So? What'd ya think of the latest incarnation of Star Trek which premiered Wednesday evening? Did they make Gene Roddenberry proud?

-- Rich (living_in_interesting_times@hotmail.com), September 27, 2001

Answers

I was sweatin' for a bit. See, I don't have tv and my brother had been invited to a friend's house to watch the pilot. And TAPE it! Yes! Then he gets a call around 6:30pm last night. Uninvited. Seems bro cleaned this friend out of chocolate covered cashews last time he was over there. I suspect this was the underlying reason for the uninvitation. But I digress...

-- Rich (living_in_interesting_times@hotmail.com), September 27, 2001.

So bro and his partner make some calls. At 6:50pm bro invites us over to a friend's house and the friend not only doesn't slam the phone down, he says "come on over". Oh baby, baby, baby!

The friend is an artist, and he and his partner had purchased this house about a year ago and had spent a lot of time fixing it up. Artwork everywhere. Very talented dude. They did a beautiful job with the house, BTW. Problem was, they had to take me (who'd never been there before) on the grand tour, and Enterprise was to start any minute!

-- Rich (living_in_interesting_times@hotmail.com), September 27, 2001.

Fortunately they were stoned AND I realized this. So, knowing how easy it is to forget (when stoned) what the hell you were going to do thirty seconds ago if even slightly distracted, I mooned the lot of them. This is a slightly risky venture when the 'moonees' are gay men and your not but I HAD to see every second of Enterprise. We're talking heavy duty Star Trek jones here.

As soon as they ceased laughing (my ass is not that funny looking I kept telling myself) I inquired as to in which room we would be viewing the program (old house, many rooms) and took off at the first hint of the location.

-- Rich (living_in_interesting_times@hotmail.com), September 27, 2001.

ROFLMAO! (no pun intended). So much for the pre-show activities! Tell us about the ENTERPRISE! If you would, please. I turned off the TV and never look at the TV schedule last night, not that I ever do! DID they make Gene Roddenberry proud?

-- Aunt Bee (Aunt__Bee@hotmail.com), September 27, 2001.

We can't get that station here. Please post every word of the dialogue, complete with descriptions of what they look like, etc.

-- helen (i@grok.spock), September 27, 2001.

Ok, I've never actually mooned anyone. But most of the rest of the above is true.

As far as the Enterprise pilot is concerned, I enjoyed it a great deal. The negatives: I didn't need to see Archer in his underwear. But there was one interesting outgrowth (no pun intended) from that scene. I learned the word 'basket', a comment made in reference to Archer's 'package'. Never heard that one before, but the guys I was with all knew it and hooted about his fine basket. Ok then...

I thought the chemistry between the new crew was quite good. This is something I didn't sense with the Voyager crew until a good ways into that series. A good sign.

The biggest shocker in my mind - other than that steamy (in the absence of water no less) shower scene - was the introduction of a temporal cold war story line which obviously will hang around for the foreseeable future. Heavy stuff for a first episode.

I like that Archer has a dog onboard, though I'm not a beagle aficionado. They're too prone to howling. Not a good brand of dog for close knit quarters. But he IS the Captain.

-- Rich (living_in_interesting_times@hotmail.com), September 27, 2001.

Damn. That's another one I forgot to watch. I remember last week seeing ads for new shows to start this week. It seemed like they were scheduled for Tuesday. I turned on the box on Tuesday night, looked at the preview channel, wondered where all the new shows were, and shut it off. Last night, I didn't even bother. I threw in a video.

-- Anita (Anita_S3@hotmail.com), September 27, 2001.

Tell us a little more about the temporal cold war story line, if you would be so kind.

-- Aunt Bee (Aunt__Bee@hotmail.com), September 27, 2001.

Can we have some popcorn too?

-- helen (settles@in.for.a.story), September 27, 2001.

Introduced is a new species, the Siluban. Really cool species! They were at a similar evolutionary stage as humans. Or so the Vulcans thought. But it turned out some Siluban had chosen to be re- engineered after having been contacted by humanoids from the distant future. One of these humanoids is shown, hidden in shadow (and oddly familiar I might add). It is he who mentions the temporal cold war which they, through using the Siluban in this time period, are engaged in. There's precious little information given us in the first episode as to the details of this cold war.

