Matt and Sean talk about what happens when the show decides that interesting things aren’t needed for EVERY episode.
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Hey, everybody welcome to trek in time if you’re listening to us, you probably know by now that this is the podcast that takes a look at star trek in order and in History. What I mean by that is we’re taking a look at each episode of star trek in chronological order. So. We’re still very early days. We are at the doorstep of the end of season 1 of enterprise so chronologically we’re about to take a big leap forward into year 2 also going to take a look at how things were in the world at the time of the original broadcast and then we’ll take a deeper look at to either something in the episode or something about the era whatever catches our eye and as usual I’m joined here by my brother matthew.
Hello.
Matt say hi Matt is the tech guru and inquisitor behind the Youtube channel undecided with Matt ferrell and I’m sean ferrell I’m his brother and I’m a writer I write some sci-fi I write picture books I write books for younger readers. So between the writing and the teching we’ve got star trekking. Don’t forget, there are ways you can directly support the podcast you can visit trek and time dot show and there’s an opportunity there for you to throw some coins at us. They heard a little bit but we appreciate it and of course you can just listen. And subscribe you can watch us on youtube before we get into this newest episode Matt I understand you have some listener comments that you want to share.
Yeah, there’s a couple 1 from robotrav um always leaves a comment on every single video. Thank you so much robotrav. Yeah yes, this was a this was a reference to the last episode that we talked about where trip and the captain were going across the desert. Um.
Yes.
Yes, this was a good old fashioned trek right? down to the lack lack of dayssical alien costumes who doesn’t love a nice desert crossing I still think picard and wesley did it better though with that drunk shuttle captain anyway, another great show guys looking forward to the next 1 I thought that was a. Ah, apt comic I completely hadn’t been thinking of you know Wesley and the captain being stranded on the desert planet when I was watching that episode but that is true that I think is a far better episode than this 1 um, the other comment was pale goes 69 the main thing I have to say about this episode was the whole foreshadowing about the survival trending. Since the beginning which apparently didn’t contain any actual survival tactics you brought that up when we were talking which was they taught they made a huge point about that survival training and then the episode they did none of it like there was there was nothing about survival tactics.
Yes, yeah. Yeah, it’s like go come on. Do you remember that survival training and here’s your thimble of water now let’s walk across the desert at noon. Yeah frustrating episode. So today.
Yeah.
Speaking of frustrating episodes. We’re gonna be talking about 2 days and 2 nights Matt do you want to give us a synopsis of this groundbreaking episode. Yeah I think I’m maybe showing my cards a little too soon. But let’s get into it. Yeah.
Yeah, now right? captain archer and the crew of the enterprise take sure leave on Risea it’s about time they’ve been teasing rier for 2 episodes now back on their yeah back on the Spacecraft enterprise flox enters hibernation while to paul keeps an eye on the starship.
Yes, yeah, more than that.
To give you a yes to give you a brief window into the magic that is this podcast that is a slightly revised version of the synopsis that is available on Wikipedia The part that I removed from it was the additional sentence which said.
Hi Jinks ensue.
Guest stars appear in this episode portraying the aliens that the crew meets I’m not sure why that would need to be said, but there you have it. It actually made me wonder are some of these guest stars like like really remarkable. Names that I should look up and see who they are now now somebody just thought it was important to point out that if you’re watching this show. There are people appearing on the Tv who are not regulars so take that for what it’s worth.
Um, thanks for clearing that up.
So this story was originally by rick berman and Brandon braggga as usual this season most if not all of them have been crafted with their involvement. The teleplay was by chris black. And this episode is directed by Michael dorn and of course we all know Michael dorn from chips. Yes I Jokingly referred to chips instead of Mr. Wharf. This was his first time helming.
Um, Mr. Woof.
Enterprise but it’s not his first time helming an episode of star trek prior to this. He had directed several episodes of deep space nine. So that’s something for us to look forward to in approximately ten years when we get to the next generation and deep space nine episodes. This episode aired on may fifteenth 2002 it got a modest five point 6 million viewers as far as other things going on in the world when this episode aired well Matt you were still dancing your little heart out to don’t let me get me by pink. And the number 1 movie. It was still Spiderman by sam ramy with toby mcguire it was pulling in an additional seventy 1 million dollars on tv people were tuning into friends. How many people were tuning into friends 34 point nine million. Which made me think what could this have been and my speculation without doing too much research is that it was a season finale as opposed to um for a moment I thought perhaps the show was ending. Perhaps this was the series finale friends I say that Because. Did not watch friends. But upon some research it looks like they would go on for 2 more years. So my expectation is a mid-may episode. This is probably a season finale which pulled in roughly 7 times as many viewers as enterprise. So. Trying to be the little engine that could but sometimes it can’t in the news the day this episode aired in the new york times the un broadens the list of products that a rock can import air testing after september eleventh attack. Both perplexing and reassuring that’s a headline that would not age well in New York city as we moved forward. It was discovered that air quality was much poorer early on than was originally reported and illness became an ongoing concern. Not just for the first responders. But. For people who had returned to live and work in those areas before it was truly safe and there was also this headline the pre-attack memo cited bin laden the classified memorandum written by an fbi agent in Phoenix last summer urging bureau headquarters to investigate middle eastern men. Enrolled in american flight schools also cited osama bin laden by name and suggested that his followers could use the schools to train for terror operations government officials said for the first time today. The memorandum said terrorist groups like Mr. Bin laden’s might be sending students to the schools as the first step.
What could be a concerted effort to place islamic militants in the civil aviation industry around the world as pilots security guards or aircraft maintenance workers. This memo would eventually become 1 of the main bits of ammunition aimed. At the Bush administration and a claim against their ability to correctly interpret the information that was already on hand warning about the september eleventh attacks and of course the Bush administration would use this kind of memo as evidence to say not exactly the opposite but to say well. Information like that isn’t going through channels properly so we need a department of homeland security which will unify all of these different threads of information bring them under 1 review and be able to create a fuller picture. So this episode. Real quick Matt before we get into particulars. Do you have any big thoughts that you’d like to share yes this this I up to this point I don’t I don’t recall if I’ve actually said the name of the episodes. It’s 2 days and 2 nights and as.
My big thoughts was I hated this episode.
Those of you checking out this episode will already know my suggested title for this episode is 2 plots too many it is this is four plotlines and Matt in the past 3 weeks I Believe it’s been.
Yes, oh yeah.
1 of the themes I have been repeating and for 3 weeks is Wow This episode is written in a way where the a plot and the B plot are so tightly intertwined that even though you do have 2 distinct Storylines They don’t feel different from 1 another they feel like they’re part of 1 great current and that is what captures you as a viewer. And lets you really invest in the storyline. This episode is a perfect example of how to fracture your audience’s attention to the point where you don’t care about any of the storylines. This is four separate Storylines none of which.
Exactly.
Is truly worth our attention except for hints of nefarious activities regarding the investigations of the sulaban and the potential an agent who may potentially be from the planet that had held archer. In a previous episode when he helps the Sulaban escape the planet that they were on was investigating the suleban. That’s what they were trying to do and I think that this is this is a strange tangential connection for me to the article I just talked about about. Investigations of terror plots and how do you recognize the threat when you see it if archer is crossing paths with somebody who is from that planet and in trying to investigate the Sula Bond’s involvement in terror attacks in the area Clearly that’s intended to be an. Echo that will carry forward into future episodes. They’re clearly seeing this as an ongoing thing to build from and to me it seems born of the era that at this point at the end of the season they’re looking at a world that is now post nine Eleven They’re just probably barely out of it themselves. This was filmed. It may have been months earlier but they potentially are looking at a world that is different than when they started this entire series and this part of the storyline feels to me like it’s reflective of that. But other than that 1 element.. There’s not a whole lot here to hold on to as far as like through lines important plot moments. And in fact, some of what we’ll get into I found a little bit embarrassing.
Yet know there’s there’s 1 plotline in this that should have been excised and is just an embarrassing storyline completely. Um, yes, it is that 1 Ah.
Is it the night at the roxbury storyline.
But also what came to mind watching this episode in the next generation there’s an episode similar to this that’s executed far better where captain picard goes on vacation and a whole bunch of hijinks of sue around come around from his time. Trying to relax and go on vacation because he’s basically told you have to go on vacation. So it goes on vacation and ends up in this whole like archeological dig like Indiana jones plotline and it’s and it’s all focused on him. It’s like 1 main plotline of his adventure going through what he’s going through.
Yes, an Indiana Jones adventure. Yeah.
