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Similitude - Official Review Thread; ***Spoilers***
Topic Started: Nov 19 2003, 04:06 PM (808 Views)
Minuet
Member Avatar
Fleet Admiral Assistant wRench, Chief Supper Officer
Wow, I don't know what to write about this episode. Like Wichita and Bonja I needed time to digest it. It was one of the best episodes of Enterprise for sure!

A couple of you have mentioned the massage scene in this episode. Well for once I feel the scene was actually needed (although they could have been sitting up instead of lying down). Considering what followed I think that they did have to show the growing non-sexual friendship between the characters.

As for T'pol kissing Sim, one thing I have not seen anyone consider about this kiss is a possible mixture of maternal love for Sim. When a child grows so quickly I can see the confusion that even a Vulcan would have about thier feelings. After all the crew actually watched Sim grow up. He was more then just a clone of Trip. He was Trip without all the anger and hatred about his sister's death. An innocent Trip so to speak. He certainly wasn't only Trip, after all he not only had Trip's memories, but he knew about the possible treatment to prolong his life so he must have also retained memories from his own people. This is a part of the ethics they seemed to skip. I thought that before he became a clone that Sim was just a blob. However, his knowledge of the treatment had me thinking that the blob was actually sentient, although they didn't know it. Food for afterthought.

One last thought - I wonder if the writers will follow up on this in the future. Trip now has neural cells from Sim. Does this mean that he has Sim's memories? If so then they actually have a way to set up a real relationship between Trip and T'pol. I really don't think Trip had romantic feelings for T'pol, but Sim definitely did. If Trip retains this how will he handle it? And how will Archer handle it?

Man I love these type of episodes that really add to character developement! This is what the show has been lacking. After the first couple of episodes this year I almost tuned out. I only kept watching because I had asked to be moderator of this particular board and felt I had an obligation to watch. Now I am so glad I stayed tuned it. This series is finally showing it's real Star Trek potential. Bring on more episodes!!

:) :) :) :) out of 5 :)

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ImpulseEngine
Admiral
Wichita
Nov 20 2003, 06:58 AM
Why does being a science officer make you an expert engineer - especially someone who has spent years as a security officer and in the diplomatic field? I could have seen T'Pol focusing on getting the stuff off the hull of the ship - more on that later - but wondered why Trip's second in command wasn't overseeing the repairs. The only reason I could see for it was so that T'Pol could interact with Sim more to set the stage for the kiss. :rolleyes:

I thought the same thing but forgot to put it in my review. It seems T'Pol is always the first to fill in wherever needed regardless of whether it makes sense. She'll probably be doing language translation in a future episode too! :P :rolleyes:
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jjtrek
Lieutenant Commander
Perhaps the best Enterprise episodes were being saved to air in November (one of 3 sweeps months) but these past few episodes (Twilight, North Star, Similitude) are showcasing Star Trek the way it SHOULD be. ST eps should make you think and create fodder for serious discussion! ST eps should be character driven as these last few were, not situation driven.

I actually enjoyed these eps tremendously and had a wonderful conversation about them with my hubby. We both think (and sincerely hope!) that Enterprise is now getting better (Mazel Tov!) and that this type of quality that's been missing for so long, will continue.

Is it my imagination, or have the eps that I've mentioned above NOT been written by Berman? Please, someone let me know if I'm right or wrong about that.

I'm not thrilled with the tremendous display of emotions with T'Pol's character. The Honorable Surak (the father of the way of Logic on Vulcan) would have something to say about that, like, telling T'Pol she must ask for forgiveness.
Spock could be forgiven since he was half human, and, as his mother once said, he would always have that human side of himself. T'Pol's character needs to be toned down considerably. Isn't she full blooded Vulcan? You could have fooled me! I no longer see T'Pol as a Vulcan. She's just a human with pointed ears and a strange tan.

Julia



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Fesarius
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Admiral
Jjtrek,

That's great to read (about your opinions of recent ENT episodes). Now, if we could only get the Admiral on board. ;)

Yes, Surak would have done just that. I doubt he would have said, 'the cause was more than sufficient.' Although, if he were to see T'Pol's catsuit, he might be inclined to say, 'Let us speak no further of it.' :wow:

****************
Live long and prosper, image of Surak,
father of all we now hold true.
The, uh, "image of Surak"...
read in your face what is in your mind, Spock.
As I turned and my eyes beheld you,
I displayed emotion.
I beg forgiveness.
The cause was more than sufficient.
Let us speak no further of it.
In my time, we knew not of Earth men.
I am pleased to see that we have differences.
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jjtrek
Lieutenant Commander
If I remember the Admiral's last post correctly, I don't think he had a chance to see the entire episode yet so we'll have to wait.

Julia
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TribbleMom
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Commodore
Okay, even I'm on board now for starting to really like Enterprise. I certainly had my doubts and a number of things rubbed me the wrong way (such as, the Vulcans not seeming very Vulcan-like) for so long, but with this being the latest incarnation of Star Trek, I just kept watching anyway. Now I'm glad I did.

