One would hope that if you are a sniper, you would use a weapon that won't give away your position. Whether or not this is what the creators planned is open to debate. As in, Where was the silencer to keep the noise down.

Heyst: Exactly right...If we assume that Archer doesn't know anything about Trip's family, the question makes sense. From what we've seen of their relationship, though, it seems a little strange...

Exactly. I think it's terribly rude. Trip says that his sister may be dead and all Archer asks is how old is she?

But if Trip originally had two sisters then Archers question makes more sense, don't you think?

re: The Darth Sarcasm Captain Kirk Captured Tote Board.

Excellent point. I always had it in the back of my mind the Kirk spent more than some time in captivity. I do think it was always done much more interestingly, however.... (Gamesters of Triskelion).

Exactly. I think it's terribly rude. Trip says that his sister may be dead and all Archer asks is how old is she? - Kazeite

I don't think it's rude at all... when you learn of the death (or possible death) of a close acquaintance of yours, it's natural to ask a generic question like that. "How old was she?" "Were you close?" When a grandmother dies, a friend often asks, "Your mom's mom... or your dad's?" Of course it doesn't change the impact the loss has on a person. It's simply a way of telling your friend that you are interested in hearing more... and that's hardly rude.

Further, as someone already mentioned, Archer could have been asking to understand Trip's relationship with his sister a little better. While the loss is still powerful and painful, the experience is different if Trip had a big brother, protective relationship with her or a little brother, admiring relationship with her.

NNAN: I can see Phlox, as a physician, being familiar with Vulcan neuro-pressure and its effectiveness as a health treatment. But are we to assume that every Vulcan, or even most Vulcans know how to perform it? Not every human knows how to perform massage therapy.

Darth Sarcasm: I don't think it's rude at all... when you learn of the death (or possible death) of a close acquaintance of yours, it's natural to ask a generic question like that. "How old was she?" "Were you close?"

I agree that it would be natural to ask those kind of question, but I have two problems with that:

First, Archer asks simply:"older or younger?" which is kinda weird for a generic question,

and second, with Archer being Trip friend for almost 11 years now and having saved his life at least once he should known that he has a sister (and he knows that, obviously), and how old is she in relation to the Trip (like, "Tell me Trip, do you have any siblings?" "Yeah, Ah have one younger sister, capt'n."

(Not to mention that as the commanding officer he is requied to familiarize himself with the files of his subordinates, isn't he?)

I dunno... I have a best friend whose family I've never met, but he's talked about several times... it wasn't until recently I realized he has THREE (not two) sisters and a brother. And I couldn't tell you which is older and which is younger. Memory is funny like that.

On the other hand, my friend once called me and my sister picked up. On the next occasion he asked me how old is she because he thought that she had "cute voice"

But still, I believe with such amount of captains dinners and water polo sessions Archer should know at least the correct amount of sisters

Richie, when I first posted my critique, I hadn’t yet read anything else on the board. I was quite amused, then, when I then read it, and saw that the first line of your critique and mine were almost identical.

Also, I just noticed something else:

1. Nathan Anderson was not listed at startrek.com as Sergeant Kemper.

2. And btw, who’s “Degra”? I know Randy Oglesby was listed in the guest credits in the opening scene of Act 1, but who was Degra? And where did you get the info for it? Thanks.

Kazeite: And besided, don't you think it's kinda weird when someone mentions that his sister may be dead and you ask if she's older or younger than this someone? If she's his only sister, then her age is completely irrelevant.

Kazeite Exactly. I think it's terribly rude. Trip says that his sister may be dead and all Archer asks is how old is she?
Luigi Novi: Relevance is relative. Reed is making small talk over an uncomfortable subject. People often focus on the mundane during times of tragedy. It’s not rude. It’s simply normal to ask someone things about the person they’ve lost, both out of curiosity, and because talking about them can sometimes make the bereaved feel better, or sometimes simply because one becomes nervous when a friend has lost someone, and you don’t know what to say to them.

Kazeite: And I'm glad too that you decided to post here
Luigi Novi: Thank you. And btw, I never realized from your posts that English was not your first language, as I always understand you perfectly.