And there are there’s a beat plotline but it’s mainly him and it focuses on him and his character development and why he is the way he is and it explores him as a character and it was I thought enjoyable this 1 they split it up across four different plotlines. None of them. They were all so superficially thin. There was no real character development. There’s the night of the roxbury storyline with trip and reid hoshi could have been more interesting if they just focused on her. It would have been more interesting plotline to develop her character a little bit more but because hers is so skin deep. It’s just like a oh she had a one night stand good for you hos she I guess you know what I mean.
Um, yeah, way to go? Yeah yeah.
So it’s like there’s all yeah exactly. So there’s all these plots that happen and the only 1 that really had any kind of resonance was the captains and even that 1 was given short shrift and not explored well at all either. So it’s everybody got ah kind of a turred sandwich here.
Yeah, and and for me not and this will not be high praise for me if I had to rank the story lines I would rank Dr Flox’s at the top I would put Hoseys and archers.
Um, yeah, yeah, that was an enjoyable 1
Yeah, there you go? yeah.
Almost neck and neck I would actually argue that hoshi’s is better done than archer’s and then dead last I’d put the night at the roxberry. So let’s get into the plot so that we can actually clarify for.
Yes.
Those people who may not have rewatched this episode what we mean by the night at the roxbury. It’s February eighteenth twenty one fifty 2 which puts this just 6 days after archer and trip have been on their desert crossing which. I find it fascinating that they would lump so many of these they went for episodes without referring to a date at all and I through my own speculative. Well this looks like it might be every 2 weeks that was my assumption so every fourteen days another adventure is and is occurring. This point now they’re lumping all these episodes all we’re only halfway through February and we’ve had 3 episodes take place in the first half of February. So at this point I would think that captain archer is almost dead. They finally arrive at planet resa and in the description I’m working from it says. Half of the enterprise’s crew prepares for short leave That’s exactly how many storylines this felt like captain archer is reluctant to go. This is the really the only plot element that reveals any kind of character around him.
Ah.
He at the very beginning does not want to go and is arguing with to Paul and Toal is in a nice bit of character development between in in their relationship. She’s she’s effectively saying you have to do this otherwise you will become burned out to the point where you won’t be able to do your job. And so the 2 of them are going at it a little bit and then archer has an awkward moment where 1 of the crew members who is staying behind makes a comment about like you’re going on Shore Leave. You’re going to have a great time and archer has to pretend that yes, he’s looking forward to it even though he hasn’t been so they’re setting up the idea that archer out of a sense of decorum. Thinks it’s inappropriate for him to be going on Shore leave meanwhile Sado when it comes to her desire to go on Shore leave reveals for her starting point more of an issue of even though it’s a vacation for her. It’s almost a working vacation. She’s looking forward to doing Stuff. Challenge herself around learning Alien languages because the universal translator she feels has been doing most of the work for her. So here. We have the reluctant vacationer and then we have the workaholic vacationer and then also aboard this shuttlecraft are. Commander Tucker and Lieutenant Reid who apparently have taken pills to emotionally regress them to about the age of 14 where all they can think about are boobies and wanting to touch said boobies.
Yes.
And from the moment they appear on screen their dialogue sounds like it was written by a preovescent boy in a way that just this is the night at the roxbury storyline the 2 of them going to basically nightclubs looking to score and doing it in a way with.
Yes.
Tongues hanging out of their mouths rolling eyes as women walk by a depiction of of malehood that is so off-putting that as I watched it I thought maybe I’ll just scroll on Twitter for a while while this storyline is taking place. It is off-putting.
Yeah, oogling women. Yeah.
My my my reaction when all that their star lines were going on was well this didn’t age. Well, that’s all I kept thinking as I was watching their third their storyline.
And uncomfortable.
Yeah I don’t think it aged well moments after broadcast I think this is a the the depiction that they are showing is I mean 1 of the things about the sexuality and sex positive aspects. The original trek and like I think we can. We can say definitively the original star trek had a sex positivity message you have captain kirk swaggering basically onto any planet and if there’s a woman in front of him chances are very good. He’s going to make out with her but his swagger. Is on. It’s it’s on camera every time he is on camera he is depicting a person of confidence and strength and when it comes to that. Sexualized side of himself. It is already evident from who he is this is depicting the sexual side of commander tucker and lieutenant reid as the giggling behind their hands sort of prepubescent awkwardness and an end.
This.
Um, lasciviousness where this is the kind of behavior that draws complaints from coworkers and they are doing this on the shuttlecraft on their way down and and it is used as an opportunity Versado to say like oh can’t you guys grow up and.
Exactly yes.
As opposed to her saying like this is this is awful like this is inappropriate. The captain is sitting right? there like the way they’re talking the captain should have ah have immediately said like hey squash that that’s not appropriate. But.
Inappropriate. Yeah.
Letting it happen. Yeah.
The only the only Ray of sunshine. We’ll get it to it in a bit I could see the writers say excusing it because of what happens to them later. It’s kind of like they get their comeuppance but I don’t agree with that.
But it it effectively is like you know you you have movies like venture the nerds or weekend at Bernie’s and there are things in there that have not aged well things there that are are problematic but even. Best parts the things that have maybe not become hyper problematic are still off-putting and that’s that’s what’s evident here is that there’s even though they do get their comeuppance. It’s and it’s and it’s portrayed at the end. That now they smell and they’re walking around in their underwear but still, it’s it’s to get to that as a punchline is not worth the dirty joke at the beginning and I say that as somebody who loves a good dirty joke I just love it when it’s good. This is not a good dirty joke.
Yeah, nope.
This is just a bad setup for a bad payoff so they arrive on the planet they go their separate ways and archer his plan revolves around basically just holding up in a beautiful hotel room and maybe reading and spending time with his dog. We get more portos on camera in this episode than we have at any point up to this episode and if the entire episode had actually revolved around just watching him read while portos walks around the balcony. This would have been my favorite episode. Unfortunately.
It would have been better. Yeah.
That’s not what happens but we do get a nice moment of archer is on his balcony and he’s being barked at by a little dog from another balcony and it turns out there is a woman staying in that room and there’s a moment of eye contact and it’s clearly a flirtatious moment between. Archer and this woman whose name is Kayla Meanwhile Sato is doing her best to interact with various people at restaurants as she’s having lunch. She strikes up a conversation. This is 1 of the nicer scenes I thought.
Yeah.
Just showing her interacting and trying her best to speak in rison and the response being most people don’t even bother to try your accent is excellent and it’s it’s a nice little humanizing moment and she catches the eye of another alien whose name is ravis. And rabus invites himself over to her table and again in what I think is a nice bit of writing. There’s a relationship built here that feels not only does it seem organic. Ravis is not overly aggressive. He’s he’s interested in her as a person because of what he is overheard. You have this ear for language is that’s fascinating that you’re able to do this and he engages her in conversation and challenges her to be able to learn his language which when he speaks it. Just the name of his planet is sounds like it’s about 12 words long and he even makes the suggestion that if he tried to slow down the pronunciation to help her be able to get grab what he was saying that would change the meaning. So here’s a challenge for her. She is hearing this kind of language for the first time. And she’s really captivated by the idea and he also is very clearly interested in her and invites her to dinner which she does accept the invitation. So. There’s a nice bit of writing around that there’s an interesting setup between archer and caleb that I think ultimately doesn’t pay off but then meanwhile. Got read and trip go to a club. We’re gonna gloss over these bits of the episode as quickly as possible. But when I say night at the roxberry. It is effectively night at the roxberry they are standing next to the bar they are drinking and if any woman is.
It’s not worth it. Yes.
Unlucky enough to walk past them. The 2 of them oggle and undress with their eyes to a degree that would probably make a bouncer ask them to leave so where do these storylines end up going? Oh meanwhile we have another storyline I forgot there’s four plotlines here we have to summarize.
Yes, you forgot what’s going on the ship.
Meanwhile on the enterprise in a really poor choice of timing flox has to hibernate for 2 days. This doesn’t seem problematic at all that you’re what could possibly go wrong. What could possibly go wrong when you’re it turns out only doctor.
Now What could possibly go wrong.
Yes.
Aboard the ship has to become comatose for 48 hours and the appearance of crewman cutler as the only replacement to which she says I know where the bandages are well that just leaves the crew in really great shape. This will be the last time we see kruman cutler as we’ve talked about her before the actress who played crewman cutler sadly passed away due to an unknown heart ailment and it would be in November of this year that she would pass away so the development of her relationship with flox in a previous episode. Her appearance in this episode I think it was evident that she would have appeared in more episodes and I think she was a fine actress and a bit of sadness that this is her final appearance but she is supposed to be the 1 who is.
