And once again, change the DNA, and the entire physiology suddenly is transformed. This is Star Trek, all right.
Heyo! Don't know what to say about this one, other than I'll have more to say in a sec...
Gee, Enterprise crew members go down to a planet and get infected with a virus. You'd think someone would invent some sort of environmental containment suit, or something...
And once again, change the DNA, and the entire physiology suddenly is transformed. This is Star Trek, all right.
So, UPN apparently still doesn't know if this show is Star Trek Enterprise or just Enterprise. Do hope they figure that out soon.
Meanwhile... well, this didn't exactly leave me shivering with excitement, but it was fairly original and well-executed. Plus it had a much more stand-alone aspect than the previous episodes, which I kind of appreciated. So here we go...
Three things I liked:
1) Hoshi and Reed's weirdo mutant performances were somewhat mixed, but Archer did a pretty good job, really throwing his whole body into the part. Sweet.
2) Let's see... T'Pol kept her shirt on, T'Pol and Trip exhibited a previously unseen level of maturity, Archer didn't spend the whole episode being really Angry!... Mayweather even got some lines! If Porthos had shown up, we'd have a complete sweep of Good Things.
3) Hey, intelligent use of the transporter! Cool! And bonus points for continuity with T'Pol asking Trip about never wanting to use the thing again.
Three things I didn't like:
1) Like I mentioned earlier, Reed and Hoshi's alien performances were a little off. And since the episode had a lot of the three of them rumbling about the jungle being weird mutant aliens, that occasionally got tiring.
2) So, the virus causes people to return home to the capital city. And by the end of the show, Archer, T'Pol, and Hoshi are already there. So they wouldn't leave (normally, without Enterprise's help, of course). So, the aliens need to fry these people... why? I mean, if they're already on the planet, they're not going to leave.
3) Good thing the aliens could fry their infected soldier while he had the suit on. Okay, so that's not nessecarily a nit, but it struck me as odd.
Other notes:
The alien city was pretty cool looking! A combination of Greek and Mayan architecture, with a few Sears Tower replicas floating around. Good to see the effects budget is being spread around. Especially with that "zooming inside Archer shot." Cool.
The prosthetic used in the "not quite alien" stages (T'Pol for most of the episode, Archer and Reed after being cured) looked a heckuva lot like the Cingular Wireless blob-logo. Well, it did to me, anyway.
So what was up with the Xindi ship? Had it really visited that planet? What about the ship that was down on the planet? I saw on the bow it was named the S.S. Maguffin...
I found it interesting that Phlox's serum immediately stopped the virus from spreading. Certainly made things useful there at the end, didn't it? I mean, otherwise, Archer would have infected the entire ship!
So when they return in the shuttlepod at the end of the ep, Travis is in the command chair and someone else is at the helm. But once Trip says to go to warp, Travis has to go down and pilot the ship himself? Why wasn't he piloting the whole time? Or, why couldn't the guy at the helm plot the course?
I also found it funny that after the first guy was relieved, he sort of wandered around to the back of the bridge, seemingly without anything to do.
Just how long was T'Pol unconscious for the other three to make that basket thing that they hauled her around in? That doesn't strike me as something that would be that quick.
Overall, not bad. Grade: B+. Next week... well, the previews had •••• well better be lying. All I'm saying.
Geez, I hope I never have to sit through that one again!
QUOTE OF THE WEEK:
"I'm a little ticklish." -- Trip to T'Pol
NAME GAME OF THE WEEK:
Well now it appears in the credits as "Star Trek Enterprise" Interesting.
FORGOTTEN TABOO OF THE WEEK:
I think T'Pol's been hanging around humans too long. Trip offers her a peach and she picks it up and takes a bite. She PICKS IT UP. A quick quote from Broken Bow, "Vulcans don't touch food with their hands." This isn't the first offense either. I believe T'Pol grabbed some popcorn in "Horizon." Perhaps this is a subtle way to show that she's losing more of her stoic Vulcanness as the show goes on.
ODD ADJECTIVE OF THE WEEK:
When Archer shows T'Pol a picture of a Xindi in the command center, he tells her that Phlox says he is a descendant of some sort of "corporeal primate." This is technically correct. But what's the purpose of using the word corporeal? Do they have records of noncorporeal primates running around? Are there some Q-Apes that are roaming around the Alpha Quadrant causing all sorts of tomfoolery?
MISSING INSULATION OF THE WEEK:
The Osaarian in the last week's episode told Archer that the only way to protect a ship from the strange spacial anomalies is to insulate it with a layer of trellium D. To the best of my knowledge, they have not obtained this hot commodity yet. What's keeping their trays from crashing to the ceiling and their coffee from floating around the room?
