From Mike Sussman, the writer of this episode.

Am I the only one who's appalled that Archer got a diplomatic post? You'd think interworld relations would go to hell in a handbasket if he had to actually negotiate stuff and tried his usual furrow-and-rant schtick.

Well, she wasn't being arrested the first time, just removed off the Defiant with the rest of the aliens. On whatever ship it was that they transferred her to she resumed her duties as a Starfleet officer.


You're forgetting, the Defiant wasn't a MU ship, it was an Original Series Universe ship, so it had Original Series uniforms in its storage, not MU ones. So it made perfect sense for Archer and others to wear regular Original Series uniforms. And replying to another point on this topic upthread, I think the reason Archer wore the uniform while most of the crew remained in jump suits is that he thought it solidified his position as Captain of the Defiant. Not like he didn't have anything else to wear, but he wanted to wear it.

Nothing more to say, really, except to add that I think these last two eps rocked and couldn't they give us more? Please? Pretty please? God why couldn't we have a season of MU instead of a season of stupid Xindi!

Long live Empress Sato!

That's right, Eirik, this MU doesn't have to be the same MU of TOS, or, consequently, that of DS9, since both were supposed to be the same. The TNG episode you are referring to is "Parallels" (7x11). Data explains that everything that can happen, does happen, in parallel universes. So for instance, if this morning, you had the choice of going to the store, cleaning the car or just sleeping in, and you chose to sleep in, there are parallel universes where you would have done one of the other options.

There could be a political reason for why the TE didn't advance very much even with the Defiant.
1. Probably the TE science sucks. Facist empires don't usually have very good science programs. Also a lot of military projects come out of or are improved on by civilain projects. I doubt the TE has a high standard of living.
2. The TE could have probably made 1 copy of the Defiant in 30 years or so. But since a Lt. was able to use the original to kill the Emporer and take over whoever the Emporer was at that time would be wary to make a new kick ass ship. So the TE waited until it was able to make a shitload of them. 1 Captain could easily turn rebel/traitor 100 Captains is far less likely.

It's good to know that someone took out the trash this morning, then. I'll let my wife know. :-)

BTW, did anyone ever so breifly think that they were going to ruin the episode the first time Evil-Archer heard his normal-universe self talk on the bridge? For a second, I thought that we were going to find out that they had been sent to recover the Defiant. Strange to be relieved that it was just a paranoid delusion.

I wonder if there wasn't a third-episode lurking within the scripts?? MU!Archer goes from a species-tolerant officer to a shrieking-xenophobe after his accessing the ST:TOS-universe's historical records. What else did he "read"? ...Of his role in helping found that Federation? ...Of his sucessful diplomatic career and eventual leadership of the multi-species Federation? ...Of his close personal ties of friendship with the Vulcans and his role in the Sarek Renaisance oin Vulcan. That he actually carried Sareks' katra might have been the last-straw?

That MU!Archer was shocked and repulsed by CQ's entire file would then explain the ghost-image of CQ taunting him that he's not the man CQ was...in in a way CQ was right all-along. And each taunting then drove MU!Archer farther into xenophobia and paranoia. Ironically, and probably per Ho'Sato's plan, his paranoia directed itself towards the alien-species and not to his bedmate.

He seemed to be running as fast as he could in the opposite direction; when you could have equally had the plot turn the other direction and have MU!Archer make common-cause with moderate Vulcans like Soval and T'Pol gainst the corruption at home and the need for the Empire to change. Capt. Soval would have gone for that alternative, and T'Pol would have reluctantly agreed "...better the Devil you know..." You could have even continued with Ghost!CQ advising, warning, and taunting MU1Archer when he strays from his new-found ideals.

My personal opinion is that if MU!Archer had been a better...or smarter...person he would have spaced the Ho'and her boytoy; read the historical logs more attentively; and actually learned and grown. Intsead he allowed himself to be manipulated. With a loyal crew and Soval, T'Pol and a few Star Fleet Vulcans at MU!Archer's back, he could have taken the Empire...and reformed it.

