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

[mareel]

I made a few notes as I was watching. This isn't anything deep, but just some things I think are worth celebrating.

Things I loved –
Jon and Forrest standing up to the Vulcans. I thought it was interesting that pretty much the whole room full of admirals deferred to their recommendation/insistance on going ahead despite the Vulcan objections.

Zephram Cochrane's speech and the launch of Enterprise. I don't know if I'm the only one to get misty-eyed at this, but the speech, the music, and the crew boarding the bridge did it for me.

I really enjoyed Phlox – the enthusiasm, the grin, his fondness for eggdrop soup as one of Earth's great contributions to intergalactic cultural exchange.

Hoshi’s fascination with the Klingon language, how a few phrases of it got her hooked. I also enjoyed the byplay with T'Pol with the Vulcan language bits.

Malcolm was wonderful, with his phase pistols and their two settings. For some reason I had remembered that line as coming a few episodes later. Such a classic Malcolm understatement.

And Jonathan – I loved young Jon with Henry Archer, and agree with Entkayjay that it would have been great to have seen more of Henry Archer elsewhere in the series. He was clearly a very strong influence on the man Jonathan grew up to become. "You can't be afraid of the wind."

Great scene with injured Jon pacing his cabin in his blues, talking to Porthos – always a good listener. Getting our first glimpse into Jon's quarters was fun too, seeing what kinds of things he chose to bring with him, from his Zephram Cochrane statue to his water polo ball.

The scene with T'Pol where he acknowledges his own need and willingness to change and grow and leave some things behind. As important an influence as his father had been, he is already realizing that perhaps it's time to look beyond the ideas and beliefs he grew up with.

And, A/R person that I am, I didn't miss the first instances of Jon looking to Malcolm on the bridge, just the quiet start of what became second nature with him.

[Kathy Rose]

Second try at this... our power went out again, but only for a few moments, and I lost my comments. I watched BB yesterday afternoon, in case I couldn't during the party, and had a few observations. I'll try to not repeat what's already been noted by other posters.

I like BB much more than I did when I originally saw it.

Starfleet is modeled somewhat on military lines, but to me there was an unmilitary familiarity between Jon and Hoshi. The scene in Brazil is a special case, I would expect, since she's on leave to teach. But she rarely uses "sir" when talking to him, and in the engineering scene, she rather rudely butts into the others' conversation to wonder about the safety of standing so close to the warp engine. Maybe it's just because there have been some comments lately about a Jon/Hoshi relationship that I paid more attention and wonder if they had a much closer relationship before Enterprise was launched. Jon doesn't seem to be bothered by a lack of military protocol so much with her, although he's kind of like that with the rest of the crew, or maybe it's because he's cutting her some slack because he needs her linguistic expertise.

I really liked T'Pol's Vulcanness in this. After having seen the entire series, we know she had trouble controlling her emotions (according to her mother), and perhaps the stress of the situation caused her to clamp down on her emotions even more than usual. I was very impressed with JB's ability to express so much with minute facial expression changes.

Now, after having seen the whole series, I think Malcolm's behavior on the Rigel station is wildly out of character, wanting to watch the pretty dancing girls and their butterflies instead of being a security officer. I'm hoping that was just an aberration until his characterization got sorted out, although I wondered if he was used as a foil to spotlight Travis' greater experience as a Boomer in interacting with aliens. That makes more sense if you got to see a deleted scene, where Travis berates the alien "pimp" for leading them on and not knowing where Klaang was.

Was that like the most lines Travis ever had in an episode?

I always got the impression that Forrest called Jon to Starfleet Medical just to provide a strong voice against the Vulcans. Sort of like Forrest was playing Jon off against Soval, because being the liaison or whatever, Forrest didn't feel comfortable challenging Soval himself on the issue. Or maybe he wanted to show Soval how determined Starfleet, represented by Jon, was about going on the mission.

My son actually caught this, which made me giggle: When Jon and Trip rescue Klaang, they're going through the corridors of the Suliban helix and Klaang shouts something in his language. It almost sounded like he said what "WTF" stands for!

Seat belts? LOL!

Travis's "I found her comment". *giggle*

I love the look on Jon's face after he fires the phase pistol for the first time.

[Honeybee]

I definitely think the non military attitude that Hoshi has is deliberate. She's not in Starfleet because she wanted to be in Starfleet, she's there because they wanted her there. That's, in fact, something they could have played with more with her character. Also, Jon and Hoshi do seem to know each other pretty well in that scene, and I know that a few fics have explored that in various ways.

[entkayjay]

I know characters can change over the course of a series, but compare Hoshi's background from S4's "Observer Effect" -- martial arts, running a floating poker game, broke a superior's arm -- to the Hoshi we see in Broken Bow. I suppose there could be explanations, and I'm sure fanon has tackled it before. Continuity is one of the things I wish had been addressed with the overall writing of the series. But... it's Trek, and that's why we love it!

[Kathy Rose]

Yeah, I remember thinking as I watched it yesterday that, according to what we learned in Observer Effect, Hoshi was supposed to be a black belt, and that she probably should have been able to easily break that hold around her neck. But that's hindsight, since we didn't know at the time that she could do that.

[Honeybee]

I really enjoyed the 4th Season for the most part, but the re-jiggering of Hoshi's backstory was not my favorite. She's certainly not a doormat in BB. She sticks up for herself with T'Pol. She does her job. She's just not supposed to be tough, which is something I really liked. There's a certain mischief in the character from early on, but it's not the kick-your-butt, running poker games kind. But as you say, it's Trek!

I also agree that Malcolm's fascination with the strippers is, in hindsight, a little OC. He'd be focused on his job, I think. I feel the same way about 2D2N, although there's some fun interaction between Malcolm and Trip.

I really do think Malcolm's character was nailed down in Shuttlepod One, so in these first few episodes, he's a work in progress.

In hindsight, Phlox just seems kind of friendly and enthusiastic in BB. They do add layers to him later on with his family and his medical ethics, but in BB, Phlox is exactly what the first impression of the character would be.

[mareel]

I agree that the Malcolm we see in the butterfly bar (and in the bar in 2D2N) is pretty ooc. I seem to recall Dominic Keating saying something once to the effect of 'that was probably a little more DK than Malcolm Reed' with reference to 2D2N, I think.

[Kathy Rose]

In hindsight, Phlox just seems kind of friendly and enthusiastic in BB. They do add layers to him later on with his family and his medical ethics, but in BB, Phlox is exactly what the first impression of the character would be.

I remember thinking when BB first aired that, if I was on a ship with Phlox, I don't know if I could stand that much optimism all the time! I found him a little creepy at first, but he grew on me. I agree that his enthusiasm and friendliness was exactly what our first impression of him should have been.

[Honeybee]

And then, what I loved about MU Phlox was he was just that friendly and enthusiastic, unless you had the bad luck of being on his table. Then, he'd have no problem torturing you and be very enthusiastic about it. It totally played with the creepy.

[Trip-ZG]

I like BB much more than I did when I originally saw it.

I really liked T'Pol's Vulcanness in this. After having seen the entire series, we know she had trouble controlling her emotions (according to her mother), and perhaps the stress of the situation caused her to clamp down on her emotions even more than usual. I was very impressed with JB's ability to express so much with minute facial expression changes.

I love the look on Jon's face after he fires the phase pistol for the first time.

Same here.