# Enterprise "Impulse" - SPOILERS **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 8, 2003, 3:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/enterprise-impulse-spoilers/206218 "2003-10-08T03:58:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Monstre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e274bd/32.png) [@Monstre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monstre)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2003, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/enterprise-impulse-spoilers/206218/61 "2003-10-09T15:58:50Z")
> [@](#): > > from _vivalostwages_ > To Monstre is to use one’s own version of any given word (i.e., Whatsiddium, Nekkid, etc.) --apparently for fun, but possibly for other reasons unknown to us. And here I was, thinking I’d make a clever little name joke on the Nekrit Expanse (Nekkid Expanse), and I’ve just been made to realize (thanks, **Aes** , ya bastard!) that I have my expanses mixed up. This one’s the Delphic Expanse, and the one I was thinking of was in Voyager (Nekrit Expanse). :smack: Just in case anybody saw “Nekkid Expanse” and wondered “What the hell is Monstre babbling about?” 😉 ---
**Author:** ![kingpengvin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9dc877/32.png) [@kingpengvin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kingpengvin)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2003, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/enterprise-impulse-spoilers/206218/62 "2003-10-09T16:08:36Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by NoClueBoy \* > \*\*Why you gots to be pulling a knife on me!? > > I ain’ts be gottens no weapon! > > I loveded you, man. > > Loveded you like a brother. \*\* Damn I loved Hollywood shuffle! We give Dirty Larry… The Finger! ---
**Author:** ![Ephemera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8baadc/32.png) [@Ephemera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ephemera)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2003, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/enterprise-impulse-spoilers/206218/63 "2003-10-09T16:14:03Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Corner Case \* > \*\*(1)…isn’t Voris an unusual Vulcan name? (Okay _every_ Vulcan male name doesn’t have to begin with an ‘S’) > > (2)Shouldn’t a stun on a MACO rifle be better than a stun on a phase-pistol? BTW, the energy beam? Phase-pistols: red; rifles: blue: Vulcan guns: green. 🙂 > > (3)Why did Reed scan the Vulcan wall and say, “Vulcan blood”. D’uh. He should have just said, “blood”. BTW, the lighting was bad but the color was green…\*\* 1. It’s odd that it doesn’t end in a fricative but the “S” thing was sort of shelved with the creation of Tuvok in Voyager. 2. Why? Are the bullets in an army rifle neccesarily better than one in a civilian one? I can understand a higher rate of fire, more energy, more settings, etc, but an inherently better stun setting? I don’t really see the point. 3. It might have been the blood of a different species. Vulcans can’t be the only species with a copper based circulatory system. > [@](#): > > _Originally posted by Monstre_ > **…just in case anybody…wondered “What the hell is Monstre babbling about?” 😉** We do that all the time. This thread is no different from any other. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![kingpengvin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9dc877/32.png) [@kingpengvin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kingpengvin)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2003, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/enterprise-impulse-spoilers/206218/64 "2003-10-09T16:30:01Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Corner Case \* > \*\*[li]The Vulcan ship had shorting lights and electrical sparking. Anyone ever hear of fuses? GFCI?[/li] \*\* Oh come on now… it’s the Star Trek Universe, fuses have never been invented, or at least that technology was lost during the Eugenics war. Every Ship in that Universe that is hit Shorts out violently. ---
**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:** [October 9, 2003, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/enterprise-impulse-spoilers/206218/65 "2003-10-09T16:39:02Z")
> [@](#): > > _Originally posted by Monstre_ > What the hell is Monstre babbling about? I just thought you were referring to how Hoshi’s shirt gets torn off on access hatches, T’Pol wears silk PJs and seduces Trip, and how her away-suits are getting more and more tight. I’m still waiting for them to discover the principle of generating small amounts of finite improbability by simply hooking the logic circuits of a Bambleweeny 57 sub-meson Brain to an atomic vector plotter suspended in a strong Brownian Motion producer (say a nice hot cup of tea). This priciple is of course well understood in the Delphic Expanse. Such generators are often used to break the ice at parties by making all the molecules in the women’s undergarments leap simultaneously one foot to the left, in accordance with the Theory of Indeterminacy. They just need to start drinking more tea. ---
