No, I didn't read it yet, and that's what reviewers do..analyze the show. What use is a review that says...Hmm..enjoyable, it's just a show?
All I know, if it is as has been rumored a show patterned after last seasons scripts I won't enjoy it. Last season came close to causing me to abandon the series. Charles Mims http://www.the-sandbox.org -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Greg Hopper Sent: Thursday, September 25, 2003 11:43 PM To: The Sandbox Discussion List Subject: Re: [Sndbox] FW: Enterprise: "Extinction" - Review - SPOILERS Did you read that? I wouldn't have had I not seen it already, who wants to watch a show where you already know everything that's going to happen? lol Because they didn't leave much if anything out of this one.....although I don't agree with all their conclusions. If you ask me, they put way too much into analizing ( spelling ) the show instead of enjoying it. Come on, it's a TV show. lol I for one, found it enjoyable... ----- Original Message ----- From: "Charles" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "'The Sandbox Discussion List'" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Thursday, September 25, 2003 8:17 PM Subject: [Sndbox] FW: Enterprise: "Extinction" - Review - SPOILERS > > > SPOILER SPACE > > * * * > * > * * * * > * * * * > * * * > * * * > * * * > * * * * > * * > * * * > * * * * > * * * * > * * * * > * * * > * > * * * > > "Extinction" > > Story by: Andre Bormanis > Teleplay by: Andre Bormanis > Directed by: LeVar Burton > > Synopsis followed by review: > > An alien is chased by what seems to be hunters who are also alien. They > catch up with their prey and proceed to burn him alive with what appears > to be flame-throwers. Meanwhile, on Enterprise, Trip is still having > trouble sleeping but the Vulcan-neuro pressure treatments he gets from > T'Pol are working. We find him in T'Pol's quarters about to get another > one when T'Pol is called to the Command Center. > > Archer has been studying the Xindi database and has found the location of > one of the places the Xindi visited before being attacked by the marauders > in the previous episode. Arriving at the planet, scans reveal no humanoid > lifeforms but locate a ship on the surface. Archer, T'Pol, Reed and Hoshi > go by shuttlepod to the planet to investigate. There they find the > charred remains of two aliens and a ship. > > Reed starts feeling sick and gradually starts to transform into some sort > of alien being. T'Pol also changes slightly but is for the most part > unaffected. Hoshi and Archer also change. They all chase after T'Pol, > capture her and carry her with them. Before this, T'Pol had managed to > contact the ship to tell them that the Captain and the others had been > altered. Trip and crew scan the planet but only a Vulcan is found and > three aliens. Phlox suggests that this is what T'Pol must have meant when > she contacted the ship to tell them Archer and the others had been > changed. Meanwhile, T'Pol manages to convince Hoshi to let her have the > universal translator and is thus able to communicate with Archer who now > speaks an alien language as do the others. > > Tucker and two MACO soldiers go to the planet in EVA suits and manage to > take down the alien Reed. They take him back to the ship where Dr. Phlox > determines that he has been infected by a mutagenic virus "apparently > designed to rewrite the DNA of its host to transform the humanoid it > infects into another species". T'Pol is virtually immune because of her > Vulcan K cells which neutralize the pathogen. Phlox tells Trip he needs a > sample of T'Pol's DNA if he is to develop an antivirus. > > Two alien vessels intercept Enterprise and the captain tells Trip who is > in command that they are in restricted space. He also tells Tucker that > they have scanned the ship and know that there is a sick person with the > virus on board and that they want to quarantine the ship. They tell Trip > that they will board Enterprise and that the "infected organism must be > eradicated". Trip tells the alien captain that he will talk to him and > invites him to come to Enterprise but warns him that if they board the > ship, they will "have one hell of a fight on their hands". When on board > the alien captain tells Trip that the virus was engineered by a race > called the Loque-eque and that due to something that happened in the past, > the species became sterile. They created the mutagen to prevent their > extinction as the mutagen alters species into their own. The captain > tells Trip that they can't risk an epidemic. > > On the planet, the altered Archer dreams of a city called Urquat. He and > Hoshi want desperately to go to it. This urge to return to the city was > built into the pathogen. Meanwhile, the alien ship launches a shuttlepod. > Their intent is clear, to destroy those infected on the planet. The alien > captain tells his men to capture the Vulcan female but kill the others. > > The changed Archer and Hoshi along with T'Pol arrive at the city but find > only ruins. The aliens arrive and find them. They surround them but just > then Trip and the MACOs arrive, having beamed down and stun the alien > soldiers. T'Pol convinces the altered Archer and Hoshi to go with them to > Enterprise. Luckily, Phlox has developed a cure. The alien captain hails > Enterprise and Archer, who is now almost back to normal, tells the captain > that