Twilight: The Xindi Death Star!

Sir Sirius · Post by **Sir Sirius** » 2003-11-05 03:47pm

Well, it is now clear that the Xindi do have a planet busting super weapon and that it is a sphere. Could a rip off get more blatant?

Though on the bonus side Earth looked pretty damn cool as it blew up.

They fitted a lot of stuff in to just one episode and as a result it did feel a bit rushed at times, though on the other hand there weren't many boring scenes in this episode, I liked "Twilight". Granted it wasn't very original with the Death Star ripoff and Memento Archer, but it sure was entertaining and the acting for the most part was good. So far the third season is looking pretty promising, maybe Enterprise isn't a lost cause after all.

Ender · Post by **Ender** » 2003-11-05 04:05pm

err, what, did you just say they blew up earth?

Einhander Sn0m4n · Post by **Einhander Sn0m4n** » 2003-11-05 04:07pm

O. M. F. G...

Star Wars-level firepower in BOOBYPRIZE!?! WTF!?

Oberleutnant · Post by **Oberleutnant** » 2003-11-05 04:08pm

Sirius, how are you able to see ENT episodes immediately after they come out in USA? Do you have a satellite tv?

Darksider · Post by **Darksider** » 2003-11-05 04:09pm

Einhander Sn0m4n wrote: Star Wars-level firepower in BOOBYPRIZE!?! WTF!?

Not just SW level firepower..........

SW PLANET KILLING FIREPOWER

:::::: Sees the mass of rabid trekkies on the horizon::::::

::::: Loads chaingun and takes cover in a trench:::::

Einhander Sn0m4n · Post by **Einhander Sn0m4n** » 2003-11-05 04:14pm

Darksider wrote:
Einhander Sn0m4n wrote: Star Wars-level firepower in BOOBYPRIZE!?! WTF!?
Not just SW level firepower..........

SW PLANET KILLING FIREPOWER

:::::: Sees the mass of rabid trekkies on the horizon::::::

::::: Loads chaingun and takes cover in a trench:::::

Remember, as Lord Darth Wong said, Roddenberry's policy on Trek Canon is this: "It isn't Star Trek until I say it's Star Trek." Unfortunately the good Mr. Roddenberry's been worm food for a good twelve years now, so that kinda puts a damper on the Rabid Trekkies' furious masturbating over the Xindi's ersatz Death Star...

Jason von Evil · Post by **Jason von Evil** » 2003-11-05 04:15pm

Ender wrote:err, what, did you just say they blew up earth?

It's a anomaly of the week episode. If even did destroy Earth, it just proves that Enterprise takes place in an alternate timeline from the rest of the Trekverse.

Darksider · Post by **Darksider** » 2003-11-05 04:18pm

Einhander Sn0m4n wrote:
Darksider wrote:
Einhander Sn0m4n wrote: Remember, as Lord Darth Wong said, Roddenberry's policy on Trek Canon is this: "It isn't Star Trek until I say it's Star Trek." Unfortunately the good Mr. Roddenberry's been worm food for a good twelve years now, so that kinda puts a damper on the Rabid Trekkies' furious masturbating over the Xindi's ersatz Death Star...

Still, it had to be a chain reaction, there's no friggin way ST vessels could do it, Or build somthing that big, unless they had help from [Dramatic pause] Future Guy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Einhander Sn0m4n · Post by **Einhander Sn0m4n** » 2003-11-05 04:18pm

Aya wrote:
Ender wrote:err, what, did you just say they blew up earth?
It's a anomaly of the week episode. If even did destroy Earth, it just proves that Enterprise takes place in an alternate timeline from the rest of the Trekverse.

I never considered Boobyprize as anything remotely resembling or associated in any way with the Canon Trek timeline anyway.

Oh, I'm afraid the shield generator will be quite operational when the Trekkies arrive...

Darksider · Post by **Darksider** » 2003-11-05 04:20pm

The episode mentions Archer loosing short term memory.

Did you loan him some of your stash or somthing?

