[ST:Ent][Tech] Overview of 103:"Fight or Flight" SERIES: "Enterprise" EPISODE: "Fight or Flight" PROD#: ENT003 EP#: 1.03 RATING: PG AIRDATE: wed-2001-20:00 EPDATE: ends 6-may-2151 OFFICIAL: startrek.com/ FROM: Phillip Thorne, thorne@underbase.org POST-TO: rec.arts.startrek.tech, rec.arts.sf.tv REVIEW#: 4.0 FORMAT#: 2.1 It's been 20 hours since thIS ep aired, so heavy discussion is probably already in progress in multiple threads; but I haven't seen this format in use. I've observed a lot of unnecessary confusion created (and bandwidth consumed) when the spelling of terms is unclear, or their attribution; so I've tried to derive everything from the closed captions, and distinguish between what we *see* and what is *claimed* by characters. This technical overview format is intended to be easy-to-scan, unambiguous, and precise, and a foundation for further freeform discussion. It is arranged in the order in which events are shown, unless I combine several points on the same technology. It distinguishes between what is said/claimed by characters, from what we see. Whenever possible, it uses spellings from the closed captioning (which may not match that on the official website). If the spelling is unclear, I'll append (sp?), should I remember. Corrections to typos, phrasing, etc. are welcome, but only if you include a citation -- the idea is to *avoid* half-remembered inferences. This overview is (c)2001 Phillip Thorne, thorne@underbase.org. If you wish to reuse large hunks of text, please notify me and include a citation. Abbreviations used: (m/f/?) name belongs to male/female/unclear, (sp?) spelling is unclear, Adm admiral, Cwn crewman, Ens ensign. PLOT SPOILERS BELOW! I. TERMS TRICKY (CC) Nausicaan, chloraxine, zymuth gland, Axanar. TERMINOLOGY Life-form, Pyrithian bat, Sick Bay, argon lamp; deck plating, E-Deck, Starboard Section 5, port-side, com officer, for and aft targeting scanners, torpedo simulation J-6, targeting axis, infrared scanner, resequenced proteins, Nausicaan adrenal gland, tritanium, disilicon polymers, translation matrix, pulsar grid, high-yield particle impact, bio-signs, shuttlepod(sp?); beacons, turbolifts, linguistic database, universal translator, UT, environmental suits, zero-G training, Launch Bay, EM side arms, class-three pulse rifle, EM-33, microcharges; chloraxine, zymuth gland, triglobulin, bio-pump; CULTURE CHARACTERS Sluggo, Cwn.Bennet(?)(sp?), Cwn.Hayden(?), Axanar captain. MENTIONS Ens.Porter(m), Cwn.Namod(m), Ens.Socorro(f), Adm.Forrest. II. SCENES TEASER 001. Sick bay: Sato, Phlox, Tucker. ACT 1 002. Ready room: Archer, T'Pol, Sato. 003. Armory: Reed, Mayweather, Archer. 004. Bridge. 005. Mess hall: Phlox, Tucker. 006. Bridge, science station: T'Pol. 007. Bridge niche. 008. Bridge. ACT 2 009. Corridors: Archer, Tucker. 010. Archer's quarters: Archer, Porthos, Sato. 011. Suit room: Reed, Sato, Archer. 012. EXT. Shuttlepod docks with alien ship. 013. Shuttlepod: Reed, Archer, Sato. 014. Alien corridor. 015. Alien cargo bay. 016. Decon room. 017. Suit room: Archer, T'Pol, Reed, Sato. 018. EXT. Ent exits to warp. ACT 3 019. Sick bay: Sato, Phlox. 020. Officer's mess: Archer, Tucker, T'Pol. 021. Bridge niche: all. 022. EXT. Shuttlepod docked to ship (see 012). 023. Alien cargo bay: Archer, Phlox. 024. Alien bridge: Sato, Tucker. 025. Alien cargo bay. 026. Alien bridge. 027. Bridge, T'Pol. 028. Alien cargo bay, Archer. 029. Bridge. 030. Alien cargo bay. 031. EXT. Vampire ship arrives from warp. ACT 4 032. Bridge: Mayweather, T'Pol, brunette(f). 033. Armory: Reed. 034. Bridge: T'Pol. 035. EXT. 036. Shuttlepod. 037. Bridge. 038. Shuttlepod. 039. EXT. Shuttlepod prepares to dock. 040. Shuttlepod. 041. Bridge: Reed enters. 042. Shuttlepod. 043. EXT. Ent hit forward of bridge, port nacelle. 044. EXT. 2 beams visible from shuttlepod. 045. Shuttlepod: Hoshi closes shutter. 046. EXT. 047. Shuttlepod. 048. Launch Bay. 049. EXT. 050. Bridge. 051. EXT. Ent fires starboard torpedo. 052. EXT. Torpedo bounces off vampire ship. 053. Bridge. 054. EXT. Ent fires port torpedo. 055. EXT. Vampire ship shoots torpedo. 056. Bridge. 057. Engineering: Tucker. 058. Bridge. 059. EXT. Vampire tractors Ent. 060. Bridge. 061. EXT. 062. Bridge. 063. EXT. Vampire begins to drill. 064. Bridge. 065. EXT. Axanar fires on vampire, breaks tractor. 066. Bridge. 067. EXT. Ent fires aft torpedo, hits vampire. 068. Bridge. 069. EXT. Axanar fires on vampire, it explodes. 070. Bridge. 071. EXT. VO Archer. 