It's kinda funny, with all this low-tech, I keep feeling that they have paper-thin armor and their default-config 'phase cannons' are the galactic equivalent of throwing rocks at a tank.
Great episode, though. I really do like the fact that they come across all these aliens and that Starfleet ain't nowhere near the big fish in the pond yet.

I wonder if they're going to be trading/upgrading their gear as time passes. It'd be cool to come back home with a totally modded Enterprise -- something Voyager failed to do.
zen