CaptQuick
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Posts posted by CaptQuick
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They're probably advertising now because this is the first time the show has been consistently good since the show began. IMO, we've only had three serious stinkers so far (Storm Front and Daedalus) and we've had several EXTREMELY good eps (The Forge, Home, Cold Station 12, Observer Effect), while the rest have been very watchable (I was extremely surprised to see a good ep come out of Bound).
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Twilight. Similitude, I thought was a great character story, but Twilight I feel is simply one of the best Science Fiction stories (Hugo worthy).
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I believe T'pol as she was originally conceived was a wonderful character. I loved her condescension to all the humans on her ship. It's so fitting with the Vulcan race. To a Vulcan the highest pursuit is that of logic, emotion is the release of a child. So, to a Vulcan, seeing a human race struggling in their everyday matters betwixt logic and emotion, our race must look as children or, rather, adolescents.
And that explains the condescension exuding from the Vulcans as well as their reluctance to share technology, in their eyes humans are adolescents. As you wouldn't give a gun to an adolescent until you're sure he knows how to use it and when to use it, so the Vulcans do not want humans to destroy themselves. What the Vulcans do not understand (and what Spock eventually came to realize) is that humans are actually ahead of Vulcans. Emotions are an integral part of humanity; compassion, an essential necessity of life. Love of his country (planet) will motivate a man to make extraordinary sacrifices. Hope for the future will motivate a man to work even for no reward. Etc. etc. Getting back. The problem I have with T'pol is that after her introduction to the series she was plagued by lazy writing. Most writers just didn't seem to know what to do with her.
Getting into specifics. The introduction of the mind meld in season 1 was a good concept. Her seduction and subsequent mind rape illustrated her youthfulness. But I believe she should have found out about the P'anar syndrome right then. This would have deepened the character by making her even more reserved because the only time she let someone close there were dire consequences. Waiting to introduce the syndrome until the second season felt like a manufacutre cheat and cheapened the healing in season 4. Pertaining to character relations I feel there was an even greater failure with T'pol. In the first season things are kind of kicked off (I refuse to acknowledge the decon scenes as anything more than softcore) by Breaking the Ice with the touching dialogue between T'pol and Trip about whether she should marry Koss. The problem I have with the conclusion of that ep is that I believe this is where the character began to be derailed. IMHO, she should have agreed to the match but that it would have to be postponed. For a Vulcan to give up her heritage after only a few months on a human ship seems silly to me. This decision would have deepened her upcoming internal conflict about what to do with Trip (and would have made the finale to the S4 ep, Home, even more shocking than it was). In the second season I think is where the Trip-T'pol relationship should have started coming together. Because the third season brought it all to a head. The high point would be Similitude (a wonderful ep) Trip basically confessed his feelings for her (through Sim). The low point would be all the vulcan neural pressure sesssions. Besides the questionability of Trip's medical problem, I felt like I had a hammer banging on my head. C'mon people, did anybody not think that Trip and T'pol would eventually end up in bed together after continually rubbing their hands all over each other's naked bodies (especially after another softcore display in the season opener). Which brings us to Harbinger, when Trip and T'pol finally sleep together. This would be acceptable (not morally, but storywise) if I believed in their relationship up to that point. I DON'T! Similitude and Breaking the Ice went a long way, but they're only two episodes. That's why I wish there had been more groundwork laid in season 2. I don't buy the line T'pol fed Trip about experimenting with human sexuality. If true it shows that, even after three years onboard, she does not understand the vast pain she causes by that statement (which, being a Vulcan, she would have observed before doing), and, honestly, if she wanted to experience human sexuality she would just find some man who just wanted the sex. There's bound to be a few of those on the ship. It's just not logical.
