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[NatureDevil]

Hello. I just registered, and can't wait to meet all the Chicago astronomy fans out there.

Anyway, for my first posting, I just finished watchign Star Trek: Enterprise and I was wondering, is there anyone else out there who is going nuts because of this show? The cliffhangers are driving me crazy, and there is only one week left till the finale. AGHGHGHG!!!!

Alrighty. I am going to vent to my neighbor now about it. Good luck to the success of this message board and hopefully we'll all meet some interesting people.

"That is the exploration that awaits you! Not mapping stars and studying nebula, but charting the unknown possibilities of existence!" - Q

NatureDevil

[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

Enterprise Tease

NatureDevil ,thank you for starting this subject, one of my favorites.

I have moved your thread to a new Star Trek catagory since in conversation with readers of the newsletter, there will be plenty to discuss.

Now, apart from being normally confused in general, this new incarnation of Star Trek - Enterprise has me quite baffled. I have attemped to follow the story line and original mission of the Archer command, but there have been so many twists and turns that I feel the original canon of Trek timeline has been bastardized incredibly.

I know I missed a few episodes, but I need to know

• When and why the MACO arrived on board and how they got all the way where the Enterprise was at,
• What is the Xindi origin,
• How the Enterprise continues to travel with all of the extensive damage it has received.
  
  I feel that the Enterprise is too much ahead of it's time in comparison to Enterprise 1701 - A, Kirk's ship. It should be more clunky with knobs, slides and dials. They pushed the transporter before it's time, but I see now the familiar communicator with the flip cover coming into play. I bet next season they will introduce sheilds and photon torpedos.
  
  I like time travel conundrums, (Janeway was always screwing the timeline up), so I can only hope that Archer's current timeline, as corrupt as it is, is only one of many futures that run concurrent...and maybe, the Xindi situation never happened.
  
  Also, I think that Enterprise started out slow and boring. I like that Archer has taken a darker side to survive. He has already murdered, stolen, tortured and lied his way into the expanse.....how un-Federation.....Oh....there isn't one yet!
  
  Of course Archer will save earth, but how many will die during this, his first command.
  
  This should be an interesting discussion.
  
  
  
  [glow=red,2,300]The Needs of the many, outway the Needs of the few[/glow]
  

[NatureDevil]

I see what you are saying about Enterprise. I'll address the questions as I go through a few of the storyline details.

With the transporter, they didn't use it at all in the first two seasons with few exceptions. And yeah, the first two seasons were kind of dry, but this third season has blown me away.

Okay, here is what is going on with the Xindi. They are a species that came from a planet were 6 different dominant species of Xindi evolved. They were Aboreols (the hairy sloth ones), Humanoids, Insectoids, Reptilians, Aquatics, and Abians. The Abians are now extinct due to the species feuding with each other and eventually blowing up their homeworld.

Now, a group of transdimensional beings has come into play. They have built these huge spheres in the Expanse, which Enterprise found out is changing space. The spheres are literally remorphing the space so that it is uninhabitable for any other beings to exist there except their own. There is a problem. Aparently these transdimensional beings can see timelines, and they see future where they go to war and lose against the federation years away. So they realize they need to stop the federation from ever forming, and they want to do that by destroying the Earth.

So they help unite the Xindi species, telling them that humans will come to kill them and wipe them out in the future. Thus, they must build a weopon now to destroy Earth as a premptive strike to save themselves. So the spherebuilders are basically using the Xindi to do their work for them.

When the test weapon showed up and killed those 7 million people, Archer was given a message from the future about who the Xindi were and why they need to be stopped. So the original mission was to go and stop the Xindi from launching the real weapon. Of course, then the sphere builders were discovered and then you realize that the Xindi aren't the actual villains. So when Enterprise was called back to Earth to go on this mission, StarFleet suggested they take aboard the MACO's, who have been on board all of season 3.

