Spoiler Warning: There are spoilers ahead for Star Trek: Enterprise Seasons 1-4. Minor spoilers are also present for the following Star Trek productions: The Original Series, The Motion Picture, The Voyage Home, The Next Generation, and Strange New Worlds.
I have kind of a weird relationship with Star Trek: Enterprise, and the show’s first season in particular. I can remember listening to the radio, sometime around the turn of the millennium, when news was breaking that a brand-new Star Trek series was going to be created. But my excitement at that announcement was almost immediately dashed upon learning that it would be a prequel! Yes, I’m one of *those* Trekkies – the “oh god, not a prequel show” Enterprise-avoiders!
Okay, that’s a bit of an exaggeration, but you see my point. When Enterprise landed here in the UK in early 2002, I tuned in for the premiere, but after that, I really only watched the show sporadically while it was on the air, and I didn’t really consider myself a huge fan of Captain Archer’s adventures. It was only in the latter part of the 2000s, after Enterprise’s cancellation, that I became fully acquainted with the series; I purchased Enterprise on DVD to round out my Star Trek collection.
I’m pretty sure that The Andorian Incident is one of the episodes I first watched on DVD; I don’t think I caught it on TV when it first aired, but I might be mixing it up with Shadows of P’Jem, its sequel/sister episode (that I hope to write up a re-watch of one day, too!). In any case, I came late to most of Enterprise, but I’ve since come to regret my snap judgement of Star Trek’s first prequel series. Enterprise told some fun, enjoyable, and very “Star Trekky” stories across its four seasons, expanded our understanding of the Federation and the wider Star Trek universe, and padded out historical events and first contact missions that other Star Trek shows only made oblique references to.
Enterprise is the show I point to whenever I hear fans (both inside and outside of the Trekkie community) use the expressions “no one’s asking for this,” or “who asked for this?” in response to a new series, film, or spin-off. If you’d asked most Trekkies in 2001 what kind of show they’d like to see, I doubt that many of us would’ve said “a prequel set a century before Captain Kirk!”, but Enterprise took that premise and did some truly wonderful things with it. It’s perhaps my biggest regret as a Trekkie that I didn’t do more to support the series during its original broadcast run, and that I misjudged it upon hearing little more than its premise.
I’ve been meaning to return to Enterprise for a while, and regular readers might have an inkling as to why! Almost a year ago, I had the immense pleasure of meeting Connor Trinneer – Enterprise’s Trip Tucker – at a fan convention here in the UK. Being able to shake his hand was absolutely fantastic, and ever since, I’ve wanted to dip back into Enterprise and write up my thoughts on a few of the episodes. This is the first time, in almost seven years of writing here on the website, that I’ve done one of these re-watches for Enterprise, if you can believe it! I guess I’m in danger of losing my Trekkie credentials, eh?
The Andorian Incident isn’t a “Trip episode,” though Tucker is featured as part of the away team to the Vulcan outpost of P’Jem, so I think it still works for a re-watch! This’ll be the first time, since I had the opportunity to meet him, that I’m watching any episodes of Enterprise, actually – it’s a series I enjoy, but I guess I haven’t found the time to sit down and watch any episodes for a while.
Photo: Trekking with Dennis
So that’s a bit of personal background for you as we sit down to re-watch The Andorian Incident.
The Andorian Incident was the first of ten Enterprise episodes to be directed by former Voyager star Roxann Dawson. Dawson played B’Elanna Torres for all seven seasons of Voyager, and went on to direct two episodes of that series, too. She worked on episodes across all four seasons of Enterprise, which helped to establish her as a television director; she continues to direct today.
After Enterprise, Roxann Dawson has gone on to direct episodes of The O.C., The Mentalist, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D, House of Cards, and Foundation, among many others. It’s always nice to see the stars of Star Trek succeed beyond the franchise, and Dawson’s TV directing career really began with Star Trek; it was Enterprise where she first directed an episode of a show that she wasn’t also starring in.
Photo: Star Trek Monthly via Memory Alpha
The Andorian Incident is the kind of episode that could really only work as a prequel, and saw Enterprise taking full advantage of its prequel status. At this early point in the show’s run, the Vulcans’ attitude towards their new human allies is still being established, but we know that Earth is very much the junior partner in this relationship. The Andorian Incident expands on that a little, and also sets the stage for something Enterprise would do a lot more of over its subsequent seasons: exploring contradictions within the Vulcans and showing how their High Command, in particular, was not always as friendly or peaceful as it appeared to be.
