# Enterprise, 2nd episode and I'm losing interest **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 4, 2001, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/enterprise-2nd-episode-and-im-losing-interest/85305 "2001-10-04T01:43:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![The\_Controvert](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/dec6dc/32.png) [@The\_Controvert](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Controvert)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2001, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/enterprise-2nd-episode-and-im-losing-interest/85305/21 "2001-10-04T15:13:44Z")
> [@](#): > > Crap, looks like I’m addicted…I’m defending too vociferously. Not at all, I had many of the same explanations in mind. It looks to me like it’s become fashionable around here to complain about this or that in Star Trek. Must be quite a fun little ego stroke to be the first to post about plot problem X that YOU, of all people, first uncover. It must be more fun to howl about nits than it is to actually create an episode, otherwise a lot of folks here would actually work in show business instead of casually smirking about how much better they would be at making / writing / producing a sci-fi series. What would your rather have… a new episode each week, or nothing, because they’re busy building a set to properly film the Warp 4.5 to Warp 5 celebration party sequence? ---
**Author:** ![the\_coffeehood](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/9dc877/32.png) [@the\_coffeehood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/the_coffeehood)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2001, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/enterprise-2nd-episode-and-im-losing-interest/85305/22 "2001-10-04T15:31:49Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by **The Controvert** \* > …It looks to me like it’s become fashionable around here to complain about this or that in Star Trek. Must be quite a fun little ego stroke to be the first to post about plot problem X that YOU, of all people, first uncover. > > It must be more fun to howl about nits than it is to actually create an episode… I think you should visit [this page](http://www.personcentered.org/writings/quest3.html) and perhaps you’ll feel calmer. ---
**Author:** ![Schadenfreude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ac8455/32.png) [@Schadenfreude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Schadenfreude)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2001, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/enterprise-2nd-episode-and-im-losing-interest/85305/23 "2001-10-04T15:59:16Z")
I was impressed that the aliens actually had a non-oxygen atmosphere, necessitating the use of space suits. (Although I hate the big brims on the helmets! If I am exploring an unknown craft, I want as large a field of view as possible. I don’t want things dropping from the ceiling on me.) Trek has been reluctant in the past to make aliens breathe anything but oxygen. However, I got a bit jumpy when the away team was coming back to the Enterprise, and they were checked for contamination in the airlock–with their helmets off! Apparently, any space germs on their suits wouldn’t bother creeping up to their heads. Or maybe they just wanted to take a trip to the gel room. ---
**Author:** ![pezwookiee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/9d8465/32.png) [@pezwookiee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pezwookiee)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2001, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/enterprise-2nd-episode-and-im-losing-interest/85305/24 "2001-10-04T16:20:16Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by carnivorousplant \* > \*\* > > > [@](#): > > > > \*Originally posted by Telemark \* > > \*\*Sure, the timing of the both alien ships arriving was a bit hokey, but that’s the nature of TV. > > \*\* > > Neelix-esque cook? Say what? > \*\* I meant the good doctor. Dr. Phlox. Sorry. 'bout that… but hey, you knew what I meant, right? ---
**Author:** ![Sofa\_King](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/58956e/32.png) [@Sofa\_King](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sofa_King)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2001, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/enterprise-2nd-episode-and-im-losing-interest/85305/25 "2001-10-04T16:53:09Z")
I expected to see David Bowman walk through the set at any time. Nice touch with the suits. There are some good things going on. The Doctor is turning out to be a new, complex sort of character, unlike most ST figures. The ship itself is already starting to take on a defiant sort of personality–I loved the butt-shot with the pissant little torpedo as they ran away. This, I think, was supposed to be the premise of _Voyager_: always outnumbered, always outgunned. But… Language Girl needs… acting lessons. Vulcan Woman needs to calm down a little. Is anyone else getting the impression that space near Earth is quite a well-populated place? I find that to be a little disconcerting. In general, I like the chemistry and have the patience to watch it develop. I like the emerging plan which seems to account for non-oxygen breathing critters. I’m gonna give this one a chance. It’s already beat Space Station 90210 and Star Trek: The Ten Second Countdown Series. Good for them, and us. ---
**Author:** ![Fiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e274bd/32.png) [@Fiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiver)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2001, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/enterprise-2nd-episode-and-im-losing-interest/85305/26 "2001-10-04T17:25:53Z")
I’ll admit, there was one bit I liked: when the torpedo was deflected, turned around and headed back toward _Enterprise_, there was no phony tension or panic, just a droll look from the Captain as Reed shamefacedly detonated the torpedo remotely. (But why were they using real torpedos for target practice? Haven’t they ever heard of dummy rounds?) ---
