Captain Archer and his crew investigate Arik Soong’s original destination coordinates, finding a crude colony where he took his Augment children to escape from Earth authorities. There, they find that the Augments left one of their own to die – a young man whose powers didn’t quite measure up to theirs. Archer brings him aboard the Enterprise, and then sets the ship on a course for Cold Station 12. A Starfleet cold storage facility designed to keep isolated samples of various deadly pathogens away from any planetary biosphere, Cold Station 12 is also home to 1,800 frozen Augment embryos, the legacy of the Eugenics War. When humanity couldn’t decide how to deal with the embryos, they were set aside in stasis and treated as a disease. Soong and his Augments take the entire crew of the space station hostage, but find that the chief pathologist, Dr. Lucas, won’t give them access to the embryos when his life is threatened, or even that of his colleagues. Enterprise arrives and Archer leads a boarding party to Cold Station 12 to try to contain the situation, but they too become hostages – and Lucas’ old friend Dr. Phlox turns out to be the one person whose death he isn’t prepared to allow. With the codes to release the embryos, Soong and his “children” prepare to leave, but already Soong’s hold over them has begun to slip. Despite Soong’s insistence that human lives should be spared, the ambitious Augment Malik traps Archer and his landing party, with Lucas and his crew, on Cold Station 12 after programming the fields containing the station’s deadly diseases to shut down in four minutes…

written by Michael Bryant
directed by Mike Vejar
music by Jay Chattaway

Guest Cast: Brent Spiner (Arik Soong), Alec Newman (Malik), Abby Brammell (Persis), Richard Riehle (Jeremy Lucas), Kaj-Erik Eriksen (Smike), Kris Iyer (Deputy Director), Adam Grimes (Lokesh), Amy Wieczorek (Female Pilot), Jordan Orr (Young Malik), Kevin Foster (Security Guard #1)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Archer has to take drastic measures to prevent the pathogen samples from contaminating Cold Station 12, relying on the Enterprise to beam him up after venting the station’s central core (and himself) to open space. Aboard the stolen Klingon ship, Malik tells Soong about his attempt to kill everyone aboard the station, and as a result Soong quietly resolves to eliminate the aggressive tendencies from the recovered Augment embryos before they are born. Soong also strongly objects to Malik’s plan to seed the atmosphere of a Klingon planet with more disease pathogens, a move which could spark a conflict between the Klingons and Starfleet, keeping both of them too busy to pursue the Augments. Malik sees both of these as Soong’s final betrayal of the Augments, and has the geneticist locked up in the brig. With the help of the sympathetic Persis, Soong escapes in a life pod to warn Captain Archer of Malik’s intentions, but finds that the Enterprise crew isn’t inclined to believe his warnings – and every second that he spends trying to convince them, Malik and the Augments are bearing down on the Klingon planet he has chosen as a target.

written by Michael Sussman
directed by LeVar Burton
music by Velton Ray Bunch

Guest Cast: Brent Spiner (Arik Soong), Alec Newman (Malik), Abby Brammell (Persis), Adam Grimes (Lokesh), Richard Riehle (Jeremy Lucas), Mark Rolston (Captain Magh), Kristen Ariza (Augment #1)

