http://www.startrek.com/startrek/view/seri...isode/3904.html

Production report: http://www.startrek.com/startrek/view/news/article/3910.html

The one thing I don't understand about this episode, or the very similar episode of Voyager, is... How does putting somebody to sleep protect them from a dangerous area of space? Weather they are awake and in the drivers seat, or asleep or in cryo tube or whatever, the same physical effects should still be affecting the body.

When they first did this story on Voyager, and believe me, I hope it isn't the same story, they put the crew into cryo tubes. If a ships hull and shields can't protect your body, how is sleeping in a cryo tube going to be any better?

In this episode, in order to get through a trans-dimensional disturbance that effects human neurology, Phlox puts the crew into a comatose state. Tell me how being comatose is going to protect you from something that effects neurology? The body still has basic functions that have to be run by something. The only way to stop neural activity, I would think, would be to kill the person.

Maybe it will be clearer after watching the show, but I just don't get it.

Maybe this is one of those cases, whereas a viewer, I think to much. But thinking is just one of those things I do, comatose or not.

Well,on the third episode of "Lost in Space" Island in the Sky, when the Robinsons ship the Jupiter II was about to crash land on the planet they spent the first year on, Major Don West said to the others(who were going to be strapped in their launch seats on the bottom decks) he would ride out the rough landing in the freezing tubes. I wondered about why the Don thought he would be any safer in suspension animation. That doesn't explain it of course, but it kind of shows that it's been done on other shows before.

If the the damage to the body is related to the matebolic rate of the body, then putting the person in cryo will help. As cryogenic sleep reduces the matebolic rate considerably, any damage thus related would also be reduced.

A good example is poison, as poison needs to be transported around the body to start acting it is recommended that anyone affected by poison be kept as calm and as still as possible untill help arrives, this helps reduce the effectivenes of the poison, cryogenics would be very helpful in such a case.

Still sounds like a wasted episode though, as it's been done before (If it is same as Voyager episode).

I finally read the whole production report.

Here I thought this was just a Dr. & T'Pol episode, but Porthos finally gets some air time as well.

I just hope it isn't to similar to Voyager's episode.

A well put argument, the idea of "just how much help is it to be resting in a stasis tube when being subjected to a lethal environment?"

It was mentioned that if lower metabolic rates can stave off the effects sufficiently, this could be an explanation, which is also a good point.

I still agree with the original post for this thread though, in general.

The whole idea reminds me of a "Winnie the Pooh" ep I saw with my kids several years ago. Pooh Bear had just messed things up pretty well in his usual inimitable manner, and fixing things would require a bit more of an intellectual exercise than he's know for, so he says something like, "Perhaps a nice nap beneath a shady tree would be a good idea!"

Although that's indeed been my solution for more of life's dilemmas than I'd care to admit to, it hardly seems like the way to go for the crew of Enterprise, but, then, who knows?

As far as being similar to the Voyager ep, I have never minded the idea of redoing things that have been done in the sci fi genera, even in the same franchise, in general. The reason for this is that it is my strong belief that, arguably, virtually everything has been done more or less. Time travel. Time paradox's like meeting yourself or killing your progenitor(s), your worst enemy being your best friend, and on and on.

Heck, I remember reading a lot of cynical reviews of the (for me) highly entertaining animated feature, "Titan A. E.", because the idea of coming up with some techno-bablish way of saving the day with minutes or seconds left was silly! (Sound at all familiar Trek fans?) Personally, I hope they never abandon those types of endings for sci fi shows!

Now, on the other hand, if the upcoming Enterprise ep is a direct rip off, with little variation, of the original Voyager ep, like that first seaon TNG ep, (you know, the one with some sort of virus that made you "drunk" being transmitted via perspiration), did with the TOS series, that would be bad, especially for a series as far along as this one is! If so, c'mon guys, time to fly with your own wings!

Some of my favorite episodes of DS9 had to do with the mirror universe first introduced in the original series. I have no problem with harkening back or, in this shows case, forward to events we have already seen, just as long as they aren't complete rip off's, which is what I think we are all worried about.

I too am going to try my best not to judge this episode before I see it.

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Pre-empted for BASKETBALL!!! BUMMER! Oh well........ I have to wait for Saturday 2300 hours.

