Cold Front

Cool Front!
Terry -- 29 Nov 2001, 02:26 GMT

To my surprise, I liked this one. I haven't been too high on the "temporal cold war" idea and still have my doubts. But I enjoyed how Archer still has no idea what's going on. And neither do we.

So why did Sulik save the Enterprise from being destroyed? Or was it all an elaborate ruse to con Daniels into exposing himself so Sulik could steal his gear and database?

Who's the bad guys and who's the good guys? Are there any good guys? Is everyone lying?

For the first time, I thought Bakula's Archer was a very good character. I can see this captain doing well.

Who directed this episode? I thought it looked and played out extremely well in terms of acting and atmosphere.

snort! Robbie McNeill directed.
D'Alaire -- 29 Nov 2001, 03:16 GMT

I liked this one too. I had my nits, and I'm jealous of the arc (grr), but I liked it, too.

Unfortunately, I'm late getting to sleep, so I'll comment maybe tomorrow.

Partly cloudy.
Virginnie -- 29 Nov 2001, 03:35 GMT

As much as I enjoyed Unexpected, I have to admit that, overall, I think Cold Front is the best ENT outing, so far. Good storytelling, good reactions from Archer, good use of the Triumvirate (although I really expected T'Pol to put her foot down more firmly about trusting Daniels), excellent use of small, but telling, moments for the secondary tier of characters, nice variety of interactions with the aliens, and, best of all, a completely unintelligible resolution. Who...? What...? When...? I *loved* that!

Other things I liked:

--Reed. He makes competence and understatement look so-o-o-o sexy.

--The mention of Earth religions. Have TPTB been surfing the net or what? Nice to know Catholicism is alive and well, although my money's on the Episcopalians for the real staying power.

--Way cool final scene.

The only two things that struck really wrong notes:

1) T'Pol's use of the term "glad" ("I'd be glad to help."). Isn't glad an emotion? The writers are being careless with our resident Vulcan.

2) Trip and T'Pol's failure to secure Engineering after the Suliban (I can't get over the choice of that particular name for the "bad" guys) blasted Daniels.

Otherwise, very nicely done.

Best.......Episode.......EVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Eric -- 29 Nov 2001, 04:21 GMT

This was quite simply the best Star Trek episode since Deep Space Nine left us!

I have not been this excited about a Star Trek episode since i saw What you Leave behind. I have big Trek sized goosebumps. EVERYBODY came to play today even Mayweather was great. This was quite simply a grand slam episode.

It seems ironic that on the day i found out Andromeda is shoving it's entire premise and all it's continuity out the airlock that a show headed by Brannon Braga airs such a massive continuity important episode.

This episode called in almost every episode to date for a mention, it also subtly referenced the Captain Braxton Voyager episodes. Cold Front was quite simply a joy for this long time Trek fan.

Even Porthos had a big part to play this week! Although did anybody get a Terminator feel from Porthos barking at Silik?

Where to start? The Enterprise is looking better and better. The wizards at FI are doing a terrific job fleshing out the CGI model. I LOVE all the detail shots we get!

So which is the good guy and which is the bad? Or arethe both out for their own twisted ends? I LOVE this! But i just don't want to wait another 5 episodes to find out! I want them to do this story more often!

I LOVE it when Reed is in charge by the way, and he is perfect with Hoshi. And talking about bad old sci-fi movies was awesome. Dr. Phlox also had a great part this week. His chanting and the look he had was great.

Well, i have gushed enough i guess. But i can't say this enough, this was one of the classics. Enterprise NAILED it this week.

10,000/10

Eric

If I have a nit, it's about the two guest actors.
Terry -- 29 Nov 2001, 13:14 GMT

I thought the actors playing Sulik and Daniels played their roles too straight. Sulik as a sneering villain and Daniels as a helpful time-cop.

It would have been nice to see more ambiguity in Daniels to make us wonder if he was the good guy. We got that ambiguity from the plot but not from the actor. And it would make sense that a time-cop might be holding stuff back and pursuing a different agenda.

