Well - it just sounded better that way. 
How’s this…I can’t even imagine what idiotic, dumbass excuse they are going to use to attempt to shoe-horn those two characters, theoretically from the future, into the episode.
“Theoretically from the future”?
¿Que?
Well - time always seems to get all messed up whenever they run out of good ideas.
Good point. Watching Nemesis, you’d think it was 1995 again with Worf on the E-E bridge with nary a word about his Ambassadorship on Q’onos.
Yeah. I’m still bitter.
Hacks.
That was it! 
Was there ever a compikation work of all four TTAs? Or am I just putting them all together in my mind? Great artwork, interesting future history approach.
Hmm, another good solid episode. Of course this means the series will get cancelled, right after they air a particullarly good cliffhanger. That’s how TV works these days. :mad:
The goll dang Organians better have nuthin’ ta do with this!
{tapping foot; tapping, tapping} {looking at watch; tapping; looking; tapping} …
They give the guest stars all the good/cheesy lines. Shran gets, “Tellurite swine, you’ll pay for this” and “I’m not paranoid! You people are trying to kill us!”
Additional Nitpicks:[ul][]Archer questions Earth moving too fast in getting involved with all these species. Earth is doing fine, it’s just Starfleet havving Enterprise et al. do All The Bleedin’ Work.[]The music oftens drowns out the dialogue.[]The MACOs still don’t have helmets.[]Air tubes on spacesuits![]Court martial the Andorian’s guard.[]I would have liked to see how Trip and Reed faired by filling their tanks with pure O[sub]2[/sub] instead of air.[*]Why did the Romulans have to search the ship for Trip and Reed when they knew which valve had been manually opened?[/ul]
C’mon, guy. He was overwhelmed by two members of a stronger-than-human species, who are supposed to be Starfleet’s friends. He did manage to clock Shran pretty good there, before getting taken down.
Couple of possibilities, there - One, might’ve thought the ‘intruders’ had moved on. Two, weren’t sure that the ones opening the valve were the only intruders. Still, that wouldn’t excuse them from not checking that camera first. There is the third possibility - “Thruster 22b, eh? That’s on the lower…” “Upper, sir.” “Upper… Port…” “Starboard, sir.” “…right. Just run through all the internal cameras.”
[QUOTE=Corner Case]
Additional Nitpicks:[ul][li]I would have liked to see how Trip and Reed faired by filling their tanks with pure O[sub]2[/sub] instead of air.[/ul][/li][/QUOTE]
IIRC, there shouldn’t be a problem. Pure O[sub]2[/sub] can be used with no ill affects; it’s just used at a lower pressure than the 15 PSI that we’re accustomed to (around 5 PSI, I think). It takes some getting used to, but the body gets what it needs. I know that it was done that way for a while at least with the US space program (I’m not sure what is SOP these days).
Enterprise has been cancelled. Link 
. I don’t believe it.
Sorry, I missed this before.
Couple of other nitpicks first:
The O2 tanks found by Reed and Trip were giving off clouds of vapor to indicate how cold they are. In a vacuum, there is no medium from which this vapor can condense.
Also, in the same scene or thereabouts, Reed brings up the fact that T’Pol is no longer married. Remember that T’Pol delivered this piece of information to Archer over dinner, immediately following which they’re interrupted by a page from the bridge about finding the alien vessel. At that point everybody swings into action. So when is there an opportunity for Archer to chitchat with the staff about T’Pol’s personal life? Neither Reed nor Trip should know what T’Pol Archer; there’s no possible way for them to have found out.
And finally, Reed and Trip are going to the bridge of the alien ship because they expect it to have life support, and atmosphere at least. And yet when they arrive at the door they don’t scan to see what’s beyond it, and when they open the door they don’t stand out of the way of the massive blast of pressurized atmosphere that is going to blow out. They just pop the hatch and bust on through. Um, yeah.
It also seriously bothered me that when they were beaming the team off the alien ship, they referred to the two MACOs as “just” MACOs. There’s, what, ninety people on the ship? Archer knows all of them by name. We in the audience are smart; we can figure out that Reed and Trip haven’t been beamed back if T’Pol is saying “We got Price and Fairfax,” or whatever. The writers are displaying their lack of regard for the walk-ons by having the characters display the same disregard, which not only makes no sense but is actually mildly offensive. Grrr.
I do have two positive notes:
“With our luck, they probably breathe fluorine” is a pretty good line.
Also, I appreciated the upgrade in military tactics displayed by Archer and the MACOs when they were converging on the Tellarites’ quarters at the end. They moved in squads, they coordinated their actions, they covered one another; in general this is a huge improvement in how Trek usually presents this stuff. Think about Picard standing exposed in the middle of a corridor, ducking out of the way of an oncoming phaser blast, and then straightening up and shooting back. It’s a small thing, but I appreciated it.
Okay, now, here’s the detailed nitpick I mentioned previously.
The first scene after coming back from the post-teaser break has Archer and Trip talking about the logistics of the upcoming mission. Here’s the relevant bit of dialogue (this is verbatim):
Trip: Something I don’t understand… These Tellarites have warp ships. So why do we have to take them to the conference?
