Enterprise 2x26: "The Expanse" - **Spoilers**

[Kira]

[color=#000000ost_uid0]Well, here we are... another season of Enterprise comes to a close. "The Expanse" was certainly an improvement over "Bounty" and "First Flight", but I didn't like it as much as I enjoyed last year's "Shockwave". The following is a list of random thoughts that came to me during and following the episode.
[*]Despite my bet in the "Bounty" thread that we wouldn't hear from the Klingons about Archer, their vendetta against him seems to be growing. On the one hand, I'm glad to eat my words since it means the writers know the meaning of the word "continuity." On the other, the Klingon plot felt out of place when there was already so much other stuff going on.
[*]Soval's skepticism about Archer's time travel theory would have been very well placed and, well, logical, if he had been a little more calm (or a lot more calm) in his delivery. A detached Spock-ish or Tuvok-ish reply probably would have been annoying, but all he needed to do was take the edge off his voice and it would have seemed very Vulcan of him. T'Pol pulls off the Science Directorate line with ease... maybe she should give Soval some lessons on restraining his emotions. (She just better hope he doesn't get his hands on the decon tape from last week. )
[*]Poor Trip... I kept hoping his sister would turn up, but in a way I think it's a good sign that she didn't -- it shows the writers aren't pulling any punches. Their reluctance to use the Reset Button in the past has always been a pleasant change from previous Trek. (If there's been an episode with a big shiny Reset Button, I can't remember it.) Connor Trineer also turned in a fantastic performance as Trip grieved (or didn't) for his sister.
[*]I actually found the deaths of the anonymous colonists in "Shockwave" more upsetting than the seven million people killed on Earth... even Trip's kid sister. Maybe it was the acting, or the writing, or maybe it was because in "Shockwave" the crew thought they were directly responsible for the deaths of the colonists. Either way, "Shockwave" had more emotional punch.
[*]NX-02, eh? I hope we get to see it out and about in the next season or two.
[*]Photon torpedoes? Already? Am I the only one with a TOS continuity alarm going off?
[*]Military personnel on Enterprise... this should be interesting. I forsee conflict with Reed, which I look forward too.
[*]Since when are Klingons afraid of anyghing, especially other species? Or, at the very least, when do they admit it?
[*]And, finally... it looks like Enterprise will be exploring the Delta Qua-- I mean, Deltic Expanse -- for at least the first few episodes of next season. I kept waiting for Archer to pause in the middle of the bridge, look around, and say "We're alone... in an uncharted part of the galaxy..."[/colorost_uid0]

[NAHTMMM]

[color=#000000ost_uid0]Yay! I finally saw an episode! I liked this one.

On a non-spoiler note, I think TAG or whoever it is who plays The Mayweather Game is going to take off a few points for this one...

On to the [bost_uid0]spoilers[/bost_uid0]:






[color=#CCCCCCost_uid0]I had no problem with Enterprise looping around like the Enterprise did in TWOK. Several reasons: 1. They should have been doing some actual evasive maneuvers anyway; 2. It’s a fairly simple, straightforward maneuver, though it admittedly requires some luck, confidence, and skill; 3. It’s definitely very preferable to some dreaded “technobabble” solution, which they shouldn’t be coming up with at this point in their technological development. To be honest, I had been expecting them to magically manage to program a torpedo in fifteen seconds to shoot past the Klingon ship, reverse course, and smack the BoP in the rear.

However, the ship struck me as being rather free-spending as far as the torps were concerned. If you get blown up before you make it to the Expanse, it won’t matter how many torpedoes you have onboard. Still, I think they could have been a bit more chary with the things, especially there at the end (did they really need to fire a third torpedo? Granted, it made for a nifty explosion, but still… )

I liked the pan of T’Pol’s face as Phlox was asking her whether she wanted to stay on the ship. A basic shot, but I thought they pulled it off well.

Mayweather is definitely NOT Sulu.

They could have done more with Mayweather with his “big scene”. Had him show more tension, then relief, etc.

Actually, they could have done more with the emotional reactions of the crew whenever the casualties were mentioned. Either go the route of horror, or blank stares.

Archer was working himself up there with the Suliban and Future Guy. I’ve seen complaints that Bakula isn’t a very good actor, and he seemed rather tepid at times. But I found his anger when he was making accusations believable. Also, his body language when he was trying to get T’Pol to talk about her imminent return to Vulcan (which I was sure almost from the start would never happen), there was something just so, *right* about it. Perfect, even.

