And now for something completely...unexpected. Frankly, this isn't a great episode, not only because of the main plot being over-the-top even by Star Trek standards, but because they couldn't get past the fourth episode without bringing in the holodeck. Sigh. At least there's Klingons. Oh, spoiler alert...
So, this episode start out with the Enterprise going through some malfunctions; Archer's floating in the shower, T'Pol's tea turns out to be brown sludge, and so on and so forth. Nothing ship-threatening, but annoying as heck. It turns out that the problems are being caused by a fluctuation in the warp field or something, thanks to a small, cloaked ship that's dragging along behind them. After exposing the passenger ship, they learn that the aliens, called the Xyrillians, have a malfunction in their warp drive and are barnacling their way back home using other ships. Trip volunteers to help them out, and we get the best part of the episode, and something that really should have been done more often in Star Trek.
See, the Xyrillians have a very, very alien ship. So alien that Trip can't just beam across, or even just take a shuttlepod and do a meet-and-greet. No, he has to go through something similar to what deep-sea divers have to do when they surface: He has to stay in their airlock for three hours to give his body a chance to attune to the atmosphere and pressure. This is completely believable; why should all the aliens live under the same atmospheric conditions as Earth? Aside from makeup and budget constraints, that is.
So, Trip gets to fixing the ship, and hangs out with the Xyrllian engineer, a female named Ah'Len. She's attracted to Trip, despite her lizard-like features and his very non-lizardlike features. Looks like Trip gets to be Kirk before Kirk is even born; the alien ladies all want a piece of Trip. The best Kirk ever did was Batgirl in green makeup; Trip's got the lizard-brain working overtime. They spend time in a fully-functional holodeck which runs on 'resequenced photons.' Trekbabble is always fun.
Anyway, Trip finishes his three-day stay and returns to Enterprise. A couple of days later, he has a strange growth on his wrist. He goes to Dr. Phlox to get it checked out, and he finds out that he's...well, pregnant. With, presumably, Ah'Len's kid. Yay?
T'Pol gets to do some first-class snarking, and the whole crew watches as Trip starts acting like an expectant father--er, mother. Yeah, it's cringeworthy at times. The humor just doesn't work all that well, although Connor Trinneer does his level best to make it work. Resolving to find the Xyrillians to get the fetus out of Trip, they find them doing the barnacle thing again, only this time it's on a Klingon Bird-of-Prey. The Klingons are much less agreeable about a parasite ship on their warp field, and before they can destroy them, T'Pol reminds the Klingon commander of Archer's role in the rescue and return of Klaang a couple of months back.
The Klingons graciously agree to not blow up the Xyrillians (or Enterprise), on condition that they get to commandeer the holodeck technology for themselves. Since the Xyrillians are peaceful and don't feel like being blown up, they agree. Trip goes with them, and gets to spend the decompression time in an airlock with two smelly Klingons. Space travel can be rough. The Klingons are suitably impressed with the holodeck, and Ah'Len takes the baby from Trip, and all ends well. Except the Klingons inform Archer that he's used up his one 'Get Out of Sto'vokor Free' card, and next time they meet, things won't go so pleasantly.
So, this episode is one that has been panned over and over by Trek experts and Trekkers of all sorts. And I can't argue with them; the plot is silly, frankly, and the humor falls flat. The Xyrillians themselves are the highlight of the episode, being truly alien beings; they eat food that grows on the walls of the ship, and their atmosphere is very tough to deal with for humans (and Klingons).
But the Xyrillians aren't enough to save the episode. I won't go so far as to say it's the worst episode of the series, but it's definitely the first misstep in the series. I'm giving it a 3 out of 10 because of the alienness of the Xyrillians, and that's it.
Next time, the Enterprise tries to solve the mystery of one of the oldest attempts at interstellar colonialism at Terra Nova.
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