I like the idea of having marines on the ship (hey, old nautical parallels, yay!), but considering they have enough trouble finding storylines for the characters they already have...not a great idea to add more.

Exactly. It's already the Archer/Trip/T'Pol show as it is, and every once in a while they remember to toss a line at Malcolm, Hoshi or Phlox. Mayweather, sheesh, poor guy has a name and that's just about it. So now we have a herd of new people to squish in? I have my doubts (although now they do make a nice supply of redshirts, so that bit's okay *g*). Plus, I still think they should have promoted Malcolm to Lieutenant Commander. I'm a bit nervous about how having all these marines around is going to affect him and his position, especially since he's just a lieutenant. We'll see, I guess. Hmph.