I actually took notes while I was watching, since I'm looking at each episode for tidbits that I've forgotten that could be used in a fic later to round out the character's backgrounds. I found several. For example, Jon-as-a-boy mentions a kid in class named "Billy Cook" who's opinion he seems to regard as valid until Archer Sr. counters that. Another was when Trip stated that he'd "only been to one inhabited planet besides Earth. Nothing there but dust-dwelling ticks." I'd remembered that Travis had been to Trillus Prime, but not that bit about Trip. I also didn't realize that we saw Trip's intense reaction to insects this early on. I found a few other bits worth exploring in detail in fic, but I mention that near the end of this post. And while it wasn't something I'd forgotten, it was nice to watch Malcolm and Travis's friendship here a little more closely.
Am I the only person who constantly saw the blooper reels every time one of the related scenes came up? As soon as Archer started for the breadsticks to munch I was cracking up, because all I could see was the blooper reel and how much trouble Bakula had with those darn things. That and the the scene where Trip and T'Pol walk into sickbay to give Archer an update. Blalock had such trouble with the word 'incapacitated' though she stayed in character and Trinneer just turned around and cracked up.
Also ... Porthos! I swear, that pooch was half the reason why I loved the show at first sight. Loved, loved, loved Porthos pacing along with Archer in that one scene and how Archer kept stopping the recording to talk to the dog as if Porthos could answer the question in another scene.
Other small things:
- I recognize her now, but didn't when I first saw the show - it's Lady Heather as Sarin!
- I'm disappointed that we never see Klaang again.
- One word: Decon!
- Jeepers. "Pon for miraan" and near catfight between Hoshi and T'Pol. That made a later scene when T'Pol said "Shaya tonat" to Hoshi with a gentle expression all that much nicer.
- I was extremely pleased to see the tiny inspection vehicle, since they're about to be featured in one of the Twitter group's upcoming stories.
I was checking it out with that in mind. - Loved Archer's two-fisted shooting and the moment when Trip and Malcolm rescue him after he's been shot and pull him into the shuttle!
- Reed and anything related to weapons and explosives. 'Nuff said.
- Nice shooting with the grappler hooks, Malcolm!
LOL moments:
- "Shut up!!"
- Ominous music for a closing shot on T'Pol!?! Seriously, did anyone see that?
- "You tell 'em big guy."
- Archer's look and patting himself after being transported for the first time. PRICELESS.
- Why do the younger Klingons always remind me of a Harley Davidson biker gang?
- "Grandma taught me never to judge a species by their eating habits." Tell that to the Kreetassans in Vox Sola.
With my TnT lenses on:
There's great fodder here for all preferred 'ships, particularly A/R, A/S and A/T. (Hm. There's a theme there.) I looked for TnT moments besides the decon scene. My favorite is on Rigel, when Trip's encountering strange behavior from aliens. At first he's concerned with the sounds of what might be a damsel-in-distress behind closed doors, and then later about the mother and child. T'Pol doesn't get as terse and argumentative with him as she's been up until this point, and instead just firmly steers him away from the first and then more gently turns the second into a "teaching moment". She even has a more gentle expression when she's reminding him about preconceptions. Since T'Pol is the odd-woman-out who has to fit with the rest of the crew by the end of the pilot, there are turning point moment when T'Pol begins to like/respect the various Human crewmembers: first Malcolm, then Travis, then Hoshi and finally Archer. I think this moment was when she connected with Trip.
Which reminds me, I always thought that Trip saw the biggest growth and change in character throughout the series, but I take that back now. T'Pol, of course, grows and changes a lot too, but the pilot makes it even more obvious how much the rest change too. Phlox becomes more serious, Archer seems to become far more confident in his own leadership role, Hoshi certainly becomes more brave under pressure and Malcolm gets a bit darker. To me, only Travis seems to retain essentially the same personality he showed here.
The downsides:
- I never really loved the Temporal Cold War plot. The Suliban were cool and I loved the idea that they'd been genetically altered but ordinarily were no more advanced than Humans. But the rest of the temporal stuff just loses me every time and I'm not sure why. It's a cool idea, someone from the future is trying to alter the past, and a decent mechanism by which to explain any inconsistencies between this show and TOS, TNG, etc. (I.e. even if Bad Guy was defeated, he had some effect and that explains the discrepancies.) But even now, after having watched the episode four times I couldn't repeat back to you that part of the plot like I can other episodes. It just doesn't stay with me.
- A bit of technobabble: JB did well with it, methinks. Still, I'm glad Enterprise didn't suffer from as much obvious technobabble as other did. It feels more like TOS, where that sort of stuff was kept to a minimum (compared to say, TNG.)
- I think I mentioned in the chat that the first time I heard that theme song I was shocked beyond all belief; I thought it was all kinds of wrong for a Trek show. It took me a while to get used to it, and now I love it. I thought it was especially funny that someone (I don't remember who) mentioned right after me in the chat that they had the opposite reaction!
And finally:
I know Enterprise didn't get the reception I think it deserved from Trek fans when it first came out. I can see now why some people who were fond of the Tuvok and TNG-style of 23rd century Vulcan would have been immediately turned off by the show, given the characterizations present here. Only the background extra Vulcans were that blank; Soval, T'Pol and Tos were considerably more animated than that. And I can understand the initial arguement that, since we hadn't seen the cultural changes on Vulcan in the fourth season yet, it was just too out of character for them. But watching this episode again, while I might understand it - I just don't agree with that assessment. I'm an anthropologist by training, and I resist the idea that you can define an entire culture by singular individuals and their personalities, flaws or virtues. I thought the variety of Vulcan personalities here represented IDIC and a depth and breadth to Vulcan culture beautifully. We know that Spock strove hard to meet a nearly impossible ideal in his father's culture because, being a half-and-half, he was constantly judged poorly by many from that culture. From the movies we also already knew there were supposed to be Vulcans that didn't follow the ways of Surak and that Vulcans actually have emotions, they just repress them in favor of logic. Surely there would be those that tried to live up to that and failed to varying degrees and there would be those that gave lip service to it all. It happens in any culture.
Since I was looking for stuff to explore in fic, this was the biggie: the characterizations of the Vulcans and T'Pol in particular made me wonder why T'Pol appeared to have a chip on her shoulder with the Humans, rather than with her Vulcan colleagues. Given what we know now that T'Pol was not the best at keeping her emotions concealed (or so she was judged by other Vulcans) even before her encounter with Trellium etc. and that her relationship with her Mother had it's complications, etc. T'Pol seems to try so hard to try to be distant, disproving and contemptuous here but it falls apart rather quickly. We quickly see flickers of respect, gratitude and gentleness. Later we learn that T'Pol was, in fact, very fascinated with alien cultures and particularly drawn to some things Human (like the jazz club). So what might she be thinking when she's given this assignment? Why did she have this initial interaction with the Human crew? Was this assignment a punishment or humiliation of some sort via someone she worked with in the Ministry? Was she seeing herself reflected in the Humans and trying hard to be a proper Vulcan? Great fic fodder!
Last but not least, I loved all the smiles around the Bridge when they got their orders to carry on. Great way to start out.
