***warning: Spoiler For Future Enterprise Episode***

[erhershman]

I just found this on trekweb.com:

In the episode, titled "Acquisition," four Ferengi maurauders knock out the Enterprise crew using gas and then proceed to scavenge the ship. Trip avoids the gas while hiding in the Decon Chamber and wakes up Archer and T'Pol to mount a defense of the ship.
As posited in recent days, the crew of the Enterprise will never actually learn the identity of the pirates, thus preserving the continuity with TNG's "The Last Outpost," which was the first official contact between humans and the Ferengi. -TrekToday, 1/23/02

Thoughts? Rants? Complaints?

[Ineti]

I don't really see a problem with it. If the crew of the ship doesn't know they're Ferengi, I don't really see this affecting canon.

Of course, I think I'm one of the few who isn't holding this new series under a magnifying glass. If the powers that be want to veer a little from the established (internally inconsistent) canon, I don't really care. My main hope is to see good shows week in and week out, and so far, the series has delivered.

[qerlin]

Amen, Ineti.

So what do you think...ridges? No ridges?

[C5]

I agree with Ineti too.
As long as there is not a blatant violation of continuity, like for instance encountering the Borg and getting away with it (even if the crew doesn't learn who they are), I'm not too much concerned with the continuity problem in Enterprise.
But then again, I'm a rather recent Trekkie and quite unable to recall that on such particular TOS episode, Spock states that such technology has been invented for such time and so encountering it in Ent is a violation of continuity plotted by the evil B&B entity and so on...

On the Ferengi matter, I've been watching recently the first episodes of TNG where they appear, and I've noticed that, in these episodes, although nobody knows what the Ferengi look like, StarFleet seems to have some information on their philosophy and technology (even though in the pilot Picard mentions them to find their customers "tasty"... maybe just a figure of speech after all). So the Federation could have been well aware of them for some time - and even more, when Picard sees a Ferengi for the first time, he doesn't seem too much surprised, so maybe the Federation had seen Ferengis soonier that they thought - without knowing they were Ferengi of course.

qerlin : I vote ridges, spots, and front antennaes

[qerlin]

With you on the make-up, C5!

I finally saw this, BTW. It ogt preempted here in ABQ, so I downloaded it from one of the websites that has all the episodes online (gad, do I love broadband...)

I LOVED this episode. I thought the interplay between Archer and the Ferengi was really well done. I liked them stripping absolutely everything that wasn't bolted down...and a whole lotta crap that was...out of the ship. And stealing Portos -- just because.

Hell with continuity -- I thought this episode was worth it.

[Capt Daniel Hunter]

Well as a longtime fan from way back (I started watching TOS as a little kid in the early seventies), who was rabidly against the whole idea of TNG (how could they possibly make Star Trek without Kirk and co?????) when it started, I've long since learned to sit back and judge each show/episode on it's own merits.

I hated TNG when it started, but I love it now. TNG is about equal with TOS in my mind (and I don't give a flying fig about the hardcore loonies who hate TNG, and refuse to believe there was any Star Trek after The Motion Picture) and who nitpick every silly single little piece of minutae under the sun.

Er what were we discussing? Oh yeah.

Well I would NEVER have used the Ferengi in Enterprise. I really don't see the point, it was unnecessary, and they could have used the Orions, or Tellarites (would have a been a great way to introduce the Tellarites, though in a less amusing way).

But despite that, I tried to keep an open mind about the episode, and I have to say that I actually enjoyed it. No, it wouldn't have been my choice, but who's to say my choice is the 'right' one? I enjoyed the episode, it was amusing, and despite what many people have said, I thought it was well written. I mean I saw people criticising the writers for having T'Pol acting'un-Vulcan' in this one??? Loosen up people, this was a comedy ep. Try watching Trouble with Tribbles sometime, Kirk is an idiot in it, but it's funny. Which was the intention.

This a was an unimportant but entertaining and funny 44 minutes of TV. I can live with that.

[Dan Stack]

Loki (the Stack family dog) and I were quite worried about Porthos.

Loki did point out that the Ferengi were on the right track in judging a species by the size of its ears (Welsh Cardigan Corgis have huge ears compared with the rest of their bodies.)

Don't let the universal translator scene fool you - dogs understand every word they hear. They just ignore most of it. And deciphering their barks is easy. There's the "let's play" bark, the "I have to go potty" bark, the "I'm sad" bark, etc. I'm surprised the Ferengi couldn't translate his barks.

[Capt Daniel Hunter]

Personally I think Porthos will the the founder of Section 31

[C5]

Originally posted by Dan Stack
Don't let the universal translator scene fool you - dogs understand every word they hear. They just ignore most of it. And deciphering their barks is easy. There's the "let's play" bark, the "I have to go potty" bark, the "I'm sad" bark, etc. I'm surprised the Ferengi couldn't translate his barks.

This reminds me a Gary Larson cartoon, where a picture shows a man talking to his dog and the other what the dog really understands

As for deciphering Porthos' barks, I guess that if he wasn't hungry at the time, none of his barks contained the idea "I want something", so the Ferengi translator had no frame of reference to match the language

One utterly irrelevant and off-topic thought coming to me : Archer should be very careful with Porthos, last time a regular cast member took a pet on board, it ended changing sex...

[Capt Daniel Hunter]

He's too clever for the Ferengi, that's what it is

They just were functioning on his level.