Date: March 24, 2022

Season 1, Episode 26 and Season 2, Episode 1

Music Video of the Day:

Interstellar News: I sincerely apologize for my lack of writing. I’ve been caught up in life, seasonal depression, being overworked, and just general stress and anxiety. I haven’t been coping real well and I need to get back to writing because it makes me happy. I also REALLY want to get into new Trek, and this is what’s got to be finished before I get there.

On that note – I think I’m going to do some more “round up” posts and change it up starting with the rest of Season 2. I do hope you’ll enjoy it.

TL;DR: Enterprise inadvertently causes the decimation of a colony and then they find out their five-year mission has been cancelled. There’s a ton of time travel nonsense, including Archer and Daniels getting stuck in an alternate 31st century. T’Pol and the crew cause some havoc for the Suliban, Archer gets back to give a speech about a gazelle, and then the mission is reinstated and I had to sit through the stupid intro again.

Doctor’s Orders: “I understand how uncomfortable his behavior must be for you, but trust me, it would be unnatural for the Captain not to be affected by grief under these circumstances. It’s, er, human nature. He’ll be fine.”

“Anyone who tries to bad-mouth Captain Archer in front of me is going to get an earful in any language they want.”: Part 1 was quite interesting. The colony they’re going to visit is a matriarchal one and it’s probably the first episode in which anyone dies. Archer and the crew show grief and sadness and remorse – which is not usually something we get “treated” to in Trek. Then there’s the whole time travel mishegoss – which just hurts my head. I did like T’Pol, Tucker, and Archer going on their stealth mission and then it all goes awry, because it’s a nice way to get excited about Part 2 and leave people wanting more. If I wasn’t doing this watch-through, however, I’m not sure if it would be enough to have me watch past episode 1 in the next season. Also, poor Porthos was told he couldn’t have any more cheese – poor boy!

“We’re going to stumble, make mistakes, I’m sure more than a few, before we find our footing. But we’re going to learn from those mistakes. That’s what being human is all about.”: Part 2 has its moments – like the library having actual books was quite funny for me. T’Pol and Archer communicate in a very Wizard of Oz or Star Wars way, which was also entertaining. Sato shows us what early not-quite Jefferies tubes were like (or maybe why they were invented) and the rest of the crew does well in Archer’s absence. The “gazelle” speech is a little much and then all of a sudden everyone is like “okay go back on your mission” – like we all didn’t know that was happening. It was very disappointing, well except for when T’Pol dressed down her superiors. Overall, it’s 5 goldfish crackers for Porthos – because it isn’t really cheese!

TA Out!

Date: January 13, 2022

Season 1, Episodes 24 and 25

Music Video of the Day:

Interstellar News: Tonight I was on another American Sci-Fi Classics Track panel where I got to babble about The Fellowship of the Ring, since it just turned 20 in December. It’s been very busy at work as a lot of students are testing positive and we need to help them participate remotely.

TL;DR: In “Desert Crossing” they’re continuing onto Risa when they decide to answer a distress call from the man himself, Clancy Brown… I mean Zobral. After fixing his ship, he thanks Archer and Tucker by trying to enlist them in their fight against their oppressors.

In “Two Days and Two Nights” the crew FINALLY makes it to Risa! Archer and Porthos meet a woman, who turns out to by a spy. Reed and Tucker get mugged by shapeshifters. Phlox goes into hibernation only to be pulled out to care for Mayweather, who has an allergic reaction to some alien drugs. Sato has a fling with another language nerd.

Favorite Quotes:

Archer: What about the two weeks we spent in Australia? We had a great time.

Tucker: Survival training in the outback? Drinking recycled sweat and eating snake meat? That’s your idea of a great time?

Tucker has such a way with words.

“Even if I were the warrior you thought I was, that’s not why we’re out here.”: Clancy Brown is a national treasure and he really makes this episode pop. The crew keeps putting out fires, which is eventually what the Enterprise will do regularly in the future, but this one resolves heavily on Archer and Tucker and their lack of shirts. The events of “Detained” have spread through the galaxy – but this episode shows Archer has kind of learned from his past mistakes. He realizes as much as it is a cause worth fighting for, that’s not the purpose of his mission – and he really could have fucked things up for what will eventually be. T’Pol also continues to be the only adult on the crew with wisdom beyond the others. While this may be the standard “someone told us something that wasn’t true and now we’re in the thick of things” episode, you really feel for Zobral and his crew once you learn the whole story. I also really love Clancy Brown and he deserves a Porthos for every member of his crew.

