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"You will agree there's only so far they can go."

Why would one do that?

"There is an archetypical form for the species."

No there isn't.

"Otherwise the fossil record would be chock full of transitional forms. It is not."

Sure it is.

Of all species living today (ignoring bacteria and a few others like flatworms, sponges, horseshoe crabs and insects), sharks have probably been around the longest. There is evidence that modern sharks first appeared about 100 million years ago. Because virtually all other present-day species emerged later, it is highly likely -- perhaps even obvious -- that at least some of the extinct species which flourished before modern sharks were transitional -- that is, they were the ancestors of later species.

Side issue: Many species appearing more recently than sharks are also extinct. Like those which lived before, they too were either evolutionary dead-ends or transitional forms.

Therefore, all fossils of now-extinct species are either: (a) non-transitional dead-ends; (b) transitional, but leading to eventual dead-ends; or (c) transitional and leading to species now living.

Side issue: The same may be said of all currently-living individuals of every species: (a) some will die without reproducing; (b) others will produce offspring, of which some will eventually be barren; and (c) some will produce long, unbroken lines of offspring.

Some analogy:

If I'm going to design and build a 1,500 sq. foot rambler, my foundation will take a vastly different form than if I build a 78-story skyscraper. With the former, I can use brick-and-mortar. No 78-story brick building exists. The difference is not merely one of degree, it is one of principle. To the evolutionists' way of thinking, elaborately precise and loquacious as they are, everything looks to be the former. That is a simplistic mode of thought.

The point is, organs as vastly complex as the mammalian eye, stand as irreducibly complex examples of something designed for a purpose (remember our discussion about meaning? the same applies to purpose). One would sound rather ridiculous if he tried to explain how such a marvelous organ could arise piecemeal. Hence, punctuated equalibrium i.e. don't you dare question the theory. It's become a sort of religious dogma in some academic circles.