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Posted By: ProfCrash Oct 11, 2001 - 02:10 pm

Who are they (Seriously I am forgetting names right now)? What do you like? Dislike?

Posted By: The Master Oct 11, 2001 - 04:19 pm

You can see the crew and their bios at: http://www.startrek.com/launch/crew.asp

A little early to tell, but so far I like:

T'Pol (1st officer)--good Vulcan attitude.

Commander "Trip" Tucker (engineering)-the Riker of this crew; he's had some of the best lines, and has benefited from being prominent in all the eps (next week is all about him).

So far I don't like:
Ensign Hoshi (communications)--if they develop her better maybe she will be OK, but so far way too whiny.

Ensign Mayweather (helm)--right now, he's not a very interesting character and just seems "there" without contributing anything.

Jury's out on:
Phlox (medical)--fears of Neelix reborn abated, but not enough info to decide yet. I think he may slide by on having "offworlder wisdom" that gives a different perspective. I liked how he wanted to feed Hoshi's slug to his bat.

Lt. Reed (tactical)--I just haven't been able to get a bearing on him yet. I may need some stories to revolve around him to tell. Seems to be the most "by the book" part of the crew, except for T'Pol of course. That can be good or bad, have to see what they do with it.

Capt. Archer--Bakula's performance is fine, but I'm not sure I like the way they've written his character. I'd like to see him be a little more formal.

Like I said, still pretty early to tell. I'm sure my attitudes will shift as the series progresses.

Posted By: AspZelazny Oct 12, 2001 - 11:56 pm

Hmmm ... Let's reveal our prejudices; OK -- I'm up.

Archer: gotta agree with Iz from another thread: the new reigning Chowderhead. Seems likeable in general, but way too much like his puppy-dog (we'll see; maybe not as bright).

T'Pol: If their demographics people said that they had to have a 7o9 clone, then they did a fairly good job. The character seems to have potential, if the writers will allow growth. (Will that happen?) For a pure Vulcan, she seems to be a bit too in touch with her feelings, I'd think; 'course, maybe she's under a lot of stress. Right now, she seems to be mostly acting like a particularly grumpy baby-sitter for some very spoiled kids.

Trip: He sounds too much like Bones McCoy; and perhaps will take on that role as the other side of the emotional balance-beam from T'Pol ... just like the McCoy - Spock paradigm. If they do that, I think that will get old very fast: we've seen it already (in the future)

Hoshi: they've given her an unenviable role as a reluctant participant who knew she didn't want to be there -- but so far, it's been a bit shrill. I see potential depth in the character though, and the linguistic skills may morph into a kind of telepathy, to judge by her performance with last week's race. Telepathy amongst Earthers hasn't been much of a ST theme ... could be something to develop (??)

Phlox: A different kind of doctor -- how 'New Age' that he uses roots and critters rather than Tricoders. But his role as an extreme outsider and observer of the crew "humans under stress" could very well make him a potential breakout character. Already his unusual responses to social/interpersonal situations mark him as Very Alien. I hope they don't try to make him *Want To Learn To Be Human*. Got a kick out of his CGI grin in the first episode -- that was unexpected.

"Boomer" Mayweather: so, he's been traveling in near-space all his life, and apparently a hotshot pilot. We've seen this character before. But maybe that's not fair; he's only been sketched out so far.

Reed: another thinly sketched character. "By the Book"? maybe -- I get the impression that he's gonna be a bit of a prig.

Posted By: ZimNova Oct 13, 2001 - 09:40 am

Thanks for that link Master.
Thing is as you read the character bios there are spoilers like, "T'Pol and Archer will learn mutual respect". I am hoping T'Pol will retain that "in your face Earther" attitude.
About our Vulcans.
While I'm no expert on Trek history I do seem to recall that the Vulcans have different levels of control over their emotions, that is they are not born like say Spock but rather have to work towards higher and higher degrees of control over a long period of time to obtain a *pure emotionless state*.
Sarak & Spock were both over 100 years old while T'Pol's age is listed as *unknown*, but she does appear to be 60-75 in Vulcan years (28 earth standard years), so maybe she's only reached level 6 of 10 in terms of total control?

One thing that gets me about our good doctor Phlox is his species is listed as *unknown*???
Is that *good* unknown or *bad* unknown? Will he morph into a werewolf on the rising of the 3rd moon of Uzrestel?
It seems pretty far-fetched to me that any unknown species would be allowed aboard a starship traveling into deep space.
Then again they could be setting us up for a grand revelation or great discovery down the road with this mystery. We'll see.

Hoshi. They can space her any time IMHO.
I'll just wait and hope she like Jool on Farscape, who also started out as a lost little lamb in space, will have her character developed into one we can care about instead of be annoyed by.
A sexy leather outfit might help as well (just kidding).

Posted By: Bmat Oct 13, 2001 - 10:54 am

I wondered why in the world an alien of unknown species would be selected as chief medical officer. The bio says that Phlox has special ways of healing, so I suppose that could be the reason. There may be a history of his doing wonderful cures about which we don't know yet, so he was considered the best for the job.

Good point about Hoshi vs Jool, Zim. Jool always seemed an interesting character to me though. Maybe it was the humorous side to her being a spoiled society girl thrown into the dangerous situation. Hoshi seems pallid by comparison.

Posted By: The Master Oct 13, 2001 - 06:01 pm

Adding to what Zim said about Vulcan control, this series is the past. In the first ep they showed the Vulcan Ambassador (or whatever his title was) getting miffed and a comment was made about his control. It could be that Vulcans in general have not developed as good of control techniques as they have in later series. You may recall in TOS that Spock's mating heat had only one option...return to Vulcan or die. In Voyager, there were meditations that Tuvok and the other Vulcan (can't remember his name...the minor character that showed up once in a while) were able to use with some success, and they were able to use Holodecks to simulate their spouses and overcome it. Emotional control could evolve like that too. This would give them some flexibilty to make T'Pol more interesting.

