Minefield
- Episode aired Oct 2, 2002
- TV-PG
- 43m
IMDb RATING
7.4/10
1.8K
YOUR RATING
The safety of Enterprise rests on Reed's shoulders when the ship becomes trapped in a Romulan minefield and Romulan ships are closing in on them.The safety of Enterprise rests on Reed's shoulders when the ship becomes trapped in a Romulan minefield and Romulan ships are closing in on them.The safety of Enterprise rests on Reed's shoulders when the ship becomes trapped in a Romulan minefield and Romulan ships are closing in on them.
Jef Ayres
- Crewman Haynem
- (uncredited)
Solomon Burke Jr.
- Ensign Billy
- (uncredited)
Mark Correy
- Engineer Alex
- (uncredited)
Evan English
- Ensign Tanner
- (uncredited)
Peter Godoy
- Enterprise Crewman
- (uncredited)
Bryan Heiberg
- Engineer
- (uncredited)
Scott Sterling Hill
- Ensign Hutchison
- (uncredited)
John Jurgens
- Starfleet Crewman
- (uncredited)
Marnie Martin
- Crewman
- (uncredited)
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaParts of Enterprise's hull had to be specially built for this episode but were discarded afterwards. "We had to throw the pieces away," reflected Production Designer Herman F. Zimmerman, "we just didn't have any room to store them, they were so large!"
- GoofsMalcolm tells Captain Archer to turn the wheel on final protrusion of the mine clockwise, but when we see Archer turning it, his hands clearly move counter-clockwise.
- Quotes
Captain Jonathan Archer: I've never heard of a minefield with just two mines.
- ConnectionsReferenced in Star Trek: Enterprise: Horizon (2003)
- SoundtracksWhere My Heart Will Take Me
Written by Diane Warren
Performed by Russell Watson
Episode: {all episodes}
Featured review
Instead of simply cutting the red wire, rods are rotated counterclockwise for 20 minutes
This is another one of those episodes that would be over in five minutes if the crew followed some logic and safety protocols. But that would of course be boring for the viewer. In order to create suspense and thrills, as a viewer you have to get the feeling that the main characters are in great danger - which of course they are not. Because none of the main characters will bite the dust. Especially not for such a trivial task as defusing a mine.
Although this episode is certainly amusing, the lack of logic and questionable decisions lead to a rather implausible plot. For example, Enterprise is damaged by a detonation shortly after entering the minefield. But instead of putting the spaceship in reverse and slowly flying back out the same way they came in, Mayweather flies through the entire minefield until they are out again. Or why would a captain risk defusing an explosive mine of unknown technology clinging to the hull when it could easily have been catapulted away from the ship by blowing off a metal plate? Speaking of captain: Which captain would endanger himself, his crew, his ship, his mission and the entire chain of command by getting into an EV suit and defusing the mine himself? I don't even want to know how many Starfleet regulations are broken by such an unnecessary suicide mission! Also: Why would Reed carry out such an away mission alone? If there was the slightest accident, he would be left without help and would end up floating in space.
And then the contact with the Romulans. Enterprise is hailed, no one understands a word, but instead of trying to answer, people simply remain silent. Just because the UT fails on the Enterprise doesn't mean the Romulans don't have better technology and could understand the language. It should have been standard protocol to respond, for example, "We have an emergency. Our ship has been badly damaged. We have no hostile intentions. We accidentally entered your territory and will leave as quickly as possible." Maybe they should have even offered to beam the Romulans onto the ship to show them that Enterprise wasn't carrying out a spy mission. But instead nothing is said at all, which understandably seems suspicious.
By the way, this episode shows once again that Malcom Reed is an absolutely boring character. Already in the episode where Archer wanted to find out his favorite dish, it was clear that Reed simply doesn't have any special characteristics. And in this episode that becomes more than obvious. He has no hobbies, is neither funny nor particularly eloquent. He is also not a typical Star Trek officer who is a specialist in his field and a tech nerd. The only thing that has stuck is that he first starts a pointless away mission to defuse the mine and then wants to sacrifice himself for the crew in order to die a hero like his uncle - which is only up for debate because he put himself in danger with this unnecessary mission in the first place instead of directly blowing the hull plating away.
Although this episode is certainly amusing, the lack of logic and questionable decisions lead to a rather implausible plot. For example, Enterprise is damaged by a detonation shortly after entering the minefield. But instead of putting the spaceship in reverse and slowly flying back out the same way they came in, Mayweather flies through the entire minefield until they are out again. Or why would a captain risk defusing an explosive mine of unknown technology clinging to the hull when it could easily have been catapulted away from the ship by blowing off a metal plate? Speaking of captain: Which captain would endanger himself, his crew, his ship, his mission and the entire chain of command by getting into an EV suit and defusing the mine himself? I don't even want to know how many Starfleet regulations are broken by such an unnecessary suicide mission! Also: Why would Reed carry out such an away mission alone? If there was the slightest accident, he would be left without help and would end up floating in space.
And then the contact with the Romulans. Enterprise is hailed, no one understands a word, but instead of trying to answer, people simply remain silent. Just because the UT fails on the Enterprise doesn't mean the Romulans don't have better technology and could understand the language. It should have been standard protocol to respond, for example, "We have an emergency. Our ship has been badly damaged. We have no hostile intentions. We accidentally entered your territory and will leave as quickly as possible." Maybe they should have even offered to beam the Romulans onto the ship to show them that Enterprise wasn't carrying out a spy mission. But instead nothing is said at all, which understandably seems suspicious.
By the way, this episode shows once again that Malcom Reed is an absolutely boring character. Already in the episode where Archer wanted to find out his favorite dish, it was clear that Reed simply doesn't have any special characteristics. And in this episode that becomes more than obvious. He has no hobbies, is neither funny nor particularly eloquent. He is also not a typical Star Trek officer who is a specialist in his field and a tech nerd. The only thing that has stuck is that he first starts a pointless away mission to defuse the mine and then wants to sacrifice himself for the crew in order to die a hero like his uncle - which is only up for debate because he put himself in danger with this unnecessary mission in the first place instead of directly blowing the hull plating away.
helpful•01
- tomsly-40015
- Mar 3, 2024
Details
- Runtime43 minutes
- Color
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 1.78 : 1
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