And the Sulik actor is too lightweight to cut it as a major villain; I believe that actor usually plays petty crooks and snitches on cop shows. When he was trying to convince Archer to help/trust him, I was thinking, "Better shoot the creep; he's gotta be lying."

Jealous of the arc, D'Alaire? An enquiring mind...? NIM
david g -- 29 Nov 2001, 17:43 GMT

I immediately thought of Nina during that scene, Ginny
david g -- 29 Nov 2001, 17:45 GMT

Nina, they actually had a scene where they talked about Earth religions...check it out?

david g

I liked slimy Silik. As for the episode...
david g -- 29 Nov 2001, 17:50 GMT

gosh, i dont know. it's decent, even better than average. i wish i could share in Eric's glee...really.

i thought this was an interesting episode that certainly shows the players and writers exuding a new confidence...i just didnt feel that EXCITED about it.

agree w/Terry the actor playing Daniels was too bland.

for me, BREAKING THE ICE is still the only show that made me feel truly involved, and UNEXPECTED was the only show i found really "fun."

Archer is definitely improving, but i still think Bakula schizo performance in the role needs a lot of deepening. as do the writers' conception of him.

david g

They should have been...
D'Alaire -- 29 Nov 2001, 18:38 GMT

...on Voyager. It was certainly a show that could have handled it and put them to good use. But instead, Braga thumbed his nose at continuity and insisted on his one hour movies, such as they were, so the lowest common denominator could keep up with it.

Best I don't get into that one--but no, I never got over that idiotic idea of his neatly wrapped in an equally stupid tag phrase.

Geez, I need more to do today if I start up so easily after a year.

Well, maybe there were a couple arcs, now that I think about it, but I'd certainly hope for more then the "Bad Paris" and "Fair Haven" threads.

Oh yes. I almost (cough) forgot.
D'Alaire -- 29 Nov 2001, 18:45 GMT

That other arc: The Borg.

gag. Yea. Joy. Can't wait to see them all again.

Sorry, but you know how I felt about that one after the umpteenth ep. (smirk)

Re: COLD FRONT Discussion Area (NIM)
D -- 29 Nov 2001, 18:59 GMT

I missed about 15 minutes in the middle (phone call from a friend) so I need to watch again on Sunday. What I saw was pretty good. But I missed enough to be thoroughly confused about the time travelers. If Braxton & co. were able to send Seven and Janeway back through time in the 29th Century what's this business with others in the 31st not being able to be fully in sync, or whatever the situation is? And is Daniels a Federation time cop? Obviously we'll be seeing the Suliban again, as well as whatever's in the sealed cabin.

Nice to see friendly aliens who, other than the transport captain, are just as impressed by the plume as the Enterprise crew. Looks like the Doctor is going to be this series' amateur anthropologist. It is in character; he was part of the medical exchange program and then volunteered to join the Enterprise, and he's obviously curious about other races.

Reed continues to make comments about regulations that should be implemented, that will be eventually - wonder if he helped write the rule book.

Cute scenes with the two ensigns - in the turbolift talking about the movie and as the only officers on the bridge, though it does seem odd that two of the senior staff are just ensigns. Especially Hoshi, since she apparently has a PhD and should probably be at least a j.g. Maybe we, and they, will be lucky and there will be some promotions on this show.

I taped it - good thing.
Nina -- 29 Nov 2001, 19:34 GMT

Because I was distracted, big time, while it was on last night. Must have been out of the room during that scene. Thanks for catching my eye, david g! Now I really will rewatch before that tape gets reused.

Re: Partly cloudy.
Fliteman -- 29 Nov 2001, 21:51 GMT

Also - adding to your nice bits about things the show is doing right - the English guy on the bridge.. (Don't know names yet; sorry) He actually was showing concern that Archer was giving tours of the ship to people they didn't know anything about - Janeway coulda learned from this guy...

My 0.02 bucks worth.

Flite

That would be the inestimable Mr. Reed, Flite.
Virginnie -- 29 Nov 2001, 22:42 GMT

Who, quite frankly, has "future captain" written all over him.

TOTALLY COOL!!!!!
Mindy -- 29 Nov 2001, 23:05 GMT

I'm with you, Terry, I thought last night's episode absolutely rocked!!!!! Bakula was great, everyone was great, and I loved that last scene on the locked Daniels's quarters.

