Category: Enterprise

Over dinner with an alien trader, the Enterprise crew learns of the site of a crashed starship on a nearby planet, but the trader seems spooked by what he saw when he went there. Archer, however, insists that the trader’s tale of a haunted spaceship isn’t enough to scare him off, especially when the Enterprise could use a few repairs using parts from the crash site. What he finds there, however, is what seems to be the ship’s entire crew, all in good health. Trip is particularly taken with Liana, the daughter of the ship’s engineer, though the others from her ship seem nervous about her spending so much time with him. Archer is concerned when some of the ship’s logs about the crash are irreconcilable with the physical evidence – particularly when a member of the crashed ship’s crew, who’s still very much alive on the ship, turns up long dead in an escape pod.

telelplay by Stephen Beck
story by Rick Berman & Brannon Braga & Stephen Beck
directed by Jim Charleston
music by Dennis McCarthy

Cast: Scott Bakula (Captain Jonathan Archer), Jolene Blalock (Subcommander T’Pol), John Billingsley (Dr. Phlox), Dominic Keating (Lt. Malcolm Reed), Anthony Montgomery (Ensign Travis Mayweather), Linda Park (Ensign Hoshi Sato), Connor Trinneer (Commander Charles “Trip” Tucker III), Rene Auberjonois (Ezral), Annie Wersching (Liana), Tom Bergeron (D’Marr), Rudolph Willrich (Kuulan), Claudette Sutherland (Maya)

Notes: The casting department’s tribute to Trek series past continues with this episode’s inclusion of Rene Auberjonois, who – after a slightly inauspicious start in the Trek universe (his scenes as a Starfleet turncoat in 1991’s Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country were cut from the theatrical print but restored for home video) – played Odo for all seven seasons of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. Auberjonois reportedly told Scott Bakula during filming that he had already shot this episode (probably meaning the similar plotline of the DS9 episode Shadowplay). Future casting directors would continue this tradition, as Annie Wersching, appearing here in here first TV role, would play a major role in the second season of Star Trek: Picard.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Captain Archer and Ensign Mayweather are guests – not by their own choice – of the Tandarans, a race whose military zone they unwittingly violated while exploring in a shuttlepod. They quickly discover that they’re the only human prisoners in a Tandaran detention center otherwise populated by the Tandaran guards and a host of genetically unaltered Suliban captives, including women and children. Colonel Grat, the commandant of the detention center, seems cordial enough at first, promising that Archer and Mayweather will be freed soon, it seems that no such amnesty is in store for the Suliban. When Archer questions Grat’s treatment of the Suliban – who turn out to be innocent civilians and not members of the Suliban Cabal – Grat extends the Enterprise crewmen’s stay and begins to interrogate the captain about his own Suliban encounters all the way back to Broken Bow and Silik’s infiltration of the Enterprise during a later mission. Despite Archer’s claims of being an innocent bystander, nothing will quell Grat’s suspicions – or his willingness to hold the prisoners indefinitely.

teleplay by Mike Sussman & Phyllis Strong
story by Rick Berman & Brannon Braga
directed by David Livingston
music by Jay Chattaway

Cast: Scott Bakula (Captain Jonathan Archer), Jolene Blalock (Subcommander T’Pol), John Billingsley (Dr. Phlox), Dominic Keating (Lt. Malcolm Reed), Anthony Montgomery (Ensign Travis Mayweather), Linda Park (Ensign Hoshi Sato), Connor Trinneer (Commander Charles “Trip” Tucker III), Dean Stockwell (Colonel Grat), Christopher Shea (Sajen), Jessica D. Stone (Narra), Dennis Christopher (Danik), David Kagen (Major Klev), Wilda Taylor (Woman)

Notes: Dean Stockwell was Scott Bakula’s co-star in every episode of Bakula’s previous hit series, Quantum Leap.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

The Enterprise crew’s first contact with a race called the Kreetassans ends abruptly. The visitors storm out of dinner, demanding to leave the ship and offering no explanation as to what has caused them offense. Archer and the crew are disappointed, but go about their business, unaware that an amorphous life form has attached itself to the alien ship and has now slipped aboard the Enterprise. It nests in a cargo bay, and reels in the first two crewmembers to see it with tendrils. When Archer and Trip go to investigate, they too are captured by the life form, which begins feeding on them as well as connecting their brains and nervous systems. T’Pol is left in charge, and she finds herself trying to restrain a crew which seems to increasingly favor taking violent action to free their comrades.

teleplay by Fred Dekker
story by Rick Berman & Brannon Braga and Fred Dekker
directed by Roxann Dawson
music by Paul Baillargeon

Cast: Scott Bakula (Captain Jonathan Archer), Jolene Blalock (Subcommander T’Pol), John Billingsley (Dr. Phlox), Dominic Keating (Lt. Malcolm Reed), Anthony Montgomery (Ensign Travis Mayweather), Linda Park (Ensign Hoshi Sato), Connor Trinneer (Commander Charles “Trip” Tucker III), Vaughn Armstrong (Kreetassan Captain), Joseph Will (Rostov), Renee Goldsberry (Kelly), and Porthos

