Thanks for the birthday wishes, Viva! 
I haven’t seen the entire episode yet, but I too liked how the blue-green Xindi output was reflected on Archer’s face. Hehe…Quantum can apply some neuropressure on my fifth vertebrae anytime, btw. 
Woo Hoo!
BTW, did they really show Porthos?! Or is someone teasing?
As Pothos got his scene and whined at an anomaly, I was turning away from the TV and stepped on a dog toy. I thought it was Maggie the dog and cussed.
“Panda”? 
Yep Porthos makes an appearence in the episodes Teaser.
Ok let’s get down to my gripes first.
I have become increasingly aware that Enterprise is no way Star Trek. Trek in its different incarnations (even the odious Voyager) was about something. There was something being said about the human condition, there was a message or a hint about contemporary culture and issues. This episode lake quite a good many is a show about, well guys in space having adventures.
I could ignore the Panda if there was a decent story with it. Hell I’m a TOS fan first and it had its fair share of PANDA (except then it was called Theiss) and even clunky episodes but the majority were about something.
What was this episode about? Mainly the Enterprise is robbed and needs to get their shit back. They briefly touch on some moral issues such as what extremes desperation can lead a person to but they really skim them over to just show that Archer is a bad ass now. No rethinking his actions, no questions (except maybe the brief reaction by Malcolm) and no consequences.
This is what is wrong with enterprise, they believe that drama is merely shit happening to people and how they escape. If they can add a few explosions we might not notice the episode is about nothing.
Perhaps if Archer stole everything from the Death Sphere even they stuff that wasn’t his, or contemplated using the sphere for himself an interesting turn in the story might come up. Will Archer let the brutality of the expanse make him into a brutal man or will he try to rise above it. Or will he see what is happening to him and become frightened by it.
What if he let our friend die in the decompression chamber? Better yet what if Malcolm had merely asked (“What would you have done next if he didn’t talk?”) Give us conswequences to actions. Sure he won but what was the cost?
Early Enterprise tried to have these issues and that first season mostly worked due to it.
Ok minor nits
Lack of Subtley: The Alien (what the hell are they called?): was one of the worst actors I’ve seen in a while. In his description of life in the anomaly he states how it “Changes even living things” and oh so sublty (sarcasim) rubs his hand across the twist in his face. It would have been more effective for him to just say the line and stare at the Captain, have Archer puzzle over the comment and eventually show he understands.
T’pol’s dramatic standing. Ever notice when she has teh conn she does the most unVulcan like things in a crisis. Namely she stands up right into a tense posture. As a Vulcan she should turn her head and simply state the order, perhaps a raised eyebrow to boot. If you are about to be attacked it is illogical to stand up. (especially when your ship shakes everytime you get hit)
TV is a close up medium, you’ll note there are very few long shiots or panoramic scenes. There are tonnes of close ups and tight shots, you don’t have to over do actions they are picked up.
The SPRINGLOADED CORPSETM: Uggh one of the oldest conventions of all time. Guy opens a closet out pops a corpse (what they hell causes these things to pop out anyway) We are all scared and forget to ask what they hell is this guy doing in a closet anyway?
The Floating Aliens: They have been dead for 2 hours and they died from failure of life support, why are they floating around? Did they die and leap into the air. I know the gravity is out but if they are sitting they won’t just float up in the air. A little known law called inertia would keep them in place. The ship didn’t suddenly stop (If it did how?) Perhaps an anomally hit the ship bumping everyone around (And locked a guy in the closet) but then shouldn’t someon not have though the sight out of the ordinary after all these people are supposedly used to space flight?
Ok the good points:
If they are going to explore this better and do something with it I have no problem with the tightly wound Archer. He will have to snap eventually though, or the new characterization is pointless.
Trip’s continuing problems once again lets hope this goes somewhere. It is interesting to see he is starting to make stupid errors due to his lack of sleep and psychological problems.
A Dead Crewmember: Bout time this happened, also that someone pointed out that there will be more before they are done their “suicide” mission.
The over all arc, hopefully they will explore these issues in more depth as the subplots which can flesh out the characters even more, yes even Porthos… I have no hope for Mayweather… Hell Sulu had less dialogue and more character.
Good points, KingPenguin. I was trying to put finger on what bugged me about this episode. “What was this episode about”? pretty much hits it on the head.
Yes, I see how it fits into the arc. Yes, the alien ship was cool. And yes, we see Poerthos! But… it all seemed like the second Back to the Future movie. With nothing before it or after it, it fails as a single episode.
Now, take DS9. It had a continuing story arc (for the last bit). But, even within that arc, individual episodes could stand alone. Sure, certain things were better understood or had more impact if you were already following the arc. And the continuing character developement was important to keep track of. BUT… you could view individual eps and not be lost. ENT isn’t doing this.
How important is that? Well, if they want any new viewers, very. If they’re just making a super long 22 chapter DVD for Trekkers, not very.