This episode is also notable for bringing the Andorians back to Star Trek after a long absence. Andorians appeared in The Original Series and The Animated Series, as well as in background roles in The Motion Picture and The Voyage Home, but they were essentially absent for the entirety of The Next Generation era, save for a couple of very minor appearances. Early ideas for this episode may have considered bringing in the Gorn, but the switch was made to the Andorians relatively early on – and I think we can all agree that that was a great choice! The Andorians went on to play a prominent role in Enterprise.
In Journey to Babel – the TOS episode where the Andorians first appeared – their animosity toward the Vulcans had been established, and The Andorian Incident picks up that thread in a way that feels natural. This is our first look at the pre-Federation conflict between these two powers, and we get some interesting bits of lore and background that help build up the early days of the Federation – and both races’ roles within it. That’s exactly the kind of story that only a prequel (or a flashback, I guess) can really tell, which is what I meant when I said that this is a great example of Enterprise fully taking advantage of its place in the timeline and leaning into that.
The animosity between the Vulcans and Andorians needed to have more of a reason than “just because,” but if there was ever going to be a believable narrative pathway to get them – and Earth – to one day work together, it was incredibly important for stories in this era not to make out either faction to be irredeemably awful and villainous, and for me, I think The Andorian Incident stays on the right side of that line. That isn’t to say that the Andorians or Vulcans come across as particularly *nice*, but rather there’s room in the way their conflict is depicted to see how, one day in the future, humanity and Earth could help bring it to an end.
Let’s talk briefly about Enterprise’s other regulars – the ones who didn’t go on the away mission.
Hoshi and Travis don’t get very much to do in this episode; I think they really only get a few lines each. It was interesting, though, that Hoshi was the one selected to operate the transporter – Reed’s first-ever time transporting, I think I’m right in saying. You’d think that Enterprise would’ve had a dedicated transporter officer, or that the role would’ve at least been delegated to an engineer! Still, it gave us a couple of cute moments in the transporter room as Reed and his security team prepared to beam down.
This episode also saw Reed sitting in the captain’s chair, being left in command of Enterprise in lieu of Archer, T’Pol, and Tucker. Reed’s role is more notable, really, for how the away team discussed him – Archer and Tucker both agreed that Reed wouldn’t wait indefinitely before launching a potentially deadly rescue operation.
Dr Phlox got a fun scene with T’Pol near the beginning of the episode. After agreeing to divert Enterprise to P’Jem, T’Pol shares a meal with Dr Phlox in Enterprise’s dining area, and Phlox philosophises about the nature of being an outsider aboard a human ship, as well as why T’Pol may be reluctant to appear at an important site to the Vulcans in the company of humans. It was a nice little scene, and I think it says a lot for T’Pol at this early point in the show’s run, as well as shows that she has a bond (of sorts, anyway) with Dr Phlox.
This conversation takes an interesting turn, with Phlox and T’Pol discussing the Vulcan motto “infinite diversity in infinite combinations,” and what exactly it means in the context of Enterprise’s mission. Unfortunately, in the years since The Andorian Incident aired, the word “diversity” has become a little contentious – even among some Trekkies – so I’m not sure how well a scene like this would land today! Still, as an homage to what Star Trek is and has always aimed to be, as well as an exploration of the Vulcans and T’Pol’s thoughts on serving aboard a human ship… I liked it. It was a cute scene, and Phlox helping himself to part of T’Pol’s meal showed a friendliness and familiarity between them.
Since we’re talking about the start of the episode, I do want to flag up one thing that I don’t think worked especially well. The very short scene leading into the opening titles showed the Andorian squad’s arrival at P’Jem… but then later, after Archer and co. arrived, it was kind of treated as a bit of a surprise that the monastery had been invaded and attacked. I can’t help but feel that this little opening scene could’ve been cut or moved, making the revelation of the Andorians’ presence a surprise to us as the audience, not just the characters in the show.
It’s not the biggest deal in the world, sure. But, given how The Andorian Incident presented the away team’s arrival at P’Jem and encounter with the Vulcan elder, I think it could’ve been a bit more exciting or entertaining if *that* had been the moment where we learned what was really going on; a surprise ambush by the Andorians could’ve been a fun reveal instead of something we already knew was bound to happen.
I liked the design of P’Jem – inside and out – though I would say, unfortunately, that some of Enterprise’s early 2000s CGI doesn’t hold up quite as well a quarter of a century later! That’s not a problem unique to this series by any means; just look at the Star Wars prequels, which were also released around the same time, for plenty of other examples of CGI that just wasn’t quite ready for prime-time.
