"Vanishing Point"

Written by Rick Berman and Brannon Braga
Directed by David Straiton


In which Hoshi’s first experience with the transporter leaves her unsettled, especially when some unexpected consequences seem to appear...

Synopsis - Analysis - Memorable Quotes - Observations


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Synopsis

As the episode begins, Hoshi and Trip are analyzing some ancient ruins on an alien planet. Hoshi cannot decipher the language on the ruins, and there’s no sign of life on the planet now. Archer contacts them about some arriving bad weather. But then T’Pol notes that there’s an even larger storm coming, and the type of radiation in the storm won’t allow Hoshi and Trip to stay on the surface or use of the shuttle.

They need to use the transporters. Hoshi’s not at all happy about that, but Archer makes it an order. Trip offers to go first, since Hoshi wants to make sure he makes it in one piece. Hoshi comes up next, though she’s still very nervous.

Later, in her quarters, Archer comes to make sure everything’s all right. He suggests that she take the night off, and reminds her that the mission will continue. Hoshi balks, even though Archer reminds her that she wouldn’t be using the transporter.

Later in the mess, Hoshi joins Trip, Mayweather, and Reed at their table. She remarks that she doesn’t feel right, though Trip doesn’t notice anything. Reed jokes about the story of Cyrus Ramsey, who apparently was lost in a transporter accident. Needless to say, the story doesn’t do much for Hoshi’s nerves. Archer informs Trip that the storms are clearing, and since Hoshi won’t go, Trip gets Mayweather to come along. They all leave Hoshi alone at the table.

Hoshi stops by sickbay looking for Dr. Phlox, sure that something went wrong during transport. It takes her awhile to get his attention. Phlox thinks that she’s shaken from experiencing the storms, but Hoshi insists that it’s the transporters. He examines her, and finds nothing out of place. Still, Hoshi knows something is wrong. Phlox recommends a good night’s sleep.

Sometime later, Hoshi is awakened by a call from the bridge. She’s very late for her shift, and there’s an emergency. Trip and Mayweather have been taken hostage by aliens on the surface. Apparently the ruins are sacred relics. Hoshi doesn’t understand how they know that, and when they try to communicate with the aliens, she can’t get the universal translator to work or figure it out herself. Eventually, T’Pol and Archer realize that Hoshi can’t figure it out, and suggest that she go back to her quarters.

Hoshi decides to take a shower, and notices that her reflection is fading in and out. Even worse, water seems to pass through her hands. Later at the mess, T’Pol doesn’t seem to notice Hoshi when she asks to talk with her. T’Pol mentions that Trip and Mayweather are back on the ship; an ensign used the universal translator to decipher the language. Archer has assigned the ensign to communications in Hoshi’s place.

Even in the halls, other crewmen act as though Hoshi’s not there. Controls don’t respond to her presence, and she keeps hearing indistinct voices. She stops by sickbay again, insists that something is very wrong. Phlox is positive that everything is in order, and it’s simply Hoshi’s nerves about new technology. He asks her to check in again first thing in the morning.

She stops by the gym, and finds Trip. She checks with him about his transporter experience, but he’s had other things on his mind. She mentions talking to the doctor, and her experiences. Trip sympathizes, but he’s sure that everything is fine, and she just needs some sleep. As Trip leaves, though, the workout equipment stops responding to her touch, and then it starts passing through her hands. Then her reflection fades away, and she becomes completely intangible.

Trip and T’Pol eventually check the room, in which Hoshi for some reason has remained for hours. They inform Archer that there’s no sign of Hoshi, and internal sensors aren’t picking her up. She listens in as Phlox shows Archer and T’Pol her recent medical records, and now there’s evidence of slow protein degradation. Her molecules were coming apart. Then she overhears Trip confirming that there was a malfunction in the transporter. All of Hoshi’s fears are coming true.

Archer orders Trip to take the transporter offline and Mayweather to break orbit. Phlox and Trip find evidence of protein residue in a conduit, and Hoshi’s a little annoyed that they’re not trying to figure out what really happened. The residue turns out to match Hoshi’s genetic profile. Phlox takes some residue to give to Archer, but Trip stays behind to lament Hoshi’s apparent end.

As Trip leaves, Hoshi overhears some odd speech from farther in the conduit, and sees two aliens (apparently the ones from the alien planet) rigging explosives. Hoshi goes to Archer’s quarters. She tries to get his attention, but Archer is in the middle of contacting her father about her death. Archer botches it completely, especially since Hoshi’s father is a bit dense.

Hoshi eventually figures out how to make a plasma circuit panel on his ceiling flicker in Morse code. Archer notices, and calls T’Pol to his quarters. They muse over the pattern of the flickering, but wind up dismissing the whole thing as a random occurrence. Frustrated, Hoshi runs down to engineering, where the aliens are setting more explosives. Rushing back to the conduit, she figures out how to interact with the explosives and turn them off.

