EPISODE: "The Crossing" PROD#: ENT044 TRAN#: 2.18 RATING: PG-V AIRDATE: wed-2-apr-2003-20:00 EPDATE: [no date given; late autumn 2152 ?] OFFICIAL: startrek.com/library/ent_episodes/episodes_ent_detail_128232.asp FROM: Phillip Thorne, thorne@underbase.org POST-TO: rec.arts.startrek.tech, rec.arts.sf.tv REVIEW#: 35.0 FORMAT#: 5.0 URL: underbase.org/dept/trek/ent218_crossing.txt I. INTRODUCTION Is it time yet to update the Chinese Menu Trek Script Generator? This technical overview is intended to support discussion of the current episode, and to later serve as a reference: it contains PLOT SPOILERS; CONTINUE AT YOUR OWN RISK. Whenever possible, it indicates who did/claimed/knew what; the official of technobabble and alien nouns is obtained from TV closed-captioning ("CC") -- which is not always correct. If you have corrections or clarifications, please contact me. "Star Trek" and all related indicia are copyrights of Paramount Pictures, while this overview is (c)2003 Phillip Thorne. Feel free to use this document as a reference, but please give credit where due. Abbreviations commonly used: -(m/f/?) name belongs to mel/fem/unclear, (os) on [viewer] screen, (vo) voiceover, -(?) quote is uncertain, -(sp?) spelling is unclear; VDB Vulcan database, VHC Vulcan High Command; series: TOS TAS TNG DS9 VGR ENT. Although CC uses "Launch Bay", "Sick Bay", and "shuttle pod", I often condense those terms to single words. II. TERMINOLOGY TECHNICAL: Tactical Alert, dorsal camera, deuterium pumps, injectors, dilithium matrix, medical computer, hand-scanner, osmium alloy, command functions. BIOLOGICAL: corporeal, non-corporeal, acetylcholine, autonomic nervous system, perceptive energy. LOCATIONS: Tarpon Springs. III. ANALYSIS 1. What we don't get: a name for the vapor-wisp-aliens. Porthos or Chef. An obvious connection between Ensign Cook's name/voice and body, a connection between Ensign Cole and Crewman Rossi, or names for the female crew members. Any mention of similar creatures in the VDB (only that their ship isn't mentioned). 2. Non-corporeal lifeforms (as opposed to cloud-beings or incidentally mobile human neural energy) have appeared in: TOS "The Lights of Zetar": Zetarian survivor-ghosts TOS "Errand of Mercy": Organians TOS "Day of the Dove": hate/aggression-eating "Beta XII-A" creature TOS "Is There in Truth No Beauty?": Medusans TOS "Wolf in the Fold": Redjack the killer TNG "Lonely Among Us": Picard's cloud-dwelling friend TNG "Transfigurations": John Doe of the Zalkonians TNG "The Bonding": Koinonians, remnants of a planetary war DS9 "The Storyteller": The Dalrok, created on Bajor 3. Since the wisp-aliens are planning a takeover, we can't trust their word -- on the other hand, they may not have needed to lie. They originated as corporeal lifeforms of "substance", then evolved into a form of "perceptive energy" that is visible (blue in color), but cannot be read by _Enterprise's_ sensors. They can travel through N2-O2 atmosphere and most solid objects, but not osmium alloy. They're compatible with some corporeal species, in that they can swap places with a body's owner, who then spends time as a similar wisp-creature, immersed in (something that is probably) self-driven fantasies. They can force entry, unless the host has the mental discipline of a Vulcan; and they can be expelled if the host is dead (even if briefly). Compatible species include humans and Vulcans, but not Denobulans. The wisp-aliens live in and travel through subspace, relying on their ship in some unspecified fashion; they cannot survive in space (although they can apparently travel for a short distance through vacuum). Archer believes this is the first time Starfleet has encountered such beings. 4. The alien ship resembles a heavily-textured blue-grey manta ray, with a blunt lobed tail. The forward hatch is ovoid, and splits into several pocketed sections; the surrounding hull forms a pronounced ventral "sill" with two projecting spines. The ship is stated to be at least 500 meters wide, and the doors (wide enough to easily admit Enterprise) are therefore around 200. The interior bay is blue in color, basically rectangular, with many curved ribs on the side bulkheads, and curved details that may indicate an irregular deck, or interior features beneath a translucent surface. It can travel at least at warp 6, but emits no perceptible-to- Enterprise warp signature, and has no warp-glows. It fires no obvious weapons or tractor beams. 5. Was the wisp-ship's interior bay a natural feature, or was it created specifically to swallow Enterprise (and the vessels of other corporeal beings)? We don't know what aspects of the ship are "deteriorating". 