IMHO, Manny Coto an crew ran damage control on T'pol's character in S4 and actually did quite well with her. I didn't really like the resolution of the P'anar syndrome or Koss issues but I thought they were well done nonetheless (and, as said before, I really liked the development in Home.). I do feel that the character had some really good moments in the series (Twilight, one of the great science fiction stories) but ultimately was misused. I never really got the feeling of a Vulcan sincerely questioning her beliefs (as opposed to throwing them out one by one as the plot required) until the fourth season. I also believe its a shame that she was basically relegated to sex symbol for the first two seasons. Deanna Troi was basically a sex symbol in TNG yet she retained her dignity and also contributed many many great moments of character. And that's what I wished T'pol had aspired to. If she'd have been a continuously growing character, the character would have been interesting enough to merit tuning in even she didn't parade around in catsuits, t-shirts and pantys, and the occasional nothing. I do believe the axiom "sex sells" (though I would state it in a different manner), but I believe that if sex is the only way to sell your product, then the product's not worth selling. If I wanted sexual stimulation I would buy porn. As it is, I don't appreciate sex being used as a cover for sloppy writing.
In conclusion, am I being arrogant? After all, I do the advantage of seeing in retrospect, and I am, by no means, a professional writer. Furthermore, Star Trek Enterprise was originally intended to be an episodic show (ended up being arc-driven, but the original format was single plots). Asking it to hold to a cohesive storyline may be a bit much. But Next Gen and TOS, also episodic television, both managed to make all their starring characters interesting by the first three seasons (even Wesley had his moments). Something didn't work with Enterprise, perhaps it would have been helpful to envision out all of the main characters' growths for the series and then to have built stories around these notions. Who knows? Perhaps I am being arrogant, but I do dearly love the work done by the writers on the fourth season. And I do wish that things had gone better for the series. I really feel that now, finally, this show is beginning to reach the potential it lacked after the beginning.
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PLEASE NO! It may not have been done on Star Trek before, but it's been done plenty elsewhere. I was actually hoping after Home that this season might do a radical thing and actually say some nice things about arranged marriages.
[digression]
BTW, The Moon is a Harsh Mistress is a Hugo Award winning novel by Robert A. Heinlein (arguably the greatest SciFi writer of the twentieth century. Yes, including Asimov. He also wrote Starship Troopers, an absolutely brilliant book that had its title stolen for an "adaptation" that was ... better left unsaid.). Aint It Cool News had some early rumblings about a TMIAHM movie being written a few weeks ago. I hope it's true.
[/digression]
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Click For SpoilerWell I found the episode to be good on the whole but a little uneven. I agree that the Vulcans are still too emotional. Soval's probably the best of the bunch (sometimes his stiffness closely approximates Spock's). I'm hoping that the outcome of the third episode motivates them to become less so. Other thing that annoyed me, I kind of wished that T'pau had an accent, since she had so deep of one in TOS.
I did the like the death scene with T'pol and T'les, thought it was beautifully done. T'pol had been struggling to keep her emotions in check the whole episode, when T'les died, it was the breaking point.
I'll give it a seven. A decent follow up to the best episode of the season so far.
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If not for the Archer story arc in Home, I'd say Home. But since it remains there, ... The Forge.
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This might interest you. Here is a small quote from an interview of Manny Coto regarding Trip/T'Pol:
We also have a very interesting conclusion to Trip and T'Pol's relationship planned, and we may actually do it this season – it's very radical, and it's not been done before on Star Trek. And that's all I will say about that.Clan marriage. Gotta be.
:VBGal:
Sorry, couldn't resist the chance to make a "The Moon is a Harsh Mistress" reference.
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After having gone through Storm Front Pt. 2. It was ok, but I can't help feeling that the ideas presented in this thread would have been a lot more dramatic (they also probably would have drained the budget for the entire season.). In any case, here's to a brave new season with better ratings!
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You're probably right, it just surprised me to see it in Borderland's preview page.
In any case, I don't really prefer it to the opening we have now. What I would like is to have the music for the Season 3 recap trailer (accessed here.) as the new theme.
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I went and looked at the preview page for "Borderland" and lo and behold, an exclusive clip for a completely different opening for Enterprise. Incorporating the classic "These are the voyages" monologue. What d'ya think? Will it just be a gimmick for this episode, or will it be this for the rest of the season? Take a look for yourselves:
http://www.startrek.com/startrek/view/seri...isode/6485.html
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After an extremely long hiatus, I have returned to the reviewing bit. To begin at the end, my reactions to the credits were as follows:
"... WHAT THE?!?!?!?!?!?!"
