Captain’s log: 27 December, 2154

Manny Coto pens Bound, which first aired on 15 April, 2005.

Things go badly for the crew of the Enterprise, specifically the men, when Archer (Scott Bakula) receives three Orion slave girls, Navaar (Cyia Batten), D’Nesh (Crystal Allen) and Maras (Menina Fortunato) as a ‘gift’ from Harrad-Sar (William Lucking) for the Enterprise’s assistance in a mining mission.

The women’s affect on the crew is immediate, as they are able to control the men via seduction and pheromones, and we consequently learn something of Orion culture, and it’s true organisation.

The only male on board not affected by the women is Trip (Connor Trinneer), who is still on loan from Columbia, whose psychic link with T’Pol (Jolene Blalock) may be the reason, and it brings the pair closer to admitting the truth to one another about their feelings.

As the male members of the crew have trouble making decisions, and become increasingly aggressive towards one another, it may be up to the former engineer, and the science officer to figure out a way to stop the women, and their plan.

By episode’s end the pair realise that there is something between them, and their’s a sense of play introduced to the blossoming relationship, and a great kiss to end the episode on.

Captain’s log: 13 January, 2155

The series gets a bit of a shake up as we head into the last few episodes. Mike Sussman delivers part one of a sojourn into the mirror universe (that even affects the series credits) which first debuted on 22 April, 2005.

The Terran Empire aboard the ISS Enterprise is at war with the rest of the universe, who oppose the tyrannical rule. It’s captain, Forrest (Vaughn Armstrong) is mutinied against by Commander Archer, who then assumes command, and heads into Tholian space to claim a ship from the future to exploit its abilities.

The episode even opens with a riff on the First Contact moment with Cochrane (James Cromwell) that ends badly for the Vulcans. It also serves as a bit of a sequel to The Tholian Web, and a bit of a prequel to Mirror, Mirror from The Original Series.

The ship pulled through by the Tholians, the Constitution class Defiant, which is the ship that went missing in The Original Series.

Not only do we get to see Enterprise’s take on the Mirror Universe, we also get to see them interact with a classic series style ship, and costumes, which makes this one a lot of fun, well that and seeing how different (and similar) these alternate versions of the crew are.

We are given a cliffhanger that sees the Defiant, taken over by Archer and his crew, watching as the Tholians destroy the ISS Enterprise, though some escape pods make it through their web.

Next week we come to the conclusion of this episode, and the series itself. But the Human Adventure continues, as there is more Trek to come as I boldy explore The Complete Series on blu-ray now available from Paramount Canada.