Star Trek: Enterprise (TV Series) Breaking the Ice (2001) User Reviews

Free to Choose

[claudio_carvalho · 8/10 · 10 November 2007]

The Enterprise finds an iced comet with the rare mineral Eisilium in its core. Captain Archer sends Lieutenant Malcolm Reed and Ensign Travis Mayweather in the shuttlepod to collect samples 20 m beneath the crust using a portable drilling rig. Meanwhile, the Enterprise is observed by a Vulcan ship and the Vulcan Captain Vanik believes the humans are arrogant and prideful. When the Enterprise discovers an encrypted message from the Vulcan ship to T'Pol, Ensign Hoshi Sato gives the translation of the message to Trip, and he sees that it is a personal letter. The ashamed Commander seeks T-Pol and asks her to forgive him. Later she calls him to discuss the subject. When the drilling team is trapped in a hole in the comet, Captain Archer accepts the offer of help of the Vulcan vessel.

"Breaking the Ice" is the best title of an episode that I have recently seen. This title is related to every situation disclosed in this episode: refer to the surface of the comet; refers to the relationship of T'Pol and Trip, and also to humans and Vulcans. The wise T'Pol has lesson of human free will and uses it to define her destiny. I believe the respect among the humans in the Enterprise and T'Pol will increase. My vote is eight.

Title (Brazil): "Quebrando o Gelo" ("Breaking the Ice")

Servant of Two Masters

[Hitchcoc · 7/10 · 8 March 2017]

As we know, the biggest thing in Archer's craw is the Vulcan empire. Even though he is a brave explorer and incredibly knowledgeable, he gets no respect from the Vulcans. Their underlying humorlessness drives him crazy. That which he finds startling and exciting causes the Vulcans to turn up their noses. Earth creatures are like ants to them. It may be that because their race was once violent and lacking in calm, they find the earthlings to be quite without merit. In this one, an enormous comet is discovered and Archer sends two crew members to do a little mining of an interesting ore found on this floating piece of ice. The Vulcans seem to be overseeing their every move. Why do they do this if the humans are so insignificant. T'Pol has a problem that she must solve. She is met with disdain by the Vulcan ship's commander. Archer is forced to make a decision based on expediency, and it leads to some soul searching. There is a good deal of learning going on in the Enterprise crew.

I would like some dessert, please.

[magicsinglez · 8/10 · 9 June 2009]

In the episode 'Breaking the Ice', Enterprise explores a comet. Two crewmen get trapped on the comet and have to be rescued by a Vulcan ship. That's all that happens. And yet this is such a well-filmed episode, the hour -er 38 minutes passes by very quickly. The story is told with symbolism, especially at the very beginning, and then again at the end. The camera itself tells the story.

While Enterprise is exploring the comet, a Vulcan ship approaches. Captain Archer puts the Vulcans on-screen and asks what they're doing. Captain Jonathan Archer resents Vulcans, these advanced first aliens we meet, thinking humanity is being held back by them. Their visit can't be a coincidence. . . The Vulcan captain replies saying they're not much interested in the comet. "We're more interested in watching you", he says. He boldly admits they are spying on Enterprise. He repeats this again. Archer is calmer about it than you'd expect he'd.

The two crewmen on the comet, Ensign Mayweather and Lt. Reed, run into a dangerous situation on the comet and need to be rescued. Commander Tucker and Sub-Commander T'Pol, suggest they ask the Vulcan ship for help. Archer insists Enterprise doesn't need help. But T'Pol speaks up, "Vulcan's see humans as arrogant and prideful, asking for help would be a sign of maturity". Here, I thought to myself, 'OK, Archer is going to correct himself and see the error of his ways'. Instead, T'Pol continues. She does what probably so many of us have wanted to do at one time or another, with a boss or co-worker, or, if we could somehow be on the bridge, she more or less takes control of Enterprise. She continues to explain why it would be best to ask the Vulcan ship for help as the crew obey her commands. Captain Archer remains silent and the crewmen are rescued. It turns out they probably would have died if Enterprise had tried the rescue without help.

When the Vulcan captain says good-bye to Enterprise, you can see the same Vulcan captain, with the same expressions, in a whole new light.

