Go crazy.

Interesting episode. However, the ending was rather anti-climatic, I mean having Malik showing up one last time was totally unnecessary.

One thing, though, how is Soong gonna carry about his work? I don't think it's even hinted that he has a family.

Hee! to the ending. I'm sorry, seeing Dr. Soong mull over cybernetics was just too silly. Maybe he'll get out early and have a kid? Perhaps Noonien is a greatgreat grand nephew, not a son. Also, we got a "Botany Bay" mention! KHAAAAAAAAAAAAN lives!

Also, I told a friend of mine about the episode and the sad bits...he said this: Often wrong has a broken heart... Intresting comment.

Well do they ever say he has a life sentance? Amd if he does then he just had a family before he was jailed.

Loved the episode as a whole. The best out of the three Augment episodes. It felt more....good. I can't think of a better, or even grammatically correct, way to say it.

Looking foward to the crazy Vulcans.

Ooooo Botany Bay! It's a myth!! Heh. Levar Burton directed. Cool.
I wonder if Manny is related to Juan Carlos Coto. He works on Jag and NCIS. IMBD doesn't say one way or the other.

Maybe he's going to start getting conjugal visits from someone. Or maybe he stashed away a little Soong2 clone somewhere. I'm having a hard time thinking clearly because of that big android-shaped anvil they dropped on my head at the end.

Those Augments just got less and less attractive as each episode went on, and they weren't attractive to start with. If someone's going to genetically engineer me, I would want nicer hair and smaller pores and not a giant forehead.

Wheeee! Unfrozen Caveman Archer! The Universal Translator! Klingons! Khaaaaaaaannnnnn! Things blew up reaaaaal good!

I had fun watching the episode. That's all I can ask.

I expected Malik to tell the corpse on the bridge that he would "avenge you" and then start quoting Melville. Maybe he should have read some of those books Soong left behind.

However, the best part of the ep was the shout-out to "Troubles with Tribbles" in the big Klingon fake-out exchange. A garbage scow! Hah!

Thought this episode was real good. If this had been a Voyager episode... well, just picture it.

We got a bunch of homages to TOS and TNG, some actual funny moments, a plot with a minimum of holes, and some quality special effects. And I must add, some twists which defied usual Enterprise predictability - Soong following the "bad guy redeems himself by switching sides at the last minute" motif almost, but not quite, in the usual way. Enough different that it wasn't 100% predictable. No reset button.

It seems like Manny Coto has really done some good in changing the "style" of the series. Instead of some contrived way of defeating the first Klingon in battle, Archer bluffs his way out, Kirk-style. Instead of mind numbing treknobabble, the technological aspect of the plot was handled with Trip's equivalent of "she canna take any more," and the warp signature deception just ... not working, the second time. Archer's look of "well, I guess we AREN'T going to do it the same way this time after all," not priceless, but notable.

I always assumed the rest of the Soong family were clones. They certainly look alike... particularly liked how Brent Spiner switched almost into Data mode when he decided to start working on androids instead. That was fun.

This is what Enterprise was always supposed to be - too bad Bermaga ruined it for so long. Funny thing is I didn't like most of the episodes that Manny Coto wrote. And when Brannon Braga was writing for TNG, I thought most of his episodes were pretty good. I guess good writer = bad producer, and vice versa. Gene Roddenberry's episodes were usually sort of crappy too.

What a steaming pile of meh. I don't know, it just didn't grab me.

The good:
Spiner made me forget all about Data. (Well you know, until the end.) He was great.

I liked that Quantum was affected by his half-second exposure to space.

The bad:
Since when does Enterprise outgun a Klingon Bird-of-Prey "three to one"?

Did I miss something? The Bird-of-Prey explodes, but Malik doesn't die? Instead he magically gets transported into Enterprise's ductwork? At the very least, shouldn't he have been sent to Earth in 1945 so that he could battle AlieNazis?

When Quantum burned that neat little hole through Malik, shouldn't it also have burned through Great-GrandData, who was still having the life choked out of him? In fact wasn't he being held in such a position that...well let's say that if he doesn't already have biological children...?

That anvilicious ending just BLEW.

The ugly:
I think we can all guess.

