The Great Chronological Run-Through

[Christopher]

"North Star" was meant as an homage to all the parallel-Earth episodes TOS did. But yeah, it did turn out pretty well, didn't it?

There's an effort to justify the abduction of the original Humans by saying that they were chosen due to being well adapted to living in these conditions. Nice try, but I'm not buying it. First of all, there are far, far more suitable Human cultures to kidnap if that's the motive. Why not take a tribe or two from the Sahara or the Australian outback? On that note, the native Americans would presumably be a better choice than the colonists, since they've lived in the relevant area for longer. They'd all be better desert-dwelling slaves, I'm sure.

Not necessarily. Many Native American cultures' lifestyles changed enormously after European contact. The Plains Indians as we know them couldn't get started as a culture until after horses were imported from Eurasia and enabled them to exploit the plains as a viable environment. So they hadn't been living that way much longer than the European settlers had.

And that's assuming you even made it to Earth, and why you'd go there I don't know.

Everybody comes to Earth. In the Marvel Universe, the excuse is that our system is at some sort of nexus of hyperspace routes. Maybe there's something similar going on in the Trek universe. There do seem to be quite a few spatial anomalies and rifts hovering around this vicinity.

 

[Deranged Nasat]

Many Native American cultures' lifestyles changed enormously after European contact. The Plains Indians as we know them couldn't get started as a culture until after horses were imported from Eurasia and enabled them to exploit the plains as a viable environment. So they hadn't been living that way much longer than the European settlers had.

Interesting; thank you. Like I said, I don't know that much about the detailed history of North America, so I'm not the best at evaluating what I see of it on screen.

 

[Deranged Nasat]

"Similitude"

The premise is rather hard to swallow - Phlox happens to have a clone-maker lying around - but I forgive it because this one is genuinely emotional and suitably dramatic. This episode reminds me of "Shuttlepod One" from the first season, in that there's very little to say for the purposes of this project, yet it's a very good episode.

I like how T'Pol/Trip is moved forward by Sim, who has neither the time nor the professional requirement to keep his feelings bottled up and so just announces them. T'Pol's first kiss with Trip isn't with Trip at all, but with someone who knows him intimately and can speak Trip's feelings with a certain detachment yet with total commitment nonetheless. Archer bonds with Sim, too, with the model ship he played with in the pilot's flashback scenes returning; rather than encouraging a child to work hard and realize his dreams despite adversity, he instead directs him toward acceptance of other peoples' requirements. In a sense, this episode does a better job of demonstrating Archer's newfound willingness to cast ethics aside in favour of pragmatic necessity than either torture incident (not that I think either of those incidents was handled poorly, simply that this is possibly a more dramatically meaningful illustration).

Phlox's characteristic cheery detachment to the original idea of producing a clone (while still clearly being aware of the ethical implications) contrasts with Archer and T'Pol's wary discomfort, but all three have their own way of being deeply affected and moved by Sim. Sim's emotional moments with Phlox, T'Pol and Archer all work and make for a satisfying episode, especially toward the end.

Genetic memory is confirmed for Humans, at least under certain situations. This is apparently a confirmed part of how the Trek universe works, given that we'll later explore races like Tholians and Ocampa who depend upon genetic memory transfer as a primary means of learning.

Continuity

"Shuttlepod One", appropriately enough, is alluded to; Sim says that actually he can think of a worse fate than dying alone in a shuttlepod - being stuck in there with Malcolm. A nice implicit continuity reference, and a final provocative reminder that Sim carries all of Trip's memories and responds in much the same way as his genetic host.

Next Time: T'Pol finally accepts the truth of time travel in "Carpenter Street".

 

[Christopher]

"Similitude" is another classic, a sign that the season had finally found its feet (only to stumble badly again come "Carpenter Street"). But of course the science is insanely bad and it's one more Trek episode that introduces an amazingly powerful technology that's never heard from again.

