# Enterprise-Proving Ground spoilers **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 21, 2004, 2:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/enterprise-proving-ground-spoilers/225409 "2004-01-21T02:55:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**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:** [January 22, 2004, 2:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/enterprise-proving-ground-spoilers/225409/21 "2004-01-22T02:37:15Z")
> [@Achernar](#): > > The Andorians put him in an escape pod and told _Enterprise_ where to pick him up. It’s not a big deal, but they did make it fairly obvious… That’s what I get for answering the phone during the show. ---
**Author:** ![Wearia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/13edae/32.png) [@Wearia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wearia)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2004, 5:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/enterprise-proving-ground-spoilers/225409/22 "2004-01-22T05:07:11Z")
Ok so I liked the episode. The Andorians are interesting fellars they is. I’d like to see more of them. Shrann made a good point about the Vulcans. So far the Andorians, even with the betrayl seem like better allies. Their ships look cooler too. Is it just me, or did the sphere shrink? It seemed pretty large blowing up the moon, but later Quantum said it could fit into the Enterprise, and we saw it go into the Andorian one. Also, Enterprise took out two Xindi ships taking minimal damage. Why didn’t they go back and take out the other two? Then they have 4 ships to pick apart. ---
**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:** [January 22, 2004, 5:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/enterprise-proving-ground-spoilers/225409/23 "2004-01-22T05:29:13Z")
well, i missed it due to work, working out, Chinese New Year, and American Idol. But there is always Sunday Sunday Sunday!! (or downloading. Which will proably happen first) ---
**Author:** ![vivalostwages](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/d07c76/32.png) [@vivalostwages](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vivalostwages)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2004, 5:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/enterprise-proving-ground-spoilers/225409/24 "2004-01-22T05:35:11Z")
Hey, not a bad ep. It was quite focused and the subplots were there for a good reason. But I’m gonna have to go bug Eric Kim\* again for not putting in any promos for next week. You can bet they’ll put them on the Sunday night rerun, though. :rolleyes: Boneheads. UPNskins. Dang, that was a long recap. Is that what they plan to do instead of promos? It certainly ate up enough time. I liked the conflicted nature of both the weapon maker and Shrann. Well, hey, they had a bit of System Restore after all. Andorian ale looks like Romulan ale but it’ll curl your antennae just the same. My God, Reed must have a bladder the size of a pumpkin if he could hold it for 12 hours. Or does the poor man refuse food and drink while in the armory? Archer: “We keep doing each other favors.” **viva** , to herself: Favors? Archer/Shrann slash moment. I liked Tallis and her attitude, though I wondered if Shrann might have sent that last-minute stuff because of his second thoughts. He didn’t want to be commended, after all. Gotta wonder. Good scene between Shrann and Trip (no, I won’t put the extra “p” there for anything. Is there even a second “n” in Shran(n)?). Has Bakula been losing weight? He’s looked thinner this season. **NCB** , I want a Xindi Weapon Super Happy Fun Ball for my birthday this year. (Well, that’s what the darn thing looks like!) \*Eric Kim, UPN Programming Director. [eric\_kim@upn.com](mailto:eric_kim@upn.com). Or call, write, fax. ---
**Author:** ![ddgryphon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/8c91f0/32.png) [@ddgryphon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ddgryphon)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2004, 5:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/enterprise-proving-ground-spoilers/225409/25 "2004-01-22T05:58:16Z")
My two pence is that if they could score more episodes like this, they would have fewer difficulties finding viewers. I call it a winner – no nasty pull it out of your a\*\* sudden death resolution, and just good writing and performances all around. ---
**Author:** ![tarragon918](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d26b3c/32.png) [@tarragon918](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tarragon918)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2004, 1:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/enterprise-proving-ground-spoilers/225409/26 "2004-01-22T13:47:05Z")
Tried to reply last night–there was a problem with the db, though. ☹ Darn hamsters! An good, exciting episode; although anything with the **Andorians** usually proves to be good. I’d sure love to see some more **Tellarites** though 😃 I am beginning to wonder how the Federation will ever come into being! Archer got in a good punch to Shran–Jeffrey Combs is so good. Did anyone else catch Granville Van Dusen as the Andorian General? He was also a Klingon in the court session when Archer was on trial. Do you think it was Shran or Talis who sent the encrypted information to Enterprise?! My money’s on Shran … for now. 😛 Oh yeah, CP, love your .sig–a true “Shrubism!” ---
