Well, we got a few interesting tech tidbits in this episode:
-- Perhaps most importantly, we've confirmed that those "Descent"-type-transwarp-conduit-things really ARE FTL engines and not cloaks. Speeds are about right for transwarp, too -- six light-years in a few minutes? Not bad...
-- The Xindi shuttle Degra was on had a different nacelle configuration, and used the main deflector to facilitate the transit.
-- The MACOs use subdermal transmitters for communication. So how come Starfleet's still not using them for most circumstances two hundred years later?
Other points of interest:
-- So the Xindi have been working on their superweapon program for "years", eh? That's rather amusing, considering that they basically gave themselves away with that "test" shot. On the other hand, it seems that the Xindi are unaware of the time-travel elements in this situation, for whatever reason. Either way, if they were planning a second weapon, why give away their hand early?
-- We "finally" get to see the infamous Regulan bloodworm. Which looked basically like a bunch of rolled-out gelatin with some antennae attached.
-- So, what the heck are we supposed to be calling these various Xindi races? "Humanoids" and "Arboreals"? "Primates"? and "Sloths"? These seem kinda inconsistent to me...
A couple of requests for people who've got the closed captioning (and a taped copy, of course). I'd like spelling on the following: Kalendra (weapon test site), Inara (Degra's wife), plus his kids' names, Merik III (?).
Posted by TheWoozle (Member # 929) on :
Funny thing about Regulan Blood Worms. David Gerrold, the originator of the RBWs wrote them as the physical, paracitical, forms of hive-like energy creatures. Read his new novel, Blood and Fire (originally a star trek script).
Posted by Fleet-Admiral Michael T. Colorge (Member # 144) on :
Is it me or the chairs from the Defiant and the Delta Flyer set are being used?
Posted by The Mighty Monkey of Mim (Member # 646) on :
quote:Originally posted by MinutiaeMan: A couple of requests for people who've got the closed captioning (and a taped copy, of course). I'd like spelling on the following:
At your service!
quote:Kalendra (weapon test site),
Calindra
quote:Inara (Degra's wife),
Naara
quote:his kids' names,
Piral and Jaina
quote:Merik III
Maarek Three
Other points: -- Timestamp: December 15th, 2153. (This was not given directly, but the log stated that Dec 12 was "three days earlier.") -- I thought plasma coolant liquified organic material on contact?
-MMoM
[ February 04, 2004, 09:41 PM: Message edited by: The Mighty Monkey of Mim ]
Posted by Jason Abbadon (Member # 882) on :
Fed starships from 100 years later probably dont use the same coolant as shuttle simulators from Enterprise's time. Posted by The Mighty Monkey of Mim (Member # 646) on :
Yes but in ANY time frame, a substance used to cool warp plasma would have to be pretty DAMN cold, now, wouldn't it? Probably cold enough to freeze-melt flesh.
I just watched Solaris last night. That's why I was thinking about this. Pretty neat trick with the liquid oxygen, eh?
-MMoM Posted by TSN (Member # 31) on :
"Freeze-melt"? How does that work?
Strangely enough, I just saw Solaris the other night, too. That has to be one of the most boring films I've ever watched.
Posted by The Mighty Monkey of Mim (Member # 646) on :
You probably aren't a big 2001: A Space Odyssey fan.
Well anyway, whatever the correct terminology is for the process, a really cold substance will have a similar effect on your flesh as to that of a really hot one. It will "melt" it.
Posted by Harry (Member # 265) on :
quote:The MACOs use subdermal transmitters for communication. So how come Starfleet's still not using them for most circumstances two hundred years later?
They were called 'subdermal recievers', and presumably were one-way devices only.
A few things I noticed:
- The NX-01 did all that shaking and moving while the Xindi vessel was still docked?
- There was a Starfleet medical officer/crewman attending the "wounded" on the Bridge.
- Where and how did they build that shuttle mockup? And how long did it take?
Posted by Guardian 2000 (Member # 743) on :
I must say, that was one of the better Enterprise episodes. I was afraid for a moment that it was going to be another one of those Star-Trek-does-Stephen-King-(badly) head trip episodes.
Instead, this was a very nicely scripted episode that never stopped moving, and showed the crew as being smooth as hell. Even Hoshi was big-pimpin' this time.
1. At first, I was ticked about the memory wipe, being under the impression that it was a new thing when Pulaski did it in "Pen Pals". However, in reviewing the conversation about it between Picard and Pulaski, it doesn't seem like a bad thing. (It's slightly contrary to Crusher referring to "Pulaski's technique" in "Who Watches the Watchers?", but that's minor and readily forgivable.)
2. I loves me some keyloggers. But, Hoshi's voice alteration to play 'Thalen'(?) made the guy sound like a tired drunk.
3. They designed and built that simulation chamber in three days, not to mention training Archer on its use and everyone else on the operation of it. That's rather impressively fast.
4. A half-dozen light-years in a couple of minutes . . . if we use that value directly, that's 3ly/min. Translated into lightspeed terms, that's 1,576,800c.