Where is it ever said that Ocampa have genetic memory? I've always assumed that knowledge is passed telepathically from mother to child during gestation.

 

[Deranged Nasat]

"Carpenter Street"

Another opening act set on Earth rather than Enterprise, in the manner of "Regeneration", only this one is set in the past. It's good to return to the bioweapon plot promised earlier in the season, though it's a rather lacklustre way of resolving it. Loomis is quite entertaining, I suppose.

Look who finally decided to show up, as Archer says: it's Daniels. Daniels claims that there's no record in his time of a conflict between Earth and the Xindi, which seems to indicate that he is in fact from an alternate possible future to the one we'll be following, since the Xindi conflict will be mentioned in quite a few novels going forward. More to the point, it will be relevant to Human, Vulcan and Andorian history in the years immediately following this. Shran's deepening relationship with the Humans; Soval's newfound respect for Archer; the Vulcan invasion of Andoria that represents the High Command overplaying its hand - which in turn gives the Romulans reason to start escalating their plotting; it all happens the way it does because of these events in the Expanse. That raises the question of how the Federation in Daniels' original timeline came about, when the Xindi Crisis seems rather integral to the backstory of the UFP. It is of course possible that Daniels lies, for his own unfathomable reasons. No-one involved in the Temporal Cold War ever seems to tell the truth, which would be interesting if the writers had ever decided on what the truth actually was. As it is, it's a little disappointing that Daniels has such a miniscule role here; luckily he'll be put to better use later in the season.

T'Pol finds herself on pre-contact Earth, much like her ancestor T'Mir, though there's no mention of that. She does seem to have a better grasp of things than Archer, at times. I suppose their interactions with 2004 in general and Loomis in particular are fun enough, though not particularly so.

Also, Archer and co do seem rather unconcerned about one very important twist - the Xindi either have time travel technology or someone else took them back in time - that is, someone is helping them. (It's the latter, as already hinted at by the fact that they were supposedly told by someone that Humans would destroy them 400 years from now). What's to stop them trying this again and again and again, since they still have the scans Rajiin took? Why not send another party back to a point an hour after the events we saw? The bioweapon plot isn't over at all, so far as Archer should be thinking.

I suppose Daniels' people might be working on that "offscreen".

****

"Chosen Realm"

I like the idea of a religion that's centred on the spheres and the spatial anomalies. Naturally, people who live in the Expanse would seek to comprehend their environment and would likely place great significance on such powerful and inexplicable objects. If T'Pol is already beginning to suspect that the spheres have something to do with amplifying the anomalies, then the races who live here must surely have long ago confirmed the same, and come to their own conclusions about the purpose. To some people the Expanse isn't a strange and unusual region of space - instead it's their home, the favoured realm. How you see it depends on where you stand and which perspective you begin with, which is very relevant to an episode whose starring guest character exhibits a very twisted yet internally consistent point of view. D'Jamat has a rather reasonable and measured worldview if you happen to be standing exactly where he does, sharing the unusual assumptions that he holds to be true, but he's entirely unreasonable if you don't.

The Triannon, we'll later learn, are actually very close to the truth (perhaps ironically?) The Makers of the Spheres are indeed using them to create a "paradise", readying the region for their eventual arrival. This is quite a neat piece of foreshadowing and it winds up confirming what T'Pol semi-grudgingly acknowledges here, about myth often building on fact.

There's a general attempt to play D'Jamat opposite Archer, a strange mirror of the captain, perhaps: two contemplative yet driven men on a mission of great importance, willing to do things that cause them considerable pain in order to succeed, knowing that the stakes demand it. Certainly D'Jamat takes every opportunity to make comparisons, though most of them are unconvincing both to Archer and to the audience. It's a little unclear what we're supposed to take away from this. That the similarity, and the very legitimacy of a comparison between Archer and D'Jamat, is itself an evident and convincing truth only if you look at it from one very particular perspective, and otherwise it falls apart? That we can find legitimacy in something only if we view it from a certain angle and then commit to that angle to the exclusion of all others? I can't decide if the episode is undermining itself or actually reinforcing the theme it's trying to explore.