Oh, and as for the beat up ship still being able to move after all the damage? There was a part in an episode where they had to steal a warp core from another ship in order to get theirs moving again. Yeah, they have been screwed around a lot in the expanse.

I like this season though because it reminds me of the Dominion war in DS9, and the acting has been incredible. All the actors have been forced to step it up a notch this season. If you have any other questions, please ask. I am a Star Trek loser fan, and proud of it!!! Take care.

NatureDevil

[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

But wait....a Starfleet minute!

In regards to time travel and perceptions - Daniels, the Starfleet timecop, has seen this already, and could have informed Archer BEFORE the first Xindi sphere. No? If so, then the time police are guilty of crimes. Remember early on when Archer met a time traveler who's identity was concealed? Was that the same species that are now building the spheres??

It is all a game of leap-frogging with the time seerers. "I'll do this, so that you will never have done that" and then the other side would see that and do something to prevent the interference. Arrgh!

I did not know that the Enterprise went back home. I hope they had pie. Why arn't the Vulcans and the Klingons involved in this? They have a stake in it too! And isn't the Eugenics war about to start?

Yes, I remember the warp engine incident. He did to them what Kirk did to Kahn, but with more compassion.

Why did the first sphere only kill 7 million? Was it a smaller one - a test sphere? How does it kill? When did Earth know about the first sphere and who deployed it? When it was upon them already?

I wish I recorded the damned things all along! Learning more all the time.

Joe
Chicago Astronomer

[NatureDevil]

Earth didn't know about the test sphere until it hit. After it happened, then Archer was abducted by that shadowy figure they have yet to explain, who told them where it came from.

I do have the whole 3rd season on tape, I could make copies for someone who is always nice enough to let me look through their telescope. There are some brilliant episodes that have come from it.

NatureDevil

[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

Now....If someone would arrive, cradling tapes of Enterprise in his arms, telescopic time just might become available to that kind and generous person.

We got rained out this weekend for any lakefront observation sessions, but Wednesday might have clear skies for us in Chicago.

Joe
Chicago Astronomer

[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

Season Finale!

Now, I will stay home tonight to watch the cliff hanger that will be certain. Will Yoshi get her brain unscrambled?...Will Trip and Tpol get horizontal while the captain is away?...Will the Xindi have frog legs for dinner? And what about Archer, what will he steal next!

Well anyway, I look forward to the show and see if the writers stick to Star Trek canon and more accurate story lines. It has been getting better as it progreses.

Joe
[glow=blue,2,300]Chicago Astronomer[/glow]

[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

Where do I start?.....

It was quite an interesting last episode of the season.

I knew that the weapon would be destroyed..ok. It was kinda cool on how Archer eliminated the last reptile...rather smarkey. I like!

The time shift was rather surprizing, but not unexpected. I wonder how they shall get the crew all back together in the same timeline. Daniels to the rescue!!!

But now.........the Nazi angle...we have seen it before on Star Trek. Why recycle that?

What was that alien in the Nazi uniform a reptile? I couldn't make it out.

The reference to the birth of the Federation was a nice story developement, as was the participation of the Andorians in the battle. That was uplifting and a yea moment! The antennae movement brings a smile to my face whenever I see them move to show emotion. LOL

But again, where were the Vulcans and the Klingons in this situation. As mentioned by Tpol, she stated that her planet was in jeopardy as well. I would have expected an armada to meet the sphere.

I knew Archer was not dead. I remember on a DS9 episode, where the station crew were intergrated into the crew of Captain Kirk thru computer wizardry. I would like to see that again.

Till the fall!

Joe
[glow=blue,2,300]Chicago Astronomer[/glow]

[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

Better informed now, but still scratching head...

I have been perusing dedicated Star Trek boards and the discussion is that:

• The future temporal chicks are indeed the begining of the Borg
• The Nazi alien is in fact a Reman
• And the Enterpise crew is in fact NOT in 1940 earth, but in 2156 in an altered timeline.

