EPISODE: "The Seventh" PROD#: ENT033 TRAN#: 2.07 RATING: PG AIRDATE: wed-6-nov-2002-20:00 EPDATE: [Unstated; spring 2152] OFFICIAL: startrek.com/library/ent_episodes/episodes_ent_detail_126160.asp FROM: Phillip Thorne, thorne@underbase.org POST-TO: rec.arts.startrek.tech, rec.arts.sf.tv REVIEW#: 25.01 FORMAT#: 3.7 URL: underbase.org/dept/trek/ent207_seventh.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 (CC). The NOTES are listed in approximate seen-on-screen order, and ANALYSIS summarizes topics. THESE MAY CONSTITUTE PLOT SPOILERS; continue at your own risk. Abbreviations used: (m/f/?) name belongs to mel/fem/unclear, (os) on viewer screen, (?) quote is uncertain, (sp?) spelling is unclear, (vo) voiceover, VHC Vulcan High Command, Vdb 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. Spelling correction by D.Joseph Creighton. This overview is (c)2002 Phillip Thorne, thorne@underbase.org. Please notify me-the-author if you wish to re-print large hunks of text. And if you liked this, consider subscribing to my similarly-detailed e-newsletter, the _Non-Sequitur Express_. I. TERMS TRICKY [none] TECHNICAL torpedo launchers, impulse reactors, dorsal lobes of ears, synthetic bio-toxins, transgenic weapons; Captain's Mess, deuterium canisters, bio-scanner, Main Engineering, computer access, warp core, dockmaster, warp injector casings, hemolytic cell count; Decon; Captain's Starlog. CULTURAL water-polo; bangers and mash, Denobulan sausage, _Nyran_; Tellarite, the Fullara, Sanctuary of P'Jem. GEOGRAPHIC Pernaia Prime, Agaron, Andoria, Risa, Risa's Tropical Zone. CHARACTERS Cpt.Jonathan Archer Travis Mayweather Dr.Phlox Porthos Malcolm Reed Ens.Hoshi Sato Sub-Cdr.T'Pol Cdr.Charles "Trip" Tucker (Uncredited) as Crewman serving breakfast Bruce Davison as Menos Richard Wharton as Jossen David Richards as Dockmaster Vincent Hammond as Huge Alien Coleen Maloney as Vulcan Officer Stephen Mendillo as Vulcan Captain ("Tavek") MENTIONS Adm.Forrest Chef III. NOTES TEASER * T'POL reads a hardback book, printed in vertical Vulcan curlicue-script. * Her comm chimes. She operates the keyboard with its erratically-placed keys. Vulcan text and a logo are replaced by a grey-haired Vulcan matron, who announces that MENOS has been located, "three days" away. ACT 1 * T'Pol enters ARCHER's ready room, and tells him he'll be receiving a message from ADMIRAL FORREST. * Archer appears to be eating toast and drinking coffee. * The "Vulcan High Command" requires her assistance in "a matter of security". * She'll need a "shuttlepod" and pilot for 3-5-days in the "Pernaia" system. * The Vdb lists "Pernaia Prime" as having a "methane-based" atmosphere -- but they're not going there. * TRAVIS will pilot. * While the ship waits, REED will "recalibrate the torpedo launchers" and TUCKER will "purge the impulse reactors". * Archer irritably bounces a yellow volleyball against the bulkhead while he and PORTHOS watch a water-polo match. * 17 years earlier, before T'Pol joined the Vulcan "Science Directorate", she worked at the "Ministry of Security", trained in investigation and retrieval. * The planet "Agaron" is now a "close ally" with Vulcan --Archer. * 30 years earlier, it was "very corrupt" --T'Pol. * 109 Vulcan agents were surgically altered and sent to overthrow the criminal factions. * All but 19 returned. * The MoS sent retrieval agents. * T'Pol was able to catch 5 of the 6 rogues she'd been assigned. * It's a "matter of honor" that she be sent now. * Turbolift to the Launchbay. * T'Pol briefs Archer and Travis. * Surgical alterations: "dorsal lobes of the ears" removed, forehead ridge added. * Menos now smuggles "synthetic bio-toxins" used to manufacture "transgenic weapons". * T'Pol caught up with him once, on "Risa". * Tavern of aliens. * Snow. ACT 2 * Menos' weapon fires a pale blue beam. * They capture him with minimal fuss. * Acting-Captain Tucker calls Reed and Phlox to breakfast in the "Captain's Mess". * He had CHEF prepare "bangers and mash" and "Denobulan sausage", respectively. They're served by a red-stripe male "crewman". * Phlox reports the arrival onboard of a "lymphatic virus", possibly from the "deuterium canisters", undetected because the "bio-scanner" is good but not perfect. * He recommends "inoculating" the crew; though there may be side effects (headache, nausea, diarrhea) that will last 1-2-days. * Reed's