star trek enterprise shuttlepod one

Shuttlepod One Mission date: 9 Nov, 2151 Original Airdate: Feb 13, 2002

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Star Trek: Enterprise

“Shuttlepod One”

Air date: 2/13/2002 Written by Rick Berman & Brannon Braga Directed by David Livingston

Review by Jamahl Epsicokhan

"Does that sound modulated enough for you?" "Modulated?" "The radio. Or is it just the galaxy giggling at us again?" "It can giggle all it wants, but the galaxy's not getting any of our bourbon." — Reed and Trip

Review Text

Note: This episode was rerated from 3 to 3.5 stars when the season recap was written.

In brief: A basic storyline made quite entertaining by good characterization and strong performances.

The storyline is fairly thin, the formula is by far not a new one, and there are a couple detours that don't work, but "Shuttlepod One" is an episode I liked a great deal. It's a triumph of acting over plot, and of characterization over foregone conclusions.

I find that Enterprise , surprisingly, often ends up being more character-oriented than I'd have expected before the series started. That's the case with "Shuttlepod One," whose approach is tried and true: Take a couple of actors and lock them in a room for the duration. If they're performed by good actors and they get some good things to say, then you have something worth watching.

The premise is an exercise in simplicity: Tucker and Reed are on a shuttlepod away mission, and they reach the location where they're supposed to rendezvous with the Enterprise and instead find debris strewn across the surface of an asteroid. From the evidence in front of them, they conclude that the Enterprise has been destroyed and they are now the ship's only survivors. Sound unlikely? Convenient how so many subtle details just happen to be the way they are to prompt this conclusion? Perhaps, but that's beside the point.

This isn't a great episode, but it's definitely a good one, elevated by performances that hit their marks. The premise is a contrivance based on a number of plot conveniences, but so what? This story has that secret ingredient — conviction — necessary to make the drama work and transcend the details of the plot. It's called suspension of disbelief, and the story sold it to me just fine.

The Enterprise , of course, hasn't really been destroyed, and the episode makes the right decision by showing us right up front that it hasn't — that this is indeed a convoluted misunderstanding. It also makes the right decision by spending little time on the Enterprise and instead keeping a vast majority of the episode inside the shuttlepod with Trip and Reed. This is their story and theirs alone.

To me, there's something innately appealing about this sort of basic nuts-and-bolts character story, which has roots in the subject of male bonding. It also has roots in the subject of real character development, where personalities start clashing, emotions threaten to boil over, and eventually guarded private selves give way to confessions and honesty.

The main problem here is that a shuttlepod is not a self-sustainable ship. With the Enterprise presumably destroyed, Trip and Reed have nowhere to go. They don't have warp engines, and I liked the sobering observations made through the hour about how slowly the shuttle moves compared to the Enterprise . The mission becomes reaching within range of a transponder so they can send a message that will eventually reach Starfleet and explain the Enterprise 's tragic fate. The air supply is limited, and without warp speed there's really nowhere they can go. The only slim hope — if they're exceptionally lucky — is if a passing starship notices them and picks them up in the next few days.

The story comes up with a good way to add some atmosphere to the proceedings: It's determined that turning off the heat will allow better efficiency of the air system and buy Trip and Reed several more hours. So off the heat goes, turning the shuttle cabin into a veritable ice chest.

There's little else to do but talk. In Reed's case, he'd like to spend much of his remaining time talking to a recorder, tying up loose ends in his life with messages aimed at providing closure for whomever eventually hears them. Trip becomes annoyed. One argument I found interesting was the whole issue surrounding Reed's role as a pessimist/realist versus Trip's insistence in holding out hope for rescue. Both sides have a point. Reed looks at the numbers and does the math — the chances of being rescued are so slim that it would seem to be some sort of an act of negligence not to leave a record and tie up loose ends as a matter of personal emotional need. Trip is not ready to write his own obituary — not while there's even the slimmest margin of hope. If there's a way to prolong his existence in a doomed shuttlepod, he's going to do it.

There's a lot of dialog in this episode, most of which I don't feel the need to repeat in a review — not because it's bad dialog (a lot of it, in fact, is quite good), but because it's the dialog of real people in a specific situation, an observation on how two people talk to each another. Discussions about old girlfriends. Jibing over European versus North American attitudes ("If only Dr. Cochrane had been a European. The Vulcan's would've been far less reticent to help us. But, no ... he had to be from Montana," Reed laments.) Heated arguments over the subject of hope versus despair. Drunken confessions and camaraderie.

There are a couple moments that didn't work for me. Reed's dream about T'Pol reveals a latent attraction he has for her, which is fine — but the dream scene itself edges too close to the realm of "dumb," especially the whole thing about the nickname "Stinky," which really started trying my patience.

Back on the Enterprise there are a couple scenes that seemed superfluous, in particular the whole subject of the "micro-singularities" that T'Pol says may be responsible for the accident that is now endangering the shuttlepod. The story makes a point of the fact that micro-singularities are myths the Vulcans haven't been able to prove scientifically, and Archer doubts her explanation. The issue of how this could be an incredible scientific discovery is sort of introduced and then dropped. I'd have recommended throwing the whole thing out completely.

There's also a drunk scene here, where Trip and Reed drown themselves in bourbon as a way of passing the hours and as a way of not feeling like they're freezing to death in this frigid cabin. Drunk scenes are often a matter of taste, but I thought this one worked pretty well, if for no other reason than for Trip's wonderfully delivered line, "It can giggle all it wants, but the galaxy's not getting any of our bourbon." I also liked the follow-up to the T'Pol dream sequence, where Reed admits to Trip his attraction to T'Pol while drunk — an admission he almost certainly would not make if he were (a) sober and (b) convinced he would still be alive in two days.

Important to the episode's effect is that we truly believe the shuttle cabin is freezing. To that end, the production delivers here by putting a layer of frost throughout the interior of the shuttlepod set and dropping the temperature down to where we can see the actors' breath in every scene. (This must be what they call "method acting.") It's simple but very effective; as the actors sit there shivering, we completely believe it.

What "Shuttlepod One" ultimately comes down to is acting — whether or not we feel for these two guys and their desperate situation. Connor Trinneer and Dominic Keating deliver the goods, and it's enjoyable to watch them spar and see the moments where the camaraderie emerges from disagreements and fraying nerves. Trinneer I've come to like a great deal — he virtually saved the otherwise pedestrian " Strange New World " early this season — and he once again shows his ability to command a scene that needs him to get his message across with shouting. Keating is also very good, particularly in a scene where Reed acknowledges the distance he puts between himself and other people, even his own family. This is a nice character touch that builds on the examination of him in " Silent Enemy "; I'm mildly impressed.

Ultimately, this is story of survival, and when the two officers realize the Enterprise is in fact not destroyed, they have to work the problem from a whole new angle, realizing they still don't have enough air to wait for the rendezvous. Of course, the rescue itself is a foregone conclusion, but along the way are a number of choices where Trip and Reed must think on their feet — blowing up their only engine, leaving them adrift, as a signal to get the Enterprise 's attention, and then a choice made by Trip to sacrifice himself to save Reed, and Reed's refusal to let him go through with it. By the end of it all, they've been through so much that they'll have become friends, something that indicates true character building. I'm reminded of O'Brien and Bashir in " Armageddon Game ."

"Shuttlepod One" is a pleasant surprise. The plot is minimalist, but that's the way a story like this should be. The contrived nature of the premise can easily be overlooked. Enterprise may not yet be on the cutting edge of plotting given its promising backdrop, but I certainly don't have a problem with that if the characters can be drawn this sharply and acted so convincingly.

Next week: An inexplicable rerun during February sweeps. Go figure.

Previous episode: Shadows of P'Jem Next episode: Fusion

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Comment Section

52 comments on this post.

Seems to me, you're trying really hard to find positive things to say in each episode review, you're willing to forgive all the negatives Jammer. I am not so forgiving. For me, this episode was nothing more than annoying exchanges of rhetoric and uninteresting dialogue. The way Tucker and Reed found themselves in their predicament didn't even bother me: yes, the explosion of Enterprise etc. etc. seems unlikely and convenient, but suspension of disbelief is a MUST while watching this series. Howeverm both characters were just so *unlikable* and so *annoying* during the whole time, Reed with his pessimism and Tucker with his irritability/yelling/stupidity, I spent more time laughing at the ridiculous lines/scenes (the wet dream topping them all) I was seeing than actually feeling sorry for them at any point in time. I am not exaggerating when I say I found more substance during the final two acts of ST Voyager's "Day of Honor" (featuring B'Elanna and Tom getting stranded in space in their EV suits) than the full 45 minutes of this episode. Bleah.

I thought this was one of the best so far. YMMV I guess. It could be the contrast after watching Voyager, where with the exception of Doc and Seven, any idea of continuity and character growth and development was dropped like a stone with the non-serial style that came in half way through the series. See in this in ENT, I am lapping it up. TNG and DS9 had better equivalents, but for the standards of late Trek shows this was pretty darn good.

I enjoyed this, though I found the "Enterprise has crashed/no, it hasn't really crashed" element confusing. My fault for heading in and out of the room while this episode was on, I suppose. A couple of quibbles, though: - I didn't really buy the idea of Reed as a ladykiller. I know he's meant to have intimacy issues, hence the casual relationship thing, but he just hasn't (so far, anyway) struck me as a love 'em-and-leave 'em kind of guy. The notion of him composing letters to a whole bunch of ex-girlfriends seemed a bit laboured. - Like Jammer, I though Reed's T'Pol fantasy was dumb but I was willing to go along with it, until it got to the point where I wished he'd either just shut up about the 'Stinky' thing, or wake up. Anyway, I wonder if this is (was) meant to be the start of a beautiful friendship between Reed and Tucker a la O'Brien and Bashir.

One more thing that bugged me: Trip mentioning as fact the myth that hair and fingernails keep growing after you're dead. What the hey? Just as well for the Enterprise crew that he's the Chief Engineer and not the Ship's Doctor, I guess. Still liked this episode, though.

Sweet Jupiter, what a GODAWFUL episode! Verily, an abomination unto the lord. How on EARTH can this get a positive score, let alone almost the perfect one, beggars belief. It is three quarters of an hour of pretty much unremitting yammering and relentless drivel... - about nothing. Reed with his irritating snotty accent (who the hell talks like that?!?), doomsday resignation, and self-pity, and Trip with his redneck impulsiveness. I regret this, I fondly remember that, I wish I could have done the other... Who GIVES a !@#$?? I know there's no accounting for taste but how can any aficionado of the sci-fi genre find Reed's declaiming for minutes on end about his past relationships to be remotely insightful or interesting?!?!? Those bleating on about characterization: Battlestar Galactica is the epitome of how characters' profiles can be built and developed without turning the whole thing into a snooze-fest. No action of any kind. The most exciting scene was Reed stuffing the hull ruptures with mashed potatoes. Static and monotonous. In a word: BOOOOOOOO-RIIIIIIIIING! By far the most reprehensible episode of Enterprise so far, right up there with Voyager's Barge and all those Irish village simulations. Zero stars. And that's being highly munificent.

@Michael... I find Trips(?) accent more annoying...hated watching any show with lots of him :P (Shallow...i know... :O )

This was one of the better episodes, not for action (obviously) or alien cultures, but for the fact that it portrayed what Enterprise is very good at: depicting realistic situations that early space-farers might encounter. Like Apollo 11, which this resembled, a totally plausible scenario on a space mission is being trapped in a shuttle craft, running out of air and freezing, alternating between hope and hopelessness. If humans ever really get into space, this sort of thing will undoubtedly happen. Far less plausible is time travel, sentient computers, aliens who look like us and speak English, and so forth. This was what they call "hard sci-fi." I thought it was good.

Scott of Detroit

I found this episode to not be very entertaining. I understand that certain episodes will focus more heavily on certain characters to build them up. However, character building should be done WITHIN a plot, not in absence of one. The tight shots of Reed's face were disturbing, he looks too much like Michael Jackson. The episode was tolerable for the first half, but the second half just became very redundant. We get, Reed had a bunch of people he never really connected with that he wanted close with. We get it, Trip won't give up until the end, despite the odds. Reiterating it over and over almost seemed condescending to the audience; especially since based off the character building in the episode alone we knew that those characters would not be disposed of.

@Tamerlane even worse, as the chief engineer he's a dumbass as well. He claims that after firing the engines they'll have one run and then they will be "dead in the water". Did this guy learn about warp technology and all without touching the basics of inertia? They would be flying with the same speed forever. More problematic was the unbelievable way Archer and company left them behind for some MacGuffin reason. Unbelievable.

I didn't find the jibing over American vs. European attitudes quite as fun. Probably because Malcolm certainly seemed dead serious about his opinion of it to me. Trip's responses I found generally amusing but he also wasn't looking at Malcolm's face and I think that if he was, that arguement might have gotten hotter. I do agree with Trip's pessimism/realistic way of looking at things but it seemed like they took it to an extreme. I'd leave a log, yes 1 log, to everybody and then get to work so I wouldn't have to leave the log. On the flip-side, Trip's optimism was a bit overmuch - unless I concede that he was optimistic about sending the signal, not optimistic about being rescued.

Alcohol is a vasodilator and accelerates the lowering of core body temperature, and ultimately hypothermia. While it would potentially have a palliative effect on anyone in such a hopeless situation (as it did in this episode), it diminishes physical and mental capabilities (obviously), and increases probability of death.