"HUH?"
"GAAAAAHH!! NOOO!!!!!"
Click For SpoilerAhem, yes, now to skip back. The beginning was a nice little setpiece. It drove home all of what the crew went through last season. You can feel the people's joy to be home. Yeah, I think Archer's speech could be better, but, hey, it got the job done (we can't all be Bill Pullman in Independence Day). After the theme rolls, we immediately split the storyline into three segments (two primary arcs and a short episode) that are intercut but not interrelated.
The first primary arc of the episode focusses primarily on Archer and the effects of the ordeal of last season on his character. In the very first scene of the debriefing this is emphasized. Archer is anxious to defend himself not only to the Vulcan Ambassador but also TO HIMSELF. Soval's accusation is Archer's as well. Archer is a man of principles, yet repeatedly on his last mission he had to violate those principles in the name of his mission. He is tormented by the irony of what he had to do and what he should have done. This is never an easy question, and it's pleasant to see it brought up in this episode. Do I believe he made the right decision? Absolutely. If he hadn't taken the warp drive and tortured the thief, the spherebuilders would have slaughtered the Galaxy's population. But I digress. having said that Archer is man of principles, I do find it a little dubious that he basically finds solace in sex (that would seem to fall more in Malcolm and Merryweather's line). But I don't find it surprising, it is, after all, a cliche of war movies. Perhaps the writers will prove me wrong by actually having this relationship continue. I doubt it, though. For right now, the sex is just a distraction for Archer so he doesn't think about the fact that he doesn't have the answer yet.
I thoroughly enjoyed the short Phlox episode. It seems obvious now I've seen it, but kudos to the writers for realizing the massive wave of xenophobia that would occur if we were attacked by aliens. Just like it took some time for us to stop demonizing our enemies in World War 2 (yes, we still rag on Germans, but Japanese, Chinese, and Italian caricature is no longer in vogue). It's interesting to see this concept applied to our whole world.
I actually think this episode should have just focussed on the above two plots. I would have liked to see more of Hoshi too. Why? Because the second primary arc should have been an entire episode. Something this earthshaking to continuity should have more time to breathe! As it is, it's quite good.
Now I'm not sure how well the Trip-T'pol romance has been handled throughout the series. The best episode showcasing it was Similitude, Sim really loved T'pol. To me it was never really established that Trip loved T'pol. Certainly he was sexually attracted to her (shake hands with the Captain, remember when the writers were toying with Archer-T'pol. The whole landing-in-the-cleavage bit from Shadows of P'jem. Those were the days ... wait, no they weren't!), but I'll give it to them if for no other reasons than that they've worked together a whole lot the last season and that she trusted him with the knowledge of her engagement with Koss in the first season (a great moment from the beginning, that peecahn pie looked delicious). Alright, so I buy the romance. How about the extremely emotional climax. YES!!! BIG OL YES!! This is the best that Vulcans have been dealt with since the original series. T'pol, in this episode, forsook emotion for logic. And there is a certain inevitability to it all. Koss will not call off the wedding, so T'pol has three options. One, she can leave and forsake her Vulcan heritage, likely putting her family in even worse straits. Two, she can have Trip challenge, but that is no option, since there is little doubt he would be defeated. Three, she can marry Koss, save her family, continue her work, and be unhappy. The last has only an emotional impact, so T'pol made the most logical choice. Still, that ending was possibly even more shocking than the end of season 3. There are just so many ways you can go with this. Here's what I would like to see:
Right now Koss looks like a real jerk. He could see quite well that T'pol did not want him, yet he refused to back down even while uttering such hypocrisies as "I want you to be happy." Since we've got him, I don't want to just hit the reset buttoin. Soften up his character some, make him try to earn T'pol's love. Then let him come on board Enterprise and have Trip get to know him and respect him. Sure I would like to see Trip and T'pol get together, but I think it be more dramatic if the character died and then both persons mourned his passing. Not only the wife, but the would-be suitor. I REALLY don't want to suffer through another "it's adultery but he/she shouldn't be married" hypocrisy that I got in watching The Count of Monte Cristo (a plotpoint that was NOT in the book). It'll be interesting to see how this is developed (maybe we'll have a ratings miracle and get another season).
