Shockwave: 1

ENTERPRISE: "Shockwave" Discussion Thread
Terry -- 22 May 2002, 19:45 EST

While en route to a Paraagan colony, a shuttle carrying Archer, T'Pol and Trip is knocked out of the atmosphere by a sudden explosion that kills the 3600 settlers below. Convinced that the Enterprise was somehow to blame, Archer is consumed with guilt, and his feelings intensify when Starfleet recalls the ship to Earth. As the crew prepares for the worst, a surprise visitor offers Archer startling new evidence about the colony's demise.

"Shockwave" made a splash!
Jason -- 22 May 2002, 21:39 EST

I was pleasantly surprised by "Shockwave"! Going in I was pretty skeptical about the show's ability to pull off a good season finale (and a cliffhanger, at that, especially at this early stage of the series).

But somehow, it all clicked. This was a pretty great thriller, and I couldn't help but notice how it really seemed to keep me on the edge of my seat.

What I liked about this episode compared to some of my common complaints about ENTERPRISE was how jam-packed this story was. I typically find that the series tends to hold back on major plot twists and just kind of tread water for the first part of most episodes. ("Fallen Hero", as a recent example of an episode that seemed to take forty minutes to get off the ground).

I looked at the clock at 8:30 and couldn't beleive how much had already happened. And a half-hour still to go!

There was a lot to like about this episode. The crew's heist in the stealth ship was pretty cool, and despite my fears that the next step in the Conspiracy storyline would be a mis-step, Berman and Braga did a good job at not only maintaining, but heightening the mystery.

I was gratified that T'Pol is still a skeptic, hopefully it is a sign that the writers are keeping this on-going storyline as dimensionalized as possible.

I liked Archer pretty well in this episode (that is, better than usual). His good moments were really good, although in typical Archer fashion his poorer moments were really unbecoming. No wonder T'Pol didn't object to taking command at the end-- Archer seemed like a jerk when he asked her what it was that couldn't wait until morning when she delivered news to him in his cabin. Archer: You're the **captain**! It's not a 9-to-5 job.

But still, complaints about Archer's personality and occasional petulance aside, otherwise I thought he came off very well in this episode.

For a season finale I was very surprised that there was this much edge-of-your-seat suspense. The episode pumped me up-- a great way to end the season.

Jason

Shockwave blew my expectations away!
Eric -- 22 May 2002, 23:57 EST

Quick Take : All i wanted was a great Enterprise episode, what i got was a kick a$$ Star Trek episode! ___________________________

SPOILERS from the 31st Century

10

9

8

7

6

5

4

3

2

1

__________________

Ok, i LOVED this one. I loved it in a totaly unconditional way. This is the first Enterprise that i could totaly let go and love. Even Cold Front wasn't able to allow that to happen.

No, everyone was good in this episode (well everyone but Whatshisname, that helm guy but he's just an extra! ) All the REAL members of the crew rocked, including Porthos.

The FX were all top notch and what an amazing teaser!!! WOOOOW!

So, the Suliban are scary and they crawl on walls, but we were never sure if they are the real baddies. I think this one anwered that question : they ARE the baddies.

Maybe i can see destroying Daniel's planet (was it Earth? Not sure....) if his group was secretly evil, BUT destroying an entire planet to make Enterprise a scapegoat? THAT is evil.

But the real question here is, WHY is Enterprise such a big concern to the Suliban? Why target them? It MUST be something they do in the future since until Shockwave, Archer has been pretty clueless about them. He even HELPED them in Detained.

Futureguy was a little clearer in this one. I think he is human. So why would a human want to blow up Earth? (if it WAS Earth!)

There was so much going on here. Looks like T'Pol has compleatly thrown in with us foul smelling apes.

Malcolm is so much better when he is being a Officer then when he is doing his frat boy act. Lets keep him like he was here in Shockwave please.

Archer : Ok guys, NOW do you like him? He rocked in this one and he was closer then ever to his 23rd and 24th century ancestors.

Trip : I think he was over reacting just a bit but he redemed himself questioning Archer's new Technobabble skills!

Phlox and Hoshi didn't have much to do but they did there job's well.

