posted
Placeholder. From the advance reviews on Trekweb, looks like there will be a few things to look for. More MACO tech lies ahead, some sort of cloaked mini Death Star, possible zero-G combat, we finally see the brig, and....
And...
Apparently, Enterprise suffers its first crew death in this episode. And as I'd been hoping, this affects everyone in a major way. I mention this in a tech thread because it may affect how the ship works... At least I hope it will.
posted
some sort of cloaked mini Death Star, possible zero-G combat, we finally see the brig
Hmmm, thats pretty much what I was thinking when I watched it, i.e. Death Star, but I must admit the cloaking field effect what rather neat. Kinda sucks that we never found out what the whole setup was actually for. (assuming that its supposed to do something aside from storing crap)
No zero-G combat, nifty music though.... The tactic of snacking and grabbing supplies (and retrieving felled crewmembers) with transporter transponders is rather interestingly implemented, although not necessarily setting a precedent.
Brig. *shrug* Although appropriate. Apparently, Enterprise suffers its first crew death in this episode. And as I'd been hoping, this affects everyone in a major way.
Eh what, it does? Well, Archer did look kinda grumpy, *shrug*
As an aside, we at least know that the technology of the Xindi isn't all that uniformly advanced if a ship inferior to Enterprise can still raid their ships easily.
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The Xindi vessel that was taken out by the pirates may have been a simple freighter or trading ship: Easy prey.
It's not like taking out a Oberth would be indicative of the strength of the Soverign after all.
It's always good to see aincent artifacts of advanced civilizations lingering around the expanse: It furthers my pet theory that the Xindi are Preserver creations and not naturally evolved.
Best of all: PORTHOS CAME BACK! I thought they'd left the dog on earth but he's the bet anomaly detector hey could have.
One thing....the commercials didint match the episode in any way. The commecial was all about an alien getting loose on the ship and causing havoc but that never happened (thankfuly!)
-------------------- Justice inclines her scales so that wisdom comes at the price of suffering. -Aeschylus, Agamemnon
Registered: Aug 2002
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Possible nitpick: the Yossarians (Catch-22, anyone?) beamed out all of the NX-01's antimatter pods... meaning they transported antimatter, which isn't supposed to be possible except in minute quantities. Maybe they've got alien technology to get around that, or else it's one of the Laws Of Physics that are broken inside The Expanse.
Archer was concerned about hitting one of their own torpedoes during the shootout in the armory. Why were they keeping antimatter warheads loaded in their torpedoes during a non-alert situation? As I recall it, there wasn't much time between the start of problems with the titular anomaly, the time the Yossarian ship attacked, and when the weapons went down. (Or did the weapons go down even before the Yossarians attacked?)
In the dorsal-view schematic while the Yossarians were running around the ship, they showed Cargo Bay 2 (fortunately without the Borg alcove), directly on the centerline and aft of Engineering. Looking at some of the images at EAS, I wonder how they can fit that big cargo bay in there, along with the shuttlebay (excuse me; launch bay) and still take into account the lowered hull clearance in that aft part of the ship. Seems kinda strange, IMO.
-------------------- “Those people who think they know everything are a great annoyance to those of us who do.” — Isaac Asimov Star Trek Minutiae | Memory Alpha
Registered: Nov 2000
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quote:Originally posted by MinutiaeMan: Possible nitpick: the Yossarians (Catch-22, anyone?) beamed out all of the NX-01's antimatter pods... meaning they transported antimatter, which isn't supposed to be possible except in minute quantities. Maybe they've got alien technology to get around that, or else it's one of the Laws Of Physics that are broken inside The Expanse.
That's pretty minor. The Yossarians also have kickin' transporter tech that's at least as fast as those on TNG. I'm sure they overcame the minor difficulty of transporting anti-M (and removng he blast of that grenade from the transporter beam as well). Archer and crew might have had to transport the antimatter back on the shuttlepod though...