In 'Breaking the Ice', besides crew members coming to danger, the Vulcan science officer aboard Enterprise, T'Pol, has a personal problem. T'Pol's 'boyfriend' makes it known, thru contact with the other ship, that he'd like her to return to Vulcan. She's not sure what to do. 'Trip' (Commander Tucker) tells her not to follow logic. Do what you want to do.

In the ships galley, Trip encourages T'Pol to have a taste of pie from earth. She declines, as far as we can see. She does decide to stay on Enterprise. In the last scene, you can see a crewman in the dark standing before a desk in their quarters. It could be T'Pol, but it's hard to make out for sure. On the desk in front of them, you can clearly see a saucer of pie. Then the screen fades.

T'Pol of course ends up having an affair with Trip, and not, thank goodness, with the highest ranking guy around, Captain Archer. Archer and T'Pol had been put together quite often beforehand and it looked like it would be Archer if some kind of an affair was going to take place.

By the end of the series T'Pol isn't really acting much like a Vulcan. Instead of being emotionless, she usually has a basket full of emotions hidden barely beneath the surface. In one of the unintentionally funny lines of the series, when T'Pol is back on Vulcan visiting her mother her mom says, "Your emotions always were close to the surface". No kidding! Speaking of good lines in a bad place. . . In 'The Augments', three episodes after the Xindi-threat ended, after 30 episodes, and Earth coming one hair-width from being completely destroyed (in a couple of time-lines it was destroyed), after all that, Daniels, the crewman who visits Archer from the future, tells him, "If the Klingons retaliate against Earth, that'll make the Xindi incident look like a lover's quarrel". Even my roomie, whose not a Star Trek fan, rolled their eyes at that one.

I could be wrong but these 'emotions' T'Pol shows may have begun in season three with the episode 'Impulse'. The one where Enterprise finds a Vulcan ship whose crew have been overcome by Trellium D poisoning. T'Pol is also affected. She acts confused. It's hard to say exactly what emotions she's going thru in the episode but they are there close to the surface. They may have liked this effect and decided to continue using it some later in the series. It's hard to say exactly what she's feeling. They may have even put her in some kind of cold storage unit on the set or something, before some of the scenes. Some technique, to get this effect. You never see her shiver though. She trembles. Probably the actress who plays T'Pol is extremely accomplished.

Something about her did fit perfectly into the Star Trek franchise. She certainly made a fine first officer for the first mission of Enterprise.

Oh those crazy Vulcans!

[planktonrules · 7/10 · 20 March 2015]

This is a very mundane episode of "Star Trek: Enterprise". This does not mean it's bad but not a whole lot happens in this one. The Enterprise finds a comet and decides to investigate it up close--so close, in fact, that they land a shuttle on it. However, the Captain is surprised to see a Vulcan ship nearby that just seems to be watching them. Captain Vanik says he's not spying on them, but it sure looks like he is--especially because the Vulcans ALWAYS seem to be doing that! At the same time, a coded letter than T'Pol sends makes some of the crew wonder where her loyalties lie.

This episode just reinforces how sneaky and distrustful the Vulcans are on this series--a major plus for "Star Trek: Enterprise". In the other Trek shows, they are dull and ultra-nice--so it's a nice chance to once again see how duplicitous and nasty they were when they first began interacting with the smelly and stupid humans.

Ice cold Vulcans

[snoozejonc · 6/10 · 19 August 2020]

The Enterprise crew investigate a large comet whilst being observed by a Vulcan ship.

This episode is mainly about character development, particularly T'Pol and it includes some insight into the relationship between Humans and Vulcans. It has a heavy use of symbolism with its ice theme and pecan pie scene. Nothing of real note actually happens other than a revelation about T'Pol's personal life, which does make her character a bit more interesting from here on.

There is (I hope) one good scene at the beginning where the crew are communicating with Earth children by answering questions about space exploration and the day-to-day functioning of a starship. If this is intentionally awkward, then well done to the crew for making it seem quite authentic.

It isn't a bad episode but it does rely on you having some interest in the characters. I've still got an open mind that the characters will develop in an interesting way, so I am willing to invest the time. It is worth watching though for continuity purposes regarding T'Pol's character.