Whatshisname : I think he said a few lines.....maybe. I hope he is dumped next season. A Red Shirt Helmsmen like TNG had would be better at this point....

Bottomline : If they build on this episode next season and don't let the momentom drop like earlier then this could be the start of a great new Star Trek adventure.

10/10 easy.

Eric

Well, pooh.
G'Inny -- 23 May 2002, 08:29 EST

I was in bargaining last night until 8:30 pm, so I missed it. But I'm looking forward to the rebroadcast after skimming the other posts.

Sorry, Eric.
Ronit -- 23 May 2002, 08:59 EST

Eric wrote: "Archer : Ok guys, NOW do you like him? He rocked in this one and he was closer then ever to his 23rd and 24th century ancestors. "

Nope. He rocked on his bed like an sulky, acne ridden teenager....

Actually, I thought this episode highlighted Bakula's strengths and weaknesses in the role. He makes a good leader in the "first among equals" sense -- but he simply is not the Alpha Captain I've grown used to seeing on Trek.

This became painfully apparent when he used 2 classic Captain lines: "You're dismissed" & "You're out of line"

When Picard, Sisko or Janeway said either one of those phrases, the universe itself quivered in trepidation. When Archer says it.... a mouse might blink in mild perturbation.

Ronit

Re: "Shockwave"...:agree: !!!!!!! WOW!!!!! !!!!!
Mindy -- 23 May 2002, 09:14 EST

Like Jason and Eric, I was INCREDIBLY surprised and INCREDIBLY pleased and INCREDIBLY rocked by this series finale! Amazingly, I had no idea where it was going to end up...a really nice twisty cliffhanger ending!!!!

I thought everyone was incredibly on target with their characters. (Well, except for poor Mayweather, but as Eric said, he does seem more of a redshirt than an regular cast member.) No, Archer's "you couldn't wait until morning?" line didn't bother me at all...he's not Kirk, he's not Picard, he's not Sisko, he's not Janeway, he's himself, and, forgive me, but I don't understand why so many people here won't let Archer be Archer and stop comparing him to the other captains...each captain since Kirk has been compared to the previous one(s) with people (not just here, but on other boards, too) saying things like "But--insert favorite captain here--wouldn't do or say that!" Anyway, I liked the way he reacted, guys. And frankly, I could see the other captains saying something along those lines, especially Kirk and Sisko! Watch the early TOS episodes, especially the first year...Kirk had quite a temper and could be quite petulant at times, guys.

I was actually surprised that they got away with the Suliban heist...I expected B&B to do a "taken hostage" and "lots of talk" riff between the Suliban and Archer re: who really is the bad guy in the Temporal War?

My only hope is that, unlike "Best of Both Worlds," they already know how they are going to resolve the cliffhanger, so that they don't come up with some lame "Sleep, Data" bullsh#t.

I give this one an "A+." And yes, I'm surprised at its high mark.

Mindy

Gad, he was awful, but T'Pol in the "big chair" is good!!!
maggie the cat -- 23 May 2002, 09:52 EST

I suppose it's too much to hope that Archer will be AWOL for more than one ep at best. I loved Scott in QL and don't have the foggiest why I think he's soooo bad in this. But I do. And Archer is poorly written.

That said, the TCW plot intrigued me enough to want to catch the resolution next fall. Will it be another attack of the dreaded reset button? A complete revision of Trek history? Something entirely creative and new? The episode was written well enough to make me think that B&B could have it in them if they weren't so obviously jaded. Or perhaps it's just me that's jaded after 600+ eps of Trek. Naaaaah, more fun to bash my favorite object of non--affection.

Hmmmm, i think **I** would be just as disapointed and sorry for myself...
Eric -- 23 May 2002, 09:52 EST

....if i thought i was responsable for killing over 3000 innocent people, not to mention wiping out an entire planet!

I'm sorry, while there have been times i though Bakula was a little to laid back THIS week he was very much on top of his game.

Eric

An epitomy of the cliff-hanger
Jason -- 23 May 2002, 10:03 EST

I suppose there's good reason for concern about the conclusion, given Trek's track-record with part-twos. And as cliff hangers go, Berman and Braga wrote themselves right up to the edge of the precipice as far as it goes with Enterprise facing down dozens of Suliban ships.