6. Phlox's atmosphere-swapping procedure involves first finding "Junction 4-1-alpha", the rightmost of a series of vertical bulkhead panels, which contains the "atmospheric recycling manifold". The panel is removed by pressing first the two silver toggles (lower row), then the two red (upper row). He then proceeds to one of the "access tubes" (big enough to stand) to "purge the osmotic filters". First, remove the outer cover plate, then simultaneously tap the two "solenoids" within, to unlock the inner cover plate. Turn the two rotary valves, then adjust the big lever. (Big, obvious, comprehensible plumbing -- good!) 7. The silver-blue metal osmium (Os) is one of the densest known chemical elements, at 22.61 g/cc. (Iridium is 22.65, platinum 21.09, neptunium 20.45, gold 19.3, lead 11.3.) With an atomic number (Z) of 76, it's a platinum-group metal, similar in properties to and often found in ores with its compatriots: ruthenium (Ru, 44), rhodium (Rh, 45), palladium (Pd, 46), silver (Ag, 47), iridium (Ir, 77), and platinum (Pt, 78). It has the highest melting point of the group, at 3033°C. (See www.webelements.com.) IV. NITS [...] V. THIRD-PARTY COMMENTS [...] VI. EPISODE SYNOPSIS TEASER: _Enterprise_ is running from a threatening oncoming ship. REED reports that sensors can't identify its "hull composition", that it's not emitting a "warp signature", and that it's over 500 meters across. T'POL reports its speed as warp 6, and that it's not in the VDB. HOSHI gets no response to her hails, and can't detect a "transceiver". The ship opens an ovoid set of pocket doors slide open in its manta-like prow, and swallows _Enterprise_. ACT 1: ARCHER orders "Tactical Alert", but Reed reports weapons offline, and Tucker (from Engineering) that both warp and impulse engines are down. T'Pol reports that sensors can't penetrate the hull, but life support is fully operational. Archer orders MAYWEATHER to operate the "dorsal camera": he "rotates" and "tilts" until some mysterious wisps of "vapor" come into view. The vapor contains no elements the sensors can identify, T'Pol reports; and the atmosphere consists of helium with traces of xenon. Archer, Tucker and Reed take a shuttlepod from the hovering _Enterprise_, land on the bay's deck, and (clad in EV suits) step out. Reed (with hand- scanner) can't read the vapor, but reports the atmosphere changing: to 76% nitrogen, 21% oxygen, at "eighteen degrees" [Celsius]. "Florida in November," comments Trip. Suddenly, a blue vapor-wisp enters Trip's head, and a yellow wisp exits. He stands there, unresponsive, until the process reverses: and reports a strange experience whereby he looked down at them from the ceiling, "but not with my eyes", and was swimming with LISA [his girlfriend] in "Tarpon Springs". Archer's skeptical: they're "150 light- years from Earth". Phlox examines Tucker in Decon (the doctor and other two are outside), but can detect nothing obviously amiss. In his ready room, rcher interprets the aliens as hostile; T'Pol does not. She reports that Hoshi's had no success communicating with them. Tucker rides the elevator up [from an unseen lower deck] to Engineering's main level. Standing at the warp core, he's startled by a blue wisp; the blue-yellow exchange takes place. CREWMAN ROSTOV notes something is amiss, and after Tucker/XT exits (via the starboard wing-hatch) he calls the bridge. Archer, T'Pol and Reed find Tucker/XT in the Mess, a half-dozen entrees spread before him. Angrily, Archer confronts the usurper; but it's imperturbable. "He's exploring another realm; my realm. But he'll be back ... please trust me." The alien explains that its kind live and travel through subspace; they're explorers, who "evolved" from "corporeal" beings, but haven't encountered any in "a long time". The test with Tucker indicated the two species were compatible; now they can learn how their ancestors lived. Archer demands Tucker's return and the ship's release; the alien accedes to the latter request. "You claim to be an explorer, captain. Open your mind to new possibilities." ACT 2: Moments later, a yellow wisp enters through a window, and exchanges with Tucker's skull. Trip is again impressed: he was with "Hopalong Cassidy", then with Lisa in New Zealand, then a child ("eight or nine") raking leaves with his father. He recommends the experience, but Archer is skeptical. Archer's "starlog, supplemental:" "non-corporeal beings -- that's gotta be a first for Starfleet." Phlox reports that one of the wisps entered his body, but left almost immediately; he concludes that his physiology isn't compatible. In the Armory (?-- there are torpedoes racked) Reed notices a wisp. He runs from it, grabs a phase-pistol from the bulkhead rack, fires, dashes into the corridor -- and is caught. His demeanor immediately changes. A female crewmember (blonde, redstripe) passes, and he stares at her. He joins another (brunette, redstripe) on a turbolift. Reed/XT proceeds to T'Pol's quarters (she's in her mint-green waist-baring pajamas, reading), and comments: "Are you aware that you are the most attractive woman aboard this ship?" She asks if he's drunk; his further comments about "mating" indicate he's possessed, and she calls Archer and a security team. They arrive [it's the usual pair, the burly black guy with the shaved head, and the slightly shorter white guy], and take the unresisting Reed/XT to his quarters. Striding