EPISODE: "Horizon" PROD#: ENT046 TRAN#: 2.20 RATING: ?? AIRDATE: wed-16-apr-2003-20:00 (nominal) EPDATE: c.10-jan-2153 OFFICIAL: startrek.com/library/ent_episodes/episodes_ent_detail_128440.asp FROM: Phillip Thorne, thorne@underbase.org POST-TO: rec.arts.startrek.tech, rec.arts.sf.tv REVIEW#: 37.0 FORMAT#: 5.0 URL: underbase.org/dept/trek/ent220_horizon.txt I. INTRODUCTION 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. Spellings of technobabble and alien nouns are obtained from TV closed-captioning ("CC") -- which does not always match the spoken dialogue, and is sometimes egregiously different with regards to previously-established spellings. If you have corrections or clarifications, please contact me, and I'll eventually make corrections. "Star Trek" and all related indicia are copyrights of Paramount Pictures, while this overview is (c)2003 Phillip Thorne. Some details provided by _The Star Trek Encyclopedia_, 1st ed., 1994. 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: thermal scanner, imaging relay, Captain's personal log, civilian channels, Spacedock, warp jump, plasma injectors, cargo module, holometric camera, Echo Three, spatial discriminator, port stabilizers, deuterium, spatial turbulence, plasma turrets, hull plating, reserve power, isolytic current, impulse relays, nutri-pak, J-Class, thermal shear, primary clamps, cargo section BIOLOGICAL: stromatopod larvae SHIPS: ECS _Horizon_, ECS(?) _Constellation_ LOCATIONS, POLITIES and ORGANIZATIONS: Deneva Station, Demeridians, Orions, B'Saari II, Trelkis III, Earth Cargo Authority CULTURAL: "Frankenstein", "Bride of Frankenstein", "Son of Frankenstein", "Abbot & Costello Meet Frankenstein", Vulcan /tarul-etek/ discipline NAME-DROPPING: Adm.Forrest, Chef, Zefram Cochrane, Amb.Soval III. ANALYSIS 1. What we get: The J-Class cargo ship _ECS Horizon_; the name of similar (but of unnamed class) ship, the _Constellation_. A new(?) alien fighter, a reuse of the Kriosian fish-ship from "Precious Cargo". 2. What we don't get (in dialogue): The names of Travis' mother (Nora) and father. Whether his brother Paul is older or younger. The name of his female friend (Rianna?). The name of the alien raiders. A name for the system with the errant planet. 3. Since when do planets spontaneously increase their velocity, rising from one orbital slot to another? Well, since "ST2", when Ceti Alpha V was mistaken for VI after the latter exploded; and since TNG:"Déjà Q", when the passing black hole diverted the moon of Bre'el IV. 4. The J-Class _ECS Horizon_ is dissimilar to the Y-Class _ECS Fortunate_ [see "Fortunate Son"]. It consists of a warp tug and five numbered cargo modules. The tug has a wedge-shaped fuselage and two underslung cylindrical nacelles, with red bussard collectors and narrow yellow warp-lights for and aft. Each boxy module has LxWxH of ~2x2x1. A dorsal spine-truss runs along Modules #2-3, and a ventral spine beneath #1. The tug links to the module-train by a set of "primary clamps" (Nora's comment of "a few more" implies at least six). The tug has a retractable boarding tube mounted above the starboard nacelle pylon. The interior resembles that of _Ent_, and it uses the same flatpanels and GUIs. Pocket hatches carry alphanumeric designators (designating the compartment or hatch?). The bridge has transom windows above the viewscreen; the mess has circular windows. 5. Whenever depicting cargo bays, Trek never bothers to secure the containers (aside from the wall-modules in "ST1") -- hence it can fall on people [see Worf's injury in TNG:"Ethics"]. This is the first time we've seen it moved by forklift, however. IV. NITS 1. As usual, the ep fails to adequately establish names for the guest characters (unless it happens in the Teaser, which I missed). Eg, we don't get a name for Mayweather's brother, or confirmation that Paul *is* his brother (instead of eg a cousin), until Act 3's Mess scene. 2. For no apparent reason, Mayweather lies to Archer upon his return, calling the combat damage "probably an old meteorite impact". How will he then explain the booby-trapped limpet beacon to Reed? V. THIRD-PARTY COMMENTS [...] VI. EPISODE SYNOPSIS TEASER: [VCR failure] ACT 1: Standing around the briefing table are ARCHER, TUCKER, REED, MAYWEATHER, SATO and T'POL. Archer and T'Pol announce that Starfleet (Adm.Forrest) has redirected them homeword ("almost 30 lightyears", notes Mayweather) for a science mission: a planet has shifted its orbit between two gas giants, and the stresses (Starfleet predicts) will superheat its core and cause spectacular volcanism, "by the end of the week". (Illustrative graphic: the rocky world spirals outward, passing between the next two orbits, occupied by the gas giants.) Mayweather enters Archer's read-room, and asks to be dropped off to visit his family's cargo ship, the _Horizon_; it's only "10 hours" off _Ent_'s