[ST:Ent][Tech] Overview of 1.22:"Vox Sola" SERIES: "Enterprise" EPISODE: "Vox Sola" PROD#: ENT022 EP#: 1.22 RATING: PG AIRDATE: wed-01-may-2002-20:00 EPDATE: [not mentioned] OFFICIAL: startrek.com/library/episodes_ent_detail.asp?ID=124297 FROM: Phillip Thorne, thorne@underbase.org POST-TO: rec.arts.startrek.tech, rec.arts.sf.tv REVIEW#: 18.0 FORMAT#: 3.5 URL: underbase.org/dept/trek/ent122_vox_sola.txt This technical overview format is intended to be easy-to-scan, unambiguous, and precise, and a foundation for (in later revisions, a summary of) further freeform discussion. It distinguishes between what is said/claimed by characters, from what is actually shown. Whenever possible, it uses spellings from the closed captioning (which may not be entirely consistent, or match those on the official website). Corrections to typos, phrasing, etc. are welcome, but please, only if you include a specific citation -- the idea is to avoid *half-remembered* lines and *unrealized inferences*. The NOTES are listed in seen-on-screen order, and ANALYSIS summarizes topics. Abbreviations used: mel=male, fem=female, (m/f/?) name belongs to mel/fem/unclear, (os) on viewer screen, (?) quote is uncertain, (sp?) spelling is unclear, (vo) voiceover. "Star Trek" and all related indicia are copyrights of Paramount Pictures. This overview is (c)2002 Phillip Thorne, thorne@underbase.org. If you wish to reuse large hunks of text, or use this as a major source, please notify me by email, and include a citation. (Please excuse the inelegant and messy prose of the NOTES section. I'm in a bit of a rush, and most of the important points are reiterated in ANALYSIS.) PLOT SPOILERS BELOW! I. TERMS TRICKY [...] TECHNOLOGY (t) Starlog; (2) gravity plating; (2) EM generator(?); (3) stable EM barrier, force field, bioelectric stress, macrocellular analysis, bilateral algorithm, particle density. CULTURE (t) Kreetassans; (2) Neethian cradlefish. CHARACTERS Cpt.Jonathan Archer (JA), Ens.Travis Mayweather (TM), Dr.Phlox (Ph), Lt.Malcolm Reed(MR), Ens.Hoshi Sato (HS), Sub-Commander T'pol (Tp), Cdr.Charles Tucker (CT). Cwn.Kelly (Renee Goldsberry) Cwn.Michael Rostov (Joseph Will) Security officer Zabel Unnamed security officer Porthos Kreetassan Captain (Vaughn Armstrong) Kreetassan #2 Kreetassan #3 MENTIONS The steward. III. NOTES TEASER * FX #1: Kreetassan ship docked to Ent (starboard). * JA(vo) "Captain's Starlog, supplemental..." * Corridor. 3 Kreetassans stride angrily, barking in their own language, followed by JA CT HS. HS pokes at her UT handheld, trying to translate: something about an insult, but given to whom? * FX #2: creature crawls along retracting boarding tube. * FX #3: creature slips through closing airlock hatch. ACT I * FX #4: Ent from below. * Bridge (Tp, HS, TM, #1 at Tactical, #2 in back). HS hears a frequency distortion in the static; it's been repeating for some time now. Reviewing the Kreetassan language, she discovers that the words for "eat" and "mate" are nearly identical. It has the most subtle variations she's ever seen; a single word can have 12 meanings. CT enters. She reports the static to him. CT asks Tp about JA's mood. * Ready room. JA is moping at his desk as CT enters. Tries to cheer him up with news of dineer: prime rib, with real horseradish; Archer says he'll have "the steward" send some up. He's directing them to a "brown dwarf system". Tucker gambit #2: "shoot some nine ball?" #3: he pulls a data chip from an inside pocket. "Stanford versus Texas [...] fresh out of the subspace mailbag." * Archer's quarters. Porthos gets up from his bed, leaps on Archer's (shipshape, red covers), and barks at the overhead vent. * FX #5: Creature slithers through conduit. * Mess (TM, HS, MR) (3 mel, 3 fem in bg). As TM munches his dinner (beef with horseradish, soft roll, brocolli), the 3 officers speculate as to what might've offended the Kreetassans. The movie tonight will be the classic French film "Wages of Fear". TM suggests MR will like it: things explode. They fail to lift HS out of her dudgeon, despite quipping that they might need a translator; "those subtitles go by pretty fast". * Corridor. HS hears a scraping-tapping noise, and puts her ear to the bulkhead. * FX #6: Creature slithers through the interhull space. * Engineering. CWN.MICHAEL ROSTOV(m) urges CWN.KELLY(f) to hurry, or they'll miss the start of the movie. Standing at the warp core's panel, she detects a power loss on D-deck, in "Cargo Bay 2" -- the lighting grid and com are down. Probably a relay has failed. She sends him out to fix it. * Mess. The film starts, but the screen shows static. It switches from overhead camera views of Sickbay and the Situation Room, via a 3D graphic of the warp core. MR goes to the intercom and calls the Bridge. * Officers Mess. * Screen FX. * CT brings a bowl of pretzels to the table; both men already have beers. Water polo. * Hatch to cargo bay. Rostov readies his flashlight. * Cargo bay. It's dark. He moves amid the canisters and cases, and discovers a liquid dripping from a shattered vent on the far bulkhead. He follows the white liquid across the deck, and sees a tentacle recede into the shadows. He then sees a web strung across the corridor. He lifts his communicator to call... * Engineering. ...Kelly