Altogether I give the episode an eight. I loved the Trip-T'pol arc (though it should have been an hourlong episode just focussing on them) and the Phlox part, though
I thought the Archer bit was a little out of character.
For next week, Brent looks fabulous. He looks like he may turn out to be the best villain of the series so far.
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Do you remember the TNG episode where Worf kept being shifted from reality to reality? At one point when there was some kind of rip in the fabric of space-time, the space was rapidly filling with Enterpises from the various realities.That episode is consistent with your possibility #2.
Yup, in fact that episode was "Parallels" A great episode.
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Not necessarily.
Y'see, imho, there are basically two ways of looking at history. 1. There is one, only one, unbreakable chain of time from beginning to end.
2. There are untold numbers of chains and every time anyone makes a decision another timeline (chain) is created. Though ones with the same major decisions the same are very similar.
If #1 is true. Everything that happens was meant to happen. A history where Kirk didn't fall in love with Edith Keeler never existed.
If #2 is true. It's impossibly complicated. The temporal cold war enemies didn't like the chain they were in so they went to change it, which created another chain which the Enterprise and Archer landed. They will inevitably save the day and create a better chain in the process (along with thousands of other chains of different decisions that we don't see.).
I suppose I should talk about the third e travel too. It's a modification of the first (which I prefer, as it gives me considerably more piece of mind.)
3. It is "Life is one chain that can be broken and redirected, eradicating everything that came after in favor of a new future." In that case, if anybody ever changes anything in history, there will be no reversing it because the ones who know what the future is "supposed" to be will be instantly eradicated because they are part of that future. This is a rather impractical way of doing things, though, because the time traveler would immediately eliminate himself and everyone in his world simply by stepping on a piece of grass in the past (a change).
I recall some mention of a Scifi story using this concept. The protagonist went back in time but found that he was incapable of changing anything. The humans could not see him, the grass was harder and sharper than spikes, and the rain fell like bullets (which, while a more interesting view, is slightly inaccurate since, the raindrops and grass would actually not effect the protagonist at all. If the concept is held to, the protagonist would have been a noncorporeal ghost).
I don't say that these are the only logical (BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!) views of time travel, but they are the only ones I've found. Star Trek (in it's many forms), has touched on #1 (Examples include: Star Trek: First Contact, The City on the Edge of Forever) and #2 (Examples: Yesterday's Enterprise (TNG), Parallels(TNG)). I'm not sure about #3.
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Finally got to see this ep Monday. I missed it on Wednesday and didn't want to stay up Sunday night, so I recorded it.
This episode is rather a polarizing one to me. There are some things I absolutely despise, hate, and want to jump on, and there are some things I'm quite fond of.
Altogether I give it an average rating of three point five (rounded up to 4 for my vote).
Click for Spoiler:
I was pleasantly surprised that some things actually happened in this episode. It would have been easy for the writers to just show the tension increasing as the Enterprise approaches Azati Prime, but to introduce a whole new faction in the war is a nice concept.
But I'm getting ahead of myself (ooh, temporal disturbance, my head hurts) There seems to be three main story arcs happening in this ep. Capt Archer and the Alien, the "love" triangle, & the battle of wills between Malcolm and Hayes. Because they're neatly divided, I'll delve into each one separately. But first I'll state my nitpick of the episode.
First scene of the ep also happens to have my nitpick of the episode. Sudden appearance of female love interest for Trip! Now this wouldn't be jarring if there was some sort of explanation (like in Precious Cargo.) but to introduce the character to us by showing Trip massaging her feet makes Trip look a bit of a jerk. Especially if he just met her. "I know just the thing for your muscles, let me massage you in my quarters."