Boy I love time travel themes!

The first episode introduces the Klingon race to humans. This is the 22nd Century remember. Think back to the movie First Contact. World War III runs roughly until 2050. About ten years later Ephram Cochrane invents the warp drive. That's when the Vulcans make first contact. About one century later the Enterprise is launched after the Vulcans have slowly fed us information necessary to build a starship.

It is the Klingons who are the focus (in this episode) of the cold war, as there is an attempt made to trigger a Klingon civil war. Why is anybody's guess.

-- Rich (living_in_interesting_times@hotmail.com), September 27, 2001.

Once upon a time I promised to buy you ice cream, helen. Forget why. We ate triple caramel crunch last night while immersed in Star Trek heaven. Popcorn too. Though I didn't have any popcorn. I have this thing about sharing a single bowl with other people.

-- Rich (living_in_interesting_times@hotmail.com), September 27, 2001.

The lone Vulcan crew member is Science Officer T'Pol. She follows in the footsteps of Jeri Ryan's 7 of 9. Massive, fake space boobs. Her luscious lips kinda grew on me, though.

Captain Jonathan Archer is quite Kirk-like. He's already been kissed by an alien, got shot, & had a knock down drag out fist fight.

Enterprise is the wild wild west in space. Twice pilots goofed and bumped the shuttles they piloted. These folks are just getting their feet wet in space. No polish, bare bones technology. Hell, for some reason Archer didn't understand the concept of a temporal cold war. Needed to have it explained to him. Wonder if he could use a dog sitter for when he's on away missions? I could learn to like beagles as long as I get a uniform and an alien babe now and again.

-- Rich (living_in_interesting_times@hotmail.com), September 27, 2001.

Rich, if the only way I'm gonna get that icecream is to host the next gathering, then I'll start working on my beloved to let me...

-- helen (welcome@camp.mulekisser), September 27, 2001.

And amazingly enough the aliens weren't all humanoids speaking english!

-- The Toner (the.toner@home.com), September 28, 2001.

"Get a life, you people"

-- (Captain Kirk @ Trekkie.Convention), September 28, 2001.

Rich, learning to like beagles should be easy for ya! They are soft furry, solid guys, with an ear to the ground! They probably don't whine as much in space as on the ground, and I'm sure the writers could arrange for a lil space babe time in yer neck of the woods. The unie part is the least difficult, if yer into that! I'll channel Gene for ya....

-- Aunt Bee (Aunt__Bee@hotmail.com), September 28, 2001.

I had taped and watched it last night after ball practice. Thought it was pretty good. The Vulcan lady is definitely tough, but I still like 7of9 (musta been all that jewelry on her face?).

The Siliban (sp?) are a trip! When the dude flattened out like a damned roach and slid UNDER the door I about flipped.

I liked the way it followed the movie 'First Contact'.

It was better than I thought it would be and I'll be tuning in when possible.

Deano

-- Deano (deano@luvthebeach.com), September 28, 2001.

And amazingly enough the aliens weren't all humanoids speaking english!

This was presented that way because (I think) the universal translator hasn't really been invented yet. I like the communications officer idea (in the grand tradition of O'hura from the original series.) They supposedly picked her for the crew because she's a linguistical genius/savant, and can comprehend alien language structures quickly. Looked like she was working on programming a translator from what she was learning, also. She seems a bit whiney and scared of technology, though.

The Vulcan science officer is quite fetching in an Angela Jolie kinda way, but she seemed a little too human in some ways. She started right out by having a minor catfight with the comm officer.

I also like how everything isn't running perfectly, how they're still scared of the transporter, the Kirk-ness of the captain, etc. I think most of the rest of the cast is sort of generic, though. They don't have a character as interesting and original as data. The doctor reminds me of a combination of Neelix and the computer- generated doctor from Voyager (his name escapes me.)

Overall I thought it was pretty good. They can do a lot with this premis. There is more of a discernable link to our own time in this show, which is weird but interesting for a Star Trek series. And you know the mysterious figure pulling the strings in the Temporal Cold War is going to be someone we know and love from one of the other series.

-- Bemused (and_amazed@you.people), September 28, 2001.