Extinction

Zealousgirl’s SPECIAL EDITION --> contains spoilers!

Once again, the TV channel showing Enterprise here ‘taunted’ me! Basically they kept announcing that the show was going to start, and then they would go to commercials. After 3 times of doing this, they finally advised us that they were having problems – it seemed that I was not meant to see this episode (‘The Bachelor’ pre-empted it on Wednesday night)! Then after almost 10 minutes, they finally jumped into the middle of the opening scene. . . aaaagh!

Extinction
Production 055
First Air Date: Sept 24, 2003 (of course, I didn’t get to see it ‘til the 28th)
Mission Date: unknown

Director: LeVar Burton
Written By: Andre Bormanis

Disclaimer: I am in no way affiliated with Star Trek or Paramount. I do this for amusement and not for profit. Be forewarned that this will be seen through the biased eyes of a proud Tuckerite!!! (and, a Trip/T’poler!) I will try to focus on what is happening with Trip in these spoilers; please check Li’s Trekpulse for more details.

About ‘Extinction’: I have to confess that I am of 2 minds on this episode. I didn’t really like the whole mutated crew bit as I had difficulty watching those scenes, because I was laughing, cringing or hiding my eyes with embarrassment. Archer was creepy, Hoshi was oddly funny, and Malcolm was hilarious. But, any of the scenes with Trip were wonderful! From the now famous ‘Peaches’ scene, to his escapades on the planet in the EV suit, and finally to his ever improving commanding skills on Enterprise, he continued to show me why I am a proud Tuckerite!!!

Synopsis (from StarTrek.com):

Their ongoing quest for the Xindi leads the Enterprise crew to a tropical alien world where Archer, Reed and Hoshi are exposed to a highly contagious virus that transforms their bodies and minds into those of the long extinct alien inhabitants of the planet.

“Trip-centric” Enterprise SPOILERS

(the show opens in the middle of the first scene – see above comment)

. . . an alien in red jumpsuit is running through a forest. He’s obviously running away from someone or something. He almost reaches a craft (presumably his) when he is trapped by a group of humanoids in EV-like suits, who are holding weapons. They fire upon him (actually these are flame-throwers) and you can hear him screaming.

*************************

{T’pol’s quarters} – aka THE PEACHES SCENE

T’pol lights a candle (she’s in her usual blue silk PJ’s). The door chimes. “Come in.”

In steps our favorite engineer, in a grey T-shirt (yum! – he even makes a drab color like grey seem vibrant!), grey slacks, and slip on shoes (we only notice this later). He is clenching a covered bowl in his right arm. “Thanks for seeing me so late. You sure I’m not bothering you?”

T’pol: “Not at all.”

Trip: “Georgia peaches. (proffers the bowl) I picked up a crate when we were back on Earth. Chef’s been keeping them in stasis for me. They’re as fresh as the day they were picked.”

T’pol: “Thank you.” (she takes them, and starts to turn around so that she can put the bowl down.)

Trip: “Aren’t you gonna try one?” (the look he gives her is almost like a subtle dare)

T’pol: “I don’t usually eat this late.”

Trip: “Come on. One bite.” (he takes the lid off the bowl) “Yeah?” (He then smiles and nods in order to urge her – really cute!)

T’pol picks up a peach, sniffs it slightly then takes a small bite. Sucking back the juices, she looks up at Trip who raises his eyebrows as if to say ‘so do you like it?’

T’pol pauses, looks down at the peach in her hand and replies, “This doesn’t make up for the 2 sessions you cancelled.” (she does know him well, and is that disappointment I hear in her voice???)

T’pol places the peach back in the bowl, and Trip replaces the lid. “Well, maybe you haven’t noticed, but I’ve been a little busy lately. It’s not like I didn’t want to come back (he looks a little uncomfortable as he is saying this). After our last session, I slept like a baby. First time in months. (sighs).”

T’pol lights a candle, while Trip scans the room as if trying not to look ill at ease.

