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Enterprise 09-17-03

and if you've ever played SFB ... you'll know why Photon Torpedo's rock!

I hope they still use their nukes once in a while, throw people off guard (well unless they replaced them all).
 

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When the sphere first came into view, my son and I turned to each other and said, simultaneously, "Death Star!"

Not a complaint (hey, humanoid-built metal spheres in space are going to pretty much look very similar, right?), just a humorous occurrence.

And it looks like Dr. Phlox is trying his best to get Trip into T'Pol's bedroom every night, doesn't it? I'll bet those weren't even real sedative-excreting leeches!

Johnathan
 

I thought the episode was pretty good - much better than some of the drivel I'd seen last season. Maybe there is hope for the "new direction".

I like Archer's anger. I think it is possible that the writers take it in a direction that begins to create conflict between him and his crew. The stress of such a mission is starting to show on some of crew as evidenced by Reed and Tripp's conversation.

The Death Star/Dyson Sphere thing was ho hum for me, but at least the interior looked alien (apart from the cargo holds). I guess we also know why the 'Terylleum-D', mentioned last episode, is so valuable. The prisoner was awfully chatty.

The only part I disliked was the accquisition of the Xindi database. The combat action was ok, but the idea of remotely hacking into the computer and downloading alien software just didn't do much for me. Obviously "Independance Day" has shown on the ship at some point in the prior season. :D

The fact that they have potentially all the data they need is a bit much for so early in the season and the way Trek writers have acted in the past, I cringe at the thought of the dues ex machina the database could be. I guess I'll have to wait and see.

Overall I liked the episode and thought it was better than the premiere. That's a good sign.

But the theme song still has to go!

Myrdden
 

Aliens

Just the one this week. Twisted face, twisted race, twisted by The Expanse. This ep felt like it was channelling just a little, tiny bit of Farscape. Praise God.

The Crew & Story

We meet a few more of the marines, but learn nothing about them except that most of them haven't worked in anti-grav before.

Pissed off Archer equals entertaining and driven Archer. Building on last week's recklessness Archer rolls the dice and gets a big, fat circular one. One giant sphere that is. Sure, I thought "Death Star" the first time I saw it and then immediately thought of the TNG and the Dyson's Sphere but that quickly went away when they showed the general purpose of the thing, which is still somewhat of a mystery.

I like the feel of slow desperation starting to slip in to characters like Trip shown by his lack of sleep. I think the focus on Archer and Trip is a smart move especially for action-driven episodes like this. Allows the pace to flow along and not get caught up in exposition that takes away from the story.

I had a few issues with the relatively clean way they recovered their items and retreived the Xindi database but I enjoyed watching it so that is a wash. What I am interested in is how far Archer is truly willing to go to get what he wants. The writers are hopefully building towards that and will address it as the season progresses. It will be interesting to see how the rest of the crew, especially T'pol, reacts to his continued gambles. I know this show won't put its characters through the wringer like Farscape (there I go again, sorry) but it would be nice to see some damaging things happen to Archers as a result of all this.

Overall

The direction, especially at the beginning with the odd camera angles was a welcome change from the usually straight-forward and starch storytelling visuals. The special effects weren't mind-blowing but they got the job done in showing the danger to the ship and crew later explained by the captured alien. The final battle was fun and I especially liked how they didn't just blow the other ship away but crippled it instead. Shows us that Archer is trying to play by his own rules and not become something he doesn't want to be. And finally, this ep was a slight improvement over the premiere which is encouraging for the rest of the season as Trek seasons usually start off slow and progressively get better with small bumps along the way. This is a solid start.

Final Grade: 3 out of 4 stars - Solid direction, good action and a quick pace make for one entertaining hour of TV. The Xindi continue to be far more interesting than "Future Fuzzy Man."

4 = Classic. Blew me away from start to finish.
3 = Very good. Entertaining and a worthwhile experience.
2 = Average. Watchable but flawed.
1 = Terrible. Unwatchable dreck.
0 = I wish I had that time back. So bad that I may never watch the show again.
 
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Mark said:
Enterprise - Anomaly

Waves of destructive anomalies cripple the Enterprise while its crew is searching for the Xindi.

Week two of the new season... :)

First off, let me start by saying I'm back.

I haven't been posting much at all lately because the EN boards as well as a number of other webpages have been loading extremely glacially slow on IE. I downloaded Netscape, and it works a lot better, however I can't stand Netscape's interface. Gah. Anyway, back to the matter at hand.

This was a damn good episode. No overbearing psycho or technobabble, just a lot of action. I liked the space pirate's hidden space depot, if Archer ws smart he would have not just grabbed their stuff back, he would have swiped anything else they needed (like stem bolts) and had room for. It would make up for the anti-matter the pirates stole. One good theif deserves another [smirk]. Some supplies of Trellium-D come to mind.
 

I wonder if they have chosen this episode to rerun as a means of bringing us back to the arc...? :)
 

That would be my bet. They'll show all the plot-heavy eps as repeats through the new year when we'll (hopefully) jump right back into the Xindi conflict. :)
 

John Crichton said:
That would be my bet. They'll show all the plot-heavy eps as repeats through the new year when we'll (hopefully) jump right back into the Xindi conflict. :)

Have there been enough of them to tide us over until after the new year? :)
 

I don't have an episode guide in fron of me (plus I've missed a few weeks) but there are probably ~6 which will eat up 6 weeks if they show one a week. I don't recall how they did it last year but I think new episodes started somewhere around mid-late Janurary which would put things back on track.
 

The second of two reruns being aired tonight... I guess they're starting with the beginning of the season... and working their way right through... ;)
 

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