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Article posted on Saturday February 5th, 2005 by David J. Nixon at 10.24 am EST / 7.24 am PST. "United"
review by David J. Nixon. For personal use only.
Without a doubt this episode is the most important in all which has come before in this Prequel series because never before has it been possible to see the Federation coming together. The writers and producers have deliberately made this episode so the audience – Trekkies or casual viewers – know that greater things are going to be coming from this arc. There’s the deliberate conversation between Shran and Archer where they discuss the future of the names of their ships and that if they do something great that future vessels will be named after them. There’s also the final scene where Enterprise is shown flying in formation with Vulcan, Andorian and Tellarite vessels, which definitely has a feeling of expectance at what’s to come attached to it. The pull away from the meeting where Archer finally gets the Andorian and Tellarites to become friends to this scene is a wonderful and seamless transition that only makes me want to cry at the loss announced this week. The potential moving on from this moment is tremendous because as a student of History at school and of the period in which the League of Nations was rife and an ardent lover of politics itself I couldn’t help but be taken in completely by this new line of Trek, which Coto has been promising. This episode is the foundation corner stone upon which the Trekesque League of Worlds will be formed and it’s just a pity we won’t get to see the gradual development of this story line leading into the Birth of the Federation. Finally, when Enterprise becomes a Prequel and gets good the powers that be decide to kill it off.
“United” as you may have gathered is an excellent episode and doesn’t suffer so much from being the middle piece in a trilogy of episodes. The writing is excellent and is leaving me wondering what’s happening next. The cliffhanger I thought at first detracted from the powerful scene of Enterprise alongside the other races but then we had the grand reveal of the strange alien, which had me just jumping out of my seat screaming at UPN for being such idiots this week. I had expected it to be a Reman sitting in that chair and I was rather taken aback when earlier in the episode I saw several Remans flanking the Romulan Senator but the white skinned, red eyed, blind Andorian just absolutely blew me away. I don’t know what forces are at work there but certainly I think that we might get to explore this Prequel concept a little more as we may get to finally see Andor next episode. The political mistrust of the Romulans is portrayed in this excellent through the clear friction between the Senator and Romulan Commander. They seem to have different ideas of how they want to use their new weapon and the Senator doesn’t hold back in his criticism of the Commander’s actions during the test. Knowing the Romulans I wouldn’t expect less than this. The fact that this mission is condoned by the Senate and isn’t some upper Tal’Shiar operation leads me to believe that this is part of a wider politically motivated campaign to increase Romulus’s power in the Quadrant. The fact that there are bigger things at play here makes the episode deeper and more expansive than a chase around the sector after a rogue marauder.
The camera work in “United” was different from usual I thought as it was very fluid and mobile. That’s not a criticism at all as I enjoyed all the movement and sweeping nature of it. The production on the set was brilliant and I continue to love the command centre where the alien is on Romulus. I was also mightily impressed by the new interiors we saw of the Romulan prototype vessel, especially after the sabotage and destruction inflicted by Malcolm, who had a great character moment with his: “you build things, I blow them up!” as the fires and sparks all were very realistic. The ultimate move of them blowing themselves out into space was brilliant and I hadn’t seen it coming myself. The CGI work with them floating out in space with the cavalry arriving was brilliant as I could hear a trumpet sounding as those ships just warped in and then flew by them. However, the best bit was definitely the arrival of Enterprise to pick them up as that was a very classy bit of CGI! They reused the beautiful scene on Romulus but I’m not complaining because I absolutely love that shot. I also noticed that the Tellarite ships are actually the Xindi Arboreal ships from last years Season long Xindi Arc, which I thought was quite funny since fans have wanted to see the Xindi back for a while. It’s only a shame that we won’t get to see them again now. So in conclusion I think I’m starting to understand why FutureGuy and Daniels saw Archer as being so important to the founding of the Federation. Without his substitution in this fight the alliance would have broken down, the Romulans would have likely won and the Quadrant would have not been able to stop them. There would have been no League of Worlds and consequently no Federation. I’ve said that I’d like to see the Temporal Cold War completely rounded off but I think I’m starting to see it being done now with careful, masterful and