STAR TREK: ENTERPRISE 09/10/'03: "The Xindi" (1 Viewer)

[Joel Mack]

Joel, that'd be about a couple hundred years. At best, there would be changes in social conventions (and given the rigidity of Vulcan society, not many changes would be likely; my goodness, is this geek territory or what?).

Whoops, you're right, only a couple hundred years. Wouldn't the whole "contact" thing *be* a social convention? I guess I don't have any problems imagining those kinds of changes over a 200-year span. After all, we as humans have changed quite a bit from 1803, haven't we?

 

[Jason Seaver]

I guess I don't have any problems imagining those kinds of changes over a 200-year span. After all, we as humans have changed quite a bit from 1803, haven't we?

Well, 200 years is six to eight generations from a human perspective. In Vulcan society, with their 250-year lifespans and change-inhibiting Surakian tendencies, evolution is likely to be distinctly slower.

 

[doug zdanivsky]

Hmm.. it was good, it was bad..

I saw it on tuesday.. Don't know which channel it was on.. Wasn't A channel, I know that..

Yes, they do the 104th daring prison break.. Yes boobs are mashed.. Yes, they have a "Suliban" tangent instead of what the premise of the show was to be about (birth of Frederation, etc..)..


What were the good parts again... I'll get back to you...

 

[Jack Briggs]

Sounds really bold, exciting, and new.

 

[Martin Rendall]

Man, am I ever looking forward to the really bold, exciting, and new. Can't wait!

Martin.

 

[Michael St. Clair]

But "none of the alterations has come close to fixing the show's main problem, which is subpar writing," says Robert Bianco. "The sad truth for 'Trek,'" he says, "is that the franchise has been left behind by smarter, hipper and better-developed sci-fi series, from 'Buffy' to 'Farscape.' Despite its improvements, 'Enterprise' still feels like a show, and an idea, that has run its course."

http://www.usatoday.com/life/televis...terprise_x.htm

 

[PhilipG]

Okay, I've just seen 3.01. It gets two thumbs up from me...

...except for the new theme tune, which has undergone exactly the sort of change Bakula made to Quantum Leap season 5.

The episode was easily better than anything season 2 had to offer, IMHO. In perspective, it was as about as good as a bad ep of Farscape. While the theme became upbeat and kitsch, the rest was several levels darker in tone - and it worked. Long may it continue. All the characters (save Porthos, who was sadly AWOL) had some good moments. And T'Pol had three different sexy outfits (f'nar!).

The Xindi look to be the best creation of latter-day Trek in quite some time. A nice, intelligent adversary. Beavis and Butthead must have been on a donut break when they were invented. Bravo. If the DS9 production team were in charge I'd be very optimistic right now...

Yes, there was the now-obligatory "sexy-funny" scene, which might have worked better with T'Pol and Malcolm. I wish they'd decide just who Vulcan Barbie's going to be paired off with. At the moment, she's got a new hair stylist, and probably knows a good Cardassian tailor too (lucky the Expanse isn't too far away from civilization that she can still indulge her very Vulcan needs for shopping now and again ).

So Enterprise has won a reprieve from me. For once I wasn't looking at the clock all the way through; in fact I wanted to see more. Crazy.

BTW, Doug, the good parts were: Trip's dream, and ensuing attitude; Malcolm's annoyance at the new Major; the insectoid Xindi (in particular) ; the crew's non-gullibility at realizing Archer was in trouble; and the interesting twist concerning the asteroid field.

(edited to remove spoiler tags)

 

[Mikel_Cooperman]

From what I have read in magazines about this season is that it has more action oriented stories.
Is that what the powers that be think everyone wants?
That and T'pol holding her naked breasts?
The reviewer is right. This franchise has been left behind by hipper shows.

Sadly this is still around and Farscape is gone.
What they need to do is watch the above and B5 for some examples of good storylines and great characters.

 

[TheLongshot]

Just caught an ep. of Voyager and for all the show's faults, Tim Russ played a GREAT Vulcan. Tuvok was sooo much more believable than Blalock's T'Pol.

Actually, I think Blalock is doing a good job, despite the material and the requirement to be in various states of undress.

As for tonight's episode, it wasn't bad. It wasn't great either. Some things change, some things stay the same, and the premise of the show goes up in smoke.

Jason

 

[Will_B]

The mention of Buffy interests me. I realized today why I've enjoyed watching Buffy so much and why I haven't enjoyed Enterprise.

Faith.

As I watch the seasons of Buffy I want to see how the characters evolve. Sure, their mission stays pretty much the same, and their dialogue is always consistently clever, but I watch Buffy to see how everyone changes and grows through the years.

Watching Enterprise, I have NO FAITH that ANYONE will evolve in the slightest bit. Perhaps for an episode or two a character might exhibit some sort of personality trait, but it will be quickly set aside and left to vanish. The character arrived as stock characters, they'll serve as stock characters, and they'll retire that way. Because there is no effort to show naturally growing relationships between anyone on Trek. Whoever is in charge, the people who are supposed to guide the writers so that all the stories develop the character's relationships is completely out to lunch.

Didn't start this way. In season one, we had Archer and Trip's relationship develop, a great natural friendship, and Trip's animosity towards T'Pol, but these were done, and then... nothing more. Cardboard cutouts walking around.

Enterprise can't be as good as Buffy because Enterprise is completely sterile.

This season, they're giving us a story arc, but will they allow any humanity whatsoever to enter into any of the people's lives? I doubt it. Whoever is in charge of Trek now doesn't care about people. They don't know how to write people, how to grow people (characters I mean), how to have them interact... their sense of how people relate to each other is completely retarded (I mean that in its literal sense).

