posted
Meh... Short report today, as this was mostly a character episode - and a decent one.
-Phlox has a tribble! It's cute and furry and cuddly and... and doesn't last very long. Tribbles are rare, already outlawed on most planets, and the only thing that keeps their population in check are the lizards on their homeworld - something which is clearly demonstrated in the opening teaser.
-Mayweather is the resident rock climber (see "Two Days and Two Nights") and takes the lead(!) with Trip and Reed in an away mission to rescue a batch of Denobulans. The tan field uniforms make another appearance. The spelunking equipment includes snake-lights mounted on their backpacks, which is a welcome innovation considering the limited usefulness of the palm beacons of TNG, and the awkward arm-mounted lights of VOY.
-Numerous ships are seen in this show as ships that are evacuating the world o' the week as a regime changes. At least one is new, I'm sure - it flies over the shuttlepod as it makes its way to the surface. A damaged transport is saved by Enterprise, and it docks along its ventral surface (like the Kriosian ship from a while back).
-The principal debate here is that an Antaran doesn't want to be treated by a Denobulan. There's a little bit of an ethical debate here, as Denobulans do not share in the Hippocratic Oath - they simply won't treat anyone who doesn't want to be treated. The Antarans and Denobulans haven't seen each other in 300 years, since their last war when the Denobulans did some rather nasty things.
-Phlox's grandma lived through the last war - an indication of the Denobulan lifespan. However, Phlox never told any of his five kids of his grandma's rascist attitude. Only one of his sons is so closed-minded.
-After Travis heroically saves Trip and Reed and busts his ankle in the process (guess he couldn't be front & center for long, eh?), they ultimately stumble upon the Denobulans, who predictably don't want to leave. Note the amount of equipment the scientists brought with them! If the Enterprise gang had to squeeze through so much with only backpacks, how long would it have taken the Denobulans to lug ALL THAT down there...
-Denobulans use tupperware?!
-Anyway, they don't want to leave because the world o' the week has some really nice rocks. It could be instrumental in preventing seimic disasters back home - no mention is made of any doomed planets, as was suggested in the spoilers.
-On the way back up, the shuttlepod is attacked by a patrol ship. And... That's it. They just sort of leave it at that, and move on to the next scene. This isn't a tech observation - I'm just confused as to why they left it hanging.
posted
Trip said "They just want to give us a little kick in the pants". They were probably pissed about the Enterprise staying so long and the patrol ship attacking was their way of saying "Scram! And don't come back!"
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posted
Well, Phlox knew what it was because he's been around. Hoshi didn't know what it was, and seeing as where they're outlawed they're probably not seen much by SF folks.
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posted
Loved Trip getting pissed and threatening to shoot the head researcher in the ass! Good to see Mayweather getting involved. Pretty ballsy of him not o scream in pain as Trin and Malcom were only being suspended by his busted ankle. Sure hope he brought some painkillers in the medpack. A good Phlox episode and Archer's conversation with the Antaran was nice: as was his reaction to the Denobulan warcrimes. It seems that Denoublans of just a couple of generations back were pretty Nazi like in their experiments (if the antaran is correct). Yet another episode without Porthos! I wonder if they've phased him out of the show...
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quote:If the Enterprise gang had to squeeze through so much with only backpacks, how long would it have taken the Denobulans to lug ALL THAT down there...
There was probably another passageway into that cavern. The Denobulans were down in that cave network for six months, after all, and probably weren't in that one place the whole time. They may have taken an indirect route in.
I guess one tech question would be, whether that patrol fighter at the end just has some pissiant particle beam popguns that can't take out ENT's shuttlepod, or if they were just firing at low power to make a point. (I know Trip said they were giving them "a kick in the pants," but the question remains whether the weapons power was deliberately reduced or relatively weak anyway.)
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quote:Originally posted by MinutiaeMan: I guess one tech question would be, whether that patrol fighter at the end just has some pissiant particle beam popguns that can't take out ENT's shuttlepod, or if they were just firing at low power to make a point. (I know Trip said they were giving them "a kick in the pants," but the question remains whether the weapons power was deliberately reduced or relatively weak anyway.)
I believe it was said it was something to the effect of being 'low yield' or set at low yield just as a lil...'you lucky we gave you a few hours bitch, be gone' kind of pant bootin'.
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Reed: Minimal damage. They're using low-powered particle beams.
Archer: Do you need assistance?
Tucker: Stand by. I think they're just trying to give us a little kick in the pants.
Patrol ship turns away.
"Low-powered" suggests to me that the weapons are actually weak, not that they have been set to be weak. And you wouldn't put pathetic weapons on a ship if you had good ones.
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quote:"Low-powered" suggests to me that the weapons are actually weak, not that they have been set to be weak. And you wouldn't put pathetic weapons on a ship if you had good ones.
Not unless you're Archer, anyway. HOW long was it before he had those phase cannons installed?
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posted
I think it is possible the patrol ship pilot could alter the frequency of the weapons and was using a lower setting for sending a message.
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posted
Now that I've seen it, I'm wondering what Phlox was doing with his tribble. He had obviously sterlized it or put it out of commission in some way, since he only had a tribble. But, I mean, he just fed it to something else. Perhaps he had it around to study as a biological curiosity, and then disposed of it in a useful manner when he was done?
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