Warp Five 225: Let’s Play Some Sand Polo! / by C Bryan Jones

“Desert Crossing” 20th-anniversary reflections

Running Time: 51 minutes 59 seconds
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After their encounter with Vulcan Ambassador V’Lar, the crew of the NX-01 are back on course for Risa. But they’ll have to wait a bit longer for rest and relaxation by the pool thanks to a distress call. They assist the pilot of a small craft and then accept his invitation to visit his home in the desert. But what at first appears to be just an invitation to dinner (which Trip hopes will be free of snake meat) turns out to be a plea for assistance in a fight against the government.

In this episode of Warp Five, hosts C Bryan Jones and Matthew Rushing continue our 20th-anniversary retrospective that takes you through all of Star Trek: Enterprise, one episode at a time. In this installment, we explore “Desert Crossing” and how it serves as a proto-Prime Directive story. We also discuss Archer's reputation, the shades of gray in which Zabol's struggle against the government is presented, and how the story could have benefited from more information and the mini-arc format found in Season 4.

Chapters

Intro (00:00:00)
A Sandy Setting (00:01:58)
Shifting the Perspective (00:07:46)
Archer’s Reputation (00:11:51)
Missing Information (00:18:50)
A Proto-Prime Directive Story (00:23:15)
Shades of Gray (00:35:17)
Special Honor (00:41:59)
Final Thoughts and Ratings (00:42:52)
Closing (00:47:43)

Hosts

C Bryan Jones and Matthew Rushing

Production

C Bryan Jones (Editor and Producer) Matthew Rushing (Executive Producer) Norman C. Lao (Associate Producer)

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