The fact that she didn't seriously injure him for making such a suggestion implies that he's known her for a bit, would have been nice if she'd appeared in a previous episode. At least Crewman Cutler had a few eps that established her presence on the Enterprise before she began her fling with Phlox (Hey! "fling with Phlox." that's fun to say!). Of course it would have been nice if we'd have had more MACOs this season anyway ... but that is my nitpick, such as it is, and I will leave off of it now. Love Triangle
Can't say I enjoyed this much. I'm not really jiving with the direction they're taking T'pol, she really seems less likeable than before after this episode. Let me elaborate. It seems rather obvious that she's displaying emotion in this episode, whether she feels it or not. Her voice is certainly emotionally charged (I just know someone's going to make a "vocal analyst" crack) in her discussions with Doctor Phlox and Commander Cole and in her pre-bedtime discussion with Trip ("I'mnotjealous!"). Then there was the sort of pleasure she took in turning Trip's questions back onto him (and holding Sim over his head). This behavior raises a question when T'pol writes off their connection as a "sexual experimentation."
Was she lying?
The sad thing is that either answer makes her character look rather evil.
If the the answer is "no, it really was an experiment." the following are my conclusions.
NOTE: The following is based on the assumption that T'pol did not simultaneously experiment in "emotion" while conducting her other experiment.
1: T'pol's kiss with Sim was just a coldly calculated painkiller. Harmless in its own way, because the recipient was going to die, and might even be thought of as a kindness, even if it was insincere.
2: T'pol planned Trip's seduction far in advance. Possibly starting when the doctor first suggested the Neural pressure sessions. Her plan eventually incorporated the use of humanlike emotional displays (including pre-sexual banter).
Needless to say, this is a rather cruel way to go about it. It also seems rather unvulcanish. If a Vulcan, imho, wanted to experience sexuality, he or she would simply find a likely specimen and query whether such an advance would be welcomed (Vulcans don't seem to have a shyness for such things). Also, any logical Vulcan would consider that emotions are an integral part of human beings, and that sexuality, especially with a friendly relationship built up beforehand, carries with it a load of emotional baggage. It seems rather cruelminded for a Vulcan to knowingly inflict pain on a human. Perhaps T'pol was trying to prove that emotions are not linked to sexuality or that emotions are not an integral part of human beings. In any case, it was a very arrogant experiment in the first place, and considerably worse than I've come to expect from T'pol.
If it wasn't an experiment.
1: T'pol is lying, when there is no good reason for lying. Trip would probably be hurt less if they just broke off the relationship, such as it was.
2: T'pol is still acting rather unVulcanish. Instead of blubbering like a high schooler, it seems like she would simply ask Trip directly whether he liked her or not. Beating around the bush is a human trait.
In either case, T'pol is acting rather strangely.
Lastly, in regards to the love triangle, Trip acts like a jerk too. He flat out lied to Malcolm about his relationship with Commander Cole. "Kissing friends" do not come from America. And it is subverting the rules a bit, as I understand it, to fraternize with another officer (whether in the same service or not). T'pol is an exception because she is not an officer anymore (yes she's a science officer, but that's a skill, not a ranking), but Cole isn't.
Malcolm and Hayes
I didn't like Malcolm's story at first. Malcolm seemed to be acting too arrogant and unyielding. But I accepted his attitude after I recalled the episode opening conversation between Cole and Tucker. It's very true that when two people "cut from the same cloth" work in close quarters, the results are often explosive. Both seem equally guilty of disrespect. Hayes hit low by going to the Captain instead of to Reed. Reed got back by being unreasonable. I thought the fight choreography was good (was surprised Montgomery can move that fast). I loved the battle between Hayes and Malcolm. The whole scene with the Captain reprimanding them was classic. "You think we're dismissed?" HEE!
Capt. Archer and the Alien
Well, honestly, this story is more of a story thread. I really thought we had begun to wind to a close. But now a new entire faction is being revealed. So many questions. Why does earth need to be destroyed before this faction can take over? Are the Suliban involved (since they seem to be alternately trying to destroy the human race and trying to save it)? I love that we're being kept guessing.
Anybody else think that, for a moment, the alien had decapitated Phlox?
