posted
Oh boy, we had lots of fun with this one! A good episode overall, though somewhat overly transparent. But damn, it's good to see Sam and Al together again. Spoilers ahead!
-Bad guys this time are the Tandarans ("Tan-DEHR-ans"), who are proabably the trek aliens with the least prosthetics ever, without actually not having prosthetics. The only thing setting them apart is a tiny flap of skin at the top of the nose. Tandaran space comprises several systems in a "Tandaran Sector".
-The Tandarans are at war with the Suliban, and have been for eight years. The government seems pretty normal (i.e. not evil), as are the people. They have a lot of regulations though, but they're hardly worse than anything seen in a democracy of the 20th Century.
-The prison facility holds 89 Suliban, including children; none of them are part of the Cabal. Thousands more are kept in other camps in a thin veiling of the Japanese internment camps of WWII. Oddly, the prison also holds seized Suliban ships, providing convenient transportation for the inevitable prison break. The facilities are spartan but relatively civil - there is a curfew.
-"Be careful of their wicked smiles Their shining yellow eyes; At night they'll squeeze right through your door, And everybody dies."
Odd, how an alien nursery rhyme still rhymes in English... Odder still how an obvious racial slurr is taught as a nursery rhyme.
-The Suliban used to be well-assimilated into Tandaran society... The Suliban homeworld "became uninhabitable" 300 years ago, and those in Tandar space are a relative minority that decided to settle, rather than be nomadic. The internment changed all that.
-As with the Japanese, families were split up. Requests to rejoin them seem to be routinely ignored.
-All the adult Suliban in this episode seem to have raspy voices. It's probagbly unintentional, but wierd nonetheless.
-Sam and Al are baaaaaack! At more than one point, Colonel Grat uses a PADD which is about the right size and shape, too... Too bad he doesn't whack it. It's worth pointing out that when the two actors are doing scenes alone, it's almost like Quantum Leap never left. Snif..
-The big issue is that the Tandarans discover Enterprise's previous dealings with the Suliban, and want anything Archer knows about 'em. The Tandaran intelligance service is apparently pretty effective; they know of the Broken Bow incident, Rigel Ten, Sarin, and more; Tandaran agents were on the latter planet. They know of Silik's later visit and the Temporal Cold War too. It's unclear where some of this info is coming from, but it's proabably not in the Shuttlepod database.
-Mention is made of "helix deployments", concluding that there are more than one. No big srprise, but worth noting.
-It's not really mentioned why Travis and Archer were in the shuttlepod in the first place... But they were unconscious long enough to be transported several light years. They apparently stumbled into Tandaran-sensitive space, and missed the no-entry sign.
-Anyway, the Enterpise eventually tracks 'em down when Grat contacts the ship. They're able to beam stuff and people in without to much trouble, suggesting the Tandarans don't have transporter technology. They can track energy readings of a communicator just fine, though.
-Outside Tandaran space lie the "Niburon Colonies", where escaping Suliban might find sanctuary.
-Makeup fun continues, as Phlox reveals he can turn Malcom into a Suliban with relative ease. According to the hapless Armory Officer, it itches a lot. However, he seems to be getting used to the transporter when it's used to beam him and a batch of phase pistols into the prison. As a side note, the actor seems to be having fun imitating other accents in this series...
-To confuse the Tandaran electronics and allow Reed to beam down, T'Pol talks to Grat and sends them the "human database" containing some funky virus or something. Anyway, watch closely for some subtly wierd acting on Blalock's part.
-Tandaran patrol ships are asymetrical, but look a little like the Star Wars droid fighters in TPM. Two of 'em are no match for the Pre-E; a torpedo each from the aft launchers is plenty to disable them.
-Effects heavy stuff towards the end, with Trip taking a shuttlepod to lay waste to the base, and the subsequent escape byt he Suliban ships. There's no question anymore as to the shuttles' armament, either; they're definitelly equipped with phase weapons.
-The Pre-E also sems able to descend into a Class-M atmosphere, at least a little; they deploy the shuttle while inside a cloud mass.
-The Suliban ships that escape are *not* the cell ships we've seen before - they're fairly plain aeroforms. In fact, they may be Tandaran ships (as they are Tandaran immigrants, after all) but the ship designs are nothing like the patrol ships.
That's enough for me for now. This was a pretty good show, and heavy on the action, so it'll make a good watch for most fans despite not breaking new dramatic ground. It's on the same level as "Shuttlepod One" for me, so it's quite a watchable hour. Have fun with it!
Mark
[ April 24, 2002, 00:28: Message edited by: Mark Nguyen ]
posted
So now all the Suliban can squeeze through doors? I thought the whole shape-shifting thing was something they got from FutureGuy?