recalibration will require diverting "computer access" from Main Engineering, which will require "powering down" the "warp core". * HOSHI(vo) relays the approach of the Vulcan ship "_Nyran_" at high warp. * Its CPT.TAVEK carries a message for Archer from Adm.Forrest. * The spaceport DOCKMASTER confirms their "warrant" is correct, but they can't leave for 4-hours. * The port has just started "thermalizing the landing deck", using a half-cm of "xylathoric acid". * Menos pours out his sob story. * He fears spending 3-years in a Vulcan rehabilitation clinic. * He's not a smuggler; he hauls "spent warp injector casings", an unpopular job. * A doctor on "Andoria" measured his "hemolytic cell count" at over 3000. * (Implication, explicit later: radiation sickness.) * He shows off a hologram (small disc projector) of his claimed family: wife and two daughters. * T'Pol begins experiencing yellow-tinged flashbacks. * Pursuit through a Risan jungle, chasing Menos and a younger man named JOSSEN. * A brutal Vulcan ceremony. ACT 3 * Tucker decides to impersonate Archer. * He's nervous, but reasonably confident Tavek can never have met Archer; the Vdb doesn't mention him ever visiting Earth. * TAVEK reads his cryptic message from a padd: "Cal beat Stanford, 7 to 3." * Agitated, T'Pol binds her boots with strips of Menos' overbelts, and runs across the landing deck to his ship. * She finds only injector casings. * She'll have to go through "Decon" --Archer. * The "Tropical Zone" of Risa. * T'Pol tracked Menos through the "Tellarite transport captain" who took him there. * She remembers: she was assigned 7 fugitives, not 6. * She killed Jossen. * Upon her return, she underwent "the Fullara", an "obsolete" Vulcan ritual to repress the memory and emotions of an event. * The resigned her position in MoS. * She sought guidance from the "Elders" at the "Sanctuary of P'Jem". * Injector casings cause radiation poisoning. * Menos starts a fire; the tavern is made of wood. ACT 4 * 5 ships hastily launch, leaving Menos' and the shuttlepod. * The three examine Menos' ship, but he's nowhere to be found. * They find him hiding behind a holographic disguise field. * A firefight. * He escapes through a deck hatch. * Archer convinces T'Pol to stun him as he flees. * Travis finds a cabinet of bio-toxins (liter-scale bottles filled with green liquid) in the hidden section. * "Captain's Starlog, supplemental..." V. CONNECTIONS 1. The Pernaian spaceport tavern is patronized by a motley bunch of non-humans, among them a Klingon, someone who might be a Cardassian, and one of the purple-forehead-scute Kreetassans from 1.22-"Vox Sola" and 2.05-"A Night in Sickbay". 2. The planet Risa was visited by the NX-01 in ENT1.25-"Two Days and Two Nights", and repeatedly by the crews of the NCC-1701-D and DS9. The TOS crew must've been in the wrong sector (or the planet was closed for renovation) since they only visited Argelius ("Wolf in the Fold") and stumbled onto the "theme-park planet" ("Shore Leave"). 3. Tellarites (freighters and transports) are mentioned in 2.02-"Carbon Creek" and 2.04-"Dead Stop", but unlike Andorians, have not yet been visualized in ENT. 4. The Sanctuary of P'Jem is visited in 1.07-"The Andorian Incident" and mentioned in 1.15-"Shadows of P'Jem". 5. One of the canisters in Menos' ship is marked with Axanar symbology: a cross of white jaggies on a rectangular green field. From 1.03-"Fight or Flight". VI. ANALYSIS 1. Agarons are visibly distinct from terrans only by a narrow vertical ridge running from the bridge of the nose to the upper forehead (not quite to the hairline; not if it's receding, anyway). 2. Cpt.Tavek's _Nyran_ is not shown. 3. Vulcan's government includes a Science Directorate, Ministry of Security, and diplomatic corps. VII. NITS 1. In Act 1, when Archer and Tucker take the turbolift, the movement of wall-light-bars imply they're moving up -- but they arrive in the Launchbay. Why were they moving from a lower deck? Surely (a) Archer was travelling from his quarters and (b) those are higher than Launchbay. 2. After T'Pol's frantic initial dash to Menos' ship, nobody comments about the dangerous xylathoric acid. Did four hours pass in compressed-ep-time, or did everyone fear the burning tavern more? VIII. NEXT WEEK ENT034/2.08-"The Communicator"... in which a mislaid accessory almost leads to TOS-"A Piece of the Action".