Star Trek Frontiers

Episode 1.05

"Cruel Echoes"

Teleplay By Joshua Legg & Joshua Maley

Story By Joshua Legg

 

Rating ***1/2 (out of 4)

 

Let me say first of all that I, like Dreem, am not a Star Trek fan and do not watch or read Star Trek memorabilia (TV, movies, books, video games, etc.).  The only things I'm familiar with on Star Trek are Captain Kirk (William Shatner), Mr. Spock (Leonard Nimoy), Captain Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart) and the Starship Enterprise.  I am not familiar with the origins of the franchise nor am I familiar with fan or mainstream fiction.  I can only review the script of this episode from what only comes out of my imagination, take it or leave it. 

 

Having said all this, I'm now starting to become interested and intrigued by Trek culture after reading "Cruel Echoes."  In this episode, Dr. Kaol, a Romulan (I don't know what the heck that is, but who cares), of the Starship Enterprise, Captain Sito (another species, but again, who cares) and their crew land on a mysterious planet called Credalis IV.  In that planet they discovered that its entire population has been nearly wiped out by a mysterious disease that only infects those who have reached the age of 15 Summers.  The only survivors are obviously children.

 

After the crew questions the children about the culture, the ecology, and even mating "rituals" of the Credalis IV civilization, they realize little by little that something about the disease seems part of a sinister plot (or a cover-up) to wipe out an entire population.  Like any other review, the details of the story must be kept in secret.

 

I will say, though, that I am intrigued by some of the connections of the "who-did-it" and the "how-is-this-crew-going-to-fix-this-mess" drama that lead up to the climax of the story.  I also liked the "chemistry" between Kaol and Salea.  It's always good to have some comic relief between two characters in a romantically-involved subplot, even though they're characters of fictional species (yet they're no different from us humans).  Yet, I'm still trying to figure out how to picture Salea as the script would always describe her tentacles.

 

The two Joshuas (Legg & Maley) did a great job in writing a script that did not preach about would-be civilizations that are "out there" or what the origins of the Credalis IV are, but rather involve these characters in dealing with danger, "romance", and even betrayal just like anyone would.  It was more universal than I thought.  Keep at it guys.