Enterprise 05-21-03 (Season Finale)

[uv23]

Ho ho fear my criticism! I have returned from Edmonton after seeing the season finale of Enterprise!

Know what? I didn't mind it. There were definitely some parts that I enjoyed and other parts that I know would have been better if this wasn't a family show. And other parts that could have just been done better over all.

Its hard to put a finger on it, but the pre-credits segment of Enterprise always sucks. I don't know if its general directorial issues or somethign specific. The beginning of this episode should have said "wow, look at that!" Instead it was rather weak.

I liked the scene where the enterprise was assisted by other federation ships. We've all wondered what kind of ships there are back home. It was a fun battle to watch.

I like how there were real consequeneces. 7 million people is a whole lot. But somehow, that huge fact seemed to be glossed over throughout the show. Maybe its because there were no scenes of the massive rescue effort or really any sign of the incident other than a big hole in the ground.

The scene with the vulcans going crazy almost made me laugh. It was basically a PG (not even) version of the "insane spaceship crew" scene from Event Horizon. It could have been done a lot better. As it is, it seemed quite camp.

The special effects were attrocious down on earth. Trip and Malcolm looked like they were on the set of Reboot while overlooking the valley of destruction.

Time travel is e. I wish they'd have done away with it altogether when moving on to this new direction.

Now I've got a headache so thats all the criticism I can manage for now. But as I said, I still did enjoy this episode. It was reasonably effective and the klingon aspect of it worked well enough. Hopefully we'll see more hard action from Capt. Gentlefingers and less pussyfooting and genuflecting.

 

[Mark]

We seem to be primarily on the same page with our views (and oddly, "no, I didn't read your post before typing out my responses to the previous posts, but damned if we don't think alike), but I do have a couple of comments...

I agree that T'Pol's indecision and decision wasn't handled all that well, but I liked the rest of the show.

The only thing I thought they might do differently was to have some back and forth between the Vulcans, Starfleet Command and Archer via transmissions after T'Pol made her decision but it would really have been superfluous to do so. We all know it took place off screen and that's enough for me.

For Tom:
I liked that they took time to show the decisions being made, the retrofitting of the ship, etc. The second hour you wanted will probably be the first episode of season 3. They explained the time lapse (at least a few months in the dock, seven weeks to reach the expanse, and an unknown amount of time to get to Earth at the start). Did someone catch how long it took them to get to Earth at the start? I didn't hear anything, but maybe I missed it.

IIRC seven weeks to reach Earth, at least two months (memorial service) to refit Enterprise, three months to the Expanse, are the rough estimates I drew from the dialog and plot. I'll try to catch the rerun Sunday and confirm or revise those estimates.

Good to have an openmind on board for what I think will be an exciting new direction for the show!

 

[Mark]

OK. Now that I've played my usual part of rebuffing the detractors... ...time to throw a few bones to the critics.

ok another so so episode
gee is the poor little vulcan going to come to play with us. Well her contract says so.
Ok 7+ Million and at least 2 months pass before the Enterprise shows.
Humm Florida is what 20 to 300 feet about sea level. HOW deep was the valley they showed. Why wasn't more water in it. Hello it cut a new valley straight to coast thru cuba and into Venezuela!
Even if the engineers put up a sea wall at the keys, courses of rivers, swamps etc have been change.
Where was the clean up crews. Still debris at site.
Humm big laser packs the sides of cut tight. Didn't Florida have sinkhole problems last decade. Yet the sides of valley was sharp.
No matter how little or much time had pass the valley shot was bad. It would have been better if they had been in a boat on the new bay.

No tiolet paper in Starfleet because the Klingons must have been circling Uranis. Close enough to see them leave dry dock but not be detected.

The space junk. What big bad laser rips huge tracts of land and we have 2 and only two guards doing an honor guard on the coffin. Again short time or long time to get back to earth.
The laser would cut to pieces or at least still have lab rats pouring over it.

Weather. hmm If months have pass before Big E return no problem if not. How many megagallons of steam and ash was pumped into atmospher.

Where are the marines ? i know the extras have not been casted.
But still Archer will need a new face or someone on deck will have new duties.

Ok hopefully next year we get some better writers. Or many the writers will discuss with their 5 years for plans on protecting the Big E while the landing party away.
Please on Please do an year story arc like B5.

You address three of the four problems I did have with the show.

I am on board with the "why didn't water flow into the swath?" complaint. It looks more devastated to have a gaping stretch but I see no way they could have avoided the water flowing in to fill the gap.

