posted
Placeholder, but I think we can expect some good tech out of this. The gang runs into a Vulcan ship full of zombies or something, while Trip & Travis are off mining an asteroid for something, probably trellium. Bet on a new Vulcan ship design, and some more Starfleet equipement we've not seen before.
Oddly, the only guest star is a guy named "Hawkins". I guess the Vulcans don't get many lines this week.
The ship used was the bigger Vulcan cruiser, looks like that quarantine ship from "Haven" [TNG], only the warp ring thing was skewed a bit, probably torqued off its clamps and what not by the asteroids
The ship was the Seleya, T'Pol's last shipboard assignment before joining the consulate
Spatial anomalies play havoc with the transporter. New job for the maintenance crew...
Trellium D = Vulcan neurotoxin
Bridge on the Seleya is seven decks above the docking hatch, aux control is two decks up (Not sure, someone confirm/deny that), engineering is a couple of decks down as well.
The shuttlepod docked to the Seleya using the dorsal hatch to the ring around the warp ring (if that makes sense). When they entered the ship, they came through the floor. So, the decks in that part of the ship are really wonky, almost like that circular section is supposed to rotate.
Mt. Seleya, of course, is the Vulcan mountain atop which is located the monastery where Spock was brought back to life in STIII. I wonder if the peak itself is the ship's namesake, or if there is some other figure from which they both derive their names...
-MMoM
-------------------- The flaws we find most objectionable in others are often those we recognize in ourselves.
Registered: Jun 2001
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posted
If someone has some screencaps, we might be able to get a pretty close size comparison, to match the shuttle to the cruiser. (Yes, we've seen the ships alongside the NX-01 before, but the perspective was always off.)
So, even after the stopover at Earth, they still only have the two shuttlepods on board. Morons.
Though they never offered any explanation for the asteroid field, this particular SFX-of-the-week can't have been a natural phenomenon -- continuing the impossible cliche of incredibly dense asteroid fields going all the way back to "The Empire Strikes Back." Either the Expanse's anomalies caused the asteroids to stick together so long, or else it's the debris field of another destroyed planet. Considering the incredible velocities that some of those asteroids were zipping around at, I'd almost say that the field would have to be maintained continuously. (Think of all the ejecta from the collisions, for instance.)
Based on the appearance of that gigantic hole through the inside of the Selaya that we saw towards the end of the episode (presumably caused by an asteroid punching all the way through the ship), it seems that the Vulcans have forcefield technology that can already be used to seal hull breaches and prevent excessive loss of atmosphere. (I find it hard to believe that they could've sealed just one part of the hull and then pump air back into the internal sections -- I doubt the Vulcans would've had enough presence of mind for that.) Of course this doesn't necessarily contradict any canon considering ENT's track record... and the forcefield could easily just be another technology the Vulcans won't share.
I wonder, though, if the creation of such a narrow yet long hole would even be physically possible, especially in a spaceship. Considering the hardened materials that are used in construction of hull plates, not to mention the structural beams and other stuff inside... how could an asteroid punch all the way through the ship, create a hole about three meters in diameter, and yet leave so little damage aside from the actual hole?
The asteroid would have to be moving at a considerable fraction of the speed of light, I'd bet, but that would probably be impossible based on the physical limitations and the density of the asteroid field. All that junk is floating around, but not THAT fast, I think!
The only thing in the Trek world that I think could do that type of damage would be an energy beam weapon... which would raise some interesting questions, had that hole in the ship been placed there for anything other than a drama-heightening device to prolong our heroes' peril.
Was anyone else thinking that this episode could be considered as a pilot for "Elite Force III: Better Get MACO"? This whole episode had a pitiful computer-game feel to its plot -- the zombies roaming around, lots of shooting, moving from room to room to get tasks done, a ticking clock with a crewman in peril... I was not too impressed, myself.
-------------------- “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
The hole in tne ship could have been created by an anomaly. The anomalies are what's causing the asteroids to remain clustered together and are the also the reason they move erratically. As evidenced by the anomaly affecting the asteroid Trip and Mayweather landed on.
We saw Mayweather DO something! He had lines and was useful! YAAAAAH!
Reed showed himself to be far cooler under fire than the MACO they brought along. GO REED!