I don't see how they could be that fast . . . if they were, one would think that the Federation Starfleet would be using that as their drive system instead of warp. (And we know the ability to use the vortices isn't limited to the Delphic Expanse . . . they drop out of FTL right beside Earth, after all.)
5. Archer had good Khan hair ("Space Seed").
Posted by Jason Abbadon (Member # 882) on :
he Xindi version of Transwarp might only work from the expanse...those Spheres warp space for a reason, I'd wager. Mabye they act like a transwarp slingshot from the expanse to wherever?
Posted by Harry (Member # 265) on :
Or the Temporal War wipes the Xindi and their tech from the timeline...
- If Phlox could isolate specific memories in Degra's head, why couldn't he just have taken the Azati Prime coordinates from his head?
Posted by Lee (Member # 393) on :
He never says he could, just that he can erase the "most recent" memory engrams. . . Archer asks how selective the wipe could be, but you never hear the answer. He wasn't reading memories, just suppressing them.
Posted by TheWoozle (Member # 929) on :
Heck, any good blow to the head will do that.
If it where Dr. Crusher, she would have used a non-magneto concussion conduit.
Posted by MrNeutron (Member # 524) on :
quote:Originally posted by The Mighty Monkey of Mim: You probably aren't a big 2001: A Space Odyssey fan.
Well anyway, whatever the correct terminology is for the process, a really cold substance will have a similar effect on your flesh as to that of a really hot one. It will "melt" it.
Hey, I LOVE 2001, and I found Solaris (the recent version) dulllllllllllllllll.
Posted by TSN (Member # 31) on :
I was talking about the original Russian one. Though, come to think of it, not having seen the newer one, I'm not sure which one Monkeyboy was referring to.
And I'm not a big fan of 2001, but mostly because of the ten-minute psychedelia scene when Bowman falls through the monolith. The rest of it wasn't so bad (aside from the beginning and ending making little sense if you haven't read the book).
Posted by Jason Abbadon (Member # 882) on :
2001's ending was pretty disapointing. I'm no fan of fifteen minute orchestrated space scenes that go nowhere either. On the other hand, Sci-Fi channel is premiering it's new movie "Alien Lockdown" this week and I cant help but view the commercials with disgust, knowing that they could have made four or five episodes of farscape for the price of this terrible POS.
Posted by WizArtist (Member # 1095) on :
"My God...Tim's full of...stars"
Posted by The Mighty Monkey of Mim (Member # 646) on :
I was referring to the remake. I found it to be evocative of 2001 in several respects. Overall, I thought it was quite well-done. George Clooney handled his uncharacteristically (for him) serious role surprisingly capably.
-MMoM Posted by MrNeutron (Member # 524) on :
I think IMBD has it right on the nose with this comment about Solaris (2002): "But 2001 will always be the better picture [than Solaris] because that was a true meditation on space, and it wasn't an excuse to use a "second chance" romance formula on a space station."
The first thing you figure out if you really know the film 2001 is that Arthur C. Clarke clearly didn't get what Kubrick was doing. 2010 only reinforces that. Yeah, Kubrick worked with him while the film was being made, but Clarke famously kept having to rewrite the novel to match the developing film. The inverse never happened.
If you go into 2001 expecting a plot you miss the entire point. Kubrick himself said nothing import is conveyed in the dialogue. 2001 is like the most expensive art house film ever made. It's entirely an audio-visual experience, and seeing it on TV just isn't the same as seeing it on a big screen. This is a flaw to a lot of people, but I don't see it as such.
I'm not trying to convert anyone. I think it's one of those either you like it or you don't things.
As to Solaris...both versions are slow. Strangely enough, lbeit the recent Steven Soderbergh version is significantly shorter than the Tarkovsky version, it felt almost as long to me! Perhaps I have more patience than most with Tarkovsky's having seen enough other Russian cinema to be used to the sometimes glacial pacing. Plus I think the Russian version is more about its ideas and less about the love story, so probably less accessible than the American one.
Posted by Starship Salvage Ops (Member # 1212) on :
quote:-- The MACOs use subdermal transmitters for communication. So how come Starfleet's still not using them for most circumstances two hundred years later?
Probably because like in this time period, the Government has no business knowing your business.
But, It's just a matter of time for the Sheeple.
Line forms to the right for your subdermal chip...
Posted by TSN (Member # 31) on :
Um... We're talking about Starfleet, not the general Earth citizenry.
Posted by Jason Abbadon (Member # 882) on :
Well...the minute someone discovers the subdermal transmitters are in use, they'll find a way to trace the signal to the users. Then your bad-ass MACO's become lame-ass sitting ducks with no way to ditch their communicators-turned homing devices.
Posted by TSN (Member # 31) on :
Of course, we've never seen the twenty-third or twenty-fourth century versions of the communicators get "ditched" because they were traceable, so I'm not sure why the twenty-second century version would be any different, just because it's subdermal.
Posted by PsyLiam (Member # 73) on :
I suppose it's always possible that, just after, er, "Patterns of Force" (I think), they realised that the subdermal communicators caused cancer, so they stopped using them.
