# Enterprise-Awakening Beware Spoilers **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 26, 2004, 3:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/enterprise-awakening-beware-spoilers/276704 "2004-11-26T03:23:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**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:** [November 29, 2004, 7:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/enterprise-awakening-beware-spoilers/276704/41 "2004-11-29T07:22:55Z")
> [@NoClueBoy](#): > > Shelob’s Lair… oooh… And speaking of which: What the heck are **spider webs** doing on **Vulcan**?! Did the 4 billion year genetic program that forced every planet to evolve a species of humanoids also accidentally contain a program for spiders, or something? ---
**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:** [November 29, 2004, 1:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/enterprise-awakening-beware-spoilers/276704/42 "2004-11-29T13:28:08Z")
> [@tracer](#): > > What the heck are **spider webs** doing on **Vulcan**?! There are more things than Surak in Archer’s roomy dome, and some of them fall out. I would imagine they evolved on Vulcan as they did on Earth. They probably have pointy ears and raise eight eyebrows, though. ---
**Author:** ![Corner\_Case](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/corner_case/32/234_2.png) [@Corner\_Case](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Corner_Case)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2004, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/enterprise-awakening-beware-spoilers/276704/43 "2004-11-29T16:17:33Z")
_We’ve been camping in our pop-up in the Hot Springs area since Thursday. A fun B&B campsite at Bartee Meadows; feet in the hot springs; the Science museum; kids biking and playing with tennis balls; some hiking. Up til 1:30am finishing cleaning up (steaming cleaning the van, washing, etc.) I’ll post when I can watch (hopefully tonight)._ ---
**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:** [November 29, 2004, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/enterprise-awakening-beware-spoilers/276704/44 "2004-11-29T16:24:20Z")
> [@Corner Case](#): > > A fun B&B campsite at Bartee Meadows; Berman & Braga have campsites?! :eek: ---
**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:** [November 29, 2004, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/enterprise-awakening-beware-spoilers/276704/45 "2004-11-29T16:39:42Z")
Oh, and speaking of how different humans and Vulcans ought to be: When T’Pol’s mom was arguing with T’Pau as to whether they should do a Koh-Li-Nar to transfer Surak’s Katra out of Captain Archer, T’Pol’s mom asked, “And if he dies?” I was hoping T’Pau would reply, “I hear they taste like chicken.” 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Corner\_Case](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/corner_case/32/234_2.png) [@Corner\_Case](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Corner_Case)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2004, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/enterprise-awakening-beware-spoilers/276704/46 "2004-11-29T16:51:02Z")
> [@tracer](#): > > Berman & Braga have campsites?! :eek: Top Ten Reasons Berman & Braga should not run campsites …[ul][_]10. You’re never able to check in because it would always be tomorrow or yesterday.[_]9. The kids get all of the dialogue, all of the time, say nothing important, and you have no lines.[_]8. You are never able to enjoy your campfire because you are constantly on the lookout for Evil Alien Nazi boy scouts.[_]…[/ul] ---
**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:** [November 29, 2004, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/enterprise-awakening-beware-spoilers/276704/47 "2004-11-29T17:47:46Z")
1. Security is run by klingons. ---
**Author:** ![Corner\_Case](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/corner_case/32/234_2.png) [@Corner\_Case](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Corner_Case)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2004, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/enterprise-awakening-beware-spoilers/276704/48 "2004-11-29T17:50:47Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > 1. Security is run by klingons. That sounds quite secure, as long as they are on your side. I thought you were going to say the Klingons ran the cookout. Gagghhh. ---
**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:** [November 29, 2004, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/enterprise-awakening-beware-spoilers/276704/49 "2004-11-29T17:51:54Z")
1. Campers are awakened each morning with Klingon arias 2. Management and food concesion provided by Ferenghi. ---
