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Scifi and Fantasy Forum: Television: Star Trek (all series):
Star Trek - Enterprise (not the ships):
Enterprise by Episode:
Enterprise: "Strange New World" - Episode 3
Enterprise: "Strange New World" - Episode 3
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Posted By:  ZimNova Oct 11, 2001 - 12:00 pm |       | AspZ, good to see ya and more of the old gang from the SFV days.
I was watching the baseball playoffs so missed most all of last nights ep. (not taping it either) so I'll watch it's re-run on Sun. night here.
I did surf over during a commerical break long enough to see them camped out in tents one could buy at any outdoor store?
Well I guess they are trying for a *retro* look but I would still have expected something more in line with technology that might exist 150 years from now, say a silver meterial which acts as a solar panel to generate electricity, reflect heat and have wind traps to collect water in case the away team had to survive on their own out in the bush.
PC, I also like how our new Valcan T'Pol is not so aloof and *all-knowing* as Spock was. I enjoy how she not only advices Archer but gets in his face about the wisdom of his command decisions a lot of the time.
I can just picture her thinking, "Silly Humans"! ZimNova
That was T'Pau Bmat.
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Always glad to have lurkers decloak and join the fray AspZelazny. Welcome to the forums!
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Yes, the how protocols get developed idea works, but I have a problem with the way they went about it this ep. Logically (for lack of another word ), you would think that they would be approaching things with all available technology in front of them. Although a Vulcan approach may be too slow for a human crew, it seemed inappropriately irreponsible for them to go zipping down to the planet without some better data...data they are prefectly capable of obtaining. This is a militarily structured professional crew after all, not "Joe's spaceship" flitting about on holiday. I mean, would launching a probe to check out the area they wanted to explore more carefully have been too much to ask? It seems out of place for them to be...well, careless...about exploring. I feel like they are trying to hard to put this "wonder of first discovery" feeling into the show and aren't paying enough attention to what would be reasonable to expect from a military ship. No satellites and air we can breate doesn't seem reasonable justification to jump into a shuttle for a landing to me. Later generations may have superior scanning technology allowing them to gather more information faster, but you would expect part of the early years to mean going slower. IMHO Archer acknowledging T'Pol's suggestions and calling for some more investigation before putting lives on the line would have been better--perhaps implementing the suggestions to a lesser degree to reflect that Vulcan's are overly cautious compared to humans.
I'm really hoping they get over the Vulcan bashing fairly soon. Archer turning to T'Pol with this exasperated look on his face is over the top. As the captain, he should at least consider her suggestions with respect...she is the only one of them that has ever explored another planet after all. What's the point of having her on board if they are just going to scoff at everything she says?
I've got something burning in the back of mind that's really bugging me. They've talked quite a bit about trading ships (Mayweather grew up on one)--so who are they trading with if they haven't even visited the nearest star systems? And where did Phlox come from anyway? Even the official ST site lists him as "species unknown". Does it make any sense to have a crew memeber from some mystery species, home planet unknown? Here's a species we've never seen in another ST series, and they were crew on the first exploration vessel? You got some 'splainin to do Lucy!
I get the feeling that there are Human colonies on various planets, not to mention the Vulcans, that would require trading ships. Also there is the possibility that Humans are mining on uninhabited planets in their neck of the woods.
The trip down to the planet was a bit fast, hopefully Archer has learned something from this.
I think that the Vulcan bashing will decrease. T'Pol has supported Archer (she didn't turn the ship around when he was unconcious in Broken Arrow) and has provided the crew with some valuable insight (the probes). As T'Pol takes actions that help the crew learn, the Vulcan bashing should decrease.
It sounds like the Vulcans have done a fair amount to frustrate Human exploration of spcae, at least from the Human point of view. I get the feeling that the relationship between Humans and Vulcans at this stage is similar to Humans and Minbari on B5. The Vulcans worry that Humans are too impulsive and not ready to handle space exploration yet. The Humans want to go out and explore and are not all that willing to accept advise from the Vulcans. The two clash and there is tension. Over time, that tension will diminish.
It would help if T'Pol wasn't quite so stand offish. The female crewmember tries to engage T'Pol in conversation and T'Pol blows her off. That does not help the situation.