When everything is done, the aliens activate a cloaked transporter pad and get away. As she hears the indistinct voices of her crewmates again, she jumps onto the aliens’ transport pad. She goes through transport, and appears in the transporter room...and it’s right after she and Trip left the surface of the planet. She warns the others about the aliens, but none of them know what she’s talking about. Then they tell her that she was stuck for a couple seconds longer than normal in the pattern buffer.

It’s soon clear that everything Hoshi had experienced had been in her mind during the last few seconds of the transport. Archer points out that her decision to jump onto the transport pad has to mean something, but Hoshi is still a bit shaken.


Analysis

For about five minutes, this episode looks like it might be interesting. The dangers of the early transporter system certainly sounds like it ought to be full of creative potential, and when it looks like Hoshi might be suffering from some unknown malady, it has promise. Unfortunately, all of that promise is ultimately squandered on a cookie cutter retread.

Following her experience with the transporter, it ought to be obvious to Hoshi that something is very wrong with her world. Even if her various experiences prior to going intangible weren’t enough, it ought to have occurred to her that if one is intangible, you shouldn’t be walking on the floor anymore. (Nor should you be able to breathe, for that matter.) Everything is happening in ways that reflect what Hoshi’s mind is developing in the vacuum of sensory input, and if she knows enough to recognize that her symptoms are atypical, then she ought to have realizes everything else was wrong, too.

There are some aspects to the episode that show a little bit of forethought. Given how much of what Hoshi appears to experience is a reflection of her own opinions and impressions. This is most obvious in her interactions with other members of the crew. Her most favorable impression seems to be of Trip, who at least listens to her worries before dismissing them.

Nearly everyone else gets a bit of a negative spin by the end of the episode. Archer is more or less mentally deficient, unable to make a decision without T’Pol’s cold, stony guidance. Phlox is quirky yet largely dismissive. Mayweather isn’t much better than an overly eager teenager. Only Reed seems to get an accurate portrayal, and that’s not exactly a ringing endorsement. Even her father seems to be a caricature of a befuddled, confused man.

It’s enough to make one wonder if this is how Hoshi has come to see her fellow crewmen since the mission began. Some of those impressions are understandable, and even make a certain amount of sense within continuity. But Hoshi had been friends with Archer, and maybe even a little besotted with him. Could her apparent revision of that opinion be a reflection of hidden jealousy towards T’Pol?

If that side of the situation had been explored in more detail, then the plot might have felt less like a retread. After all, how many times has a character been pulled into some manner of alternate reality by a transporter accident or something similar? Enough times that it’s possible to figure out what’s happening in this episode well before it’s half done, and enough times to make the audience wish there was more to it.

There’s a slight attempt at the end to give the episode some sense of character development. Unfortunately, it’s rather half-hearted. Hoshi doesn’t jump onto the alien transport pad for any reason of her own. She does it because she hears the disembodied voices of Archer, Trip, and Reed calling for her. She’s more confused than anything, especially since nothing is done to build towards that moment. It just happens.

And in the end, it’s not enough to save a tired plot, and that’s a shame. Hoshi is a character in need of growth and exploration, and as much as this episode centers on her, there’s not much substance to it. This is the kind of plot best reserved for Mayweather, who has even less of a presence within the cast. Either way, it needed an additional subplot or a more spirited exploration of how the various characters are perceived.


Memorable Quotes

PHLOX: “As far as I’m concerned, I didn’t even see you come in here...”

HOSHI: “You men are all alike...”

ARCHER: “I’m gonna need some help here, Phlox...”

TRIP: “Cyrus who?”


Observations

- Hey, look, a decent teaser for once!

- Doesn’t everyone think their birthmarks change or move over time?

- Who else figured out what was going on before the end of the first act?

- Now this is more like it...all Hoshi, all the time! I wish it had been a better script, but I’ll take what I can get...

- Couldn’t they have had Hoshi strip down to that sports top while on the bench? Maybe just a little?

- Big hint that you’re not intangible: you still touch the floors to walk!

- Did I mention how much I love the sports top?

- Was anyone else highly amused at the thought of sending Hoshi’s parents some green goo as their daughter’s remains?

- Could Hoshi’s father have been more of an idiot?

- What’s with the obsession over taking a rest on this ship, anyway?

Overall, this episode takes a promising premise and fails to do anything interesting or creative with it. It’s nice to see Hoshi take the spotlight, but her character gets very little growth, even though the entire episode is devoted to her ordeal. It’s another mediocre offering by Berman and Braga.

I give it a 5/10.


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