He Springs Like a Panther! - the A4T Anomaly Review

 

Gripes aside first, as always:

1. The anomalies are silly, really - floating coffee especially. But, if "the laws of physics don't apply" (CJ hates that line), then the writers have license to do anything. Just don't think to deeply about why one book falls or why the coffee hangs there, moving along with the ship, but the cup.. well, don't think about it.

2. AAAAGGHH! It's a computer screen, not a slide projector!!! Cool-looking or not, NO computer does that! If they did, they'd look like a very bright lens. But I guess Bakula with a suffused glow isn't so dramatic.

 

ONWARD

EXCELLENT TEASER!! Can they keep this up? Porthos is *wonderful*. Their very own canary in a coal mine. Moving books, food that fights all by itself, Phlox's moving bushes, and WHAM! Plasma relay overload with MAJOR sparking. Nice effects. Trademark "reversed polarity", the engineer's mantra.

 

Part One

 

Archer asks: Trip, what's your status? Aww.

Trip: I've got a hell of a mess! YEA The blue streak continues (Hell #2 of Season 3, for those keeping count).

 

NEKKID BAKULA CHEST Wow, I'll have to send a separate thank-you letter to the writers for that one. And he's the very last to get dressed too!

 

Trip!Concern #1: How will Trip get any more away missions with all these MACOS going out first on everything??

 

MUSIC: good, especially on the alien vessel they are searching.

 

I just l o v e the way Trip says "intermix ratio". I could listen to that for hours.

 

Long scene of Trip follows, in which he explains why the warp field won't work, how the physical laws of the Expanse seem to be all wrong, and how he'll have to rewrite Zephram Cochrane's theories. Lots and lots of Technobabble which Mr. Trinneer pulls off without a hitch.

 

Checklist of SCENES WE ASKED TO SEE:

1. A smarter, engineering-oriented Trip who can really show his brilliance and understanding of warp engines -- CHECK!

2. Trip working with his folks as the head of his section -- CHECK!

 

It really REALLY pays to post our wishes on major boards like TrekBBS. Someone IS watching.

 

Nice A/T touch: Archer wants weapons, shields, starts to storm off.

Trip: You worried about somethin'?

 

Alien boarding party attacks, zaps a few crewmen, transports away with half of everything, Reed and Archer join MACOs to battle them. Archer tells Reed:
"GET DOWN THERE AND HELP TRIP!" Aww!

 

Trip hides atop his warp engine with a large metal bar. He bides his time, watching the alien draw closer, and then...

 

he...

 

SPRINGS LIKE A PANTHER!!! (Oh, it was all too much. It brought back his tree jump from Precious Cargo) What a way to attack. And then he started swinging... :swoon:

DAMN he's good with a weapon. It's like second nature to him. Oh, and did I mention, very HOT? Beyond belief hot. (It brings back Acquisition, and Dawn, and Canamar....)

 

Part Two

 

*Historic Moment: Someone (faceless) dies. That's about as much as they covered it on the show. No red shirt in sight.

 

Trip comes to see Archer, distraught. The aliens have taken huge numbers of weapons, half the food, all of the cargo bay stuff, three photonic torpedoes, and

Trip: That's not the worst of it. They took every one of our antimatter storage pods. We've only got what's in the engine.

Archer: How long, a month?

Trip: Tops. After that, we're out of gas.

 

Captured Alien taunts Archer (this got a bit obvious, after a while. he practically pushed himself into the airlock. Still, Archer got some of his best scenes in this ep. I don't find him too dark (see below); in fact it's better this than wimpy.

Alien: You and your crewmates are far too civilized...too moral.

Archer: There's too much at stake... to let my morality get in the way.

 

Archer: I'm prepared to do whatever it takes to find your ship. And if that causes me remorse, ... it's something I'm willing to live with.

And it wasn't just great writing - Bakula seemed to find something else to latch onto instead of cramping his body or dressing down his crew. He really got some depth tonight. Pray it holds.

 

Trip/Malcolm scene in the Mess Hall:

Trip stares at four PADD's of physics data. Morosely.

Reed asks if he's still not sleeping.

Trip: T'Pol's been trying to help. She's showing me Vulcan neuropressure.

Reed: (eyes narrow. mouth tightens. neither amused nor upset, really)

Trip: It's not what you think.