Trip: “So. . . should I just. . .” (makes a movement as if he were taking off his shirt)

T’pol: “Please.” (she motions for him to lay on her bed)

Trip pulls off his top (I love A4T’s description. . . “the patented tug-up-the-front-and-over-the-face Tucker
Maneuver”), throws the shirt on the floor, and takes a seat on her bed.

T’pol: “Your shoes as well.”

Trip: “Shoes?”

T’pol: “There are many neural nodes in the soles of the feet.”

Trip: “Hold on. You never said anything about feet.” (a slight squeak in his voice as he stares up at her)

T’pol: “Is that a problem?”

Trip: “Well, for one thing, I haven’t had a shower since this morning. And, I know how sensitive that Vulcan nose of yours can be. (T’pol doesn’t look convinced) And. . . I’m a little ticklish. (smirks and then looks embarrassed). . . maybe more than a little.”

T’pol: “I’ll stop at the first sign of discomfort.”

Trip guffaws, and (not really all that reluctantly) slips off his shoes. Then he lies prone on the bed, with his muscular arms on either side of his head. T’pol kneels beside him, and places her hands on his midback.

Trip: “Oh! Your hands are ice cold!” (. . . as the saying goes ‘cold hands, warm heart’ – wink, wink, nudge, nudge)

T’pol warms up her hands by rubbing them together and then resumes the neuropressure. “Long, deep breaths.”

Trip looks relaxed, eyes closed, breathing deeply. He then mutters, “You sure this is safe? I mean, has anyone every tried it on a human before?”

T’pol: “Not to my knowledge.” (aha! This would mean that she has never done it to anyone before – maybe this will dispel the theory that she has been burned in the past by a human) “The risk of paralysis is minimal.” (Trip looks back at her, a little concerned) “Breathe.”

As she continues to massage, he becomes more relaxed. “Oh, that’s the spot.”

T’pol gives him a confused look, but then the comm. sounds. T’pol gets up, crosses the room and answers it. It’s Archer (bad timing – aagh!) and he wants her to come to the command centre right away.

{command centre}

Archer apologizes for waking her but she tells him that she wasn’t asleep (but doesn’t tell him why!). They discuss some of the data translated from the Xindi vessel (see ‘Anomaly’), in particular the ‘Sloth-Xindi’. He has reconstructed the ship’s trajectory over the last few months, and determined the last planet that they visited before the ‘pirates’ attacked them. It’s but a day away, and they are going to investigate.

{bridge}

They are reviewing the scans from the planet that they are now orbiting. No humanoid life, but Malcolm discovers a landing craft.

{planet surface}

Archer, T’pol, Hoshi and Malcolm take a shuttlepod to the planet to investigate. They don’t bring their EV suits. They trek through the dark forest, eventually coming upon the craft, which T’pol says has been there for about 2 weeks based on her scans (same time as the Xindi were there). They look around more, and Hoshi finds a body (yeah – she doesn’t freak!). It’s not Xindi. They note that the whole area has been scorched.

Malcolm wipes his brow and takes a deep breath. Hoshi asks if he’s OK, and he tells her that he doesn’t care for the Tropics.

T’pol is off investigating on her own, when she stops because she is feeling funny. We see ridges forming on her face, bitemporally. She then finds Malcolm, who has transformed into a hissing, gurgling alien with ridges on face (more pronounced), throbbing blisters on his forehead and bulging boil-like growth just above the angles of his jaw. He then makes a ‘guttural chittering” sound (at least that’s what the closed captioning called it!).

We then see Archer painfully transform into a similar alien, even inside. T’pol comes upon him at that time. She contacts Enterprise to apprise them of the developments – “we are being transformed” – and to send a security team to the planet. But before Travis gets all the details she breaks off the transmission to chase after mutated Archer. He yells at her in some strange language, and attacks. She fires on him, and then she is attacked from behind by a mutated Hoshi. (cat fight!)

