Not bad, not bad at all. I kinda figured they'd let Rudy stick around until the final Augment episode, but whatever.

The Good: We get to meet Dr. Lucas. And the possibility that the Augments are what cause the hostility between humans and Klingons? Sweeeeet.

The O.K.: T'Pol wasn't CRACK WHORING.

The Bad: Quantum's acting is really getting on my last gay nerve. What is that chicken head bobbing thing he's doing! Gah!

I like that Soong is seeing how his "children" are turning into murderous little bastards, and how it worries him. Good acting by Spiner.

Wow! This is the first episode of Enterprise I've seen in a while. Augments villians? They look like a 1980s punk band .

I liked it, but I thought it was a bit predictable. So the Augments start to rebel against Daddy's authority? Who could have seen that coming?

I was distracted because I thought Runt-of-the-Litter looked like John Travolta. Also, Dr. Lucas (glad we got to meet him, BTW) looked like James Doohan. "There's Scotty!" I cried.

But not bad, overall.

Dawsonella punches the guy into a back flip and he gets back up?
Where do they get their outfits from? The Flashdance Overstock Catalog?

They were having fun. Till Daddy took the T-bird of Prey away. (Sorry.)

Really though. I guess just because you're a genius scientist doesn't mean you know much about parenting or sociology or whatever it is that tells you not to raise your kids to be a bunch of superior racists.


I was distracted because Augment hair doesn't move. Is that part of their genetic engineering? To have hair made of twigs and glue?

I enjoyed the episode over all though.

Naw, they probably use a Very Serious Hair Product (like "Bed Head"). Hey, I have Very Serious Hair, trust me, I know.

Overall, a good episode. Not great, but good. I'm looking forward to how they wrap this puppy up.

BTW, Cyb, your "'till Daddy took the T-bird of Prey away" line was priceless.

Once again I'm impressed by Spiner. I really felt bad for him when Malik smacked him around, and he just got back up knowing he couldn't do anything about it. Poor Arik. Also, I found all of my sympathy for the Augments sucked away. I actually did feel a little bad for them back in "Borderland", but not anymore. I'm really liking the implication that the Augments are responsible for the centuries of hostility between the Klingons and the Humans though.

I was thrown off about the Runt because it looked, in his first shot, like they were making him look like a young Brent. (Later shots weren't as obvious.) This made me immediately jump on the idea tht Soong had cloned himself and put the clone in with the rest of the kids, but he was just human and never fit in, and they never knew.

Then it turns out his parents are Greek and then he's dead, and there goes that idea.

Good episode all around, but the cliffhanger has me wondering - can't they just beam everyone out before containment goes, then just blow the place to bits to kill all the contagions? Why is Quantum risking his life over this? Oh yeah, he's the hero Doing It The Hard Way. If they'd just established that the transporter was down or something...

I just kept wondering where his "jump to conclusions," map was?

Spinner wasn't snarky enough for my tastes tonight!

So, do Phlox and Lucas love each other or what?

All in all, good stuff. Like this arc a lot.

I missed the first 10 minutes, but I'm really not worried. I figured out where the not-super-augmented fellow came from. I'm pretty smart.



I quite enjoyed Dawsonella kicking ass until I WAS DISTRACTED BY HER BOOB NEARLY FALLING OUT! Puh-lease, Star Trek writers/producers/designers. Tell me the costumes weren't ripped specifically for that purpose?

I almost didn't not like Quantum this week - possibly helped by him getting thrown around like a little rag doll. That was definitely worthy of a Demian moment (pause, rewind, slow forward). But at the end I was thinking "blow up the damned station with Quantum on it. I'll miss Phlox, but man, that would be worth it".

I liked MmmmAlec and Spiner a lot more this week, what with the Augments showing their superiority complex and Soong being human enough to get freaked out about it.

I would have liked to have seen more of the Phlox-Lucas friendship, although I don't know if this was the appropriate time, what with the theatening of the biological weapons and all.

I hope once this arc is over, they find plotlines for Hoshi, May-whosit and Malcolm.

Now that I liked. I am really such a sucker for a sympathetic villain. Soong's not all bad. He's mostly just made a terrible mistake in parenting.

Anyone else notice young Persis, with the same perma-nostril-flare as regular Persis? Now that's good casting. Also, regular Persis had augment-style rips in her Blue Tick Underoos. Isn't that taking the fashion trend a little far?

