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Grade "Breach"

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Well, I was gonna give this ep. a C up until the part where Trip threatened the Denobulan by shooting him in the ass! OK, now it's get's a B from me. I'm convinced that this show would be nothing if it wasn't for Billingsly and Trineer. I liked the over-all social commentary that the ep. was making, even though it's be showcased on TREK dozens of times. I liked the Tribble part especially.
 
Posted by reno floyd:

Tiresome? Just as people like yourself, who even when they say how bored they are with an ep STILL give it a B or there abouts! That's tiresome! It makes the opinion of that person instantly suspect because they 'like everything'.

And until taking an interest in other peoples grading becomes a warnable offense you're just going to have to put up with it.

What's tiresome is is people who try to quell discourse because they happen not to be interested and then carp on about the 'greater good'.

reno, following people around the forum commenting snidely on their positive opinion of the show is trolling. It's not discussion, it's not meant to foster discussion, it's just meant to be nasty to someone. It's part of the reason people have problems in this forum.

I gave you some friendly advice. You can do with it what you will.

EDIT: Further comments can be taken to MA or made over PM.
 
I gave it a B, mostly because this is the first show since 'Future Tense' that I've enjoyed.

The Phlox story wasn't terribly original in it's premise, but the character development was worth it. We now know that Phlox is an idealist among his people, and that many Denobulans may be very 'speciest' (even, to his great dismay, his own son). It makes me wonder if Phlox is in the minority, and how would a meeting with a large group of Denobulans and humans play out. Or are [the guest species] the only group of people any Denobulans have such longstanding reservations about. John Billingsley was, of course, excellent!

The 'repelling' story was obviously an excuse to get our three younger guys out of the overalls and into the tighter fitting desert gear. So I'm not going to complain about it, except to say that inexperienced rock-climbers belong in the mall, NOT in a position to fall to their deaths. Actually, I thought it was hilarious watching the close ups of the older two during the slide before the fall. :evil:

And Trip still gets the funniest lines. (Though Hoshi's expression in the teaser was pretty good! :lol: )

-M
 
D.

And that's a very genorous D at that!! Like others have said, the whole Phlox story was so predictable that we knew what was going to happen in the first 5 minutes of the show and the whole rock climbing thing was... well... just boring. At no point did I ever consider Reed or Trip to be in any real danger.. and I even said to my wife, "I wouldn't be surprised if Mayweather breaks a limb." I mean, he broke a leg in Breaking The Ice and in 2D2N... rock climbing no less.... it's a wonder he even still takes the time to do it. This episode was just.. flat and like Yoda, I'm not going to give this show grades it doesn't deserve anymore.

The only thing saving this show from an F was the tribble scene and the scene with Phlox scampering up the rock face like a spider while Trip and Reed struggle... :lol:
 
Most of you guys are nuts!

I give this one an A.

- Good major and minor plot (both of which are tied into each other)
- Uses the entire cast (in non-traditional ways)
- Good rescue scene
- Includes Star Trek philosophy
- Excellent acting by entire group

There was a helluva lot of effort to improve the series in this episode and I give them credit for really trying.

Damn! Even me, who has never been a fan of B&B will give them credit for doing a good job this week.
 
B+

After reading some early reviews on here, I was a bit wary about this episode, and was quite pleasantly surprised. :)

I found it to be a really good allegory story, an issues episode in the best traditions of TOS. Shortly after it was over, I got on-line and had several conversations with folks about the episode, not really about how it was made, but about the issues it raised, and when that happens, it always counts well in my book.

As for the episode itself, a few notes:

1] It seemed actually a bit brighter this week, and the colors more evident. If that's a trend, keep it up!

2] The subtlety of some of the performances and how the show was cut together was actually quite impressive. A look, or a quick camera angle, to tell us something, rather than a lot of extra dialogue. Ironically, that might have been why the episode ended up running short at first, but I think it did lend a sense of style that I enjoyed.

3] Very smooth pacing, an amusing teaser, and some really good performances from Bakula, Billingsley, and the guest star playing the Antaran rounded things out for me, and made this an episode I was pretty pleased with.

4] One thing I will note: I agree with the sentiment that getting Mayweather involved is good, and getting him constantly injured isn't. Give that a rest, I say.

Anyway, overall, an episode I enjoyed a good deal more than I expected to, thus the grade well-earned, I'd say. Congrats, Messrs. McCarthy and Shiban and Black (thanks to Ptrope for catching my omission. :) ).

Best,
Alex
 
C. Too much been there, done that. I would have much preferred to find out more about the antagonism between Phlox's people and the aliens of the week than the B-Plot. Maybe I wasn't paying close enough attention, but I didn't see how it was possible that Phlox was the only option for treating this guy, especially when there was a ship manned by people of his race presumably within comm range.
 
^^

If you're going to give credit, give it to McCarthy and Black & Shiban; they wrote the story and teleplay, respectively.

Good rescue scene? Who was rescued? I didn't see a single person get rescued in the entire episode except for possibly Mayweather, and all we saw of that was him being cranked up the cliff face. The scientists weren't rescued, and we didn't see the transport ship until it was securely docked to Enterprise.

