Flare Sci-fi Forums
Flare Sci-Fi Forums
Topic Closed  Topic Closed
Post New Topic  
Topic Closed  Topic Closed
my profile | directory login | search | faq | forum home

  next oldest topic   next newest topic
» Flare Sci-Fi Forums » Community » Other Television Shows » $$$ Ep. #2 -- Fight or Flight $$$ (Page 2)

  This topic comprises 3 pages: 1  2  3   
Author Topic: $$$ Ep. #2 -- Fight or Flight $$$
The_Tom
recently silent
Member # 38

 - posted      Profile for The_Tom     Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
I think CaptainMike's right about the Argon.


Some quickie thoughts:

Plot:
Very oddly paced episode in that there's a rather heavy preface of character development before the actual A-plot kicks in. It does give the first half a very Deep Space Nine-ish feel, which I think many fans will like. The only problem seems to be that the actual crisis gets all worked out and solved in the remaining half hour, which comes off as a bit punctuated. At least the five minute resolution here doesn't leave you feeling like a Voyager episode which spent 55 minutes building up predictibly to the conclusion.

Acting:
Bakula rules. He had some uneven lines in the pilot, but he seemed geniuely passionate and interested throughout the episode. Park is very much taster's choice, I think. Personally I found her strong and believeable, but I can understand why people might think she's coming off a bit hammy too.

Directing:
Interestingly, its been noted that James Conway didn't treat us to larger establishing shots of the crew on the new sets during the pilot, preferring to do tighter close-ups on the characters. The same holds true here, with little artistry as far as settings are concerned. But Kroeker does get a little artsy in placing characters faces during conversations, especially in the spacesuits with the lighted faces and such. What are emerging as typical camera positions on the bridge are far more visually interesting than anything on Voyager, probably owing to the far better-layed out bridge set which actually allows one to get three different characters in a shot without backing out so far as to make their faces unreadable.
Widescreen is the greatest thing to happen to Trek yet though. It just looks better. I saw West Wing immediately afterward, again in widescreen, which only reaffirmed my belief that going the 16:9 makes something that was pretty well-directed to begin with look even better.

Music:
Jay Chattaway is far more daring than McCarthy, and we get some rather nice newish sounds this week. There's some guitar thrown in there and a bit of percussion thumping during the climax. I like. The big news is that the end credits theme has been scrapped and redone. The somewhat-listenable acoustic version of Faith of the Heart has been booted off to the land of Star Trek trivia questions after a one episode stand and we now have a kinda nondescript but still fairly unique orchestral-type theme. Of course, my local station had to dub over most of it with an inane announcement about what's coming up on the nightly news, so I probably missed the most interesting parts of the music.

Eye Candy:
The VFX are fairly tepid in scope when placed next to Broken Bow but still rather beautiful, especially the shuttle sequence. My only gripe is some really awful bluescreen work that would look bad on first season TNG... there's some very obvious matte lines around T'Pol's hair during the scene in the captain's dining room and some less awful (but still noticeable) matting around Sato and Phlox on the planet at the episode's end. (But hey, it wasn't the cave set.) I like look of the torpedoes, although they aren't jaw-droppingly visually impressive.

Miscellany:

  • Enterprise has lettered decks. Hoshi lives, or lived anyway, on E deck.
  • The space suits kick ass... up close you can see they're made of some rather funky material that's far more form-fitting than one would have guessed.
  • The Decon Room makes a reappearance. At least they remembered it should be seen even when gel-rubdowns aren't planned.
  • I like Phlox, OK. I really do. The humour thing is working thus far. That's how Neelix should have been done.
  • I don't think Tucker and Archer walked quite around in a circle and ended exactly where they started, but they did certainly make an elaborate path of it. Perhaps they're still a little unfamiliar with the ship Nonetheless, that's one huge honking hallway set, and the different layout is a change from the old one with every single corner familiar to us.
  • Hoshi hasn't been trained in the operation of a phase pistol, but has been taught how to use an "EM-33," which one gets the impression is the name of the plasma pistol we saw used last week. Reed cracks out the rifles, and we get a pretty good look at them, though I'm not quite sure they're Jem'Hadar redresses like Mark's said. Certainly big honking mean guns.
  • T'Pol really, really likes using that viewer thingy.
  • The Captain's Dining Room appears to have doors on three sides... one to the main mess hall, one to the kitchen, and one out to a hallway.
  • Mayweather gets short shrift again as far as doing stuff goes. Alas, poor ensign.
  • Reed's fun, although one fears he may be slipping into one-note form. Keating is great at the whole dry humour thing. Hopefully he'll get to stand relatively alone in the spotlight sooner rather than later.

