mikehunt

focused on Phlox tonight
Archer foreshadows the prime directive, an alien race asked for warp technology, they had had contact with other warp races, so they knew what it was, they just don't have it.
Phlox helped develope a medicine to cure this race of some disease
Ferengi were mentioned
cute crewman from the pollen episode wa back, and she and Phlox might be starting something

Next week, Klingons and it looks like it might be the beginning of that war that the disasterous first contact lead to (assuming continuity with statements in TNG that first contact with the klingons went bad and lead to a huge war)

mllefoo

It would have been interesting for Kirk to meet the Ferengi.

I'm still hoping to see the Gorn again.

mikehunt

Kirk would have instituted Ferengi rules about women on his ship
and while I too would like to see the Gorn again, for there to be any continuity we won't be able to. They really should have been in DS9, helping to fight the dominion. I think a gorn could take a Jimhadar

Josh-da-man

Curious. How were the Ferengi known about back in ENTERPRISE's day?

Didn't the Enterprise-D make first visual contact with them in the first season of TNG? How do a race like the Ferengi -- who constantly seem to be conducting business, salvaging, scavenging, swindling, whatever else they seem to excel at -- go unseen for hundreds of years, especially if they're hanging out in the vicinity? Maybe they could get away with it if they didn't want to be seen, but that certainly doesn't seem to mesh with the character of the species.

This is just one of those little continuity things that bug me. Like Guinan and her people being rescued from the Borg in Generations -- and then when Picard anc co. encounter them decades later nobody has ever heard of them? You'd think some of the El-Aurians would have, you know, mentioned something.

What kind of intelligence program does Earth/Starfleet have?

JuryDuty

Show wasn't bad tonight, but it's starting to feel stiffer to me--kind of like they're going back to the "Star Trek formula" and doing less of the unusual, which made the pilot so great. Just seemed a little dry to me tonight.

Eric F

Kirk pointed out that they had never encountered the Gorn before.

That being said, it appears that Enterprise exists in its own timeline, so anything's bound to happen. I'm having a love/hate relationship with this show. So many of the things they're doing are right, then an episode like tonight's just pisses me off.

Red Dog

I thought that this was the best episode by far. It was definitely the most thought provoking and was reminiscent of the glory days of TOS and TNG. Excellent precursor to the Prime Directive.

grunter

This was - by far, bar none - the best episode of any Star Trek show for the last 5 years. Yes, it suffered somewhat from the usual "cram-as-much-crap-into-the-final-act-as-possible" Trek formula. The quick jump in logic on Phlox's part about the evolutionary future history of the Menks and the super-cheesy "someday there will be a directive" speech detracted from an otherwise flawless character building episode.

I loved Phlox's morning routine with his creatures. I loved the interplay between Phlox and the female crewman - especially the awkward explanations of Phlox's culture (multiple wives/husbands). And the movie scene - with Phlox being so curious as to the emotional attachment of humans to fictional characters - said more about the crew and Phlox than the whole run of Star Trek:Next Generation said about Data's being human or the whole run of ST: DS9 said about Kira's vengeance.

Could it be? Could the writers finally be getting "it?" I'm actually holding out faint hope now. What a strange feeling. To NOT totally hate what's going on in the latest installment of Star Trek. My god - they might rescue this franchise after all.

P.S. One nit-pick: could the stars please move when they are shown out a view-port window? Looking out the windows in the mess-hall or in the conference room, you'd think the Enterprise was dead in space. Give us some movement effects people. Please.

Wizdar

I thought this was probably the best episode to date. Solid acting and writing for the most part, which is unusual, IMO.

While I’m not a big fan of beagles, Porthos makes me smile whenever (s)he gets a scene. Gratuitous? Of course. But I don’t mind. This thing about cheese, though, I don’t understand.

I’m REALLY bothered by the distraction involving the Universal Translator. There are many inconsistencies with this device that are better left unexplained and it’s technology that should be in the background so it doesn’t distract from the plot. The main problem being how does everyone’s mouth suddenly start working in harmony with the translation? This is an old question and one that has never had a satisfactory answer.

When you focus on technology in Sci Fi it’s incumbent on the writers to provide a suitable explanation to answer such an obvious question. Not having one, it’s best to consider it an ancillary device that works in the background with as little as possible mentioned, as they did in TOS. Having Hoshi constantly futz with it just draws attention to it and raises questions like this. And, why did the device finally work for the Valakians but not for the Menks?

I’m quite willing to assert some “suspension of disbelief” on technology that is not used as a major plot device, but not when it’s constantly thrust in my face.

It’s quite insulting that the writers seem to think that we are so STUPID that we need a “hint” about a major continuity issue that anybody with half a brain knew was coming.

Archer: But until somebody tells me that they’ve drafted that [pregnant pause] directive [wink wink, nudge nudge] [pregnant pause that goes into labor], blah blah blah…

What’s next? Pop up factiod balloons? Sheesh!

Josh-da-man, you bring up very interesting points about the Ferengi. All I can say is something mentioned in an earlier episode (and in Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy), “Space is REALLY big.”

However, "we" (humans) have not actually encountered them, merely heard about them from the Valakians. I don’t see a continuity issue here.

I think the discussion of the way they handled the “helping” of the Valakians (and the Prime Directive issue) could go a long way. There are many ways they could have handled it, and this was just one of them. I’m not sure I agree or disagree. It’s more of a judgment call, IMO.

JuryDuty, yes it was a little “dry.” Good science fiction often is. It’s what separates something like 2001 from “Battlestar Galactica.”
Dream on, Batman.

