What time is this on in Ontario? According to a comerical, CityTV is showing a 90 min bacholertte starting at 8:30 pm.

I'm not sure, but they're airing Enterprise an hour earlier than usual on A-Channel here in Edmonton, also due to the bachelorette thing.

According to TV guide, it's on at 10pm Eastern on CityTV.

OVER THE TOP REALISM OF THE WEEK:
In order to improve the quality of their charade, Phlox implants a blood worm into Degra. While the thing is harmless, it does require Archer to cut open Degra's arm and remove the thing. Was this REALLY necessary to the whole charade?

PERCEPTION PROBLEM OF THE WEEK:
I could be wrong about this, but it seems to me that Degra could have seen the shuttle bay if he were to look out of the window at an extreme angle.

UNNECESSARY VIEW OF THE WEEK:
Speaking of the aforementioned window, why is it there? There's no front window. Is it that far out of the realm of possibility for there to be no windows on a spaceship? (Of course with no windows, Degra wouldn't have seen the glitch and the show would have been different.)

WASTED OPPORTUNITY OF THE WEEK:
Archer missed several opportunities during the strategem to ask Degra about the mysterious informant. Why not take this opportunity to give Degra the truth about humans. This whole conflict arose from a misunderstanding on the part of the Xindi.

EXCELLENT FINAL STRATEGY OF THE WEEK:
Archer's final trick for Degra was inspired. At first I thought they were trying to trick the engineer into giving them the secret for vortex travel. Then it hit me like a brick. It was brilliant for Archer to think that up. He's getting major strategy points this week and last week.

WEAK SPOT OF THE WEEK:
Why does Archer return Degra and his crew to their ship? Why not keep them on board in the brig?

VILLAIN INTERPLAY OF THE WEEK:
I rather enjoyed Degra's character. This show definitely had some parallels to last week's episode with deception and understanding enemies being the two most obvious similarities.

OVERALL OPINION OF THE WEEK:
Not quite as character driven as last week's episode, but the creative plot kept my interest. Another winner in my book. And I am definitely looking forward to getting to Azati Prime.

TUE

Wow. Loved it. LOVED it!

I haven't said that with that much conviction about an Enterprise episode in a while. This one had me interested the entire time. Although I did really like "Proving Ground" as well... hmm, could this be a *gasp* trend??? Wow. Just... wow.

The Undesirable Element: Why does Archer return Degra and his crew to their ship? Why not keep them on board in the brig?

Dan Gunther: My impression was that the crew wanted to keep the Xindi under the belief that nothing was amiss. If the person in charge of the construction of the weapon goes missing, the Xindi will suspect that their security has been breached, and it's entirely possible that the location of the weapon will change, or some other alteration to the plan that will throw the Enterprise off the trail.

And yes, despite the best efforts of the writers of Enterprise, I still say *the* Enterprise. If it was good enough for Kirk, Spock, and Picard, it's good enough for me!

Wow, an episode that didn't easily fit into any formulas! Could it be? Yes, Enterprise has finally managed to come up with an episode that kept me guessing right up to the end. Major kudos all around!

Three things I liked:
3) Really well thought-out plot. I was thinking that the original shuttle set-up might be a ruse, but it was only in the back of my mind. I was mainly expecting some weird time-travel thing again. And I totally didn't see the last twist coming.
2) Re-using the radiation from "Proving Ground" as a plot device was a great continuity nod.
1) This episode gets bonus points for total cast involvement. I mean, Travis still got only one line... but I guess we can't expect a complete miracle there. Still, everyone had something to do, and it was good to see Hoshi using those translation skills of hers for once.

Three things I didn't like:
3) Just why were Degra and co. nosing around the debris field in the first place? What could they have gained? "Well, there's a lot of radiation about, and our prototype's still missing." Given how anxious the other Xindi were about finishing the weapon, why is he making this detour?
2) Last episode, people seemed to take issue with the fact that Shran used the term "Archerite," arguing that it would tip off Degra to Archer's presence. Here, he seemed to me like he didn't immediately connect Archer's name with being captain of the Enterprise. So, does he know Archer or doesn't he?
1) Um... why was there a knife on the shuttle to begin with?

That's really all I had for this one. I might come up with more, given time. Grade: A. Next week: Well... we don't really know much about next week, per se, but we do have some nifty trailers for the next few eps, and it looks like the good ship TriP'ol is getting ready to sail! And then I threw up all over everything.

Afraid I missed the tail end. Mrs. ScottN always picks the worst moments to call me to do something.

What did they do in Engineering? What did they do when they got to the base?

If the Xindi ship won't leave the vortex for 6 hours why head back to the radiation field immediatly?

When they were talking about going to Azoti Prime trying to duplicate the Xindi method, I wondered why they didn't use the Xindi ship. Later I wondered if Trip had studied the ship to get some technical advantages from it?