That said, at times the episode is sort of on to something with regards to Archer/D'Jamat. D'Jamat's advice to his followers that to sympathise with the enemy is dangerous as it can lead to you becoming the enemy does resonate with Archer's struggle not to lose the moral high ground of his prior convictions and become as ruthless as the Xindi, something the immeasurable responsibility of his mission has threatened to drive him to. Both men fear losing sight of their claim to righteousness by coming to think and act like the opponent. Ultimately, though, while D'Jamat is quite interesting for being a genuinely reasonable man assuming you can twist yourself to share his very particular worldview, this incident is still just a side-tour rather than anything thematically illuminating.

Some of the Triannon have similar scars to the Osaarians in "Anomaly". Between this call-back (and an explicit reminder of the Osaarian-in-the-airlock incident via D'Jamat), the erasure of the gathered data - a significant setback after some recent successes on the crew's part - and the general importance of the mythology surrounding the Spheres, this episode is very relevant to the ongoing arc, but doesn't do much to move it forward. Except, perhaps, for that subtle foreshadowing regarding the purpose of the Spheres.

Phlox's Pyrithian bat (last seen in "A Night In Sickbay") helps save the day. The Pyrithian bat is so far slightly more useful than Travis. In fact, until the novels redeem him as a useful character, I think I'll replace him with the bat.

Next Time: "Proving Ground". From whom does the Andorian Mining Consortium run?

 

[Christopher]

"Carpenter Street" is the most boring and useless Trek time-travel episode ever, as well as the most boring and useless episode of the Xindi arc. Well, I guess not entirely useless, because its events pay off later in the season, but the fact that those events took place in present-day Detroit added nothing. (And why Detroit? Why anywhere in the US? If they chose an Earth city at random, statistically they'd be more likely to end up in Asia somewhere.)

"Chosen Realm" is a pretty effective portrait of religious fanaticism. D'Jamat seems so reasonable on the surface, but he takes it for granted that he's right and anyone who disagrees with him is evil, and there's just no convincing him otherwise. Just goes to show -- when people like him talk about faith, what they really mean is faith in their own rightness. They just can't conceive that anything they personally believe could be mistaken. It's more about ego than piety.

 

[Enterprise1701]

This is a bit old now, but I'd like to ask: has there ever been an instance besides "Regeneration" where the heroes fought off a Borg drone(s) by ripping the cables straight out the back of the drone's head? That was a rather fantastic maneuver.

 

[Deranged Nasat]

"Proving Ground"

This one opens with quite the lengthy, meaty recap; pretty much covering the entire "Search for the Xindi" plot thus far.

Obviously, this episode is very important for being our first opportunity to see the Andorians outside of a Vulcan-related context, and it builds on Shran's established trust in Archer to demonstrate the first shaky steps toward an alliance. It's great how Humans, Vulcans and Andorians are all at odds with one another and mutually wary yet slowly coming to see the benefits of association (well, we still need to work on the Vulcan-Andorian, but Archer's ability to earn respect from T'Pol and Shran is one of the more important aspects to his character). We can see the promise for mutually beneficial alliance and even friendship, but the agendas still don't align, to everyone's obvious regret. All sides have very good points - Shran's observation that the Vulcans have made no effort to assist Earth is very damning; Archer's angry accusation that maybe the Vulcans were right about Andorian duplicity is shaming to Shran, who accepts the punch Archer swings at him.