UNNECESSARY CONCERN OF THE WEEK:
Phlox seems concerned about Archer's decision to leave the virus on board. Why should he care? Doesn't he already have the antidote?
MEMORY LAPSE OF THE WEEK:
Tucker beams down to retrieve Archer, T'Pol and Hoshi. He then says they better get back before the aliens realize something's up. The next shot shows the shuttlepod (I assume the one Archer and co. travelled down in) cruising up to Enterprise. Won't this tip off the aliens rather abruptly that something's up? Why not put Hoshi, Archer, and T'Pol in EVA suits, beam them up, and take them to the decon room?
OVERALL OPINION OF THE WEEK:
Let's give it a 7/10. It wasn't stellar, but it was definitely one of the more intriguing ways to mutate the crew. It gets points just for the impressive visuals of the city.
TUE
When Archer shows T'Pol a picture of a Xindi in the command center, he tells her that Phlox says he is a descendant of some sort of "corporeal primate." This is technically correct. But what's the purpose of using the word corporeal? Do they have records of noncorporeal primates running around? Are there some Q-Apes that are roaming around the Alpha Quadrant causing all sorts of tomfoolery?
I'm pretty sure he said aboreal (sp?), meaning, it lives in trees or in general, in a forested region.
The Xindi pod looked a great deal like the TARDIS-pod from ‘Future Tense.’
When Trip was speaking with the commander of the quarantine patrol, he mentioned that his tactical officer was in medical isolation. It isn't a nit, but letting the confrontational aliens know that may not have been smart. It was in character for a slightly green commander of a slightly green ship. And it said, ‘They're un-polished newbies’ with subtlety, which is nice to see.
Trip told Phlox that the transporter was out of the question, and that a shuttle pod would draw too much attention. When he got ‘doh!’ face and tore out of sick-bay, I thought he was going to take the Sulibond cell ship out of storage.
Instead, he pulled a Pulaski on T'Pol's DNA. I'm surprised that he didn't go for her hairbrush.
"I'm pretty sure he said aboreal (sp?), meaning, it lives in trees or in general, in a forested region." -- Chris Booton
Ah! That would make more sense. I obviously misheard what he said. (That ruined a quality nit)
TUE
My closed captioning said, aboreal, so that must
be the right word he said.
I thought he said "arboreal".
Ugh. Up one week, down the next. "Extinction" dragged and dragged, then dragged some more. What a boring, plodding story. I can't believe the producers wrote a story involving mutating humans; didn't they learn anything from "Threshold"? From the moment Archer, Hoshi and Malcolm mutated, it was apparent we were heading toward an instant-cure ending, more of the same reset-button crud we got from Voyager for years. It's a shame. The premise of the story -- a civilization's last gasp at existence -- had some potential, and I liked the added dimension to the bad guys; in that they weren't really bad guys at all, just people carrying out an ugly, but necessary, task. Their leader's performance was one of the better guest shots on Enterprise.
Nits and notes:
-- Teaser: bad. Very bad. I had no idea what was going on. I thought the guys in environmental suits might have been from Enterprise. Then, it ended abruptly. Too abruptly. I guess they needed more time to show the new title.
-- Why did Archer summon T'Pol when she might have been asleep? He was merely telling her that they were heading toward that one planet, not asking for her help, not asking for a consultation.
-- When T'Pol called Enterprise, why didn't she ask Travis to send Phlox to the surface? He clearly was needed. Instead, she just asked for a security team.
-- Waaaaaaaaiiit a minute, she asked for the security team so there would be an excuse to show the new assault troops. Just like earlier, Archer had her come to the command center so we could see that room again. It's all making sense now.
-- When Possessed-Hoshi and T'Pol were struggling, it never appeared that T'Pol attempted to use the Vulcan neck pinch on her.
-- Possessed-Hoshi to Possessed-Archer: "Tell me. What was it like?" Well, the city looked like a few buildings from ancient Rome with something like an Aztec temple thrown in for effect. Except it was all cheesy CGI.
-- Trip was right. The aliens should have placed warning buoys or something around the planet to tell others it was under quarantine. That would have been wiser than occasionally sending down troops with flamethrowers.
-- Archer had the virus saved. I wonder if he will use it eventually as a weapon against the Xindi.
---Critique:
---Can’t wait for the season premiere of Smallville.
---After a nice good second episode of the season that was a vast improvement over the premiere, and a continuation of the Xindi arc, one might have thought we’d have finally gotten some payoff in this episode, perhaps a confrontation between humans and Xindi, but instead, the creators seem to want to hold back from us, and instead offer us yet another derivative episode, this time a blatant cross between Identity Crisis(TNG) and Memorial(VOY).