The biggest CGI/green screen offender, in my opinion, comes at the very end of the episode; Archer and co. stepping through the doorway into the Vulcan observation post has aged quite poorly. The exterior shots of the P’Jem monastery, the shuttle taking off, and shots of the NX-01 in space are all vastly superior by comparison. Is it the end of the world? No. And partly it’s because, in 2026, we’re watching on bigger, better screens; in standard definition in 2001-02, these shots probably looked a lot better! However, I’d be remiss if I didn’t say that a lot of similar shots in the movies and across the TNG era, which relied more on physical models, props, and even matte paintings, have stood the test of time a lot better. A subjective take, sure, but one I stand by!
In terms of physical sets and props, The Andorian Incident does a lot better. The monastery – despite being built entirely on a sound stage – manages to feel ancient, with a kind of “Mediterranean” vibe that reminds me a little of Ancient Greece or perhaps Italy. I really did get the sense, as the away team arrived, that this was an old, isolated, religious outpost – something absolutely crucial to keeping the episode’s biggest revelation a secret until the right moment.
Many of the statues, reliefs, icons, and other props also looked pretty great inside the P’Jem monastery, and again, that sensation that this is both an ancient and holy place was present throughout. The cobweb-covered transmitter was also a fun prop, and I liked Trip’s line about having “never met a radio he couldn’t fix!” Several props seen in The Andorian Incident were either recycled from episodes in the TNG era or would go on to be re-used in future Enterprise stories.
Jeffrey Combs is legendary within the Star Trek fan community! Combs has played nine different roles (or more, if clones, holograms, and alternate-timeline characters count separately) across four different series, including the iconic Weyoun on Deep Space Nine. And The Andorian Incident brings him back to play the role of Shran, the Andorian leader. Shran would go on to be another recurring role for Jeffrey Combs; his second-biggest after Weyoun.
I fear my judgement of Shran is coloured by his subsequent appearances; he’s just such a fun character, and his relationship with Archer develops across the show’s run in a truly entertaining way. In this first appearance, Shran seems to get off to a rough start – he’s almost Klingon-like in his aggression, torturing prisoners, beating Archer or ordering him beaten, and seeming to be completely unreasonable in his demands. However, the episode’s final moment reveals that Shran and the Andorians are right: there really is a listening post hidden beneath the monastery. And while that doesn’t mean that Shran was right in *everything* he did… it certainly reframes how we’re meant to understand his character.
Those final scenes show the beginnings of an understanding between Archer and Shran – and, by extension, between humanity and the Andorians. This is what I was talking about a moment ago: this is how we start to build a narrative pathway for the Andorians to become founding members of the United Federation of Planets. And it’s ironic – deliberately so – that humans and Andorians get off to such a rocky start! It doesn’t do anything to take away from or minimise the Andorians’ roles in episodes set a century later, like Journey to Babel. But it does add context, background, and – I would argue – extra believability to stories like that.
A good prequel does exactly this. It deepens our understanding of the way the Vulcans, humans, and Andorians interact, provides context that could explain lingering mistrust or ill-feelings, and makes sure we understand that there’s blame to go around. The Andorians were aggressive, mistrusting, and treated their prisoners awfully. But the Vulcans lied – to their enemies *and* their supposed friends – and used a religious site as cover for a military installation. I guess we can appreciate why Ambassadors Shras and Sarek had a hard time getting along!
The Andorian Incident also does a lot to further the complex and occasionally tense relationship between Captain Archer and T’Pol. Having expressed her feelings about serving aboard a human ship earlier in the episode, T’Pol has to confront Archer’s doubts about her loyalty when they’re in captivity. She disagrees with Archer’s plan to have Reed lead a rescue mission to the monastery, but makes it clear that she will obey his orders – even if those orders, in her view, put Vulcan lives and a Vulcan holy site at risk.
At this point in the show’s run, T’Pol hasn’t had many opportunities to demonstrate that she’s a team player, and given his contentious relationship with the Vulcans in general, we can kind of understand Archer’s point of view here. It’s not always easy to step back and completely set aside dozens of other episodes which add to the Archer-T’Pol dynamic or to T’Pol’s evolving relationship with humans – both of which are parts of her character arc that Enterprise handled well. But if we *try* to keep in mind how early in the series this takes place, and how much growing Archer and T’Pol still have to do to fully trust one another, I think the scenes between them work. We feel Archer’s barely-concealed resentment toward the Vulcans in moments with T’Pol and while being “interrogated” by Shran, and we also feel T’Pol’s righteous indignation at Archer’s implication that she’d go against his orders or side with the Vulcans against him.