This episode even redeemed the boring Augment-soap from last week, since that was all part of showing how far gone Mallik is. I predict he will be killed by those pathogens he took. Notice how he said he wanted the strongest ones? I bet those are the ones that are strong enough to kill him.

I thought that, too. He really did look like Spiner. Glad they didn't go there, though, because that would've been way too Boba Fett.

I thought of that, but they technobabbled the communicators, so they can't get a transporter lock (as Trip specifically said), or even talk to the ship.

Ok, I didn't see that. But I've seen Willow too many times, so to me he just looked like Willow & Kilmer's love child. Heh...he's Wilmer the Nawgment.

Mr. Ogg was surprised that the Nawgment didn't have a broom to go with his jumpsuit.

So, why on god's green earth would Quantum tell the Augments about the self-destruct, thereby giving their super-speedy selves time to stop him? Oh right, probably for the same reason Malik the Sociopath left Quantum alone and free to release the others and stop the stasis shutdown. They're both asses who underestimate their opponents.


Bite your tongue, Belch! Phlox is worth a thousand Quantums!

High-alert! That must be why the top-secret facility's red-stripes can't index their weapons nor have panic-buttons on their uniforms. I'm so blown away, I didn't even wonder why the residents had no decoy-codes that could've turned intruder-attempts to probe the computer into activating the station's self-destruct! The narrative, she is...like tunnel-vision.

Furrows getting bashed around and then flung into a bank of exploding circuits by Paul Atreides, was a thing of beauty. Pity he's still able to climb ladders. Especially since his idiocy in not bringing one of the residents along won't get them all killed. Paul's right: silencing the baby brother(who?) was merciful. Furrows' self-righteousness feeding on that is another story.

GrandData is lame for not only being the veto to killing people on this show, but also for trying to make his point by talking the Augments' language. Where oh where are the sharp intellect and fatherly observation-skills that were hinted? I don't really know why I'm asking for intellect on this show that says nerds and geeks actually don't have social-skills of any kind, in any society. Characters like Reed, Sato, and MayWho are so lucky to be given SO. MUCH. DEVELOPMENT. Otherwise I'd expect them to be pissed if a sleazebag-actor gets all the screentime for baiting audiences to the show as a baddie who can't commit, should TPTB in their infinite wisdom decide the one thing this show needs is a stunt who needs his own soap-opera drama to justify his existence and expense.

Another thing I didn't know was that Birds-of-Prey had hangars. Right, right. Like a good Augment I should study harder all the things Bermaga is authoring. Like Furrows' ability to injure the Asian Augment.

I had a Scott Evil moment during this episode because of Malik's fight with Quantum: I'm going to holster this disruptor and stop beating you to death so that I can put you in this easily escapable situation and leave before I witness your death.

Then he shoots The Lil' Augment That Couldn't with the disruptor. Shoot Quantum!

But I will say, CQ looks a lot more Trek captainy with the new chair.

My best moment of the episode took me completely out of it - T'Pol comes on screen and my 7-year old daughter comments, Wow, she's too skinny." We had a nice conversation about body image & healthy eating which I ended with (thanks to all that have said it before me), "She needs a cheeseburger."

The hubby & I also speculated that RuntAugment was somehow related/cloned from Soong. The actor really did throw shades of Spiner out though I can't quite finger why. Good casting.

That whole "death by boiling blood' scene was brutal. My daughter thought it was cool. There goes my mother-of-the-year award again.

Nice dark & disturbed stuff all around. I appreciated that the security measures at the lab were so strict that even the super-beings couldn't simply erase them away.

2 down, 1 to go. Fingers crossed for a decent ending.

You have a very smart daughter.

We really should send T'Pol some Krispie Kremes.

I was boggled by the fact that they needed the super-secret code that's encrypted on a quantum level (hee!) to get at the embryos, but you want to pull up a blood-boiling pathogen? Not a problem, just hit that big red button that says "DEATH". Or did they explain why the pathogens were so unprotected, and I just missed it?

And why on earth do they have humanoid-sized contamination tubes evenly spaced around the lab? Suicide booths? That's not how science is done, people!

Did I miss someone explaining why Quantum had to climb up that big tube to stop the pathogen release? I know NotScotty said it couldn't be stopped from their present location but that just seemed... silly. Who would design a system like that? What if everyone on the station was unconscious and only NotScotty was left to climb up there? Even mountain' climbin' Quantum looked kind of daunted at the prospect.