I wanted to like this episode. Desperately. I've been soldiering on through the series hoping for a hidden gem and really the closest has been "Dear Doctor", "Observer Effect", "In a Mirror Darkly" two-parter. But, back to this episode. My hopes were raised by the initial dialogue between Trip and Reed. It was fun and revealing. But, that hope tumbled down the stairs as the episode devolved into pedestrian dialogue (one of the biggest banes of Enterprise) and that it really gives us superficial insight into these characters. I kept hoping for repartee and character reveals the likes of Spock/McCoy or O'Brien/Bashir. No such luck. Because underneath the pedestrian dialogue is just uninspired writing (the biggest bane of Star Trek Enterprise). @Jammer I don't know if you have ever watched the SF comedy series, Red Dwarf. But, there's an episode called, "Marooned". It's essentially the same premise--and it smokes this episode. The character interaction between its two protagonists, while comedically-based, has more verve and more substance than the writers of Star Trek Enteprise could have ever hoped to write.

I've seen this episode on TV, on DVD and now Blu-ray. I just thought it was okay all three times. But I only noticed it when I viewed it on Blu-ray: Although the men are near freezing due to hypothermia, their bourbon is still flowing and swishing around in the bottle as if it's a nice 80-degrees out. Shouldn't it have been more of a slushy bourbon? Maybe they warmed it up. :-) I'm sorry, I don't read any of the Trek stuff online, so if this has been discussed/debated many times before, I apologize!

I was waiting and hoping for them to make out at some point. As it is one and a half stars.

I thought this was a good episode, but one thing confused me: why did the Enterprise push back the rendezvous time so far? Didn't they realize the shuttlepod's air was limited and would run out before they got back? I feel I must have missed some essential dialog but didn't hear an explanation on rewatch either.

Patrick makes a point I agree with completely: the Red Dwarf episode Marooned is probably the best example of the "two people in peril" that I've seen. It conveys a great deal about the characters using humour, wit and sarcasm. The character are diametrically opposed, yet they start to bond towards the end (even if Rimmer doesn't realise what Lister has done to his prized possession). It's an episode I can watch again and again. Shuttlepod One does indeed pale next to that, but saying so is actually doing a dis-service to the episode, as it is easily one of the best-acted and best-written episodes from ENT's run. If anything is the problem with ENT, it's how the characters usually talk like they're from the Voyager era, lacking the passion of the Original Series crew. What went on there? Shuttlepod One addresses this to an extent by getting the characters drunk so they lose their formality. I first saw Keating in Desmond's where he was hip, cool, the girls all loved him but he came across as gay, even though he wasn't. I guess this has followed Keating ever since as people seemed to speculate about Reed's orientation. I am a fan of Keating, I wish he had more to do, a pity ENT stuck to the three character triangle rather than allowing the rest of the (supposedly) ensemble cast to do something.

Ohh I hadn't thought of Marooned. Good shout. I'd pay to see Trip chow down on some dog food :) "Hey Malcolm... now I know why a dog licks its balls" As for Michael's comment about Reed's accent, it's called British. I'm glad to hear we're irritating :P

On the comment about "slushy bourbon" above... The freezing point of alcohol is -173.2°F, so it was realistic for it to remain liquid. (The vodka in my freezer stays liquid -- but nicely cold.) I enjoyed this episode. Lots of Trip, and not so much Archer. I rewatched all of the ST series, and am now on Enterprise, which I haven't seen since the original airing. I grew to love Trip, and hate Archer. Phlox is also a favorite, and T'Pol grew more interesting as the show went on (Trip/T'Pol shipper here, I confess.). I've been hoping I over-reacted to Archer, but he is still annoying. He's so bombastic at times, and he actually YELLS some of his lines. I'm starting to think Scott Bakula was going deaf, because my husband started talking louder when he lost a little of his hearing, at about the same age. I just want someone to tell him, "Use your inside voice." That wouldn't address the immature reactions and other silliness he exhibits, but it might help him to come off less like a speechifying overzealous petulant child.

Voyager's "Day of Honor" did this better, I think.

eastwest101

Seeing this one for the first time I can offer my opinion that overall - this particular episode really works - because you get to the end of the 45mins and you realise that they packed in all that dialogue in an entire episode and I was not checking my watch or shuffling in my seat at all. Carried by 2 good performances /actors and a simple yet effective script. I do get the feeling that maybe the micro-singularity events may reappear or possibly even ended up on the cutting room floor to explain the alternate wreckage of NX01 seen on the asteroid... Agree with Patrick that seein the Red Dwarf episode "Marooned" is highly recomended - probably one of the finest episodes of Red Dwarf ever made.....

Wouter Verhelst

Just finished watching this for the first time ever. What a godawful episode. Character building? Maybe if you count 'trite and cliché' as an interesting character trait. The acting was pretty horrible; the writing went for the obvious far too often ('We have two guys locked up together. Let's make them fight!'); and overall, there wasn't really anything interesting being said to or about our characters. All in all, I'd give it half a star, since I did manage to finish it, even though it's late and I'm pretty tired. Okay, make that a whole star. The special effects were okay. No, that's not why I wanted to watch this...

I.M.H.O. this was the standout episode of the first season. Trip and Malcolm are stranded in a disabled shuttlepod and under the false impression that Enterprise is destroyed. That leaves them with a little bit of a problem. Without Enterprise to pick them up they will soon die due to lack of air. This episode did a lot to reveal both characters but especially that of Reed. One was the angel of death and the other was the cock-eyed optimist. I thought it was brilliant that the set was cooled down enough so you could see their breath during the final scenes when the temp is freezing. How many time have I watched scenes where the characters are supposed to be freezing but their breath is not visible? Enterprise went the extra mile just to help us suspend disbelief. Bravo for the best episode of the first season.

Diamond Dave

Enterprise does Apollo 13. I really enjoyed the twist that made them think the Enterprise had been destroyed. But for me, the episode pretty much tailed away after that. Obviously it hangs its hat on being a two header, but it seemed to me that the two basically spent most of the episode shouting cliches and banalities at each other. There was very little that seemed fresh - and the T'Pol dream sequence (and subsequent drunken commentary) - was about as on the nose as its possible to get. 2 stars.

I haven't seen Red Dwarf. I'll have to add that one to my viewing list. I enjoyed this one. Nice character piece for Trip and Malcolm. I think they call this a bottle episode. Saving money for more CGI intensive episodes. I always seem to enjoy these. Malcolm's little dream sequence.... pretty funny stuff. But I think they could have come up with something better than "Stinky". 3 star episode for me.

Didn't anyone get remotely reminded of TOS:"Galileo Seven"? Not saying it's a carbon copy or a ripoff. But c'mon, not even a dishonorable mention? Especially the explosion vs. Spock's burning the fuel.....

After years... and I mean YEARS... of starting and stopping my very first watch of Enterprise (mainly due to the consistent mediocrity of the show), this episode and "Dear Doctor" have been the ones to keep me going this year. Glad I've finally made it this far. Aside from moments that bordered on complete silliness ("Stinky"...?), I thought this was a very effective character based episode. A shame they haven't been making more like "Dear Doctor" or "Shuttlepod One" up to this point, otherwise I might have actually stuck with the show when I first tried watching it 8-9 years ago. I hope there are more like them as I continue my first run-through of the series.

Definitely one of my favourites of season 1. 2 men in a room winding each other up and exploring their characters. I thought Trip got too many of the punchlines, but that his frustration was fair enough. The airlock bit was a bit silly though. Regarding Reed as the lady's man, I thought his actions suggested the opposite. He knew (or had known) a few women and still had strong feelings for them.

Regarding Red Dwarf's Marooned - I haven't seen it for a while but by my recollection that worked because we knew the characters a lot better, whereas this was in series 1. Also, I think Reed is a deeper character than Rimmer. And RD is comedy sci-fi (partly depending on which series) whereas Enterprise is sci-fi drama with some comedy thrown in. And I think we learned more about Reed and Tucker than we did about Lister and Rimmer in the 2 episodes. (this is mostly my opinion obviously....)

What is more boring than two people stranded on a shuttle/planet for 45 minutes? Nothing (0)

FlyingSquirrel

"What is more boring than two people stranded on a shuttle/planet for 45 minutes?" Two people stranded in a corny Irish village holodeck program?

This is one of the episodes I remembered from my original viewing, and in a good way. I'm about with Jammer on most points with this one. Very good but not great. Michael: "Reed with his irritating snotty accent (who the hell talks like that?!?) Picard? BTW I often agree with your comments; I quite like Reed's voicee actually, and no, I'm not British. This seems like as good a place to bring this up as any, though: do Star Trek writers assume all English people are socially inept or misanthropic? Like Bashir, Reed can't get on with his parents, Picard can,t handle Children, Bashir likes women but can't behave normally around them. (OK, I know Picard is supposed to be French, but really...)

I must say, Malcolm's dreams about T'Pol are a lot more family friendly than mine are.

Not a bad episode, but not a great one either -- the kind of thing that's been done on TOS (The Gallleo Seven) better and DS9 (The Ascent) worse immediately come to mind. Those episodes have similarities but important differences. This is purely a character episode for Trip/Reed and we do learn a great deal about their similarities and differences -- mostly the latter. There are some humorous moments like Trip interrupting Reed recording his good-byes but also some annoying moments like Reed's dream of T'Pol (Stinky) and the Trip wanting to go into the airlock so that Reed could have all the breathable air -- where did that all of a sudden come from?? So far on ENT, I can't really think of 2 other characters together who'd be able to pull it off. Archer and anybody else -- the other person will just do what Archer says. T'Pol would be too boring and Hoshi/Travis aren't good enough actors. The other thing that I don't get is what was it that they saw crashed on the asteroid? What's the explanation for that? So there were definitely some things contrived to create the predicament for our 2 friends. What I did like is how realistic the survival aspects seemed -- reducing the temp to -5C (23F) with the shivering/frost on everything, how slow impulse is in the vastness of outer space, and all the little things they do to extend their lives. This much was well done in terms of mechanics. But ultimately, I don't think they needed to spend as much time on the dialog between the 2 as it got pretty silly at times. 2.5 stars for "Shuttlepod One" -- we get Reed the realist/pessimist and Trip who is more happy-go-lucky/optimist stuck together and it works pretty well with a very basic plot. Some male bonding, some conflict but the situation is well portrayed and the 2 actors do a good job. The fact that we know they won't die despite the minuscule odds takes a bit of an edge off the proceedings.

I liked this episode. But, no matter realistic, the reference to T'pol's "bum", falls kind of flat. It is like the producers were too eager to explore more her sexuality than else. Previous episodes clearly objectified her.

Character building can't be an excuse for a boring episode.. And there is no building because they both get stuck in their circles. It's all just so obvious and not inspired. Just when i was growing into ENT a bit. This is no 3.5 stars, not by a longshot.

Re-watched the episode for the firat time in years. Despite some slightly limp writing (Tucker interrupting Reed's message to his parents could have been hilarious but they wasted it), and the fact the episode blows its wad immediately by showing us the Enterprise is fine (got to give the other faces their screen time), this is certainly one of Enterprise's best episodes. I forgot that Enterprise dished up something different in its early days. I forgot that Reed and Hoshi got quite a lot to do. Already at this stage Mayweather has been sidelined for reasons unknown - perhaps for some reason, early Starfleet didn't keep taking its best pilots off the bridge for away missions - and his acting isn't quite as terrible as I remembered for the most part. I do think it was the Ford Effect from Stargate Atlantis. They had this young character who they literally couldn't do anything with and eventually just ditched him. Still, despite the occasional lapse in writing, the acting here was superb. It was nice to see an episode like this after years of Voyager's stubborn aliens of the week. I agree with comments I read in other episode reviews that Bermaga did not rwally believe in the premise of a prequel, they did not believe in this show, they apparently did not believe in most of the characters, so what could have been something original and exciting has even its best episodes criticised by the moaning brigade. Some people are so negative and biased in their opinions that I wonder if they work for the BBC.

I wonder why this episode was rated up at the season end. I’m watching through ENT for the first time and really did not find much enjoyment out of this one - but I wonder if, in hind sight, this one gets a better rating, in the same way many of the early Bashir/O’Brien eps from DS9 did, for being the beginning of what would become a more active friendship? I’m reminded of Quark and Odo nearly freezing to death on the top of a mountain sometime early on in DS9, although I find their banter much more amusing - Trip here is especially annoying in the first half of the episode, although I find the things that bug me about him to be relatively consistent with his character so far.

I watched this when it originally aired, and again now in 2020 (during what may or may not, in the fullness of time, be labelled the “first” coronavirus lockdown in the U.S.). I remember being annoyed with Enterprise immediately, mostly thanks to the un-evolved, macho characterizations of masculinity I expected humanity would, of necessity, have left behind a century earlier. In the same vein, I was never able to get past T’Pol's ridiculous wardrobe or how her portrayal, especially the first season, was mostly so god-awful (credit where it’s due: Blalock definitely improved with time). So I had originally truly loathed his episode, as I felt it sent plausibility into free fall by the glaringly obvious stupidity on display. The ship at one point is without heat, the characters are in immediate danger of literally freezing to death, and they don't do the one completely self-evident action that would, without question, prolong their lives? They don't huddle up, they don't use the same blanket...hell, they don't even touch! All that body heat just radiating into uselessly into the vacuum of space, and they, what? Preserve their masculinity? Is it masculine to die of stupidity? If it were me, I would be wrapped around Trinneer like an heat- sucking python...how much time would that buy? Hours, certainly. But nooooo....... That's not to say Michael's suggestion above would be in play....though it seems more imaginable today. But it just spoke to the inherent, and even then highly outdated, lack of risk-taking this show suffered from. I can say that my opinion, for whatever that's worth, of the ep has somewhat improved. I did like it more this viewing, possibly because I am currently trapped in an enclosed space with a vague but not entirely implausible threat of death floating just outside...so I guess I’m perhaps more able to sympathize? And also, I did develop a warmer feel for the characters with time, so it works better in general.