I'm not sure how the Klingons managed to scan that Enterprise was leaving dock, been close enough to do so, and not been detected by another Starfleet vessel or satelite in our solar system. I'll have to look for an explanation during the rerun.

I'm also curious why they didn't give us at least a taste of the "General and the Marines" but I understand the potential problem with casting not having been done yet. Still, they could have made mention of them or new quarters being added, or something.

The third problem I have is with "Quantum Dating" and I have no idea why someone else hasn't jumped all over this yet. If something exists, no matter in what timeline, it must have been around for a period of time and I would think that it's elements would show to have been converted/transformed/mutated/refined or whatever "a certain amount of time ago" no matter at what point they would have been scanned. To whit, if a device is manufactured 432 years before, but is brought forth in time 400 years, would it not scan as being manufactured 32 years before? If something is manufactured 432 in the future, sits on a shelf for thirty-two days, is brought back in time 432 years, and sits in a hanger for two months wouldn't it scan as being manufactured three months ago?

 

[Mallus]

It bored me. By then end I was paying greater attention to my battered copy of "Santiago: A Myth of the Far Future". Great book. One of the most fun SF adventures ever written.

The episode still felt inert to me, despite all of the action they tried to pack into it. They really need so new writers, and directors...

I think the teaser with Earth getting all carved up was one of the dullest FX sequences I've ever seen. No resonance or impact. It would have so easy to do better. Maybe start the shot with a strolling couple on the Golden Gate Bridge and do one of those CGImpossible pans up to low orbit and the probe materializing. Or at least start on an orbital monitoring stations with loud klaxons going off and crew frantically running about.

I couldn't help but think of Babylon 5; the Narn outpost being anihilated by the ominous and graceful Shadow vessels, or Narn being bombed into the Stone Age as Londo looked on. These were excellent, dramtic uses of FX.

Then the Klingon's attacking Archer in Solar space?? Hello, act of war, anyone? Enterprise frequently leaves me with the impression that scads of important exposition gets left on the cutting room floor to give the show that leaner, written-by-6th graders feel.

I liked Phlox's indignation over the Vulcan doctor. I almost liked Archer triumphantly flourishing the piece of ship minted in the future --despite the fact I can't figured out why the alien suicide-anihilator didn't blow the probe up. It was a suicide mission, right?

And it irked me that no-one asked Archer what he intended do in the Delphic Expanse, with his single ship and squad of Marines. Its an intelligence-gathering mission, right? Or is Archer going to go all R-Type on them and defeat the enemy race videogame style, 1 ship vs. a fleet, with only three continues? Or fewer, depending on the ratings...

Arrgghh, this has become a rant. It was another load of missed oppourtunities. But I'll tune in next season, because I'm a big sucker... but hey, I've been watching Trek since I was 4.

 

[Mark]

Ho ho fear my criticism! I have returned from Edmonton after seeing the season finale of Enterprise!

Welcome home. Clean place, that Canada, innit it? Beautiful country.

Know what? I didn't mind it. There were definitely some parts that I enjoyed and other parts that I know would have been better if this wasn't a family show. And other parts that could have just been done better over all.

I'd like some more info on what you think could have been geared toward an adult audience. Just curious...

Its hard to put a finger on it, but the pre-credits segment of Enterprise always sucks. I don't know if its general directorial issues or somethign specific. The beginning of this episode should have said "wow, look at that!" Instead it was rather weak.

Budget. I like that they are trying to be spectacular but there are certain things they should avoid when the budget won't let them carry it off, IMO.

I liked the scene where the enterprise was assisted by other federation ships. We've all wondered what kind of ships there are back home. It was a fun battle to watch.

That was nice. They need to do more of that but, again, budget may be interfering with the prospect of it.

I like how there were real consequeneces. 7 million people is a whole lot. But somehow, that huge fact seemed to be glossed over throughout the show. Maybe its because there were no scenes of the massive rescue effort or really any sign of the incident other than a big hole in the ground.

Back to budget again. No money for enough extras to truly show a huge catastrophe with many, many casualties. One alternative is stock footage from other disasters but I do not think that would go over very well.

The scene with the vulcans going crazy almost made me laugh. It was basically a PG (not even) version of the "insane spaceship crew" scene from Event Horizon. It could have been done a lot better. As it is, it seemed quite camp.

Didn't bother me all that much. I'm glad they scrambled it or it would have been even more campy. Let's not forget how seriously campy most of TOS actually was...

