"Future Tense"

Written by Mike Sussman and Phyllis Strong
Directed by James Whitmore, Jr.


In which the discovery of a human corpse within an unknown ship prompts Archer to keep the vessel, leading to a race against time with those trying to take it...

Synopsis - Analysis - Memorable Quotes - Observations


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Synopsis

As the episode begins, the Enterprise approaches an unknown vessel, which seems to be disabled. Archer orders the crew to bring it into the launch bay, where they inspect it. There are windows, but T’Pol manages to find a hatch, which has been fused shut. With Archer’s permission, Reed uses a phaser to open the hatch. Archer pushes it open the rest of the way, and then gets in to see what’s inside. He finds a corpse sitting in a command chair, and to everyone’s shock…it’s human.

Dr. Phlox examines the corpse, confirming that the corpse is indeed human. But that only deepens the mystery, since no human is supposed to have been out so far before Enterprise. There are also no inhabited systems nearby. Archer wonders if the dead man could be Zephram Cochrane, the inventor of Earth’s first wrap drive, lost long ago during a test of a more advanced system.

Reed and Trip examine the ship, and find that it absorbs electromagnetic energy. They were lucky to even detect it. Trip can’t figure out where the engines are, or the power source. Archer checks with Admiral Forrest at Starfleet, but there is no information about previous deep space missions, with Phlox checking with the Cochrane family to see if there is a genetic match.

Trip and Reed go inside, and find a small hatch in the floorboards. The ship seems to have some kind of organic circuitry, and underneath is an access shaft. When they open it, the shaft goes several meters down, well past where the outer hull should be. They descend into the newly discovered area, and find what looks like some kind of warp reactor that breached.

As Reed detects an energy signature in the reactor chamber, the Enterprise is approached by a Suliban freighter. The Suliban captain informs them that the unknown ship has been claimed as salvage by the Suliban, and demands that Archer release the vessel. When Archer fails to comply, the Suliban arm their weapons.

Inside the unknown vessel, Trip and Reed unearth a powered module, and find a way to remove it. As they begin to ascend the shaft, the Suliban begin their attack. Archer orders Mayweather to fire on the Suliban ship’s weapons. Meanwhile, a few Suliban transport onto the Enterprise, attacking Reed and Trip while trying to open the launch bay. Once their weapons are disabled, the Suliban retreat, taking their men with them.

Archer contacts a nearby Vulcan ship, and they agree to meet in three days so the unknown vessel can be taken back to Earth for study. Trip tries to figure out the module, which seems to use the same organic circuitry as the rest of the ship. Phlox calls Archer to sickbay, and informs him that there is no match between the corpse and anyone in the Starfleet database.

However, the corpse, while human, has Vulcan DNA, which would have been introduced several generations earlier…long before the Vulcans actually had First Contact with Earth. What’s more, there are at least four other examples of alien DNA, including a species that cannot be identified. Phlox can only conclude that the human is the product of extensive interspecies breeding.

On a hunch, Archer takes T’Pol to Daniels’ old quarters, where a great deal of future technology remains. He searches for a database, which makes T’Pol uneasy. They begin flipping through the contents, much of which is unfamiliar. As they search for a vessel with the correct design characteristics, T’Pol muses over the folly of Vulcans mating with Humans. Archer is also somewhat interested with the idea.

They finally find the information, and discover that the vessel wasn’t commissioned until 900 years into the future. Archer recalls that Daniels’ faction in the Temporal Cold War routinely sends back historians into the past to study events. He knows that if the Suliban get the vessel, they could take it apart and learn about technology long before they are supposed to. But T’Pol wonders why the supposed future owners of the vessel haven’t simply retrieved it.

Before they can study further, another unknown ship is detected on an intercept course. T’Pol identifies the ship as Tholian, and notes that it’s unusual for Tholians to be so far from their space. The Tholian captain tells Archer that they were sent to retrieve the vessel, claiming that there is a danger from temporal radiation.

When Archer refuses to give the Tholians the vessel, the Tholians lock onto Enterprise with a tractor beam. Archer threatens to destroy the vessel if the Tholians don’t release them, so the Tholian retreats, leaving Archer worried about who else might think they have a claim on the vessel.

Phlox joins T’Pol for a meal, noting that he manages to find even more alien DNA sequences within the dead human’s genome. T’Pol shares that the metallurgical analysis of the ship shows completely unknown properties. Phlox muses about Archer’s theory that the vessel is from the future, but T’Pol refuses to accept the notion. Phlox suggests that T’Pol be open to accepting evidence to the contrary to her culture’s logic.

Meanwhile, Trip and Reed work on the module from the ship. They talk about their differing preferences on whether or not they would want to know the future, until they manage to power the module. Reed suggests that they could build an interface using the organic circuits from the vessel. As they work, they discuss where in the past they would want to visit. Then they notice that they are repeating the same conversation, over and over.

