EPISODE: "Anomaly" PROD#: ENT054 TRAN#: 3.02 RATING: PG-V AIRDATE: wed-17-sep-2003-20:00 EPDATE: [not stated] OFFICIAL: startrek.com/startrek/view/series/ENT/episode/2285.html FROM: Phillip Thorne, thorne@underbase.org POST-TO: rec.arts.startrek.tech REVIEW#: 45.0 FORMAT#: 5.0 URL: underbase.org/dept/trek/ent302_anomaly.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 is imperfect: it may not match spoken dialogue, or the website, or be consistent within or between eps. In the Synopsis, I sometimes condense or reorder scenes, for clarity. 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, XDB Xindi 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. I apologize that this is late -- Tropical Storm Isabel interrupted my edits. II. TERMINOLOGY TECHNICAL/SHIPBOARD: plasma relay, emergency power, primary systems, transceiver, one-quarter impulse, intermix ratio, Cargo Bay One, imaging chamber, Cargo Bay Two, antimatter storage pods, hull plating, phase cannons, aft launchers, forward plating, deuterium injectors, E deck section 14, emergency bulkheads TECHNICAL: particle weapon, Cochrane Equation, quantum variables, stun grenade, plasma rifle, ion trail, trellium-D, thermobaric clouds, torpedo guidance systems, polyduranium, stem-bolts, ration packs, quantum scan, gravimetric energy BIOLOGICAL & MEDICAL: anaprovaline, regeneration therapy, neural nodes, neuro-pressure, Aldebaran mud leeches LOCATIONS, POLITIES and ORGANIZATIONS: Osaarians, [Vulcan] High Command NAME-DROPPING: Cwn.Fuller, Chef III. ANALYSIS 1. What we get... ENT's brig. Two new alien ships and the Sphere. More alien writing and iconography (Osaarian, Xindi, derelict). Use of ENT's transporter (for cargo). The first evidence that the Expanse's anomalies may not be natural. 2. What we don't get... An ep date, a specific location. 3. The shirtless files... Archer, Reed, and several (three?) MACOs change clothes in the suit-prep room, clad in the silvery underwear worn beneath the red undersuits. Archer is shirtless. The audience is apparently not supposed to lust after the unnamed blonde female MACO (that makes two, counting last week's brunette) in shorts and halter top, because unlike Seven or T'Pol, she's rather flat-chested. 4. When ENT's warp core is shut down, the ship falls from warp with the usual flash-zoom VFX. The engine-glow takes several seconds to extinguish; the individual (coil?) segments flicker out of sync. This implies that the coils must be continuously charged to maintain the warp field, but the photon spill continues even after the stimulation stops. Residual pockets of warp plasma in the nacelle? Individual differences in the coils? A capacitor effect with the waste photons? ENT's "primary systems" include warp engines and weapons, but apparently not impulse or (some?) sensors. Some systems can be restored, even without (power from?) the warp core: transceiver, torpedo launchers. Its airlock(s) have a decompression rate of 0.5 atm per minute. Antimatter is stored in "pods," but apparently is not fed "just-in-time" to the "main reactor;" instead, it contains a quantity sufficient to last at least a month. ENT's crew doesn't have the instant-alien-script-reading ability of VGR, but they have no trouble wirelessly interfacing with and downloading alien computers. [What is this, "Jake 2.0"?] Taking the shuttlepod to the derelict ship, its winglets are extended; but visiting the Sphere, they're not. 5. The Osaarians are known to the VDB, but not well: they have a large merchant fleet, but no history of piracy. Face: C-ridges above and around the eyes. Ship: in planform, similar to _Voyager_: a spoon/trowel shape, with a tan-gold hull (of polyduranium), cyan-lit engine features, and cyan weapons bolts. Two ovoid nacelles underslung/integrated into the forward hull; three (impulse?) nacelles aft: one atop the hull, the other two on short pylons to other side. A square-segmented spine runs from nose to tail. A pair of angular features are affixed to the each outer edge of the forward hull, but weapons fire emerges from beneath the nose. Transporter VFX: a silohuette of the transportee (TOS-style), in blue with criss-cross patterns. 6. The Sphere is 19km in diameter, contains 7 12-km fusion reactors, and produces massive gravitic energy (which seem to manifest as periodic rumble-shaking of nearby ships, and may be related to the region's anomalies). Reed's comment about its size implies that none of the Earth-local races have built large O'Neill-style space habitats. Like the Dyson Sphere in TNG:"Relics", it's lit from one side, with no star in sight. Its surface is covered in irregular wedge-shapes; the hatch is a simple pair of rectangular panels on tracks, made of polyduranium. (Since they're the same material as the Osaarian hull, they may have been a renovation by the pirates.) The cloaking field is a shell 70,000 km in diameter and of indeterminate thickness; its optical properties are such that a vessel transiting it vanishes (then repears) as though intersecting a planar surface; the vessel also shakes. The shell surrounds a region with ordinary optical properties: surrounding stars can be seen. 7. Ships can be shield from the Expanse's anomalies with trellium-D. Anomalies include: wavelike distortion of a ship's structure, waves in the air, and severe buffetting; displacement of food items (and their containers); suspension of said food items in mid-air, irrespective of artificial gravity. 