At the end Enterprise using the Xindi vortexes was just a ruse, but didn't Archer give orders to take Enterprise into a vortex when he was alone with his crew? I'm not sure if he was or wasn't, but if Degra wasn't around then why would Archer keep up the act if Degra or one of the other Xindi was not an audience?

ScottN - What did they do in Engineering? What did they do when they got to the base?
They didn't get to the base. Using the Xindi methods of travel was a ruse to confirm if Azoti Prime was the base or not. They never left the testing area. Then they erased the Xindi's memories and made it look as if the Xindi vessel had suffered some sort of accident so the Xindi wouldn't know that Enterprise had been there.

---Critique:
---Future Imperfect(TNG) from the perspective of the perpertrators. Some implausibilities in the premise and its execution, but a bold attempt, nonetheless.

---Notes:
---We learn from Degra in Act 1 that the Xindi Council was formed after the destruction of their homeworld in order to find a suitable planet on which all Xindi could be relocated, that they couldn’t agree on a planet, and that they put aside their differences when they learned of the threat from Earth. The Enterprise crew first learn in this episode that it was Degra who designed the Xindi weapon.
---We see a Xindi Primate ship for the first time in the second scene of Act 2.
---Phlox tells Archer in Act 2 that his parents insisted he study dermal art, which used to be very common on Denobula.

---Terms:
Calindra System Location of the weapon test in the previous episode, which Degra names in the beginning of Act 1.
Malosian cargo shuttle The ship that Archer tells Degra they are traveling in, as he tells him in Act 1.
Neara Degra’s wife, as Archer mentions in Act 1. (Spelling from closed captioning.)
Azati Prime A planet indicated in Degra’s logs to have been visited by Degra, as Hoshi tells Archer in Act 2 after Degra’s capture. Degra tells Archer in the opening scene of Act 4 that it is the locatio of an Insectoid deuterium facility.
Maarek Three Planet Archer mentions to Degra in the opening shot of Act 3, which he says one of the other inmates used as a staging area for smuggling dilithium.
Thalen One of Degra’s colleagues, whose voice Hoshi simulates in Act 3 to elicit the coordinates of the Xindi Weapon.
Piral and Jaina Degra’s two children, which Hoshi mentions at the end of Act 3.

And the Fault Lies Not in the Stars Award for worst abandonment of a previous FX premise goes to…
Up until now, the stars outside starship windows would either crawl by slowly, or streak by when the creators wanted to emphasize that the ship was at warp. In this episode, however, beginning with the second-to-last shot of the teaser, when Degra looks at his reflection in the window, both effects are used. Streaks go by as the ship goes to warp, but the stars in the background continue to crawl by. This continues throughout the episode.
And the Every Man for Himself Award goes to…
Archer tells Degra in the opening scene of Act 1 about Gralik’s sabotage of the kemocite in The Shipment. Was there really any good reason to reveal this? When he did this, the first thing I immediately thought of was that if and when the truth about the simulation was revealed to Degra, and if he managed to escape the Enterprise or get a message out to his people, Gralik would be killed, and it would be Archer’s fault. Hope Phlox’s memory wipes at the end of the episode are perfect!
From the “Hook, Line and Sinker” Dept.:
Does anyone else think Degra began to buy into Archer’s ruse just a bit too easily and quickly? Twice in fact?
A Quantum Leap in logic
Once again Archer makes a curious leap of logic when he assumes in the opening scene of Act 2 that the location of Degra’s family must be the location of the Xindi weapon. Archer says there’s a chance that he’d keep his family is closeby, but putting aside the operative word “chance,” why must “closeby” mean “in the same system”? For any race with warp drive, “closeby” can be several systems away.
Ok, the Every Man for Himself Award really goes to…
Why in the world was Degra’s puny, defenseless ship not heavily guarded with escorts, given his importance in the design and testing of the Xindi weapon, especially after what happened in the previous episode?
Must’ve used non-union labor
After capturing Degra in Act 2, Archer decides to have Phlox erase his memory engrams of the last few days. Does this mean that that sophisticated shuttle simulation, and everything else about the ruse, was cobbled together, including the application of the Malosian language in its interfaces, and Archer’s mastery of it, in only three days? How’d they do this so fast?
And the Dana Carvey Church Lady Award for most conveeenient plot point goes to…
Phlox tells Archer in Act 2 synthesizing the correct formula for a truth serum to use on Degra might take weeks, but fortunately, the neural pathways of Xindi Primates, which need to be well-charted in order to erase Degra’s short-term memory, are virtually identical to those of Xindi Reptilian.
The universal language of plot holes
Reluctant to give Archer the coordinates of the location of the Xindi weapon, Archer lets Degra enter in the coordinates in the navigational computer himself, and finds afterwards that Degra encrypted the coordinates in the navigational controls. First, it certainly is convenient that Degra apparently knowing how to operate a Malosian computer console, possibly one configured to English, which he’d have to do in order to encrypt information that he enters into it. Second, in order for encryption to work, wouldn’t the computer have to be familiar with the language in which the information is entered? If it is, then encrypting it is useless, because Archer can simply have the computer translate the information.
T’Pol: “Captain, why put them back in their ship and erase their memories?”
Archer: “It’s an idea I got from Earth’s 20th century pop culture obsession with tales of alien abductions.”
T’Pol: “I see. And was that the reason for conducting an anal probe on Degra?”
Archer: “All in the interest of science.”
Why does Archer feel he has to put Degra and his men back in their ship and cover up what happened? Why not keep him around in case they need more information down the line, or even kill them? Wouldn’t doing so, and eliminating the weapon’s main designer and man in charge of its development pose a significant blow to its progress?
Degra and his men are already full of hot air
In putting Degra and his men back into their ship and eliminating their memories of the last several days at the end of the episode, Phlox injects them with trace amounts of plasma to complete the appearance of a plasma conduit rupture, injecting one of them in the neck, and saying it won’t harm them. Plasma is superheated ionized gas, right? How can it not harm them?

