I haven't seen previews for this yet but I just hope and pray they keep the momentum going from "Proving Ground."

Ah, the classic war-time plot of, "Make him think years have passed so he reveals key info". Though, I think this is the first time I've seen it from the trickers' side of things.

I enjoyed it.

Ditto.

Not the most innovative plot in the world, but a really well done old one can be just as good. I had been spoiled for the initial trickery, but either I'm naive or forgetful, because the twist at the end took me by surprise. It took me a minute to get what was going on, but then I smiled. "I see plans within plans.."

And I usually don't enjoy just Archer with an alien guest star, but they managed to pull it off this time. Maybe because they put every single one of the rest of the cast to use; they weren't at the forefront, but even Hoshi and Maywho were doing a vital something.

"Try not to damage them. They're very hard to replace."
"I'll ..try."
Hee.
Keep it up , guys; at this rate , I can't wait for the next one. :)

I enjoyed it too. When Quantum brought Degra to the bridge, the lightbulb went off and figured that it was a hoax. But I'm sure Trip would love to be able to create the vortices.



I loved that scene--then again, I love Phlox.

I didn't think I'd like the whole Xindi story, but so far, not so bad. Looking forward to next week.

Yeah, I'd seen the "We'll make you think..." plot, but this was a nice change in the presentation. Not Shocking! Not The Most...EVA! Still a nice ep with DarkerArcher (or maybe just DeterminedArcher) and the whole gang, as GoldfishGirl42 said.

Here's hoping that February will continue the 'good' trend.

I liked it. At first, I thought it was "Twilight Redux," but was somewhat pleased that it wasn't. However, had it been a Redux, I would have been intrigued to see how it turned out. Nevertheless, I liked it--I wasn't even expecting the twist at the end. Heh. I liked it.

And Archer didn't torture Degra and barely threatened violence.

When the lights started flickering during the initial interrogation, I could just imagine Degra snorting in his head, thinking, "We're afraid of these people? They can't even keep the power on."

I wonder if Archer made up Gralek's execution story or if that was something he and T'Pol concocted? Either way, it was a nice continuity touch.

Odd- I caught on to the second hoax right on (OK, had my doubts for a while), but missed the first. What with all the time warping, I can't be sure of anything.

What did Phlox want not to be damaged? I forget, or missed it.

A thought: Was it ever said that the Xindi feared the humans would destroy their planet, or their people? It doesn't make sense that they haven't got a planet yet, and yet fall for a warning that their planet will be destroyed in the future.

Come to think, anything destroyed 400 years in the future would be the work not just of Earth, but of the whole UFP. The Xindi should be out to get everyone. Maybe Archer's theory (it was his, not Degra's, right?) about the Insectoids making the whole thing up (or one future faction doing so) isn't far off.

I also liked it for the reasons already mentioned: determined Archer, the whole crew working together, good plot twists. It did end kind of abruptly but I suppose that couldn't be helped since the Xindi arc still has a long way to go.

And previews for next week!


One of his rebulon (sp?) blood worms.

Some worm that he has; Archer calls them blood worms and I can't remember what Phlox called them, except he did mention they were harmless.

The thing that bugs me the most about this Xindi arc is that both the humans and the Xindi are being manipulated by the inane Temporal Cold War thingie. I would prefer it if the Xindi were the enemy not because some guy 400 years in the future said they would but because humans were really a threat.

I thought it was a great ep. At first I was thinking it maybe was something like a holodeck simulation, but of course that was not possible (at least on the Enterprise). I never figured they would've stolen the simulator from Star Trek: The Experience! :) Great idea. The twist at the end had me fooled for a few minutes, but then I got to wondering if it actually was another hoax - when they dragged him onto the bridge I was pretty sure. Degra is such an idiot - fooled twice.


But they probably know from future guy that Earth was the originator of the Federation - get them and nip the whole thing in the bud...

Well, I missed the first 10 minutes after the opening teaser because the power went out! Augh! I have no idea why he picked Degra to be the one they used. I'll have to catch it again Sunday. sigh....

I liked this episode a lot...
But I kept wondering why, when they have such a high ranking Xindi, who sits on the Council, did Archer not want to interrogate him about how this whole thing started? Why didn't he ask them if they've had dealings with the Suliban or the Romulans or any mysterious shadowy figures from the future? Where is Daniels when you need him?