Why? So we can have another Quantum furrowing about in that self-righteous tone of his? The point of the MU arc was to show a dark side to the regular morons on Enterprise. Personally, I liked the fact that he went cuckoo, and over Quantum's reputation, too. Evil!Archer has led a sad, sad life if he's jealous of Non-Mirror Quantum.

Because of stupid MLB, I just now got a chance to see it. Still on a high from Empress Sato. Yay!!!. And a Hoshi/T'Pol catfight. For LP lovers, this was payback time.

So M'Hoshi realizes she's smarter than M'Quantum? Why hasn't Hoshi in the normal universe figured this out? When she leaned over to get the wine glass, I thought she was going to grab a knife. But really, it could have been anything. Quantum just doesn't have the brains to stay on top for long.

When M'Quantum's imaginary friend was telling him that he was about to get screwed, I was saying the same thing to the TV. It was as obvious as the furrow on his face.

And when M'Quantum was spitting his lines with his face an inch from M'T'Pol's face, it reminded me of the line from Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome -- "He can kill most men with his breath." Just everything this guy does really bugs me. Please, let him die in the normal universe too.

To the upthread question why the empire has lasted so long if there is no trust, the Roman empire lasted 500 years and the normal way to become Caesar was to literally backstab your predecessor. This story line was entirely plausible. The most devious and ambitious wins. Long live Empress Sato!

Finally, I thought the scene where M'Hoshi and M'Quantum are looking at the bios of their counterparts had a number of functions, not the least is to tell M'Hoshi that in another life she hits the glass ceiling while dumbasses like Quantum become heroes. It just confirms her decision to take over in the end. Good career choice.

Maybe it's my love for the new BSG, but it felt like to me that the writers must be BSG fans, too. I saw a parallel between Evil Archer's taunts by the "good" Archer and Baltar's taunts by Six in BSG, and of course, the panting sex scenes had a BSG feel about them.

Not to mention the twist at the end had a BSG feel as well.

He became ambassador to Andoria, which makes sense because he is a friend to Shran and because Andorians respect asshat behavior.

Hey! No comments like that while I'm drinking liquid of any kind and sitting at the computer.

I just wonder what the catfight would have been like if one or both of them had been wearing the original miniskirt.

Once again, baseball made me delay watching until tonight.

I'm still kinda meh about these two episodes. I can't help feeling that I'm so distracted by the continuity, that I'm not noticing how they don't really hold together. Unlike practically everyone else on this thread, I would *not* like to see a series based in the mirror universe. I think it would get very old, very quickly.

Nevertheless, I appreciate these episodes because they are, in my opinion, a huge shout-out to our very own keckler. I mean -- Quantum dies? Shout OUT! I'm only surprised there wasn't a character named Keckler. Maybe that guy in the Jefferies tube that got eaten by the Gorn? (I'd hate to have keckler eaten by a Gorn, though. Especially by that Not!Gorn.)

Woah. Another TOS shout-out? Gov. Kodos appeared in a TOS episode as "Kodos the Executioner". Captain Kirk was a survivor of the Tarsus IV massacre as I recall. Little Jimmy Kirk would have 13 at the time. I wonder if he knew the 118 year old Hoshi?

I guess that ties her to every incarnation of Trek now. Did she ever user her normal voice for the computer on TOS? I always thought it was enhanced; therefore, her real voice here was a bit of a nitpick for me. Anyone know for sure?
I would still think Archer's party wasn't nekkid in those suits. But it was still great to see the old uniforms along with the many other TOS bits.
Orion men may have been the pheromone holders in the MU, not the women.
BWAAAHHHH!

A great ep again. As a victim of a Canadian signal that doesn't get previews, can someone tell me what's in store for next week? Are we back to the same crappy-ass theme, etc?

Those must be some pretty bored school kids. I though algebra was tedious. Imagine studying Enterprise....bleah.