The connection to Borg are many for example: The Sphere builder chicks have a uncanny resembilance to the Borg queen... in dress and mannerisms. The weapon looks a a great deal like borg technology, the weapon traveled thru a "vortex" - later Borg traveled thru "Transwarp conduits, and Phlox gave instructions to fluctuate the frequencies of the phaser weapons - ala Borg shields.

I don't know who the Reman's are except on what I have read. Slaves of the Romulans. And that they were in the TNG Nemisis. I have forgotten all! What they play in the Nazi cliff hanger is unknown. Below is the alien Nazi.

And the discussions are that Maryweather did not notice any anomolies while piloting the shuttle craft. All seemed normal, suggesting that they did not go back into time. If they did, the stars would be postioned different.

Time travel paradoxes are always complicated and never complete, and I think that the writers are attempting to explain Trek origins with Enterprise, but... I forget who the Tholians are!

Joe
[glow=blue,2,300]Chicago Astronomer[/glow]

[NatureDevil]

I agree that the transdimensional beings may be the begining of the borg. Also, I have read the theories about the alien being a Reman, which were those guys from Nemesis. That would make sense because in the Star Trek timeline, the Romulan war against Earth is supposed to start taking place, I believe. Then again, it may not have been a Reman, it may just share similar features.

As for exactly what time they are in, I am not so sure. I thought maybe it was the 2150's, but realized that after so many years on earth, the Nazi's should have already conquered the planet, and the planes that attacked Mayweather and Trip would have been a little newer than those P51 Mustangs. That's my theory anyways.

Oh, something about the episode bothered me, that I caught, and I am hoping it is important and not just an error. When the Xindi alien was scanning the weapon for humans, he said that their were seven humans aboard. Reed specifically asked for 3 men to go with him, and we saw all three of them die. Those three guys, along with Hoshi, Reed, and Archer only make up 6. Yeah.

I am so going to be annoyed by this until September. Oh, if you wanted to catch up on the whole storyline, the whole season is going to be rerun this summer, and next week, they are going to play the first two episodes of the season incase you missed it.

[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

You are correct in the number of the away team. It is a mysterious "7th" person. It is suggested that the 7th person is Daniels to keep watch on Archer.

Theory goes: As Daniels realizes that Archer is not going to make it off the sphere, he yanks him off himself, but as the sphere is loaded with kimecite (sp?), (a known interference timeline factor when exposed to radiation), it does indeed remove him from the immediate danger, but the external influence of the substance affects Daniel's timejump rescue. And now...the crew is in a altered Earth timeline.

I must review the episode again, and pick out the particulates.

Joe
[glow=blue,2,300]Chicago Astronomer[/glow]

[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

Yet Another point...

In a dedicated Star Trek board, it was pointed out that the Yosetime space station that the Reptilians destroy is the same space station named Midas in Voyager's Pathfinder.

Above is the Midas station...

...And this is the Yosemite Station

Why the similarities in design hundreds of years apart? The station of Enterprise does not look like a research facility. It appears to look like simply a relay platform.

Can Paramount be closing the purse on Star Trek's expense by reusing old graphics? Tsk tsk.

Thanks to www.trekbbs.com for the lead.

Joe
[glow=blue,2,300]Chicago Astronomer[/glow]

[NatureDevil]

This whole Xindi arc is driving me nuts and I am going to sweat it out till September to see what the writers do to explain all these things. Yeah, I read about the space station similarities as well.

I have been getting into the DS9 Dominion storyline as of late, and it reminds me of the Xindi one. Lots of curves and last minute surprises. I can only hope that Enterprise can do a good job with next season, because it is hard to top yourself, and they did an excellent job with the last season.

NatureDevil

[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

YOU are Confused???!!!

Now, I rather enjoyed DS9. It was dark, had many many side stories...and the players!.....I couldn't keep track of them all!!

