Date: November 11, 2022

Season 2, Episodes: 14, “Stigma” and 15, “Cease Fire”

Music Video of the Day:

Interstellar News: My life has been unusually hectic lately. I’ve been watching Trek, but it’s been hard to have the time to sit down and write the words when I am stuck behind the keyboard for my day job. First Year Fred has been keeping me on my toes and I’ve been able to do a bit more travel recently. I had a wonderful trip to Florida where I officiated my best friend’s wedding, I got to see Clerks III and listed to Kevin Smith after, and I’m super stoked for my upcoming trip to St. Louis in a few days.

As today is Veteran’s Day, I’ll thank all for their service – it’s not a happy day, but one for reflection on the sacrifice of others.

Episode 14 – “Stigma”

“And because you find them undesirable they’re not entitled to medical care?”: T’Pol has contracted an illness because of the mind meld she was forced to endure. The Vulcans are prejudiced bastards and Archer is gobsmacked at their behavior and intolerance. Phlox’s second wife, Fezal, comes aboard and hits on Tucker – who is too vanilla to consider polyamory a valid lifestyle choice.

This is clearly the “AIDS episode” and you couldn’t miss the symbolism if it river-danced on your couch. There are a lot of things this episode gets right, and it’s hard to watch because it’s still so damn prevalent today. People are fearful of what they don’t understand, almost always find a way to blame the victim, and think a man needs to save the day. T’Pol, being the only adult on board ever, knows she should be entitled to medical treatment NO MATTER how she was infected. Archer is doing his best to dress down the Vulcans about their intolerance, but he does his usual ineffective pontificating.

My favorite bits, though, were Phlox and Fezal. They are so fucking adorable AND it was a positive display of polyamory/polygamy. I will note that everyone does polyamory differently, and because marriage is involved that becomes more polygamy – but they were respectful of their time together, gossiped about family, and encouraged each other to pursue their own passions. Tucker, bless his heart, is working on the wrong damn ship. The whole point is to explore other cultures. You don’t have to agree with them, you don’t have to understand them, you don’t have to participate in them – but you DO have to respect that people have other views that can be just as valid. Now that I’m done with my rant – I’m giving this episode 5 borks from Porthos… bork bork bork bork bork.

Episode 15 – “Cease Fire”

“And my underwear is flame-retardant. That doesn’t mean I’m going to light myself on fire to prove it.”: The Andorians are battling Vulcans, when Shran calls for Archer to mediate the conflict. Archer wings it, Shran is betrayed, and Soval is not a total dick.

I actually enjoyed this episode a lot, and not just because Suzie Plaxson was in it! Archer gets to savor the Vulcans asking him for help and he thinks about what the future will look like (ahem, the Federation, cough cough). Shran seems more amenable to peaceful negotiation with Archer around and Soval does his typical Vulcan stoic bit. While I hate the “pink skin” moniker, Shran says it with admiration. This is different than how Tarah says it, almost with disdain. It’s also telling about how little humans really thought about space travel, since Archer was the closest thing they had to an ambassador… sigh. 8 treat-os for Porthos!

TA Out!

Date: September 18, 2022

Season 2, Episodes 12 and 13

Music Video of the Day:

Interstellar News: I’ve been doing a lot of traveling. We went to a concert, caught Covid, got better, went to Galaxy Con, then some other stuff happened, then there was Dragon Con, and then a surprise birthday party for my dad, and finally I’m heading to SLC for FanX this weekend – wheeeeeee. Today, I hope to tackle 7 loads of laundry and write up this long overdue post.

Episode 12 – “The Catwalk”

“It’s hard to tell them apart in those ridiculous hats.”: Enterprise and three members of another ship weather a class-5 neutronic storm in the catwalk for a week. The three aliens are actually fugitives, the crew of the Enterprise saves the day, and T’Pol even joins the crew for movie night after they all survive the storm.

