First time watching Enterprise!

[Merlanthe]

Fusion

Enterprise encounters some Vulcans who have embraced emotion rather than rejected it. There is an entire ship of these Vulcans but the only ones we get to meet are Captain Tavin who likes food, Kov who is friendly and naïve and surprised to learn that the Enteprise has so many female crewmembers, and Tolaris who is creepy and has anger management issues.

At first it seemed Tolaris was only trying to befriend T’Pol who was acting quite cold and distant towards these emotion embracing Vulcans. But he was also being clingy and kinda manipulative and quite frankly Kov’s surprise and wonderment at so many females on the ship makes me wonder just how many do the emotion embracing Vulcans have on theirs and is that why Tolaris is so eager to befriend T’Pol and try to tempt her to their way of thinking.

Of course it wasn’t til the scene aboard the emotion embracing Vulcans ship after T’Pol had attempted dreaming and been very disturbed by it and didn’t want to speak about it that Tolaris really tripped alarms. The way he follows her about when she is obviously trying to put distance between them, badgers her to tell him about her dream and gets angry when she is reluctant. Then she agrees to a mind meld with him, finds it a horrible experience only he wont stop when she tells him to.

It’s a good job we had Kov with his innocence and friendliness to offset Tolaris otherwise I would have been shouting for Enterprise to blast the emotion embracing Vulcans ship into oblivion. I really like Kov and his friendship with Trip and how his relationship with his father played out. Its good that he took Trip’s advice and avoided the emotion of regret. I also liked Archer who showed himself capable of being friendly and diplomatic and also protective of his crew and I was cheering when he told Tolaris where to go even though he did get thrown across a room, his own room at that. Its unfortunate that Archer tends to get beaten up easy as I would have liked to see Tolaris get thrown into a wall. Repeatedly. Til blood gushed forth form his head.

I may have overused the phrase emotion embracing Vulcans but its not a phrase that gets used very much in Trek so I might as well make the most of it. I hereby award this episode five stars despite the creepiness.

 

[Merlanthe]

Storywise I think Rogue Planet is a good episode. I like how Reed has 28 merit badges whilst Archer only has 26. I have no idea what an eagle scout is or how many badges is normal but I’m guessing that Archer and Reed have more than the usual amount? I like the hunting party, how their welcoming of Archer and his party but also distant with their own secrets and inside jokes. I dont like how they hunt obviously sentient beings but otherwise its interesting to see a species that is neither 'yaay lets be friends' nor 'go away before I kill you' but somewhere inbetween.
I like that Archer gets teased over his vision of a woman in a nightdress. I love the idea of these telepathic beings who can look however they want but get confused/panic if there are too many people present and their natural form is giant slug beasts yaay! Seriously the look on Archers face when he sees her true form at the end is sooo funny.

What I really don’t like or understand is how a planet where its always night, that’s just drifting in space with no sun to warm it or shine upon it, is somehow covered in very dense forest?

Granted the episode does try to explain it by saying the planet has many thermal vents keeping the surface warm but still without sunlight the plants cannot photsynthesize which means they cant feed themselves, cant grow, cant produce oxygen, etcetera. So why is this rogue planet covered in plants, how does it have a breathable atmosphere? Just because it has thermal vents doesn’t mean a good portion of the surface shouldn’t be covered in ice from travelling through space, why isn’t there a trail of debris and tiny dust particles trailing along behind it because it wouldn’t just be sitting motionless in the middle of nowhere? If it had enough gumption to break free of its orbit and leave its home solar system behind it should be moving slowly through the cosmos not just sitting there twiddling its thumbs.

If anyone can explain the why of all this I would be most grateful otherwise I give this episode 3 stars.

Having watched Acquisition I’m now convinced that Neelix would have been a much better character if he had been a scheming but slightly dim Ferengi who had ended up stranded in the delta quadrant after taking a short cut through the badlands (maybe he was smuggling illegal stuff) rather than the overly cheerful, overly possessive, mildly racist, bumbling Talaxian that he ended up being.

