(1x01 & 02) And so it begins: Broken Bow 1 & 2!

[EntAllat]

1. I noticed they make the statement that Vulcan WOMEN have the heightened sense of smell. That apparently wasn't carried through because it seems to me that all Vulcan's were given that designation as time went on.

Good point! I'd forgotten that the male Vulcans in "The Andorian Incident" have the same problem.

[Aquarius]

I sort of took it to mean that the females were comparatively more sensitive than the males...but that it didn't exclude males from not liking how we smelled.

[EntAllat]

I sort of took it to mean that the females were comparatively more sensitive than the males...but that it didn't exclude males from not liking how we smelled.

That makes sense. And after glancing at the transcript, the "Elder" seems to just indicate that he wondered how she dealt with it and not necessarily that it was bothering him.

[Glory1863]

Trip and T'Pol fighting on the bridge in front of the crew? Not good - that's why the captain has a ready room. Did you notice how uncomfortable Reed and the others were?

Hmmm... I should watch that scene again because I didn't really notice the discomfort.

As for Trip getting in T'Pol's face on the bridge, I didn't really have a problem with that. After all, the humans were set up to dislike Vulcans for their interference, cold logic and arrogance. And as far was Trip was concerned, she was not Starfleet, she was not in command (he wouldn't have given a damn what Soval had to say about that) and she was going to be gone in a few days anyway. IMO, it was consistent for the crew to resist T'Pol's leadership and to want rescue their captain.

I'm not sure that T'Pol's place in the hierarchy of command hadn't been determined. After Reed gives Archer the new phase pistol and before Archer walks out the door, he tells T'Pol, "The ship is yours." I found his willingness to do that to be stunning - like he had an on/off can't stand Vulcans switch and somebody just flipped it. That also sounds like a transfer of command to me. In any case, in the real world a question regarding chain of command would be an issue a good manager/captain would address PDQ, and particularly if said manager/captain had enough insight into his own behavior to know that he was likely to cause that unresolved issue to become a serious problem by going on away missions himself instead of delegating. I understand the need for drama, but Archer setting Trip and T'Pol straight on whose who and what's what could also have been dramatic and wouldn't have left his crew wondering whose orders they should follow when hesitation could be fatal or put them in a situation where they get the idea that it's OK to play the officers off against each other to get the "order" they want just like kids try to play mom and dad off against each other. Squabbling in front of kids instead of presenting a united front just fuels that. That's why having the argument in the ready room - if you have to have one at all - makes more sense to me. And, yeah, they could have brought the cameras in there so we could see it for the drama. This is just one of the things that Archer does (or doesn't do) that makes me side with Reed's assessment that the captain's command style is lacking in certain areas.

[EntAllat]

It's been a while since I've written any ENT fic and, now that I'm back to a few minutes each morning, I'm struggling a bit with some of the voices. It's this job I took - the writing required is decidedly uncreative. But hey, it pays the bills.

Anyway, I've decided to re-watch Enterprise once again. I've already watched all the Blu-Ray extras, so now I'm on to watching the actual episodes, twice each if I can. (The second time being with commentary turned on.) Then I remembered the re-watch thread and decided to resurrect the discussion. Reading through the previous posts has been fun and reminded me of a lot of things I'd forgotten!

Given that I've watched the pilot so many times, and have discussed it more than once, I was surprised that I noticed something new this time around. But first, some notes:

* The beam-out was fantastic, but now I wonder what it'd been like if they'd saved the transporter moment for a season finale. It would have been neat to see the development of the transporter, especially after the experience with the alien replicator.
* I liked the struggle over chain-of-command stuff. Good source of conflict and well resolved after.
* I wish we'd revisited Rigel a few more times in the series.
* I also wish we'd gotten to know Archer and Sato's pre-Enterprise history a little more throughout the series. We got a good explanation of Archer's previous history with Trip by season two, but not as much to explain the familiarity between Archer and Hoshi that's obvious in the pilot.
* On that same note, I'd like to have known more about Malcolm and Travis's pre-Enterprise friendship as the series went on. We see them as a pair again in Observer Effect, but we don't really get a history for what appears to be a friendship formed before Enterprise.
* Porthos!