I noticed none of the Vulcans seemed particularly concerned about defending their “logic”. Maybe I’m just used to those Spock—McCoy exchanges, but that struck me as being different.

I wondered about Tucker for a while. While we expect Starfleet officers to be able to suck it up and remain professional in tragic situations, he seemed to be taking things too easily. But then came the scene where he lashed out—and he made sense from then on. He was in an angry state of denial.

This "quantum dating can tell if something's from the future"...I'm not sure about that. It wouldn't work with carbon-dating, I'm sure. It's a take-it-or-leave-it deal. I took it quite willingly, but it's so central to the plot I predict some heavy debating at the TBBS. None so far yet, though.

A problem: Admiral and Soval: “We don’t believe you.” Archer: “Wow, Mysterious Man told me that would be your reaction! I bet he was telling the truth!” :lol: Come on. There are only 2 possible reactions—either the Admiral believes him, or he doesn’t. (Soval would be easy to guess. *Everyone* knows the Vulcans don’t believe in time travel.)

Another problem: We're going to boom them in 400 years and nobody wants to know why or how? Nobody, not Archer, not the admiral, nobody? The Temporal Time Directive isn't around yet, is it? Wouldn't the Starfleeters want to know what the circumstances surrounding the destruction will be, so they can avoid it if need be?

I was amused to see the Klingon bridge lit in red. Somebody on the “Enterprise” staff hasn’t read [iost_uid0]Pawns and Symbols[/iost_uid0]…

Even though I'd read a few allusions to Earth being attacked in the season finale, the announcement still twisted my gut a little (but similar reasons turned me off of [iost_uid0]Titan A.E.[/iost_uid0]).

One more thing: Porthos has apparently gone back to chili-fodder status. :O[/colorost_uid0]







Now, was that not the weirdest thing you have ever seen in your entire life? :O :lol: [/colorost_uid0]

[Kira]

[color=#000000ost_uid0][quoteost_uid0="NAHTMMM"]On to the [bost_uid0]spoilers[/bost_uid0]:[/quoteost_uid0]
When it says "Spoilers" in the topic description, I think it's fair to leave them un-hidden.
[*]Enterprise's loop-de-loop... Yeah, that was good [iost_uid0]and[/iost_uid0] it was smart. Also made a lot of sense. I too was expecting a torpedo trick, but I'm glad they went this route instead.
[*]Wasting the torpedoes... Maybe they have a magic torpedo- and shuttle-making machine like Voyager did. It's called "the writers don't pay attention to details."
[*]Bakula's acting... Not a huge fan. He can be good, at times, but this wasn't one of them. I thought he was really forced for most of the episode. He gets angry too easily.
[*] Quantum dating... The Kira Science Directorate has determined that quantum dating items from the future is impossible.

[quoteost_uid0]A problem: Admiral and Soval: ?We don?t believe you.? Archer: ?Wow, Mysterious Man told me that would be your reaction! I bet he was telling the truth!?[/quoteost_uid0]
Archer's point wasn't that Future Guy predicted their response, it's that [iost_uid0]because[/iost_uid0] he predicted their response he gave Archer "proof". (For reason behind quote marks, see previous paragraph.)
[*]Knowing why Starfleet destroyed the alien planet... Good point... and how to they even know that they actually [iost_uid0]did[/iost_uid0] destroy it? Maybe the [iost_uid0]other[/iost_uid0] evil Future Guy lied to the aliens, whatever their name was, about their planet being blown up. Speaking of which... since when is our Evil Future Guy trying to help Archer? Hasn't be been undermining his mission from the start?
[*]Red Klingon bridge... Um, aren't Klingon bridges always red?[/colorost_uid0]

[Celeste]

[color=#000000ost_uid0]What I was wondering, is why the evil future guy was warning earth, and not the good future guys. Wich makes me think that the good future guys are really the evil future guys and that makes the evil future guys the good future guys.