Dominion, Founders, Bejorans, Ferengi, Symbiants, Cardassians, Changlings, Trills...oh man....I still can't figure it all out.

DS9 produced the best Star Trek episode when they combined the crews of DS9 and Captain Kirk's crew in a time travel thing. They should do that again with Enterprise, stopping on board Voyager, watching Spock in the radiation chamber, or even on Captain Riker's ship, (Finally!).

I hope that on Enterprise that this is indeed the begining of the Borg. But would not the history books mention this? But wait.....Did not the Borg enter the storyline here early on in the series?

I am confused...

Joe
[glow=blue,2,300]Chicago Astronomer[/glow]

[NatureDevil]

Although a lot of people claim that the use of the Borg was bad in Enterprise, I thought they did a great job of doing it and keeping with continuity. Those are just old ST fans that are stubborn and hate change or anything rash.

Here is what happened. I assume you have seen movie (one of the best) First Contact. That was where the Borg went into the past and tried to stop Cochran from making the first warp space flight and contacting the Vulcans (I am really summing it up). Anyway, what happened at the beging was the Borg created some kind of field that took them into Earth's past using one of the Borg spheres that they travel in. The Enterprise chansed them.

Once the Enterprise confronted them in the past, they destroyed the sphere. Of course, the Borg beamed over and tried to take over the ship and that led to the rest of the movie. Well, what happened to those peices of the Borg sphere that were blown up in the past? They got caught in Earth gravity pull and eventually landed somewhere in Antarctica, where they were discovered in the 2150's by scientists doing their usual scavanging around in cold places that they should be.

In doing that, they discovered these "cyborg type beings" and helped revive them, which is obviously a bad thing. The Eneterprise returned home to see what the trouble was. Then, epic story ensues and the Borg eventually die out, with one interesting subplot; they got Phlox. He actually figured a way to stop the assimilation process (great acting by him too, my favorite actor in all of Star Trek I might add).

There was one thing that got to me though. When the Borg first confronted Enterprise, they appeared on the screen and said "You will be assimilated, resistance is futile."

Well, the Borg are very polite and have manners. In EVERY other instance where you see them, they always introduce themselves by saying "We are the Borg...." and then the rest. Obviously, they couldn't say that here or Starfleet would have recognized the name Borg when Picard first met them.

Other than that, it was a great episode. Hopefully it will be in syndication soon.

NatureDevil

[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

I'm watching the reruns now, and have a question. Why are the Xindi concerned about the humans at this early stage? Are they pissed because the humans are zipping thru their space? They have yet to build the first weapon of destruction, so how does Archer know of the Xindi? And what does he want with them now?

Second...What is the principle of "Hull Plating"? Some sort of polarity charge?

I'm so out of it...sigh.

Nubian concubines, hmmmm.

[NatureDevil]

Okay, remember, the transdimensional beings told the Xindi that Earth will destroy them in 400 years. If the Xindi want to survive, they need to destroy the humans now in a preemptive strike.

So they sent a test probe, which killed 7 million people. The humans would have known nothing about it if it weren't for the "future guy" leaking the info to them about who was behind it and why.

So, based off of "future guy's" info, they are going into the expanse, a region that has been deemed unsafe due to the anomolies and has thus been unexplored.

The Xindi suddenly realize "oh $/-/!T, a vessel from earth has entered the expanse! They must know something!" So the Xindi are debating amongst each other on what the humans are doing there. Some are convinced that Enterprise is the first of a fleet of ships comming to destroy all Xindi life.

In the mean time, the Enterprise needs to cover the hull plating with a coating of trelium-D, which will protect them from the anomolies. There is something else important about the trelium that I will not spoil for you, and there is an excellent episode of Enterprise comming up called "Twilight" that you should not miss. You'll find out in time.

I hope I clarified some of it up. That Rajiin chick was hot. They need more of that in Star Trek.

NatureDevil