It's worse than that - in some universes, you were in an accident on the way to the store, or on the way back; some of those accidents were fatal. In some, you sped; in some of those, you were ticketed for speeding. In some, you slept in, which enabled a blood clot to speed through your system and lodge in your brain, killing you. In some, while cleaning the car, you found a lottery ticket that some guy had dropped in there when you gave him a ride. In a couple of those, it was the jackpot winner. And so forth...

Right on, Irish Wolf. There are infinitely many possible universes under that theory. The fact that Data receives some 250,000 simultaneous hails from the other Enterprise D's suggest that the computer had either reached its computational limit in receiving all incoming messages, or those were the only other universes where there was (still) an Enterprise D in that region of space at that time. So given all that, it's perfectly plausible for the Defiant to end up in some other new universe and not necessarily the exact same MU that Kirk and Co. encountered.

But there is one thing that still bothers me: Why were the Defiant uniform badges different from the ones used in TOS?

This explanation makes perfect sense. I always figured that the tight-fitting copper suits wouldn't accomodate wearing a uniform underneath, but rather some sort of outer spacey underoos like the ones NASA astronauts wear under their suits. Besides, weren't we shown locker room scenes in previous Enterprise episodes that would attest to this fact? I don't remember them putting on the copper suits while wearing their standard uniforms. So, it makes perfect sense that when they had restored life support on the Defiant, the boarding crew had to borrow uniforms from the crew quarters, since Enterprise was blown to bits and their wardrobe with it. Perfect excuse to don the classic garb. Kudos to Sussman and team for only having the boarding party switch into these clothes, and not the rescued personnel as well. Also, as someone previously pointed out, T'Pol was back in TE uniform when she was transferred to the other ship.

ETA my reply to the space suits issue.

In the Mirror Universe, there's a lot more sex and violence. Naturally, people are nekkid as often as possible.

...anyone buy that?

Regarding TOS shirt patches; in TOS each starship had a different symbol. The Delta Symbol that the Enterprise used was later adopted by all of Starfleet. In "The Omega Glory", Captain Tracey had a different one as well, kind of an hourglass thingie.

I guess I don't see the need for this. I don't understand what the incompatibility between the mirror universe of TOS/DS9 and this one is. Maybe the Empire doesn't manage to learn anything from the Defiant, maybe they do, and by the time of TOS they are still building ships that look like it because it's worked so well, maybe it's destroyed in this or some future power struggle, whatever. But saying "it's not the same mirror universe" ruins the coolness of it being the mirror universe instead of just some random parallel universe.

On Gorn:

I wasn't crazy about seeing the "classic" Gorn either. In TOS they were just the Hostile Aliens of the Week, like a million Voyager episodes. They just seem interesting because TOS was mostly about going to new planets and encountering another spacefaring civilization (other than Klingons/Romulans) was rare. (And "Arena" wasn't even all that special of an episode).

They've shown in a few episodes (Anomoly comes to mind first) where the crew strips down to their skivvies before donning the copper space suits.

Neither do I. I don't even see it as a paradox. Makes perfect sense and fits perfectly for m.

Wordy McWord, Sheap. I only offered my parallel universe explanation as an absolute last-ditch explanation if all else failed. But I think that it is plausible for the TE to have this ship and still not advance much in a hundred years. They're not morons, but at the same time, they don't seem to be as technologically innovative as their regular universe counterparts. Evil!Archer says that the TE couldn't have conquered so many systems without Vulcan technology. But even then, MU Enty was still no better than regular Enty. You'd think that they would have achieved Warp 7 capability had they forced Vulcan to divulge all its research.

As it was mentioned upthread, duplicating advanced technology is leaps away from simply having the schematics. If you were to take the Pentium processor back to 1905, back when Einstein had just published his theory of relativity and quantum mechanics had yet to be developed as a consequence, they wouldn't have been able to do anything with the processor. They would not have the precision instruments or the state-of-the-art microprocessor facilities necessary to build miniscule transistors.

But never mind the manufacturing logistics. First, you have to understand why the processor works the way it does. Can't do that without Solid State Physics. Unlike manufacturing, scientific breakthroughs aren't guaranteed. You can't just say, "Oh, we'll formulate a unified field theory by 2100."

