My Review- 'Sleeping Dogs'

WARNING! IF YOU APPROACH THESE SPOILERS YOU MAY WAKE THE 'SLEEPING DOGS'

I apologise for the lateness of this weeks review, but I was at my Dad's in London and he hates Trek in all its forms, so instead I had to watch the UK soap 'Eastenders'. :( Thankfully I taped 'Sleeping Dogs' and watched it last night.

As soon as I saw this episode it screamed from the rooftops 'I only exist to satisfy Klingon fans!' During Trek's history there has never been a whole year of no Klingons. Dont get me wrong I like Klingons. I think on some level they appeal to all of us. If Freud were around he'd say they represented our instincts, the Id, as he called them, triumphing over the ego, which is the socialised part of us. Klingons appeal to our very base nature, the want to drink, fight and have loads of sex. It is not, therefore, confusing as to why certain fans find them so appealing. These fans are so obsessed by Klingons that it's to the point that they NEED Klingons. It is these fans, I felt who were responsible for Worf and the Klingon Empire appearing in Season 4 of DS9 and staying routed there for the rest of its course. It is these fans I felt who resulted on B'Lanna being half-Klingon, and after DS9 finished the odd Klingon story on Voyager. Including 'Barge of the Dead', even 'Endgame' felt the need to stick in Klingons, which I felt was to it's detriment. I also feel that those fans are responsible for the appearance of Klingons in ENT, and this episode, I feel was wheeled out specifically them. Now Im getting off-track, on with the reviewage.

STORYLINE  

So here's the bit I like- what was wrong the with the episode? :) Well first of all those early scenes wandering around the Klingon Ship should of, by all rights oozed tension and atmosphere. The director this week (I cant remember who it was) needs to learn that making it dark, putting on some sorta creepy but not very creepy music and showing a few shots of hanging Targ carcass does not constitute this. Personally I felt a bit cheesed off. In fact my reaction can be described as this "So when's the tension gonna start?" It was hardly brilliant direction to say the least.

Another thing wrong with the episode is that practically everyone watching (Trek fan or not) will know about Klingon culture, they've punctuated THAT FAR into 'pop' culture. We do not need a long scene telling us all about the marvels of Klingon culture. Could we please have Archer tell Trip stuff we already know OFF-screen next time?! It kinda gets boring. The Klingons were suitably Klingon. They weren't that different to 24th Century Klingons, except more violent. That suits them brilliantly, with their focus on culture and heritage I doubt the Klingons would change much in a couple hundred years, except in the 24th Century their violent instincts are held back by a certain United Federation of Planets. Bu'kah on the other hand gets to do little more than embody Klingon stereotypes on screen for us. She's violent, she wont accept help, she'll give it unsurely. Jeeze, how more Klingon can you get. The Klingon raid may annoy certain fans 'why not destroy it' they might say. Wrong, Klingons often prefer to raid than stay and destroy, if the enemy is extremely well armed and you can only provide light fire against it, if the enemy has something you want, or if you just feel like a punch up, Klingons have been seen raiding.

With ENT's bent towards, as Brannon Braga puts it 'sensuality' why was I not surprised when the away team ended up walking around the Klingon ship in skin tight catsuits. We also got to see the Decon chamber again but this time sans gratuitous rubbing which is nice.

MY GOD! I agree with the choices for the away team. The First Officer, the Security Officer and the Comm Officer are perfect choices! Whatever next?!

THE SHIP  

So the Klingon ship is Raptor Class. Fun factoid of the week: Raptor is Latin for Bird of Prey. Bu'kah also mentions that Bird of Prey's are coming. Uh- Klingons didn't start using the name 'Bird of Prey' on screen until after the Klingon-Romulan Alliance. Supposedly the name is a result of that alliance as the term is originally Romulan (TOS- 'Balance of Terror') But Bird of Prey seems to refer to any small, lightly armed, yet highly manoeuvrable Klingon or Romulan ship so I'll let it slip, but with a raised eyebrow.

THE CHARACTERS  

The actors seemed a little... tired this week. I suppose after the acting tour de force we've had in the last 5 weeks it's understandable but only Linda Park stood out. John Billingsley wasn't on screen long enough to comment.

Great Hoshi material this week. After my 'Fight or Flight' review I suggested that Hoshi should now get less scarified. :) I am very pleased with how Hoshi's come along. She's not the quivering wreck we saw in earlier episodes. Which is excellent, because after a while that would get annoying, but she's not so afraid of danger anymore. She actively VOLUNTEERS to go on an unknown and potentially dangerous ship. Of course she's still a little jittery but that's understandable, you cant expect her to go from Hoshi- scared girl to Ensign Hoshi Sato- wonder woman! (fanfare plays) overnight. And she's come along nicely. Her scene with T'Pol calming her was brilliant, although I did object to the dialogue of "That was..... amazing" "When we get back to the ship I'll show you how to do it yourself" as it sounds like it belongs in a major Dutch export. :D 

Everyone else wasn't treated great. Malcolm had a cold, which appeared to serve no purpose whatsoever. Apart from the above mentioned scene with Sato she didn't really get to do much.

STAR TREK NOTES.  

Poor Dominic Keating (Reed). Apparently the cast complain that the EVA suits are extremely uncomfortable and cause back problems. We've seen the EVA suits three times now (here, 'Fight or Flight' and 'Breaking the Ice') Reed was in a suit all three times. I feel sorry for the guy, I really do.

It appears that Porthos appears for four weeks in a row, then disappears for four weeks, then reappears for four weeks. This is the first ep of the four week disappearance. So Porthos fans, weep.

Production fans may like to note that with a 26 episode long season this, being episode 13, marks the half way point.

Rating: 4.5/10. There's nothing her really super duper bad. But there's nothing super duper good. Mediocre at best. Phew, after the last 5 weeks I was starting to think I was becoming easy to please :D Worst ep since 'Unexpected'.