This is topic $$ Impulsive Tech! ["Impulse" Spoilers] in forum Starships & Technology at Flare Sci-Fi Forums.


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Posted by Mark Nguyen (Member # 469) on :
 
Placeholder, but I think we can expect some good tech out of this. The gang runs into a Vulcan ship full of zombies or something, while Trip & Travis are off mining an asteroid for something, probably trellium. Bet on a new Vulcan ship design, and some more Starfleet equipement we've not seen before.

Oddly, the only guest star is a guy named "Hawkins". I guess the Vulcans don't get many lines this week.

Mark
 

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Posted by Harry (Member # 265) on :
 
Apart from, probably: "BRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAINS!!!"

Despite rumours, zombies are not great conversationalists.
 

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Posted by Topher (Member # 71) on :
 
Well, let's see what I can remember:

• The ship used was the bigger Vulcan cruiser, looks like that quarantine ship from "Haven" [TNG], only the warp ring thing was skewed a bit, probably torqued off its clamps and what not by the asteroids
  
• The ship was the Seleya, T'Pol's last shipboard assignment before joining the consulate
  
• Spatial anomalies play havoc with the transporter. New job for the maintenance crew...
  
• Trellium D = Vulcan neurotoxin
  
• Bridge on the Seleya is seven decks above the docking hatch, aux control is two decks up (Not sure, someone confirm/deny that), engineering is a couple of decks down as well.
  
• The shuttlepod docked to the Seleya using the dorsal hatch to the ring around the warp ring (if that makes sense). When they entered the ship, they came through the floor. So, the decks in that part of the ship are really wonky, almost like that circular section is supposed to rotate.
  

 

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Posted by The Mighty Monkey of Mim (Member # 646) on :
 
A new ship name! Yippee!

Mt. Seleya, of course, is the Vulcan mountain atop which is located the monastery where Spock was brought back to life in STIII. I wonder if the peak itself is the ship's namesake, or if there is some other figure from which they both derive their names...

-MMoM
 

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Posted by MinutiaeMan (Member # 444) on :
 
If someone has some screencaps, we might be able to get a pretty close size comparison, to match the shuttle to the cruiser. (Yes, we've seen the ships alongside the NX-01 before, but the perspective was always off.)

So, even after the stopover at Earth, they still only have the two shuttlepods on board. Morons.

Though they never offered any explanation for the asteroid field, this particular SFX-of-the-week can't have been a natural phenomenon -- continuing the impossible cliche of incredibly dense asteroid fields going all the way back to "The Empire Strikes Back." Either the Expanse's anomalies caused the asteroids to stick together so long, or else it's the debris field of another destroyed planet. Considering the incredible velocities that some of those asteroids were zipping around at, I'd almost say that the field would have to be maintained continuously. (Think of all the ejecta from the collisions, for instance.)

Based on the appearance of that gigantic hole through the inside of the Selaya that we saw towards the end of the episode (presumably caused by an asteroid punching all the way through the ship), it seems that the Vulcans have forcefield technology that can already be used to seal hull breaches and prevent excessive loss of atmosphere. (I find it hard to believe that they could've sealed just one part of the hull and then pump air back into the internal sections -- I doubt the Vulcans would've had enough presence of mind for that.) Of course this doesn't necessarily contradict any canon considering ENT's track record... and the forcefield could easily just be another technology the Vulcans won't share.

I wonder, though, if the creation of such a narrow yet long hole would even be physically possible, especially in a spaceship. Considering the hardened materials that are used in construction of hull plates, not to mention the structural beams and other stuff inside... how could an asteroid punch all the way through the ship, create a hole about three meters in diameter, and yet leave so little damage aside from the actual hole?

The asteroid would have to be moving at a considerable fraction of the speed of light, I'd bet, but that would probably be impossible based on the physical limitations and the density of the asteroid field. All that junk is floating around, but not THAT fast, I think!

The only thing in the Trek world that I think could do that type of damage would be an energy beam weapon... which would raise some interesting questions, had that hole in the ship been placed there for anything other than a drama-heightening device to prolong our heroes' peril.

Was anyone else thinking that this episode could be considered as a pilot for "Elite Force III: Better Get MACO"? This whole episode had a pitiful computer-game feel to its plot -- the zombies roaming around, lots of shooting, moving from room to room to get tasks done, a ticking clock with a crewman in peril... I was not too impressed, myself.
 