    [ October 03, 2001: Message edited by: The_Tom ]



    --------------------
    "I was surprised by the matter-of-factness of Kafka's narration, and the subtle humor present as a result." (Sizer 2005)

    Registered: Mar 1999  |  IP: Logged
  • Malnurtured Snay
    Blogger
    Member # 411

     - posted      Profile for Malnurtured Snay     Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
    Siggy,

    Archer calls EVERYONE by their first name. He called Mayweather "Travis" in the first act.

    --------------------
    www.malnurturedsnay.net


    Registered: Sep 2000  |  IP: Logged
    TheF0rce
    Active Member
    Member # 533

     - posted      Profile for TheF0rce     Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
    Hehe, Enterprise getting so easily pounded on by the bad guys were good.

    I hated how voyager nearly bullied her way past dozens of delta quadrent species, or at least pushed her weight around even though a lone ship had no right to do so in its current position.


    Registered: Mar 2001  |  IP: Logged
    The_Tom
    recently silent
    Member # 38

     - posted      Profile for The_Tom     Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
    Yeah, interesting point on Archer and first names. He called Reed "Malcolm" in the shuttlepod. He's otherwise referred to Mayweather and Reed with their last names plus either their rank or "mister"

    --------------------
    "I was surprised by the matter-of-factness of Kafka's narration, and the subtle humor present as a result." (Sizer 2005)

    Registered: Mar 1999  |  IP: Logged
    capped
    I WAS IN THE FUTURE, IT WAS TOO LATE TO RSVP
    Member # 709

     - posted      Profile for capped     Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
    I realize its because its not a military atmosphere, but Archer has already broken two of Kirk's rules of command (as i percieve them).

    1) Calling his subordintates by first names. Kirk never let himself get that close. Did Kirk even know anybody's first name? He sure didnt call Uhura or Sulu or Chekov by theirs. He couldnt pronounce Spock's and he always called McCoy 'Bones' and Scott 'Scotty'.

    2) He changed his mind and made quite an emotional display in front of his senior officers at the dinner (Kirk would spend a lot of time steeling himself to make a show of bravado in front of his crew, rather than getting wishy washy in front of them.. Spock and McCoy are a loophole for him though, but Archer doesnt seem as chummy with T'Pol and Tucker as Kirk was with them, so i consider Archer losing it like that to be a violation of Kirk's law.)

    And didnt Picard once say that if a captain made a wrong decision, they should stick to it instead of changing their mind in front of the crew.
    That wasnt quite the case here.

    These arent criticisms.. i love that this show is going to be different from that Starfleet statud quo. And its nice to see Archer is no Kirk. (not necessarily a bad thing!)

    --------------------
    "Are you worried that your thoughts are not quite.. clear?"


    Registered: Sep 2001  |  IP: Logged
    The_Tom
    recently silent
    Member # 38

     - posted      Profile for The_Tom     Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
    I'm happy to report that after two episodes, the gregorian calendar seems to be working just fine. The events of the episode ended on May 6, FWIW.

    --------------------
    "I was surprised by the matter-of-factness of Kafka's narration, and the subtle humor present as a result." (Sizer 2005)

    Registered: Mar 1999  |  IP: Logged
    Mark Nguyen
    I'm a daddy now!
    Member # 469

     - posted      Profile for Mark Nguyen     Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
    Re: Atmospheres. Yes, argon a Noble Gas, and it is an inert, but heavier gas than nitrogen. Being inert, it doesn't really react with anything in its natural state, like lung tissue. Earth's atmosphere is around 1% argon, actually, and I breathe pretty well.