I fear this arc may actually doom ENT. Unless there are some truly stellar eps to come.
You guys would complain if you were hanged with a new rope.
And I’d buy it.
Let’s face it they have retooled the series to shore up flagging ratings. They just went the wrong way. Am I wrong for asking for a little quality?
Yeah, well I’d eat chili, beans, stew, and alot of beer too! So that my hanging will be unpleasant for everyone. 
So, I’m in the minority on this ep. The plusses don’t make up for the big minuses of this ep,
in
my
humble
opinion.
Remember, I liked last week’s ep. This one was weak.
Porthos Panda, tho… THAT was nice.
Johnny LA, PANDA refers to pandering. Sexual situations and/or flesh shots for no other reason than simply to have them. I am FOR panda, btw.
kingpengvin:
Re: The Floating Aliens: They have been dead for 2 hours and they died from failure of life support, why are they floating around?
I was under the impression they’d been dead for 2 weeks. Even still, I’d imagine the dockings and redockings would unsettle any non-attached objects.
Re: The SPRINGLOADED CORPSE
That wasn’t a closet, it was another passage. Unless the closet in question is larger than my living room.
The “retooling” of the series seem to be “make it like Star Wars”. I’m a trekker and a Star Wars nut, but they’re two totally different flavors connected only by tractor beam.
But having said that, the episode was pretty good. Good space combat. The space piracy scenes in the beginning had me genuinely worried. “Don’t steal that! They need that stuff!” I enjoyed the use of the airlock–having a story set on a spaceship where no one is ever exposed to space is like having a story set on a sailing ship where no one ever drowns. Archer’s character has changed as a result of the attack on Earth. I agree with the poster that said his character has to continue down this path for the rest of the season until he reaches a breaking point.
Q: Is the thing-that-is-not-the-Death-Star responsible for all of the anomalies in the Expanse?
Porthos did a better job- as usual.
Pretty good episode overall- the combat on the Enterprise was pretty well done. I like that they lost somone and it wasn’t a very special episode.
No stupid Panda shoved down our throat either.
Have you noticed the lower the Hoshi screen time, the better the episode? Why is it-- its not like she is a horrible actress. I wonder if it she doesn’t have much of a role other then the comm panel, so if she is featured its a filler episode. Also, other then the ever wooden Travis, her character remains rather 2 dimensional in comparison to the others in the main cast.
My poor ears are still bleeding from the horrid remix of the theme. Grrr! :mad:
I have pulled film-sourced video tapes off the shelf and freeze-framed them. They do not show the every-fifth-frame duplicated effect you’re describing.
NTSC is the video standard for American TV. NTSC is sometimes described as displaying “30 frames per second”, but that’s not really accurate. What NTSC really displays is the odd-numbered scan lines for 1/60th of a second, then the even-numbered scan lines for the next 1/60th of a second. These 1/60th second long every-other-scan-line “interlaced” displays are called fields. So, really, NTSC isn’t 30 frames per second, it’s 60 fields per second. The important thing to remember here is that, since each field is displayed 1/60 of a second later than the preceeding field, it doesn’t have to be a stop-motion capture of the “frame” shown in the preceding field – it can instead be a capture of the action 1/60 of a second later.
Typical film-to-NTSC-video transfer uses a technique called 2-3 pulldown to handle the changeover between 24 fps film and 60 field-per-second NTSC video. In a nutshell, a 2-3 pulldown does not duplicate whole frames, it duplicates interlaced fields, and the result is actually much smoother than what you get by duplicating frames.
I say again: The frame duplication I saw in “Anomaly” is not normal for a standard film-to-video transfer, and is probably a side effect of the fact that they’re simulcasting in progressive-scan HDTV, which shows either 30 or 60 non-interlaced full frames per second.
Sorry to be a crass barbarian or whatever, but I don’t NEED a “moral” of the story, or some philosophical message on the human existence from a science fiction series. If they can fit it in while still telling a good yarn and good action, that’s great, but I watch TV science fiction for the fun of it.
I think the first two episodes of this season have been pretty good and I look forward to more like them…although the previews for next episode look pretty crappy.
It looked like they were trying to imply that. But only for one third of a page of dialogue. Did the writers run of hard disk space?
Maybe, just maybe, we will come back to that question. If we do, then you can colour me impressed. (Yes, I’ll be watching the entire season looking for this. Thanks! Obsession is a nasty thing, you klingon bastards…)
NTSC stands for Never Twice Same Colour
A joke, you see…
About an antiquated yet entrenched standard…
Ah, never mind…
PURPLE MONKEY UNDERPANTS!
I didn’t gather that they were going to imply the not-the-Death-Star was the source of the anomolies, but that its (what, non-gravitational?) field was repelling the anomolies.
I loved Bakula in Quantum Leap and he’s good here. Archer is under stress, since he has to save all of Earth and the human race, so I’ll cut him the slack. I just hope he goes over the deep-end and has to pull himself back. Good character development.