Archer: “We’re going to destroy your weapon!”
Degra: “You’ll never get through our defense perimeter!”
Archer: “And that’s not all……you’ve been Punk’d, dude!”
Degra (dumfounded): “Nooo….”
Archer: “Yeah, you’re on MTV, man!”
Degra (smiling): “No way! Aw man, you suuck!”
Archer: “Put her there, pal!”
Degra (laughing): “Aw, you guys…!”
What was the reason for the second ruse? The crew already had the location of Red Giant, so what did they have to fool Degra again for? If what Degra was saying in the brig in Act 4 was true, and that was just the location of an Insectoid dilithium facility, then they had nothing to fear. They would have something to fear if it was the location of the Xindi weapon, and if it had the formidable defense perimeter Degra revealed it had at the end of the episode, so what did they gain by merely having Degra reveal it was the actual location? Okay, Archer said before implementing the ruse that they couldn’t afford to lose three weeks if the weapon wasn’t there, but why? What does Archer have to lose? He has no other leads or contacts, right? Was there somewhere else he had to go? T’Pol did tell him during the first ruse in Act 3 that it would be a considerable detour if the weapon wasn’t there, but a detour from what? Does Archer just have a fetish for playacting, or something?

TUE: I could be wrong about this, but it seems to me that Degra could have seen the shuttle bay if he were to look out of the window at an extreme angle.
Luigi Novi: How? Weren’t the exterior shots of the stars projected onto the window screens like computer viewers?

TUE: Archer missed several opportunities during the strategem to ask Degra about the mysterious informant. Why not take this opportunity to give Degra the truth about humans. This whole conflict arose from a misunderstanding on the part of the Xindi.
Luigi Novi: No, it arose from the Xindi learning that Earth would be responsible for their destruction in the future, which may or may not be true, and is therefore, not a misunderstanding. As for Archer asking Degra about the Xindi’s informant, he had to be cautious about which information to probe for, and how to go about doing it, lest Degra become suspicious.

TUE: Archer's final trick for Degra was inspired. At first I thought they were trying to trick the engineer into giving them the secret for vortex travel. Then it hit me like a brick. It was brilliant for Archer to think that up.
Luigi Novi: I wasn’t fooled by it for a second, and neither should Degra have been.

Sparrow47: Just why were Degra and co. nosing around the debris field in the first place? What could they have gained? "Well, there's a lot of radiation about, and our prototype's still missing." Given how anxious the other Xindi were about finishing the weapon, why is he making this detour?
Luigi Novi: A detour from what? He’s probably studying the debris field to figure out the cause of the test’s failure. He orders sensor drones deployed before the Enterprise shows up and captures them.

Keith Alan Morgan: If the Xindi ship won't leave the vortex for 6 hours why head back to the radiation field immediatly?
Luigi Novi: Where was this?

Keith Alan Morgan: At the end Enterprise using the Xindi vortexes was just a ruse, but didn't Archer give orders to take Enterprise into a vortex when he was alone with his crew?
Luigi Novi: He asked Trip if he learned about how they open the vortices, and after Trip says they use some kind of phased deflector pulses, Archer says he wants to see all the data he’s collected.

Keith Alan Morgan: If the Xindi ship won't leave the vortex for 6 hours why head back to the radiation field immediatly?
Luigi Novi: Where was this?
In the episode. ;-)
I'm not sure when but someone says that they've detected a ship in one of those vortices, but it won't come out for 6 hours, Hoshi mentions that their sensors might detect Enterprise (I assume once they've left the vortice) & T'Pol orders them back into the debris field because the radiation will hide them. IIRC.

Luigi Novi: He asked Trip if he learned about how they open the vortices, and after Trip says they use some kind of phased deflector pulses, Archer says he wants to see all the data he’s collected.
Okay, then. I couldn't remember just what happened & didn't have it on tape.