Probably temporal hijinks will save them. But wouldn't it be cool if T'Pol really were that that clever?

Anyway... they've got me speculating, which for a summer cliffhanger is exactly what I would have hoped for from the season finale.

Jason

As well you should be, Eric...
Ronit -- 23 May 2002, 10:29 EST

... if you had committed such a massacre. Luckily you only destroy spelling.

When I saw Archer lolling on the bed, ball in hand, all I could think was "poor baby, no date for the prom". I didn't see someone blaming himself for the deaths of 3000 innocents -- I saw a kid who'd been kicked off the team the day of the big game.

The writers get demerits for putting him in the sulky teenager pose, and Bakula gets demerits for playing it out.

Ronit

Im amazed by the enthusiasm for SHOCKWAVE
david g -- 23 May 2002, 13:01 EST

Not that i thought it was terrible or anything...i really liked the last few minutes. i also liked the eerie conversation with shirtless Archer and Future Guy in the past...i like the uncanniness of FG and the time-arc.

but this was, to my mind, a decent but ho hum episode...the destrcution of the planet didnt really do much for me. ENT often presents us w/these terrible chaotic events we're supposed to feel terrible over, yet i almost always find them unaffecting.

i was confused by the whole sequence where they were investigating/discovering the Suliban plot--it seemed too rushed and sketchy to be suspenseful or chilling.

im not simply trying to maul Archer and Trip, yet again, but why are 22nd century guys making leering, derisive jokes about matriarchal societies? why are these two characters written as if theyre from (bad) 50s films?

also, why is it that Archer is written as someone who's a dot.com company man? why is it that TPol is always being written as his nagging spinster aunt? i refer to the scene where TPol comes inwith news for Archer and he asks her why she didnt wait till morning.

all in all, Shockwave seemed like run-of-the-mill ENT--not bad in spots but overall, hohum.

LOL, Ronit! NIM
david g -- 23 May 2002, 13:02 EST

Mindy, i think the difference is...
david g -- 23 May 2002, 13:07 EST

Archer's grief feels/comes off as narcisstic moodiness, not the wracked traumatic guilty grief of someone in the position of Archer in this ep...if any of the other captains had had this burden, you would have felt its terrible weight. Archer is a flyweight in these depts--imo, or imnsho.

And you said we never agree, david.
Terry -- 23 May 2002, 13:23 EST

I, too, thought the final twist and cliffhangar was cool. I didn't really have any specific complaints but the show didn't excite me much. I didn't mind Archer getting depressed but I never believed his reaction emotionally.

The trouble with the Suliban/temporal cold war stuff is that we see it so seldom it's hard to grasp the whole arc. I kept wondering things like why everyone seems to be in on the secret. (Not much of a secret anymore.) Davies just leaves his device with that database in his quarters for anyone to find? I don't want to wait years to find out what the purposes of either side are.

And frankly, I consider time-travel paradoxes/changes to be the last resort of a SF writing scoundrel. Because there are no fixed rules in Trek's time-travel (as we've seen many times from Braga before), the cliffhanger is boring. Braga doesn't have to figure out a brilliant solution; he just waves his hands and - presto - some time magic solves it. Someone travels back to set the 31st century straight and to save Enterprise. "Bored now."

That's a good way of putting it...
Fliteman -- 23 May 2002, 13:43 EST

I think the problem I had with his 'grief' was his body language... Kirk would've been brooding - pretty STILL, not moving a lot. Picard, probably very similar.

Archer, especially on the Bridge demanding answers, turned this way and that... I think it would've been more effective if the lights had been dimmed a little (I miss the TOS use of shadows in the newer series), and if he'd just sat in his chair, not looking at who he was talking to, and not moving much else but his mouth, delivering the same lines. To me, that would've conveyed a much darker, sad mood than what he was displaying.

IMHO.

And... due to circumstances beyond my control... I missed the last friggin' half of the show... Never has so few been so bummed so majorly.

**sigh**

Flite

Re: Im amazed by the enthusiasm for SHOCKWAVE
Malcom -- 23 May 2002, 14:02 EST

David, I didn't see the whole episode last night but between what Ronit described to me, and what I saw, I agree with your observations. I want to reinforce one of yours and add one of my own.