I haven't seen the Voyager ep in question, but I can say that my favorite episode this season, the "zombie Vulcan" ep(forgot the name), was just a rip-off of the movie 28 Days Later, which itself was just a rip-off of every zombie movie before it. But they added a few new twists to keep things interesting and made it their own. Pretty much everything has already been done...



And boy am I glad I live in a state that couldn't give a rat's arse about sports

Why is UPN devoting so much time to basketball and so little to Star Trek; wasn't the whole reason for starting UPN was an idea they had in the 1970's for Star Trek Phase II i.e. a science fiction network with Star Trek as it's anchor show?

'Cuz UPN is a jerk!

I caught Scott Bakula on the Wayne Brady Show this morning. He implied that the reason he was even ON the talk show circuit was to give "free air time" to promote ENT, more than UPN was doing for it's own freakin' show!!!

ENTERPRISE ROCKS!

I loved it! Yes, there were similarities to Voyager's episode, but this one was a lot better.

I won't discuss to much yet until more have gotten the chance to see it. In fact I'm going to go watch it again.

I thought it was great too. I thought there was a plot hole until I saw T'Pol asleep, i.e., when Dr. Phlox said that EVERYONE had been put under, and then I saw T'Pol!

Not a bad show. It had some funny moments and some spooky ones too. Phlox walkin' around naked was pretty funny.
While not exactly identical, the "suprise" at the end instantly made me think of Fight Club.

And while I don't throw the term around as much as some, I think this was really a filler episode. I don't usually mind those but with this possibly being one of the last episodes of the entire series, I think they should put as much meat on each episode as possible.

Before I read any of the posts from you guys, I'm going to give my 2 cents worth.

For a two-person story, Pholox and T'Pol did a great job. It was nice to see both actors slipping into such child-like states. T'Pol (even though it wasn't really her) didn't go too far over the edge. Just enough to show a smidgen of vulnerability and indecisiveness while they were trying restart the warp engines. I loved how she just kind of sat there looking so confused while Phlox was running around madly.

Although it wasn't a high-impact, non-stop action kind of show, I'd say it was one of the best of the whole 3 seasons. It really showed the acting capabilities of Billingsley (sp?) and Blalock.

Two thumbs up!

PHLOX ROCKS!



I was expecting the twist at the end, but for some reason loved it all the more.

Porthos is one lucky dog!

I absolutely loved T'Pol's expressions tonight. She had me laughing so hard in her confusion.

I'm still trying to figure out how GeneRod knew about next week's mutiny episode so far ahead of time. Something strange is afoot, and I can't put my finger on it other than I feel like it is building to a head in about 4-5 weeks

As for tonight's episode I guess I didn't really care much about the technical reasons why x y or z was happening, it was more of a light hearted "fun" episoden that while enjoyable probably won't register much in a few weeks but that doesn't make it bad. I liked the acting, I liked some of the comedy, it is just that I don't know that this episode will resonate with me in a few weeks. Then again maybe it is simply a piece of the puzzle I don't yet recognize and will look back and say "oh that was so obvious, how could I have missed it"

What date does Enterprise get pushed back an hour?

Just as a possibility to explain how someone might have know what was coming. Next weeks episode, Hatchery was finished and reported about before GeneRod joined our group.

The Enterprise and her crew find a Xindi ship. They discover that the Xindi died because they had transferred all the life-support to an incubation chamber where they find several Insectoid Xindi eggs, and Archer is described as becoming consumed with saving the Xindi hatchlings.

The crew begins to question Archer's judgment.

That I can't understand yet. Maybe once I see how the episode unfolds, I will see why this crew who knows better then to question Archer by now, would question him, when he is intent on saving lives. This could be the greatest thing a human could do to change the way the Xindi see humans.

Back to tonight's episode. Phlox walking around naked!

Phlox really moved up a few notches in my book tonight. I have always liked him, don't get me wrong, but he was a true hero tonight. He learned what he needed to, to make the warp core work, and save the crew.

Can you imagine what might have happened, if Phlox had put himself under when he wanted too?

Did anyone else see T'Pol as the manifestation of Phlox's conscience? Some people argue with themself; Phlox argued with "T'Pol."