through the corridor with T'Pol (now uniformed), Archer calls Tucker (on a communicator). In Engineering, Trip orders Rostov to "prime the deuterium pumps" and "start the injectors". He gets a call from ENSIGN COOK (male). Later, Trip examines a system display (with a big "Tactical Alert" sign in the middle), and asks if Rostov has "calibrated the dilithium matrix." "I have no idea how to do that," he answers. "This engine is very complicated." Tucker restores impulse. ACT 3: T'Pol and Phlox call Archer to Sickbay for a clandestine conference (who knows who's listening on the comm?); they've devised a test for possession: "elevated acetylcholine levels in the autonomic nervous system". T'Pol "programmed the medical computer to modify this hand-scanner." They proceed to the Mess, and detect that ENSIGN COLE and CREWMAN ROSSI are possessed. Tucker sends Mayweather to the starboard nacelle to "repolarize" the warp coils. Climbing, he notices a blue wisp; he rushes up through the sequence of two hatches, and locks it out. He reports this. (The bunks [from "The Catwalk"] are still installed.) Archer calls Tucker, who speculates that the Catwalk's reinforcement of "osmium alloy" might make it proof. Archer orders transfer of all "command functions" to the starboard catwalk -- but now Hoshi has been possessed. She comments on his attachment to "substance" over "perceptive energy". Later, 58 crew are taken into the Catwalk; 24 possessed (plus Phlox) are still outside. T'Pol argues for a personal intel-gathering mission: she believes her disciplined Vulcan mind can resist possession, but that while "conjoined" she could "ascertain the motives" of the vapor-wisps. Archer reluctantly lets her exit the nacelle. Below, in a corridor junction, a blue wisp enters. In Sickbay, Phlox receives a call from Hoshi/XT to report a leg fracture. "I don't know how to repair it. She is in a great deal of pain." Carrying a phase-pistol, he enters her locked quarters carefully, and examines her from a distance. There's nothing wrong -- and she attacks, grabs the dropped pistol -- but he subdues her with an injection (into her ankle, through the pants leg). In the corridor, he calls Archer with a communicator. ACT 4: At the junction, Phlox examines T'Pol while speaking with Archer -- and then the blue-wisp is forcibly ejected from her skull. "They're lying to us," she gasps. Their ship is deteriorating; they can't repair it, and can't survive in space. There are hundreds of them; 82 plan to move onto _Enterprise_, and the remainder will search for another vessel. Archer asks: "can they survive if the host is dead?" "It would be no different than exposure to space," answers T'Pol. Phlox dons an EV suit, and at Archer's direction (reading from a systems diagram) alters the atmospheric systems to briefly flush the ship with CO2. In the Command Area, Tucker watches silently. Later, Archer sends Mayweather to find Trip, and it takes a while ("both" hatches are sealed); but he's possessed, punches the helmsman, and exits via the "forward hatch". They warn Phlox. Trip reaches him in the "access tube", and they fight over a lever; but Phlox wins, and Trip is subdued by the smoking vapor. Across the ship, possessed crew collapse, yellow returning and blue exiting. The alien ship pursues, and opens its maw. _Enterprise_ fires two torpedoes (from the aft tubes, to either side of the launchbay cupola), which detonate inside its bay. The ship halts, slowly torn apart by yellow secondary explosions. In the access tube, Tucker awakes, confused, from a barbeque. "I never saw so many ribs." "Follow me, Commander," says Phlox. "We have a lot of doors to unlock." VII. SFX SHOTS [...] VIII. PRODUCTION REGULAR CAST: Scott Bakula as Cpt. Jonathan Archer Connor Trinneer as Chief Engineer LtCdr. Charles Tucker III Jolene Blalock as Sub-commander T'Pol Dominic Keating as Lt. Malcolm Reed Anthony Montgomery as Ens. Travis Mayweather Linda Park as Ens. Hoshi Sato John Billingsley as Dr. Phlox GUEST CAST: Joseph Will as [Crewman] Rostov Steven Allerick as [Ensign] Cook Valerie Ianniello as Female Crewman Alexander Chance as Crewman #1 Matthew Kaminsky as Crewman #2 CREATIVE STAFF: Directed by David Livingston ["The Seventh", "Precious Cargo", "Stigma"] Story by Rick Berman & Brannon Braga & Andre Bormanis ["The Communicator"] Teleplay by Rick Berman & Brannon Braga [201-02, 205-08, 210-11, 214] NEXT WEEK: ...is not yet listed on startrek.com, and my VCR snipped the preview when it jumped to "Angel"; which, despite (this season) being aptly self- described as a "turgid supernatural soap opera", and one almost completely devoid of redeeming moments of levity; *still* has better characterization than "_Enterprise_". Actually, it's under Production News: Archer runs afoul of Klingon justice in "Judgment" (see http://startrek.com/production/seriesv/articles/012903.asp). Later this season (8 eps in 7 weeks): Denobulans in caves, tri-gendered aliens in hypergiant stars, Tellarite bounty hunters, test flight flashbacks, and Borg.