Notes: When Malik mentions the S.S. Botany Bay and Khan Noonien Singh (Space Seed, Star Trek II), Soong dismisses the survival of Khan and his sleeper ship as a legend. The “Briar Patch” mentioned in this episode is also where the Enterprise-E fought a pitched battle with several Son’a starships in Star Trek: Insurrection. The episode is dated 2154, and it’s mentioned that augmentation was banned “150 years ago” – which would date that ban in the year 2004. The Deep Space Nine episode Doctor Bashir, I Presume, in which DS9’s own doctor is revealed to be an Augment of sorts, and the Voyager two-parter Future’s End (set partly in 1996 in a world with no mention of the Eugenics Wars) seemed to relocate the Eugenics Wars into the mid-to-late 21st century, rather than the 1990s (the date the original Star Trek established for the wars). As a result, one possible interpretation of this episode’s dialogue may be that modern-day (2004) bans on human cloning and stem cell research are being cited as the first instances of human augmentation.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Admiral Forrest is on Vulcan to attend a meeting about possible joint Vulcan-Starfleet missions, when a bomb lays waste to the Earth embassy; Forrest dies trying to save Ambassador Soval from the blast. The Enterprise is diverted to Vulcan to head up the investigation. Though the Vulcan investigators initially suspect at the Andorians, Reed and Mayweather find other evidence pointing toward a Vulcan woman named T’Pau – and they find it on a bomb left over to destroy what’s left of the embassy. The Vulcan investigators assisting Archer’s crew suddenly become less cooperative, admitting only that T’Pau is a member of the Syrrannite movement, a sect which embraces a different interpretation of Surak’s logical teachings than most Vulcans. Privately, Ambassador Soval tells Captain Archer that the investigators are not to be trusted. T’Pol is visited by her new husband Koss, who brings her a gift from her mother T’Les – and brings word that T’Les has gone into hiding as a member of the Syrrannite movement. The gift is her mother’s IDIC, which has been fitted with a holographic projector that may offer a way to find the Syrrannites. The hologram is a map of a Vulcan desert known as the Forge, a desolate region that suffers from such violent geo-magnetic disturbances that transporters, shuttles, and equipment like tricorders and phase pistols are rendered useless. Archer decides to cross the Forge on foot, while Soval and Trip find new evidence that shows that T’Pau is being framed – and that the embassy bomb may have been planted by one of the Vulcans in charge of the investigation. And in the desert, Archer and T’Pol are challenged, and then helped, by a Vulcan man, but when he is mortally wounded in an electrically supercharged dust storm, he entrusts a legacy to Archer without the captain’s knowledge.

written by Judith Reeves-Stevens & Garfield Reeves-Stevens
directed by Michael Grossman
music by John Frizzell

Guest Cast: Vaughn Armstrong (Admiral Forrest), Gary Graham (Soval), Michael Nouri (Arev), Robert Foxworth (V’Las), Larc Spies (Stel), Michael Reilly Burke (Koss)

Notes: This episode features the first appearance of the Vulcan sehlat creature in a live-action Star Trek episode; the creature was previously depicted in the animated Classic Trek episode Yesteryear, in which a young Spock was seen raising a sehlat as a pet (apparently a common practice, as T’Pol had a pet sehlat as well). It would seems that mind melding is still considered deviant behavior among Vulcans, but apparently the stolid Ambassador Soval is familiar enough with it to perform one.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Ambassador Soval loses his position within the Vulcan High Command and returns to the Enterprise to help the crew search for Captain Archer. On the surface, in the hidden compound of the Syrrannites, Archer meets T’Pau, the Vulcan woman who has been framed for the bombing of the Earth embassy, and finds that T’Pol’s mother is also there. T’Pau denies any involvement with the bombing, and when Archer tells her about the Vulcan who died helping him reach the Syrrannites, she reveals to him that he was not only the movement’s leader, but he was carrying the living soul – the katra – of Surak himself, the Vulcan who led his people to embrace logic and self-discipline. T’Pau intends to retrieve Surak’s katra, even if it should prove to be harmful or fatal to Archer, while T’Pol isn’t even convinced that such a thing as the katra exists. Yet Archer can’t clear a vision from his mind – encounters with Surak himself, in which Archer is urged to find something called the Kir’Shara. The Vulcan High Command continues to consider the Syrrannites an extreme threat, and orders are given to bomb their compound from orbit and to drive the Enterprise out of Vulcan space. Soval reveals to Trip why the High Command wishes to eliminate the Syrrannites, even if it means resorting to violent means atypical of Vulcan: the Sryrannites’ pacifist ways are increasingly in conflict with a government secretly planning a war with the Andorians. As the Syrrannites flee their damaged compound and T’Pol witnesses her mother’s death, Trip takes it upon himself to warn the Andorians.

written by Andrè Bormanis
directed by Roxann Dawson
music by Jay Chattaway

Guest Cast: Kara Zediker (T’Pau), Gary Graham (Soval), Bruce Gray (Surak), Robert Foxworth (V’Las), Joanna Cassiday (T’Les), John Rubinstein (Kuvak)

Notes: T’Pau, though seen as something of a liberal pacifist here, is indeed the same character as the more rigidly traditional overseer of Spock’s mating ritual, and combat with Kirk, in the original Star Trek episode Amok Time. The katra concept is apparently not widely believed on 22nd century Vulcan, though it seems to have gained more ready acceptance by the late 23rd; the term was first coined in the film Star Trek III: The Search for Spock. A decidedly younger Surak also appeared in the original series, as an illusion in The Savage Curtain.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

The alien Xilians tap into a genetic code known as M-Base to take control of most of the Earth’s giant monsters. Between their advanced technology and the attacks of the kaiju, much of the planet is laid waste, and remaining humans used as breeding stock for a food supply. The world is doomed!