This actually was not a bad episode. The ending, while good, did remind me of the TNG episode where the crew tricked Moriarty to release the Enterprise.

The upcoming episodes are almost certainly PAL's.

Um... why was there a knife on the shuttle to begin with? - Sparrow47

So Archer could get the bloodworm out.

Oh yeah that bloodworm did not look like Captain Kirk to me

Luigi Novi: We see a Xindi Primate ship for the first time in the second scene of Act 2.

Dan Gunther: Actually, since it is the same design as the ship in "Proving Ground" (presumably the same ship, actually), we saw it for the first time in that episode.

that bloodworm did not look like Captain Kirk to me

Because Regulan bloodworms are soft. If there's one thing Kirk isn't, it's soft. He may be a tin-plated dictator with delusions of godhood, though.

Luigi Novi: No, it arose from the Xindi learning that Earth would be responsible for their destruction in the future, which may or may not be true, and is therefore, not a misunderstanding. As for Archer asking Degra about the Xindi’s informant, he had to be cautious about which information to probe for, and how to go about doing it, lest Degra become suspicious."

But clearly someone's manipulating something here. Why not simply sit Degra down and explain that Earth had no hostile intentions toward the Xindi prior to their attack on Earth. Why not try to work out a peaceful solution? The Xindi clearly think that they can prevent this destruction of their home planet, but why can't they prevent it using treaties and alliances instead of genocide?

Luigi Novi: "I wasn’t fooled by it for a second, and neither should Degra have been."

I believe Degra's situation resulted in his blunder. Everything happened very quickly. I'm sure if Degra had some time to give the situation a bit of thought, he would not have fallen for Archer's ruse. Archer's plot, however, hinged on an emotional outburst from Degra. Hence, Archer concocted a very fast-pased and confusing scenario. Then he made it appear that the Enterprise (the ship of the dreaded humans) arrived at Azati Prime. His nerves have to be shot. His situation is a bit more stressful than you or me sitting on our couches watching the action.

Also, if I were an easily insulted individual, I might be offended that you think that just because you didn't fall for Archer's ruse that no one (such as me) should have. But I'm not an easily offended individual.

Luigi Novi: "How? Weren’t the exterior shots of the stars projected onto the window screens like computer viewers?"

When we first get an exterior view of the simulator, we see a window on the shuttle and a computer screen a bit away from the shuttle window. The screen is not very large. I'd need to look at the scene again to be certain, but it just looked like if Degra got to the edge of the window and looked really hard to the opposite side, he might see the shuttle bay.

TUE

“Captain Archer, if you can here me over your subdermal tranceiver, please respond, and if you don’t have a subdermal tranceiver……never mind…”
This episode establishes that the MACO’s have subdermal tranceivers to allow them to communicate clandestinely, which Phlox says are relatively easy to implant. Wouldn’t this have been useful in any one of the numerous episodes where Archer or other members of the crew were captured, or missing, like Detained, Desert Crossing, Shuttlepod One, or Two Days and Two Nights? Shouldn’t it be standard for all crewmen for all away missions and shore leaves?
If there’s water in there, too bad we can’t throw in some laundry and soap now that it’s shaking
After Degra inputs the coordinates of Azati Prime in the simulator, the simulator’s hydraulic system begins to malfunction, causing it to shake and shimmy. Why would radiation affect hydraulics? Doesn’t hydraulics simply use fluids like water to mechanically operate the pumps?
They liked the scenery
Also, when Trip tells this to T’Pol, she contacts the bridge to order Travis to leave the debris field. Why are they conducting the ruse on Degra (which takes place over a course of a few days, mind you) in the debris field? Since Degra was captured, doesn’t it stand to reason that others might go there to look for him? Once they captured Degra, why didn’t they high-tail it out of there?

KAM: I'm not sure when but someone says that they've detected a ship in one of those vortices, but it won't come out for 6 hours, Hoshi mentions that their sensors might detect Enterprise (I assume once they've left the vortice) & T'Pol orders them back into the debris field because the radiation will hide them. IIRC.
Luigi Novi: Okay, I reviewed that scene in Act 2, and in answer to your original question, Hoshi tells T’Pol that the Xindi sensors are pretty sophisticated, and that they might spot the Enterprise “long before” then.

Darth Sarcasm: So Archer could get the bloodworm out.
Luigi Novi: Putting aside the question of whether that’s necessary for Archer to do to complete the ruse (or for that matter, whether it’s really necessary to have a bloodworm inside Degra—they could just tell him that they’re really small and unnoticeable), they didn’t have to include such a large knife for that task. They could’ve included a small, scalpel-like tool or pointed tool for simply making a puncture wound, which Degra might still have used against him, but which wouldn’t present as big a threat as a large one used primarily as a weapon.