---This wouldn’t be so bad if the episode actually tried to explore Archer’s vicarious mourning for Urquat with something other than just a brief moment of incredulity at finding the city in ruins, and a brief admonition to Phlox to keep the virus around in order to preserve the memory of the Loque’eque. The episode spends 30 or 40 minutes setting up a premise that has lots of potential, but gives us just lip service in terms of payoff, with a Hard-Headed Alien of the Week thrown in for good measure. The episode does boast some nice visuals, (specifically, the shot of the inside of Archer’s chest as he mutates in Act 1, something we usually don’t get in Regulars Mutate Episodes, and that long, lingering establishing shot of Urquat in Archer’s dream in the beginning of Act 3, a nice improvement over the usual single matte painting with minimum panning when establishing a location), but like so many other episodes, this one just falls flat, totally unable to deliver on its potential.
---Oh well. At least the night was not a total loss, in that I got to see Quentin Tarantino’s Kill Bill tonight, which had I got some good visuals and a cool story.
I too thought of Threshold when watching this episode. Note to writers: If you're going to write a virus that turns the regulars into either salamanders or aging rock stars, don't.
My first impression of seeing changed Malcolm was Alice Cooper. It was even difficult telling Archer and Malcolm apart after the transformation.
I think it was very obvious at the end that the virus will be used in a future episode (cue lingering visual and ominous music), and Archer will agonize over it. But shouldnt' such a devastating virus be kept in a nearly inaccessible and secure location?
Archer tells T'pol to "come to the command center right away." I thought she might just throw on a robe, but no, she takes the time to change.
I saw Daniel Dae Kim's credit as a (recurring) guest, but don't recall even seeing him in this episode.
While Archer, Hoshi and T'Pol look over the ruins of the city, Hoshi senses someone's approach. Archer grabs T'Pol and says something like "more of your people?" and she responds "I don't think so". As the people approach she's the one urging them to get out of there and run.
How did she know? As far as she knew Enterprise was the only ship in orbit. She hasn't had any communication with the ship after calling for a security team and when they came and took Reed. So how would she know that others were involved?
Simple - Vulcan acupressure
What I don't get it why was Archer interested in Xindi ship last destination. Surely he should be interested in ships point of origin, right?
No matter where you go, there you are.
At the beginning Archer says that it took him half the night to figure how Xindi map coordinates.
This means that there was no way he could've understood coordinates that nine-fingered Xindi gave him.
Luigi Novi:"...a blatant cross between Identity Crisis(TNG) and Memorial(VOY)."
The scene where T'Pol wakes up and Archer, Hoshi, and Reed are standing over her reminded me of the Space:1999 episode "Full Circle" (in which some of the Moonbae Alpha crew are tranformed into cave men and they later capture Sandra).
At the beginning Archer says that it took him half the night to figure how Xindi map coordinates.
This means that there was no way he could've understood coordinates that nine-fingered Xindi gave him.
And don't they have a navigator who could do that job much more efficiently?
Or better yet, a linguist? Why isn't Hoshi working on this stuff?
Responding to Luigi, though, I was kinda glad that this ep didn't have the full deluge of arc flavor we've seen so far, simply for the fact that I think it would get really old, really quick. I fear that the Xindi (or information about the Xindi) will morph into this Dr. Claw-esque thing, growling "I'll get you, Gadget... next time!" as they slip away. By keeping the Xindi hunt around at the beginning of the ep, we remembered that we were still in the hunt, but we were able to break away for this one moment.
Daniel Dae Kim is in the episode but he is not clearly shown. I dont think he has any dialogue.
Influx said: "It was even difficult telling Archer and Malcolm apart after the transformation."
I'll second that. Especially with the low lighting that was being used.
Influx also said: "I saw Daniel Dae Kim's credit as a (recurring) guest, but don't recall even seeing him in this episode."
He was sitting over Trip's right shoulder when the shuttlepod was descending to the surface.
When Archer shows T'Pol a picture of a Xindi in the command center, he tells her that Phlox says he is a descendant of some sort of "corporeal primate." - TUE
I thought he said "arboreal primate," too, which I guess is supposed to be the Xindi-Sloth... but I'm not sure sloths are primates (at least on Earth).
What's keeping their trays from crashing to the ceiling and their coffee from floating around the room? - TUE
The same thing that protected them for the first six weeks of their time in the Expanse... they weren't near any anomalies.
Was this the first episode to show 'Star Trek' above 'Enterprise' during the opening?
I don't recall seeing it at the beginning of Season 3.