    Class-L planets are often described as having an oxygen-argon atmosphere, though the planet at the end of the show need not fit that category - it may just have had a high content of argon.

    Mark

    --------------------
    "This is my timey-wimey detector. Goes ding when there's stuff." - Doctor Who
    The 404s - Improv Comedy | Mark's Starship Bridge Designs | Anime Alberta


    Registered: Dec 2000  |  IP: Logged
    capped
    I WAS IN THE FUTURE, IT WAS TOO LATE TO RSVP
    Member # 709

     - posted      Profile for capped     Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
    Of course, another question occured to me.. if argon doesnt interact readily, how would sluggo use it?

    --------------------
    "Are you worried that your thoughts are not quite.. clear?"

    Registered: Sep 2001  |  IP: Logged
    TSN
    I'm... from Earth.
    Member # 31

     - posted      Profile for TSN     Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
    "...since our oxygen atmosphere is mixed with a percentage (20 something%?) of nitrogen..."

    You've got it backward. The 20% is oxygen. We've got about 70% nitrogen. Which is good. If the atmosphere were 70% oxygen, the planet would have blown up a long time ago.

    "Another Nausican reference!"

    "Another"? I don't recall any in "Broken Bow", and I've only heard about one in "Fight or Flight"...

    "It looks like Mayweather and Reed are going to have a close friendship that akin to the one Bashir and O'Brien had in Deep Space Nine."

    I thought it was Mayweather and Tucker who were supposed to be buddies. Or am I remembering incorrectly?


    Registered: Mar 1999  |  IP: Logged
    Timo
    Moderator
    Member # 245

     - posted      Profile for Timo     Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
    And conversely, argon need not be present on all class L worlds.

    The two major points about having argon instead of nitrogen for the bulk of the atmosphere would be thermal conductance and the overall density. You might get mightily chilly in an argon atmosphere, or have fancy dehydration effects.

    And while argon is heavier than nitrogen, the thing is that nitrogen bobs around as a two-atom molecule while argon remains a swinging single, with e.g. greater penetration capability through tissues. Your blood might get bubbly or something in high-pressure argon. Hard to tell. Unless there's some research paper by an inquisitive Nazi scientist on the subject, I doubt the subject has been given much thought.

    Then again, helium atmospheres are important in saturation-diving work, and have been extensively researched. Argon could be cheaper than helium in bulk, so perhaps somebody *has* done a study on it.

    Timo Saloniemi


    Registered: Nov 1999  |  IP: Logged
    colin
    Active Member
    Member # 217

     - posted      Profile for colin         Edit/Delete Post 
    Characters
    Ensign Hoshi Sato 3 years of training. 2 training cruises.
    Visited the Amazon. [Did anyone get details on this travel? I know from her tone that she doesn't like snakes.]
    Dr. Phlox Has seen death before on an alien ship. Learn that he likes to talk during meal times. Practice of talking during meal times is not accepted on his world. [Did anyone get the full details of the two experiences that he mentioned?]
    Other characters that we learn about are two ensigns who like each other, a lt. who has interesting eating habits, and a female officer who has a particular smell after she exercises in the gym. [Did anyone get the names of these characters?]

    Ship Enterprise NX-01
    Has a gymnasium.

    Time line
    Dr. Phlox's experiences and Ms. Sato's training and experiences.
    April 17, 2151 to May 6, 2151. Survey of hydrogen sulfide world and argon world. Sluggo retrieved from argon world. Events of "Fight or "Flight".

    Concerns
    What is the role of the 80 other crew members aboard this ship? Are they going to be window dressing or are they going to serve a purpose?

    Terrible promotions. Promotion for next week's show says, I am paraphrasing here, Enterprise NX-01 visits an Earth like world. Weren't Sato and Phlox on an Earth-like world at the end of the show, placing our banana slug Sluggo at a new home?

    [ October 04, 2001: Message edited by: targetemployee ]


    Registered: Sep 1999  |  IP: Logged
    bX
    Stopped. Smelling flowers.
    Member # 419

     - posted      Profile for bX     Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
    I thought the episode was pretty weak, really. It was great to see more of the Enterprise world, and I liked that the torpedoes were so pathetic. [poof!]...{nothing happens}...

