Erickson said that people protesting the transporter's approval for biomatter argued that it might cause psychosis. Turns out that they were right! Transporter Psychosis was diagnosed in 2209(see TNG's Realm of Fear)though it was eventually fixed.

This episode seems to be a rehash of Voyager's "Jetrel" although Erickson got further along than Jetrel did.

Trip mentioned during the first 'test' that they transported the probe 40000 kilometers. This is the maximum distance of the transporter on TNG(perhaps on TOS as well?) perhaps mentioned deliberately.

I would imagine that the Sarajevo mentioned by Garak on DS9 (in The Die is Cast?) is a successor ship to the one seen in this episode(nice to see another Starfleet ship)

Next week's episode also seems to use a Voyager episode's story as a plot point at least(Scientific Method) I hope this is not a theme.

VOID OF THE WEEK:
When the Enterprise enters the Barrens, Archer says that there isn't a star system for lightyears, yet when they enter this area, it's completely black. No stars can be seen. Just because there are no stars in this area doesn't mean that you can't see the stars beyond the Barrens. Of course, they do say that there is some sort of subspace vortex there, but Archer didn't know that when they entered.

THE ULTIMATE FLASHBACK OF THE WEEK:
Anyone who didn't see obvious parallels of TOS's "The Ultimate Computer" obviously didn't see that episode. There were also strong shades of VOY's "Jetrel" as well.

REPERCUSSIONS OF THE WEEK:
I liked that the Vulcan arc from last week had consequences in this week's episode.

WONKY ANOMALY OF THE WEEK:
So what exactly happened to Quinn? I didn't quite get that. Enterprise hasn't had much technobabble compared to other series, but there was quite a bit of it here.

ELITE CHILDHOOD OF THE WEEK:
I tell ya, that Archer had quite the childhood. His father invented the warp-5 engine, and was a colleague of Zephram Cochrane. Now we find out he was good friends with the kids of the inventor of the transporter. No wonder this guy's captain: he's got some serious connections.

MISSING ACCUSATION OF THE WEEK:
I'm curious as to why Hoshi didn't go up to Emory and say, "Hey, your crappy machine frelled with my brain and made me think aliens were planning to blow up the ship!"

JUMPING THE GUN OF THE WEEK:
Emory says that if this experiment works, there will be no need for starships. Is that so? So you're just going to beam onto some unexplored world without contacting them via starship first? Or what about spatial anomalies/nebulae? (I realizes he probably wasn't speaking literally, but the primary function of a starship is exploration, and that cannot be accomplished with a transporter)

OVERALL OPINION OF THE WEEK:
I liked the character development here. Emory and Danica were both well developed, and I felt for Emory throughout the episode (Bill Cobbs did an excellent job). I also appreciated the continuation of the Vulcan arc and its impact on T'Pol and Trip. The whole nature of the anomaly and the way Quinn was trapped didn't sit too well with me. Seemed very confusing. Not too bad though.

TUE

"The truth is usually just an excuse for a lack of imagination."

--Critique:
--Shades of Silicon Avatar(TNG) and Jetrel(VOY), with some very slight feeling of newness afforded by the different actors and characters, a somewhat saving grace in the drama’s finale, and some nice references to the previous three-parter, but not much else.
--Nice mention of the aftereffects of the Vulcan three-part episode, including the effects that the discovery of the Kir’Shara is having all over Vulcan.
--Nice conflict between Archer and Trip in the opening scene of Act 4, which was a genuine aspect of their characters, and neither forced nor the result of some alien influence, possibly the first such captain-subordinate conflict between the two on the series.

--Notes:
--This episode features the first ever reference to matter transport as “teleportation” by a character native to Trek’s future setting, which to date had only used by Henry Starling in Future’s End part I(VOY).
--T’Pol establishes in the fifth scene of Act 1 that the Armory is on F-Deck.
--Phlox confirms near the end of Act 4 in sickbay that T’Pol no longer shows any signs of Pa’nar Syndrome.
--The Sarajevo, of which we get a clear shot near the end of Act 4, is apparently of the same class of Starfleet vessel as the one that did the flyby around the Enterprise at the end of Storm Front partII.

--Continuity Nods:
--Long-range transport that can span light years, an experiment into which Emory has Archer believe he is conducting in this episode, was, I believe, first implied to have been used at the end of The Jem’Hadar(DS9).
--Erickson mentions over dinner in the opening scene of Act 1 the old belief that transporters caused psychosis, which Realm of Fear(TNG) established was first diagnosed in 2209, over fifty years after the events of this episode.
--In the beginning of Act 2, T’Pol says Ensign Burrows appears to have been exposed to delta radiation, which crippled Captain Pike, as seen in The Menagerie part I(TOS). While this energy was mentioned in The Shipment, this is the first Enterprise episode to mention it as deadly to humans.

