In stark contrast to the rest of the fawning:
Posted by MikeSussman:
A very entertaining review, Sam.
A couple of clarifications I'd like to make:
Starfleet didn't catch their name, but what did they catch? Huge chunks of the Borg sphere.
The Borg removed all useful technology from the crash site. This was the scene as written in the final draft script:
EXT. GLACIAL TERRAIN - CRASH SITE - DAY (OPTICAL)
A Starfleet SHUTTLE is landing near the three Habitat Modules. The modules have been ravaged. The excavation site is gone; the Borg debris has been taken away. The transport ship is nowhere to be seen.
It's very nice of you to tell us that, but it's not what made it on-screen. Sorry. This, incidentally, makes it non-canon.
But I personally do appreciate the fact that you tried and it's someone else's fault.
Posted by MikeSussman:
Need more? Two whole dead Borg bodies left behind on the NX-01.
In an earlier draft, we saw the dead drones dematerialize/disintegrate, as they often did in TNG. This shot was cut for pacing and budget concerns. Maybe we should've kept it for clarity's sake.
It's very nice of you to tell us that, but it's not what made it on-screen. Sorry. This, incidentally, makes it non-canon.
But I personally do appreciate the fact that you tried and it's someone else's fault.
Posted by MikeSussman:
A way to defeat the nanoprobes! Is that all? The nanoprobes themselves! (Phlox deactivated them, but did not destroy them.)
Phlox's technique may only be effective in the initial stage of assimilation, which was prolonged because of his physiology. In any case, it seemed to us that defeating Borg nanoprobes (and restoring an assimilated person) never seemed to be much of a problem in the TNG era, as Picard, Janeway, Torres and Tuvok were restored without too much trouble.
This is, put simply, speculation. And as for negative consequences, allow me to point to Seven's cortical implant, something that certainly stood in the way to her regaining the full extent of her humanity, and to
something that remained within Picard and allowed him to be tormented by whispers (and dreams?) of the Collective.
Yeah, those nanites were harmless. Let 'im suffer, who knows, he might tell us where to shoot our quantum torpedoes someday.
Posted by MikeSussman:
No more? Whatever chunks of the Borgified artic transport that they could salvage. (Feel free to argue that Starfleet wouldn't salvage them if you're willing to agree that they're morons.) Anything else? Two floating Borgified Tarkaleans. (See above. Same reasons.)
After their recent experience, it would be pretty clear to Archer and Starfleet that the alien technology was incredibly dangerous. It's my belief that Starfleet would've destroyed any remaining technology and/or corpses.
It's a good thing that's simply your belief. Look at Columbia: NASA are collecting every available scrap to study it to prevent it happening again. And Starfleet have one sure way of stopping the Borg from being a threat - FREEZE THEM. A scientist suggested this very thing at the start of the episode! If you're scared of the Borg fragments reanimating themselves, freeze what you can and obliterate the rest.
It is, put simply, suicidal stupidity - especially in the face of the clear danger the Borg represent - to say that this VERY SAME DANGER justifies destroying ALL the evidence, ALL the records, ALL the remains and forgetting it ever happened!!!
Do scientists destroy smallpox and anthrax? NO. Why? Because there is value in keeping very small amounts under carefully controlled conditions and restaints, just in case you need it someday so you can figure out a cure or learn something new from it!
Seriously, this is just totally crazy reasoning on your part. I'm sorry, Mr. Sussman, but i'll point to the anthrax analogy as an example of something that could wipe us all out, but we're not outright destroying. I bet once SARS is subdued a small amount of it will be kept alive somewhere. Frozen, ironically enough.
Posted by MikeSussman:
And why the desperate urgency to communicate with the Borg homeworld? What is it about Earth that is so important to the Borg?
I have it on good authority that a Drone's first task, when separated from the Collective, is to reestablish that connection. As for the "urgency" of their final communication... we don't know what else the Drones actually said in their message. For all we know, they may have only been reporting their position.
Yes, but given the obvious threat the Borg present, isn't it a little dangerous to assume anything? Look at what the scientists assumed, look at what Phlox assumed, and look where it got them. Let's assume again!! ... not.
Of course, being the writer, you can just say that the co-ordinates are all that the message contained. Frankly, I believe that's all that was in it. But giving us ifs and maybes is not a response, it's simply speculation, and completely spurious at that.
Posted by MikeSussman:
It was actually pretty ballsy of Archer to blow those poor bastards into space. But then he turns right around and tells T'Pol that he's going to bend over backwards to save the nine life-forms (or is it twenty-nine lifeforms? T'Pol keeps changing the number) on the arctic shuttle.
