In A Mirror, Darkly - Part II [Star Trek Enterprise SPOILERS]

Cafe Society
41

I don’t think the fact that Paramount wasn’t willing to give Ent a ton of new rope is evidence that they don’t like Trek as a concept. They didn’t like Enterprise. Well duh. Before this year, there was very little about Enterprise that was likeable. Paramount would have to have been morons to make a huge push for the fourth season of a low-rated show with a horrible reputation (one that was completely deserved). It seems to me that you’re taking Paramount’s refusal to take heroic measures to pull a crappy show out of the toilet as evidence that they have something against Star Trek generally. But Paramount, unlike us, actually has to pay for Trek. We can afford to be nostalgic and maintain our fandom even when the shows aren’t good. Paramount spends real money on each episode, though – they cannot.

–Cliffy

42

I tend to agree with NCB. The old guard at Paramount is gone. Viacom and CBS don’t care. UPN wants to show a bunch of crap instead. They allowed ENT to stay on for four years so they could have 100 episodes to syndicate and put out on DVD as well. The Sci Fi channel couldn’t pick up the show because nobody is interested in shopping it to them.

Trek United is refunding all the money they collected since they Paramount has declined their offers and ideas.

Aes, I’m sending you a few tapes this week and will send more later.

43

“ton of new rope” ?

Read my post again. They CUT the budget. They DENIED promotion. They MOVED the show.

Where did I say they should’ve sunk good money into a hopeless venture? What I do contend is that it was given a handicap by removing any hope it had. And no, I’m not terribly worked up over it, but I reserve the right to air my greivances and disappointment.

Still, like the evil Bill Shatner said on SNL, “It’s just a TV show!”

44

Don’t forget, they established in the previous episode that (A) the Terran Empire has access to all Vulcan technology, which may include shields, and (B) when the Mirror-Universe Tholian weapons hit the cloaked Mirror-Universe NX-01, something resembling shields was briefly visible around the NX-01. So maybe Malcom knew about the Defiant’s shields because the mirror-universe NX-01 also has shields.

Now that I have to take issue with. Consitution class starships, such as the NCC-1764 Defiant and the NCC-1701 Enterprise, do not have rear-firing photorp launchers.

Even if the baby from Family Guy does.

45

As shitty as Enterprise was for the first three seasons, the status quo sure as hell was a ton of new rope. Or do you think 30 million grows on trees? The smart move would have been to cancel it then.

–Cliffy

46

I’ll never understand the need some people have to display negativity towards fans or the object of their fandom. To shamefully borrow a trite and completely overused cliche, no one is forcing either the show or these threads on anyone else.

To the Trek Dopers still here after two long years of exodus (both from the show and the Dope), my apologies for starting this rantish hijack in the first place. Seems I opened a door or something.

Continue discussing the episode if you like. Or, we could talk about your mother. Tell me all the good things you remember about your mother.

47

Well, we run the Plant Motel…

48

Anyway…

Season 1 of ENT on DVD just arrived today in my mail. Very cool looking, if somewhat overpackaged, with some interesting extras and a coupon for the Trek Experience. Anyone going to Vegas? Wouldn’t you love to have a free Borg sipper cup? (I have one already. It’s the ugliest thing ever.)

49

OK, a gentle reminder, that we do have some members here who are members of Trek United. Personal insults are not permitted, and they may (indeed, one of them has) take this comment personally. I think it’s focused more on a group, not on every individual in that group nor every individual who supports that endeavor. But, I’d like to remind everyone that:
(a) Personal insults are not permitted in Cafe Society forum; and
(b) Ascribing characteristics to an entire group is stereotyping, which is a violation of Cafe Society Rules, as well as of common sense.

50

Archer gets his shirt torn fighting the Gorn.

The line Archer said “I want the other rebels to know what happened here” while letting the Andorian ship escape seemed like a nod to what the female Founder said about letting the escape pods go in the DS9 episode where the Defiant was destroyed.

51

I completely agree.

And some nitpicks: Wouldn’t Archer have better-protected the Defiant’s central computer core (or whatever it was that Phlox took out and Trip put back in)? And wouldn’t he have established better control over the ISS Avenger, so that they couldn’t attack him, given his strong distrust of aliens? Why didn’t the security guard accompanying Archer shoot the Gorn when he had a clear shot, instead of just hitting it with his rifle butt? And why did he then just stand there as the Gorn got to its feet (claws?) and came at him? Why would the Defiant’s upper primary hull be completely pristine as it entered Earth orbit, when we saw multiple explosions across its surface when the Avenger attacked? (I know, I know: a cheaper F/X shot that way).