Yeah.
Holding the stethoscope while flox is unconscious and he is literally injected so that he can retreat to his cabin and go comatose for 48 hours and says only in the direst of emergencies wake me up so th dump dumb. Do you think they’re laying out a plotline.
Yeah.
Back on Risa We have archer who begins to strike up conversations with the neighbor Kayla who it all begins with her dog managing to get to his balcony and in a bit of strange. Yes.
How.
How does she? How does the dog get up there but it also in a bit of strange canine acting we are shown 2 growling dogs that look so awkwardly uncomfortable that you spend most of the time looking at these images of the dogs growling at each other and thinking. What kind of prosthetic did they put in those dogs mouths to make their lips curl like that. Why did the dogs look so Unhappy. Why did they look a little afraid I couldn’t help but think why does captain archer exactly.
Yes, and why did captain archer take so long to pick porthos up.
Does he stand there for so long. Just kind of considering the fact his dog might bite this other dog. He pulls his dog away from the other 1 and then answers the door to find kayla is there saying I’m sorry but I feel like my dog has shown up on your balcony they of course strike up a conversation.
Um, because hurt because her dog can fly.
This is intended to be the meat. Cute. Yes I also fully enjoyed the fact that this is she’s she marvels at the fact that humans from the enterprise are so far away from home. There is there are some. Lovely moments of writing in this that ultimately are almost like any romantic comedy. It felt at times a little bit like a lifetime movie of showing this relationship developing and. I imagined if it was the only plot of the episode you could have milked a lot more energy from the fact that they clearly do like each other this first meeting is this first meeting is. He’s asking about where he might eat. He invites her to dinner. She reluctantly says she can’t she reveals that she has loss in her past and when he when he basically plumbs her for a bit too much information. She reveals that her family was killed and it turns out it was through a suleban attack and. I think that in a longer format for just this story. You could have developed what would look like a legitimate relationship between the 2 of them for the turning point to become for the turning point of her seeking information to really sting.
With a mystery behind it. Yeah.
And the episode intentionally leaves it hanging as to whether she is in fact, ever interested in him or not she knocks him unconscious, but there is there are moments where it seems like she may be doing things for her own reasons but that she does legitimately like Archer. So I think that that could have been played with more but what we’re left with is the simplicity of a plot that looks like she’s some kind of agent who’s been playing him for a fool and 1 of the. Funniest moments for me is her marveling at how far away from home. The enterprise is how their explorers he refers to them being dozens. Yeah, it’s Ninety light years I think he says away from home. They’re so far away from earth that when they. Use a telescope to spot our son. He points out our son to her by saying see the really bright blue star now look below that to the very dim yellow pinpoint. That’s my home. And yet she has a dog that’s from earth this simplicity of just okay, you are painting this actress. She’s got effectively leopard spots down her neck. This is another case just like last week you put a chin tattoo on somebody.
Um, yeah I didn’t understand the whole dog thing I did not understand the dog thing.
No longer human. We understand this is a tv show. It’s being made by humans using humans Matt and I are both smart people. We understand you have to do that but put some antenna on the dog give the dog fake little funny wings something that would indicate like.
Yeah, yes, wings.
This is not a dog this is not simply a human an earth dog because she’s carrying around this earth dog and then says you’re so far from home I’ve never heard of earth I’ve never seen a human but I have 1 of your dogs meanwhile the.
But I have 1 of your dogs.
The Saddo Plot line largely pointless. But I thought nicely rendered I mean you you get Sado Yeah, you get saddo. Yeah yeah.
Um, yes, it was nicely written as I mean acted. But there was the but there was nothing there. There was nothing there no character development or evolution that I got a sense of at all. There was no payoff to what happened.
Yeah, she talks with ravis he makes a comment that something that she says in his language would mean to kiss and it becomes the moment where they cross that line into romantic and felt very natural. Fair. Very nice and then it turns out to cut to the end they sleep together. She wakes up with him in bed next to her and it’s her last day there and he says what would you like to do rice I has so much stuff to offer and she says I’m happy where I am so a nice romantic entanglement which is. Both of them completely understood to be effectively a one night stand and they’re just enjoying each other’s company as adults and it’s really kind of like well great. But what’s the point meanwhile back at the roxberry trip and read.
Meanwhile. Thanks.
Are approached by 2 women who are beautiful scantily clad approach them. They start to have a conversation. Anybody who’s ever seen any kind of movie ever anywhere at any time in history.
Yes.
Can see what’s coming these are con people. Whatever gender or planet they’re from none of that is explained but they convince the 2 enterprise crewmen Hey there’s beautiful underground luminescent gardens we can show you they take them into. Literally the basement of the club read and trip are clearly acting drunk. So That’s supposed to be the reason for their gullibility here. They’re taken downstairs. The 2 women turned back into aliens which.
And mugged.
Again, they were supposed to be aliens in the first place but now they are supposed to be ugly aliens. So now we understand ugly as evil they look a little bit like nasferatu. So a little bit like vampires could have been an interesting moment.
Um, it’s right? Yeah, they’re like vampires.
To reconnect to the vampire storyline that we had in 1 of the first episodes of the season where space vampires were draining people of their fluids could have been something more dangerous more nefarious could have been something could have been anything really, but it’s literally they’re looking for valuables and when they don’t find valuables on them.
They take their clothes.
Beyond their communicators. They take their clothes because we all know in the future. There will be nothing more valuable than hawaiian shirts stripped of their clothes. The 2 men are then stunned knocked out tied.
Clothes are worth money. That’s right.
To support columns and apparently the club runs in a way where nobody who works at the club will ever go into the basement. That’s the kind of club you want to run I’m going to put a lot of wine and a lot of liquor in the basement.
Yeah.
That’s where we’re gonna store it all but don’t ever go down there because the 2 of them wake up the club is closed and nobody ever goes in that basement nobody stumbles across them. They have to break their way out the way they do. It is to break a glass.
Fine. No they have to break their way out.
Break a bottle which has something that is described as being smelly. So now here’s the big punchline to the setup of them wanting to go out and score what’s the punchline. They now smell like poopy or something.
And they’re walking through the club in their underwear. Yeah.
In their underwear which the punchline of that is completely lost by the fact that most of the women in the club are already wearing nothing but underwear this is this is the punchline of this moment could have been. They walk out of the basement confidently. In their underwear because they know they will still blend in but that’s not what’s done They now smell bad. They’ve spent their entire away time tied up in the basement none of this makes sense. None of it is entertaining. None of it does anything for these characters. None of it has repercussions beyond. The scenes in which it takes place. It really is a nothing burger. Can you tell I didn’t like this episode.
The the funniest part about this is for the past 2 episodes when they’ve been teasing riza and going there every time it comes up trip is always like his tongue ends up hanging out of his mouth like oh yeah, I’m gonna go score and they at least stayed true to that even though overall it felt out of character for both those guys. It didn’t make any sense.
Meanwhile back aboard the enterprise we all knew Dr. flox wasn’t going to sleep for 48 hours I knew that Matthew you knew that everybody listening knew that everybody watched the episode knew that everybody who made this episode knew that.
Uther.
Turns out mayweather who was going down to the planet very excited about rock climbing on a rock face that would change shape and I’m just now beginning to realize that maybe we have 5 plotlines in this episode.
Um, because hold on hold hold on hold on. Yeah, yeah, hold hold on about the mayweather thing mayweather a spacer who grew up on a spaceship rock climbs. It’s like really as soon as you said I can’t wait to go ride climbing. My first thought was like a record scratch of like really.
But to go rock climbing. Yeah.
Yeah, yeah, yes, the guy who knew how to locate the spot on a ship where the gravity would be inverted wants to go rock climbing.
You Rock climb you grew up and have lived in space your entire life and you rock climb come on.
Yes, rock climbs.
And not only does he want to go rock climbing goes rock climbing on a rock face that is described as shifting and then is stunned when at the middle of his climb his Handholds also change and he falls inches his leg and is given medicine at a rice and hospital which. They’ve never involved. They’ve never encountered a human before he begins to have a bad reaction to it This puts medical practice in the future into a really strange lens where a person from a place.
Earth.
You have no experience is treated by doctors with a well. What’s the worst that could happen if we inject this thing into him all right mayweather begins to have a bad reaction. It turns out that what he’s been injected with he is deathly allergic to.
This is.
