I know this might seem strange but why exactly is Archer apparently such a lover of Gazelles I mean he mentions them in every major speech and apparently thinks their best representation of human growth or something? Why?
It's not common knowledge, but GR intended gazelles to be revealed as an intelligent species who go on to gain federation membership, much like the whales. The Ent D allegedly had a deck devoted to artificial grasslands for gazelle crew members but budgetary constraints meant they went with showing them only in the holodeck on unreleased episodes. I have those episodes in my living room on VHS.
Hahaha maybe they uplifted every earth species from insects to whales. Heck Star Trek needs more uplifting.
Leading, of course, to his eventual sad demise during season nine's follow-up to the also-unfilmed season five Kzinti episode. Which in turn, would have lead to months of this... I guess maybe we dodged a bullet with the cancellation after all.
He mentions them once and as the antithesis of human growth. Seriously, did no one actually listen to the speech????? Or did everyone tune out after the word "Gazelle"?
Why, you ask? Because, when Archer was in his early twenties on a trip to East Africa, he saw a gazelle giving birth. It was truly amazing.
It's the same reason he likes water polo, a sport that there would NEVER be any practical way for them to show in any TV episode. Mark