When Enterprise first encountered the Borgified transport, Archer asked T'Pol how many HUMAN bio-signs were on board: she reported there were nine. Later, she made it clear there were twenty-nine TOTAL bio-signs on the transport (the humans plus the Tarkaleans, plus any other poor souls the Borg had run across).
It wasn't until Archer saw a totally borgified human on the transport that he finally gave up hope of rescuing them. I believe Reed asks about them, and Archer says "there's nobody here we can help". It's kinda wierd, because they have clear proof of what assimilation.. i'm sorry, infection with these nanites.. can do to you in a bit over an hour (the travel time to the ship + some rescue time).. why Archer is incapable of extrapolating that and deducing what might have happened to humans in several days is a bit of a mystery.
T'Pol seems to be the only sensible and intelligent one on board. Par for the course, really.
Posted by MikeSussman:
Trip shows Archer the schematic of the enhanced artic shuttle, pointing out the new weapons nodes. Seconds later, Archer worriedly tells Trip, Let's hope they didn't have time to upgrade their weapons!?
Trip was briefing Archer on the scans they took of the Transport during their first firefight. These scans were already out-of-date as the Borg were continuing to upgrade their ship with technology from the Tarkalean vessel. Maybe the line would've been clearer if Archer had said: "Let's hope they didn't have time to upgrade their weapons...
since we last saw them."
I remember this line, and Sussman is right on this point.
Posted by MikeSussman:
And why was the Enterprise so close to Earth? Despite Reed's observation that, "We're a long way from the Artic," Trip announces that the Borg on the arctic shuttle have doubled their maximum Warp speed in "less than twelve hours."
Trip was referring to the twelve hours since Enterprise's first encounter with the Borg, not the time since the Borg had left Earth. We kept Enterprise's position deliberately vague. We also never said how long it had been since the transport left Earth. Conceivably, the events in the Arctic could've been weeks or months earlier.
As for the "doubling" of their speed: the Borg left Earth orbit at warp 3.9 (59c on the TOS scale). When they carved up the Tarkalean ship, they took a number of engine components and enhanced their warp drive again, allowing them to reach warp 4.8 (111c). Okay, it's not exactly double... Trip rounded up.
Actually, I distinctly remember Trip saying the ship was only capable of warp 1.5.
They upgraded the engines TWICE. Once from 1.5 to 3 something, and then again to 4.8.
Posted by MikeSussman:
And what's up with Reed's "Hull plating is down 12%"? How is the hull plating down?
Reed was referring to the hull plating polarization, not the physical hull plates.
Would it trouble you to add the word "polarization" to the end, so it doesn't SOUND like hull plating is being lost?
Come to think of it maybe you should use different phrasing alltogether - how about this:
Hull polarization has been diffused to 12% strength!
That better represents what's actually going on, IMO. Of course, you can use other words, but I think polarization NEEDS to be in there, as do words relating to the dispersal or diffusion of a charge, which is what polarization IS. Please don't treat it like the thickness of a plank of wood, or the hull itself, as it sounded like you were doing.
The point isn't what was meant, it's what it sounded like. Hull plating down to 12% sounds like, well, there's only 12% of the hull left.
Posted by MikeSussman:
It was kind of the four remaining (living) Borg on NX-01 to conveniently beam themselves back to the arctic shuttle just in time for it to explode. Why wouldn't the Borg stay and assimilate the Enterprise, instead?
In "Q, Who," when their ship was damaged, the Drones entered their alcoves to use their combined abilities to repair their ship. This is why the Drones were beamed back to the Transport.
What year are these drones from again?
For that matter, why didn't the drones stay and assimilate EARTH? They could have done it, especially given how quickly the HEAVILY ARMED science team got taken out.
Posted by MikeSussman:
And does Starfleet have no other ships in the fleet?
Enterprise is the only ship in Starfleet capable of intercepting a vessel at warp 3.9 or higher; the rest of the fleet is zipping along at a leisurely warp two.
See Trip's comment re: Warp 1.5 to begin with. It's nice that you say the Borg ship left Earth doing 3.8, but we really don't know that. Besides, didn't anyone challenge an unauthorized ship in orbit? Is there ANY Earth defense at all?
Posted by MikeSussman:
Since when are Vulcan sandworms kept in the galley?!? What recipe is that for?)
We're going to reveal in a future show that T'Pol enjoys slurping down a juicy sandworm every now and again; a vegetarian has to get her protein from somewhere.
I thought she got regular 3 calorie iron injections from Archer
