Star Trek: Enterprise - This Week's Ep

[LTBasker]

Originally posted by Tycho
You make valid points and I agree with most of what you wrote Basker, but I enjoyed the episode and found it an insightful episode into the cultivation of the prime directive.

Yeah that was a good part about it, very Voyager-ish though, but still, it was ok. Two more episodes left, hope they're better...

[JediTricks]

Originally posted by pthfnder89
I only saw Fallen Hero, not the following ep, but I really liked it also. One thing I'm having problems with technology wise though, is the idea that the phase cannons are so much more powerful than their torpedoes. I know these probably aren't photon torpedoes yet, but it just seems odd to me that they can create energy weapons that can cripple vessels in one or two shots, but they can't create a physical explosive device that has any effect what-so-ever.

I understand the frustration with tech being so all over the map, I'd share it if I weren't so wholy unimpressed with those tiny gnat stingers they call "torpedoes". The Enterprise's torpedoes are not photon torpedoes, and while we don't KNOW they're not based on the same tech, it's somewhat obvious (there seems to be no photonic envelope, no abundance of anti-matter for the warhead, no particular extra care for the storage and loading of torps) that the Ent torpedoes are conventional weaponry rather than energy or particle weapons. The torpedoes are basically just impact weapons, while the phase cannons are particle/energy weapons. The Enterprise left dock willing to defend itself against known enemies, but found that the unknown ones required greater firepower and a different school of thought because the opposition has already created something that effectively neutralizes the effects of conventional weaponry (shields, which are vulnerable to energy weaponry).

[Tycho]

I agree with JediTricks and also add reference to the Classic episode Balance of Terror which says that the first Earth-Romulan conflict, which has yet to occur in this timeline, was fought with primative atomic weapons.

Interesting, because while we know from the future that Starfleet will learn of the Vulcan-Romulan relationship, this tells us that the Romulans must be considerably LESS advanced than the Vulcans, and that the two cultures have evolved along EXTREMELY different paths, though biologically they remain very similar.

[pthfnder89]

Originally posted by Tycho

Interesting, because while we know from the future that Starfleet will learn of the Vulcan-Romulan relationship, this tells us that the Romulans must be considerably LESS advanced than the Vulcans, and that the two cultures have evolved along EXTREMELY different paths, though biologically they remain very similar.

That's probably why the Romulans hate the Vulcans so much. Their advanced "cousins" left them in the dark just like they did the humans.

[Jargo]

Well not to interrupt this party that seems to have died a while ago....

We just got Enterprise over here and I'm hooked. I hated TNG with a passion I hate it's dated look that glorified in it's datedness. The eighties ideals were written all over that show and it stunk because of it. Patrick Stewart annoyed like no other can and Riker just got fat. Data has to be the single most irritating character ever created and his feeble attempts to disguise his own girth bulge were hilarious.

DS9 fared better. I'm with Tycho in his summary of the show. What TNG lacked in human feeling and emotion, DS9 made up for in plenty. Sisko could have been a mute for all I cared for his staccato delivery but at least he had balls. Kira is one of my all time favourite characters and her relationship with Odo was one of the main pulling points for me. Sisko's kid should have gone west the same way the Crusher brat was bundled off in TNG.
Voyager left me cold. I can find nothing good or bad to say about Voyager as i can barely recall any episode so bland was the flavour of the creation.
Enterprise feels fresh. The ship doesn't perform well, they have the 'be on your best behaviour' wet behind the ears attitude that I imagine Kirk started out with. The crew of Enterprise are so packed with human emotion that the screen buzzes with energy. The stories are trite and the resolution of the plot points in the final minute are often weak and contrived but that matters not to me for the cast put the energy and enthusiasm into their work that makes this show fun to watch again like the original show. I laugh all the time with Enterprise. The Klingons standing in the hologram demonstration and chirping up "I can see my house from here!" was the funniest thing i've heard on TV in ages. Tucker is unpredictable and antsy at times but roguish and charming at the same time. He's the star of the show and Bakula as Archer is just a pawn to the show. Archer doesn't fulfill any Criteria of hero but Tucker certainly does. Archer is inept and gauche in the face of alien civillisations new to him. The other crew members can run rings round him and seem to have far better ideas on how to resolve the problems they face. How Archer got the gig aside from the sympathy vote from the starfleet old boy regime I just do not know. He's hopeless as a captain. And taking a dog into space as anothing mre than a pet? Starfleet recognises that during the run up to the launch of the Enterprise they had figured out how manking stuffed up with things like the western world missions into the Amazon basin killing most of the indiginous peoples with the common cold. The same could be said of the Enterprises mission into space. They don't wear bio hazard suits and the very presence of the dog on the ship is enough to kill a planet with all the micro bacteria a dog carries. Sorry I'm waffling but that's my thoughts not problems or quibbles. I love Enterprise and I think Tucker and Hoshi represent 'all of us' far better than any character in Trek so far. Tucker is an everyman character and Hoshi is our fears and aspirations all rolled into one. She is a rock, but a rock that will sometimes roll down hill in a storm. There's so much growth in Hoshi. So many places they could take her character as long as she doesn't get stuck behind her console onboard.
Malcolm - boring.

