017]

When a group of seemingly combative aliens leave Enterprise after a failed first contact, a strange stringy mass enters an open bay. It is like a large sticky spider web. When an engineer enters, its tentacles grasp him and pull him in, wrapping him up. Not long after, his female colleague, Trip, and Archer find themselves in a similar circumstance. Part of the failed contact involves Hoji's inability to properly translate their language. She is now face with communicating with the entity which uses a unique mathematical language. Time is wasting because the crew are beginning to be absorbed. This is a truly unique alien life form and a good adventure.

Unoriginal and not enough redeeming qualities to be enjoyable

[snoozejonc · 5/10 · 28 August 2020]

Enterprise encounters an alien stowaway.

This feels like a 'nice' tribute to Ridley Scott's Alien. I can't say I particularly enjoyed it but it did have a few redeeming elements.

One of the qualities of Star Trek is the abundance of situations where problems are solved by non-violent solutions and this is one such example.

There are some decent character scenes between Archer and Trip Tucker, particularly them relaxing with a beer watching waterpolo.

It is always refreshing in Star Trek to see a non humanoid life form and this feels like the series creators making an effort to be a bit more creative than usual with production design.

There are a number of problems that drag it down, namely the unoriginal plot, poor CG animation and annoying character moments, particularly Sato whining at T'Pol in the middle of a crisis.

The visuals are pretty good, but the characterisations are quite hit and miss. Over the course of the episode I did not find it enjoyable.

Let's all argue while our Captain is hanging in GOO!

[thaimiles · 3/10 · 8 July 2020]

Hoshi freaks out and pouts "I'm not good enough" because T'Pol is just being a Vulcan, and Lt. Reed and Dr Phlox's arguments go on way too long. They both act like asshats! One "Alien" is a stupid, boring mass of white goo webbing that traps Trip, the Captain and several others who are too slow and dumb as molasses for poking their noses too close to the thing. Then all they do is groan as they're hanging around in the "alien" webb and try to guess each other's thoughts! Travis apologizes to the other aliens who are embarrassed to see anyone eat, which is also a stupid idea, and then we never see him tell T'Pol that happened or that he got the coordinates to take the "goo webb" aliens home! Lots of standing around and waiting...waiting...! I guess one of the writer's kids threw out an idea and everyone was tired so they said what the heck!

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

[celineduchain · 5/10 · 11 May 2022]

Yes, here we have it! Enterprise does Alien. It's not half as bad as it could have been but I'm not sure that's the best recommendation for half of an evening's entertainment. I'll start with the positives:

The opening protocol faux pas with the visiting Kreetasaans is pretty funny in its own right. It turns out that these hard-to-comprehend aliens find all mention of the act of eating to be highly offensive and were horrified to be expected to share a meal. It calls to mind the Louis Brunel film the Phantom of Liberty where the acts of eating and excreting are interchanged in the social order although I'm not sure that that was the comparison the writers of Enterprise had in mind. We also see Vaughn Armstrong in his twelfth Star Trek role. Reliable as always.

We are treated to a reference to classic French film, The Wages of Fear (Le Saliare de la Peur) which the crew are about to watch for film night. Certainly a nod to the cognoscenti there.

Three formerly unknown crew members, Rostov, Kelly and unnamed Security guy, share the screen with Archer and Tucker as they become more and more entangled in the web of sinuous goo. I like the way their fate is given no less attention than that of the stars and that none of them is sacrificed to the "curse of the red shirt". This is one area where the writers of Enterprise improved upon their forerunners; every member of the crew mattered and we never feel as if their lives are being spent cheaply.

Hoshi and Phlox both get some good screen time in their professional roles.

Now we have get to the alien web creature It looks awful, fails to convince us of its deeper motivation and isn't the slightest bit frightening. The return of the amputated tendril to it's parent creature is reminiscent of the second episode's Sluggo - and we feel embarrassed that we seem to be expected to care.

Senior Trekker scores every episode with a 5.