I'm always a bit amazed at the enthusiasm shown for things that themselves are never shown.

And how was Travis shown in a non-traditional way? He was tossed into the mix with yet another "talent," and then left behind without any further contribution to the story; seems pretty traditional to me ;).

I hope you know I'm just having fun with you, Anji, but some of your points don't strike me as particularly accurate with what was actually on screen.
 
Posted by Ptrope:
^^

If you're going to give credit, give it to McCarthy and Black & Shiban; they wrote the story and teleplay, respectively.

Good rescue scene? Who was rescued? I didn't see a single person get rescued in the entire episode except for possibly Mayweather, and all we saw of that was him being cranked up the cliff face. The scientists weren't rescued, and we didn't see the transport ship until it was securely docked to Enterprise.

I'm always a bit amazed at the enthusiasm shown for things that themselves are never shown.

And how was Travis shown in a non-traditional way? He was tossed into the mix with yet another "talent," and then left behind without any further contribution to the story; seems pretty traditional to me ;).

I hope you know I'm just having fun with you, Anji, but some of your points don't strike me as particularly accurate with what was actually on screen.

In all fairness, Travis was shown as an avid rock climber in that wretched piece of crap, TDTN, so it's not too far of a stretch to also show him as an experienced spelunker in this case (although if he spent most of his life on a freighter, where he picked up these interests and was able to become proficient at them is beyond me).

While I do tend to agree that Billiingsley is one of the best actors in the cast, I'm still of the opinion that it is ridiculous for a Denobulan to be the chief medical officer of Earth's first deep space starship. The CMO of ENT should be a human, with Phlox along as an observer and expert on Xenobiology.
 
B.

Part of me gets tired of the "getting-over-your-alien-prejudices" spiel in some of these episodes(jeez...isn't this the sixth one since ENT started?),but getting to see more Denobulans as well as John Billingsley get to stretch his character made the episode worth the time.
 
C

I got concept that fell apart. It was all too similar to TNG. We start out with a good premise.
However as it turned out it's easy, save, predictable and preachy. Phlox and his patient talk, both overcome their prejudices against each other, the patient gets cured, both say that it was a tremendous life experience, and everyone is happy at the end.

Bleeech :(

Maybe they don't need to go to the extreme and let him die, but there should be a twist and surprise somewhere in there

Billingsly showed once again that he is by far the best actor in the cast. I really liked the scene where he got angry.
Bakula is boring as dirt again. Just pacing around the room, staring widly in all directions and reading bad dialog v...e..r....y....s...l..o..w..l...y

The cave plot really got nowhere, and I hated Trip's arrogance ("We will get your out of here, no matter what you want!"), but the camera work and set design was fantastic. A little drawn out in places, but entertaining
 
Posted by 8-4-7-2:
... but the camera work and set design was fantastic. A little drawn out in places, but entertaining

And that's one of the most depressing things about this show. It has such good production values... it feels like it's all going to waste.
 
oh man.. i gave a B+

why??

well, the denobulans ALL seemed like they were tying ot be phlox.. i dunno if that was the idea or not, but it was a bit odd...

the acting by all teh main cast was great... and travis got lines TWO WEEKS IN A ROW!!!!

trip was just hilarious, and i found myself saying "i'd be doing the EXACT same thing..." when he was telling the denobulans to leave....

also, i got very excited when the denobulans were rescued and there was still 15 minutes left.... but then i realized we were watching it on tape and fast-forwarding through the commercials, so i got a little disappointed again...

i thought the part with phlox and the mean alien was good... except they could have had a better guest actor.. but oh well...

but the only reason i gave it such a low score was that it seemed like a rehash of TWO plots.... i know, i am NOT one to usually care.. but sadly, i didn't like EITHER of the ones it was rehashing, so therein lies teh problem...

now WHAT two plots?? dear doctor and voyager's jetrel.... both of which were a total snooze, even if they were done well (which frankly i can't remember cuz they were each so boring i only watched them once....

mind you, i DID like this episode, especialy the trip/mal/travis plot.... in fact, that was what saved it....

the phlox part was good, but slightly boring (not as boring as DD, but still a little)...

but as MUCH as i like eps with a message (and i liked the message here), and this one held my attention (though it wouldn't have had it only been the main plot), i had to grade it down a little...
 
Posted by Xevious:
Posted by 8-4-7-2:
... but the camera work and set design was fantastic. A little drawn out in places, but entertaining
And that's one of the most depressing things about this show. It has such good production values... it feels like it's all going to waste.

Compound this with RDM's interview; it seems like even the director (I can't assume they're all this way, but I thought it was somewhat telling) is less concerned with getting good performances out of the cast than he is with getting good shots out of his sets.

C'mon, guys, that's the DP's job; let's see something where a good performance is coaxed out of the living elements of the show. Good production values don't make a story!
 
^
:lol:

Yeah...I agree. I really liked STAR WARS:EPISODE II(much more than EPISODE I)but Natalie Portman and Hayden Christensen had all the color and passion of liquid paper or stale pretzels in many of their scenes. Lucas has lost some of his touch since A NEW HOPE. :rolleyes:
 
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