posted
Augh, I have to watch this epsiode again to catch it all.. And I will later. Suffice it to say, we see the limitations of the warp 5 engine, we see a Vulcan "combat cruiser", we see the aft phase cannon, we see Vulcans drink iced tea, and much more! And the episode was pretty cool, to boot!
Sweeps is here!
Mark
[Edit - where I live, they split up this week's double healping of Enterprise over two nights, with the second airing tonight. Someone else can feel free to handle the tech thread for "Desert Crossing".]
[ May 08, 2002, 17:10: Message edited by: Mark Nguyen ]
if so....i've never actually known what the term means
could some one enlighten me?
Buzz
-------------------- "Tom is Canadian. He thereby uses advanced humour tecniques, such as 'irony', 'sarcasm', and werid shit'. If you are not qualified in any of these, it will be risky for you to attempt to decipher what he means. Just smile and carry on." - PsyLiam; 16th June
Registered: Aug 2001
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posted
Sweeps, which usually occurs in May and November, is a monthlong drive by the networks to raise ratings through the roof. It is during these periods that the advertising costs are calculated (a higher-rated show can sell advertising space at a higher price than a lower rated one).
Sweeps is also maked by many cliched attempts at the networks to generate ratings. This is why you'll sometimes see "A Very Special Episode of __" during sweeps. You'll also see super special guest stars, a lot more near naked people, and even more misleading promos for upcoming episodes.
Registered: Mar 1999
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-The episode opens with T'Pol noting that no one on the ship has gotten laid since they left Earth; as a result, crew efficiency is down three percent. As such, T'Pol delves into the database and suggets everyone goes to Risa for some shore leave. Trip jumps into the game, wearing a Hawaiian shirt on duty and blabbing about the two hundred 24-fingered Nuvian maseusses there. The Captain declines to go down when they get there, instead preferring to get it on with some star chart reports. Apparently, Starfleet forbids fraternization between officers and their subordinates.
-When the inevitable sidetrack comes, it's to go pick up the Vulcan ambassador to Mazar. V'Lar has been into diplomacy for a long time, having negotiated the first treaties between Vulcan and Andoria prior to first contact with Earth, plus the treaty of Ka'Tann. She later notes that her career is 94 years old; assuming they're talking Earth years, they suggest that the Vulcans first met the Andorians no more than a few years before any Humans.
-In order to accomodate V'Lar, Hoshi gets to vacate her quarters. This is a little odd, as I can't remember offhand any other Trek having problems with accomodations, including the Defiant. I wonder how much extra space there is on Enterprise? And more importantly, why we weren't treated to a pillowfight with Hoshi and whoever she ended up bunking with?
-Once again, Enterprise gets trounced by the bad guys, who have (slightly) superior engines, and energy shields against which torpedoes are useless. The aft phase cannon does fare better, after a bit of banter about how they can't fire the cannons at warp. This is because of particle discharge, which would throw off the warp field and possibly blow both nacelles. Malcom's been working on the problem, but [BOOM!!]. Regardless, Mazarite ships do not share this problem.
-Yes, the phase cannon is mounted off-centre, deploying from a hatch under the starboard catamaran. One can only assume that there's a matching hatch on the port side with nothing in it, at least until the inevitable upgrade.
-There's lots of new CGI models this week, including the Mazarite warship and shuttle, AND the Vulcan "combat cruiser" Sh'Raan and its shuttle. The Sh'Raan looks pretty much like the science vessel seen earlier this year, however it's much larger - at least twice as long, making her comparable in length to an Excelsior-class ship! In fact, it looks a whole lot like the picture that was posted here some time back. Her top speed is warp seven, and she carries enough firepower to scare away three Mazarite warships that would have otherwise made space junk out of Enterprise. Archer makes a point of saying it's one of Vulcan's most powerful ships.
-Soval is still on Earth, apparently. Forrest talks of consulting him at one point.
-V'lar likes iced tea with passion fruit. T'Pol does not. The two met at the Ka'Tann conference at Vulcana Ragar.