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Posted by Jason Abbadon (Member # 882) on :
 
The hole in tne ship could have been created by an anomaly.
The anomalies are what's causing the asteroids to remain clustered together and are the also the reason they move erratically.
As evidenced by the anomaly affecting the asteroid Trip and Mayweather landed on.

We saw Mayweather DO something!
He had lines and was useful!
YAAAAAH!

Reed showed himself to be far cooler under fire than the MACO they brought along.
GO REED!

Trip is the voice of reason! Crew morale is imporntant. Strange that they never watch any movies made after 1945 though.

Archer's line about how he "can't save humanity if we lose what makes us human" sums up what he's been struggling with this season.
Nice touch there.
Mabye he'll lighten up a touch now....
 

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Posted by Mucus (Member # 24) on :
 
So, even after the stopover at Earth, they still only have the two shuttlepods on board. Morons.

We now have complaints that a ship in Star Trek doesn't have enough shuttlepods/shuttles.

Wow, things DO change around here
 

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Posted by TSN (Member # 31) on :
 
We need to get a little more creative here. "Night of the Living Tech" would have been such the better thread title. But, that's what comes of not watching it first, I suppose.

Two things I noticed that haven't been mentioned:

1. The pulse rifles seem to be weaker than the beam pistols. I don't know if the beam is able to deliver more energy since it's continuous or what, but Archer and T'Pol's pistols seemed to dispatch the first couple zombies faster than Reed and MACO did with their rifles. Until they turned them up to "kill", I mean.

2. Even though the zombies seemed to be at full strength, T'Pol seemed very weakened by her condition, considering the way Archer was able to hold her down, knock the pistol out of her hand, etc. Then again, the zombies weren't sweating, getting distracted, etc. either, so maybe it's just the first stages that are so debilitating.

"Though they never offered any explanation for the asteroid field, this particular SFX-of-the-week can't have been a natural phenomenon..."

They did explain it. Not too specifically, but they said that the anomalies were causing the weirdness. Archer even pointed out that he could understand the Vulcans' attraction to the field, showing us that he recognized it as abnormal. We also saw an anomaly change the direction of Tucker and Mayweather's asteroid, demonstrating the effect of the anomalies on the field.

"...it seems that the Vulcans have forcefield technology that can already be used to seal hull breaches and prevent excessive loss of atmosphere."

I didn't see the hole because of the crappy reception on our UPN affiliate, but was it somehow at odds with the statement made on approaching the ship that two or three decks were without atmosphere?

"This whole episode had a pitiful computer-game feel to its plot..."

I thought the exact same thing. Though, only for a minute while there was nothing else going on. I mean, the whole episode didn't feel exclusively game-ish.
 

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Posted by Lee (Member # 393) on :
 

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If someone has some screencaps

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Originally posted by TheF0rce:
Judging by how fast T'Pol's mind deteriorated, I was kinda surprised that there were any vulcans left on the ship.
After 6 months, they should have all killed each other by now.
Maybe the ones we saw were only a few survivors who managed to slow down the progression of the nuero toxin?

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Possibly there were several Vulcan that were stationed in parts of the ship not shielded with Trellium D (remember, the shielding was only partially installed). We could have been watching the end of a losing battle the survivors and meical team had of immunizing themselves to the Trellium.
 

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Posted by leuckinc (Member # 729) on :
 
Some immunizing job they did... ;-)
 

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Posted by Jason Abbadon (Member # 882) on :
 
It's tough to study a problem when youre going insane.....trust me.
 

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Posted by Futurama Guy (Member # 968) on :
 
Here are some additional or supplemental observations to this episode:

• Tucker mentions watching a classic "Hope & Crosby" comedy and making, most likely, a homage to the recently deceased Bob Hope
• The Seleya was sent out 9 months ago, and although they haven�t made many time references as of late, I would guess the Seleya left a good 4-5 months before Enterprise did.
• The Seleya was charting the thermobaric parameter and were sucked into the Expanse after several days of study by a subspace eddy. The Vankaara was sent to find her, apparently a matter of weeks before Enterprise left.
• The Seleya was interested in the asteroid field because it was loaded with Trellium ore, which they were using to line their bulk heads.
• T�pol � Former Deputy Science Officer of the Vankaara for over a year
• Captain Voris � Commanding Officer of the Vankaara
• Solin � Chief Engineer of the Vankaara
• The Seleya has/d a crew of 147
• Enterprise now has 60 Kilos of Trellium D in its possession, however it is no use to them as long as it affects T�pol.