Why does it take Trip so long to find some pants?

And why does he end up having to steal a uniform from someone passed out in medbay? Since he was able to check all 14 armoury things scattered all over the ship surely he would have had a moment to stop at his quarters and grab his uniform. Surely he could have grabbed the uniform he was wearing prior to going into quarantine unless it was destroyed for some reason. Archer, Trip and T’pol make a good team quite effectively turning the bumbling Ferengi against one another and regaining control of the ship in a situation where they are outnumbered and unarmed though I do wonder why Trip and T’pol didn’t just sneak aboard the Ferengi ship and steal back all the weapons since the Ferengi couldn’t have been carrying all of them on their person the entire time?

On the bright side this episode has Jeffrey Coombs who is insidiously excellent in any role. This episode gets 2 and a half stars.

 

[LtChange]

I don't care about a real 100% scientifically accurate explication about the rouge planet because: we know so little about exoplanets that you just cannot say this is impossible and I really think that there can be some situation when a geothermal energy and geological activity is so high that it can sustain a stable warm atmosphere ...

 

[Merlanthe]

There still wouldnt be any sunlight which is essential for plants to grow and flourish grumble grumble

 

[TEACAKE'S PLEATHER DOME]

Why does it take Trip so long to find some pants?

This is the best part!!!

 

[Merlanthe]

Why does it take Trip so long to find some pants?

This is the best part!!!

But that weird blue thing he was wearing made it very hard for me to take him seriously or not laugh and most of his scenes, up til he stole that uniform, seem to be filmed from an angle that focuses on his crotch area which imho is more creepy than fanservicey. Running round with trousers but no top would have been better but then everyone has different opinions.

 

[Chrisisall]

Hi everyone, big fan of TOS, TNG & VOY, saw all of DS9, but I was never a watcher of Enterprise due to my prejudice concerning the ship design looking more advanced to me than the TOS E (IMO).
Well, time has gone by, the 2009 movie was okay, but I felt the hunger pangs for new Trek so I watched the first few episodes of Enterprise on Netflix, and know what? It's NOT BAD! And after about ten shows, the ship's design is really growing on me- to the point that I recently bought a 1/1000 model of the thing!(haven't built it yet though)
I also bought the fourth season on DVD because I figured if I'm liking the first season this much, I'll love the fourth based on its rep.

Just a hello from another Enterprise first timer!

 

[TEACAKE'S PLEATHER DOME]

I love the ship, the NX-01 is my favorite ship in Trek. I love how it feels like a ship, that claustrophobic working environment you don't get on the Hilton ships. Little things like NO CARPET and visible rivets, yay! I've bought an NX-01 too

 

[Danger Ace]

I love the ship, the NX-01 is my favorite ship in Trek. I love how it feels like a ship, that claustrophobic working environment you don't get on the Hilton ships. Little things like NO CARPET and visible rivets, yay! I've bought an NX-01 too

I will say the exterior of the NX-01 was fantastic. Didn't care so much for some of the interiors though (the bridge and engineering layouts could have been better).

My favorite sci-fi ship of all-time was the Flying-Sub from "Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea." I bought and built that model more than once. That and the "Spindrift" from "Land of the Giants." Just sayin'.

 

[Chrisisall]

My favorite sci-fi ship of all-time was the Flying-Sub from "Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea." I bought and built that model more than once.

I got one of those too!

 

[Danger Ace]

That is so freakin' awesome! Thank you for sharing. Have to admit I didn't recall my kits having that base to it, was that standard or did you make it?

 

[Danger Ace]

Found this pic of the Spindrift on the internet. Still a cool looking ship.

 

[Chrisisall]

That is so freakin' awesome! Thank you for sharing. Have to admit I didn't recall my kits having that base to it, was that standard or did you make it?

I made the base from sculpey- I also widened the windows & replaced the yellowed plastic with thick acetate. I love that ship. The Spindrift above is awesome, it's a professional model from the SF Airshow, I believe.