072. Planet: Sato, Phlox. III. NOTES TEASER 001. In SICK BAY, Sato stares at a sluglike organism she collected on a recent planetfall; it isn't doing well, despite Phlox's ministrations, including an ARGON LAMP; he's considering feeding it to his PYRITHIAN BAT, which won't eat anything dead. Tucker arrives to report he's routed more power to Sick Bay, and complains that they haven't found anything interesting in the TWO WEEKS they've been out. ACT 1 002. Archer complains of a noise beneath the DECK PLATING in his ready room. T'Pol reports that scans of the sectors ahead show little of interest, and the VULCAN STARCHARTS show little on the course assigned by Starfleet; she claims Vulcans don't select destinations "by what piques our interest" and don't share humanity's penchant for exploration. Moreover, she claims only 1 in 43,000 planets supports intelligent life; Archer agrees with the number, learned in EXOBIOLOGY CLASS. Ent is travelling at warp 5. Sato complains she can't sleep because the stars are going the wrong way; both her training cruises she bunked on the PORT-SIDE, but her Ent quarters are in E-DECK, STARBOARD SECTION 5. ENS.PORTER(m) has agreed to swap if Archer approves. 003. Reed and Mayweather are in the torpedo room, and have adjusted the FOR AND AFT TARGETING SCANNERS, then run torpedo SIMULATION J-6. The 3-meter targeting error could be the difference between "a weapons port and a warp core", Reed complains. Mayweather comments that "in 23 years, my folks didn't run into trouble more than half a dozen times." Reed tells Archer that arming "a few torpedoes" takes only "moments". 004. Torpedo live tests are run from the bridge. Reed orders "rotate the TARGETING AXIS by point-5 microns", and decides to refocus the INFRARED SCANNER. An errant torpedo can apparently be commanded to destruct. 005. In the mess hall, Tucker identifies a potato as RESEQUENCED PROTEIN. Phlox is pleased by the food, and comments that his own people would never speak during a meal, considering it a waste of time. He comments on CWN.NAMOD(m), on ENS.SOCORRO(f) (who smells after exercise like the adrenal gland of a NAUSICAAN), and CREWMEN BENNET and HAYDEN. (One is a female redstripe, the other a male yellowstripe, both brunette.) 006. T'Pol's science scope display uses a white background. 007. The same display uses a black background on the briefing niche tabletop. T'Pol has detected an alien ship, 92-m long, "not moving at all", and 3-Ly from the nearest star system. 008. At 5000-km and closing, T'pol reports the alien ship's hull to be made of TRITANIUM and DISILICON POLYMERS. Close-up, she scans residue around a hatch and claims it shows oxidation and thermal shock effects, evidence of HIGH-YIELD PARTICLE IMPACT (ie weapons). Archer dictates a message for Sato to dictate into the TRANSLATION MATRIX, and appends a PULSAR GRID for the aliens to locate Earth's system. There's no response, so Sato ROTATES FREQUENCIES, and later considers using THETA-BAND FREQUENCIES. T'pol claims scanning the ship's interior might be construed as invasion of privacy, and she objects to Archer's boarding plan that several protcols haven't been followed. When she scans for BIO-SIGNS, the CELLULAR ACTIVITY is below the THRESHOLD for Ent's sensors to determine if it's HUMANOID. Reed detects an undamaged second hatch, size 0.9-m, and claims prepping a shuttlepod will take a half-hour. Archer leaves T'Pol in command. ACT 2 009. The corridors are complicated. Archer refers to BEACONS (ie flashlights) and Tucker to TURBOLIFTS. 010. Dictating his PERSONAL LOG, Archer speaks to the air in his room, with the commands "Computer, pause" and (sp?)"Resume personal log". Sato tries to evade going on the mission. She claims the LAG TIME is tripled if the UNIVERSAL TRANSLATOR (aka UT) is tied into the LINGUISTIC DATABASE via the COM. The ENVIRONMENTAL SUITS induce claustrophobia in her, but she endured it during (Academy?) ZERO-G TRAINING. Archer is unsympathetic. 011,017. The environmental suits room has hangers for the suits, open shelves for the helmets (at least four rows of two), and a locker for rifles; everything looks designed for gravity. 011. When suiting up, you wear a grey undertunic, zip (zipper noise) the suit up the front, don the rigid front-backplate, to which the helmet attaches; inside the helmet, above the forehead, are lighting tubes. Sato is checked-out on EM SIDE ARMS and CLASS-THREE PULSE RIFLES, and Archer assures her the phase-pistols (unnamed) handle "pretty much like" the EM-33. He checks something inside (the power pack?); the upper front half hinges at the front, and a red-glowing cylinder sides out of it. 012 EXT. The shuttlepod's upper hatch has a telescoping docking tube. Thrusters. 