And that alien Nazi looked like a Reman. If this leads to the Romulan war, I’d be really happy :dubious:
So, trying to resolve some inconsistencies, here’s what I got so far, as theories.
-
Xindi weapon blows up. Exotic energies interact with nearby Xindi vortex, causing the same kind of time displacement that gave us the alternate Enterprise a few episodes ago. Archer is tossed back through time by the weapon’s energies, Daniel’s interference, whatever…
-
Ships that helped assault the weapon head back to the Expanse. Either the vortex hasn’t destabilized yet, or it’s not unstable in that direction.
*Aquatic ship zips Enterprise home through the vortex. And time. Dropping off Enterprise, they head home.
Supporting evidence : When the hell else could Enterprise have been displaced?
Supporting Evidence : Phlox’s animals were freaking out.
Supporting Evidence : We had only recently had an episode were an unstable Xindi ‘hyperspace’ corridor did this very same thing.
Good ideas, Candidgamera.
Well, thank you.
I’m pretty much of the mind I’ll let them try any sort of plot as long as they do good things with it, and make it remotely plausible. And I’m fascinated by alternate reality and time travel stories, so they’ve lost no points with me on that front… the conclusion of the episode was a bit jarring, though.
Other things that may have destabilized the Xindi corridor : The collapse of the spheres and subsequent rearrangement of the expanse. More-direct-than usual interference from Daniels.
OK, I’m polarizing my hull plating for this…
I like the Nazi twist
We wanted a throwback to TOS, right? Remember “Patterns of Force”? “A Piece of the Action”? “Assignment: Earth”? “Spectre of the Gun”? Cheesy as hell, but fun.
I for one welcome our Nazi alien overlords. (I don’t think they’re Xindi, by the way, just your run of the mill Nazi alien.)
Granted, I did shout WTF?, but on reflection, I like it, and I’m looking forward to see where they go with.
The rest of the episode had its ups and downs.
Ups: Hoshi’s trauma, Archer’s creative use of explosives, Earth saved, Federation’s founding, Porthos, T’pol and Trip’s banter. (Random thought: I wonder if Bermaga are mining Spock/McCoy slash for their T’pol/Trip ideas.)
Downs: pisspoor science. (Space being reconfigured to another dimension causes… skin lesions? and the Doctor knows this? What about all his pets and Porthos? Did they get lesions too?) Silly engineering (3 codes slower than 5? turn the rods upside down to disarm? Still no handrails?) Archer’s noble sacrifice that made sense story-wise ruined to keep the stats quo. (especially after we were promised that not everyone would make it. Hayes doesn’t count, dammit.)
Now, some questions, since I must have missed a few episodes somewhere:
- When did we last see Shran and why does it at all make sense for him to show up now?
- Why is it so damn urgent to blow up the spheres NOW? Can’t the Enterprise go help save Earth, and come back for the spheres when better prepared? Or at least bring along some Xindi backup?
- How does the Enterprise make a deflector pulse with no shields?
- What is up with Daniel’s outfit?
I can only imagine that the Xindi activation codes take the form of special decryption keys… it only runs in reasonable time (or possibly at all) with three keys… but the more you have, the less time it takes.
I guess the Doctor’s knowledge of the skin lesions comes from observation of the distortions up to this point and his research on the ‘test subject’ Trans-D. Interestingly, it appeared Phlox hadn’t yet begun to receive lesions.
Shran was last seen after they tried to steal the Xindi prototype from Enterprise after help ENT steal it from the Xindi. ENT has a main deflector array, which I suppose projects a weak field used to turn away micro-debris in space (so a tiny rock hitting them at .5 C doesn’t destroy the ship.) - but not developed into real shields yet, useful against weaponry. #2 and #4… you’re on your own.
- What Candid said.
- The Aquatics were going to help Enterprise, but only on the condition that they blow up one of the spheres. They did their part, losing one of their very pretty ships in the process, so Enterprise needs to hold up their end of the bargain, especially since the Aquatics are so skeptical. Besides, only Degra’s ship is fast enough to get to Earth in time, and only an Aquatic ship (and the Aquatics are the very ones who would decline to help if Enterprise doesn’t do its thing) could transport Enterprise.