That is my second point. Even if they overcame the logistics and the scientific knowledge through reverse engineering, the empire would want to make sure that no one could simply monopolize control over a ship and take down the empire again. So they might have waited until they could make a large fleet of Constitution-class ships like in "Mirror, Mirror".

Empress Hoshi Sato probably needed Defiant constantly in orbit protecting her and Terre from all their enemies. If she allowed them to study Defiant at all she probably would have had shields and huge planetary Phaser Banks and Torpedo tubes around the palace. An Empire like they must have had consumes too many resourses to have built a fleet of Defiants plus they had to reverse engineer everything so naturally by Kirks time they were roughly in the same place as Kirks Universe. But don't forget MKirks' toy that made people dissapear. That technology never did appear in TOS so the MU probably was more advanced. But if you really want a brain Buster how about this. T'Pol, Quantum, Soval, and God knows how many other people are dead now so as soon as these crossovers happen and different people die the Universes are no longer mirrored so how could the AU theory even be possible. You really have to suspend rational thought at these MU episodes and it is easy to see how there would be Trillions upon Trillions of AU out there because every time someone was killed in one universe and not in the other it is no longer a mirror. Even one person messes it up.

I understand where you all are coming from on wanking how it would take 100 years to reverse-engineer a fleet of Constitution-class ships from the Defiant.

However, in the Real!TrekUniverse, they are also able to engineer a fleet of Constitution-class ships, in exactly the same time frame, without the benefit of a model to reverse-engineer from. I don't think it's plausible that the MU would have absolutely no advantage over the Real!Universe if the Defiant is around to spur them along. Especially since a species as power-hungry megalomaniacal as the Terrans would never let the opportunity to gain an advantage go to waste.

Separately, I also can't buy that this MU isn't the same one as the "Mirror, Mirror" MU. I totally understand how it's possible in the sense of Quantum Physics, but I am pretty sure that the Enterprise writers chose to tell a story that in fact takes place in the same MU from TOS lore. Inasmuch as we are supposed to watch the entire four-season series on the assumption that it is part of the same reality as TOS, we are supposed to watch this two-parter on the assumption that it is in the same reality as "Mirror, Mirror". That's kind of the entire point of this two-episode diversion, isn't it?

So, given those two assumptions (and it's cool if some of you disagree with them), I think we have to assume that the Defiant is not available to MU scientists for long enough to gain a technological edge over the Real!Verse. It must somehow get itself blown up before it can be scientifically dissected. That, I can easily buy -- the first scientists who get on board to study it get "what does this button do?" disease and cause a warp core breach or something, blowing themselves up before getting anything useful out of it. That's consistent with Terran impatience and power-thirst.

What I find strange about the MU is how the same people make different choices in a different environment. In our universe, Archer is the hero of heroes. savior of the entire planet Earth, creator of the Federation, the one person without whom peace and cooperation among diverse species and cultures is not possible. (pauses to barf) In the evil MU, he can't even make captain. He only grabs power in the end because he hears his counterpart goading him, and he can't hold on for long because he is not devious enough. See, he's just too darned good to make it in an evil place. (dry heaving now)

But then, Hoshi is an underachiever in the normal universe and effortlessy assumes total power in the evil MU. Does that make her basically evil? Not the Hoshi we know. Maybe she saw that it was just so easy to get rid of all those jerks, and she turns out to be a wise and benevolent empress. After all, Rome had a few good ones.

Okay, now that the MU 2-parter's in the bag, here are my thoughts:

It's nice to see a fun, no-holds-barred couple of episodes like this. If STE had done more like this, they might've been able to squeeze another season out of the show.

Also, I'm convinced now that the primary driving force behind the MU is not that characters and events are opposite, but that evil always triumphs over good. The resulting characteristics are merely side effects of the outcome of events. I think the reason that didn't happen in "Mirror, Mirror" is because the two universes mingled with each other. Therefore, I also think that there was never a point of divergence with the two universes (even though it would've been interesting to hear more about the MU Shakespeare).