013. Reed is quick to suggest MICROCHARGES to open the alien hatch, but Archer locates the appropriate controls: one of four identical devices to one side. You pull it out, unfold the tip, twist one-quarter turn, then pull out further. 014. The trio use their handheld sensors to detect the nitrogen-methane atmosphere of minus-twenty degrees(sp?), power "but not much" in an orange-glowing horizontal cylinder on the bulkhead, and spills of amino acids (possibly blood); more of the green liquid is spattered on the wall. 015. They enter a cargo-bay. One crate has a black label with a white symbol, like a pair of intersecting audio waveforms. A pump-device is mounted on one wall, with hoses leading away; a tank half-full of green liquid has a symbol of two vertical red zig-zags, sandwiching a stack of yellow lines. 016,017. Archer saw "about a dozen" bodies; Reed is more precise, "fifteen". T'pol suggests they leave, and Archer can't think of a reason to object. 018 EXT. Ent accelerates, its engines glow blue, it speeds off with a white trail, then vanishes in a white flash. ACT 3 019. Phlox claims he was on the first medical team to respond to a cargo ship orbiting his homeworld that had suffered an explosion; there were 17 bodies on the bridge alone. He claims he taught for years (possibly at a university). Sato calls herself an EXO-LINGUIST, claims she graduated second in her class, spent 3 years in Starfleet training. 020. The officer's mess has a port, and is apparently on the forward side of the ship. T'pol doesn't find the pasta too spicy, but declines the iced tea. She's detected a stellar nursery along their course. Vulcans would've never boarded the alien ship; "we have a code of behavior, and we try to obey it." Tucker refers to "the big lens outside Anchorage." 023,025,030. Phlox uses his own handheld scanner, a circular device. He reports that one alien died of a lethal dose of CHLORAXINE, and 3 were shot. The BIO-PUMP is draining the ZYMUTH GLAND, which releases TRIGLOBULIN into their blood; some species use it for medicines, vaccines, or even aphrodisiacs; it's very similar to human lymphatic fluid. 024. The bridge is splattered with more green blood. The displays have the white waveform motif, and horizontal lines of green text. Sato's initial evaluation of the alien language: a BIMODAL GRAMMAR. She tells Tucker she once took a HYDRO-SKIMMER with two other teachers onto a tributary in the Amazon, but hated the creepy wildlife. She discovers KUNATSILA means "distress", and DUKTA-MUTOOR KUNATSILA DATII is "ship in distress". 031 EXT. The sharp-edged vampire ship arrives from warp, with a white flash and a green-tinged trail. ACT 4 The shuttlepod docks in the aft-starboard of the 4 bays. The first beam hits the saucer just forward of the bridge bulge, and the second hits the inboard side of the port nacelle, causing an orange explosion. Two more are visible from the shuttlepod's position ventral-aft. (Misses, or did the vampire ship dive beneath Ent?) Reed says "both forward tubes loaded and ready." Archer orders the starboard fired (it bounces off the vampire's shields), then port (it's blasted by a beam). In the VFX, each emerges from one of a paired set of holes on the forward side of the ventral saucer; there are two sets. The aft torp is fired from the pod slung between the nacelles. 071 EXT. Archer records his CAPTAIN'S STARLOG, May 6, 2151. They've "spent some time with" the AXANAR, an androgynous race who live over 400 years. Ent arrives at a grey-blue planet. 072. Sato leaves Sluggo in the middle of a rocky landscape with no apparent vegetation. V. CONNECTIONS Axanar Triglobulins VI. ANALYSIS 1. Suiting up probably doesn't require a lengthly prebreathing period, because it takes a half-hour to prep the shuttlepod, Archer visits his quarters to dictate a log, and he's in a rush. 2. Axanar dialogue: Atad dvii oora. Aureetuan. Tomii alo owaba! Minas! Oora tuo calla! Loor rah tee. Ahtara noss rahnay. Mii toras amayar tee. (DNA scan shows your presence, two years?days? ago) Atah hoss moor at! (Not going to help) -Ataa dvii oora. Ataa iis? Minas alo. -Ataa loora iis ja. Oorehm miista voora. Eetova vohmala? -Oorah, ootah, oota doee oorah. Sciitara. -Latoora de. Emos owaaba. -De! VII. NITS If Sluggo needs an "argon-rich" atmosphere, why not pump some into his cage? And how will an "argon lamp" help? Do argon-rich atmospheres glow like fluorescent tubes? Ent is in battle, but Archer, Sato and Tucker pause to change (environmental suits to uniforms) before heading to the Bridge and Engineering?