The past few episodes seem to have marked a turning point in this series' development. "Similitude," while still having certain debatable points (as already mentioned in the previous posts) seemed to pull it all together with a moral/ethical dilemma forcing us to examine the Human condition. It was good social commentary on stem cell research and cloning that is being developed today. It made us think, "What decision would I make -- and why -- if I were in Archer's shoes?"
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Fesarius
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Admiral
Jjtrek,

Yes. I was speaking generally of all of ENT--but one episode would also work for me. ;)
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Swidden
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Adm. Gadfly-at-large; Provisional wRench-fly at large
Wow, I guess from the preceding posts that my thought of adding a "Why I Hate Enterprise" forum is going to have to be put on the back burner... <_< ;) :angel: :whistle:
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Fesarius
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Admiral
Swidden,

Yes, and please turn that back burner completely off, would you? ;)
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jjtrek
Lieutenant Commander
For me to say that I like the series "Enterprise" is going to depend on the writers of that show. If they put on their best "face" ONLY during the sweep month of November, then I will be VERY disappointed! If, on the other hand, this is a taste of things to come (meaning better writing), then I will be very proud to say that I'm a fan of this show. It will have made great strides in improvement.

Julia
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Fesarius
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Admiral
Jjtrek,

Wouldn't it be odd, though, if the writing were *really* good during Sweeps? That would tell me that it *can* be done, yet isn't being done (consistently). That would be a shame....
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ANOVA
Vice Admiral
It seemed to me that once again B&B failed to reach the full potential of the subject.

Bio-ethics, for crying out loud, cutting edge stuff garunteed to polarize.

Archer didn't just request that sim sacrifice himself he demanded that another living being die for Archer and crew. The writing in this story left for the easy way out.

The weakest moment.

"you're not a murderer"
"Don't make me one"

Please, :sick: another piece of wimpy dialogue. Stronger,

"If we fail on this mission a whole race could be murdered. Are you willing to take a chance with millions of lives, for the slight chance of saving your own? You KNOW Trip is indespensible to this mission!"

Which leaves me to the ever smarmy Dr. Phlox, who constanlty leaves out little pieces of information about life safeing possibilities. Yet Archer still trusts the little @&%#!!!!!

And really the shameful thing is, this is one of the better pieces they have done.

Is it just my TV, or or they trying to give Archer a more rugged unshaven look?

ANOVA

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Swidden
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Adm. Gadfly-at-large; Provisional wRench-fly at large
Ok, time for my adjusted for inflation two cents...

I think this episode showed once again that this season has been a definite improvement, despite what seemed a rocky start.

That being said, it did touch on an idea here that is a tough one to deal with. I can honestly say that I do not know that I could have made the decision that Archer did in authorizing the creatio of a disposable life-form. I must also include my praise for Trineer's performance in this episode (Is it Emmy worthy? I don't about that, but if I were Berman and Braga I'd have it submitted for consideration).

Does it have relevance for issues today? Sure. Both sides of the particular issue that I am about to mention may find their position reenforced in this episode. The issue would be stem cell research, especially fetal stem cell research.

One question that crossed my mind. Is it possible that Phlox knew all along that Sim would not survive the transplant procedure? It might have been rather interesting if Sim had been more adamant about undergoing the procedure that might have allowed him to live out a longer life span.
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bonja
Commodore
In addition to social commentary on stem cell research this episode reminded me of a news story a few years ago about a girl who needed a transplant, possibly bone marrow. However, none of her relatives were compatable. So her parents intentionally conceived another child for the purpose of being a donor.

As I recall, the child was born, compatable and used for the transplant.

If I get time I'll try to track down the details to back up my vague memories.

I still like the episode, even though it was obvious who was in the torpedo and the massage scenes are overdone.

4 :) out of 5
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Admiralbill_gomec
UberAdmiral
Well, I finally got to see the episode last night at 11PM (darned if it didn't coincide with the beginning of a South Park marathon on Comedy Central).

My comments on the entire episode:

Not a bad yarn, but completely unbelievable!

First of all, I was a quick study... I was reading by age 3... YEARS. How does Sim read in 4 days? The idea of him having some of Trip's memories is completely unbelievable. Why? Because I don't think RNA circulates through the body like blood. It is supposed to reside in the brain.

No ANOVA, I don't think the problem was with your TV. There was a part at the end of the episode where Archer was unshaven and rather haggard looking. Maybe he's going to grow a goatee for sweeps and bring in more of the Dawson's Creek crowd?

I really wish they'd drop off Phlox on some asteroid and get a human doctor in there. His alien cures, which seem an awful lot like someone trying to push holistic medicine on us as opposed to "modern medicine" seem too convenient a fix. I'm tired of that whole agenda. Why couldn't the character have been human? They could have kept Billingsley (he did a commendable job on the Stargate episode last season), just not made him Neelix with a stethoscope.

I've already discussed T'Pol acting unVulcanlike, so I won't go into it again. Regarding her being everywhere to fill in slots in Engineering, et cetera, hey she's a Vulcan and they're sooooooo much smarter than we are! Other than that, I'd attribute it to poor writing. Why not give the lines to someone else in Engineering?

Travis spoke two words the whole episode, "Aye, sir!" You could replace him with the "automatic pilot" from the movie "Airplane" and save a bunch of money. I feel sorry for Montgomery, as he could be quite the breakout character if B&B let him.

Overall, if they'd NOT made the clone humanistic, the episode would have flowed differently. WOuld it have been better? I don't know. But imagine this instead:

Phlox clones Trip using the EZ-Bake cloner machine and that blob of pizza dough in the tank. The neurons he needs must be fully developed to be used. It is a race against time as the clone must achieve a certain "age" for it to be useful, while Trip sinks deeper into a coma. Will the clone mature in time? In the end, you could still have the "funeral" for the clone (which I'd call "Shell" instead). Ta da!

Overall, it was entertaining, but not believeable. I give it three out of five.
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