I write notes while I watch an episode because I don’t always remember everything, or lately it’s because I write about them way after I’ve watched it. I wrote down “Porthos was a good fucking boy”, but now I don’t remember why – likely because he was good in a crisis situation and gave Archer lots of love and attention in the several scenes he was in. It takes a special pupper to deal with turbulence and other people’s stank for a week, so kudos to Porthos. This was a pretty standard Trek episode, though with an industrial engineering twist. They were able to come up with a plan in very little time, that likely became some sort of standard protocol in the event of another similar emergency. 5 hours of pets for Porthos, who is the only quadruped on board.

Also, fun story about this episode. According to the Captain’s Log – this episode took place on September 18, 2152.

Episode 13 – “Dawn”

“Unfortunately, your first word is something you wouldn’t want to use in polite company.”: Tucker has a run in with a hostile alien, an Arkonian named Zho’Kaan, while in a shuttlepod. They encounter each other again on a desert planet but eventually come to an understanding and work together. Enterprise reaches the planet first, but Zho’Kaan would die – so Tucker waits for another option. They both get saved at the last minute and come to an even better understanding of each other before parting ways.

This episode is very much like “Darmok“, but not quite as good or meme-able. There’s a part where Zho’Kaan uses something like velociraptor spit and I laughed a lot. When Tucker was trying to help Zho’Kaan to understand him, there was a bit of “who’s on first” going on, which was also quite humorous. Tucker is the quintessential Starfleet officer, leaving no man behind and doing his best to work well with others – especially under the circumstances and limited resources. I really enjoyed this episode, and it gets 7 bowls of water for Porthos.

TA Out!

Date: July 19, 2022

Season 2, Episodes:

• 7, “The Seventh”
• 8, “The Communicator”
• 9, “Singularity”
• 10, “Vanishing Point”
• 11, “Precious Cargo”

Music Video of the Day:

Interstellar News: I can’t believe how long it’s been since I wrote in here. Life has been absolutely bonkers and I haven’t had the bandwidth, or spoons, to do much writing. I have watched a lot and have on backlog – so here are 5 more episodes with my apologies.

Episode 7 – “The Seventh”

“When you don’t have the ability to repress emotions, you learn to deal with them and move on..”: T’Pol goes after a renegade Vulcan named Menos. On the ship, Tucker is acting captain while Archer and Mayweather go off with T’Pol. Menos claims to be innocent, T’Pol’s memories were tampered with, and in the end Menos winds up in Vulcan custody.

I couldn’t quite get into this episode. There was a lot of trying to figure out what actually happened, and I hate that T’Pol had her mind messed with. I did like how supportive and compassionate Archer was, as it was really T’Pol’s mission and episode. Otherwise, not much to say. Four goldfish crackers for Porthos, crunch crunch.

Episode 8 – “The Communicator”

“You don’t have to leave technology behind to contaminate a culture.”: Reed’s communicator goes missing on a pre-warp planet. Archer and Reed get caught when trying to retrieve it and are thought to be spies. Tucker and Mayweather fix the Suliban ship, while Tucker becomes partially cloaked, in order to rescue the boys.

Archer isn’t the best at improv, but he does try his best. I love that it’s their red blood that terrifies the locals and a doctor is brought in to examine the strange organs. Not often enough are the biological differences talked about. I also loved the sub-plot where Tucker’s arm is cloaked, it was entirely goofy. T’Pol makes a good point about the society already being “contaminated” even though all of the technology was retrieved. I’m not sure why they didn’t try to either beam it back up, or just leave it because a communicator wasn’t that big of a deal. The story they came up with did more harm, in my opinion. 5 de-cloaked chew toys for Porthos!

Episode 9 – “Singularity”

“It would be irresponsible to dispense medication without examining you first.“: A flashback of the last few days shows everyone on the crew with some odd side effects as they pass through some harmful radiation. Archer can’t write, Sato gets obsessed with cooking from scratch, Phlox thinks there’s something wrong with Mayweather, Reed becomes even more paranoid about safety, and Tucker is snippy with everyone. T’Pol throws Archer into a cold shower in order to knock some sense into him and they get the ship to safety.