--Terms:
Dr. Emory Erickson Scientist, known as the Father of the Transporter, as mentioned in the teaser, who ostensibly comes aboard the Enterprise in the teaser to conduct an experiment, but who is later revealed to be trying to retrieve his son’s lost transporter signature.
Danica “Dani” Erickson Emory Erickson’s daughter, with whom he arrives on the Enterprise in the teaser. Archer mentions that she’s his daughter in the third scene of Act 1. Danica mentions in this scene that he used to chase her around with a plastic laser pistol when they were children. Emory first refers to her as “Dani” in Act 2.
sub-quantum teleportation Theoretical form of long-range matter transport with which Dr. Erickson claims transport across many light years may be possible, and which T’Pol says the Vulcans have been unsuccessful, as they mention in the opening scene of Act 1. Emory states in the opening scene of Act 3 that it is a fundamentally flawed concept, and that this was a ruse to get to the Barrens not to retreieve his son Quinn, whose transporter signal was lost 15 years prior in this region when they first tested the concept, and which Emory feels may be retrievable.
The Barrens Area of space to which the Enterprise journeys for the teleportation experiment in the beginning of Act 1, which Archer mentions features not a star system within a hundred light years. It is indicated in the beginning of Act 2 that Emory has used this area for his prior experiments. Erickson later tells Archer in the opening scene of Act 3 that the Barrens is a subspace node, a bubble of curved space time, which is why there are no stars, in which his son Quinn’s transporter signal was trapped 15 years prior. During certain intervals, Emory explains that there are fluctuations in the node during which the signal reappears, at which point Emory hopes to retrieve Quinn.
Quinn Erickson Erickson’s son, whom he lost 15 years prior to this episode, as mentioned by Danica in the third scene of Act 1. His transporter signature is later revealed in the opening scene of Act 3 to have been lost, but which Emory believes may be retrievable during one of the fluctuations that take place at intervals in the Barrens.
Ensign Burrows The crewman killed at the end of Act 1 by the fluctuations that manifest Quinn Erickson’s transporter signature, which Archer mentions to Trip in Act 2.
Sarajevo Starfleet ship which rendezvous with the Enterprise near the end of Act 4 to pick up the Ericksons to return them to Earth, presumably named after the capital and largest city of Bosnia-Herzegovina on Earth.

Actually, it was concentrated on the speech centers of his brain, which means he may have a future as an extra on Growing Up Gotti
The scene in Act 4 where Emory is forced to admit that he can’t save Quinn is the episode’s dramatic saving grace, but I was confused by Quinn’s final corporeal appearance on the transporter pad. Phlox says he was losing cohesion, and that he’d be dead if he appeared on the pad, but when he appears, while he dies, he doesn’t appear to have lost cohesion. Or was the loss of cohesion all on the inside?

Long-range transport that can span light years, an experiment into which Emory has Archer believe he is conducting in this episode, was, I believe, first implied to have been used at the end of The Jem’Hadar(DS9).

I think that's a bit of a stretch, Luigi. Granted it could have been some sort of long range transport, but it just as easily could have been a cloaked ship doing the transport. It was never really followed up on (much like the Vortas' mental powers), so there's no real way to say.

they transported the probe 40000 kilometers. This is the maximum distance of the transporter on TNG(perhaps on TOS as well?)

It was the max range on TOS. I don't remember if that info came from a canonical source, though.

Wasn't the first documented multi-light year transport in Covenant(DS9)? As I recall, that led to much discussion on that board.

Well, the Iconian gateways could operate on a similar principle.

TUE

"Rom couldn't fix a straw if it was bent."

Wasn't the first multi-light year transport done in Assignment: Earth (TOS)? Gary Seven transported light years to Earth (well, Earth orbit as he was intercepted by Enterprise.)

Sooo, how exactly is the title supposed to apply to this episode? God of Engineers? Inventor who's son died because of his invention?

Pardon me. The first documented multi-lightyear transport done with Federation-equivalent (not ancient or super-aliens) technology.

The latter, Keith.

Maybe I didn't make myself clear back on "The Shipment" show board (11/3/03). So, once again (for the sake of the new writers): There is, BY DEFINITION, no such thing as "sub-quantum." Quantum is as small as it gets.

For this I (accidentally) taped over Lost? I found the episode to be quite boring, with lots of what I perceived as fill time.

Interesting that Bill Cobbs was the name of the guy who played Emory. I kept seeing Bill Cosby for some reason.

I thought as soon as I saw Danica materialize, "Oh, here comes the love interest for Travis!" I was proven dead wrong as they never even met during the entire episode.

Hoshi and Travis only exchanged a look this episode, and had no lines at all. If I was doing funny red headings, it would be something like "OK, which of us is gonna get killed of the show first? Ain't gonna be me!!" OK, not that funny -- that's why I don't do 'em.

TJ Fleming: So, once again (for the sake of the new writers): There is, BY DEFINITION, no such thing as "sub-quantum." Quantum is as small as it gets.
Luigi Novi: Cold Fire(VOY) established that there lies something beyond the sub-atomic.

Just out of curiosity, TJ, how do we know that there is nothing smaller than the quantum level? Is that the level at which superstrings exist? Do we know that superstrings themselves aren't composed of something smaller? (Just asking.)

