'Silent Enemy' Scores Positive Reviews

See Also: 'Silent Enemy' Episode Guide

After weeks of reruns, Enterprise returned last week with 'Silent Enemy', and judging from critical reaction, it was an episode worth waiting for.

Seven new analyses of the episode have been posted online, with most reviewers giving it the thumbs-up, even if there were a few reservations about the combination of the two main plots.

• "Silent Enemy is a quality production which is one of the Enterprise episodes to fulfill the promise of a well-imagined look at isolated deep space exploration," wrote O. Deus at TrekWeb. "From some of the best visual FX shots of the Enterprise yet, to long interior shots that emphasize the size of the ship and the isolation of the crew within it, Silent Enemy's production merges the episode's themes on visual and script levels." The full review can be found here.

• Over at the Starfleet Library, C.A. Voigts awarded 'Silent Enemy' a score of 4 out of 5, calling it "another quality episode." Here's an extract from the review:

  The dialogue was crisp and, except for one scene, not superfluous. The scene revealing Trip's receiving a 'Dear John' letter didn't quite fit in with the rest of the show, in my opinion, but didn't detract too terribly (unlike the decon scene in the pilot). Again, little tidbits of humor to relieve some of the tension, and yes, this episode was tense.

  Go here to read the full review.

• Richard Whettestone at First TV Drama was disappointed that the crew didn't treat the aliens as a greater threat. "If the writers were any smart at all and really wanted to play up the life-threatening attacks by the aliens, they should have had the characters forced to put everything on hold," he wrote. "Imagine if the first twenty minutes followed Hoshi's search for Reed's favorite food, then once the aliens attacked, it had to be dropped." Read more in the complete analysis.

• Also concerned about the episode's pacing was Matt D. at Trek5.com. "To its credit, 'Enemy' moved quite effectively through Act II, but the Reed 'B' (as in birthday) story felt wholly out of place," he said. "Call me old fashioned but give me a nice starship wedding where the groom gets knocked off before he can say can say 'I do' any day." 'Silent Enemy' scored 3 out of 5 in the full review.

• Over at Section31, Bonnie Malmat thoroughly enjoyed the Reed sub-plot. Here's an extract from her review:

  This was a good episode. From wondering who the aliens were, to the light humor of the 'B' story, the story held one’s interest. The little touches of continuity, referring back to events in early stories, and even ahead to later Trek (TMP) are welcome and help interconnect ENT, not only with previous episodes of the show, but with other Star Trek series.

  Go here to read the rest of the review, in which the episode was awarded 8 out of 10.

• "A bit artificial, but certainly entertaining enough," wrote Tim Lynch at Psi Phi. Like some of the other critics, Lynch felt the two plots didn't work well together. "The resulting episode, while an entertaining enough hour, comes off feeling a bit disjointed," he said. "In part, that's because its two storylines require radically different atmospheres." Overall, 'Silent Enemy' was rated a 7 out of 10 - the complete analysis is available here.

• The Trekker Newsletter's Jacqueline Bundy seemed to thoroughly enjoy Enterprise's return from hiatus. "Like so many of the scripts so far the infusion of the light touches amid a more deadly storyline made 'Silent Enemy' an episode well worth watching," she wrote. "As a matter of fact it's worth watching again." The full review, in which the episode was awarded an 8 out of 10, can be found at the Trekker Newsletter.

'Silent Enemy' was also well received by TrekToday visitors, with the episode scoring an average rating of 8 out of 10 in the poll. The full results are available in the Trek Nation episode guide.

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