WHY DOES NO ONE ASK WHERE MAYWEATHER IS? He goes to sickbay for a headache and he’s supposed to be piloting the ship. Even with everything else going on, I can’t imagine they just forget about THE PILOT. Sigh. I mean, poor Mayweather… he gets roofied by Dr. Phlox and almost had an unwanted surgery because of space drama. Once again, this episode demonstrates that T’Pol is the only adult on Enterprise and Archer knows it. It was fun to see the crew kind of ramp up to 11, everything seeming okay but just a little off until it was just off the spectrum. 5 barks for Porthos, who was very confused and just wanted some love and attention.

Episode 10 – “Vanishing Point”

“You’re in perfect health. You’re neither transparent nor porous.”: Sato and Tucker are exploring some caved when a storm approaches and they have to use the transporter. Tucker goes first, as Sato is nervous. When she arrives on Enterprise, she starts to feel strange. She eventually disappears but everyone thinks she’s dead. After finding aliens on board trying to destroy the ship, she goes after them and wakes up on Enterprise. She dreamed the whole episode and was stuck in the pattern buffer for 8 seconds.

I liked that I didn’t know she was dreaming and stuck in the pattern buffer, because the story sort of made sense. Transporter accidents have been known to happen and maybe she could become transparent or something. Maybe I should have known better, or maybe I gave into Sato’s anxiety about using the transporter. My two favorite parts, though, were when she decided to be brave and go after the aliens who were going to blow up Enterprise and then her whole interaction with Dr. Phlox at the end. I’m not sure why I liked this episode so much, but I did – so there! 8 days in the sun for Porthos.

Episode 11 – “Precious Cargo”

“Come visit me. Perhaps you’ll find out.”: Enterprise is helping a cargo ship with a life support system when there’s a problem and they escape with Tucker but leave one of their own behind. Tucker and the First Monarch get on each other’s nerves but eventually work together to escape. Archer tricks the pirate in order to get information and everyone goes home happy.

So Tucker is definitely the “Kirk” or “Riker” character of this crew, as he keeps getting into sticky situations with female aliens. On one hand I’m glad they made it the engineering, but on the other hand he’s a bit misogynistic at times – sigh. He does give good banter and I love how he interacts with a strong character like Kaitaama, especially since she was obviously living a very sheltered life. I also loved how Archer lies about a tribunal and T’Pol even plays along, it was a lot of fun to watch. Another episode that I liked a lot and I’m not really sure why. Porthos barks along as we take a 7 mile walk around a beautiful lake.

TA Out!

Date: April 6, 2022

Season 2, Episodes:

• 2, “Carbon Creek”
• 3, “Minefield”
• 4, “Dead Stop”
• 5, “A Night in Sickbay”
• 6, “Marauders”

Music Video of the Day:

Interstellar News: My students may be the death of me – but not before I finish Trek. Here’s a new style I’m trying out, a round up of the last 5 episodes I watched.

Episode 2 – “Carbon Creek”

“Vulcans don’t take vacations.”: T’Pol tells Archer a story about the “real” first contact during the launch of Sputnik with her great-great grandmother. There are some shenanigans about helping a smart kid in a mining town get to college, a Vulcan staying for love, another lying to High Command, saving some men trapped in a mine, and introducing Velcro to the humans.

I actually quite enjoyed this one as it’s a flashback that allows T’Pol to play someone else. It also leaves you wondering if the story is true, has some true elements, or why T’Pol’s ancestor would hand down a physical object. This gets 8 “indulgences” for Porthos, as long as they’re all cheese.

Episode 3 – “Minefield”

“All we have to depend on is each other.”: Reed and Archer have a super awkward breakfast, Enterprise is hit by a cloaked mine, we “meet” the Romulans, and Reed gets impaled by a bomb. He walks Archer through defusing it and the get the hell out of dodge.