RDM directed...the man's got a definite future directing!!!!!!

Mindy

I loved the mention of religion, too, Ginny!!!
Mindy -- 29 Nov 2001, 23:08 GMT

About freaking time!!!!!!

By the way, what is the significance of Sulik's name?

Mindy

I wasn't referring to his personal name...
Virginnie -- 29 Nov 2001, 23:14 GMT

...but, rather, to the eerie similarity between the ENT fictional bad guys, the Suliban, and our own real life bad guys, the Taliban.

But are they really the bad guys? (The Suliban, I mean, not the Taliban.) This episode really makes you wonder.

Yes we can time travel but NOT like this!
Eric -- 30 Nov 2001, 05:30 GMT

All time travel has been using a starship. These 31st century folks seem to be able to beam themselves into the timestream!

I'm not sure but it looked like he did not die when Sulik shot him, but returned to his own time. Or maybe he is lost in time? Not sure....

Eric

I got the same impression, Eric.
D'Alaire -- 30 Nov 2001, 11:09 GMT

It seemed a bit dispered, and a little too easy for Archer to call him dead.

Should be interesting (or I should hope it is!), when they revisit this.

Interesting that episodes McNeill and Davson directed are potential arcs (NIM)
D -- 30 Nov 2001, 19:21 GMT

Re: but NOT like this!
Deb47 -- 1 Dec 2001, 15:10 GMT

Didn't Seven time travel without a ship? I thought the 29th cent guys were just hanging out in their dimension monitoring as they "beamed" her from place to place. It wasn't like they took her aboard and the whole ship timewarped to each time period.

"D"... the 31st cent guy claimed to be more advanced than the "other" century guy who couldn't fully transport himself into the 22nd century. Made me wonder why he didn't just transport into the "other" century", unless his temporal anomaly finder isn't sophisticated enough to find where "that" other century is???

What struck me was the guy's claim that he wasn't part of Starfleet, esp since we know it was around in the 29th century (Capt Braxton). Not to mention his claim not to be fully human. I half expected Archer to drag him to sickbay and put him through that scanner to see "what" his genetic makeup really was. Was he suliban too?

The first ep that held my interest the whole way through, although I'm "perturbed" that after Archer was shot, Porthos didn't even try to take a bite out of Silik!

Still have to find time for "Fortunate son".

D47

So did I
Sherry -- 2 Dec 2001, 01:30 GMT

We don't know much about the weapon Silik used on him, but the effect looked like something besides being dispersed (or whatever) to me.

Re: but NOT like this!
Sherry -- 2 Dec 2001, 02:20 GMT

I was waiting for Porthos to sink his teeth in, too. Sherry

Re: but NOT like this!
Marie -- 2 Dec 2001, 13:43 GMT

A well-bred beagle would not bite for something as trivial as a shot master, she said only partly facitiously.....

Seriously, I have said before that we show dogs and while I am no expert on beagles, I am sure that I could be shot/beaten/robbed and my dogs, all 8 of them, would happily stand and watch, hoping the badguy would give them a treat....

on the plus side, I do not have to worry about being sued for dog bites...

Deb, Daniels's remark that he wasn't "fully human"...
Mindy -- 3 Dec 2001, 15:16 GMT

...made me think of Gary Seven from TOS....could be he is one of those taken by that alien race (who wants to keep their identity secret "even in your time, Captain.") who took Gary from Earth... although I think I remember McCoy examining Gary and telling Kirk he's human.

Is it also possible that Daniels is a product of Terran and Suliban mixing? I just thought of that.

Anyway, if Daniels is of the same origin as Gary Seven, we certainly couldn't say that Braga isn't paying attention to continuity anymore, could we? And he did say in an interview recently that he finally sat down and watched all the TOS episodes. Maybe that's given him ideas?

Mindy

Re: but NOT like this!
Monday -- 3 Dec 2001, 15:29 GMT

agreed Marie, my beagle is cute and he barks a lot but he is not a biter. Also, with possible first contacts the last thing Archer needs is an aggressive dog.