Ender · Post by **Ender** » 2003-11-05 04:27pm

Darksider wrote:
Einhander Sn0m4n wrote:
Darksider wrote: Still, it had to be a chain reaction, there's no friggin way ST vessels could do it,
Well I'm gald you are comfortable making that declaration without seeing and analyzing it first, because I'm not.

Or build somthing that big, unless they had help from [Dramatic pause] Future Guy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Where was it said it was big?

Darksider · Post by **Darksider** » 2003-11-05 04:32pm

[quote="Ender"where was it said it was big?[/quote]

I guess I just figured that.

Since it was compared to the death star.

How large is it anyways?

Sir Sirius · Post by **Sir Sirius** » 2003-11-05 05:32pm

Ender wrote:err, what, did you just say they blew up earth?

Yeap, the Xindi blew up Earth, but about 12 years in to the future Archer will/was able to change history, so it hasn't happened yet. It's kinda hard to explain. Spacial anomalies and stuff, you know.

Sir Sirius · Post by **Sir Sirius** » 2003-11-05 05:56pm

As for the Xindi DS.

Sequence of events as the Xindi DS fires:
- Filmed from behind and to the side of the weapon. XDS fires in to an ocean (The Atlantic?) causing a big explosion.
- Scene change to the bridge of Enterprise. Everyone looks shocked.
- Scene change closer to ground zero. Huge fissures spewing magma propagate from ground zero as the weapon keeps on firing. (The last scene where the XDS or it's beam is seen)
- Scene change to the still spreading fissures as they reach land (West-coast of Africa?).
- Scene change, viewing the planet from space. The entire planet is cracking from the fissures and shortly after blows up.

I don't know whether it was a DET or not. My first reaction was that it was a DET, but after reviewing the scene I'm not so sure anymore. It might have been, or at least I can't think of a reason why it couldn't have been. In any case the explosion isn't as energetic as the SW version, looks cooler though.

As for the XDS size, it doesn't appear to be that big. Just eyeballing here, but compared to the Xindi ships beside it it looks like a few Km in diameter at most.

Ender · Post by **Ender** » 2003-11-05 06:12pm

Ok, alternate universe, therfore irrelevent. but still interesting, how the hell did they get their hands on something like that and does anyone have a video clip of that whole thing going down? Hte description provided implies a very high energy beam coupled with a chain reaction event, but I'd like to see it. Also, did the planet crumble, or violently blow apart?

Incidently, if its from the future, and given the description, it impleis alot of similarity to S8472 tech.

Howedar · Post by **Howedar** » 2003-11-05 06:17pm

If it blew up after energy stopped being put in, then it was almost certainly a chain-reaction weapon.

Einhander Sn0m4n · Post by **Einhander Sn0m4n** » 2003-11-05 06:35pm

Sir Sirius wrote:As for the Xindi DS.

Sequence of events as the Xindi DS fires:
- Filmed from behind and to the side of the weapon. XDS fires in to an ocean (The Atlantic?) causing a big explosion.
- Scene change to the bridge of Enterprise. Everyone looks shocked.
- Scene change closer to ground zero. Huge fissures spewing magma propagate from ground zero as the weapon keeps on firing. (The last scene where the XDS or it's beam is seen)
- Scene change to the still spreading fissures as they reach land (West-coast of Africa?).
- Scene change, viewing the planet from space. The entire planet is cracking from the fissures and shortly after blows up.

I don't know whether it was a DET or not. My first reaction was that it was a DET, but after reviewing the scene I'm not so sure anymore. It might have been, or at least I can't think of a reason why it couldn't have been. In any case the explosion isn't as energetic as the SW version, looks cooler though.

As for the XDS size, it doesn't appear to be that big. Just eyeballing here, but compared to the Xindi ships beside it it looks like a few Km in diameter at most.