Boring But Important Episode

[Samuel-Shovel · 6/10 · 14 May 2017]

While it's true that not a lot goes on in this episode (the exploration of the Eisillium comet named Archer's Comet seems relatively pointless to the overall show), this episode is important for the sake of character development for members of the crew.

T'Pol's casting aside of traditional Vulcan customs is an important milestone in her character arc. In the past few episodes, we've seen T'Pol begin to accept human customs more and she's had reason to doubt her Vulcan brethren (see Andorian Incident). Her trust in Trip may be foreshadowing a future more intimate relationship between the two (this is just a guess from me, I have 0 knowledge of the show coming into this).

I see more foreshadowing in the omnipresence of the Vulcans wherever the Enterprise seems to go. Captain Archer is taking exception to the fact that the Vulcans are hovering over the humans, keeping a close eye on them. The Vulcans don't seem to trust the humans due to their volatility and emotion. The two races may come to a crossroads at some point but, so far, this doesn't seem eminent. There is a certain tension between the two, however.

Travis & Reed screwing around in the snow didn't really add any excitement to the episode. Travis seems to have a childlike wonder and maturity. Exploring for him is similar to a kid in a candy store. I'm still not sure what to make of Reed and would enjoy a Reed- centered episode to give him a bit more background.

Final Thought: The scene involving sending a message to Earth kids and answering their fan mail was some of the most unnecessary filler I've seen in a while. Besides learning the name of the Doctor's home planet, that scene accomplished absolutely nothing.

This was a stale episode but it did accomplish something so I can't complain too much.

Babysitters!

[gritfrombray-1 · 10/10 · 3 July 2007]

Enterprise is observing a comet and it appears to be partly composed of a rare mineral so Captain Archer decides to extract some. Malcolm and Travis are the team that drill for the ore and much to the chagrin of the Enterprise crew a Vulcan ship arrives and asks to observe. The Vulcan Captain is invited aboard Enterprise and is a little insulted by the openness of the crew. Travis and Malclom have a bit of fun on the snow covered comet and they encounter problems when trying to return to Enterprise. Their shuttle falls into a ravine and the Enterprise has difficulties in helping them. The Vulcan ship is contacted and helps out, then the shuttle is rescued with the Vulcan's more powerful tractor beam. This was a pretty good episode so early in the series, showing that the crew is only learning it's limitations

Bland, illogical & silly.

[wwcanoer-tech · 6/10 · 10 November 2021]

The objective of this episode is to learn more about the Vulcans and their relationship with humans. The setup is that the Vulcans are observing the humans and expecting them to fail and need help, so we need the Enterprise crew to fail at something and be saved.

But why this?! As several have stated, this episode ignores one of the most basic forces that much of the audience (perhaps most?) will notice and many will be annoyed. Gravity. We can accept people walking normally on a near-zero gravity comment, but don't make such a basic mistake critical to the plot! You can't fall down like that and hurt your knee and your ship can't crash through the surface.

Beyond that, they have sensors! No pilot would land on an ice comet without first checking that they are landing on solid ground and not a thin crust. (Also, they say than when the starlight fades, the crust will freeze over again and they will be trapped. Huh? How would that work? There's not even a good explanation for why they are cutting it so close. Sure, they're walking slow do to the injury, but they didn't hike that far.)

It's normal that characters must make mistakes in order to create a crisis but this is so basic and boring. Why not start with a known danger, so they are taking a known risk but it goes wrong. Or, that they don't understand something about the science or situation. Ex. If they stated that sensors show the crust as 200m thick but later realize that this new material (magnisite?) is throwing off their sensors, giving a false reading, so they fail for a logical reason.

I'm not even sure that a real expedition would land the shuttle and leave it unoccupied instead of dropping off and returning. Then it can fly in for a rescue at any time.

The comet storyline felt hollow and bland. More interesting was the situation with T'Pol and meeting the Vulcan captain. The classroom chat felt like filler.

Would have been nice if the Captain offered the Vulcans half of their rare mineral sample, which surprised them, with the explanation that "Ice comets are so boring that we did not scan it." Although they would probably say "no thanks, we'll take our own sample."

All about pride.