Reed: I wasn't thinking anything!

 

*In fact, we DO know what Malcolm was thinking: "HANDS OFF, COMMANDAH TUCKAH! THAT IS *STINKY'S* BUM!!"

 

They then lament the death of Crewman Fuller.

Trip: I doubt he'll be the last. ... We might as well paint a giant bullseye on the hull." :-D
Then, of all people, Malcolm tells TRIP not to be so cynical!! SP1 reversed.

Depressed!Trip, Cynical!Trip make an appearance.
Trip: All I'm sayin' is that this mission, whether it succeeds or not, is lookin' like a one-way ticket all the time. (odd line - "more and more all the time"?)

 

Enterprise enters some sort of rift and vanishes, as it pursues the pirate vessel.

 

On the other side, they face a giant sphere - very cool.

 

Archer really isn't into caution anymore.

 

Part Three

 

*Is it just me or does Mayweather seem a bit older, more confident, more "there"?? In this and the next part he really has PRESENCE. He's serious, tough, talented, unafraid. Let me be the first to welcome him back. If they can keep him (if A.M. can keep him ) this alive, he'll take a real role on the ship.

 

Archer (collar open, the new look which I approve of heartily)/Reed/Mayweather/MACOs head inside the sphere and discover many stolen goods, recover their own. They kick the door down to get in. Nice (sarcastic nice, Li). This *is* a man on a mission.

 

Travis finds something useful and important (echoes of The Seventh, his last big find).

 

INJURED!Trip IN PAIN!TRIP :-O Second degree (blistering) electricity burns all over his hand andwrist. This leads to a great scene with Phlox --

 

Phlox: When's the last time you slept?

Trip: I got a whole hour last night.

Phlox: I thought T'Pol was using her neuropressure techniques on you.

Trip: We only had the one session.
PIMP-Phlox: Are you uncomfortable? I can see why it would be ...intimate.

Trip: It doesn't make me uncomfortable. I just don't have an hour every day to spend in T'Pol's quarters. (( I like theway he delivered this line in a mature, serious way! ))

 

By the way, if you haven't been to the TrekBBS recently, go see the thread called "Should Phlox buy a big pimp hat?" - and the amazing photomanip of Exactly That. It's too funny.

 

Phlox has a suggestion: MUDLEECHES! He barely has them up to Trip's face when

Trip says: WHAT am I supposed to do with them? :-D Excellent Trip face #1

Phlox: Put one on your chest and one on your abdomen (Damn lucky leeches!) before going to bed. But don't roll over or *you'll anger them*. :-D Excellent Trip face #2

Trip: Maybe an hour a night with T'Pol isn't so bad.

 

Captured Alien again gets Archer's attention - his ship has Xindi database info. His constant goading of Archer, aside from telegraphing the plot, makes him seem a bit stupid. By this point, Archer has had enough and tosses him in the airlock, decompressing him to make his point. Reed gets to be the voice of reason, but Archer's not listening. He lets the air go to zero before opening the hatch again.

 

Archer, of course, runs the risk of becoming hyperreactive every time someone mentions the Xindi - it's an old joke: THE XINDI! Sl o o o o owly I turned, step by step, inch by inch. ... :-D

 

Travis IS better. Archer hovers over him as he gets within 1 kilometer (nice WIFI) of the alien pirates' ship hack their computer and get the Xindi database. Hoshi shines!! Travis ROCKS!!

 

Final Thoughts: A perfect ensemble ep, with all seven cast members, and even Macos and SEVERAL crewmen. Very very well done.

 

TRIP THOUGHTS: He's tired. He's depressed at the lack of joy in their mission. Everyone they meet is gunning for them. For Reed, that's a given, so it isn't a let down. For an optimist, and a hopeful optimist at that, it's crushing. Archer, who is in space for much the same reasons as Trip (hence their bond) is on a similar path. I don't think they'll be able to "pull each other back" - but Trip has Malcolm. Who can Archer turn to? If Trip can recover first, he can help Archer (or vice versa) but right now, they're on parallel downward tracks.

 

ARCHER THOUGHTS: I think Archer isn't yet DARK EVIL Archer. He's just tougher. He always had that in him (the brooding & the bar fight in First Flight). At the end of this ep he was able to stop for a second and look at himself, especially because of the alien who wouldn't shut up about his morality.