Enterprise 3x10: "Similitude"

[Kira]

[color=#000000ost_uid0]I'm not sure what to think about this episode. Â My first impression is that it's a great concept, but the execution leaves something to be desired.

First of all, YEEEAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHH! Â IMBECILES! Â DNA DOES NOT CONTAIN MEMORIES! Â Phlox's comment that this is a "new discovery" placated me for a few seconds, but not for long. Â First off, a "new discovery" on [iost_uid0]Enterprise[/iost_uid0] is an [iost_uid0]old[/iost_uid0] discovery on Star Trek. Â And even now, we know that DNA just doesn't change -- or at least, nobody yet has ever proven that it changes to an extent that it could encode memories. Â I have a feeling the conversation went something like this:

Writer 1: "Hey! Â What if Trip's clone had his memories?"
Writer 2: "Yeah! Â That would be great! Â Then he'd be all asking questions, and freaking everyone out, and he could help the crew, and even hit on T'Pol!"
Writer 3: "Um, guys? Â He's a clone. Â He wouldn't have memories."
Writer 1: "Who cares? Â Conflict! Â Tension!"
Writer 2: "[iost_uid0]Sexual[/iost_uid0] tension!"
(Writers 1 and 2 give each other high fives)

I won't be surprised if our resident chemists were similarily hysterical at the "nucleonic particles" attacking the hull, but I'll leave that for them to butcher.

As for this week's topic of choice.... The good news is, we got a little more subtlety this time around than we did with, say, "Stigma." Â ("What's this? Â You mean prejudice against AIDS is [iost_uid0]bad?[/iost_uid0]") Â The bad news is, if what the writers were getting at it stem cell research, they're a little off track. Â The obvious differences are, of course, that (1) stem cells used for research aren't obtained from embryos created specifically [iost_uid0]for[/iost_uid0] research and (2) stem cell research doesn't involve growing up a sentient organism, then killing it. Â This isn't to say that there aren't simliarities, but those are two very important points that distance the episode from the issue it seems they're trying to tackle.

One twist that I did like was the revelation (a rather convenient one, but meh) that "Sim" had a chance, albeit a slim one, to live out a normal human lifespan. Â Then again, this led to the "Even if it means killing you" conversation, which seemed harsh -- whether it was deservedly so, I'm not sure. Â I actually wondered whether they were going to pull a "Deadlock" and have Trip's clone replace him -- which would have explained their stupid "DNA has memory" thing since they'd need it as a fallback. Â I did like the conflict created, but I'm not sure it was handled as well as similar issues have been on other series.

I'm surprised it took them fifty minutes to get T'Pol and the clone locking lips. Â I kept debating which would win out -- common sense (T'Pol is, after all, Vulcan and hasn't ever shown definitive interest in Trip) or UPN. Â I guess the fifty-minute delay can be explained if you consider it took them under two to have T'Pol leaning over Trip in a provocative position. Â (And that scene was going so well until then... sigh.)

Overall? Â I'm not sure. Â The episode was far from a disaster, but I'm not entirely certain it was a roaring success, either.

Next week: [iost_uid0]Star Trek IV[/iost_uid0], minus two whales.[/colorost_uid0]

[Celeste]

[color=#000000ost_uid0]I liked this episode. It had a good story and I even had to break out the tissues towards the end. ^_~

As far as the memories in DNA thing. I saw a program on the discovery channel or somewhere, about a universal memory that is passed down to every human. I can't remember much about it, but that's immediatly what I thought of when they said Sim had Trips memories.[/colorost_uid0]

[Derek]

[color=#000000ost_uid0]You know, with last week's episode and this week's episode, I haven't had the feeling of being in the expanse, looking for the Xindi, like I've had previously. "Similitude" just felt like another Trek episode, not like an Enterprise episode. Whether that's good or bad is debatable, but I like the way this season generally has a feeling all its own that other Treks don't have.

As for the episode... whatever. It didn't really appeal to me. I didn't buy T'Pol kissing Sim. I didn't buy Sim's memories. It had some good scenes, but for whatever reasons, I wasn't invested in it. Oh well.[/colorost_uid0]

[galibert]

[color=#000000ost_uid0]Note that about the memories we don't really know if it's actual genetic memory or "simply" telepathy due the the extreme similarity of the two brains (ala Van Vogt's Non-A).

But if you want to bitch at bad physics, please tell me what the nx-01 was stuck on that the schuttlepods had to somehow wrench it out of.

OG.[/colorost_uid0]

[Kira]

[quoteost_uid0="galibert"][color=#000000ost_uid0]But if you want to bitch at bad physics, please tell me what the nx-01 was stuck on that the schuttlepods had to somehow wrench it out of.[/colorost_uid0][/quoteost_uid0]
[color=#000000ost_uid0]Remember the big explosion that harmed Trip in the first place? And how they spent the entire episode trying to repair the engines? They weren't stuck, they were just without propulsion. (Why they didn't have impulse is something I'm a little fuzzy on.) They needed to get out of the cloud so the shuttlepods towed them.[/colorost_uid0]

[Zeke]

[color=#000000ost_uid0]I just watched the episode. It was a fantastic piece of television, and right now I don't like anybody. Not the characters, not the writers, and not [iost_uid0]you[/iost_uid0]. Yeah, you.