And as his vital signs begin to become more and more redlined to Paul and Cutler come to the reluctant conclusion. We have to wake up the doctor in doing so here are some of the only highlights of the episode the comedy that comes out of flox’s performance is.
Very funny moments. Yes, he’s fantastic in this.
Fantastic. This is his immediate wake up is to start screaming things about I don’t care how much it weighs or some other nonsense falls semi back to sleep. He has to be encouraged to get out of bed. He yells to sick bay and then immediately falls on the floor. It’s full of literally Pratt falls and physical comedy from he calls everybody captain. It’s literally the only highlight of the episode and again to cut to the Chase. Despite the fact that he is coming across as effectively.
He calls everybody captain.
Drunk Sleep deprived can look impaired in the same way that drinking is impaired despite this to Paul and cutler just stand by and let him do things to mayweer even though he’s calling everybody captain. It’s clearly out of his gourd. He ends up being right? which is in 1 regard a demonstration that yeah, he’s a great doctor because even impaired he is able to figure out the solution but it calls a lot of things into question about what would they do if he was ever injured.
Right.
They’re literally just standing around with no idea of what to do.
In the end flox is able to handle mayweather’s issue put him back on the right course and then immediately in the final bit of comedy for the episode staggers off’s camera walta paul and cutler talk for a moment and then when they look across the room. They find flocks is asleep face down on 1 of the other beds and it’s understood. He’ll remain there for the next 30 six hours probably meanwhile back on Ricea archer is having his final conversations with kayla which revolve around. Her beginning to sound like she’s really pumping him for information. She really desperately wants to know details about the sulaban how they operate how many of them are in the cabal where they’re located how many ships they have and so forth. And he becomes concerned to the point where he takes a scanner out of his bag runs a bioscan and comes up with an excuse to separate from kyla for a while and during that time he shares this scan with toal who confirms his suspicions. This is in fact, attend darran which. Tanarrans are the people that had captured archer and maywether those many episodes ago with all of the sulaban who were in an internment camp. So when confronted this is where the writing takes a very awkward and. Confusing turn archer confronts kayla with I know who you are and what you are she denies it constantly and then scratches him with a fingernail which knocks him out and then she leaves. She leaves with a comment about how kind he was and we’re left right.
It’s meant it’s meant to show that she actually did start to care for him and didn’t want to do bad on him and so it’s like I understand what they were trying to do it just did not work.
It just it leaves the scenes prior to it in a very confusing light. It doesn’t feel like it doesn’t feel like we’ve actually been introduced to kayla the character. Feels like we’ve been introduced potentially to 1 version of a character that might be nefarious, but without there being a very clear and definitive landing to that Storyline. We’re left a little confused and at the same time we’re left a little confused. I was left with a sense of I’m confused they clearly intend this to be something that will be picked up in the future but I couldn’t find myself interested enough in whether they ever would the way it leaves off the way it leaves off is just like oh they.
Well, they never did.
Are clearly laying a plotline for a potential future story but this was so uninteresting that I don’t care if they ever do pick it up.
So just kind of like get to the very end bit here because this is all where all the plotlines end and when they come back together. The entire crew is on the shuttle pod going back and none of them are willing to share what happened to them on the trip and to me this is the most confusing part about this episode because at this point.
Yes, yes.
I Don’t understand what the point of the episode was because they could have tried to if they had bookended it with something stronger. They could have made a case for why telling the story this way would have worked but they didn’t The only thing I took away was what happens on Raa stays on Ria It’s like that’s not anything to make an episode about and that’s all it was.
Stays on risea. Yes.
This was a big nothing burger of an episode that had no point whatsoever.
If it it had ended with archer calling an executive staff meeting and he has his main officers in front of him and he lays out the fact that he effectively was knocked out by a potential Tandaran Spy. Who is trying to plumb him for information and his takeaway is that we need to be extremely cautious because there are people plotting against us potentially and then Saddo’s response was well not everybody out here is nefarious some of the people out here. Are as curious about us as we are about them so we shouldn’t necessarily see specters where there are none and then read and trips response is and sometimes we can find that we’re going in fully charged and ready to go but find we’re not prepared. There could have been a summary of those storylines as you’re suggesting into a way that would say oh we’ve all learned a lesson and maybe if we put all of that information together. It creates a big picture for what Enterprise is doing out here but instead like you said they all bite their tongues totally.
Um, exactly. Makes some sense.
Questionable, especially from the captain the captain has literally been knocked unconscious and found out potentially about a plot and he’s not sharing that with his major officers. It doesn’t make any sense.
Um, you would assume that he would write some kind of report and talk to to Paul about it and that kind of stuff but the way that this episode that’s like subtext that’s just not even there. What is what is happening Sean this episode felt so phoned in it felt like they were running out of storylines.
Yes.
For to wrap up a season like we have to make this number of episodes and we’re running thin on ideas. That’s what it felt like to me it was It was just a shame.
Funny You should mention that little bit of a deeper dive on this episode has to do with its production. It turns out that they were running out of money.
Well there you go.
Originally the episode was going to do a number of things differently and chris black who wrote the teleplay continued to like this episode and when this episode first aired. It actually got some relatively good marks from. Critics at the time chris black bemoaned the fact that while he still liked the episode and thought it held up. There were other things they wanted to do especially with the archer storyline but they couldn’t do those things because they were running out of the effectively at this point in the season other than the season finale. Which is next episode they were left with not much of a budget so they had to pair things way back probably explains why you see satow in exactly 3 places a border shuttle craft at a restaurant and in a bed probably explains why you see trip.
A.
And read in a dance club and in a basement which is probably a repurpose set from a previous episode. It’s why you see archer almost exclusively in his hotel room. So the limitations here were built in almost by what you said of.
In 1 room. Yep.
They were pressed for time and they needed an episode and they didn’t have enough budget and I couldn’t help but come out of this feeling bad for my for Michael doran like this was the episode. They gave him. There’s nothing here. The performances are all fine, but there’s there’s nothing here that even.
Yes, yes.
I got to say nothing here felt like it needed a director like you get to just set up cameras and had these people go in front of it and read their lines and it would be done so I felt bad for Michael dorn I felt bad for the actors for some of the stuff they had to do I felt bad for me as an audience member. And watch I did not like this episode and this episode as I said got some good positive marks when it first aired. But more recently as there have been things like best of lists put together and rewatch lists put together. This episode was recently put on a list of go ahead and skip this episode list for people who are doing rewatches and I completely agree I’ve never seen an episode that felt quite so much as if you didn’t know this episode existed. You wouldn’t be missing anything.
You’d probably be better off.
So I think it’s pretty clear to listeners Matt and I didn’t like this episode but what did you guys? think if you completely disagree and if any of our listeners are doing. This rewatch with us if you guys are watching along. We’d love to know that we would love to hear from you about how you’re enjoying or struggling with with episodes in particular but this episode if you’re doing a rewatch after listening to us I got to say skip this episode.
Skip it? yes.
Jump right? over it head to our next episode where it’s get it ready Matt are you ready you ready. It’s shock wave. It’s a 2 parter Matt.
Um, yeah I have I’m ready I’m ready.
Any predictions about what shockwave is gonna be about I think we’ll have to see it’s gonna be a 2 wo-parter and Matt and I have consulted with 1 another. It was a real meeting of the mines as we were.
A wave that is shocking.
Just recently actually in the same place for the first time in a long time we were in a car hurtling down the highway. It’s been a long road I said getting from there to here.
Oh please stop.
So we chatted about it and decided shockwave is a 2 wo-parter. We’re going to do both parts as 1 episode. So anybody who is watching along with us and watching ahead of listening to us, please watch both episodes before next week we’re looking forward to. Chatting about it with each other and hearing from all of you Matt before we sign off is there anything you’d like to remind our listeners about that you have coming up.
Yeah, well I but actually want to pitch our other podcast still to be determined where we do follow up episodes on my Youtube Channel episodes. It’s like a inception there a little bit. Yeah.
Yeah, it was a bit I I had to I passed out for a moment So I’m just gonna roll with it.
Yeah, but anyway we we just actually recorded our episode about ah nuclear fusion and follow up from viewers and questions that Sean had and it was a fun conversation. So be sure to check out still to be determined.
As for me as usual I’ll just remind people about my website seanferrell dot com you can find out information to buy my books. My books if any of them catch your eye are available at amazon barnes and noble any major bookstore any small bookstore so visit your local bookstore and ask for them by name. Which is a strange phrase to say about myself reminder you can visit trek in time show you can support the podcast there you can also just keep doing what you’re doing listening. You can subscribe and you can leave comments or corrections in the comments. Through the contact information in the podcast notes on Youtube obviously it’s just scroll down to the comment section and do it there please do remember to subscribe to like the episodes and to share it with your friends and strangers and to come back next time. Thank you so much for listening everybody. We’ll talk to you soon.