I just wanna know why Khan-lite didn't just encode the ship to blow up in four minutes. I thought Quantum's plan to get out of the Germ Motel was, dare I say it, daring. Quite captain-like, I must say. The rest of the episode was kinda meh.

I just said this to Keckler. They were all kinds of skeevy tonight.



I couldn't believe they left that shit in the script.

I agree. While they were at it why didn't they work this line in:
"Maybe I'll look into cybernetics and the fruit of my labor will be much DAAAAATTAAAA!!! DATA, DATA, DATA!"

Overall not a bad episode.

The way Mullet kissed Dawsonella as he killed her was just creepy. The rest of the episode was kind of meh though. I really thought that bio-weapon torpedo was going to destroy that Klingon colony, and I felt gypped with the way the Enterprise destroyed it. I thought this was what was going to set off that Federation/Klingon war.

And now, I'm going to lie down and recover from that android-shaped anvil now.

Hmm, I wonder if people who hoped for good writing to appear due to the decreased-budget are disappointed. Bringing a tempter-tantrum on a prisoner while in pursuit of his cronies would seem to be...a lazy way to pad those minutes.

I'm soooo sure this show will spare us more T'Pol/Trip.



Why would this show allow someone who out-acts GrandData and the Furrows to die on his own terms? Especially when this gives Furrows and GrandData more time to be self-righteous. On the plus-side the kick to Furrows' head was much appreciated. But y'know, he's like hard and shit so he can get up after that. And his rage makes his weapon powerful!



I didn't know how much more Dawsonella I could withstand. And did the actress have some sort of scar across her chest?



I say this every year, but hopefully soon-to-be-cancelled....

Bleh. That was not good. I was going along with it, the tension was building, and then it all just collapsed. They kept building up the bio-weapon as a huge plot point, and then they just show up and shoot it out of the sky with the first torpedo. Come on. You spent the whole episode building up this scene, give us something better!

Also, once Soong left the Klingon ship, so did all my emotional investment in any of the characters on it. The Augments never got interesting on their own.

The multiple endings were just silly. Mallik beams himself aboard just to have Archer blow a hole in him. Why? What did that accomplish? And I don't think I'd ever experienced a full-on anvil attack until the "cybernetics" ending.


All through the scene, Mallik was trying to get them into Wrath of Khan references, and Soong was trying to get them into Insurrection references (the Briar Patch was in Insurrection). I kept saying "Go Khan! Choose Khan! It's the better movie to reference!" Good thing they never got to the Briar Patch.

Oh, and yay Grappler! I still love that thing.

Yeah, cheesy ending, but other than that, it was OK-ish. Too many augments. Dawnsonella's death was telegraphed a 1000 miles away.

Spiner almost escaped the ghost of Data,but couldn't do it.

So, what, the Klingons were cool with all that at the end? What with the unauthorized border incursion, and the subterfuge with the warp signature, and the scamming of the one ship by pretending to be Klingon, and the disabling of the other ship (that was simply making a reasonable interception of a ship violating its space), and the destruction of the hijacked ship? Good thing they're not a suspicious, war-like race hung up on their honor or perogatives or anything, or it might have started some sort of interesting conflict between humans and Klingons.

If they're so frickin' reasonable, why not just contact them as soon as the Augments crossed into their space and let them hunt down the Augments themselves?

There were quite a few Trek movie nods in this one: Burned Malik--Wrath of Khan; The Briar Patch--Insurrection; The Klingon subspace dupe--Undiscovered Country; The triple torpedo chasing the object--First Contact.

The Good
The SFX looked good, especially the ships.
I liked that Archer was willing to destroy the Bird of Meh's bridge. Kinda ballsy. Something Sisko would do.
The "Chancellor is onboard," bluff was pretty funny, and SB played it for humor for a change.
Dead Persis. 'Nuff said.
The Grappler! Much cooler than any tractor beam.
The pacing of this episode was tight.

Not so good
T'Pol CRACKWHORING about Trip avoiding her.
Wussy Trip "respectin'" her decision to marry.
Malik--Alec Newman isn't that interest as a villian.
The positronic ending. Cheesy, but not quite as clever as they'd planned.

Bad
The fact that Jolene's catsuits are now baggy. Drink some Myoplex shakes or something!
I hate how the host of Extra! gets better lines than Travis.
Malik coming out of nowhere. What? Why? How?

