Title :
The Expanse
Series :
Rating :
Overall Ep :
52
First Aired :
21 May 2003
Stardate :
24-Apr-53
Director :
Year :
Writers :
Season Ep :
YATI :
The destruction caused by the probe seemed awful slight for the number of casualties caused. It blasted a trench in the ground maybe a couple of hundred yards across - with virutally no visible blast or thermal damage to the structures on either side. I have a hard time believing that this killed millions of people, even if it went right through a couple of cities.
Future Guy claims that the Xindi were only testing their weapon design this time, and that a much more powerful version is being prepared. By doing this the Xindi have allowed Earth a chance to beef up its defences and prepare a retaliation mission. And suppose the weapon hadn't worked? Then Earth would have captured both the intact weapon and the pilot. Whereas if they had tested it on some uninhabited planet somewhere, then waited until the big version was ready to attack Earth, they would have been able to inflict far more damage.
The writers are a little cagey about the timeframe of this episode, having characters talk about it being a long trip back to Earth without being specific. It's also been a while since we got a good reference as to how far the ship is from Earth - 90 light years in "Dead Stop". But to make this episode work, we would either have to assume that the ship has been heading back towards Earth at close to top speed ever since then, or that something like a year passed offscreen as they headed back. It will be interesting to see what the next date they give us is.
Great Moment :
It's hard to judge this episode, since it is beginning a new story arc that may or may not turn out to be a good one. For now I'm going to nominate Connor Trinneer's performance as Trip, badly in denial about his sister's death in the attack. There was also a good deal of nice FX in this episode, including the probe attack and the battles.
Body Count :
Over seven million killed on earth during the attack, along with a single Xindi. The crew of Duras's Bird of Prey is also killed when it is destroyed by Enterprise.
Factoid :
This episode features our first look at a 22nd century Klingon bird of Prey. Enterprise also recieves a complement of photon torpedoes, the first time we have seen an Earth ship using the weapons.
Plotline
When an alien probe launches a devastating attack against Earth, Enterprise is recalled. On the way back Archer is abducted by the Suliban and introduced to their boss from the future. He informs Archer that the probe was sent by the Xindi, a species who is also in contact with a faction in the temporal cold war. They have been told that Earth will destroy their world in 400 years, and are planning to wipe Humanity out in this time to prevent it. Archer must take the upgraded Enterprise into a mysterious and deadly region of space to try and find the Xindi and strike back before their next attack.
