Nice touch mentioning the Hur'Q invasion(last mentioned in DS9)

I am wondering why Starfleet Security responded to the abduction of Phlox in San Fransisco. Do they have jurisdiction simply because both he and Hoshi are in Starfleet? Why wouldn't the SFPD(or some civilian agency) respond? Of course we do not know too much about the structure of law enforcement during this time.

Why did the Klingons need to hire Rigellians to capture Phlox? (This would seem to be a form of asking for assistance as well) Do they not have cloaking devices so they could do it themselves? I was also unsatisfied by their reason for not capturing Soong- "too heavily guarded" I see no reason why someone couldn't have simply beamed into his cell, grab him, and beam out.(or just beam him up from his cell)
The ease of the entry of the boarding party on the Enterprise suggests to be that Starfleet has not found ways to prevent unauthorized beaming onto ships(perhaps prisons too)

I think technically, the Klingons will not acquire cloaking devices until their alliance with the Romulans during TOS. Of course, the Romulans shouldn't have them yet either, so......

Assuming that man in black was a Section 31 agent, what is it with them and recruiting British Starfleet officers?

I didn't recognize the name but I sure recognized the voice; Uncle Phil from "The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air" played the Klingon general. He's an appropriate authority figure.

Duke, I thought Section 31 at first too, but then didn't Sloane say that Section 31 dates to the founding of the Federation? Of course this organization could be to Section 31 like the OSS was to the CIA.

They really should have filmed Hoshi's mindmeld/flashback from Hoshi's POV.

Man those lights at the back of the bridge of Columbia are distracting & annoying.

Sloane said Section 31 dates to the original "Starfleet charter", so it could exist in this time.

Okay, I misremembered.

At last, it can be told! We're finally getting a nit-clearing explanation as to why the Klingons of "Star Trek" (1966-69) looked the way they did.

I wonder how they are going to explain Kor's, Kang's, and Koloth's reason of becoming hardcore Klingon's from Augmented looking Klingons.
Though, I personally think this is a great way of explaining it, with a great tie in, from this timeline, to the 23rd's and 24th's century timeline.

Some very nice shots of the Enterprise!! They stand out because of the unusual angles they seem to be using now.

I might not have recognized John Schuck in the Klingon gear as he does not have as much of a quacky,bombastic voice as he used to. I wonder if he will be determined to be an ancestor of the Klingon he played at the Khitomer Accords.

Wow -- they am really getting into this character development now. Major changes going on, but too much too late, I'm afraid.

I find it difficult to believe that Phlox would go ahead and help anyway, as he should know that he will be killed as soon as he's finished. (OK, I know he won't be, but he should assume that.)

The guy who played the Section 31 agent was also Captain Sanders of the Melinchay in DS9: "For the Uniform."

On the Columbia, isn't it dangerous to have those computer monitors on poles in the middle of the bridge?

Hoshi says the guys that kidnapped Phlox where speaking Rigellian, but arn't Rigellian and English supossed to be exactly alike ;) ?

By an astonishing coincidence...

Interesting shift on the Klingons' reponse to an existential threat between this episode and The Undiscovered Country. In that film, the Klingons did seek assistance from and peace with Starfleet. (Not really a nit- it's reasonable for the Empire to be less and less blatantly hostile as more and more agressive Klingons die in wars over a couple centeries.)

Hoshi says the guys that kidnapped Phlox where speaking Rigellian, but arn't Rigellian and English supossed to be exactly alike ;) ?

Also, why didn't the Rigellians have tenticles? And glass domes?

I hope it's not standard procedure for Enterprise to return to Earth for the launch of every freakin warp-5 starship.

Obviously it's Section 31. Malcolm even said the word "section", in an obvious fanwank.

I like that they are adressing the smooth head issue, but I don't see how it can be rectified that Koloth, Kor, and Kang (Kang the Klingon, that is, not Kang the Rigellian) went from smooth to bumpy. Is the effect temporary? They better tell us!

It's really lame that the show is being cancelled now that it's actually gotten good. If only they'd been this way the first two years... If only...

Seth MacFarlane as Ensign Rivers

Is that THE Seth MacFarlane? As in Family Guy creator Seth MacFarlane?

This will probably be cleared up in the next episode, but it would seem that Kang and Co. had the virus during TOS, and were cured of it at some point after that (to look like the ridged-head Klingon). The Klingons did say in this episode that perhaps the virus could be made non-lethal at some point, perhaps years in the future it is totally cured(or perhaps after some period of time the virus runs its course) Again this may be cleared up in the next episode.

I would be curious as to if such drastic physical changes to a body could indeed be caused by a virus(in real life) It is interesting that the changes seem localized to a particular area J I do think that it was a nice tie-in to the Augments episodes.

It is POSSIBLE...not very likely, but POSSIBLE...and in any case, we don't really know if the virus affects anything apart from the forehead due to the TOS Klingons always being fully clothed. ;)

At this point, I'm assuming Kang & others will become infected, but won't die thanx to a 'cure', and will finally be rid of ailment decades later.
However, that still leaves the nit of Kaless. He also was shown with a smooth head. However, he was just an illusion created for Kirk & co.

Reckon we can cover that, as you said, by the fact that Savage Curtain Kahless was created from Kirk's preconceptions (also he seemed eviller than the real one, presumably for the same reason). Actually, I'm quite impressed by the creators' fix for the Klingon forehead problem, although admittedly they've certainly had long enough to think about it.