Part of what makes this one work is that Shran's motives are genuinely opaque the first time you watch it. We know that he's someone who takes his debts extremely seriously (Archer points out that his prior experience with Shran leads him to believe he can trust the Andorian), but we also know that every other time we've seen Shran his agenda has been to weaken the Vulcans' grip on their holdings, and his pointed commentary on Vulcan's failure to help Enterprise could be read as an attempt to apply a crowbar to their claim on Earth. As it turns out, Shran's angle is political but it's not in fact an opportunistic effort to lure Humans away from the Vulcans - the Imperial Guard actually doesn't care about Earth, and his mission is to find information on the Xindi weapon. That said, if it were up to Shran personally, he would clearly prefer to pursue a true alliance with the Humans, but his superiors aren't yet ready to listen.

It's telling that the Andorians' primary response to the attack on Earth was to think, "if we had a weapon like that we'd have a perfect deterrent for the Vulcans". Paranoia and frustration in regards to Vulcan political and military power once again defines the Andorians, although Shran is starting to comprehend a universe outside of that focus - he sees the benefits of an alliance between Andorians and Humans on its own merits, and not relating to Vulcan at all. Maybe it doesn't have to be Andor VS the universe (where universe is almost synonymous with "Vulcans").

Building relationships that are important and meaningful whether or not the motives were honest is definitely the point here: Reed and Talas are great together, and Shran discussing the loss of Elizabeth with Trip, while strongly implying that he lost a sibling at one point, is also quite engaging.

The Xindi are good, too, with the Council's frustration and impatience becoming ever more pronounced, and the tensions between them starting to boil over again - especially with regards to Degra failing to deliver on his promises, or what the others have decided were his promises - even as they all share a sense of deepening annoyance at the constant delays.

First Appearances of Things That Are Important:

Kumari. We saw vessels of the class in "Cease Fire", but this is the first appearance of Shran's own ship; indeed, our first indication that Shran even has one. Prior to this he was a commando operating on Vulcan-aligned worlds, but I suppose it makes sense going forward to make him into Archer's counterpart. It's not a new vessel, we'll later learn; he was indeed Kumari's captain during his previous appearances. Evidently lengthy away missions are part of the job when you're a captain of the Imperial Guard. We also get a sense of the state of Andorian technology; unsurprisingly it's more advanced than Earth's, and in some ways possibly comparable to Vulcan. We have confirmation of tractor beams and sophisticated force fields, better sensors than Earth, and the Kumari's speed is explicitly greater than that of Enterprise. Also, Shran can communicate in real time with Andoria from deep within the Expanse.

Lieutenant Talas.

Continuity

We get a little more background on the Vulcan/Andorian conflict, including T'Pol's claim that initial contact was considered promising, only for the relationship to turn sour over time. Skirmishes along the border between their territories were common several decades ago; it seems that they go through this sort of thing periodically, with the Vulcans coming down hard on the Andorians in such treaties as the Tau Ceti Accords or whatever agreement V'Lar helped negotiate, until the Andorians have chafed too long under what they perceive as imposed restrictions and start getting restless again. This no doubt makes Vulcan even more suspicious and heavy-handed in turn. We can see how this state of affairs is reinforced, with the two cultures feeding mutually into an escalation of the feud. One is consumed with frustration, the other is completely inflexible. A rebellious adolescent and a rigid, overbearing adult (though don't tell Shran I described it like that).

The Andorian Imperial Guard is a military organization with a mandate of defence, not exploration. Like on Earth ships, there's a captain's ready room located just off of the bridge.

The crew have finally traced Gralik's kemocite shipment, which they tagged with a transponder earlier in the season. It leads them not to the actual weapon but to another test-prototype.

They've recovered 30% of the data that D'Jamat purged.

Next Time: Enterprise returns to the Xindi test site in "Stratagem", and we learn more about Degra.

 

[Christopher]

In rewatching the series for Rise of the Federation, I noted that the Kumari bridge had some design features similar to 23rd-century Starfleet bridges -- paired consoles in front rather than a single helm station, and consoles oriented with the operators facing outward instead of inward (so the captain can see all the readouts, presumably). This allowed me to suggest that future Starfleet design is an amalgam of different races' technologies, not just Earth's.