Getting back to the ep though, as fellow TWOPpers have already pointed out, it was so very much fanboy eye-candy, and I think the cast and crew had a blast making it. I couldn't help giggling like a little girl whenever I saw the sights and heard the sounds of a "real" Constitution-class starship. I loved seeing the Defiant cruise through space! I also enjoyed the cast in the old (future) uniforms, seeing each crew member with a specific duty in the same place on the bridge as their TOS counterparts (i.e. M!Hoshi/Uhura, M!Trip/Scotty, M!Maywhatever/Chekov, even M!T'Pol stood in exactly the same spot where Spock often stood on the bridge), and the attention to detail in the new sets -- making them match the look of the rest of the ship.

Now, all of that being said, I did have a few issues with pt. 2. Specifically, it felt like TPTB had their hands in this ep more than pt. 1. The M!Humans were as conniving and sinister as ever, but the M!Aliens grew a heart, and at first I thought the M!Universe was going to gradually change into the regular universe. It took me by surprise (a little bit) when the Defiant regained control and blew up the good guys on the Avenger -- only because I always expect the writers to have the good guys win.

What didn't surprise me was when M!HO-shi poisoned M!Archer and put herself forth as "Lady Macbe..." I mean, "Empress Sato." I saw that coming from a parsec away, especially after that ep about the empowered Orion women. She was a power whore, sleeping her way to the top only to step on those that put her there. I have a feeling that as a ruthless leader of the Terran Empire, she'll be a great addition to the M!timeline, and I'm curiously attracted to her like a moth to a flame...

Archer was hamming it up and chewing the scenery more than usual, but I liked it this time. His Shatneresque delivery seemed to fit his surroundings.

Good thing: Vulcan goatees & the return of Majel Barrett Roddenberry.

Bad thing: green shirtwrap with bric-a-brac.

Another good thing: someone actually got vaporized. When did we see that last?

A very bad thing: the CG Gorn -- awful flashbacks to the US Godzilla.

Also, it was eerie how much Trip looked too much like Scotty in that red shirt.

So I guess M!T'pol died?....damn! What a waste of hotness.

All in all, it was a decent follow-up, and the ending kind of made up for everything in this ep that lead up to it.

And I'm STILL having nightmares about Dr. Phlox as my dentist. "Is it safe???"

In TOS, each Starship and Starbase had its own insignia patch. Over time, because Captain Kirk and his crew were so damn cool and accomplished, the Enterprise delta became the Starfleet standard.

And even that device came from a raid on an alien laboratory, according to the episode.

Aw. No love for Old Hoshi...

Damn, now we can't use the excuse:

"Don't blame me, I voted for Kodos!"

Because it's a lot easier to stick to canon over 8 Mirror Universe episodes than it is to master it over 700 episodes. How can Enterprise be expected to maintain TOS canon when TOS contradicts itself so much?
That's sure not the show I would have wanted. These episodes were a fun diversion, but this is not what I would have wanted the whole series to be, either in terms of using the Mirror Universe or in terms of the constant barrage of TOS references.
Yeah, like turning the "paintings" over the bridge stations into screens. I always imagined they were screens, but they lacked the budget for it.
mysticowl, I meant the Hallucination Archer, who was dressed in an Enterprise (NX-01) uniform. He wasn't wearing a Mirror Enterprise uniform, and I'm still not sure I understand why that is.

I didn't like this episode. Too much over-acting. Not just by archer who was way over the top. I mean, you don't have to circle someone, evil-whispering in their ear, to get the point across that there is conflict. And all of the cast switching around between ships, and switching of uniforms. One minute T'Pol is wearing the TOS miniskirt, the next she is back to the MU bare midriff (actually I like the miniskirt better). And I was looking forward to seeing the original Gorn, with the aluminum foil eyes.

T'Pol switched back when she got to the Avenger (that was Soval's ship's name, right?). Presumably, that was the first chance she had to put on a, er, "proper" uniform, rather than the TOS uniforms (which would just be costumes to them).