Is the show now officially titled 'Star Trek: Enterprise'?
If so, does that mean that 'Enterprise' only had two seasons, & this is the first season of the new show?
Zzzzz...huh? What? Oh, the episode's over. Okay.
It was okay, but it seemed to get very repetitive, with all the running around on the surface & stuff. The look inside Archer's chest was way cool, and unexpected, which, to me, made it even cooler!
I wonder if the virus is similar to the syndrome which caused Picard's crew to de-evolve in TNG's Genesis.
Since it caused organisms to turn into a different species, it would seem to be closer to the one in Identity Crisis(TNG).
---Notes:
---I wondered in Precious Cargo if Trip’s ability to repair a Retellian stasis chamber implied that humans themselves had them in this time period. This episode establishes not only that they do, but that they are used in food storage as well as medicinal reasons, as Trip gives T’Pol some Georgia peaches in the opening of Act 1 that he says he had Chef keep in stasis.
---Trip also reveals to T’Pol in this scene that his feet are ticklish.
---Terms:
Urquat Name for the home city of the Loque’eque, as first mentioned by name the mutated Reed in Act 2, and seen and explained in Act 3.
mutagenic virus Genetically engineered pathogen that Phlox tells Trip at the end of Act 2 caused the mutation of Archer, Reed and Hoshi. Tret tells Trip and Phlox in Act 3 that it was engineered by the Loque’eque centuries ago after their species was decimated, and they lost the ability to reproduce. The virus was engineered to turn members of other species into Loque’eque, and imbues in them an overpowering urge to return to their home city of Urquat.
Vulcan K cells Biological units that Phlox tells Trip at the end of Act 2 have prevented T’Pol from experiencing most of the effects of the mutagenic virus that afflicted Archer, Reed and Hoshi.
Tret Alien starship captain that confronts the Enterprise at the end of Act 2, and tells Trip and Phlox about the mutagenic virus in Act 3. (name from startrek.com only.)
Loque’eque The extinct race into which the mutagenic virus has transformed Archer, Reed and Hoshi, as first named by Archer in Act 1, and explained by the alien captain.
They were too busy providing security for the other cast members at a fan convention
Given that the Enterprise is in hostile territory, why didn’t they bring the MACOs down with them when first exploring the planet in Act 1?
A Vulcan selling out for ratings…
Okay, how many people reading this thought that ridiculous-looking, too-short, midriff-baring pajama top that T’Pol wore during Trip’s neuro-pressure session in Act 1 looked remotely like anything a Vulcan would wear?
I’d love to pinch Hoshi, but not on her neck…
Why, at no time after gaining her mutated crewmates’ trust does T’Pol attempt to use the Vulcan Neck Pinch to subdue them so that she can get them back to the Enterprise? She used it on Travis in Strange New World, so why not when Archer nearly kills Trip, or when she struggles with Hoshi?
Paramount Executive: “Well, as long as it shows her midriff…”
When trying to figure out how to get a DNA sample from T’Pol to the Enterprise in Act 3, Trip says they can’t use the transporter because T’Pol would infect the entire ship. Why can’t they place barriers around the transporter to quarantine it? Or beam down an EV suit to T’Pol? Or beam her into one?
So... isn't it against some union laws or something to have actors name without any lines in the opening sequence?
I'm just curious, because I... I don't know, usually when I saw some extra names in the beginning, those were always actors with speaking lines.
Trip also said T'Pol's hands were cold. Isn't the Vulcan body temperature several degrees higher than a human's? I could see if she had been outside, but here she was comfortably situated in her own stateroom.
Luigi: Given that the Enterprise is in hostile territory, why didn’t they bring the MACOs down with them when first exploring the planet in Act 1?
When I asked my friend (who just worships Enterprise) the very same question he said it's because it was "science" mission, and the view of armed MACOs could upset any potential friendly aliens on the planet.
I haven't laughed that hard since... um, since his last "explanation" regarding nits in Enterprise.
"Jerry Fleck, whom the episode was decided, was one of the show's First Assistant Directors"
What does that mean, Richie? "whom the episode was decided"?!
Okay, how many people reading this thought that ridiculous-looking, too-short, midriff-baring pajama top that T’Pol wore during Trip’s neuro-pressure session in Act 1 looked remotely like anything a Vulcan would wear?
Maybe it's comfortable, a logical reason to wear it. Also, AFAICT, whenever we have seen T'Pol in bedclothes, that's what she wears.
Given that the Enterprise is in hostile territory, why didn’t they bring the MACOs down with them when first exploring the planet in Act 1?