 

[Destructor]

"Twilight" is one of the series' strongest episodes, although the temporal physics are pretty ludicrous.

Twilight is my favourite episode of Enterprise, and I talk about it often when the subject of Enterprise comes up. I was gutted to learn that it was originally written for Janeway/Chakotay, as I would have absolutely loved to have seen this story on Voyager.

 

[Deranged Nasat]

"Chosen Realm" is a pretty effective portrait of religious fanaticism. D'Jamat seems so reasonable on the surface, but he takes it for granted that he's right and anyone who disagrees with him is evil.

D'Jamat reminds me of a character on a role-play site I frequently post on. The character in question is a comedic one and he's pretty much crazy (most memorably, he believes the Mothman is appearing in his home town as an omen), but what's great about him, what makes him such a engaging character (and I've told the player this) is that there is in fact a logical coherency and a consistency to his worldview. He might seem to be someone who will believe anything, but that's not the case at all - his logic is very rigorous and convincing; he's actually a sceptic. It's just that he's operating on a totally different system of "truth". If you stand in just the right place and approach things from precisely the right angle, then it all falls into place and his perspective actually makes sense. From the outside it's totally whacked but internally it all adds up. He may be played for comedy, but he's not unlike D'Jamat. D'Jamat is a reasonable and measured individual, when taken in isolation; it's just that he works on a system that's incompatible with the wider universe or with anyone who isn't him, and so despite his attempts to compare himself with Archer he is, as you say, just marinating in his own ego, I'd say without realizing it.

In rewatching the series for Rise of the Federation, I noted that the Kumari bridge had some design features similar to 23rd-century Starfleet bridges -- paired consoles in front rather than a single helm station, and consoles oriented with the operators facing outward instead of inward (so the captain can see all the readouts, presumably). This allowed me to suggest that future Starfleet design is an amalgam of different races' technologies, not just Earth's.

That's a welcome idea - while Federation ships are externally of Human appearance, their bridge design is essentially Andorian.

You also note in those books that Shran's avocado-coloured command tunic is suggestive of Kirk's.

 

[Christopher]

^Well, there are so few things in Starfleet design that could be cited as alien-influenced that I had to seize on every scrap I could find.

 

[Deranged Nasat]

"Stratagem"

Practically, I find the whole affair difficult to swallow - that they could pull off a scheme of this complexity in the short amount of time they had - but I'm willing to stretch my suspension of disbelief a bit because I really like the execution. Not only does it humanize Degra even while his most sympathetic qualities - his experiences in prison - are illusionary (this is rather like last episode, really, given how the developing Andorian-Human bond was genuine even if the Andorians had an ulterior motive) but it plays to something that thus far has been only implicitly touched upon, which is that both Humans and Xindi will lose if Enterprise's mission fails. It may be a deception, but there's a definite ring of truth to all of this, and a thematic legitimacy beyond the matter of forwarding the season's plot by tricking information out of Degra.

Archer understands enough about the Xindi to recognise their primary weakness - the volatile relationships and mutual distrust between the species. The future history he invents here is almost entirely convincing - there's little doubt in my mind that the aftermath of Earth's destruction would lead to another Xindi civil war. Military technology has taken a great leap forward, they've all been arming for conflict anyway, and the cooperative project has brought all new tensions to the surface while reinforcing pre-existing ones. Fighting over who controlled the superweapon would probably be the next step. I wouldn't be surprised if history repeated itself and they wound up destroying New Xindus as they had the original Xindus. Both the Xindi in general and Degra personally, then, are presented in a new and really quite sympathetic light even as the supposed friendship between Archer and Degra is of course shown to be a ruse, and that they're still enemies.