Altogether I give the love triangle a 1, because the actions of the characters struck me as juvenile and possibly arrogantly selfish. I give the Malcolm story a solid six. Enjoyable but a bit corny at times (Malcolm still seems a little over the top to me.). I'm not giving the Alien story thread a rating because it seemed to be a miniscule portion of the ep when compared to the other two plotlines.
Averaged out we get 3.5.
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Well positives and negatives about the preview.
Positives:
Reed character development
BOOYAH! It's about time Reed got something serious to do.
More MACOs
They've been on the ship since the beginning of the season, yet they've appeared only semi-sporadically.
Negatives:
Click for Spoiler:
Hooboy. To quote the everlasting words "here we go again."
<rant>
1: Trip & T'pol (and sex in general on Enterprise)
Hokay, I can take relationships. I highly encourage them. Wonderful thing to have a relationship with someone, does your heart good, etc. Only thing is, Trip and T'pol don't have one. The only thing they've been doing together is the occasional massage session, and I would point out that both have said that these sessions are rather sporadic (both Trip & T'pol have mentioned missing multiple sessions.). My main point is, you want romance? ESTABLISH IT! Show some neat moments between the characters. The whole concept that T'pol will lure Trip into her apartment, or enter his, strip herself, and demand that they "go at it" is ludicrous and un-Vulcanish (except possibly in Pon Farr). Tisn't love, it's animal lust, plain and simple. A thing which Vulcans are supposed to repress, if I'm not mistaken.
And what is up with that buttshot? This is TV-PG, people!
</rant>
2. This is only a slight negative. It looks like this story is "on the way" to Azati Prime. AARRRGH! The suspense is killing me!
EDIT: Sorry I forgot about the spoiler tags.
Click for Spoiler:
And yeah, that could be a Suliban, and it would be really neat if it is.
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Hey, time change is fine with me, I'll be watching it at eight.
sjf
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I think Captain Archer was covering all the bases. He knew Trip had acted irrationally before when he thought it was the right thing to do (Cogenitor anyone?). Just reminding Trip to keep a lid on it.
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I found this episode to be quite entertaining on the whole, I give it a steady 6.
Click for Spoiler:
I actually wish to dissent the common opinion that this episode preached against religions. In fact, I thought this episode made some EXCELLENT points.
Note: Due to my experience with religions being primarily Christian in nature, I am forced to use Christianity as my reference for the most part.
First of all, I wish to clarify something, D'Jamat and his followers were not attempting to commit genocide for a truly religious reason (in fact it wouldn't even surprise me if their religious law specifically forbade genocide), they were attempting to commit suicide for a doctrinal reason. A doctrine being a religious precept held by an individual that could be construed from whatever religious sources there are (Bible, Q'rran, etc.) but is not specifically stated in the aforementioned sources. For example, suppose I take the biblical scripture "God dwelleth in unapproachable light." and say "therefore, I believe God lives on the sun." I have created a doctrine. The Bible does not specifically state that God lives on the sun, but it presents no objection to my believing it. However, if I take this doctrine and say that people must believe it or they are not Christians, I am saying that my word is equal to the Bible's and am committing a sin of arrogance and blasphemy. I have become a religious fanatic. Such persons are responsible for the slaughters of innocents in the crusades.
D'jamat is a religious fanatic. He and his followers wish to commit genocide because the other faction disagrees on the number of days it took the makers to create the chosen realm. The very fact that they disagree indicates that the matter is in doubt, thus there is no official word (scripture, writing, holy prophet floating in the air, etc.). D'jamat is not wanting to kill his opponents because they differ religiously, he wants to kill them because they differ with him on a small portion of his beliefs that could be interpreted differently, and, indeed, is of little import to the "religion" itself. Which brings us to the first good point in the episode.