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Originally posted by Topher:
Well, let's see what I can remember:

[*]Bridge on the Seleya is seven decks above the docking hatch, aux control is two decks up (Not sure, someone confirm/deny that), engineering is a couple of decks down as well.

[*]The shuttlepod docked to the Seleya using the dorsal hatch to the ring around the warp ring (if that makes sense).

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• Decks 12-13: Decompressed from an asteroid impact.
• Deck 9: Starboard docking port where the pod docked. (They were in the aux control room where it was mentioned releasing the bulkheads on deck 9 (the ones the evil-Borg-Vulcan-Zombies closed) so that they could get to their pod)
• Deck 8?: Engineering Deck (where the auxiliary control room is located - seemed really close to sickbay, or as such between sickbay and where they docked)
• Deck 7: Sickbay (T'Pol: "two decks up")
• Deck 2: Launchbay (T'Pol: "seven decks up")

quote:

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T’pol – Former Deputy Science Officer of the Vankaara for over a year
Captain Voris – Commanding Officer of the Vankaara
Solin – Chief Engineer of the Vankaara

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Originally posted by MrNeutron:
Maybe I missed it, but what about the Trellium D acted on the Vulcans? Is it radioactive? If not, then what? Can't be fumes or the like, otherwise you could isolate the compartments lined with the stuff.

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quote:

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Originally posted by MrNeutron:
Maybe I missed it, but what about the Trellium D acted on the Vulcans? Is it radioactive? If not, then what? Can't be fumes or the like, otherwise you could isolate the compartments lined with the stuff.

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quote:

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Originally posted by Futurama Guy:
T�pol � Former Deputy Science Officer of the Vankaara for over a year
Captain Voris � Commanding Officer of the Vankaara
Solin � Chief Engineer of the Vankaara

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Err, yeah I meant Seleya, rather than Vankaara, thats what I get for not proofreading while in a hurry...
 

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Posted by Bond, James Bond (Member # 1127) on :
 
What's odd is that in the previous episode they have T'pol and Trip working in close proximity to Trellium-D for several days and yet T'pol wasn't affected in the slightest throughout the episode.
 

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Posted by MinutiaeMan (Member # 444) on :
 
Okay, who's gonna draw their side view of the Selaya now?
 

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Posted by Harry (Member # 265) on :
 

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Originally posted by Bond, James Bond:
What's odd is that in the previous episode they have T'pol and Trip working in close proximity to Trellium-D for several days and yet T'pol wasn't affected in the slightest throughout the episode.

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Phlox explained that. They never 'synthesized a significant amount' of the stuff. So presumably, the liquid variant they acquired doesn't affect Vulcans.
 

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Posted by Lee (Member # 393) on :
 
Just to annpy me, Harry's screenshots are way better. But this means at least we get a good side view of the new attachment on the rifles, the torch that doesn't get switched on. . .
 

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Posted by Harry (Member # 265) on :
 
Judging from this episode, it seems the phase pistol's stun setting is much more effective than the MACO rifle stun setting. The pistol need only a short burst to stun a zombie, while the rifles needed several bolts.
 

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Posted by Mark Nguyen (Member # 469) on :
 
Anyone want to speculate why Reed went with a MACO rifle this week? It's not as though they were economizing on the show this episode - the insane number of sets for the Vulcan ship proves that.

Aside from being a much nicer prop, I hope they either stick with it or say why they're sticking with the pulse rifle. However, I'm still dreading the day a MACO whips out an EM-33 and it fires a white pulse instead of the red ones we've already seen. Lee can explain that.

Mark
 

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Posted by MrNeutron (Member # 524) on :
 

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Originally posted by Mark Nguyen:
It's not as though they were economizing on the show this episode - the insane number of sets for the Vulcan ship proves that.

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quote:

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Originally posted by Mark Nguyen:
Anyone want to speculate why Reed went with a MACO rifle this week?

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quote:

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Originally posted by Mark Nguyen:
Anyone want to speculate why Reed went with a MACO rifle this week?