In all, this one advances the plot through a clever scheme on the protagonists' part - two clever schemes, once the first fails before completion - while also making the content of the deception thematically relevant regardless. Very well played, and it makes for a very satisfying episode. So I forgive the fact that I don't believe they could be quite this devious and hyper-competent.

Degra's dialogue confirms that the Reptilians and the Aquatics are the military "heavies" among the Xindi races; his objection to a supposed Insectoid takeover is that the Reptilians and Aquatics wouldn't permit it.

Continuity

Archer uses his plasma venting manoeuvre again (in the simulation, anyway). It's basically his signature technique - see "Canamar" and "Judgment". It's a variant this time, though - rather than igniting the plasma he lets the pursuing ships' own engines absorb it so that they overheat.

The Regulan bloodworms, like the Pyrithian bat before them, do their part for the mission. Commendations all around for the menagerie at mission's end, I think. The Lyssarian desert larva, AKA Sim, in particular, of course. Posthumously.

Archer and Degra share some leftover Andorian ale.

The Council, we learn, was founded shortly after the destruction of Xindus, and while reunification was always a priority and a goal it never quite happened. The Council's purpose has been reaffirmed by news of the supposed threat from Earth.

Next Time: "Harbinger".

 

[Enterpriserules]

I liked that we got to know Degra in this way. I feel like the writers did a good job of creating a story that allowed the Xindi not not actually be the "bad guys" but just another group lied too in the Temporal Cold War, so that it fit into the overall storyline of ENT, up to that point.

 

[Christopher]

Very well played, and it makes for a very satisfying episode. So I forgive the fact that I don't believe they could be quite this devious and hyper-competent.

Maybe they just had a Mission: Impossible marathon on movie night.

"Stratagem" is a pretty good one, excellent for adding nuance to the Xindi and making Degra a sympathetic character. The title scheme is pretty fun, and I like it that they don't immediately reveal what's really going on, though I think I guessed in advance that it was a ploy (maybe because we didn't get any exterior shots of the ship they were in).

 

[Deranged Nasat]

"Harbinger"

Another meaty recap kicks this one off.

This episode is a legitimate character piece, which we haven't really had in a while, and as such it's very welcome. Trip, T'Pol and Reed all get some genuine development, and Hayes and the new MACO, Cole, are good as well. Returning to the Reed/Hayes rivalry is long overdue, and what we get is a great deal of fun. Also the Trip/T'Pol relationship progresses nicely and organically, and the episode manages to make their first sexual encounter feel like a legitimate development rather than playing it for titillation. Fun is had with the characters while keeping them convincing and grounded. All good stuff.

The B-plot moves the arc forward well without overshadowing the character work or moving the focus away from it, which is another point in the episode's favour. More episodes like this would have been welcome in season two. Both in terms of character dynamics and plot direction, the writers seem to know where they're going.

First Appearances of Things That Are Important

The Sphere Builders.

Continuity

The MACOs train with technology and tactics considered a few years in advance of Starfleet, though whether this actually means anything when comparing them to Starfleet security forces is open to debate, as Malcolm notes, since they train mostly on Earth (and presumably on Human colonies) against simulated foes, and have less actual experience.

****

"Doctor's Orders"

Because I'm moving through Star Trek in terms of its internal chronology, I have no idea what a "Seven of Nine" or a "Voyager" might be. That said, it's another good character piece (this string of episodes is overall very strong). Not only is it a good outing for Phlox but in a way it's also in fact a legitimate vehicle for T'Pol. Yes, she's not real, but the fact that Phlox's mind is conjuring her as the voice of reason, calming his emotional excesses and serving as an anchor (including using her for an accurate self-diagnosis of what he's experiencing) is telling. Since this all stems from their actual relationship, it's yet another example of something that retains its legitimacy and interest even though much of it is not in fact genuine on the face of it. The show's been doing this a lot lately (The Andorians as friends, humanizing Degra), and it's worked every time - the writers finally have a strong grip on what they're doing with season three, with nothing being pointless of wasted anymore.