-They really push the limits of what they can do with the warp 5 engine. In an attempt to outrun the Mazarite ships, they take her to 4.9, which they can't even hold for two hours. Ultimately, they try warp 5.0, which comes pretty close to shaking the ship apart. The Mazarites are barely faster, and at one point they vent drive plasma to keep their engines from overloading.
-Mazarites carry their weapons in shoulder harnesses! This is a first for non-Human species on Trek, I believe.
posted
Grabbed some pics (from a so-so-quality mpg) of the Vulcan ship (I think we've gotten to the bottom of Bernd's little scheme ) taking on the Mazarites, whose shipyard engineers apparently enjoyed Independence Day a bit too much.
And the shuttle's a biggish one... more in the runabout region, judging by its length beside the Enterprise's saucer.
-------------------- "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
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-------------------- Fry- How will we get out of this? George Takei's head- Maybe we can use some kind of auto-destruct code like one-A, two-B, three-C... (Bender's head blows up) Bender- Now everybody knows! -Futurama's obligatory Star Trek episode
Registered: Aug 2001
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posted
Archer calls it a "combat cruiser," but I'd imagine according to Vulcan High Command it's a "promotion of peace & logical order starship." The captain had the cool superiority thing down quite nicely.
(And it shoots teal beams that match the aforementioned shock troops in SoP'J, which qualifies as continuity, I suppose)
[ May 08, 2002, 16:38: 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)
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posted
Before I saw the episode I thought, "Oh great, instead of designing a new ship, they're gonna badly rescale an old one." However, it's clear IMO that this "combat cruiser" IS a different class of ship. The upscaling and hull stretching actually isn't unbelievable like with the BOP, since the design is quite simplistic. However, it did look enough like the Suurok class to be mistaken in that earlier pic of Bernd's. I think that pic is actually of this ship, not the Suurok.
Registered: Jun 2000
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posted
Whilst leafing through this month's ST:M today, I chanced to find a pic of the science ship. They *are* very different, and it's very clear in the detailing on the aft undercuts of both ships. For starters, while the science ship has an impulse drive kinda like the one found on the TOS shuttlecraft, this combat cruiser has a drive more like the TOS movie era Connie.
Another point of interest - one has to wonder exactly what course the Pre-E is taking during its first year. Without delving into the upcoming maps book discussion, it seems like they are in fact *not* traveling straight out from Earth, but are purposefully looping around it at some distance beyond human-explored space. How else to explain how we keep running into the Vulcans, Klingons and Andorians while constantly running into various aliens unknown to anyone? For that matter, even with the network of Echo relays, shouldn't communication distance concerns come into play more often?
capped
I WAS IN THE FUTURE, IT WAS TOO LATE TO RSVP
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posted
BTW, "Elaan of Troyius" featured Uhura giving up her quarters since all the guest rooms were full, so there is a precedent for that. I imagine the NX-01 has even less free room, possibly with no guest accomodations whatsoever. This would make sense with the ships exploratory (not diplomatic) mission profile.
-------------------- "Are you worried that your thoughts are not quite.. clear?"
Registered: Sep 2001
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posted
I just saw Fallen Hero. It was a good one, actually. V'lar seemed to be one of the first iced-down Vulcans, while the Vulcan Captain and his lackeys were still chilly. I wonder, though, how those two Vulcans dissapeared out of the air-lock without opening a door
The Vulcan ships are indeed quite different. The greeblies in the aft undercut are different, and the impulse engines glow red on the combat cruiser and blue on the Surak (this spelling is confirmed by the May issue of the Magazine).
Those Mazarite guns were quite cool. They fired fast blue-ish pulses. A good mix of contemporary vs. rayguns.
posted
Isn't the "combat cruiser" CGI the same as that of the "science ship"? I see no difference in the windows arrangement. I have listed them as the same ship type for now (although at least the max. speed is different).
Compared to NX-01 alongside (225m), the combat cruiser looks like it is 600m long. I don't think we have any evidence that the science ship should be smaller.
-------------------- Bernd Schneider
Registered: Mar 1999
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