"Where were T'Pol's boobies this week? I was hoping it would be the new weekly thing." Biggy

That would be nice but at least we got to see a MACO woman in her underwear.

"Archer destroys the access panel of the portal on the Osaarian Sphere in the beginning of Act 3, which somehow totally removes the locking program to the portal." LN

It wasn't an access panel it was the locking mechanism; and I believe the sphere was hailed again which is what opened the hatch.

"I'd expect her [Hoshi] to know something about psychology and how it affects communication." Oregano
"Hoshi's area of expertise is in language. I don't think she would be capable of reading into the more subtle aspects without first having an understanding of the alien's culture." Darth

I don't know the extent of Hoshi's training but you may be correct oregano. A kinesics expert is well versed not only in verbal language but body language as well. Darth, there are languages that require you to know at least something about culture, plus I find it makes learning the language easier.

"Maybe its been said, but would the alien that Archer decompresses (partially) get the bends having the hatch open up like that." Torque
"His blood chemistry may differ, and may not absorb N2 the way that human blood does." ScottN

I believe you're thinking of nitrogen narcosis Scott; and decompression sickness, the bends, occurs when compressed air bubbles expand while still in your body. It would depend on physiology, as ScottN pointed out, but repressurization would have to occur pretty quickly for him to get DCS.

"I think the Osaarian ship CGI was a modification of the Karemma ship from DS9, but it was pretty skilful." Thande

It's been a while since I've seen Starship Down but I don't think the Osaarian ship looked anything like the Karemma.

The sphere looked a little like the Dyson Sphere from "Relics".

>>>By Trike on Thursday, September 18, 2003 - 3:00 am:

-- Phlox told Trip he knew the Vulcan relaxation techniques were intimate. How is having someone touch your back intimate?<<<

Its intimate for Vulcans.

Nit; While fighting the Pirate ship Reed states that they have lost hull plating. However the next external shot of the pirates shooting at Enterprise shows their weapons fire being dispersed over the hull by something, rather than damaging the hull. Could that have been...the hull plating at work?

Just to be a little more specific, T'Pol stated that they lost foward hull plating while in the cloaking field, but that's exactly where the other ship was firing so there should've been no dispersion.

This is probably mentioned on the Proving Ground board, but here the pirate says "the thermobaric clouds let you in, but they don't let you out." If that's the case, how did Shran get out?

Although effective, those long guns the pirates use aren't very tactical. With hand-held energy weapons it doesn't really matter how big they are, aside from maybe in a psychological sense.

With hand-held energy weapons it doesn't really matter how big they are, aside from maybe in a psychological sense.

That depends on how they really work - which we don't get told.
Longer barrels may allow for extra range, due to better focusing of the beam, and higher power output for the same reason.

Higher power can be due to many things but you're not going to need longer range when it's primary use is for raiding other starships in close quarters, hence it not being very tactical. You don't want a long gun if most of the time you're going to be in passageways and semi-cramped rooms because it's easier to have it taken away from you and may add un-necessary weight.