Date: Mon, 02 May 2005 10:51:31 -0400
From: "Slattery, Tim - BLS" <Slattery_T@bls.gov>> Archer's psychotic behavior comes full fledged when he not
> only just wants a command of his own, but to be emperor
> himself! His paranoid and schizophrenia attitude was
> reminiscent of lead poisoned roman aristocrats. He felt that
> everyone was out to get him and that there was no one he
> could trust. He even imagined another Archer talking to him
> and telling him what should be done. A very deranged
> character for Bakula to play, but he did it quite well.
I disagree with this assessment. Mirror-Archer was quite rational, he was
expecting others to act just as he was - ruthlessly in their own interest.
He'd have to be nuts not to expect that.
As for the "talking to himself" scenes, I didn't interpret those as
hallucinations, but as the director's way of letting us hear
Mirror-Archer's thoughts.
Date: Mon, 02 May 2005 08:50:18 -0700 (PDT)
From: lord kolath <kolath@yahoo.com>The mirror universe has been beaten to death. One
can't help but make different opinions regarding this
episode AND compare it to the TOS episode. Regarding
whether Archer is or isn't psychotic, that is just a
matter of opinion as to how one sees Archer and Mirror
Archer. Myself, i prefer (In my opinion only)the TOS
Mirror, Mirror, because it has a wonderfully evil
spock...
Date: Mon, 02 May 2005 17:45:20
From: "David W. Griffin"<carbon_dragon@y...>Yes this is the first time the Constitution is shown as having aft
weapons of any kind, phasers or torpedoes. Weapons were done
reasonably well here in homage to the original show otherwise. This
might give us a baseline as to the relative power level between the
NX and the Constitution though the mirror NX appears to have a
different main weapon system (looks like disruptors rather than
phase cannon -- maybe they stole them from the Klingons). The
Defiant definitely cut a swath of destruction among the Enterprise
era Vulcans, Tholians, Andorians, and Tellarites.
More disturbing is that this mirror universe has the Defiant intact
at the end of the show, which means the mirror Enterprise in TOS
should be significantly more powerful (as has been already pointed
out)if this universe leads to the mirror universe of TOS.
Archer starts out in the first part much like his non-mirror self
(arrogant, hare-trigger temper, volatile) but gradually evolves into
pretty much a psycho.
We still don't know what happened to create the empire, but the
first divergence seems to be planting the mirror universe flag on
the moon on what seems to be their first moon landing. If true, the
empire was there well before the Vulcans landed in Montana.
Still don't know what that mysterious pre-enterprise cruiser is with
the huge impulse engines in back. Whatever it is, it doesn't seem to
be around these days. Didn't see the intrepid in the mirror universe
but the little triangle ships are there. The implication is that had
the Empire not scored the Defiant, the "rebels" (which seemed to be
a coalition between the Vulcans, the Andorians, and the Tellarites)
might have won. We see the Xindi in the opening credits, but it's
unclear how Earth handled the Xindi threat (though as I said,
perhaps in this universe the empire DID destroy the Xindi world, or
will). Perhaps there was no temporal cold war in this universe
either, though there are Suliban with cloaking devices.
One wonders where the Romulans were in this situation, and the
Klingons. Surely the Klingons would take advantage of weakness in
the Empire's fight against their rebels by attacking, and we do see
a Klingon ship in the opening credits. You have to wonder what the
actual size of the Terran Empire fleet is. We see the Enterprise and
the Avenger (both NX) and two of the little triangle ships, but how
many more are there? I would think an Empire would require a
significantly larger fleet to conquer the Vulcans, Andorians, and
the Tellarites.
Date: Sunday, May 01, 2005 7:28 PM
From: "Barry Margolin" <barmar@alum.mit.edu>> Aside from all the plots and sub-plots for power by all the
> characters, the recreation of the Defiant's bridge and inside decks
> was quite remarkable. All the classic sound effects of the TOS series
> were recreated with detail. Phasers and photons torpedoes firing, red
> alert klaxon, and all the background blips and beeps of the ship were
> there. Someone went to great lengths to pay attention to detail. For
> that, they get an A+!
I no longer have my TOS-era "Star Trek Technical Manual". Did anyone
check whether the chest patch was correct for Defiant?
> 1) Mayweather consorts with Hoshi.
He got to show more personality in his brief scenes this week than in
the past 4 years, even including that episode that was all about him
visiting his family's ship.
>
> 2) Nice CGI of a Gorn.
Good CGI, but it felt out of place to see such a realistic looking
saurian in a TOS ship. Kind of like the difference between TOS Klingons
and the movie/TNG Klingons.
> What it all means -
>
> Hoshi is now the Empress.
I had a feeling from the very beginning that she had some big ambitions.
She knows how to manipulate (i.e. seduce) the right men to lead her to
her goals.
But for a moment towards the end I thought the twist was going to be
that Mayweather would kill Archer and take over. As the least
significant regular on the show, it would have been quite fitting.
Date: Mon May 2, 2005 6:57 pm
From: "iganokami" <iganokami@g...>Quick question - is there some significance of Hoshi
becoming 'empress' in the MU? Is the future MU (shown in DS9 and TOS)
ruled by empresses? Or is this just a twist end with no real relevance
to the rest of it?
Date: Mon May 2, 2005 12:55 pm
From: iss50I was trying to figure out how the TE could have the Defiant, but then
it turned up in the Tholian Web 100 years later for Kirk et al. to
find. Then I realized that TOS Enterprise found the Defiant before it
went through the worm hole (or whatever) and was taken into the
alternate universe. I've been trying to recall details of the TOS
episode -- wasn't the Defiant winking in and out of existence? And when
the TOS crew boarded it, weren't all the crew dead, in a scene
reminscent of Archer's boarding it the first time? So, Kirk was left
behind on the Defiant, it winked out of existence, Kirk was found
floating in the web, and the Defiant disappeared forever, into the
alternate universe where it was found by Archer. Does that make sense?
(I hope so, as it's the only scenario that makes sense to me!)
Obviously, Empress Sato didn't share Archer's hatred of non-Terrans, or
the Alternate Spock wouldn't have been science officer in 100 years.
Unless -- nah, this is too much to contemplate -- there was a second
alternate universe, with another "copy" of the Defiant?