The real reason is probably that the FX department probably did not want to shell out additional money creating additional alien makeup and prosthetics for the actors portrating the MACO team (if the MACO team had gone, they would have mutated with everyone else.)
"Jerry Fleck, whom the episode was decided, was one of the show's First Assistant Directors"
What does that mean, Richie? "whom the episode was decided"?!
Dedicated maybe? I dunno, CityTV never seems to show dedications, so I didn't see a 'dedicated to Jerry Fleck' before it.
Okay, how many people reading this thought that ridiculous-looking, too-short, midriff-baring pajama top that T’Pol wore during Trip’s neuro-pressure session in Act 1 looked remotely like anything a Vulcan would wear? - Luigi
I don't understand why not... just because we, as the audience, treat her as a sex object doesn't mean she considers herself one. Maybe she wore it because it's more comfortable.
So... isn't it against some union laws or something to have actors name without any lines in the opening sequence? - Kazeite
I dunno... but maybe the actor had lines, but they got cut in the editing process. Or maybe because Chang (and I assume you mean him) is a recurring character whose contract may have been settled earlier, but it so happened he didn't have lines this time. In any case, if Anthony Montgomery can have no lines (and sometimes not even appear in a show) and still get credited, why can't a guest actor?
When the shot of the inside of Archer's chest changing, reminded me of CSI. Though, I agree as well, it was a bit cool to me too.
One thing I thought of, it is obviously, T'POl was changing, not totally like the others, but she was a changing a bit. So if phsyically, her DNA was being manipulated, why didn't she atleast know about Urquat? I would think she would atleast wonder why she has this knowledge of a city on a strange planet. But, she had no idea, but she does have some physical evidence her DNA was being tempared with.
YOu know, what really got me, was that despite the panic the aliens of the week were acting, and killing anyone who mutated, this virus wasn't fatal. It just changed everyone, but they didn't die. The alien said his people who were affected, were terminated. I would atleast, as a race, know that if they weren't dieing, atleast wait it out, until a cure was found. Who knew that maybe they were evolving and that it was a part of their growing process. It almost seemed like the aliens had a bit too much of Xenophobia, and that is why they reacted the way they did.
Also, the city in Archer's dream, Urquat, seemed very civilaged and the people walking the streets of Urquat walked upright and serene, as opposed to crouching and jerking Archer, Reed, and Sato. They seemed to savage to be for that city. I would think, if their DNA was being changed to make them know of that city to run to, they would also be as civilized and like the people walking in it in Archer's dream.
...this virus wasn't fatal. It just changed everyone, but they didn't die. - SlinkyJ
The virus didn't just change them... it transformed them into a new individual with new "memories" and no recollection of their previous life (and no cure to bring them back)... so in essence they would be dead.
I would atleast, as a race, know that if they weren't dieing, atleast wait it out, until a cure was found. - SlinkyJ
In the meantime, while they wait it out, the virus continues to spread and transform the entire population of the planet.
It almost seemed like the aliens had a bit too much of Xenophobia, and that is why they reacted the way they did. - SlinkyJ
If all the virus did was change a couple of their physical features, I could buy this. But the virus did much more than that... it erased a person's identity and replaced it with another.
I would think, if their DNA was being changed to make them know of that city to run to, they would also be as civilized and like the people walking in it in Archer's dream. - SlinkyJ
I noted this, too. If the aliens were so advanced, why did Archer and the gang act so primitive.
But there are some possibilities...
1. The Loqueque DNA isn't completely compatible with human DNA... so the transformation isn't complete.
2. The creators of the virus died off before they were able to perfect the process.
3. Over time (and exposure to other alien species) the virus mutated.
Sparrow47: This didn't exactly leave me shivering with excitement, but it was fairly original and well-executed.
Luigi Novi: Original? Have you never seen Identity Crisis(TNG), Genesis(TNG), Threshold(VOY) or Memorial(VOY)?
Sparrow47: So, the aliens need to fry these people... why? I mean, if they're already on the planet, they're not going to leave.
Luigi Novi: They might if someone tries to remove them………which the Enterprise ended up doing. Killing them eliminates that possibility.
Sparrow47: Good thing the aliens could fry their infected soldier while he had the suit on. Okay, so that's not nessecarily a nit, but it struck me as odd.
Luigi Novi: The suit protects from infection, not fire.
Sparrow47: I also found it funny that after the first guy was relieved, he sort of wandered around to the back of the bridge, seemingly without anything to do.
Luigi Novi: He was walking toward the Situation Room.
TUE: What's keeping their trays from crashing to the ceiling and their coffee from floating around the room?
Luigi Novi: There are no anomalies in the part of space they’re in in this episode.