8. Phlox's latest biologic cure: Aldebaran mud leeches, which secrete a natural sedative. They're black worm-shapes about 10cm long. Place one each on chest and abdomen an hour before going to sleep; but don't roll over, lest you anger them IV. NITS [...] V. THIRD-PARTY COMMENTS [...] VI. EPISODE SYNOPSIS TEASER: In Archer's Ready Room, Porthos gets upset, and a book falls to the deck. In Engineering (POV includes ceiling), Tucker comments, "This can't be right." In Sickbay, Phlox's animals are agitated. In the Mess, plates of food suddenly jump from tabletops to the ceiling, in a wave from one side to the other. In a corridor, the deck distortslike a wrinkled carpet, overturning two crewmen. The wave passes through Archer's desk, knocking his mug of coffee into midair -- where it stays, caught in mid-splash [like one of the '80s novelty table-sculptures]. Mayweather reports the warp field fluctuating. Blue arcs suddenly erupt from the warp core to the bulkheads; Tucker reports that "half the plasma relays just reversed polarity," and he shuts it off. ENT drops from warp as its nacelles flicker and dim. ACT 1: Reed restores "emergency power", but "primary systems" (this includes weapons) are still out; the "transceiver" too. Mayweather detects a ship 8Mkm off port. Unable to communicate, Archer orders "best speed", which is "one-quarter impulse". T'Pol detects no biosigns, atmosphere or artificial gravity. Archer, Reed, and a team of MACOs suit up. They take a shuttlepod to the derelict; it pitches 180° and extends its dorsal airlock-adapter. Aboard, with magboots, they tromp through drifting detritus. Reed (with humming scanner) detects signs of weapons fire. They open a hatch and meet a reptilo/humanoid corpse (not Xindi). Three bodies drift through the bridge, and the screens flicker; Archer orders a download. Their report (to T'Pol, in red): 17 bodies, some killed by "particle weapons", but most when the life support ended -- all within the past two days. Hoshi reports having brought the transceiver online. Tucker's having no luck restarting the warp core; it emits the energy-arcs each time. "Watch that intermix ratio ... Creating a stable warp field's not easy when the laws of physics don't cooperate." The "Cochrane Equation" is no longer constant, because the "quantum variables" are out of whack. In his ready room, a frustrated Archer grabs his coffee-mug from its mid-air position; the coffee is very slowly falling. An alien ship (the OSAARIANS) approaches! It comes to within 2000 meters, then beams raiding parties aboard. The four in Engineering go straight for the injector-closet. Two more in a cargo bay place transponders on cargo, which beams out. In the Armory they're met by Archer, Reed and MACOs; Archer orders them to stop shooting (when he realizes the warheads are armed) and to through a "stun grenade" instead -- but the raiders beam out just before. Reed goes to the console, and scans two in "Cargo Bay One," four in Engineering. Sato reports an attempt to download ENT's database. Tucker creeps across the top of the core, jumps ORGOTH, and clobbers him with a metal rod [his "hyperspanner" from 216-"Future Tense"]. He activates the core (two levers), pinning down the other three with the arcs; they beam out. Elsewhere, Archer(?) and WOODS find Cargo Bay One (Two?) empty. ACT 2: In Sickbay, Phlox and a crewman are treating the injuries. He prescribes 50mg "anaprovaline" for disruptor burns. He'd perform "regeneration therapy", but the "imaging chamber" was damaged in the attack. Archer sees the shrouded body of Cwn.Fuller. Phlox identifies the raiders as "Osaarian": not from around here. Tucker(?) reports: they took 3 photonic torpedoes, a case of "plasma rifles," two dozen stun grenades, half the food supplies (Chef), everything in Cargo Bay Two, and all the "antimatter storage pods." They're left with "what's in the main reactor," which will "last a month, tops." T'Pol reports that the VHC had little contact with the Osaarians, who have a large merchant fleet but no record of piracy; and they've somehow "masked their ion trail." Archer enters the brig, guarded by the usual two, with rifles. The prisoner speaks at length: "trellium-D" insulates ships against the anomalies. If uninsulated, they can distort bodies (he strokes his scarred face). Two merchant ships had entered the Expanse, scouting for trade routes, but the "thermobaric clouds" wouldn't permit their exit; one ship was destroyed trying. The region's anomalies make it an excellent hunting-ground for piracy, but "it takes time to learn to kill without remorse." T'Pol discovers in the derelict's DB that they had modified its sensors to track the Osaarians. Hull plating is back, phase cannons soon, but