Do you happen to know where this fan-fic was? I'd be interested in reading it. A Google search of "Star Trek fan fic" shows a number of sites.

Not quite sure how Archer just assumed he'd be Emperor, but I did enjoy the twist and Empress Hoshi taking over.



Makes sense since he was instrumental in starting the Federation.

Weird that Archer's birthplace was "Upstate New York". Was he born out on a road not close to any town/city?

I missed the opening last week so it was great to see the evil credits.

I didn't like it as much as the first part, but I've never been a big fan of TOS anyway, so I didn't care so much about seeing all the TOS-era equipment and everything.

Long live Empress Sato!

That was me, Skategrrl, and I'm pretty sure it was mentioned at some point either during Journey to Babel or Yesteryear that there was some doubt a human and a Vulcan could produce a child. Then again, the memory is going, so maybe it's not canonical but part of fan-fic; I do remember one of the stories in The Continuing Voyages told of Amanda and Sarek's courtship and first experience with ponn fahr, so I could be wrong.



I'm curious, Cleo 256; how is it you think TOS contradicted itself? Writers were given the show bible and expected to follow it; any inconsistencies were cleaned up by Roddenberry and Gene Coon, and later DC Fontana. Later series may have brought in some contradictions, but TOS remained pretty true to itself. At least IMHO.

And poor Hoshi was killed by Kodos the Executioner. Sometimes you just can't win.

I like the explanation proposed earlier in the thread. MU Archer is a paranoid schizophrenic. He's haunted by the accomplishments and reputation of his other self, and this manifests itself thru a taunting vision of how he envisions RU Archer, looking down on him. And the voice is basically telling him, "Historians might consider You great, too, if you can just..." Beat the Gorn, Be the Captain of the Defiant, Fly to Earth and declare yourself Emperor, etc.

Trevacious Guy wrote:

True. FWIW, I watched The Tholian Web today (while narrowly avoiding working on my finals...) and noted that we do not get a good look at any of the Defiant crew's patches. Most of the dead guys are arranged in such a way as to hide the badge. A few semi-obscured badges can be seen, and they look like Enterprise arrow-heads. Since this was a third season episode, it's entirely likely that TPTB were too cheap to spring for new badges for the dead Defiant extras.
I think it is nifty that the badges created for the Defiant in the ENT episode are the same shape as the yellow arrowhead seen on the exterior of the Enterprise and Defiant secondary hulls and Warp nacelles. Perhaps Starfleet used the Defiant's insignia during the TOS era for the same reason that they adopted the Enterprise's insignia for the later eras.

Cleo256 wrote:

Spock used the screen above his station a few times to play videos or display pictures, so this was definitely in keeping with TOS. Watching these episodes and DS9's Trials and Tribbleations makes me wonder what the original series could have looked like with a better effects budget and modern technology. Sigh.

Also T'pol and Trip make a vulcan-human hybrid?! I thought Spock was the first. Crap.

Grammar Bitch pointed out:


Bummer. Of course, that leads me to wonder about the MU version of Governor Kodos. I bet he ran a shelter for abused puppies or something.

All I can say is, thank God for that ending!

So far in this series, Hoshi has been ignored; ignored; ignored; ignored; kidnapped and brainwashed by Reptilian-Xindi; ignored; ignored; gotten sick and been quarantined along with Trip, only to end up dying on the table (but then retro-ed back to life by the Organians); ignored; beaten up by some Rigellians; and ignored.

(I'm leaving out the mindmeld, with Furrow coaching T'Pol: like Keckler, I'd rather forget that scene.)

Finally, at the end of this episode, Hoshi gets the props she is certainly due, in spades. True, it was Mirror-Hoshi, but I'll take it, at this late (i.e. cancelled) stage in the show. It was also somewhat predictable from the moment she handed Mirror-Furrow the wineglass. But, I must admit that it didn't make that final scene any less enjoyable.

Emperor Furrow is dead! Long live Empress Sato!

