January 20, 2017
An episode focused on Doctor Phlox. The Enterprise encounters a non-warp ship in space that is carrying very sick aliens. It turns out, after visiting their planet, this species has a genetic disease which has afflicted most of the population and they will be extinct in two centuries. There is another humanoid species on the planet that is not as developed mentally as the ones that are sick. The two seem to be in a caste system. The highly evolved species represses the lower species.
The sick species asks Archer for warp drive technology. This presents Archer with a dilemma. As much as he resents Vulcans for holding humans back by not giving information, what should he do? He comes to understand the Vulcans and what they were doing on Earth.
The ethical discussion between Phlox and Archer is one of the high points of this season of Enterprise.
The difficult decision that captain Archer makes at the end of this episode makes this one great episode -- and one of my favorites so far, I wish that more episodes had dilemmas like this episode and spent more time exploring situations that don't require running and gunning. The same can be said about Phlox's decision to trust in the captain.
Trip crying at the movie was funny.
No more cheese for Porthos!
Phlox is also a dentist. Phlox getting relationship advice from T'Pol is hilarious.
Why is it that sometimes the universal translator works by outputting audio, sometimes it is only text-based?
Denobulans hibernate annually for six days.