**Author:** ![Tars\_Tarkas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Tars\_Tarkas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tars_Tarkas)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2003, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/enterprise-impulse-spoilers/206218/66 "2003-10-09T16:52:38Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Monstre \* > \*\*And there seems to be an insinuation in the preview that he plans to kill a bunch of people (crew of the Enterprise?) so that he can keep her. > > You’d do that in an instant, wouldn’t you, **Tars**? Tars…? Put down that knife, Tars… \*\* Muahahaha!!! Uh…I mean NO! ---
**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:** [October 9, 2003, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/enterprise-impulse-spoilers/206218/67 "2003-10-09T16:57:30Z")
Why is the alien named **Tar** quin? quin | quino- or quin-. pref. Cinchona; cinchona bark: quinoidine. Quinone: quinoid. [From Spanish quina, cinchona bark, from Quechua kina.] Ahhh! a kind-of Tar. It’s your Cousin, right? ---
**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:** [October 9, 2003, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/enterprise-impulse-spoilers/206218/68 "2003-10-09T17:55:15Z")
Hey! Is that fairy cake?! [crunch] [munch munch munch] If I told you how hungry I was, I wouldn’t have had time to eat it. (Hos gotta eat, too!) Ooh! And a really hot cup of really strong tea! I don’t think we understand the gravitivity of the situationess. Now _Attack of the Killer Pimps_, that mo’fo rocked! ---
**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:** [October 9, 2003, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/enterprise-impulse-spoilers/206218/69 "2003-10-09T18:44:17Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by vivalostwages \* > **Cervaise** : I think the point was that after all the trouble they went to for this Trellium stuff, they won’t be able to use it since it’s toxic to Vulcans. So it’s another setback for them. So, it’s, like, _ironic_ and stuff? The thing they need to stay alive turns out to kill them? Wow. Sophisticated. Do they get their writing tips from Alanis Morissette? Really, I just didn’t see the point. That “twist” is obvious. The staggering Romero-esque zombies were obvious. The last-minute escapes were obvious. The scary dream at the end was cheap, manipulative, and stupid. I’ll admit, it was nice to see Reed and the heavily armed brake repairman actually displaying some competence; notice how quickly they reacted when the zombies would jump out at them, and how accurate their shooting was. That’s a good change from Mopey Ineffective Reed, definitely. But they just keep annoying me with pointless stories that run and jump around a lot without actually accomplishing anything. How, exactly, are the relationships or the situation materially different at the end of the episode from how they are at the beginning? And then they just make these stupid little mistakes. **Corner Case** , I believe, has already observed that the “starboard docking port” mysteriously opens up through the floor in the middle of the ship. Then there’s all the scenes of our heroes sneaking through cramped tunnels, Archer in the lead, Reed following him and _aiming that pulse rifle thingy forward **past his captain’s head.** _ Yeah, yeah, I know, they’re trying to get back to Kirk-era Trek, when ripped-shirt-Captain would cheerfully and heedlessly throw himself into the most dangerous situations possible. And yeah, I know, for satisfying storytelling, we have to have the main character(s) at the center of all the important crises. But that was almost forty years ago; we’re smarter now. It just makes no _sense_ to have the most important person on the ship leading the way into obvious hazards, when you’ve got a trained tactical officer and a space marine available to _do their freakin’ **jobs** _ and take point. I mean, you didn’t see General Tommy Franks parachuting onto Saddam’s presidential palace in the first hour of Shock and Awe, did you? Plus we had the massively inappropriate moment of panda at the end. You noticed, didn’t you, when T’Pol was in the sickbay bed talking to Archer, and she sat up in alarm, the camera was positioned alongside the bed and looking upward so we could see her bare back, making clear she was naked under the sheets? She’s just had a difficult, grueling, near-death experience that attacks the very heart of who she is as a sentient being, and instead of giving her a recovery scene of dignity and honor, where she bonds with her captain, the show can’t resist a disrespectfully juvenile little _nudge-nudge-see-she’s- **naked** _ shot. Bah. Sorry. Didn’t like it. Some good visual effects, an occasional strong character moment, and some good atmosphere that belonged on a totally different show (are they trying to appeal to _X-Files_ fans now?), but incompetent plotting, sloppy direction, and otherwise inconsistent production that makes clear the folks behind the scenes are desperately casting around for an identity for the show by borrowing elements from others instead of making up their own. ---
**Author:** ![Monstre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e274bd/32.png) [@Monstre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monstre)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2003, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/enterprise-impulse-spoilers/206218/70 "2003-10-09T18:55:41Z")
> [@](#): > > posted by _Aesiron_ > > > [@](#): > > > > Originally posted by Monstre > > …just in case anybody…wondered “ **What the hell is Monstre babbling about?** ” > > We do that all the time. This thread is no different from any other. And you dare say this in close proximity to several **NoClueBoy** posts? Have you no shame?!! 😉 > [@](#): > > from _Corner Case_ > I just thought you were referring to how Hoshi’s shirt gets torn off on access hatches, T’Pol wears silk PJs and seduces Trip, and how her away-suits are getting more and more tight. Well, yes – that was sort of the point, too. But it fits better as a joke on the “Nekrit Expanse”, in addition to these things. Damn that Berman and Braga for using the Expanse names in opposition to my thinking and undermining my little joke! Harumph!! ---