Loved the episode!!! Not quite as good as the first part, but then 2 parters rarely are. BEST OF BOTH WORLDS had a much better first part. I still remember pounding the floor because it ended and I had to wait the rest of the summer. Just wish they had this quality writing from the get-go.


One more thing, does anybody know the name of the actor who played the old bearded Admiral that Quantum was talking too. WORST OVERACTOR EVER!!!!

He would do Shatner proud!!

The mirror universe is fine as far as it goes, but I just felt like they wasted these two weeks on something that doesn't matter when we have so few left. The whole "treachery rules the day" thing always made the mirror universe seem kind of silly to me (though I haven't seen the episodes of Deep Space 9 and Voyager that were set there). No one is shown to have any kind of power other than having killed the previous leader, so when each person is killed or betrayed, it makes it more likely that the whole process would end in the death of everyone alive--yet the "mirror universe" is supposed to keep going indefinitely.

All in all, I would rather have had bad regular episodes than episodes which are about people we don't know and won't ever see again.

There were no Voyager mirror-universe episodes. The closest was "Living Witness," which (other than the constant interruptions of reality) is very similar and one of Voyager's better episodes.

Another great episode. Random comments:
- Arnold Robinson beat me to the punch on the "Tholian Web" Defiant shirt patches. On watching that episode on DVD, though, I was struck by how careful they were to *avoid* showing patches on that episode, instead of saying "ah, to hell with it, who'll care?"

- I thought Quantum "haunting" Evil!Archer was an inspired bit. One of the things that bugged me in a minor way about part 1 was Forrest being captain, and Archer his first officer, which seemed to me mostly an excuse to have a good "mutiny" plotline. But Evil!Archer's underachievement actually turns out to be a plot point running through the whole story. He's irritated by Quantum's evident success, and that fuels Evil!Archer's power lust, putting him in competition with his "better" self. Who Evil!Archer imagines to be pretty much Evil too, since he probably can't really comprehend someone gaining great fame and power like Quantum without using Evil means. (I.e., he probably suspects the "official" story of the Federation is as much a lie as the official histories of the Empire.)

- On "So why isn't ISS Enterprise much more advanced than USS Defiant?" A couple perspectives:
1. So who says it ain't? For all we know, the "Mirror, Mirror" ISS Enterprise had phasers and shields as advanced as Picard's Enterprise. The look is the same, sure, but one could make plausible arguments for that - that they'd consciously stick to that form, "knowing" it to be from the future and highly advanced, even though much of it might not make a lot of functional sense. There's a real-world story about something similar. In WWII, an American B-24 had to make an emergency landing in the USSR. The Soviets kept the plane as long as they could get away with it, and made a reverse engineered copy eventually. As the story goes, there was a missed rivet hole somewhere on the fuselage of the U.S. plane... a mistake methodically duplicated on every single instance of the Soviet copy.

2. As others have hinted at, without a tradition of free inquiry, the Empire's own science could very likely be hindered, such that it needs a constant stream of more advanced stolen technology from cultures with stronger scientific traditions. Which is consistent with the notion that a traditional empire could only be sustained by constant expansion.

Seriously! Don't know the name, though. I think when they cast him, they just told "OK, leaders in the MU are supposed to be angry and yell a lot." Even at that, he was way over the top.

Is next week's ep supposed to be set a few years after the events of Season 4? That's the only explanation I can think of for the Tri'Pol baby.

I also immediately thought, "Is Bermanga throwing a hybrid baby plotline into Ron Moore's face just to be obnoxious?"

The first scene that showed the Gorn "talking" into the communicator gave me chills, it was incredibly lit. When they showed it again hovering over M'Archer's head it looked like a reject from Monster-Of-The-Week on Jimmy Neutron.

I really enjoyed this diversion from the monotony that has been Enterprise. Now... bring on the continuity-busting union of T'rip.

We can't get hung up about canon all the time. It's what constantly sucks all the fun out of Trek. Think about it: what was the intended effect of "Mirror, Mirror"? They wanted to present two identical spaceships, with two crews who were physically identical, but morally opposite.