T’pol gets away and is now being chased by hissing, oddly uncoordinated and mutated crewmembers. She is having difficulty breathing though, and eventually collapses unconscious on the forest floor.

******************************

{planet}

T’pol is being carried by mutated Archer and Malcolm, in some sort of stretcher-like thing that they must have built with wood and vines that they found in the forest. Hoshi is following (I’m sorry, but the way she walked and moved throughout this episode had me in stitches – it looked so uncomfortable, like when you have an itch that you can’t scratch so you kinda twist and squirm…) They are speaking to each other in the creepy hissing, guttural language (I am cringing now!).

T’pol wakes to find all three hovering over her. She looks frightened and begs to be untied. Hoshi tries to stop Archer from doing this, but he is obviously the ‘dominant’ one of the trio. After he does his, he walks around he sniffing and clicking his tongue. She tries to talk to them. She convinces Hoshi to pass her the UT that she is carrying on her belt. T’pol begs them to speak so that the UT can work, but they are clueless and just keep slinking around her.

{Enterprise}

In the command centre, Phlox is pointing out that there is a Vulcan biosign on the planet but no signs of humans, although there are 3 other biosigns.

Trip: “But where’s the rest of our team? (exasperation in his voice) The only reason I don’t have search party down there right now is because you needed more time to analyze the data. Now unless you can give me a damn good reason to wait around. . .”

Phlox interrupts by pointing out that it is possible that T’pol was speaking literally when she stated that they were being transformed.

Trip: “You’re saying these alien biosigns could be our people.”

Phlox says that anything’s possible in the Expanse. Travis notes that they are on the move, and fast.

Trip: “Prep shuttlepod 2. . . (Phlox objects) We’ll use EV suits with biohazard protocols. (practically running out of the room now) Have a decon chamber ready when we get back.”

{Planet}

The UT is now working. (this is just so creepy. . . I just can’t say this enough!) The mutated three have strange accents, especially Malcolm – but the accents are not consistent, especially Archer’s. They have the find ‘Urquat’ (or as Malcolm says “Errr. . .kwaaaat”), and that’s all that matters to them. Hoshi tells Archer that T’pol is trying to delay them from getting to their people. T’pol tries to convince them to let her contact Enterprise, but again Hoshi tries to convince Archer that T’pol is not to be trusted. Creepily, Archer again sniffs and touches T’pol and then they head off into the woods again.

Malcolm nimbly climbs a tree to get 2 pods. Archer and Malcolm fight over the one of them. Hoshi meanwhile has the other one which she opens and starts to eat the slimy worm-like bugs inside. Archer wins, and Malcolm scurries off a little ways to sulk. Archer offers some to T’pol (“I’m not hungry”). Malcolm skulks back to Archer, and gets to have some of the bugs too.

{shuttlepod with Trip and 2 MACO’s descend towards the planet}

The mutated 3 and T’pol hear the pod overhead, and are startled. She tries to reason with them that Enterprise could be helpful, but they keep running away.

Trip and company are now in EV suits, weapons set on stun, and scouring the area. Archer and friends are hiding in the bushes watching them. Malcolm and Hoshi jump out at one of the MACO’s and take him down. Another MACO fires on Archer but misses. Trip finds the fallen MACO, but is then attacked by Malcolm (jumps from a rock and flies at Trip) – Trip stuns him just in time. Archer comes behind Trip with a piece of wood and starts to beat at the glass face of the EV helmet (slightly cracking it). He’s about to give another blow, when T’pol runs out to stop him. T’pol asks Archer is he recognizes (panting) Trip; Archer examines him for a moment, then runs away.

T’pol tells Trip to take the Lt back to the ship.

Trip: “What about you?”

T’pol: “I’m staying with them.”

Trip: “Subcommander?” (he’s too late, she’s already run off)

{Enterprise}

Mutated Malcolm is hissing and chittering in the decon, obviously upset. Phlox is watching on a monitor, when Trip walks in. “He didn’t even recognize me.”