TUE: Phlox seems concerned about Archer's decision to leave the virus on board. Why should he care? Doesn't he already have the antidote?
Luigi Novi: It’s still a risk.
Sparrow47: Overall, not bad. Grade: B+
TUE: Let's give it a 7/10.
Luigi Novi: Good lord, you people must be suffering from a virus yourselves. This episode is a 7 out of 10????? This episode gets a B+, which signifies an above average score?? Geez.
TUE: It wasn't stellar, but it was definitely one of the more intriguing ways to mutate the crew.
Luigi Novi: Yeah, because a virus is such an original way to go about doing it.
TUE: When Archer shows T'Pol a picture of a Xindi in the command center, he tells her that Phlox says he is a descendant of some sort of "corporeal primate." This is technically correct. But what's the purpose of using the word corporeal? Do they have records of noncorporeal primates running around? Are there some Q-Apes that are roaming around the Alpha Quadrant causing all sorts of tomfoolery?
Chris Booton: I'm pretty sure he said aboreal (sp?), meaning, it lives in trees or in general, in a forested region.
Luigi Novi: He did.
Summerfield: The Xindi pod looked a great deal like the pod from ‘Future Tense.
Luigi Novi: We didn’t really see much of it, though the placement of the hatch is the same.
Summerfield: When Trip was speaking with the commander of the quarantine patrol, he mentioned that his tactical officer was in medical isolation. It isn't a nit, but letting the confrontational aliens know that may not have been smart.
Luigi Novi: They aliens already knew it. Tret indicated when first hailing the Enterprise at the end of Act 3 that they detected the presence of an infected person on the Enterprise. Trip reasoned that telling them that Reed was in medical isolation would either reassure Tret or have no effect at all, but that it would not give him new damming information that would cause him to react worse than he already had.
Trike: Why did Archer summon T'Pol when she might have been asleep? He was merely telling her that they were heading toward that one planet, not asking for her help, not asking for a consultation.
Luigi Novi: He tells her he managed to piece together some of their star charts, spent half the night figuring out how they map coordinates, managed to reconstruct the ship’s course over the past few months, and found the last planet they visited before being attacked by the Osaarian pirates. If he just found this planet, and realizes that it’s closeby, it makes sense that would tell T’Pol if it’s hours away.
On the other hand, the fact that it’s just hours away may be a nit in itself. Moreover, tells her to tell Travis to set a course. Why doesn’t he tell Travis this himself?
Trike: When T'Pol called Enterprise, why didn't she ask Travis to send Phlox to the surface? He clearly was needed. Instead, she just asked for a security team.
Luigi Novi: She needs the security team to contain the crewmates and take them back to the Enterprise. She doesn’t need Phlox for that. His work will be done in sickbay, not on the planet.
Summerfield: When Trip was speaking with the commander of the quarantine patrol, he mentioned that his tactical officer was in medical isolation. It isn't a nit, but letting the confrontational aliens know that may not have been smart.
Luigi Novi: They aliens already knew it. Tret indicated when first hailing the Enterprise at the end of Act 3 that they detected the presence of an infected person on the Enterprise. Trip reasoned that telling them that Reed was in medical isolation would either reassure Tret or have no effect at all, but that it would not give him new damming information that would cause him to react worse than he already had.
Luigi, I believe that what Summerfield meant was that it wasn't too bright of Trip to tell the alien captain that it was the Enterprise's tactical officer in medical isolation. Not so much that he blabbed about having infected personnel, but that he let them know exactly which member of the crew was out of the game. There was every chance that Tret might have seen this as an opportunity to attack seeing as how the Enterprise was literally at a tactical disadvantage.
I dunno know about that. That seems like a split hair to me, especially since there are other tactical officers on the ship. But that's just me.
Original? Have you never seen Identity Crisis(TNG), Genesis(TNG), Threshold(VOY) or Memorial(VOY)?Luigi Novi
Well, to be honest, I wasn't really reminded of any of those episodes when I watched the episode. Sure, I see them now, of course, though I would say that if anything, this episode would rank as a blend of "Identity Crisis" and "Memorial." I don't think the other two apply except in terms of "mutant crewmembers." So even if you can say "Well, it's like this..." it managed to be original enough that I wasn't thinking of them during my initial viewing.
They might if someone tries to remove them………which the Enterprise ended up doing. Killing them eliminates that possibility.Luigi Novi
Right, but you could just work to keep them on the surface instead of just killing them outright. It just seems so odd to me that these guys are so worked up about the virus that they are willing to kill every infected person, and yet there was a total lack of warning signs around this planet. Hmmmmm...