 

[Merlanthe]

Found this pic of the Spindrift on the internet. Still a cool looking ship.

Is this from Enterprise? If it is then I assume its form a later series since i dont recall seeing it anyplace in season 1 it doesnt look federation.

 

[Chrisisall]

Is this from Enterprise? If it is then I assume its form a later series since i dont recall seeing it anyplace in season 1 it doesnt look federation.

It's from Land Of The Giants; sorry for the sidebar here!

 

[Merlanthe]

Is this from Enterprise? If it is then I assume its form a later series since i dont recall seeing it anyplace in season 1 it doesnt look federation.

It's from Land Of The Giants; sorry for the sidebar here!

I have a very vivid memory of a scene form a tv series with tiny people running to hide form giant people in a room with modern furniture and decor (all giant sized) only to encounter a spider ( a giant spider). The spider menacingly advanced, one or more of the little people was trapped by it, the credits rolled.

I think thsi was form Land of the Giants. Cant remember anytihng else about the series though.

 

[Merlanthe]

Oasis

I like the trader guy at the start of this episode. Its just a sense I get form his manner when conversing with the Enterprise crew in that opening scene but he seems a bit taken aback by humans like maybe he hasn’t figured out exactly how to act with them or his translator is taking a moment too long to translate.

The whole holographic people was kinda easy to figure out especially as this plotline has occurred in an episode of DS9 with Odo as the main guy who figures it all out. Have I mentioned that Rene Aubergenois is awesome! In this version the holograms are quite sinister.

If Trip keeps this up hes gonna have a girl on every planet. Joking and Stargate references aside I do like the friendship that develops between the girl and Trip. Hes a bit protective cause of her wide eyed innocence and she kinda latches onto him a bit cause hes the one who talks to her and is real and encourages her to broaden her horizons. Maybe if they had kept in touch they would have developed a romance but for now their just friends. I’m really glad the writers resisted any temptation they might have had to make this a one episode romance that trek does so badly

I award this episode three and a half stars.

Detained

This is a good one. A look at what happens to all those Suliban who aren’t involved in the cabals and how the temporal cold war is affecting them as well as the introduction of a new faction called the Tandarans. Quite a rabid new faction at that.

The little girl is cute. The weird guy who insists on distrusting Archer and Travis for most of the epsiode seems like an outsider amongst his own people. I get the sense that the Suliban Archer befriends is the weird guys only friend which probably adds to his dislike of the two humans though that whole conflict between him and Travis seems a little forced.

I have to wonder about whether Archer really thought about the long term consequences of helping these Suliban escape. This is just one of many detention camps (camps which should never have been created in the first place) and after the whole break outta jail and run for the border thing they pulled whats to stop the Tandarans, who seemed like they were just looking for any excuse to mistreat the Suliban prisoners, from using this mass breakout to declare all Suliban dangerous and justify genocide? It’s a sure bet that any friends or relatives of the escapees that were being held at other detention centres probably bore the brunt of the Tandarans wrath. I guess that cute little girl really wont be seeing her mommy ever again.

This episode also gets three and a half stars.

Vox Sola

Okay this was a weird one. I liked the whole cultural misunderstanding with a visiting race aspect. Especially as it was a genuine misunderstanding not some faked misunderstanding for political reasons. Mayweathers apology scene was nice and the alien guy was so genuinely happy and willing to help once the misunderstanding had been cleared up

The lifeform was an interesting one. I’m surprised it could disconnect from the link it had made with the Enterprise crewmembers after getting so closely intergrated with them. This felt kinda more like Stargate than Star trek to me though. Something about the episode.

Why do I get the sense those two redshirts might fancy each other. It’s a good thing they both survived cause even if they never appear onscreen again I can pretend their having a wonderful shy romance just off screen. The guy was definitely an idiot for noticing something wrong and not telling anyone where he had gone. The girl had some sense in immediately contacting people for help once she found the missing guy being groped by the life form but slipped up in not asking for help on the initial search. She didn’t seem to tell anyone where she was going either.

