"Wouldn’t it have been a stronger ending if they actuallyallowed Trip to die, and Sim to live?" LN
For a while, I thought that was going to happen, and I agree that it would make for a stronger ending. When Sim volunteered to be one of the shuttle pilots I then thought he would get injured just enough to save Trip but not survive the procedure, taking the decision out of Archer's hands. I was surprised to find out that neither of these things took place.
Enterprise is in the Expanse looking for the Xindi to prevent Earth's destruction. Is this really the best time to be tinkering with the engines? In one scene Archer told Sim he was born four days ago. I may have my cloning terminology wrong but I don't think he was born at all. I've only seen season 3 up till this disk, and all of season 4, so if Trip ever talked about being a SCUBA diver I probably missed it. In Trip's quarters he had a MK-5 diving helmet which the US Navy used for more than 50 years I believe.
He speaks of it in a deleted scene from Shuttle Pod one.
Enterprise is in the Expanse looking for the Xindi to prevent Earth's destruction. Is this really the best time to be tinkering with the engines?
The tinkering was intended to boost their performance so that they would stand a better chance of preventing Earth's destruction. It's a classic high-risk/high-reward scenario.
High-risk indeed. I find this a bit funny because I just re-watched this ep on SyFy too Brian! The ending would've been even more strange had Phlox claimed he had tested the enzyme that slowed Sim's aging to normal human standards with promising results. Thanks for the note Chris, I'll try to check it out.
Not that strange tho; it was on today so we both watched it today.
I do agree with Luigi that the more daring ending would have been to let Trip die and Sim take his place. It could have been because they chose to let him die or because circumstances forced it. either way it would have opened the door for stories where (the new) Trip can question his own existence and if he's really the same guy he remembers being.