Dan Gunther: Dan Gunther: Actually, since it is the same design as the ship in "Proving Ground" (presumably the same ship, actually), we saw it for the first time in that episode.
Luigi Novi: Oh yeah. Missed that. Thanks.

TUE: But clearly someone's manipulating something here. Why not simply sit Degra down and explain that Earth had no hostile intentions toward the Xindi prior to their attack on Earth. Why not try to work out a peaceful solution? The Xindi clearly think that they can prevent this destruction of their home planet, but why can't they prevent it using treaties and alliances instead of genocide?
Luigi Novi: A valid question. But I’m not debating that. I’m just saying that the matter is not merely a “misunderstanding,” particularly if what the Xindi learned about Earth from their contact is at all true.

TUE: When we first get an exterior view of the simulator, we see a window on the shuttle and a computer screen a bit away from the shuttle window. The screen is not very large. I'd need to look at the scene again to be certain, but it just looked like if Degra got to the edge of the window and looked really hard to the opposite side, he might see the shuttle bay.
Luigi Novi: Ok, I totally missed that. Yeah, that was pretty dumb. Even if they insisted on putting windows on that thing, they should’ve simply attached those computer screens to them.

Captain Archer tries to convince Degra that it has been three years since the Xindi superweapon was used on Earth.

I haven't seen the episode yet for obvious reasons but this part of the plot sounds like "36 Hours".

Sounds like a film with Nick Nolte and Eddie Murphy on a limited budget.

Review: Ok, so it wasn't a bad episode.

(moment of silence)

What? I don't like Enterprise, so it may take some time for me to get used to the fact that some episodes may be actually good

I was kinda appaled at the beginning. I mean, our heroses, the good guys, and they do something like that?

On to the nits:
Regarding inconsistant warp streaks, this is the fourth time we see entering warp speed from the inside of the ship (well, kinda ). But in previous times it was shown that ship doesn't just enter warp - there are some funky effects before we get to see familiar warp streaks.
And none of special effects were visible in this episode - this "ship" just entered warp. Of course, it is
a: different era, so entering warp sequence may be different,
b: those funky effects may be actually not visible when looking sideways

Oh, and btw, I think that "ship" was a reuse of Type-9 shuttle set, at least partly.

anti-nits:

Why is the knife onboard the "ship"? Part of the survival kit.

Regarding Archer mastering Malosian language in three days: do we know for sure that it was Malosian language?
If not, then Archer could've ordered to use French (assuming that he knows French) with funky fonts (like those pseudo-Romulan and -Klingon fonts we can download), and voila

Out of curiosity: is there anyone here that was fooled by the second ruse?

Kazeite: Why is the knife onboard the "ship"? Part of the survival kit.
Luigi Novi: They should not have included it.

Kazeite: Out of curiosity: is there anyone here that was fooled by the second ruse?

I was!

What was the reason for the second ruse? The crew already had the location of Red Giant, so what did they have to fool Degra again for?Luigi Novi

Apologies if this was already answered. They knew where the Red Giant was, but they didn't know what was there. As it represented a journey of three weeks, Archer needed to make sure the trip was worthwhile.

Kazeite: Out of curiosity: is there anyone here that was fooled by the second ruse?"

At first, I thought Archer was trying to trick Degra into revealing how to use the vortecies. About halfway through the whole trick I realized what Archer was trying to do. I still think it was pretty clever. Degra may not be a Mission Impossible fan.

TUE

Luigi Novi: They should not have included it.
Considering that they had a freaking plasma torch (or whatever this was), I think that knife size and its presence is irrevelant

Kazeite: Out of curiosity: is there anyone here that was fooled by the second ruse?"

At first, I thought Archer was trying to trick Degra into revealing how to use the vortecies. About halfway through the whole trick I realized what Archer was trying to do. I still think it was pretty clever. Degra may not be a Mission Impossible fan.

I was fooled by it as well. I too thought they were trying to trick Degra into telling them how to use them.

I admit that I was pretty surprised when they revealed it was all a trick.

I got fooled by it... twice. Once the initial shaking stopped (when Travis "inverted the warp field"), I thought that they were going to reveal the whole thing as a bluff that Degra and co. had called. Of course, the ruse continued from there...

I enjoyed this episode very much. I figured out the second ruse when I caught myself complaining that they were giving Degra too easy a chance to acquire a phaser during the shaking in Engineering. The acting was too obvious by then.

Andrea and I chuckled at the nit others have noticed about radiation damaging the simulator hydraulics without harming the crew.

But what made me laugh out loud was Degra. Here's a man who developed a weapon to kill humans by the million and he's whining because humans will trick him to get information??

He's lucky he never learned what those snaggle-tooth daggers really are used for-- he'd talk, all right, and wish he had more to tell us!

Luigi Novi: What was the reason for the second ruse? The crew already had the location of Red Giant, so what did they have to fool Degra again for?

