First time watching Enterprise!

[Merlanthe]

Up next is the Fortunate son!

Nausicaans yaaay Seriously these guys do not get enough screen time or development as a species imho although these Nausicaans are kinda different than those seen on previous trek series. Shorter, greener and with forehead spikes?

Anyhow I really liked this episode. Sure it was obvious the freighter crew were hiding something and a little frustrating that Archer and his crew spent so much time helping them instead of investigating what was wrong. But its not like they spent the entire episode just accepting the freighter crew assurances that nothing was wrong at face value. Archer and co were suspicious fairly early on they just didn’t act on it until they had solid evidence to justify their suspicions. And that whole fixing the ship and adding useful upgrades then using it as leverage later to get the freighter crew to come clean was a pretty smooth move Archer actually impressed me this episode.

I think the acting freighter captain is suffering from PTSD. His conversations with Travis reveal that he survived some kinda tragedy so horrific people are scared to speak of it. I think that’s a big part of why he seems so bitter about the Nausicaanas and about Mayweather having left his freighter family to join Starfleet. He lost his family and friends not through choice doesn’t want to lose them again and cant understand why anyone would willingly give that up. Also hes out for revenge and since he cant get the guys who took his original family he will settle for the nausicaans.

It’s a shame cause he and Travis seemed to be getting along great until the freighter captains past tragedy was brought up. Its interesting how Travis gets developed here as he comes across as an over eager child for most of the episode (How old is he meant to be? Is he the Checkov?) but he stands up in the end and manages to convince the freighter captain into letting the Nausicaan go. He could have been more coherent in his speech but hes winging it and not used to speaking so publicly so he did a good job under the circumstances. I definitely think that if Archer had delivered the same speech it wouldn’t have had as much impact on the freighter guy and they would have continued fighting but with Travis being a boomer and former freighter person it worked.

I’m gonna give this episode five stars cause I really enjoyed it the only real moment that annoyed was when Archer got tricked by the freighter crew and ended up adrift in a container with a hole in it and when he contacts Enterprise come rescue us is the last thing he says! But that moment was just so stupid it was kinda so I can overlook it.

 

[R. Star]

I don't get how Archer acts at all in that episode... "What gives you the right to take prisoners?" "Well they were trying to attack us and steal our stuff..." "But you'll make the Naussicans angry" "Angry enough they'll start attacking our cargo ships?"

Starfleet clearly wasn't defending the Earth Cargo Ships, as the episode clearly states Enterprise is the first long range ship and responding to a distress call so far out is something new. So if they don't take care of themselves, who's going to?

I think it was Sfdebris who called this the "Archer Maneuver" siding with your enemies against your allies. Archer should have taken the Naussicans into custody and taken them back to Earth for trial and get on the phone with Forrest and get him to start raising hell with the Naussican government over this one.

 

[Merlanthe]

Yeah that part of the plot was a bit dumb not very well thought out by the writers but i was so impressed that Archer kept his cool and wasnt immediately suspicious or hostile or doing something impulsive and irresposible that i overlooked/forgot about the complete stupidity of the whole 'you cant defend yourselves against hostile aliens even when they attack you' attitude of Archer and his crew.

As for the Naussicans i dont think they have a government do they? At any rate this episode has made me think that the Naussicans we see in the previous trek series are female and the ones in Enterprise are male and the two genders live mostly seperate lives and they reproduce like seahorses with the male carrying the offspring.

Dont ask where that theory came from it just popped into my head whilst i was thinking on how different the Naussicans are in Enterprise to how they were set up in previous series.

 

[Merlanthe]

Just out of curiosity would anyone be angry if i skipped the episode Dear Doctor?

Its one of the handful of episodes i caught when the series was first airing and is probably one of the reasons that i put off watching the series for so long. Its also only a couple of episodes away on my rewatch and the prospect of rewatching it has been making me drag my heels on watching Enterprise even though im enjoying the episodes leading up to it.

 

[Mutai Sho-Rin]

^ ^ ^ ^ ^
I would suggest watching it again with fresh eyes. IMHO, it is one of the best of Enterprise 4 years and a riveting character study for Phlox, Archer and Hoshi. The mere mention of it makes me want to go watch it again.