there is a cure and that he will share it with them. After they > leave, Archer visits sickbay and tells Phlox to preserve the virus as it > is the only remnant of the extinct species. > > Review: > > Firstly, I have to commend Levar Burton on his direction of this episode > considering the material he had to work with. He manages to keep a good > pace throughout and his direction of the actors is also noteworthy. I > also have to praise Scott Bakula, Linda Park and Dominic Keating for their > acting. How they were able to keep a straight face throughout all this is > a wonder. Still they don't come off as ridiculously as one would expect > from such characterization. Normally, I would have cringed at the > squeaking and alien language spoken by the altered Archer, Reed and Hoshi > but they manage to pull it off albeit it is embarrassing to watch at > times. > > I have mixed feelings about how this played out. On the one hand, I can't > help but wonder how such a supposedly advanced species could be so ape- > like in their behavior and yet have achieved what looked like an advanced > civilization but at the same time I could see how it would take a while to > adjust to such an abrupt change and so they wouldn't be so civilized in > their behavior all at once. > > And this brings up another problem, how easily Archer et al changed and > how quickly they reverted back to normal. This kind of writing was > acceptable in the TOS and TNG days but today is too simple and in the end > way too predictable. That kind of quick and easy storytelling isn't > believable anymore. Viewers will still suspend disbelief up to a point > but not when it's been done before too many times. > > The musical score (Velton Ray Bunch) is also noteworthy as it is original > and fresh; the visual effects are good but not outstanding as we've seen > this kind of thing before for instance when Archer metamorphoses into the > alien species and the city scape looked rather fake. Still, the makeup > was excellent. > > This episode suffers from the usual problems found in most Trek shows of > this type. It's been done before for one thing (TNG's "Identity Crisis" > for example ironically enough with Levar Burton as the main actor who > changes into a new species due to a parasite and must return to the planet > where he was infected and Brannon Braga as the writer) and the outcome is > more than predictable. There is some continuity in that Archer is still > studying the Xindi database and is still trying to find the Xindi > homeworld. It doesn't hurt to take a detour from the story arc as such > but it has to be more unusual and new for it to add to the storyline and > be interesting. > > The basic idea of a species altering others to become like them in order > to prevent extinction is intriguing nonetheless and I wish the altered > Archer and others had been more resistant to being changed back and had > been more intelligent in their behavior and in what they were seeking. > Still, I like the idea of an alien species that cannot reproduce finding > a way or process (in this case a virus) to pass on its genetic makeup by > altering another species to make it its own. It's an intriguing idea but > it gets thrown away here by having the altered Archer and others be too, > for the lack of a better word, stupid. > > A couple of things add to the ruthlessness of the containment patrols. > They kill one of their own when his suit becomes damaged and he as such > becomes infected. Also the use of flame throwers does add to the era we > are dealing with although phasers set to kill would do the job just as > well somehow. Still, would they disintegrate their target as they do in > the future? > > It was fun to watch Trip and company use the transporter and I hope it > continues to be used on and off. There's another nice little touch of > continuity when T'Pol tells Trip that he said he wouldn't use transporters > again. > > Lastly, I don't know what to think about the Trip/T'Pol relationship. How > he can be so reserved when she is wearing her low cut (in more ways than > one) pygammas is a little hard to believe. He is very heterosexual and > being in space for so long without any, let's say, interaction with the > opposite sex, it's hard to fathom that he would be _comfortable_ with > T'Pol in such an intimate (let's face it it is) touchy/feely situation. I > doubt I'm in the majority but I find it humorous and somewhat titillating > to watch them together. He complains about her cold hands and states that > he is ticklish. I don't know why but he is very appealing to me in his > _innocence_ however unbelievable it is. Still, this is already getting > old so I hope they drop it sooner than later. > > I give this one a C+. The + for Bakula's, Park's and Keating's efforts. > > Gisele La Roche > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > [>>Charles<<] > > > > > ________________________________ > > Changes to your subscription (unsubs, nomail, digest) can be made by going to http://sandboxmail.net/mailman/listinfo/sndbox_sandboxmail.net ________________________________ Changes to your subscription (unsubs, nomail, digest) can be made by going to http://sandboxmail.net/mailman/listinfo/sndbox_sandboxmail.net ________________________________ Changes to your subscription (unsubs, nomail, digest) can be made by going to http://sandboxmail.net/mailman/listinfo/sndbox_sandboxmail.net