**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:** [November 29, 2004, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/enterprise-awakening-beware-spoilers/276704/50 "2004-11-29T17:58:14Z")
> [@Corner Case](#): > > as long as they are on your side. That’s the kicker, Pal. Try complaining about the wake up music. Klingons don’t ask, “Is there a problem here?”, they look over the bodies and ask, “Was there a problem here?” ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2004, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/enterprise-awakening-beware-spoilers/276704/51 "2004-11-29T18:46:08Z")
Okay, I watched it again. > [@Bambi Hassenpfeffer](#): > > On your _TiVo_, right? 😉 Yep, on my _TiVo_. Because I have _TiVo_, I can watch the _TiVo_’d episode as many times as I want and _TiVo_ will give it to me. _TiVo_ is a marvelous thing. Heh. Sorry. I still had a few tiny, tiny nitpicks. How tiny? When the obsessive Administrator Vulcan dude said, with reference to the bombing, “Blanket the area,” he had a weird little hand gesture that was about a quarter-second late. A momentary distraction. (Like I said, tiny.) T’Pau’s hair bugged me a little bit, also. I kept wondering if she was trying to get a gig as the new lead singer for The Pretenders. Another minor gripe: I thought it was odd how Archer had to carry both the artifact and the torch while they were fleeing the bombardment. The torch makes sense; he knows where he’s going and has to lead the way. But he can offload the _big heavy stone pyramid_ to a much-stronger Vulcan, and distribute the work in the group, rather than stumble along himself risking this intensely valuable object. They’ll make better time and the thing will be safer. Otherwise it’s “TV hero” syndrome, where the main guy has to do everything because, well, he’s the main guy, and the actresses tail along behind him just worried about not messing up their hair and outfits while they climb up and over the fake rocks on the set trying not to look too girly. Otherwise: solid. I liked _a lot_ that T’Pol called T’Pau on the similarity of her methods to those of the High Command, that she was willing to do wrong in service to what she considered a larger good, and force Archer to undergo the procedure. This could be exactly why a Vulcan couldn’t be sent to find the artifact; even those in the new intellectual movement aren’t perfectly rational and may commit errors of moral judgement. T’Pau makes a mistake, and is slapped back, but it’s a huge learning experience. (Oh, and speaking of making mistakes, I really appreciated that the mission Mayweather and Reed tried to pursue to the surface wound up not panning out. How many times on Trek do we see a failed plan? Almost invariably, we get some variation on technobabble with a conclusion, “It just might work.” And it always does. This time, it didn’t. They got outstrategized and walloped, and they had to turn around and give up. I can’t remember the last time we saw that on Trek. It’s a subtle thing, certainly, but it’s hugely appreciated.) I dug it. I’m digging it. I can’t wait until next week. And if you told me a year ago that I’d be saying that now, I wouldn’t have believed you. I’ve had a modified Christmas song stuck in my head since Friday night: “_It’s beginning to look a lot like Star Trek…_” ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2004, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/enterprise-awakening-beware-spoilers/276704/52 "2004-11-29T18:51:42Z")
Meant to say something else: How ballsy is it that the show is drawing an explicit political parallel with the High Command seeking pre-emptive war with the Andorians based on intelligence rumors about some mysterious new weapon? It could be awfully precious if they stick too close to the metaphor, and they could fall on their ass if they regurgitate known platitudes and fail to say something new, but it says a lot that they’re willing to take the risk. _This_ is what Trek should be about: not the minutiae of quantum mechanics and Suliban time-tinkering, but _ **us.** _ When the show is good, it’s about us. When it’s not good, it’s about cracks in the event horizon and shit we can’t relate to. I regard this as a major gamble that could pay off tremendously, and my hopes about the show are truly soaring. Yay! ---
**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:** [November 29, 2004, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/enterprise-awakening-beware-spoilers/276704/53 "2004-11-29T18:52:20Z")
> [@Cervaise](#): > > T’Pau’s hair bugged me a little bit, also. I kept wondering if she was trying to get a gig as the new lead singer for The Pretenders. Looked OK on my analog C Band. Must be a digital artifact of TiVo. 🙂 ---