The special effects were attrocious down on earth. Trip and Malcolm looked like they were on the set of Reboot while overlooking the valley of destruction.

Again, budget. They do what they can with models and have no money for the kind of CGI required to satisfy an audience used to seeing top-notch CGI in present day films. Not much they can do about that except avoid trying to do the spectacular scenes with a budget that only allows for the semi-spectacular. I'm glad, I guess, that they give us a taste rather than not try at all. *shrug*

Time travel is e. I wish they'd have done away with it altogether when moving on to this new direction.

Gotta clean things up. I'm still waiting for the time when they can get a loot at this guy from the future and leave a time capsule with his name and address. Then we can watch a scene where he's gloating to Archer and Archer smugly mentions that he's left a note for the future. At that point a couple of future guards can walk up behind the future guy, take him into custody and wink at Archer saying, "Thanks for the tip, Captain."

Now I've got a headache so thats all the criticism I can manage for now. But as I said, I still did enjoy this episode. It was reasonably effective and the klingon aspect of it worked well enough. Hopefully we'll see more hard action from Capt. Gentlefingers and less pussyfooting and genuflecting.

It does look like they've pissed him off finally, eh? I like the scene where he and Trip are drinking and Archer comments on just how many "bad guys" they keep running into. Seems like he's ready to clean up space no matter the cost and get that Federation started, eh?

 

[Wolf72]

ee gads you guys sure type a lot!

anyway, I was pleased by the episode:

GO ARCHER!!! woo hoo, I was extremely pleased when he took out that bird of prey

I think T'pol is going to get a starfleet commision, maybe be the first alien to become a starfleet officer?

Trip: his anger is annoying, understandable, but it seems so ... 'all consuming' ?

 

[Staffan]

The scene with the vulcans going crazy almost made me laugh. It was basically a PG (not even) version of the "insane spaceship crew" scene from Event Horizon. It could have been done a lot better. As it is, it seemed quite camp.

One thing that occured to me... what if the ship was boarded by Romulans? They look just like Vulcans and they have cloaking tech so they could have approached and attacked without being noticed...

 

[myrdden]

I think we'll be seeing one of the best ST series ever. One that is willing to bend the rules a bit in various ways to give us something new, while still keeping some of the traditions alive for old timers like myself.

There's a fine line between delivering something fresh and new (and isn't that ironic for being a prequel that deals with the past?) and "milking" a franchise. The show has been on the cusp for me all this season and I have to admit that the staff have a lot of work ahead of them to regain my solid interest in the show.

No waste for this kid who used to watch as a child when Roddenbury first talked some network execs into putting Sci-Fi into primetime. It's kinda funny in a way that most of the people who call themselves Trek fans didn't even start watching until just after it had been cancelled and was run as a weekend filler during the daytime (and most not until it got into it's second round of reruns years later).

Hey...I have to plead innocent on this one! I wasn't even around for the original series and could only catch it in reruns in the 80's and of course the motion picture. But believe me when I was old enough to handle the remote (which was a huge feat back then because remotes were modeled adter cemment bricks) I loyally watching TOS.

Ahhhhh....good times...

Myrdden

 

[myrdden]

The third problem I have is with "Quantum Dating" and I have no idea why someone else hasn't jumped all over this yet. If something exists, no matter in what timeline, it must have been around for a period of time and I would think that it's elements would show to have been converted/transformed/mutated/refined or whatever "a certain amount of time ago" no matter at what point they would have been scanned. To whit, if a device is manufactured 432 years before, but is brought forth in time 400 years, would it not scan as being manufactured 32 years before? If something is manufactured 432 in the future, sits on a shelf for thirty-two days, is brought back in time 432 years, and sits in a hanger for two months wouldn't it scan as being manufactured three months ago?

I had this problem too. It was a rather contrived way to "prove" time travel to the Admiral I think. Also with the liklihood of alternate realities caused by this series, how would Quantum dating be effective at all? (And I can't even think of a plausible explanation for the process to begin with).

I also questioned the reason behind testing a prototype weapon against your enemy, which alerts them to your intentions. If you are building a larger, more powerful weapon, why send the prototype first? Maybe the Xindi aren't all that swift?

Myrdden

 

[danzig138]

I watched all of last Season's Enterprise, and the first two of this season and quit after that because it just wasn't good. I figured I'd check out this new direction, so I watched the finale, and let's just say that I doubt I'll be adding it to my watch list. The season, IMO, ended as dully as it began.