This was a good episode. I laughed twice. Once when Malcolm thinks he’s going to die and admits he likes T’Pol’s “bum” and again at the end when Malcolm wakes up in Enterprise and all he wants is for things to be a little like his fantasy he had when passed out. He just wants T’Pol to tell him how heroic he was and flirt a little. Is it too much to ask after nearly dying? Yep T’Pol is having none of it. 😂 That’s life

Hmm. My 2nd episode of ENT, due to high ratings here (the other was "Dear Doctor") and while the other was "horrific," this one is just incredibly boring. 3.5 stars for a char development episode with very little char development!? I can't help but feel if this had been a DS9 episode, that Jammer would have given it a far lower rating, making me think the rating scale bar for ENT has been drastically lowered to account for what must be ENT's overall quality. So I'll be avoiding ENT if these are the best it has to offer. No wonder if only went 4 years. :(

Shuttle Pod 1. I thought it was one of the better episodes. The only problem I had is when they opened the top hatch, there is not and 2nd floor, it leads to space. They just killed themselves by opening that hatch. How stupid was that....

Trip was holding a 1980's electronic breadboard with wire wrap. That is 80's technology, not 2150. Also, the nitrogen valve uptop has a pc board with DIP Chips painted in silver. 1980's technology once again.

I'm amazed to see this got such a high score. I'd say it's one of the worst episodes yet. The dialogue is terrible. Malcolm is seriously irritating.

I think this is one of the best episodes of the series. I actually think this portrays these two men in a very real way. A couple of deeper conversations that mix in, but no long monologues about the meaning of life. These are two very different men stuck in a horrible situation and facing their own deaths, and the very real conflict that would happen comes out. I'd give it the full 4 stars.

Scottar Brooke

The one ridiculous scene was when the shuttlepod got hit with a couple of singularities and created air leak holes, it would take more than food to seal them. And since space craft are subject to micrometeorites then they should have had patching kits on board. You think they would have a spare board for the communications bord too, the most critical piece of equipment. Even a long-range distress beacon perhaps.

zzybaloobah

I like the notion. But they're both right at each other's throats from the start. What kind of psych evals do you have to pass to be on NX-01? Was there some repressed anger between Trip & Reed at the outset? Trip yelling orders? And Malcolm making log entries all night long? They both come across as passive-agressive petulant children. Character destruction, not character building. 1.5 stars...

Connor Trinneer and Dominic Keating have an ENT podcast. Here is a link to them and Gary Graham doing a live table read of this episode: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Lgp0bsGoAVg I haven't watched yet.

Thanks for that link @Marlboro -- very cool. I didn't think too much of this episode but somehow the live read gives a greater appreciation of it. Particularly agree with the 1st comment on youtube: "That was totally captivating. Seeing these two jump so effortlessly into these characters after 15 years is truly impressive. The Enterprise cast rarely gets their due, but they really are an exceptional group of actors." Keating and Trinneer were 2 of the actors that I really gained a lot of respect for and I do think ENT had a very strong cast for classic Trek.

"I do think ENT had a very strong cast for classic Trek." I agree. Not only did the actors seem to inhabit their roles from day one, the cast seemed to gel almost from the beginning too. I was always impress by how naturally the TOS cast interacted in the Man Trap considering it was the first episode. Later on, I learned that it was actually the sixth one produced which helps account for how comfortable Kelly and Shatner seemed to be in their roles. I can't say the same for TNG, DS9, and Voyager. In some cases it took years for some of the actors/characters on those shows to really come into their own.

Michael Miller

Dumb episode, but a little funny and better than some of the absolute boring ones like Precious Cargo. I did feel the characters acted a little out of character though, like Malcolm's whimpering and Reed explosive outbursts. The funniest part was the idea that you could seal a hull breach with some sticky food lol! In reality even a hole the size of a pinhead would suck out the atmosphere in under 3 seconds. The wet dream stuff wasn't needed either. And if they really believed they were going to inevitably die anyway, why spend all that time suffering in the freezing cold? If you're gonna ultimately die the same way anyway, might as well not suffer the whole time just to live a little bit longer. 2 stars.

Why does nobody mention that if the Enterprise is a quarter of a light year away, it would take 3 months for the light from blowing up the shuttle pod’s engine to reach it? 🤦‍♂️

Doesn’t seem like great character development. Reed is supposedly the internal one who won’t even reveal his favorite food but now he’s the only one who wants to share his every thought with his family. Hard to believe enterprise wouldn’t have grabbed them before taking off for new location, especially given all the unknowns. They wouldn’t even try to radio out a signal, wait for reply that doesn’t come and know crew is in danger? Ugh stupidity to create plot. My understanding is u would get sucked thru the pinhole. Interesting that mashed potato will do the trick…

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Star Trek: Enterprise – Shuttlepod One (Review)

Next year, Star Trek is fifty years old. We have some special stuff planned for that, but – in the meantime – we’re reviewing all of Star Trek: Enterprise this year as something of a prequel to that anniversary. This January, we’re doing the first season . Check back daily for the latest review.

Shuttlepod One is the best episode of the first season of Star Trek: Enterprise .

If you want to be particularly cynical about it, you could argue that it’s the show’s first absolutely unequivocal success. Enterprise ‘s first season is a lot stronger and more interesting than most give it credit for, even if most of its stronger episodes were qualified successes – like Breaking the Ice , Cold Front or Dear Doctor – that hinted at a new type of character-driven Star Trek without entirely committing to it.

… it is very cold in space…

The first season of Enterprise tried quite a lot of new things that didn’t always work. That’s fine. That’s what a first season should be for. The greater tragedy is that the second season (or even the tail end of the first season) didn’t necessarily try to improve on those experimental successes, and instead fell back on that conventional Star Trek plotting that had been competing with that more experimental style in the first two-thirds of the first season.

In many ways, Shuttlepod One is the unlikely zenith of the first season. It comes off a string of flawed-but-intriguing episodes only briefly interrupted by the misfire that was Sleeping Dogs . However, the episode was written by creators Rick Berman and Brannon Braga to save budget in the second half of the season, filmed as a way to recoup budget overruns from elsewhere in the year. Despite that, it’s a compelling glimpse of Enterprise as it seemed to want to be – very much character-driven Star Trek .

Reed has a close shave…

On the wonderful episode commentary with actors Dominic Keating and Connor Trinneer, along with director David Livingston, Brannon Braga remarks that Shuttlepod One could easily be adapted as a stage play. It certainly isn’t too hard to imagine. After all, most of the cast of the original Star Trek performed The Machiavellian Principle , a script written by Walter Koenig, at the infamous Ultimate Fantasy convention. Alexander Siddig and Andrew Robinson have performed Robinson’s The Dream Box together.

That’s the beauty of Shuttlepod One . It is essentially a story about two characters trapped in a confined space together, the essence of drama. This isn’t the only time that Star Trek has used this plot device – Day of Honour from Star Trek: Voyager and Waltz or even Duet from Star Trek: Deep Space Nine both come to mind – but it is perhaps the only time that it feels entirely organic rather than the climax of a planned character arc.

All on (circuit) board…

Reed and Trip are an unlikely pairing. Indeed, the show had not made a conscious effort to for a “bromance” between the two prior to this point. It seemed like either character was being positioned to be the other half of a male friendship formed with Travis Mayweather. Trip and Mayweather spent quite some time together in Strange New World , trading ghost stories and reinforcing each other’s paranoia. Reed and Mayweather built snowmen on a comet in Breaking the Ice .

Before Shuttlepod One , it’s hard to think of any extended interaction between the duo. The pair led a somewhat under-manned and overly-ambitious attempt to rescue a kidnapped T’Pol and Archer in Shadows of P’Jem , but were very much in the background of a plot built around T’Pol and copious amounts of political intrigue. It doesn’t seem like the show has been consciously building to an episode where Trip and Reed form a deep friendship while facing their imminent deaths.

We are Trip of Borg…

And that is part of what appeals about Shuttlepod One . It feels random rather than pre-determined. Neither fate nor the writers were conspiring to lock Reed and Trip in a shuttlepod together. The show needed a bottle episode to help save budget, so Rick Berman and Brannon Braga came up with doing a show on a shuttlepod. They picked Reed and Trip because Dominic Keating and Connor Trinneer happened to play well off one another.

The randomness of the set-up really enhances the episode. One of the big problems with the first season of Enterprise has been the sense that this isn’t really as novel as it should be. Archer and his crew aren’t facing the sorts of threats and stakes that you might expect for a culture blundering out blindly into the cosmos. The ship has wandered in risky situations, but always finds its way out easily enough. Archer doesn’t lose a crew member until the show’s third season.

Ship shape…

The show has made some effort to convey that space is wondrous and magical. The relaxed pacing of episodes like Breaking the Ice or Cold Front has allowed the show to wallow in how much fun it must be to venture out among the stars. However, it has never seemed particularly dangerous. For all the anxiety about using the transporter, it provided a resolution to the action at the climax of Broken Bow and didn’t do any permanent damage in Strange New Worlds . The ship met advanced aliens in Fight or Flight or Silent Enemy , but it managed to fight them off by the end of the episode.

In contrast, Shuttlepod One underscores how scary space can be, how easy it would be to die in that large mostly empty cosmos. Reed and Trip are off on a routine mission, and come back to find themselves facing certain death. T’Pol’s academic curiosity is provoked by the possibility of discovering “micro-singularities” , but those micro-singularities casually threaten to kill Reed and Trip. These are tiny objects, so small they can’t even be seen by human eyes. And, by chance, they could wind up killing these two officers.

Malcolm need his safety blanket…

The first scene of the first act rather cleverly acknowledges that the Enterprise has not in fact been surprised sixteen episodes into the first season. It’s a nice way of admitting what the audience already knows – there’s no way that the Enterprise would actually have been blown up. Archer and his crew are simply ferrying some aliens home. They are blissfully unaware of the crisis facing Reed and Trip. This does a nice job underscoring how small the scale of the threat is, despite the danger – Reed and Trip are facing almost certain death, but Archer and his crew aren’t even aware of that possibility until half-way through the episode.

Shuttlepod One may have been dispatched on a casual mission, but as soon as the Enterprise has to abandon it – even temporarily – it is clear how large space really is. At warp five everything might seem closer, but space is still just a gigantic mostly-empty void. Trip suggests that they try to make contact with a message relay, only for Reed to point out just how isolated they really are. “It’s going to take weeks, maybe months for our signal to reach Echo Three. By the time Starfleet got a ship out here we’d be, we’d be long dead.”

The tension eased up a bit when Reed discovered the shuttle’s on-board karaoke system…

Trip tries to look on the bright side. “We’ve got nine days,” he insists. “We’re bound to find someone out here.” He adds, “God knows who’s going to be lurking around the next planet we run into.” Reed responds with facts, “But that’s just it, sir. At impulse, we’re not likely to be running into any planets. Not for at least six or seven years.” Trip’s attempts to remain upbeat feel more and more disconnected from reality. “Then somebody can run into us,” he suggests. “You ever think of that? Or see us on their sensors. The possibilities are endless.”

Shuttlepod One does a lot to reinforce the idea of space as hostile terrain. It’s something that the first season of Enterprise has flirted with in episodes like Silent Enemy or Fight or Flight or Strange New World , but Shuttlepod One hammers it home perfectly.  Trip and Reed banter back and forth about the likelihood of rescue, but the cold hard numbers are on Reed’s side. Space is big. Space is vast. The statistical odds of bumping into help are so small as to be statistically irrelevant.

Trip was really ticked off when he discovered Reed deleted his season of the Golden Girls to make room for all his letters.

Indeed, the episode all but concedes that space is a terrifying and horrific place. The only reason that Reed and Trip survive is because they aren’t really lost in deep space. They are on a Star Trek episode. Trip is arguing from a position that is entirely internally consistent with the Star Trek universe as fans know and love it. You can’t seem to throw a rock in deep space without hitting another life form or space organism or ship or civilisation or something. Reed, in contrast, is arguing from a position closer to reality – we know that space is just huge wide open spaces.

Shuttlepod One repeatedly draws attention to the conflict between the reality of space as we know it to exist and the narrative conventions of Star Trek . Indeed, Reed serves as something of a meta-fictional commentator. At the climax, he is practically commenting on the script. “This is like the plane flying over the desert island in a lost-at-sea movie,” he observes. “Sorry. Happy endings. I must think happy endings.” He has difficulty distinguishing between the way the story actually ends and the way that his own dream narrative ended.

Trip is really glad that both he and Malcolm went to the bathroom before they left the ship…

The episode opens with Reed reading Ulysses and smugly dismissing American pulp literature – derisively referring to “comic books and those ridiculous science fiction novels.”  Discussing Zephram Cochrane, the inventor of the warp engine and thus father of the entire Star Trek universe – as well as a stand-in for Gene Roddenberry in Star Trek: First Contact – Reed suggests another line of pulp literature that inevitably informed the development of the franchise. Cochrane, Reed suggests, “probably spent his nights reading about cowboys and Indians.”