And then they cured the problem, in time for "Who Watches the Watchers", but, oh no, now they find out that the subdermal communicators causes strange hair growth on the elbows. So again, they stop using them.
That's probably it.
Posted by Guardian 2000 (Member # 743) on :
I'd say it's simply that, as a rule of thumb, people prefer their technological implements on the outside. They're also more useful this way . . . how many times have we seen the need to reconfigure the doohickey on the thingamajig? Can't very well do so if you have to cut it out first, a la "Patterns". Of course, if the thingamajig and its doohickeys are inside your skin, it does make them harder to misplace.
The Ferengi don't seem to mind it too much, though, given the civilian use of implants in "Little Green Men".
Posted by J (Member # 608) on :
Actually... the subdermal implant didn't send anything at all... in fact the only way that they got messages from Archer was from the camera that was in the mock-up shuttle. I'd say that it isn't as easily tracable as you are making it out to be. It seems to be a receiver only. It probably feeds neuro-electric impulses directly to the auditory nerve so that no one else could hear it even if they had their ear up to Archer's head.
It's obviously not full proof. Someone could hijack the signal, the electronics of the device might be detectable, the neuro-electric impulse might be deciferable... etc. But it doesn't seem as bad as you are making it out to be.
And, what about the Universal Translator in the future, isn't that more than likely an implant instead of just the comm badge as is commonly assumed [and aluded to in the TNG TM].
Posted by Jason Abbadon (Member # 882) on :
hmmmm...I agree that the translators in the future are probably subdermal.
If an enemy could hijack the sending signal, they could destroy your away team by broadcasting untrasonics or Barney the Dinosaur songs over and over..
Posted by WizArtist (Member # 1095) on :
Weren't the UT's more or less a glorified hearing aid? I think that was what Quark, Rom & Nog were working on when they vacationed in Roswell.
Posted by Guardian 2000 (Member # 743) on :
quote:Originally posted by J: And, what about the Universal Translator in the future, isn't that more than likely an implant instead of just the comm badge as is commonly assumed [and aluded to in the TNG TM].
Actually, I distinctly recall a scene wherein somebody refers to the UT and points to their communicator simultaneously. I think it is "The 37's"[VOY2].
I also wanna say that I remember an ep wherein someone was working on the UT and thus had the communicator badge flipped open . . . but remembering where that came from will take more work. Posted by Kazeite (Member # 970) on :
Yes, it was "The 37's". Japanese soldier expressed his amazement that everybody seems to be speaking japanese, and Janeway explained that it's because of UT and pointed at her commbadge.
But I don't remember when they worked on UT and had their commadges open.
Posted by J (Member # 608) on :
Ok... ok... but still I was hoping to make sense of it and not have one UT in one comm badge translate for an entire group of people... doesn't really seem plausible to me.
Posted by Timo (Member # 245) on :
Probably the UT is a multi-tier system. When you are aboard a starship, all those ears-in-the-walls and hidden 3D speakers do the translating for you. Outside the ship, but still within comm range, the commbadges act the role. Yet in everyday situations, when you aren't wearing a badge or aren't in Starfleet, your implant handles the regular English-Japanese-English or Klingon-Trill-Klingon translations.
It's only when encountering *new* languages not already programmed into your implant that you feel naked without a badge...
And come to think of it, forget what I said about 3D speakers above. The UT must act on nerve impulses instead of sounds - your ear most probably hears Klingon, but the UT then messes with the nerve signals and the message reaches your brain in English. And if the opponent isn't wearing a corresponding UT, then when you think about saying something in English, your "voice-tract" nerves are tampered with and it comes out as Klingon.
And sometimes this "identify whether opponent understands" routine falters, and you blurt out random combinations of native and foreign words... This happens a lot with those crappy Klingon UTs.
Timo Saloniemi
Posted by TSN (Member # 31) on :
So, then, in "The 37s", how did the English-speaking "37s" and the Japanese guy understand each other?
Posted by Cartman (Member # 256) on :
And if UTs are microscopic modems plugged into people's brains, what happens when the signal-to-noise ratio drops below fifty percent due to [technobabble interference] or when somebody reprograms them via [technobabble Telnet] to convert all in- and outcoming pulses to random gibberish?
"but still I was hoping to make sense of it..."
Don't. You'll go mad.
Posted by PsyLiam (Member # 73) on :
Y'know, in 35 years of Trek, I'm shocked they haven't used that for a story idea. The closest we really got was "Babel". Or was that "Babble"? I forget?
Mainly, it's because I am curious about people like Kira. Worf I can see knowing English (or at least Russian), and same with Tuvok and Spock (due to them being uber-clever), but did Kira really sit down and learn English? Or Nog?
Posted by MinutiaeMan (Member # 444) on :
You can't make sense of the Universal Translator. Here's why. Posted by Manticore (Member # 1227) on :
You know what'd be hilarious? After everyone declares them impossible, in twenty years, we discover how to do it.
EDIT: Dan, is it just me or is the server that our sites are on really really bad?
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