I like the insight into Denobulans--such a social people that solitary life is a kind of death.

Anyone else catch the salute to the Twilight Zone ep (with Shatner) when Phlox stated that "there is something outside!"? Or the salute to McCoy with the line, "I'm a doctor, not an engineer"?

Off Topic--Anyone see Scott Bakula on the Wanye Brady Show yesterday? Wayne asked him if he could really Quantum Leap, what date would he pick. Without hesitation, Scott answered, "September 10." *SIGH* Whatta guy! Would that we COULD QL to set things right.

But then, what a mess with all those altered timelines!!!

The acting was fine but the ep was a yawner. "Filler" I is the term Cpok used.

I did find it interesting that Hoshi reverted back into that thing from the episode Extinction.

Wonder if they just pulled the mask out for fun or if it has something to do with the future????

After reading these posts, I think you will have a better insight into the ep...

...or totally distracted when you DO get to see it!

At 6pm PST on Wednesdays, I start reading the comments, just so I'll know what to look for at 8pm when the %^#%(* ep starts airing here!

A few weeks ago, I discovered that my post count was at 666. I changed that as quick as I could. Well, I just looked at my post count and discovered that it was now at 777.


OK, you know, I hadn't even thought about the Phlox and T'Pol nudity thing.

It could be argued that Phlox's nudity was just for the comical relief, where T'Pol's was for sexual (ratings) reasons.

I don't think there was really anything really wrong with the Trip/T'Pol thing. If it didn't happen sooner or later, we would have started asking why not. Or, maybe not, I don't know.

I think they had a Trip/T'Pol relationship planned from the beginning, but they have also shown us the possabilities between T'Pol and Archer.

I wonder if T'Pol has a twin?

Just in case I haven't said it enough...

PHLOX IS AWESOME!

Even now I have to keep reminding myself that NONE of the things Phlox thought were happening, actually happened. (I understand its a TV show, but you know what I mean.) Was his mind somehow playing out his worst and best fantasies? - his discomfort at being alone first caused him to imagine T'Pol (did he make a pass at her?), then hearing noises that became the creepiest of the Xindi. As he became more disoriented he imagined probably his worst fear, that somehow he was failing his patients when he thought Hoshi called; he thought he had let the captain down when "Archer" told him Its all right, you did your best; finally he was the hero when T'Pol fell apart, he started the warp engines himself and got the ship out of danger!

It was a pretty good ep, IMHO, but as was said, a "filler." It doesn't do much to advance the storyline. My question though, did he really start the engines, or was that all part of the delusion? What did Trip mean by saying he had done a h**l of a job? How come Archer had no four-day beard? Hmm?

I believe that Phlox really did repair the warp engine based on Trip's statement that he did a "h**l of a job."

I'll have to go watch it again, but I took it to mean that Phlox did start the engines, and did a number on them in the process, but damaged or messed up, it doesn't matter, because it saved their lives.

If he was just imagining the engine start up, then the delusion of T'Pol could have helped him, but because she didn't, because she couldn't, it would suggest that Phlox, being the only real person in the room had to do all the work himself. A real start up would require a real person, where as in the delusion, a delusional character could have done all the work.

Is the room spinning in here, or is it just me?

Do you guys think he imagined Porthos too? It's possible he just woke the dog up before the captain there at the end.
Maybe there's a bunch of popcorn on the floor in the movie room that he thought he was giving the dog.

Nice avatar.

No, I think Porthos was more immune to whatever the problem was, then Phlox.

It's just a good thing Phlox is such a bad shot. Imagine explaining that one to Archer.

"Phlox. Where's my dog?" "Well... It's all in my report Captain. Gotta go!" As Phlox warps out of the room.

I just finished watching the episode again, and have a few thoughts.

First of all, both Archer and Trip have some facial growth, but not as much as you would expect after 4 days.

I was going to ask a question, but answered it before I even got into the site.

I was wondering why the trans-demensional anomaly would still be affecting Phlox even after they were well out of it, that he would still be seeing T'Pol, but then I remembered the fact that Denobulans hallucinate during times of great stress, and that it is indeed considered healthy.

The delusion of T'Pol was his life line. Even after leaving the anomaly, he was still under some stress, and in need of rest, and so was still seeing T'Pol.

