Luigi Novi: After Archer goes to see Hoshi in her quarters on Degra’s ship, and she retreats to her bed, Archer tells her that Degra encrypted his schematics for the Weapon, and that she’s been trying to decipher them. Um, no, she deciphered a third arming code. Not the schematics.

Nove Rockhoomer: An earlier scene established that Archer wanted Hoshi to decipher the schematics.
Luigi Novi: My point is that I thought his comment about what she’s “been” doing was a reference to what Dolum had her do.

The impression that I got from the scne was that Archer was following up on his earlier (offscreen) request to Hoshi to decrypt the schematics.

One of the things they do with Phlox is show his unconventional medical techniques. So they should have had him help Hoshi.
We've read about how various colors, odors and sounds affect our work.
Instead of Archer with his ham-handed pep talk, Phlox comes in with a Denebian asparagus plant which gives off a nice odor which helps Hoshi concentrate on her work.
He also has a Spican lizard-frog which gives a nice melodic humming sound which gives Hoshi a pleasant feeling which helps clear her mind.
He brings in a Denobulan lava lamp, which actually looks more like a Japanese lantern, but it totally changes the lighting in the room.
He also gives her a Vegan ointment hat for her to wear--the ointment seeps from the hat into her hair, etc.
That would have been more interesting, imaginative, original, etc.

Len: The impression that I got from the scne was that Archer was following up on his earlier (offscreen) request to Hoshi to decrypt the schematics.
Luigi Novi: I rewatched the scene when Nove posted his rebuttal, and I came to feel the same thing, so I removed that nit from my computer.

But if they've gone back in time, wouldn't the Xindi and Andorians be in the past also? Unless TPTB are going to say the explosion of the Xindi weapon opened a rift AROUND earth (yosimite station was still there before the explosion so I'd guess nothing was different yet)and the "real" earth is still in there just not reachable because you fly into an alternate Earth, and the surrounding universe is still what it should be.

Perhaps a temporal blockade was put up near Earth by an unknown alien as soon as Xindi weapon was destroyed.
It would be sad episode to see Trip find his sister alive, but he has to chose between restoring reality or keeping alternate w/ living sis.
Or, perhaps the Xindi weapon did destroy Earth, but the dolphins found an alternate to replace it.

So long, and thanks for all the fish.

I was completely taken aback by the WW2 connection. And I do think it is time travel to WW2, rather than some 'humans developed slower' scenario, because I don't think TPTB have that much imagination.

I sure hope it is a Reman, and not an AOTW. The differences noted above may simply reflect the usual differences in movie and TV makeup for a given race due to budget constraints, which we'e seen before.

If they do do a WW2 arc or mini-arc, the only thing I'd like to see is them not just concentrate solely on the USA and the Nazis as is usually done in American sci-fi. For an interesting scenario they could have Hoshi ending up with the imperial Japanese and Malcolm with the British. Pity there's no obvious way to involve the Soviets, which were arguably the biggest cause of Nazi defeat in the war.

People have complained that using Nazis is a cliche. Correct. However, and let's face it, it's one thing to say that there are plenty of despots through time they could have used, and another to claim that they have the same psychological impact. There wouldn't have been that 'whoa!' moment, after all, if it had been someone like Gustavus Adolphus from the Thirty Years' War, or even Stalin.

And, when you think about it, the 1940s are a logical front for the Temporal Cold War. I wonder if Future Guy and the Suliban are also involved...

Interesting that TPTB have decided that the founding races of the Federation are humans, Vulcans, Andorians and Tellarites. This is the old fan hypothesis minus the Alpha Centaurians, who are merely shown as an Earth colony. Contrary to my earlier guess, the Xindi are not a Federation founding race (or - given that it 'takes time for changes to ripple through the timeline', not yet ).

I found the biggest flaw to be the lack of Earth ships in the vicinity, given that the Intrepid and the other two were on hand to save Enterprise in "The Expanse". I could forgive it with the smaller weapon probe because it seemed to turn up, fire then crash in a very short amount of time - but the big Weapon seemed to spend quite a while in Earth orbit.

Rather than Yosemite-3, I might have had them destroy the 'old' ISS as a symbol. And didn't Yosemite-3 look rather anachronistic, with solar panels?

Did I mention I really enjoyed this episode? Looking forward to the next season.

It had to be the Nazis because they're the one group that everyone agrees is evil.

