Enterprise: Oasis

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Enterprise LogoOasis

 

Cast & Crew

Director: Jim Charleston
Story By: Rick Berman & Brannon Braga & Stephen Beck
Teleplay By: Stephen Beck

Starring
Scott Bakula as Captain
Jonathan Archer
Connor Trinneer as Chief
Engineer Charles Tucker III
Jolene Blalock as Sub-commander
T’Pol
Dominic Keating as Lt.
Malcolm Reed
Anthony Montgomery
as Ensign Travis Mayweather
Linda Park as Ensign Hoshi
Sato
John Billingsley
as Dr. Phlox

Guest Cast
Tom Bergeron as D’Marr
Rene Auberjonois as Ezral
Annie Wersching as Liana
Rudolph Willrich as Kuulan
Claudette Sutherland as Maya

Airdate Information

Originally Aired: April 3, 2002
Season: One
Episode: Twenty

Shuttlepod OneWhat
Happened

After getting a tip from a passing trader, D’Marr (Tom Bergeron), Enterprise
heads to a deserted planet in search of a crashed ship and the dilithium ore
that is rumored to be on board. D’Marr mentions that the ship is haunted, and
recommends that the crew not go.

Upon arrival, the crew finds the ship not haunted, but also not abandoned.
The crew has indeed survived the crash and are doing fine since the ship crashed
three years ago. Archer offers them help in repairing the ship to make it spaceworthy.
While the aliens accept, the do so uneasily. Trip soon finds himself attracted
to the chief engineer’s daughter, Liana (Annie Wersching). She is excited to
see new faces, and Trip’s knowledge of engineering only makes him more attractive.
Her father, Ezral (Rene Auberjonois) is fearful of the two’s time together,
warning his daughter not to get too attached the humans.

Reed and Mayweather, while investigating the wreck make some surprising discoveries.
First off, the ship isn’t three years old, it’s twenty (based on the oxidation
of the hull). Second, the amount of food the ship’s garden produces is not nearly
enough for the number of crew present. Pulling an escape pod out of orbit, they
discover the body inside has been dead for longer than the three years stated
by the alien crew. What’s more, it’s the body of one of the crew they just saw
on the planet surface.

Archer and crew return to the alien ship, this time armed for combat. After
meeting with brutal resistance, Liana saves the Enterprise crew by deactivating
the ship’s computer causing everyone but her and Ezral to disappear. It seems
everyone but the two of them were killed in the crash. Blaming himself for the
disaster, he recreated the crew one by one as holograms so that he and his daughter
wouldn’t be lonely.

Archer convinces him that, for Liana’s own good they should repair the ship
and go back to their home world. Archer agrees to help Ezral repair the computer
and restore the holographic crew to allow the ship to fly again. Liana and Trip
have a heartfelt good-bye and part ways.

Review

Well, first off, I was all excited to see Mr. Auberjonois in action again,
but sadly he makes hardly any appearance at all in this episode. A poor choice
for casting when he could have been better used elsewhere.

The story was a bit weak, the holographic twist at the end was sadly predictable.
Actually making them ghosts would have been a better twist in my book.

I did like the Trip/Liana pairing, they really seemed to have some chemistry.
Sadly it will most likely go down as one of the typical "fling of the week."

Another positive aspect was T’Pol’s ribbing of Trip’s last alien love interest
("Unexpected") that left him pregnant. Acknowledgment of past episodes
helps hold the series together.

A side note: Anyone else find Dr. Phlox’s attitude in the shuttlebay a bit…irritated?
It seemed like we missed a scene that generated his foul mood, since he’s normally
more easygoing than this. The whole thing seemed like he didn’t want to be there
and that he was wasting his time. Just me?

High Point

Rocky Road! I love how grounded this show can be at times.

Low Point

The escape pod scene. Phlox’s odd behavior distracted from the rest of the
dialogue.