There's nothing past the quantum level -- it extends down to the Planck length, and that is actually the quantum of distance.

Planck Length and Time

The Planck length (and Time) are derived from the three fundamental constants of physics:

G - Newton's gravitational constant
c - the speed of light
h - Planck's constant.

The Planck Length is defined as sqrt(Gh/(c^3))
The Planck Time is defined as the amount of time it would take light to traverse the Planck length: sqrt((c^5)/Gh)

Darn. That's a typo.

The Planck Time is sqrt(Gh/(c^5)).

I made a typo in my pen and paper calcs, and carried it forward.

It looked to me like the quarters assigned to the visitors were not wheelchair accessible. I thought I saw that the door had a rounded threshold, over which Danica stepped, while her father was already inside, in his wheelchair.

Or, JTF, would that be something we might call a "quantum threshold"?

Coupla things...
First Sub-Quantum...Odd terminology but I'd have to disagree with the "Quantum is as small as it gets" statement.
Believe it or not you can actually have a distance of half a Planck Length.
You can divide ANY real number by 2. But you can't measure any distance smaller than the Planck Length. Notice that it takes time to traverse the Planck Length. It doesn't occur instantaneosly as you'd expect if there were no intervening distance in between.
The point being is that you need something smaller than the Planck Length to measure the Planck Length much like you need inches to measure a foot. And such things shouldn't really exist.

O.K. Now did I miss something? What was wrong with Emory's back? Delta Radiation?
And that scene where he was being given a shot just seemed so..unprofessional. Just a jab in a pull out. It also didn't look like he was being injected with anything. Do syringes auto-inject in the future?

I must also disagree with "quantum is as small as it gets"- at one time atoms were believed to be as small as things got, and that nothing could possibly be smaller. I believe that the root of the word 'atom' means indivisible in Greek (or something to that effect, please correct me if I am wrong)

Our current understanding is that the Quantum state is the smallest that can be measured- this may change in the future.

A very dull episode. When Emory gave up on saving Quinn, and when Quinn died, I knew I was supposed to feel something, but I didn't. I felt like a Vulcan. Or didn't feel, like a Vulcan.

The friction between Archer and Trip livened things up a bit, but it seemed contrived, by having Archer act irrationally and endanger the ship unnecessarily. Trip said that if the latest anomaly had been two feet to the left, the Enterprise would have been toast. Yet Archer wants to continue.

Trip didn't seem very curious about what was in the Kir'Shara. I'd like to know what was in there that is transforming Vulcan society. No wonder she doesn't want to be involved with Trip anymore.

>Or, JTF, would that be something we might call a "quantum threshold"?>

Laura, I had to clean the root beer off my monitor after that great joke-- kudos!

Bill Cobbs worked with John Billingsley on the 2000 supernatural series The Others.

Not a bad episode, but not that good either. Pretty average, really. Maybe next week's standalone will be better. And did Hoshi even get a line in this one? I don't recall hearing her.

So, at the beginning of the episode, Erickson is telling everyone that this transporter he's "invented" may make starships obsolete. But, if they were to get rid of starships, how would they explore strange new world's? They couldn't just beam to all of them. Did no one think of asking him that?

I liked the mention of Transporter Psychosis. I wondered if that would be mentioned on this series.

Trip's shattered dreams about one of his idol scientists kind of reminded me of the situation that Geordi had with Brahms in Galaxy's Child (TNG)

I understand that progress is probably being made on Vulcan, but it's only been a week since the Vulcan people have known about the Kir'Shara. Would that many with Pa'nar have come out already?

TUE: So what exactly happened to Quinn? I didn't quite get that. Enterprise hasn't had much technobabble compared to other series, but there was quite a bit of it here.
I figured that it was kind of like what Scotty did to himself in Relics, except accidentally. He got stuck in subspace in a transporter accident. Actually, that seems more like what happened to Sisko in The Visitor than what happened to Scotty.

Luigi Novi: Nice conflict between Archer and Trip in the opening scene of Act 4, which was a genuine aspect of their characters, and neither forced nor the result of some alien influence, possibly the first such captain-subordinate conflict between the two on the series.
Yeah, I enjoyed that scene too.

Anonymous: I think that's a bit of a stretch, Luigi. Granted it could have been some sort of long range transport, but it just as easily could have been a cloaked ship doing the transport. It was never really followed up on (much like the Vortas' mental powers), so there's no real way to say.
As others have said, I believe Worf established in Covenant (DS9) that the Dominion transporter range is a few light years (I think 2 or 3).

If Henry Archer died when Jonathon Archer was 12, and Henry Archer was alive when Jonathon Archer began his flight training, then Jonathon Archer could have been no older than 12 when he started his flight training. I wonder if Jonathon was a child prodigy.

Hans, where in the episode (I'm just asking) is it indicated that Henry was alive when Archer began flight training?

Archer said he told his dad he was worried about failing flight training and his dad answered, "Don't fail".

