Episode Report Card Keckler: B+ | Grade It Now! YOU GRADE IT The Vulcansnatchers
By Keckler | Season 3 | Episode 5 | Aired on 10.07.2003
Bridge. T'Pol recognizes the transponder frequencies as being from the Selaya. "They entered the Expanse nine months ago," she finishes. Were they the ones who sent back "Vulcan's Creepiest Home Videos" in "The Expanse"? Enterprise sets an intercept course.
Enterprise wanders lonely as an anomaly until it comes upon a mess of rocky asteroids, fluttering and dancing in the breeze. T'Pol reports that the asteroids are moving unpredictably. Maybe they're being jocund. Trip notes that the reason why the Vulcans were "innerested" in these particular head-tossing asteroids is that they are chock full of Trellium ore. Quantum doesn't want to risk the ship in such a sprightly dance, so he orders Reed awakened and a sh'pod prepped. He tells Trip to attempt to get his hands on some of the Trellium ore. Quantum and T'Pol leave.
Sh'pod. T'Pol, Quantum, Reed, and an Uh-Oh maneuver their way through the mess of rocky asteroids. Quantum asks what else T'Pol knows about the Selaya. "A great deal," T'Pol says. "I served on it for over a year." As the deputy science officer aboard, it was her last assignment before she joined the consulate on Earth. Isn't that just handle-diddly-dandy? Quantum asks a bit belligerently, "Any idea what they were doing in the Expanse?" Dude, I know you think this is your personal vendetta and all, but other ships are allowed to get themselves in trouble, go crazy, and die in the Expanse too. So why don't you just step off? T'Pol gives some technobabble reason, and says they sent back a report that they were caught in a subspace eddy and were being pulled into the Expanse. "It was their final transmission," she finishes. But was it a loony, green transmission? "The Vankaara was sent to find them. You already know what happened to that crew," T'Pol finally answers my question. Quantum hopes the Selaya will have better editing and more flattering lighting. Quantum performs some fancy flying to avoid being smashed to little bits. There's a neat moment when they just miss being smashed to little bits, and Reed and the Uh-Oh turn to the window to watch the asteroid flash upon their inward eye by. They give each other a nervous look. It's cute. I liked it.
Enterprise. Trip and May-All-That-They-Could-And-Do-Leave-Behind transport ore onto the ship. How sad is it that I'm so unused to seeing May-All-That-They-Could-And-Do-Leave-Behind that I originally took him for some random Rent-a-Redshirt in this scene? They succeed and then move on to something bigger. That something bigger fails to such a spectacular degree that, after one transport, the ore looks like it blew up and got stuck in various places all over the pad. May-All-That-They-Could-And-Do-Leave-Behind suggests putting a sh'pod down on an asteroid and mining it. Trip agrees, muttering as they leave, "This'll be a new one for the maintenance crew." Hey, it could be worse; they might actually have to squeegee the floor.