Phlox tells him that he shouldn’t be offended, and then explains that a mutagenic virus, specifically designed to rewrite the DNA of its host such that any humanoid it infects turns into a different species.

Trip: “Why did it have so little effect on T’pol?”

Phlox explains that Vulcan K-cells neutralize the pathogen; he is using her genetic profile to develop an anti-virus, but he really needs an active sample of her DNA and that Trip needs to get her back to the ship ASAP.

Trip: “I’m doing my best.”

Travis then calls him to tell him that 2 ships have just dropped out of warp and are on an intercept course.

{these 2 ships are really cool, by the way. I particularly like the sound they made as they passed. . . kinda Star Wars like}

Now on the bridge, they are being hailed. The alien tells them that Enterprise is in a restricted space.

Trip (standing in front of the Captain’s chair): “Sorry. (pause) It wasn’t very well marked (curt).”

The alien tells Trip that they have detected that one of Enterprise’s crew is infected with a very deadly virus.

Trip: “We’re aware of that. Is there anything you could tell us about. . . ?”

The alien interjects to tell him that they are going to be boarding Enterprise. Trip shoots him a look to kill (yippee. . . I love Commanding Trip!)

**********************************

Trip: “No one’s coming aboard unless I say so.”

The alien tells him that the infected organisms needs to be eradicated before the virus has a chance to spread.

Trip: “That ‘infected organism’ is a member of my crew!”

The alien then tries to rationalize why this needs to be done – that in 60 years of study they have not been able to determine a means of stopping the virus. This outbreak needs to be neutralized.

Trip: “There isn’t any outbreak. Lt Reed is in medical isolation.”

The alien tells Trip that Enterprise will not be permitted to leave with the contagion on board.

Trip: “Look, we’ve only been dealing with this virus for one day. (staring down the alien at this point) So forgive me if I don’t take your word for it that the only option is to neutralize our tactical officer! You want to come over to discuss the situation, fine. But if you try to force your way onto this ship, you’re gonna have one hell of a fight on your hands.”

{planet}

Archer is in some sort of tunnel, looking around. He finds a room of some kind which opens onto a beautiful underground city with fountains, and loads of people. He is in awe, but then turns around to see his non-mutated self walk in. Archer awakes, startled, back in the forest (it was just a dream).

Archer tells Hoshi and T’pol that he knows where the city of Urquat is (underground), and that it was filled with 1000’s of Loque’eque. T’pol tries to reason with them about who they really are, but they are not convinced. So they set off to find Urquat.

{Enterprise}

The alien officer is in Sickbay, feeling uncomfortable having Malcolm so nearby, despite Phlox’s assertion that it is safe. He explains how a ton of people on his world have been infected and needed to be destroyed. He also explains how the virus was engineered by a species that had lost the ability to procreate, in order to transform other species into their own. Phlox finds this ingenuous but is perplexed about why they did not stop this once their species was replenished. The alien states that they don’t know why either.

Trip (looking at Malcolm in the Decon): “Why is he so eager to get back to a place called Urquat?”

The alien replies that the mutagen encodes for an overpowering need to return to their home city. The alien is then hailed by his ship who informs him that they have detected 3 more infected organisms on the planet. The alien tells them to prepare a containment team. Phlox tells him that one of those infected has an immunity to it, so that if they work together they may be able to get on top of things. The alien brushes him off, telling him that if there anything to report once they retrieve them he’ll let them know.

Trip: “I’d prefer to have Dr Phlox examine them.”

The alien threatens Trip – he is allowed to use any force necessary to ensure that his mission is completed, and leaves.

Phlox tells Trip that if he doesn’t develop the anti-virus within the next 2 hours it will be too late, as the transformation would be too far gone.

Trip (frustrated): “We can’t launch a shuttlepod, they’d detect it. (sighs) Do you think T’pol’s contagious?”

Phlox: “Most likely.”

Trip: “That rules out the transporter. She’d infect the entire crew.”

Phlox: “Whatever you do, commander, do it quickly. I need that DNA sample.”