**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:** [January 22, 2004, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/enterprise-proving-ground-spoilers/225409/27 "2004-01-22T14:27:33Z")
Do not taunt **Xindi Happy Fun Ball™** ---
**Author:** ![Rue\_DeDay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/41988e/32.png) [@Rue\_DeDay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rue_DeDay)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2004, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/enterprise-proving-ground-spoilers/225409/28 "2004-01-22T15:06:27Z")
When the Andorians called up Enterprise and you saw the back of Archer’s head blocking the viewscreen he had antenae! Ha! ANTENAE! Was there a point to that for which I am personally too dim to pick up on? Or was it just funny to give Archer some antenae? Also, no matter how good the Enterprise ep is, it’s not good to watch it after you’ve been watching the Firefly DVD’s you got for Christmas. Just a tip. ---
**Author:** ![Ephemera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8baadc/32.png) [@Ephemera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ephemera)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2004, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/enterprise-proving-ground-spoilers/225409/29 "2004-01-22T16:59:45Z")
Weyoun is Shran? Damn… he gets around. ---
**Author:** ![fiddlesticks](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fiddlesticks/32/18129_2.png) [@fiddlesticks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fiddlesticks)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2004, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/enterprise-proving-ground-spoilers/225409/30 "2004-01-22T17:15:54Z")
> [@Rue DeDay](#): > > When the Andorians called up Enterprise and you saw the back of Archer’s head blocking the viewscreen he had antenae! Ha! ANTENAE! > > Was there a point to that for which I am personally too dim to pick up on? Or was it just funny to give Archer some antenae? [Foghorn Leghorn] It’s a gag, son! A joke that is! They keep pitchin’ ‘em and you keep missin’ 'em. [/Foghorn Leghorn] The female Andorian seemed familiar to me as well. (And I don’t know NoClueBoy’s Tammy.) Maybe she’s in a commercial…or maybe she does voiceover work, her voice was the most familar part of her to me. Weird that IMDB shows her as basically a TV/movie rookie… Hope to see Shran back again soon…to paraphrase MST3K: “Combs is **always** good.” ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2004, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/enterprise-proving-ground-spoilers/225409/31 "2004-01-22T23:03:43Z")
Pretty good episode. The Andorians kind of look like a cross between smurfs and Simpsons characters, though-- something about the hairdo on the female Andorian. 🙂 I’ve got a few questions if someone would be so kind: 1. Why **aren’t** the Vulcans helping? Or are they? 2. I seem to remember in the episode when Archer and T’pol time-travelled back to earth to stop the Xindi from collecting bio-data on hoomans, that the data was for the Super Weapon. But the Super Weapon is just a big bomb for blowing up planets, so why do they need bio-data for it? Or did I misunderstand that time-travel episode? 3. Has it ever been explained what the Andorian antenae are actually used for? ---
**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:** [January 22, 2004, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/enterprise-proving-ground-spoilers/225409/32 "2004-01-22T23:42:55Z")
> [@John Mace](#): > > 1. I seem to remember in the episode when Archer and T’pol time-travelled back to earth to stop the Xindi from collecting bio-data on hoomans, that the data was for the Super Weapon. But the Super Weapon is just a big bomb for blowing up planets, so why do they need bio-data for it? Or did I misunderstand that time-travel episode? Those were a different group of rogue Xindi acting outside of the governing council, IIRC. > [@](#): > > 1. Has it ever been explained what the Andorian antenae are actually used for? They can pick up human babes with them. I don’t know if they’ve used them for anything else. ---
**Author:** ![Ephemera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8baadc/32.png) [@Ephemera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ephemera)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2004, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/enterprise-proving-ground-spoilers/225409/33 "2004-01-23T00:06:57Z")
Non-canonically, Andorian antennae are sensory organs that have been said to sense heat, “taste” the air like the Jacobson organ in snakes do, see auras, and any other number of things. They’re also supposedly highly erogenous due to lots of nerve endings and stuff. Canonically, they’re convenient handles for enemies, I guess. ---