- Huh?
- It’s the 31st century style. It has a little pump that circulates warm water through all the ridges - after all, it is very cold in space. (My idea, actually, is that it is a portable personal shield generator. Azati Prime, though, dashed my hopes)
Nice theorizing Candidgamera! I like it, i’d like to add one of my own, Im startying to suspect that Crewman Daniels is some ancester or Archers, they seemed to go out of thir way to put them in a a close up doing the federation signing.
I’ll take number two. In order to get the cooperation from the Aquatics (they were just gonna sit around thinking about it, and had resisted efforts to personally get involved) Archer promised that they’d destroy the spheres if the Aquatics would help overpower the Lizards/Bugs.
Thanks for the answers on Shran and the deflector, but I guess wasn’t clear on the sphere question. I know that Archer promised they’d destory the spheres to get the help of the Aquatics, but why right now?
The Xindi weapon was IN TRANSIT to Earth. That’s quite a deadline. The Spheres have been around for years. (Centuries?) The Aquatics are known to be patient and unhasty. (“It takes a very long time to say anything in Old Aquatish…”;)) Enterprise is practically crippled. It seems decidedly unaquatic to demand that they destroy the spheres RIGHT NOW, rather than taking the time to come up with a plan that doesn’t cause the crew to turn into mummies, and doesn’t risk the ship blowing up.
And even if the Enterprise can’t make it there as fast as Degra’s ship, I would’ve still sent it as backup. What if the team on Degra’s ship only manages to slow down the weapon? The Enterprise should get there as soon as possible to assist.
As for the skin lesions, there was a lot more wrong with the Trans-D test subject than skin lesions. I can buy Phlox using his knowledge of the test subject (even though there’s no reason to assume their dimension would have the same effect on us that our dimension does on them.) But I have trouble with only skin being affected (even with an hyperwhatsis injection.)
Here’s another theory for you : Remember when Phlox tended the ship by himself? Wasn’t that an anomaly field? (or was it some other space phenomenon? Maybe I’m off base) … I got the idea that the primary issue with humans and Vulcans being awake for the ride was neurological damage and insanity. So, Phlox comes up with a compound that prevents the neurological damage for a very brief period… But! As a side effect, it causes the skin effects we see. That’d mean Phlox wouldn’t need the injection (since he’s more resistant to the damage) and thus… he has no skin damage. Also, Porthos would be okay.
The Xindi guy with the cornrows was adamant that Enterprise destroy one now.
You don’t suppose the are going to start writing episode where Archer jumps around in time becasue Backula was good at that, do you?
Here is some info on that alien and other officers by someone who did his homework…
Here’s a pretty cool fan-wank that was hyperlinked in that same thread. I like it but doubt it will be what happens come September.
Like Captain Janeway said, time travel paradoxes give me a headache.
Why the quotation of fan-wank?
A reference to what I was refering too…wait a minute.
To identify your post as the one I was commenting upon.
What does M.A.A.C.O. Stand for?
From the Enterprise FAQ:
**MACO ** - MACO (Military Assault Command Operations) are the army dudes who showed up in the ship in season three to add muscle to the ship. Ignoring the fact they all look like Abercrombie and Fitch models instead of Marines, the acronym is stupid and gets mocked mercilessly. (NACHOs, MACHOs, etc.)
I thought there were more names here than there ever had been before…
Calm down about yer tapes. 
I’ve got ‘em; I just wasn’t here. I did watch the finale while on vacation, but the feed was glitching so I missed some dialogue and I was very tired after pounding pavement, consuming victuals, puttin’ away a sangria and a margarita (on two different days, mind you), getting in my culture-geek quota as Phlox would, and hanging out on Lucky Jack Aubrey’s ship.
I also need to fill up said tapes a bit more–there are two of them.
I meant our core group - the posters that keep the threads going well past the point where saner ones would have left them to die.
Have you ever had sangria soda? It’s better than the alcoholic kind.