 

[R. Star]

Just out of curiosity would anyone be angry if i skipped the episode Dear Doctor?

Its one of the handful of episodes i caught when the series was first airing and is probably one of the reasons that i put off watching the series for so long. Its also only a couple of episodes away on my rewatch and the prospect of rewatching it has been making me drag my heels on watching Enterprise even though im enjoying the episodes leading up to it.

It's your watch thread... if you don't want to watch it, then don't. Being one of the more morally bankrupt episodes of the franchise, it's certainly already gotten it's share of discussion.

 

[jespah]

Just out of curiosity would anyone be angry if i skipped the episode Dear Doctor? ....

Do what you like.

 

[Merlanthe]

Cold Front

The return of the plot!

That is the return of the weird time travel plot that didn’t make much sense before and after the events of this episode have become even more confuddled. I like the captain of the pilgrim ship hes grumpy and funny and seems like he would be perfectly happy if an accident befell the pilgrims so that he didn’t have to ferry them about anymore. He certainly isn’t worried about the one that disappeared. I also really like the device that lets you walk through walls shame they couldn’t keep it around longer but then it could have very easily become a dues ex machina device also Archer and Trip would no doubt have been using it to play pranks and spy on the female locker room.

I really like Dr Phlox in this episode how much he enjoys learning about and interacting with other cultures really shows and he looks so adorably happy when he gets given the honor of leading the pilgrims in their prayer chant thing.

Silent Enemy

I love this episode. It revisits the idea seen in Flight or Fight, that not every race the Enterprise encounters will want to be friends or even talk and that there is quite a lot of races that humans know nothing about that will be hostile and better armed than Enterprise. This episode handles the idea a bit better imho. Enterprise isn’t coming to the rescue of another ship and they aren’t gonna have a friendly race show up in the nick of time to save them. Their the ones in trouble and they have to save themselves.

I really love the working relationship/growing friendship that exists between Malcolm and Trip. They clash a bit on how to go about installing the phase cannons but they manage to figure it out in the end. I think the friendship between Trip and Malcolm works better and is a lot more genuine than the friendship between Trip and Archer. Im not sure why I think this but I do.

There are a couple missteps imho. They didn’t need to show what the hostile aliens looked like. The scene where they invade Enterprise was tense up til I got a look at how goofy the aliens looked. They were a better threat when they were faceless. Also the subplot about Hoshi being given the job of discovering Malcolms favourite food is silly. They have a communications relay to sort out and are being harassed by a mysterious ship and not only does Archer give the senior communications officer the kinda task usually reserved for an ensign but he makes it priority over sorting out the communications relay. But there were some great scenes out of it. Like Malcolm mistaking Hoshi’s attempt to subtly extract the information from him through casual conversation as her expressing an interest in him. Also the end scene where they he discovers the cake is pineapple, his favourite! He has a really nice smile.

I may have started shipping Reed and Hoshi cause of this episode. Anyhow i hereby award Cold Front two and a half stars and Silent Enemy five stars.

 

[Merlanthe]

So after much dithering I eventually decided to rewatch the episode Dear Doctor. And promptly rediscovered why I disliked it so much.

Its not really the mangling of evolution which the writers seem to have confused with creationism (seriously nature does not select a species to die it does everything it can to help them survive) or that Phlox is so proud of Archer for choosing not to help a species suffering from a terrible fatal disease when he had the cure in the palm of his hand. The excuse that by letting the Valekians die out will allow the Menk to flourish or that the Valekians might discover the cure for themselves before they die out is total weaksauce. The whole point of the episode is that the Valekians don’t have the level of technology needed to develop a cure and the Menk themselves state within the episode that everything is provided for them by the Valekians so if the Valekians all perish the Menk are gonna be left without any famring/survival skills and a whole buncha technology that they cant reproduce or use properly.

But for me perosnally its more that the first half of the episode where we’re following Phlox during his day to day stuff, seeing his budding friendship with crewman Cutler, hearing his observations about human compassion, is quite enjoyable. If I were to judge this episode on the first half alone I would say it was great. Then they ruin it with the whole Menk might be better off without the Valekinas and we found a cure but wont give it to them stuff. Imho it would have been a lot better if they had never been able to find a cure, that the symptom suppressing vaccine thing was the best they could do and despite promising to help Enterprise was eventually forced to leave and continue their mission of exploration simply because they couldn’t stay at that world helping those people forever.