Sparrow47: Apologies if this was already answered. They knew where the Red Giant was, but they didn't know what was there. As it represented a journey of three weeks, Archer needed to make sure the trip was worthwhile.
Luigi Novi: Please read the rest of the passage, Sparrow.

Kazeite: Considering that they had a freaking plasma torch (or whatever this was), I think that knife size and its presence is irrevelant
Luigi Novi: I disagree. The crew had to make certain judgment calls regarding what to include in the simulation. It would be impossible to make sure that there wasn’t anything in the simulation that could potentially be used as a weapon. For example, they might have had to include some eating utensils for the ration packs, but they could’ve made them the cheap plastic variety. One might have to include a scalpel in the medkit, but a scalpel would be somewhat less dangerous than that huge-bladed knife. Other things were also dangerous, but might’ve been unavoidable, and/or not as user-friendly as a weapon as that knife. A torch, for example would’ve been harder to clandestinely pull out of the toolkit and hold concealingly behind his back.

Out of curiosity: is there anyone here that was fooled by the second ruse?

Yep. I didn't realize what was going on until Archer showed Degra that they were still at the testing area. :-(

But in my defense I'd just like to point out that since this was Enterprise I wasn't expecting them to do anything clever. ;-)

Waiter, can I get some fresh grapes, please. :-p

Our Moderator - What luck for the writers that it will take three weeks to get where Enterprise is going.
According to Scifitv.org the next four episodes are Harbinger, Doctor's Orders, Hatchery, Azati Prime, so in TV time it will take them 4 weeks to travel 3 weeks. Also I believe that the Star Trek Omnipedia said that each episode is usually said to be 2 weeks apart & if that assumption is followed it will take them 8 weeks to get to Azati Prime.

Please read the rest of the passage, Sparrow.Luigi Novi

Oops. Sorry 'bout that.

KAM: But in my defense I'd just like to point out that since this was Enterprise I wasn't expecting them to do anything clever. ;-)

Dan Gunther: Y'know, now that I think about it, I think that's exactly why I was fooled! I remember thinking, Cripes, this is creative for Enterprise!

A nit: I noticed that it took Degra about three times as long to seal the leak than it should have. The camera shows him fixing it, then it cuts to Archer, then back to Degra, and he has to redo an inch or so. This happened several times.

Nice episode, good continuity.

Just reminded me of what Berman said earlier about this season about how this year would have fans of continuity in "spasms" of ecstacy.

Did he misunderstand this? Fans want continuity in reference to all of Trek, not just a contrived arc like this Xindi story.

Thoughts?

"Just reminded me of what Berman said earlier about this season about how this year would have fans of continuity in "spasms" of ecstacy.

Did he misunderstand this? Fans want continuity in reference to all of Trek, not just a contrived arc like this Xindi story."

To this I say Amen!

Kazeite: Why is the knife onboard the "ship"? Part of the survival kit.
Luigi Novi: They should not have included it.

Since when do small ships have survival kits? Oh, that's right. Only Starfleet doesn't provide them.

Degra may not be a Mission Impossible fan.

I was wondering if someone else would make this association. Perhaps too many of the board members are too young to recal the original TV series? I believe M:I was also done by the same production company as TOS, and a lot of the actors appeared in both shows (although I'll never know why Anthony Zerbe never appeared in TOS! He was in like, every other M:I episode, or so it seemed. I know he was in a later incarnation of ST but don't recall which right now.)

One problem with that "three years" scenario. What if Degra had cut his finger or something a day before? (Preceding the range of the memory wipe). It would be easy to verify the suspicions he had at the beginning by noticing that a recent injury was still there. (Oh, OK, Phlox examined him thoroughly and healed him. But if he and Archer fought as hard and often as Archer said, wouldn't he expect some more scars, etc.?)

Nevertheless, I liked the execution of this episode.

Berman's an idiot.

And don't say "spasms of ecstacy" with this week's Valentine's Day minus two T&Afest coming up.

Obviously Captain Quantum-Boy must've checked out Capricorn One before _this_ ep aired.

I especially liked the part where he threatened to wipe out Degra's memory and start the fun all over again; this may be the first time in Trek franchise history that someone was threatened with the dreaded Reset Button in real time:-).

Since Paramount's kept the Killer B's away from the writing desk, the show's actually gotten _better_; of course the jury are still out on the aforementioned T&Afest (It should've been a T & Aer fest, but that's _my_ opinion); if the teaser's any indication, it's gonna blow.

And that's the bottom line...if you smell what I'm cooking.

Luigi Novi: Why would radiation affect hydraulics? Doesn’t hydraulics simply use fluids like water to mechanically operate the pumps?
:: More or less. (Actually, the pumps send the fluid to operate pistons.) But the first question should be “why are they using hydraulics?” Because they have a large supply of antique hoses, valves, pumps, and master and slave cylinders along with a few barrels of MIL-H-5606?