**Author:** ![MsWhatsit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/eb8c5e/32.png) [@MsWhatsit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsWhatsit)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2001, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/enterprise-2nd-episode-and-im-losing-interest/85305/27 "2001-10-04T17:41:16Z")
I like the submarine-like feel of the ship. The shot of Scott Bakula sliding down that ladder into the engine room really made the episode for my Navy retiree husband. For the rest of the episode, he couldn’t stop saying, “Show the ladders again!” But yes, the Vulcan chick needs to chill her shit out, pardon my French. She is way, way, way too emotional for a Vulcan. Actors who have played Vulcans in the past have done an excellent job of expressing sarcasm, contempt, or irony, with a mere raise of an eyebrow. Everything that comes out of T’Pol’s mouth is dripping with sarcasm – enough already! Can’t she say just _something_ in a flat, Vulcan, unemotional voice? It’s really starting to bug me. Yes, OK, she dislikes the humans, we GET IT ALREADY. The other characters are starting to gel for me a little better than they did in the first episode. I do like the … cook? Doctor? The guy who kept wanting to feed the slug to his pet bat. And I like Scott Bakula’s captain a lot. Also, as many have said, I’m more or less going to give the first season a free pass, because I don’t think there’s BEEN a Star Trek series that had a first season I enjoyed. Oh, and of course, the sooner they lose the theme song, the better. ---
**Author:** ![Ferrous](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Ferrous](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferrous)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2001, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/enterprise-2nd-episode-and-im-losing-interest/85305/28 "2001-10-04T18:06:07Z")
Um… Was I the only one who was just a _teeny_ bit disappointed when the away team came back from the alien ship and the doctor pronounced them “clean”? (Hence no need for a goo-rubbing scene featuring Hoshi?..) ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2001, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/enterprise-2nd-episode-and-im-losing-interest/85305/29 "2001-10-04T19:17:37Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by MsWhatsit \* > \*\*I like the submarine-like feel of the ship. The shot of Scott Bakula sliding down that ladder \*\* They visited a nuke when designing the set. Maybe they saw someone slide down. ^:)^ Why do so many people thing Phlox is the cook? All cooks look like Neelix? ---
**Author:** ![the\_coffeehood](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/9dc877/32.png) [@the\_coffeehood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/the_coffeehood)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2001, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/enterprise-2nd-episode-and-im-losing-interest/85305/30 "2001-10-04T19:25:44Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by **MsWhatsit** \* > \*\*…Actors who have played Vulcans in the past have done an excellent job of expressing sarcasm, contempt, or irony, with a mere raise of an eyebrow…Oh, and of course, the sooner they lose the theme song, the better. \*\* Hear, Hear! ---
**Author:** ![Saltire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saltire/32/553_2.png) [@Saltire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saltire)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2001, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/enterprise-2nd-episode-and-im-losing-interest/85305/31 "2001-10-04T19:45:42Z")
I liked the fact that the torpedoes were just impulse-drive missiles. They clearly don’t go FTL, and they don’t have much payload. I hope that they’ll pop back to spacedock from time to time for upgrades (I’d love a show about the invention and first use of ship phasers), but it’s great that they’re starting off so poorly armed compared to the rest of the space-faring galaxy. I really hope Hoshi starts enjoying exploration soon. It’s usually irritating when characters change too suddenly, but she’s really got to get into this, rather than always trying to be as useless as she can be. Has T’Pol used the Vulcan eyebrow yet? I haven’t watched carefully for it (she tends to distract me somehow), and I’m now wishing I had. It would really be a bad sign if they cast a Vulcan main character with someone that couldn’t arch one brow in a borderline-inhuman way. ---
**Author:** ![MsWhatsit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/eb8c5e/32.png) [@MsWhatsit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsWhatsit)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2001, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/enterprise-2nd-episode-and-im-losing-interest/85305/32 "2001-10-04T19:51:16Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Saltire \* > Has T’Pol used the Vulcan eyebrow yet? I haven’t watched carefully for it (she tends to distract me somehow), and I’m now wishing I had. It would really be a bad sign if they cast a Vulcan main character with someone that couldn’t arch one brow in a borderline-inhuman way. Yeah, in last night’s episode, she had a mini-brow arch, but nothing major. She tends to act more with vocal inflection than facial expression, which is just WRONG WRONG WRONG for a Vulcan character. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Controvert](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/dec6dc/32.png) [@The\_Controvert](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Controvert)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2001, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/enterprise-2nd-episode-and-im-losing-interest/85305/33 "2001-10-04T20:02:18Z")
> [@](#): > > bad sign if they cast a Vulcan main character with someone that couldn’t arch one brow in a borderline-inhuman way. Maybe they should cast Dwayne Johnson (a.k.a. The Rock). Oh wait, they did… [http://www.startrek.com/library/media\_voy.asp?id=104294](http://www.startrek.com/library/media_voy.asp?id=104294) wasn’t a Vulcan, though. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2001, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/enterprise-2nd-episode-and-im-losing-interest/85305/34 "2001-10-04T20:05:16Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by MsWhatsit \* > \*\*[ WRONG WRONG WRONG for a Vulcan character. \*\* So, who is she going out with, Berman or Bragga? Ouch. That was mean. ---
