SERIES: "Enterprise" EPISODE: "Carbon Creek" PROD#: ENT027 EP#: 2.02 RATING: PG AIRDATE: wed-25-sep-2002-20:00 EPDATE: [late apr-2152; autumn-1957 to early-1958] OFFICIAL: startrek.com/library/ent_episodes/episodes_ent_detail_125643.asp FROM: Phillip Thorne, thorne@underbase.org POST-TO: rec.arts.startrek.tech, rec.arts.sf.tv REVIEW#: 21.0 FORMAT#: 3.6 URL: underbase.org/dept/trek/ent202_carbon_creek.txt This technical overview is intended to support more detailed discussion of this episode and others, by specifically indicating who did what, and by indicating the spelling of proper nouns and technobabble, as attained through closed-captioning. The NOTES are listed in seen-on-screen order, and ANALYSIS summarizes topics. These may constitute plot spoilers; continue at your own risk. 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, VDB is "Vulcan database". Captions use the spellings "Launch Bay", "Sick Bay", and "shuttle pod", but I sometimes abbreviate to one word. "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. I. TERMS TRICKY Zephram Cochrane (ph, not f), T'Mir, D'Vahl. TECHNICAL Re-fusion pressure, impulse manifold, subspace transceiver, warp field engineer, waveform discriminator, particle weapon, armory case. CULTURAL Second foremother, High Command, Science Directorate, Space Council, Vulcan Survey Vessel, _D'Vahl_, Tellarite. CHARACTERS Cpt.Jonathan Archer Sub-Commander T'pol Cdr.Charles Tucker (The other regulars do not appear.) David Selburg as "Vulcan Captain" (unnamed in dialogue) Jolene Blaylock as T'Mir J. Paul Boehmer as Mestral Michael Krawic as Stron the engineer (unnamed in dialogue) Ron Marasco as "Vulcan Officer" Cpt.Tellus of the _D'Vahl_ (voice only) Clay Wilcox as Billy Ann Cusack as Maggie Hank Harris as Jack Paul Hayes as Businessman III. NOTES TEASER * Archer, Trip and T'pol celebrate her time on Ent -- one year to the day. * The prior record for a Vulcan on a human ship was 10 days. * T'pol was stationed in Sausalito. * T'pol: "Vulcans don't take vacations." * Official first contact was on 5-apr-2063, in Montana. * Explaining her trip to Carbon Creek, Pennsylvania, T'pol tells a story of her "second foremother" (great grandmother), T'Mir. ACT 1 * A four-crew Vulcan survey ship was in its third week of studying Earth, in response to the launch of Sputnik, when its impulse drive malfed ("re-fusion pressure", "impulse manifold") and it de-orbited. Its deployable "stabilizers" didn't save the ship. * It is not named. * "High Command". * The captain (unnamed) was killed. * T'Mir was the second in command. * The "subspace transceiver" was damaged, so they don't know if their distress signal was received. * The ship crashed in the woods. * The three surviving crew consumed their "emergency rations" in a week, then waited five more days. * T'Mir's scanner is very similar to T'pol's of 200 years hence. * Carbon Creek, population 611. * T'Mir and Mestral steal clothing. * T'pol claims the event is well-documented in the "Science Directorate" and "Space Council" on Vulcan. * T'pol's age? "It must be in her files," Trip speculates. "Classified information," coughs Archer. ACT 2 * Trip refers to "The Twilight Zone". * The three take odd jobs to survive, and "weeks" pass. * Number three (working as a plumber) complains that he is a "warp field engineer". * Reference to "I Love Lucy", "The Three Stooges" * Mestral leaves on the pretext of retrieving a "waveform discriminator" from the wreck, to improve TV reception, but actually meets Maggie... ACT 3 * ... to attend a baseball game in Doylestown. * T'Mir tries to meditate by candle. * Mestral retrieves a "particle weapon" from the ship's "armory case" to free the trapped miners. * T'Mir: "Compassion is an emotion." ACT 4 * At T'Mir's direction, Mestral adjusts his weapon to a "dispersal radius" of 7 degrees. * It fires a blue-white pulsing beam. * Three more months pass. * They receive a signal from "Cpt.Tellus" of the "Vulcan Survey Vessel" "_D'Vahl_". * Their signal had been received by a "Tellarite freighter", which was tardy in relaying it to "High Command". * To earn money to send Jack to college, T'Mir takes the train to the big city and sells the notion of Velcro. * Mestral insists on remaining on Earth. * The next survey ship (Mestral implies) would be in 20 years. * It would perform "statistical scans from high orbit." * The _D'Vahl_ (or a shuttle?) lands in the woods (with a spotlight) to retrieve the crew. V. CONNECTIONS VI. ANALYSIS 1. "Enterprise" eps do not establish the names of characters well. This week, T'Mir and Mestral were named only a few times across the ep, and their captain and engineer weren't named at all. Maggie and her son Jack didn't get surnames. 