I figured out the first hoax, but only because I thought they were doing Twilight Redux (tm Captain Snarky), which would have been stupid, so I desperately began to think of alternate plotlines. I was surprised they didn't stretch out the first hoax for the entire episode, which would have been so first or second season. All in all, not really exciting, but there was enough going on to keep my attention.

The preview for next week's episode: OY. After bitching that there haven't been any previews, the UPN promo monkeys remind us why we shouldn't miss them.

ETA: Why didn't Drega use his ship's self-destruct system? If this were Voyager, that ship would have been blown to pieces ten times over by the time Archer got to it.

Getting captured at least keeps your options open in ways suicide really can't.

Wait, we want this show to be more like Voyager?

I kid, I kid.

Good episode tonight. Had me guessing the whole time! I definitely think that Archer missed an opportunity for counter-programming with Degra, in terms of trying to convince him not to Kill All Humans. "We were told humans were ruthless..." By whom? Whom, dammit!

Oh well, at least we finally got some previews for the weeks to come. Naturally, they decided to play up the plot threads I'm most annoyed with.

True, but since Drega has such an intense hatred of humanity, I thought he would try to avoid any situation whereby ENT could get info on the weapon. He had no idea what would happen if he were captured. Drega did mention that the other Xindi would come after ENT if they realized that he was captured. Perhaps he hoped this would happen and ENT would be destroyed.

In any case, this a minor point to me since I thought the rest of the ep was good.

Hey, another good one! Everyone got something to do, and Travis even got a close-up! Yay for Anthony! (He's such a sweetie - but I digress).

I can usually predict plot twists a mile ahead, but the second one caught me by surprise. Good for them.

And promos. Although I could have lived without seeing T'Pol's bare butt. But the female MACO giving Trip a swat on the bum - you go, girl!

We already knew that Wednesday is movie night on Enterprise, so I guess that means Thursdays are for drama club?

Not bad... better than average, which me likie! Is this the grandfather of the Holodeck? Almost.... but forced to have Archer start the ruse without knowing basic info from Degra, like son's name, etc... 2 ruses in a row! Me likie!

The second twist to find out if the red giant was important or not caught me by surprise because mastering an alien tech and redesigning the ship to use it is just the thing that Star Trek has done in the past. I was wondering how hard they would have to hit the reset button to avoid giving Enterprise this wormhole tech for good.

I really liked this episode. It reminded me of the surprise in DS9, when they kidnapped Julian and replaced him with an imposter. Ahhhhh....what a story! Although not quite as impressive, this one still took me by surprise. I must admit I was rolling my eyes at the beginning too. I feared that it was yet another time travel story and all we would see for the whole show is Archer and the alien. My fears were relieved when the whole crew appeared several minutes later. It was a joy to see them all working together as a team. I loved Hoshi's voice change, and the fact she had an important role in this story.

Just a few things I noticed...did any of you??

1.) What's up with Hoshi monitoring the Captain's drinking? Was she questionning his tactics or just concerned for his welfare? {Hoshi needs some fun in her life, she's way too serious. Even Trip finds time for humor every once in a great while.}

2.) Did they take the padding out of T'Pol's suit? She looked different tonight in her outfits.

3.) I love Mayweather's smile at the end. Couldn't the Captain find some way to compliment him before he added "a little too much turbulance"? I know it was supposed to be a joke but it was a little dry. They had just learned a valuable piece of informtion. Couldn't Archer give a little sly smile? They could have even hinted a little at the Star Trek Experience in Vegas. Come on people, we are smart enough to get the subtle humor.

I liked this ep too. Not the best this season, but it certainly advanced the arc and did so in an interesting way.
I liked Quantum's performance when Drega was talking about seeing the first weapon used on Earth. Quite moving, in fact.
I thought it was clever to take something we had already seen (Twilight), turn it inside out, and then reveal it as not what it seemed. I'm having flashbacks to when T'pol said (in Twilight), "At this point you wonder if you are the victim of an elaborate deception." Neat.
As usual, I had suspicions about the second deception, then decided "nah" and then turned out to be right. I still laughed though.
All in all, a solid episode, in my opinion.