Maybe Jon Archer said this when he was 11 or 12 referring to his future flight training. Given that Jon Archer has spent his entire life associated with the space program, I could see how, at a young age, he would think he couldn't measure up (his idols being his dad, Zephram Cochrane, and Emory Erikson). (No Freudian allusions intended)

TUE

"Not everyone keeps their genitals in the same place, Captain."

Back to long-range transporters; the first time anyone was transported light years was in The Gamesters Of Triskelion, not Assignment; Earth.
Gotta shake my head at the old cliche of just one guy responsible for a technological breakthrough, rather than a team. Daystrom was solely responsible for duotronics, Cochrange was solely responsible for warp drive. Gotta do it for dramatic reasons, but it's not completely realistic.
'You could feel yourself actually being taken apart and put back together' / 'It took a minute and a half' - anybody cringe at the thought of that? Who'd want to use the transporter with an effect like that? Yikes!
'Cochrane, now there was a guy that knew the benefits of a little liquid courage' - great line (more or less written like that)
The whole planet-to-planet transporter system couldn't work in so many ways; planets rotate on their axis, so away teams would be out of range as the planet spun 180 degrees away from the beam-down point during the day/night cycle. Also other planets in the system would constantly block a transporter signal, to say nothing of potential asteroid fields, or passing space ships, or ion storms, or Plaet Killers, or Space Amoebas, or even our own Moon and Sun, and our 24 rotation. And what about communications? Hand held communicators would be useless, so everyone would need a subspace radio. There would also be the problem of such pinpoint accuracy; sure, you could point a transporter beam at Earth from say, Vulcan, but could it really zero in on the exact street and building, and room in Los Angeles, and not send you accidently to Denver, or Florida, or the English Channel? And what about mapping of a new planet? I'm guessing an orbiting starship could create perfect maps, as opposed to the 15th/16th/17th/18th/19th century types with men walking around, or on horseback, or on boats.
Wouldn't it have made more sense for Erickson to be told he could do these experiments from an Earth-based locale to a Moon-based one? Beaming 40,000 kilometers from one point in space to another is great, but the Moon is farther, which would make it a more impressive accomplishment.
I like the transporter effect in Enterprise, but considering how long it took in the Original Series pilot, it's just too fast for a system that should be archaic by Kirk-era designs.

\red[Will: Gotta shake my head at the old cliche of just one guy responsible for a technological breakthrough, rather than a team. Daystrom was solely responsible for duotronics, Cochrange was solely responsible for warp drive.}
Luigi Novi: Correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think any of those guys were said to be solely responsible for those breakthroughs, any more than Thomas Edison was solely responsible for the light bulb. But he was the first to create and patent an working one, which is why his name goes down in history. Obviously, everyone who worked in electricity and lighting, from Volta to Benjamin Franklin and so on, also contributed something to that final product. So too might this be the case with Daystrom and Cochrane. Erickson was only said to be the "Father" of the transporter, but not its sole developer.

It's known as the 'Great Man' view of history and technological progress, and is normally considered defunct by academics these days.

Sort of how Bill Gates is credited with everything Microsoft does (including creating the various Windows OS's and such)? Or how people credit people like him and a few others with creating the Internet even though building the entire infrastrcture (and testing it)probbaly took tens of thousands of people. Or how if a company is doing great, you almost never hear of the hard work of the employees, only the CEO's and perhaps some managers?

That's my favorite pet peeve. People think Bill Gates built the Internet. In fact, he was late to the party. Win95 was pushing their proprietary MSN (before it was a portal/ISP). They had to buy their first browser (IE 2.0) from Spyglass (and promptly screwed them out of royalties because they gave it away. XX% of sales of $0 is $0.).

Bill Gates creating the Internet?? That's silly. The idea that first led to it was voiced after WWII, and its actual beginnings began in 1966, when Gates was eleven years old.

Well, Bill Gates is a man of which there are a lot of 'facts' that are pure fabrications. As an example, that 'will always be enough for anyone' quote from 1981 (?). He's insisted he never said that.

I'm sure in the Trek universe, the same would be true for men like Cocrane, Erickson, Daystrom etc. I'm sure people think all sorts of strange things about these guys; attribute things to them they never did or act as if they invented these things without anyone else helping.

As another poster mentioned, people also always think that inventors were the only ones to invent whatever it is they invented. I'm sure in the Trek universe there were tons of people working on the Warp drive. Then the War broke out, which in the aftermath, Cocrane and his team was one of the few that survived and circumstances allowed them to continue. Had a single missile or something else been a few degrees off or perhaps even some small thing happened diffrently, someone else entirley may have been 'the one'.

I'm sure if this were real, there would have been dozens of teams experimenting, trying to get the transporter to work. Since Erickson and his team were the ones that succeeded, people would view them as the geniouses behind it.