Kudama

I thoroughly enjoyed pretty much every minute of this one (except the theme, it ain’t growin’ on me, it’s just putting wear and tear on my receiver’s volume spinner).

I dug the subtle question of what to do about the poor sheltered Munchkins. Usually one species comes forth and takes the role of the “bad guy”. I felt for the decision that had to be made. I would’ve probably made the “give ‘em the G@ddam drug.” one, but that’s why I’m not captain.

And I LOVED the cheesy speech. This episode was so intelligently written, with only a shadow of comedic relief, that a bit of self referential space opera dialogue was a perfect counterpoint moment. (It just worked for me. OK?)

Next episode I expect less, (warning, big IMO) but this show is doing better in it’s first season than any of the others (except maybe TOS, I never saw those in order.) I know I’m gonna get ragged on, but I never really saw the charm in the first season of TNG. I liked it well enough, but that show really picked up speed later on.

das Monkey

I've avoided discussing this so far, because I'm having a hard time dealing with what happened last night. I run the words around in my head, and they don't make sense, but I keep hearing the phrase, "Enterprise was really good last night." Now I know this can't really be the case, and I must be going crazy (or crazier). I'm out of balance. My world doesn't make sense anymore. This is quite frustrating.

The "directive" speech was lame and insulting. I got the point - I didn't need Joe Exposition telling me what I had already seen.

But everything else was really well done, including the "relationship" issues with Phlox. N'Pol is still a waste of space, unfortunately, but I just try to ignore her. And I really like the device of a letter to someone else. Sorkin uses this device quite a bit, and it works well. If done properly, the "day in the life" technique of following one character through his routine makes for a nice episode.

das

mikehunt

the ferengi have only been seen by the people on the planet. Picard and crew knew about them before seeing them
Guinan had also visited Earth in the 1800's, she knew Samuel Clemens

Slumbering Fist

Wow, I have to say I was really suprised. Don't get me wrong, overall this is still a weak as Hell series, but this episode was darn good. Despite having- no action, largely absent/dropping in for one line characters, and cheesy Bacula acting with a horrible patronizing speech- I still liked it. I guess its a matter of the good outweighing the bad, and the plot, pleasant dialouge, and development of Dr Phlox was really good.

Once agian though, The Minks (or whatever they were called) lived in a cavelike setting, keeping with the spelunking-love of the show.

Wizdar

I think that's a bit of a stretch.

Discounting das’s crankiness, why is everybody so surprised that they can actually get one right? If the show’s crap, WTF are we doing watching it? Hmmm?

[Wizdar goes off to look up "geek" in the dictionary...]

das Monkey

Well, you know why I'm watching ... "because it's on." And considering the first seasons of TNG, DS9, B5, etc, I'm willing to give a show some benefit of the doubt.

das

P.S. If you have a good dictionary, you'll probably find my elbow near that definition.

Red Dog

One big reason I watch it is because there isn't anything good on at 8 pm (unless there is a good college hoops game on). I checked out the premiere of That 80's Show last night and that will certainly not draw me away from Enterprise.

mikehunt

I like Enterprise, and I like Porthos

*puts on flame resistant suit*

Wizdar

So far, that's about the ONLY place I'm likely to see it. (If I DIDN'T want to see it, the damn_thing would be on every commercial break... )
Woof!

bboisvert

I'm too tired to put my thoughts together... and since I seem to agree 100% with das on this episode, I just give this a "what das said".

Definitely the best Trek episode in many, many years. Unfortunately, in the previews for next week .


Over the course of one episode, I went from not thinking about Phlox at all ... to thinking of him as a real, 3-dimensional character that I cared about. Pretty impressive. Now if they can just flesh out the rest of the cast, we could be in for a decent show.

They also have to stop with all of the cutsie "first time" stuff. Look -- here's the origins of the Prime Directive! Look -- here's why the Klingons hate us! Look -- (spoiler for a future episode) Enough already with the self-referentials, lets get on with the story. And if you *have* to do that sort of stuff, there's no need to hit us over the head with it (like Archer's speech).

But, again, this is the first episode where I actually felt myself interested and caring... and not just watching it because it was Trek and I felt like I have to.

Darren Garrison

And HOW on EARTH could THAT be concidered 'unfortunate"?

Enterprise isn't the best Star Trek series (TNG was) but on it's worst day it is still better than Voyager on it's best.

Rascal

Hmmm, contradicting yourself? I knew I wasn't the only one thinking/noticing this. They just had to put a picture of them there to bring everyone back next week. After such a good episode, that was a downer.....

Wizdar

Rascal , Didn't catch it first time around.

I was wondering if maybe next week was another "sweeps" week or something.

Yah, give us a thoughtfully crafted episode, then follow up with

I don't give much credence to the previews any more. There’s been at least one case where a shot in the previews didn’t even appear in the episode. Next they’ll be quoting from fake reviews…

Slumbering Fist

I said its weak... And, I bailed out of Deep Space Nine in the first season, and didnt discover until reruns after the show was cancelled, how good it got, and its now my favorite Star Trek series. So, although I've skipped an episode of Enterprise and only half watched a few others because I lost interest in them by the 30 min mark, I'll still give it a chance. Besides, I actually watch very little tv regularly, Enterprise is one of the handfull of shows I remind myself to see when new ones are on.

and I'm also a geek... but luckily I'm one who hates complaining, so if Enterprise doenst win me over by the second season, whittle down the grumbles per episode, I wont stick around to whine about it every week. But, for now, in the early days, its kinda' fair.