Richie Vest: Actually I thought Archer only talked to the general I dont recall Archer saying he was leading the team in The Expanse

Darth Sarcasm: Actually, Archer refers to them as "his [General Casey's] team," which doesn't necessarily mean he is a part of said team. I'm not overly familiar with military structure... but I don't think generals frequently go out on missions. So the general may not even be aboard.
Luigi Novi: True. But the way Forrest worded it (“his team should be arriving at 1800 hours”) just made it seem as if he was a part of it. Can it be a team working under him? Sure. But I would imagine that a General would be in charge of more than just one team, and although Casey probably does have more than one, I suppose this was just an impression created by the fact that Forrest, focusing only on the one coming aboard the Enterprise, used the word “his,” rather than “one of,” even though this is a perfectly normal way to speak.

Thanks for the correction, guys.

Daroga: I have a possible, but very weak, anti-nit to this. Did you notice that the MACOs (I feel so weird calling them that, for the same reason Margie mentioned) got up from the table really fast, with food still on their plates, to go do (well, whatever it was they were going to do)?
Luigi Novi: Hayes said they had a briefing in a few minutes.

Daroga: Hoshi looked rather annoyed (it seemed to me) as if every time she had tried to sit down with these guys, they had been too busy, etc., and it may have seemed to her they were avoiding her.
Luigi Novi: Well, that would be an interpretation that would require one to imbue the scene with material that isn’t there. There’s certainly nothing in that scene that suggested to me that this had happened before. Possible, yes, but not indicated one way or the other.

Sparrow47: For the record, I thought projectile weapon in that scene because of the sound the gun made when it went off. Also, there didn't seem to be a big flash of light, but I could've been distracted and missed it.
Luigi Novi: I didn’t notice anything about the sound that made a projectile weapon unlikely, and as for any flash of light, the shot of the foreman getting shot was of Ryan’s POV through his sniper scope, so we didn’t see it coming out of the barrel.

Heyst: Heyst: Exactly right...If we assume that Archer doesn't know anything about Trip's family, the question makes sense. From what we've seen of their relationship, though, it seems a little strange...
Luigi Novi: At first I thought the same thing, but after I thought about it after a while, I came to the same point Darth did. You can know someone for years without knowing certain details of their family, especially if you don’t have a lot of contact with that person’s family. Since Starfleet personnel probably come from all over the planet to be stationed in San Francisco, (as opposed to all being from the same area), it makes sense that Archer might not have met Trip’s family, and in casual conversation, Trip might not have mentioned the age difference often enough for Archer to remember it on cue.

Darth Sarcasm: Going back to Trek, it probably seems difficult to believe, but Kirk got captured a lot more often in TOS's first two seasons. Here's what I recall off-hand…
Luigi Novi: Wow. Never realized that.

But then, that was nearly four decades ago, so I’m thinking more of the three most recent series as the benchmark norm by which the current one is measured, and it does seem odd to me, in part precisely because we haven’t seen this in so long. I often find it difficult to compare TOS to the other series in the same way because of the inherent differences due to the decade in which it was produced, but I would say that it’ s just as dubious for it to happen to Kirk. I don’t know if it’s so
“built-in” that it’s not a nit, or that I buy it, especially today with this series. But thanks for pointing this out, Darth.

Kazeite: First, Archer asks simply:"older or younger?" which is kinda weird for a generic question…
Luigi Novi: No, it’s not. It’s the normal type of question you might ask someone who’s just lost a loved one.

Kazeite: …and second, with Archer being Trip friend for almost 11 years now and having saved his life at least once he should known that he has a sister (and he knows that, obviously), and how old is she in relation to the Trip (like, "Tell me Trip, do you have any siblings?" "Yeah, Ah have one younger sister, capt'n."
Luigi Novi: Not necessarily. And even if did, he may very well have forgotten certain details like their age difference.

Kazeite: Not to mention that as the commanding officer he is requied to familiarize himself with the files of his subordinates, isn't he?)
Luigi Novi: That doesn’t mean he has an encyclopedic command of every single bit of trivia of all 82 members of his crew, Kazeite.

Kazeite: But still, I believe with such amount of captains dinners and water polo sessions Archer should know at least the correct amount of sisters
Luigi Novi: First, the issue was the age of the sister, not the number of ones Trip had. Second, why assume that such details like this come up during captain dinners or water polo sessions? And third, even if they do, that doesn’t mean you remember every single detail you’re told.

So, it seems we are in disagreement...