Another musing I had, was the fact that during the first or second season, just about every main character, except Phlox had been seen in their under garments. John Billingsley joked that the one thing we wouldn't have to worry about, was seeing Phlox unclothed. Boy was he wrong! I thought it was great.

There was something to the music during a few scenes that reminded me a lot of something used in a Stargate SG-1 episode.

When Phlox thought there was an Insectoid Xindi just outside the airlock he was hiding in, there was an eerie sound playing. It appears several times in the episode.

The same effect, or whatever the right definition for it is, was used in the Stargate SG-1 episode, Legacy, where Daniel appears to go crazy when he is infected by one of Ma'chello's Goa'uld killing parasites. Everytime he sees or hears something that isn't there, there is the same eerie sounds as was used for Phlox's more eerie delusions.

It was a nice effect and worked well for both shows.

This is the point where my sister would say, "You watch to much stupid sci-fi..." but, luckily she isn't here.

Oh boy! So far I am getting the impression that this episode is significantly different from the VOY episode "One", although the premise is very similar. 35.5 hours and counting until I get to view this episode. I'm not sure I will make it.

Tivo'ed the ep and finally saw last night. I thought it was awesome for a basically non-special effects "budget saver", which is (and has been) also correctly referred to as a "filler."

As to the naked Phlox vs T'Pol, this is obviously far different, not so much from an objective, but a subjective perspective. Since arguing such things tends to degrade into the same kind of "court room" type arguing that occurs when everyone know the guy raped, sodomized, and killed his victim, but there's no objective proof, so he walks, I will avoild arguing the point.

Let me simply say that, if it wasn't a lot more sexually provocative to show T'Pol's bare back, implying, as they cut away from the scene in the teaser, that her clothes would continue to fall farther and we'd see more in the actual ep, than the bare chest and paunchy stomach of Phlox, then they would have just as quickly showed that scene as "eye candy" in the teaser for this ep as they did the T'Pol scene in the previous ep.

That having been said, I would like to add that I felt the ep with T'Pol disrobing was handled fairly well, not showing anything more and felt the ep therefore remained, "marginally" ok for family viewing, although not for pre-teen children, which, IMHO, Star Trek should do. In any case, I liked that ep a lot and was pleased they didn't go any farther with the "sex sells" thing.

On to this ep. T'Pol told Phlox at the end, when everyone was awake, that Tucker told her that it would take a long time to re-align the engines, but that Phlox had done a helluva job. This pretty much nails down the idea that he did indeed start the warp engines, causing the problem with which Trip would now have to deal.

It was when T'Pol couldn't even find things in engineering, couldn't even push a button at Phlox's command, etc, that I pretty much determined that this had to be because she was just another hallucination for which Phlox's mind had to come up with some reason for her not being able to physically help. On the other hand, "she" was a good "self sounding board" when he was trying to reason why they weren't clear of the anomally, what he should do to get them out, and even his own psyche trying to rationalize that the sounds and "Xindi" he was seeing was just an illusion, and even talking him out of putting himself to sleep because she was not competent to run things.

Very entertaining psychological drama, overall, IMHO.

Oh yeah, and I missed the tie in with the Twilight Zone in Phlox's seeing something out the view port, but when he said "I'm a physician, not an engineer!", I paused Tivo and explained to my daughter the bazillion times that McCoy, in TOS, said, "I'm a doctor, not an engineer!" whenever they needed him to help out with something in engineering. Cute!

Finally saw the episode and enjoyed it very much. While I agree that generally the episode was a "filler", one very important point came out - it is clear that the trans-dimensional aliens are going to be a big part of the rest of the season. They are obviously more active in the Expanse than the crew thought, because the affected space was not there when the Enterprise began its trip. This implies that the trans-dimensional aliens are moving quickly to reform the Expanse, and that Enterprise will have more than just the Xindi to worry about. Not much in the way of plot advancement, but an important contribution to the story arc nonethe less, IMHO.

I was curious about T'Pol being real from the moment they first showed her, but when she didn't touch her food, or take a phaser, I was fairly certain she wasn't real. Then her comical confusion in engineering sold it for me. For some reason though, it made the reveal that much more exciting for me.

I thought it was well done.