STAR TREK: ENTERPRISE 5/26/'04 "Zero Hour" (1 Viewer)

[Nelson Au]

Glenn-

You're right, the Golden Gate Bridge is constantly being painted from one end to the other, but it's never totally gray. I live near it myself. I think for dramatic reasons and a subtle visual indication that there is something amiss, they rendered it in gray.

The A.S. I believe stands for Axis States. Since Germany and Italy and Japan were called the Axis Countries during the second World War. While the United States, Britain, and the rest were the Allies.

So the timeline they are in means that Edith Keeler was never killed, that Germany completed it's cold water experiements and completed the atomic bomb first as Spock postulates in City on the Edge of Forever.

 

[Glenn Overholt]

I'm not sure if I can buy that. Sure, there is something WRONG with the timeline, but those planes were up way too fast for me. Who were they defending themselves against if the U.S. were under Nazi control? Mexico, Canada?

If San Francisco were under Nazi control, then the emblems that were on the planes (the red, white & blue circle with the spripes coming out of both sides) wouldn't be there. They'd be the swastica. We also don't know where Archer landed. It could have been in Germany, or in Atlanta, for all that matter.

I will agree that that the explosion caused the time to change, though, and it would be fun to have the Enterprise make Germany a wasteland in short order.

Ok, so much for not screwing around with our past, but that Alien Nazi beat us to it, so we may as well correct it, right?

Glenn

 

[BobV]

Just for everybody's enquiring minds...

 

[PeterTHX]

Looking at photos of P51's, I'm lead to believe that the two letters designate the squadron/base they are from. As far as I can see, they never said "US" anyways, just the star.

The F-15s I worked on in the USAF held the "EG" logo, for Eglin Air Force Base, with a small US Flag on the tail and the same star logo on the wings being the only indicators that the plane was American.

I think it's 194-something. It's the past.

PS: Do a Google image search on "p51 mustang" and you'll see what I mean.

 

[Nelson Au]

Okay, it sounds like my theory is wrong! I can see that the AS designation would indicate it's Airbase. It follows that the P-51's are indeed American from all the markings on them.

 

[Will_B]

Plus it makes sense that the Enterprise crew finds allies in the, um, allies, in order to have the conflict of having to break Archer out of Nazi prison. Again.

 

[Kevin Hewell]

Someone at TWoP brought up the fact the Weapon was made from Kemocite. Kemocite was also the substance that caused Quark, Rom and Nog to go back in time in the DS9 ep "Little Green Men."

 

[Randy Tennison]

From an on-line Star Trek website dictionary:

Kemacite

Origin unknown. Highly unstable and dangerous material. When exposed to nuclear radiation, kemacite can cause unusual temporal phenomena. Smuggling kemacite was a serious offense.

DS9: "Little Green Men" - In 2372, Quark attempted to smuggle kemacite aboard his shuttle "Quark's Treasure".
Submitted by Spike

Kemocite

Artificially generated by aliens. Substance used by the Xindi. Could this be the same as kemacite?

ENT: "The Shipment" - Substance that has many applications, depending on the level of refinement. It was one of the key components in the Xindi weapon and was produced by a Xindi-Sloth plant led by Gralik.

 

[todd s]

Does this guy know the combination to Kirk's safe??

Seriously, I have seen every Trek episode. But, it amazes me how much some of these people remember.

 

[Andrew Beacom]

It was formulaic until the last 2 minutes which were awful. More plot holes than swiss cheese.

Who else wants to bet that the 2 minute scene with Daniels is as close as we get to seeing the Federation being formed.

 

[Greg_S_H]

Good catch.

 

[Anthony Hom]

I know what happens now! Quark will return to that time again, change the timeline so Ferengi have a reason to exist near earth at that time period. Quark will then reveal to Archer the future and join the crew of the enterprise (or maybe Nog will) and bring again a character from a previous series into a newer series. What will these guys think of next?

 

[Rex Bachmann]

Anthony Hom wrote (post #132):



Retirement???