That's exactly what I was thinking, fyrefly! Why the hell wouldn't they just use glove boxes?

And why didn't the Augments' blue underoos show through the holes in their skin-tight clothes? I mean, not that I was looking that closely...

But for once I thought Quantum did a pretty good job dealing with the Diminished Augment - he wasn't all yell-y and preach-y. Just gently explained to him, "No, you won't go to prison for being different. Soong actually went to prison for breaking the law." And then found the information for him about his parents. And then let him make his own decision. Which, you know, ended up with him dying, but still - it was pretty decent behavior for CQ.

In order to bring the anvils of comparison out to drop on the viewers' heads, of course.

I realize that this whole arc is going to smack of Space Seed and TWOK, but I really felt visually clobbered over the head during the segment with the dying scientist. The first was the long hover on the bloody ear canal of scientist ("Okay, it's just like Chekhov's ear, I get it") and then with the bloody hand/body prints on the wall of the plastic chamber that looked just it did when Spock went down for what looked like the final count in TWOK.

All in all, however, this arc is still better than Alien Space Nazis. Hee. I'm still chuckling over those.

I'm still trying to figure out why the hell the Embryo Chamber scene was done as a HORRIBLE green-screen. The walls could've been redressed Enterprise corridors, and sure, some CGI embryos - but the entire room?

COME ON, people. They didn't cut the budget that much.

I loved, loved, loved Brent Spiner's acting this episode. Whether he plays the homeless guy on Night Court or one of the ever-growing Soong family, I've decided I want more Spiner in my TV life. I'll even suffer through more of Quantum's unsteady captaining to get it.



Same here. Those villains who border on anti-heroes get me every time. By the end of the show I wanted to give Arik a hug, especially when he finds out the Littlest Augment is dead. I'll seek therapy immediately.



Truer words were never spoken. Phlox will always rule.

*crosses fingers for more Soong/Phlox scenes*

One thing about this entire plotline that bothers me is the general lack of security throughout Starfleet. Once again, we have a danger to the planet that Starfleet was well aware of, but the only ship that can stop it is the Enterprise! Okay, it wasn't as bad as the totally empty orbit around Earth at the end of the Xindi plotline, but the problem was similar. Beyond that, it just seems like there is a general lack of security cameras, automated defenses, or anything really.

On a totally unrelated note, does anyone else feel reminded of the Atavus or whatever they were called when they look at the Augments? Why do ultimate evils in science fiction stories always resemble 80's rock bands?

Just saw the repeat, and am reminded of a couple things:

What happened to the Denobulan whose shuttle they stole? She was alive last we saw her, because she was moving on the floor. Maybe we'll never see her again, or maybe she's still on the shuttle and will do something heroic in the next episode. Or just puff out her face or something.

Also, is there going to be a payoff for that scene of Phlox in the cafeteria with all that food? I thought maybe he'd go into early hibernation to protect himself when they put him in one of those conveniently person-sized germ chambers, but then they just let him out. I hope they at least remember that he's supposed to go into regular hibernation in a few weeks like he said.

A smart Augment would have left her on C12 with the rest.

ETA: Or maybe tested the effects of a Klingon disruptor on a Denobulan skull

Word! By the time Bond villans in the '60s got around to that crap, it was already a satire of black and white hollywood B-movies. Just shoot the dozen or so scientists and Enterprise crew members in the heads and leave already, certainly that would be faster than figuring out how to release all the pathogens. The whole "you are a skilled fighter, I would wish to continue this battle but I must go" bullshit arrogance-respect talk is even more chiched and only makes it worse. Still, I'm on pins and needles to find out if Archer actually makes it up that long tube in time -- the way they left it dangling, I just don't know if he can make it! Better check the spoilers to see if some of the main cast has been fired.

The good was the actor playing L'il Brudder, the Augmentally Disabled, who was appropriately low key in most scenes but still powerful in some scenes, especially the good-bye to Pop. That was a conceptually interesting character -- retarded by Augment standards but normal or even superior to human standards -- so I really felt bad to see him killed instead of expatriated to Earth to find a life. He could have been a bridge to understanding between humans and Augments on a better written show.

