"Chosen Realm"
Reception
"Chosen Realm" is noted as a "menacing" plot and notes how there is a threat to Archer and the crew of Enterprise.
Reviewers noted that the episode copies the ending of the TOS episode "Let That Be Your Last Battlefield", with Bureau42 noting the simple switch of "using religion instead of racism".
Herc of Ain't It Cool News gave the episode 2.5 out of five and is critical of the episode for being a remake and notes that the episode "ends essentially as "Last Battlefield" did, with the antagonist learning firsthand that fanaticism has decimated his homeworld." He also sees similarities to other episodes: the pony-tailed supermen of "Space Seed"; the hippy religious fanatics of "The Way to Eden", and Star Trek V: The Final Frontier; and echoes of the Bajorans from Deep Space Nine who worship artifacts left by ancient aliens.
IGN gave the episode seven out of ten, and wrote: "Overall, 'Chosen Realm' has more positives than negatives, which puts it on the short of tolerable episodes during the run of Enterprise. This is the kind of episode the series should have been doing three years ago. Had there been this kind of foundation to build upon, maybe the series wouldn't be the train wreck that we're currently enduring."
Jamahl Epsicokhan of Jammer's Reviews, discusses how Season 3 has taken on the habit of grabbing action/fighting sequences to drive the climax of episodes. So the absurd taking control of the Enterprise again by aliens provides an opportunity for "the action climax ... to become a predictable punctuation mark".
The Digital Fix said that guest actor Conor O'Farrell delivered a strong performance in this episode.
Home media release
"Chosen Realm" was released as part of the season three DVD box set, released in the United States on September 27, 2005. The Blu-ray release of Enterprise was announced in early 2013, and the season three box set was released on January 7, 2014. The Blu-Ray has a surround sound 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio track for English, as well as German, French, and Japanese audio tracks in Dolby audio.
See also
- "Starship Mine" (TNG S6E18 (airdate March 29, 1993) Picard must battle terrorists for the Enterprise-D)