Season 4's shaping up but I still hate the Trek staple of a very important character moment interrupted by a com system/beeping console/explosions.

And you know I probably wouldn't even have noticed much (or at least not cared much) if they weren't supposed to be genetically superior. Malik looked like a little caveman and Persis had some kind of major full-body oil slick going on. The Augments' sweat must be eating through their clothes or something, hence the Flashdance fashions.

She's looking extremely frail.

Yeah that was a copout. Where was that big conflict the promos kept promising me? The end just fell apart.

Did Malik stop to wash up a bit before heading to the Enterprise? In the Bird of Prey he looked all burnt up ("My precious mullet! Noooo!") and oozing. Then he drops down in the Enterprise corridor and he looks normal. Still fugly but normal.

ETA: "With superior ability comes superior ambition." - Quantum

He's never my mother's family. Grandpa, uncles, and several of my cousins are Stephen Hawkings geniuses and athletically gifted, but lazy as hell.

Who was the new blonde on the bridge? They cut to her several times, and I have no clue. Well, yes, there is one clue: The promos implied that next week, one of the crew dies. (I know, I know, can't trust promos.) My candidates (in no particular order):

1) Unknown blonde.
2) Ensign Fraidy Cat
3) Maywhether (because who could tell?)
4) T'Pol (This is what the promos want us to think, so normally I wouldn't entertain the idea, but Trip made that "Romeo and Juliet" reference. Do you suppose they're going to pull a Romeo and Juliet in order to get T'Pol out of her marriage?)

Speaking if which, I really wish that when Trip had mentioned Romeo and Juliet, T'Pol had said "Who?" or "I'm not familiar with those two crew members." You know, like a Vulcan would have done.

The new blonde was credited only as Engineer, which smells of Red Stripe.

If I understood Dain'ta right, the Briar Patch is also home to Klak T'Kel Bracht, a battle Kor re-enacted in Quark's. Always glad to see a DS9 reference.

I thought that too.

Jolene is WAY to thin and that belt across her hips doesn't help. God forbid women have figures in the future.

I think the blonde was from Inside Edition or one of those shows I can never remember which one is which. She does little cameos on various shows and then does a report about them on her own show.

Edit. I see Senator X mentioned it a few posts earlier:

Was it just me and my TV, or did the production effects on the Klingon ship make it seem like everything was black and white TV like. Like when they went to get Dainta from the lab, it looked like the only color was in the couple vials of stuff on the table. I thought I was watching Captain Proton again.

I loved that one last kiss before you die think. Really let you see how messed up the Augments were.

Concur on the Klingons are OK after we explained copout.

"Travis, set a course. But don't say anything while you're doing it." I noticed that during the episode.
Human school children know who Romeo and Juliet are. A Vulcan (intellectual) who lived on Earth and among humans on a ship for three years would know at least as much.

The recaplet brings up the nonexistence of Klingon escape pods. Seems to me we had this debate once before. Given that episode and this episode and the fact that Ezri once found Worf floating in a Klingon escape pod, I think it's now established that Klingons do have escape pods. If any Klingons said they didn't before, I think they were lying.

Oh, and I liked the irony of Mallik talking about how it was wrong to alter the Augment-bryos. It was an interesting point of view.

The ending that people are complaining about didn't bother me (though I don't know what "anvilicious" means). It was silly, but seemed in the nature of a "little wink" to the audience, not anything major.

I enjoyed the little 3-show arc. It wasn't Great Television or anything like that, because it suffered from Enterprise's usual problem (we can't do anything surprising or big since it's a prequel), but it was moderately fun to watch.

The actress playing Persis reminded me of Lili Taylor.

The weird thing about the Extra!, Extra! is the that she was sitting where no man...where no one...has sat before. Did they install a seat just for her appearance? When she reported to Quantum that the BoP is set to detonate, my mind translated Quantum's look of bewilderment to read, "Who are you and why aren't my science or tactical officers giving me that report?"

Done with all the grace and subtlety of a falling anvil. See also, the FAQ.

I think Dayna Devin was at the station that ShutUpTrip once used when he was "working" from the bridge.