I laughed when Phlox's pen pal turned out to be a total HITG! I'm used to seeing playing comic/jolly or petty/fuming shipping clerks and small town mayors and the like. Oddly, I didn't care too much about Lab Technician Redshirt's horrible death but I cringed to see Phlox's pal getting punched around. I thought his and Spiner's "why don't you stop this?", "why don't you?" scene was excellent too.

Lucas was such a HITG - he was the prison bus guard in the Harrison Ford 'Fugitive' movie! - among many others.

I guess it's because I'm so used to seeing him play the cool and emotionless Data, I was stunned to see Spiner's emotional range during the face-off in the lab. I find it hard to believe that the head doc wouldn't have given up the code though. That bloodburn thing was just nasty.

It was touching when Udar and his Dad said goodbye. *sniff* A dysfunctional family reunion.

Is it me, or is T'Pol a bit over-emotional for a Vulcan?

When Malik and Soong were running down the station's defenses, it struck me as a bit ludicrous to have one central spot that, if hit, could take out the whole station, especially when you've got these genetically modified embroyos (sp?) and pathogens on board.

Speaking of ludicrous, what the hell kind of security was that on the station?! This must have been the period when Starfleet was still relying on the Expendable Ensigns and arming them with the cheap phasers, huh?

Richard Riehle (Lucas) was on Trek a bunch of times too, which is why I felt it was pretty miscast- he's always the bumbling, silly type, and seeing him in this role...

Aren't his colleagues going to be pretty pissed that he saved his buddy and not theirs?

That said, that scene was excruciating. Gaaa. Maybe some random points will clear it away:

-I wonder if Soong's already had kids, or if Noonien was a great-nephew or something. Because I don't see this arc ending without him either being dead or locked in a place with no conjugal visits.

-So next week, T'Pol has a different-colored catsuit. Yuck.

-How did the Augments get created? People donated fertilized eggs, some took over the world, and the rest were frozen? Because those parents seemed pretty normal.

-Is there a real "Clark's syndrome?"

-Why wasn't the security code to C12 (Why not "CS12?" What happened to C1-11?) changed in twelve years- especially when one scientists was arrested? (Anyone else get a Return of the Jedi vibe there?

-If we can see the gas drifting down, why would they collapse before it reached them?

-Food questions: Just ordering "coffee?" Voice commands? Why would "sickbay food" be different than the rest? (I did like, "Do I have a choice?" "No." I said it with Quantum.)

Sadly, Soong only had a handful of DVDs with him when he escaped with the 19 embryos. That's all they had to watch for 20 years.

The whole thing with Malik and Quantum just screamed Dr. Evil. "No, no, no. I'm going to leave them alone and not actually witness them dying. I'm just gonna assume it all went to plan... What?"

Seriously, just reach down there and rip his throat out already. Or at least a few furrows.

Loved the way Spiner looked relieved for a flash(when holding the disruptor to Lucas' head) before looking back at the viewscreen to tell Enterprise to back off.

The only thing that got me through the Khannabes was imagining the keckler snark.

Yeah, that was possibly the most disappointing green-screen effect ever. I was willing to forgive the bad green-screening if it was a really impressive shot, but it really did look like an Enterprise corridor.
They brought her to Cold Station 12. I saw her in the big booth with the other hostages.
I really liked Spiner in this scene. He was yelling at Dr. HITG!, but he was really yelling at himself.
One of the writers finally remembered that "Eugenics" means selective breeding, not genertic engineering. His parents weren't normal. They were a scientist and an athlete, so they were above average.
I did.

Just googled it and there doesn't seem to be.

In fairness, Malik's plan allows him to honestly tell Soong, "Well, they were fine when I last saw them."

I thought about that, too. I wonder if they'll address that.

I, too, thought Spiner's acting in this ep was outstanding. I've never liked him in any non-Data roll before; he just always kind of ends up looking silly when he tries to be all menacing and stuff. But in this roll, he really nailed the bad-guy-with-some-conscience.

The guy who played Udar was also the actor that played crazy Jeremy, son of crazy Kathy Baker in "Boston Public".

Is this a satirical question? Because in this episode, I thought T'Pol was more Vulcanlike than we have seen recently. Is it possible she's FINALLY comming off her trellium addiction?

I'm really enjoying this story arc. The Augments are still a bit irritating but seeing how Soong deals with them really humanises him. He's a splendid villain. Good material for Phlox too, and I really like the actor that played Lucas. The fact that he's been in comedy roles before just makes him more sympathetic. I didn't expect Smike (forget his real name) to be killed so quickly, but it was a nice moment. The stealing of the pathogens leaves an intriguing plot point. I hope they cut out the violent sex stuff though.