In short, Reed seems to be dismissing Star Trek itself. After all, the franchise is rooted in all those examples of pulp literature. Trip finds himself defending the franchise, particularly contending that such pulpy material can have depth and meaning. “I’ll have you know that Superman was laced with metaphor,” he replies to Reed. “Subtext layered on subtext.” The same defence could be offered for Star Trek , in a similar argument.

Reed’s all bottled-up…

Reed argues that he and Trip will die alone in space because that is how the universe works. It is cold and random and empty and meaningless. In contrasts, Trip seems to argue along the narrative logic of Star Trek . They’ll bump into somebody! They’ll be rescued! The universe is not so cruel and so brutal! It’s the classic argument between cynicism and optimism, where Reed consciously frames his cynicism and pessimism as realism. That suggests that Trip’s optimism is fantastical.

One could argue that  Shuttlepod One is an attempt to frame the world view of Star Trek in opposition to harsh cynicism. Reed is statistically quite correct. However, despite that, Trip’s optimism ultimately wins out. It’s a decidedly heartwarming episode. In many ways, this could be seen as a companion piece to Shadows of P’Jem . Shadows of P’Jem was a show about how people need to be better than they currently are, juxtaposing Vulcan colonialism with the idealism of the yet-to-arrive Federation. Shuttlepod One is an episode about how pessimism and cynicism are not always correct.

That’s the OTHER Vulcan nerve “pinch”…

Of course, even aside from all this,  Shuttlepod One is just a phenomenal piece of television. It seems that the entire production just flowed. On the commentary, the participants all observe that there were relatively few re-writes on the script. Connor Trinneer notes:

I recall Rick, when he came down to chat about it in the beginning. He said it was pretty much from [his and Brannon Braga’s] heads to paper. And that was the shooting the script.

Similarly, Brannon Braga notes how unusual it was to have a finished script ten days before the shoot began, particularly during what had been a hectic first season. “We were very often behind on scripts,” he recalls. “We never shut down, we always got the show done, but this was a luxury.”

“Hey, at least we got these cool branded jackets, eh?”

Director David Livingston remarks on how convenient it was to effectively film the episode in sequence:

The guys didn’t shave for the seven days of the episode. Were we able to shoot in sequence? We did. We shot in continuity. We had to. Absolutely in continuity. That would have been bad, if we hadn’t. That took more production time, because we had to keep taking apart the shuttle and putting it back together for all the different scenes. But it was controllable, and the guys were able to do it quickly. That would not have been good if the guys had not been able to do that.

Trinneer and Keating recall being able to rehearse ahead of time in Keating’s apartment.

Another night in sickbay…

All of this adds up to a fantastic finished product. Shuttlepod One ranks as the single best episode of the first season, but also one of the best episodes from the show’s four-season run. It’s just a delightfully character-driven episode that trusts the two leads to carry the story and comfortably relies on putting two lead characters into conflict to sustain a full forty-five minutes of conflict. The show actually ran over time, and the producers had to cut a story about Trip’s early friendship with Archer, which Braga than recycled for use on Terra Nova .

The show does a good job sketching out its two lead characters, and Keating and Trinneer play very well off one another. The two actors have done a lot to sketch out and define their roles in the ensemble, despite some early missteps. Keating has been at the periphery of the ensemble, but is one of the more intriguing players. The early scripts of the season tended to play Trip as a character prone to aggression or macho posturing (as in the dinner scene in Broken Bow ), but Trinneer helped to soften that a little bit in his acting choices.

Brandishing his brandy…

Shuttlepod One offers the most insight into Reed, if only because the character has been mostly defined as reserved or aloof. In Silent Enemy , we discovered that he had the most stereotypically British parents in the history of the universe. While the doting mother and quietly disappointed father were hardly innovative  characters of themselves, Shuttlepod One finds a lot of drama in how Malcolm Reed chooses to speak with them in what he believes to be the final days of his life.

“Captain Archer claims you told him you weren’t even aware that I was serving on Enterprise,” he remarks, in a nice nod to Silent Enemy . “I find that difficult to believe, considering I wrote you twice in the weeks prior to our departure. Now, it is possible that you never received those letters. You were, I believe, in the process of moving back to Malaysia at the time. But you must have spoken to Aunt Sherry during that period, and I know she received my letters.”

“Overcompensating? I don’t know the meaning of the word…”

It’s such a beautiful of conveying Malcolm’s buttoned-down passive-aggressiveness. He doesn’t accuse his parents of not reading his letters or not caring about his choices, but he insinuates pretty heavily. That’s one of the more interesting things about Reed as a character – the fact that so much of his character exists in what he consciously chooses not to say. It is some very fine writing, with Reed seldom opening himself up for personal conversation. (It also has a much more satisfying conclusion than “Malcolm likes pineapple.” )

It’s no wonder that Reed was rumoured to be the franchise’s first gay character. His heterosexuality is one of the few things he makes a repeated and conscious effort to assert over the course of the series. Given the difficulty he has articulating everything else, one might be forgiven for wondering. Even here, he engages in stereotypically macho posturing with Trip. When Trip asks if Reed knew the waitress Ruby, the security officer replies, “I ‘knew’ her more times than I can remember.” Given the awkwardness with which he responded to perceived romantic advances from Hoshi in Silent Enemy , that seems rather boastful.

To be fair, this will teach Archer to hide his hooch on a shuttlepod with Trip for a couple of days…

Similarly, Reed’s decision to narrate his letters to his ex-girlfriends rather than simply writing them down – and the show delivering them over voice-over – seems like it is more for the benefit of Trip than for any of the women in question. In one of the episode’s more poignant scenes, Reed confesses that those entanglements didn’t seem to make much of an impression on him. “Those girls I talked about – Rochelle, Deborah, Catelin – none of them worked out because I could never get very close to them.” It seems like the boastful “macho” mask that we saw in episodes like Broken Bow has slipped, if only for a moment.

He talks about feeling more “comfortable” with the crew of the Enterprise, as if he has finally found a bunch of people that he might be able trust, that he might be able to relax around, that he may be willing to drop his guard in front of. Maybe Reed can finally be himself. After all, he joined Starfleet to be who he wanted to be, rather than to be what his father wanted him to be. As a character, it is very easy to read Malcolm as an extremely closeted man, struggling with his own sexual identity. Even though the show would decide not to make Reed the first gay Star Trek regular, there remains a lot of subtext.

Engineering a solution…

In fact, one can’t help but wonder if the show decided to include the “Malcolm fantasises about T’Pol” scene simply to dismiss once and for all any lingering rumours about the sexuality of Malcolm Reed. The scene does feel decidedly gratuitous, and is arguably the episode’s only significant misstep. One of the more frequent – and persistent – problems with Enterprise was a tendency to reduce T’Pol to a sex object. While Shuttlepod One is hardly the worst example, it is part of a larger pattern.

The scene feels particularly unnecessary because the show hadn’t suggested any attraction between Reed and T’Pol before and would never really mention it again. It would have made more sense to have Trip confess an attraction towards her. It is certainly the most conclusive, definitive and undeniable proof that Malcolm is sexually attracted to women. Still, it doesn’t quite undermine all the other subtext around Malcolm; he could always be a closeted bisexual.

Reed reads…

Still, Shuttlepod One is a highlight of Enterprise , and a demonstration that the show could carve out a niche for itself by finding more room for its characters. Unfortunately,  Shuttlepod One doesn’t quite set the tone for the rest of the show. Unfortunately, it remains something of an outlier in the grand scheme of things. That doesn’t change the fact that it is a fantastic piece of television.

You might be interested in our other reviews of the first season of Star Trek: Enterprise :

• Fight or Flight
• Strange New World
• The Andorian Incident
• Breaking the Ice
• Civilisation
• Fortunate Son
• Silent Enemy
• Dear Doctor
• Sleeping Dogs
• Shadows of P’Jem
• Shuttlepod One
• Rogue Planet
• Acquisition
• Fallen Hero
• Desert Crossing
• Two Days and Two Nights
• Shockwave, Part I

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Filed under: Enterprise | Tagged: Brannon Braga , charles tucker , connor trinneer , david livingston , dominic keating , malcolm reed , reed , Rick Berman , shuttlepod one , star trek , star trek: enterprise , trip |

6 Responses

Are European parents really this horrible? Trek and television in general would have us think so! (Although judging by British comedies I’ve seen, children get it as bad or worse.)

Great piece, I see now why Reed intrigued so many viewers.

I do think that there is something a little “stock British parents” about the Reed family, what with the passive aggression and lack of warmth. But I think it works quite well with the character. Reed is probably the most passive-aggressive lead character in the franchise’s history; there are points in the first season (Strange New World, Rogue Planet) where he seems to be making fun of Archer while doing exactly as he is told. A lot of that is Keating’s delivery, but it is something I really like about the character.

Great review.

I was very much a Reed fan watching the show originally (though I do like Trip too) and this was an episode where he really seemed to ‘click’ for the first time.

Bizarrely, of all shows, I was reminded of ‘Red Dwarf’ and Rimmer and Lister!

I think Keating had a better idea of Reed as a character than the writers for most of the first season. Silent Enemy is a terrible character-centric episode, and it really seems like the staff were like, “We have to do something with Reed.” Shuttlepod One really is the point where the writers and actor seemed on the same page.

I’d watch a Red Dwarf reboot with Conor Trinneer and Dominic Keating.

This was a wonderful episode! But then, I adore character development.

As soon as they said that the ship would be there in two days, but they only had enough air for one day, I thought, “So one of you has to die so that the other one can live. Will they mention that?” And I was moved that the WAY they mentioned that was for Trip to try to sacrifice himself so that Malcolm could live. In another universe, one of the guys would try to kill the other one, but in the STAR TREK universe, one of the guys tries to kill himself so that the other one could live. That attitude — that showing us the best of human nature — is a big part of what draws me to Star Trek.

Shuttlepod One is a legitimate contender for the best episode of Enterprise ever produced, and possibly the best script written by Brannon Braga (which is quite an accomplishment).

I’m a little sad that the show never quite recaptured this sense of space as something scary while painting exploration as something noble. It is quintessential Star Trek. I’d argue it’s easily the best episode of the season.

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'Shuttlepod One' and 7 more great 'Star Trek: Enterprise' episodes you should watch

Celebrate the 20th anniversary of the airing of "Shuttlepod One" with the best  Star Trek: Enterprise  episodes. 

It’s hard to believe that Star Trek: Enterprise premiered more than 20 years ago, but it’s true! The show debuted on the now-defunct UPN on Sept. 26, 2001 and took place in the 22nd century — the early days of Starfleet and 100 years before Captain James T. Kirk commanded the U.S.S. Enterprise.  

On Enterprise the show, Earth’s first starship — the U.S.S. Enterprise NX-01 — is captained by Jonathan Archer ( Scott Bakula ). He and his crew have several adventures in the unknowns of space as Starfleet and Earth go through the growing pains of becoming an intergalactic player. 

One of the most memorable episodes from the show’s four seasons is “ Shuttlepod One ,” a story that spends the majority of its time on a malfunctioning shuttlecraft with Commander Tucker (Connor Trinneer) and Lieutenant Reed (Dominic Keating), who think that the Enterprise has been destroyed and that they’re stuck puttering through space until their oxygen runs out and they die. “Shuttlepod One” gives us some intimate moments with Tucker and Reed, and it also emphasizes the hard reality of living in space in the early days of Starfleet. It’s also been recognized as one of the most memorable episodes of the entire Star Trek franchise. 

This episode — the sixteenth episode from the show’s first season — turns 20 years old today, and to celebrate the occasion, here are seven more of Enterprise 's finest hours that you should revisit or check out for the first time. 

“Broken Bow” (Season 1)

“Broken Bow” is the two-part pilot for Star Trek: Enterprise and sets the stage for the entire series. In it, a Klingon named Klaang crash lands in Broken Bow, Oklahoma. Archer, who is just about to helm the first Enterprise convinces the Vulcans to let him and his newly-formed crew take Klaang to Qo’noS, the Klingon homeworld. Things go awry, as things often do in Star Trek , but Archer ultimately completes his mission. The newly-formed Starfleet then tells him to keep exploring, and Archer does for another four seasons. 

“The Andorian Incident” (Season 1)

“The Andorian Incident”, the first season’s seventh episode, is one of the most significant of the series. In it, the Enterprise heads to a 3,000-old Vulcan monastery and are surprised to find that it is full of armed Andorians. The Andorians believe that the monastery is hiding surveillance tech that spies on them, and they ultimately find out that they’re right. The deception is one that escalates the tensions between the Andorians and the Vulcans, a dynamic that has ripples throughout the Star Trek franchise. 

“Silent Enemy” (Season 1)

Season 1’s harrowing and tense twelfth episode sees the Enterprise attacked by an unknown starship home to a dangerous alien species never before encountered. Soon, these aliens invade Enterprise's dark corridors and submit the crew to bafflingly aggressive mini-hells, before disappearing into the vastness of space. These would-be villains are never seen again, which is too bad. Because they made quite the impression in "Silent Enemy" and could have been worthwhile threats for Archer to combat. 

“Dead Stop” (Season 2)

“Dead Stop,” the fourth installment in Season 2, sees the Enterprise nursing its wounds after being caught in a minefield in the previous episode, as Enterprise  took advantage of serialized storytelling to tell this sometimes scary, always thrilling tale. When Captain Archer issues a distress call, he and his crew must dock the ship at an autonomous repair station in the vicinity. The repair station, however, isn't as benignly helpful as it wants you to think it is. The crew ultimately realizes that the station kidnaps sentient beings and uses their brains to up its processing power. “Dead Stop” is a frightening Star Trek episode, with a Matrix -esque premise that is pushed to some suspenseful and chilling conclusions — especially with that ominous last shot. It’s worth watching for the creepiness factor alone. 