The episode ended FAR too abruptly, IMHO. Nice to have Majel do the computer voice, though (and yes, her name’s shown in the closing credits).

On to the end…

52

[sub]Got busy, lost my notes, blah, blah, blah[/sub]
My expectations have always been so high for the series that I’ve not given it a chance to stand apart from my desires. I liked the episode, but still thought it lacked depth. It seemed to be more about showing off TOS elements than a coherent storyline.

They shoe-horned in the Gorn. While humans go from sumo wrestlers to pygmies and giant swedes to diminutive asians, the Gorn’s reinvention seemed unjustified; too great a disparity in the species. But I’m not an exobiologist.

I still say that the dead crew strewn about the halls should have long been removed or should be decomposing.

I liked the use of the grav-plating, but it points out 1) why didn’t anyone else do that, and 2) if your technology has grav-plating I would think you would have technology more advanced than phasers that you could doge awawy from.

I can accept that the Ent-crew in spacesuits had to get some other clothes, but would you feel comfortable changing from militaristic clothing to pajamas? I’d at lesat take a flak-jacket off the pion guards. (And Reed really shouldn’t have worn that red shirt; you know what happens to red-shirts)

What always strikes me as pandering is that the crew instantly know what to do. The Defiant is 100 years ahead in technology, but they grasp the idea of (and to to deploy) shields. They can use the scanners and the helm. They can reroute power and everything else. Have some dialogue where we see people stumble, swear, get angry, give up, etc., so long as we see their personalities.

I’m flabergasted that they let Phlox go through his entire espionage scene without uttering, “Dammit, I’m a doctor, not a spy” (engineer/mechanic/whatever)

I liked how Archer was so callous and stepped over the dead and dying as if they didn’t exist.

I would have liked to see glimmers of Hoshi in conversation with others that foreshadowed her killing Archer and taking over. Something like whispering to Reed, “Do you think the captain can really do it?” Reed: “Of course!” Sato: nods sagely as she mentally marks him off the list of people she can trust. In hindsight, I saw some foreshadowing as the camera zoomed in on Hoshi pouring some green ale and at the end we see she poisons Archer. The catfight didn’t make sense because T’Pol should have taken her, but it did show her ruthlessness, which panned out in the end.

The ending left me wanting to know what happenned later. Some political and military intrigue as she tries to take power. What if she contacts some other concubines and has them wield influence (and death) to help Empress Sato?

53

Reed and Trip have seen shields on other ships and messed with one onboard once. I disremember the episode.

54

Or maybe you just dismembered it.

*Trivia(l) note from startrek dot com: It seems that HDTV users were able to read the text on the Defiant’s computer re: the ENT folks in “our” universe–Archer and Hoshi, specifically. Our Hoshi and her family die horribly. I doubt that Empress Hoshi would fare much better. It seems she’s pretty much screwed in both universes.

55

[Danny Vermin] Ya know, my father hung me on a hook once. … Once! [/Danny Vermin]

56

I think it was his way to create an excuse to kill them. It is pretty obvious he hates them. Now he leaves a few seeds to sow discontent. “Guess what in the other universe you guys are our equals.” It seems from the human’s reaction that they find the idea of a Federation either laughable or odious so showing it to the aliens only Gives them a chance to betray him while he has the most powerful in the sector.

If the Avenfer fires on him he’ll… well we saw what he’d do.
And if any alins rise up he can unmask them as traitors to the empire and rally the human crew around him.

I almost felt sorry for him.

Hoshi is obviosly going to have to rule on high because she’s fodder as soon as she steps off that ship.

57

Saw the episode late. It was weaker than part 1. More importantly, I was waiting the entire time for some - ANY - connection to the regular Enterprise, and didn’t get it. Without that, you end up with “So what? Who cares what happens in this universe, or which characters die?” This was just a characters’ dream in a shower, by comparison.

58

If this was a dream in a shower, then the catfight between Hoshi and T’Pol would have … oh, never mind.

59

What does it mean, “dream in a shower”?
^ :dubious: ^

60

Think Bobby from the show Dallas. He dies, a whole year of the show goes by, and Victoria Principal steps out of the shower and it turns out it was only a dream.

Hrmm, Victoria Principal, Hoshi, and T’Pol in a shower …