It is POSSIBLE...not very likely, but POSSIBLE...and in any case, we don't really know if the virus affects anything apart from the forehead due to the TOS Klingons always being fully clothed.

I believe the guy in the cell had teeth that were human-like, as well, and not the pointed ones the others have. Also, his voice was less "gruff" but we don't know if that was just the actor or a directorial decision.

It makes for painful viewing watching Tripp be so nasty to T'Pol ("not everything in my life revolves around you"). He's gonna have some major apologising to do before the last episode. His attitude continued aboard the Columbia, where two crewmembers transfered out because of him. Speaking of the Coloumbia, was this ship named in honor of the destroyed Space Shuttle. Along with Enterprise, there are at least two Trek ships that share theire names with NASA shuttles.

T'Pol is still somewhat uneasy with her melds. Archer tells her to "relax your emotional suppression". I could never imagine Kirk saying that to Spock.

I thought the Great Lakes seen from orbit was a nice touch by the effects team.

T'Pol and Tripp are in each other's daydreams. Tripp is in Hoshi's dream too. We learn that she's never had any romantic feelings toward him.

The scenes of the Klingon genetic engineering lab were unsettling. The Klingon commander sure didn't have any qualms about euthanasia. Phlox was understandably offended. He seemed to show a lot more attitude than usual (his anger was justified). The whole concept of Klingon augments (with human augent DNA) who look human was interesting. This would also provide a reason for why the Klingons looked human in the original series (Worf was asked about this in ST:DS9). I liked how the previous 3-parter on augments (with Brent Spiner) was further developed by this episode.

The only plot development I had trouble with was Malcolm's "treason". It's hard to believe that he would betray the Archer and the Enterprise for ANY other organization.

All in all, this ep packs in a lot of surprises which each deserve their own episode.

The Columbia NX-02 was indeed named for the space shuttle. As for the others, Challenger directly had a couple of Trek ships named after it, Atlantis and Discovery haven't to my knowledge, Endeavour shares a name with a Trek ship but they were both named after Captain Cook's ship, and Enterprise was named after Kirk's ship, not the other way around.

He also was shown with a smooth head. However, he was just an illusion created for Kirk & co.

He was. The Excalbians drew on Kirk's memories, and Kirk assumed that all Klingons looked like that.

How could the Klingons have salvaged Augment embryos?

The Augments' Bird Of Prey got blown up REAL good;
there is no way - AND STONE COLD STEVEN OF NONE _MEANS_ NO WAY! - anything not wearing a carbon-neutronium jacket could have survived it.

Now if they'd said they'd found the body of Malik after it had been deep sixed and harvested his DNA I might have accepted that.

Otherwise - again, great show.

"It's really lame that the show is being cancelled now that it's actually gotten good. If only they'd been this way the first two years... If only..."

"The ancients were right: There are no sadder words."
-Devlin O'Ryan, Legion Of Super Heroes #38.

And that's all I got to say about that.

NANJAO: Here we see the genesis of the "Each ship has its own insignia" from TOS.

Rona - He's gonna have some major apologising to do before the last episode.
Yeah, but being Vulcan T'Pol will probably say something like, "There is no need to get so emotional. I realize you were wrong." ;-)

The scenes of the Klingon genetic engineering lab were unsettling.
I thought they were funny, but you're probably not a fan of black humor.

Given that the cause of Klingons looking human was caused by genetic engineering, why didn't Dr. Bashir know about human-looking Klingons? Section 31 seems to know about the cause. Dr. Phlox definitely knows about it. So why is this information a deep dark secret in the 24th century?

Bashir was never an official member of Section 31, they just tried to recruit him. The only time he would have had a chance to learn all of their secrets was late in season seven of DS9, and by then he already would have known about the smooth-headed Klingons because "Trials and Tribbleations" was two years earlier.

Have you noticed? Captain Hernandez' communications officer is an Asian, and her helm gal (miss "lieutenant") is black. Are they trying to start a new trend or something?

(Incidentally, this guy must feel very lonely on the bridge crewed almost entirely with women )

Speculation only -- This being the last season (and the creators know it before writing the last show), I have a horrible feeling about the Columbia. And who's to say Phlox will survive as well?

So why is this information a deep dark secret in the 24th century? - KAM

The Klingons must have their reasons.

In any case, aside from Worf's line, there's nothing to suggest it is a "deep dark secret." It's either not common knowledge... or simply not something Bashir and O'Brien knew (they also misremembered what Kirk looked like). For all we know the mutation of the Klingons is a footnote in the annals of genetic engineering.

How many smooth-headed Klingons did we actually see in TOS? Two dozen? Hardly a representative sample of the entire population.

Speculation...
The virus is 'cured', but not before it strikes most Klingons. They don't die, but they do become smooth-headed. Not wanting their enemies know that they were 'weak', the smooth-heads latch a massive dis-information campaign. They seek to replace all their pictures in the history databases to make it seem as if real Klingons always looked like that. Phlox is baffled by these actions because he knows that in 100 years the ridges will return. But he agrees to keep the nature of the 'illness' secret due to patient confidentiality. Also, he believes that in 100 years noone will care that Klingons were ridged, then smooth, then ridged again.

(Incidentally, this guy must feel very lonely on the bridge crewed almost entirely with women )

Or very lucky, assuming he's not gay.

No, that's Malcom

Reed: I resent that! Whenever have I shown signs of being anything other than heterosexual?!

(Suddenly we hear Archer's voice over the comm...)