I'd have scared the secret of how the Yossarians shielded their ship from the anomalies before letting them go! That "masking their ion trail" trick was pretty cool too (but they could have copped that from the database, I guess).
-------------------- Justice inclines her scales so that wisdom comes at the price of suffering. -Aeschylus, Agamemnon
Registered: Aug 2002
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quote:I'd have scared the secret of how the Yossarians shielded their ship from the anomalies before letting them go!
Seems to me that the Yossarian prisoner actually gave the secret away for free at the beginning. He said something about trillium-D that lines the hull and keeps the anomalies out. Sounds like a line of bull, to me... but with the weird science of Trek, it's not too out of line for the show. And they *did* mention trillium at the mining facility last week, too...
-------------------- “Those people who think they know everything are a great annoyance to those of us who do.” — Isaac Asimov Star Trek Minutiae | Memory Alpha
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posted
As expected, a fun episode, for all the above reasons and more! Tons of tech, which we're gonna dig into straight away.
-Porthos, the anomaly detector! What, can he SMELL them coming? Are dogs in Trek latent telepaths? This is the first time we really have a pet like this (acknowledging Spot mostly as comic relief), but has anyone stopped to consider why dogs can do this?
-Well done VFX on the anomalies, though it'd've been cool to see them change types in the middle of a set rather than between them. That cup of coffee was pretty cool, and subtly done.
-The set where they gear up is the same one next to the decon chamber, but may have been enlarged to accomodate the new suits for the MACOs, not to mention all the crew they had in there gearing up. I guess they don't have their own EVA staging area, which makes a certain amount of sense, since it's probably near the launch bay.
-The magnetic boots are still making the TNG SFX. Ah well, at least they're consistent.
-Is it just me, or do the sets seem even MORE blue this year?
-The "Cochrane equation" is one of the things that don't work here. Quantumspatialwhatsits don't stay constant, and so neither does engine efficiency.
-Cargo bay ONE is directly behind engineering, and could concievably be between the two aft access doors - or include them.
-The pirates had nifty yellow pulse weapons. I was doing an FC rifle double take for a second there. However their ship fires white pulses, contradicing the common Trek edict that alien weapons are all the same colour.
-MACOs carry stun grenades. And yeah, their rifles also have a stun setting. And yeah, she's nicely hot.
-Crewman Fuller, our resident expert on the torpedo system, is the lucky first casualty, killed by the pirate "Osaarians" (sp from CC). The aliens are from outside the Expanse, typically merchants with no history of piracy. Their funky armor was pretty clearly influenced by Japanese samurai armor. Cool.
-Stolen stuff: three photon(ic) torpedoes, a case of plasma rifles, a couple dozen stun grenades, half their food, everything in cargo bay two (though they were in CB1!), and all the antimatter. All they've got left is the stuff in the reactor, which would last them a month, tops. One wonders how much antimatter subsequent starships would have after they drained their tanks. How much trouble would Voyager have been in, really?
-Hey, they're still PLASMA rifles, unless they were talking about the MACO weapons. Mind you, even they have a stun setting... And one Osaarian was carrying a phase pistol, so there.
-I like the brig. Instead of a forcefield, we have reinforced glass (though it looks like it's been reinforced with plastic six-pack can holders). The cot in the brig may have been reused from the evil repair station in "Dead Stop".
-I think this is the first time the crew wore holstered weapons on duty, a la DS9.
-Using some acquired ion tracking techniques from dead guys, the gang finds a cloaking field in which lies a sphere 19 kilometers in diameter. It's made of a single alloy - polyduranium, the same stuff that makes up the Osaarian's ships. It's over a thousand years old, has seven 12-kilomter big fusion reactors (only three of which were working), and T'pol suggests that they might have something to do with the anomalies.
-Note that when entering into it the shuttlepod's wings are retracted...
-The pirates' loot includes a LOT of stembolts! It's unknown if they're self-sealing or not. Regardless, Enterprise gets most of their stuff back.