I thought it was a bit disappointing that they went to all that trouble to build up the Commish's son ("Smike") and make him a likable, interesting character, only to unceremoniously blow him away at the end. It's not as if anyone didn't think the boss Augment was a thoroughly bad guy already.

His bionic hearing was a nice throwaway, too. Its plot relevance could be measured in fractions of a second. (Not like he or his "sister" were on the brink of under-fivedom, either.)

Not keen to imagine what it was like for the hostage extras, packed shoulder-to-shoulder in C12's radio booth all day, standing face-forward in place, likely bored senseless, and reeking of latex, spirit gum, makeup, hairspray and whatever those uniforms are made of. Perhaps watching their "colleague" die a bloody, hacking death in the pneumatic tube, and thinking "ah, sweet release."

More memorable plexiglass tube #1: "Oh, he's had it now; the suction's got him... Watch the pipe... Oh, the pressure’ll get him out. Terrific pressure is building up behind the blockage -- The suspense is terrible. I hope it'll last!"

More memorable plexiglass tube #2: "He switched it -- He did it to them. The lights were on out here... he was the only one safe in there!"

More memorable plexiglass tube #3: "you ahhh, the radio stahahahahahahahah...."

The best Plexiglass Tube moment of all time, for my money, was Dr. Smith trying to unfreeze the Robinsons while meteors bounce off the ship.

God, I need a girlfriend.

I agree. I wonder if maybe the fact that he doesn't have to play "opposite" Data has allowed him to relax. Like, sometimes it seems like he's trying so hard to not be Data that he also doesn't come across as real. Playing Arik Soong has allowed him to relax, and that helps.

Or maybe it's just the fact that it doesn't seem like the episode was specifically written to make us watch him act. He's just the guest star of the week now.

In theory, I like that they built him up so we could feel something when he died. Also, it was quite a surprise. I really didn't expect them to do that. But in practice, it sort of feels like we sat through a bunch of his character development for nothing.

The thing I didn't understand was why you would need to aerosolize deadly pathogens and have a system to pipe them into human-sized containment tubes. Laboratory science is dangerous enough without purposely making it that way.

Why did they call Rudy "Smike"? I was thinking he was Soong's real son or his unaltered clone too. But I guess they were too proud to steal that from George Lucas.

Dr. Lucas was good, as was Spiner, and Billingsley, and the actor who played Rudy. It was a HITG party.

Or from Nemesis?

There was a brief sickbay scene where they explained the "Smike" moniker -- a reference to Nicholas Nickleby (see how enhanced their intellegence is? see? SEE? is it by Nietzsche, too?). Smike is a long abused, not so bright, somewhat crippled boarding school orphan, who eventually cries uncle, so consumed is he by all that suffering. (Haven't read it or seen it, just Googled the rest.)

As a nearly normal human, Rudy said his dear Augment brothers and sisters equated him with Smike -- not having their enhanced powers, they regarded him as crippled by comparison. Cute as the Dickens, those Augments. Why, it's enough to just make Archer spit. Spit, I tell you!

Welcome! It's nice to know that the show is capturing brand new viewers!

I think I'm agreeing with the majority, for a change- there was some really good stuff here, although I wasn't blown away.

Spiner did some good work. They did a nice job with guest-casting. Hearing the two Augments talking about their mutual "father" while rolling around in the bed was icky, but I was immediately distracted from my distaste by my amusement at her artfully ripped undergarments. (Whatever, wardrobe department. As usual).

I liked that Trip obviously didn't want to go through with their orders to trigger the station's self-destruct, but didn't argue with T'Pol. They've done a nice job with Trip's character development since the series began.

And Phlox rules.

I also wasn't blown away, but Spiner once again made it all OK. The scenes with the augments were made much more bearable by his presence. But the scene with Malik and Percis in bed really was icky. Seriously, you were raised as brother and sister. EW!

Is anyone else really tired of them ending episodes with oh no! Archer might die!? *yawn*

I'm looking forward to more Klingons anyway.

Also, in theory, it would be to show that the Augments are not a product of nurturing. Smike grew up in the same place, but he is a good, decent sort. Ergo, the Augments Being Bad is due to their nature.

*raises hand and jumps up and down* ME! ME!