Archer: Lt. Reed, I want you to consult with Ensign Hugandkiss.

Reed: OK, sir. (Into computer: "I want Ensign Hugandkiss".

Computer: Specify first name.

Reed: Captain, what's Ensign Hugandkiss' first name?

Archer: Amanda.

Reed: OK, "I want Amanda Hugandkiss."

(Sound of laughter from all eavesdropping personnel; Reed slowly cottons on)

Reed: You total wan-

Didn't the Klingon Commander say the Klingon augments were unstable? They seemed to be stable enough to attack and disable the Enterprise. It was also interesting that the make-up for the Klingon augments featured 'browned' faces, as if to make them look like the Klingons in classic Trek.

"as if"??

Exactly my thoughts, Influx. It wasn't "as if to make them look" that way, it was done deliberately to make them look that way.

Thanks, ScottN, precisely. And "unstable" could mean that they hold on to their stability until a certain point makes them go "Poof"! Kind of like stacking Oreos, all stable until a certain point, then wham! You got a lot of cookie-bit ice cream to make.

Sloan in DS9's "Extreme Measures" said that Section 31 has no physical headquarters or base of operations. So where was Reed's superior speaking to him from? A front of some kind? Or is he in Starfleet as well and just likes to wear black leather to work everyday?

Maybe in Archer's time Section 31 has a base of operations, but then their landlord gets angry at all of the activity occuring in the middle of the night, and so he refuses to renew their lease.

Maybe the genesis for Section 31 is MI6, seeing as Reed is British.

"Now pay attention, Double-Oh-FourtySeven..."

LOL!

"My mission is going well, HQ: they're all buying my presence as the token gay character..."

---Critique:
---Brilliant! I heard that the episode would try to explain the cranial ridge question that’s been bugging Trekkers ever since the debut of Star Trek The Motion Picture, but using the Augments to do so, and tying in the long-debated continuity issue with genetically superior humans was just plain brilliant!
---And Reed is revealed in the closing scene of Act 1 to be part of Section 31?? Nice!!!!!!! Reed’s duplicity throughout the episode created lots of nice tension in the viewer, the final scene of Act 3 was really heart-pounding, and Reed’s breakdown in the opening scene of Act 4 was wrenching, perhaps the most sincere performance Dominic Keating has given on the show to date. This is the sort character conflict that makes the best Trek episodes!
---I’m also intrigued by where Trip’s story is going. I hope there’s a nice payoff to it by series’ end.
---Well, at least this time the scene in the episode shown in the promo after Act 1 was one that was already seen!
---It was very interesting to see Phlox and Hoshi in civilian clothing in the second scene of Act 1, when usually the costumers just let them walk around in their uniforms.

---Notes:
---I notice that four of the guest stars in this episode are past Trek alumni, possibly the most number in an episode of this series since the pilot.
---Commander Collins mentions in the third scene of Act 3 that “very few” people have access to transporter technology (though it is unclear if she meant on Earth, or in general in the interstellar community).
---We hear Rigellian for the first time in this episode.
---We see Qu’Vat Colony for the first time, after having been first mentioned by Malik in the opening scene of Act 2 of The Augments.
---Fans of the animated TV show Family Guy may take note that the engineer played by Seth McFarlane, the creator of that show, back in The Forgotten, has now gotten a name, Ensign Rivers, and is now stationed on the Columbia.

---Continuity Nods:
---This episode, of course, is intended to explain why the Klingons from the original series lacked forehead ridges. (For other theories that have been offered to date for the cranial ridge discrepancy, go here.) Antaak mentions to Phlox in the opening scene of Act 2 that the virus threatening the Klingons is the greatest threat since the Hur’q Invasion, a historical event first mentioned in The Sword of Kahless(DS9). I think the Klingon ship that attacks the Enterprise in the opening of Act 3 is a new class we haven’t seen until now. It is also interesting to note that the closest phoneme for the English letter “h” that the Klingon language has sounds like a “k,” sound, since that’s how the captured Klingon says “human” in Act 3.
---Hernandez tells Trip during their dinner in the third scene of Act 2 that she acquired the Columbia’s chef from the Republic, a predecessor to the Constitution-class ship of the same name on which Kirk and Ben Finney served, as mentioned in Court Martial(TOS).