1: Religious groups divide and fight over STUPID things. For example one of the reasons the Roman Catholic Church divided in 1054 A.D. was over having statues in the building. The Eastern Orthodox split off and formed its own division for this and other reasons. My point is that there is no clear picture of which is right. Yes the second commandment reads in Exodus 20:5-7 "(5) You shall not make for yourself an idol, or any likeness of what is in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the water under the earth. "(6) You shall not worship them or serve them; for I, the LORD your God, am a (7) jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, on the third and the fourth generations of those who hate Me,:"
It could be saying, "don't make anything and worship it." or it could be saying "don't make anything." both interpretations could be correct, but the answer would be an opinion, a doctrine, not a law. The two churches fought, excommunicated each other, and blasted the other from pulpits all for a matter of opinion.
Not all scripture is a matter of opinion, however. Take the seventh commandent "You shall not commit adultery." That leaves no room for opinion. One who preaches otherwise is either not a Christian, or an extremely uneducated one.
In the ep, the suicide bombers die believing they have served their religion, unfortunately for them, they have been led astray by their leader. They are not dying for their religion. They are dying for their leader's doctrine (nine days doctrine).
which lead us to the second main point.
2: Leaders who do not allow their followers to think should be regarded with suspicion (yes, in the armed forces immediate action may be required, but you can "think later"). If a religion is true, close examination will only build faith. And if a leader rejects this, he is either power-hungry, or insane (thinking he is God and knows all).
So, IMHO, this episode cast light on what is wrong with many churches and sects (i.e. the followers), but did not cast stones at the religions themselves.
Rather thought provoking at times, and I actually liked it a little bit better than "Let This Be Your Last Battlefield," mainly because I hated the RED scenes at the end of that episode. The effect didn't work and ruined the climax for me. But they are rather similar and evoke similar thoughts.
G'bye all,
CQ
EDIT: Er ... well, whilst I was composing Trinneer girl basically said what I was trying to say, except more concisely.
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It wasn't a Vulcan funeral. It was a human funeral. It was humans who were mourning (with the exception of Saavik.). So they honored Spock in their way. Funerals are more for the living than the dead anyway. If there is no time for mourning, there will be repression. And repression is not a good thing.
CQ
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I'm torn on this one. The question looms in my mind. "What kind of romance?"
If we're talking skin, hormones, & sexism. Nah, I'll pass.
If we're talking gentle moments like the bit in Twilight between old Archer and T'pol "If this works ..." And hilariously funny things like in TNG when Wesley went to ask Worf and Data for romantic advice. Certainly.
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Well, time to finally post my thoughts. They have been delayed till now because I had to wait to catch the ep till Sunday. I am ashamed to say ... I was watching the new Star Wars animated short. On to the ep.
Click for Spoiler:
Jonathan Archer feels like a shuttlepod landed on his head.
I feel like my gut was ripped out and used as a banjo. This episode was brutal, emotional, & introspective all at the same time.
What a way to begin, the massive Xindi weapon surges toward earth like a living seething cannonball, echoing the scene of the last defense against the Borg invasion in Star Trek First Contact, except here there is no army, here there is no hidden advantage. There is only slaughter, horrible slaughter. We watch as the sphere, we have only seen on maps and can barely even comprehend the size of though we live on it, withers, cracks, and fragments. There is death. Archer gazes in awestruck horror. Theme begins. The theme is almost poignant since it is a mockery if the previous happenings are true. "Nothing's going to bend or break me." a proven wrong statement.
Then there's the first scene of the old Captain with T'pol. Frankly, I love these scenes, and that's the reason I do. "The Love." T'pol has given up everything to protect the captain from himself. Never asking anything in return. This is love. It is not the sexual ambiguities UPN throws at us most weeks. This is love. Now, I don't necessarily wish for a relationship between Captain Archer and T'pol in the regular timeline, but I do applaud the choices made here. I thought they worked together very well.
The ending, while very similar that of a very different movie (Galaxy Quest), was unexpected, moving, and painful to watch. I nearly wept when the bridge went with the crew. Again a brave choice.
Frankly the overall reason I loved this episode was that it made me care about the characters as I never have before. I emoted with them all. A rare thing in television.
I gave the ep a 10. Simply the best crafted hour of television I've seen in a long while. Not always pleasant to watch, but riveting.