Trip nods, and then we see that something is dawning on him. “Be right back!” And he runs out of Sickbay.

Trip runs to T’pol’s quarters (pushing back crewmen as he passes them), enters her quarters and stands in the middle of the room, knees slightly bent, and spinning around as if he is looking for something. He opens a cabinet – not there. He then looks up, and on the top shelf finds the bowl of peaches he had brought her earlier. Travis then hails to say that the aliens have just launched a shuttle.

Trip: “Keep an eye on them.” Then he rushes out.

{Planet}

Archer and friends come to a rock face, where he had seen the passage in his dream. They find it and enter the tunnels, finally coming upon the great city which is now deserted and dilapidated. They are shocked.

*************************

Archer mourns the loss of the city and the people. Archer refuses to leave, despite T’pol’s attempts to convince him. He then blames ‘her’ people for this. The alien containment crew is now pursuing them. They want to take T’pol alive, and kill the others.

After a bit of a chase, they finally confront each other. Archer, Hoshi and T’pol win this fight, and head back to the surface, leaving one of the aliens with a damaged EV suit behind – when his buddies find him, they kill him as he is starting to mutate.

Now on the surface, they meet up with more EV suited aliens. They push T’pol out of the way and are about to fire on Hoshi and Archer, when Trip and a MACO appear suddenly by means of the transporter. They are able to disable the aliens.

Trip (voice sounding mechanical as he’s wearing an EV suit): “You all right?” (asks T’pol)

T’pol (walks towards him): “You said you would never use the transporter again.”

Trip: “Believe me, I wish I’d had a choice. There are more of them in orbit. We had better get back to the shuttlepod before they realize anything is wrong.”

T’pol finally convinces Archer and Hoshi to come back to Enterprise.

{Enterprise}

Trip hails Travis (who’s in command) as the pod is docking to tell him to have Phlox waiting in decon and to go to warp 4 ASAP.

{Enterprise goes to warp, but the alien vessels pursue}

Trip has arrived on the bridge, and tells them to prepare weapons, and to ignore the hails of the alien vessels. The alien start to shoot and the people on the bridge are seen to be shaken around violently. Trip lands in the captain’s chair and is holding on for dear life. Hull plating is now down to 40% and Trip finally agrees to respond to the hails. The alien tells them to drop out of warp.

Trip: “Look. . . we both want the same thing. A cure for this virus, right? Our doctor thinks he’s found one but he needs a little more time. . .”

The alien interrupts with his usual statement that they need to contain this outbreak.

Just then a less mutated Archer and Hoshi, as well as Phlox, arrive on the bridge. Archer asks the alien why he’s firing on Enterprise. The alien again states the obvious reason.

Phlox informs the alien that these 2 people standing before him were the ones infected and that they are responding quite well to the antivirus. The alien is doubtful, but confirms it when they scan Enterprise.

Trip then does a ‘I told you say’ by saying that as they can see all that was needed was a little more time. Then he steps up closer to Archer and diplomatically offers to share their findings, “but that’ll be impossible if you destroy our ship.”

********************

Archer records a log explaining that the aliens agreed to accepting the offer, and that he, Hoshi and Malcolm are soon going to be OK.

In Sickbay, Malcolm is getting a hypospray to deal with a headache, and complaining about how the Chef’s food isn’t agreeing with him just yet. Phlox offers some moth larvae until Malcolm’s digestive tract returns to normal (Eww!) Archer arrives, asks Malcolm how he is, and then lets him take the day off (Malcolm almost sounds surprised and leaves)

Phlox shows Archer the last vial of the mutagenic virus. He thinks that Archer would want to destroy it considering the effect is had on him. Archer tells him to keep it in stasis, as it is the last remnant of a species, and that he couldn’t destroy that last remnant, because of what he experienced on the planet.

The episode ends with Phlox placing it in a metal container. . .

THE END

One person has made comments

Just so you know, the running through the forest bit *is* the first scene; they didn't cut anything out.