---Terms:
General K’Vagh The lead Klingon in the episode, first seen in the teaser, and whose rank is mentioned by Dr. Antaak in the opening scene of Act2. (Name from startrek.com and closed captioning only.)
Gatlh tuneh? Klingon phrase that means, “What do you want with me?”, which is spoken by the Klingon prisoner in the teaser.
HyIngaOmoH Klingon phrase that means, “Secure him”, which is spoken by one of the Klingons in regard to their prisoner in the teaser.
IcHzI’ vISuch a’zIpaQ’ Klingon phrase that means, “I demand to see the magistrate”, which is spoken by the Klingon prisoner in the teaser.
ZlmuHlu’ nai zuqHa’ Klingon phrase that means, “My death sentence was commuted”, which is spoken by the Klingon prisoner in the teaser.
Dol’sha t’ung nev’Rleel Phrase spoken by one of Phlox’s captors in the second scene of Act 1, which Hoshi reveals later in the Act to mean “Bring him with us.”
Commander Collins Official with Starfleet Security who appears in the third scene of Act 1 to investigate the attack on Hoshi and Phlox.
Biggs One of two Columbia engineeres, along with Pierce, that Trip addresses in the fourth scene of Act 1. One of them is female, and if Trip was addressing them in left-to-right order of how they were standing before him, then Biggs is the male.
Pierce One of two Columbia engineeres, along with Biggs, that Trip assigns to recalibrate the field stabilizers in the fourth scene of Act 1. One of them is female, and if Trip was addressing them in left-to-right order of how they were standing before him, then Pierce is the female.
Ensign Rivers One of two male Columbia engineeres, along with Strong, that Trip assigns to work on the injector assembly in the fourth scene of Act 1. (Rank from startrek.com only.)
Strong One of two male Columbia engineeres, along with Strong, that Trip assigns to work on the injector assembly in the fourth scene of Act 1.
Harris Reed’s contact from what is presumably Section 31, with whom he first speaks in the sixth scene of Act 1, and with whom he meets later in the ninth and closing scene of the same Act. (Name from startrek.com only.)
Dr. Antaak Klingon physician specializing in metagenic research, with whom K’Vagh tells Phlox he will work in the opening scene of Act 2.
Tiburon Location of an Interspecies Medical Exchange conference at which Phlox met Dr. Antaak five years ago, as Antaak mentions to Phlox in the opening scene of Act 2. The word is the Spanish word for “shark,” and is also the name of a city in Marin County, California on Earth.
Commander Kelby Trip’s replacement as Chief Engineer on the Enterprise, first seen in the second scene of Act 2.
Republic Starfleet vessel from which Hernandez tells Trip she acquired the Columbia’s chef during their dinner in the third scene of Act 2, and which she seems to indicate that she served before her promotion to captain of the Columbia.
Captain Jennings Captain of the Republic, whom Hernandez mentions to Trip during their dinner in the third scene of Act 2.
Levodian Flu Malady of which the Klingon virus appears to be a mutated version, as Phlox tells Antaak in the sixth scene of Act 2.
Marab The principle afflicted Klingon who boards the Enterprise and is captured in Act 3. (Name from startrek.com only.)
ay’vanDaq nuHmey tIOeg Klingon phrase that means, “Target weapons on this location”, which is spoken by Marab in the opening scene of Act 3.
jol Quv yIchegh Klingon phrase that means, “Return to the transport site”, which is spoken by one of the Klingons who board the Enterprise in the opening scene of Act 3.
SoHvaD pagh vIjatlh Klingon phrase that means, “I have nothing to say to you”, which is spoken by the captured Marab to Archer in sickbay Act 3.
Boshar Antaak’s pet targ, first seen in the opening shot of the teaser, and named in the fourth scene of Act 3, when Antaak tells Phlox that he was his first patient.
microdyne coupler Device with which Hoshi tells Archer in Act 3 the data on the Rigellian ship’s black box was erased.
N’Vak Colony Klingon colony that was one of the first planets infected by the virus, and which the High Council dispatched the fleet to annihilate, as K’Vagh tells Phlox in the second scene of Act 4.

He had never seen Hoshi is tight black leather before, so all the blood rushed to a different part of his body that was “puffed up”
Why didn’t Phlox’s defensive “pufferfish” response kick in when he and Hoshi were attacked in the second scene of Act 1?
Yeah, really. This is like Picard doing some fencing without a protective suit, or Worf giving a little kid a bat’leth to play with, or Kirk having indiscriminate casual sex, or…oh, wait a minute…
You really have to marvel at how callous Archer is at asking the untrained T’Pol to mindmeld with someone, when Kir’Shara established that mindmelds by an untrained Melder is what causes Pa’nar Syndrome. Does Archer really think that the “few tricks” that he learned when he had Surak’s katra really make him an experienced Melder? Why not just ask one of the Vulcans on Earth, like Soval, or go to Vulcan and ask one of the Syrranites there to perform it?
Little-known fact: Tiburon has the best golf courses
Antaak tells Phlox in the opening scene of Act 2 that they met five years ago at an I.M.E. conference on Tiburon. Tiburon must be an Earth colony, given its name, but five years ago was a year before Earth had Warp 5, which means it couldn’t be that far from Earth, and the since the I.M.E. was initiated by the Vulcans, as established, as I recall, in The Breach, wouldn’t such a conference have been held on a Vuclan world?
They put it on Paris Hilton’s T-Mobile Sidekick
Antaak tells Phlox in the same scene that the virus has spread from “planet to planet,” and K’Vagh later tells Phlox in the second scene of Act 4 that if they don’t find a cure, that there will soon be no one left to treat. How is this? How can a virus travel among planets? And if it was spread by Klingon travelers, wouldn’t quarantining infected worlds stop its spread?
Set phasers to “ironic”
The infected Klingon brought in to Phlox and Antaak in the sixth scene of Act 2, is barely conscious, has lesions on his face caused by the virus, and is said to be only the first stage of infection, but still has his cranial ridges. But the Klingons who board the Enterprise have almost completely lost theirs, which, if caused by the virus, would seem to indicate that they’re farther along, yet have no trouble functioning and appear otherwise perfectly healthy. So even though this episode sought to explain why some Klingons had ridges and some did not, now we have to ask why one who should not have had them did?
Today IS a good day for complex linguistic idiosyncrasies!
After the Klingon attack in Act 3, Archer asks the captured Klingon in sickbay why they attacked him, and he says, “I have nothing to say to you” in Klingon, which the closed captioning reads as “SoHvaD pagh vIjatlh.” Interestingly, the Pagh was the Klingon ship on which Riker served in A Matter of Honor(TNG). So which of the words in that phrase was that ship named with? “Nothing”? “Say”? “To”? Or is the name of that ship simply a homophone?