answers, but hears nothing. * Officers Mess. * Screen FX. * CT is getting into the game, and is rooting for Texas. * Cargo bay. Kelly enters with a flashlight, calls for Rostov. * Officers Mess. JA considers the possibility of installing a swimming pool on a starship. CT wouldn't want to be in it if the "gravity plating" went out. Gets a call on the intercom, "Kelly to Captain." There's a life-form... ACT II * Corridor. JA and CT advance, each carrying a phase-pistol and flashlight. They meet MR (with a third pistol) and ZABEL (with a rifle). * Cargo bay. * FX They enter. They see Kelly enwebbed, inert. CT shines his flashlight, and it tightens around her; JA guesses, gestures for him to point away, and the web relaxes. MR pulls out his scanner (which hums just like a tricorder), and reports that she's alive. Rostov urges them to leave. They back away -- and JA is grabbed by tentacles from behind a canister. MR and #2 fire, with no effect. CT is grabbed. #2 climbs a ladder to escape another tendril, but is grabbed. Three more chase MR, who makes a hasty retreat, and severs one as he forces the hatch closed. It writhes on the deck. * Situation Room. (MR, HS, TM, Tp, helm). MR gestures at a map (wall screen) of the cargo bay, with the web strung across most of one corner. TM suggests he can track the "warp trail" of the Kreetassans. Tp calls Ph, asks. * Screen FX. * Overhead sickbay camera. It zooms to show Phlox, clad in space-suit, examining the tentacle. He notes that it remains active when separated from the larger body, like the earthworm or "Neethian cradlefish". He cuts out a small sample with forceps, and holds it to his medical scanner; he detects significant synaptic activity; it could be intelligent. HS notes that the ferquency variations resemble features of certain "Andorian dialects". "Phase pistols" had no effect upon it. Phlox notes that it's highly photosensitive; perhaps a sustained burst of EM radiation could stun it. * FX Ent at warp. * Cargo bay. JA strains against the webbing. Rostov. Ask about Zabel. MR and #3 and #4 enter, each holding a device (EM generator). They fire blue beams into the web. * Situation Room. Ph and Tp monitor, with 5 sets of life-signs readings (three linear gauges) on the table. Ph realizes their nervous systems are linked. * Cargo bay. Retreat. * Situation Room. Ph Hs Tp. Ph reports that the rate of "symbiosis" is increasing. Tp gives the go-ahead to HS to attempt to communicate with it. ACT III * Sick bay. 5 charts on main screen. Tp MR Ph. A few hours at most; their metabolic rates are dropping. It's truly alien; it's not trying to kill them, but rather "integrate" them. "In a few hours, there won't be six life-forms in that cargo bay. There'll only be one." * Corridor. MR explains to Tp that, for the past 5 years, Starfleet's been trying to devise a "stable EM barrier". "A force field," she summarizes. They have trouble controlling the particle density. MR's been tinkering on his own, and has achieved a barrier that blocks a phase-pistol beam 60% of the time. * Bridge. Tp enters. TM has detected the Kreetassan ship, 0.52-Ly away, and has already begun hailing it. Tp goes to HS, who's struggling with the translation. The "translation matrix" isn't designed for this; the creature's language is highly mathematical. HS swallows her pride and asks for help. * Cargo bay. They begin joining. CT struggles. JA calms him down, orders him to focus on what he's thinking. Senior year, the North American finals against Princeton, Archer's team. They won every game that season, went to the finals. * Sick bay. Reed enters, goes to the glove box in which the tendril is confined. Phlox reports that it's entered a dormant state, probably from shock. Reed wants to measure the "bioelectric stress" it can tolerate, so he can calibrate the force field to stop it without killing it. Phlox objects; he believes it's an intelligent being. Reed outranks him, but not in his Sickbay, and only Archer can overrule -- and he's indisposes. He proposes a "macrocellular analysis" instead, which will take less than an hour. * Mess. HS and Tp. Tp asks: "bilateral algorithm". "Sub-Commander". * Bridge. * Screen FX. * TM looks around, realizes he's alone except for 2 crewman in the back. He makes contact with the Kreetassans, and is surprised their rep speaks English. "We studied your database. It wasn't difficult." He describes the creature, and the rep admits they have seen it: on its homeworld. He will provide the coordinates, but demands an apology. TM is ready, but explains that the Ent crew doesn't know how they offended. Stiffly, the rep explains that they ate with their mouths, in public. Among Kreetassans, eating is a purely private activity. [Which came first, the taboo or the homophone?] TM's earnest apology is accepted. * Cargo bay. JA and CT; Rostov has passed out. CT wonders if in Zefram Cochrane's speech about "new lives and new civilizations", he meant this. * Mess. HS excitedly finds a third set of repetitions; a few more, and the UT can "start building a syntax". Ph(vo), Tp goes to the intercom. Cwn.Kelly's metabolic level has dropped to critical. * Armory. MR and #3 hurriedly test his force field. Four small disc-shaped projectors