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Kevin Thomas Riley wrote:I hate both ANiS and Twilight with every fiber of my being. For those that want to know exactly why, I direct you to my respective reviews of those horrid episodes:

Aw, c'mon, Kev, don't hold back. Tell us how you really feel.

I totally agree Kevin Thomas Riley.
These are two episodes where the writers tried to put in somewhat of sexual (and romantic tension) between Archer and T'Pol. Considering the premises (and the impossible chemistry between these two and also the Archer’s character) the authors' aim was inevitably destined to be unsuccessful (and irritating).

Just FYI, in case anyone wanted to have a standard to judge by. On startrek.com's episode listing pages, ANIS has a viewer rating of 3.6. Twilight has a viewer rating of 4.7.

I dislike them both, but at least concerning Twilight I am obviously in the minority. Personally, I suspect it might have more to do with Jolene's ponytail than anything else, but who knows?

blacknblue wrote: Personally, I suspect it might have more to do with Jolene's ponytail than anything else...

I think you are right!

blacknblue wrote:Personally, I suspect it might have more to do with Jolene's ponytail than anything else, but who knows?

As I wrote in my review, one of the few this I did like about that episode was Jolene's hair and civilian attire!

Actually, a lot of fans just seem to dig those epic reset button episodes - ever since Yesterday's Enterprise - because characters could die, the ship could be destroyed, or anything really, but it would all be fine by the end of the episode or story arc. This was just ENT's version of VOY's Year of Hell mixed with the Kes episode that first introduced us to it (because she experienced memories in reverse and thus was always disoriented and didn't know what was going on with each jump in time). I don't know why so many fans like the reset button episodes, but they seem to. At least there're a few of us on this board who aren't into that kind of stuff.

I think it may have been remarked before, that most of the males on this board seem to dislike those episodes for some reason. I wonder if that signifies anything, or if it is just a coincidence.

Well, I'm a female and "Year of Hell" ticked me off to no end.
For all the reasons CX detailed in his post.
The reset ending is a dick tease from a show that won't otherwise put out . I realize it's a rather rude analogy, but I still think it's a pretty accurate one.

at least with twilight there is sort of a reason for it.
to actually show the consequenes of a failed mission.

and i agree with hr about why tpol went to the planet to live in twilight.
not just to be nurse maid to archer.
because in reality once he got bought up to speed about the situation he wasnt infirm.
and she admitted most of the time she didnt tell him things in such detail.

so that left a lot of time for her to serve the rest of the people as a researcher scientist.

and that this would also fit in with why she turned down the chance for her and archer to go off to vulcan.
she didnt just see a sense of responibility to him but to all of the survivors of humanity.

also she didnt announce the decision until trip mentioned wanting to go off on a possible suicide mission (considering the other convoys didnt make it) to look for another world.

i like twilight except for a couple of things here and there and well the horrible super archer at the end.

I recently rewatched A Night in Sickbay and noticed that it's supposed to be funny, and is.
I'm pretty much with HR on other points.

I also just rewatched the Kirshara episodes, and it's obvious to me that a true friendship formed between Archer and T'Pol. It seems to partake of the qualities of the Kirk-Spock friendship and the McCoy-Spock friendship.

evcake wrote::D I recently rewatched A Night in Sickbay and noticed that it's supposed to be funny, and is.
I'm pretty much with HR on other points.

Welcome to the Rotten Veggie Club! Glad to have you with us. Help yourself to a plastic slicker over there to protect your clothing.

I also just rewatched the Kirshara episodes, and it's obvious to me that a true friendship formed between Archer and T'Pol. It seems to partake of the qualities of the Kirk-Spock friendship and the McCoy-Spock friendship.

And evcake just dives right in with gusto, eh? Well, I'm one of the happy few who agrees with you there.

Maybe they'll throw old bananas - we can get some walnuts and make banana bread.

What can I sy - I like Cap'n, warts, cape and all.
A bit of a bonehead, but capable of self-examination. Stubborn, but capable of making amends. Idealistic, but unable to let go of a deep-held resentment. Well-intentioned, but not wimpy. Nice gams.

(I'm starting to forget Quantum Leap)

Haven't come to terms with Cogenitor, though. That's a toughie.

Banana bread, cool. Good thinking.

Fun description of Jon. Add "pretty green eyes" in there for me.

Cogenitor...it's supposed to be a toughie. The story presents a dilemma with credible arguments for both sides of the issue, and no happy ending, no matter which side is chosen in the end.

I do think the script kinda sets up Trip as the fall guy, since there are clues presented to him from the get-go (from both T'Pol and Phlox) that he is liable to run into problems if he pursues the course he is setting out on with regard to the Cogenitor, but he seems to ignore those clues, even though Trip is a smart guy. pookha has mentioned that this story might have worked better in Season 1, when Trip was more impulsive and less seasoned...but Archer has needed time to progress to the position he takes here (non-interference with an alien culture), so that positions it better for Season 2... Also, it's tougher to side with Archer, because we spend so little time with the Vissian couple and hear little else about Vissian culture or history.

Green, are they? I couldn't see that in the shower...

The thing I don't like about reset button episodes in general are that there are no consequences left over from them. The only one that has any is Yesterday's Enterprise in the form of Sela, which is the only reason I kind of like that episode despite the fact that it's a reset button. I also tend not to like them because it almost seems like a requirement of them that all or most of the main characters must be killed and that the ship must be destroyed in what I feel is a pretty weak attempt to milk some drama out of it.

The thing I've heard about Twilight is that it shows us the consequences of Enterprise's mission failing. The thing is, it also shows us that "Starfleet" is only a name, that Enterprise is the only ship that has any hope of being able to avert disaster, and that Archer is the only person capable of commanding the ship if the mission is going to succeed. Both T'Pol and Trip are shown in negative light in this episode in order to make Archer the one true savior of the planet. I won't even go into the other things that made T'Pol weaker because I've only been over it before about fifty times. But the thing is, I really didn't need to see any of it. Future Guy already laid everything out in The Expanse and we've had at least one reminder in every episode between then and Twilight. Since we all know that Earth is still around 100 and 200 years later, the only point of Twilight was to showcase the VFX of the Earth getting blown up and to show Enterprise get dispatched in a kewl way, because we all knew that everything would be back the way it was at the end of the episode. So to me the episode had no point. Not only did the narration not move the story-arc forward, but none of the characters remembered any of it, so there were literally no consequences at all from this episode.