“Judgment” (Season 2)

“Judgment” is an Enterprise episode that focuses on a courtroom trial serving as a pseudo-sequel to Star Trek VI 's Klingon "show trial" where Kirk and McCoy took the stand following the assassination of Klingon Chancellor Gorkon. In this case, Archer is the defendant in a Klingon tribunal, where he’s been accused of attacking a Klingon spaceship and aiding rebels of the Klingon Empire. The episode comes in the backhalf of the second season and explores what happens when honor and ethics fall to the wayside in the thirst for victory. It also includes a wonderful performance by guest star J.G. Hertzler (from DS9  fame) as Archer’s Klingon counsel. 

“Regeneration” (Season 2)

“Regeneration” brings the Borg once again to the Star Trek universe. In this exciting second season episode, the Borg and their nanoprobes are found in a crashed ship on Earth, in the Arctic Circle, and Archer and the Enterprise are tasked to figure out what the heck is going on. The Borg begin assimilating, as Borg are wont to do, and Archer ultimately destroys their ship and those who had been assimilated. The episode ends on a very ominous note, with the Borg transmitting Earth’s coordinates out to the Delta Quadrant, where it will ultimately arrive 200 years in the future.  

“Impulse” (Season 3)

“Impulse” is another creepy Enterprise episode where Archer and his crew attempt to rescue a Vulcan ship in distress and find its crew acting like a bunch of killer zombies. The setup is a classic haunted ship scenario, with sub-Commander T’Pol (Jolene Blalock) especially dealing with the psychological aftermath as she too begins to become affected like all of the other Vulcans on this derelict vessel. It is, in a few words, a messed up episode, and one that will stick with you long after you watch it. 

All four seasons of  Star Trek: Enterprise are available on Paramount+.   

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• "Shuttlepod One" was a pivotal episode in Star Trek: Enterprise. Connor Trinneer and Dominic Keating performed a live table read of "Shuttlepod One" on their podcast, The Shuttlepod Show, to mark the episode's 20th anniversary.
• The episode's in-universe date is November 9, 2151, and it inspired a real-life friendship between actors Connor Trinneer and Dominic Keating, who now host The Shuttlepod Show podcast.
• The podcast takes a deep dive into Star Trek and features notable guests from the franchise, with Trinneer and Keating reenacting scenes from "Shuttlepod One."

Star Trek: Enterprise stars Connor Trinneer and Dominic Keating reenacted their classic episode "Shuttlepod One" on their podcast, The Shuttlepod Show . Written by Enterprise series creators Rick Berman and Brannon Braga, "Shuttlepod One" is one of the best episodes of the Star Trek prequel, and it was crucial in establishing the characters and friendship of Trinneer's Chief Engineer, Commander Trip Tucker, and Keating's Armory Officer, Lieutenant Malcolm Reed, aboard the NX-01 Enterprise commanded by Captain Jonathan Archer (Scott Bakula).

On February 13, 2022, Dominic Keating and Connor Trinneer marked the 20th anniversary of the airing of "Shuttlepod One" by performing a live table read of the episode on The Shuttlepod Show . Keating and Trinneer were joined by their guest, Gary Graham, who played Vulcan Ambassador Soval on Star Trek: Enterprise , as well as producer Mark J. Cartier and co-host Erica La Rose. Trinneer and Keating played Trip and Reed, while the others played the different characters in the episode. Although "Shuttlepod One" aired on 2/13/2002, the in-universe date of the episode is November 9, 2151 , which is 128 years as of the date of this writing. Check out The Shuttlepod Show 's 20th Anniversary Table Read of "Shuttlepod One" below:

Star Trek: Enterprise introduced new faces to the prequel series set a century before the events of Star Trek: The Original Series.

"Shuttlepod One" Inspired Star Trek: Enterprise Actors' Hit Podcast

Dominic keating and connor trinneer host the shuttlepod show.

"Shuttlepod One" not only forged the friendship between Trip Tucker and Malcolm Reed on Star Trek: Enterprise , but the intimate experience filming that episode cemented the real-life friendship between Connor Trinneer and Dominic Keating. When the Enterprise duo launched their Star Trek- themed podcast in 2022, they naturally named it The Shuttlepod Show after their seminal episode. Since The Shuttlepod Show launched, executive producers Rick Berman and Brannon Braga, as well as director David Livingston, have been guests, and all have expressed how proud they are about their Enterprise season 1 two-hander episode.

The Shuttlepod Show has a Patreon fans can join to support the podcast.

Malcolm Reed and Trip Tucker became one of the all-time great Star Trek friendships thanks to "Shuttlepod One," and the actors continue to be pals, as evident on The Shuttlepod Show. Keating and Trinneer's hit podcast takes guests on a deep dive into Star Trek , acting, and their lives, and in just two seasons, they have hosted many of the biggest names in the Star Trek franchise, both in front of and behind the camera. But it all started when Reed and Trip were trapped in a shuttlepod together on Star Trek: Enterprise , an episode Connor Trinneer and Dominic Keating brilliantly reenact as if no time had gone by on The Shuttlepod Show .

Star Trek: Enterprise is available to stream on Paramount+. The Shuttlepod Show is streaming on YouTube and wherever you get your podcasts.

Source: The Shuttlepod Show

Star Trek: Enterprise

Star Trek Enterprise: Shuttlepod One

4 comments:

Boy, this one's been in the pipeline for a long time. Enterprise reviews may start up more regularly in the coming months.

I hope you didn't hold your breath. The future has yet to see the next review.

Please do I've begun a rewatch or perhaps a watch where some episodes are concerned and definitely season 4 they were different times back then trying to catch a show I've watched a lot of the first season straight after Disco season 2 and the difference is incredible the slower pace people having actual conversations the school from Ireland in the episode Breaking the ice I didn't remember that I was smiling all the way through that scene even if it did seem to go on forever haha imagine Star Trek of today doing something like that I'm enjoying it I know I've heard all the complaints over the years but watching it with the perspective of time and of the new shows is interesting

2 problems with this episode, with only 1 resolved. Trip mentions that your hair and fingernails grow after death, which is untrue and was an urban legend many years ago, but is still believed by Trip about 150 years after this idea came about. There may still be a few uneducated that believe this today, but in more than a century in the future? Was one of the writers of this episode this dumb, or is it made to look like Trip and Reed are this dumb over a century later? Honest question, and I hope my use of the word "dumb" didn't need a synonym to avoid a policy comment issue on this platform. Trip later lights a a flame on the shuttle, which would consume more oxygen. This is brought up by Reed at least, but makes little sense given the previous episode conversations of trying to get every last second of oxygen. Wish I had the scientific knowledge to estimate the size of the shuttle and calculate how much oxygen that little flame would actually consume in order to figure out if the 5 or 6 minute estimate that Trip gives.

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Recap / Star Trek Enterprise S 01 E 16 Shuttlepod One

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On Enterprise , Hoshi reports to Archer about the rescue of some Tensians, whose ship was destroyed in a botched docking attempt, which also damaged the Enterprise 's second launch bay door. Archer and T'Pol go out to inspect the damage, with the latter wondering if it was microsingularities that caused the crash. On their way to Tensia, Archer notes that they have to get to their rendezvous point before Trip and Malcolm get there.

On the shuttlepod, Trip and Malcolm now think the Enterprise has been destroyed. They have no way to detect the black boxes and no radio to detect a beacon, and to make matters worse, they only have ten days' worth of oxygen left and the nearest subspace amplifier, Echo Three , would take too long to reach. Trip wants to go to Echo Three anyway, leading to an argument.

The next day, Malcolm begins making a log entry, but Trip is annoyed by this, feeling it's too pessimistic, leading them to argue again. Malcolm thinks they should just give up, as the shuttlepod is too slow to reach anyone on time, but Trip wants to try to get detected in case someone runs into them . After a bit of back-and-forth, they eat dinner.

That night, Trip tries to sleep, while Malcolm dictates a letter to his parents. Trip, who is frustrated with Malcolm keeping him awake, starts a third argument, ending with Trip turning the recorder off and telling Malcolm to go to bed. Malcolm goes to sleep and apparently wakes up in sickbay and is praised by Archer and T'Pol, the latter of whom flirts with him and prepares to kiss him. This, however, turns out to be a dream and the guys begin working on fixing the comm line. An impact hits the shuttlepod, causing a leak in the air pressure. Trip vents some nitrogen and uses it to find the holes, of which there are two. They plug the holes with mashed potatoes, but unfortunately, the shuttle now has only two more days of oxygen.

The men wonder what damaged the shuttle, wondering if it also hit the Enterprise . Unable to find an answer, the two wax nostalgic about a bar called the 602 club, in which worked a waitress named Ruby who they both slept with. Trip also mentions that he has found a way of making the oxygen last longer by lowering the temperature. Malcolm shaves, but Trip tells him that it's pointless since (according to him) hair still grows when you're dead. Back on Enterprise , T'Pol gives Archer the data on the damage to both ships, and Archer decides to signal the shuttle and set a different rendezvous point, since the shuttlepod lacks the hull plating that kept Enterprise safe.

Back on the shuttle, where it's now very cold, Malcolm keeps dictating letters to his ex-girlfriends, which still annoys Trip, and they talk about their "lost" crew mates. They start to argue again about whether to be optimistic or pessimistic, then Trip whips out a bottle of bourbon he found and Malcolm rants about how his only real friends are apparently dead. They get drunk and Malcolm admits that he thinks T'Pol has a "nice bum". Then, the shuttle gets hailed by Hoshi, meaning that the Enterprise crew aren't dead... but she promises to collect them in two days, which is too late.

Malcolm has the idea of jettisoning and blowing up the impulse engine, which Trip reluctantly agrees to do. Then they joke that if there was only one of them, there'd be more air, which leads to another argument when Trip takes it seriously. He tries to go out the airlock, only stopping when Malcolm threatens him with a phase pistol.

Tropes in this episode include:

• Artistic License – Biology : Trip was likely not paying attention in his honors biology class, as your hair and nails do not keep growing after death. What happens is the skin contracts, making it appear that they're still growing.
• Artistic License – Chemistry : The aliens breathe boron gas? Isn't that at least 7000 degrees Fahrenheit note  or about 3900 degrees Celsius ?
• Beard of Sorrow : Trip and Malcolm get noticeably scruffy on the shuttle. The "sorrow" part comes from the fact that they believe Enterprise to be destroyed, leaving them stranded until they die.
• Bottle Episode : Provides the trope's page image! Features only the standard sets and the main characters, with Trip and Malcolm carrying most of the episode. It's the only episode of Star Trek to not even have background extras . Oh, and there's also a bottle of Kentucky bourbon, making this a literal "bottle episode" .
• Brick Joke : While trapped on Shuttlepod 1, Malcolm has a dream in which he and Trip were rescued and T'Pol starts coming on to him while commending his heroics. When they're finally rescued for real, a slightly out-of-it Malcolm asks T'Pol if she has something to say to him regarding heroics. T'Pol wisely chooses to leave.
• Captain's Log : Malcolm uses his log to record a Video Will . Personal log, Lieutenant Malcolm Reed. November 9, 2151. By the time anyone hears this — by "anyone", I suppose I mean "anyone human" — Commander Tucker and I will be long dead. It's my intention to recount the events that led to the destruction of the Starship Enterprise and to express my deepest feelings regarding my short but memorable service with Starfleet. […] May God have mercy on our souls.
• Cringe Comedy : Malcolm is embarrassed upon waking up from a romantic dream about T'Pol because he'd been sleep-talking.
• Cultural Posturing : Low-grade between Trip and Malcolm. Malcolm: British schools have a core curriculum. It serves to provide a well-rounded education. Sometimes I think you North Americans read nothing but comic books and those ridiculous science fiction novels. Trip: I'll have you know that Superman was laced with metaphor. Subtext layered on subtext. Malcolm: Oh, if only Doctor Cochrane had been a European. The Vulcans would have been far less reticent to help us. But, no, he had to be from Montana. He probably spent his nights reading about cowboys and Indians. Trip: Well, I don't recall any Europeans figuring out how to build a warp engine.
• Distress Call : With their communications down, Malcolm and Trip jettison their impulse engine and rig it to self-destruct. This results in Enterprise increasing speed and rescuing them with time to spare.
• Dramatic Irony : When Trip and Malcolm see a damaged bit of Enterprise , they think the ship is destroyed, but we know that it's fine.
• Drowning My Sorrows : Malcolm, who, along with Trip, thinks he's dying, finds a bottle of Kentucky bourbon that Archer hid. A few scenes later, he and Trip are completely bombed.
• Go-to-Sleep Ending : The episode ends with Malcolm falling back asleep.
• Ham-to-Ham Combat : Trip and Malcolm go a few rounds, courtesy of their extended confinement on Shuttlepod 1 .