About Cochrane;
Kirk says in Metamorphosis, "Zefrim Cochrane? THE discoverer of the space warp?" To me, that means Cochrane, alone, was responsible. And Cochrane Mark 2, in Star Trek:First Contact didn't seem to have a co-designer, or else he or she would have taken the first ride with him.
As far as Daystrom, it was said that HE designed the computers that ran the Enterprise, and Kirk and McCoy also talk about him like did it all himself. Also, he had his breakdown as he became outraged that others were 'building on HIS work'.
About the internet,
I thought Al Gore invented it?
About beaming from planet to planet;
you also couldn't know what type of weather you're going to enter, whereas your ship's sensors could tell you that a hurricane will hit your beam down point in a day. There's just no substitute for starships.

You'd also have to deal with the rotations of each world and compensate for that when beaming someone/something planet to planet.

And Cochrane Mark 2, in Star Trek:First Contact didn't seem to have a co-designer... - Will

Sure he did, the crew of Picard's Enterprise, IIRC.

Kirk says in Metamorphosis, "Zefrim Cochrane? THE discoverer of the space warp?" - Will

Cochrane may have discovered the space warp, but it still might have taken a team of experts to build on that discovery and help to create a warp drive, primitive though it might be.

Live long and prosper.

Agreed, he may have come up with the theory for how to make it work, maybe even made a computer simulation of it but actually building the thing, including the facilities etc takes a team, not something one guy alone can do. Who knows, maybe he was going to show his discovery to NASA before the war and NASA suffered heavy damage or maybe even was destroyed in the war, forcing him to get his own team and improvise to get the project going.

Just like, I don't see how Daystrom could have designed and built the Enterprise's computers all by himself. Yes, he may have designed the basic idea for them, even made a model of how they would work. However, he still needed the resources to build them; a computer system like that isn't exactly something one can build in their basement in their spare time as is often portrayed in fiction for these sorts of things.

And yet another problem with solar system to solar system transporting;
You couldn't exactly point your transporter beam at a star and expect the transportee to arrive, since everything is moving in the galaxy, and a star 10 light years away wouldn't be in the exact same position, since you're seeing the star from 10 years ago; from what I've read stars actually orbit the center of the galaxy, just as planets orbit stars.
So many problems, so impractical; I wouldn't even bother going back to the drawing board!

All the problems with planet-to-planet transporting are basically the same as those with the Soliton Wave from "New Ground". As the Chief put it, 'when you get to where you're boldly going, how do you stop?" . Or look at Stargate - just because there is an efficient instantaneous transport network between planets, that doesn't mean nobody has starships.

On the subject of Cochrane discovering warp drive, I would point out that plenty of people in the popular consciousness think Einstein invented the A-bomb single-handedly and (my favourite) Isaac Newton 'invented' gravity. (Obviously before the seventeenth century we were all just floating about in midair...)

Personally, I don't see the big problem with having long distance transporters. Assuming there are two, it would be just like sending a message from one to the other. Now, if there's only one, the transporter would probably need some kind of sensor that can send someone to their destination. It would also have to compensate for all the issues that have been discussed (planetary motion, objects in the way, etc.) Assuming he had invented one of these things, which he didn't, they'd probably work pretty well to move to and from already established installations, much like in Stargate. But not for exploration.

Everyone is nitpicking long range transporters like as if it worked in this episode. It didn't! That was the point.

Will: Kirk says in Metamorphosis, "Zefrim Cochrane? THE discoverer of the space warp?" To me, that means Cochrane, alone, was responsible.
Luigi Novi: Except that that’s bogus on its face, and a nit in itself. The use of the word “discover” implies…well, just that: That he discovered a natural phenomena. But the warpage of spacetime caused by mass/gravity was discovered by Einstein in the early 20th Century.

Will: And Cochrane Mark 2, in Star Trek:First Contact didn't seem to have a co-designer, or else he or she would have taken the first ride with him.
Luigi Novi: No, not necessarily. The other designers, as Chris pointed out above, may have died during WWIII. Or the designer didn’t want to be a pilot. The people who designed the first supersonic plane didn’t test pilot it themselves. Or the first rocket.

Thande: All the problems with planet-to-planet transporting are basically the same as those with the Soliton Wave from "New Ground". As the Chief put it, 'when you get to where you're boldly going, how do you stop?"
Luigi Novi: That was a mistake on Phil’s part, IMHO. Right after Geordi makes the remark about no more bulky warp engines, he comments that a ship will generate “its own” soliton wave. This comment indicates that while the wave coils producing the wave are on the launch and destination point planets for the experiment, ships, on the other hand, if the experiment is successful, will be outfitted with their own wave producing apparatus, and presumably, the wave dissipation apparatus as well.

Rene: Everyone is nitpicking long range transporters like as if it worked in this episode.
Luigi Novi: No, they’re nitpicking the concept because it was an interesting concept that the episode brought up, and because it’s been demonstrated to work in the prior Trek series.

I hate to bring up the long range transporter issue, but it was just too much of a whopper to accept. Even within the established fictional world of Trek, I wouldn't find such a transporter to be plausible in the 24th century, much less the 22nd century. Stepping on a transporter on Earth and ending up on Vulcan. This isn't technology, it's more God-like power. It's also stated Vulcan is over 16 light years from Earth. If Vulcan were in the neighborhood of 16 light years from Earth, even by today (with SETI), we would have discovered life on Vulcan in the 20th century.