3 points Luigi:

Tiburon is nobody's colony, but the homeworld of the eponymous race featured in TOS: "The Way to Eden" and DS9: "The Ship" (IIRC).

Presumably the virus has different effects on different Klingons, just like a real world disease, so it only dehabilitates some but causes loss of ridges in most.

On the matter of the Pagh meaning 'nothing', I actually brought this up about six months ago on the A Matter of Honour board, but you said that since I got 'pagh = zero' from the Klingon Dictionary it wasn't canon and didn't count. Well, now I guess it IS canon and it DOES count! Though I think it could well be a homophone as you mentioned, unless Riker was fobbed off on a ship of losers...

dotter31: Why did the Klingons need to hire Rigellians to capture Phlox? (This would seem to be a form of asking for assistance as well)…Do they not have cloaking devices so they could do it themselves? I was also unsatisfied by their reason for not capturing Soong- "too heavily guarded" I see no reason why someone couldn't have simply beamed into his cell, grab him, and beam out.(or just beam him up from his cell)
Luigi Novi: Klingons are probably not common on Earth, whereas Rigellians probably are, so they hired the Rigellians (which would not be seen as “asking” for assistance, but merely a business transaction), so they figured the Rigellians could follow Phlox around and take him when they had the best opportunity. Cloaks would work on their ships, but not on the operatives needed to observe Phlox to see when he was in a position to be taken without witnesses or insurmountable resistance. The “heavy guard” said to be surrounding Soong might’ve included transporter scramblers, or having his cell deep below ground, with an obstructive substance comprising the structure. As for the Enterprise, perhaps having transporter scramblers surrounding an entire ship isn’t feasible.

Duke of Earl Grey: Assuming that man in black was a Section 31 agent, what is it with them and recruiting British Starfleet officers?
Luigi Novi: What does the fact that he’s British have to do with it?

Influx: I find it difficult to believe that Phlox would go ahead and help anyway, as he should know that he will be killed as soon as he's finished. (OK, I know he won't be, but he should assume that.)
Luigi Novi: We don’t know that for certain, and Phlox may be strongly motivated to help prevent a dying race in any case.

Mike Ram: The guy who played the Section 31 agent was also Captain Sanders of the Melinchay in DS9: "For the Uniform."
Luigi Novi: As well as Ambassador Voval in Liaisons(TNG), Kortar in Barge of the Dead(VOY), and Shiraht in Rogue Planet.

Anonymous: I like that they are adressing the smooth head issue, but I don't see how it can be rectified that Koloth, Kor, and Kang (Kang the Klingon, that is, not Kang the Rigellian) went from smooth to bumpy.
Luigi Novi: A cure, genetic modification, surgical alteration, differing responses to the virus, some future experience they all undergo that causes it, etc.

Anonymous: Is that THE Seth MacFarlane? As in Family Guy creator Seth MacFarlane?
Luigi Novi: He first appeared in The Forgotten, but his character didn’t get a name until now.

Rona: It makes for painful viewing watching Tripp be so nasty to T'Pol ("not everything in my life revolves around you").
Luigi Novi: I don’t see how that’s nasty. She asked him if his transfer was due to their relationship, and that was a normal response, even if it’s somewhat rhetorical.

Rona: His attitude continued aboard the Columbia, where two crewmembers transfered out because of him.
Luigi Novi: Which could simply have been a question of personality differences or not being used to his style of command. We were never told what the problem was, nor were their interactions depicted.

Stone Cold Steven Of None: The Augments' Bird Of Prey got blown up REAL good; there is no way - AND STONE COLD STEVEN OF NONE _MEANS_ NO WAY! - anything not wearing a carbon-neutronium jacket could have survived it.
Luigi Novi: They could’ve if they were sufficiently shielded.

KAM: Given that the cause of Klingons looking human was caused by genetic engineering, why didn't Dr. Bashir know about human-looking Klingons? Section 31 seems to know about the cause. Dr. Phlox definitely knows about it. So why is this information a deep dark secret in the 24th century?
Luigi Novi: Do you know everything about what happened a century ago? Does an agent of an intelligence organization know everything within its files? Obviously not, and there’s no reason to think Bashir would know what Section 31 knows, since the flow of info went in the opposite direction, from Bashir to Sloan.

Influx: I have a horrible feeling about the Columbia.
Luigi Novi: I DOUBT they’d do that, given the connection viewers would make with the real-life space shuttle.

Influx: Thanks, ScottN, precisely. And "unstable" could mean that they hold on to their stability until a certain point makes them go "Poof"!
Luigi Novi: Leaving only a pair of glass slippers.

dotter31: Sloan in DS9's "Extreme Measures" said that Section 31 has no physical headquarters or base of operations. So where was Reed's superior speaking to him from? A front of some kind? Or is he in Starfleet as well and just likes to wear black leather to work everyday?
Luigi Novi: He’s into bondage and S&M in his free time, and there was nothing else to wear today.

Thande: Tiburon is nobody's colony, but the homeworld of the eponymous race featured in TOS: "The Way to Eden" and DS9: "The Ship" (IIRC).
Luigi Novi: THAT’s where I heard it! Thanks, Thande. I looked in the Encyclopedia, but couldn’t find it. I must’ve looked I incorrectly, because I looked again now, and there it is.