• Hope Spot : Trip and Malcolm have one when they suddenly get a message from Hoshi. Enterprise is okay and is coming back. But, they're expected long after their oxygen will have run out.
• Hypocritical Humor Malcolm: You know, I'm not a doctor, but I'm pretty sure you use up a lot more oxygen WHEN YOU SHOUT LIKE THAT!
• Idiot Ball : T'Pol discovers that micro-singularities impacted and destroyed the alien ship they met. Yet, at no point does Archer think to increase speed to pick up Malcolm and Trip sooner, even though their shuttlepod has far less protection than Enterprise .
• In Vino Veritas : A very drunk Malcolm talks about how pretty T'Pol is, especially her bum.
• I Was Having Such a Nice Dream : Poor Malcolm. Just as he's about to snog T'Pol, the transceiver wakes him.
• Mood Whiplash : Courtesy of a scene transition going from sad Malcolm mourning the loss of Enterprise and the only people he felt comfortable around to drunk Malcolm snickering about T'Pol's bum.
• More Expendable Than You : With seemingly only enough air for one man, Trip and Malcolm argue over who gets to sacrifice himself to save the other.
• The Radio Dies First : The shuttlepod's radio and sensors were knocked out prior to the episode, meaning that when Trip and Malcolm see a debris field with a small piece of Enterprise (visually identified by the "01" marking), they have no way to scan it and find out that the rest is from another ship.
• Sci-Fi Writers Have No Sense of Scale : Subverted . Malcolm is fully aware of how big space is, meaning that their impulse drive will get them halfway to nowhere and their chances of being rescued by passing aliens are nonexistent.
• Talking in Your Sleep : Malcolm does this during an Erotic Dream involving T'Pol. According to Trip, he kept calling for someone named "Stinky."
• To Absent Friends : Trip and Malcolm toast the crew of Enterprise .
• Train Problem : Trip starts to rattle off a train scenario one might face on a math test, then admits that he was never good at them. Our Chief Engineer, ladies and gentlemen.
• Unconventional Food Usage : Malcolm uses some of Trip's mashed potatoes to seal a hull breach caused by a microsingularity.
• Wham Shot : The Teaser ends with a debris field on an asteroid, and a piece of it has markings from Enterprise . Fortunately, the next scene reveals that the ship is (mostly) fine.
• Star Trek Enterprise S 01 E 15 Shadows Of P Jem
• Recap/Star Trek: Enterprise
• Star Trek Enterprise S 01 E 17 Fusion

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Over the last year, The Shuttlepod Show — an online video series hosted by the Star Trek: Enterprise duo of Connor Trinneer and Dominic Keating along with actress Erica LaRose — has released episodes where they’re joined in person by a special Star Trek guest to take a deep dive into their life, their career, and their time working within the iconic franchise. Some of those guests include Brannon Braga , Rick Berman , Anthony Montgomery , David Livingston , Vaughn Armstrong , Tim Russ , and Walter Koenig .

Ahead of their first live show this weekend in Los Angeles (as part of the Treks and Trekkers event) we sat down with the show’s hosts and producer Mark Cartier , to discuss what prompted them to start the show, why the live show will be a novel offering for Star Trek fans, along with Trinneer and Keating’s own experiences as they re-visit many Star Trek episodes in preparation for each show.

TrekNews.net: To get things started, we have to know: who came up with the show’s name?

Trinneer : I think Mark came up with the name!

Cartier : Yeah, we talked about using the then-upcoming anniversary of “Shuttlepod One” [the Star Trek: Enterprise first season episode, which featured Trinneer and Keating] to launch the show. But I really think there was some whiskey involved when we came up with the title.

Trinneer : I’ll tell you this: the germination for this idea came from the first time we were back to having a convention in Las Vegas after COVID. Dom and I were in line behind Garrett Wang [Harry Kim on Star Trek: Voyager ) to do photo ops, and we were talking about The Delta Flyers [the show Garrett does with fellow Voyager alum Robert Duncan McNeil]. And I had one of these moments where I thought ‘Well, why don’t we do one of those?’ Why not?

I didn’t know anything about the world of podcasts, or Star Trek podcasts. So Dom and I got together and thought it was a good idea. And I talked to Mark, who I’ve known for years, and he thought he could produce it in the way it should be produced.

TrekNews.net: It is interesting how so many Star Trek alumni have started podcasts about Star Trek . We have you guys, the Delta Flyers with Wang and McNeil, The 7 th Rule with Cirroc Lofton, Gates McFadden Investigates, etc. Why do you think so many alumni take the time and energy to do this?

Trinneer : Well first, yeah, it’s a lot of work. I didn’t realize how much work it would be. I was talking to Mark earlier today and I mentioned how I think we’re at the end of the first wave of what podcasts can be. I think there’s great value and potential in what podcasts can do; for us, that’s diving into a person’s life before, during, and after Star Trek . Really learning about who that person is and how they got there. It’s by no means a complicated equation – it’s just about getting somebody in the seat and chatting.

I feel blessed that we have had the opportunity to meet these amazing humans and great actors and pull from that community and have a chance to talk about their lives.

TrekNews.net: To call The Shuttlepod Show a podcast, which many are apt to do based on where they catch it, is really doing a disservice to the remarkable video and audio quality your show presents. Who do we have to thank for that?

Cartier : We have a great group of people working with us. One of the things Connor and I talked about when envisioning this show is if we were going to do it, it has to stand out. I wanted it to be a show . One of the ways to stand out from the crowd is by doing in-person interviews in a relaxed environment. We have to thank Chris Moscatiello one of our producers/directors, and Shranjay Arora, who is our editor and videographer, for making the show feel the way it does.

LaRose : Yeah, and the artwork we have displayed during the show really helps nail the vibe we are going for. Tiffanie Lovitt does that art for us. She’s created a whole gallery at this point.

TrekNews.net: Who among your guest list so far is somebody you’ve been really thankful to sit down with?

Trinneer : Andrew Robinson [Garak from Star Trek: Deep Space Nine ] for me was such a revelation as an artist and person. He’s really someone with gravitas. The great thing about these interviews is that I’ll meet these people, even after knowing them for years, but you only know someone so well on the convention circuit. I didn’t know Andy that well, and to hear him talk – especially since we filmed the interview at the theater he founded, which was a coincidence – was such a great experience.

I think our process with our guests is like, ‘hey, you did Star Trek , but we want to know who you are.’ The thing about conventions is that you get a certain depth to the conversation, but it’s become a goal of ours to ask these people how they got here. Who are you? Why are we talking to you? What drives you?

Keating : Oh, I can’t single out someone. They’ve all been marvelous. I’m very honored to have them all on.

TrekNews.net: Mark, we know you’re a pretty die-hard Star Trek fan, so from where you sit, have there been any guests who have really stood out?

Cartier : I think Andrew Robinson was a good choice because that was the first episode of this show where I think we really found our rhythm. That was the first time we were really honed in, and it went seamlessly well. That’s when we knew we were onto something. Andrew was such an incredible personality to have in the room. So far, I have not been disappointed by any of the guests and how interesting they are. This is sort of a dream job for me.

LaRose : Yeah, all our guests have been unique and special. I don’t think one was better than the other, but as a female, it’s really nice having female guests and hearing their stories, including how times have changed for women in entertainment. It’s been eye-opening and inspiring to their stories. Nana Visitor, for example, was amazing to listen to.

Trinneer : Having back-to-back episodes with Denise Crosby and Nana Visitor was really interesting. The way their careers worked out is so not by the numbers. The dynamic of who they are and how they’ve gone through their careers was fascinating. 

TrekNews.net: Your guests certainly bring a diverse selection of stories to the show. On the topic of guests, how do you decide who you invite?

Trinneer : Honestly, it’s just like asking who is available. It seems that as the show is doing better and better, more people are available to come on, you know what I mean? Sometimes booking people is super quick.

Cartier : Yeah, for example, Cirroc Lofton [Jake Sisko from Deep Space Nine ] was booked the day before the episode was shot.

Trinneer : Yeah, and it’s all about the ethos that we’re trying to do here. On our show, it’s a community of people coming together and having a good time. We talked early on about the goals we set out to do with this show. For instance, I’ve met astronauts, people from the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, and others who got involved in real-life science because of Star Trek . It would be really cool to talk to them!  

Keating : I would love to have Scott Bakula on the show… we’re seeing what we can do about that. 

TrekNews.net: Let’s talk about this live show coming up. What are you folks doing over February 10, 11, and 12?

Cartier : Yeah, this is really exciting. We’re trying to create an intimate experience for fans of Star Trek . Over the time we’ve been doing this show, I’ve been interacting with a lot of Star Trek fans to talk about their convention experience. In listening to them, we thought they would appreciate an interactive fan event.

On Friday, there’s a live staged reading of The Odd Couple starring Connor and Dom as Oscar and Feelix, respectively. We’re also going to have Andrew Robinson, Jeffrey Combs, Nana Visitor, Walter Koenig, Vaughn Armstrong, and Bonnie Friedericy reading parts.

On Saturday, we’ll do a live anniversary table read of “Shuttlepod One” with Connor and Dom along with Nana, Vaughn, Cirroc Lofton, Andrew, and Erica, who will be reading the part of Hoshi. When that’s done, we’ll have Jeffrey and Vaughn play some music with their band on stage. And then when that’s done, we’ll do a live version of The Shuttlepod Show with eight guests on stage. Then we’ll have a karaoke party and cosplay fun.

Trinneer : Yeah, then on Sunday we’ll have a Mystery Science Theater -type thing with the Enterprise pilot, and then we’ll have a watch party for the Super Bowl.

We’ve figured out there hasn’t really been a presence for Star Trek in southern California. It probably ended 15 years ago. There’s nothing here. Comic-Con is a whole different animal. The idea behind this live show was to try and invite the community back into this area. We’re not shooting for Creation Entertainment-style stuff. We just want people to come and have a good time, and hopefully, they will want to come back.

Cartier : And we’ll be recording the main events, so people can still watch the fun. We’ll probably live stream the headline events on our Patreon page.

TrekNews.net: So, Connor and Dom, you’ve been watching a lot of Star Trek recently, and a lot of Enterprise, specifically. How well are you able to delineate yourself from watching those episodes as an actor who used to be on the show, versus watching as a regular viewer? 

Trinneer : Yeah, I can delineate myself. I used to go to Michael Westmore during the filming of Enterprise and watch dailies because I wanted to watch the show as a viewer. It helped with my performance.

But you know, I’ve been watching various episodes from across all the Star Trek shows, and I know I’m supposed to be a cheerleader for Enterprise – and I am, Enterprise is great! – but Deep Space Nine is the best Star Trek show, hands down. I would have loved to have been in those rooms, reading those scripts, and walking among the halls with those particular actors. I’m a real fan of his great writing. And man, DS9 got it right. They had a fantastic coterie of actors. They had a fantastic emphasis on storytelling.

Keating : I’ve watched the entire series of Enterprise since doing The Shuttlepod Show , which I had never done before. I can watch with a discerning eye. I watch everything with a professional eye. It’s rare that I get utterly swept away in the story, as I’m still looking at performances, shots, lighting, you name it. Let me tell you, seeing that young man twenty years on has been a trip. We were a good show! Of course, there are notable episodes that stand out, but overall I think we were 80 or 90 percent a damn good show.

I’ve been watching a lot of other Star Trek , too. A lot of the earlier episodes start off pretty rickety and then they gather steam and get their legs. I’ve enjoyed a lot of The Next Generation ’s later seasons, and Deep Space Nine – what a wonderful cast of supporting actors on that show. Really fantastic. I’m just getting into Voyager , so it’s still somewhat new for me. That was a rickety pilot, too, frankly. I don’t know what they were smoking!

TrekNews.net: Dom and Connor, can you explain your feelings about why you have really embraced your legacy in Star Trek by doing a show that honors the franchise so well?

Keating : I sort of knew I would be half-good at a chat show. I’m the guy who’ll talk to you at the bar or in the supermarket. I’ve really been enjoying it. The love and support that’s been pouring out is really humbling. God bless that job we had on Enterprise . It’s been a source of pride, sustenance, and joy for over 20 years.

Trinneer : I think the both of us had the role of a lifetime, an opportunity to meet the people who really care about the existence of those characters. It’s very simple. I’ll say this, too. There is something about going out to conventions and having people say to me, ‘I’m an engineer because of Trip.’ We were responding to a story that’s been told over and over again. When people walk up to me and share that, there’s nothing like that in the world. I’ve had people walk up to me and say, ‘I got through the worst year of my life by waiting for your show to come on every week.’ I consider that the greatest thing I’ve ever done as an actor. 

There was a time when I didn’t really recognize what it meant to be called a part of the Star Trek family. But over time, I’ve realized that it’s really important ; it’s a message , and it’s positivity .

LaRose : It’s been so heartwarming hearing Connor and Dom’s stories about how Star Trek has changed his life and the lives of so many fans. On social media, we get a ton of messages just bursting with positivity. To be a part of that community is amazing.

TrekNews.net: So, last question. We know on your show you play “Stuck on a Deserted Island with Connor Trinneer,” where you ask guests to list their favorite things they’d bring on an island. So, we’ll ask each of you: if you were on an island and could only bring one Star Trek series to watch, which would it be?

Trinneer : Well as I hinted before, I’d bring Deep Space Nine .

Cartier : Yeah, I’d bring Deep Space Nine, too.

LaRose : Well, I’ve come to realize that because Enterprise is the first Star Trek show I’ve really watched, I have a soft spot for it. So, I’d bring that one.

Keating : I’d take my show, of course! I’d grow old with a ukulele and the waves lapping at my feet as I watched.

Trinneer : Before we go, I just want to say something else. Annie Werching passed away the other day. Heartbreaking. Her first job in television was on Enterprise , and we spent a week together. She had just gotten out of school. Her death hit me hard. I didn’t know her well, but I was a real fan of hers.  I followed her career. I just want to put out in the universe that I miss her. She is missed. She was a very talented human being, and the likes of her will come seldom, if ever again.

