posted
Well, seeing as how the episode's completely over and no one's posted a topic, I'll take the job.
One thing I was impressed with -- for only the second time in Trek that I can recall, there were alien soldiers who had ARMOR THAT WORKED. And the Borg only had their energy shields, that had to adapt only after a few drones had been taken out.
Was it just me, or did that "vortex" at the end remind anyone else of the transwarp conduits that we saw in "Descent"? 'Twould be interesting if that were the case...
So the Xindi-Reptiles are building a bio-weapon as a backup to their Death Star. Gotta hand it to them... paranoia aside, that was actually a smart move. Unfortunately, the kEWl special effects were so detailed that I figured out right away that the title character was basically supposed to be a walking tricorder for the Xindi. A shame, really... because it was actually a pretty good episode! (Gotta love those ham-fisted UPN promos! )
I am wondering something, though... when are they going to stop having firefights next to the warp core???
All in all, this episode wasn't that bad... but, considering the UPN promo, our expectations were so low anyway...
-------------------- “Those people who think they know everything are a great annoyance to those of us who do.” — Isaac Asimov Star Trek Minutiae | Memory Alpha
Registered: Nov 2000
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posted
Where I am, it's still two hours until it *starts*, bub.
Still, since I can no longer chime in first with the tech review, I'm not so bugged anymore that other people start the threads.
One thing I'm hoping here though is that they don't resort to having hte ship being boarded as a plot device. It gets boring fast - try the first season of "Andromeda", for example. The ship was boarded, and its defences useless, practically every other episode!
posted
Well, yeah. But on "Andromeda," they were supposed to be the most powerful warship within 3 million light-years.
On "Enterprise," they're technologically primitive compared to at least some of the races out there. Yeah, it can get old if it keeps up, but if there's a valid reason for it -- and assuming the Xindi don't have transporter tech, since they didn't beam Raijin off in the first place -- then I don't see a major problem with it.
I just hope that the MACO's can get a bit more competent in the long run. Only in this episode, it was technology, not knowing the territory, that won the day.
I just wonder, though... do the Xindi weapons have a "stun" setting? I really hope NOT... considering the brutal efficiency of the raid, I see no reason why they'd pull their punches at all. Plus, that's going to mean a rather large body count for this episode -- I'd guess at least two or three who got hit directly with beam weapons, plus the other two who got hit with that intriguing "exploding-chemical-blob-thing" weapon, who may have just been incapacitated with that weapon.
-------------------- “Those people who think they know everything are a great annoyance to those of us who do.” — Isaac Asimov Star Trek Minutiae | Memory Alpha
Registered: Nov 2000
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posted
Just having seen "Regeneration" and no Season 3 - can I ask about these MACOS? Are they 2d characters or are they developing - i.e. being that far out into space has got to be pretty wonderous for them.
And when was their planet supposed to be destroyed - after the 24th century?
Maybe Janeway's future borg tech allowed this to happen?
-------------------- "Bears. Beets. Battlestar Galactica." - Jim Halpert. (The Office)
posted
I wondered about that as well....I saw five or six crewmen go down (including the MACO chick). The guy in engineering was nailed clearly in the shoulder: not to hard to fix. Jimini Cricket fired off something HUGE and glowing that I really doubt was non-lethal. A tip for the MACOS: aim for the reptiles' heads! Duh. THey really are good shots though: I don't think any MACO missed a shot: the weapons just were'nt effective.
Hoshi had an extremely hot moment wirth the blonde tricorder. Smo-kin!
Watch Reed jump back from that first corner during the firefight! He's leading the defense of the ship and doing a good job of it too (weell, "good" is subjective, but he's really in charge!) GO REED!
Continuity between episodes! Archer's still recovering from last week's transformation! Trip's concerned for T'Pol's good name!
Porthos makes a cameo!
All told, this episode started off slow and kinda formulatic but quickly got into action-territory and was both well written and well acted.
Note: the Xindi councilman at that's pissed about the reptilian's insobordination is the actor that played the captain of Saratoga from Space: Above and Beyond. So far that's a captain from SAAB, Commander from Nemesis and Lutenant from Crusade. Enterprise is becoming a halfway house for sci-fi supporting arctors!
-------------------- Justice inclines her scales so that wisdom comes at the price of suffering. -Aeschylus, Agamemnon
Registered: Aug 2002
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quote:Enterprise is becoming a halfway house for sci-fi supporting arctors!
Trek's been like that for ages. Ever hear of the Cynic's "Welfare Recipient of the Week" award?
-------------------- “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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"Unfortunately, the kEWl special effects were so detailed that I figured out right away that the title character was basically supposed to be a walking tricorder for the Xindi."
Can you explain this? UPN is on a rather low-budget station here, so the reception is horrible. The visual effects tend to get lost in the fuzz...
Registered: Mar 1999
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-"Raijin" is the Japanese name for the shinto god of lightning. This really has no bearing on the episode, which was spelled "Raijiin", another accepted English spelling of the word.
-The Xindi council makes another appearance, and I'm under the impression that the moderate aquatic Xindi are the leading faction, at least at the table. They probably don't go into space themselves, given the awkwardness of space travel in liquid compared to the air-breathers. They make mention of the Trellium outpost that Enterprise "attacked" in the season opener. An insectoid also notes that Enterprise is "travelling through our space!". If they lay claim to the entire Expanse, they're not doing a very good job of keeping it...