The suit protects from infection, not fire.Luigi Novi
Right, which is why I didn't peg it as a nit as much as a quasi-nit. It just seemed odd to me that it would burn so easily.
He was walking toward the Situation Room.Luigi Novi
Yeah, and from what I saw, it looked like he was just sort of drifting in that direction! To each their own, I suppose.
Good lord, you people must be suffering from a virus yourselves.Luigi Novi
I dunno, other than the rockin' pneumonia I'm doing all right.
But seriously, folks. I ranked this as above average for a few reasons: The plot was fairly well constructed. Yes, it has derivative elements, but see above, where I talk about how I didn't notice them the first time around. But there certainly weren't many gaping holes. Character-wise, the character's did not act like idiots and indeed we got a couple of very good performances- esp. Trip, who turned in his best command job so far. On the creative side, there were a number of well-executed effects, from the air bladders on the transformed crewmembers' faces to the Urqat(sp?) dream sequence. The musical score had some nice touches as well. In other words... yeah, it was above average. I might be able to be talking into saying that a B+ was too high, but this wasn't as bad as, say, "Dawn."
By Darth Sarcasm
The virus didn't just change them... it transformed them into a new individual with new "memories" and no recollection of their previous life (and no cure to bring them back)... so in essence they would be dead.
In the meantime, while they wait it out, the virus continues to spread and transform the entire population of the planet.
If all the virus did was change a couple of their physical features, I could buy this. But the virus did much more than that... it erased a person's identity and replaced it with another.
I see your point, I would never have thought of this, but yet, I still feel it was heartless to kill them, much less torch them. They were still feeling individuals, as it had been shown at the beginninng of the episode, and the unfortunate individual who EV suit ripped and thus was infected. They screamed in pain, when they were torched. Why didn't they just put quarentined (SP?) them, like the head alien told Trip.
Uh, oops, left the all-important number off my username that last time. Rats.
The opening was weird. It just seemed so deadpan. "This doesn't make up for your having missed the last two sessions." Why should she be so miffed about that? Miffed is an emotion. And what would make up for it? How convenient she left her dna on that peach. Why wouldn't Phlox have dna samples of all the crew just in case?
The scene plays out like a film of a hooker and... I hesitate to make the comparison, but I wonder if anybody else felt that way?
So none of the other 79+ crewmembers were available to go down there?
"Good lord, you people must be suffering from a virus yourselves. This episode is a 7 out of 10????? This episode gets a B+, which signifies an above average score?? Geez."
I base these completely arbitrary scores on what most teachers give as grades. (Me being a college student and all). Most teachers I know consider a 7/10 to be a 70% which is either a C- or a D+ depending on the teacher.
I didn't think this episode was bad. I didn't think it was all that great either. It gave me a feeling of indifference. In my book, that's different from being bad. A bad episode makes you cringe and think "Why am I watching this?" (Examples: "Spirit Folk", "Spock's Brain", etc.) There just wasn't anything in this episode that jumped out at me at the time of the post that made me think "What a bad episode." But there wasn't anything that struck me as great.
TUE
I base these completely arbitrary scores on what most teachers give as grades. (Me being a college student and all). Most teachers I know consider a 7/10 to be a 70% which is either a C- or a D+ depending on the teacher.
It depends on the system, in my system a 7/10 was a B and 8/10 was an A, with 9/10 being A+
In most systems though, mark in the 60's = D , in the 70's = C , in the 80's = B, in the 90's = A, so a 70% would be considered C- , although yes, some might consider it D+ .
Of course, once you get into assigning descriptions to grades it's gets harder, as what some consider good others consider terrible and others consider great, it all depends on how high your standards are. Which makes it difficult as some might give an episode 7/10 saying 'good' , while others could also say good and give it an 8/10. This is why straight numbers tend to be better, as letter grades and words are arbitrary.
This was one of the reasons I tended to prefer math, at least grade wise. In tests, you either had the right answer or you didn't. Of course in some cases you'd get partial marks for showing your work, so you could be half right. But overall, in many cases your either right or wrong. While in other classes, the grade you got was often arbitrary and often based on the teachers preferences rather then the quality of our work. But that's a whole diffrent discussion.
Ok. Dismissing the part that T'pol is too emotional for a Vulcan IMO, Emotions are subjective so lets go with biology. Vulcans are touch-telepaths, what I understand is that shaking hands is an invasion of personal space. So why is she giving a massage, acu-pressure whatever to someone? Anyway, I keep trying but I just can't get around the fact that this is not the Star Trek I came to know and love, from what I have seen (not much), VOY is better then this and that says a lot IMHO.
Phlox asked Tret how come the Loque'eque didn't program the virus to stop once the population of their race was replenished. What made him think that it had ever been replenished?