And of course, decon! I never quite got why this was so controversial, since TOS had such a raging case of sexuality and skimpy barely-there costumes, etc. This moment was so very TOS, in that regard. It was, essentially, a Spock versus McCoy argument, but with a very obvious dash of UST.

Also, I kind liked how it harkened back to early space travel, I.e. decontamination procedures at the point of splashdown, quarantine and the overabundance of caution at the possibility that anything dangerous could be brought back.

In fact, something very evident in the pilot was a feel of the 1960's space era: from the nod to invading space alien fiction of the time (the farmer and the Klingon in the cornfield) to the rivets on the ship, the need for decontamination, and a Cold War by alien factions - this was all symbolically TOS's time - the TV show's time of the late 1960's. These things hint at where WE came from as much as the show was supposed to hint at where Starfleet, Kirk, Spock etc. came from. Even Travis is a hint - he's a Space "Boomer". (I.e. a nod at the Baby Boom generation.) Zephram Cochrane's speech - and the fact that TOS's famous line comes from it - is reminiscent of the effect of Kennedy's space "we shall go to the moon" speech.

I'd mentioned before that I'd never really liked the Temporal Cold War plot, but I'd also never seen it in this context.

And one last thing:

Has anyone ever noticed that the three Admirals in the Starfleet Medical observation room (just after Klaang had been captured) are named: Williams, Leonard and Forrest? And that one of the Vulcan's is named… wait for it… TOS?

[Frakme]

I
And of course, decon! I never quite got why this was so controversial, since TOS had such a raging case of sexuality and skimpy barely-there costumes, etc. This moment was so very TOS, in that regard. It was, essentially, a Spock versus McCoy argument, but with a very obvious dash of UST.

I personally found the decon scene unnecessarily gratuitous, given that the majority of Trekkies are male, it was if they were trying to establish T'Pol as ship totty. The dialogue in the scene was quite powerful but the setting was a distraction. Even if I rather like seeing CT nearly naked
The whole decon thing I found a bit bizarre, the gel I would have thought would need to go every where, but they don't seem to need it to go under their underwear? If it only needs to go on exposed skin surely they don't need to take their uniforms off... and they never seem to put it in their hair!
Probably overthinking again though!

Has anyone ever noticed that the three Admirals in the Starfleet Medical observation room (just after Klaang had been captured) are named: Williams, Leonard and Forrest? And that one of the Vulcan's is named… wait for it… TOS?

I did think it was odd that Archer was so ready to turn the ship over to T'Pol considering that Archer clearly distrusts Vulcans and she is not Starfleet. That did seem very inconsistent to me.

Yeah I read that was a deliberate testimony to The Original Series

Apart from that, I don't think that Broken Bow is as bad as some people make it out to be, it was pretty action oriented and set up quite a few interesting plot points for later in the series (Like Trip getting upset over the mother and child - Cogenitor?)

[EntAllat]

The whole decon thing I found a bit bizarre, the gel I would have thought would need to go every where, but they don't seem to need it to go under their underwear? If it only needs to go on exposed skin surely they don't need to take their uniforms off... and they never seem to put it in their hair!
Probably overthinking again though!

The "not needing it in their underwear" seemed pretty realistic to me, though I suppose it depends on how the gel was supposed to work. In real life medical instances, for example, if exposed to scabies, you would rub permethrin all over - but with care not to get it in your eyes, mouth, nose, etc. Stuff like that is generally bad for your eyes, a problem if ingested, taken internally by any means. Other kinds of drugs that require topical application don't necessarily require so much thoroughness - just a broad application. It'll get through the skin and where it needs to be to have the required effect. (Which is why most topical drugs generally don't go in the hair, since that's just dead cells anyway.) Generally those types of applications say to avoid the face and genital area completely.

I do have to agree that the setting was a distraction to the dialog. A big distraction.

[Frakme]

Very interesting that explains a lot!