Star Trek (ENT): Future Tense

[SlackerinDeNile]

I haven't seen this episode since it first aired on Sky 1 so I'd forgotten just about all of it and whether or not it even existed (I don't own the Enterprise DVD's and the only episodes I've watched since it first came out are Broken Bow and In a mirror darkly).
There's a good reason I questioned it's existence because it's actually one of the much better episodes of the show.

I was never keen on the temporal cold war plot but I liked the more mysterious aspects of it like we see in this episode.

T'Pol's anti-human racism throughout the show really irritated me, I don't mind it when she points out the flaws of human characters or takes interstellar travel and science for granted but did she have to come across as so xenophobic and intolerant towards them?

It was also nice to see the Tholians back in action, that tactic of disabling the Vulcan ship and then holding it hostage at the end was kind of clever, plus I like any weird alien in general.

[bronnt]

T'Pol's anti-human racism throughout the show really irritated me, I don't mind it when she points out the flaws of human characters or takes interstellar travel and science for granted but did she have to come across as so xenophobic and intolerant towards them?

It was also nice to see the Tholians back in action, that tactic of disabling the Vulcan ship and then holding it hostage at the end was kind of clever, plus I like any weird alien in general.

T'Pol's close-mindedness in this episode really struck me. It's rather non-Vulcan of her. Given the fact that they've seen plenty of evidence of time travelers by this point, her continued insistence that time travel is impossible just doesn't feel realistic. Spock, for instance, always seemed open to the possibility of things he didn't understand.

[Robovski]

Spok is a a-typical Vulcan (being half human for one thing). Enterprise does have us spend more time with other Vulcans, and they vary some in regards to humans (we smell btw).

[Asvarduil]

I think what's going on with pure-blood Vulcans is in many ways a spinoff from DS9's baseball episode. While Spock - and, as we find out in Discovery, Sarek - are atypical in they are xenophiles, many Vulcans are very rigid, even inflexible in their thinking, to the point of overt racism. Much as the Federation later on transforms the Prime Directive into something akin to a religion, a number of Vulcans have turned logic into something of a religion...sometimes even with rather nasty effects, as will become apparent in the Vulcan arc in Season 4, or the plot point in early Discovery with the 'logic extremists'.

Of course, not all Vulcans are xenophobic. Sisko's captain on the Saratoga, for instance, worked well with others, as do a number of later Vulcan Starfleet admirals. I suspect it takes the Vulcans quite some time to come around to their human neighbors, but they're capable of it. Certainly, later on T'Pol grows fond enough of her human neighbors to take a United Earth Starfleet commission (though, she keeps the catsuits, 'cuz horny immature males). Lastly, bear in mind the words of Trip's Vulcan biology teacher: "Challenge your preconceptions, or they will most certainly challenge you."

#NotAllVulcans #MakeP'JemGreatAgain

[GandALF]

Vulcans are Elves, they're magic and they're haughty towards the younger races.

[Sir Will]

Vulcans are Elves, they're magic and they're haughty towards the younger races.

Pretty much.

[SlackerinDeNile]

Vulcans are Elves, they're magic and they're haughty towards the younger races.

I wonder how the Vulcans would interact with the Vorlons or the Shadows, or even the Minbari.

[BlackoutCreature2]

For some reason I always find this episode incredibly forgettable. I know I've seen it at least a half dozen times over last 15 years, but other then that the Enterprise crew found a TARDIS, I can never remember anything else about it. The Tholians, the time loops, all that stuff just kinda falls out of my head 10 seconds after the show ends.

[Linkara]

What fascinates me is how this was apparently originally pitched as what eventually BECAME "In a Mirror, Darkly" with the idea being that it was the Defiant that they stumbled across instead of a random timeship. It was too expensive (and apparently believed to reveal too much about the future to Archer) at the time so they went with the dimensionally-transcendental ship, instead. Honestly I think it works out better this way. If the Temporal Cold War had had a proper payoff, this would have been a good stepping stone to it. I could imagine similar vessels showing up, lost in time or remnants from a war that hadn't happened yet.

[SlackerinDeNile]

What fascinates me is how this was apparently originally pitched as what eventually BECAME "In a Mirror, Darkly" with the idea being that it was the Defiant that they stumbled across instead of a random timeship. It was too expensive (and apparently believed to reveal too much about the future to Archer) at the time so they went with the dimensionally-transcendental ship, instead. Honestly I think it works out better this way. If the Temporal Cold War had had a proper payoff, this would have been a good stepping stone to it. I could imagine similar vessels showing up, lost in time or remnants from a war that hadn't happened yet.

Wow I never knew that! You Channel Awesome celebs always seem to know the fascinating truths and production history behind pop culture and media.

I agree with you that it works out better this way, it takes the show in its own, unique direction rather than shoe-horning in big references to other series, like the infamous Enterprise finale did.