With some long running threats established, the crew assembled, and some incredible moments of exploration and diplomacy, it’s time for some humor. Star Trek Enterprise: Unexpected is the fifth episode of the series. I’ll be reviewing that episode today. And I have to say, it delivers on the title. It still allows for some diplomacy and a mild bit of action but it’s a much different tone than the episodes so far.

If you want to know the chronology of the episodes I’ll be watching, I’ll be going down this list. If you notice I’ve missed an episode, let me know and I’ll correct it. And if you missed my first post about Star Trek, you can check that out right here.

An unexpected shower

The episode starts with Captain Archer showering in his quarters. I never really thought about where the Star Trek crew might shower but a sudden complication reminds us the show takes place in space. The gravity turns off and Archer is floating and the water around him has turned into floating bubbles. The special effects here hold up pretty well. An annoyed Archer contacts the bridge to ask what is going on. Lieutenant Reed says they are having trouble with the gravity plating on E deck. In case you want to know, it seems E deck is the deck the Captain’s quarters are on. Archer asks when it will be fixed and Reed tells him that Commander Tucker thinks it will be any minute.

That minute was right now and Archer slams down to the floor. This scene made me chuckle. It’s the first big joke of the series and I thought it was great. It sets the tone for a lot of this episode but not all of it. It’s a signal here that the episode might be on the lighter side. And with any long running series, I think it’s good to have an episode or two that do allow you to laugh. It’s part of the human experience, even when you are traveling light years away from Earth at warp speed.

The ship is a mess, including the mess hall

At the mess hall, Dr. Phlox, T’Pol and a bunch of other crew members are having breakfast. Phlox chides T’Pol for not being more adventurous in her eating habits. She prefers eating Vulcan food she’s accustomed to which seems kind of bland compared to human food. And she says it’s difficult enough having to smell the human food without having to eat it. As a picky eater myself, I can’t really blame her for not eating stuff she thinks smells bad.

But when she goes to get carbonated water from the food processor a black sludge comes out of it. And that’s not the only problem on the ship. C deck is down to 12 degrees. There are power fluctuations all over the place. And Commander “Trip” Tucker only knows it has something to do with the plasma exhaust. Needless to say, things are going haywire on the ship.

Captain Archer goes to engineering to get an update. He asks Tucker if they should drop out of warp. Trip says he needs a minute and he might figure it out. But before he gets anywhere something in the room catches on fire and Trip is forced to ask the bridge to drop out of warp. It’s another humorous circumstance but obviously there could be real problems here. And dangerous ones at that.

T’Pol catches the problem

T’Pol realizes something is disturbing the wake pattern of Enterprise. Trip says the plasma exhaust shouldn’t flare so close to the ship. Reed throws out a theory but Trip says they already checked for that and that’s not the issue. Captain Archer then asks Reed what would happen if they ignited the plasma exhaust. Reed says it would be safe if they polarized the hull plating and maintained half impulse.

The crew follows the instructions and they hit something out there. Archer asks for playback of impact until it becomes apparent there is a cloaked ship right in that spot. Hoshi wonders how long they’ve been there and Archer rightly points out it’s been long enough to mess up their systems.

Diplomacy

In some sci-fi universes an action like hiding alongside a ship would be enough to launch a huge battle sequence. That certainly happens on occasion in Star Trek too. But Archer’s first impulse? It’s not to attack. He hails the ship. He tries to understand the situation first. I feel like this is the smartest default action to take as humans. Be prepared to fight if needed but start with dialogue.

They can’t get a visual because this other ship has messed up the signal but they do establish audio communication. Archer explains what is happening and asks the ship to back off. It takes a moment for the translator to kick in but these aliens ask not to be harmed. Archer says he won’t harm them but wants an explanation. The alien tells him they apologize for any harm. They’ve been using Enterprise’s plasma exhaust to replenish their teraphasic coils. (No idea if I spelled teraphasic correctly so forgive me)

T’Pol confirms the warp reactor of the other ship is offline. Archer asks them to drop their stealth technology so Enterprise can help them. Captain Archer here has navigated the situation well. They are about to make contact with a new species and they may even become allies. Why? Because instead of acting first, he listened.

A long strange Trip

In order to help the new aliens, Trip is tasked with going aboard and fixing their propulsion systems. But just getting into this ship is difficult. Trip has to go through a three hour long decompression sequence. These aliens, called the Xyrillians can sequence proteins to allow humans to eat and drink. But T’Pol does warn Trip it might not taste good to him and that he should be diplomatic.