Of course, the coincidence of a planet having that name is still a nit for The Way to Eden(TOS).

Thande: Though I think it could well be a homophone as you mentioned, unless Riker was fobbed off on a ship of losers...
Luigi Novi: LOL!!!

Rona: His attitude continued aboard the Columbia, where two crewmembers transfered out because of him.
Luigi Novi: Which could simply have been a question of personality differences or not being used to his style of command. We were never told what the problem was, nor were their interactions depicted.
I thought they REQUESTED transfer, but were turned down?

Captain Bryce & Luigi, I was not saying that Bashir would have learned the information from Section 31. (Heck, did he even know Section 31 existed then?) My point was that if an EARTH-BASED organization can learn of this affliction how secret can it be in the first place?

Okay, maybe S31 somehow has spies in the Empire, wouldn't that mean that other planets could also have a spy network there? Wouldn't information about the disease get diseminated that way?

Also what's the point of S31 keeping everything it learns a deep, dark secret forever & ever? They are supposedly a part of Starfleet, therefore they must report to someone high up in the ranks and information that is learned could be diseminated throughought Starfleet. Why keep the information about the change in the Klingons a deep, dark secret? How does that benefit Starfleet/Earth?

Luigi Novi: Do you know everything about what happened a century ago?
No, but if the Chinese people had changed appearance for a while I would think that it would at least be a historical footnote in general information about the Chinese.
i.e. From 1897 to 1908 the Chinese people grew horns, a third eye and webbed fingers. The Chinese don't like to talk about what caused it.

Luigi, I think Influx's point about Section 31 recruiting Britons was because the only other person we've seen them try to recruit, Bashir, was (apparently - it was never stated on screen IIRC) British.

Sloan in "Inquisition" states that Section 31 is an independent body that does not report to or "file reports with" anyone else, even in Starfleet.(That's why Bashir is so outraged by them.)

It is not stated anywhere that the information of this episode is kept secret, or that its not in history books.(well, databanks) Bashir and O'Brien(from Trials and Tribblations) probably were just not familiar with that part of history. That doesn't mean that other people aren't.

Bashir and O'Brien were just playing cabbagehead. It's a "'what's a containment breach?' asks the bridge officer" nit, not a historical inconsistency nit.

Good point, Thande. I was going to add that Worf was obviously familiar with it, and since he was raised by humans, it must be a part of history(or they wouldn't have known about it to tell him) He could have learned about it later, but this is not likely since he did not spend too much time around Klingons until TNG(and DS9)

Tiburon is also mentioned in The Savage Curtain(TOS) as the home of Zora. Nice bit of continuity there.

Tiburon must be an Earth colony, given its name... - Luigi Novi

Except, by that logic, Vulcan, Romulus, and Remus must also be Earth colonies.


And if it was spread by Klingon travelers, wouldn’t quarantining infected worlds stop its spread? - Luigi Novi

I would assume that the virus was spread by travelers. And yes, quarantining would stop its spread. But I think the problem lies with being able to isolate infected individuals. As the number of infected people increase, so does the complexity of quarantining them. And at some point the number of infected people could be so great and so scattered through space, that it would be impossible to isolate everyone.


So even though this episode sought to explain why some Klingons had ridges and some did not, now we have to ask why one who should not have had them did? - Luigi Novi

Maybe I'm misunderstanding your point... is it that the Klingon at the beginning appeared sicker (lesions) than the ones aboard Enterprise? There are viruses on Earth that produce symptoms only during the original infection, but not later. A person infected with HIV may experience flu-like symptoms early on, but then it goes away. Meanwhile, the virus continues to propagate and destroy the body's immune system. Herpes is also symptomatic during the original infection (lesions and sores). This is why STDs are so widespread... because people don't know they're infected, because the notable symptoms are temporary.


Leaving only a pair of glass slippers. - Luigi Novi

Klingon Cinderella.. LOL!


I was going to add that Worf was obviously familiar with it, and since he was raised by humans, it must be a part of history(or they wouldn't have known about it to tell him) - dotter31

Or... Worf found out about it while doing research into his culture. Again, there is nothing to suggest that the change was a secret (except maybe to the Klingons... or at least Worf). All Trials & Tribbleations established is that Bashir, O'Brien, and Odo didn't know about it.

Nyet! Cinderella ees Rrussian fairy tale!

Besides, in the Klingon version, Cinderella wears broken glass slippers.

KAM: No, but if the Chinese people had changed appearance for a while I would think that it would at least be a historical footnote in general information about the Chinese.
Luigi Novi: But Bashir, O’Brien and Odo would not necessarily be privy to it, especially if the virus only affected a small number of Klingons.

I thought that this one was okay. It's nice to see an explanation that might work out. We'll see where it goes.

I really liked learning that Reed was part of Section 31. I can't wait to see how he'll possibly redeem himself in the next (or upcoming) episode. It doesn't air here until tonight.

I didn't recognize the name but I sure recognized the voice; Uncle Phil from "The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air" played the Klingon general. He's an appropriate authority figure.

I might not have recognized John Schuck in the Klingon gear as he does not have as much of a quacky,bombastic voice as he used to.
I thought their voices were familiar. Good spotting.

Anonymous: Also, why didn't the Rigellians have tenticles? And glass domes?
Aren't they supposed to look like giant walking turtles? Seriously.