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Originally posted by Harry:
Judging from this episode, it seems the phase pistol's stun setting is much more effective than the MACO rifle stun setting. The pistol need only a short burst to stun a zombie, while the rifles needed several bolts.

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ever play X-COM? the advanced alien pistols kicked so much more ass (i.e. more effective) that the regular alien rifles.. (even though, as in real life, they were more of a bitch to aim/use).. its the first place i learned that a gun isnt only a gun, its what kind of gun.. basically, ENT is in an area of advancement where they should be working on rifling the phase pistol, but until then, they are settling for the other rifle design until that becomes standard issue (im sure a less geeky person mght draw an analogy with real life weapons)
 

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Posted by MinutiaeMan (Member # 444) on :
 
I'd guess that the rifle can also have a larger ammo clip or power cell or whatever that kind of energy/plasma weapon uses. As the security people for the team, they're the ones who would need greater firepower, while Archer and T'Pol need to have their hands free for scanning or other command stuff. (Though in reality, of course, Archer just stands around looking like a boob. )
 

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Posted by Lee (Member # 393) on :
 
OK, now I've had a couple of ideas on this. . . But having not seen the eps, I'll need to run it all by you lot.

1. They recovered 'most of' the gear stolen in "Anomaly," correct? Well, maybe they didn't get all the plasma rifles back. Good excuse to phase (if you'll excuse the pun) out those silly-looking things anyway.

2. They were originally trying to stun the Vulcan zombies - did they ever say "fuck it, stun isn't working, let's just use 'kill'?" We're still not sure how a plasma rifle can stun someone anyway, maybe the way those Vulcans were screwed up meant they were effectively immune to whatever neurological shock the plasma rifle's stun setting caused, and the phase pistol's version of stun worked on a different principle?
 

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Posted by MinutiaeMan (Member # 444) on :
 
They never actually said anything to the effect of "stun's not working, just kill 'em." Which is too bad, really, because that would've fit in great with T'Pol's increasing paranoia towards Archer. And much less contrived than the usual too-convenient "blow-up-the-ship-but-not-until-we-barely-get-away-in-time" solution...
 

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Posted by TSN (Member # 31) on :
 
The stun setting worked, but it took multiple shots. The MACO said, effectively, "fuck it, stun isn't working, let's just use kill", but T'Pol got pissed off at him, so he backed down. Later, after Phlox said the zombies were beyond hope and Archer decided to blow up the ship, I think they switched to the kill setting. I don't recall if they actually stated such, but the zombies were going down a lot quicker.
 

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Posted by Mark Nguyen (Member # 469) on :
 
Late notes:

-The chaotically-moving asteroid field doesn't seem to affect the shuttlepods.

-The bridge has been upgraded with additional monitors since the last time I noticed - it has probably been this way for a while. There are now two monitors directly to port of the door leading to the ready room, and one to starboard of the turbolift door, directly above the dedication plaque. To be honest, I'm STILL hoping someone will notice that there are no flashy lights under the forward viewer - unto the present series, a Trek staple in starship bridge design.

-The shuttlepod also has more displays on the aft bulkhead. They also seem to have no real purpose or anyone manning them.

-T'pol refers to the Seleya as "it", instead of the more common feminine attribution.

-Note that when Trip & Travis bean the first chunk of Trellium ore aboard, it doesm't create a depression in the pad surface (the set is plexiglass). And yet Trip does, and he certainly seems to act that it's really heavy.

-Has anyone called the Delphic Expanse by name yet this season, since the premiere? Perhaps they've finally realized what a dumb name it is. It also seems that no one has referred to the MACOs as such.

-Sets on the Vulcan ship include corridors, bridge, sickbay, Jeffries tube entrance, the tube itelf, a tube junction. That's quite a few! Granted, lots of them can be re-arranged into other sets, but it's still quite a few setups to worry about.

-I was quite amused that the zombie Vulcans still managed to heft rather uniform lengths of pipe and such for weapons. Ah well, at least one of them bothered to pick up a gun. Can anyone ID the gun? Was it like the ones the Vulcan commandoes used last year?

-The MACO rifle seems to switch to "kill" with one switch. There are apparently no in-between settings. I certainly hope they won't be able to cut stuff like the phase pistol.

-The gravity on the asteroid would be INCREDIBLY low. How Trip & travis run around on one, and STAY on it while the anomaly is tossing it about, it pretty crazy thinking.