T’Pol I’m struggling with - no snickers 
. Vulcans were supposed to be savage 5000 years ago (TOS) and civilized now but this repressed anger and snide sarcasm attitude placed on all the Vulcans is just making me want to bitch slap them! T’Pol and Hoshi are gorgeous, and Panda is icing, but let’s stay in character! Yes, kingpengvin - sit down when the ship is being attacked and just turn your head and calmly give an order. Spock did it much better in “TOS:Galileo Seven”. Don’t give Archer that raised eye that so much as says “putz” everytime he doesn’t do what you say. However it is good that she plays Devil’s Advocate to he orders. She should always provide another point of view. Trip’s human strength should not be enough to give a Vulcan neck-gasms; shirts do not have to be removed to access the neck; and ain’t it nice the anatomy is so similar. Get some appropriate outfits for being on a Starfleet vessel. Be a valid Vulcan and not half-Romulan and I won’t have to feel “But, I’m watching it for the characters, not the panda, honest!”
I like Hoshi’s struggle with being a Starfleet crewmember - being responsible for how her efforts affect the rest of the crew, that a mistake could hurt or kill them - and not just an academic studying languages.
Trip’s a good character - passionate, overzealous, opinionated, shy, all sorts of things. No big nits to pick. I just wish he and anyone else would not jump on strange aliens and try to hit them with things. Why? What if the guy was denser than a human? What if his vulnerable spot wasn’t where you were aiming (e.g. Alien Nation and their knees). Study your enemy before jumping in.
The original theme music had a better feel. Enterprise is about new beginnings and the old music had that “getting in your car for a road trip” feel. The new music is “hey, I can be pop music”. What next, get Brittany Spears to sing it?
You have brooding, dark ideas and menacing situations, but could someone turn on a light? Before the power went and and after it was restored, couldn’t we turn the lights back to normal so we can all see what we’re doing? Maybe we could even see what we’re shooting at.
The marines were better outfitted, but unless their skulls are made of duranium they need to wear helmets. And HUDs. But then the actors might complain.
The floating alien body had no reason to float out when the door was opened. There’s a vacuum. The inertia on the floating bodies should still be in effect and they should be moving or stuck on something.
Yes, randwill, thank God for those Univeral Docking Ports[superscript]tm[/superscript] :rolleyes: and tracer’s comments about “hailing frequencies”.
The Anolmaly Effects are nice but they just did the obvious and didn’t make it truly mysterious. The ship is travelling at Warp speed and an anomaly is encountered. It just happens to be aligned with the curve of the corridor and the deck plating as it waves through? Same with the captain’s desk and the tables in the mess hall? Okay, maybe they are encountering it head-on, but… The distortion also only occurs “vertically”. It would be better if the distortion was a wave that ran through a room for the width of the room like a ripple in a pond. It could also be a ribbon that was distorting in all directions, ballooning and collapsing as it advanced. But then how does an anomaly encountered at Warp have effects on a human scale of experience, moving about walking (or rolling camera) speed?
The Anomaly must also have eddys and tidepools. Apparently the ship can travel at Warp and scoop one into the cargo bay that bounces things back and forth. The coffee cup scene in Archer’s quarters was nice, but I can’t tell if the coffee was supposed to be thrown into stasis or was in its own bubble of zero-g/zero-inertia (I do agree he should have scooped it back into the cup). The cafeteria was the same and both explanations fit. I’d like to see an object get stuck in the Anomaly and rip a hole right through the hull as it was stopped dead in its tracks. You could have a scene looking through the hole in the wall, the next wall, etc. to the hole that had to be sealed in the outer hull.
Sorry for being so terse
Yeesh, a discussion on video encoding? I’ll nominate that for most boring hijack ever! (mostly because i got fed up with trying to de-interlace a movie i was ripping because of stupid NTSC/PAL problems.)
I got that the Death Star dealies were the cause of the anomolies, and that the giant fusion powered batteries where making it cause the anomolies. Supossedly there will be more Death Stars later this season. Hopefully the rebels will get to them before they become fully armed and operational battle stations.
It’s a Trap!
I liked the episode. They must have listened to some of our complaints about last seasons episode being duller than 5 year old razor.
How many bets that the remaining 10% of the data that was not downloaded will come into play in the next episodes? Of course that missing 10% of the data will not deal with such important Xindi things like ‘how to get your whites really white’, but rather tactical info, planet location, and 100 ways to killing Xindis using only your thumb.
Another vote nay for the revamped intro. Damn, that remix really sounds awful.
Anyone know if Star Fleet knows what Der Trilliam? (the material the captive mentioned as needed to prevent the anomalies) is?
Hell, if someone told me how to prevent a catastrophic disaster on my ship, that would be one of my main priorities.
All hands on deck! (gosh, you maroons take me so literally, STAND UP!) for a Trek Doper™ welcome to Corner Case.
May your molecules always be reassembled properly.