“I appreciate the offer, but it would be best to keep our relationship professional.”: This episode was jam packed with all sorts of subplots. Also, the CGI was TERRIBLE.

My LEAST favorite was Archer and Porthos with the woman who turned out to want to know all about the Cabal. While it moved the macro plot along, and she had a pupper too, it was just strange and didn’t flow really well.

My next least favorite was Reed and Tucker. They were incredibly misogynistic about finding dates for the evening and they deserved everything they got. Okay – no one deserves to be mugged – but they were practically screaming that they were desperate tourists.

My second favorite subplot is Sato. I love that another being was into her because of language and it was just adorable to see them figure out how to communicate. I also enjoyed that she was so open about their relationship and wasn’t the stereotypical damsel taken advantage of.

My favorite subplot was Dr. Phlox. He doesn’t need to sleep very often but he finally feels like he’ll have a few days while the crew is on leave – and Mayweather has to screw it up. Both the physical comedy and the one liners are fantastically delivered, while T’Pol is there to be his “straight man”. If I had a whole episode of Phlox just floundering from being woken up prematurely – it would be wonderful. Instead, it’s only 4 hops to the beach for Porthos… poor boy.

TA Out!

Date: January 12, 2022

Season 1, Episodes 22 and 23

Music Video of the Day:

Interstellar News: Happy 2022! Life has been completely messy and stressful and overwhelming, but I think writing will help me have something to ground me. At least, that’s the hope! I’m teaching again this semester, so please send me all your warm and healthy thoughts. Professor Zoom turned 5 yesterday, so also send him all your birthday love.

TL;DR: In “Vox Sola” there’s a first contact with the Kreetassans, a language barrier, and an organism that is far from home. Sato and Mayweather get to save the day.

In “Fallen Hero” the crew is introduced to the idea of Risa and T’Pol gets to meet the rather odd (by Vulcan standards) Ambassador V’Lar. After much secrecy the mission is finally revealed and the Enterprise crew helps V’Lar.

Favorite Quotes:

T’Pol: On Vulcan, we mate only once every seven years.

Tucker: That’s a hell of a dry spell.

Oh, Florida Man. You never fail me with your words.

Captain’s Orders: “If you’ve learned anything about humans, you’d know we don’t always take the most logical course of action.”

“I wouldn’t want to be taking a swim if the gravity plating went offline.”: This is another episode that shows us just how little they knew at first, and how dreadfully handy the universal translator is. The Kreetassans are offended by the crew eating in public but are satisfied by an apology that Mayweather is totally happy to give. The being that takes over some of the crew makes it look like when Frodo gets wrapped up by the spider and has an interesting side effect of their minds being linked. Too bad it’s not permanent, hehe. Porthos does his best to try to tell Archer there’s something on the ship – but no one listens, poor boy. Phlox does his doctorly duty by checking if the being is sentient and Sato does her best to communicate, trying to make up for her earlier failure. Sato and T’Pol also come to a good understanding, and I’m glad they finally had this conversation. Overall, it’s 6 “good bois” for Porthos.

“Rule number one, you’ve got to be seen to get noticed. And I plan on getting noticed.”: This was actually a good and interesting bit of Vulcan intrigue. I love that T’Pol basically asks if the boys need sex, but clearly not from her, and that it’s the Vulcans that point out Risa as a place of relaxation. I really like V’Lar, as she has taken her position as an Ambassador to heart and used it to experience things she might not have otherwise. She makes attempts at humor, she tries different foods, and she makes sure her job is the top priority… always. I love that Admiral Forrest is a bit sarcastic, I really hope he doesn’t fall into the trope of admirals who are assholes. I also genuinely enjoyed how the ship was on the struggle bus when it tried to go to warp 5. It reminded me of the sub on Down Periscope when it almost burst. I’m also curious if the rest of the crew knows what the hell is going on, as there doesn’t seem to be a ship-wide comm system yet. This episode gets 7 stuffies for Porthos to destroy (it’s Professor Zoom’s favorite pastime, when he’s not chewing on his emotional support bone that is).

TA Out!