-The Seleya's sickbay diagnostic table is a plexiglass tube, a sort of compromise between Enterprise's cool imaging chamber and the clamshell props of later ships.

-Effects gaffe - theasteroid impacts on the other shuttlepod are shown as exploding OUTWARDS, rather than dents inwards as an impact ought. Ah well. It's more important to note that the pod seems to be just fine again when it rescues Archer and company, but when it's back in the bay, it hasn't been repaired at all!

Mark
 

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Posted by Dat (Member # 302) on :
 

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Ah well. It's more important to note that the pod seems to be just fine again when it rescues Archer and company, but when it's back in the bay, it hasn't been repaired at all!

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Actually, I think the damaged pod seen at the end is supposed to represent Archer's pod and not Trip's pod.
 

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Posted by Mark Nguyen (Member # 469) on :
 
With the damage in exactly the same place?

It just occurred to me that the Seleya can't have been there for too long. She wasn't that banged up, the crew hadn't starved, and ALL of them were clean-shaven despite the mussed up hair. Even if Vulcan hair doesn't grow very fast (and we HAVE seen Vulcans with beards), I'm willing to be they'd barely been there for a few days or a couple weeks at the most. I'm also willing to bet that they tried mining the asteroids with shuttles as well, and then when things started to go nuts the ship ultimately just drifted in.

Mark
 

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Posted by The Mighty Monkey of Mim (Member # 646) on :
 

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Originally posted by Mark Nguyen:
(and we HAVE seen Vulcans with beards

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Besides Spock in "Mirror Mirror"? 'Cause he's half human, and that might be why his facial hair can grow...

-MMoM
 

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Posted by Mark Nguyen (Member # 469) on :
 
There's that Vulcan master guy that taught Tuvok to tame his savage heart. And if HE wasn't a full-blooded Vulcan...

Mark
 

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Posted by David Templar (Member # 580) on :
 
Going back a bit to safety and Trellium D. I wonder why the Vulcans didn't check the stuff first, to make sure it's not toxic to them, before applying them in liberal amounts to the insides of their ship. Seems somewhat past the level of illogical, into the realm of sheer and utter stupidity. Guess the Vulcans never had their lead paint or aspestose-eras. Too bad.

Don't shoot the zombies, shoot the writers.

One also wonders why they didn't just apply it to the outside of their ship, since I think that's what that captured pirate said, they coated their the hull, not the bulkheads. This is assuming the Trellium keeps the anomolies from entering the ship, the anomolies being free-floating entities, rather than preventing them from forming inside the ship, them being just popping into existence randomly.
 

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Posted by MrNeutron (Member # 524) on :
 

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Originally posted by The Mighty Monkey of Mim:

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Originally posted by Mark Nguyen:
(and we HAVE seen Vulcans with beards

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Besides Spock in "Mirror Mirror"? 'Cause he's half human, and that might be why his facial hair can grow...

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And then there's Sybok...oh wait...that means accepting Star Trek V as canon. Zoiks!
 

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Posted by The Mighty Monkey of Mim (Member # 646) on :
 
Yes, you're both right. My oversight.

-MMoM

P.S.

Hey! I like Star Trek V! In fact, I'm going to buy it on DVD when it comes out tomorrow...so nyah!
 

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Posted by MrNeutron (Member # 524) on :
 

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Originally posted by The Mighty Monkey of Mim:
P.S.

Hey! I like Star Trek V! In fact, I'm going to buy it on DVD when it comes out tomorrow...so nyah!

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Originally posted by The Mighty Monkey of Mim:
Which is quite idiotic IMNSHO. Tomorrow (hopefully, provided I find time) I shall post my own review of the film and the DVD special features, and perhaps dispell some of the lingering negativity towards it.

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I'm afraid you may be setting yourself up for a counter-review where I'll flay the film open like a Targ at a Klingon feast.
 

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Posted by The Mighty Monkey of Mim (Member # 646) on :
 
Bring it on.
 

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Posted by Mark Nguyen (Member # 469) on :
 
WRT to the additional monitors I mentioned earlier, I've determined they were installed during over hiatus after all. We do not see 'em at the end in "The Expanse", but in the first bridge scenes in "The Xindi" there they are (and in the shuttlepods, too). It's possible therefore that they are partly to monitor the unique properties of the Expanse.

Mark
 

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