Midnight Ramblings

Guess I should comment on the Oscars last night.

- Yay! Brad Bird won for the Incredibles! Was there ever any doubt?

And that's really the only comment I have to make. When it comes to predicting the winner for Best Animated Film, I now have an unbeaten streak since the category began. Woo!

Also, last night, I got to watch the much hyped Enterprise episode, Divergence. This resolved last week's cliffhanger and finally explained why Klingons on the original series didn't have bumpy foreheads. You know, this really is something where I wouldn't have minded if they never bothered to explain it. We all understand that they didn't have the budget back in 1966 for bumpy foreheads.

But anyway, if you care, it goes like this: After having a run-in with augments (Khan's genetically enhanced type), the Klingons figured they should create Klingon augments. Side effect of the augmentations: no bumpy foreheads. But, one problem. The Klingon's fiddling created a super-deadly virus that was moving to wipe out the Klingon empire. Dr. Phlox was abducted to develop a cure. And the cure he developed included modifying the Klingon augmentation process to make Klingons resistant to the plague. Plague was cured, but the cure's side effect: no bumpy foreheads.

I'm conflicted. Yeah, the fans are going, "This season ROCKS!! They're finally answering questions like this and turning Enterprise into a true prequel series!" But...but...the sad truth is, Enterprise was never created to be a true prequel series. The idea of setting it before Picard, Kirk, et al was to get continuity off the writers' backs. Plus, with no burden of continuity, bring in new fans.

So, I'm not sure all this continuity whoring is doing anything to win new fans. If anything, it's winning back the fans who were turned off.

But I will admit, the opening special effects sequence will be talked about for years to come. Last week's cliffhanger: The Enterprise had its warp engines sabotaged by Klingon augments. Now, Enterprise is careening through space at maximum warp like a runaway train. The only man who can fix the problem is Trip, and he just transferred to Enterprise's just-launched sister ship, Columbia. So, the problem: how do we get Trip onto the out-of-control Enterprise? Can't use the transporters at warp. And at those speeds, using shuttlecraft or docking is just far too risky. The only option: a space walk at warp speed.

So, we get this spectacular effects sequence of Enterprise and Columbia flying one on top of the other, as a cable is strung between the two and Trip crawls along the cable. It was pretty cool.

Next issue...the Wrath of Kwan