Kazeite: Archer could've ordered to use French (assuming that he knows French)
:: Well, we know from Season One’s “Porthos” flap that he doesn’t speak it.

TUE: Degra may not be a Mission Impossible fan.
Influx: I was wondering if someone else would make this association. . . . Nevertheless, I liked the EXECUTION of this episode.
:: GROAN!
Unless, of course, you WEREN’T thinking of the episode where Phelps convinces the hit-man that he has been on death row for years suffering from amnesia.

No, I believe the entire premise and plot was lifted from the fourth season Mission Impossible episode entitled "Submarine". The team must extract a secret Swiss bank account number from an ex-Nazi who has been in Russian prison since the end of WWII. Phelps uses a submarine movie set, complete with hand operated rocking levers and special sound effects piped in from a master console by Barney. When he thinks the sub will be "sunk" by enemy "depth charges" he tells Phelps the account number to prove to their superiors that he kept his mouth shut all those years in prison. Unlike Archer, Phelps' ruse is sucessful. I caught the similarities to the Mission episode immediately, since it hadn't been too long ago since I'd seen the MI in question. Mission Impossible was indeed produced at Desilu, later Paramount Studios, at the same time as the Original Star Trek. Bob Justman worked as producer on both shows. Several anecdotes have been told where Star Trek art department members say they would raid Mission Impossible's dumpsters for material to make Star Trek props. And of course, Leonard Nimoy joined the cast of MI after Trek.

Considering how advanced the Xindi ships are, I'm a bit surprised that Archer didn't send it back to Earth with a prize crew aboard. I understand the need to keep the fact that they have questioned Degra a secret, but couldn't they have done something like fake debris in the remains of that moon?

Maybe if they had more time, but it would probably take them a while to generate faux debris.

One wonders why Archer went through this elaborate plan to elicit information from Degra, without first just torturing him and his men like he did with Orgoth in Anomaly, which would’ve been quicker. Sure, maybe Archer a bit reluctant to torture people, but he's the one who is adamant that time is of the essence, and yet instead concocts a plan that takes much longer to plan and implement. It’s also odd that Archer's anger towards Orgoth was in part due to the fact that his partners killed Crewman Fuller, even though Orgoth himself did not, whereas Degra is far more directly responsible for the murder of seven million Earth civilians.

Dan Gunther: Actually, since it is the same design as the ship in "Proving Ground" (presumably the same ship, actually), we saw it for the first time in that episode.
Luigi Novi: Looks like we were both wrong. It was first seen in Act 4 of The Shipment.

Have the Malosians been mentioned before?

Hmmm... they could have used French or Spanish written using Arab or Jewish letters... it definitely wouldn't look like Enterprise-standard language that Degra could possibly have seen somewhere.

On the other hand, English lettering might look as alien to Degra as anything from outside the expanse! Then again, there's the Skaguan slave settlement in "North Star".

using Arab or Jewish letters

Should be "using Arabic or Hebrew" letters.

You don't have to be Jewish to speak (or read) Hebrew.

But apparently you do to understand Klingon.

(Looking at Frasier Crane) What a handsome man.

And your point would be?

Thanks to Enterprise's generous CGI budget... I'm finally making my cameo!

Didn't we already see you (or at least the lower half of you) in The Catwalk?

Darth! You can smile!!

Good episode.

Xindi-Humanoid: This guy from the future says we're going to be attacked by this race called 'humans'.
Xindi-Reptilian: Hmm, their name is awfully similar to the name of your species...I always knew you Humanoids were traitors!
Anyone notice that the creators have started using more sensible-sounding terminology for two of the Xindi species? Instead of "Sloths" and "Humanoids" now it's "Arboreals" and "Primates" respectively, which makes much more sense.

NANJAO: I believe this is the first time the word 'MACO' is actually mentioned in dialogue.

(I will now wait for Luigi to prove me wrong)

I think I will beat Luigi to the punch... I seem to remember Archer using the word once before in getting Reed out of his quarters (Chosen Realm?).

Interestingly enough, I think the word is mispronounced (at least according to current pronunciation). If MACO is supposed to refer to a mako shark (and the MACO insignia does portray a shark), according to my marine biology class, it's pronounced MAH-co, not MAY-co. Unless my dictionary is incomplete and it can be pronounced differently.

MACO is an acronym, having nothing to do with the shark.

First of all, Darth, Hoshi mentioned when greeting the MACO's in "The Xindi" that MACOs stood for Military Assault COmmand, so I think the name was mentioned in that episode.

and second, of all, buddy, I'm in Italy right now, so even if you DID beat me, it would've required me being on another continent, so it doesn't count.

ScottN, I realize MACO is an acronym. But the triangular insignia on the MACO uniforms features a shark prominently, suggesting that there might be some connection between MACO and mako, in pronunciation if not in spelling.