Okay, let's assume it is a DET. About how many planetary diameters per second was the fastest debris travelling? What was the nature of the actual detonation phase? Did it blow apart into several huge pieces, fragment into millions of pieces, or vaporize completely into an incandescent cloud? In fact, I'll use Wong's Asteroid Destruction Calculator to calculate all three eventualities:

Earth is 12,756km in diameter (reference here), so that means its gravitational binding energy is between about 9.580E+12gigatons (for solid hard granite) and 1.090E+14gigatons (solid nickel/iron alloy). We all know the
Earth has roughly a 70-30 ratio of silicate to iron composition with some lighter compounds at its surface (reference here).

Assuming it got chunked: 3.760E+8gigatons to 9.800E+9gigatons
Assuming it was shattered: 2.080E+9gigatons (lower limit)
Assuming it was vaped: 7.980E+12gigatons to 1.550E+13gigatons

By your description of the explosion, I'll say it got more than chunked but not quite shattered. I highly doubt the vaporization scenario.

kojikun · Post by **kojikun** » 2003-11-05 08:46pm

I'm proud of how T'Pol took care of the two attacking ships.

TheDarkling · Post by **TheDarkling** » 2003-11-05 08:46pm

Ender wrote:Ok, alternate universe, therfore irrelevent. but still interesting, how the hell did they get their hands on something like that and does anyone have a video clip of that whole thing going down? Hte description provided implies a very high energy beam coupled with a chain reaction event, but I'd like to see it. Also, did the planet crumble, or violently blow apart?

No it is relevant because it is teh Xindi weapon, this is an alternate timeline just what happens if archer doesn't defeat the weapon, the weapon we see fire is the one the Xindi are cooking up.

As for it being a chain reaction weapon, I have no doubt it will be ruled as such since they SFX guys don't go in for accuracy science wise.

Anyway some pics of the event.

Pic1
Pic2
Pic3
Pic4
Pic5
Pic6
Pic7

Einhander Sn0m4n · Post by **Einhander Sn0m4n** » 2003-11-05 08:53pm

TheDarkling wrote:
Ender wrote:Ok, alternate universe, therfore irrelevent. but still interesting, how the hell did they get their hands on something like that and does anyone have a video clip of that whole thing going down? Hte description provided implies a very high energy beam coupled with a chain reaction event, but I'd like to see it. Also, did the planet crumble, or violently blow apart?
No it is relevant because it is teh Xindi weapon, this is an alternate timeline just what happens if archer doesn't defeat the weapon, the weapon we see fire is the one the Xindi are cooking up.

As for it being a chain reaction weapon, I have no doubt it will be ruled as such since they SFX guys don't go in for accuracy science wise.

Anyway some pics of the event.

Pic1
Pic2
Pic3
Pic4
Pic5
Pic6
Pic7

Good job with the quick intel, Darkling!

Darth Fanboy · Post by **Darth Fanboy** » 2003-11-05 09:04pm

Why even bother blowing up earth? You know at some point history gets changed and things get set right.

Its like watching Titanic, you know the fucking boat is gonna sink.

A question I pose to a) THe more educated and b) the people who actually saw the episode in question: What sort of effect would a planetary shield have had against this weapon?

TheDarkling · Post by **TheDarkling** » 2003-11-05 09:04pm

Einhander Sn0m4n wrote: Good job with the quick intel, Darkling!

I could link to a short video clip but I'm not sure of board policy on the matter, any ideas?

Einhander Sn0m4n · Post by **Einhander Sn0m4n** » 2003-11-05 09:05pm

Guys, who else sees an extreme similarity between this:

and this?

Spanky The Dolphin · Post by **Spanky The Dolphin** » 2003-11-05 09:06pm

Aeolus · Post by **Aeolus** » 2003-11-05 09:14pm

Ender wrote:Ok, alternate universe, therfore irrelevent. but still interesting, how the hell did they get their hands on something like that and does anyone have a video clip of that whole thing going down? Hte description provided implies a very high energy beam coupled with a chain reaction event, but I'd like to see it. Also, did the planet crumble, or violently blow apart?

Incidently, if its from the future, and given the description, it impleis alot of similarity to S8472 tech.

It does look similar to s8472's weapon