They took what could have been a great episode and totally ruined it. And yet that first half was good enough that im giving the episode 2 stars. But only the first half. The stupid second half gets zero stars.

 

[Merlanthe]

I feel obliged to mention that just because i havent been posting my thoughts on a very regular basis doesnt mean i havent been watching. Im only four episodes away from finishing the first season. I just keep forgetting to post my thoughts but will hopefully rectify that this week and bring to thread up to speed with where im actually at.

 

[TEACAKE'S PLEATHER DOME]

But for me perosnally its more that the first half of the episode where we’re following Phlox during his day to day stuff, seeing his budding friendship with crewman Cutler, hearing his observations about human compassion, is quite enjoyable. If I were to judge this episode on the first half alone I would say it was great. Then they ruin it with the whole Menk might be better off without the Valekinas and we found a cure but wont give it to them stuff.

That's the way I feel about ANIS. I love all the Phlox pottering about stuff, the grooming revelations. Just get rid of Archer and his Tit'Pol fixations and his diplomacy fail and you'd have a lovely episode.

 

[Merlanthe]

When i met Billingsly i ended up asking him what his opinion on this episode was since it was one of the few i had watched at that time. He gave the very diplomatic answer that it was the first time the series tried to tackle a controversial topic, the kind that might be unpopular and generate lotsa debate amongst viewers, and he was pleased to be involved in it but that he didnt agree with the direction taken in the episode.

Anyhow i have watched the episode so i dont have to think about it anymore and will instead look forward to this ANIS which accoridng to Teacake has more Phlox bumbling round yaay. Which season is ANIS in btw?

 

[dub]

I haven't read the rest of this thread (in case there are spoilers) and I'm just writing this here based on the title of the thread. I'm going through Enterprise for the first time and just watched "The Expanse" followed by "The Xindi." I liked the show okay up to that point. After watching those two episodes, I have to say -- wow! Exciting stuff! And a side note -- I hope they make an Enterprise extended CD set. The music is unlike other Trek (to me). Hope the rest of the series doesn't disappoint me...

 

[jespah]

dub, you are getting into the good stuff.

 

[TEACAKE'S PLEATHER DOME]

Merlanthe ANIS is the fifth episode of season 2

 

[Merlanthe]

ooh so not too far away then

 

[BruntFCA]

A lot of people hate ANIS but personally Its one of my favorite episodes from the first 2 seasons. As much as I love seasons 3 & 4 the first 2 felt very tired and had a "been there done that" feel to them but ANIS for better or worse is unlike any other Trek episode. Also it made Archer interesting even if it was in a "WTF is wrong with this guy?" kind of way.

 

[WillowsWelsh]

When the series aired I was at a point in my life where I had no time for TV. I've been wanting to watch the series ever since. About two weeks ago I decided to watch the pilot. Loved it. I went through the entire series in about two weeks. Many days I got up extra early to watch another episode before work. I'll enjoy reading along on this thread.

 

[Merlanthe]

Sleeping Dogs

I <3 this episode.

It has plenty of Reed and Hoshi who are my fave characters so far. Hoshi has a couple moments of nervousness but is otherwise back to being her confident self and Reed gets to blow stuff up. That he gets to do so despite the potential for them getting blown up as well, is required to do so in order to save the day, and is ordered to do so by two very assertive women in skin tight outfits. I get the impression that all this probably makes him very happy.

I particularly like how the expedition to the unidentified alien vessel consists of just Hoshi, Reed and T’pol, who all fulfil necessary functions and each contribute in their own way to the mission. No dead weight or red shirts in this landing party which is quite refreshing and its funny how as soon as Hoshi identifies the writing on the wall as Klingon everyone draws their weapons.