First I agree with your: "im not simply trying to maul Archer and Trip, yet again, but why are 22nd century guys making leering, derisive jokes about matriarchal societies? why are these two characters written as if theyre from (bad) 50s films?" I too like to think we will have progressed beyond this sort of thing. In the 1950s a large percentage of men were socialized at young ages by the all-male military, went to all-male colleges and universities (hell, the University of Virginia, a state-supported university didn't admit women until 1974!!!) and worked in environments that were almost entirely male. So, such attitudes are more understandable. But this is 2002 and we're writing about centuries in the future. I think the fellows writing this are dinosauers. When you have a woman wearing shrinkwrap and you throw in an Englishman for diversity you know you've got a problem. In real life, I give men much more credit than the writers of Trek do.

Secondly, on a more serious note. Did the destroyed city remind anyone else of Ground Zero? The burnt/melted building structures still standing? And it looked like Archer was standing in One Liberty Place. It was too close to be in good taste, and for all those folks in NYC, and elsewhere who are still having problems dealing with it (I have friends who lived four blocks from WTC and were home when the planes hit) I think this scene was too close for comfort, bordering on bad taste. Is it just me?

Willow is right on the money, Terry
david g -- 23 May 2002, 16:03 EST

I was surprised that the time-arc figured so prominently in the finale, given that finales are usually made to appeal to a very broad audience. i am not sure that someone who hadnt seen Cold Fire would *get* this ep...i suspect Braga believes--since he's written SO many time travel eps--the time-arc is a draw for people?

i must say, i enjoy eps like Relativity and Future's End--and i loved much of Endgame--but the time-arc stuff does always seem a gimmick to me.

i do think eps like YoH work so well because they are self-contained.

We also need another Alexander Courage score! NIM
david g -- 23 May 2002, 16:05 EST

Hey, how'd you get that Buffy reference, david? (NIM)
Terry -- 23 May 2002, 16:13 EST

I must have missed the leering....
Eric -- 23 May 2002, 16:47 EST

They only had a small part for the Matriarchy but IIRC it went something like :

Archer : Listen up this place is a Matriarchy!

Trip : Really? Run by women? (Gotta explain it to the kiddies after all! )

Archer : Yup.

Trip : So i guess it wold be a good idea to not flirt with the hotties? (Crude, but then it IS Trip!)

Then there was one more line in the SP that i remember :

T'Pol : Maybe it would be a good idea if i lead the Away Team?

Yes, the explanation parts were uneeded IMHO but not to bad. And Trip made a joke, but that is well within character for him.

Where is the problem?

Eric

"SF writing scoundrel". Copyright it now, Terry.
Ronit -- 23 May 2002, 16:48 EST

I love it!!!

Ronit

My speculation runs thusly...
Deb47 -- 23 May 2002, 17:43 EST

T'Pol disarms Silik by tantalizing him with, "If you destroy us, you will never find out why Captain Archer is not only off the ship but out of our temporal timeline."

I think T'Pol will consider the "things Vulcans don't believe in" argument and figure out a way to communicate or go to the future using future guy's technology. Once there she allows Cap Archer and Daniels to come back to the past and try to correct what ever mistake brought about the explosion.

Maybe.

D47

I wasnt lying when I said I had many friends who love Buffy
david g -- 23 May 2002, 18:11 EST

my friend David B and his wife Maria in particular love the show...as ive said, too, i often find the story *ideas* and plots really interesting, though i dont watch the show.

Well, since you asked...
david g -- 23 May 2002, 18:15 EST

i read those lines of Trip as yet another indication that Braga cannot write hetero men as anything other than crude, infantile, and sexist...Archer's smiling indulgence of Trip's silliness constitutes the bulk of the leering--the shared sexism of the two.

i mean, for the most part, i hate what happened to the P-K dynamic on VOY in the Braga years...though i think he improved Harry and Neelix, he made Tom, for the most part, an unfeeling overgrown frat boy, and as such, the prototype for Archer and Trip.

im really sorry, but i just dont like Trip anymore. exhibit A: Trip shrieking at the Doc in this ep. why the decibel level, why the rough stuff? i just dont get it. this is the 22nd, not the 2nd, century.