Well, what a ride. I loved most of this episode. Action in two places, Archer's unknown fate, Shran's surprise appearance. It was fun. I wasn't a big fan of the end. It seemed like they needed a cliffhanger and the picked this one after throwing ideas around. But at least Archer's not dead.

These have undoubtedly all been said, but anyway...

In The Expanse, three ships come to the Enterprise's aid when they're under attack by Duras in the Solar System. I know that that was farther from Earth, but why are there no ships near Earth? Why do none ever show up?

T'Pol says 2152 in her log. It's 2154.

So, Reed didn't grab Tucker a piece of the weapon? What happened to the souveniour?

Phlox's animals freak out while they're traveling in the Aquatic ship. So, did the freak out the first time? Phlox never says.

Luigi Novi: Did anyone else wish that Matt Winston and Jeffrey Combs’ names were kept out of the opening credits? Granted, I happened to catch a glimpse of Daniels in the promo commercial right before the teaser when I began editing the episode, and I admit I speculated that Shran and/or the other three NX-class Starfleet vessels (and hell, even the Avians) would show up at the final hour, but it would’ve been nice to have kept my suspense.
Whoa, glad I missed that.

Luigi Novi: And does someone wanna explain to me the point of the destruction of Yosemite Three in Act 2? How was this relevant to the plot?
They just wanted to show us even more proof that Dolum's a d**k.

Luigi Novi: And isn’t it convenient for this scene that Phlox is on the bridge, so he can tell this to Kelly, when he should be in the sickbay dealing with casualties that come in during this mission? Who’s taking care of that engineer whom the Sphere-Builders knocked off the catwalk in the closing shot of Act 2?
Maybe those medical guys you always mention from Minefield.

Luigi Novi: Is there some particular reason Trek keeps hiring J. Paul Boehmer to play Nazis? First he plays the Nazi Kapitan in The Killing Game parts I and II(VOY), and now plays an officer in this episode. I wonder if he’s upset at being somewhat typecast as a Nazi.
Typecast? What about being an advanced Borg or a Vulcan? Anyway, I figured that the SS officer in The Killing Game (VOY) maybe have been based on a real man.

KAM: Wouldn't be the first time if they didn't know where they were going with a cliffhanger. IIRC Equinox (Voy) was written & filmed with no idea of how it would be dealt with the next year…
Luigi Novi: Ditto for Unimatrix Zero part I(VOY).
And wasn't The Best of Both Worlds Part I (TNG) also in that situation?

So, since the SphereBuilders were defeated here, did the Battle of Procyon V (see Azati Prime) ever occur? The Battle of Procyon V was the epic defeat of the SphereBuilders, within the anomaly first seen in \b(Harbinger) (which has expanded to 50K lightyears).

Yeah, I know the tenses are all wrong. Where's Dr. Dan Streetmentioner when you need him?

Stone Cold: "Is this the one where we discover that Future Guy is really Hal Jordan & he's decided to reboot the universe to save Coast City?"
Since the Xindi call the sphere-builders the Guardians I would think Hal would be on their side.

KAM: I wonder if those religious fanatics who worship the spheres will now declare holy war on Earth for destroying the spheres?
Good point, I never thought of that. However, they're probably too busy rebuilding their planet to do that, although that hasn't stopped humans from holy wars.

Influx: Apparently the Xindi haven't figured out networking yet.
Well, Hoshi had a stack of their PADD equivelant so I'd say they have. Plus, I think we've seen them used by the Xindi before haven't we?

TUE: I don't care what anyone says. That was a Reman, plain and simple.
I admit I've seen the fourth season before the third so I know that wasn't a Reman, and he didn't look that close to one IMO.

KAM: Frankly the use of Nazis in SF is a cliché.
The Nazi's weren't in SF. Besides, why would Nazi's use an American Plane? Even if the US was defeated I doubt they would.

LN: Dolum says in the teaser that if the Guardians made them the dominant species before the Xindi Civil War, that Xindus would not have been destroyed, and his lieutenant, referencing the extinct Avians, adds that their "alien brothers would still fill the skies."
Good point Luigi, but your paragraph brings up another one. The Reptilians and Insectoids were the ones who destroyed Xindus in the first place, and it's obvious they are the dominant military species so if anything the Guardians would have supported the same conclusion. Also, Dolum insults the Avians in Degra's office, saying they were a failure because they didn't survive, so why would he toast to them if he feels that way? However, that 'toast' reminded me of the "V" miniseries.