Same people, transporting off a planet at the same time, using the same type of transporter were able to trade places with their other-universe counterparts due to an ion storm. If you're willing to suspend disbelief in that premise alone just to enjoy the story and underlying the morality, why it is hard to accept the notion that somehow, the timelines still work out to be the same? It could be blamed on bad writing, but I appreciate the true effort that Sussman and crew put in on this arc.

As someone mentioned way back, I think it's already been established in Trek lore that you can either traverse time or dimensions, but not both simultaneously (could use a confirmation on that). If that's true, this MU arc wouldn't even be possible. But it was a great excuse to see our beloved U.S.S. Enterprise resurrected using today's production values. I don't care what it says on that hull; it'll always be the Enterprise to me.

Nah, that's a silly notion, Saeward. If I were given the option of watching a really crappy episode like "Bound", watching an excellent (and delicious!) MU diversion, or not watching ST:ENT at all, I'll take option 2 anyday.

Loved both parts, but the first was a much more cohesive. As already said many times, that Gorn part was just stupid. Though, when Reedvil clambered out of the tube, I sighed and said, "Bye-bye, Malcolm." When rewatching with hubby, he looked at me and said, "You do realize that Malcolm is wearing a red shirt?" And then I had to leave the room, I was laughing so hard. I love Malcolm so very much. The way he was giggling like a school boy when he blew up the Tholian ships had me giggling too.

I agree with those that it said made sense for Bakula to go so overboard since he was obviously psychotic. I thought that was rather, er, brave of him. However, when he was stomping around captains quarters and said something about peacemakers, I laughed so much and so long that I missed the rest scene. He reminded me of some weird chicken trying to peck at something. I did note that Linda Park is so underused. She really can act when she's not bored. And it was really noticeable in that scene where they were looking at their counterparts histories. Yay, Empress Sato!

One thing I appreciate about a MU is that the characters are still recognizable, though parts of their personalities are a little more amplified. There not so much inverted, as much as their worst instincts are given play. Malcolm still loved to blow things up, he just didn't much care what it was. T'Pol still used logic and questioned Archer's orders, though she was such a CRACK WHORE. Evil Trinneevil still loved his engines. Phlox was still ebullient and, well, cheerful for lack of a better term, he just put his energies into something a little less ethically acceptable. For people just jumping into the series, it wouldn't make much sense, the similarities would be lost. For this reason, I really don't want more MU, but it was a great diversion and even explained the characters a little more.

I loved this 2-parter for so many reasons, but foremost for finally giving Hoshi and Mayweather their due. Empress Sato is a meta-gift straight to everyone who thought Hoshi's character had been ignored -- pretty much anyone who watched the show. And those Ho-shi outfits were much appreciated here.

I also loved the fact that we witnessed a Constitution-class ship blowing up an NX. Even though it was technically Defiant vs. Avenger, it was figuratively TOS obliterating ENT. Making the Defiant really seem badass is one of the greatest contributions to canon this show has achieved.

Yeah, badass. This episode owned me when Evil!Archer disintegrated the Admiral. It put us in completely different territory, where Roddenberry's rules of conduct couldn't hold the show down. It seemed Quantum started channeling Shatner once he got the green tunic.

Mayweather: "Target destroyed". Even when the space battle was off-camera it was compelling. Those vintage sound effects had me overgeeking. Defiant blowing up everything in sight was the most fun I've had watching a Trek space battle since the DS9 finale.

This really showed the potential of the "Star Trek: Legends" anthology show concept and also demonstrated the feasibility of setting a new series in the TOS era.

My only problem was that I missed the fact that T'Pol got sent back to Avenger. It seemed to me that Archer was intending to space her when he sent her to the transporter room, so I got confused when she showed up still alive, armed, and conspiritorial. The Gorn I just chalked up to the fx just not being there at this budget (like the CGI polar bear on Lost).

Finally, let's not understate the impact of replacing that horrid theme song during the credit sequence. That one detail reduced the suck factor incalculably. I seriously blame the theme song for contributing to ENT's failure. Every single episode started out with 100 suck points to work itself out from under.