[thevacinstaller · 6/10 · 28 February 2023]

The uncomfortable dinner scene makes the episode slightly above average because it was so hilariously uncomfortable for everyone. Archer has the 'barely contained' rage look down to an art. Turns out the enterprise has a space drilling rig on board ---- diplomats, explorers and rig pigs. I wonder what would have happened if T'Pol was not onboard to point out the logic of getting help from the Vulcans? The overall point of the episode seemed to revolve around establishing a starting point for a friendship between T'Pol and Trip ----- it has to be the southern accent, right? Maybe she finds emotional humans hot? I will accept that ---- I find Vulcan women pretty hot. I liked the pecan pie scene at the end of the episode.

Physics be damned!

[hung_fao_tweeze · 5/10 · 3 November 2015]

The one thing that always annoyed me with the Star Trek series is the liberties they take with the laws of physics. This episode had me shaking my head with amazement that I felt the need to review something I wouldn't normally take the time to do. Sometimes you suspend your believe system to allow for such things as a properly functioning warp drive, time travel where deemed unavoidable, sound in a vacuum, etc. You want to participate in the fun. In this instance two of the crew are deployed onto a comet with a diameter of about 82 kilometers or so. They went to all of the trouble, for once, to position a nearby star in order for the comet to have a tail - the star is referred to as the 'sun' for some reason though I don't believe they intended THE Sun, and plotted a position of the slowly rotating comet for the shuttle to land to avoid 'the sun'. But then when the crew land they are almost instantly confronted with a very Earth-like gravity field very much not in line with what a comet of that size would have -- which should be virtually none. OK, so let's chalk it up to gravity boots? Somehow they manage to build a snowman!? Hmm. OK...let it slide. But then on the way back to the ship one of the crew falls into a hole with much the same force as if influenced by normal Earth gravity? He hurts his leg and needs to be carried back to the ship and yet his apparent weight causes the going to be slow. Literally, he should weigh next to nothing here. Later, the ship falls into a hole as well with the same 1g results. Very hard. Very abrupt. Sorry, folks. This fails the physics test even if you struggle to construct an assumptive work-around in your head. Even the mining explosion makes a huge noise - which they even warn about prior to the explosion. I notice I neglected to review the actual episode here however. Very well. It was mundane. Nothing special here. I have never watched the Enterprise series previously but noticed it did not have a long stay on the network. So far into the series, for myself, no episode has been memorable - but this one takes the cake to bend the universal laws of common physics in order to establish a story for the fragile blossoming of the human/Vulcan relationship. There were more plausible ways to do it.

Episode Spoiled By Lack of Respect for Gravity

[buddybradley-22665 · 5/10 · 5 August 2021]

So they send a team to an asteroid where they are not surprised that it has earth like gravity. Asteroids are small and have almost no gravity. They should have floated off in space.

A senior Trekker writes................

[celineduchain · 5/10 · 1 April 2022]

Not a lot happens in Breaking the Ice but it is a fairly good vehicle for getting to know the crew better while Reed and Mayweather mess about on the surface of an ice comet and Captain Archer attempts to host a dinner with the even more frosty Vulcan.

It opens with a delightful sequence in which the crew answer some questions from a group of schoolchildren about life aboard the Enterprise. This is a very well written piece. Leaving aside the obvious embarrassing poo questions, my favourite reply is Captain Archer's when talking about onboard romantic relationships. He explains that if two people really like each other.....ahem......they have plenty of places to go and look at the stars. Scott Bakula has such a lot of charm it sometimes looks as if he is having difficult achieving the appropriate level of distance that is required of a Captain.

The Vulcan ship's Commander who claims not to have been spying on the Enterprise is played by William Utay. Extremely well know for hundreds of appearances on the TV series Days of Our Lives, he is not a Science Fiction regular at all but gives a faultless performance in this rather odious role. In fact, so memorable was he that it is a surprise to look back and see that he appeared in just this one episode.

The two lads on the surface of the comet are supposed to be on a dangerous and serious scientific mission. Not only do they mess about building a snowman but they never bloody well stop talking. I know we are supposed to be getting to know the crew at this stage but perhaps they shouldn't be introduced to us as such a pair of naughty schoolboys. Anyone worrying too much about the lack of accurate science in their Sci Fi is probably watching the wrong show, but even Bruce Willis's execrable film Armageddon showed a better understanding of the physics involved in landing on a comet.

Senior Trekker scores every episode with a 5.