Word, tothemax. I had the same reaction.

I really wish Quantum had tried to figure out more about why the Xindi wanted to Kill All Humans. The writers could have slipped it in. Make it last question he asks before they're interrupted by the simulator freaking out.

Other than that nitpick, I loved this episode. "Captain's Log: we're going back to the scene of last week's episode, so we can use it as a gorgeous backdrop to remind us of the continuity."

I caught on the to the first trick pretty soon (no exterior establishing shots of the ship, a trick they've pulled enough times that I've finally caught on). The second one had me going a while longer, until Trip said that May-I-have-my-close-up-now had saved the ship. Heh. Travis saving the ship.

Well, they continued the trend of not sucking tonight; I'm impressed. I caught the first one right from the word go, but the second one had me going until it was all magically fixed. Very clever on Archer's part, though (I wouldn't have thought to do that.)

Where have I heard of Regulan bloodworms before? Wasn't Kirk called one in "The Trouble With Tribbles"?

Phlox used one on Reed one time. I'm pretty sure they've been mentioned on Trek before, though.

Wow. The crew actually outwitted someone … again! Twice in two episodes. Got to be a record for the Enterprise crew.

I liked this episode. More like this please!

Enjoyable episode. I am rather disconcerted to note that Quantum has been less assy this season. I may be...starting to like him? I liked the team meeting where everyone got to talk. Mayweather was there. And T'Pol, and Dr. Phlox. And Hoshii, I think I missed you most of all!


Could have done without the previews for next week, though. I may not be strong enough to watch it.

Kudos, Doogie, it was one of the insults about Kirk that Korax threw at Scotty before the barroom fight.

I liked this ep - it doesn't matter to me if plots are recycled, as long as they are well written, etc.

(Now if I can only remember the name of the movie where the Germans try to pull the same bluff on a US officer who has D-day plans . . . .)

I was pleasantly surprised by tonight's episode. Really appreciated how they managed to build momentum consistently through the show, and hopefully into the next few episodes. Old plot sure, but they kept the execution interesting, unlike some Trek time travel episodes ("Children of Time," I'm looking at you).



Korax compared humans to Regulan bloodworms in "The Trouble with Tribbles." Kirk was not called a Regulan bloodworm. "Regulan bloodworms are soft and shapeless. [Kirk] may be a tin-plated, overbearing dictator with delusions of godhood, but he's not soft." Further insults and invective follow, then the big fight.

ETA About the previews for next week: Hayes looks younger than usual, unless I've got him confused with another MACO. As for the Trip triangle, if it's a battle of the dinners, T'Pol's in trouble. Yes, I'm twelve.

They showed Degra figuring out the first hoax during one of the bumpy shakys by, what it appeared, him looking out the window (or whatever it's called on a spacecraft). But it wasn't shown what he saw - if in fact that was what tipped him off. I noticed that when they dropped out of warp, the simulated outside changed. So I am assuming that the crew didn't have bumpy shaky simulation and Degra said to himself, "Hey...just hold on here. If we're bumping and shaking how come them there stars are just sittin' there like nothin's happening? Hmmm...this isn't right. Is it? I better just check." "Yo! El Cappy-tan. What city are the Yankees from?" Quantum - thought bubble - oh crap, he's figured this out, "New York!" There, that will shut him up. "Yo! El Cappy-tan. Who played left field during their 2003 season?" Quantum - panicy thought bubble - oh crap, now he's got me.




Hee.

They showed what Degra saw- the starfield was replaced by computer static. So he realized it wasn't a window, but a screen. Of course, Archer could have wanked that by saying it is a screen, but didn't have the chance. Probably Degra was suspicious anyway.

I assume Archer couldn't ask too many things- like what the Future Guy told them- or Degra would say (as he did once), "What, I never told you this?"

Hoshi worrying about the drinking struck me as more tactic-planning- too drunk, he might not get answers.

I thought Phlox was worrying about his instruments, not the worms, but probably not.

One more thing: They took Degra to sickbay only after the second trick. Why not after the first? And how did they ensure that the final memory wipe would stick?

Hey, it's Trek meets The Joe Schmo Show.