It's also too much of a stretch that Erickson's son has been around for 15 years in that form, but no one else has been able to simply clean up his distorted image to identify him. This episode was a disappointment. It's premise was just too far-fetched for me.

Assuming they got long range transporters working. Couldn't they then build them large enough to transport a starship through them? They wouldn't need warp drives anymore, they could just send impulse ships all over the place.

Not that I see much benefit to such a thing, just something that might make LRT more plausible than beaming landing parties from Starfleet HQ to Planet X in the Foozlequab Nebula.

I don't see long-range transporters as any less plausible than warp drive itself, and how does Vulcan being 16 ly away make it a certainty that we have to discover life there? Probably the Vulcans were already using subspace radio by the time we had normal radio, so our receivers wouldn't pick up any broadcasts.

Not that I want to keep hyping my Daystrom-invented-duotronics-himself and Erickson-invented-the-transporter-himself theory, but I'll just point out that both men showed up on their respective Enterprises, *without assistants*, and each had minimal help from the Enterprise engineers, essentially working on the entire system, alone, except to literally 'plug in' their inventions into the ship's power systems.
That tells me that the writers are trying to tell us that these men are essentially the lone inventers of their inventions.

I think evidence that Daystrom is a lone genius is the fact that none of the hypothetical other people working with him pointed out his megalomaniacal design flaws in the M-5. I think it's more likely that Cochrane was part of a team, though.

Thande: Probably the Vulcans were already using subspace radio by the time we had normal radio, so our receivers wouldn't pick up any broadcasts.
Luigi Novi: You think they were using subspace for daily TV and radio broadcasts?

I still don't understand why Erickson was so paranoid about telling Starfleet or Archer about what he actually wanted to do. He's possibly the biggest scientific name in a science-savvy culture. He lost his son, and thinks he can get him back. Why would Starfleet say no? His reservations- and his daughter's, too- implied to me (before the actual reasons were revealed) that he had some morally questionable or maybe even nefarious plan. But the plan seeemed perfectly reasonable to *try*. Maybe a shot in the dark, but worth that shot.

On the plus side, I liked Erickson dismissing the notion that transporting kills the original and produces a copy. While that's my opinion of what the transpoerter does, it's nice to see a differing opinion mentioned. (You can believe what you want, but if everyone else believes the gizmo is safe, then it's officially safe.)

Quite possibly, Luigi, yes. Look at the way all the mobile phone companies want the analogue TV broadcasts to be shut down (and everyone to go over to digital) so they can use the analogue wavelengths for new mobile phone services. Maybe the Vulcans are using normal radio for other things, perhaps things that are too short-range for Earth to pick up. Well, there has to be some reason why pre-Cochrane Earth hadn't detected Vulcan radio transmissions from 16 years previously.

Tashtego, I think it's been mentioned repeatedly in episodes like "Realm of Fear" that the transporter works by converting your own body's matter to energy, transporting that energy and then reconstituting it back into matter - so it's always the same 'you'. In fact, Judith and Garfield Reeves-Stevens, who are writing most of the current Enterprise arc, had a sequence in the non-canon novel "Federation" in which Cochrane, upon being transported, gets depressed after believing his original body has been destroyed and this is just a copy, before a Starfleet officer explains that the Federation transporter doesn't work that way.

Nothing

Yes, but Thande, you're not talking about shutting down analogue broadcasts here, you're talking about using what was no doubt an very exoctic (and possibly expensive) medium like subspace just for regular TV and radio. Do you really think the average Vulcan had subspace in their TV and radio? This is like me having a Cray X1 computer on my desk, or a T3 line for an Internet connection.

And besides, what about all the other races like the Klingons who are also close to Earth, and who don't necessarily share the Vulcan's views toward exposing themselves to pre-warp cultures?

Since when do Vulcans watch TV and listen to radio?

Maybe it doesn't seem exotic to the Vulcans any more, in the same way that today we use a number of commonplace technologies that were invented in the 60s and 70s but then classified and used only by the military. I repeat, I'm just trying to answer Rona's question about how come nobody detected Vulcan transmissions if it's only 16 ly from Earth.

Thande: Oh, the writers can say what they want. The proof is in the episodes. Like when Kirk was split into a good self and evil self. Or Neelix and Tuvok merged and then separated. Or a beam splitting and creating two Will Rikers.

Anyway, if your pattern is stored in a buffer (as it is, at least in the TNG/DS9/Voy era), then what's to prevent the pattern being copied, restored, or reused?

My opinion is that if you don't believe in some vital essence (whether you call it a soul, spiirt, or whatever), then you're more likely to accept the transporter as safe. If you do believe- as I do- then you're more likely to be skeptical. (That being said, a show in which living beings were only beamed in direst, extreme emergency would be a massively different one. And I'm willing to suspend disbelief for drama's sake. I just thought it was an illuminating remark of Erickson's.)

