ST Enterprise: Rate "Carpenter Street"

[Rayaru]

I think that was a really well put together time travel episode that covered modern issues. Gets an 8 from me, a well-spent hour.

[AslanC]

If the Xindi had been there for two months, why not send them (Archer and T'Pol) then instead of two months later. That always makes me angry about Star Trek timetravel.

Over all a medicore episode for Enterprise, which means I didn't really enjoy it.

[Ezri's Toy]

A fun episode. I've always liked time travel stories. And, as everyone has speculated, this episode confirms that the entire Xindi storyline is part of the temporal cold war arc. (OK, continuity monitors: You now officially have your "out" on all continuity conflicts.)

However, the episode didn't feel finished. It was obvious that the episode was a set-up for something else and left the viewer hanging. Thus, it only got a 6 from me.

And finally, after 2.5 seasons, T'Pol finally drops somebody with the Vulcan Nerve Pinch (tm). When I saw it, I smiled and thought "It's about time."

[Rayaru]

I liked the tidbits on temporal mechanics too; that a change in the past "takes a while to ripple through the timeline." I like the idea the even the 30th century overseers can't notice everything, it makes the idea of the Temporal Cold War more viable.

[qerlin]

Don't like time travel, but it was worth looking at for the burger drive-up scene.

[PGoodman13]

Originally posted by Ezri's Toy
And finally, after 2.5 seasons, T'Pol finally drops somebody with the Vulcan Nerve Pinch (tm). When I saw it, I smiled and thought "It's about time."

She dropped Phlox with it fairly early last season; it's not like it's a new deal.

Not a huge fan of time travel episodes, but this one was fairly well-handled, all things considered. Give it a 7.

[Steele1701]

I was disappointed. It never says how the Xindi were able to get to that point in the past. Archer was told by the mystery man from the future that the faction that told them about humans destroying them could only communicate with them from the future. Maybe the rest of the story will come out later but I to think that the episode seemed unfinished.

[prophetsteve]

Well, I have mixed feelings about it.

Briefly 2 things...

1. I really don't think it needed to be a timetravel episode. There seemed no reason for the Xindi to be in the past other than the need to get human hosts without discovery. I would have liked a bit more explanation other than the whole "they are hiding from someone" line.

Honestly, they could have done this just as well in modern day, maybe using that North Star colony. Now that would have been interesting.

2. It felt rushed. They ran though the plot at breakneck speed and it showed. No interaction with the modern day, despite their larcenous activities. The episode also left too many unanswered questions because their time was at a premium.

It wasn't a bad episode overall, but it certainly doesn't match a lot of the highpoints of this season. Nonetheless, Enterprise Season 3 is a bit improvement over Season 2. I just hope they figure out some way to resolve this and not endlessly drag out the Xindi threat. Its at the point where as a viewer I want to start seeing some payoff in regards to the Xindi and the Temporal War. Names. Reasoning. A hint of whats really going on.

The vague answers and cryptic clues were fine in Seasons 1 and 2. Now is the time to find out the real scoop. Remember, in Babylon 5, by Season 3 we knew a great deal about the coming darkness. Enterprise views need the same.

[Balok]

It got a six from me. There was plenty of conflict (as a story element, conflict doesn't require violence, although there was plenty of that here). The characterizations were consistent and the acting was good. In particular, the clinic employee was consistent throughout.

It lost points because the time travel aspect of it seems "bolted on"; that is, it seemed like it wasn't really essential to the plot. Sure, the last couple of minutes were more tense because of when the story was occurring, but that whole sequence was improvised by the Xindi.

Episodes centering on the Temporal Cold War don't really appeal to me because I don't think they're doing all that good a job with the time travel part of it. It's possible this is because too much remains unrevealed, and if I were to view the episode knowing how the TCW ends, I might have a different opinion.

There are now at least three factions involved: the shadow man who is using the Suliban, whoever is using the Xindi (or, at least, whoever taught them how to go back in time), and Daniels, who presumably represents Earth. It is, of course, possible that the Xindi are one of the factions; there's no reason these Xindi were from the 24th century. We assume this because of where they ended up at the very end of the episode when Archer and T'Pol returned to the present.

[Sho-sa Kurita]

I've loved this season so far. This one wasn't quite there, but it was still OK, so a "6." Points for the "drive-in" scene, and more points for casting Leland Orser as our fine upstanding human. Harumph! The last we saw him on Trek was on Voyager as the maintenance hologram that killed his crew. He does like to play the oddballs. Good roles though.

[prophetsteve]

There are now at least three factions involved: the shadow man who is using the Suliban, whoever is using the Xindi (or, at least, whoever taught them how to go back in time), and Daniels, who presumably represents Earth. It is, of course, possible that the Xindi are one of the factions; there's no reason these Xindi were from the 24th century. We assume this because of where they ended up at the very end of the episode when Archer and T'Pol returned to the present.

And don't forget the Tholians, who tried to steal that timepod. Are they a pawn/ally of an existing faction or is it faction number 4.

A bit confusing and its starting to lose me - pretty much why I am saying the series needs some pay-off.

At least we should know how many factions - of those some could remain mysterious, but some of them should be revealed in some way. At least we should be getting an inkling of what the whole Temporal War is about and why they are doing what they are doing.

I can't see them going 4 more years with this arc. At most I see this season or next season, ending in a big finale of the Timewar. After that, Enterprise should concentrate on building the future Federation or something else.

They can't keep giving us questions and mysteries and expect us to be interested - and they certainly can't drag this on forever. After awhile the X-Files got boring - too many questions and not enough answers. Enterprise needs to mix things up ever so often. They did it (rather successfully) this season but the Xindi conflict isn't going to be sustainable past this season IMHO.

[Steele1701]

I agree. I think they need to start working towards the conflict with the Romulans. Star Trek history tells us that the war will begin soon, maybe something is happening while the Enterprise is in the Expanse?

[Evan van Eyk]

The episode itself was not bad, but it simply did not match the storyline of the season. Why are the Xindis suddenly able to travel through time? If so, why did they not transport their prototype back in time and destroyed the very beginning of human species and thus prvented them from ever evolving?Additionally why bother to go back in time to get human samples when just could have captured Enterprise in Rajiin, as the sTarfleet weapons seemed to be ineffective?

[Tricky]

I think the Xindi's Temporal tipster sent them back in time just like Daniels did. And i think ALL sides of the TCW are messing with the past, so they are all sending back agents to alter the time stream. however, since they still need events to follow a similar pattern, they can't just up and wipe out humanity from ever existing.

[Jem'hadar]

Even though time travel is a common theme in Star Trek, I really enjoyed this episode. It had action & a good story.

It also had an explanation of why the Xindi-Earth war has never been mentioned in previous Star Trek series which purpotedly take place later in time. The events surrounding the Xindi are different from the normal timeline.

I wonder if that means the Federation may never come into existence. Daniels said that while the Federation Timefleet still exists, it takes "time" for new timelines to affect later centuries. Of course, time travel is still a concept that is hard to conceptualize w/o getting into all kinds of paradoxes.