Not having to be taken along in Archer’s proverbial shoes through the entire episode - yes, I think I was more able to get into the other characters than get out of Archer’s.
See, this is what happens when you send Hoshi on an away mission and then you don’t follow the properly protocols and have her slowly, carefully, sensually–ah, I mean thoroughly–rub the decontamination gel all over her body…
Ahem.
OK, seriously, whoever designed Enterprise’s biomedical facilities should be shot. The quarantine controls can be overriden from INSIDE the bio-isolation chamber? Yeah, 'cause sick people would never get irrational or delusional and try to escape. And why aren’t isn’t the bio-chamber adjacent to sickbay? And the sick, possibly dying crew members are supposed to give themselves injections? Haven’t they ever heard of waldoes, or even just those sleeve things in the walls, or biohazard suits for doctors? And why the hell isn’t the medical equipment designed to be handled with biohazard gloves on?
This is a frickin’ starship, going to explore strange new worlds. Perhaps someone should have maybe thought of the possibility they might encounter new diseases or hazardous lifeforms, and done a little advanced planning accordingly.
And the big reset button at the end.
Oh, well.
Something that bugged me: The Organians were interested in how humans reacted to the McGuffin virus. But…most of the work in combatting the virus was being done by two non-humans, while most of the human crew went about their normal tasks.
Still, better than usual, but I could have done with more Panda in a Hoshi episode.
[QUOTE=Corner Case]
[ul][li]1.why do they have to glance knowingly at each other?[]2. Why didn’t she wipe the deck with those MACOs when they trained last season?[]3.When Travis questions Trip and Hoshi and acts all weird, sure the Organian can cover up Travis’ memory but not Trip’s or Hoshi’s []4.Phlox was making a WAG when he spoke of a meteorite. Then Archer goes and finds it? WTF?[]5.Hoshi can override security protocols [/ul][/li][/QUOTE]
- It is either a clue to the audience (remember we are dealing with paperback authors who resort to the “Gratuitous Trek Remark” ™ ) or the actors just can’t help it.
- That would be bad writing.
- I figured they would re inhabit Trip and Hoshi and wipe that memory, too.
- I guess Archer figured it ought to look for it. Maybe there would be a clew.
- That with the controls inside the room would be bad writiing again.
They were surprised that Phlox found a solution; that happened either rarely or had never occured. I think they were more interested in whether the sick would be killed and how they reacted to being deathly ill, more interested in the reaction to the disease rather than studing the efforts to cure it.
There was another annoying Trek cliche - the idea that humans are somehow extraordinarily special and defy all expectations. Only HUMANS could care so much for one another that they risk themselves for their crewmates! Unbelieveable! Who woulda thunk it? That never happened in 50,000 years of experimentation! Please. Probably has more to do with the fact that all other species are written as one-note stereotypes.
That’s always been one of my biggest pet-peeves about Star Trek. Every single time Spock would say something about “human emotions,” I’d go cross-eyed and start twitching. The one that drives me especially crazy is the line in ST:IV where he says “Only human arrogance would assume the [probe’s] message must be meant for man.”
I almost fractured my C1 and C2 vertebrae after hearing that one.
More than just a Trek cliche. Has permeated sci-fi for well over 100 yrs, both in print and on screen.
Loved it.
Apologist Note on the Biology of a Silicon Virus:
I don’t think the Silicon Virus was able to interact with their DNA like a traditional virus. I think the virus’s effort to bond with their cells were futile, but the presence of mass quantities of foreign material in their bodies was disruptive to their systems, nonetheless. Thus, while technically a living virus, it was behaving more like a toxin. Thus Phlox’s difficulty in pinning down the pathology.
Anti-Apologist Complaint :
We need to get desperately ill crewmembers from the Decon chamber to sickbay quickly. We set up special quarantine doors to achieve this, and tote them there? No, no, no. Transporter. Heck, by NextGen, the transporter would be able to filter the virus right out, if it suited the needs of the script.
Wouldn’t it have to interact to have energy to grow to mass quantities?
Well, there’s where we get into Xenobiology 201 - perhaps Silicon Viruses (or this one) can interact with, to a limited degree , inanimate objects to break down substances for energy. But at this point, I’ve just got speculation.
Maybe they were more like nanites in this case. That’d fit with the radiation cure, too.
Irrelevant to the topic at hand (like that’s ever stopped any of us) but I just wanted to mention that I just finished watching Trekkies 2 and it’s one of the dumbest movies I’ve ever seen. Avoid it (and Free Enterprise) at all costs.
You can go back to doing whatever it is you guys do in these threads now.
Re: Altering Travis’ memory but what about Trip and Hoshi’s memory when Travis questioned them so strangely.
But later, Archer goes to the chamber and Trip starts with, “Travis you’d better not …”. So Trip remembers Travis’ strange behaviour.
They couldn’t transport them because intrahip beaming was difficult in TOS. However the writers didn’t bother to throw in an explanatory line.
Sorry I’m late…
I did like this one way better than the last one.
It was nice to see some of the actors actually get to, you know…act!
But I felt the scene at the end, Archer’s monologue was a bit over the top. Of course, I tend to think that about most of his lengthier scenes.
They did it right before they left…and then anybody Trip told about it…and anyone those people talked to…and they checked the mailbox for anyone he or they wrote to…
VIVA: CLICK HERE.
Know what I just realized? The Organians wouldn’t have been found out if only they had watched “2001: A Space Odyssey.” The scene where they are found out is a loving tribute to the scene where HAL figures out what Bowman and Poole are planning.
Loved the shot of Trip and Hoshi turning to look at Phlox (throught the video screen) as he watched them on camera.
I’m still a bit confused about what exactly the humans needed to do to pass the test and qualify for first conact. Was it simply a matter of curing the virus, or was it assumed that death was inevitable, and the test was in how they reacted to this?
I had no problem with Archer taking off his gloves and helmet. He was infected once he took off the gloves, so the helmet no longer served any purpose.
And I also don’t have a problem with the comment about no species ever doing this before. Archer was sacrificing himself to try to save the life of a crewmember who was already dead, on the very slight chance she could be reivived, and the additional slight chance she could be cured, and the additional slight chance that there hadn’t been enough damage done already that she’d die later on. It was equal parts noble and stupid, but I can see that maybe reviving the dead in a hopeless situation is something that others hadn’t attempted before.
[QUOTE=Kaitlyn Was it simply a matter of curing the virus, or was it assumed that death was inevitable, and the test was in how they reacted to this?
[/QUOTE]
The virus had never been cured. The “intelligent” species, like the Klingons and Cardasians, killed the infected crew members.
Never mind where they get their energy from – in order for any kind of virus to do serious damage to its host, it’s got to be able to make lots and lots of copies of itself.
Where is a silicon-based virus supposed to get the silicon from, with which to build more of itself, if it’s inside a carbon-based human body? The human diet isn’t exactly rich in silicon compounds, ya know.