 

[Rex Bachmann]

Re: "The Xindi"

They'll have to do a whooooole lot better than this, if they want to save the show (and the "franchise").

Is the mining director supposed to be suffering from "black lung", or is he supposed to be a gas-sniffing addict?

I didn't get why things are flying around in the Enterprise cargo bay, but (seemingly) nowhere else on board ship. Does the "space distortion" affect only loose cargo bay contents?

And the aliens are really nothing special, in my opinion. More Farscape-like make-up, CGI insectoid & aquatic aliens (instead of Henson puppets), etc. What's the big deal? They still act like your standard space villain, as far as I could see and hear. (Was waiting for the bug-guy to twiddle one of his antennas.)


Geez, that's all I took note of. (A bad sign.)

Oh, yes . . . . T'Pol's "fashion" suits come in blue and pinkish red, a color improvement at least.

 

[Bryan_K]

Is the mining director supposed to be suffering from "black lung", or is he supposed to be a gas-sniffing addict?

i assumed it was a breathing apparatus do to the toxic gas in that atmosphere.

 

[doug zdanivsky]

Thanks Phillip! I knew there WERE some, but I thought they were out-weighed by some of the nagging problems (mostly the "bold, new direction" they're taking.. prison breaks, partial Vulcan nudity, uneccessary tangents.. yeah, really sets itself apart from the other seasons, doesn't it?).

 

[Patrick Sun]

Well, T'Pol now has the look of a futuristic soccer mom in those new colorful suit, and the slightly bigger hairdo.

I was rolling my eyes when they shifted from the narrow escape to T'Pol cupping her boobs while getting some "help" from Tripp in her quarters. Seriously, do B&B really think there's a significant demographic that still tunes into this show just to see some form of disrobing going on?

 

[doug zdanivsky]

Yup, pretty sad..

 

[David Williams]

This not only managed to be bor-ing but also cheap and sleazy. How is this new and exciting? They're still doing the same thing they've been doing the last time I managed to look in on Enterprise. And the Xindi Insect and Aquatic aliens looked about as realistic as Species 8472 did on Voyager... which is to say they looked like a walking, talking special effect.

I'm not even going to mention what they did to the opening titles... ICK!

And just when I thought I had seen everything that was bad about Star Trek today, they showed the teaser for next week's ep. Puleez! Enterprise is a total write-off.

 

[Nelson Au]

I thought it was fairly well paced. I liked T'Pol's new Vulcan eye brows. Archer's anger might get one dimensional, but it's good to see him taking charge. The mystery at the end can be intriquing, are these Xindi from the past? The new theme is too upbeat for the dark tone of the series now. The last sequence with T'Pol and Trip was over the top exploitation.

It could be good, they've set up some conflicts now with the MACO Marines and Malcolm, I liked the female MACO beating up big bad aliens. Obviously they are trying something with Trip and T'Pol. The visual effects were bumped a notch up. The new effect going into warp had some color added. And they've added some dynamic flight angles for Enterprise fly-bys.

The Xindi council were mildly reminescent to the Founders. Though not as chilling nor threatening yet. Not sure about the value of multible Xindi species other then an excuse to make them have different looks. (The aquatic Xindi reminded me of the fish in Titan's lair on Stingray)

It looks promising if they continue to improve, eventhough a lot of the makeover was purely surface treatments. As someone earlier said, I was looking at the clock, not for it to end, but to see how much time is left as I too thought it was kinda exciting and I wanted to see more.

Nelson

 

[Francois Caron]

My observations.

- The new theme song. Sounds like a modern country western tune now. Does that mean the crew will make the Xindi squeal like a pig?

- T'pol's covered breasts. I found the whole scene so ridiculous I actually stopped watching it for a while and missed that part. Something tells me I didn't miss much.

- The gullible Enterprise crew. Who in their right mind would walk into an unknown alien's realm with precious material and not prepare some kind of contigency plan in case the whole set-up ends up being a trap? At the very least they could have booby-trapped the case itself to blow up after a certain amount of time.

- The commandos are the only Federation people with enough cohones to pick a fight with someone and win. And they're not even part of the crew!

- The cheesy alien effects. As usual they stick out like a sore thumb. Computer graphics are perfect for mechanical effects, but still aren't advanced enough to replace any and all animals, either foreign or domestic.

 

[Mikel_Cooperman]

This review from US Today just about says it all:


USA Today's Robert Bianco chimes in with his review of STAR TREK ENTERPRISE's season premiere "The Xindi" today, saying the revamped series still suffers fundamental flaws. Bianco found one scene involving Jolene Blalock's 'T'Pol' particularly disappointing.

"Unfortunately, like many of the changes, [the] tarting-up of T'Pol smacks of desperation," Bianco writes. "At one point, she even goes tastefully topless, which makes one wonder what the producers will do next if the ratings don't rise."

He goes on to say that the exciting premise with the Xindi adds some needed oomph to the show.

"The new premise does promise to provide more action and excitement, and giving the crew a purpose certainly can't hurt... Still, none of the alterations has come close to fixing the show's main problem, which is subpar writing."

Bianco says Connor Trinneer's 'Trip Tucker' falls victim to "erratic" writing and in the end has a distasteful recommendation for the show, and the franchise: "Sometimes the boldest tack is to go away."

 

[doug zdanivsky]

Yes, that about covers it.. I hope they're listening!

I missed the theme song.. Sounds like I dodged a bullet.. Did they change the visuals as well? I thought they were pretty good.. Even the song was in tune with the theme of the show.