 

[Howard Glenn]

Okay, having just watched the episode tonight, I must say a thoroughly enjoyed it, especially the ending. I'm sure everyone was expecting Shran to show up with Archer at the end, and it just didn't happen...fortunately.

For some time now, Enterprise has centered around the temporal war that has been taking place, and so it makes perfect sense to have the Season end with temporal anomaly.

The following seems clear:

-Enterprise and Archer have been sent back to an alternate reality, similar to 1944.
-The Enterprise is in San Francisco, while Archer is in Germany.
-In this reality, an alien, similar to one seen in Nemesis, is also present.

Questions:
-Do the Germans know that the alien looks different, or does he look like a human when they view him?
-Are the Guardians responsible for this alternate reality? --What were they doing when they were screwing around on Enterprise?
-Did Daniels know that this was going to happen? He made it clear to Archer that it was imperative he not go on the mission.
-What part did kemosite play in the temporal change? It has already been established that this material can effect time travel.
-What effect did the destruction of the Guardian's weapon and sphere have on the immediate area of space?
-What effect did did the presence of the Andoran ship have?
-What part did the Xindi races play in this change?
-Why did the story emphasize T'Pol's slower healing rate?
-How does the ending fit into the temporal war?

There are quite a few unanswered questions here!

Howie

 

[Everlasting Gobstopper]

Probably not, I'd say. He seems to be in a tent, rather than a proper hospital, probably a field hospital (or at least that's how I remember it from my one viewing of the ep). It's probably one of the countries that Germany invaded, since if it were Germany, he would be in a hospital.
Also, are the Aquatics that brought the ENT still around? I don't remember any mention of them leaving.

 

[Glenn Overholt]

I'll see your questions and raise you another one.

Sine the Nazi's have an alien, why hasn't the alien told them enough to get 'the bomb' built and the war ended?

I'd have to assume that the alien hasn't just arrived, and that the Germans are ok with what he looks like. They were, so I guess he hasn't just shown up, or, as Howard said, is hiding his true origin. He can't be new because he did hold a higher rank, unless he morphed into the guy's body, and they can't see him.

I assumed that the Aquatics just went back home. I mean, why would they stick around? To play in our oceans for awhile? (Hey, can we take a vacation on Earth, they have a lot more water there).

Sort of a good hospital/filed unit reference, but I think that the hospitals in the countries that they had taken over in Europe were manned just like the ones in Germany, no?

Where Archer is may well be the BIG question. Let's hope he isn't in Atlanta.

Glenn

 

[Howard Glenn]

Okay, so one thing we do know is that a war is being waged, and that Archer is in the hands of the Nazis, and close to a battle that is taking place.

Mark, your right. We don't know where Archer is, other than in a tent...could be European continent, could be North America.

Whoever the alien is, we are given the impression that he has been around long enough to have become a Nazi officer, as he is wearing an officer's uniform. It remains to be seen if he appears to them the way we saw him. Obviously the writers wanted to make sure we all saw him appear as a non-human.

Another question I have about the Xindi. Their ships, along with the Andorians, were all present in the same area of changed space as Enterprise. Will we see them again? Is their time stream also changed?

Does this new alien have anything to do with the Guardians, or is his presence simply a part of the alternate timeline.

Because the Guardians, and Daniels both made so many references to time being changed in our own universe, I don't think we are dealing with a parallel world.

The writers have a great chance here to take advantage of established storylines from the Trek history; they've already hinted at this a number of times, including this most recent episode with Daniels showing Archer the formation of the Federation. I hope what comes next remains as interesting.

Howie

 

[Everlasting Gobstopper]

It's not necessarily a place they've taken, just one they're in the process of invading.
Has it also bothered anyone that the Nazis would accept an alien into their ranks? I mean, they were pretty big on genetic purity and such... unless somehow the alien has them convinced he's a supraman...

 

[Glenn Overholt]

That could be the bad news. What if it is only 1942 and he has just given them the plans for an A-bomb?

That would get him some instant respect, and I don't care what he looks like. Maybe Archer will find out only to be frustrated when he can't contact his ship and stop them.