The Scores

Originality: Holograms and lies! Oh my! 2

Effects: Nothing good, but nothing bad either. Exterior shots of the alien
ship looked clean. 4

Story: Never quite gets up to speed. 3

Acting: Pretty good, but limited use of Auberjonois. Bergeron was cute as an
alien trader. 4

Emotional Response: You didn’t actually think there were scary ghost about,
did you? 3

Production: I swear most of the sets for the alien ship are from the ECS
Fortunate
("Fortunate Son"). I did like the garden set. Alien,
yet familiar. 4

Overall: A so-so episode, but I’m getting tired of "so-so." 4

Total: 24 out of 42

Episode Media

From StarTrek.com

Science Flub of the Week

Hmm, second time this section shows up and I didn’t notice any major goofs this
time around. Did you?

Featured Star Trek Web Site

Want to make some real-life holograms? Check out Holoworld!

Next Time on Enterprise (Apr 10, 2002)

Next Time on EnterpriseDear
Doctor
(Original Airdate: Jan. 23, 2002; Score:
30/42
)

The crew discovers a new planet with two races, one in desperate need of medical
and scientific assistance. In the course of trying to help, Dr. Phlox recalls
his own Denobulan past to address the ethical dilemmas that arise in the present.

Good spin on the "Prime Directive" theme! Check it out if you missed
it last time. 4th highest rated Enterprise thus far.

7 replies on “Enterprise: Oasis”

  1. Not just you.

    I also thought that Phlox was acting very strangely.
    I suspect the missing scene would have been him
    getting torn away from sickbay when he was waiting to
    meet Liana.

    I didn’t notice any real science flubs, although I
    think it’s unlikely that they could have done decent
    oxidation rate readings from orbit unless they know
    exactly which allow they made the ship out of. I was
    too busy trying to figure out why the rather obvious
    secret was being kept secret in the first place.

  2. Flub
    This may be more of a nit-pick than a flub but I find it odd that Ezral could create so many ship roaming solid holographic replicas of the crew in just two years (If I remember the dialog correctly, or even 10 years for that matter though) but couldn’t figure out a way to replicate the parts he needed to fix the ship.

    Furthermore why wouldn’t Archer take home some of the holographic technology… that would really screw up the time line as Ezral’s holograms would give Voyager’s Doctor a run for his money. I think the writers are depending too much on over the top futuristic technology. On the other hand, I wouldn’t have liked ghosts anymore than holograms. Perhaps some interdimensional/time accident which placed the crew in some form of limbo on the ship repeating the same actions over and over;)

    • Re: Flub

      Furthermore why wouldn’t Archer take home some of the holographic technology…

      Well, one thing that other Treks have established is that the Federation never “takes” anything, they borrow or trade for it. It isn’t much of an explanation, but it is something. It may be that Ezral needed all the emitters and whatnot to fully utilize his holo-crew.

      It is a little odd to feature holograms this early in the timeline and we will continue to have a difficult time rationalizing these continuity errors.

  3. This story has been done before
    Did anyone else notice that this was almost (not quite) exactly the same plot as the TNG episode “The Survivors?” I mean, this whole idea of creation people because you can to replace those that have died? I was horribly disappointed that Enterprise would be re-using storylines so early in the series.

    As for Phlox, I was at first confused by his behaviour. However, this makes sense to me. He’s a doctor, and is fascinated by behaviour and the curiosities that each species holds. I think, however, that he does has a spiritual side (in the least, he’s very respectful of the spirituality of others.) Also, he doesn’t seem to curious for curiosities sake, but because he can actually learn new things. Opening the escape pod shouldn’t tell them anything useful, and he sees no reason in disturbing this person’s rest. (It does, indeed, tell them something, but it’s hardly useful to anything but the plot of the story.) In addition, since the man has been dead for years, he knows he’s not really needed there. I really think this issue with death and respect will rear its head again in future episodes… at least I hope it will.

    • Re: This story has been done before

      As for Phlox…

      I’ll buy that. I would, however, like to see more dialogue explaining that. It would improve the scene and his character (2-for-1 sale!). We shouldn’t have to be thinking it through this hard a week later.

  4. I can’t belive that…
    …you did not choose “What are you going to do if you get sick? Create a holographic doctor?” as the high point of the episode. Good that they can poke fun at themselves even if continuity is going all to hell.

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