posted
A good episode, though riddled with inconsistencies - most of which I won't mention here. Point form:
-Andoria is apparently in an adjacent system to Vulcan. And the humans hadn't heard of them, or vice-versa. Hm.
-The Vulcans and Andorians have a treaty between them, but the Andorians have always been suspicious that the Vulcans were watching them, and perhaps mounting an invasion. They suspected the harmless Kohlinar monastery they were attacking of housing a sensor station to spy on them.
-The Andorians look pretty cool, with articulated antenae and white wings and all. They call humans "pinkskins", though oddly they don't call Vulcans that. Also, like the Klingons they don't seem to have standardized uniforms.
-Some new weapons this time, suposedly specific to the Andorians. We also see Starfleet explosives for the first time, armed with a very conspicuously flashy detonator.
-Of course, the Vulcans *are* operating a big fat CGI sensor station underground. Upon finding it, Archer lets the Andorians go home with this information of obvious Vulcan treachery. Now, the Andorians owe the Humans, but the Vulcans are obviously miffed. There will likely be some serious political repercussions with this. Which only means we'll see Jeff Coombs again, which I certainly don't mind.
-Hoshi knows how to use the transporter, though she was pretty nervous about sending Reed and his team down to the planet. Where's the usual Transporter Chief extra?
quote:Andoria is apparently in an adjacent system to Vulcan. And the humans hadn't heard of them, or vice-versa. Hm.
It could be that Andoria is on the opposite side of the Vulcan system than the Terran system. If that's the case (or near enough), the Vulcans could be forming a buffer zone between the two races. The Vulcans have already shown themselves to be perfectly able to shelter humans having contact with alien races (Klingons, for one example). Also, didn't a fairly clear map of the Federation appear in an episode of Deep Space Nine showing where Vulcan, Earth, Tellar, Andor, and Betazed were? Can we get a look at that again?
quote:They call humans "pinkskins", though oddly they don't call Vulcans that.
I don't think that's so odd. Andorians are seeing humans for the first time. Their first instinct may be to collectively call them by a common trait. In this case, it's the humans' pink skin. For this to work, though, Mayweather and Sato need to stay on the ship. Since the Andorians have prior contact with the Vulcans, they probably have other names for them (much worse than "pinkskins" I'd imagine).
quote:Some new weapons this time, suposedly specific to the Andorians. We also see Starfleet explosives for the first time, armed with a very conspicuously flashy detonator.
Another update for Vogon Poet's weapons site. Yes!
quote:Of course, the Vulcans *are* operating a big fat CGI sensor station underground.
So, did the Vulcans at the monastery know that this sensor station was there or not? If some of them did, did the Vulcans that know this bit of information say that there wasn't? If the Vulcans are lying, then we could have a continuity snafu. But we could compare this situation to the one in The Wrath of Khan where Spock exaggerated about the Enterprise's repair estimates.
quote:Upon finding it, Archer lets the Andorians go home with this information of obvious Vulcan treachery. Now, the Andorians owe the Humans, but the Vulcans are obviously miffed. There will likely be some serious political repercussions with this.
This would be a very fascinating angle to the series if the producers and writers follow up on this. Assuming that the Andorians are a founding member of the Federation, this could explain why they joined in part. It could also explain in part the Battle of Axanar and why Kirk said it had enabled him and Spock to work side-by-side as brothers. This could have been an engagement where the Vulcans were able to forgive humans for this episode's conclusion.
quote:Which only means we'll see Jeff Coombs again, which I certainly don't mind.
Haven't seen this episode yet, but I've always liked Jeffrey Combs. So, I'll go out and agree with you on this.
quote:Hoshi knows how to use the transporter, though she was pretty nervous about sending Reed and his team down to the planet. Where's the usual Transporter Chief extra?
Ahem. Note to the writers and producers: give us those minorly developed background characters y'all promised us. Let's have a transporter operator like O'Brien or Kyle, okay? Thanks.
Mark: Thanks for the updates, once again. I'm a little curious, though: what other inconsistencies were there? Would you consider these things to be major screw-ups of continuity or something relatively insignificant? I probably won't get to see this episode until Sunday, so I'm depending on the opinions of others until then.
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quote:Also, didn't a fairly clear map of the Federation appear in an episode of Deep Space Nine showing where Vulcan, Earth, Tellar, Andor, and Betazed were
Interesting that the Klingon Homeworld is called Kling and that many TAS planets (like Phylos or Kzin) appear on that map.
[ October 31, 2001: Message edited by: Spike ]
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Shik
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posted
My one & only communication with Mike Okuda yielded this image. Based on the above map, it have some extra TAS names as well as a few edits & changes to reflect the then-recent events. I have a far larger (1223 by something) version that has a single edit I made for a sim if anyone wants.
[ October 31, 2001: Message edited by: Shik ]
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posted
You know, deceptive Vulcans who occasionally show some emotion isn't neccessarily a problem. It could be that (like most people) the Vulcans have a philosophy that they claim to follow but a sort of liberal interpretation has slipped in... maybe there is even a growing segment that wants a return to the pure-logic ways that they still pay lip-service to. After the events of Enterprise, the humans constant calling of Vulcan bluffs leads to a sort of revival of the old ways, and they put their money where their mouths are. So by the original series, the Vulcans have returned to their logical path and look back on the dangerous decline of their culture a few centuries back with distaste and repressed embarrasment.
quote:Originally posted by Shik: My one & only communication with Mike Okuda yielded this image. Based on the above map, it have some extra TAS names as well as a few edits & changes to reflect the then-recent events. I have a far larger (1223 by something) version that has a single edit I made for a sim if anyone wants.
posted
Well, if anything, I imagine they would call the Vulcans "greenskin".
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OnToMars
Now on to the making of films!
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quote: You know, deceptive Vulcans who occasionally show some emotion isn't neccessarily a problem. It could be that (like most people) the Vulcans have a philosophy that they claim to follow but a sort of liberal interpretation has slipped in... maybe there is even a growing segment that wants a return to the pure-logic ways that they still pay lip-service to. After the events of Enterprise, the humans constant calling of Vulcan bluffs leads to a sort of revival of the old ways, and they put their money where their mouths are.
That, however, wouldn't be logical.
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posted
Well all Vulcans are different, and weve seen many times that Vulcans find alternatives in everything (including finding logical excuses to violate Vulcan's logical ways)
Some stick to it despite great hardship (Spock)
Some embody everything it means to be logical, but maintain their own personality (Sarek)
Some are logical to the extreme that it makes them incredibly wise (T'Pau)
Some use logic to arrive at things that are considered wrong or selfish (Valeris)
Some are logical, and use it as an excuse to be condescending pricks (T'Pol, Solok)
Some reject logic entirely (Sybok)
I dont think it would make it a continuity problem if a Vulcan lied as much as it would be a problem to portray a Catholic character having premarital sex: even though there is this big philosophy defining them, they are still very much individuals prone to making their own decisions that may or may not deviate from the decisions another member of their philosophy would make in their place
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posted
Way to make me feel guilty about not updating the page, Siggy. . . and I'm not sure about including explosives, unless they were some sort of standard-issue grenade or something. . . 8)
posted
Those explosives are probably the Starfleet version of our C4, more demolishions than real weapons.
I almost burst out laughing when the Andorians called the Enterprise 'heavily armed'. Their own weapons technology must really suck.
Anyone notice the lit candles in the artifacts chamber? You must wonder just how long those candles lasts, considering no one's suppose to have gone down there in years. The Andorians wouldn't have been able to light them in total darkness, I don't think.
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