Well, that's ok
"I dread the day when everybody on this ship agrees with me"

Luigi, please note that I only requied Archer to be aware of the amount of Trips sisters, not "every single bit of trivia".

My personal experience proves my point, somebody else experience disproves it. That things are bound to happen.

So, thank you for discussion, and let's go to other episodes

I thought we were talking about Archer's knowledge of the Elizabeth's age, rather than how many Trip had.

And personal experience only proves that one scenario is possible. It does not necessarily provide a benchmark by which all human behavior is judged.

Who is queen Amidala? Is she related to the Dala in the voyager episode Live Fast and Prosper?

So, on the October showing of this episode, Star Trek was added to the title. A little revisionism, although, it's not unprecedented in Star Trek.

IIRC, it was also on the September showing. It simply reflects the official title change from "Enterprise" to "Star Trek: Enterprise"

I don't think the title changed onscreen until the airing of Extinction.

Anonymous- Queen Amidala is the Natalie Portman character in Star wars, episodes 1 and 2.

It’s Starfleet’s “Gay Pride Fleet Week”
The Kirk-era movies used a rainbow wake effect to illustrate ships traveling at warp, and NextGen abandoned that when they began using the current “rubber-band” effect. But when the Enterprise warps away in the closing shot of Act 3, the rubber-band effect is rainbow-colored!
Though serving with T’Pol certainly makes decades seem like centuries
Upon reaching the debris field of the Xindi homeworld at the end of the episode, T’Pol says the planet was destroyed approximately 120 years ago. Archer then refers to the destruction as having happened “decades” ago. Not technically untrue, but less common than simply saying, “Over a century.”
I’m not sure, but Phlox’s medical exam of him found seven different “this is my bi+ch” tattoos on his body, each dated to different eras
So why did Kessick direct the Enterprise there if his planet was destroyed 120 years ago? Did he not know that it had been destroyed? Are Xindi-Humanoids as long-lived as Vulcans? Just how long was Kessick in that prison?

The Xindi Council was reminiscent of Kurros’ group in Think Tank(VOY): five radically different species, some of whom were non-humanoid, and whom we the viewer could not understand, communicating together in a circular discussion area.

Not a bad way to start season 3. Not a great way either. It felt like an episode that would work better in the middle of the year. I don't know why, that's just how it felt to me.

Those MACOs are pretty cool. Handy addition to the ship. Hopefully, Reed doesn't try to limit their activities too much.

I liked the mining outpost's leader. He was an interesting character. I also like the fact that we're seeing how the Xindi attack has affected the attitudes of the crew. Archer and Tucker aren't taking any c**p anymore. Cool.

Trike: Hoshi tells T'Pol the shuttlepods have just left the surface and the alien ships will arrive in seven minutes. In the next scene, the Enterprise is safely away. It took seven minutes to get from the surface to the ship?!? I don't think so.
Did the Enteprise warp away just as the enemy ships arrived? I don't recall.

roger: Why did they wear filter masks and environmental suits on the planet?
The miners do live and work on the planet. I would imagine that prolonged exposure to the toxic atmosphere would require the masks to survive.

Darth Sarcasm: And then there's the last act. Enterprise gets the coordinates to the Xindi homeworld, flies to them... Archer orders Tactical Alert... standby weapons... what exactly was his plan? What did he expect to do with his rinky-dink starship once he got to the planet?
I think the plan is to talk to them.

ClaytonRumley: Well, the millitary on Earth (especially the US millitary in present times) always has superior technology compared to what civilian organisations have. Phasers may be the best thing Starfleet has, but the army might be a decade or two ahead of them.
I would think that Starfleet would be giving the people that they're sending alone into the unknown the latest and greatest tech.

Luigi Novi: Hayes tells Reed that Reed’s security teams are too valuable to be on the rescue mission because in case of an invading boarding party, the Enterprise will need people who know the ship inside and out to defend against them. Hayes and his men have been on the Enterprise for four and a half months, and they still don’t know the Enterprise inside and out?
As Reed points out, it has nothing to do with who Hayes thinks knows Enterprise better. He's just trying to convince Reed to send the MACOs.

I know it was mentioned earlier, but haven't the MACOs on been on the Enterprise for three months? It took seven weeks to reach the Expanse and they've been there for six at the beginning of this episode. That's 13 weeks, 91 days, which is roughly three months.

