Observer Effect (Star Trek: Enterprise)

"Observer Effect" was first broadcast in the United States on January 21, 2005, on UPN.[5] It was watched by 2.76 million viewers,[6] which was a decrease from the 3.03 million who watched "Daedalus" but more than the 2.53 million viewers for the following episode, "Babel One".[7][8]

IGN gave the episode 4.5 out of five, and praised the episode saying it "manages to showcase a lot of the supporting characters" and concludes that it is "another giant step in the right direction."[9]

Jamahl Epsicokhan, at his website Jammer's Reviews, described the plot of "Observer Effect" as not being as predictable as it might initially seem due to the crew's inability to save Tucker and Hoshi and their reliance on the aliens to do so. He felt that the links to "Errand of Mercy" were both "subtle" and "sublime", while describing the overall bottle show as "No slam-bang excitement; just a commitment to observation and plausible procedure." He adds that the episode was an example of "humanist science fiction" rather than an "adventure show".[10]

Michelle Erica Green of TrekNation mostly liked the episode, stating "there was never the slightest problem with recognizing the distinct alien personalities, even though several actors played each Organian within the different host bodies. Jolene Blalock in particular was chilling picking up on Dominic Keating's portrayal of the same alien when it moved from Reed's body to T'Pol's. Connor Trinneer also did a nice job picking up on Anthony Montgomery's vocal inflections when possessed by the more open-minded Organian.[11] This is one of the best possessed-by-aliens episodes that Star Trek has ever done", adding "...in terms of the regular cast's performances; these were subtle, strong in continuity and fun to watch." However, she had trouble following along sometimes when the characters were possessed, such as with Ensign Sato, while being possessed by the alien, began talking about a poker ring she used to run, believing the alien had run a poker ring at Starfleet. "My husband thought aloud that Sato must have been possessed by an alien when she started going on about the poker ring she used to run, and I agreed." She went on to indicate that she needed better clues given to her so that she would be able to tell when the characters were possessed and furthered believed that the transitions were occurring as they were talking, which did not occur during the episode. Furthering her occlusion of the show she states, "the biggest problem with the episode: these super-bright aliens only interact with the best of the best, the senior command crew. They don't take over the body of some ensign doing a grunt job cleaning the plasma manifolds, "thus ignoring the reason given within the show that non-essential senior crew would be better able to observe while not directly interfering.[11]

Critic Darren Mooney offers much behind the scenes context: that two weeks after the air date, UPN announced the series was cancelled; that the initial script by the Reeves-Stevens team was rejected by Braga for its complexity; and points out that the many weaknesses, including the Organians in the episode reveal how the motivation for the characters' species name was to simply create another hook back to The Original Series. Mooney makes the point that though the script was written far in advance, there is a gloom to the episode where observers are watching the show around them die. Though stating that "Observer Effect" "was a much more effective bottle show than 'Daedalus' was". Mooney contends that the episode represents the cast and crew's acknowledgment that the show is dead, and all that is left is the waiting. He says the quote "somebody always dies" again echoes outside the bounds of the Enterprise starship. He further relates (by quoting writer Reeves-Stevens) how the entire body possession plot device was suggested by show runners Braga and Coto as a way "to save us some money", and indicates how the producers knew long before the network announcement that the shows being produced were "dead in the water".[12]

In 2011, Tor.com recommended "Observer Effect" as one of the better episodes of Enterprise, one that met the standards of a "good episode" of Star Trek, while noting some of the issues some audiences had with the show.[13] Writing for The A.V. Club in 2014, Alasdair Wilkins included "Observer Effect" in his list of the twenty best episodes of the series.[14] In 2021, The Digital Fix said this episode was "very well done" and had "genuine tension" and tied into Star Trek lore.[15]