Star Trek 648: Oasis

648. Oasis

FORMULA: Shadowplay + Unexpected + Paradise

WHY WE LIKE IT: René Auberjonois...

WHY WE DON'T: ...wasted in a very derivative episode.

REVIEW: In Oasis, Enterprise stumbles across a crashed ship reputed to be haunted. The show's already done a number of "haunting" stories in its short life, the last as recently as Rogue Planet, so this is nothing new. Perhaps the twist? Ah. No. We've seen the nugget about everyone being a hologram before, most famously in DS9's Shadowplay. In fact, it's the same exact plot. Everyone dies, so the survivor(s) recreate(s) everyone lost as holograms. The system starts to degrade. The heroes help the survivors fix the projector while solving an apparently supernatural mystery. The survivors learn a valuable lesson. Voilà. Oh yeah, throw in a young girl that bonds with one of the heroes (though make her older so it turns into a dead end romance).

We might believe that newer writers just weren't aware of Shadowplay (by now, the backlog of Trek episodes must be soul-crushing to new writers), but when you have René "Odo" Auberjonois guest-starring, you have at least one person involved in the production well aware of Shadowplay. While Auberjonois does a good job with what he's given, especially his last speech in Archer's office, he's still essentially wasted here. It's nothing but a bit part for the first three acts, and then a really talky ending. Bringing in a Trek alumnus to do exposition is more than a little lame, sorry.

There are some good elements, of course. The action music starts to define Enterprise's sound a little more. T'Pol's bronze away team costume has an interesting cut, which I like better than the gray camo. The Doctor's skittishness about opening a tomb. The first alien trader's make-up. The matte shots. And generally, how the crew figures out that something's not right. I can't fault the atmosphere either. It's just not hung on anything I haven't seen before.

LESSON: If at first you succeed... stop trying.

REWATCHABILITY - Low Medium: If you haven't seen Shadowplay, Oasis seems perfectly ok, if a little bland. If you have, its derivative nature will leave you impatient for new ideas.