Does Archer know German (language)?
Where is Hoshi when you need her?

Glenn

 

[Jason Seaver]

Obviously, I must now include myself in this grouping; I had the Replay pick up the Saturday rerun and allowed it to sit for a while as I made other uses of my leisure time. Hey, the folks on the HTF all seemed to enjoy it, right?

Good lord, that was awful.

It was awful from minute one. These idiots can't even put an episode recap together. I've long joked about David Greenwalt's tendencies toward excess where clip packages are concerned, but at least his tell you what's going on. This was just a random collection of images clearly only meant to refamiliarize those who had seen the last episode; someone who had actually missed an episode or three was on their own. Compare this to the smartly-edited introductions on Alias or 24, or how Crossing Jordan used narration last night to quickly bring people up to speed. This is a minor point, but it's indicative of the complacency in the Star Trek officies; there's no concern about sweating the details.

Much of the rest of the episode is spent running around very fast but without tension. I lost track of the different kinds of mumbo-jumbo that were being spewed, but I wasn't paying that close attention. I mean, what's one made-up type of energy compared to another? It's meaningless. If this show isn't going to be interesting in terms of characterization (though I do have to give them some credit for actually giving Linda Park something to do), then there's got to be something to the ideas, but those were unoriginal and laughable.

Well, maybe they were original on a technicality. After all, I must admit that I would be surprised if Berman and Braga had actually read The Gods Themselves, which worked because Asimov was able to use the middle section of that book to show that the Hard Ones and Soft Ones were flat-out alien. The Sphere Builders? More guys with weird foreheads. Like the Xindi, they're alien in costume only, not even having Vulcan or Klingon levels of distinction from humanity. So, basically, it's Earth being threatened by a generic menace. That's all they've been building up to for an entire year?

Then, of course, there's Crewman Daniels. There's no good reason for him to be there, but the actor evidently has James Marsters-level blackmail material on Berman. He shows up to put the stuff much of the long-term fans are interested in, the formation of the Federation, seven years in the future (or past the anticipated run-time of the series). Screw you very much, Rick & Brannon. I suppose it foreshadows Shran's participation and T'Pol's comments about Vulcan being threated by the Sphere Builders, too, but, hell, shouldn't these people have recognized that a whole damn year ago? I mean, the characters being idiots only makes so much acceptable.

More running around and yelling. Archer looks pained. Oh, he's running away from an explosion in slow motion. We've got some of the usual Trek idiocies, such as using a linguist to crack encryption (it strikes me that you'd want a mathematician), the cumulative radiation that won't kill anybody until after EXACTLY twenty-four minutes of exposure (and then appears to leave no ill-effects; sort of like that bioweapon Thandie Newton injected herself with in the Braga-penned Mission Impossible 2), the huge distributed system that is apparently susceptible to a single point of failure (imagine if the Internet could be brought down as easily as a Borg cube or the Sphere network in the Expanse - and we're stupid planetbound humans!). Much sound and fury signifying nothing.

And then the ending, or the lack thereof. Because, in case you haven't noticed, Berman & Braga can't write one. Remember the series finale of Voyager, which was a thoroughly unsatisfying capper? Or all the disappointing part-twos over the past ten years? Or all the resets/self-erasing episodes that have happened on their watch? Heck, I imagine that this season has looked better to some because these incompetents have been able to put off writing an ending until now, and instead they just tacked on a teaser for next year.

This annoys me immensely. A good ending is a great thing; it allows the audience to pause, reflect, and think how everything led up to this, and how the story, as a unit, worked. But not here. Here, even if the destruction of the weapon and spheres hadn't been anticlimactic, any sense of satisfaction is snatched away from the audience with a stupid, lame thing that certainly isn't interesting or creative enough to hold my interest for three or four months.

Zero Hour was awful; it was worse than I expected. The very idea that the people responsible for this expecially poor final hour of a terrible last year of Star Trek (and hugely disappointing last decade) are going to get paid to produce more starting in fall is just depressing.