All in all I give this episode three stars.

 

[jespah]

Ah, Rostov and Kelly - I do ship 'em, actually.

 

[TEACAKE'S PLEATHER DOME]

Rostov is hot. They should have dropped Travis off somewhere and replaced him with Rostov.

 

[Merlanthe]

Fallen hero

This is an interesting tale of deception and intrigue. Maybe that’s an exaggeration but the whole mystery of why the ambassador is being dismissed back to Vulcan forms the core of the episode. Its quite predictable that after T’pols preparations for ambassadors arrival and her strict instructions to the crew the ambassador then goes and does the opposite of everything T’Pol expected. Its also fairly obvious form T’Pol holds the ambassador in high esteem. I really sympathise with T’Pol’s disappointment in the woman who inspired her toward her current path in life because Vulcans don’t have heroes but their allowed to be inspired by others (I now have the urge to create a Vulcan super hero. I will name him K’arlyle. He shall be able to levitate and scream loud enough to cause earthquakes and sneeze lightning from his nostrils. He likes to meditate and make pictures out of macaroni and eat cheese and if anyone ever tries to tell him he cant do those things cause their unvulcan he sneezes at them hell yeah)

I really like how this episode that is set up like the ambassador who has spent so much time amongst other races and is quite open to other cultures might teach T’Pol a lesson about getting on better with humans but instead it twists off into a different direction. In the end it is the ambassador who thought she new everything that learns something from T’Pol and it wasn’t the first time either. This episode gets 3 and a half stars

Desert crossing

Awesome!!! Guys running round topless whilst playing a cross between football/basketball and that game form Tron where they toss glowing balls at each other with really big sticks…that sounds really weird o_O

Archer is in surprisingly good shape considering how often he gets beaten up in this series. Hes also a bit hairy Trip is much nicer. Acquisition would have been greatly improved if Trip had just kept his pants but lost his shirt. Did I mention Clancy Brown is in this episode? Clancy brown is awesome I wasn’t sure if it was really him at first I was watching the screen thinking is Archer talking to the Kurgan? I had to rewind and check the credits to confirm it was him. Though Clancy Brown doesn’t run around topless but he doesn’t need to hes naturally awesome and magnetic. Personality wise not literally otherwise he wouldn’t be able to walk into the room without tons of metal stuff randomly flying over and sticking to him. Now I have a mental visual of that happening darn it!

Anyhow the misunderstanding with Clancy Brown and the subsequent problem of Archer and Trip wandering lost in the desert whilst Enterprise is prevented from being able to properly search for them by a hostile government who believes they are in league with terrorists. Bonus points for continuity and also showing a Chinese whispers effect with the rescuing of those poor Suliban form the nasty Tandarans.

The episode does a good job of highlighting what can go wrong when making first contact and why the crew cant involve themselves with the internal affairs of other worlds. There seems to be a pattern developing of an issue tackled by an earlier episode badly is dealt with in a later episode brilliantly. I give this episode 5 stars yaay!

Two days and two nights

Well it took two whole episodes but we are finally at Risa. I just love Dr Phlox in this episode. Especially when he’s just woken up ‘I don’t care if it tastes bad’ followed by biting motions. Reed and Trip attempts to boldly go where no one has gone before by hooking up with hot looking alien girls is also funny. I feel kinda sorry for them.

So blonde and stereotypically feminine seems to be Archers type. That alien dog is weird and freaky and obviously bad news if Porthos reaction is anything to go by. It’s a good thing the previous episode reminded us about that whole freeing Suliban detainees as I had almost forgotten about the Tandarans. Why are they so obsessed with Archer? They seem convinced that he holds vital information about the Suliban when really he only knows slightly more than them.

Hoshi’s story is sweet with her desire to learn new languages and talk to people leading to a holiday romance. I think she’s the only one out of the main cast who had a fun time everyone else had things go wrong. I award this episode 4 stars.