For Tucker, The Andorian Incident is a chance to show off his friendship with the captain – I like some of their little moments of banter together both before and during the away mission – and his technical prowess. We don’t get a complicated sequence of him repairing the old transmitter, nor a lot of technobabble about what’s going on, but just the fact that he could take ageing, decrepit technology and get it to work well enough to send a signal back to the ship is impressive. Tucker is very much in the Scotty mould: a miracle-worker!
Tucker is also the one who figures out the layout of the tunnels at the P’Jem monastery, which later enables Reed and his team to get the drop on the Andorians. The scene of the large Vulcan relief exploding was incredibly cool, and it was brought to screen exceptionally well. It’s not totally unique in Star Trek, of course – see The Final Frontier’s jail-break scene, among plenty of other similar moments – but I really liked it here. And it was a fun excuse to return to one of the Star Trek franchise’s ubiquitous underground caves and caverns! Seriously, a lot of planets seem to have something like that, eh?
One thing Enterprise did well, especially in these early episodes, was conveying that sense of exploration; that space really was “the final frontier,” full of wonders and dangers to encounter. And for me, The Andorian Incident is among those stories. We continue the trend of seeing humanity as the junior, less-experienced partner to the Vulcans, hammered home by the fact that Archer and co. don’t even know who the Andorians are. And we get the sense that space is bigger and more dangerous than they could’ve expected, as seen by the Andorian attack on a seemingly-peaceful Vulcan monastery.
At the same time, The Andorian Incident is a great prequel: linking up with events in The Original Series in a big way, doing a lot to establish the Vulcan-Andorian conflict and cold war, while also setting the stage for a more peaceful future and the founding of the Federation. We also learn that there’s clearly more going on with the Vulcans than meets the eye, while giving T’Pol her clearest opportunity yet to demonstrate – to us as the audience as much as to Archer – that she’s on the side of Enterprise and the humans, even if that brings her into conflict with the Vulcan High Command. This arc would pay off in a big way in the seasons ahead.
I’d forgotten just how abruptly The Andorian Incident ends. Although the story started here would be picked up later in the season in Shadows of P’Jem, the final moments of this episode seem to wrap up very quickly. We don’t see Archer and the away team returning to Enterprise, nor Shran’s ship departing the planet. The Vulcan listening post is exposed, Shran is handed the sensor data, and then… that’s it. While this storyline will be continued, the episode itself kind of just ends, and that’s a bit of an odd feeling.
All in all, though, I like The Andorian Incident. We met Shran for the first time, Archer and T’Pol shared a blanket, and the Vulcans turned out to be sneaky little so-and-sos! It’s a fun episode in its own right, as well as an important one for Star Trek’s fictional history. It’s one of the episodes that really justifies Enterprise’s prequel setting and place in the timeline, stepping back in time to add context and detail to historical events but without treading on the toes of stories set a century or more later. That isn’t always easy to get right – and Enterprise could mess this up, too – but when it works… it works.
I hope this has been a bit of fun. I’d been meaning to revisit Enterprise for a while, even before I got to meet Connor Trinneer, because it’s been a while since I last sat down and just enjoyed an episode or two of Enterprise. And in Star Trek’s big sixtieth anniversary year – and Enterprise’s landmark quarter-of-a-century milestone anniversary year, too – it seemed like the right moment! Here’s hoping it won’t take *another* seven years for me to get around to doing another one of these re-watches!
If you missed them, I’ve done a few other re-watches this year. When Starfleet Academy was on the air, I went back to revisit The First Duty – the Academy’s first big on-screen appearance in The Next Generation. Then I re-watched The Original Series’ second pilot, Where No Man Has Gone Before. And I’ve also re-watched The Royale from TNG’s second season, which was my personal “first contact” with the Star Trek franchise. Earlier this year, I had the fantastic opportunity to meet William Shatner – Captain Kirk himself – at an event here in the UK. And, as I’ve noted a few times already, I met Enterprise’s Connor Trinneer last year at a Star Trek convention.
Click or tap any of those links to check out those re-watches and other articles, and stay tuned! I’ll have more to say about Star Trek before long. Thanks for joining me for this re-watch, and as always… Live Long and Prosper, friends!
Star Trek: Enterprise is available to stream now on Paramount+ in countries and territories where the platform is available. The entire series is also available on DVD and Blu-ray. The Star Trek franchise – including Enterprise and all other properties discussed above – is the copyright of the Skydance-Paramount corporation. This article contains the thoughts and opinions of one person only and is not intended to cause any offence.
Trekking with Dennis 