Hello.
Matt say hi Matt is the tech guru and inquisitor behind the Youtube channel undecided with Matt ferrell and I’m sean ferrell I’m his brother and I’m a writer I write some sci-fi I write picture books I write books for younger readers. So between the writing and the teching we’ve got star trekking. Don’t forget, there are ways you can directly support the podcast you can visit trek and time dot show and there’s an opportunity there for you to throw some coins at us. They heard a little bit but we appreciate it and of course you can just listen. And subscribe you can watch us on youtube before we get into this newest episode Matt I understand you have some listener comments that you want to share.
Yeah, there’s a couple 1 from robotrav um always leaves a comment on every single video. Thank you so much robotrav. Yeah yes, this was a this was a reference to the last episode that we talked about where trip and the captain were going across the desert. Um.
Yes.
Yes, this was a good old fashioned trek right? down to the lack lack of dayssical alien costumes who doesn’t love a nice desert crossing I still think picard and wesley did it better though with that drunk shuttle captain anyway, another great show guys looking forward to the next 1 I thought that was a. Ah, apt comic I completely hadn’t been thinking of you know Wesley and the captain being stranded on the desert planet when I was watching that episode but that is true that I think is a far better episode than this 1 um, the other comment was pale goes 69 the main thing I have to say about this episode was the whole foreshadowing about the survival trending. Since the beginning which apparently didn’t contain any actual survival tactics you brought that up when we were talking which was they taught they made a huge point about that survival training and then the episode they did none of it like there was there was nothing about survival tactics.
Yes, yeah. Yeah, it’s like go come on. Do you remember that survival training and here’s your thimble of water now let’s walk across the desert at noon. Yeah frustrating episode. So today.
Yeah.
Speaking of frustrating episodes. We’re gonna be talking about 2 days and 2 nights Matt do you want to give us a synopsis of this groundbreaking episode. Yeah I think I’m maybe showing my cards a little too soon. But let’s get into it. Yeah.
Yeah, now right? captain archer and the crew of the enterprise take sure leave on Risea it’s about time they’ve been teasing rier for 2 episodes now back on their yeah back on the Spacecraft enterprise flox enters hibernation while to paul keeps an eye on the starship.
Yes, yeah, more than that.
To give you a yes to give you a brief window into the magic that is this podcast that is a slightly revised version of the synopsis that is available on Wikipedia The part that I removed from it was the additional sentence which said.
Hi Jinks ensue.
Guest stars appear in this episode portraying the aliens that the crew meets I’m not sure why that would need to be said, but there you have it. It actually made me wonder are some of these guest stars like like really remarkable. Names that I should look up and see who they are now now somebody just thought it was important to point out that if you’re watching this show. There are people appearing on the Tv who are not regulars so take that for what it’s worth.
Um, thanks for clearing that up.
So this story was originally by rick berman and Brandon braggga as usual this season most if not all of them have been crafted with their involvement. The teleplay was by chris black. And this episode is directed by Michael dorn and of course we all know Michael dorn from chips. Yes I Jokingly referred to chips instead of Mr. Wharf. This was his first time helming.
Um, Mr. Woof.
Enterprise but it’s not his first time helming an episode of star trek prior to this. He had directed several episodes of deep space nine. So that’s something for us to look forward to in approximately ten years when we get to the next generation and deep space nine episodes. This episode aired on may fifteenth 2002 it got a modest five point 6 million viewers as far as other things going on in the world when this episode aired well Matt you were still dancing your little heart out to don’t let me get me by pink. And the number 1 movie. It was still Spiderman by sam ramy with toby mcguire it was pulling in an additional seventy 1 million dollars on tv people were tuning into friends. How many people were tuning into friends 34 point nine million. Which made me think what could this have been and my speculation without doing too much research is that it was a season finale as opposed to um for a moment I thought perhaps the show was ending. Perhaps this was the series finale friends I say that Because. Did not watch friends. But upon some research it looks like they would go on for 2 more years. So my expectation is a mid-may episode. This is probably a season finale which pulled in roughly 7 times as many viewers as enterprise. So. Trying to be the little engine that could but sometimes it can’t in the news the day this episode aired in the new york times the un broadens the list of products that a rock can import air testing after september eleventh attack. Both perplexing and reassuring that’s a headline that would not age well in New York city as we moved forward. It was discovered that air quality was much poorer early on than was originally reported and illness became an ongoing concern. Not just for the first responders. But. For people who had returned to live and work in those areas before it was truly safe and there was also this headline the pre-attack memo cited bin laden the classified memorandum written by an fbi agent in Phoenix last summer urging bureau headquarters to investigate middle eastern men. Enrolled in american flight schools also cited osama bin laden by name and suggested that his followers could use the schools to train for terror operations government officials said for the first time today. The memorandum said terrorist groups like Mr. Bin laden’s might be sending students to the schools as the first step.
What could be a concerted effort to place islamic militants in the civil aviation industry around the world as pilots security guards or aircraft maintenance workers. This memo would eventually become 1 of the main bits of ammunition aimed. At the Bush administration and a claim against their ability to correctly interpret the information that was already on hand warning about the september eleventh attacks and of course the Bush administration would use this kind of memo as evidence to say not exactly the opposite but to say well. Information like that isn’t going through channels properly so we need a department of homeland security which will unify all of these different threads of information bring them under 1 review and be able to create a fuller picture. So this episode. Real quick Matt before we get into particulars. Do you have any big thoughts that you’d like to share yes this this I up to this point I don’t I don’t recall if I’ve actually said the name of the episodes. It’s 2 days and 2 nights and as.
My big thoughts was I hated this episode.
Those of you checking out this episode will already know my suggested title for this episode is 2 plots too many it is this is four plotlines and Matt in the past 3 weeks I Believe it’s been.
Yes, oh yeah.
1 of the themes I have been repeating and for 3 weeks is Wow This episode is written in a way where the a plot and the B plot are so tightly intertwined that even though you do have 2 distinct Storylines They don’t feel different from 1 another they feel like they’re part of 1 great current and that is what captures you as a viewer. And lets you really invest in the storyline. This episode is a perfect example of how to fracture your audience’s attention to the point where you don’t care about any of the storylines. This is four separate Storylines none of which.
Exactly.
Is truly worth our attention except for hints of nefarious activities regarding the investigations of the sulaban and the potential an agent who may potentially be from the planet that had held archer. In a previous episode when he helps the Sulaban escape the planet that they were on was investigating the suleban. That’s what they were trying to do and I think that this is this is a strange tangential connection for me to the article I just talked about about. Investigations of terror plots and how do you recognize the threat when you see it if archer is crossing paths with somebody who is from that planet and in trying to investigate the Sula Bond’s involvement in terror attacks in the area Clearly that’s intended to be an. Echo that will carry forward into future episodes. They’re clearly seeing this as an ongoing thing to build from and to me it seems born of the era that at this point at the end of the season they’re looking at a world that is now post nine Eleven They’re just probably barely out of it themselves. This was filmed. It may have been months earlier but they potentially are looking at a world that is different than when they started this entire series and this part of the storyline feels to me like it’s reflective of that. But other than that 1 element.. There’s not a whole lot here to hold on to as far as like through lines important plot moments. And in fact, some of what we’ll get into I found a little bit embarrassing.
Yet know there’s there’s 1 plotline in this that should have been excised and is just an embarrassing storyline completely. Um, yes, it is that 1 Ah.
Is it the night at the roxbury storyline.
But also what came to mind watching this episode in the next generation there’s an episode similar to this that’s executed far better where captain picard goes on vacation and a whole bunch of hijinks of sue around come around from his time. Trying to relax and go on vacation because he’s basically told you have to go on vacation. So it goes on vacation and ends up in this whole like archeological dig like Indiana jones plotline and it’s and it’s all focused on him. It’s like 1 main plotline of his adventure going through what he’s going through.
Yes, an Indiana Jones adventure. Yeah.
And there are there’s a beat plotline but it’s mainly him and it focuses on him and his character development and why he is the way he is and it explores him as a character and it was I thought enjoyable this 1 they split it up across four different plotlines. None of them. They were all so superficially thin. There was no real character development. There’s the night of the roxbury storyline with trip and reid hoshi could have been more interesting if they just focused on her. It would have been more interesting plotline to develop her character a little bit more but because hers is so skin deep. It’s just like a oh she had a one night stand good for you hos she I guess you know what I mean.
