Star Trek: Enterprise (TV Series) Canamar (2003) User Reviews

Tense Adventure

[zboston3 · 8/10 · 10 January 2008]

One of the more exciting episodes of this series that I've seen so far. Captain Archer and Engineer Tucker are arrested for smuggling when returning from a new encountered planet. Thrown onto a transport bound for a penal colony, they have seemingly dropped through the cracks. As the Enterprise figures out what has happened and then pursues the transport to free them, a couple of prisoners stage a mutiny and take the ship. In order to stay alive, Archer and Tucker pretend to go along and be criminals themselves. Things get dicy as the ships of the law and order crowd pursue them.

It all climaxes in a very good fight between good and bad on a rockin' and rollin' ship headed for doom on the planet beneath.

I often appraise episodes as what they would have been like if expanded to full length movies. This is one episode I would like to have seen done so.

Star Trek: Con Air

[Samuel-Shovel · 6/10 · 26 November 2017]

"Canamar" finds Trip and Captain Archer on a prison transport vessel. They were discovered on their shuttle and accused of being smugglers by the Enolians who quickly put them on a ship destined for the prison planet of Canamar. But when a pair of prisoners overpower the guards and take control of the ship, it's up to Trip and Archer to get themselves, the guards, and the rest of the prisoners out of this situation safely.

This is literally just Con Air in space. That being said... I didn't mind it too much. The episode goes along at a good clip and (mostly) has a good batch of new alien races to explore. There's a certain tenseness to this episode because of the close quarters of the ship. We get to learn a bit about the Enolians and the out of control smuggling occurring in their system. If there's one theme to learn from this episode, it's probably the issue of false imprisonment on crimes not committed. I like that we spend the majority of our time on the prison ship and don't cut back to Enterprise too much.

My main issue with this episode is the extremely annoying character of Zoumas. He's unnecessary, unwanted, and unfunny. He added nothing to the plot and was really did nothing but eat up screen time as we approached the episodes climax. This would have been a lot better without his inclusion.

Besides this though, an average episode with some good action, more action than you see in most ST:E episodes.

Side Note: After Trip knocked out the Nausicaan prisoner with a wrench but was then recaptured after the failed coup, it seems likely (knowing Nausicaan behavior) that he would have taken his wrath out on Trip and at least beaten him unconscious or injured him in some way. I'm surprised he didn't kill Trip.

Please Don't Call a Shuttle

[Hitchcoc · 7/10 · 20 March 2017]

It seems like every time the crew takes a shuttle out, something bad happens. If they aren't crashing on some mountainous planet, the crew is being kidnapped and placed in one of the nasty prisons the aliens are running. In this one, Archer and Tripp are arrested for smuggling and put on a big clunky transport ship. It is something like the Roman galleys where the men sit on benches with electronic restraints on their wrists. Archer has to use his acting ability to keep the trust of the bad guys, who take over the ship. Of course, they have been victimized by some indifferent bureaucracy.

Rebellion in the Prison Carrier

[claudio_carvalho · 7/10 · 20 January 2008]

The Enterprise locates the shuttlepod one wandering in the space and Captain Archer and Trip missing. T'Pol finds that they have been mistakenly assumed smugglers by a patrol ship while returning from a visit from a trade post at the planet K'et Enol, arrested and set to the penal colony Canamar. A government representative comes to the Enterprise and travels with the crew to release Archer and Trip and avoid other misunderstandings. However, the prisoner Kuroda and his Nausican partner escape from their handcuffs, dominate the guards and take control of the ship.

"Canamar" is a predictable and unoriginal episode, without anything special. Archer uses his intelligence to lure the criminal and control the situation, while the poor Trip has to hear the experiences of the annoying alien. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "Canamar"

A bit predictable but decent.

[planktonrules · 7/10 · 27 March 2015]

The show begins with Archer and Trip in custody--on their way to a penal colony for something they didn't do. While this isn't a bad idea, this sort of situation has already been done on this same show-- and more than once. Naturally, T'Pol is working behind the scenes to free the pair by working with the local government. She is able to convince them that the pair are NOT smugglers--but by then it's too late--the prisoners on the ship headed for the colony have rebelled and taken the ship. And, the most sociopathic among them is now in charge and Archer is forced to work for him in order to avoid being killed. What's next?

The notion of Archer being in jail is laughable, as he seems to be in this situation too often. But the baddies are pretty exciting to watch and the show worth seeing despite all its weaknesses. Also, while it doesn't speak well of the makeup department, it is funny to watch the annoying guy. If you look closely in a few scenes, you can see that his makeup also has rubber fishing lures dangling off it--bass lures at that.

Well made but fairly unoriginal and predictable plot

[snoozejonc · 6/10 · 16 September 2020]

Archer and Trip are mistakenly taken into custody and placed in transit to a penal colony.

As an episode it is fairly well made. We have a decent pacing and good acting, but what drags it down is that we've seen Archer either kidnapped or incarcerated so many times it feels like we're going through the motions. I think one reviewer called it 'Con-Air in space' which is a pretty good description.

It would have been better if there had been more variety in the prisoners such as a Vulcan or an Andorian thrown into the mix and placed more emphasis on them. In fact how cool would it have been if they made some of the founding members of the federation have to work together to get out of the situation. Instead the only one that really gets any focus aside from the main antagonists is one with a face made from fishing lures who just serves to irritate Trip and the audience for most of his scenes.

The final act is pretty exciting and I'm glad I sat through it till the end, but I don't think it's one that I'd watch again.