We can add "The Exorcist" to the list of films that exist within the Trek 'verse.

It's a little odd that we're originally told that nothing from our universe can survive in Sphere Builder altered space, but then that concept is immediately changed to "most Humanoid neo-cortices can't handle it". If you're not sapient or if you're a Denobulan you're okay for a while. Well, Phlox isn't "okay", but you know what I mean. It's all rather obscure. What exactly are the rules here?

As we get deeper into the Expanse, the anomalies are converging, and they're starting to do more than randomly twist the laws of physics; they're changing them into something stable but alien - and the affected areas are spreading, expanding far more quickly than what the crew have seen previously. Whether this is entirely because they're heading in deeper or because the schedule is accelerating is still unclear.

Continuity

Phlox is still in contact with Dr. Jeremy Lucas, who has now returned to Earth in the wake of the Xindi attack.

Denobulan trivia returning from previous episodes includes their belief that hallucination is a useful means of resolving stress, and the fact that their planet is crowded and vibrant, with Denobulans preferring to live gregariously.

Phlox's little ditty has a chorus that repeats the phrase Suut Vahl over and over; Suut Vahl has been used in dialogue before as a phrase of Denobula'an: it seems to indicate a negative in some fashion. Yeronti nagata... kaa suut vahl... is subtitled "The sauce is good... but I don't care for this vegetable"... while Eggplant nida kaa suut vahl, Maiakchi bongalu is subtitled "Eggplant's not a vegetable, it's a nostril". (Kaa Suut Vahl = "vegetable: no", essentially). Dee dah eht suut vahl mey proveet is "I'm still having trouble with the transitive verbs". "I don't care for", "is not a", "I'm having trouble/not succeeding at". No. Is Phlox singing something like "No, no, no" in his chorus? Did they try to make him go to rehab?

Next Time: Archer is bitten by the baby bug in "Hatchery".

 

[Christopher]

I have trouble remembering what "Harbinger" is about; I had to look it up. I guess that, aside from harbingering the Sphere Builders, it's more about developing ongoing threads, so doesn't really stand out clearly as its own entity. Unless you remember it as "The one where we get to see T'Pol's bottom," I guess.

"Doctor's Orders" is awful, a complete waste of an episode. Maybe it wouldn't feel quite so dreadfully pointless if you really hadn't seen VGR: "One" already, but it's still pretty terrible.

 

[Deranged Nasat]

"Doctor's Orders" is awful, a complete waste of an episode. Maybe it wouldn't feel quite so dreadfully pointless if you really hadn't seen VGR: "One" already, but it's still pretty terrible.

Heh, I like it. Then again, I liked "Singularity" and you didn't, so maybe this difference of opinion isn't too surprising...

 

[Deranged Nasat]

Building on that little piece of Denobulan language speculation, and building too on what Memory Alpha offers in its article on Denobulan language:

The Denobulan language (Denobula’an) frequently makes use of prefixes to place words in context. For example, medical terminology is signified with the prefix Ya-Sah. Double vowel combinations are common in Denobulan words, as are plosives.

The Denobulan written script is based on a series of small circles, which come in various sizes and may be linked by thin lines, which perhaps signify polysyllabic words. The script is read from left to right, but the written symbols in a complex piece of writing may be positioned on more than one plane, almost like a musical scale, introducing a vertical element. Sometimes, circles are linked by diagonal lines while positioned on different vertical planes; two circles linked in this manner probably signify a double vowel. Brackets are placed around certain circles, or chains of linked circles positioned along a line in the midst of unlinked symbols. Some diagonally linked circular pairs have both circles bracketed, some only one, some neither.

Denobulan words and phrases include the following:

Bak: A profanity.

Chini ga’luu: “A fruit” (fruit in general, no specific variety).

De ta a lekem paravuul: “I’m sure you’ll find a way to help them”.

De ta (Dee ta): “I’m sure”.