Um, yeah, way to go? Yeah yeah.
So it’s like there’s all yeah exactly. So there’s all these plots that happen and the only 1 that really had any kind of resonance was the captains and even that 1 was given short shrift and not explored well at all either. So it’s everybody got ah kind of a turred sandwich here.
Yeah, and and for me not and this will not be high praise for me if I had to rank the story lines I would rank Dr Flox’s at the top I would put Hoseys and archers.
Um, yeah, yeah, that was an enjoyable 1
Yeah, there you go? yeah.
Almost neck and neck I would actually argue that hoshi’s is better done than archer’s and then dead last I’d put the night at the roxberry. So let’s get into the plot so that we can actually clarify for.
Yes.
Those people who may not have rewatched this episode what we mean by the night at the roxbury. It’s February eighteenth twenty one fifty 2 which puts this just 6 days after archer and trip have been on their desert crossing which. I find it fascinating that they would lump so many of these they went for episodes without referring to a date at all and I through my own speculative. Well this looks like it might be every 2 weeks that was my assumption so every fourteen days another adventure is and is occurring. This point now they’re lumping all these episodes all we’re only halfway through February and we’ve had 3 episodes take place in the first half of February. So at this point I would think that captain archer is almost dead. They finally arrive at planet resa and in the description I’m working from it says. Half of the enterprise’s crew prepares for short leave That’s exactly how many storylines this felt like captain archer is reluctant to go. This is the really the only plot element that reveals any kind of character around him.
Ah.
He at the very beginning does not want to go and is arguing with to Paul and Toal is in a nice bit of character development between in in their relationship. She’s she’s effectively saying you have to do this otherwise you will become burned out to the point where you won’t be able to do your job. And so the 2 of them are going at it a little bit and then archer has an awkward moment where 1 of the crew members who is staying behind makes a comment about like you’re going on Shore Leave. You’re going to have a great time and archer has to pretend that yes, he’s looking forward to it even though he hasn’t been so they’re setting up the idea that archer out of a sense of decorum. Thinks it’s inappropriate for him to be going on Shore leave meanwhile Sado when it comes to her desire to go on Shore leave reveals for her starting point more of an issue of even though it’s a vacation for her. It’s almost a working vacation. She’s looking forward to doing Stuff. Challenge herself around learning Alien languages because the universal translator she feels has been doing most of the work for her. So here. We have the reluctant vacationer and then we have the workaholic vacationer and then also aboard this shuttlecraft are. Commander Tucker and Lieutenant Reid who apparently have taken pills to emotionally regress them to about the age of 14 where all they can think about are boobies and wanting to touch said boobies.
Yes.
And from the moment they appear on screen their dialogue sounds like it was written by a preovescent boy in a way that just this is the night at the roxbury storyline the 2 of them going to basically nightclubs looking to score and doing it in a way with.
Yes.
Tongues hanging out of their mouths rolling eyes as women walk by a depiction of of malehood that is so off-putting that as I watched it I thought maybe I’ll just scroll on Twitter for a while while this storyline is taking place. It is off-putting.
Yeah, oogling women. Yeah.
My my my reaction when all that their star lines were going on was well this didn’t age. Well, that’s all I kept thinking as I was watching their third their storyline.
And uncomfortable.
Yeah I don’t think it aged well moments after broadcast I think this is a the the depiction that they are showing is I mean 1 of the things about the sexuality and sex positive aspects. The original trek and like I think we can. We can say definitively the original star trek had a sex positivity message you have captain kirk swaggering basically onto any planet and if there’s a woman in front of him chances are very good. He’s going to make out with her but his swagger. Is on. It’s it’s on camera every time he is on camera he is depicting a person of confidence and strength and when it comes to that. Sexualized side of himself. It is already evident from who he is this is depicting the sexual side of commander tucker and lieutenant reid as the giggling behind their hands sort of prepubescent awkwardness and an end.
This.
Um, lasciviousness where this is the kind of behavior that draws complaints from coworkers and they are doing this on the shuttlecraft on their way down and and it is used as an opportunity Versado to say like oh can’t you guys grow up and.
Exactly yes.
As opposed to her saying like this is this is awful like this is inappropriate. The captain is sitting right? there like the way they’re talking the captain should have ah have immediately said like hey squash that that’s not appropriate. But.
Inappropriate. Yeah.
Letting it happen. Yeah.
The only the only Ray of sunshine. We’ll get it to it in a bit I could see the writers say excusing it because of what happens to them later. It’s kind of like they get their comeuppance but I don’t agree with that.
But it it effectively is like you know you you have movies like venture the nerds or weekend at Bernie’s and there are things in there that have not aged well things there that are are problematic but even. Best parts the things that have maybe not become hyper problematic are still off-putting and that’s that’s what’s evident here is that there’s even though they do get their comeuppance. It’s and it’s and it’s portrayed at the end. That now they smell and they’re walking around in their underwear but still, it’s it’s to get to that as a punchline is not worth the dirty joke at the beginning and I say that as somebody who loves a good dirty joke I just love it when it’s good. This is not a good dirty joke.
Yeah, nope.
This is just a bad setup for a bad payoff so they arrive on the planet they go their separate ways and archer his plan revolves around basically just holding up in a beautiful hotel room and maybe reading and spending time with his dog. We get more portos on camera in this episode than we have at any point up to this episode and if the entire episode had actually revolved around just watching him read while portos walks around the balcony. This would have been my favorite episode. Unfortunately.
It would have been better. Yeah.
That’s not what happens but we do get a nice moment of archer is on his balcony and he’s being barked at by a little dog from another balcony and it turns out there is a woman staying in that room and there’s a moment of eye contact and it’s clearly a flirtatious moment between. Archer and this woman whose name is Kayla Meanwhile Sato is doing her best to interact with various people at restaurants as she’s having lunch. She strikes up a conversation. This is 1 of the nicer scenes I thought.
Yeah.
Just showing her interacting and trying her best to speak in rison and the response being most people don’t even bother to try your accent is excellent and it’s it’s a nice little humanizing moment and she catches the eye of another alien whose name is ravis. And rabus invites himself over to her table and again in what I think is a nice bit of writing. There’s a relationship built here that feels not only does it seem organic. Ravis is not overly aggressive. He’s he’s interested in her as a person because of what he is overheard. You have this ear for language is that’s fascinating that you’re able to do this and he engages her in conversation and challenges her to be able to learn his language which when he speaks it. Just the name of his planet is sounds like it’s about 12 words long and he even makes the suggestion that if he tried to slow down the pronunciation to help her be able to get grab what he was saying that would change the meaning. So here’s a challenge for her. She is hearing this kind of language for the first time. And she’s really captivated by the idea and he also is very clearly interested in her and invites her to dinner which she does accept the invitation. So. There’s a nice bit of writing around that there’s an interesting setup between archer and caleb that I think ultimately doesn’t pay off but then meanwhile. Got read and trip go to a club. We’re gonna gloss over these bits of the episode as quickly as possible. But when I say night at the roxberry. It is effectively night at the roxberry they are standing next to the bar they are drinking and if any woman is.
It’s not worth it. Yes.
Unlucky enough to walk past them. The 2 of them oggle and undress with their eyes to a degree that would probably make a bouncer ask them to leave so where do these storylines end up going? Oh meanwhile we have another storyline I forgot there’s four plotlines here we have to summarize.
Yes, you forgot what’s going on the ship.
Meanwhile on the enterprise in a really poor choice of timing flox has to hibernate for 2 days. This doesn’t seem problematic at all that you’re what could possibly go wrong. What could possibly go wrong when you’re it turns out only doctor.
Now What could possibly go wrong.
Yes.
Aboard the ship has to become comatose for 48 hours and the appearance of crewman cutler as the only replacement to which she says I know where the bandages are well that just leaves the crew in really great shape. This will be the last time we see kruman cutler as we’ve talked about her before the actress who played crewman cutler sadly passed away due to an unknown heart ailment and it would be in November of this year that she would pass away so the development of her relationship with flox in a previous episode. Her appearance in this episode I think it was evident that she would have appeared in more episodes and I think she was a fine actress and a bit of sadness that this is her final appearance but she is supposed to be the 1 who is.
Yeah.
Holding the stethoscope while flox is unconscious and he is literally injected so that he can retreat to his cabin and go comatose for 48 hours and says only in the direst of emergencies wake me up so th dump dumb. Do you think they’re laying out a plotline.
