Opinion: Precious Cargo isn’t the worst episode of Enterprise

All Star Trek fans have differing opinions when it comes to favorite or worst shows, although, I think many of us can agree that the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode, Code of Honor, takes the cake as the overall worst for the franchise. Star Trek: Enterprise did have some episodes that weren’t the best, but, according to the  Enterprise Season 2 Blu-ray “Destination: Unknown” special feature, Brannon Braga’s choice for the worst episode was Precious Cargo.

In Precious Cargo, Trip helps a princess ( Kaitaama) escape from (played by Padma Lakshmi) a cargo ship where she’d taken captive by Retellians. They make off in an escape pod, but they soon end up having to make an emergency landing on a swampy planet. There is sexual tension, excellent back and forth banter between Trip and Kaitaama, and a fair amount of humor. And although Braga isn’t the only one who thinks this is one of Enterprise’s worst episodes, ranked by fan votes, it doesn’t come anywhere near the top of the list like Extinction does. And comparing the two, one doesn’t have to wonder why. Let’s just look at the episode description.

"On a mission to investigate an abandoned Xindi vessel on a jungle planet, Archer, Reed and Hoshi succumb to a virus that mutates them into a primal life form."

Mutated primal life forms. They weren’t anything like the salamanders (if that’s what they were) on Star Trek: Voyager, although I didn’t find the episode as horrific as others, but at least we didn’t have to listen to the lizards. They weren’t even on screen that long, but Hoshi, Archer, and Reed spend a fair amount of time in scary-looking make-up while trying to communicate through grunts.

I understand that we all have our likes and dislikes, and while thousands of fans might disagree with me, Precious Cargo will never be counted as the worst episode of Enterprise, not when there are so many others that didn’t quite make the cut. (See Season 3, episode 17 “Hatchery” for another example.)

Overall, i loved Enterprise and continue to watch it now, but like all other shows, it had a few less-than-stellar moments. I just don’t include Precious Cargo in that list. What about you?