**Author:** ![NE\_Texan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/e99b99/32.png) [@NE\_Texan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NE_Texan)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2004, 5:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/enterprise-proving-ground-spoilers/225409/34 "2004-01-23T05:42:41Z")
I rather liked the Andorians (aka “Blue man group”) as portrayed in this episode. I did think that Shran looked like Clint Eastwood under all that blue makeup. (“The Andorian Mining Consortium runs from no one!”) I did think it was _really_ obvious, though, that Shran was out to get the Xindi weapon. Is there some in-show reason that Archer would miss this? Just as an aside, I’ve seen all of this season to date, and most of the first season, but I missed the second season, so I haven’t seen the episodes where Archer has met the Andorians before (which has obviously happenned). But it seemed to me that Archer should have been a little more skeptical. **John Mace** : As for the Vulcans, they have sent one ship into the Expanse, and (so far as the Vulcan government knows) they went crazy - all they got back was a video of the Vulcans on the ship being pretty wacked out. So they weren’t about to send another ship in until they know more (I guess it would be illogical). In a more recent episode, the E crew found the ship, and found that the Vulcans have a pretty severe allergy (so to speak) to the mineral that would help ships protect themselves from the space bubbles. On the other hand, it seemed pretty obvious that the Vulcans have been trying to exert pressure to slow down Earth’s space program, so there’s a certain amount of distrust of the Vulcans by the humans there as well. Back to this episode - my wife and I went back and forth on whether it was the Captain Shran or Lt. Talas who sent the message, but we never came to a firm conclusion. (Obviously it was one of the two - they were the only named And/or-ians in the episode, so it was one and/or the other.) ---
**Author:** ![vivalostwages](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/d07c76/32.png) [@vivalostwages](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vivalostwages)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2004, 6:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/enterprise-proving-ground-spoilers/225409/35 "2004-01-23T06:40:55Z")
I know I posted this today, but something ate it… T’Pol hasn’t looked comfortable around Trip since Sim revealed his (Trip’s?) thoughts to her. Next week’s ep. is a repeat of “Twilight.” I believe they’re saving the “meaty” episodes for February. I hope everyone realizes that, since they’ve only been showing previews on the reruns. ---
**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:** [January 23, 2004, 9:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/enterprise-proving-ground-spoilers/225409/36 "2004-01-23T09:16:08Z")
Doesn’t Trip get it on with some Hot MACO babe later this season, which may lead to him and T’Pol hooking up, despite the fact that would completely go against her being a Vulcan and all, and i bet they have a kid named Spock. ---
**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:** [January 23, 2004, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/enterprise-proving-ground-spoilers/225409/37 "2004-01-23T15:23:17Z")
_These comments are made before I read any of the thread._ I thought this was a good romp and showed some promise for the quality of episodes that could be produced. While it had holes you could send a Xindi-Death-Probe through, it was engaging and fun.[ul][_]The loooong “As seen previously” just goes to show they need better confidence in good writing. I think they could have placed a lot of the background into the gaps they had in ordinary conversation and made the episode that much richer.[_]I keep thinking the Andorians must be a race of Doms. They should wear whips at their sides.[_]Lt. Talas had blue rouge, so cute.[_]Couldn’t post-production have colored those red-rimmed eyes to be blue?[_]Hoshi says they’ve dug 30% of the deleted data from the **redundant memory core**? How freakin’ redudant is it if it gets whacked too? Assholes! :mad:[_]T’Pol spoke of a “dense field of Spheres.” The maps in the background of the Spheres have always hinted that they are evenly dispersed.[_]Nice Anomaly going through the ship. Why was it oriented vertically and why was it green?[_]If the ship is venting atmosphere after a breach, why not seal ALL the decks in case of More problems! :wally[_]Those antenna over Archer’s head on the comm were Cute! 🙂 and…[_]Did you notice Shran’s antenna ducking around the ship’s beam? Now Those are somebody on the show Thinking!:)[_]Nice stab about Vulcan not coming to help but Andor does. Too bad they didn’t follow it up. :([_]Old fashioned arc-welding made me think about how humankind is just getting out into space. Forget the danger and air contamination.[_]So when Archer asks, and Shran calls to say “transfer sensor data” or “transfer telemetry” Enterprise can get it instantly? I guess they worked out All the protocols off screen. ☹ But notice the data was displayed in Andorian, so I guess Hoshi can decrypt the rest.[_]Seems like Shran genuinely understaood Trip’s loss but Shran’s revelation seemed just a tad to ham-fisted.[_]I loved the Andorian Mining Consortium sketch! 😃 Shows you they can write in some depth. It was odd that the Xindi didn’t think too much about this species it never met just showing up![_]The Xindi later detected human bio-signs as Enterprise approached so they should have detected Archer and T’Pol on the Andorian ship. For them to be there was Stupid! :mad:[_]Nice boding by Reed and confronting his own military/family background.[_]What was that thing Archer did when he realized Gralik sabotaged the weapon? His cheeks puffed up and the edges of his mouth lifted. :D[_]How did Shran know his shields would protect his crew from the Xindi probe’s radiation? Maybe listening to T’Pol’s analysis, but it wasn’t identified.