Kick ass episode chock full of ships and tech. Also, there's this Andorian tactical officer that has to be one of trek's top five babes. I mean, damn: watch for her in the episode.
Now for techie stuff in no particular order:
T'Pol and Hoshi have managed to recreate 30% of the lost database from the ship's archived memory "so far" and they get starcharts from the Andorians.
Andorian sensors are FAR superior to starfleet's and they are able to transmit telemetry directly to the Enterprise's viewscreen. The Andorian ships can get sharp pics and sensor data from outside the star system! Them's good sensors.
The Andorian tactical officer notes that Enterprise's weapons are not too disimilar from those on Andorian ships she served on when she first joined their service. That implies Andorian weapon tech is not more than mabye ten years ahead of Starfleet's and they are able to hold off the Vulcans with it so... Starflleet must be advancing quite rapidly (possibly why the Vulcans ar so concerned about it).
Andorian antimatter injectors are far superior to Enterprise's and after a heart to heart with Trip, Shran gives Enterprise one. It will supposedly "help us alot with our engines"...we could see better warp performance mabye?
The Xindi superweapon is considered a "failure" as it can only chop a moon in half. Archer thinks his Arboreal Xindi pal is responsible for it's poor performance.
Shran is actually a very convincing actor as the captain of an Andorian mining vessel looking for the rare mineral "Archerite".
That's all I can think of just now so I open it up to everyone else to pick apart.
Posted by J (Member # 608) on :
The same actor that played Weyoun and that Ferengi from the Inquistor's office is good at subterfuge? Could have fooled me Posted by The Mighty Monkey of Mim (Member # 646) on :
I'm not entirely clear on one thing: Were the Andorians under orders to obtain the weapon by any means necessary from the onset or were they really sent by the Imperial Guard to help Enterprise initially but then received new orders?
Posted by Harry (Member # 265) on :
Shran was indeed quite an accomplished actor
Two things I noticed: - There was constant talk of "alliances", and forging bridges between Andorians and humans and Andorians and Vulcans. It looks like the producers might be heading of into a "Birth of the Federation" arc someday.
- OTOH, the Andorians don't really have a strong profile yet. We know the Vulcans are logical, the Klingons are honorable and the Breen mysterious, but doesn't seem to be a really Andorian trait yet.
Posted by Jason Abbadon (Member # 882) on :
quote:Originally posted by Harry: We know the Vulcans are logical, the Klingons are honorable and the Breen mysterious, but doesn't seem to be a really Andorian trait yet.
Really hot females in skintight leather pants. That alone gets them federation membership in my universe. Posted by TheWoozle (Member # 929) on :
Maybe it's the 'shields' that they bring to the Federation.. I can see the birth of the Federation.. Neither the Vulcans nor the Andorians will allow the other to form an allience with Earth, so they make a commonwealth.
Posted by Alshrim Dax (Member # 258) on :
Jeffery Combs (Weyoun, Brunt, Shran, Penk) is an amazing character actor for Star Trek. When the openning Prologue was an image of Shran - i immediately got excited for the episode.
And I agree with Jason!! This ep. rocked.. lots of stuff is revealed, and the sphere-weapon looked great... Lots of tech stuff and when the Andorian ship swoops in and tractors the weapon... i couldn't get the smile off my face...
And a great trend lately is that Mayweather is getting more visibility in recent episodes..
And again we see Archer pushing the envelope by setting the 'distruct' sequence on the weapon and giving an altimatum to Shran...
Posted by The Mighty Monkey of Mim (Member # 646) on :
quote:Originally posted by Harry: - OTOH, the Andorians don't really have a strong profile yet. We know the Vulcans are logical, the Klingons are honorable and the Breen mysterious, but doesn't seem to be a really Andorian trait yet.
According to "Journey To Babel" (TOS) they are "violent and passionate."
Posted by Jason Abbadon (Member # 882) on :
Great. A whole planet of ex-girlfreinds then...
Posted by Omega (Member # 91) on :
OTOH, the Andorians don't really have a strong profile yet. We know the Vulcans are logical, the Klingons are honorable and the Breen mysterious, but doesn't seem to be a really Andorian trait yet.
The description I've heard is that they have violent tendencies, but try to control them, and that seems to fit. But then, one-note species are stupid anyway. And a species that can only be described as "mysterious" is going to get boring real fast unless you have something compelling to replace the mystery with. Thank goodness DS9 only dealt with them for a few episodes.
Posted by Jason Abbadon (Member # 882) on :
The Andorians get the royal treatment of species development in the DS9 books. In the novels, the Andorians have a diffrent fight or flight response than other humanoids: when cornered, hurt or frightened, they turn VERY violent and get the whole adrenal pump going: They work hard to control that side of their nature. Andorians also have a few senses humans lack (those antenna arent just for fun) and the new Andorian science officer on DS9 manages to "see" a cloaked Jem'Hadar on the station. They also have three gender types and marry in pre-arranged triads. A good read.
Posted by J (Member # 608) on :
But Data said the marriages required four people...
I always thought the antenna were a type of scent sense. Like you can taste really strong smells on your tongue sometimes, I figured this was the same thing as the antenna like your nose, but different.