Rona: Didn't the Klingon Commander say the Klingon augments were unstable? They seemed to be stable enough to attack and disable the Enterprise.
I thought he meant unstable as in they'd start dying after a short period of time. Remember, the captured Klingon starts coughing shortly after being put into his cell.

Luigi Novi: Why not just ask one of the Vulcans on Earth, like Soval, or go to Vulcan and ask one of the Syrranites there to perform it?
Assuming that there are Syrranites (or Soval for that matter) on Earth.

The Factfiles hypothesise that there are two Rigellian races, one similar to Vulcans and the other the giant snapping turtles we saw in "The Cage". Given the number of populated planets in the Rigel system, I find that eminently plausible.

James Avery was also the voice of the evil villain Shredder in the original Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles series. Eric Pierpoint was the alien refugee turned LAPD cop George Fransisco in Alien Nation: The Series.

The story I heard about the origin of the "human-looking" Klingons, was that the Klingon's created them intentionally in an effort to infiltrate Earth more easily or perhaps to interact more easily.

Given the Internet rumors, the last thing Reed needs is to check into a hotel room with another guy
Interestingly, it seems that Section 31 uniforms will not change for the next 200 years, as Harris wears the same one as Sloane on Deep Space Nine. What's even worse is that whereas Sloane only wore it in private with Bashir, Harris wears it in public. Sure, he's in a dark, deserted alley, but if he really wants to keep Section 31 a secret, and avoid any unnecessary opportunities for him or that uniform to be identified as having to do with Section 31, he should be dressed as a civilian, rather than wearing a uniform of any kind, and meet Reed in a hotel room somewhere, rather than out in public.

One could argue that Harris' uniform has nothing to do with Section 31, its similarity to Sloane's uniform 200 years later notwithstanding. Maybe Harris wears a Starfleet Security-branch uniform or somesuch.

If Reed were wearing that uniform aboard the ship, you'd definitely have a case.

Influx: when they came across the destroyed Rigellian ship, there was loose debris floating about the area. It should not have stayed in place unless acted upon by an outside force.
Luigi Novi: Is it not possible that things could’ve happened in the debris that could cause movement of small pieces of it, like minor explosions or explosive decompressions of small parts of the ship that followed the main explosion that destroyed the ship?

Darth Sarcasm: One could argue that Harris' uniform has nothing to do with Section 31, its similarity to Sloane's uniform 200 years later notwithstanding. Maybe Harris wears a Starfleet Security-branch uniform or somesuch.
Luigi Novi: If it has nothing to do with Section 31, then it's quite a coincidence that it's the same one as Sloane's. Even if it's just a Security uniform, then the nit holds up, by virtue of the same argument; that the same uniform is being used by covert secruity operatives 200 years apart. I also think that the intent of the writers/costumers should be considered, and it seems fairly reasonable that that uniform is intended to be the Section 31 uniform.

So the Klingons with augment DNA are unstable, and eventually die, but they still were faster, stronger, and smarter for a while. Shouldn't the captured one (Marab?) have at least a little "augmented" strength? He only started coughing when they put him into the brig. It's true I didn't know what stage they were in, and illnesses affect people differently, but they were executing their mission with a questionable precision. Also, I've only seen a few eps of this series and I never learned what MACO stood for; so beyond pointing out my contridiction, a little info would be great.

Near the end when T'Pol was walking up to Kelby, and he noticed something wrong with the display, an engineer walked in front of T'Pol and she look at him like he wasn't supposed to be there, because she almost ran into him.

LN: The infected Klingon [...] is said to be only the first stage of infection, but still has his cranial ridges. But the Klingons who board the Enterprise have almost completely lost theirs, which, if caused by the virus, would seem to indicate that they’re farther along...
Not all the augmented Klingons had the virus, and visa versa. The Klingons who boarded Enterprise were augments, hence the lack of ridges, but would eventually die when their brain shuts down. The 'test subject' Phlox received was not augmented, just infected.

>>>By dotter31 on Friday, February 18, 2005 - 7:21 pm:
Why did the Klingons need to hire Rigellians to capture Phlox? (This would seem to be a form of asking for assistance as well) Do they not have cloaking devices so they could do it themselves?<<<

Klingons will not have cloaking devices for another 100 years or so. It has never been made clear exactly when they first had them, or if they developed the technology themselves or got it off the Romulans - unclear as in its never been said on screen. The unoffical background is that the technology was traded for Klingon ship designs just prior to The Enterprise Incident (TOS).

We do know that Klingons of this period didn't have cloaking devices thanks to Kor in DS9 (The last episode he appears in). During this episode he starts talking about an attack he made with Koloth and Kang on a Federation base. He starts by saying that they have to remember that cloaking technology was new at the time, and goes on to say that he spent three days pulling the cloaking device apart to figure out how it worked.
Since no Klingon ships were shown on TOS with cloaking devices, but were by ST III, this would set period when Klingons got the technology to between 2269 (When TOS ends) and 2285 (When ST II and III take place - None of the Enterprise crew seem surprised that the cloaked ship that attacks them is Klingon in ST III, so it seems they are well aware that Klingon ships have Cloaking devices at this point.) This season of Enterprise is set in 2154 - 115 years before the end of TOS.

>>>By Rona on Sunday, February 20, 2005 - 11:12 am:
Speaking of the Coloumbia, was this ship named in honor of the destroyed Space Shuttle.<<<

Yes it was, twice over in fact. It was named in memory of those lost on Columbia, but also because Columbia was the second space shuttle built - the first shuttle was called Enterprise, although she was a test bed and never intended to go into space.

