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ENT ENT Season 4

Storm Front

Archer and his crew find themselves in Earth’s past, with events of World War II altered by the Temporal Cold War.

In this episode of the podcast, Wes and Clay discuss both episodes of “Storm Front” and the end of the Temporal Cold War (huzzah!). Plus! The guys chat about the move to digital video, the logistics of changing the outcome of World War II, and the pointlessness of discussing time travel in Enterprise.

After the events of the third season of Star Trek: Enterprise, Archer and the crew are sent into the past to discover a horrible surprise: the Temporal Cold War has spilled into human history. With assistance from some nefarious aliens, the “Storm Front” of Nazi Germany has overrun the United States. An aged Daniels informs Archer that he must reset the timeline by not allowing the aliens to return to their proper timeline – the fate of the universe depends on it.

The Wikipedia plot summary for “Storm Front”:

Following the events of “Zero Hour“, Commander Charles “Trip” Tucker III (Connor Trinneer) and Ensign Travis Mayweather (Anthony Montgomery) survive the attacks by P-51 Mustangs on their shuttlepod and arrive back on Enterprise. Temporal Agent Daniels (Matt Winston), near death, suddenly appears to Doctor Phlox (John Billingsley) in sickbay. He warns that an alien named Vosk (Jack Gwaltney), the leader of a faction of the Temporal Cold War, has altered the timeline with catastrophic consequences. Enterprise was brought to the mid-20th century to end the Temporal Cold War between several factions including the Federation. On Earth, Captain Jonathan Archer (Scott Bakula) escapes from the Germans when American resistance fighters ambush his convoy.

Wounded, he is taken to a Resistance safehouse in Brooklyn. With the Germans controlling the U.S. Eastern Seaboard, it is revealed that the aliens, known as the Na’kuhl, have sworn allegiance to Nazi Germany. Further, they are providing them with advanced weapons and technology in exchange for material and supplies to build a temporal conduit that will take them back to their own time period. Meanwhile, Silik (John Fleck), the leader of the Suliban Cabal, has boarded Enterprise and manages to steal a shuttlepod to fly to Earth. Tucker and Mayweather are then sent to find Silik along with the shuttlepod. Archer contacts Sub-commander T’Pol (Jolene Blalock) using a stolen communicator and is transported back to Enterprise. Before dying, Daniels asks Archer to stop the Na’Kuhl from using the conduit and becoming even more dangerous. On Earth, the away team find and destroy the shuttlepod, but are captured and taken in for interrogation.

Lieutenant Malcolm Reed (Dominic Keating) finds the point of divergence in the timeline: the 1916 murder of Lenin, where witnesses claimed Lenin’s killer “vanished into thin air.” The removal of Lenin prevents the October Revolution from successfully taking place, causing Hitler to disregard Russia as a threat, and the full weight of the Nazi war machine is then directed at Western Europe and the United States. Vosk seeks an alliance with Enterprise, releasing Mayweather and Tucker in hopes of forging a new understanding with Archer. Medical scans soon reveal that Tucker is actually Silik in disguise and he and Archer realize they need each other’s help. They enlist the help of the Resistance to destroy the shields of the Na’kuhl complex and to help rescue Tucker.

Before they can complete the mission, Silik is killed by a guard near the conduit, and Archer is nearly shot by a confused Tucker. With the alien shields down, Enterprise then completes an atmospheric entry, flying over New York City and destroying the alien facility with photon torpedoes. The episode ends with Daniels showing Archer the threads of the timeline resetting themselves back to normal, as the Temporal Cold War finally ends with the death of Vosk. Archer demands that Daniels should never visit or bother Enterprise again. With their mission completed, Enterprise finally arrives back in its proper time period, where the crew are welcomed and escorted home by an entire squadron of Starfleet and alien vessels.

In this episode of the podcast, Wes and Clay discuss both episodes of “Storm Front” and the end of the Temporal Cold War (huzzah!). Plus! The guys chat about the move to digital video, the logistics of changing the outcome of World War II, and the pointlessness of discussing time travel in Enterprise.