**Author:** ![vibrotronica](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/a9a28c/32.png) [@vibrotronica](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vibrotronica)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2003, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/enterprise-impulse-spoilers/206218/71 "2003-10-09T19:11:36Z")
Good episode. Good action. Very creepy zombie Vulcans, but it didn’t really seem necessary to destroy the ship. It was already disabled. They could have just made good their escape, retreated to a safe distance, and contacted Vulcan while they tried to figure out what the hell to do about it. I’ll give it a solid B. ---
**Author:** ![kingpengvin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9dc877/32.png) [@kingpengvin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kingpengvin)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2003, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/enterprise-impulse-spoilers/206218/72 "2003-10-09T19:33:22Z")
Wings don’t fail me know BATTY BATTY BATTY! ---
**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 9, 2003, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/enterprise-impulse-spoilers/206218/73 "2003-10-09T19:43:52Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Aesiron \* > **(Don’t forget Friends this week)** Friends don’t let friends watch _Friends_. > [@](#): > > By the way, **tracer** , the intake manifold might be the same as the bussard collector, the red caps on the front of the warp nacelles. They collect interstellar dust for one reason or another… I can’t remember what. Matter for the M/AM Reactor? According to the _ST:TNG Technical Manual_, the Bussard collector on the Enterprise-D is last-ditch emergency equipment which collects interstellar hydrogen for the impulse drive. They’d use it if they were stranded in interstellar space with no fuel. The main warp drive for the ship relies on antideuterium for fuel, mixing it with normal non-anti deuterium – the Bussard collector won’t help them acquire any antideuterium. Two very important points are: (1) the Enterprise-D’s shuttlecraft **don’t have** Bussard collectors of their own; and (2) the Bussard collectors only replenish the Enterprise-D’s impulse-drive fuel supply – if they already have fuel on board, the impulse drive will work just fine without the Bussard collectors operating. So, this means that (A) the “intake manifolds” on the Shuttlepod weren’t Bussard collectors, and (B) even if they were, their failure should have had zero impact on the Shuttlepod’s thrusters. ---
**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:** [October 9, 2003, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/enterprise-impulse-spoilers/206218/74 "2003-10-09T19:48:04Z")
> [@](#): > > _Originally posted by Cervaise_ > That “twist” is obvious. If you had said that when we first saw the video of the Vulcans going nuts, or even at the end of the last episode, I could grant you that. To say it now is just wishing for something more complex, but we always do that. At the end of a murder mystery I had better have all the facts presented so that I can identify the murderer - it must be obvious if I use the clues. Rereading it I would want things a little tighter. I didn’t think about the twist at the beginning of the episode so it was a nice twist for me. While I am picky and observant on some things, I’m clueless on others (“fairy cake?”, “Killer Pimps”, “BATTY” 😕). If you were thinking “this is gonna happen next” too soon through the episode then, yes, they made it too simplistic for you. Any story-line depends on timing. So what didn’t you guess before it happened and what did you guess but you guessed it satisfyingly close to when it did happen? Maybe that’s the difference between Hitchcock and Zucker. [sub]betcha didn’t see that coming[/sub] What’s different? They made some basic tactical mistakes because the instant the Captain takes point we say, “No!”, etc. The MACO should “revolt” and demand that good tactics be used. Then we can have Starfleet vs. Marines and they can work out good TNG-ish-style away-mission rules (that Kirk can ignore). They found enough material to protect the ship (like finding AD&D armor), but can’t use it (cursed) until they innoculate against it (remove curse). This should also warn them not to let T’Pol onto Any Other ship that successfully navigates the Expanse until she’s innoculated. The innoculation may help them help another species fly their ships around and so they get allies. Archer gets to vent, but realizes he needs to hold onto being human. Maybe he has his mental break, maybe he skirts it. Archer has to address saving his people over killing the Vulcans, but Phlox’s “their already beyond hope” speech probably takes care of that from the writers POV. The panda was degrading and we get too jaded sometimes. She’s always been portrayed as too emotional for a true Vulcan and that’s always bothered me. Her experience here was the only time she’s acted the part appropriately. **vibrotronica** they blew up the ship because Reed overloaded everything to get the doors open so they could get away. Ooops, so sorry. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![elf6c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/c57346/32.png) [@elf6c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elf6c)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2003, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/enterprise-impulse-spoilers/206218/75 "2003-10-09T19:51:07Z")