Hey, david, how was the Smallville finale?
Terry -- 23 May 2002, 19:37 EST

I saw the promos for it last week with all those tornadoes. The scene where Lana is in danger in her truck reminded me of Lois Lane getting buried alive in her car in Superman I.

It wasn't what they said but how they said it.
Terry -- 23 May 2002, 19:50 EST

Man, I love using that argument. It's so subjective that there's no appropriate rebuttal except maybe "Says you!".

I'm not David but i loved it.....
Eric -- 24 May 2002, 09:38 EST

....not sure which was better, Enterprise or Smallville but they both were good.

With a jeopardy count the Smallville finale wins since almost every main character in in trouble :

SPOILERS for Smallville :

Lana was sucked up into tornado with Clarke racing to save her.

Lex faces a test with his dad who is trapped under a fallen ceiling section. Will he save his father who is closing the Smallville branch out of spite?

Johnathan Kent is racing into the storm after a reporter who has proof of Clarke's superpowers.

Martha Kent is in the stormceller where Clarke's Spaceship as been powered up by the key Lex found last week and it's hovering and glowing.

Chloe is at the Prom and was abandoned by Clarke who ran off after Lana. Her father is working at the Smallville plant that was closed down. She may have to move to Metropolis.

Pete...errr...well, he is this show's Mayweather.

Whitney is off to the army and is off the show according to all reports. But he made Clarke promise to watch over Lana before he left.

Eric

The "problem" is that the Trip you describe has become a total bore.
maggie the cat -- 24 May 2002, 10:21 EST

Whatever happened to the fun Trip/T'Pol sparring of last fall? Trip's dumber/dumbest act with Reed, Phlox and Archer loses its appeal after about 5 seconds. Sadly telling for how Travis is written that Trip can't outdumb *him*!

Yeah, Bakula's body language and acting conveyed to me that Archer was feeling sorry for himself...
maggie the cat -- 24 May 2002, 10:29 EST

because he was well aware that his great career was over with the end of the mission, not because people were killed.

Apologies if the above looks like a spoiler though I don't think it is. nt
maggie the cat -- 24 May 2002, 10:31 EST

Why I think the Smallville finale surpassed ENT's
david g -- 24 May 2002, 11:27 EST

when the finale ended i thought, No, it cant be over! wait, what happens here, and here, and HERE?

i must admit to watching the clock on ENT this week.

Terry, i thought the Lana in the car thing was totally a nod to Superman. i always loved that part in the original--such a raw emotional scene.

i prefer Superman II but i recently got the extra-packed DVD of Superman and plan to watch it one of these days...

anyway, Smallville had a very good cliffhanger--major issues all synthesized and coming to a head. i really think Pa Kent is becoming one of the more interesting characters...i love Annette OToole but she's just nver given much to do...anyway, Lex and his father have a great conflict, Clark is actually on the verge of heterosexual romance while enjoying THE slashiest relationship on TV today with Lex...

the finale did a fine job of effortlessly bringing all of these things into play while really leaving you wondering how the HECK are they gonna get around this one.

Eric, i cant wait to...SPOILERS
david g -- 24 May 2002, 11:29 EST

see and hear what Clark's spaceship has to say! also, do you think Lex will let Li die?

and how will Clark--since there's "no flights, no tights"--save Lana?

The answer is in the comic books....
Eric -- 24 May 2002, 12:10 EST

Supes has stopped Tornados before by using his superspeed. He runs in the opposite direction of the wind creating enough counterforce to disperse the wind.

Would this work in our world? I haven't a clue! But it seems to work in the DC Universe!

I don't think Lex is at the place where he can let his father die.....yet.

I LOVED that blood streak over his eye!

Eric

The Superman Boxed set raises the question....
Eric -- 24 May 2002, 12:16 EST

....when are they going to do the special editions for the OTHER Superman movies?

ESPECIALY Superman II???

I LOVED the cleanup work and the new FX of the special edition! John Williams score in new Dolby 5.1 just THUNDERS out of my speakers.

Superman's flying sequences have NEVER looked better!

I LOVE Lex testing Superman's powers.

And the new Ice Face of Jor-El is just amazing! Sooooooooo GOOOOOOD!