I loved Brent Spiner even with the 7-course anvil meal at the end, but the rest was meh. I'd rather watch an entire series where the Soongs hover over their data pads (no pun intended) and try to figure out how to put together a sentient android than watch anything that would get Quantum's eyebrows in a bunch.

As for the "special events" - this. has. got. to. stop. Spiner was cool, but the arc was not an event. Wacky vulcans are also not an event. TNG's "Best Of Both Worlds" cliffhanger - THAT was an event. *mentally smacks UPN people*



I also think it's a red herring but I'm hoping. I'm tired of her CRACK WHOREing and want a new Vulcan who is stoic and limits extreme emotion to occasionally raising an eyebrow and making subtle and perfectly elegant wisecracks to whichever human/other being who happens to be in his or her verbal line of fire.

That's sort of how I feel (though I'm maybe not as energetic about it). When they kept repeating "Brent Spiner on Enterprise!!!!!" I kept thinking most people are going to say either "Who?" or "Who cares?" I liked Data; in fact, he was about the only thing besides Patrick Stewart I liked about Next Generation. But the promos sounded like Jack Nicholson or Paul Newman were the guest star.

That said, I don't think UPN is particularly to blame. All of the networks overpromote these days, as if we're all stupid 5 year olds. NBC makes every upcoming episode of every show sound like every single person who doesn't watch will die of regret. I wonder if that guy who does their voiceovers ever gets embarrassed about it.

I'll go off the beaten path here and say I liked this episode. Not a whole lot, but I thought it was pretty decent in the basic vein of the ST tradition (some action, some anvilly morals, etc.). I will admit to not thinking Vulcans and TNG crew are the second coming, but hey, some y'all are dissin' my man Trip, so I don't feel bad.
Personally, I thought Trip "respectin' " T'pol's choice was an interesting change from the egocentric Hollywood -- my way or the highway -- approach. I'm not a big expert on Vulcans, but it seems like doing things out of familial duty is big there. The fact that Trip, who used to be Mr. Bad Example of Humanity, can understand that is pretty interesting.
Agree on the ugly Augments and WTF on Malik's appearance at the end. Also thinking they could have done a bit better job working some indignation by the Klingons into it.
Looking forward to some kecklery snark.

What, he didn't finish it? "Can't even tell his own boys apart."

Spiner plus the intertextual bits lifted this above the ordinary for me. Woo hoo!

The kiss before dying was certainly loathsome.

And I have to admit, the future-Data reference at the end put a silly grin on my face.

I've never been stabbed before, but if someone tried to kiss me after sticking me with a knife, I'd use my last bit of strength to bite off his face.

The blonde's name is Dayna Devon. She was in last season's Charmed finale as a Psycho-slaughtered demon. She looked better on Charmed.

Heh ... that Blur song just popped into my head!

Question: Since every last one of Soong's "children" is killed, who gets to be Noonien's ancestor? I thought Soong was in prison for life.

Hmm. I'd also wonder how anyone knows it as "The Briarpatch."

I don't know. I was thinking, "OK, maybe they had to do this to give us Spiner, but now it'll get better." Is that giving them too much of a chance? Should I start counting on this to be the last season?

That said, it wasn't so bad. Just a bit higher than "meh." Some points:

-At first, I wondered why they didn't beam Archer to the right spot in the tube. OK, they called it "interference." But aren't Denobulans supposed to be great climbers?

-I shudder to think of the skin on Soong's wrists.

-How would the Augments know about Klingon politics? Space? The existence of Khan's ship? All they had was what Soong taught them.

-Malik breaks her arm. He does nothing else. He kisses her. She dies. Huh?

In response to some points above:

-I checked the positioning of Malik and Soong in that pointless final scene, and apparently he was at the right angle so it would miss Soong. Yeah, I think about this stuff too much.

-Oddly, there were two new people on the bridge getting time.

-In addition to how Soong can have kids- why would one be named "Noonien"?

She had a knife. It was hard to tell because it largely off-camera, but it seemed to me like he took her knife and stabbed her with it. It was so off-camera that I can't tell you if he stabbed her in the back or in the stomach, but he did stab her.

But it was staged weirdly and very confusing. I wasn't sure he'd stabbed her fatally until they finally said she was dead.

Yeah, he stabbed her, but it was shot to not be too graphic.