Posted By: ProfCrash Oct 14, 2001 - 08:52 am

Archer a chowderhead? I am holding off on using that title. All we have so far is a decision to take his time exploring a new planet. Not chowderheadish, at least to me. Heck, drop me off on my first new planet and see how well I do keeping track of time.

When Archer abandons a war effort that he heads (not once but twice) then I will be willing to look at the chowderhead issue.

So far he has been late once and rushed a decision to go to a new planet. On the other hand, he has found a way to get his people to push past their limits (Hoshi) and prevented Trip from blowing away T'Pol in a rather clever manner. And his dog is cute. I really like the dog.

T'Pol I like. she seems to be a normal Vulcan. She seems exasperated (sp) with the Humans she is forced to work with but that is all.

Hoshi, really annoying in the second episode. Then again, I can understand her reaction. I think we all have to remember that this is the farthest Humans have been in space. The crew is encountering things never seen before and they are going to react accordingly. Hoshi freaks out but in the end gets it together. She has no idea what she can and cannot handle but she is trying.

Trip: I like Trip. Trip is interesting. Someone compared him to Riker but that is just not the case. Trip actually does something on the ship other then pose and hit on women. It is going to be interesting to see how Trip responds to all that he is going to see.

Mayweather seems boring. Outside of flying the ship what does he do? No personality but it is early.

Pholx ok so I had some Nelix flashbacks but that's about it. He seems to have a clue about what he is doing. His choice of medical treatments should be interesting, since many involve the use of animals. Choosing a Doctor that has been in space before makes a lot of sense. Why send along a Star Fleet doctor who has no idea what might be seen? Especially when you have a Doctor working with Star Fleet who has been in space and worked with other alien races.

Lt. Reed: I am assuming that he is the curly headed one with he accent? It's the only way I can identify him since all he has done is complain about the weapons and beamed a few things aboard. (shrugs)

Posted By: Rowyn Oct 14, 2001 - 12:26 pm

A few random comments...

Phlox...I think that something was said in the pilot about why he was selected to serve as the medical officer on the Enterprise. Because of the crisis with the Klingon, the ship needed to take off sooner than expected. Archer needed to find a first officer, a medical officer, and a communications officer rather quickly. Phlox happened to be on Earth through a Vulcan medical exchange program and he agreed to go. As for his race, I don't think it's "unknown"; rather it's undisclosed to us. I figure they will tell us more about his race later on in the series. While I, too, admit I thought of Neelix when I first saw him, I don't think he's at all like Neelix now. He seems very sharp, observant, and skilled in alternative medicine. He should be a real asset to the crew.

T'Pol...Piscea had a Vulcan character in Triskelion called T'Pal. I couldn't help think of that character when I first met T'Pol. But T'Pal was much more Vulcan than T'Pol. ;o) Perhaps Zim and the Master are right. I am willing to accept her emotionality for now. Can't stand her "uniform", though. It's sad how they had to give her a Seven-like outfit. Makes them look so desperate to attract the young male viewers. (Guess that's also why they selected that awful theme song.)

Archer...Like someone else said, Bakula's performance is ok, but I like my captains a bit more formal. The "gee-wow" attitude could get a little old fast.

Hoshi...Ditto on the annoying comments made by others. I did like her when she rose to the pressures, went into autopilot, and just did her job efficiently. I think I could like her if she just gave up the whining.

Trip...As someone else said, he did remind me a bit of Dr. McCoy. That's not a really bad thing, I guess. He's eager yet laid back. He's ok.

None of the other characters have left an impression at all. Oh, I do like the dog, though I can't for the life of me figure out why they would let one on board a ship like this one. The practical side of me wonders about things like...well, let's not go there. ;o)

P.S. It's nice to see some familiar faces here!

Posted By: Azziz Oct 14, 2001 - 09:14 pm

Ok, let's see...

Seven of Nine...er, T'Pol sort of irritates me. Her vulcaness is fine, but by making the Vulcan the babe, they have duplicated the 7of9 formula and a *formula* it now is. *sigh*

Trip: Probably my favorite so far. First ep had trouble distiguising between him and Britan boy. Why they gave the two guys that looked the most alike accents was confusing for me.

The Doctor: Like him a lot. I didn't have Neelix flashbacks, he seemed too self assured at the start. I seriously hope his race is not unknown to Starfleet, just unknown to us. That would be too Odo and be been there, done that. His character could potentionally be the most interesting.

Britan boy: Hope they do a standout for him soon. So far I keep expecting to see Bashir when I hear his voice.

Yoshi: I like her character. This is the first time these people have gone on a space mission. They have no clue what they will find and the Vulcan's have filled their heads with you're not ready stories.

The Captain: I like him, but have to rationalize his being there because it was short notice.

The Dog: Stand out character on the show. I absolutely adore him. And he is being a good plot device.

Overall, I like the characters, but would like them more fleshed out.

Posted By: Nomad Oct 16, 2001 - 09:12 am

Trip: I liken him to being the one that keeps the everyday crap from having to go to the captains ears. Unlike Riker, however, he certainly has a major problem with Vulcans. That much has been made clear. I kinda like T'Pol, aside from the sexy outfit. She is not completely rigid and humnanity is certainly rubbing off on her quickly. She does not have the same disciplins as , as someone said, Spock or Sarek. I still do not have any real comments on anyone else. I do expect to see out beloved dog get into some kind of genetic trouble somewhere. We shall see.