[_]T’Pol referred to the Xindi ships approaching as “the two reptilian ships.” That’s a bit catty, but I’ll let it be a distinction so that Archer will know to adapt to Xindi-Reptilian battle tactics. :dubious:[_]The Xindi idiot didn’t call for help, but then the council animosity shows that he would be afraid they would pull his plug.[_]Archer uses the air-waves loosening standards in uttering his “son of a bitch”; and I didn’t realize he was a south-paw.[_]Nice touch about getting the Xindi probe’s Activation Codes. Though I would have thought the suspicious Andorians would have done that also.[_]And now Enterprise gets some detailed information on the probe to make it all worthwhile.[/ul]All in all, a fun romp, and a promise that good episodes can be made. ---
**Author:** ![NE\_Texan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/e99b99/32.png) [@NE\_Texan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NE_Texan)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2004, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/enterprise-proving-ground-spoilers/225409/38 "2004-01-23T18:32:03Z")
> [@Corner Case](#): > > Nice touch about getting the Xindi probe’s Activation Codes. Though I would have thought the suspicious Andorians would have done that also. Well, obviously the Andorians did have the weapon activation codes – that’s where Archer got them from. What the Andorians lacked were instead: [ul][li]Any motivation to use them – after all, the weapon is on their ship; and[/li]The **DE** activation codes. Which Archer must not have either; otherwise, why not use them once the weapon is ejected, so they can recover it?[/ul] ---
**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:** [January 23, 2004, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/enterprise-proving-ground-spoilers/225409/39 "2004-01-23T18:47:50Z")
…and after reading the thread… I forgot to mention the Xindi Happy Fun Ball. I think one shot had the Andorian ship (or Enterprise) passing by it. The Ball [sub]reminds me of Phantasm[/sub] diameter looked three times the length of the ship, but we’ll let that just be perspective. The problem with perspective and the view of the Ball around the moon is harder. You’d have to have a Hitchcockian lens effect (i.e. pull the camera back while focussing the lens in - help requested Cervaise) to have the Ball big enough with the moon in the background. Anyway, the scales just don’t seem to work. But fortunately, the Ball was JUST THE RIGHT SIZE (Goldilocks) to fit in the Andorian’s cargo bay. Size does matter! When I create my Illudium Pew 36 Explosive Space Modulator that can blow up an entire planet, I always end up with it just a little bigger than myself. That’s so I can stand next to it for the photo-op. BTW, I thought I heard Archer phrase it to Shran that T’Pol/Hoshi had picked up the Activation Codes and not that they had got them from the Andorian Sensor Data, but your analysis **NE Texan** is logical. ---
**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:** [January 23, 2004, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/enterprise-proving-ground-spoilers/225409/40 "2004-01-23T19:46:18Z")
> [@Corner Case](#): > > a Hitchcockian lens effect (i.e. pull the camera back while focussing the lens in - help requested Cervaise) For the record, I haven’t seen the episode yet. I’ve been crazy-busy so it’s sitting on my TiVo until tonight or maybe tomorrow. But the camera effect you’re referring to is usually called a “tracking zoom.” It works like this: When the lens is short, the image field has a lot of depth. That is, objects nearer the camera appear much closer, and the background recedes, and sometimes goes out of focus depending on the composition. But when the lens is long (i.e. zoomed in), the depth of field is flattened out; the distance between objects relative to the camera is artificially shortened, and the background is brought closer and emphasized. Example of practical use: If you’re shooting a hand-to-hand fight scene, you have the camera look over the shoulder of the person delivering the punch, but you put it a ways back and use a long lens to zoom in. The puncher can thus miss the face of the receiver by up to a foot, but the long lens will compress the apparent distance and make the people look closer together than they are, and the punch appear to land. Neat trick. This effect can be combined with a camera move to “inflate” the background. If you place the camera close to an object, then track the camera backward while simultaneously zooming in, you appear to be maintaining the same distance from the central object but the background comes into focus and slides up closer behind the object. This was most famously pioneered by Hitchcock in _Vertigo_, but there’s also a well-known use of it in _Goodfellas_, and I’ve seen it used everywhere from Jackie Chan’s _City Hunter_ to Disney’s _Lion King_ (simulated, of course). Now, since I haven’t seen the episode, I’m not sure how you’re suggesting it would be applied, but that’s how it works. This lesson in cinematography has been brought to you by the letters F and Stop and the estate of Conrad Hall. 😉 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/enterprise-proving-ground-spoilers/225409.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/enterprise-proving-ground-spoilers/225409.md?page=3)