Episode Report Card Keckler: B+ | Grade It Now! YOU GRADE IT Flight Of The Simulator
By Keckler | Season 3 | Episode 14 | Aired on 02.03.2004
I guess we're back to the present day, because Degra is awakened from his catnap as the simulator shakes and asks Quantum what's going on. Quantum tells him they are going through a field of "spatial anomalies." Is that May-wasted-talent's new name? We get to see him and Trip controlling the simulator from the outside as T'Pol comms down to them (the simulator is in a Cargo Bay) to increase hydraulics. T'Pol then orders them to initiate a sharp jolt to starboard. "How sharp do you want it?" Trip asks. Yeah, I mean, are we talking as sharp as your collarbones or only as sharp as your hipbones, T'Pol? "Sharp," T'Pol says calmly. Trip and May-wasted-talent exchange looks. "You hurd the lady," Trip shrugs. T'Pol tells Hoshi to warn the captain, which she does. I don't understand that; wouldn't it be more realistic if there were an element of surprise about it? Warning him just means that Quantum has to fake his movements and reactions instead of just acting natural. Or as natural as Quantum can be, which isn't very. Quantum announces that they are losing structural integrity, and takes them out of warp. Through the Portable Weight of the World Window, the stars stop streaking. Quantum says that they'll never make it through the spatial anomaly field, and that they don't have enough gas to go around it. They have to send out a distress call to a Degra-sympathetic ship. Degra worries about Bug House picking it up, but Quantum points out that they don't have a whole lotta options. Degra thinks a bit and admits, "There's a comm channel used by high-ranking Primate officials; I doubt Insectoids know it." Quantum asks for Kenneth's frequency, but Degra prefers to enter it himself. Without blinking a furrow, Quantum enables Degra's side of the console, nods, and backs away.
In Stella Cartography, where Hoshi and T'Pol are monitoring everything, they capture the frequency and wait before they fake a response. Reed comms them from the Bridge to say that he thinks a Xindi ship cometh and there will be guerrillas in their midst in six hours. Hoshi warns T'Pol that the Xindi have such sophisticated sensors that they might notice them long before that. T'Pol tells Reed to hide them in the debris field, even though Reed's twitchy about the radiation overloading their systems. "Well, I certainly hope going back into the debris field won't cause a power flux that fucks up the simulator like in the Paul Sorvino TNG episode. Otherwise, they'll have to start worshipping a new yellow grid-work god," comments Dr. Mathra. For some reason, T'Pol makes a big deal about saying, "Carry out my orders." It was that line that the stupid UPN promo people decided to pick up and tagline with something along the lines of "While the captain's away, she has the run of the ship," as though she were staging a mutiny. Anyone who has been watching the show consistently knows that there haven't been any issues like that with T'Pol since Season 1. I'm such a T'Pol fan these days that my mom sent me a T'Pol tree ornament. With that, some frozen pecan pie, a tub of lip balm from Boots pharmacy, and my Quantum action figure, I'm building myself quite the little Enterprise family.