course. His mother is currently both chief engineer and ship's medic; it's not unusual on such ships to double-up on tasks, and his grandfather holds the record: five jobs at once, two of them on the bridge. Archer mentions that he'd once (a few years before Starfleet was chartered) considered serving on a cargo ship -- his decision not to is "a long story". On the bridge, Tucker and T'Pol prepare the probes for the mission: "thermal scanners" and "imaging relays"; they'll drop "six or seven in high orbit". Tucker mentions that he's convinced Chef to hold Movie Night every night, starting Tuesday; shown will be "Frankenstein", "Bride of Frankenstein", "Son of Frankenstein", and maybe even "Abbot & Costello Meet Frankenstein". In the mess, Mayweather and Reed eat. The helmsmen mentions that it's been four years since he's seen his family; Reed, nearly ten. Mayweather gets a call from Sato on his communicator, and takes it in his quarters. (It's news of his father's death.) "Captain's personal log, January Tenth, 2153..." Archer meets the disconsolate Mayweather in the ship's gravity sweet spot [see "Broken Bow"]. His mother had sent the message to Starfleet six weeks earlier; Archer commisserates that "civilian channels can be pretty slow." Mayweather notes that the two ships had been in comm range "a few months ago", and that he hadn't spoken to his father in nearly 2.5 years. Archer mentions a letter he'd received from the elder Mayweather, while he was trying to decide between helm officers; he'd contacted their former COs. In sickbay, Phlox scans T'Pol; it's just a headache. "I was hoping it would something more serious -- I've been coerced into watching tonight's movie." Ent rendezvous with the Horizon, and Tucker escorts Mayweather to the port airlock, wishing he could see its engine room (despite it being, Travis points, 50 years old): the engine was designed by Zefram Cochrane himself, and it's rumored that he "signed the inside of each reactor casing." He hands over a PADD loaded with the photo's he's taken of the mission, since they left "Spacedock". ACT 2: Mayweather speaks with HIS MOTHER, who had received a letter from his sister. He downplays the hazard "a few months ago" of the storm, nacelle, and alien soldiers, and of the "Romulan minefield" [see "The Catwalk" and "Minefield"]. They grab the bulkhead handholds as the ship shudders into warp; "Charlie's warp jumps always were a bit rough," he comments. They're headed for "Deneva Station". Instead of "guest quarters", they reach his old room (B6), temporarily evicted by its current occupants and redectorated -- including a stuffed animal, model of Cochrane's _Phoenix_, and a hand-drawn starmap of all the system's he'd planned to visit. She leaves to "align the plasma injectors". He arrives in a cargo "module" (A9), when canisters are stacked (but not tied down) and moved by forklift. He meets HIS BROTHER PAUL, now Acting Captain, who's trying to "reconstruct the [cargo] database" that their father had kept largely in his head. They're carrying "stromatopod larvae" to the "Demeridians", and he hopes they weren't put in "cold storage". Ent arrives with "thirty hours" before the main event, and preps its "holometric camera". A replacement officer is at helm: fem-cauc-brun- yellowstripe. Sato links to "Echo Three" to transmit realtime to Adm.Forrest. Archer convinces T'Pol to attend the movie at 19:30. On the Horizon's bridge, while NICHOLS pilots, Mayweather upgrades its sensor range, and (as shown by Tucker) "reconfigures the spatial discriminators" to resolve the trouble with the "port stabilizers". Paul isn't happy that he did so without asking; what it the upgrades failed after he left? He gets a visit from A CHILDHOOD FRIEND (female, unnamed), who confides her misgivings about Paul's readiness to command: they'd missed a rendezvous with an "Orion freighter" 2 weeks earlier, and been sanctioned by the "Cargo Authority"; they're low on "deuterium", and have twice dipped into reserves. They joke about "turning off the grav(ity?) plating" and jumping on the bed. He explains that in 18 months, Ent's traveled 150 lightyears and visited 22 inhabited worlds. Suddenly, the ship shakes -- "spatial turbulence"? Again -- they're under attack! ACT 3: Under attack (while at warp), the Horizon fires its "plasma turrets" while the "hull plating" loses effectiveness. They're hauling 30,000 mt, and when Paul calls for "reserve power", they crawl from warp 1.5 to 1.85. The fighters veer off, but drop a limpet mine onto the starboard nacelle. Mayweather detects it (and focuses a camera, apparently located on the extreme forward end of the nacelle); he interrupts Paul's order to remove it -- it has a "di-cobalt signature", a high-yield explosive. They realize it's a "beacon". They receive (ask for?) a message from fellow cargo ship _Constellation_, with attached