2. The ep contained no Vulcan dialogue, which would've been nice during Vulcan-only scenes (aboard T'Mir's ship, in the apartment, at the rescue). 3. If the survey mission was *in response to* the launch of humanity's first artificial satellite, how did Vulcan know? Low-observable probesats, or long-distance subspace telescopes? 4. Mestral suggested consuming the deer (and possibly its fawn) to survive, but the other two were opposed. Why, specifically? Killing a wild animal, killing a parent, or eating flesh? The word "vegetarian" was not mentioned, but if all Vulcans *are*, it might be linguistically assumed. 5. The Vulcans spoke flawless, if stilted, English. Did they have universal translators? 6. The USSR's Sputnik 1 was launched on 4-oct-1957. If the trio were stuck for the next four months (sometime after 4-oct, then almost two weeks in the woods, plus three weeks, plus three months) they'd've witnessed the launch of Sputnik 2 in November, and the US Navy's Explorer 1 on 31-jan-1958, but not the US Army's Vanguard 1 on 17-mar-1958. (Even after the creation of NASA in 1958, the US's three military branches conducted rival space programs.) 7. When the _D'Vahl_ makes contact, it specifies a rendezvous in three day's time. Is it still three days away (implying a very long-range handheld communicator), is it waiting to sneak past Terran observers, or did it considerately give the castaways time to clean up? 8. What happened to the wreckage of T'Mir's ship? Did the _D'Vahl_ blast it, or bury it, or tow it, slice and cart it away? There was no sign of transporters. 9. If Mestral lived out his remaining lifespan of "100, 150 years" (Trip) "or longer" (T'pol), he'd've lived from 1957 past official First Contact in 2063. Did he ever make contact with these new Vulcans? Did he secretly aid Zephram Cochrane's warp experiments? Was he the origin of Vulcan baseball, ie "The Logicians" from DS9? 10. T'Mir's survey ship was an elongated ovoid, standard Vulcan-red in color. It had two engine nacelles, ventral and dorsal, with yellow-glowing throats. To each side were two-pronged claw-like features, similar to the landing feet on the tri-lobed Vulcan lander from "First Contact". Forward of these projected two narrow airfoils, with vent-like features at their roots. The command deck featured at least one comfy seat, but the four crew stood at their stations, sans seatbelts. 11. The _D'Vahl_ (or its shuttle?) was another elongated ovoid, but more pointed, again red. It had two ovoid engine nacelles, aft lateral ventral; each had two triangular yellow-glowing features. Dorsal to the aft hull was a third ovoid, raised on a short stalk. Two rectangular landing feet deployed from the fuselage, just forward of the engines. At ventral midbody was a downward-pointing spotlight. The nose had two narrow, sharply backswept-canards. 12. The number of contemporary extraterrestrial visits increases: c.1890: Data t-visits San Francisco, meets Guinan (TNG-"Time's Arrow") c.1930: Kirk et al t-visit America (TOS-"The City on the Edge of Forever") 1947: Quark et al t-visit Roswell, NM (DS9-"Little Green Men") 1957: T'Mir et al visit Carbon Creek, PA (ENT202-"Carbon Creek") 1968: Kirk t-meets Gary Seven (TOS-"Assignment: Earth") c.1969: Ent-nil's first t-trip (TOS-"Tomorrow is Yesterday") 1986: Kirk et al t-visit San Franciso (ST4-"The Voyage Home") 1996: Janeway et al t-visit San Franciso (VGR-"Future's End") 2024: Sisko et al t-visit San Francisco (DS9-"Past Tense") 2063: Picard et al t-witness First Contact in MT (ST8-"First Contact") 13. In our universe, Velcro(tm) was patented in 1955 by George de Mestral, a Swiss amateur-mountaineer inspired by the tenacious grip of plant burrs on animal fur. See [ http://inventors.about.com/library/weekly/aa091297.htm ]. As the unnamed businessman T'Mir met no doubt soon realized, the real challenge with new products is not the first prototype, but manufacture and marketing. VII. NITS 1. T'Mir had no trouble walking in purloined pumps (highish-heeled shoes). Were her Vulcan uniform boots similarly heeled, or do Vulcans merely adjust quickly to strange footwear? 2. Televisions were expensive in 1957. Why did the trio's apartment contain one? 3. T'pol leaves Trip and Archer wondering if her story is entirely true, then returns to her quarters and (again in her green PJs) examines a human handbag, presumably T'Mir's. Why would she be carrying a family heirloom? Seems awfully sentimental for a Vulcan. 4. Question: *was* T'Mir *carrying* that handbag when she was rescued? VIII. NEXT WEEK Reed tries to defuse a bomb on the hull... a familiar-looking Romulan warbird with cloaking device... the word "Romulan" in dialogue.