Enterprise: Random plot, character, or episode questions

I figured a thread like this would be useful for questions that might not need a whole thread to their own. And other such questions can be posted here.

Here's a couple to start. Maybe we can answer some niggling questions we all have:

1.) Star Trek has always been pretty cavalier and quick when it comes to getting around on Earth. Characters go where they need to fairly quickly. The use of the transporter is always implied. But don't you find it odd that, in the pilot Broken Bow, Archer got from Orbital Six to Starfleet Medical super fast without a transporter (he hadn't used it yet) or is it just me?

2: In Fight or Flight, what was it that Archer shot with his hand phaser before leaving the derelict for the second time?

 

so that leads to my question.. how did Archer get to StarFleet medical so fast?

 

The same way they got to the Klingon homeworld in a matter of days at Warp 5... travel times are a plot convenience, not a limitation.

 

It's not odd to me at all. Film and television always use visual shorthand when dealing with the passage of time. It's like in any show with a contemporary setting. A guy gets into his car, drives away, and the next scene has him arriving at his destination across town. There might be a brief cut of him driving between the scenes.

They're not going to show us Archer getting into a shuttle, the shuttle taking off, flying around for a few minutes, landing or docking at his destination, Archer walking down a hall, and finally arriving where he sees Phlox for the first time.

It's just like 2001: A Space Odyssey didn't make us sit through 35 million years of evolution, centuries of civilizations rising and falling, or Dave Bowman being born and growing up to become commander of the Discovery and leaving Earth.

 

My point is that he has to go from drydock to Starfleet medical and yet only arrives a few seconds after the ambassadors and admirals, who were already in the city.

 

So you want them all standing around and waiting for ten minutes on screen?

 

Since no one seems to understand what I'm asking with my first question, how about answering my second question?