In the 'Countdown' board I posted an anti-nit saying there were more than just the weapon and two ships enter the vortex, but I was incorrect. While in the vortex we learn that if Dolum had all five arming codes the weapon would arm faster, allowing them to come out of the vortex closer to Earth. Does this seem right? If three codes are required to arm it does all five bypass a power-up sequence?

Since this is the end of the Xindi arc I would like to point out that a few of you have called the spheres 'spears' since the first time we see one.

I know this has been posted before, but it bugs the heck out of me.

There were no Starfleet ships.

There were no Vulcan ships.

Earth was completely undefended.

What's wrong with this picture?

KAM: Frankly the use of Nazis in SF is a clich�.
Influx: The Nazi's weren't in SF.
I was using SF as shorthand for Science Fiction.

Oh okay, sorry about that. I agree, Nazis in sci-fi is pretty cliched. That wasn't Influx btw.

Something else I forgot to mention in 'Countdown' that the teaser reminded me of: why did the major hook that reptilian with his baton instead of just shooting him or using its shock feature, which he does later anyway? Was that research station Dolum destroys the same design as the Pathfinder Array?

That wasn't Influx btw.
D'oh! Sorry.

>>>By David (Guardian) on Friday, June 29, 2007 - 11:31 pm:

I know this has been posted before, but it bugs the heck out of me.

There were no Starfleet ships.

There were no Vulcan ships.

Earth was completely undefended.

What's wrong with this picture?<<<

When have we ever seen Earth have any form of defences in place when the bad guys turn up?

As to the Vulcans, well. It seems that the Vulcans are only really interested in turning up to tell humans how primative they are rather than helping defend them. Which is a very strange state of affairs considering that Earth and Vulcans are meant to be, and have called since Broken Bow, ALLIES of Earth...With friends like that who needs Klingons?

>>>
TUE: I don't care what anyone says. That was a Reman, plain and simple.
I admit I've seen the fourth season before the third so I know that wasn't a Reman, and he didn't look that close to one IMO. <<<

That wasn't a Reman, although there IS an irony in that idea - the uniforms worn by the Reptilians were Reman uniforms from Nemisis with some minor alterations, specifically the roll bars on the shoulders.


Someone needs to have a word with the writers. Having the Sphere builders tell us not once but twice that the humans were going to win was, frankly, not one of the better scripting ideas.

Observations; There is some debate as to what Daniels showed Archer in the future. Some people have pointed out that Daniels never said this was the signing of the Federation charter, simply that this was when the Federation 'started'. Hence we could have been shown the signing of a treaty that would eventally lead to the formation on the Federation.

While this is a valid point on the surface, a quick look around would tend to indicate otherwise. The platform where the people are standing and what Archer looks down on has a long walkway leading to it. Where the Walkway enters the room there is a large blue symbol set on the wall above it. This blue symbol is the Symbol for the United Federation of Planets.

When have we ever seen Earth have any form of defences in place when the bad guys turn up?

This is different. Earth has already been attacked by the Xindi. You'd think they'd defend it.

Len: they're not there because even BEFORE the Weapon is destroyed, we're next to this WWII era Earth which HAD no orbiting satellites and fleet!
Apologies if this was already stated and I missed it but your events are incorrect. When Dollum and the weapon appeared near Earth it was in the present because he destroys Yosemite station.

ChrisQ: I'm not certain the crew went back in time.
Although it is long after the series finale I would think the appearance of P-51 Mustangs are a good indicator of them being in the past.

Sparrow47: I rather think that we've got an alternate universe on our hands, not time-travel per se.
I believe technically time-travel and althernate universes are closely related, or at least T-T causes AU.

LN: And does someone wanna explain to me the point of the destruction of Yosemite Three?
Dollum quoted from the Guardians that once Earth is destroyed to do the same to all human colonies et al; then stated he saw no reason not to begin with the station. Other than that, Dollum was probably just showing how tough he is blowing up an unmanned space station.

How did the NX-01 survive the anomolies around Sphere 41 while they destroyed several Xindi ships in the previous episode? It would've been nice of the Xindi to share some of their technology with Earth, namely the vortex.

Other than that, Dollum was probably just showing how tough he is blowing up an unmanned space station.

It wasen't unmanned. I'm pretty sure Archer mentions several scientists being on board.

Oh yeah, duh, it was unarmed not unmanned. Also, change my althernate to alternate.