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Star Trek: Enterprise 2/04/'04: "Strategem" (1 Viewer)

Rex Bachmann

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episode title: "Strategem"
episode number: #66
original airdate: February 4, 2004
writer: Michael Sussman
director: Mike Vejar
synopsis: "Archer finds himself face-to-face with Degra, the designer of the Xindi superweapon, and tries to trick him into revealing its location."
 

Greg_S_H

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I think this is in the wrong forum.

Anyway, I look forward to this episode. I'm enjoying the season, and the last episode was very good. I didn't enjoy the wait caused by the rerun last week, and I hope sweeps month will ensure at least four weeks of new shows.

One caveat with this episode from the preview is the "glimpse of the future if they fail" bit. We already saw that in Twilight. If they make reference to that episode and tie it all together, it could be a good thing.
 

Rex Bachmann

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Greg_S_H wrote:




I think you're right. I did this at quarter of five in the morning and was obviously confused about which forum I was starting it in.

Will a moderator please move this to the TV programming forum?

Thank you.
 

Moe Maishlish

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After Proving Ground, I'm really looking forward to tonight's episode....

... unfortunately I'll be missing it (dinner date...).

I'll have to catch the repeat broadcast later on, assuming I'm home on time.

Although I seem to be in the obvious minority, I've enjoyed Enterprise on a consistent basis since Season 1. I'm aware that this isn't going to make me "Mr. Popular" here (I don't care), but I feel that the show has steadily evolved into a series that might actually turn some heads... assuming people are still willing to give it a chance.

Moe.
 

TheLongshot

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Hmm... No comments yet..

Personally, not bad, but very predictable. I could see most of the twists a mile away. I think if this was a NextGen episode, Archer would have spent more time with Degra, developing more of a trust before it failing.

Jason
 

Nelson Au

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I thought it was kinda funny, I was amused by the whole situation.

The whole idea that the humans are showing Degra how bad we can be. When push comes to shove, we are going to use deception and trickery to get what we want. Granted the stakes are pretty high, but the Mission Impossible way it was done makes the humans look pretty bad. And I liked that aspect of this episode. In the end, Degra's mind was reset so he may never know what happened to him

Finally they show a preview to next week and they decide to show one where there's skin. Must be February!
 

Jason Seaver

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I couldn't help but laugh that even when they have to actually build a soundstage and stuff to put someone in another environment, they still have holodeck-like breakdowns. Including Degra having a knife. Why the heck was there a dagger in that mock-up?

I was also kind of amused how, even in a more serial setting, "reset-button" storytelling reared its ugly head. Think of it: If you were the Axis and captured Robert Oppenheimer during WWII, would you just brain-wipe him and give him back? What's wrong with keeping a few prisoners and atomizing their ship; wouldn't that slow down the Xindi WMD program? That memory-wipe drug is awful convenient, by the way.
 

Tony Whalen

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Well, Archer used the knife earlier in the episode to remove the bloodworm from Degra's arm. (GROSS!) (So that is what a Regulan Bloodworm looks like! I wonder if we'll see a Denibian slime devil? :D )

One would have to assume there would be basic tools on a space vessel, whether it was a simulator or not. I would guess that would include a number of stabby-type things.



Depends. Would it be detrimental for the enemy to know that we had their weapons designer? If so, give him back.

Considering that it is a 3-week trip to the coordinates they finally got, that is plenty of time for the Xindi "Council" to notice their chief-weapons designer is missing, and to pull out the stops looking for him. Especially when they KNOW there is an Earth ship in the Expanse. The smart move is to put him right back where they found him.

So I have no problem with them resetting Degra's memory and putting he and his crew back...

On the whole, I enjoyed this episode. :)
 

Doug Smith

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What an improvement over last season. this show is quickly becoming extremely good. As for what's plausible and what's not - well, at least its science fiction. If you you really want to be driven batty by plauibility, try watching a "great" shows like 24, or NYPD Blue, or ER, or...
 

Jason Seaver

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Being science fiction is not a license to act inconsistent or contrary to what's known. And it's certainly not forgiving of characters acting needlessly stupid. Plausibility is even more important in this genre than others, because without it, you can't build suspense.
 

Steve Crowley

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I think maybe the B&B are finally getting the message that they need to do something to make this show interesting. The last 2 episodes were actually fun to watch without wondering why. Just pure unadultered sci-fi. Well maybe just
a little help would make it better. Hopefully it will continue down this path and get to a finale that is worth something.
 

Anthony Hom

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It was okay, but I saw the deception almost immediately. And that teaser from last week was a lie, "glimpse into the future"? it's one thing to exaggerate or make clever twists on the upcoming story, but there was no true aspect of the future in that story. I suppose you can say, it was a deception, like the episode itself. But when a show has to "trick" you into watching it, I just don't know.

I get the idea that the next one will be the same. We see T'Pol in a possible adult situation with Tucker, but we know that just ain't gonna happen right now. Either its some alternate time-line, or drug or alien influence.
 

Nelson Au

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No one has brought this up yet, yes, the first Mission Impossible deception was pretty obvious.

The second one where they look like they've figured out a way to make the Enterprise do what the Xindi ships do to cross a 3 week distance within minutes was what got me. I was fooled, but I still had a little thing in the back of my mind thinking, wait, only on Voyager did they have the technology to copy how the Borg travelled great distances.
 

Anthony Hom

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Saw the second deception the moment Reed went to the brig and brought the 3 out, looked too planned.
 

Doug Smith

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I didn't say "inconsistant" or "contrary" I said plausible. you know like "appearing reasonable". Having an "alien" being look and dress like T'pol is not plausible. It does, however, make for interesting science fiction viewing.
 

Will_B

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I thought perhaps with the imminant firing of Berman they were perhaps accelerating the end of the Xindi storyline. So I considered it may be occuring for a few minutes.
 

PhilipG

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Great episode. :emoji_thumbsup: :emoji_thumbsup:

I'd like to suggest that some here should really avoid all spoilers (previews and teaser summaries like in post #1) to maximize your enjoyment of the show. Works very nicely for me. :)


I'm sure there are other Xindi weapon experts who have access to his notes. It's not like he's some super-genius who they'd be completely stuck without. Much better for Enterprise to have the element of surprise when attacking the almost-completed Death Starweapon. If they'd atomized his ship, the searching Xindi would have put two and two together - they're paranoid enough as at is.
 

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