-The climatic battle was something we rarely see - Starfleet on the offensive, with specific objectives and maneuvers thereto. And better yet, they attacked so they could hack into the alien ship's computer and download their Xindi database. Great space battle choreography! And for the first time in a while, the forward phase cannons are seen where they're supposed to be. Good stuff.
posted
This will be the financial ruin of me. I just plain can't wait for the eps to air in German satellite channels any more. At least I have to go and find a line-by-line, blow-by-blow description of the episode...
Could Porthos simply have sensed increasing tension among the crew due to their observing weird readings, even before they consciously realized they were seeing weird readings?
Do we *see* a MACO rifle stun somebody, or do we just hear of the setting? Perhaps plasma guns are used instead of old slug-throwers exactly because they can be made nonlethal? A diffuse plasma bolt might just knock you out and burn you a bit, as compared to punching a hole in you - a stun setting of a somewhat messy kind.
If the Osaarians are causing these anomalies, does this mean there's a chance the Expanse will be gone by the end of the arc?
posted
It was stated in the ep that the Ossarians are from outside The Expanse and travelled in to find trade routes and such. The clouds on the edge of the Expanse let ships in, but no out, apparently. And the sphere is 1000 years old, and the Ossarians have only been in there for a few years. I don't think the Ossarians are causing the anomalies, as the one they captured was disfigured from them. If the sphere is destroyed, all the anomalies might disappear but the clouds and what not might still be there.
My pet theory is that the Xindi are responsible for the Expanse somehow, as protection against attack. If the debris field Enterprise found last ep was the first Xindi homeworld and they've gone and made a new one, it would make sense for them to create the Expanse to hide them and also why they'd be so pissed with Earth.
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posted
My guess with Porthos (as well as the Doctor's animals) is that its something like with tornados and earthquakes, that animals are somehow always able to sense it slightly beforehand and freak out a bit.
Registered: Mar 1999
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posted
There might be a air pressure disturbance (like with weather changes) that animals are privy to but humanoids are not.
I get the feeling there will be LOTS more of those spheres causing gravimetric disturbances and that they're responsible for all the anolamies.
So...Trillium D? Sounds like a crappy band. While not in keeping with starfleet's morals, I'd have stolen everything of value from the Ossarians by way of payback.
I'm guessing the Ossarians sent a shuttle over to Enterprise to retreive their captured crewman: Enterprise does'nt have Voyager's endless shuttle supply.
The expanse is one big roach motel that lets starships in but does'nt let them back out? Nifty.
-------------------- Justice inclines her scales so that wisdom comes at the price of suffering. -Aeschylus, Agamemnon
Registered: Aug 2002
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posted
Hey.. y'know what? This was pretty good episode. Nice music, an actual development (obtaining the Xindi database (or at least 90% of it)). Only minor problem was with the rather uninteresting alien-in-brig character, but you can't win 'em all.
The MACOs fiddle with their guns after Archer gives the order. No actual firing at stun-setting is done, though.
And it was the 'quantum variables' that didn't stay constant (ehhm.. complaining about variables not staying constant..?).
To clear things up a bit, it was only mentioned that the sphere *door* was of the same alloy as the Osaarian ship. Whether that means the rest of the sphere was of a different alloy is not mentioned. But I didn't get the impression that the sphere *was* Osaarian, only that they used one (of multiple) breathable 'habitats' inside the sphere as their base of operations. And the sphere was about 1000 (?) years old.
The NX-01 crew speculates the spheres create the gravimetric distortions in the Expanse. The Osaarian prisoner claimed the Expanse's thermobaric barriers only let ships in, not out. Could the Expanse be a prison built for the Xindi?
==== BIG ASS SPOILER! ====
Apparently, the Xindi will get their very own FutureGuy. And we'll see the return of FutureGuy 1. I reckon these spheres might have something to do with the Temporal War.
-------------------- Justice inclines her scales so that wisdom comes at the price of suffering. -Aeschylus, Agamemnon
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