We have moved to new forum software and posting here is closed!

PLEASE BOOKMARK THE NEW FORUMS

Posted By: Nomad Nov 17, 2003 - 04:49 pm

After an accident in Engineering leaves Trip mortally injured, Dr. Phlox attempts to save the chief engineer by creating a "mimetic simbiot" — a clone — of him to harvest neural tissue from it. In its very short lifespan, the simbiot grows rapidly from baby to adult, and surprises the crew with detailed memories of the real Trip's life. Meanwhile, the accident has left Enterprise disabled and adrift inside a destructive space cloud, so the crew attempts to free the ship before they are stranded forever. Cast:
Scott Bakula as Jonathan Archer
John Billingsley as Dr. Phlox
Jolene Blalock as T'Pol
Dominic Keating as Malcolm Reed
Anthony Montgomery as Travis Mayweather
Linda Park as Hoshi Sato
Connor Trinneer as Charles "Trip" Tucker III

Guest Cast:
Shane Sweet as Sim-Trip (Age 17)
Adam Taylor Gordon as Sim-Trip (Age 8)
Maximillian Orion Kesmodel as Sim-Trip (Age 4)

Creative Staff:
Director: LeVar Burton
Written By: Manny Coto

Posted By: ZimNova Nov 17, 2003 - 07:03 pm

I might as well be the first one to say it. The synopsis says it all. This ain't spoilers but the clift notes, LOL.
Trip as 3 different young versions of himself and no frelling way the Enterprise gets stuck; "disabled and adrift inside a destructive space cloud, so the crew attempts to free the ship before they are stranded forever".
I never did watch that Hoshi centric episode 'cause I bailed after 5 min. and this one on the surface sounds about as interesting.

Posted By: Nomad Nov 18, 2003 - 07:13 am

I figure this will be another one of those politcally/morally motivated episodes based on the +'s and -'s or Cloning. Lets just see how the Trek Universe handles this one. As for the B plot line of abandoning ship...OF COURSE they will get out of it.

Posted By: ZimNova Nov 21, 2003 - 06:16 pm

I was pleasantly surprised by *Similitude* on many different levels.
First off the moral dilemma was really tough. Archer made the choice based on Phlox's recommendation but as "Sim" developed he was having second thoughts. I was thinking; "If this were Capt. Picard & Data there was no way the "sentient being" Sim would be used as parts to save Trip's life".
I was having second thoughts myself thinking if Phlox were holding back some technology that could stablize Sim's growth why not let the "real" trip die and let Sim live because for all intents & purposes they were the same being as the story went.
Connor Trinneer showed his range here as an actor playing "Sim"(as an adult). His naivete' as a "new being" was well acted as he devoloped his understanding of the current situation and the "fateful results".

At that point throw all religious beliefs out the window because only "GOD", whichever one one believes in, in my personal case I believe in the Egyptian mythos of RA (No Sun, No Life: God for us), can create life.

I knew T'Pol would have trouble with this "science" and thus I thought at the end the kiss was really heart felt on her part.
T'Pol & Trip are dancing around a deeper realationship as it is and the writer did a fine job in having Sim relate his feelings towards T'Pol straight up, something the "real" Trip is either unwilling or unable to do.
This was as last weeks episode classic Trek writing as I was reminded of when in a STNG episode Riker, a different Riker that is, was found after being stranded on some planet and returned to the present time where he, based on his memory, wanted to carry on the relationship with Troi that had substained him over many years instead of the "current" Riker & Troi who had let their careers interupt the love they had for each other and are now all business.
That was a great episode.

The evolution of the "mimetic simbiot" was handeled vary well as well. I was never bored but in fact was entertained by the changes and kept thinking how wierd is this?
Growing up in days with memories of a life never lived.
The "in joke" of; "I did that just yesterday" referring to events in Trip's life was well used and I laughed more than once.

At the end I felt as sad as the characters that Sim had to die, even though everything was explained in a logical way, because over the course of the episode I came to relate to Sim as much as the characters in the story.
That's great writing.

The interesting sub-thread here is T'Pol now has memories about Sim that Trip does not share.
Sim was speaking from the heart about his feelings for T'Pol and how can she ever look at him (Trip) [we are remined of the Crichton/Aeryn relationship after Crichton was 'twined' and then died?] the same way again?
The cusp-of-the-biscuit is Sim was speaking the truth, in a "mimetic simbiot" sort of way, but if we are to believe that the two were one and the same as the story goes how will T'Pol respond to Trip in the future?

I rate this episode a 7/10 because I was entertained, liked the writing, felt "connected" to the "mimetic simbiot" story line and there was some mini arc threads to a later Trip & T'Pol relationship.

Posted By: Gail_Storm Nov 22, 2003 - 12:31 am

I, too, was pleasantly surprised by this episode. I enjoyed it, in spite of myself. When I read the blurb in the TV guide it sounded silly. This episode made us think, and as Zim mentioned, really showed off Connor Trinneer's range as an actor. I must admit Trip is fast becoming my favourite Enterprise character. I could see him in a relationship with T'Pol.

Should be interesting, to say the least.

Posted By: Nomad Nov 23, 2003 - 06:52 am

A raving review and its only 7/10? LoL. I missed the dang episode. Figures.

Posted By: ZimNova Nov 23, 2003 - 09:05 am

Well you see Nomad, earning a 4 or less is easy because of poor writing or lack of plot logic. Mid range scores of 5-8 are harder and 8+ must be in my book the "best" of any series' episodes.
For instance B-5's *Severed Dreams* was a 10 while *Gray 17 is Missing* earned a 3 from me.
Also I'm just one person who has no real recognition as a critic anywhere except around various SF BBoards and although I do try to be fair when rating an episode there is a certain amount of "what I like" that inevitability creeps in.

As another example I loved Farscape's S-1 episode *Thank God it's Friday, Again*, the one on Skykar with the Tennet Root and the alabaster leader Volmae, the all night raves and Ka D'argo & Zhann being all tripped out while most Scapers thought that episode stunk.

In *Similitude* there was a gaping plot hole that pulled the episode's rating down from an 8 to a 7 which I overlooked or the rating would have been a 5 because in many SF stories a "leap-of-faith" is required to enjoy the story.

That being.
If in fact there were such a thing, as the story went, as a "mimetic simbiot" and there was a process to stop it's growth at a certain point while still having all the DNA donor's complete life memories every powerful & rich person would want one thus the entire existance of such a creature would be a tightly held secret.
Imagine an 80 year old world leader being able to shoot up the simbiot with his or her DNA, grow the thing to 20 years old body wise and then start life all over again in a young fresh body with one's entire life experiences still intact.
That would make the simbiot the most precious commodity in the universe and there is no way a doctor like Phlox would have one just laying around to use.

Maybe I think too much about what's just a TV series but if you look at Farscape, John Crichton and the wormhole technology there is no such gap in plot logic because nothing comes easy with wormhole travel and as we saw not just anyone can jump into a prowler and transit one without turning into a mass of messy red goo.
Only John with his unique abilities holds the key to the puzzle of what's a grand & epic story arc plot thread spun throughout the tapestry that is Farscape.