My goodness this was a SLOW and BORING episode. Reed assists Archer like they’re putting something together from Ikea and talks about how he has a fear of water and it’s why he joined Starfleet instead of the Navy. Reed keeps trying to be all noble and go down with the ship and he’s just so fucking morose the entire episode, well more so than usual. There are some interesting scenes and some good out-of-the-box thinking from Archer, but otherwise Porthos poops 3 times in this episode’s general direction.

Episode 4 – “Dead Stop”

“It’s unethical to harm a patient. I can inflict as much pain as I like.”: 4 days after the events of the last episode, Enterprise is in desperate need of repairs. They find a completely automated repair station that’s incredibly advanced and required very little in payment – to which Archer is super skeptical. The ship gets repaired but Mayweather is killed. It’s later revealed his body was a duplicate, they eventually find his original, they also blow up the station and again skedaddle right on out of that part of space. Right before the credits roll, THE STATION STARTS REPAIRING ITSELF.

I absolutely adore this episode. It reminds me of all the TOS episodes where a computer system went “nutty” and Kirk and company put an end to it – except this time the damn thing is smart enough to engineer itself back to life. I was about to stop watching when I thought they killed the one Black actor on set and was super satisfied with Dr. Phlox being his usual attentive self. It’s a complete mystery who built the station, when the station started snatching one crew member per ship to add to its consciousness, or what happened to all of the other bodies when everything blew up. They didn’t know at the time all those people were brain dead but decided to grab Mayweather and peace out – not cool kids. I also really liked how Archer wanted to “speak to a manager” and Tucker was trying to sneak past everything because he was curious, not suspicious like Archer. I also almost died laughing at the damn air filter they took out – BECAUSE I HAVE ONE JUST LIKE IT AT HOME!!! This episode gets 9 hours of belly rubs for Porthos, with 1 point being taken away for our “heroes” killing everyone else in the facility.

Episode 5 – “A Night in Sickbay”

“I suppose you’re going to tell me you have a degree in psychiatry, too.”: Archer and crew are decontaminating after visiting the Kreetassans, trying to get a plasma injector, but Porthos peed on an important tree and they were offended (again). Porthos, unfortunately, picks up a pathogen and almost dies. Dr. Phlox suggests Archer needs to get laid, Archer tries to get some sleep, Porthos receives a transplant, and T’Pol tells Archer they should just be friends. Oh, and they get the injector.

I was ready to throw all kinds of things at the TV and stop watching this damn show if they killed Porthos – that’s two episodes in a row where they tried to raise my damn blood pressure. Dr. Phlox is a medical badass, Archer is a whiny man, and T’Pol remains the only adult on board. This was a silly episode in parts (like when Phlox is going through his nightly routine, when they’re cornering the bat, or when it’s a very obviously stuffed animal version of Porthos), a good episode in parts (when Archer finally puts his pride aside or when Phlox demonstrates the other sides of a ship’s doctor), and a very awful episode (why all the damn whining? also, the dream? come on!) in other parts. I think it deserves 4 tiny pieces of cheese for Porthos, but something common like cheddar.

Episode 6 – “Marauders”

“Shooting at a lizard is a whole lot different than shooting at a person, and lizards don’t shoot back.”: On Tattooine, wait – wrong planet – the team visits a deuterium facility that’s under siege from a small Klingon ship. After Archer delivers the “fish speech” (sort of like the one about a gazelle), Enterprise helps the settlement defend themselves against the Klingons.

So this episode is not terrible, but it’s also not unique. There’s a plan that requires nothing to go wrong, and I don’t understand how it even works because I’m sure the coordinates would have been the same 3 days later and someone would have noticed. I am appreciative of the fact that someone thought about the future when Enterprise wouldn’t be there to protect the folks on the planet and I truly enjoyed watching T’Pol take down a Klingon or three. This is almost the same plot as A Bug’s Life in some ways, so I’m just not that impressed. 5 days of running around in the desert for Porthos.

TA Out!