Archer: Babel’s on the far side of Andorian space. They won’t allow Tellarite ships to pass through their territory.
Trip: Now we’re a shuttle service.
In other words, this is information that Trip did not previously have. Archer is delivering this new information to Trip.
Okay, first of all, this makes for boring drama, this people delivering information to one another thing. Everybody pretty much sounds and acts the same when they’re delivering information. There is no character in it. There is character in the discussion and debate of information they already have, but not in the initial reportage; it turns them into messengers.
This is a general flaw in Trek, but it’s particularly bad on Enterprise: They writers fail to realize that in order to deliver necessary information to the audience, it is not necessary to have the characters deliver that information to one another. You can layer the exposition into the dialogue in such a way that the emphasis is put on the characters. I’ve said before, over and over, that the focus of the storytelling is wrong; we don’t really give a shit about whether the visiting scientist manages to make his fancy new transporter work. We care — or we’re supposed to care, anyway — about the regular cast of characters and how they behave with and relate to one another. This delivery-of-information problem is a major symptom of the larger issues with the writing.
And besides, this just makes Trip look incredibly stupid, and it makes Starfleet look incompetent. It is simply not credible that a senior officer on the flagship vessel would not already be in possession of this basic piece of information regarding their critically important diplomatic mission. They’re already at the Tellarites’ planet, and Trip is just now finding out why? What, does he not read the news? It’s not like they haven’t been dealing with the Andorians for years now already. Trip should know this. And even if he doesn’t, there had to have been a mission briefing with at least the senior staff and more probably the rest of the crew explaining where they’re going, what they’re doing, and why they’re doing it. Basically, just because it’s news to us in the audience doesn’t mean it should be news to the characters, or you sacrifice the integrity of the world and their points of view as human beings.
If I had written that scene, I would have had Trip complaining about the mission, dropping in references to facts he already knows so we acquire the necessary information by osmosis, but the primary focus of the scene should be the relationship between the two men.
Like this:
Trip: Permission to speak freely, sir?
Archer: You’re not happy seeing Enterprise used for taxi service.
Trip: No, I get that there’s a feud. I know the Tellarites need an escort through Andorian space.
Archer: Part of the job description.
Trip: Yeah, it’s just… I hope this is just an occasional thing. Y’know?
Archer: Yeah. So do I.
Same information. But the emphasis is shifted. I’m not saying it’s perfect, but I am saying it’s better, and I whomped it up in just a couple of minutes. Doesn’t say a lot about the quality of the dialogue, does it?
So, the point is: Watch for this specific kind of thing. Listen for how Trek handles its exposition. Note how often they have a character delivering a new piece of information to another character in a way that makes absolutely no sense in context. It drives me friggin’ nuts. The moment above was just a particularly bad example, so I wanted to use it to highlight something that’s a major symptom of the writers not “getting it” about how to write compelling drama. They’re focused on the wrong thing, and they’re undermining their storytelling as a result.
Anyway. I’m gonna end the rant there, because cancellation of the show has just been made official and I find it rather pointless to continue harping on the same old crap.
The Save Enterprise, Enterprise Project, etc. groups are still determined to have the show survive, even if it means asking Paramount to shop it to another network (probably the Sci Fi Network), so I’m not willing to call it a lost cause just yet.
Motherfucking hell. I’m never watching UPN again. Fuck them.
I appreciate your pointing out good storytelling versus bad. It makes me a better listener and a teller of my own tales. I look forward to completing the series with you and engaging in threads anon {tips hat}.
According to the head of the ENT Project:
(I’m quoting her below)…
I just got off the phone with Paramount.
- Yes it’s true.
Word is this:
Yes, UPN’s cancelled ENT. BUT –
First you need to know that Paramount didn’t shop the show previously because
it couldn’t. Had to sever with UPN first contractually – and now that’s
happened. Alas, SciFi and Spike mean needing further production cost cuts –
where to make them? SO – shopping the show can’t happen until – and I quote
– “things calm down around here.”
However, the word is also –
KEEP ON FIGHTING.
UPN could pick the show back up (as if we want it to).
It could be shopped.
It could be syndicated.
Any of it’s possible right now, and it’s all being looked at.
But that means letting TPTB know that We Want Our NX-01!!!
The message is simple – We want this show on the air. Tell everyone you
know to write, call, email, etc to Bring It Back.
(edited for space)
I really hope they can shop it now to the Sci Fi network; that's the only place I can think of it where it could thrive. I'd just have to get my brother to tape it for me since I don't have cable.Well…maybe we can hope another network gives it a stay of execution.
(worked for Buffy, yes?)
Now - my question…if another network is willing to take the chance, are we stuck with Bermaga?
Isn’t Sci-Fi as bad as UPN and FOX when fucking with their shows though? And Spike has already showed it has no real interest in Trek even though they have TNG and DS9.
Not necessarily. Don’t forget that Next Gen & DS9 were syndicated and there’s no doubt that they thrived.
Perhaps, noncoincidently, they were also better shows then the ones produced for UPN. Maybe they do better when they don’t have network idiots breathing down their necks.
Oops. That should be “Perhaps noncoincidentally,” (Comma abuse. Sorry, Viva. 