Dawn

** (2 stars out of 5)

A bizarre lizard-man and a good old Southern boy are shot down on a desert world. Unless they learn to stop hitting each other and use their words they'll never get rescued! Seem familiar at all?

"Dawn" probably owes Barry B. Longyear some royalties, doesn't it? I mean, this is the movie Enemy Mine from top to bottom, minus all the most interesting bits. Zho'Kaan's gestures and head-bobs recall Louis Gossett Jr.'s. Trip's not a far cry from Willis Davidge. Even the Arkonian make-up looks an awful lot like a Drac. It's all a lot cheaper, of course, but unmistakable. You think if they wanted to do an homage so badly they could still disguise it a little! Maybe make the deserted world a different colour?

Then again, maybe they're ripping themselves off with Kirk and the Gorn. There IS a laughable drawn-out slow-motion fight scene. Or is it aping 'Darmok'? Even 'Gravity' already did deserts and gibberish-talking Lori Petty. All this adds to the canon is the trivia that Arkonian sputum heals wounds, and the latest encounters of Shirtless Tucker.

With the sun coming up and his buddy basting in the sun like a turkey, unwilling to beam up without heatstroke Rango, why doesn't Archer beam DOWN a freezer unit? Or even a beach umbrella?

Another symptom of creator fatigue and coasting on fumes, it's not very appealing.
Still, any time I start thinking like this I remember the sage words of The Refreshments: "Whoever said there's nothing new under the sun never thought much about individuals, but he is dead anyway."