Text 601, 113 rader
Skriven 2005-01-23 10:27:00 av David A. Berkowitz (1:278/230)
Ärende: "Observer Effect"
=========================


At 03:53 AM 1/23/2005, you wrote:

>It's time to observe another Trek episode again... but do we interfere?
>
>SPOILER
>
>WARNING!
>
>If
>
>you
>
>haven't
>
>studied
>
>the
>
>experiment
>
>called
>
>"The Observer Effect"
>
>don't
>
>read
>
>this
>
>review!

The encapsulation of the episode may have been incomplete, but there's 
still plenty for us to chew on.



>Klingons with the Federation in later generations.  "The Observer Effect,"
>like a good prequel episode, provides something of a basis for these
>developments, giving a basis for some of the elements of "Errand of Mercy."

>This ability of the Organians to inhabit other beings would seem to be
>completely new.  I don't really mind that this adds to their abilities,
>making them even more powerful, but I think it is worth noting that the
>Organians of "Errand of Mercy" seemed to create their own bodies, rather
>than use a pre-existing one.

I think we can surmise that the Organians took Archer's criticisms of their 
behavior to heart to such an extent that the use of another being in this 
way came to be considered an immoral act.  That a step far shorter than the 
forced cessation of hostilities that they imposed at the end of EoM.  One 
does wonder what became of the Organians in later years, though.  I seem to 
have a vague recollection that there was an explanation somewhere about 
them leaving the galaxy, but I don't remember where I picked that up.



>I'm not sure how much of Hoshi's story makes sense to me.  Much of it seems
>to be at odds with the reserved, timid communications officer we've known
>over the past few years.  In "Exile," for example, it was pointed out that

There doesn't seem to be a basis for any of this story, unless perhaps it 
comes from an Enterprise novel.  Not having read any of those, I can't 
say.  But it adds some interest to perhaps the most under-used character of 
the series,  though Mayweather also gets short shrift. I speculate that 
this conversation and back story is laying the groundwork for something to 
come.  Some short time after the conversation in this episode, Hoshi has an 
opportunity to use those akido skills and they are nowhere to be seen.  We 
might chalk that up to her illness, but having just mentioned the skills it 
seems pointless not to have demonstrated them.


>This whole routine about silicon virus-like diseases being able to take on a
>carbon life form doesn't really seem to hold water.  In order to multiple,
>the silicon lifeform would have to multiply, but it would be incompatible
>with anything but a very small amoutnt of a carbon-based creature like Trip.

Right on.  I can't imagine why the writers make a point of stating that the 
virus is silicon based.  It adds no value to the story and runs completely 
afoul of current medical knowledge.  I suppose we might learn something in 
the future that contradicts our current understanding, but it was 
unnecessary to the episode to add this detail. Being very generous to the 
Reeves-Stevens team, I suppose they might have been thinking that Phlox 
should easily be able to deal with any carbon-based contagion.  But we know 
that McCoy still has trouble with some bugs 100 years later, so this 
concern could be dismissed at least from a continuity standpoint.

Was it made clear at the end of the episode that the Organians were going 
to wipe the memories of the humans that they'd met?  I know it was 
discussed with Phlox, but I don't recall them saying that to Archer (I 
could have missed it.)  Without that memory wipe, though, we'd have a 
pretty big continuity problem, so we have to assume that all memories of 
the encounter will be lost.  But that runs counter to Enterprise putting a 
warning buoy  around the planet warning off future visitors.  So in either 
case I think we have a problem.

All in all, I think this was a decent, watchable episode with some good 
moments for Hoshi, Trip and at least some dialog for Mayweather if no real 
character development. The Reeves-Stevens team did better with a 3-episode 
arc, but perhaps they're still getting the feel of packing a lot of 
character development and action into a 60 page script.  I think they'll 
get there.

Dave 



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