**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:** [November 29, 2004, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/enterprise-awakening-beware-spoilers/276704/54 "2004-11-29T19:22:13Z")
> [@Cervaise](#): > > How ballsy is it that the show is drawing an explicit political parallel I haven’t commented on that lest a political discussion raise it’s ugly head in one of our Trek threads, and I call somebody a Dukey butt and get cut off by the modes in med sen ---
**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:** [November 29, 2004, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/enterprise-awakening-beware-spoilers/276704/55 "2004-11-29T20:06:32Z")
> [@Cervaise](#): > > How ballsy is it that the show is drawing an explicit political parallel with the High Command seeking pre-emptive war with the Andorians based on intelligence rumors about some mysterious new weapon? […] _This_ is what Trek should be about: not the minutiae of quantum mechanics and Suliban time-tinkering, but _ **us.** _ Well, it wasn’t the first time _Enterprise_ tried to cloak a contemporary issue in 22nd century garb. Remember the episode where mind-melders were treated exactly like gay people? ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2004, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/enterprise-awakening-beware-spoilers/276704/56 "2004-11-29T20:34:57Z")
That’s what I was getting at with the comment about regurgitating platitudes and falling on their ass. A metaphor allows an alternate perspective on a known issue, a different and therefore potentially valuable angle from which to consider a theme or idea or event, but it’s a waste of effort if the new angle doesn’t provide any new thoughts beyond what we already know and think. In this latest show, all they’ve done is make the initial reference; they’re leaving the payoff for later. In the previous shows, they’ve made the reference and tried to draw lessons and meaning all in the same hour, but they never managed to say anything new or unpredictable about the topic. So like I said, there’s still plenty of room to trip over clichés, but it’s nice that they apparently recognize this and are taking their time, not rushing toward whatever grand (or not) statement they’ve got in mind. Or to put it another way, they’ve merely drawn back the hammer; we’ll see what happens when they pull the trigger. ---
**Author:** ![Corner\_Case](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/corner_case/32/234_2.png) [@Corner\_Case](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Corner_Case)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2004, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/enterprise-awakening-beware-spoilers/276704/57 "2004-11-29T20:39:57Z")
> [@Cervaise](#): > > Or to put it another way, they’ve merely drawn back the hammer; we’ll see what happens when they pull the trigger. They have been going off half cocked these past seasons. Maybe now they’re fully cocked and ready for action. ---
**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:** [November 29, 2004, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/enterprise-awakening-beware-spoilers/276704/58 "2004-11-29T21:29:10Z")
> [@Corner Case](#): > > They have been going off half cocked these past seasons. Maybe now they’re fully cocked and ready for action. [Data]Actually, you can’t go off half cocked. That’s why there is a half cock position for the lock so that the weapon can be primed but will not fire.[/Data] ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2004, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/enterprise-awakening-beware-spoilers/276704/59 "2004-11-29T21:46:52Z")
> [@NoClueBoy](#): > > WMDs again… sigh… Good greif, doesn’t anyone actually read other people’s posts? :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![Corner\_Case](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/corner_case/32/234_2.png) [@Corner\_Case](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Corner_Case)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2004, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/enterprise-awakening-beware-spoilers/276704/60 "2004-11-29T21:53:55Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > [Data]Actually, you can’t go off half cocked. That’s why there is a half cock position for the lock so that the weapon can be primed but will not fire.[/Data] Exactly. B&B have been half cocked. They had the show primed and it didn’t fire. Now we’re fully cocked and loaded with our special purpose. We just don’t want them to go off prematurely, in clichéd directions. But we have the Pep Boy, Garfield the Cat, and Superman so we’re ready to have some quality injected into this … enterprise. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/enterprise-awakening-beware-spoilers/276704.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/enterprise-awakening-beware-spoilers/276704.md?page=4)