Reed is still modifying the torpedo guidance systems. Reed enters the empty mess to find Tucker staring at four PADDs. Trip refers to T'Pol's help with his "neural nodes." With Archer's help, Reed had finally finished the torpedoes, but is working on the "aft launchers"; "Fuller knew those torpedo systems the best of any of us." Four hours later, they've tracked the ion trail -- it ends 20kkm ahead, but oddly restarts 70kkm later; Reed notes that their "decay rates" don't match: one is 9 hours old, the other less than one. Approaching, ENT begins to shake -- and vanishes into yellow-tinted space. Power fluctuations, "forward plating" down, "microfractures" forming, a distortion passes through the bridge -- then they reappear. They see a "Sphere" ahead: 19km wide, built of a single alloy. Reed: "Who could build something that big?" ACT 3: Reed refers to the "cloaking field." T'Pol can't scan inside the Sphere, wich "deflects" sensors. Archer orders, "take us into orbit." Later, T'Pol locates its "portal," made of "polyduranium", same as the Osaarian hull. ENT won't fit, so they take a shuttlepod. (Archer, Reed, Mayweather, three MACOs.) They have some trouble remote-activating the door till Archer phasers the lock. Inside, Mayweather comments in awe: "There's enough energy flowing through there to power a dozen cities." The pod shakes. They find "modules" clinging to one of the Sphere's internal struts. Cutting in, they find loads of loot. "Keep open com-links," Archer orders. Reed finds a supply of "stem-bolts," then foil "Starfleet ration packs." Mayweather finds a console that he IDs as a "cargo manifest." "How's your Osaarian?" Archer asks. Shake. He orders a download, and to call T'Pol for another search team. Later, Sato analyzes the manifest. Mayweather and a MACO find ENT's stuff. The transporter is used to retrieve ENT's stuff. Tucker arrives in Sickbay, after incurring a "second degree burn" on his left wrist while reinstalling the "deuterium injectors." Phlox asks about his therapy; he slept a full hour the night before. He's had only the first session of "neuro-pressure" with T'Pol. He refuses to provide more sedative; it's not meant for extended use. Or (he brings over a jar), Trip could use "Aldebaran mud leeches." "Maybe an hour a night with T'Pol ain't so bad." T'Pol report that 80% of antimatter recovered, most weapons online; Trip will have engines working in 30 minutes. Her "quantum scans" indicate the sphere is nearly 1000 years old. It contains 7 "fusion reactors", each nearly 12km long; but only 3 are still operational. They're producing vast amounts of "gravimetric energy," which she speculates is related to the spatial anomalies. Examining the manifest, Sato found markings that match the Xindi probe -- the Osaarians had attacked a Xindi ship. Archer rushes to the brig and demands to know about this. About 2 weeks earlier. He enters the cell, puts a phase-pistol to Orgoth's jaw. "Your threats aren't convincing." Drags him (past the single guard) to the airlock. Reed and the other guard arrive. ACT 4: Archer explains: pirates took the Xindi ship's fuel, supplies, and DB. Sato guesses ENT will need to close within 1km to tap into their DB, and would need its access codes. They wait at the Sphere, and detect the Osaarian entry to in cloaking field. ENT attacks with torpedoes, and the two ships trade beams; the pirates break off, but ENT regains their interest by blasting the Sphere's hatch. Sato gets into their computer, searches for Xindi DB, finds and slowly downloads it. ENT takes damage: a "hull fracture" on "E deck, section 14;" Archer orders "emergency bulkheads." Reed advises that they can't take out the Osaarian engines without damaging their computer; finally, Sato has 90% of the XDB, and Archer orders them disabled. The pirates crash against the Sphere, but remain intact. Archer orders Orgoth returned (by shuttle) to the Sphere. Later, he enters the Command Center alone, and stares at the XDB on the main screen. VII. SFX SHOTS When Tucker shuts off the warp core, ENT (stationary POV) drops from warp in the usual way, and its engines go dim -- the individual segments flicker out of sync. [...] VIII. PRODUCTION REGULAR CAST: Scott Bakula as Cpt. Jonathan Archer Connor Trinneer as LtCdr. Charles "Trip" Tucker III Jolene Blalock as [not Sub-Commander if she resigned] 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 Porthos GUEST CAST: Nathan Anderson as Sgt. Kemper Ryan Honey as Guard Ken Lally as Security Guard Sean McGowan as Hawkins Julia Rose as McKenzie Robert Rusler as Orgoth [never addressed by name] Kenneth A. White as Engineering Crewman [Someone as Woods] [Someone as Fuller's Shrouded Corpse] [Misc Extras as Misc Unnamed Crew] [Misc Extras as Other Orgaanian Pirates] CREATIVE STAFF: Directed by David Straiton Written by Mike Sussman NEXT WEEK: In 3.03-"Extinction", Archer, Reed and Hoshi suffer "Identity Crisis" or "Threshhold": a virus turns them into long-extinct native fauna. Will fans prefer Hoshi as a reptile? See: http://www.startrek.com/startrek/view/series/ENT/episode/2286.html