?!! How can the people who CONCEIVED OF the transporter be wrong and you (or me, or any fan) be right? The only way this would make sense is if the ST characters had actually misunderstood the mechanism and they thought it worked their way but it really worked your way. That would be an interesting revelation...

By the way, I do accept those points you made about 2 Kirks, 2 Rikers etc. from the same matter stream. That just doesn't make sense. Although "Unnatural Selection" is probably the worst offender against transporter canon.

Anonymous: when do Vulcans watch TV and listen to radio?
Luigi Novi: It is presumable that they have such things, or similar things. Are we to believe that the entire planet doesn’t use any communication devices that use the EM spectrum?

I understand, Thande, I just don’t buy such a sophisticated technology being used solely for TV or radio.

Tashtego: Oh, the writers can say what they want. The proof is in the episodes. Like when Kirk was split into a good self and evil self. Or Neelix and Tuvok merged and then separated. Or a beam splitting and creating two Will Rikers.
Luigi Novi: And in all of those cases, nits are created, which we discuss, like where the extra mass for the second Kirk and Riker came from, or where the mass went when Tuvok and Neelix merged, what happened to the container with the flowers in it, or why the transporter created a floral pattern on Tuvix’s tunic. The episodes’ only “proof” is that they depicted these events. Not that those things are scientifically correct, which the entire basis of nitpicking.

Tashtego: Anyway, if your pattern is stored in a buffer (as it is, at least in the TNG/DS9/Voy era), then what's to prevent the pattern being copied, restored, or reused?
Luigi Novi: The Law of Conservation of Matter and Energy says that matter cannot be created or destroyed. Also, Lonely Among Us(TNG) seemed to indicate to me that the “energy pattern” that makes a person that person is unique.

Just a little clarification for your last point, Luigi: after nuclear power, the Law was adjusted to say that the overall matter/energy in the universe cannot be created or destroyed. But you can make matter out of energy, in the same way that you can make energy out of matter (in nuclear reactors). That's how the food replicators work, although ultimately the energy comes from the warp core or fusion reactors.

Archer's Log Entry was supplimental.
Supplimental to what?
Why don't they give us dates anymore?!

No stars can be seen. Just because there are no stars in this area doesn't mean that you can't see the stars beyond the Barrens.

I found this error to be incredibly unbelievable. We see stars on Earth that are thousands of light-years away! Why did they think that being in a void would mean that you couldn't see any stars at all?

I saw similarities to "The Tholian Web" (TOS) and to "Zero Effect" (DS9). In "Zero Effect," someone spends years of their life trying to retrieve a loved one from limbo, when it is not even clear if that person *can* be retrieved. In "Tholian Web," the commanding officer of a ship makes the decision to stay in a dangerous place to retrieve a friend from limbo, even though doing so places the whole ship in danger.

(In fact, many ENT episodes that are not "story-arc" episodes are, in my opinion, the result of superimposing one Trek episode onto another.)

"Zero Effect"??? Don't you mean, The Visitor(DS9)?

Why don't they give us dates anymore?!

Because if they don't give a date, that makes it harder for them to ****up and give a date contradicting something Mr. Spock told Lt. Uhura in episode 43.

ScottN: Zero Effect"??? Don't you mean, The Visitor(DS9)?

Indeed I do, Scott. I don't know where "Zero Effect" came from.

Sounds like a good title to me.

Well, when the Organians were watching the final battle with the Xindi, we had Zero Hour crossed with Observer Effect for Zero Effect.

Yeah, that's it! That's the ticket!

Emory tells Archer in the opening scene of Act 3 that the Barren is actually a bubble of curved spacetime. Actually, all spacetime is curved.

But in most cases, the curvature is so small as to be negligible.

A good episode, something of a rehash, but with excellent acting from the bloke playing Erickson and Archer, and a handy subplot tying up the events of the last arc.

Did they ever explain why Erickson was disabled? (My guess would have been a side effect of an early transporter prototype). I'm also surprised Erickson didn't have the same problem as Henry Archer - surely the Vulcans must have had transporter tech before he invented it for humans, and refused to hand it over (I know he mentioned the Vulcans not handing over subquantum transporter research, but that's different).

To add tuppence to the argument above about subquantum: in the VOY episode "The Gift", Tuvok says 'there is nothing beyond the subatomic'. If we take 'the subatomic' to mean protons, neutrons and electrons, then there very obviously IS (quarks, gluons etc.), even without the references to subquantum here!

Maybe Tuvok is a descendant of T'Pol ("Time travel? Impossible! No, that is not really World War Two! Lalalalala I can't hear you I can't hear you!")

Was anyone else put off a bit by the lack of music at the end of the teaser? I found it odd.

And no, Thande, I don't think they ever mentioned how he was disabled. I assumed it was simply age.

No, they never said why he was disabled. They did take a shot of his back without a shirt on, and it looked disfigured. Not sure what that could mean(if I saw it correctly)

Also, did anyone think that the disfigurement to Burrows' face when he was killed at the end of Act 1 looked like the pig people from that episode of The Twilight Zone with the "ugly woman" who turned out to be an attractive woman in a world of pig people?