Dee dah: “I’m still”.

Dee dah eht suut vahl mey proveet: “I’m still having trouble with the transitive verbs”, or, literally, something akin to “I’m still handling-negative: transitive verbs”.

Dee saa: “Are you?” (Literally, “you are?”)

Dee: You/I, the person who is subject of the clause. (Note that dee dah is “I’m still”, and dee saa is “are you” (literally, “you are”). Note too pardeeka, “your syntax”) Deetree is also a word for a state of exactitude or certainty, possibly related to the identification of subject or to focused attention.

Deetree saa dee pulekee: “I’m not exactly sure” (literally, something like “State of certainty: am I not”).

Deetree: A state of certainty, conviction, exactitude.

Detall ta (Dee tall ta): “They are”.

Dom, naav sakuu?: “Do you like the food?” (Literally, something resembling “the food; is it pleasing/likeable?”)

Doof tu tiratmilad a time misawor?: “Does she want to spend time with you?”

Eggplant nida kaa suut vahl, Maiakchi bongalu: “Eggplant’s not a vegetable, it’s a nostril”.

Faardah: “Teaching me” (“Denobula’an faardah tunah mek-Phlox” would be “Dr. Phlox has been teaching me Denobulan”, or, literally, “Denobulan: Teaching me, has been Dr. Phlox”).

Jadu suura: “Dating” (informal courting).

Juuga: The act of mating, sexual intercourse.

Kaa: “Vegetable”, a category of edible plant.

Maifuuella jadu suura?: “Are you two dating?”

Maifuul juuga?: “Are you two mating?”

Majempraa tiri: “Washboard”.

Mek: “Doctor”, a medical professional. Phlox is mek-Phlox.

Mek: “Improving”, as in Pardeeka tunah mek (“your syntax is improving”), likely the basis for the medical title “Mek”; one who helps you improve (in health or fitness).

Ni ka’am? “How are your patients?” (Likely truncated).

Par Kweesah Essah: "I'm impressed".

Pardeeka: “Your syntax”. An individual’s specific syntax.

Paveet: “Continue”. An imperative. Note that veet tends to relate to movement or action; see proveet (verbs).

Pragoon dee saa? “Well, are you?” (Literally, “well, you are?”)

Proveet: “Verbs”, plural. Mey Proveet are transitive verbs.

Saa dee: “I am” (literally, “am I”).

Sarabit: “Resting, for now”; “currently recovering”.

Suut vahl: A general negative.

Teyaneema Garkohuda: The closest translation would be “Son of a bitch”. This insult is typically expressed “Garkohuda. Teyaneema Garkohuda”, literally, “Insult. Bitches’ son insult” or “I am insulting you. You are a son of a bitch”.

Tunah: A process of development or betterment, as used in Pardeeka tunah mek (“your syntax is improving”, literally, “your syntax: process toward improvement”) or faardah tunah (“has been teaching me”, literally “teaching me, ongoing process”).

Utet arem baret sikaara...: “Does she find excuses to...”

Wakare te-tem prossaa. Detall ta sarabit: “Their condition is grave. But they’re resting for now”.

Ya-sah mai gaa-am: The thyroid gland.

Ya-sah degata: The hypothalamus.

Ya-sah dofkul: This could be mistaken for the “big toe”.

Ya-sah kaduu ta-aul: The zyphoid process.

Yaasari farakall... majempraa tiri: “I think you make a very cute... washboard”.

Yeronti nagata kaa suut vahl: “The sauce is good, but I don’t care for this vegetable...” (Literally akin to “Sauce, good. Vegetable: no”).

Yeronti nagata: “The sauce is good”.

Yeronti: "Sauce".

 

[Stevil2001]

You skipped "Hatchery"!

Though there are some weaker episodes in it, I'd say that the stretch of episodes from "The Shipment" to "The Forgotten" is my favorite part of Enterprise.