Posted by Jason Abbadon (Member # 882) on :
Uh..my mistake: it IS four (the books dont get it wrong, but I did!). The "antenna sense" is describes as more like the electrical sense sharks use to sense a fish's location and distress. Shar (the science officer) keeps sensing something like how we might catch a glimpse f something from the corner of our perpherial vision. He eventually throws a bowl of food at the cloaked Jemmie while at Quark's....then the fn really starts.
Posted by Lee (Member # 393) on :
There's a quite hilarious bit when Shran's just been dressed-down by his boss, and his antennae are drooping - then he gets a call from the Bridge about Enterprise and they shoot right up! 8)
Posted by Jason Abbadon (Member # 882) on :
Yeah...he springs wood when there's intresting news.
Posted by Lee (Member # 393) on :
Yes, and I'm sure Andorians are really great at giving head. . .
Posted by Jason Abbadon (Member # 882) on :
What with the handlebars and all...
Posted by MinutiaeMan (Member # 444) on :
And I thought that oo-mox was disgusting... Posted by Jason Abbadon (Member # 882) on :
Oo-mox is great! Espically when a girl uses her tongue on your ear while her hands are elsewhere....shudder!
Movie theatres are special places.
Posted by Treknophyle (Member # 509) on :
Actually, according to T'Pal, they are liars and treaty-breakers (she uses a five-credit word).
Posted by Jason Abbadon (Member # 882) on :
All women are liars and treaty breakers though. It's why we love them so.
Posted by Balaam Xumucane (Member # 419) on :
Ok, xenophile speculation aside, so if Enterprise was able to suss out the weapon activation code from the Andorian's own data stream, why didn't the Andorians have the deactivation sequence which had presumably been sent right after the weapon sawed the moon in half? And also, I haven't been watching all the episodes, but if the Xindi recognized that there was an Andorian vessel, does that mean the Xindi know of the Andorians? Is there some history there? Would the Xindi know about the location of Earth/the human threat/etc. from the Andorians?
Posted by Jason Abbadon (Member # 882) on :
I dont recall the Xindi saying it was an Andorian vesswl untill after the whole "mining consortium" schtick.
It's possible that the Xindi weapon needed bigtime repairs after "almost overloading" during the test and just blew up because it was being re-used without the cool down period the Xindi were giving it.
Posted by Capt.Blair245 (Member # 1113) on :
The part I loved was the look on Shrans face when he downs that Andorian ale; his eyes sorta pop and his antennas go a litle haywire!
Posted by TheWoozle (Member # 929) on :
I would expect that Archer's experience with Xindi computers and the 'database' would have given him a huge edge over the Andorians in trying to activate it. Archer put it into overload, which is why the Andorians threw it overboard, just before it blew up. Shran's not likely to accuse him of bluffing soon.
Posted by Sol System (Member # 30) on :
So, here's something I've been thinking about: What if the Andorians had just come out and said, upfront, that they were willing to help Earth get their hands on the Xindi weapon provided they got full access to the data? I can't see what reason Earth, or Archer as their representative, would have to turn the offer down. They might use such information against the Vulcans? The Vulcans are apparently unwilling to help when push comes to shove. It seems to me that lots of people on Earth could be easily convinced that an alliance with Andoria would prove more beneficial. (And I suppose if someone was really worried about the balance of power, superweapon specs could get leaked to Vulcan somehow.)
I also think it would have been neat if the Andorians had stuck around for a few episodes, or even the rest of the season. They wouldn't even have to be seen most of the time, splitting up to cover more space being a not unsensible notion. But I guess that Battlestar Galactica stigma is hard to dodge.
Posted by Jason Abbadon (Member # 882) on :
A good question: If the Andorians had offered help in return for the weapon specs to any current government, the answer would have been "yes".
But this is starfleet (allbeit a very young version) and they'd have turned the deal down to keep Pandora's Box closed.
Besides, the Vulcans would have probably turned against Earth if Starfleet gave such an obvious advantage to the Andorians and then Earth would be doubly boned.
Posted by Sol System (Member # 30) on :
The whole theme this season, though, has been how the Xindi threat is now Top Priority, No Exceptions. How is a Vulcan that is turned against Earth significantly different than Vulcan as it is in the show right now? So Vulcan responds with, what, crippling economic and social sanctions? At least the planet is still in one piece. Even if the Vulcans went so far as to actually start a shooting war, I can't imagine they'd have "exterminate all humans" as a win condition. Making an enemy of the Vulcans is, to be sure, a Bad Thing, but not being prepared against the Xindi is catastrophic, and Earth-Vulcan relations can be repaired a lot easier than, well, Earth.
Having said all of that, the Andorians do have a few good reasons not to think that they could forge such an alliance. For instance, as far as they know, Enterprise might be crawling with secret Vulcan gear, with or without human knowledge of its existence. The risk of a Vulcan ship(s) intercepting the Xindi weapon just outside the Expanse thanks to some hidden sensor/transmitter package might outweigh the benefits of getting it without having to hassle with keeping things secret from the humans.
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