This ep seemed like a waste of time to me. I was more interested in what was going on between Trip and T'Pol than the actual plot; perhaps they should have extended that Vulcan plot one more episode. Also, when Archer came down on Trip in the passageway, Trip should have told him to go to hell. Needlessly endangering the crew is something that gets COs fired.

>>>And Cochrane Mark 2, in Star Trek:First Contact didn't seem to have a co-designer, or else he or she would have taken the first ride with him. <<<

What did you think Lilly was doing with Cochrane? She was his assistant and helped him. She wasn't on the flight because she was stuck on the Enterprise E. Assuming Cochrane and Lilly were smart enough not to mention getting help from a Starship 300 years in the future I'd guess that the 'Offical' history of Earth Credits both Cochrane and Lilly as the crew of the first warp ship.

>>>By Thande on Sunday, May 15, 2005 - 10:40 am:

Did they ever explain why Erickson was disabled? (My guess would have been a side effect of an early transporter prototype).

By dotter31 on Saturday, May 28, 2005 - 2:14 am:

No, they never said why he was disabled. They did take a shot of his back without a shirt on, and it looked disfigured. Not sure what that could mean(if I saw it correctly)<<<

I think the implication was that he was disfigured in a transporter accident - There was/is a line or two about the dangers of the transporters and Erickson says something along the lines of 'I should know'.

Nit; So, the early transporter tests were conducted in an area of space that is very unusual? Does this sound right? Wouldn't you want to test the Transporter in more normal space...you know, where its more likely to be used?

Why is this episode called: "Daedalus" ?

It makes no sense.

If they had a Daedalus Class ship in the episode...then it would made sense

John, see KAM and Luigi on Jan 15 2005.

Looking up the myth of Daedalus and Icarus would also provide context (in case you're not already familiar with it).

This is humour, not intended to be taken seriously.

"DELETED SCENE"

"Trip, I was wondering," Archer asked, "what feature you had lined up for movie night tonight."

"Well, I did have one scheduled until I learned that Dr. Emory Erickson was going to be our guest."

"Oh, what's it called?"

"'The Fly'... with Vincent Price and Al Hedison."

"'The Fly'." Captain Archer frowned. "So, is it about some kind of insect that takes over the world?"

"It's about this scientist who winds up exchanging body parts with a fly because of a teleportation experiment that goes wrong."

The silence in Captain Archer's ready room was palpable as he and his chief engineer stared across at each other.

The enthusiastic expression in Trip's face was fading, and the look of concern in Jonathan's was turning to consternation.

"Trip... I think even a rerun of 'Frankenstein's Bride' would get a better buzz."

"Yeah," Trip said, softly. "'The Fly' can wait a week."

"Or longer."

I'm confused. The first part makes it sound like Trip had scheduled The Fly, then learned of Dr. Erickson coming, which made him have second thought about the movie. But then, the second part makes it sound like Trip had changed the scheduled movie to The Fly because Dr. Erickson was coming. So, which is it?

I thought it posted, but it's not here. So, here's my second attempt at a fixup.

"DELETED SCENE"

"Trip, I was wondering," Archer asked, "what feature you had lined up for movie night tonight."

"Well, I did have one scheduled until I learned that Dr. Emory Erickson was going to be our guest. Then I picked an even better one. Right down Dr. Erickson's alley!"

"Oh, what's it called?"

"'The Fly'... with Vincent Price and Al Hedison."

"'The Fly'." Captain Archer frowned. "So, is it about some kind of insect that takes over the world?" It didn't sound like it was "down Erickson's alley".

"It's about this scientist who winds up exchanging body parts with a fly because of a teleportation experiment that goes wrong."

The silence in Captain Archer's ready room was palpable as he and his chief engineer stared across at each other.

The enthusiastic expression in Trip's face was fading as the look of concern in Jonathan's was turning to consternation.

"Trip... I think even a rerun of 'Frankenstein's Bride' would get a better buzz."

"Yeah," Trip said, softly. "'The Fly' can wait a week."

"Or longer."

Excellent. =8)

Clearly McCoy has never seen The Fly. If he had, you couldn't drag him within a light year of a transporter.

Maybe Trip should schedule the 1986 remake, with Jeff Goldblum and Geena Davis, instead.

I think anyone that saw either version of The Fly (and their sequels) would have the heebie-geebies about stepping into a transporter.

Hoshi certainly had a bad time with it, and so did Reg Barclay once.

In the Lost In Space universe, they must have had it down to a fine art, because half the aliens they met seemed to be able to teleport instantaneously with no extraneous effects such as light, mist, and the same consistent sound each time.

Of course, at the time this show is set, the transporter has only been around for a short time.

Archer and his crew would not have the "just another day at the office" attitude that Kirk, Picard, Sisko, and Janeway (and all their respective crews) would have in regards to transporting.

Remember what happened with the leaves during the beamout in Strange New World

Yikes!