Karen: Vulcans are touch-telepaths, what I understand is that shaking hands is an invasion of personal space. So why is she giving a massage, acu-pressure whatever to someone?
Luigi Novi: They haven't yet developed telepathic abilities in the 2150's. The only Vulcans with telepathic abilities are Melders.
what I understand is that shaking hands is an invasion of personal space. So why is she giving a massage, acu-pressure whatever to someone? - Karen
First of all, it has been acknowledged by the characters that the neuro-pressure is an extremely intimate experience. So this doesn't really go against anything that has been previously established about Vulcan society.
Second, it seemed to me that T'Pol was reluctant to the sessions initially (possibly because of the touch taboo?). Phlox convinced her that this was Tucker's only choice. She could have been convinced of the logic in helping Trip, even if the intimacy invades her personal privacy.
It has been speculated (and accepted by many fans) that Saavik had sex with Spock in ST3 in order to save him while undergoing pon farr because it would have been the "logical" thing to do.
T'Pol may simply have a similar argument. She doesn't seem to be treating the neuro-pressure sessions in the sexual context the audience seems to have attributed to it. In fact, there appears to be that very subtext in the neuro-pressure scene in The Xindi. Trip, the human, confuses T'Pol's offer as a sexual advance, when she simply offers it matter-of-fact.
So while we, as 21st century humans, may link neuro-pressure with erotic massage, there may be nothing erotic about it at all. The intimacy of the situation, however, may be one that leads to something else down the road, despite T'Pol's best efforts to subdue it. Remember, Vulcans do have emotions, they just hide them most of the time.
Third, it's also possible that T'Pol has spent so much time around humans that she has begun to "go native," which happens to many people when they're immersed in an alien culture for a lengthy period of time. Perhaps T'Pol isn't as disciplined as Spock or Tuvok, or they simply lived in a different time period where the expression of their society's viewpoints was more accepted. Tuvok and Spock served on Federation starships; T'Pol serves on an Earth starship.
I don't think an individual acting against what we know about Vulcan society really constitutes a violation of what we know and love about our pointy-eared aliens.
That's a statement we should quote for future reference, Darth.
I must say, kudos to Hoshi. Upon discovering the first dead body, she calls out "Captain! A body!" instead of the more traditional "Captain! You'd better take a look at this!"
(1) Somebody, somewhere (whom I can’t find despite a diligent keyword search and therefore must paraphrase): Berman and Braga would not read these boards for fear of being sued for stealing someone’s idea.
(2) Me (in “Anomaly” regarding the intimacy of back touching): Guess I just have a lower threshold of "yow!" Fully clothed "footsie" also works.
(3) T’Pol (this episode): Remove your shoes.
(4) Me: Ch-Ching!
Phlox observes that apparently the laws of biochemistry are altered there, just like the laws of physics. Gee, ya think? Could it be because, fundamentally, it’s ALL quantum physics?
Not an animal behaviorist, but Reed’s slinking away after losing the dominance fight seemed more canine than primate. (Maybe UPN considers the submissive posture unduly suggestive?)
I must say, kudos to Hoshi. Upon discovering the first dead body, she calls out "Captain! A body!" instead of the more traditional "Captain! You'd better take a look at this!"
Or better yet, instead of her traditional "Eeek! A body!!"
TJ Fleming: Not an animal behaviorist, but Reed’s slinking away after losing the dominance fight seemed more canine than primate.
Luigi Novi: Perhaps the Loque'eque evolved from some type of canine.
Then again, there are dominant and submissive members of chimpanzee families.
Paradoxically, the buttocks display is a submissive posture among the lower primates; but among humans, it's usually the winner's prerogative.
What an odd area we've digressed to.
If anything, I wouldn't be surprised if the Loque'eque turned out to be evolved from canines. We've seen aliens with furry hair, at least two different races evolved from insects, another two whose members had three legs, etc.
Sparrow47: What about the ship that was down on the planet? I saw on the bow it was named the S.S. Maguffin...
:: Interesting. Has anyone thought to deconstruct the episode to see if the ship is actually a Hitchcock-type "maguffin?" I'd hate to think the writers slipped one past us in plain sight.
Luigi--I guess that's a smiley, 'cause a "moon" ain't yellow.
The ship seemed only to exist to get Enterprise to the planet. That may or may not be a technical maguffin, but my understanding was that maguffins were devices that existed solely to set the plot in motion.
The ship had nothing to do with getting Enterprise to the planet. They went there because of the Xindi database they lifted the previous week.
The ship *was* a MacGuffin.
Incidentally, it's LeVar Burton, not Levar.