CQ
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Well, I'm turning in my report a bit late as I didn't get to see my taped copy of the ep till last night. A jewel of an episode.
Click for Spoiler:
They're managing the whole Xindi storyline a lot better than they did with the Temporal Cold War. The revelation about the the numerous spheres was mindblowing and inventive. One thing I loved about the first season of Enterprise was how often unexpected things would go wrong with the ship. Just reemphasized how new we were at this thing. This season has used the "oopsy" gimmick to wonderful and entertaining effect. This ep, the "uh ... Captain" moment when the shuttlepod took off was absolutely hilarious, in the vein of the cargo bay reversing gravity gag from the first ep of the season.
As for Hoshi, it was intriguing to see the alien try to dissect her mentally. My only quibble with this part was Hoshi's dress. Question to all women in vicinity of message boards: would you wear an alluring dress while marooned in the house of a grotesque alien who thinks you're hot (hint: the correct answer is "No!")? Other than that, no problems. I thought it was a great bit when Hoshi found the graves of the companions and found out who they were. "A companion."
"And the others?" "... More companions."
The guy needs to build himself a robot like Flint did in TOS.
Once I saw the orb, I was pretty sure that was what she'd use as a weapon, but I think she figured it out pretty quickly as well, so I wasn't insulted.
Altogether a great episode. Advanced the story nicely.
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Well, I expected this ep to be a whole lot worse, as I stated in the "Nudity In Enterprise" topic. The previews seemed to indicate that this episode would be entirely about sexuality. Hoping that B&B were trying to bamboozle me, I gave the show a watch.
Click for Spoiler:
It wasn't nearly as bad as expected. The obligatory nervepinching scenes between Trip & T'pol at the beginning of the ep were actually well played scenes.
Thankfully the parts where Rajiin scanned Archer and Hoshi were kept to a minimum. I thought the T'pol scene was a bit much, though. One female basically mindraping another. Ugh.
Minor gripe: Since when would a sex slave have a three dress wardrobe?
Picard, if you still want to know about how much sexuality is in this episode. It is as follows:
1: Rajiin gropes (revealed as not for sexual purposes later in the show, ... yeah right) Captain Archer's face and chest. Archer loses consciousness soon after.
2: Is implied (door closes as Rajiin is looking evil) that Rajiin does same to Hoshi.
3: Rajiin runs her hands along T'pol's back, pushing T'pol's shirt up a bit. Struggles with T'pol. Nearly kills her telepathically.
4: Cleavage and skimpy costumes.
The character of Rajiin seems kind of cliched to me. Yes, the sex slave part is new, but I've heard the "taken from my parents, don't remember anything, had no choice, etc." spiel many times, a few tweaks would be nice.
I thought it was interesting that the phase pistols didn't seem to hurt the Xindi until they'd been hit quite a few times. I wonder how their shield technology works.
Highlights of the episode
1: Seeing an Insectoid Xindi in action. I don't really think they look real, but they sure look cool.
2: The spices trade.
3: I like the merchant planet in general.
4: The plot point about liquid Trellium D being extremely explosive.
5: The possible reference to the Suliban at the end of the ep (surgically enhanced.)
I honestly hope they don't bring Rajiin back, I don't like the character at all (dialogue, look, and occupation).
Overall I give the episode a four out of ten. One point off for bad dialogue. Three points off for doing a story about a sex slave (there are few tales that should be told with such a character, and this is not one of them.). Two points off for the T'pol-Rajiin scene.
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Yes it is, the trailers for the old show didn't hint at man-woman, woman-on-woman, and another-woman-on-woman sex. It looks to me as if B&B are specifically drawing parallels to the pornography industry. A move which disgusts me.
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Posted · Edited by CaptQuick
I doubt the pheromone is 100% effective. Having a nearly naked green female as a visual aid clouds the mind and the pheromone does the rest of the job.
I imagine the men do have a defense. It's just that the general population doesn't want to have a defense. Most of the men are probably addicted.
Two possible answers to the slave question. The men have developed a defense and are selling the women off this way. Or the women simply wish to get off planet that they may have even more control.