Trip is visibly excited to go. After all, since the start of the series he’s been one of the most eager to make new contact. But the decompression is more difficult than he expected. He has trouble breathing in the air which is a visible fog in the decompression chamber. It’s breathable but not exactly comfortable. Tucker also gets impatient with the long wait. Eventually they put him through some pattern recognition tests and then let him on board.

This really is an alien ship

Despite the Xyrillians being bipedal and humanoid, Trip’s experience on the ship is utterly alien to him. The Xyrillians do have scaly skin but they look a lot like humans. Some people criticize Star Trek for not having enough aliens who aren’t bipedal humanoids but you have to remember, you need actors for these parts, and humans are bipedal and humanoid.

The strange thing for Trip is how he experiences the place. Speech seems slowed down, things spin, and the look of the ship is far different from that of Enterprise. The Xyrillians keep telling Trip he should rest first but he wants to go straight to the engine. It’s not until Captain Archer orders Trip to take a nap that things look somewhat normal to him again.

In fact, Trip is so bad off before this rest he tells Captain Archer he wants to return. Archer contacts Captain Trena’l, the leader of the Xyrillian crew. Trena’l tells him Trip will be fine but Archer points out he’s known Trip for 8 years and the dude is tough. So if he’s complaining there is a real issue. At long last, Trip agrees to rest.

Trip gets up close to a Xyrillian

When he wakes up, Trip notices food growing all over the ship. A Xyrillian named Ah’Len gives Trip something that looks like ice cubes and she says it’s as close as they can get to water. When she touches him, what looks like little bolts of static transfer to Trip. He says it doesn’t hurt.

When Trip calls back to Enterprise the next time, he’s feeling much better and is excited about the new things he is seeing. He does manage to fix the alien coils so their ship can get moving again. But it’s going to take some time for these coils to regenerate. So Ah’Len decides to show Trip something unexpected.

Star Trek Enterprise: Unexpected holography

Ah’Len takes Trip to a colorful room that is oddly patterned. And this set reminds me of some of the things you might see in the original series. It feels extremely alien but it has a sort of 1960s retro vibe to it. Ah’Len then pushes a button and the whole room is transformed. They are out on a natural landscape. She says the planet they are on is Thera, the planet she comes from. She also explains this is a hologram achieved by re-sequenced photons. And it feels real. She even picks up sand.

This, as any Star Trek fan knows, is a holodeck. Up to this point, I had always assumed humans invented this. Nope, it’s from Xyrillian technology. Ah’Len shows Trip how the perspective can change and how she can change scenes. They end up in a boat on the water. It’s a kind of romantic scene actually.

Ah’Len plays a game

Ah’Len asks Trip how humans detect emotion. Trip does his best to explain we observe behavior. But then Ah’Len pulls out a box of what Trip later calls pebbles. They are all white and glowing and when they put their hands in they glow blue. She tells Trip it’s a game. And it also allows the two to have a telepathic link of some kind. It’s actually a sweet moment and while Trip could have gone too far here, he’s nothing but a gentleman.

They are interrupted when the coils come back online. And Trip then makes his way back to Enterprise, having made solid first contact with the Xyrillians.

Things are back to normal

When Trip comes back he can’t wait to tell Mayweather what he experienced over there, although he admits he’s glad to be back. Captain Trena’l expresses his gratitude to both Archer and Trip and hopes he didn’t delay Enterprise’s mission too much. Archer tells him meeting new species is Enterprise’s mission. And Trip says going to the new ship was worth every minute. Ah’Len even flirts with Trip a bit before they all say goodbye. Things seem relatively normal for the moment.

That’s not normal

Trip’s appetite is increased. He keeps bragging about the holographic chamber to Reed but Reed’s more interested in their weapons. But Trip’s not sure they even had any. Trip does notice something odd on his wrist. Malcolm thinks maybe it’s an allergic reaction but Trip had cleared the bio-scan. Regardless he goes to see Dr. Phlox about it.

And here’s where this episode divides fans. It turns out Trip is pregnant. I know this idea sounds crazy to some fans but if you think about the myriad forms of reproduction with different species on our own planet, it’s not that far fetched. For the most part this is played for laughs through the rest of the episode. And it plays into some stereotypes of what people who are pregnant experience. Trip’s hormones increase, his appetite continues to escalate, and he gets angry at the slightest thing.

But when Trip finds out, he wants it removed as long as it can be done safely and without harming the young life form. Dr. Phlox does reassure Trip that this is not technically his child. He’s essentially a host. The only people who know onboard, at least at the beginning, are Dr. Phlox, Captain Archer, T’Pol and Trip himself.