subtle brushstrokes which are painting a masterpiece to forever be enshrined within the picture frame of Enterprise. Archer is growing into a more Kirk like captain with every episode and become a character I’m liking a lot with his diplomat touch. His whole attitude this episode of building an alliance is one that has grown on me reflecting on the episode and I truly believe that now with Enterprise confirmed as being on its last hours of new material that we are going out on a high and that’s even without this arc finishing yet. Next week I don’t know what we’re going to be seeing and how they are going to resolve this aspect of the storyline but I feel that it’s going to be brilliant as these first two episodes have so excellently set up my expectations for the conclusion. We’ve got only 9 episodes left but they are my episodes what with mirror universe episodes, Tholians appearing, seeing a Constitution class vessel, (and by the way I think that this was how they were going to bring Kirk into Enterprise for an episode or two had he agreed to it), the formation of Section 31 and major developments between Trip and T’Pol. UPN may have delivered the death axe but we the fans can still feed on the bounteous nourishment spilling forth from its death throws. They promise to be spectacular and no matter our disappointment we can at least rest in the confidence that we are about to blown away and that the audience will be left with such an anticipation for more that Trek will be resurrected soon and hopefully by Coto, who can lead us forward! I encourage anyone who can to help support the campaigns which are trying to save Enterprise as these are inspirational individuals trying to save a great show which has been betrayed and exploited by its network, which was founded by Trek. They’ll regret having ended Enterprise because we’re now letting slip the Andorians of war who have demonstrated themselves to be dangerous this episode.
Written by David J. Nixon. Want to rate the episode too?
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The Romulans have all but declared war on the Alpha Quadrant. They’re secretly attempting to undermine relations between Earth, Vulcan, Andor, Tellar and Rigel. In what started off with the Vulcan Reformation Arc we see Earth’s relationship being undermined through the attack on the Embassy, which ultimately led to the spiritual and philosophical reawakening of the Vulcan people to the original teachings of Surak. The Romulan plans which harkens back to those in The Next Generation of reuniting the once single race, which split as the Romulan offshoot fled to Romulus. There is a very grandeur feeling to this story line that is now in its middle episode with
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The parallels with our own history have always been important throughout Trek. Last season we had the whole arc based upon the events of September 11th and the War on Terrorism, which have been continued this season – much to my surprise and liking – with the xenophobia of Earth growing to become important at the end of this series history. The parallels of this episode is somewhat similar but not entirely to the situation after the First World War, where the world is coming together seeing that they’re stronger together to form the League of Nations. On Enterprise the Quadrant is coming together to fight against a threat to their peace and they’re seeing their strength together as they get over their individual differences. We all know the League of Nations failed and similarly we know that this League of Worlds that is hinted at in this episode will fail but we know that after the Romulan War that the future of Trek that we have known since the Original Series under Kirk will be born with the Federation. Oh how I wish we could see it but the odds are not in our favour any longer. I no longer have a Romulan War to look forward to and I’m resigned that this arc is the last time that I’m ever going to see the Romulans in a very long time because Trek is going to sleep for a while. But at least we’re going out on an insurmountable high this season and anyone who knows about what’s coming up knows this too!
I liked the stuff that gave us a further insight into Andorian culture and beliefs despite the fact it led to a duel, which at first I thought was going to be a cheap and uninteresting way to get more action into the episode. I was surprised by how it was resolved with Shran being brought down a little with his Antenna being cut off but I was equally surprised to learn it’d be growing back so like in the Vulcan arc we’ve learnt more about the Andorians this episode. It also appears that Andoria is an ice planet because the blades they fought with were ice mining tools and Shran talked about his vessel being named after a famous ice cutting ship that sailed around
Andoria. I rather liked the character moment shared between 
The Federation emblem may only have three prominent stars of the three founding worlds but this episode deserves a solid 5 stars from me in reviewing it because this is Trek at its best since Deep Space Nine ended. I offer a toast of Romulan or Andorian Ale to everyone on the writing staff for this wonderful 40 minutes of television that they’ve crafted! Long live Trek!