**Author:** ![Alzarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@Alzarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alzarian)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2001, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/enterprise-2nd-episode-and-im-losing-interest/85305/35 "2001-10-04T20:10:48Z")
Just to play devil’s advocate… She was apparently on Earth for sometime, so its possible being away from Vulcan has affected her subconciously. Also, we are a good hundred or so years away from TOS. Weren’t the Vulcans known for being a warlike race in their history? As a society, they have perhaps not yet adapted to the level we’ve seen in the later series… Plus, who says all Vulcans have to have the same interpretation? Earth humans certainly don’t all act the same way. Even Vulcans have been known to have varying personalities. Just look at Sybock. Personally, I haven’t really been all that impressed with T’pol yet either, but I’m willing to give her a little more time to develop the character… ---
**Author:** ![MsWhatsit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/eb8c5e/32.png) [@MsWhatsit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsWhatsit)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2001, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/enterprise-2nd-episode-and-im-losing-interest/85305/36 "2001-10-04T20:20:35Z")
Fair enough, **Alzarian**. I too am hoping T’Pol develops into a more interesting and likable character. Not that she has to be Miss Mary Sunshine, but it would be nice if some of her more bitchy sarcastic edge came off. And I can also see where you’re coming from, saying that perhaps the Vulcans just haven’t managed to completely isolate their emotions at this point in their history. The Vulcan high command (or whoever it was in the first episode) seemed to be more emotional than usual, as well. Maybe that’s a conscious decision on the part of the show’s creators. Still bugs me a little, though. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2001, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/enterprise-2nd-episode-and-im-losing-interest/85305/37 "2001-10-04T21:12:43Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Alzarian \* > \*\*Just to play devil’s advocate… > > Weren’t the Vulcans known for being a warlike race in their history? As a society, they have perhaps not yet adapted to the level we’ve seen in the later series… > \*\* I thought that Surak (or Sarek? Same guy played both, Marc Lenard) I thought the logic thing happened in antiquity. Maybe living with humans does freak them out as Archer said. Anyway, news on little Miss Sunshine and her, er, eyebrows: [http://www.section31.com/stories/oct-2001/100401\_b.htm](http://www.section31.com/stories/oct-2001/100401_b.htm) ---
**Author:** ![tracer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tracer/32/20578_2.png) [@tracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tracer)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2001, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/enterprise-2nd-episode-and-im-losing-interest/85305/38 "2001-10-04T23:39:39Z")
dalovindj wrote: > [@](#): > > And also when we saw the Kilngons in the first series wasn’t that the first time that humans had seen them? I think you’re thinkin’ of the Romulans. ---
**Author:** ![Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otto)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2001, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/enterprise-2nd-episode-and-im-losing-interest/85305/39 "2001-10-04T23:54:23Z")
I noticed Archer said something about zero-G training this episode. Someone from Paramount must have read my complaint about that here re the first episode. Agree completely with the gripes about Hoshi picking up the language so quickly. It didn’t sound to me like she was just repeating the same phrases. She started out slow then picked up apparent fluency in the course of about two minutes. Ridiculous. Also, it looked to me like the shuttle docking area was quite far away from the contamination scanning area. o what, they walk through the docking area, spreading space plague in their wak, until they get to decontamination? How much gel do they have on that ship? ---
**Author:** ![tracer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tracer/32/20578_2.png) [@tracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tracer)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2001, 11:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/enterprise-2nd-episode-and-im-losing-interest/85305/40 "2001-10-04T23:59:33Z")
Telemark wrote: > [@](#): > > What I would have liked is seeing more of the first contact, after the battle. Why bother? All alien species in the _Star Trek_ universe have psychologies indistinguishable from humans.[ul][li]Vulcans are humans who suppress their emotions (like the Stoics of ancient Greece)[/li][li]Klingons are humans that value honor and violent hunter behavior (not unlike some cultures on Earth today)[/li][li]Bajorans are humans after being under a decades-long military occupation[/li][li]Cardassians are humans after **committing** a decades-long military occupation[/li][li]Trill hosts are humans in a culture that has access to symbiotic critters[/li][li]Ferengi are that segment of the human population that engages in aggressive business practices[/ul]The few alien religions we’ve encountered thus far are dead-ringers for religions we’ve had here on Earth. The Klingon StovoKor is the Viking Valhalla, and the Bajoran church is the Catholic church.[/li] And **mating psychology!** For Kahless’s sake, the chimpanzee, the closest relative of us humans, never forms an emotional pair-bond with its mates. Name me **one** alien species in the _Star Trek_ universe whose mates don’t pair-bond like humans do! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/enterprise-2nd-episode-and-im-losing-interest/85305.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/enterprise-2nd-episode-and-im-losing-interest/85305.md?page=3)