[JediTricks]

The party died because the season ended.

So, how many eps have you British seen yet?

[Jargo]

Um th pilot was split into a two parter and so far with tomorrows ep, I think it's four episodes. Tonights was the Tucker gets pregnant episode. I don't know the episode titles because my TV guide doesn't give them. Just 'Enterprise starring Scott bakula' and not much more. The use of the Klingons was hackneyed and hamfisted but only in respect that they don't look like the original Klingons but act the same as the original ones. It's a strange compromise but no more than having a female Vulcan. And what race is the doctor? Looks like halfbreed Talaxian and Dominion. Where have doctors race come from or did they just swan in with the Vulcans? I'm a little confused on this. If the Vulcans are so objective, then wouldn't they have walked away from earth when faced with the paranoia and suspicion and aggresion from a US government when they made first contact? The US would invariably attempt to blast any invader out of the skies so how the Vulcans met with earthlings and set up interspecies meetings I do not know. As far as I can tell the first non human to step foot on earth would be subjected to a barage of tests and examinations and some internal. It's highly doubtful any alien would survive long in the care of the US government. Or the British government for that matter.
Back on topic, we really are just getting started on this. I realised your season had ended as I found the forgotten thread. How curious that so called fans leave a thread to gather dust just because the season ended. How much fun would it be if star wars was treated that way. "Oh well there's not a film due for three years, let's all bog off and do something else until then" odd very odd... How many episodes to the season then?
The figures look cool. I'm liking the bridge setup. What scale are they? Look to be six or eight inch figures. Would have been cool to get them in 3 3/4 scale

[wedgeA]

I missed all of the season except for the pilot and season finale, both of which were good. Please keep in mind though that except for the original, all Trek series had subpar first and second seasons compared to their later years (except for Voyager which stunk all the way). I am definitely going to watch faithfully next year and I will get those figures.

[Jargo]

Meant to ask if the theme song has any significance because it's dire. I cringe when it comes on. Is it like the official NASA song or something, or just supposed to be indicitive of the sort of crap rock, over sentimental turgidity that NASA pilots listen to as they take the walk to the craft? They have to change the theme if it's going to become successful as a series. The theme is so uncool it hurts. talk about being twenty years out of fashion.....

Even my partner loves the series though and my partner is a bit of a purist when it comes to Trek. Being twelve years older than me the original show is still hanging in the air like a cloud of nostalgia waiting to dump it's soggy load on me whenever a show doesn't live up to expectations "It's not like it used to be.... yadda yadda yadda..."

I welcome the change in direction. Last night we had the halucinogen pollen episode. Tucker wigging out and T'Pol trying to contain the urge to vaporise him was amusing. It showed the Doc as fallible too. Not everything is going to be easy for the crew of the Enterprise and I like that. They gave the series metaphorical trainer stabiliser wheels in more ways than one.

[wedgeA]

EJ,

The theme song is a cover, originally performed by Rod Stewart. Otherwise, that's about it.