Trip is the voice of reason! Crew morale is imporntant. Strange that they never watch any movies made after 1945 though.
Archer's line about how he "can't save humanity if we lose what makes us human" sums up what he's been struggling with this season. Nice touch there. Mabye he'll lighten up a touch now....
-------------------- Justice inclines her scales so that wisdom comes at the price of suffering. -Aeschylus, Agamemnon
Registered: Aug 2002
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posted
We need to get a little more creative here. "Night of the Living Tech" would have been such the better thread title. But, that's what comes of not watching it first, I suppose.
Two things I noticed that haven't been mentioned:
1. The pulse rifles seem to be weaker than the beam pistols. I don't know if the beam is able to deliver more energy since it's continuous or what, but Archer and T'Pol's pistols seemed to dispatch the first couple zombies faster than Reed and MACO did with their rifles. Until they turned them up to "kill", I mean.
2. Even though the zombies seemed to be at full strength, T'Pol seemed very weakened by her condition, considering the way Archer was able to hold her down, knock the pistol out of her hand, etc. Then again, the zombies weren't sweating, getting distracted, etc. either, so maybe it's just the first stages that are so debilitating.
"Though they never offered any explanation for the asteroid field, this particular SFX-of-the-week can't have been a natural phenomenon..."
They did explain it. Not too specifically, but they said that the anomalies were causing the weirdness. Archer even pointed out that he could understand the Vulcans' attraction to the field, showing us that he recognized it as abnormal. We also saw an anomaly change the direction of Tucker and Mayweather's asteroid, demonstrating the effect of the anomalies on the field.
"...it seems that the Vulcans have forcefield technology that can already be used to seal hull breaches and prevent excessive loss of atmosphere."
I didn't see the hole because of the crappy reception on our UPN affiliate, but was it somehow at odds with the statement made on approaching the ship that two or three decks were without atmosphere?
"This whole episode had a pitiful computer-game feel to its plot..."
I thought the exact same thing. Though, only for a minute while there was nothing else going on. I mean, the whole episode didn't feel exclusively game-ish.
Registered: Mar 1999
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Yes! Just once, I get to have the screencaps I want, namely of the MACO rifle for schematicisin' purposes. So, nyah. Sorry, just thought I'd mention that. I'd ask if he'd get some caps of the Vulcan ship, but let's face it, the ep was only on last night and already he's done me two dozen-odd caps, far more than he should have spent his own time doing. Fear not, I'm sure images will be along soon from the usual sources. . . 8)
posted
It could be possible that at the onset of the craziness, T'Pol was trying to control her emotions so much that it was causing her physical strain. Then she just finally gave up and went nutso.
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Registered: Mar 1999
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-------------------- Justice inclines her scales so that wisdom comes at the price of suffering. -Aeschylus, Agamemnon
Registered: Aug 2002
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posted
Excellent episode. The only thing that I didn't care for is that we heard in the season finale last year that a Vulcan ship had suffered s similar fate and they were going on about how the laws of physics didn't apply. But in this episode, it wasn't anything wonky with the way physics works to explain the effects, it was a simple bio-chemical reaction to a substance that might as well have been radiation...starting to sound more like 'Night of the Living Tech' afterall...
posted
The "Physics not applying" misght refer to the anomalies. Or the second Vulcan ship encountered something the first ship did not (after they were "infected").
-------------------- Justice inclines her scales so that wisdom comes at the price of suffering. -Aeschylus, Agamemnon
Registered: Aug 2002
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posted
Judging by how fast T'Pol's mind deteriorated, I was kinda surprised that there were any vulcans left on the ship. After 6 months, they should have all killed each other by now. Maybe the ones we saw were only a few survivors who managed to slow down the progression of the nuero toxin?
They were also very well cordinated...blocking the shuttle, jamming communication, setting gas into the bridge...etc
...and its funny T'pol went all nuts early on because the toxin led her to believe that Archer would kill everyone on the ship, which is exactly what he promptly does in the end...
Registered: Mar 2001
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I was about to jump out of my seat when I heard Trip say to open up the impulse engine's casing... I thought we might actually get to see them work on it... I was quickly disappointed when they never showed them work on the shuttle.
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