ship-scans. It was attacked 8 weeks earlier by identical fighters, and latter accosted by a cruiser which demanded their cargo. [It's the fishlike Kriosian ship from "Precious Cargo".] Travis zooms the graphic, notes that its engines are similar to those of a Mazarite ship [mentioned in "Singularity" and "Catwalk"], and that he could (as Tucker had [see "??"]) tie the plasma turrets to the impulse engines to boost their output by 80%. Paul prefers to avoid combat; to jettison "a few tons of ore", thereby accelerating to warp 2 and reaching Deneva Station sooner. (The _Constellation_ also has a pair of plasma turrets.) The Enterprise movie night is attended by T'Pol, Archer, Phlox, Tucker; plus 6 fem, 7 mel, 2 obscured. Phlox comments that Dr.Frankenstein's method is similar to a technique developed on "B'Saari Two", whereby an "isolytic current" is used to revive the recently deceased, although thereafter capable only of basic cellular metabolism. [See VGR:"Mortal Coil"] T'Pol shushes him. Paul finds Travis in Module 5, fiddling with the "impulse relays" in the bulkhead, without permission. He complains/vents that it's hard to find freight crew now: everyone wants to be an explorer on the new ships. Mrs.Mayweather finds her son in the Mess (A3) (with circular windows showing stars at warp), picking at a strawberry shortcake "nutri-pak". "Fastest J-Class in the fleet." His late father had transferred from Engineering and taken captaincy at a young age -- a year younger than Travis is now. "ECA license." It was four years earlier that he first thought of joining Starfleet. ACT 4: In the Captain's Mess: T'Pol, Tucker, Archer. They discuss the film: Vulcan culture apparently lacks horror films, but does have the disciplaine of "tarul-etek", in which disturbing imagery is used to try to provoke an emotional response. Actually impressed, T'Pol saw parallels to the historic human response (fear and anger) to the Vulcan arrival; will recommend that Amb.Soval watch it. Sato calls: they look out the window and see the eruptions. They arrive on the ridge, where Reed reports "thermal shear" at their current altitude. T'Pol reads bio-signs, of "several microbial species" unearthed by the eruptions. The alien cruiser arrives. Its commander appears on the viewscreen, demanding the crew evacuate and surrender their ship. "We're dozens of lightyears from our homeworld," Paul protests. He now accepts the need for combat, and they drop from warp, followed by the cruiser. Mrs.Mayweather releases the "primary clamps" (a lengthy sequence) to drop the cargo... The cruiser approaches within 40, 30, 10 meters... "just a few more clamps", she says, and then the tug is free, and agile. The two ships swoop, trading blows; finally its blue warp- and yellow impulse-lights go out. Nichols reports its weapons are down. Paul transmits a warning to the aliens; then they turn to retrieve the "cargo section". Mayweather packs up to leave, and reconciles with his brother. He'll ask Reed to help remove the beacon. At Paul's query, he hasn't yet reached his childhood goal of "Trelkis 3" and its "multicentric rings". Archer meets Mayweather in the port airlock foyer. He comments on the "damage on your port cargo modules", but Travis calls it "probably an old meteorite impact". VII. SFX SHOTS 1. _Ent_ makes a U-turn, banking towards us, then jumps to warp. 2. _Ent_ at warp, aft-starboard-ventral. 3. _Horizon_ passes the camera, aft-starboard-dorsal. 4. _Ent_ undocks from _Horizon_, which retracts its starboard boarding tube. 5. _Ent_ passes the planet, its surface broken into fissures of glowing lava. 6. _Horizon_ at warp, c/u on tug section, for-starboard-dorsal. 7. Two alien fighters fire blue-silver bolts into the _Horizon_, igniting brief yellow fireballs. 8. Two fighters swoop around, firing, and drop limpet onto starboard nacelle. 9. _Horizon_ at warp. 10. _Horizon_ at warp. 11. _Ent_ over erupting planet, aft-starboard-dorsal. 12. _Horizon_ at warp, cruiser approaches. 13. _Horizon_ exits warp, followed by cruiser. 14. Drop cargo modules, zoom off. 15. Combat. 16. Combat, hits alien. 17. Combat, hits alien, its engine lights go out. 18. _Horizon_ at warp. 19. _Ent_ parallels _Horizon_. VIII. PRODUCTION REGULAR CAST: Scott Bakula as Cpt. Jonathan Archer Connor Trinneer as 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 [No Porthos] GUEST CAST: Corey Mendell Parker as Paul [Mayweather] Nicole Forester as Nora [Mayweather] Adam Paul as Nichols Joan Pringle as Rianna Philip Anthony-Rodriguez as Juan Ken Feinberg as Alien Captain [Lots of Enterprise crew extras] CREATIVE STAFF: Directed by James A. Contner Written by Andre Bormanis NEXT WEEK: In 047/221-"The Breach", Phlox has a conflict of medical ethics after a spelunking expedition to rescue some Denobulan geologists. See: http://startrek.com/library/ent_episodes/episodes_ent_detail_128486.asp