More later. I need a bit of time to start liking stuff again.[/colorost_uid0]

[NeoMatrix]

[color=#000000ost_uid0]I liked the episode. Sorta reminded me of "Tuvix"

(I knew it was Tuvix. Stupid spelling errors)[/colorost_uid0]

[catalina_marina]

[color=#000000ost_uid0]That would be "Tuvix", and I got that too. Especially when Archer suddenly started Threatening Sim.[/colorost_uid0]

[PointyHairedJedi]

[color=#000000ost_uid0]This whole memory thing sounds suspiciously similar to the Idaho ghola recoving his memory in [iost_uid0]Children of Dune[/iost_uid0], though I guess I'll have to reserve judgement 'till I actually see the episode.[/colorost_uid0]

[Michiel]

[color=#000000ost_uid0]Does anyone know how Phlox thought of the name 'Sim'? Did it mean anything?[/colorost_uid0]

[NAHTMMM]

[color=#000000ost_uid0]From "Similitude", which is related to "similarity", which is related to "similitudinariousness".

Or so I assume. [/colorost_uid0]

[mudshark]

[color=#000000ost_uid0]^ Or [iost_uid0]simulacrum.[/iost_uid0][/colorost_uid0]

[Michiel]

[color=#000000ost_uid0]Ah, yes. The title. But I didn't know what that meant.[/colorost_uid0]

[Zeke]

[quoteost_uid0="Michiel"][color=#000000ost_uid0]Does anyone know how Phlox thought of the name 'Sim'? Did it mean anything?[/colorost_uid0][/quoteost_uid0]
[color=#000000ost_uid0]He's a Ray Bradbury fan, that's how. Scroll to the highlighted part of this essay, where it discusses Bradbury's novella "Frost and Fire."[/colorost_uid0]

[galibert]

[color=#000000ost_uid0][quoteost_uid0="Kira"][quoteost_uid0="galibert"]But if you want to bitch at bad physics, please tell me what the nx-01 was stuck on that the schuttlepods had to somehow wrench it out of.[/quoteost_uid0]
Remember the big explosion that harmed Trip in the first place? And how they spent the entire episode trying to repair the engines? Â They weren't stuck, they were just without propulsion. Â (Why they didn't have impulse is something I'm a little fuzzy on.) Â They needed to get out of the cloud so the shuttlepods towed them.[/quoteost_uid0]
It's not having to tow them, it's the acceleration pattern that's all wrong. Â They tow, the enterprise doesn't move, they tow harder, still doesn't move, they tow hardest, a shudder and suddendly it moves, and they need less traction for more acceleration after that point.

Problem is, only adhesion forces have this kind of pattern, countering the force you apply exactly until you reach a limit where all the countering force dissapears. Â Pressure from the gases around would be proportional to v squared (i.e. pulling would be harder as they accelerate with no resistance at startup), magnetic field would be position-dependant only and independant of the towing forces.

So the enterprise was stuck on something, but there is a annoying lack of something around....

Of course only B5 seemed to care about space movement physics anyway :-)

 OG.[/colorost_uid0]

[catalina_marina]

[color=#000000ost_uid0]If we're picking on the episode's physics anyway, tell me why the magnetic stuff that was stuck on Enterprise's hull let go of it when they moved out of that nebula (or whatever it was).[/colorost_uid0]

[FatMatDuhRat]

[color=#000000ost_uid0]I am totally astounded by the link that [bost_uid0]Zeke[/bost_uid0] provided
for us in order to read all the information about the
[bost_uid0]Bradbury[/bost_uid0] story & all of its similarities (Ha-Ha) to the
ENT episode which was just on TV.
:smile:
And I'm not going to jump off the ship even though
some ppl might be screaming at me that it's sinking.
I really like [bost_uid0]ENT[/bost_uid0], and the previous episode (as well
as [bost_uid0]Twilight[/bost_uid0]) proved to me that I should keep on
watching it. I've missed a few eps of Season 3 so
far (including the one with all the horses) but I'll
see those again during the summer repeats.

I'm anxious to see the upcoming one where the
[bost_uid0]Andorians[/bost_uid0] return (and we get to see the inside of
their ship) and I'd also like to stick around to see
what the frell the writers are going to come up with
for the bunch of episodes that're suppossed to be
aired during "sweeps week."[/colorost_uid0]

[Wowbagger]

[color=#000000ost_uid0]I pretty much agree with Zeke on this one: great television that puts one in a very bad mood. Thursday was not a good day for me.

The show brings up a very important question: Was Sim's life as valuable as Trip's? This question parallels some significant political/social/religious questions here in the States (I don't know about you canucks) about abortion, stem cell research, cloning, and euthanasia. Who counts as alive, and whose lives are more important?

I also am looking forward to how this affects Archer. Sure, he got Trip back, but at what cost?[/colorost_uid0]

[MaverickZer0]

[color=#000000ost_uid0]Please no reset button.

I liked it personally. But right now I have to get over hating the world...and resist the urge to shoot the writers for making Archer a jerk in this one...

Trip is my favorite character. Killing any version of him means pain for them. Especially if Malcolm goes does too, which means 'Twilight' is a double death for B&B.[/colorost_uid0]

[PointyHairedJedi]

[color=#000000ost_uid0]*[iost_uid0]CoughTuvixCoughCough[/iost_uid0]*[/colorost_uid0]