-The gang is looking for Trellium D, which will come into play in an episode or two. They apparently picked up a lead on where to find some when they passed by a deuterium station. This possibly some minor continuity, given their isolation (it's been more than four months since they left Earth) and the ransacking they took from those pirates.
-Cutie Cutler is still aboard! Phlox mentions that she nearly broke her arm.
-I like that they're still recovering from the bio-whatsit from last week, partially justifying the cliche. If they can find a cure so fast, they at least make the recovery lengthy!
-We are presented with yet another beautiful CGI world, this time a nearly all-ocean world. The alien bazaar we visit is a floating collection of barges... Pretty cool.
-Did that first alien on the barge speak in a Rastafarian accent? If so, I think it's a Trek first.
-Trellium A is common and easy to process - not so for T-D. I find this strange given the obvious need for the stuff.
-Archer states that they're on a diplomatic mission. I think this is the first time they've done so... Is he still thinking of peace first? Is the use of violence less of a last resort now?
-Hey, are those the same field jackets we've seen before? They're the same basic design, but I think they're of a different material - not as silvery as the other ones, and darker. Are there pics of the first field jackets online?
-My. God. Hot.
-They get their Trellium D, but cooking it up is a bitch - it seems to be a liquid at first, which is then coated on the inside of the outer hull where it will set and harden. One wrong move, and boom! Setting up an isolated lab, they set to work. The makeshift lab is pretty wierd, being a nondescript and very small room. Did they set up shop in a closet? Why are Trip and T'pol in the closet?
-Raijiin comes from a planet only two days from the bazaar, according to the database they got from the pirates.
-While T'pol's being mentally raped in CSI-vision, Trip (standing outside) calls up tto the bridge for a location check. This is a refreshing change from the "Computer, locate so-and-so" we're used to in the TNG era.
-Okay, let's talk about the raid. For the trouble they were expecting, I'm surprised that there were only three MACOs at the door.
-We see the MACOs stun sticks and stun grenades again - and note that the Starfleet crew were still using thier old rifles. The Xindi have a number of interesting weapons, including their rifle, a gloop gun, and that porcupine blobby thing. Should be interesting in future episodes how they figure to defend against them, since they were pretty effective.
-But were they lethal? Unknown - but the sickbay was conspicuously empty just after the attack. If not, they may have taken some heavy casualties there!
I infer from the references to armor and head shots that this "effective" armor did not include helmets? As far as effective armor goes, the Hunters from "Captive Pursuit" and the other Hunters of Hirogen descent seemed to have functioning physical body protection, too.
How did the Xindi enter and exit? Boarding craft, holes cut in walls? EVA assault? Could they be deterred at the moment of boarding, rather than fought inside the ship, or kept at an arm's length by ship-to-ship weapons?
Is this Trellium-D going to block all the anomalies now?
-The Xindi (mostly reptilians with at least one insectoid in the mix) came in thorugh the starboard airlock, after blowing the inner door away. They probably did the same thing with the outer door.
-Near as I can see, the T-D isn't done yet. A future episode seems to hint that they run out of the stuff they have and have to look for more, suggesting in turn that they're far from getting it right.
posted
"Blow the airlock" is a bit of an understatement. Blow the airlock, door and possibly part of the all across the room is closer to he explosion. Reed and co. get their first look at a Xindi cricket tonight...I'm sure at least one of the crew's gonna have nightmares! Jimini is smart enough to hightail it when a stun grenade is tossed at him.
Reptilian Xindi is good when boarding a alien ship: they don't talk among themselves much and are kinda like the MACOS in thir professionalism. Reed manages to kick one of their asses though (with the help of a good ol' fashioned rifle beating).
Xindi eptilians had a toxin gland added to them as a suicide device so reed's captive is only good on the slab..... BUT WAIT! Archer orders the Xindi armor and weapons taken apart by reed to se if they can defend against them! Smart. I'm sure Phlox'll be scraping that bulkhead for the spore weapon the Xindi used as well.
-------------------- Justice inclines her scales so that wisdom comes at the price of suffering. -Aeschylus, Agamemnon
Registered: Aug 2002
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posted
Adjusted for Expanse effects, though, right?
I'd just love it if ENT was the first Trek show to go the Stargate route and actually start relying on alien technology. Sure, it's not the strategically smartest thing to do since the supplier isn't very reliable. But if alien armor one-ups yours, then mere Starfleet dress code should not stop the heroes from donning it.
posted
They've used their captured cell-ship - hey, I wonder if they still have it? Or if they finally left it back on Earth for the local brains to have a crack at it?
posted
Rajiin asks for the Xindi-Reptillian ship to be within 10.000 kilometers, so she can beam over. No word on adverse effects from the Expanse. Then again, they seemed to be in a rather quiet area, where the laws of physics worked normally. Except for the unusual amounts of libido.
The Xindi obviously don't seem to have (or at least use) transporters.
Micheal Westmore must have had a great time with all those different aliens on the barge. They were the prototypical 'Westmore aliens', made up of existing appliances combined in weird ways. I think the first alien they spoke to might have worn Reman ears.
Rajiin's planet is called something like "Ol-raan-ta-koo". What did the CC make of it?
I would almost dare say the Xindi have the same transwarp technology as Lore's Borg. The VFX were as good as identical, and Mayweather could only describe what he saw as "some sort of vortex", so it's not something he recognized.
The Xindi ships looked like a mix between Nausicaan and Son'a.
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