Season 3
Episode 76 Zero Hour
It’s the season climax, what the show spent an entire year building up to. Thankfully it was a decent payoff. The Enterprise destroys the spheres in the expanse, returning it to a normal type of space. Basically defeating the plans the Guardians have of making that region of space hospitable to them.
Meanwhile the super weapon makes it to Earth. Archer with the help of his new Xindi friends tries to stop the weapon. During the battle the Andorians captained by Shran arrive and assist in the battle.
Archer, Sato, Reed beam aboard the super weapon. They all work together to dismantle it. Archer has Reed and Sato leave while he closes out the dismantling of the weapon. As he completes the task he ends up in a classic Star Trek last minute fight to the death while the structure/planet/ship collapses around them. We last see Archer trying to run away from a bunch of explosions. Everyone presumes he dies in the explosion of the weapon.
Reed, Sato and other Enterprise crewmembers return to the expanse where they meet up with the actual Enterprise and fill one another in on their success. The Aquatic Xindi agree to give Enterprise a ride home. They part way peacefully.
The Enterprise flies the rest of the way on their own to Earth. While heading to the planet, they discover they have been sent back in time to the 1940s. The season ends on another cliffhanger.
With the exception of the cliffhanger at the end, the episode was solid. Good action, drama, and resolution. That season long cliffhanger after making the audience suffer though a story that started at the end of season two, was a bit too much to ask. It leaves people without any decent resolution. Thankfully it would be the last storyline devoted to the Temporal Cold War as after the first two episodes of season four, the show moves away from time travel gimmicks and focuses on smaller connected story arcs.
How does season three measure-up as a whole? It did a great job in terms of ambition, especially for a Star Trek series. A season long threat. Implementing that season long story had too many slow moments. Lots of missed opportunity for faster paced stories or perhaps better focus on key or new characters. There was definitely a plan on how to end the season with lots of action and excitement. The payoff was great. The build-up could have been better. It also asked a lot from an audience to tune in every week to keep up with the stories. The idea of binge watching was still a few years away. DVR was new. Streaming is years off. So if you missed an episode, you could be completely lost. It’s a story telling concept that was perhaps too progressive for the year 2004. But ultimately that’s where TV was headed. So the writers weren’t wrong to make that leap. They were perhaps responsible for other shows adopting that storytelling format.
Ultimately season three was a good season but one can agree how polarizing it could be to a casual viewer. And it did no favors to itself when trying to garner new viewership. Also the show was promoting an overall message of diplomacy over war. It's difficult not to see the parallels of the Xindi attack on Earth and the tragedy of 9/11. It shows the justified anger and grief people feel after a cataclysmic attack but overall promotes a message of diplomacy and peace as the best way to resolve conflict. It's not accidental the show demonstrated how only a few Xindi were true bad guys, even then, their motivations are understandable, but wrong. It wasn't the the entire species that was responsible. Pure Star Trek teaching lessons through science fiction allegory.
Written by
Joseph Ammendolea
Owner/President
“I Like To Play With Toys” Productions®
ILikeToPlayWithToysProductions@Yahoo.com