I met her again six months ago while she was doing Star Trek: Picard , and she had this paper mâché gold crown on her head, and I asked her what it was. She was like, ‘you know… Borg Queen!” She was one of the good ones.

TrekNews.net: Well put, Connor, thank you. Thank you all for joining us today, and best of luck with The Shuttlepod Show and the upcoming live event.

The live Shuttlepod Show takes place this Saturday as part of the Treks and Trekkers event at the Gary Marshall Theatre in Los Angeles. The event kicks off Friday, February 10, and runs through Sunday, February 12. The event includes appearances by Dominic Keating, Connor Trinneer, Nana Visitor, Andrew Robinson, Vaughn Armstrong, Cirroc Lofton, and Jeffrey Combs. For more information and to purchase tickets, visit treksandtrekkers.com .

Stay tuned to TrekNews.net for all the latest news related to Star Trek: Picard , Star Trek: Discovery, S tar Trek: Strange New Worlds , Star Trek: Lower Decks , Star Trek: Prodigy , and more.

You can follow us on Twitter , Facebook , and Instagram .

Kyle Hadyniak has been a lifelong Star Trek fan, and isn't ashamed to admit that Star Trek V: The Final Frontier and Star Trek: Nemesis are his favorite Star Trek movies. You can follow Kyle on Twitter @khady93 .

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Shuttlepod One

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Shuttlepod One

While investigating an asteroid field, Tucker and Reed are convinced that Enterprise has been destroyed and try to face their own oncoming deaths.

In this episode of the podcast, Wes and Clay discuss the storytelling focus of the Berman/Braga show-runner team and whether or not it works for this series. Plus! The guys talk about the qualitative properties of T’Pol’s bum, the mystery-box that is Malcolm Reed, and how to kill drama by telling the audience that everything is going to be ok!

• Post author By Wes
• Post date 06/15/2020

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While on a mission aboard “Shuttlepod One”, Tucker and Reed discover that the Enterprise might have been destroyed, stranding them in space. Fortunately, the first scene after the cold open reveals this to not be the case – Enterprise simply got a piece of itself knocked off while they were helping another ship. Malcom and Reed are none the wiser and begin to hatch a plan to try to save themselves from a frigid death in the dark, depths of space. In an episode that focuses on neither the science-fiction nor the character work necessary to make the hour a success, “Shuttlepod One” instead stays in the middle and ends up leaving the viewer hoping for a little bit more.

The Wikipedia plot summary for “Shuttlepod One”:

“On board Pod 1, Commander Tucker and Lieutenant Reed are attempting to locate Enterprise in an asteroid field that Captain Archer had intended to map. Just then, Reed spots an impact crater surrounded by a debris field; with only one piece large enough to be identifiable as part of Enterprise , they conclude that the ship has somehow been destroyed. They are now alone, with ten days’ worth of air left. Tucker orders Reed to head to Echo Three, a subspace amplifier, using the stars for reference as navigation is down. He intends to send a message to Starfleet, knowing they will not be alive when it reaches there, so that command will at least know what happened. To pass the time, Reed records messages to his family and friends, but Tucker becomes exasperated as Reed’s recordings slowly become more pessimistic.

On board Enterprise , it is revealed that the debris that Reed and Tucker saw was from an explosion while a Tesnian ship was trying to dock with the Enterprise. Archer asks about the Tesnians and Ensign Sato says that Doctor Phlox is rotating the 34 survivors in order to give them all six hours of boron a day. Ensign Mayweather reports that their ETA at Tesnia is 20 hours, allowing enough time to return to meet the shuttlepod. Archer and Sub-Commander T’Pol use a mini-shuttle to inspect the damage to the ship, and Archer orders work on a new door for Launch Bay 2. Later, T’Pol presents her analysis to Archer – both ships were hit by a theoretical “ micro-singularity “, but he remains skeptical.

The shuttlepod’s hull is also breached by a micro-singularity, which they quickly seal. Reed reports that one of the oxygen cylinders was damaged, leaving them with less than two days’ worth of air. Tucker tells Reed that they can survive for an extra half-day if they lower the temperature to conserve power for the air recyclers. Later, the radio picks up a signal – it is Sato transmitting new rendezvous coordinates and gives an ETA of two days. Unfortunately, they only have one day’s worth of air left and no way to communicate with the ship. They jettison and detonate the engine, hoping to attract Enterprise ‘s attention. It works – Reed wakes up in Sickbay, relieved to see Tucker’s sleeping form there as well.”

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Shuttlepod 1

• View history

Shuttlepod 1 could refer to:

• Shuttlepod 1 (2151) , the first Pod 1 attached to Enterprise
• Shuttlepod 1 (2154) , the second Pod 1 attached to Enterprise
• Shuttlepod 1 (mirror) , a shuttlepod attached to the ISS Avenger
• " Shuttlepod One ", the 16th episode of the first season of Star Trek: Enterprise
• Shuttlepod 2

Whatever Happened To The Cast Of Star Trek: Enterprise?

The sixth series in the long-running "Star Trek" franchise," "Star Trek: Enterprise" ran from 2001 to 2005 on the UPN Network (now The CW). The series, created by Rick Berman and Brannon Braga, took place approximately a century before the events depicted in " Star Trek: The Original Series " (TOS) and followed the crew of the first starship named Enterprise (not the one depicted in "TOS") as they had their first encounters with the show's most iconic alien races, such as the Klingons and Vulcans. Scott Bakula was at the helm as Captain Jonathan Archer, leading his diverse crew through four seasons of science fiction adventure before the show's abrupt cancellation in 2005.

Like all "Star Trek" alumni, the cast of "Enterprise" has enjoyed a certain degree of acclaim long after their series left the air, thanks to the ardent "Trek" fanbase. Some have continued to act and gain even greater fame, while others have settled comfortably into careers split between doing new work and looking back nostalgically at their "Trek" experiences. Following is a list of the primary cast members of "Enterprise," as well as several actors who played recurring roles, and what they've been up to since the mighty starship was permanently parked in spacedock.

Scott Bakula as Captain Jonathan Archer

As Captain (and later Starfleet Admiral) Jonathan Archer, actor Scott Bakula led the crew of the Enterprise through four seasons of adventures on "Star Trek: Enterprise." Bakula was arguably the best-known cast member on the series, having earned a Golden Globe and multiple Emmy nominations as the time-traveling hero of the original "Quantum Leap." Bakula was also visible to film and TV audiences through appearances in high-profile projects like "American Beauty" and "Murphy Brown," as well as extensive work in Broadway theater productions.

After "Enterprise" completed its final mission in 2005, Bakula remained extremely active as both a leading man and guest or recurring player. He starred as Special Agent Dwayne "King" Pride in seven seasons of "NCIS: New Orleans," for which he netted a People's Choice Award nomination in 2015. Bakula also starred in the critically-acclaimed, Peabody Award-winning comedy-drama "Men of a Certain Age" with Ray Romano and Andre Braugher, and guested on series ranging from "The Simpsons" to a very funny episode of "What We Do in the Shadows," in which Nandor and Nadja confuse him for Count Dracula. 

On the film front, Bakula has collaborated with Steven Soderbergh on several occasions, including the 2009 feature "The Informant!," the TV drama "Behind the Candelabra" — which earned him a fifth Emmy nomination in 2013 — and most recently, the 2023 science fiction thriller "Divinity," which Soderbergh produced.

Jolene Blalock as Science Officer T'Pol

Landing the role of Science Officer (and later First Officer) T'Pol on "Star Trek: Enterprise" proved to be the big break for Jolene Blalock's acting career. It also turned out to be her most notable screen role: the former model enjoyed guest appearances on series like "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation" and "JAG" prior to joining the cast of "Enterprise." While appearing on the series, she also turned up twice on another small-screen sci-fi drama, "Stargate SG-1," and co-starred with Ray Liotta in a thriller, "Slow Burn," which was filmed in 2003 but released in 2007.

Blalock gave only a handful of film and TV appearances after "Enterprise" ended in 2005. The majority of these were guest appearances on "CSI: Miami" and "House," and co-starring turns in the Jason Segel comedy "Sex Tape" and several direct-to-video features, such as "Starship Troopers 3: Marauder." She appears to have stepped away from acting after 2017, preferring instead to focus on her marriage to Live Nation CEO Michael Rapino, with whom she has three sons. The couple also oversee the Rapino Foundation, a charitable organization that benefits developing nations.

Connor Trinneer as Chief Engineer Trip Tucker

Washington State native Connor Trinneer graduated from stage work and bit parts on television to romantic hero status when he was cast as chief engineer Charles "Trip" Tucker on "Star Trek: Enterprise." Trip's primary storyline was an on-and-off relationship with T'Pol throughout all four seasons of the series, though the pair eventually settled for friendship prior to his apparent death in the final episode of the series. For his work on "Enterprise," Trinneer earned Saturn Award nominations in 2002 and 2003.

Trinneer's post-"Enterprise" work has featured a recurring run as the villainous Wraith Michael on "Stargate: Atlantis" and guest roles on numerous series, including "9-1-1," "NCIS: Los Angeles," "and "24." Film projects included a lead in the SyFy original movie "Star Runners" in 2009 and "Unbelievable!!!" a broad comedy featuring 40 cast members from various "Trek" series, including his "Enterprise" co-stars Linda Park, Dominic Keating, and John Billingsley. 

More recently, Trineer appeared in the Tom Cruise drama "American Made" (as President George W. Bush) and Steven Spielberg's "The Fabelmans." In 2023 he reprised the role of Trip Tucker in an episode of the animated short series "Star Trek: Very Short Treks." He's also co-hosted several popular "Star Trek" podcasts, including "The Shuttlepod Show" and "The D-Con Chamber," with "Enterprise" co-star Dominic Keating.

Dominic Keating as Tactical Officer Malcolm Reed

British-Irish actor Dominic Keating was already well-known in his native England for roles on series like "Desmond's" before crossing the pond to play Tactical Officer Malcolm Reed on "Star Trek: Enterprise." Keating came to the United States in the late 1990s and landed guest roles on "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" and other series before joining "Enterprise" for all four seasons on the UPN Network.

Keating remained busy as both a live-action and voice-over actor in the years after "Enterprise." A four-episode arc as an Irish mobster on "Heroes" and guest roles on series like "Prison Break" and "Sons of Anarchy" kept him on screen into the mid-2010s, while video games like "Diablo 3" and "World of Warcraft: Legion" made excellent use of his vocal talents. Keating also played an '80s-era British pop star in a series of TV spots for Sprint/Nextel in the 2010s. More recently, as noted earlier, Keating teamed with Connor Trinneer to co-host the "Star Trek" podcasts, "The Shuttlepod Show" and "The D-Con Chamber."

Linda Park as Communications Officer Hoshi Sato

Shortly after graduating from Boston University in 2001, Linda Park embarked on both her screen acting career and her tenure as a "Star Trek" hero by landing the role of communications officer Hoshi Sato on "Star Trek: Enterprise." Park, who made her feature film debut that same year with a small role in "Jurassic Park III," remained busy with other projects during the series' four-year run, including the 2004 feature "Spectres" starring fellow "Trek" vet Marina Sirtis. She also made her debut as a producer with the 2003 short film "My Prince, My Angel."

Park quickly segued to series regular work on the short-lived "Women's Murder Club" and a recurring role on Starz's "Crash," which was inspired by the 2004 film of the same name. Guest roles on "NCIS" and "Castle" kept her busy for much of the next decade, though she revisited the "Trek" universe in the short fan film "Star Trek: Captain Pike" in 2016. The following year, she joined the cast of "Bosch" for three seasons while also appearing on shows like "The Affair" and "Grey's Anatomy."

John Billingsley as Dr. Phlox

John Billingsley had been active on television and in films for over a decade prior to landing the role of Dr. Phlox on "Star Trek: Enterprise." His work included roles in features like "High Crimes" and on network series like "Northern Exposure" and "The West Wing," as well as a recurring turn as serial killer George Marks, the only criminal to escape capture on "Cold Case."

When "Enterprise" came to a close in 2005, Billingsley resumed his busy TV and film schedule , which included recurring roles as the creepy, vampirized coroner Mike Spencer on "True Blood," scientist Shenandoah Cassidy on the short-lived "Intelligence," and conspirator Terrence Steadman in Season 1 of "Prison Break." 

By the mid-2010s, Billingsley was appearing in multiple series per year: between 2014 and 2019 alone, he was in episodes of "Bones," "Twin Peaks," "The Orville," and "Lucifer," while also enjoying recurring roles on "Turn: Washington's Spies" (as the father of Revolutionary War spy Robert Townsend) and the Freeform series "Stichers," in addition to his work on "Intelligence." His busy streak has continued well into the next decade, with guest turns on "Station 19," "Manhunt," and "Pam and Tommy."

Anthony Montgomery as Ensign Travis Mayweather

Ensign Travis Mayweather served as the Enterprise's navigator and helmsman throughout the four-season run of "Star Trek: Enterprise." As played by actor Anthony Montgomery, Mayweather lent stalwart support to the Enterprise crew's adventures, and on occasion, became the focus of an episode. Among these was the Season 2 episode "Horizon," which introduced viewers to Mayweather's family and his complicated relationship with his father and brother.