Luigi, while Hoshi does state what MACO stands for, I don't believe anyone ever actually states the term "MACO" in that scene or episode.

Did anyone else think Archer complaining about Phlox giving Degra too much white hair for 'only three years' was an in-joke to the bad over-the-top white hair makeup in episodes like Timeless (VOY)?

Someone found it odd that the very small prototype Weapon here could (nearly) destroy a moon when the final Weapon, which can destroy a planet (not that big a step up) is many, many times larger. My anti-nit is that the prototype won't have engines, vortex generators, or the generators to power these systems. And perhaps also not the very powerful defences we see the large Weapon have in later episodes (spoiler - sort of - ships tend to crash into it and it takes no damage, and photon torpedoes have very little effect).

Whoops, wrong episode...that was meant for Proving Ground.

Enterprise delivers again. I really liked this one. It was a little predictable, especially the twist at the end, but it was still enjoyable to watch the interaction between Archer and Degra, and watch the deception as it unfolded. The Enteprise crew are very clever.

TUE: Speaking of the aforementioned window, why is it there? There's no front window. Is it that far out of the realm of possibility for there to be no windows on a spaceship? (Of course with no windows, Degra wouldn't have seen the glitch and the show would have been different.)
Plus, it adds to the charade if Degra can see that they're at warp.

TUE: Why does Archer return Degra and his crew to their ship? Why not keep them on board in the brig?
Why give the Xindi any evidence that they're any closer to teh weapon?

Luigi Novi: After capturing Degra in Act 2, Archer decides to have Phlox erase his memory engrams of the last few days. Does this mean that that sophisticated shuttle simulation, and everything else about the ruse, was cobbled together, including the application of the Malosian language in its interfaces, and Archer’s mastery of it, in only three days? How’d they do this so fast?
Future technology?

Luigi Novi: Phlox tells Archer in Act 2 synthesizing the correct formula for a truth serum to use on Degra might take weeks, but fortunately, the neural pathways of Xindi Primates, which need to be well-charted in order to erase Degra’s short-term memory, are virtually identical to those of Xindi Reptilian.
They are a very biologically close species.

Luigi Novi: What was the reason for the second ruse? The crew already had the location of Red Giant, so what did they have to fool Degra again for?
Why not get a sure confirmation?

Luigi Novi: What was the reason for the second ruse? The crew already had the location of Red Giant, so what did they have to fool Degra again for?

Sparrow47: Apologies if this was already answered. They knew where the Red Giant was, but they didn't know what was there. As it represented a journey of three weeks, Archer needed to make sure the trip was worthwhile.
Luigi Novi: Please read the rest of the passage, Sparrow
I think TUE made a good point though.

A few things...

The interior of the cargo shuttle was indeed a reuse of the Voyager shuttlecraft. You can see the window frame in the front.

When Degra is quizzing Archer about his children's age and who was older, Archer had a 50/50 chance. He should have made a guess instead of hesitating. Furthermore, he should have said the child whose name was mentioned first. Typically, when you refer to your kids, you refer to them in the order you got them. Had he made the effort, he might have avoided a slash to the arm.

When Enterprise detaches from Degra's ship, how does the docking port of Degra's ship know to go back in? This nit can actually be applied to many episodes where docking occurs on an irregular shaped surface when the other ship doesn't extend its docking port.

Since this is Degra's ship, you think Degra has any personal items that might be worth looking at? family pics etc.

"Why are they conducting the ruse on Degra in the debris field? Once they captured Degra, why didn’t they high-tail it out of there?" LN

Probably because of Degra's ship. They didn't want to leave it there and have somebody discover they were gone if Archer was planning on putting them back. Plus, I'm sure they wanted to scan the hell out of it to get any intell they could.

Degra is the mastermind behind the Xindi planet-killer and during a test run looses a prototype, which essentially fails to begin with. Why would the council allow him to continue commanding the project? At first, I thought Archer was rescuing him because he pissed off the Reptilians and Insectoids due to his failure. After a little dialog I guessed it was all a ruse, one that Archer used twice somewhat successfully.

LN: Why would radiation affect hydraulics? Doesn’t hydraulics simply use fluids like water to mechanically operate the pumps?
Yes but the computers are operating the pumps, which is what the radiation is effecting. Why the hydraulics don't simply shut down when that starts I don't know.

LN: Why are they conducting the ruse on Degra in the debris field? Once they captured Degra, why didn’t they high-tail it out of there?
I could've sworn somebody else answered this, maybe I missed it. Anywho, it seems their plan all along was to return Degra and the others once they finished and by hanging around they can not only interrogate them but also scan the area and his ship for more info without worrying about others showing up without their knowledge.

Darth: while Hoshi does state what MACO stands for, I don't believe anyone ever actually states the term "MACO" in that scene or episode.
I'm fairly certain MACO was stated in The Xindi when discussing the rescue of Archer and Trip.