I enjoyed the episode- does that make me a bad person? Also, there was one minor surprise for me- the heretofore unknown security guys goes down to the very dangerous ship with them-- **and doesn’t die!** Waaa? What in the name of James T. Kirk is going on here? 😕 ---
**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:** [October 9, 2003, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/enterprise-impulse-spoilers/206218/76 "2003-10-09T20:03:24Z")
**tracer** , I have no idea whether the intake manifolds on the Pods are buzzards or carburetors or rockets or what :), but, uh … I hate to break this to you, but, this isn’t the era of the Enterpise-D. It’s a little before, so the Pods may be a tad less sophisticated. Since hydrogen intake should require a large aperture to collect and they don’t have force fields, I prefer to think of them as atmospheric intakes and think that somebody just left the door open. We’ll see if the writer’s use them consistently. [sub]damn those misinterpreted smilies :)[/sub] ---
**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 9, 2003, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/enterprise-impulse-spoilers/206218/77 "2003-10-09T20:37:33Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Corner Case \* > \*\* > [li]The movie was with Alan Ladd[/li] \*\* That was Robert Mitchum, was it not? ---
**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 9, 2003, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/enterprise-impulse-spoilers/206218/78 "2003-10-09T20:47:04Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by vibrotronica \* > \*\* They could have just made good their escape \*\* Removing power to the doors so they could escape also removed power from the magnetic bottle that contained the anti-matter, causing the antimatter to violently react, collide or whatever anti-matter does with the material of the ship. ---
**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:** [October 9, 2003, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/enterprise-impulse-spoilers/206218/79 "2003-10-09T20:57:24Z")
> [@](#): > > _Originally posted by carnivorousplant_ > \*\*That was Robert Mitchum, was it not? \*\* 😕 The view of the screen was acute so I’m not pushing my opinion at all. It seems like Ladd from “The Glass Key” or maybe “This Gun for Hire”, but I wouldn’t swear to it. I have no idea of the plots enough to match Phlox’s statements about a detective and a tall man with or without a limp, etc. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Ephemera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8baadc/32.png) [@Ephemera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ephemera)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2003, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/enterprise-impulse-spoilers/206218/80 "2003-10-09T21:10:18Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by tracer \* > **According to the _ST:TNG Technical Manual_, the Bussard collector on the Enterprise-D is last-ditch emergency equipment which collects interstellar hydrogen for the impulse drive. They’d use it if they were stranded in interstellar space with no fuel. The main warp drive for the ship relies on antideuterium for fuel, mixing it with normal non-anti deuterium – the Bussard collector won’t help them acquire any antideuterium.** My technical manual disagrees with yours. On page 70, under the heading **BUSSARD RAMSCOOP FUEL REPLENISHMENT** , it says: “In the event a deuterium tanker cannot reach a starship, the capability exists to pull low-grade matter from the interstellar medium through a series of specialized high-energy magnetic coils known collectively as a Bussard ramscoop. Named for the twentieth-century physicist and mathematician Robert W. Bussard, the ramscoop emanates directional ionizing radiation and a shaped magnetic field to attract and compress the tenuous gas found within the Milky Way galaxy. From this gas, which possesses an average density of one atom per cubic centimeter, may be distilled small amounts of deuterium for contingency replenishment of the matter supply. At high relativistic speeds, this gas accumulation can be appreciable, though the technique is not recommended for long periods for time-dilation reasons. At Warp velocities, however, extended emrgency supplies can be gathered. While matching supplies of anti-matter cannot be recovered from space in this manner, minute amounts of antimatter can be generated by an onboard quantum charge reversal device.” > [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by tracer \* > **(1) the Enterprise-D’s shuttlecraft don’t have Bussard collectors of their own.** Look at some pictures of shuttlecraft. They have those same red caps on the nacelles that starships do. Those’re the Bussard Collectors. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/enterprise-impulse-spoilers/206218.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/enterprise-impulse-spoilers/206218.md?page=5)