But the thing is i have always liked Superman II BETTER! Just think how great the air fight between Superman and Zod would look NOW with a touch up of the FX? How great it would look and sound?

And while 3 and 4 are pretty weak, they deserve a polishing as well.

David G, son of Jor-El : KNEEL BEFORE ZOD!!!!!!!!!

Eric

Re: The "problem" is that the Trip you describe has become a total bore.
Marie -- 24 May 2002, 15:16 EST

Interesting that you should put it that way, because from almost the beginning, I knew I would not like Trip as he was being written. No matter what I read here, I kept thinking "petulant", which is really too bad.

I liked Malcolm from the beginning, but do not like how he is being written in the dumb and dumber act described by you. Here's hoping someone has sense enough to represent both of these men as intelligent even when not on the job.

Marie

Look at it this way, Terry
Roxanne -- 24 May 2002, 20:11 EST

At least we weren't blessed with the blue underwear.

Roxanne

Would you care to step outside, Eric?!
david g -- 25 May 2002, 00:09 EST

when we agree, my friend, we so totally agree.

i too adore Superman II, imo the best of the Superman films...it's simply got it all, and is very sweet to boot.

one thing i love is that Superman's mother gets to shine here..."O my son," she says as she steps out of/break through the bonds of her holographic matrix.

i even love the Mad Magazine parody...!

I was blessed with the blue underwear...
SuzyQ -- 26 May 2002, 00:57 EST

...in the episode I saw, Roxanne. Weren't you? Archer wears it in one scene in his quarters.

In fact, I was doubly blessed because not only did I get that scene, I got the shirtless Archer scene, too. Hallelujah!

Keep 'em coming, Braga. I haven't looked forward to weekly sci-fi episodes this much since the glory days of THE X-FILES.

Shallow SuzyQ

I'm always blessed by the blue underwear.
G'Inny -- 26 May 2002, 01:23 EST

And also any partial nudity that happens to get thrown into the mix.

Me and SuzyQ--we like it in the shallow end of the pool.

Oh, yeah? Sez you!
G'Inny -- 26 May 2002, 01:27 EST

I'm with you, Eric. The matriarchal joke didn't really bother me, either. It wasn't a knee-slapper, but I'm for any scenario that allows T'Pol to get a snipe in on Trip.

Well, I thought it was terrific.
G'Inny -- 26 May 2002, 01:45 EST

We get the ba-dump-bump moment out of the way at the very beginning and settle in for some serious dramatizing. I had read no spoilers, so I had no idea what was going to happen. Like Jason, I was amazed to look at the clock during one commercial break, and the show was only half over. So much happened so fast, it was like a thrill ride.

I thought Scott did a good job with the guilt and the prickly demeanor that he adopted as a consequence. Jolene just gets better and better, and Linda and John spin gold into straw with every small scene they're in.

I also agree with whoever said that Reed is so much better when he's doing his job, and not palling around with Trip. As for Trip, I was gratified not to feel an urge to slap him this episode, and I liked the scene with the doctor. I'd probably be a little twitchy after what had happened, myself. Plus, his scene reviewing the alien tech was just priceless.

Unexpected destruction of entire planet's population in the teaser--wow.

Unanticipated jump back in time--cool.

Shirtless Archer--yum.

Assault on the Suliban ship--way cool.

Kick-ass cliff hanger ending--amazing!

G'Inny gives this one two thumbs up.

Wouldnt TPol make a great Captain? NIM
david g -- 28 May 2002, 00:26 EST

Watched the tape when I got home tonight
D -- 2 Jun 2002, 21:49 EST

Only a few comments, since most of t\what I would have said already has been, plus I'm too jet lagged to write much.

I was really surprised that they did an cliffhanger as a Season 1 finale; its never been done before. As for the resolution B&B might pull a "Generations" type - Enterprise destroyed then Archer & Daniel get back in time to prevent it. TPTB do seem to like using resets when they can destroy the ships but not keep them destroyed.

Unlike some of this season's episodes I didn't find myself looking at the clock as the episode dragged on. When I did notice the elapsed time on the VCR I was expecting YAATE.

Soooo, how was Italy?
Displaced nebbie -- 2 Jun 2002, 22:28 EST

And to help sort your way through the board after being gone for over a week... don't forget to join us in david's "nonfamous KJ Quotes" thread or the Star Wars thread.