My only nitpick is that it seems a little too convenient that the Xindi would let their top weapons designer fly around in an unarmed shuttle in an area where enemy ships have already been seen. But the rest of the episode was well done, especially the twist at the end, which really made it work for me.

Archer threatened to redo the first trick but he may have realized it would take too long to regain Degra's trust and so came up with another plan. I think the first memory wipe did stick, they only erased a few hours (the capture of the Xindi ship). Degra figured out he was being tricked in the simulation but didn't know how he'd come to be there (I think).

I was pretty impressed. They fit a lot into their 45 minutes and I wasn't sure what was going on in the first trick. I had suspicions during the second trick but wasn't sure until Trip announced Maywhatever had saved them all.

Thanks. I must have blinked. Or maybe yelled at one of my children.




Yup. But this was way better.


I forgot to add before that I so love Quantum with long scraggly hair.

Also to give the opening for T'Pol to give the reason why Archer got get "drunk" with Degra without, you know, getting drunk. And without that little line, people probably would have complained about Archer getting sloshed on a key intelligence mission.

Truly. Archer's face during Drega's description of the massacre of seven million people was amazing. He looked like he wanted to leap across that space and rip the guy's face off. Really great expression. I'll have to watch again on Saturday to "get it" completely, but you know what? I like that.

I thought his expression made him look like he needed to use the potty. Can't even hold his synthohol, or whatever Phlox plugged him up with.

What I liked about that scene is not only Archer's barely contained rage, but also Degra's quasi-remorse. Is it me, or did SB seem to be acting a little stiff, or at least differently, when he was in the shuttle-simulator? Nah, it's me...

Also, I like how they plopped us down in the middle of the first ruse and didn't let the audience in on it until past the second series of commercials. I admit, I'm slow, and didn't quite get that it was a simulation. But I knew it would have to be reset, and I was very intrigued to see what they would do. And the second ruse was equally believable. It was nice to be kept out of the planning of the various ruses and be put in Degra's shoes, so to speak. If only for a little bit. I prefer trying to figure out what's going to happen than be spoon-fed.

I really enjoyed it. Why is it, though, that SB can act in any other role except Captain? In the Simu-pod, I thought he was completely different than the stilted performance he gives as Captain. Even when he was the mutating amphibian from earlier this season he was better than the Furrowed One. It's bizarre.

I was also hoping for more exposition as to the reason for the Xindi hate, and they teased me when CQ told his Qrew to stand by in the Simu-pod, but I think they're going to hold out on that info until the end of this arc. Bastards.

I was pleasantly surprised by last night's episode. I didn't see the second twist coming, although I guess I should have, given the comments they were making in the stellar cartography room earlier in the epiosde about needing to be sure becaue they couldn't afford to lose three weeks.

Perhaps the writers are finally hitting their stride. Of course, I've lowered the bar A LOT for this series. TNG and DS9 were way better by their third seasons. Of course, DS9 was way better in its first season, so perhaps DS9 isn't a fair comparison.

I'm just hoping next week's episode is better than the promo. Because I hate it when they raise my expectations and then trample them.

Another excellent episode. This season of Enterprise has been the best Trek since Voyager came on the air. I hope we get to season 4.

Anyone else notice that even in the Simu-Pod, Archer had a Weight Of The World Window ™?

Heh. I did notice that. I also noticed Archer's new hairstyle wasn't enough to cover the furrows.

I sure as hell did.



Quantum? Stiff? Never!

Actually, although he was really good in this I still detected a few signs of rigor mortis here and there.

Hee - the shake-ulator reminded me of an old Mission Impossible episode in which Martin Landau tries to make someone believe that they're being taken somewhere by train, no doubt in order to coerce information. I think they had a bunch of gaffers in a warehouse shaking the compartment by hand, though . . . can't recall if the scenery loop outside the 'window' gave it away or not.

Does anyone think Archer could have kept it up even after the knife was pulled- that is, after he pinned Degra, he'd keep the illusion going?

I did -- but then again, it took me a few minutes to figure out the whole M:I setup.

You think anyone on the ENT staff realized they were paying homage to a show that used to film next door to the original Trek?

and that starred our own Spock for a while?

Possible recap title: "Your Furrow, Should You Choose To Accept It...."