They report the experience to Archer, who has Phlox look them over. Nothing seems to be wrong with the crewmen, but T’Pol finds that the vessel is emitting some kind of unknown radiation. Archer orders the launch bay sealed, to prevent others from encountering the same problem. He also orders Trip to keep trying to access the information in the module.

T’Pol warns Archer that the radiation could spread, and she expresses her concern that the vessel might get them destroyed by those trying to take possession of it. Whereas Archer wants to take a more active part in the Temporal Cold War, T’Pol thinks they should try to stay out of it as much as possible. Archer doesn’t want to hear it, having made up his mind.

Trip learns that the module is really an emergency beacon, which is now giving off a signal. Very shortly, several Suliban vessels approach on an intercept course. With their rendezvous with the Vulcans minutes away, Archer does his best to keep the Suliban at bay. The Suliban, unworried by the proximity of Vulcans, fire on the Enterprise, trying to blast open the launch bay doors.

But when they reach the rendezvous point, they find the Vulcan ship badly damaged. The entire crew is alive, but the vessel has been disabled by the Tholians. With the Vulcans dealt with, the Tholians turn their attention to Enterprise.

Before Enterprise can go back to warp, the Tholians disable the engines. But when the Suliban drop out of warp, the Tholians begin attacking them. Archer, wanting to take advantage of the situation, orders Trip to get the engines back online. But when that looks impossible, Archer orders the engineer to get the beacon working as fast as possible.

When T’Pol reminds him that help might not arrive in time to save Enterprise, Archer asks Reed to help him detach a warhead from one of their torpedoes. Because of the sensitivity of the warhead, they need to move it as little as possible once detached, so Archer decides to do it in the launch bay. Meanwhile, Trip works frantically on increasing the power to the beacon.

When the Suliban begin losing to the Tholians, T’Pol presses Archer and Reed to work faster. But then the temporal radiation begins affecting their work, forcing them to keep starting over. When the Tholians are completely victorious, T’Pol tries to stall for time, but she fails. Two Tholian ships lock onto the docking ports on the saucer section, intending to board Enterprise.

As security teams move to stage a defense, Archer and Reed finally succeed in placing a warhead inside the vessel. Placing the warhead on remote detonation, they open the launch bay doors, sending the vessel back into space. As soon as the Tholians approach the vessel, Archer orders his crew to detonate the warhead. Unfortunately, the Tholians have already managed to disarm it.

In engineering, however, the module suddenly disappears. Then the corpse disappears from sickbay, and finally the vessel is gone as well. With their target gone, the Tholians simply turn around and leave. Archer, stunned, has no choice but to turn his attention to the survivors on the Vulcan ship.

With the incident over, Archer, Trip, and T’Pol sit down for a meal, pondering what they have experienced. T’Pol continues to deny that there is evidence that the vessel was from the future. Trip is amazed that the beacon worked so quickly, but Archer reminds him that time is irrelevant to the factions from the future.

After Trip leaves, Archer confesses that he needs to thank the Vulcans for helping, and apologize for the trouble involved. T’Pol seems to be concerned about what to put into her report…especially when it comes to the idea of Vulcan and humans breeding...


Analysis

Finally, “Enterprise” has returned to form.

Considering that the Temporal Cold War was a large part of the pilot episode for the series, one would have expected that the plot thread would be explored more frequently than it has. For better or worse, nothing has been mentioned regarding the ongoing control of historical events since “Shockwave II” at the inception of the second season.

This episode finally addresses the subject again, but oddly enough, the events depicted seem to only marginally impact the overall thrust of the War. If anything, this is more about the debate on whether or not Archer should choose to involve himself in the conflict, with the vessel from the future standing as his temptation.

The plot is extremely straightforward, which makes it simple to evaluate. What appears to be a vessel from the future, manned by a human studying the past, is detected by the Enterprise. Representatives of two different factions in the Temporal Cold War, the Suliban and the Tholians, try to steal the vessel from Archer, who wants to keep it for study. When the situation appears to be hopeless, Archer uses the vessel’s technology to send a request to the faction that sent the vessel to retrieve it.

Perhaps because of his experience in “Shockwave”, Archer is prepared to jump into the War with both feet, which is something that T’Pol wisely cautions him against. Beyond the obvious problems of knowing too much about what is supposed to happen in the future, based on their previous experience, T’Pol is still uncertain whether or not the War even exists.

T’Pol’s objections, of course, are the result of the stiff and unyielding doctrines of the Vulcan Science Directorate. In this sense, the Vulcans seem to have perfected the stifling and ultra-conservative atmosphere of academia. T’Pol is clearly torn between her trust and respect for Archer and her inherent Vulcan belief in the logic employed by their scholars. She wants to believe, but that would mean accepting that the Vulcans are fallible.