LogBook entry by Earl Green

The Enterprise resumes course for Risa, but is diverted yet again by a distress call. It picks up a shuttle commanded by Zobral, who lives on a nearby desert world. Zobral’s gratitude extends to offering a banquet to Archer and Trip, who repaired the damaged shuttle. When they reach Zobral’s homeworld, it seems his hospitality is considerable – until T’Pol contacts the captain from orbit with a disturbing report. She has been hailed by a government official from Zobral’s planet, claiming that Zobral is a terrorist. Archer tries to make a diplomatic retreat, but Zobral cuts off his escape. It turns out that Zobral is indeed fighting a war against the planet’s ruling government, claiming centuries of racial inequity – and also claiming to have heard that Archer is a great warrior who freed thousands of Suliban from a detention center. Worse yet, Zobral’s encampment comes under heavy fire, forcing Archer and Trip to hide in the desert. But as eagerly as the planet’s government is hunting down Zobral, even that may not be a safe place.

teleplay by Andre Bormanis
story by Rick Berman & Brannon Braga & Andre Bormanis
directed by David Straiton
music by Velton Ray Bunch

Cast: Scott Bakula (Captain Jonathan Archer), Jolene Blalock (Subcommander T’Pol), John Billingsley (Dr. Phlox), Dominic Keating (Lt. Malcolm Reed), Anthony Montgomery (Ensign Travis Mayweather), Linda Park (Ensign Hoshi Sato), Connor Trinneer (Commander Charles “Trip” Tucker III), Clancy Brown (Zobral), Charles Dennis (Chancellor Trelit), Brandon Karrer (Alien Man), and Porthos

Notes: During the game scene at the beginning of act three, there’s a Trek oddity – a brief shot of Archer which was shot on video, not film. Though footage sourced on video has been used before – such as Seska’s distress call in the Voyager episode Basics Part I – it has always been on a viewscreen, and never before a full-screen shot; the entire series would later adopt digital video instead of film in season 4. Bozeman, Montana is also referenced as the landing site of the Vulcan ship – and therefore also the home of Zefram Cochrane – in Star Trek: First Contact; Bozeman was also the site of Alexander’s wild west holodeck program in A Fistful Of Datas, not to mention the name of the temporally-displaced starship in Cause And Effect. Perhaps not surprisingly, it’s the birthplace of executive producer Brannon Braga.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

After the Romulan mine incident, the Enterprise is limited to warp 2, the crew has lost use of a major portion of the ship, and long-range communications are down. Archer reluctantly sends out a call to any nearby ships for aid, a message is received pointing the Enterprise toward a space station. The station is completely unmanned, and Archer has to barter with a computer for repairs. The repairs begin immediately once a price is agreed upon – in this case, warp plasma – and the work is not only performed with tremendous speed, but it’s up to or beyond Starfleet specifications. A remote probe even repairs Malcolm’s leg from the injury he sustained while trying to defuse a Romulan mine. But though it seems like a bargain, the station’s computer decides to increase its price – and it’ll cost a member of the bridge crew his life.

written by Mike Sussman & Phyllis Strong
directed by Roxann Dawson
music by Dennis McCarthy

Guest Cast: none

LogBook entry by Earl Green

A visit to the homeworld of the protocol-obsessed, easily offended Kreetassans goes badly – very badly. Trip is mildly annoyed when this means he won’t be able to barter with the Kreetassans for a replacement warp plasma injector, but Archer insists on looking elsewhere for the vital part. But just when Archer thinks his day can’t get any worse, it does – Porthos, who went to the Kreetassans’ planet with the landing party, has suddenly fallen ill due to something in the planet’s atmosphere. Dr. Phlox isolates the dog and begins treatment, but reluctantly admits to the captain that Porthos could die. Archer is enraged by the thought that the protocol-bound Kreetassans didn’t bother to cross-check their planet’s atmosphere against the genetic samples provided in advance for all visiting crew members (including the captain’s dog). When the Kreetassans then demand an apology for an act of sacrelige (namely, the fact that Porthos relieved himself on one of their most sacred trees), his concern for man’s best friend becomes Archer’s worst enemy.

written by Rick Berman & Brannon Braga
directed by David Straiton
music by Paul Baillargeon

Guest Cast: Vaughn Armstrong (Kreetassan) and Porthos

LogBook entry by Earl Green

The Vulcan High Command secretly contacts T’Pol to give her new orders. One of a small number of criminals wanted by the Vulcans has been spotted near the Enterprise’s current position, and T’Pol’s duty – as a former security officer for the Vulcans – is to track him down. Starfleet is contact to ensure that the Enterprise will be diverted to T’Pol’s destination, but nothing else is revealed to the crew. Archer is annoyed by the secrecy until T’Pol takes him into her confidence to explain the mission. The last time she encountered this criminal, she acted swiftly and even managed to kill an accomplice who was trying to do the same to her, but her quarry escaped. However, when Archer and T’Pol go undercover to catch up with her target, he claims to be an innocent man – a man whose business partner T’Pol murdered in cold blood.

written by Rick Berman & Brannon Braga
directed by David Livingston
music by Jay Chattaway

Guest Cast: Bruce Davison (Menos), David Richards (Dockmaster), Vincent Hammond (Huge Alien), Coleen Maloney (Vulcan Officer)

LogBook entry by Earl Green