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Ian suggested that in addition to the "Worst command decisions" polls, we could also have a "Best command decisions" poll. So here it is.

Well, what are some of Archer's best decisions?

His journey through the Forge which exposed the true teachings of Surak to the Vulcans.

Saving Earth from the Xindi.

Setting up the Coalition, getting the Andorians, Tellarites, and Vulcans to play nice so they could hunt down the common enemy-the Romulan Marauder.

Setting up the Coalition, getting the Andorians, Tellarites, and Vulcans to play nice so they could hunt down the common enemy-the Romulan Marauder.

I'd go with this one as well.


Plus, overloading the phase cannon to kick the "aliens" ass.

Pissing on the Vulcans to remind them they weren't the last word on things in the Galaxy.

Asking T'Pol to be his science officer / XO. He recognised that she had a huge amount to offer to the mission and set aside his own considerable anti-Vulcan bigotry to put the good of the mission first.

The man could have been a Grand Wizard his racism was so thick. Amazing he managed to work through it even momentarily to make that call.

Tyyr wrote:The man could have been a Grand Wizard his racism was so thick. Amazing he managed to work through it even momentarily to make that call.

Well, Vulcans have been assholes since TOS.

Oh, getting Hoshi aboard too. Smart decision there to get the best linguist on the planet.

I wouldn't have minded Archer being a bigot if he had real reason to be, but the fact is that the grand evil crime of the Vulcans was... not helping Earth enough for his liking. His complaints in Broken Bow are a constant stream of "We could have been doing X by now if only the Vulcans had helped us more." It's never that the Vulcans STOPPED Earth from doing anything, just that they didn't help enough. Direct quote : " I watched my father work his ass off while your scientists held back just enough information to keep him from succeeding."

It casts Archer as having the worst possible kind of welfare entitlement mentality. He's the Cataati from Voyager - help offered is met not with thanks, but pleas for more and more and more, and outright anger when it's not forthcoming. In reality the Vulcans would have every right to have told Cochrane "Nice to meet you, bye now," and gone on their way. Anything they did above and beyond that is gravy for Earth, and the only reasonable response is gratitude, not scorn.

Tyyr wrote:The man could have been a Grand Wizard his racism was so thick. Amazing he managed to work through it even momentarily to make that call.

The catsuit helped.

That's an excellent point Graham. The Vulcans had no obligation to help, and were almost certainly getting damn all out of spending time and resources to deal with the humans. That they even bothered at all to stop by and say hi is quite generous of them.

The one thing I loved about Dear Doctor was when Archer raised the idea of staying on a while to help the locals and T'Pol says "90 years ago we stayed on to help Earth. We're still there." It really rubbed his face in his own attitude. It could only have been more perfect if the locals had launched an open hate campaign against him for holding them back by not giving them as much help as he could...

but the fact is that the grand evil crime of the Vulcans was... not helping Earth enough for his liking

I just can't figure out where Berman and Braga were going with this. Are they implying that it's evil not to help someone conquer space travel? Bigotry is justified if the object of your hate doesn't give you what you want? Humans are little children who need daddy-Vulcans to give them space stuff?

No, they probably thought that it would make the Vulcans look terrible for not handing over every secret to the humans. They probably have a bit of that entitlement mentality themselves.

Given that those two thought that TATV was a worthy send-off for ENT, I think we can agree that their views on things are a skewed to say the least.

Tyyr wrote:No, they probably thought that it would make the Vulcans look terrible for not handing over every secret to the humans. They probably have a bit of that entitlement mentality themselves.

I think you're giving B&B too much credit. I doubt it was anything quite that deeply thought-out. Chances are it was more like this:

"We need to give Archer more depth of character."

"OK... whaddaya wanna do?"

"I dunno... hey! Mebbe we can add an unfounded bigotry! That'll make him look less two-dimensional, right?"