But seriously. I liked this ep and I thought the special effects were great. I'm looking forward to the Delphic expanse, and i'm also wondering how the heck we destroyed the xindi. At first I thought it might have been in another trek episode cause I haven't seen them all, but I guess not cause no one else knows. My guess is that Archer will ask the xindi how they were destroyed, in a later episode next season. Writers are funny that way.[/colorost_uid0]

[Derek]

[color=#000000ost_uid0]I don't have time to say much right now, but I just want to say that I tentatively really liked this episode. However, the payoff for it is going to be next season. They've made some really good moves in the episode, but if half of them are forgotten or too easily resolved next season, I'm going to be unhappy with this episode.[/colorost_uid0]

[NAHTMMM]

[color=#000000ost_uid0][quoteost_uid0="Kira"][quoteost_uid0="NAHTMMM"]On to the [bost_uid0]spoilers[/bost_uid0]:[/quoteost_uid0]
When it says "Spoilers" in the topic description, I think it's fair to leave them un-hidden.[/quoteost_uid0]

Well, all right. But it seemed the right thing to do. And the effect was weird.

[quoteost_uid0][*] Quantum dating... The Kira Science Directorate has determined that quantum dating items from the future is impossible.[/quoteost_uid0]
Which reminds me...I chuckled when T'Pol issued her "The VSD has determined that time travel..." statement. Mom kinda looked at me funny.

[quoteost_uid0][quoteost_uid0]A problem: Admiral and Soval: "We don't believe you." Archer: "Wow, Mysterious Man told me that would be your reaction! I bet he was telling the truth!"[/quoteost_uid0]
Archer's point wasn't that Future Guy predicted their response, it's that [iost_uid0]because[/iost_uid0] he predicted their response he gave Archer "proof". (For reason behind quote marks, see previous paragraph.)[/quoteost_uid0]
What I was saying was that, because Future Guy guessed correctly whether the proverbial coin would land heads up or tails up, Archer decided he must have been honest about the Xindi. All I was saying was that that is a very tenuous connection at best. I felt it was bad writing.

But I take it that I misunderstood what was being said? Archer was saying that FG gave him some other proof because FG knew the admiral would be dubious?

[quoteost_uid0][*]Red Klingon bridge... Um, aren't Klingon bridges always red?[/quoteost_uid0]
I don't know, I don't see many episodes of any series. It was kind of like a droll in-joke--you'd have to read the novel to know what I was amused about.


And Celeste...can't there be more than one set of evil future guys? Or maybe they're all essentially "evil", but since they're all opposed to each other, those factions who want to destroy Earth will find themselves opposed by the rest almost by default?[/colorost_uid0]

[Celeste]

[quoteost_uid0="NAHTMMM"][color=#000000ost_uid0]And Celeste...can't there be more than one set of evil future guys? [/colorost_uid0][/quoteost_uid0]
[color=#000000ost_uid0]Of course. But I just put it that way to make people have to read it 3 times to figure out what the heck I said. [/colorost_uid0]

[NeoMatrix]

[quoteost_uid0="Celeste"][color=#000000ost_uid0][quoteost_uid0="NAHTMMM"]And Celeste...can't there be more than one set of evil future guys? [/quoteost_uid0]
Of course. But I just put it that way to make people have to read it 3 times to figure out what the heck I said. [/colorost_uid0][/quoteost_uid0]
[color=#000000ost_uid0]How "evil" of you to do that

[quoteost_uid0]Red Klingon bridge... Um, aren't Klingon bridges always red?[/quoteost_uid0]

To my knowledge, They have always been red. I can perhaps think of a time when it wasnt. Perhaps the the Star Trek movies would be an example[/colorost_uid0]

[Derek]

[color=#000000ost_uid0]^ Klingon bridges have been red since TMP. I don't recall seeing a Klingon bridge on any episode of TOS. However, in "The Enterprise Incident" the ship's interiors are not red, but we never see the bridge and it's a Romulan version of the Klingon ship.[/colorost_uid0]

[mudshark]

[color=#000000ost_uid0]For those interested, the rest of Tim Lynch's ENT reviews for S2 are up here. Unfortunately, these will be the last.[/colorost_uid0]

[Zeke]

[color=#000000ost_uid0]DAMMIT![/colorost_uid0]

[Things Are Good]

[color=#000000ost_uid0]"Are you willing to risk a second attack?"
"Sure! It's not my planet, monkey-boy."
-- Archer, and honorary Lectroid John Soval

I am sad that these reviews will be ending.[/colorost_uid0]