It certainly wasn't great, but overall I enjoyed the episode. It was better than the first two, although the Augments certainly grated. Bad casting and bad writing. But I really have enjoyed Spiner for the last 3 episodes. He injected some much needed humor into this series. I will miss him. I didn't even mind the anvil at the end. There was no way they weren't going to put in some sort of Data wink at the audience, although it would have been nice to have a mention of a son or something, but I guess we just have to assume that he somehow has one somewhere sometime. Maybe that line got cut out. Anyone else get the feeling that they keep giving guest characters whole histories on the website, but don't bother actually relating that information to us in the episodes? Like the Captain's... um, climbing buddy in Home. She was supposed to have a name, but they didn't bother telling us what it was.

Archer getting blown out into space and not dying? Well, at least I got a laugh out of it. At least he looked like he almost froze to death when he got to the transporter pad, but seriously? He would have been dead. And barring that, he shouldn't have been able to hear Trip ask him if he was OK because both eardrums should have blown out from the depressurization.

Did anyone NOT know Dawsonella was going to die, if not at the beginning of her scene with Mullet, then by the time she pulled out the knife?

"Romeo and Juliet stood a better chance"? Call me a sap all you want, but awwww. I assume they're going to address their relationship soon, because although Trip and T'Pol's mopeyness is appropriate now, it will get old pretty quick. I liked when Soong baited Trip though. It showed that although he does have a conscience, he is still an asshole at heart, and that hasn't changed overnight.

It's May 27th already? Over 3 months since the end of season 3? Where did the time go? I thought they only had 2 months leave and that that was cut short by the Augments.

ETA: Don't they realize that Jolene's imitation of that melted snowman in the Nestea commercials would be less noticeable if they put her in a Starfleet uniform?

His lungs should've suffered permanent damage. If only there had been a respirator to muzzle him. But-no. "Like a rock" or some shit.

Fun Science Fact: If you open your mouth, you can survive in a vacuum for up to 30 seconds (you die faster if you try to hold your breath, as your lungs explode outward through your ribcage). Of course, there should have been eardrum damage, as noted above...

OK, I'm a pretty dedicated Trekkie, so I'm obviously on board with everyone who thinks T'Pol is awfully darn emotional for a Vulcan. However, this has been pretty consistently her personality from day one, so I'm just going to embrace it.

With this in mind, I just wanted to say that I think the T'Pol/Trip 'ship is being done very well. Their little conversation was sweet and sad and almost subtle. Almost.

Anyway, I enjoyed the episode. I simultaneously laughed and groaned at the "garbage scow" line, and rolled my eyes (again, while laughing) at Malox's Khan-crawl across the bridge. Spiner's Data-esque head movements at the end were funny, although the freak anvil accident I suffered sometime around then has left the details fuzzy.

I think I'd have liked it better if they had not mentioned the Botany Bay and Khan by name. Maybe a reference to "Augments like us who ran from Earth" or something. The other references would have been enough.

Jolene looks positively haggard.

Can we band together and send her cheeseburgers, or something? Nah, cheeseburgers would get cold. Candy bars?

Seriously. Her wig doesn't even fit her right anymore, she's lost so much weight. And her skin is suffering. Homegirl looks seriously rough.

I think I'm supposed to like this ep, but the whole Khan/Space Seed regurgitation was a bit too much for me. I'd rather they just have left it subtle (hee) like it had been in the last couple of eps. But they had to pummel us unconscious with the Khan anvils, didn't they?

"Botany Bay" mention? Check.
"Khan Noonian Singh" mention? Check.
"Superior intellect breeds superior ambition" mention? Check.
Dying, Khan-like scene of Mullet on a totally destroyed bridge? Check. (All that was needed to make it complete was Mullet crying ""From hell's heart I stab at thee. For hate's sake I spit my last breath at thee!")

Speaking of which, why do the leaders of these superhumans always survive to be bloody and crawling and spitting and set-up the dilithium meltdown/Genesis device/self-destruct method of choice? How conveeeeenient.

Yeah...not subtle at all, but made me smile a bit!



I shouted "Look, they did the bloody half-face and everything!"

Re: Archer getting decompressed.... Mr. Lor noted the bruised eyes Archer sported in sickbay were fromt he decompression. Said he might have had something like the bends, but chances are he would have died.