But more than that, there is the danger that comes with interfering with temporality without a clear understanding of the consequences. Archer, by virtue of his time period and his lack of information, has only the most basic conception of the conflict, and all of that is second hand. If Archer should choose to interfere more directly, it’s rather likely that he will cause more damage out of ignorance than anything productive.

Archer, however, now operates under the belief that his mission with Enterprise is critical to the “correct” progression of the future, and that is apparently driving him to think that he ought to do something proactive to prevent the timeline from being rewritten.

The tricky nature of temporal mechanics, of course, offers the possibility that Archer’s knowledge of the War is the very catalyst necessary for Archer to act as he is supposed to act. Archer might recognize that the best way to protect against those trying to rewrite history is to work together to protect mutual interests. The external threat from races working for factions from the future might have been the hidden motivation for Federation.

It is this hint of a growing obsession within Archer that makes this episode interesting, beyond the fact that a new faction has been revealed. The Tholians have always been portrayed as xenophobic and self-involved, and that makes them the perfect tool. The Tholians wouldn’t care about the fate of other species, one way or another. It’s interesting that they don’t go out of their way to kill the Vulcans and that they warn Enterprise about the temporal radiation, suggesting that their xenophobia is more a consequence of how their extremely guarded culture is perceived.

There are a number of moments in this episode where Archer and the crew blatantly act without the slightest thought to their own safety, or the safety of the ship. Opening the unknown vessel is a great example, as well as tinkering with technology that could be a thousand years more advanced. But that reckless drive to get answers to the mysteries surrounding the vessel reflect Archer’s mentality.

Following up on the not-so-subtle attraction between Archer and T’Pol, this episode introduces the idea that Vulcans and Humans are genetically compatible. This is no surprise for the audience, of course, but T’Pol’s reaction gives yet another glimpse of how far the Vulcans still have to go before the time of Spock.

Interestingly, her attitude is a mixture of horror and curiosity, which is certainly not what would be expected of the bulk of Vulcan society. Even in Spock’s time, the idea of a Vulcan/Human hybrid was something extraordinary. As recent episodes have proven quite well, there is a growing conception of how Federation changed the Vulcans for the better. Given T’Pol’s connections to the Vulcan embassy on Earth, the later decision by Sarek to marry a human woman and mate with her makes an incredible amount of sense.

One of the other enjoyable aspects of this episode was the conversation between Trip and Reed regarding knowledge of the future. Trip shows a surprising side to his nature, claiming that he wouldn’t want to know anything about the future. Reed, of course, betrays the exact opposite preference. This is consistent with their personalities as they’ve been portrayed, but it is an interesting way to express those traits.

Because of its simplicity, this episode sometimes suffers from predictability. The time loops don’t come as much of a surprise, and Archer’s facile use of Daniels’ database opens up some disturbing doors. It shouldn’t be that easy for Archer to gain knowledge about the future, especially given his current desire to act to preserve that future. It could also be used by the wrong writers as a deux ex machina, leading to lazy writing.


Memorable Quotes

REED: “This gives ‘space exploration’ a whole new meaning…”

PHLOX: “Surprises, Subcommander. I believe in embracing surprises.”

T’POL: “The High Command has asked me to prepare a report on this incident…with your permission.”
ARCHER: “By all means. I wonder if they’ll believe that Vulcans and humans will be…swapping chromosomes one day.”
T’POL: “They’re more likely to believe in time travel…”


Observations

- Nice to know that the crew is thinking about safety again. Archer opens up the unknown vessel without even the slightest worry over what might be inside!

- Or how about going down a shaft that shouldn’t exist, when you don’t know how it works?

- Or removing part of the ship without knowing what it is or what it does…

- Love T’Pol’s reaction to the idea that Humans and Vulcans are genetically capable!

- Wow…these Tholian ships are much cooler than the original version from 35 years ago…

- Damn, that Tholian language is annoying!

- I have to say, I admire Trip’s point of view on knowing the future…he’s definitely an engineer…

- Love the battle scene between the Tholians and the Suliban…that kind of warfare doesn’t come up much on this series!

- Nice how Archer fumbles with his communicator when T’Pol calls him during the battle…

- When Mayweather says that the Suliban cell ships have been destroyed, why does T’Pol ask how many? Doesn’t his statement imply that all of them are gone? Why else would he say it?

Overall, this episode was an interesting look at Archer’s growing obsession with the Temporal Cold War, and his temptation to take matters into his own hands. It’s unfortunate that there wasn’t more information given about the war, but the introduction of the Tholians holds promise.

I give it a 7/10.


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