    The reversal of Archer's decision to leave the massacred Axanar ship seemed tenative and his insecurity (a theme of the episode it would seem) would be a dangerous (and unlikely) trait for any Starship Captain, let alone the first. Had I been a writer in the meeting, I would have proposed cutting out the double-back, make Archer give the 'human code' speech to T'pol right there (maybe hint that he be a little anxious about the possibility of getting his crew in over his heads, or something if TPTB need some vulnerability), and pushed those minutes into the tension for the resolution, more shouting from the Axanar, less overt uncomfortability from Sato (the scene with Phlox was great, and I think they could've left it at that even). Sato was really grating on my nerves throughout this episode. She was really really whiny(sp?) and downright unprofessional at times. That's not at all what I would expect from one of humanity's best exo-linguistics experts. She didn't come across as being so bookish in "Broken Bow" (her curiosity about the Klingon audio recording, and her strong inflections with the Klingon). I suppose she's inexperienced and some trepidation could only be expected, but that kind of indecisiveness in the thick of it could get the crew killed really fast and for a really dumb reason. They really seemed to be hitting us over the head with her insecurity. I'm hoping this'll be a one-time thing and not a recurring theme 'cause it'd get tired REAL fast. Faster than Reed's Worf impression. (Which didn't really bother me as much as others have expressed.)

    All told: I don't see this being one of those episodes that makes me think about it a lot, and compels me to watch the tape over and over again.

    (note: except when Archer open up the phase pistol [drools])

    [ October 04, 2001: Message edited by: Balaam Xumucane ]



    --------------------
    "Nah. The 9th chevron is for changing the ringtone from "grindy-grindy chonk-chonk" to the theme tune to dallas." -Reverend42

    Registered: Sep 2000  |  IP: Logged
    Malnurtured Snay
    Blogger
    Member # 411

     - posted      Profile for Malnurtured Snay     Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
    quote:
    a female officer who has a particular smell after she exercises in the gym.

    Yes. It's called 'sweat.' Presumeably, either Phlox isn't around the gym very much, or his own species doesn't sweat.

    quote:
    What is the role of the 80 other crew members aboard this ship? Are they going to be window dressing or are they going to serve a purpose?

    Um. Did you wonder what the role of the other 1,000 people on the Enterprise-D was going to be? What the role of the thousands of crewmen, visitors, etc. on DS9 was going to be? What the role of the other 100+ crew on Voyager was going to be?

    --------------------
    www.malnurturedsnay.net


    Registered: Sep 2000  |  IP: Logged
    Harry
    Stormwind City Guard
    Member # 265

     - posted      Profile for Harry     Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
    No Trek show has ever paid much attention to all it's unnamed crewmembers, and I have no problem with it .

    --------------------
    Titan Fleet Yards | Memory Alpha

    Registered: Dec 1999  |  IP: Logged
    Dukhat
    Hater of Stock Footage
    Member # 341

     - posted      Profile for Dukhat     Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
    I'm surprised that no one has mentioned the fact that the Enterprise has ship-to-ship visual communication. I could have sworn that Spock pointed out in "Balance of Terror" that Romulan War-era Earth forces did not have this capability. Or was it just the Romulans who didn't have it? Or is the Enterprise the exception in 22nd century Starfleet?

    [ October 04, 2001: Message edited by: Dukhat ]



    --------------------
    "A film made in 2008 isn't going to look like a TV series from 1966 if it wants to make any money. As long as the characters act the same way, and the spirit of the story remains the same then it's "real" Star Trek. Everything else is window dressing." -StCoop

    Registered: Jun 2000  |  IP: Logged
      This topic comprises 3 pages: 1  2  3   

    Post New Topic  
    Topic Closed  Topic Closed
    Open Topic   Feature Topic   Move Topic   Delete Topic next oldest topic   next newest topic
     - Printer-friendly view of this topic
    Hop To:


    © 1999-2024 Charles Capps

    Powered by UBB.classic™ 6.7.3