D47

Great
D -- 3 Jun 2002, 08:44 EST

I really needed a vacation.

All I've looked at so far is this thread. I was too tired last night to read the rest and I'm of on a business trip this morning so I'm not sure I'll be able to get to the rest until Wednesday. I hope to see AOTC sometime this week.

I'm only on this morning because I wanted to check my e-mail before I left and decided to stop here while I finished my coffee. I'll do a proper "trip report" Wednesday.

Realizing I'm not a great fan of the current incarnation of Trek...
Deb47 -- 27 May 2002, 19:45 EST

I found this review by someone called "Samuel T Cogley" absolutely hilarious.

Just two of the things that caused me to howl were:

"Kirk doesn't lie down in his bed unless there's a hot babe in it."

and...

"As an aside, no man leaves his dog behind. NO MAN LEAVES HIS DOG BEHIND. Archer deserves to die for that travesty alone."

http://www.3dgladiators.com/forums/showthread.php?s=9e76ef861037614432b1672f66dcc62b&threadid=15424

Check it out.

He even talks about "Jumping the shark"... something I was not aware of before people started talking about it here.

D47

That was a good review.
Terry -- 27 May 2002, 20:31 EST

Funny, too.

He put his finger on what really bugged me about the episode without being aware of it. It was that Archer did *nothing* on own. All of the crew's so-called heroics in infiltrating the Suliban ship were just following Daniel's instructions and using future technology that Daniels gave them. That's cheating.

The fact that the Suliban are likewise cheating just points up the fact that the only way a temporal cold war is interesting is from the point of view of the two temporal superpowers pulling all the strings. All we see on Enterprise is what each side's puppets are told.

Technobabble solutions have always been IMHO one of the nastiest flaws of Trek. Future technobabble which the crew doesn't understand is even so much worse.

Speaking of Jumping The Shark...
Geordi -- 27 May 2002, 21:13 EST

there is a website devoted to this. It's Jumptheshark.com . They almost all the TV shows mentioned, including Voyager.

One will be amazed at the bashing some people give the shows that jumped. For example: I really love M*A*S*H, and I think it never jumped, yet more than 90% of the comments made are from people who ripped it apart. This made me wonder if the internet is making it easier for few people to spread bad words.

Talk about nailing it! Thanks, Deb!
D'Alaire -- 27 May 2002, 21:45 EST

The Pulaski Syndrome, as he calls it, was right dab what I was thinking when I finally got around to watching it today. (Not being in the mood on Wednesdasy, I just turned on the VCR and waited for TWW to come on.) And yeah, those comparisons to Kirk...priceless.

Gads, how I would love to have seen the character of Archer in that frame of mind. It makes me think about how on VOY the actors said everything seemed together the moment KM sat in the big chair and barked out her lines. She was a natural force. Though I'm certain Bakula's a nice guy and all, I somehow don't get that feeling with ENT.

Cogley rang all sorts of bells as I was reading his posts.

I also enjoyed several of the responses, particularly the Pulaski Syndrome Morphing Hoshi...

(Hoshi leaps into the air, her clothes exploding off her body as a magical costume materializes around her. She lands, dressed in what looks like half a sailor outfit, with her hair colored purple and bound up in a giant bow, while in her hands she weilds an enourmous two handed sword.)

Hoshi: (screaming, swinging sword and flying up into the air) Megasuperovercharging secretHoshtechnique protectCaptainfromtrollishabuse polarizedgravitronicsailorsuited FAITHOFTHEHEARTSTRIKE!!!!

(Hoshi's attack releases a beam of pure energy that strikes Mayweather and phases him out of this existence, doomed to remain in limbo until summoned by more lines.)

BWAhahahaaaaaaa! Sorry, I just [i]had[/i] to quote that...if only for Eric.

Ted McGinley?!?!
D'Alaire -- 27 May 2002, 22:08 EST

BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!

(D'A ROFLMAO)

OMIGOD! I haven't laughed this hard is waaaaay too long.

But a great site, Geordi. Thanks! I look forward to popping through it tomorrow. For all its nitting and even its bashing, it does bring back some memories!

