"In A Mirror, Darkly" Discussion Thread...

[Emperor-Tiberius]

Though not the greatest ENT fan, I was wondering, whats your opinion on this two-parter? Its more curious for tying with TOS by following a season 3 episode and prequeling a season 2 episode.

Is it a good episode? Did it tie well to TOS? If so, in what way? Were the ENT characters interesting to watch in this manner?

What do you think?

 

[startrekwatcher]

I enjoyed it quite a bit. I know many think it is a classic and ENT's best episodes but I think that is going a bit too far especially with more substantive hours out there like Twilight or the Vulcan trilogy.

Many think that season four was all fanwank. I happen to think that most of the stories while heavily inspired or loaded with TOS/TNG/DS9 references stand well on their own--namely they are solid stories that effectively found a way to incorporate plausibly characters or elements from future shows. But IaMD felt the most like it existed as a showcase to throw as much Trek goodies at the audience-the recreated TOS bridge, the Gorn, the TOS sets/outfits, the Tholians, their infamous web etc. It was mostly void of any substance but it was still fun. And I did appreciate the new spin with just the MU counterparts.

And as far as TOS tributes it ranks third for me with DS9's Trials and Tribble-ations first, TNG's Relics second, this third and VOY's Flashback(although I seem to enjoy this one more than most) last.

 

[KingstonTrekker]

I really liked the episodes. Wish we had gotten to see the planned follow-up for Season 5...

 

[Bak_and_Blue]

I enjoyed it thoroughly. The most satisfying thing for me was how it reconciled the technology discrepancies: the thing about how all Treks after TOS seemed to be more technologically advanced. They sold it about the only way they could, by having characters rave about how more advanced the TOS ship was and the plot device that the Defiant was the only way to win a 22nd century war.

 

[Emperor-Tiberius]

I really liked the episodes. Wish we had gotten to see the planned follow-up for Season 5...

What was it gonna be about?

 

[Smiley]

I really liked the episodes. Wish we had gotten to see the planned follow-up for Season 5...

What was it gonna be about?

The first MU story in Glass Empires is by Sussman, Ward, and Dilmore, and it tells what would have appeared in Season 5 if it had happened. It's called Age of the Empress and features MU Hoshi, Shran, T'Pol, and a whole host of other characters both familiar and new.

 

[cooleddie74]

The MU two-parter just plain rawked. End of story. Sure, there were a handful of logical WTF?s and loopholes but all things taken into consideration the TOS Tholian story and the prequel Mirror Universe merged fairly well. It could have been far hokier and stupider considering that B&B could have had a far greater hand in the episodes.

 

[HoundDog]

I enjoyed it quite a bit. I know many think it is a classic and ENT's best episodes but I think that is going a bit too far especially with more substantive hours out there like Twilight or the Vulcan trilogy.

Many think that season four was all fanwank. I happen to think that most of the stories while heavily inspired or loaded with TOS/TNG/DS9 references stand well on their own--namely they are solid stories that effectively found a way to incorporate plausibly characters or elements from future shows. But IaMD felt the most like it existed as a showcase to throw as much Trek goodies at the audience-the recreated TOS bridge, the Gorn, the TOS sets/outfits, the Tholians, their infamous web etc. It was mostly void of any substance but it was still fun. And I did appreciate the new spin with just the MU counterparts.

I agree with that. It was an entertaining two-parter, but definetely not the best Episode of Ent. Enjoyable, but not enough substance

 

[Kegek]

It was fun stuff. The two-parter was among the very best things ENT did. Unadulterated fan service, but that done right.

 

[cooleddie74]

Well, considering that much of Season 2 was squandered with boring storylines and Season 3 was entirely devoted to the Xindi arc, I for one am very happy the final year was so packed with TOS backstory and fanwank.

 

[Emperor-Tiberius]

Well, considering that much of Season 2 was squandered with boring storylines and Season 3 was entirely devoted to the Xindi arc, I for one am very happy the final year was so packed with TOS backstory and fanwank.

Same here. Season 2 is probably the most boring Trek season of all time.

 

[JiNX-01]

I LOVE IaMD!
I don't care about the fanwank critics. This episode was delicious, evil fun. I wasn't spoiled even a little (no TV Guide summary for me!), so every second was a delightful surprise.
Tucker's Capt. Pike meltdown.
Sadistic Phlox.
Vicious Reed.
Slutty Hoshi.
Desperate T'Pol.
Maco Mayweather (OMG, does he look good in black!).
And of course Jonathan I'm Totally Off My Rocker Archer (and as always cute and cuddly Porthos! )

 

[Robert Treat]

I enjoyed it quite a bit. I know many think it is a classic and ENT's best episodes but I think that is going a bit too far especially with more substantive hours out there like Twilight or the Vulcan trilogy.

Many think that season four was all fanwank. I happen to think that most of the stories while heavily inspired or loaded with TOS/TNG/DS9 references stand well on their own--namely they are solid stories that effectively found a way to incorporate plausibly characters or elements from future shows. But IaMD felt the most like it existed as a showcase to throw as much Trek goodies at the audience-the recreated TOS bridge, the Gorn, the TOS sets/outfits, the Tholians, their infamous web etc. It was mostly void of any substance but it was still fun. And I did appreciate the new spin with just the MU counterparts.

I agree with that. It was an entertaining two-parter, but definetely not the best Episode of Ent. Enjoyable, but not enough substance

One of the main problems was that it was set on the wrong ISS Enterprise. If you watch the episode, it's quite obvious a lot was taken from Diane Duane's Dark Mirror (the references to literary authors, the agony booth being a form of progress, etc.). TOS had humans and Vulcans as partners in the Empire's activities, and fan publications and websites often had the Andorians as partners in the Empire's early days. I've often felt the time for Vulcans to have been slaves of humans should have been around Stargazer or early TNG era.

 

[Cyrus]

IAMD is great fun. It's a classic, right up there with the best Trek episodes of all time.

 

[Unicron]

I was cynical initially, because the show had a habit of borrowing concepts from other series and I was never too pleased with most of the DS9 eps. But I always keep an open mind, and was pleasantly surprise. I wish we'd had more episodes like this.

My only minor complaint was that I wish there'd been some resolution on the fate of the Defiant, since that had the potential to cause continuity problems with "Mirror, Mirror."

 

[Moocey]

I liked it alright, but the rest of the episode wasn't nearly as good as the First Contact teaser that kicked it off and the warmongering opening credits.

 

[gblews]

IAMD is great fun. It's a classic, right up there with the best Trek episodes of all time.

Agree. It was one of the most innovative hours of Trek ever, comparing favorably with "Mirror Mirror" in this area.

Sussman and Coto are to be congratulated for taking a concept within a concept, one that had been just about worn out by DS9, and making it fresh again. Weaving a good, and plausible story around what was left from the TOS original and combining it with "The Tholian Web" was brilliant I thought.

Put that with the fact that the MU dwellers had no real contact with their RU counterparts, and what was done with the pre-credits teasor and most importantly the opening theme, and you've got something never before seen in Star Trek.

IaMD is one of the things that distinguishes season 4 and separates ENT from all of it's predecessors.

 

[cooleddie74]

Only DS9 could have done a Mirror Universe story this good, but it would never have been as much fun. By the 24th century the MU is far too dark and wracked with war and conflict to have a rollicking good time with the storylines.

 

[Unicron]

Yeah, I think DS9 made a mistake in getting rid of the Empire offscreen. Especially since the Alliance was pretty much the same, with more aliens.

 

[STIntergalactic]

Best. Episode. Ever.

This is the ep that inspired me to get the Terran Empire tattoo (though, i went with the TOS design).