Yeah.
Back on Risa We have archer who begins to strike up conversations with the neighbor Kayla who it all begins with her dog managing to get to his balcony and in a bit of strange. Yes.
How.
How does she? How does the dog get up there but it also in a bit of strange canine acting we are shown 2 growling dogs that look so awkwardly uncomfortable that you spend most of the time looking at these images of the dogs growling at each other and thinking. What kind of prosthetic did they put in those dogs mouths to make their lips curl like that. Why did the dogs look so Unhappy. Why did they look a little afraid I couldn’t help but think why does captain archer exactly.
Yes, and why did captain archer take so long to pick porthos up.
Does he stand there for so long. Just kind of considering the fact his dog might bite this other dog. He pulls his dog away from the other 1 and then answers the door to find kayla is there saying I’m sorry but I feel like my dog has shown up on your balcony they of course strike up a conversation.
Um, because hurt because her dog can fly.
This is intended to be the meat. Cute. Yes I also fully enjoyed the fact that this is she’s she marvels at the fact that humans from the enterprise are so far away from home. There is there are some. Lovely moments of writing in this that ultimately are almost like any romantic comedy. It felt at times a little bit like a lifetime movie of showing this relationship developing and. I imagined if it was the only plot of the episode you could have milked a lot more energy from the fact that they clearly do like each other this first meeting is this first meeting is. He’s asking about where he might eat. He invites her to dinner. She reluctantly says she can’t she reveals that she has loss in her past and when he when he basically plumbs her for a bit too much information. She reveals that her family was killed and it turns out it was through a suleban attack and. I think that in a longer format for just this story. You could have developed what would look like a legitimate relationship between the 2 of them for the turning point to become for the turning point of her seeking information to really sting.
With a mystery behind it. Yeah.
And the episode intentionally leaves it hanging as to whether she is in fact, ever interested in him or not she knocks him unconscious, but there is there are moments where it seems like she may be doing things for her own reasons but that she does legitimately like Archer. So I think that that could have been played with more but what we’re left with is the simplicity of a plot that looks like she’s some kind of agent who’s been playing him for a fool and 1 of the. Funniest moments for me is her marveling at how far away from home. The enterprise is how their explorers he refers to them being dozens. Yeah, it’s Ninety light years I think he says away from home. They’re so far away from earth that when they. Use a telescope to spot our son. He points out our son to her by saying see the really bright blue star now look below that to the very dim yellow pinpoint. That’s my home. And yet she has a dog that’s from earth this simplicity of just okay, you are painting this actress. She’s got effectively leopard spots down her neck. This is another case just like last week you put a chin tattoo on somebody.
Um, yeah I didn’t understand the whole dog thing I did not understand the dog thing.
No longer human. We understand this is a tv show. It’s being made by humans using humans Matt and I are both smart people. We understand you have to do that but put some antenna on the dog give the dog fake little funny wings something that would indicate like.
Yeah, yes, wings.
This is not a dog this is not simply a human an earth dog because she’s carrying around this earth dog and then says you’re so far from home I’ve never heard of earth I’ve never seen a human but I have 1 of your dogs meanwhile the.
But I have 1 of your dogs.
The Saddo Plot line largely pointless. But I thought nicely rendered I mean you you get Sado Yeah, you get saddo. Yeah yeah.
Um, yes, it was nicely written as I mean acted. But there was the but there was nothing there. There was nothing there no character development or evolution that I got a sense of at all. There was no payoff to what happened.
Yeah, she talks with ravis he makes a comment that something that she says in his language would mean to kiss and it becomes the moment where they cross that line into romantic and felt very natural. Fair. Very nice and then it turns out to cut to the end they sleep together. She wakes up with him in bed next to her and it’s her last day there and he says what would you like to do rice I has so much stuff to offer and she says I’m happy where I am so a nice romantic entanglement which is. Both of them completely understood to be effectively a one night stand and they’re just enjoying each other’s company as adults and it’s really kind of like well great. But what’s the point meanwhile back at the roxberry trip and read.
Meanwhile. Thanks.
Are approached by 2 women who are beautiful scantily clad approach them. They start to have a conversation. Anybody who’s ever seen any kind of movie ever anywhere at any time in history.
Yes.
Can see what’s coming these are con people. Whatever gender or planet they’re from none of that is explained but they convince the 2 enterprise crewmen Hey there’s beautiful underground luminescent gardens we can show you they take them into. Literally the basement of the club read and trip are clearly acting drunk. So That’s supposed to be the reason for their gullibility here. They’re taken downstairs. The 2 women turned back into aliens which.
And mugged.
Again, they were supposed to be aliens in the first place but now they are supposed to be ugly aliens. So now we understand ugly as evil they look a little bit like nasferatu. So a little bit like vampires could have been an interesting moment.
Um, it’s right? Yeah, they’re like vampires.
To reconnect to the vampire storyline that we had in 1 of the first episodes of the season where space vampires were draining people of their fluids could have been something more dangerous more nefarious could have been something could have been anything really, but it’s literally they’re looking for valuables and when they don’t find valuables on them.
They take their clothes.
Beyond their communicators. They take their clothes because we all know in the future. There will be nothing more valuable than hawaiian shirts stripped of their clothes. The 2 men are then stunned knocked out tied.
Clothes are worth money. That’s right.
To support columns and apparently the club runs in a way where nobody who works at the club will ever go into the basement. That’s the kind of club you want to run I’m going to put a lot of wine and a lot of liquor in the basement.
Yeah.
That’s where we’re gonna store it all but don’t ever go down there because the 2 of them wake up the club is closed and nobody ever goes in that basement nobody stumbles across them. They have to break their way out the way they do. It is to break a glass.
Fine. No they have to break their way out.
Break a bottle which has something that is described as being smelly. So now here’s the big punchline to the setup of them wanting to go out and score what’s the punchline. They now smell like poopy or something.
And they’re walking through the club in their underwear. Yeah.
In their underwear which the punchline of that is completely lost by the fact that most of the women in the club are already wearing nothing but underwear this is this is the punchline of this moment could have been. They walk out of the basement confidently. In their underwear because they know they will still blend in but that’s not what’s done They now smell bad. They’ve spent their entire away time tied up in the basement none of this makes sense. None of it is entertaining. None of it does anything for these characters. None of it has repercussions beyond. The scenes in which it takes place. It really is a nothing burger. Can you tell I didn’t like this episode.
The the funniest part about this is for the past 2 episodes when they’ve been teasing riza and going there every time it comes up trip is always like his tongue ends up hanging out of his mouth like oh yeah, I’m gonna go score and they at least stayed true to that even though overall it felt out of character for both those guys. It didn’t make any sense.
Meanwhile back aboard the enterprise we all knew Dr. flox wasn’t going to sleep for 48 hours I knew that Matthew you knew that everybody listening knew that everybody watched the episode knew that everybody who made this episode knew that.
Uther.
Turns out mayweather who was going down to the planet very excited about rock climbing on a rock face that would change shape and I’m just now beginning to realize that maybe we have 5 plotlines in this episode.
Um, because hold on hold hold on hold on. Yeah, yeah, hold hold on about the mayweather thing mayweather a spacer who grew up on a spaceship rock climbs. It’s like really as soon as you said I can’t wait to go ride climbing. My first thought was like a record scratch of like really.
But to go rock climbing. Yeah.
Yeah, yeah, yes, the guy who knew how to locate the spot on a ship where the gravity would be inverted wants to go rock climbing.
You Rock climb you grew up and have lived in space your entire life and you rock climb come on.
Yes, rock climbs.
And not only does he want to go rock climbing goes rock climbing on a rock face that is described as shifting and then is stunned when at the middle of his climb his Handholds also change and he falls inches his leg and is given medicine at a rice and hospital which. They’ve never involved. They’ve never encountered a human before he begins to have a bad reaction to it This puts medical practice in the future into a really strange lens where a person from a place.
Earth.
You have no experience is treated by doctors with a well. What’s the worst that could happen if we inject this thing into him all right mayweather begins to have a bad reaction. It turns out that what he’s been injected with he is deathly allergic to.
This is.
And as his vital signs begin to become more and more redlined to Paul and Cutler come to the reluctant conclusion. We have to wake up the doctor in doing so here are some of the only highlights of the episode the comedy that comes out of flox’s performance is.
Very funny moments. Yes, he’s fantastic in this.
