Xindi Arc

[zenophite]

why did people expect almost perfect vulcans when we have seen over and over that some vulcans are indeed capable of being duplicitous ect..

I'm not suggesting perfect or one-dimensional Vulcans but by TOS they are used as the sort of older and wiser race. In particular we know they had been a spacefaring race for alot longer than humans...one would expect a little bit more than the A-holes presented in enterprise.

and the "prime directive" wasnt invented by archer but rather was already being followed by the vulcans.

Maybe but what I'm specifically referring to is the throw away line that Archer says in one of the episodes about "maybe someday there'll be a directive...."blah blah. So maybe he doesn't invent it but just names it?

 

[Admiral_Young]

The way how the Vulcans were portrayed bothered me as well...we were seeing overly irrational and emotional Vulcans who interfered and prevented other species from reaching their potential. They sounded almost Romulan like to me in some ways from time to time. I guess Berman and Braga wanted to show a different kind of Vulcan than ones that we've seen but they didn't have to go and make them complete hardasses. The way they were portrayed on the show it seemed like the Vulcans had become arrogant from all of their experience traveling in space and advanced technology.

 

[miriel68]

I, for once, liked very much this love-hate relationship with the Volcans: I could very well imagine humans would be at the same time grateful and resentful towards them: you don't like someone more advanced/intelligent then you, especially if he/she let you understand your inferiority too openly. Of course, I can understand that mr Spock's fans could think it differently, but
as I don't have inclination to see Star Trek universe as a "true" one, continuity problems don't bother me. IMO the tension between Earth and Volcan was one of the best ideas of "Enterprise" serie.

 

[DarthPipes]

I liked the arc. It gave the show a sense of purpose, instead of having the ship travel around space aimlessly. They were able to build the story and the characters and creat something compelling.

I do have some problems with the execution though. I have no idea why the Xindi decided to send a test weapon to Earth. If you're planning to wipe someone out with a single weapon, you don't send a prototype that can't do that. It alerted the Earth to the fact that someone was trying to wipe them out. I think it would have been smarter to have had the Xindi send their weapon to Earth, have it do more damage but fail because it was rushed out. That way, they aren't made to look stupid for alerting Earth to their intentions. Also, they should have tighted the timeline on when Earth was supposed to destroy the Xindi homeworld. 10 years instead of 400 years would have better explained the Xindi need to do this now.

 

[commodore64]

^ Agreed on the arc giving the show purpose and good point about the prototype.

I have to say, I'm glad you're on the boards. You provide thoughtful and interesting analysis.

 

[startrekwatcher]

I do have some problems with the execution though. I have no idea why the Xindi decided to send a test weapon to Earth. If you're planning to wipe someone out with a single weapon, you don't send a prototype that can't do that. It alerted the Earth to the fact that someone was trying to wipe them out. I think it would have been smarter to have had the Xindi send their weapon to Earth, have it do more damage but fail because it was rushed out. That way, they aren't made to look stupid for alerting Earth to their intentions.

If you'll remember Earth nor the Vulcans could identify the Xindi pilot in the probe. So it would be like looking for a needle in a haystick. No one would have thought that the attackers would be a species they've never met before from a region of space they've never visited.

The first thoughts would be that it was a race that Archer might have provoked in his first two years in space. Lord knows there were a string of them like the Romulans for all they knew from "Minefield". The Vulcans and SF wouldn't come up with the outrageous idea that the race is attacking them because humans in 400 years would destroy their world.

Archer would still have been trying to figure out who attacked them if FG hadn't contacted him. The Sphere Builders weren't aware of the Temporal Cold War or FG or Daniels and so didn't anticipate them stepping in.

 

[indranee]

I loved Season 3. it was my favorite season of ENT. my only issue is that the Xindi, other than Degra, are pretty much two dimensional for an enemy species dealt with throughout a whole season. I believe the writers' tried to make the Xindi into ENT's Borg, but didn't quite succeed. instead we got stupid B&W, mice-eating villains who didn't have the brains or gumption to shoot down a solo enemy ship traveling through their space for days. bad writing as far as I am concerned.

 

[DanCPA]

and the "prime directive" wasnt invented by archer but rather was already being followed by the vulcans.

Maybe but what I'm specifically referring to is the throw away line that Archer says in one of the episodes about "maybe someday there'll be a directive...."blah blah. So maybe he doesn't invent it but just names it?[/quote]
Well, maybe it was just a directive for the Vulcan high command, but at the founding of the federation, it was made rule #1... hence it's title PRIME DIRECTIVE!