Michelle Erica Greene put it best
david g -- 28 May 2002, 00:23 EST

though i dont always agree w/her:

"Janeway would have inspected the planet herself!"

Archer, sadly, just doesnt inspire the confidence...a friend of mine, David B (big Buffy and VOY fan), put it well--it would have been much MORE interesting if the surly, semi-racist Archer of BROKEN BOW had remained intact, had been explored.

instead, what we have now is a pseudogenial captain who just doesnt command attention. captains are supposed to be arresting, complex, galvanizing figures...

LOL, Deb!
Ronit -- 28 May 2002, 09:19 EST

Thanks for posting this link -- its simply priceless.

Ronit

Sailer Hoshi!
Eric -- 28 May 2002, 09:52 EST

Love the Sailer Moon bit!

Disagree compleatly with Mr. Cogliey almost competly since it looks like he likes TOS and TOS only but that Sailer Moon bit was pretty dang funny.

Eric

Well, he did nail exactly what Kirk would do.
Mindy -- 30 May 2002, 20:27 EST

And probably Janeway, Sisko and Picard, too! I have to give him that. However, it's the WRITING, stupid! I think he is unfairly blaming Bakula for the way Archer is being written.

And like whoever said it below (Eric?), he does seem to see TOS and TOS only to some degree. I certainly think that ENTERPRISE's fledgling season was 100% better than the first and second seasons of TNG...watching the reruns of those seasons on TNN makes me realize just how bad the show initially was, and that if it hadn't been STAR TREK with its base of loyal fans, it would have been cancelled by mid-season...

I also think, and I've said it before, that people MUST let go of the other captains...I seem to remember people complaining that Picard was too cerebral, Sisko too obnoxious and Janeway too inconsistent.

Let's see what the second season brings, okay?

BTW, the critics love Bakula.

Mindy

I've got this theory...
Pixie -- 31 May 2002, 02:30 EST

It seems to me that Braga doesn't really know what leadership is and it shows in his Captains. If the stories/rumors are to believed (I have no basis for knowing the truth of the rumors), it seems to me that Braga was a micromanager who had to rewrite every script, didn't trust his writers, and according to the Moore interview diminished his subordinates (his writing diminished "support" characters to shore up favored characters). He also seems to take constructive critism inappropriately personal, just as Janeway did in episode that introduces Seven.

If the rumors are correct, Braga doesn't know how to inspire, how to trust, how to lead with intergrity and neither do his characters because true leadership is outside his frame of reference.

By the way, I finally heard that the opening song. OH MY GOD IT TOTALLY SUCKS.

... It must be bunnies
tragic fan -- 31 May 2002, 07:31 EST

Sorry for the gratuitous Buffy Musical reference Pixie but I couldn't resist.

I must be one of the few people who actually *like* the ENT theme song. Goodness knows why, as I was horrified when I first heard about it and it's certainly not the kind of music I usually go for. I do think that it works much better with the opening credit visuals rather than as a song in its own right.

tf

I'll watch your back, tf.
Jules -- 31 May 2002, 08:28 EST

Now that the shock to the system of having a sung theme tune has had time to wear off I kind of like the Enterprise theme. Lyrically, it does work for the overall theme of the show as well.

The one problem I have with it is when it's used again, sans voice, as the closing credits where it gets given the lift music treatment and sounds dreadful. I do wish they could have found something else for that.

I'll lend Jules a hand with that task.
Nina -- 31 May 2002, 08:34 EST

I like the theme, too. It works for the little girl I used to be, who got up long before anyone else was awake to watch the Project Mercury and Project Gemini launches.

I like the opening sequence, too.
Mindy -- 31 May 2002, 08:48 EST

Always have, actually.

Just one thing...I do wish they would have fit in the opening riff of Alexander Courage and then seqgued into "Faith of the Heart."

I felt the same way about VOYAGER's theme.

Mindy

Fascinating theory, Pixie.
Ronit -- 31 May 2002, 09:26 EST

I think you're really onto something here.

Ronit

that's so true about the closing credits
tragic fan -- 1 Jun 2002, 17:43 EST

All my copies of the early eps were missing the closing credits so the first time I heard that version of the theme I literally yelped.

tf