I also love how the Klingons in this episode seem familiar yet also quite alien, a hard thing to pull off after all the exposure to Klingon culture provided by previous Trek series. But this episode manages it magnificently mainly by having all the Klingons incapacitated and unconscious for the majority of the episode. We see more of the ship with its strange writing that only Hoshi can decipher, dimly lit smoke filled corridors, bodies slumped over consoles, bizarre food preferences, than we do of the Klingons themselves, and we see it all through the eyes of Hoshi, Reed and T’pol as they stumble about trying to make sense of the situation.

The only Klingon who does play a significant role is female and, I get the impression, more of an engineer or something than a warrior. When we do finally get a swaggering aggressive male onscreen he is obviously still weak and recovering from the effects of the poisonous ale and his attempts to engage the Enterprise in battle make him seem foolish rather than fearsome. Instead of fighting we get lotsa verbal sparring. All an interesting departure from the norm.

I love this episode and give it a full five stars.

Shadows of P’jem

I like this episode a lot. It has that thing where events that happened in a previous episode effect have lasting repercussions that effect what happens in later episodes also known as continuity. It also has the reappearance of Shran yaaay!

It does seem a bit suspect that they were able to fool the Vulcan captain so easily at the end. Surely hes gonna feel foolish when he discovers that T’Pol wasn’t as seriously injured as he was led to believe which could come back to bite them later on. Also that heart to heart discussion between Archer and T’Pol about how the Vulcans ‘took something away from my father that meant a lot to him. They’re not going to do the same thing to me’ would have had more serious impact if he hadn’t been wriggling his hands round her a$$ only to almost suffocate a moment later when his face got buried in her boobs. Seriously they could have coordinated that scene better its like they couldn’t decide whether to make it serious or slapstick and went for both?

Otherwise I liked this episode. I particularly liked how they didn’t stick around to try to solve the planets problem for them but moved on and left them to their war. Shran was awesome and it seems from that line ‘it should be you dying not her’ that he has a better opinion of T'pol than most Vulcans. Then again he might just be saying that cause, like the Vulcan captain, he thinks she’s dying. Up til then he seemed to have been purposely ignoring her presence.

Anyhow four stars.

 

[Merlanthe]

I liked the friendship and camaraderie that seemed to develop between Trip and Reed in the earlier episode Silent Enemy so its great to see another episode that seems to explore that in more detail. In Shuttlepod One they are stuck in a little tin can with limited oxygen, barely any propulsion, the belief that Enterprise has been destroyed and the likely prospect of dying. Its interesting to see the conflicts that arise from their very different personalities and outlooks on the situation that they find themselves trapped in. Trip refuses to consider defeat and does everything possible to figure a way out of the situation whilst Reed prepares himself for the worst and begins recording goodbye messages for all his relatives and all his failed romantic prospects. Its not long before their getting on one anothers nerves and using up their precious oxygen supply shouting at each other over what should be trivial matters.

I really like how their not quite friends yet. Trip and Reed are co-workers who are friendly and get on well together but don’t really know each other that well and probably spend little time together outside of work or the mess hall. With the shared prospect of dying together we get to see their fledgling friendship tested and come out stronger for it. By the end of the episode they have learnt that Enterpise is alive and well but is unlikely to reach them in time, have drunkenly discussed T’pol’s bottom and had a heart to heart in which Reed confessed that contrary to what Trip may think he really doesn’t want to die. Now Trip is drunkenly attempting to climb into the airlock and sacrifice himself so that Reed might have a better chance of surviving until Enterprise finds them whilst Reed rather angrily rejects this latest turn of events even going so far as to point a phase pistol at Trip and threaten to shoot him.

I can easily sympathise with Reed and how aboard Enterprise he was finally feeling like he was starting to fit in and maybe form some friendships with the other crewmembers. I had that problem for a long time of having no friends only acquaintances or co-workers. Luckily for Reed they both survive and at the end he is allowed to call Tucker by his nickname Trip showing that their fledgling friendship has survived their ordeal yaay! My only dislike here is how early it was revealed that Enterprise was perfectly okay. Its already taken for granted that there must have been some misunderstanding and Enterprise will turn up okay just in time to save Trip and Reed so we don’t need a scene to confirm this though I suppose the couple scenes aboard Enterprise do serve to explain what crippled the shuttlepod that Trip and Reed are trapped in.

I award this episode four and a half stars.