>>>By KAM on Monday, February 21, 2005 - 1:52 am:
Given that the cause of Klingons looking human was caused by genetic engineering, why didn't Dr. Bashir know about human-looking Klingons? Section 31 seems to know about the cause. Dr. Phlox definitely knows about it. So why is this information a deep dark secret in the 24th century?<<<

Given that Klingons in the 24th century don't like to talk about it, we can only conclude that;

1 - Part of the Federation/Klingon treaty contained the clause 'You don't mention us having flat heads and we don't blow your ships up'.

2 - Federation Officals and Starfleet officers who asked such things as 'Didn't your grandfather have a flat head?' were returned to their homeworlds in a small jar. Eventally they decided to put a stop to this by not telling anyone about it, unless they had the sense not to mention it.

>>>By Rona on Tuesday, February 22, 2005 - 5:26 pm:

Didn't the Klingon Commander say the Klingon augments were unstable? <<<

He may have meant unstable as in genetically unstable rather than mental stability. Since the virus killed Klingons in the end I'd say he was talking about genetic/physical stability.

>>>He had never seen Hoshi is tight black leather before, so all the blood rushed to a different part of his body that was “puffed up”
Why didn’t Phlox’s defensive “pufferfish” response kick in when he and Hoshi were attacked in the second scene of Act 1? <<<

I've always assumed, even from seeing this the first time, that Phlox was lying about it being a defensive response. Consider that he was not being attacked when he did this, but he was trying to stop a fight. Plus his expression and tone lead me to understand that he was not telling the truth about what he'd done. For all we know that could be part of Deblobian mating rituals.

>>>Little-known fact: Tiburon has the best golf courses
Antaak tells Phlox in the opening scene of Act 2 that they met five years ago at an I.M.E. conference on Tiburon. Tiburon must be an Earth colony, given its name, but five years ago was a year before Earth had Warp 5, which means it couldn’t be that far from Earth,<<<

By what logic? Earth had colonised planets long before they had warp five ships, and they have ships flying around trading with planets that go a lot slower than warp five. The distance Earth could set up colonies would depend on how long the ships could stay in space, and how long people would be willing to spend getting there. Faster ships would increase this range sure, but it doesn't follow that just because it would take a year or two to get to a planet no one would be willing to make the trip.

>>>On the matter of the Pagh meaning 'nothing', I actually brought this up about six months ago on the A Matter of Honour board, but you said that since I got 'pagh = zero' from the Klingon Dictionary it wasn't canon and didn't count. Well, now I guess it IS canon and it DOES count! Though I think it could well be a homophone as you mentioned, unless Riker was fobbed off on a ship of losers...<<<

When they were in Klingon space to find the Augments Hoshi mentioned that she had programmed the UT with 17 Klingon dialect's. 'Pagh' may mean something different in one of those dialects.

(Or the real reason the crew took to Riker was that he never asked why their ship was called Zero...Maybe their aggressive postures when he came on board was them just waiting for him to comment; 'Come on, say something bad about our name so we can beat you to a pulp and send you back to your ship')

Ha! A-HA! I had never seen this episode before last night and there was something in it that proved that, within the Trek universe, something is as I had always hoped.

Those who may remember my occasional rants on the subject know that I have always had an issue with the lack of civil authority or planetary government on Earth. When something bad happens, Starfleet Security shows up to act like the police. When planet Earth needs to transmit a planetary distress call in ST4, it is done by the President of the Federation Council (who may or may not be the same thing as the President of the Federation), not the President of Earth.

And yes, the "Commander Collins" in this ep did bother me, though I guess I shouldn't consider as any different than if NCIS showed up because a naval or Marine officer were kidnapped (though Phlox is not Starfleet...). But, what I had always hoped for, what author Diane Carey had postulated in her novel "Best Destiny," was proven when Reed receives the rendezvous address from Harris. It reads:

xxxx Blah Blah Street
San Francisco
California
USA, Earth
xxx-xxxxxx-xxxxx-x (Some kind of interstellar ZIP code, though with no unifying Federation it seems like Earth should be the terminal destination, the way international mail is handled today [i.e., there's no "international" ZIP code or anything].)

There it is, black and white, clear as crystal: you stole fizzy liftin--wait, wrong announcement. There it is: USA! I had always believed that, with some modification no doubt, there were still individual countries with their own governments on Earth. Joining the world government (as discussed in TNG "Attached") doesn't mean that national identity should disappear, and I push this principle up a level: namely, that joining an interstellar federation doesn't mean one's planetary identity should disappear, either. (Which brings up the issue in a DS9 episode, the one where Sisko gets word from the Prophets to block Bajor's admission to the UFP, where it is mentioned that the Bajoran militia will be "integrated" into Starfleet. The whole point of a militia is to have a reserve force of ordinary citizens, not to make them all active-duty soldiers. Planets should have militias in the event of disaster, like the impending Borg invasion in TNG "BOBW2" or First Contact.)

PS--When young Kirk was driving the 'Vette in 2009's Star Trek, I groaned, expecting the approaching air-speeder to be a Starfleet vehicle (in the same vein as Tom Paris' asinine assertion that Earth's oceans were protected by the Federation Maritime Patrol). Instead, it said "Police." Now, it didn't say what unit of government it was attached to, but at least it didn't say Starfleet.

I think the Great Lakes are backwards! That's in the shot around 8:38 into the episode, after Trip is greeted by his new captain.