Montgomery, whose grandfather was the legendary West Coast jazz guitarist Wes Montgomery, was familiar to TV viewers prior to "Enterprise" through a recurring role on the WB series "Popular," a short-lived early TV credit for Ryan Murphy. When "Enterprise" completed its final mission in 2005, Montgomery moved on to guest roles on "Grey's Anatomy" and the rebooted "Magnum, P.I." and recurring roles on series like "Greenleaf." He also returned to series regular work with the BET limited series "The Family Business" in 2020. 

In addition to his acting career, Montgomery also released a pair of albums of original music and created a graphic novel series, "Miles Away," with writer Brandon Easton.

Vaughn Armstrong as Admiral Maxwell Forrest

Though Vaughn Armstrong's name may not seem immediately familiar to you, he holds something of a celebrated place in the "Star Trek" universe. Armstrong played 12 different characters on four separate "Trek" series, including nearly every alien race in the show's vast array of extraterrestrials, including multiple Klingons, a Borg, and a Romulan. However, he's probably best known as Starfleet commander Admiral Maxwell Forrest, who initiated the Enterprise's missions, on 14 episodes of "Enterprise." True to form, Armstrong also played Klingon and Kreetassan commanders on the series as well.

The LA theater veteran, who appeared in episodes of "Wonder Woman," "Days of Our Lives," and "Melrose Place" prior to his run on "Enterprise," remained very busy after the show's conclusion. Guest and recurring TV credits include "Mad Men," "Modern Family," and "Crazy Ex-Girlfriend," while Armstrong also turned up in several independent features (including "Unbelievable!!!") and lent his voice to several "Star Trek" video games. In addition to his acting work, Armstrong also led the Enterprise Blues Band, a folk and blues group that featured several other "Trek" performers in its lineup, like Richard Herd and Casey Biggs.

Gary Graham as Ambassador Soval

Though science fiction fans may often associate actor Gary Graham with the mostly forgotten "Alien Nation" spinoff series and its many made-for-TV features, the Long Beach, California native also made several appearances in another long-running sci-fi franchise. Shortly after guest-starring on an episode of "Star Trek: Voyager," Graham played the Vulcan ambassador Soval on 12 episodes of "Star Trek: Enterprise," and reprised the role in the short "Star Trek" fan film "Prelude to Axanar." He also turned up in two other "Trek" fan films, "Of Gods and Men" and "Renegades," as well as the slightly more professional "Unbelievable!!!"

Graham's pre-"Trek" and "Alien Nation" credits included the films "All the Right Moves" and Stuart Gordon's "Robot Jox," and after "Enterprise," he appeared in episodes of "Nip/Tuck" and "Crossing Jordan." He kept busy with roles in low-budget independent films throughout the 2000s, including the critically panned "Jeepers Creepers: Reborn" in 2022, and also played in various amateur bands. The 73-year-old Graham died of cardiac arrest on January 22, 2024.

Randy Oglesby as Degra

Randy Oglesby was another character actor who found regular employment on various series within the "Star Trek" universe. He made his first appearance on a Trek series in an episode of "The Next Generation" and later played multiple characters on "Deep Space Nine," while also enjoying a guest shot as a Brenari refugee on "Voyager." He is perhaps best known for playing Degra, the architect of the world-destroying Xindi weapon, on 10 episodes of "Enterprise." He also played a Xyrillian on "Unexpected," the fifth episode of Season 1, before taking on Degra in Season 3.

Oglesby began acting in the early 1980s, appearing in films like "Pale Rider" and on series like "Dallas" under the names Thomas or Tom Oglesby. After adopting his middle name (Randall) for screen work, Oglesby appeared steadily through the 1990s and 2000s in projects like "Independence Day" and "Pearl Harbor" before making his "Enterprise" debut. He continued to appear on other series during this time period, most notably on "The Practice" and "JAG"; post-"Enterprise" roles included guest shots on "Mad Men," "True Blood," and most recently, "WandaVision" (as Wanda's doctor). Oglesby also enjoyed a recurring role on " For All Mankind " as the conservative governor and later vice-president Jim Bragg.

Jeffrey Combs as Commander Shran

Actor Jeffrey Combs is perhaps best-known for his horror film roles, including mad scientist Herbert West in the "Re-Animator" trilogy, along with "I Still Know What You Did Last Summer" and "Would You Rather." But Combs also has a long history of film and television roles outside of the horror genre; like Gary Graham, these included guest and recurring appearances on numerous titles in the extended "Star Trek" universe. One of his best-known "Trek" turns came as the flinty Andorian commander Shran on 11 episodes of "Enterprise" between Seasons 1 and 4.

Combs' "Trek" work also included multiple characters on "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine," as well as appearances on "Star Trek: Voyager" and voice-acting on "Star Trek: Lower Decks" and several "Trek" video games. Combs' post-"Enterprise" roles have been firmly divided between live-action and animated projects: the former included episodes of "The 4400," "Cold Case," "Gotham" and "Creepshow," while Combs could also be heard voicing characters on "Transformers: Prime" (as Ratchet), "Ben 10: Omniverse," "The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes" (as The Leader) and "SpongeBob SquarePants."

Rick Worthy as Jannar

Like Jeffrey Combs, Gary Graham, and other versatile character actors on this list, Rick Worthy turned up in several different film and television projects within the "Star Trek" franchise. The most substantial of these was a recurring appearance as the sloth-like Arboreal named Jannar on 10 episodes of "Star Trek: Enterprise," but eagle-eyed viewers can also catch Worthy as a Klingon on "Deep Space Nine," two different androids and a Starfleet crew member on "Voyager," and as an Elloran officer in the 1998 feature "Star Trek: Insurrection." Two years prior to that appearance, Worthy also lent his voice to the 1996 video game "Star Trek: Klingon."

Worthy's credits prior to "Enterprise" included appearances on "NYPD Blue" and "Stargate SG-1," and he remained exceptionally busy on TV after the "Trek" series came to a close in 2005. He played the humanoid Cylon Simon in eight episodes of the "Battlestar Galactica" reboot and later turned up in multiple episodes of "Heroes," "Supernatural" (as the Alpha Vampire), and "The Vampire Diaries" (as the father of Kat Graham's character, Bonnie Bennett). More recently, Worthy enjoyed lengthy runs as Resistance member Lem Washington on "The Man in the High Castle," and as Henry Fogg, dean of the magic university Brakebills, on "The Magicians."

Why a Star Trek: Enterprise movie is a better idea than another Star Trek reboot movie

S tar Trek fans are less than impressed over the recent revelation that the upcoming Star Trek prequel movie will focus on first contact and the creation of Starfleet. Chad Porto just shared some of the social media comments, and none of them welcomed a film that is essentially Star Trek: First Contact and StarTrek: Enterprise combined into one set in the Kelvin Timeline.

We've seen the origins of Captain Kirk and Mr. Spock in the Kelvin Timeline, which we had not seen in The Original Series. That doesn't make it canon in the Prime Timeline, of course, but at least it was different. But creating a movie now that is focused on something that was covered in a successful movie and four seasons of a television series that many still adore opens the door to many questions. One of them being: if you want to explore more about the beginning of the Federation, why not just expand on Star Trek; Enterprise?

No movie is going to be able to do first contact better than First Contact did, but there are plenty of unanswered questions about the beginning of the Federation that could be covered in a movie. The cast from Enterprise need a wrap-up movie, the actors clearly have the talent to bring in the fans, and this would be a great way to show fans that the powers-that-be really are listening like Alex Kurtzman has been saying .

Star Trek has exceptional talent in its actors from Enterprise, and there were some fairly large threads left dangling when the series ended. The film doesn't have to start right where Enterprise left off, but it would be doing a great service to the fans to show the beginnings of the Federation and possibly even Captain Archer's turn as President of the Federation (even though this never took place in a series or movie).

Fans want a Star Trek movie that is about new ideas and new adventures. Just look at how successful the third season of Star Trek: Picard was. It had most of the same talent from Star Trek: The Next Generation on a new adventure. And it was a phenomenal hit. So instead of going backwards, the studio/producers need to consider moving forward with the cast we know can get the job done.

This article was originally published on redshirtsalwaysdie.com as Why a Star Trek: Enterprise movie is a better idea than another Star Trek reboot movie .

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Connor Trinneer And Dominic Keating Launch ‘D-Con Chamber’ Podcast; Season 3 Of ‘InvestiGates’ On The Way

| June 5, 2024 | By: TrekMovie.com Staff 11 comments so far

Some big Star Trek celebrities are making moves in podcasting. Star Trek: Enterprise stars Connor Trinneer and Dominic Keating are returning with a brand new video show, kicking off with the biggest Star Trek guest. And Star Trek: The Next Generation (and Picard ) star Gates McFadden has lined up a slew of guests for season 3 of her podcast. Here’s everything we know about these two Trek celeb-hosted podcasts.

Trinneer and Keating launch The D-Con Chamber with Shatner as first guest

Fans have been wondering if Connor Trinneer and Dominic Keating would be reviving their podcast after they (separately) announced they were leaving their previous show. Wonder no more: They are back with a brand-new podcast called  The D-Con Chamber , named for Enterprise ‘s famous decontamination chamber, where Starfleet crew members stripped down to their underwear and rubbed gel on each other. It’s produced by David Zappone, Joseph Kornbrodt and Lolita Fatjo of 455 Films (the company behind  What We Left Behind and the upcoming  Voyager  documentary .)

“Connor and I are very excited to pair up once again on our new show, The D-Con Chamber , to chat at length about the lives and careers of both Star Trek screen icons and honored alum behind the scenes,” said Keating in a press release. “We are also excited to connect with and showcase illustrious individuals who, having been inspired by the phenomenon of Star Trek, have gone boldly on to turn fiction into our reality.”

Their show will be available as an audio podcast as well as on YouTube , and premiered with an interview with William Shatner. Here is a clip…

Their second guest was Terry Farrell (Deep Space Nine), and upcoming interviews include Sonequa Martin-Green, Mary Chieffo ( Discovery ), Scott Bakula ( Enterprise ) and more Star Trek captains, as well as scientific advisor Andre Bormanis, who consulted on multiple Star Trek series.

Here is a promo for The D-Con Chamber …

InvestiGates  lines up Todd Stashwick, Sonequa Martin-Green, and more for season 3

Gates McFadden is ready to talk to more Star Trek celebs on the upcoming third season of InvestiGates: Who Do You Think You Are?   from Brian Volk-Weiss’ Nacelle Company.

“Intelligence, imagination, empathy, love of science, pretty darn funny, and a belief that the future may be better than we thought. Those are the qualities of my podcast guests for this upcoming season. Lucky me!” says McFadden in a press release. Four guests have already been announced: Todd Stashwick ( Picard ), Sonequa Martin-Green ( Discovery ), David Ajala ( Discovery ), and Michelle Hurd ( Picard ).

McFadden will start recording the new season this summer, and episodes are expected by the fall.

Guests from the previous two seasons include both of her “space sons” (Wil Wheaton and Ed Speleers), William Shatner, Anson Mount, Michael Westmore, Nana Visitor, Jack Quaid, and Kate Mulgrew, among others. She talked about her experience on the All Access Star Trek podcast and will be coming back to talk about the new season. You can listen to previous seasons of  InvestiGates wherever you get your podcasts.

Other Trek celeb-hosted podcasts include  The 7th Rule , hosted by Cirroc Lofton ( Deep Space Nine ), The Delta Flyers , hosted by Garrett Wang and Robert Duncan McNeill ( Voyager ), and The Well , hosted by Anson Mount ( Strange New Worlds ) and Branan Edgens.

Keep up with news about the  Star Trek Universe at TrekMovie.com .

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I’ll look forward to watching this, Connor and Dominic are great hosts and very engaging.

I like the Investigates podcasts, but the audio quality is very erratic across episodes – and not just for the “call-in” guests. It may be fine if you’re sitting in a quiet space with nothing else going on, but if you’re listening in any non-optimal environment (like driving – which is where I listen to most podcasts) some of the interviews are tough to follow. The volume disparity between Gates and her guest is often quite problematic, and it could use a bit more audio engineering.

Still hoping InvestiGates will get Patrick Stewart. He is the only TNG cast member that wasn’t on that podcast.

So happy to hear the guys are back in a new podcast! Nice catch getting Shatner as their first guest.

And excited to see the Stashwick interview with McFadden. They both killed it in Picard last season!

I hope McFadden interviews Diana Muldaur.

Oh, that would be, JUICY!

I recently reached out to her at the animal shelter she works at in Martha’s Vineyard. I was trying to get her to be a special guest at Trekonderoga Star Trek set tour this year. I left a voicemail not expecting to hear anything, only to have her call me back – it was such a surprise! She didn’t seem very interested in the event, however. I mailed her the TNG continuity script from the episode The Child, which I purchased at auction last year, which also happened to be her first episode on TNG, and in it there’s a Polaroid picture of her in uniform for probably one of the first times. I asked her to return it to me in Ticonderoga – instead she mailed it back, without any note or anything :( I guess the message I took away is that she’s not super interested in doing Trek stuff right now, but maybe that will change in the future, I sure hope.

I enjoyed the Shuttlepod. Why did Dominic and Connor quit?

Evidently there was a really big falling out with the producer, Mark.

I’m surprised that Shatner tolerated Keating interrupting him as much as he did. Keating then talks about his phrasing. Please let the interviewee speak. Connor needs to be able to contribute more to these conversations.

You’re not a celebrity if you don’t have a podcast. That’s how it feels these days, at least. Such a glut of content – but it’s great that there will be all these interviews with info to draw from and to hear these great stories from great people