Enterprise 10/2/02 (1 Viewer)

[Nelson Au]

Minefield
I liked this one, IMHO. I enjoyed the character moments, the sense of jeopardy was pretty good, the solution was pretty good too. And the effects were pretty cool.
I can excuse the designs of the alien ship as it's 100 years before Kirk sees one. I'm glad ship to ship visual communication was not done for continuity with that certain TOS episode.
I expect to hear strong disagreement.
Nelson

 

[Rex Bachmann]

Nelson Au wrote:

For once, I liked it, too. However, I didn't find credible the linguistic translation (". . . Romulan Star Empire . . .") or, more particularly, the survival by Reed and Archer of a "tri-cobalt"---I assume that means "nuclear"---blast in space, with only sheets of hull plating, or whatever it was they had, to protect themselves. (A NUCLEAR(?) blast!?!)
I don't know. I may have been influenced from the beginning by the writing credit: "John Shiban" (of X-Files repute).

 

[Nigel McN]

I enjoyed it, good to see a bit more of malcom and a lot of play with a few of the more minor characters all doing their bit.
With all the SFX from this episode I think they might have used their budget up for the next couple (Or making up for last week)

 

[Jason Seaver]

I may have been influenced from the beginning by the writing credit: "John Shiban" (of X-Files repute).

Yep. A little new blood doesn't hurt.

I mostly enjoyed it. Although I don't see why the bad guys had to be Romulans - after all, anyone could have cloaking tech. And as clever as the finale seemed, I had to wonder what was transmitting that shockwave, since they weren't apparently getting pelted by debris.

But, Shiban did hit upon a lot of the stuff I liked during the start of last season. He, at least, didn't seem to be writing TNG with new characters. And I know what a nerd it makes me, but I like EVAs with self-sealing spacesuits, having to actually learn alien languages, not being able to just beam Malcolm directly to sickbay, etc.

 

[Daniel Kikin]

My favorite of Season 2 so far. It had a good mix. I like Malcolm's character so I'm glad we got to learn more about him. Also a great job of keeping the plot moving and throwing in a couple of good twists. The end sequence with the hull being detached and Archer and Reed using the shuttle hatchs as shields is one of the more memorable sequences of both this season and last for me, great stuff. Let's see if they can keep this up (at least until we get another John Shiban episode.)

 

[David Ely]

I too really enjoyed this episode. Didn't anyone find it interesting that T'Pol didn't seem to know anything about the Romulans?

 

[Chuck Parker]

I actually quite enjoyed this one, as I have most episodes of Enterprise; While it's kinda hokey at times (the gazelle speech the other week), I like the optimisim and general excitement about their mission. Space travel hasn't lost the "gee-whiz" factor yet - the famous split infinitive from the first two series' introductory narration seems to actually apply for the first time in Trek history.

One thing that bugged me, and please correct me if I've got the 'trek-physics' of cloaking devices wrong, but I wonder, while surely a cloaking device would defeat sensors and quite possibly starship imaging systems (since most trek ships aren't in the habit of putting windows on the main bridge, and those viewscreen images have to be generated by something more complex than simple CC video cameras, what with enhancements like sounds for explosions and particle weapons discharge in the vacuum of space and all) would a ship engaging it's 'cloak' still seem to disappear according to the mark one eyeball of someone magnetically attached to the outside of the ship?

feeding his geek tendencies,
chuck

 

[Everlasting Gobstopper]

would a ship engaging it's 'cloak' still seem to disappear according to the mark one eyeball of someone magnetically attached to the outside of the ship?

In Balance of Terror, Spock speaks about "bending light around a ship," so technically, that would make it invisible to anyone looking at it.

 

[Nelson Au]

Regarding T"pol not mentioning any awareness of Romulan's being related to Vulcans, Spock did say in Balance of Terror, that there is a belief in his timeframe that the Romulans were an "off-shot of his Vulcan blood". It was a theory that he felt was true, but not substantiated.

Nelson

 

[Jack Briggs]

Because of low expectations and because I was running late on last night's domestic routines, I opted to do my evening HTF chores instead of watching Enterprise. Why not? I asked myself. It'll probably be really bad, and I can always catch Sunday's repeat.

Of course, it would end up being the episode that wins positive notices from some of HTF's harshest critics of Enterprise. And so it goes.

 

[Craig Robertson]

let's hope you can be busy next week too, Jack.

 

[Jack Briggs]

Did the trailer look really bad, Craig?

 

[Jason Seaver]

Well, the trailer didn't look one way or another. They get to a space station, weird stuff happens. I, personally, was neither stoked nor fearful.

So, let's go to the writers - Sussman & Strong. They've got the stink of "Voyager" on them, and the only episode this team has written without Berman & Braga being directly involved is "Civilization". So, I'd be wary.

(BTW, looking up "Enterprise" writers on the IMDB is truly terrifying. Shiban really looks to be well above the rest, and that's even with "Harsh Realm" on his resume)

 

[Craig Robertson]

like Jason said, the trailer didn't look particularly good or bad. i just can't put much stock in the trailers, the "Carbon Creek" trailer was awful but i enjoyed the episode. (flame suit on) i for one have no problem seeing "more" of T'Pol/Jolene.
i'm just suggesting, tongue in cheek of course, that if it takes you missing the episode for it to be good, i might be willing to risk that...

 

[Ken Chan]

The trailer made me think of the episode where Kirk and Co. meet Alice on her way to Wonderland -- repair, people "dying".

"tri-cobalt"---I assume that means "nuclear"

With the mines that close together, it might not make sense for them to be nuclear.

//Ken

 

[Jack Briggs]

That episode's "Shore Leave," Ken. FYI.

 

[Rex Bachmann]

Jason Seaver wrote:

My thinking exactly. "Romulans" are invoked because the writers/producers---and I assume this story was sketched out by "B&B" before being assigned---don't seem to be able to get away from ST past, even when the story is set in Trek past.
They had a similar problem with Voyager. Romulans and Klingons kept being inserted even though the events were supposed to be taking place decades of light years and multiple human lifetimes away from the natural habitat of these species.
I assume the reference in the trailer to "repair station" is a carry-over from this episode, where Enterprise is so heavily damaged they'll have to repair it in major ways.

 

[Jack Briggs]

Good line!

 

[Jason Seaver]

With the mines that close together, it might not make sense for them to be nuclear.

Yeah, but in the airless vacuum of space, why not, because it's not like there's a medium to transmit the shock wave from one mine to the next... Oh. Oops. Never mind.

 

[Bill Catherall]

Yeah, but in the airless vacuum of space, why not, because it's not like there's a medium to transmit the shock wave from one mine to the next... Oh. Oops. Never mind.

Ordnance of all kinds typically create their own gases. Some more than others.