Talk:Anomaly (episode)

Torture
I think there should be some reference made to the fact that Archer uses torture to get information out of the pirate by using the decompression chamber. From a character point of view, it shows Archer beginning to take extreme measures, but I think what is more significant is the place of this within the ethics of the series. In TNG, the episode "Chain of Command, Part II" deals with torture in a negative light, and several episodes of Voyager, in particular "Equinox, Part II", deal with the debate between sticking with a moral code or "the ends justify the means". Anomaly has a Star Trek captain torturing a captive, and succeeding in extracting information from him. I found this deeply disappointing, not only because the franchise seemed to give up on its stand on certain moral issues, but also because it supported the myth that torture is a reliable way to obtain information. I suspect that the reason for the change maybe related to some of the attitudes prevalent in the United States around the time that this season was written in. It is unfortunate that the series writers abandoned the vision of morality that had been so strongly advocated by every other series, which is what to me separated Star Trek from the run-of-the-mill sci-fi series out there at the time. -- 64.231.254.28 21:27, 7 March 2008 (UTC)
 * The torture sequence is described in the summary. All personal views regarding the torture (or anything else, for that matter) are irrelevant. I certainly hope J.J. Abrams doesn't use torture in his film (despite the fact that torture has been used in almost every episode of every Trek series, including TOS), or else we'll never hear the end of it! :) --From Andoria with Love 10:13, 8 March 2008 (UTC)


 * "torture has been used in almost every episode of every Trek series, including TOS" - I am missing your point here. You can't mean this, except in some rhetorical sense? What do you mean by it? It's not at all clear, but I don't believe that you really mean that almost 700 different episodes feature torture? 'Cause that's what you said. SennySix 11:29, 8 March 2008 (UTC)


 * It may have been a bit of exaggeration, but many episodes feature people being tortured. Kirk and McCoy were tortured in ; Kirk and Cory in ; Picard in ; Archer and a Tellarite in ; Odo in ; the list goes on and on. --From Andoria with Love 01:27, 9 March 2008 (UTC)
 * OK, I do see what you mean - hyperbole notwithstanding. Still, not to put too fine a point on it, but SixyFour was talking about the "good guys" doing the torturing, not getting tortured. SennySix 05:46, 9 March 2008 (UTC)

Ah, yes, good point. My comment, though, was mainly a not-so-subtle jab at the annoying "Trekkies Against Torture" group who have been advocating against any form of torture being present in the new film. Regarding "Anomaly", however, we must remember that Enterprise is set pre-Federation. Humans are not quite the highly-ethical goody-two-shoes they are in the 23rd and 24th centuries. ;) --From Andoria with Love 07:00, 9 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Remember that all of season 3 of ENT is filled with actions that are intentionally meant to be unsavory, both to us and to the crew itself. Actions that they don't like that they are doing. Actions that are meant to be brought out of desperation of staving off the death of humanity. The fact is, when humans get desperate, they do desperate things, and that is irrespective of whether those actions are effective (as in the torture debate). They tortured prisoners, they stranded a vessel months (or was it years?) from home without warp drive, they created and sacrificed a sentient being, the list goes on. --OuroborosCobra talk 07:14, 9 March 2008 (UTC)

Nit Pick
I realise that this doesn't belong on the main episode page, but it's such a glaring one that I wanted to share it somewhere. Near the beginning of the episode, T'Pol says "... and there's no atmosphere aboard", referring to the derilict vessel. Archer and others then board the ship, in space suits, and their helmet-mounted lights are given extra 'atmospheric' impact by filming the scene in a rather foggy studio. The glare that their helmet lights create would not occur in a vacuum. We all make mistakes! nmsmith 23:44, 16 January 2009 (UTC)
 * It could have been dust. --TribbleFurSuit 00:36, 17 January 2009 (UTC)