Enterprise 10-29-04

[Staffan]

I missed the last episode... what happened to Trip and T'Pol? I take it they broke up for some reason....

T'Pol married her vulcan fiancé, mostly in order to get her mother reinstated in whatever position she had before she was forced to retire.

 

[rangerjohn]

they had an Orion slave-woman ... who seduced (guess ... guess ... Kirk), anyway whe was green.

I don't recall if the orion males were ever shown.

Actually that was Pike, and she wasn't really an Orion. She was human and made to looK Orion, in one of many roles, by telepathic aliens. Did they ever name the aliens in the Cage/Managerie?

 

[Mark]

Just catching the Sunday rerun and thought I would post a few thoughts on the episode...

Good opening and fight on the the Klingon Bird of Prey. I think they made a wise choice using J G Hertzler (DS9's General Martok, among other things) as the Kilngon Captain. Not unlike Michael Dorn playing his own ancestor as the Klingon Advocate Col. Worf in ST VI: The Undiscovered Country and, of course, Brent Spiner's three episode mini-arc as Arik Soong currently being revealed.

What's up with allowing Soong to write reams and reams of thoughts out only paper only to "vaporize" them? Do you think they figure it's a good way to keep him busy? I caught the bit about not letting him have an electronic pad, but still, why allow the indulgence? I wonder if we'll find out down the road that they are actually studying his theories, and perhaps using them for other things (shades of Section 31?)

Regarding the Vulcan wedding, Trip does ask T'Pol in passing about her honeymoon, though she blows off the question. I like the compass/gift given to her by Archer (for her promotion). Odd that he doesn't get into a discussion about her now being married. It seems to me that at times they they were definitely moving in a direction of hooking up T'Pol and Archer romantically, such as in Enterprise epsiode Twilight. Later, when T'Pol revisits the issue with Trip in sickbay, the ship is attacked before they can get very far into the subject. I wonder if Coto is going to keep using little tricks like that to keep them apart. A little too much like Han and Leia, isn't it?

I wonder why the Orion males where that facial jewelry that looks like Borg implants?

Jeffrey Pearce, the Enterprise crewman T'Pol calms down in the cage, might turn out to be a good secondary character if they allow him to get over his panic attacks. Selling for such a low price isn't going to help his self-esteem.

The Big Show does do a fine job in his role as an Orion slave trader. The size difference between him and Blalock is very pronounced and used to good affect when he's shaking her around with joy at the price she brings in. Very funny, indeed.

How many other ST races did you notice among the slaves and the buyers? I saw a few I thought I recognized but will have to do a little digging before I can be sure. Wasn't the one that bought T'Pol a Tellarite? Here's a place to get some help -

http://www.70disco.com/lostrace.htm

That was a nice touch on how Archer recaptured Soong by releasing the handcuffs. One shot of him hnaging there was a bit too obvious that it was a double, but I imagine it took a while to get the shot and they didn't want Spiner hanging there all day himself.

I think it is interesting that the Augments aren't killing people left and right. Malik talks as if he wants to kill everyone and is calmed by Soong, but at no time when he is in battle with anyone does he use lethal force. I wonder if that is part of some creed they will reveal later.

Overall, good episode. More later if I think of anything...

 

[Mark]

Actually that was Pike, and she wasn't really an Orion. She was human and made to looK Orion, in one of many roles, by telepathic aliens. Did they ever name the aliens in the Cage/Managerie?

Orion and Rigellian (and I believe just as human) according to here -

http://startrek.epguides.info/?ID=435

 

[Wycen]

I missed the Friday airing due to a costume party, but managed to catch most of tonights. Too bad I forgot the first 5 minutes thanks to the X-Files movie on channel 2. I wanna see the battle with the Klingons.

Loved seeing Big Show as an Orion. Loved seeing an Orion Slave girl. Pretty much liked everything in the episdoe, but I did have the same thought as a previous poster about Malik/Archer, "Just phaser both of them!".

 

[Mark]

...but I did have the same thought as a previous poster about Malik/Archer, "Just phaser both of them!".

I'm not sure how much help that would be. The MACOs were using their phasers on the boarding party of Augments and all it did was knock them off balance for a moment or two. Then they stepped forward and phasered the MACOs into unconsciousness. But, yeah, I think they set a dangerous precedent when they had Malcolm shoot that hostile and T'Pol in the "western" episode. Maybe when he made his report after that incident to Archer, way back then, Archer told him that if he ever did that again he'd drop kick him back to ensign.

 

[GreenLantern]

Wow. Finally an episode that gives hope to a faltering series. I liked this episode alot and can't wait to see what happens next.

Manny, you da... um... err... man.

 

[Zarrock God of Evil]

I thought this a pretty good ep. Few problems here and there (like phasers at warp, which is IIRC a VERY bad idea), but overall I liked it and the way the show is going.

On another note, one of the supermen who first came aboard the Klingon ship was played, seemingly, by the same guy who played Paul Atreides in SciFi's two Dune miniseries. I kept expecting the other Augments to spontaneously burst into a chant of "Muad'dib" when he entered the room.

Yeah. Alec Newman has been busy lately. He also played the part of the eternal warrior Drogyn in a few episodes (including the series finale) of Angel.

-Zarrock

 

[Dark Psion]

Not to geek out here but...

I'm fairly positive that over the course of Trek that they use phasers all the time at warp.

To geek right back at you, they did in TOS, but they never did in TNG, and not till the Dominion War in DS9.

Remember a Phaser is basically light and Warp Drive is faster than light, firing aft might work, but fire forward and you run into your own beam.

This was a great episode, a little slow with the Augments (BTW, is having a fashion sense a genetic trait they forgot to include in their augmentation?) but great with Brent Spiner along.

Of course one problem is that his acting does kind of outshine the others. Look at the scene where he uses the Hypo on the Orion. As the Orion sways, Soong gives us several emotive moments, Archer looks like he is doing his impersonation of a log in winter.

 

[qstor]

And of course these are Coto's ideas, not Braga's so there's hope right there.

Yes it was great old school goodness! I liked the Orion Ships, pretty sleek looking. I'm glad Coto's a fan of TOS!

Mike