Godzilla, though, has been trapped in ice in the Antarctic for 50 years. Since he does not have the M-Base, he would be free from the alien influence. A team of mutants led by rogue flying submarine commander Captain Douglas Gordon head to the South Pole to spring the King of the Monsters out of his suspended animation.

Gigan attacks the Gotengo as it awakens Godzilla. The beast evades Gigan’s attack and destroys the alien cyborg. Godzilla chases the Gotengo to the alien mothership. He faces a series of monsters on the way, but defeats them all.

The Gotengo approaches the alien ship and launches a full attack, but it cannot break through a force field. The mutant Kazama sacrifices himself by flying into the ship and crashing into the field generator. Gordon orders the Gotengo to ram into the ship. Before the masers can be fired a group of aliens materialize on the bridge, killing the crew and taking Gordon and Shinichi Ozaki into custody.

Monster X smashes into downtown Tokyo from space. In the ruins of the city, the monsters battle. Monster X brings Godzilla to his knees. Mothra arrives, but a new and upgraded Gigan clips one of her wings causing her to crash to the ground.

Xilian leader X reveals that the human mutants are related to the Xilians through the M-Base, but Ozaki is a Kaizer, more than human and more than mutant. Monster X and Gigan are getting the upper hand against Godzilla, but the wounded Mothra comes to his aid. She sacrifices herself and kills Gigan in a massive explosion.

With his newly awakened powers, Ozaki engages in a hand to hand combat with X. Godzilla blasts at the alien ship, allowing the humans to escape their captors. They also find the humans who had previously been replaced by aliens. They flee, with Ozaki staying behind to continue the fight.

The humans have to shoot their way past aliens on their way out, while Ozaki and X wage a fierce fight. Ozaki’s new powers give him the strength to defeat X. But the ship begins to self destruct. The destruct command also causes the death of the remaining aliens. The humans escape in the Gotengo as the alien ship is destroyed.

Godzilla and Monster X continue their fight. Godzilla’s nuclear blast interacts with the beams from the alien monster creating a massive explosion that rips through the countryside. The two monsters somehow survive, and Monster X transforms into the three headed Kaizer Ghidorah. They unleash fiery blasts at each other, with Godzilla falling to the ground. Ghidorah use his energy beams to thrash Godzilla about. It bites into Godzilla and starts siphoning off his energy. Ozaki channels his new powers through the Gotengo and reenergizes Godzilla. The King of the Monsters makes fast work of Ghidorah, blasting off one of its heads, and using the energy beam from another head to sever the third. He tosses the space monster around like a rag doll and throws it into orbit before destroying Ghidorah with a massive blast of his nuclear breath. He then turns and blasts the Gotengo, bringing down the flying sub.

Manilla, Godzilla’s son, convinces the monster that the time for fighting is over. Godzilla stomps away, with Manilla trailing behind. The few humans left begin the task of building a new civilization.

written by Wataru Mimura & Isao Kiriyama
directed by Ryuhei Kitamura
music by Keith Emerson

Human Cast: Masahiro Matsuoka (Shinichi Ozaki), Don Fry (Captain Douglas Gordon), Rei Kikukawa (Miyuki Otanashi), Kazuki Kitamura (Xilian Leader)

Monster Cast: Godzilla, Manda, Mothra, Gigan, Zilla, Rodan, Kumonga, Kamacuras, Anguirus, King Caesar, Manilla, Ebirah, Hedorah, Monster X, Kazier Ghidorah

Notes: A Monster Mash of Toho Proportions, Godzilla: Final Wars was the most expensive Godzilla movie produced at about $20 million. Despite its title, Toho has hinted they are only giving the series a rest.

Final Wars features a battle in Sydney, Australia between Godzilla and Zilla, which has the same design as the American-made Godzilla. Zilla is destroyed in short order. Generally speaking, the movie features some excellent scenes of global destruction by the aliens and the monsters.

Director Ryuhei Kitamura is new to the franchise, with Versus as his most well known movie prior to Final Wars. His entry in the Godzilla series is wildly different stylistically than any of the previous movies.

Don Fry is an American professional wrestler known as The Predator.

LogBook entry by Robert Parson