are mounted on vertical tripod-supported poles, set up between the two torpedo launch-rails. #3 tests with a phaser beam. It penetrates. MR adjusts the "particle density", which is still "fluctuating". [Hopefully on stun. Phaser discharges in the vicinity of two torpedoes seems a trifle unwise.] Tp(vo) calls to hurry him along. ACT IV * Web. CT. JA not responding. * MR and #3 enter, affix the 4 projector-disks to the side walls of the foyer. * FX spot the tentacle. * FX tentacle attacks field. * FX tentacle attacks again. * Ph, HS (fiddling with UT), Tp. MR enters. * Web. MR Tp HS Ph (and #3) enter. HS's device emits a pure tone; when MR asks, she explains that she'll impose variations on it, and hope the creature responds. * FX attack field. * FX GUI of Phlox's scanner. * FX GUI of UT. She's receiving data. Ph reports that CT and Kelly's bio-signs are stabilizing. The web unfolds, and lowers the crew to the floor. Tp orders the field dropped. Ph goes to the intercom, and calls for a med team. * FX webs retract into the corner * FX Ent drops from warp, heads toward bluish planet (Ent's pov). * FX shuttle launch (ext pov). * FX hi shot * FX horiz shot * FX crate. * FX box. * 4 crew in suits walk amid the landscape of web. Tp reports that it's all a single organize. They put down the shipping crate, open it, and the web crawls out. They release the severed tentacle from a small box. Phlox speculates that, when it was separated from itself, it may've been compelled to join with whatever life it could find. * FX shuttle launches during the sunrise, across an entire landscape covered, rocky buttes emerging from. V. CONNECTIONS 1. The weekly movie has been mentioned in prior episodes [...] VI. ANALYSIS 1. Kreetassans Humanoid. Elaborate facial structure. Along midline of forehead (nose to hairline), and covering one-third its width, a row of purple-tinged rectangular scutes. Wear robes and elaborate necklaces. 2. Kreetassan language ...was the most complex Sato had yet encountered, and she projected her feelings of failure onto T'pol, interpreting her actions as second-guessing and lack of confidence. A "single word" can have "a dozen meanings". [Technically, the Kreetassans would perceive them as a dozen *different* words; it's only the non-native speaker's insensitivity to the relevant variations that blurs them together.] The concepts of "eat" and "mate" are contained in one such word, depending on stress. Kreetassans eat only in private; to be seen putting food in one's mouth is a great insult. [Unknown: which came first, the taboo, or the homophone?] tostka = insult hwajat = eat HWAjat = mate Kjass skjask las? = (What did we do?) Hwajat ajhak jahs! = You eat like you mate. Sasooratt! = (Desire to leave.) Jhaaratun yiitooratt loorii = Whatever we did to offend, we apologize. 3. Kreetassan ship Pale green-grey, spindle or elongated teardrop, about half the length of Ent's saucer. Telescoping cylindrical docking tube at the "equator"; spindle-shaped prow extending from the "forward pole"; "forward hemisphere" about four times the length of the aft. Several elongated bulges along the dorsal midline, one set into a notch. A single row of windows along the docking-tube deck. Sweeping strakes along each side, ventral to that deck. 4. The symbiotic alien ...was a small segment of a much larger creature, which covers at least several square klicks of a bluish planet, possibly without a human-breathable atmosphere. [The suits may've been to prevent contamination, rather than to provide air.] It could survive and move in vacuum, at least for short periods. It's intelligent, with a highly mathematical language for which the UT was unprepared; it can communicate by radio [presumably that's where Sato found the "frequency distortions"] or sound. Phlox speculates that the segment captured six Ent crewmembers, and began integrating their neural systems, because it was driven to join with anything available. The creature's basic form is an irregular web of white ribbonlike strands, and sometimes tapered cylindrical tendrils. All the parts are capable of independent movement, although small severed segments are apt to fall into shock and inactivity. When moving, it leaves a trail of semi-viscous white liquid (thicker than milk, something like latex). It's photosensitive, and intense EM discharges cause it pain, but it easily withstands phaser blasts [stun or kill?]. A small segment can expand within a few hours to fill a room, and later shrink back to its original size. [How? Violation of conservation of mass? Or did it metabolize the metal of the bulkheads and the contents of the containers?] 5. Archer and water polo During school [high school, college, Starfleet Academy?], Archer was a member [captain?] of the [men's?] water polo team. He was determined that they could win every game, and did, going on to the North American finals [at least; possibly to the finals above that]. He's still a fan of the sport [or possibly just those games that feature his favorite schools]. VII. NITS [...] VIII. NEXT WEEK 08-may-20:00 "Fallen Hero"... with more terrorists and captivity. 08-may-21:00 "Desert Crossing" 15-may-20:00 "Two Days and Two Nights"... on Risa. 22-may-20:00 "Shockwave"... season finale.