I think part of what I like about this show is that it deals with the development of Starfleet. I like watching Humans and Vulcans interact at this stage. I like watching the dumb mistakes. I know where it all ends up but it is cool to see how it starts.
Thanks for the kind welcoming words, all. Good to be among friends...
*Enterprise* is certainly in the unenviable position of having a future already fully developed and dissected by a rabid fan base, while having a past that is nearly completely unknown. But then, maybe that's part of the fun that is designed (or maybe not designed -- let's not give them TOO much credit, after all, they use temporal distortions as an 'out' way too much in this universe)into the show. What we can piece together from ST:TNG (with Q at the beginning and the end) and from the movies is that Earth had gone through some Very Bad Times in the 100 years before the show. Of course, that shouldn't have caused the massive loss of common sense that we're seeing (though it certainly could have resulted in the loss of a lot of technical prowess); but then, the feel I get when watching Archer and crew is that they're like little kids when the parents (read Vulcans) aren't around, doing things that they've always wanted to do, even if/especially since the parents wouldn't approve.
Is this smart? no...
Is it realistic? well, probably not ...
Is it fun? Yeah, sorta, if you don't think too hard about it ...
and some random thoughts --
Phlox: the result of an unholy crossing of a Talaxian and a Cardassian (no doubt accomplished by a wormhole or a time-distortion) -- and btw: I sorta like the character ;-)
Did anybody else think that the being in the time-communication thing looked somewhat like a Vorta (seemed to have that jaw-to-ear crest when we saw him/her/it the second time) ... that might be especially interesting, hmm?
I think that being was intentionally made to resemble a variety of species to keep us guessing. It sort of looked Vulcan/Romulan to me, but who knows? Unless they come back to it, I don't know that it matters.
Phlox isn't bothering me too much. My Neelix reborn fears have abated, and he's certainly not as annoying as Wesley!
| Posted By: ZimNova Oct 11, 2001 - 06:38 pm | | Master......Wesley Crusher, the bane of STNG. Smart assed wiz kid.
Better yet in the new series Enterprise, is that the production staff have done away with Jerry Taylor, whom was behind the conversion to a *Politically Correct* version of the franchise as seen during the last 3 seasons of DS-9 and all of STV.
This PC version of the series turned off a lot of viewers, (myself included) as we went away from great stories to *political* statements shown to we viewers as *entertainment*.
Yeah the world is a tough place, but we will not solve all of it's problems in a 60 minute TV show.
| Posted By: Iznardi Oct 12, 2001 - 04:58 am | | Gee, I've become the Master's ventriliquist doll (hey, watch the hands!)
Hey there Asp, hey P.C.
This was the third in the B-/C+ episodes for me. I still like the characters (I even am getting used to Dr. Neeli . . . oops, I mean Phlox); but this was another lame story. No one would dash down to an unknown planet without at least some precautions (about bacteria and disease, among other things). I guess you can argue that exposure to potentially dangerous microbes is part of life in space--certainly it would be a danger with every alien encounter--and the crew has to take risks as part of their normal routine. But I agree with the Master that it would have taken only 10 seconds of air time to say they had already sent in the standard probes and uncovered nothing dangerous, and that Dr. Phlox was advising them about potential risks of exposure. It's these small things that the series seems to lack--no commitment to detail.
On the positive side, Captain Archer has now replaced Captain Sheridan as SciFi's biggest chowderhead, so I can watch B5 with a feeling of vindication. Here's a guy who is in charge of the away team, and can't even make it back to the rendezvous on time. Yep, that's the guy I want to lead me.
Speaking of developing protocols, I guess the "wear a red shirt and get killed" protocol hasn't come into existence yet. The crew member at risk didn't seemed to be wearing the same jump-suit as everybody else.
| Posted By: nomad Oct 13, 2001 - 11:35 am | | (This is Nomad....) I personally thought it waw a good first planet ep. I am actually expecting to see this Cowboy exploration attitude for a little while. If they can naturally combine the cautions of the Vulcans and the go-get em attitude of the humans, then youll start to see the beginnings of the startfeet regulations that weve come to know in the other series. You cant just jump into the type of exploraion that is too rigid. I saqy they take their time. Its the mistakes trhat are fun to watch. Phloxx....I'm still reserving judgment...but he seems to be getting a groove of his own. I like what I see so far....it's hard to live up to the ST franchise.