T’Pol lectures Trip for not being able to restrain himself from intimate encounters for only three days. Considering Captain Kirk and some of the other characters in later series this lecture comes off as hilarious to me. Especially since Trip really didn’t do anything he, or any human, would consider sexual here. They do finally figure out it had to be with the box of pebbles. And Trip states this was a game they play.

But T’Pol does have a great comeback to this. She says, “One of the first things a diplomat learns is not to stick his fingers where they don’t belong.” Touche.

Finding the Xyrillians gets complicated

Trip has to go around in civilian clothing to hide the bulge he’s showing on his rib cage. And the whole ship seems to know what’s going on. But I think that’s probably due to Trip’s behavior rather than a leak from anyone else. Although Trip does blame T’Pol and she was pretty critical of him. Still, that doesn’t feel in character with her to me. During dinner Trip blows it anyway by talking about it as an Ensign comes in with food while he’s talking to Dr. Phlox.

And in all this time, they have been unable to find the Xyrillians. Enterprise does finally track the ship down. But there is a huge complication. They are cloaked once again and hiding inside the wake trail of a Klingon battle cruiser! Yeah, gotta say, that was unexpected.

More diplomacy

Obviously negotiating with any Klingon is a delicate matter. But when you are talking about telling a Klingon battleship Captain that there is a cloaked ship hiding near them and that they mean no harm? Well, that’s a complication on a whole other level.

Captain Archer has to talk to the Klingons first. They’d obviously pick up the signal to the Xyrillians either way. Archer opens a channel and starts to diplomatically ask for assistance with a problem. The Klingons fire at Enterprise. They are the polar opposite of diplomatic. But for a Klingon attack the shots are decidedly light weight. These are warning shots. T’Pol even points out if the Klingons wanted to destroy Enterprise they would have already done it.

But Archer does not back down. Tucker notices the same odd wake pattern on the Klingon ship that Enterprise experienced. The Klingons hail Enterprise and demand to know what gives Archer the right to approach a Klingon warship. Archer apologizes, explains the situation, and tries to convince the Klingons not to kill the Xyrillians. Captain Vorok of the Klingon ship is decidedly angry. Archer doesn’t help things by telling the Klingons that Xyrillians are kind. But T’Pol intervenes. She tells Vorok that less than a month ago, Captain Archer was in the high council chamber in  Qo’noS where the the Chancellor himself called Archer a man of honor and a brother. And she tells Vorok Enterprise is the ship that returned Klaang to the Empire. Archer had prevented an internal Klingon war.

Tucker then tells Vorok he was the one who tried to repair the Xyrillian engines. And he says he’s sure the Xyrillians would be willing to share their holographic technology with the Klingons. And to put the cherry on top, Trip says they can go get the technology, “Unless the decompression cycle frightens you.” I think we know that no Klingon is going to admit fright.

Archer does insist if the Klingons go to the Xyrillian ship they have to take Tucker with them. Trip basically has to admit to the Klingon warship that he is pregnant. This cracks up the Klingons so much they let Trip come along.

Star Trek Enterprise: Unexpected conclusion

Back on the Xyrillian ship, Vorok gives Captain Trena’l a topographical map of their capital city. When Trena’l demonstrates Vorok says, “I can see my house from here!” To see a Klingon say that just made me laugh.

Trip shows Ah’Len that he is pregnant. She says she had no idea this could happen with another species. Trip tells her not to apologize. I do have to say though, if this is a possibility with your own species, I think it would have been a lot more fair for Ah’Len to at least say this is how they reproduce. In that case, he might not have stuck his hands in the pebbles. But I digress.

They are able to safely remove the embryo and Tucker is back to normal. The Klingons allow the Xyrillians to go once the holographic tech is installed. And Archer tells Vorok he hopes the next time they meet, Enterprise can be of help to them. Vorok in Klingon fashion says their debt is repaid and they have no interest in meeting again. And if they do, Archer will regret it.

Later at dinner T’Pol admits she exaggerated how the Klingons saw Archer. And she tells Tucker that his pregnancy is the first recorded incident of a human male becoming pregnant to which he says, “Just how I always wanted to get into the history books.”

Ultimately you could call this a filler episode. The only long term impacts here are the exposure to the holographic technology and the evolving attitudes of the Klingons to the humans. There is a good dose of humor here but there is also some difficult diplomacy happening. This may not be the best episode of Enterprise but I did find it entertaining. There are different directions they could have gone with it but I think it works well enough.

The next episode is Terra Nova and it was directed by the one and only LeVar Burton!

Until next time, live long and prosper.