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The context of this rhyme is that it was something someone came up with after the war with the Suliban started. I'm pretty sure something similar happened following Pearl Harbor, possibly involving slanted eyes and yellow skin.
The episode suggests that the Cabal Suliban had been getting their genetic alterations since at least the start of the war. None of the Suliban in the camp had any such tricks. No mention is made of FutureGuy either, and there's only one offhand mention of the Temporal Cold War.
Mark
[ April 24, 2002, 12:06: Message edited by: Mark Nguyen ]
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posted
its pronounced Tan-DAHR-an not Tan DEHR an.. anywho.. good solid ep, a little heavy on message (Archer comes right out and mentions Japanese internment camps too) but still good.. yet another episode where Jon boy gets himself roughed up without fighting back, only to have the Badass Brit come in to save the day.. i think i'm seeing a pattern. Ending was a little simplistic, with your average action movie style prison break, but the open-endedness is appealing.. this Suliban/Tandaran issue might see another day..
-------------------- "Are you worried that your thoughts are not quite.. clear?"
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This is definitely one of the better ENT episodes so far.
There was a brief mention of "FutureGuy" in a way -- Grat wanted to know if Archer knew who the Cabal were receiving their orders from.
And I figured that the nursery rhyme was applying the evil characteristics of the genetically engineered Cabal members to ALL the Suliban, even the innocent civilians.
It's interesting that these Tandarans have an intelligence network that managed to get detailed information about Earth and Starfleet activities. Grat mentioned reading the shuttle's database, but he also said something about intelligence agents -- and implied that they'd been to Earth. THat doesn't gel with the aliens (not just this episode) generally not having heard of Humans before. How did Grat get all that information about Broken Bow, Oklahoma?
-------------------- “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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Its amazing the Kabul didn't wipe these Tandarans out along time ago.
Their technology seems to be even outmatched by Ent, which kicked their ass with ease.
And a lone shuttle[which seemed to have gotten fitted with the new phaser beam]had little trouble in taking out the defenses of the prison.
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\ca�bal\ (k -b l, -b�l) noun. > 1. A conspiratorial group of plotters or intriguers. > 2. A secret scheme or plot to carry out some harmful or illegal act (especially a political plot) [syn: conspiracy]. > 3. A number of persons united in some close design, usually to promote their private views and interests in church or state by intrigue; a secret association composed of a few designing persons; a junto. 4. The secret artifices or machinations of a few persons united in a close design; intrigue.
verb \ca�balled\, \ca�bal�ling\, \ca�bals\ 1. To form a cabal; conspire. [French cabale, from Medieval Latin cabala, fr. Heb. reception, tradition, mysterious doctrine, to take or receive from; Tradition; occult doctrine. See kabbalah.]
Usage: Cabal, Combination, Faction. An association for some purpose considered to be bad is the idea common to these terms. A combination is an organized union of individuals for mutual support, in urging their demands or resisting the claims of others, and may be good or bad according to circumstances; as, a combiniation of workmen or of employers to effect or to prevent a change in prices. A cabal is a secret association of a few individuals who seek by cunning practices to obtain office and power. A faction is a larger body than a cabal, employed for selfish purposes in agitating the community and working up an excitement with a view to change the existing order of things.
Kabul is a city in Afghanistan.
[ April 24, 2002, 18:47: Message edited by: CaptainMike ]
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Registered: Sep 2001
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Two minor nits: 1. Why did T'pol order torpedoes? They only have so many of those. Why not phase cannons? They ARE on line. 2. Didn't the shuttle pods have pulse weapons in "Shadows of P'jem"?
Registered: Mar 2002
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1)Yes, but resupply is most certainly possible. Rationing torpedoes was never an issue in TOS, TNG, DS9, and *sigh* never really became one in VGR. Why start prosecuting now?
2)I look at it this way: When "Silent Enemy" came out, a vicious little crowd of online fanboys decided that Archer was a thickey-head for not ordering the NX-01's phase cannons to be installed (offscreen, even) once it became clear that they wouldn't be heading back to Earth after "Broken Bow." Now, we have a shuttlepod show up with an offscreen upgrade of its plasma weaponry to phase weaponry, and [I suspect many of the same] people bitch. It would be a little odd if the NX-01 has phase weaponry and they have phase sidearms but there aren't any in-between versions mounted on the shuttlepods, no?
-------------------- "I was surprised by the matter-of-factness of Kafka's narration, and the subtle humor present as a result." (Sizer 2005)
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I just like the refreshing difference that the pulse cannons managed to offer. Unfortunately those days are over.
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Oh and one of the Suliban was played by that actor who I think we first seen in the role of that vorta, who was killed and had his corpse reanimated to forever walk into a bulkhead.
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-b 
l, -b�l)![[Big Grin]](biggrin.gif)
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