-Nomad
-Nommy
[there was some kind of error when you posted, but luckily I was able to restore your post from the admin. Sorry about that Nomad! - The Master]
| Posted By: Nomad Oct 16, 2001 - 08:36 am | | Master,
Thanks for getting that post up. I appreciate it.
-Nommy
| Posted By: ZimNova Oct 16, 2001 - 12:03 pm | | Well now that I've had the chance to watch the entire episode I liked *SNW* way better than the second one.
There were some corny lines. Trip to T'Pol; "You expect us to stay up here while the probes have all the fun?".
The risks of just rushing down to an unknown planet without doing the proper surveying and basic research should now be appearant one would think.
That *3rd crewman* sure was a weak sister character but that was part of the story. Too bad he survived, JMS would have killed him off. I think it would have sent a stronger message to Archer and the rest of the crew about messing up in space had he died.
One part that was way cool was how the transporter's buffers could not distinguish between his body and the leaves being blown about by the wind when they beamed him up.
Whoa, no wonder they would rather use the shuttles eh?
Trip was tripin'.
I liked how the EFX crew did the imaginary rock creatures (i almost shuttered thinking,"if they find any silicon eggs laying about i'm outta here"). That was good as was the interaction between the away team in the cave as the level of paranoia grew. One could see that even T'Pol was barely able to keep it together and that was only by the force of her Vulcan willpower.
Archer using the built in discipline that exists in a military command to blindly follow the orders of a superior officer worked not only as an effective plot device but also saved Trip and the rest of the away team. Well written.
Hoshi did better too. Staying on the bridge she used her skills communicating in Vulcan with T'Pol to the best advantage in Archer's plan to convince Trip to drop his weapon.
Overall I give *SNW* a 8/10 for the excellent EFX, writing and for allowing the cast to flex their acting muscles during the scenes in the cave while under the influence of the spores. ZimNova
| Posted By: Iznardi Oct 21, 2001 - 11:31 am | | forgot to mention, when i was a kid, and had any illness that led to fever, i always had dream deliriums about being trapped in a cave with clay-like "rock people" suddenly coming out of the walls. wonder if the writer that similar nightmares.
| Posted By: Azziz Oct 26, 2001 - 08:20 pm | | LOL, Iz.
I think running off to do a personal excursion that to the dimmest of bulbs is a obvious trap when you are the leader of a rebellion and have access to more info then anyone else in the rebellion is more Chowderhead, than arriving late to a rendezvous. Especially since you believe the planet to be non-hostile.
| Posted By: fanuilh Dec 15, 2001 - 07:07 pm | | This was the first time I was able to see this episode, so I'm still playing catch-up.
I kept thinking how lovely the planet was. It was gorgeous. Clean air, lots of vegetation, plenty of available water. So... how come nobody lives there? Didn't anybody in the survey team think about that? Maybe I'm just paranoid, but that would disturb me. Nice place; how come nobody's here? I thought maybe the nocturnal marsupials would turn out to be ravening carnivores, but instead the hazard was pollen.
T'Pol had a point, in a week the planet still would have been there. I suppose the plan is to play up the difference between the Vulcan way of doing things and the Human way of doing things, but, IMHO, they keep presenting the Human way of doing things as some form of buffoonery. Surely we'd have smartened up a little by the time this story is to be taking place, eh?
The special effects were way cool, though. I liked the rock people, they were nifty.
Good thing there wasn't anything on the planet that would have regarded the dog as food. That would have been a bummer.
And I'm with BMat on the idiocy of sending pretty much the entire command staff down in the pod to "check the place out." One equipment malfunction and it's back to Earth to get another captain, another engineer, another science officer.... Sheez. Kirk used to go on all the landing party teams, but he was a cowboy. Archer doesn't seem so much cowboyish as... well... unthinking. And I like Scott Bakula. Pfffft.
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