Fantastic. This is his immediate wake up is to start screaming things about I don’t care how much it weighs or some other nonsense falls semi back to sleep. He has to be encouraged to get out of bed. He yells to sick bay and then immediately falls on the floor. It’s full of literally Pratt falls and physical comedy from he calls everybody captain. It’s literally the only highlight of the episode and again to cut to the Chase. Despite the fact that he is coming across as effectively.
He calls everybody captain.
Drunk Sleep deprived can look impaired in the same way that drinking is impaired despite this to Paul and cutler just stand by and let him do things to mayweer even though he’s calling everybody captain. It’s clearly out of his gourd. He ends up being right? which is in 1 regard a demonstration that yeah, he’s a great doctor because even impaired he is able to figure out the solution but it calls a lot of things into question about what would they do if he was ever injured.
Right.
They’re literally just standing around with no idea of what to do.
In the end flox is able to handle mayweather’s issue put him back on the right course and then immediately in the final bit of comedy for the episode staggers off’s camera walta paul and cutler talk for a moment and then when they look across the room. They find flocks is asleep face down on 1 of the other beds and it’s understood. He’ll remain there for the next 30 six hours probably meanwhile back on Ricea archer is having his final conversations with kayla which revolve around. Her beginning to sound like she’s really pumping him for information. She really desperately wants to know details about the sulaban how they operate how many of them are in the cabal where they’re located how many ships they have and so forth. And he becomes concerned to the point where he takes a scanner out of his bag runs a bioscan and comes up with an excuse to separate from kyla for a while and during that time he shares this scan with toal who confirms his suspicions. This is in fact, attend darran which. Tanarrans are the people that had captured archer and maywether those many episodes ago with all of the sulaban who were in an internment camp. So when confronted this is where the writing takes a very awkward and. Confusing turn archer confronts kayla with I know who you are and what you are she denies it constantly and then scratches him with a fingernail which knocks him out and then she leaves. She leaves with a comment about how kind he was and we’re left right.
It’s meant it’s meant to show that she actually did start to care for him and didn’t want to do bad on him and so it’s like I understand what they were trying to do it just did not work.
It just it leaves the scenes prior to it in a very confusing light. It doesn’t feel like it doesn’t feel like we’ve actually been introduced to kayla the character. Feels like we’ve been introduced potentially to 1 version of a character that might be nefarious, but without there being a very clear and definitive landing to that Storyline. We’re left a little confused and at the same time we’re left a little confused. I was left with a sense of I’m confused they clearly intend this to be something that will be picked up in the future but I couldn’t find myself interested enough in whether they ever would the way it leaves off the way it leaves off is just like oh they.
Well, they never did.
Are clearly laying a plotline for a potential future story but this was so uninteresting that I don’t care if they ever do pick it up.
So just kind of like get to the very end bit here because this is all where all the plotlines end and when they come back together. The entire crew is on the shuttle pod going back and none of them are willing to share what happened to them on the trip and to me this is the most confusing part about this episode because at this point.
Yes, yes.
I Don’t understand what the point of the episode was because they could have tried to if they had bookended it with something stronger. They could have made a case for why telling the story this way would have worked but they didn’t The only thing I took away was what happens on Raa stays on Ria It’s like that’s not anything to make an episode about and that’s all it was.
Stays on risea. Yes.
This was a big nothing burger of an episode that had no point whatsoever.
If it it had ended with archer calling an executive staff meeting and he has his main officers in front of him and he lays out the fact that he effectively was knocked out by a potential Tandaran Spy. Who is trying to plumb him for information and his takeaway is that we need to be extremely cautious because there are people plotting against us potentially and then Saddo’s response was well not everybody out here is nefarious some of the people out here. Are as curious about us as we are about them so we shouldn’t necessarily see specters where there are none and then read and trips response is and sometimes we can find that we’re going in fully charged and ready to go but find we’re not prepared. There could have been a summary of those storylines as you’re suggesting into a way that would say oh we’ve all learned a lesson and maybe if we put all of that information together. It creates a big picture for what Enterprise is doing out here but instead like you said they all bite their tongues totally.
Um, exactly. Makes some sense.
Questionable, especially from the captain the captain has literally been knocked unconscious and found out potentially about a plot and he’s not sharing that with his major officers. It doesn’t make any sense.
Um, you would assume that he would write some kind of report and talk to to Paul about it and that kind of stuff but the way that this episode that’s like subtext that’s just not even there. What is what is happening Sean this episode felt so phoned in it felt like they were running out of storylines.
Yes.
For to wrap up a season like we have to make this number of episodes and we’re running thin on ideas. That’s what it felt like to me it was It was just a shame.
Funny You should mention that little bit of a deeper dive on this episode has to do with its production. It turns out that they were running out of money.
Well there you go.
Originally the episode was going to do a number of things differently and chris black who wrote the teleplay continued to like this episode and when this episode first aired. It actually got some relatively good marks from. Critics at the time chris black bemoaned the fact that while he still liked the episode and thought it held up. There were other things they wanted to do especially with the archer storyline but they couldn’t do those things because they were running out of the effectively at this point in the season other than the season finale. Which is next episode they were left with not much of a budget so they had to pair things way back probably explains why you see satow in exactly 3 places a border shuttle craft at a restaurant and in a bed probably explains why you see trip.
A.
And read in a dance club and in a basement which is probably a repurpose set from a previous episode. It’s why you see archer almost exclusively in his hotel room. So the limitations here were built in almost by what you said of.
In 1 room. Yep.
They were pressed for time and they needed an episode and they didn’t have enough budget and I couldn’t help but come out of this feeling bad for my for Michael doran like this was the episode. They gave him. There’s nothing here. The performances are all fine, but there’s there’s nothing here that even.
Yes, yes.
I got to say nothing here felt like it needed a director like you get to just set up cameras and had these people go in front of it and read their lines and it would be done so I felt bad for Michael dorn I felt bad for the actors for some of the stuff they had to do I felt bad for me as an audience member. And watch I did not like this episode and this episode as I said got some good positive marks when it first aired. But more recently as there have been things like best of lists put together and rewatch lists put together. This episode was recently put on a list of go ahead and skip this episode list for people who are doing rewatches and I completely agree I’ve never seen an episode that felt quite so much as if you didn’t know this episode existed. You wouldn’t be missing anything.
You’d probably be better off.
So I think it’s pretty clear to listeners Matt and I didn’t like this episode but what did you guys? think if you completely disagree and if any of our listeners are doing. This rewatch with us if you guys are watching along. We’d love to know that we would love to hear from you about how you’re enjoying or struggling with with episodes in particular but this episode if you’re doing a rewatch after listening to us I got to say skip this episode.
Skip it? yes.
Jump right? over it head to our next episode where it’s get it ready Matt are you ready you ready. It’s shock wave. It’s a 2 parter Matt.
Um, yeah I have I’m ready I’m ready.
Any predictions about what shockwave is gonna be about I think we’ll have to see it’s gonna be a 2 wo-parter and Matt and I have consulted with 1 another. It was a real meeting of the mines as we were.
A wave that is shocking.
Just recently actually in the same place for the first time in a long time we were in a car hurtling down the highway. It’s been a long road I said getting from there to here.
Oh please stop.
So we chatted about it and decided shockwave is a 2 wo-parter. We’re going to do both parts as 1 episode. So anybody who is watching along with us and watching ahead of listening to us, please watch both episodes before next week we’re looking forward to. Chatting about it with each other and hearing from all of you Matt before we sign off is there anything you’d like to remind our listeners about that you have coming up.
Yeah, well I but actually want to pitch our other podcast still to be determined where we do follow up episodes on my Youtube Channel episodes. It’s like a inception there a little bit. Yeah.
Yeah, it was a bit I I had to I passed out for a moment So I’m just gonna roll with it.
Yeah, but anyway we we just actually recorded our episode about ah nuclear fusion and follow up from viewers and questions that Sean had and it was a fun conversation. So be sure to check out still to be determined.
As for me as usual I’ll just remind people about my website seanferrell dot com you can find out information to buy my books. My books if any of them catch your eye are available at amazon barnes and noble any major bookstore any small bookstore so visit your local bookstore and ask for them by name. Which is a strange phrase to say about myself reminder you can visit trek in time show you can support the podcast there you can also just keep doing what you’re doing listening. You can subscribe and you can leave comments or corrections in the comments. Through the contact information in the podcast notes on Youtube obviously it’s just scroll down to the comment section and do it there please do remember to subscribe to like the episodes and to share it with your friends and strangers and to come back next time. Thank you so much for listening everybody. We’ll talk to you soon.