43. The Expanse – Full Review

Kris Hill, Kyle West, and Perry Freeze discuss the show’s namesake, Star Trek: Enterprise’s season two finale, “The Expanse.” This super episode packs a lot of thoughts and heart, as Kris and Perry discuss their memories of 9/11.

Supporting The Expanse

We would like to thank Ian Davies, Eve England, Scott Gilbert, Stuart McIlwain and Greg Molumby for supporting this podcast, as valued patrons.

What’s in Episode 43, “The Expanse – Full Review”

Pre-Show Dedication

Kris dedicates the episode to those lost on 9/11.

A Bit of Business

Kris welcomes the fans back into the show.

He introduces Perry Freeze and Kyle West.

Kyle does a bit of innuendo before describing the after effects of his Covid-19 vaccine.

Perry explains his reasoning for not yet receiving his vaccine, waiting for his daughter to be eligible to get it.

Kris talks about the transition happening with his job as the company he worked for was bought out.

Kyle explains how Her First Trek got started.

Kris gives the socials and lists all the benefits of becoming a Patreon supporter of the show, including early access to episodes.

Kris Gives the Episode Rundown

Kris details the cold open really well and comments on this being one of the last times with the best intro.

Perry and Kyle say it was in fact the last time being the melodic version.

Kris said he would provide a confirmation update the next week (spoilers he didn’t).

The trio discuss the history of the Duras family.

References

After describing the quantum dating of the Xindi Probe, Kyle brings up that this was the first time he noticed the 420 reference.

Perry agrees with Kyle.

Kris chalks it up to Berman being too old to care it was snuck in.

A Bold Move

Perry thought it was a bold move to be so direct and signalled a shift in tone of the show.

He also says that this arc was what the show needed.

He enjoyed the use of Duras and said that it gives continuity between the series.

A Few Negatives

Soval, according to Perry, didn’t have to be as arrogant, though Gary Graham did a great job in the portrayal.

Kyle’s Three Series Changers

First was Broken Bow.

Second was this episode, The Expanse.

The third was Azati Prime.

Character Moments

Kyle’s main concern was with the character moments, particularly with the Trip/Archer scene as the crew head out.

The Book

Kyle alludes to the novelization, but doesn’t go into detail

Most on the Nose Since TOS

Kris says that this episode is the most on for one comparison between Trek and the real world, aside from Detained as Kyle points out, since Errand of Mercy and Private Little War.

9/11

Kyle clears the way for Kris and Perry to discuss that fateful September day.

Perry describes his day at school and what the faculty decided to do. He goes on to sayEnterprise did the best grounding the characters into something more attainable for humans in our present age.

Kris follows with his story and his thoughts seeing the Twin Towers being struck a few hours after it happened.

Perry expounds upon Kris bringing up the lines at the gas stations by mentioning the unease about more possible attacks.

Kris mentions how much the political climate has changed since that day.

Starfleet Stands in for America?

Kyle believes that while the Enterprise Crew were ready to give the American reaction, but Starfleet itself was wanting a more level-headed approach.

Kyle appreciated the fact the writers showed the other side of the attack later on in Season Three.

Perry agrees and feels Star Trek is great at showing us how to react to traumatic events and how to move on from them.

Changes

Kyle poses the question if America was ready for showing that nothing is as black and white as they seem in the moment.

Perry thinks there would have been more backlash if it wasn’t a whole storyline and just a one-off episode.

Kyle thinks this episode could be relevant today without changing anything in the script, which leads to the guys talking about Star Trek’s cultural relevancy no matter the time frame it was written.

Star Trek Helps

Perry says he’s understood a lot about old college classmates through Star Trek, particularly due to It’s Only a Paper Moon and veterans, because of 9/11, have PTSD and how to try to help them recover.

Elizabeth Tucker

Kris brings up how the novelization shows the attack from Elizabeth’s perspective.

Kyle feels like the writers did Elizabeth dirty by not dropping hints about her in the prior episodes. He felt that there would have been more emotional investment in Elizabeth had they done this.

Perry agrees and feels like it was truly a missed opportunity not to include at least a name drop.

Kris did see the connection between Trip and Elizabeth, even if the audience didn’t.

The Xindi

Kyle believes that the Xindi were not a real comparison to anything on Earth. The Suliban, however, were.

Perry believes there was an attempt, but more to the Cold War and not the Global War on Terror.

Kris compares it to NATO and The Warsaw Pact.

Everyone enjoyed how the Xindi was completely different from anything seen on screen before.

Unexpected Detour

Perry brings up the throw away line about the ridged Romulans and how that created a caste system not mentioned before.

Temporal Cold War

Kyle wanted the storyline to continue and wanted them to dive into what we already knew. He also saw it as the end of the storyline.

Perry states that Star Trek is best with story arcs, two-parters, and multiple episodes that are connected

Future Guy

Perry always believed Future Guy was, in fact, Archer. This is based on Shockwave.

Duras, In Depth

Kyle confesses that Perry took the words out of his mouth earlier in the episode in regards to the use of Duras.

Perry muses that Duras could in fact be the Duras sisters’ father.

The Greatest Season Finale Ever?

Kyle puts it, at best, tied for number 1 with Call to Arms from DS9’s 5th season.

Perry thinks it’s Best of Both Worlds, but Kyle and Kris bring up that it doesn’t have nearly the same effect if you’ve seen episodes of TNG or the movies after that episode.

Kris agrees with Kyle on The Expanse and Call to Arms.

DS9 Connections

Kyle knows that the comparison between Enterprise and DS9 will really ramp up as Season 3 goes along.

Favorite Moments

Perry kicks off the listings with the photon torpedoes. Kyle remembers the backlash fans had about their introduction.

Kyle reiterates his love for the Trip/Archer scene. He goes on to extol Connor Trinneer’s acting. Kyle adds in the scene between T’Pol and Phlox and then T’Pol and Archer.

Kris echoes the other two’s choices and adds Reed and Trip’s scene in Florida.

Final Thoughts

Kyle brings in love for Season 2. He also mentioned how the ratings did start to dip a bit, but it started to be the beginning of the best of Star Trek.

Perry thought there should have been a bit of a pause in Trek production between Voyager and Enterprise due to the episodic nature Berman and Braga had kept them in.

He also wanted to see more of the building blocks for getting to the Federation.

Kris keeps holding out hope for a Star Trek: Archer. Perry brings up the rumor that Avery Brooks could also be returning, but Kris and Kyle think that Bakula was more likely. They’re all in agreement that they would love seeing Sisko return though.

Next Episode

Season three will get going with a discussion on The Xindi. Kris then thanks Kyle for starting off the first 43 episodes. Kyle does promise to be back for the birthday episode, Azati Prime, and to stir the pot occasionally.

Kris announces that he’ll be reporting from the Zoom with Connor Trinneer and Dominic Keating from the Voyager Documentary Kickstarter.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download