JoshM:It felt like an episode that would work better in the middle of the year.
Luigi Novi: Or in the trash can.

JoshM: As Reed points out, it has nothing to do with who Hayes thinks knows Enterprise better.
Luigi Novi: That was just Reed's opinion, one borne out of his own hostility towards the MACO's and Hayes.

JoshM: He's just trying to convince Reed to send the MACOs.
Luigi Novi: And using an non-credible argument to do it.

it worked, didn't it?

I'm not arguing whether it worked. I'm arguing that the idea that the MACOs don't know their way around the ship at this point is preposterous.

He's just trying to convince Reed to send the MACOs. - Josh M

And using an non-credible argument to do it. - Luigi Novi

Except it wasn't an argument... it was patronization.

You're saying Hayes was patronizing him? I never got that sense from Hayes. All I ever got was that Reed was paranoid about Hayes and the MACOs, perhaps because he felt his job was threatened.

I thought that was the whole point about Reed's line explaining how what Hayes said had nothing to do with who knew Enterprise better... at the very least Reed felt patronized.

Great Archer Line:
Sewage takes on a whole new meaning when it comes from a dozen different species!

According to the Internet Movie Database, the aspects of the Xindi storyline that were brought to it by Manny Coto were based on his experiences with the series Odyssey 5, which he wrote.

Whatever happened to Odyssey 5, anyway? I think Sky One in the UK dropped it after one season, but I know they did that with Andromeda too and that doesn't mean it was cancelled...

After running from 2002-2004, it was cancelled. Check it out here.

Re:Manny Coto's "track record"
Given the number of series, that he's written that have been cancelled, could Manny Coto now be in danger, of becoming the modern recipient of the "Curse of Freiburger"....?

Just a note, I would have NO PROBLEM with T'Pol giving me a back massage.

Also, in one shot, you can see part of Jolene Blalock's butt!

"4.The MACOs uniforms. Were they inspired by
the uniform worn by Navy Seals? I ask this as it seems that the MACOs might have been inspired partly by the Seals" Scott

Navy SEALs do not have special uniforms, they are issued the same as the rest of the Navy. They do have training uniforms, but they're just black BDUs.

"One would hope that if you are a sniper, you would use a weapon that won't give away your position... Where was the silencer to keep the noise down." Anon

Military and police snipers don't use silencers because it slows down the bullet too much and is not authorized by the Geneva Convention. Remaining undetected as a sniper is ideal, but if you hit your target it doesn't really matter, your job is done.

"Did the Enteprise warp away just as the enemy ships arrived? I don't recall." JM

There weren't any other ships when Enterprise went to warp but during Archer's log he said they stopped chasing them because they couldn't keep up.

I didn't really find any nits that wasn't already covered but I found it odd in the mess hall with the MACOs. There was a major, a sergeant, and two corporals (I think). I can understand the sergeant being there if he is the highest ranking enlisted man but majors don't eat with corporals.

I can understand the sergeant being there if he is the highest ranking enlisted man but majors don't eat with corporals.

Enterprise wasn't designed as a warship, so there's no "Officers' Mess" (except the Captain's private dining room).

Just because it's not a warship doesn't mean the tradition no longer applies. Surely fraternization laws still exist.

The problem with the story arc this season is that there really wasn't any doubt of the outcome. Earth couldn't be destroyed in the 2150's because it's still around 100 and 200 years hence. This kind of took a lot of the suspense away, it was kind of like knowing the identity of the murderer on the first page of a mystery novel.

The Killer B's said this was "their" story arc, like the Dominion War of DS9. However, the big difference was that the Dominion War was happening in Trek's future, not the past. So there was the possibility of the Federation being destroyed in 2370's.

Don't get me wrong, the Xindi arc was okay, but since there was never any question of Earth being destroyed, it kind of lessened the impact for me.

>>>I thought phasers were the latest and greatest in Earth weaponry? - Sparrow47

The phase-pistols were new two years before in Broken Bow. It stands to reason that Starfleet (or whatever defense branch runs the MACOs) has updated its arsenal in the intervening period. <<<

Which doesn't make sense when you consider that it takes three or more shots from these advanced rifles to take down a Reptilian, yet only a single shot from a phase pistol later in the series.